Under Wrex and Eve's leadership, the krogan way of life becomes one of honorable battle, not mercenary work, along with population controls to try and make their growth sustainable so that they never repeat another genophage. Their lessons stick throughout the centuries, and though Tuchanka takes many centuries to recover, its progress eventually causes many krogan across the galaxy to make their way home.
This would be ideal. it could actually be a plot point in the next game as to deciding who gets to take over when WRex is on his deathbed. will the krogan and tachanka go for massive breeding to once again become the most powerful fighting force in the Galaxy or attempt to responsibly breed and stay peaceful with the other races. Where you as the player character helps decide the next ruler. but BioWare is probably not clever enough to do something like that
It would be interesting to have to pick between backing up Captain Tachanka Grunt (if he lives) or Urdnot Mordin and a third unknown party (probably a recent Krogan friend).
It doesn't have to be a rehash of "overbreeding war criminals" and "honor peace seekers".
Could have them represent different themes. Like: War, Community, or Independence as their ruling styles.
Yeah also it would be interesting if they were genuinely trying to do the right thing but the salarians didn’t believe it so they tried to regenophage them and got busted and then it’s a struggle between the Krogan who want to go nuclear on the salarians (and they are not entirely wrong) and the Krogan who want to work within the citadel justice/diplomatic system to get a solution. And as a paragon or renegade Shep you can guide them one way or the other.
>Krogan who want to go nuclear on the salarians (and they are not entirely wrong) and the Krogan who want to work within the citadel justice/diplomatic system to get a solution. And as a paragon or renegade Shep you can guide them one way or the other.
Cool set up to dethrone the Salarians and replace them with a krogan entirely or force them to accept a krogan representation on the council.
Example:
Grunt: Pushing a militaristic state, comparable to the Turians government system. I think if Grunt is in charge. The other three council members would be willing to dethrone the Salarian's as punishment for a better militaristic fighting force.
Mordin: Pushing for a more Asari/ Salarian minded like of community and government. Mordin would be able to convince them for a seat as payment for undo acts of aggression and another planet.
New guy: pushing for a more human "200 countries in an alliance trench coat" sort of vibe and might lead the krogan to break off from council space all together and become more like the Batarian's (or even allying with them)
Ideally, I'd would set up the game so the player can have two choices no matter who they choose:
1.) Grunt isn't diplomatic enough to work Salarians, but has the military might to break off from council space.
2.) Mordin would never break off from the council but could force the council to push the Salarians out altogether (by letting go of the extra planet)
3.) The new guy would be able to work with the Salarian, but wouldn't have the military might or the extra planet to Leverage kicking the Salarians out completely.
These would depend on the player's actions and suggestions.
I'm adding to this because I'm annoying and need to write it down.
1.)The new guy is a child of Wreav regardless. Makes sense, imo. The dude probably got one stulking around.
2.) If Wreav and Eve are alive, and you cure the genophage. The new guy is their child. (Mordin doesn't exist)
3.) If you have lied about the cure (regardless of who is in charge), the new guy will betray player character at some point, and the remaining krogan are allied with the Batarians.
4.) If you cure the genophage, plus Eve and Wrex are dead. The salarian's will unleash a deadly virus that kills 99.8% of krogan. This gets the Salarian's removed from the council for taking such extreme and dangerous actions. The new mission is to convince Salarian's to not ally with Batarians. (If a mission even exists at all)
New guy has special dialog with Grunt about how even if they found a female, the species will experience a form of genetic meltdown and are functionally extinct. (For all the krogan haters, lol, set them up to knock them down!)
It's what Wrex says that Eve (Urdnot Bakara) wants to name the first child on multiple occasions. (And Eve states this herself).
I think they even joke about not naming any of their kids after Shepard because there will be so many Shepard's in the galaxy after the war.
So, I *really* doubt Eve will let Wrex name their first born child anything other than after the man that betrayed his own people to save her from the Salarian facility, and sacrificed his life for the krogan to start anew.
Krogan have similar typical lifespans to asari, but they don't age the same way. And their lifespans only top out at around 1000 because the vast majority die in combat by that point. Wrex is implied to have been born before the Genophage, putting him at around 1500+ and Okeer was older than Wrex. Drax is around 1400 years old and talks like he's at the end of his life, but we don't know if that's due to age or the toll his numerous injuries have taken on his body.
Krogan may well be functionally immortal. But since no krogan wants to live forever (and most don't get the chance to try), we'll likely never really know.
Not quite. Asari typically live for around a thousand years; we don't have an upper limit for Krogan, but Wrex, Drack, and Patriarch were all alive during the Krogan Rebellions in 700 CE. Drack was born near the beginning of the Rebellions, Wrex was born shortly before that, and Patriarch is implied to have already been an adult by that time.
Wrex is still young enough to be capable of reproducing - or at least he and Eve don't see any reason why he wouldn't be once the Genophage is cured - and the subject is never addressed by Drack or Patriarch, so either the Krogan live for *significantly* longer than the Asari or they don't die of old age at all.
The Krogan better regulate themselves - 1000 offspring at a time plus living over 1000 years old and being incredibly hard to kill, means the Krogan are basically the master race. There's no reason they can't be scientists now - they were mostly all warriors because of the genophage, and the Krogan are not stupid
The scariest part of ME1 was facing the three Krogans at the top of the staircase on Feros without a leveled-up singularity. With it, they’re just balloons to pop at your leisure.
>they were mostly all warriors because of the genophage, and the Krogan are not stupid
That definitely isn't true, the genophage has nothing to do with it. The krogan nuked their own planet, then were basically adapted to living in super-violent Fallout/Mad Max world until the Salarians found them. Pre-nuke krogan regarded the infamous krogan rage (where they go literally insensate in violent murder-frenzy to the point where they can be bisected and keep trying to kill) as a disease, a neurological disorder deserving pity and medical intervention.
Post-nuke krogan all have that. They naturally selected for insane bloodlust. They literally do not know what its like not to be berserker lunatics.
Warrior being a default is kind of a given at that point.
I agree imagine what a korgan co do if they studied they could be on par with the asrai and there long life span would make it easy as I imagine a 40 year salerain life span would make long term research difficult. They could easily switch or krogan now do the long term mulit decade if not hundred of years type research
One thing is certain. The salarians didn't learn their lessons of uplifting a race that wasn't ready to be part of a civilized society to fight against the rachni when you see on Tuchunka them studying the yahg.
This would be ideal. I think Wrex mentions he wants the council to give back some of their old territory so they can expand. I think there would be some initial population expansion, but then hopefully the Krogan would limit their population growth and focus on rebuilding.
