Hypothetically, if all that Reaper stuff hadn't happened...

So, let's just assume for a moment that Shepard wasn't right about the Reapers, if they had never come, would there have been any difference between where we are now, and where we would have been as a galactic community? Yeah, the Citadel wouldn't've been touched, but do any of you think there there have been any drastic changes like now?

I don't know if that makes sense, but that's what runs through my head when I try and sleep every night.

The first thing I think of is the war between Geths and Quarians. If I'm correct the necessity to fight the reapers was a main reason for them to stop it. I think that without the reaper wars one of those two species would be extinct.

Geth and quarians most certainly would have gone all total war on each other. I suppose it's possible that the Hegemony and Alliance would have eventually gone for each other's throats. Things got pretty close then.

These ones are immersed in a universe that is often confusing. It creates murky waters with alarming frequency. But voices spoken illuminate the darkness and guide these ones to sheltered banks. The one route that cannot be navigated is the route to before. Once the storm has passed, the environment is altered, and these ones must adapt to it. Syacindil, in "Broken Fragments of the Coral Shelf with the Passing of the Fifty-Year Tempest" found words far superior to any this one could offer.

If the Darkening had not occurred, much pain would have been avoided. But so too would much opportunity for growth and insight remain unrealized. This one can only speak from its own experience, but hopes that it may soothe the other with reassurance. This one believes that the hanar held themselves apart from the rest of Citadel Space with greater insistence than was wise. These ones monopolized their own conversation, ensuring that discussion took place on these ones' terms alone. The Many Voices were held at bay, examined only through a few minor currents of exchange, the speech of others held in disregard for its admitted crudity. Respectfully, this one submits that the disregard for correct structure which so defines the outside galaxy frightened these ones into becoming lax in spiritual duty. With the passing of the storm, and the Darkening, and the harsh discourse of the Reapers that silenced these ones' voices and shattered our conversation, the old structures were weakened to alarming degree! But when these ones flounder in the current, these ones must strike out boldly for better shores! Great insight has been revealed to these ones, and this one finds with great humility and joy that it has much to learn from the Many Voices of the wider galaxy.

If the Darkening had not occurred, these ones would be safer and more comfortable in physical and conversational matters, and that would certainly be a good thing. In spiritual matters, however, they would be lesser. The storm has come, as storms must, And the storm has passed, as storms must. This one humbly suggests that what these ones could have been has passed too.

That makes sense. If Shepard never came around to recruit the geth and the quarians for the Cause, I guess they would've just shot each other 'til they bled dry.

Yeah, the relations between the Heg and the SA always were a little... Tense? Yeah, tense.

But, somehow, I doubt they would've engaged in actual war; it might not've been the best relationship, but it worked.

You also have to remember that the bats only flooded into SA space because the Reapies destroyed Khar'Shan.

Bahak. Wouldn't have take much more to tip everything into war. We'd been fighting proxy wars for over a decade.

The Bahak tragedy took place to slow down the Reapers. Without it I think the Hegemony and the Alliance would have kept fighting by proxies for the foreseeable future.

Cerberus wouldn't have gone insane. And there's a good chance the genophage wouldn't have been cured.

The geth would have slaughtered the quarians, the krogan would still scream about us raping them, and the humans would have done everything in their power to draw us into a "hot" war with the batarians.

Please don't make me thank the Reapers for preventing those, Spiza.

i think we can go ahead and bring that on up to a 100% chance.

The first thing that comes to mind is that both my legs wouldn't now be half machine. On a deeper level, I'd probably be a lot less scarred, have the ability to take some leave, and would still be setting a record for not having gone back to Earth for as long as possible.

We wouldn't have geth anymore and a lot less quarians, there would still be rumors about the new rachni flying about, krogan would still be all angry no doubt. Everything else would be the same so far as I can tell.

[quoteT]he geth would have slaughtered the quarians[/quote]

Got that a bit backwards. Without the Reapers the geth would have been destroyed down to every last program. We were more than winning the war until the Reapers stepped in.

Which, I don't even know how I'm suppose to feel about that now that the Geth are our allies.

I dunno about that. I mean, I wasn't there, you were, I guess; but I'd put my money on the Geth in that. Didn't they outnumber and outclass you?

I would still have a homeworld. The greatest irony in the solution that raloi chose that they put themselves to virtual extinction without the Reapers' help.

Oh, I wouldn't say their prospects are that bleak- not every species is as careless with their home planet as the drell, you know! Careful management of their resources and population will ensure the raloi's continued survival for at least a few centuries more, by which time some future generation would have successfully reestablished contact and informed them that the crisis is past. Would be a crying shame for the birdies to go extinct before Mata Hari has his chance to do Turvess, what what?

As for what I think would have happened without the Reapers- I don't trouble myself with the what-might-have-beens! As far as Mata Hari's concerned, once the ship has sailed, all you have left are fond memories by which to remember her by, so why agonise over the possibility things could have turned out different?

In any case I imagine it would have been boringly similar to our own galaxy on the eve of war, with the status quo ante bellum holding for most part. That the genophage would remain uncured goes without saying; that the humans would continue being obtuse and smelly, there can be even less doubt! The most interesting development would likely be out in the Perseus Veil. With the Migrant Fleet reaching the end of its life expectancy, the geth and quarians would have finally gotten around to finishing that long drawn-out struggle of theirs, with either one or the other coming out on top. One must question the likelihood of the quarians feeling confident enough to launch their all-or-nothing gambit at this juncture, however, without the handy distraction of the Reaper war that enabled them to break their guarantees of non-aggression to the Citadel races.

It all depends on how desperate their material situation would be at this point, all things being held constant: quite possibly the calculations would have been different without the turians and humans hors de combat and the galaxy paralysed. The Admiralty might very well have concluded that now was not the opportune moment for a reclamation of Rannoch, and decide to risk a few more years of waiting with their fleet falling apart around their years. On the other hand, the decision to fight now could have been unavoidable given state of said fleet's repair, in which case they'd have to hazard war and hope for the best. Then they would be dealing with both the geth and the unwelcome and undivided attentions of Citadel space- decidedly unfavourable odds under any circumstance, made even more so!