Mass Effect Timeline

The current game year is: 2183.

All dates prior to 2148 CE are approximate, due to the difficulties of reconsiling the Earth Solar Year with the Galactic Standard Year.

Before Common Era (BCE)

~298,000 BCE

• The arthenn race is wiped out by the Reapers.

~48,000 BCE

• The prothean race is wiped out by the Reapers.

~1900 BCE

• The krogan race enters the nuclear age, and quickly causes a nuclear winter on Tuchanka. The krogan devolve into a society warring clans.

~580 BCE

• The asari begin to use the Mass Relays, and discover the Citadel

~520 BCE

• The salarians discover the Citadel.

~500 BCE

• The Citadel Council is formed.
• The Galactic Standard Calendar begins, at the year 0 GS.

• First contact is made with the volus.

• The Unified Banking Act is drafted by the volus, establishing the credit a universal galactic currency.

• The Unification War is fought in turian space. The Turian Hierarchy is the victor.

~200 BCE

• The volus are the first race to be granted an embassy on the Citadel.

• First contact is made with the batarians.

~100 BCE

• The batarians are granted an embassy on the Citadel.

• First contact is made with the elcor by the asari.
• First contact is made with the hanar.
• First contact is made with the quarians.

• The elcor are granted an embassy on the Citadel.
• The hanar are granted an embassy on the Citadel.
• The quarians are granted an embassy on the Citadel.

Common Era (CE)

~1 CE

• First contact is made with the rachni.
• The Rachni Wars begin.

~80 CE

• First contact is made with the krogan by the salarians.
• The krogan are artificially advanced by the salarians to serve as soldiers against the rachni.

~300 CE

• The rachni are declared extinct.
• The krogan are relocated to a new homeworld. Their population explodes.

~700 CE

• The Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch is founded.

• The krogan annex the asari colony of Lusia.
• The Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch launches a preemptive strike against the krogan.
• The Krogan Rebellions begin.

• First contact is made with the turians.
• The turians declare war against the krogan.

~800 CE

• The turians deploy the The salarian-engineered Genophage against the krogan. No longer able to reproduce at such a rapid rate, the Krogan Rebellions end.

• The volus become a client race within the Turian Hierarchy.

• The Citadel Conventions are drafted and ratified.

~900 CE

• The turians are granted a seat on the Citadel Council.

~1600 CE

• First contact is (allegedly) made with the Collectors.

~1895 CE

• The Geth War.
• The Geth become self-aware, and rebel against their quarian creators.
• The quarians are systematically driven from their homeworlds, becoming interstellar refugees aboard the Migrant Fleet.
• The Geth isolate themselves in the Perseus Veil
• The quarian embassy on the Citadel is closed.

1961 CE

• Vostok 1 orbits the Earth. Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space.

1969 CE

• Apollo 11 lands on Luna. Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on Earth's moon.

~2000 CE

• First contact is made with the drell by the hanar.

• With Rakhana poised for an ecological collapse within twenty-five years, the hanar evacuate 375,000 drell to their homeworld Kajhe over the course of a decade. The remaining 11 billion drell are slowly wiped out by war and famine.

2069 CE

• Armstrong Outpost in Shackleton Crater is founded as the first permanent human settlement on Luna, on the 100th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing.

2103 CE

• Lowell City in Eos Chasma is founded as the first permanent human settlement on Mars.

~2125 CE

• First contact is made with the Yahg.
• After the Yahg kill the ambassadors sent to open diplomatic relations with them, their homeworld Parnack is declared off-limits.

2143 CE

• Gagarin Station is constructed beyond the Kuiper Belt.

2147 CE

• Trace amounts of Element Zero are discovered on Mars.

Systems Alliance Era

2148 CE

• The human race discovers prothean ruins on Mars. They are quickly able to reverse engineer Mass Effect fields and faster-than-light technology.

2149 CE

• The human race discovers that the Kuiper Belt object Charon is in fact a Mass Relay, encased in ice. The relay links to the Arcturus system, 36 lightyears away.
• The eighteen largest nations on Earth - including the European Union, United North American States, and Chinese People's Federation - form the Systems Alliance.