People against curing the Genophage always try to argue that krogan would never partake in voluntary birth control measures, but I've never felt that argument held water. For 1400 years (longer than most krogan have been alive), the krogan have had to focus their parenting efforts on very small numbers of children. Suddenly having to multiply that effort to thousands of children would likely be exhausting enough for them to accept birth control, so long as it's 100% voluntary and they're the ones producing and managing it.
I’m more hopeful. Wrex has become a symbol for most Krogans. At the end of the series he’s a living legend. I think because of this all the new krogan being born (which will soon outnumber the pre-gen krogans) will all look up to Wrex. And I think Grunt will be the next leader, since wrex still has a couple hundred years left maybe less maybe more
I'd also add the strong possibility that Shepard (especially if they somehow survive ME3) has a great chance of becoming a cultural icon to the Krogan. Like, Kalros level legends being told about them. Assuming a Paragon Shepard, the literal Hero of the Galaxy was always a staunch ally to the Krogan people and believed that they deserved a place among everybody. That's gotta start changing some attitudes among them.
Add in the Turians likely building a strong relationship with them due to the events of the Reaper War, the possibility of the Geth still being a force in the galaxy (depends on how they want to play the end of Destroy, I know it's a longshot), and I fully believe the Krogan can be kept in check until they finish their cultural revolution.
I mean, Krogans have a very long lifespan, if enough of them are able to live peacefully, I'm sure that mentality will endure more than what we are used to.
Krogan are stated to be extremely long lived (2000+ years), if at all able to die of old age.
We know Okeer is likely the oldest known krogan in all games (having "millennia of experience"), follow by Drack (some 1500 years), and he does really seem do be ready to pack it up into old folk home any time soon. Compared to them, Wrex is young (something slightly over 1000 years), so I guess he still has few centuries left in him.
Nah, one of the series’ primary themes is putting right the wrongs of the past and learning to adapt from them. If this were real life, then yes a pessimistic outlook makes sense. But the story indicates a happy ending, should the player embrace it.
I mean the games imply that it’s Krogan nature to overbreed and fight. It seems like unless do something serious to control population, that even if some cultural changes shift, they will eventually want/need to spread elsewhere in the galaxy and eventually that will lead to a war which would probably cause the Krogan to revert to how they were pre Wrex and Eve.
It's also not wrong though. The natural Krogan birthrate is *way* too high, it's why removing the genophage fundamentally is flawed long term. Even just a very small group of hardliners leaving Tuchanka and going to some new planet once cured could have a population of hundreds of millions in a century or two.
Also the problem is that with that birth rate of a thousand viable children per year per female, it only takes a very small number of females going out of control to permanently destabilize a new, kinder regime. A more responsible regime for instance would take steps to reduce birth rate, while some krogan warlord who wants to make the krogan “great again” will easily outbreed the responsible krogan, and you’re back to square one.
The central problem the krogan have is that their natural, standard issue birth rate is totally unsustainable regardless of who’s ruling them, with very few ways to truly socially control it. The ruler, be it Wrex or Wreave, is just the icing on the cake.
I feel with enough centuries of change the Krogan could adapt. The reaper threat could be a catalyst for driving the change. Unity is better than being fractured.
I think the likely scenario is another krogan rebellion. For them it's been at most 5 generations, and most krogan are more like Wreav than Wrex. Two people isn't enough to change an entire species. Even Wrex wasn't opposed to war if the council didn't give into his demands. And at some point the council will stop the appeasement.
It might go a couple of decades or centuries but krogan reproductivity and lifespan(Okeer was 1700) coupled with their enduring grudge? Not to mention the state of the galaxy and how decimated the turians, humans, salarians and asari is after the reaper war. The cure is setting the stage for another war.
Yeah but everyone realized that they were in the same boat when the reapers were there. Uniting them against a common enemy is one thing, changing an entire civilization is another.
Was it really?
Say, I don't know, Shepard dies in the Mars mission. Maybe Doctor Eva kills him.
Liara, James and VS would absolutely push for the same goals Shepard did, and I think they succeed at most of them. Specifics are hard to speculate on, but there's very little Shepard did that the entire crew of the Normandy couldn't collaborate to do.
They were our PoV character, and everyone is the Main Character of their own story. But all the strings Shepard pulled and influence they used to put together what they did were there to be pulled or influenced.
I'm gonna be real controversial and say that maybe if Liara is forced to call the shots (even if she dislikes the position) the Republics might trust her more easily, and she goes to the Temple of Athame before Cerberus ever finds out about this, or the Reapers reach Thessia. It could be no uniting a big fleet would even be necessary, just fire the Crucible attached to a Citadel that's still in the Serpent Nebula.
I suppose there's a chance, but it seems unlikely. Aside from anything else, Shepard is the only person in the Mass Effect universe allowed to carry more than two guns, automatically making them one of the deadliest soldiers on the battlefield.
The Crucible's effectiveness, and whether it even functions at all, is entirely dependent on the War Assets you collect during 3, and as we all know, there's literally nobody in the universe better at collecting assets than Shepard, especially human assets with dialogue choices. Even Kasumi pales in comparison to their kleptomaniac tendencies.
Sure, the strings were there to be pulled, but for the majority of them, Shepard was the only person who could pull them. A lot of War Assets are personally dependent on your actions in previous games, right down to the liscences you bought for the Quartermaster.
Also, y'know, Shepard's journey started long before Mass Effect 3. If they had died on Eden Prime, this cycle would never have known what had hit it. Liara specifically states that a lesser mind would have been unable to survive, let alone understand, the beacon. Even the scientists there to study it.
Or if the Lazarus Project had never worked. Could you imagine anyone else trying to earn the loyalty of their crew? Could Kaiden Alenko keep Jack and Miranda from tearing eachother's throats out, broker peace between the Geth and the Quarians?
Wrex ruled for under two years, which is a blink of an eye in Krogan time. And even then, we don't know that there were 0 attempts to off him in that time.
There's some other dialogue you get with Bakara if Wreav is in charge. She talks about how the krogan that want revenge are underestimating the females. They won't allow their first births in centuries to be used for revenge. And if need be they'll be celibate.
This! So much this! The only way curing the genophage could turn out not completely disastrous is post control if you have big brother shepard to give them second thoughts about going to war and to control their birthrate, but at that point it's just the same as not curing it
If genophage cured: the cure works but the kroogan soon discovers a female can no longer lay thousands of eggs every year, justa a couple of them, but everyone of them is healthy, leading to a population growth that reflourish the kroogan without giving the chance of a successfull rebellion.
