Mass Effect 2/Unused Text/Unused Codex Entries

This is a sub-page of Mass Effect 2/Unused Text.

To do: Upload audio for thermal clips, M-100, and drell entries

Arc Projector

"Laser-guided lightning" is how Cerberus operatives sum up this unusual weapon developed for use against synthetic enemies. It was created for field operatives who required an anti-geth weapon but found omni-tools too complex to master or too hard to fire in the throes of an adrenaline rush. To make it as simple as possible to shoot, the arc projector has a single trigger that takes the weapon through three operations. Depressing the first stage of the trigger causes the weapon to irradiate a target with a neutron-driven gamma-ray laser, which projects a beam invisible to the naked eye. This beam ionizes a thin corridor of air and any medium it passes through, including most solid targets. When the second stage of the trigger is pulled, the projector generates a massive electrical impulse. This arcs down the ionized corridor, causing trauma to living targets through tissue burns and mechanical force (convulsions). Synthetic targets' circuits typically melt and fuse. By 22nd-century standards, the weapon's power needs are not large -- it kills less through absolute amperage and more through sustaining the current for more microseconds than, say, an actual bolt of lightning. It is during the third stage of the trigger pull that the projector's autotargeting system works to its full capacity. While it is still being projected during the electrical attack, the laser is reflected by movable optical fibers in the weapon's business end to "paint" additional targets designated by the gun's targeting computer. Given a new path of least resistance and surrounded by targets of differing potential, the electrical jolt then arcs from its first target to hit additional enemies. The effect on massed mechs is predictably devastating, as are the psychological effects on living foes, who suddenly discover that neither shields nor cover can keep them safe.

Collectors: Oculi

An oculus is a mechanical servitor of the Collectors, apparently built with a single purpose -- to find and eliminate threats. Its outer structure has three apertures that house long-range detection equipment similar to those found on deep-space probes, used to find and track targets from near-stellar distances. Contragrav mass effect fields allow an oculus to move easily through space or atmosphere in pursuit of its prey, and a large central lens serves as the emission center for its weapons platform. All four of its lenses have a titanium iris covering that prevents the detector's optics from scratching due to interstellar dust or atmospheric residue. Upon its destruction, more of the oculus' features become apparent. Its interior houses fibers of near-inorganic nerves, indicating that a Collector drone has been stripped down to its central nervous system, reinforced with interfacial gel that can withstand hard vacuum, and repurposed to pilot the oculus for the rest of its existence. The central weapon is a strange one, operating on alien principles. It appears to use mass effect fields and directed energy to attack the strong nuclear force that holds its targets' atoms together, producing heat and light in an air atmosphere and causing irradiating gamma particles to burst from any heavy metals targeted by the beam. Such a weapon could easily cut through shields, and leave its target dying with just a glancing hit.

Communications: Quantum Entanglement Communicators (QEC)

When a pair of quantum-entangled particles is separated, a change to one particle will affect the other instantaneously, wherever it lies in the universe. QECs exploit this effect to transmit binary data any distance. Two pairs of entangled particles are necessary for transmission and reception. While QEC technology is extremely expensive and difficult to produce, it offers two enormous advantages. First, it allows instantaneous communication over any distance without reliance on the network of comm buoys, which is limited due to the sheer volume of space. Further, destruction of buoys hampers a foe’s military intelligence; comm buoys are the first targets of raiders in wartime. Second, quantum communications cannot be intercepted between source and destination, allowing no "wiretaps." Unfortunately, QECs cannot replace the galactic civil communications infrastructure. First, they have extremely limited bandwidth. A single entangled particle can only transmit a single qubit (quantum bit) of data at once. Second, the system’s exclusively point-to-point nature precludes peer-to-peer networking and data dissemination through the galactic extranet. The most strategically appropriate military application of QECs is at the headquarters level. Each Alliance colony would maintain a QEC at its military headquarters and each fleet flagship in its CIC. All the pairs for these would be located at a central facility within Arcturus Station. During an attack, a facility would signal Arcturus to transmit its information to every other fleet and colony. However, destruction of the comm center at Arcturus would collapse the entire network.

Computers: Synthetics

"Synthetic" is the politically correct term for an artificially intelligent computer. An artificial intelligence (AI) is capable of learning and independent decision making--capabilities beyond the simple virtual intelligence (VI) software used as computer operating systems. An AI requires both quantum computing hardware (brain) and adaptive software (consciousness). When first brought online, an AI runs at a very low processing speed, with a handful of input sources, and the intellectual capability as a newborn human. AIs experience life at the speed their hardware runs, and can absorb information from millions of sources at once. If "switched on" at full capacity, they cope badly with the deluge of input. At best, such an AI is severely autistic; at worst, it is insane. As operators teach AI to reason and filter incoming data, they increase the AI's processing speed. At a year's age, an AI can observe, consider, and react hundreds of times faster than its organic creators. Mature AIs may be frustrated by the comparative "slowness" of the organics they must interact with. Galactic culture mistrusts synthetic life. While physically immobile, an AI can assert its will by taking control of networked computing systems. AI laboratories are physically isolated from the galactic extranet and placed in remote, uninhabited locales. Some futurists believe the ascendancy of synthetics is inevitable. The theory of technological singularity asserts that as the rate of technological advancement increases, there will come a point at which AIs can modify themselves faster than organics can. Eventually, synthetic life will be able to self-evolve so rapidly, organics will lose the ability to comprehend the process. Not all believe such an evolution to be negative. Transcendency cults believe organic minds will one day be uploaded and emulated as software data, providing synthetic immortality.

