User blog comment:The Milkman/Shades of Purple/@comment-5287758-20120930050555/@comment-1221773-20121004155542

So is the whole concept of mass effect physics and element zero, though, and that's a pillar of the entire ME universe. The only difference between that and the Crucible is that we're not given a lengthy pseudo-scientific explanation of what exactly the Crucible does. Since this is all science-fiction anyway, I don't find such an arbitrary detail to be necessary.