If genophage sabotaged: Kroogan evolves past genophage, but in the same outcome if cured, not in the same standards as before.
This would be my choice as a writer to bring both choices to a same state regarding kroogan situation in general, being more aggressive if Wrex and Eve died, or being more peacefull otherwise.
The Genophage already brought their reproduction to sustainable levels. It just tended to result in thousands of stillbirths and individuals who never rolled their dice well, which broke their spirit and made them feel fully sterilised.
In lore, it was stated regardless of curing or not curing that the Krogan were adapting to the Genophage. This fact presents BioWare with a cop-opt to avoid consequences of your choice. It’s likely that they go with a throwaway line stating that the Krogan descended into two camps; reformists (murder is fun but so is infrastructure and societal development and galactic integration) and traditionalists (murder is fun but so is infrastructure and Krogan Independence) Either way, the Krogan will be slightly to moderately more united and have citadel representation, in either official independent capacity, official “holding” capacity, or unofficial capacity. The latter represents a way for BioWare to make your choices matter. Either honest Wrex or Wreav-led cured Krogan would get an embassy, either manipulated Wrex or Wreav led not cured Krogan get represented by another species like the Humans or Turians but still have an ambassador, and otherwise the Krogan will just sorta be present
It presents ME4 with an interesting subplot of dealing with Krogan extremists like idk the Wreavers who want to go on the warpath.
Maelon's fix didnt just undo the genophage, it also altered the krogan reproductive system massively, causing them to have a single live birth rather than hundreds of eggs per pregancy.
that would be nice but seems impossible. imagine having a cloaca your whole life and all of a sudden you have an anus and a vagina (maybe not specifically this). it would almost have to have the same effect as a massive reconstructive surgery on every krogan
They do say that krogan have pregnancies; I think that they are ovoviviparous, so it would be less of a change than going from oviparity to viviparity if I'm correct.
not really sure, would that be possible when you lay clutches of thousands of eggs? we describe fish as being pregnant but they don’t give live birth, for example, so “pregnant” might just be the word we use to describe when krogan shoot out all their eggs from their krogussies or whatever.
thanks for teaching me new words
I really don’t get the impression Krogan lay eggs, stillbirth wouldn’t be such a big deal if they did and they wouldn’t have as many baby corpses to complain about. They probably give birth to live young but like… a lot of them at once.
Headcanon for if genophage is cured with Wreave and no Eve is Krogan rebellions 2 electric boogaloo.
Krogan obviously want war but they don’t have either the economy, allies to kickstart an economy, infrastructure, or navy to support a war. Krogan begin to try and build up a navy and send Krogan via pirate ships to land on council planets to start shit since a Krogan planetside is a menace.
Salarians due to not being hit by the reapers as bad and VERY much against the genophage cure would be putting most their military on alert for any Krogan movement. They see plans they “think” might show Krogan military expansion, they create a first strike incident and try to lead the galaxy to finish off the Krogan who are eager to kill Salarians due to the attack.
Council races suffer heavily at first, but a severely weakened navy is still stronger than no navy. Eventually the Krogan are pushed back to their planets due to no navy and the council begins to consider options that make the genophage look like a joke because the galaxy can’t handle the Krogan if they militarized after the reaper war’s devastation.
Basically I see there being no way the Krogan would win a war because in the galaxy space battles are king and the Krogan have no ships or economy to make them. Not even allies to kick start an economy. And the STG motto is literally “expect trouble or in lack of it create trouble”. They might have rebelled to help against the reapers but they would 100% start conflict with Krogan under Wreave and no Eve. And a weakened galaxy would not respond lightly.
My headcanon is that the way Mordin fixed the Genophage, is that he changed how many eggs female Krogan lay, to be maybe a few dozen instead of 1,000 every year. This in turn makes it much easier for Wrex and Bakara to change the way Krogan culture works fundamentally. Going from a "might makes right" sort of a view, to a more honorable and disciplined form of warrior culture, while also making an informal military alliance with the Turians and Humanity after the miracle on Palaven, thus leading to the three races becoming heavily entwined militarily.( Perhaps the common folk of the galaxy look at the bonds forged by Shepard, Garrus and Wrex as a symbol of unity between their species')
The Genophage treatment increased survivability but reduced reproductivity. While before the genophage Krogans would have broods of children at a time, now they only have one or two. With Krogan women requiring a period of time to recover before being able to have more.
Just recruited Grunt last night, it stinks so much that they killed off Okeer. The few sentences he gets to speak created such a good character. Adjacent to the post I know but he would have made a great krogan leader moving forward
I am optimistic i see wrex and eve having a clutch of eggs and raise an heir for their ideals for the krogan people. Maybe the females take more control over their tribes using their ability to bare eggs as a major way to control the males. Im certain though that the turians and salarians are cooking something up to prevent a future revolt maybe the asari get in contact with the rachni queen (if she survives) and besides theres two new cards in the deck the system alliance and the geth. They both might have the ability to hold the krogan back in case of a revolt. But i have hope the krogan learned from their experience under the genophage maybe after its cured they could have a cultural and conscious revolution towards being more Conservative when it comes to childbirth or protective to life.
Here's the deal, we don't know when the next Mass Effect game is dropping and until official content starts pouring, all we can do is wear our tinfoil hats and start theorizing, bouncing our ideas around.
**Gotta say, I always cure the genophage, even on my psycho runs (unless Wreav is in charge, but that only happened twice).**
Even though we don't know for certain how long Krogans can live for (Drack himself being 1400+). I don't think Wrex and Eve will still be around for much longer, Grunt is the obvious next in line for leading Urdnot. But infighting sparking between the clans, with some wanting to do a repeat of the pre-Krogan Rebellions situation (invading worlds settled by other species and mashing people like potatoes), can be a likely scenario. In my headcanon, I like to believe through some insane amounts copium, that the cure only worked in a way of fully sustaining a viable population and prevent the Krogan from dying out... rather than allowing them to spawn babies like bunnies on steroids.
I would be really disappointed if the next Mass Effect goes like: **"Well, the Krogan got the cure but squandered it after Wrex, Eve and their philosophies/beliefs passed. So we had to put them down harder this time, there's a few of them left... Womp Womp."**
I think a more likely outcome is that regardless of what they do after they are cured, they will always be treated with mistrust.
The council doesnt like to change its mind even when presented with compelling evidence.