Drell

Two centuries ago, the hanar helped 375,000 members of the drell race migrate to the hanar homeworld Kahje, to escape the environmental extermination that had claimed the remaining 11 billion drell. Nearly all drell demonstrate tremendous loyalty to their famously reclusive saviors. The intimacy of their relationship, expressed in a formal socio-political alliance called the Compact, also results in extremely close personal relations, in which some drell actually learn hanar soul names. While most drell reside on Kahje, some assist hanar off-world as envoys, researchers, co-investors, wayfarers, assassins, or otherwise, eager to help their saviors. For a century, galactic wisdom has held that behind any high-ranking hanar hides a resourceful and fanatically-devoted drell. The omnivorous, reptilian drell possess an average lifespan of 85 Galactic Standard years. Having evolved on an arid planet, drell face serious illness on the hanar homeworld, especially Kepral's Syndrome, a fatal bacterial lung disease.

Eldfell-Ashland Energy

In 2137, the Ashland Energy Corporation successfully extracted helium-3 from Saturn's atmosphere, beginning a new era of fusion research. On the wave of this success, they merged with Eldfell Construction to vertically integrate the two companies' strengths. Ashland would recover the raw materials for energy production, and Eldfell would build power plants, refineries, and pipelines on nearby worlds to distribute Ashland's products to the consumer. Eldfell-Ashland Energy was born. As EAE's reach extended, they absorbed companies to create a "cradle-to-grave corporate experience" for their employees. Today, subsidiaries such as Second Star Living recruit colonists to staff EAE facilities, and the education group Excelsior provides job-related education opportunities to provide EAE stations with a qualified incoming workforce. Water, power, food, shipping -- EAE provides them all. If EAE wants to put a colony on a garden world, they are able to do so and keep 90% of services performed completely in-house, creating consumers out of its own employees. Its primary revenue stream, however, continues to come from mining base elements like hydrogen, helium-3, and eezo and trading in their futures.

Enforcement Gauntlets

Common in the Terminus Systems, enforcement gauntlets are armored gloves powered by the wearer’s hardsuit. Each contains a small repulsive kinetic barrier generator which focuses its power by greatly reducing the barrier’s coverage area. The mass effect barrier generated by an enforcement gauntlet can be used as a shield, much like on any armored hardsuit. It cannot provide full-body protection, but its stopping power is greatly magnified. It is more commonly used offensively. Raising the barrier while throwing a punch extends the user’s reach, as the barrier floats several inches away from the fist. The repulsive effect of the gauntlet’s barrier sends all but the most massive opponents flying back. Defense design studios in the Batarian Hegemony created enforcement gauntlets for police forces. They have proven useful in peacefully dispersing crowds of terrorists, criminal trespassers, and counter-hegemonist subversives in areas where the use of firearms risks injury to hard-working loyal citizens nearby. Gauntlets exported to the Terminus are optimized for purely offensive use and have become popular with organized crime enforcers, pirate boarding parties, slaver gangs, and gladiatorial combatants.

(The description here closely resembles the omni-blades of Mass Effect 3.)

M-100 Grenade Launcher

Elanus Risk Control Services once manufactured the M-100, a standalone, semiautomatic 25mm grenade launcher. Considered obsolete by modern grenade launcher standards, thugs across the galaxy built their own after its design specifications were leaked to the extranet. The M-100 firing system lack electronically-set fuses that most modern grenades possess, putting it at a disadvantage compared to "smart grenade" systems. M-100 proponents counter that the weapon has a fifty-year track record in reliably accepting kludge ammo, processed via omni-tool so that a soldier who depletes his rounds can still reload. Although modern kinetic barriers can block fragmentation damage, the heat and concussive force of a grenade blast can rip right through them, incapacitating most species instantly. The M-100 may be a dinosaur, but it can still kill with the best of them.

M-490 Blackstorm

The Blackstorm Gravitational Singularity Projector is the brainchild of weapon designer Eli Wegner, one of the few humans who earned the privilege of serving with asari commando units. Overawed with how the asari could create biotic singularities to pull opponents out from behind cover, he was determined to duplicate the feat technologically. Wegner's team created a weapon that could elevate target particles of matter to near-infinite mass, creating a gravitational singularity and drawing nearby objects inward for a short time. The rapidly-increasing gravity rips the target apart as it pulls the enemy closer to the singularity's center. When the mass effect field destabilizes and suddenly returns to normal mass, the result is explosive, and inflicts additional trauma on the enemy. The weapon almost didn't happen. Early designs were dangerously unstable: the science for creating a hyper-dense mass effect field was well established, but projecting it at an adjustable range proved elusive. It was only after six years of development that the weapon finally qualified for Systems Alliance AIHW (Advanced Individual Heavy Weapon) trials. By that time, the singularity projector was rugged, reliable, and easy to use and repair. It immediately went to field tests in a small-scale desert war on Earth where the weapon terrified opponents who had never seen its effects before. The swirling sand and dust sucking soldiers into its center served as the centerpiece of many propaganda videos. In the resulting media coverage, the Wegner Arms M-490 GSP became known by its simpler nickname, the "black hole gun." His dream finally a reality, Wegner personally altered its name to the more marketable "Blackstorm."