2151 CE

• The Systems Alliance begins construction of a space station in the Arcturus system, to fortify a key nexus of Mass Relays and to serve as a military headquarters.
• An accident at Singapore International Spaceport exposes hundreds of humans to Element Zero. A small percentage of the children born in the wake of the incident are identified as having biotic potential.

2152 CE

• Earth establishes the extra-solar colonies Demeter, Terra Nova, and Eden Prime.

2155 CE

• The Systems Alliance begins to occupy completed areas of Arcturus Station. The training of Alliance military personnel is relocated to the station as of that year.

2157 CE

• Pluto's orbit becomes circular as a result of Mass Relay usage. The shared orbit of Pluto and the Charon Relay is cleared of planetessimals; the International Astronomical Union upgrades Pluto's status from "dwarf planetoid" to "planet".

• First contact is made with humans by the turians.
• The Systems Alliance inadvertantly breaks Citadel law, and is attacked by the turians.
• The First Contact War begins.

• The human colony on Shanxi is captured by the turians. It is liberated one month later.
• The First Contact War ends, after three months of hostilities.

2159 CE

• The Systems Alliance purchases Gagarin Station.

2160 CE

• The Systems Alliance Parliament is founded.
• The Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training program is established on Gagarin Station, to study and train humans with biotic potential.
• The Blue Suns mercenary group is founded by Zaeed Massani and Vido Santiago.

2162 CE

• Arcturus Station is finally completed, though it has already been in use for six years.

2163 CE

• L1 implants are developed for biotics.

2165 CE

• Humans are granted an embassy on the Citadel.

2167 CE

• L2 implants are developed for biotics.

2169 CE

• Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training is shut down after Kaidan Alenko accidentally kills Commander Vyrnnus, a turian assisting with the biotic research.

2170 CE

• The human colony Mindoir is attacked by batarians.
• L3 implants are developed for biotics.

2171 CE

• The batarians petition the Citadel Council to restrict human expansion into the Skyllian Verge. When the Council refuses, the batarians close their embassy on the Citadel in protest.

2176 CE

• The human colony Elysium is attacked by batarians, in what becomes known as the Skyllian Blitz. Lieutenant Samantha Shepard assumes command of the Alliance garrison on Elysium, and leads them in a successful defense of the planet.
• The Systems Alliance constructs Jon Grissom Academy in orbit of Elysium, and founds the Ascension Project to study and train biotics.
• The Anhur Rebellions begin.

2177 CE

• Fifty Alliance Marines under the command of Nikolai Odell are killed when their camp is ambushed by a Thresher Maw on Akuze. Odell and the survivors successfully killed the creature, saving the lives of the colonists.

2178 CE

• Batarian extremists on Torfan are attacked by the Systems Alliance, crippling their operations.
• The Theshaca Raids destroy eight major pirate anchorages in the Terminus Systems.
• The Anhur Rebellions end.

Mass Effect Era

2183 CE

• Mass Effect (game)
  • The SSV Normandy, an SR-1 Stealth Frigate funded by the Citadel Council and co-developed by the Systems Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy, is launched under Captain David Anderson.
  • Saren's Rebellion begins.
  • The human colony on Eden Prime is attacked by the Geth.
  • The human colony on Asteria is attacked by the Geth.
  • The human colony on Feros is attacked by the Geth.
  • Commander Samantha Shepard becomes the first human Spectre.
  • The Battle of the Citadel occurs.
  • Saren's Rebellion ends.
  • Humans are granted a seat on the Citadel Council.
• Mass Effect 2
  • The SSV Normandy is destroyed over Alchera by an unknown vessel.
• L4 implants are developed for biotics.
• Chapter #1 - Asterism
  • Nikolai Odell is ordered to form a multi-species team to replace Commander Shepard and her allies.
  • Odell's team is sent to liberate the human colony on Asteria.
• Mass Effect: Galaxy
  • Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor stop a batarian attempt to assassinate the Citadel Council.

2184 CE

• L5 implants are developed for biotics.
• Cerberus obtains the blueprints for the SR-1 Stealth Frigate, and constructs the more-advanced Normandy SR-2.

2185 CE

• Mass Effect 2
  • The Lazarus Project, funded by Cerberus, revives Commander Shepard.
  • The human colony on Freedom's Progress is attacked by the Collectors.
  • The human colony on Horizon is attacked by the Collectors.