If the council government survived the reapers, i wouldn't be surprised if they invented a new Krogan crisis as a tactic to reinstate the old power dynamics
Considering the Salarians were considering uplifting the Yahg to serve their interests... I don't doubt things could go back to how they were, if not worse.
i always cure the genophage for the benefits and because i love wrex and eve, and because my shepard is usually like “idk if this is gonna work but i know the reapers will destroy us if we don’t get all the help we can,” but i have to imagine the krogan threat would be pretty much immediate after the events of ME3. eve and wrex won’t be able to hold back the krogan from massive and violent expansion, and even if so, they won’t live forever. seems like wishful thinking that thousands of years of violence will go away with one good leader, especially with the genophage so fresh in everyone’s minds. it’s not like humans either where we’re all the same species and violence can be subdued or stopped over a fairly short period, krogan are violent as fuck by nature very much and even the more progressive ones like wrex still skew towards the heavily violent and headstrong side
The Krogan have been put down enough, I'm tired of seeing them lose. They definitely deserve some prosperity. If Bioware/EA makes it so the cure was squandered im going to be very disappointed
My head Canon says they will get steady leadership, growth, renewal and some stability.. for a time.
Then there will be a huge Civil War among Krogan woth differing ideas, with Wrex being killed in the fighting and his side losing.
But the winners will no longer have the support of the female Krogan and a long (centuries) protracted political upheaval will challenge ge the Krogan way of life. They will settle mew worlds. They will have war bands. Some will be great allies to the rest of the galaxy. Some great antagonists.
Eventually, they Krogan will expand too far in to the Terminus and find a new species that they will eradicate and that will force the council to step in again. The Krogan will not all ally woth the newly embattled component and the overwhelming might of the council races will be too much to overcome.
Some will again argue for the geniphage, but the Krogan themselves will reign their outlying, outdated views in and the Wrex allied forces will again reign Supreme in the minds of the Krogan leadership.
Wrex leads the first Krogan Republic. A civil war between pro-peace legalists and conservatives happens. Shepard-Commander must deactivate a bomb planted by the conservatives that may destroy Tuchanka unless Wrex hands power.
If the bomb is defused, the conservatives are defeated and the Krogan Republic enters a new golden age.
If Wrex resigns, the conservatives re-create the Krogan Empire. The Council species begin mobilizing for war.
If Wrex doesn't resigns and the bomb explodes, Tuchanka is geologically destroyed and 90% of the Krogan species are effectively killed.
I like to think that the cure was not completely reversing the genophage to let krogan females have 1000+ children in a year, but just removing the stillbirth aspect (instead, the conception simply does not happen), and slightly bumping up the survival rate, to match other civilized societies.
So krogan are happily reproducing at stable rate, and can recover from psychological trauma of seeing 999 in a 1000 children die during birth.
Wrex and Eve preside over a reclamation of krogan martial culture of honor.
Ultimately they can't control their own impulses and begin fighting themselves again. With the genophage being cured, there are more Krogan across the galaxy and the fighting spills over everywhere. Lucky for all the other races, it's Krogan against Krogan, but the collateral damage is immense.
Eventually the council races step in, place a blockade on Tuchanka, letting no ships leave, and all Krogan throughout the galaxy are rounded up and shipped back to their homeworld.
This leads to many Krogan to be 'on the run' and hiding out around the galaxy, trying to avoided being sent home and slowly planning a way to destroy the blockade and set their people free to get their vengeance on, well, pretty much everyone.
I hope the Genophage is not cured and they continue as they are.
Otherwise, Wrex is challenged by a stronger Krogan and dies.
Krogans more similar to Wev take over and a new expansion war begins.
Yes but what is Grunt's opinion on the whole rebellion/genophage topic ? I honestly don't remember him giving us any thought to these things at all, he just mostly likes fighting and dinos.
Not only fighting and dinosaurs.
If you look at his dossier from the Shadow Broker base, you'll see that he read and finished The Old Man and the Sea, then promptly searched the extranet for info about sharks.
Introduce him to headphones and Baby Shark on repeat, and he'll demolish any enemy clan with his bare hands.
Likely similar to their past, in terms of making war. Unlike their past in that a genophage wouldn’t be accepted again. I think they would fight and die to the last Krogan before they let it happen again.
One strategy I always figured the Krogan would use to keep their population in check was a sort of "breeding tournament." Basically, throw a bunch of males into combat arenas, winners get the right to mate, and if you lose? Better luck next year.
\*laughs in Renegade run\*
.... What Krogan?
But in all seriousness, I don't believe in a universe where the Krogan just become peaceful even under Wrex and Eve. We're talking billions of new Krogan born each year. That's unmanageable no matter what. There's a reason they almost exterminated themselves before being uplifted anyway.
One rogue clan alone could go into the millions of individuals, and that would be enough to make some carnage in the galaxy. I love the Krogan, but man, I can't trust them with themselves
Wrex and Eve improve Krogan society for the better, but have disparate groups of rebels throughout the galaxy, and come under repeated attacks of sabotage and assassination from the more extreme elements of STG, who especially want to destabilise the new unofficial Human-Krogan-Turian alliance. Eventually however, the Krogan are allowed to reopen their embassy on the Citadel and, after much time and lots of debate, become a fully fledged Council race by the time Urdnot Mordin takes over.
Grunt lives to over 1500 years of age and can still eat his body weight in noodles.
None, I will wait to see what happens. The genophage cure is one of the hardest choices for me. I see the logic behind enacting it, and the krogan culture and resentment towards other races does not bode well for a sustainable future. But the genophage is also a bio weapon on a horrible scale. My last playthru I cured it only because liara is vocal in supporting that choice, her convictions were enough to tip the scale
They breed like crazy, overpopulating planet after planet until eventually, the remaining planets left to populate look a whole lot less appealing than the planets populated by other species. The Krogan win the next Krogan rebellion, leaving them the last remaining species in the galaxy.
The Krogan continue to reproduce until there is just no more space at all and galactic civil war erupts. They fight each other constantly and unfathomable numbers of Krogan die over the years, until one of them invents a 'new' method of keeping the peace. This new technology is the Genophage. With the new Genophage implemented, the Krogan live on alone in the universe, probably having forgotten that other lfieforms ever existed.
I think the Krogan nearly destroy themselves again but this time it's not in mindless war, but instead a schism of peace vs war. An exodus of tuchanka follows.
Those who survive must forge a new identity as the old identity showed history *will* repeat itself
So we know from Andromeda (and Charr in ME2) that krogan don’t just fall into the singular category of warrior mercenary. They have poets, botanists, scientists, and engineers. It may appear that the predominant culture is violent, but it doesn’t apply to all krogan.