M-920 Cain

The M-920 Cain is a portable particle accelerator surrounding an array of dust-form element zero chambers. This weapon prototype subjects its eezo to extreme positive and negative currents to project mass effect fields. By increasing and decreasing mass, the fields shear the target's mass the way disruptor torpedoes do. The shearing fields collide ambient materials at such high speeds, they create mushroom clouds, an effect otherwise impossible on the small scale. The weapon induces neither fission nor fusion in non-nuclear targets, and its own nuclear reactions are shielded by lead alloys. The M-920 Cain uses graphite rods as neutron moderators, which require frequent replacement to sustain power. Fortunately, most heavy weapon ammunition can be re-fabricated via omni-tool into graphite rods.

Mercenaries

Found in all corners of the galaxy, the typical mercenary is a former military or police officer who completed his term of service and is marketing his skills for a much higher wage. But even at the best of times, there is little quality control or accountability in the system, and frauds and unprofessional thugs are a constant problem. To counteract this, the largest private military contractors offer their own training and certification courses, to the point where would-be mercenaries can join the company with no previous experience and come out with all the necessary skills. Mercenaries work for a wide variety of employers. Governments top the list, overwhelmingly preferred by most companies for their deep pockets, long terms of employment, and appearance of legitimacy. However, mercenaries are also found working for rebellions, colonist collectives, corporations operating in war zones, or illegal but well-funded interests such as pirates and drug cartels. It is for this reason that most nation-states or galactic governments frown on the use of mercenaries, at least by their opponents. The Citadel Conventions reflect this disapproval, stating that mercenaries captured in wartime are not legitimate prisoners of war, but criminals on the battlefield, and they may be executed without violating the laws of war. While some mercenary groups are lobbying to change the articles of the Conventions, most see the associated risk as a unique badge of courage.

Reapers: Computers

Exists only as a title.

Reapers: Construction

Exists only as a title.

Sovereign

There's a version of Sovereign's codex entry that differs from the one in the final game:

Unused

Used

The flagship of the rogue ex-Spectre Saren Arterius, Sovereign is a devastating dreadnought of unprecedented power. At two kilometers long, Sovereign was believed to have been powered by a gigantic element zero core, the only energy source potent enough to land the massive vessel on a planet. During the Eden Prime War, the ship unleashed its peerless destructive force against which Citadel Council ships were defenseless. With a virtually indestructible flagship and a crew of fanatic geth and krogan, Saren nearly succeeded in wiping out all his enemies. Only the resourcefulness and bravery of the commander and crew of the SSV Normandy stopped him. The overwhelming power of Sovereign ignited bizarre speculation in tabloid media that the vessel was sent by extragalactic invaders, or was -- despite indeterminate photographic evidence at best -- a single giant robot. Some sources even claimed that Sovereign was alive. Such conjecture, however baseless, remains to this day.

Sovereign is the flagship of the rogue Spectre Saren. An enormous dreadnought larger than any other ship in any known fleet, Sovereign is crewed with both geth and krogan. At two kilometers long, its spinal-mounted main gun is likely capable of penetrating another dreadnought's kinetic barriers with a single shot. How Saren acquired this incredible warship is unknown. The prevailing opinion is that Sovereign is a geth construct, while others believe it is a Prothean relic. Its design, however, hints at a more alien and mysterious origin. The attack on Eden Prime demonstrated Sovereign's ability to generate mass effect fields powerful enough to land on a planetary surface. This implies it has a massive element zero core, and the ability to generate staggering amounts of power.

Thermal Clips

Over the last two years, firearms have undergone a major enhancement to manage their waste heat. When the Systems Alliance analyzed detailed battle telemetry, they found that the geth were able to keep up a more sustained rate of fire, giving them a significant advantage over Alliance marines. So the Alliance retrofitted every weapon in service, making a full conversion to the thermal clip system. Thermal clips hold disposable universal heat sinks. Instead of waiting for an overheated weapon to cool down, combatants simply eject the spent heat sink and the clip feeds in a new one. This allows for a greater sustained rate of fire and more numerous impacts on targets down range. Armorers are hurriedly adapting to this increased lethality with new defensive technology like self-sustaining barrier amps, hardened shield generators, and mass field-integrated armor. But for the moment, the aggressor has the advantage, resulting in the clips' widespread adoption by the galaxy's arms manufacturers.

(Source: didymos1120, Mass Effect Wiki)