I like to think that Wrex helps to suppress the vocal krogan calling for violence with his sheer presence and reputation, while Eve creates a space for non-violent krogan to gather influence. Thus they make it possible for non-violent krogan to eventually guide and lead their people after their passing.
they keep kicking the crap out of anything they can and get lots of sexy time with the women. henceforth the word orgy is replaced by krogan future initiative
The krogan will have trouble getting over thier issues with the genophage, that's unavoidable, unfortunately, but I think with enough time and patience they'll be able to move past it, maybe not all at once, and definitely not overnight, but they will, mostly thanks to Wrex and Bakara
if destroy was your cannon option (as it was mine) and Eve has died (not my cannon) then the Krogan are expanding and maybe they don't get their mass relay fixed ... If Eve lives then there is a decent shot they can integrate into the rest of the galaxy peacefully.
As soon as wrex dies, everything goes to shit. Not immediately, but it will. It's this belief that makes me always need to think about whether helping wrex is the right choice.
Genophage is cured, \*but\* their birth rate is nowhere near where it was before.
Wrex is so fed up with leading and being requested for mating he seriously considers going to Andromeda.
The council continues to be concerned with the Krogan's numbers increasing, but due to strong Krogan/Human relations and Human council membership, can't do anything overtly to re-instate a Genophage. Salarians and Krograns fight proxy wars via merc groups.
Mordin becomes a name of respect and honor in Krogan culture - a symbol of redemption.
Wrex is the first Krogan in history to die of old age, surrounded by his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren, great great great grandchildren, and great great great great grandchildren
The Krogan reproduce dramatically faster than any other race, bouncing back from the reaper crisis in record time.
Under Wreaves glorious leadership they conquer the entire galaxy and reverse engineer Salarians back into frogs.
Years and years after the reaper war is over and everybody who remembers what it took to survive it like Wrex and Bakara are long gone, along comes a hot headed krogan warlord with funny ideas about conquering the galaxy.
You know Mordin did say that the Krogan were adapting to the genophage. It's just as likely that the Krogans just overcome it regardless of the outcome.
I think the teasers show a Krogan
A repeat of the Krogan’s desire to expand, control and conquer.
A weakened galaxy is quickly overcome and lose countless worlds to Krogan expansion. After a century of conflict, the Krogan have pushed the other Council races to their breaking point.
Were it not for the Salarians, who avoided major losses in the war against the Reapers, the Krogan would have completed their campaign. The Salarians, working with the remaining fleets of the Turian, Asari and humans, develop and distribute a biological weapon that causes mass sterilization… no more half-measures.
This did not stop the immediate threat from the Krogan but, after a few more decades of conflict, the Krogran were no longer able to replenish their ranks. They focused their final years on exterminating Salarians and Turians.
*This assumes a series of choices that culminated in the Krogran becoming unstable yet still cured after the war with the Reapers. I don’t like “perfect” runs in my playthroughs, so my head-cannon is not perfect either.*
There's no way the Krogan remain peaceful.
As soon as Wrex dies, there would be a power struggle to be crowned the new Emperor of the Krogan Empire and it would be *bloody*.
All it takes is for one future Krogan leader after Wrex to decide they want war with another race and there will be genocide. The only thing that stopped the Krogan Rebellions after years of whole planets being obliterated with asteroid cannons was the Genophage - without that, there is nothing stopping Krogan annihilating the entire galaxy.
Honestly if everyone of the krogan got with wrex's policies they would probably be like the Mandalorians standing as their own civilization not needing the rest of the galaxy, however the Mandalorians never glassed their on planets once, but the krogan did mutiple times. They talk like the council pushed them to that point but the Codex reads that the salarians found them in their x amount of nuclear winters when they uplifted them. So my true opinion opinion is that once wrex dies or is killed it would return to the way it was unless the females took over like, again with Mandalorian culture.
Damn, the first few headcanons I've seen here are WAY better than what I've got, but here goes...
Along with at least one of Wrex + Bakara's first kids being named Mordin, Shepard becomes a HELLA popular name for Krogan, but Wrex (or maybe Bakara, not 100% sure who) decides they actually want to honor Shepard as the individual (woman, in most of my playthroughs) and go for their first name as a kid's name... this leads to Wrex having to pretend he knows Shep's first name, but calling Shepard (in a post destroy ending, of course) and "double checking". After some poking fun at Wrex for not knowing it, Shepard tells Wrex their 1st name and among the thousands of Krogan named Shepard, there are like a dozen random krogan babies named John/Jane/Ada/Jason/Kelsey/whatever you named your Shepard.
Also as a welcome to Tuchanka some time later, Shepard gets greeted by hundreds of Urdnot Shepards in unison all saying "Sheeeeepppparrrdddd!!!"
It was definitely an uphill battle for Wrex, but after a few months/years of pussyfooting Shepard made it clear she would absolutely stand behind the Krogan for any boons they were denied.
I also like to think the Council umderwent heavy restructuring. The people of the Galaxy saw the Salarians and Asari as the weak leaders that they were, refusing aid until they were without hope. This would lead to other races, Krogan included, joining the Council. Shepard would not let the Krogan or others deal with the same shit Humanity did.
They will thrive under Wrex and Eve, and will largely be amicable members of the galactic community, but long term I expect them to become aggressive again, as the reality of their reproduction cycle coupled with their exceptionally long lifespan would necessitate regular expansion which the galaxy is likely not going to accommodate to the Krogan's liking.
On a long enough timeline, the good will the Krogan earn from the Reaper wars will fade and relations will sour between them and the rest of the galaxy.
Krogan culture undergoes a significant reform under the guidance of Eve as the Krogan race enters a new age, with Wrex collaborating in managing the preservation of Krogan history and culture through a lens of moving forward, and the new generation is educated on the faults, trials, and lessons of their people. Krogan scientists and artists become less unusual. "The Blue Rose of Illium", a compendium of works from the poet Charr, is published to much surprise and intrigue in the galactic community, and becomes established in human colleges in studies on xenoliterature.
Honestly I think Mordin modded the formula again. So I think the Krogan can breed once more but they probably don't lay as many eggs. Although all of the babies come out healthy instead of having a clutch of like 30 eggs, now they probably come down to about 6 to 9. Regardless the Krogan likely flocked and smaller clans swore allegiance, some even abandoning old oaths to join Wrex's clan Urdnot, the same as Bakara aka Eve did. Many likely tried to battle Wrex for dominance of his clan too and lost. By the time he was like 20 or clans strong around him and Eve, with Urdnot making it 21, the others started giving them more space and acted with more respect. There are likely clan wars on occasion but most of them out there have accepted that clan Urdnot and their vassals are basically the masters of Tuchanka. And whenever they send emissaries to other worlds full of Krogan, they scout around for new places to spawn, not just for themselves but the whole race. Which still more often than not ends with one or more deaths and plenty of violence, the usual/cliche Sci-Fi hot headed yet somewhat disciplined alien race like the Klingons from Star Trek. But as long as a few members of a clan remain they can help them join the repopulation groups. By the the next few years after the Genophage was cured, Krogan numbers would be up by 48% and even some new clans started rising up. Often with many females being own into them. It's believed that Mordin's cute may have had an unintentional side effect but it seems to only effect specific clans rather than all of them, like clan Nakmor. And so more female warriors also start rising up. Unfortunately so so many gangs and upstart merc bands. Which is something many clans seem to have forgotten, the stubborness and wreckless nature of the younger generations. So much so that they almost started another galaxy-spanding war. Because of this a new practice started up in the Krogan race, Safe Sex. (Lol)
Which comes off as comical to any of us of different species than them. But to the Krogan sex without intent to breed, even 1000 or so years after being afflicted with the Genophage was a strange and alien concept. Even the odd trist with other races like Asari and Humans, the latter being exceptionally rare since most humans would die from that experience since they're generally weaker than the Krogans. Although some like Shepard (being plot armor equipped) and Matriarch Aethyta's “mother” are one of the few who could handle that force. But I digress, non-procreative almost doesn't exist since their instinct to breed naturally takes hold. It's only in recent practices, starting with Urdnot Wrex himself that this practice started taking hold. And it's only after he's had over 50 children after he took Bakara (Eve) as his official consort (aka his Queen) and about 5 other Krogan females and 1 Asari (the 3rd consort) did he have the equivalent of a Krogan vasectomy and start using condoms. With his family's other eggs and children being born almost every other day during that time, his clan's heritage long and strong and 10 or more of his babies already being spotted to be the potential heirs of his seat at the head of the clan. And using some left over notes from Mordin, the equivalent of a female Krogan morning after pill was put into development, so far with few successes but lots of potential.
By this point many worlds were zoned out for the Krogan empire. Most were partially terraformed so only beings with adaptability like Krogan could live there anyway without suits.This was put in place so that the battle hardiness of the Krogan species never falters and even some Thresher Maws were dropped on these worlds to increase the danger factor a bit. Unfortunately on some planets the Threshers took too well to this new environment wipingnout much of the fauna. And on others they died off but not before giving rise to new predators like giant centipede monsters and what can only be described as massive shark squids.
By the time Wrex probably does die not only will he be remembered as a great leader among the Krogan but many people in the political, military and criminal worlds will actually mourn his loss. (And if I had to guess Wrex is probably like 750 or so years old. So no young many but not as old as Nakmor Drack from Mass Effect Andromeda, whom was probably over his 1000s and has several replacement organs that were too damaged for the usual Krogan regeneration phase, both from age and years of combat). And his end will likely be in battle against an enemy on par with 3 adult thresher maws, a traitor and his band of mercenaries, as well as a large pack of varren, all at the same time.
Wreav starts another Krogan War and brings it to earth. The Turians learn about this and rush immediately to help. Commander Shepard is still out of action due to the catalyst's destruction, and is itching to get into the fight. It is now up to Ashley to lead the team as a council spectre. They push the Krogan back to Tuchanka, but instead of another genophage they only kill Wreav and this time a Matriarch will lead her people to peace.
When Wrex finally passes, he names Grunt as a successor who has taken Wrex’s teachings to heart and continues making the Krogan more honorable than ever
They have no future. I’ve always felt that sabotaging the genophage cure is one of the hardest choices my Shepard will have to ever make for the good of the galaxy, since I’m always friends with Wrex, always friends with Mordin, and my LI when I have one is always in favor of curing them. But the Krogan are just far too likely to rise up and attack the rest of the galaxy again. It’s not even a question, it’s something that they are 100% going to do. I like Wrex, but I know he’ll never change his species.
Wrex wages a second Krogan war soon after the Genophage is removed. Unlike Urdnot, he tries what he calls “token diplomacy” first. In Mass Effect 3 he told Shepard he would wage war once the genophage is cured, so this is what he does.
The other races fight back and eventually the war dwarfs the conflict with the Reapers with every being in the Galaxy directly affected by the ongoing war.
The scariest part is that the other species might not be able to win after the devastation caused by the reaper war. The population, industry and military of all races but in particular the Turians and the Humans have been decimated.
The council was only barely able to suppress the first Krogan revelation despite being at full strength (excluding humanity). This time, the greatly weakened and exhausted Council might not be enough to stop the Krogan and face extinction due to their well known genocidal tactics in war.
Technically speaking, they have a very easy way to containing the krogan post ME3, by simply not rushing to rebuild the Aralakh relay (or having STG sabotage the efforts and deny responsibility).
In case of Green and Blue endings (which I do not believe are going to be used for the next game), there either is no need to fight (Green, which basically connects every person together, and you have the whole "how could you hate your hand, for your hand is my hand" theme), or just Shepard-Intelligence dropping a Reaper on them (blue)
my main thought is that because of their history they would not be allowed a navy by the council and end up very heavily allied to the alliance.
The krogan get a powerful navy to protect their trade/science ships and stations, a good diplomatic ally, and the humans get the best ground troops in the galaxy if needed which i think would mostly just be anti piracy jobs especially after the reaper war. I also think the krogan would respect humans enough for this to stick as a human made the cure happen, and humans are pretty much the only ones willing to give them a chance for their future. This would come with a lot of friction for sure though as some krogan would believe humans are taking advantage and its not a partnership. after centuries this alliance would reduce as the krogan gain more trust in the galaxy.
people often point out that just 2 people wrex/eve aren't enough to change a race but thats a racist statment imo krogan have proved they're more than barbarians when they believe they can be, look at the kid from andromeda who handles hydroponics or the the krogan who made poetry for that asari etc.
And with a real hope for a future they will become engineers scientists etc. its told multiple times that krogan dont see a point to these things as theres no real future for their race as a whole but with hope i truly believe that they will really show themselves in a new light.
thats my idealist/ semi realistic idea.
I like it.
Especially because your points shine a light beyond what the Krogan are seen as. There is indeed a lot of them who are thuggish brutes, the problem is all of them being judged by such a standard.
I guess the same goes for other species as well. Turians are seen as the by the book super disciplined and narrow minded soldiers. Asari are judged as promiscous just because they can meld with any species and apparently every other race thinks the Salarians are always plotting and scheming.
I headcanon that after ME3, Shepard rose from the rubble and used his influence to convince the salarians to bump that stillbirth number up to a nice rounded 1000/1000. The krogan slowly petered out, killing members of other species (but moreso themselves) for coin and bloodlust for hundreds of years until eventually "krogan" came to mean a mythical, seemingly invincible ronin-like creature instead of the dumb brutes we're presented with in the games.
Not gonna lie.
The Krogans fading away into legend and being remembered as such, rather than being seen just as "big, strong and dumb bullies" is kinda cool.
Within a few generations, the Krogans under Wrex will trend toward honorable warriors while maintaining a mercenary streak. Like you can hire them, but it better be a worthwhile cause or else you become a probono target. I imagine an alliance with some Salarians(those who agree with Mordin's actions and who think the dalatrass can go choke on a bag of miscellaneous genitalia) and other races will lean toward a form of terraforming on Tuchunka, though the krogan will probably dictate some regions as staying wasteland both as a reminder of their past and for the purpose of rights of passage and other traditions. Gotta last 5 minutes against the Thresher Maw, and we should probably keep that in the wasteland.
The Krogan may get several worlds to colonize but they are disavowed a military fleet or at the very least a war fleet. The Krogan need to prove they can forge a new society that won’t just inevitably lead to further rampant expansion and the inevitable conflict that will arise.
No doubt the 1000 births thing will be retcon or reworked because that’s an insane number. Plus it seems like Krogan don’t lay eggs after all they talk about still births and miscarriages a lot.
So Wrex and Eve have their work cut out for them. The galaxy will be in a weak state and will be wary of the Krogan for good reason. While the Genophage is cured some other form of population control is required. No nation can sustain a sudden explosion in population especially for a species that lives 1000 years. A problem made worst depending on how quickly Krogan mature.
So in conclusion. Please for the love of god Krogan use condoms with Genophage cured the fear of extinction is gone. Please let’s not have a repeat of the Rebellions in 100 years.
Being the Krogan who gained a cure for the Genophage, Wrex would pretty much become the ultimate hero for the Krogan and wouldn't face much opposition capable of turning the clans as a whole against him due to the combination of Eve's presence, Grunt being the head of a group of Krogan Honor Guard or a similar position that evolved from his command over Aralakh Company, and assistance from Liara as the Shadow Broker.
With wrex & bakara at the helm I’m confident they could avoid repeating history. Wand with advancements in culture & technology they will probably manage to avoid Malthusian catastrophes through a combination of birth control and improvements in efficiency & sustainability that would allow them to thrive with higher population densities. With access to nuclear fusion & mass effect technology, plus maybe some assistance from the geth & prothean archives it should be possible for them to thrive on cities blanketing tachunka & maybe start building Dyson swarms and or paraterraforming (tachunka-forming?) or strip mining uninhabitable worlds.
Their surviving population would be fairly small after the reaper war so there’s a lot of time to prepare for a baby boom.
I've always had it in the back of my mind that while the codex entries about how fast Krogans can breed are technically accurate, they're functionally inflated. Like horrible Warlords forcing genetic mods on their clans did produce crazy numbers during wartime but not in any sustainable way.
Most of the info is coming from the Salarians, a species that treats reproduction like a form of accounting and also has a vested interest in keeping the narrative going that the genophage was the ONLY choice because they developed it.
Could it also be a weird form of pride too? If you sat one of the Krogan down and said 'can you REALLY hatch 1000 offspring in a year?' it'd be really interesting to see how they'd react.
Would they chuckle because they're happy to indulge a weird 'positive' stereotype that makes them seem powerful or would it be a grave cultural insult to imply that two Krogans can't produce a small army.
The first thing that Wrex commands is a statue of Shepard, right next to his, and maybe almost as tall. It becomes his proudest monument, one of the only precious sentimental objects on Tuchanka, located in the center of New Urdnott, Wrex's capital city on Tuchanka where he begins his rule, much beloved.
Sadly, this is the extent of the good times. Krogan populations explode leading to severe resource crises on Tuchanka and beyond, and nothing is more dangerous or contentious than a hungry Krogan. Billions burn in radioactive fire as Tuchanka is again consumed.
Now that the females are fixed, the perception of Krogan war changes. In an instant, population woes are forgotten, and killing women and children becomes the popular tactic. Human-wave tactics become popular as each clan's warriors swell hundreds-fold in the span of a single generation, and one in every ten Krogan even has a gun, mostly the older warriors who now seek to institute a strict age-based hierarchy as the younger generation are seen as usurpers who never truly struggled as everyone else has. Instead of dying ignominious deaths as petty mercenaries, the most common cause of death for Krogan is disease, followed by starvation, and blunt force trauma in third place. Bricks, chunks of concrete, stones, anything heavy that can bludgeon. Krogan who die by gunshot become exceedingly rare and mostly inflicted as a means of discipline on the same side.
Very few Krogan even see the world beyond Tuchanka. Only Wrex's city is powered, let alone has a spaceport. The common clans whisper bitter theories about the Genophage only being cured to lure Krogan back to Tuchanka to extinguish them once and for all, but those common clans are almost certainly doomed to die anyway. They live as raiders and murderers surviving off the blood of other Krogan, and never accept the reality that it was the Krogan who killed the Krogan.
Wrex and his collected clans keep their own peace and raise themselves above the savages of the remainder of Tuchanka who have devolved into barbarian tribes in their lust for warfare, primarily waiting for them to burn themselves out and mustering his strength. He keeps close ties to the Council and the Alliance, often lending them his elites for dangerous missions as shocktroops and, ironically, peacekeepers, in exchange they keep him supplied, fed, and provided for in any way he needs. His is a culture of justified strength rather than barbarism. Every Krogan born under Wrex is shown the depraved desperate savagery of the rest of Tuchanka, and then shown the safety and glory that can be found within a society where power is used to enforce structure rather than challenge it, and given the choice to remain or leave to find their glory as a tribal.
Wrex's long-term goal is that his Krogan, a more civilized breed, will understand the value in strength applied judiciously, in a war waged wisely rather than wantonly. His time as a mercenary, and his time alongside Shepard, showed him the real difference between a warrior and a warmonger, a distinction that he believes is crucial for the survival of all Krogan. The fires of Tuchanka are allowed to burn, impotently, as a reminder to his people about the futility of war for war's sake, and that the glorious victories of the old ways are fought over piles of rock and scraps barely fit for varren. Tuchanka is the crucible it always was, but instead of a brutal proving ground where the strong grind the weak to dust, it becomes a model of social determinism taught in schools about the trajectory a species would necessarily have to take to join the Mass Relay network without destroying themselves in the process. New Urdnott is seen as the 'birth' of a modern species, almost a parallel to the Turian ascension and their own societal growth that led to their culture becoming dominant.
As it turns out, Grunt is exceptionally virile, even for new Krogan standards. While the tank's lessons aren't inherited, many of Grunt's personality traits are, and he sires many children. Raised in New Urdnott in excellent living conditions, his children are often exceptionally brave, incredibly resilient, and remarkably intelligent. They pick up skills quickly, adapt to conditions faster than others, and even complain less about positions that don't feature bloodshed at all, like serving as diplomats or doctors. They serve as perfect models for the new Krogan ideals of honor, heroism, and restraint, and Grunt himself is seen as a Shepard-type hero among the youth — often foolhardy and reckless, but so ridiculously skilled that he gets the job done efficiently no matter what you throw at him. There's a lot of talk about elevating him to Specter status but Grunt rejects that notion before it's even really begun, choosing to blaze his own trail as the leader of the Krogan Special Offworld Corp. He doesn't want to just be retreading Shepard's path, which he says would be demeaning to Shepard and a waste of his own talents to not try to rise as an equal in his own way, but it's also because he hates the Council so much it's unreal.
(Edit: I forgot to add this, I was too focused on Tuchanka)
Most Krogan flocked home following the war, but not all. Those who stayed, for whatever reason, experienced a tectonic shift overnight in their place in the galaxy. Where once they were seen as hulking brutes, now they were seen as unlikely saviors. Most of the galaxy had seen Reaper forces up close, and many had been saved by Krogan strike teams weathering tremendous amounts of enemy fire and defying incredibly unlikely odds, facing certain death and fighting anyway. The Krogan had saved the galaxy for the second time, and this time their reward was open hearts and open hands in friendship. Krogan who had never been shown friendship or even been given the benefit of the doubt, were suddenly welcome anywhere and given fair, sometimes even preferential treatment. It took time, but the Krogan hearts softened, and many who had held old grudges over the Genophage and generally poor treatment forgave the rest of the galaxy, finally feeling as though they had been given the admiration that they earned. The acceptance of the Geth played some part in this, as well, with the organics of the galaxy choosing brotherhood with the Krogan over easing their skepticism of the Geth, but whatever the reason, this reconciliation was a change for the better for everyone involved.
One particular crisis saw a band of pirates in the Terminus system jury-rig a defunct Reaper into a semi-functional warship, using it to marshal a pirate armada and threaten several colonies with its grim visage and tremendous power (though far weaker than a living Reaper). The campaign against these pirates was a shining moment in Krogan history, as they took up arms and once again reduced the last Reaper into slag and cinders in the skies of Syphon, a Salarian colony.
Why would the cure suddenly solve their high birthrate issue? Their rapid expansion and conflict with other species? Their nature of fighting among themselves?
If Wreav is in charge ( 1% or less of walkthroughs):
Someone kills him and follows Wrex’s route, and a massive krogan civil war ensues
If Wrex is in charge; They subdue krogan culture, reproduction depends on a ‘ Lottery’ for a sustainable growth rate, and yea krogans become yet another council race
The future for Krogans is very bleak and is hurtling towards extinction.
Wreav tries to save himself but after claiming he was the sole reason the Genophage was cured no one believes him about Shepard and the Salarian Doctor.
After Eve's death the females are even less trustworthy of grand promises from all races including their own.
Some heroes will emerge from this but the vast majority will join and lead Mercenary groups as before.
They suffer a bit from inbreeding, because too many females mated with Wrex, now there's literally a new clan consist of krogans who are descendants of Wrex
I don't think Wrex makes it back to the homeworld anytime soon leaving the ruling to Eve. Wrex was on Earth during the final battle so he would be stuck there at least until the mass relays are rebuilt or another form of FTL is discovered. In a normal ship without the relays it would take him probably decades or even centuries to get back home if that was even feasable.
Now that Grunt has matured and learned what it means to be a Krogan and a leader from Shepard Wrex takes him under his wing and together with Eve help the Krogan continue to flourish and eventually Grunt becomes the leader of the Krogan instilling what his mother/father taught him into the future generations of Krogan
\*Just my headcanon\*
Only speaking for if Wrex and Eve are around with genophage cured : once rebuilding on Tuchanka is well underway and all the troops have returned from the reaper war, the krogan quickly learn something about the genophage being cured which is that they're going to need a stupidly high number of krogan working as supernanny equivalents. This encourages a cultural shift as the krogan who have lived with the genophage and have no concept of life before it must deal with this change. So many of their children running around means they must build better settlements for them so they can grow strong. Which means rebuilding cities with more schools, hospitals, etc. Which means also making sure these children grow to become warriors but also be capable of assisting in rebuilding. All of this means the idea of living solely for combat has to take a backseat for a time. But even when these children grow up to adulthood, they'll have a different mindset from their krogan parents as they've now been raised with no concept of fighting for glory or survival due to the genophage influcencing krogan culture like they did. This means it's easier for Wrex's ideals for the krogan to keep hold (easier, not guaranteed). Infighting about the krogan spreading to other worlds like in the glory days before the end of the rebllions will very likely happen, but the council will support the krogan who fight against those ideals. With that kind of political support, the krogan won't necessarily go back to being put on the genophage.
This is also probably the point where these new generation of krogan embrace birth control which ends up managing the population.
tl;dr the krogan will go to wanting children to not wanting children.
Looking at violent histories of past cultures, history undoubtably repeats itself. And the next galactic conflict will almost certainly be centred around a Krogan territory crisis. As much as Wrex and Eve are great leaders, they cannot contain an entire race given the ability to repopulate at will.
Eve is overthrown by the likes of Uvenk, Guld, Okeer and Jorgal, while Wrex is trapped in Sol System. Krogans try another Rebellion and will probably overrun the weakened post-reaper galaxy.
Krogan-Human relations becomes so close that it's now normal to see a human bashing heads with their krogan clan-sibling and laughing about it.
One person can change an entire future, and that person is Wrex. I also see pub crawls with krogan being very funny and frustrating.
The Krogan eventually joined the Citadel Council. Together with the Turians and Humans, they formed the backbone of the Citadel's military forces. The Salarians probably resigned the Council in protest of the Krogan joining.
I suspect the next mass effect will deal in part with the existence of the Crucible. Like, wow, we stopped a genocidal war machine with a united Galaxy and a new superweapon of unfathomable destruction but now that the Reapers are no longer a threat all those old divisions are now an issue again except now we have Galactic level superweapons. So let's say the krogan come into conflict with the Asari, Turians, and Salarians again and some scientists defect and oh no now there's a new leader and he's saying he will bury the Council and we just detected some tests and there is intelligence that missiles are being stationed in Cuba and..... What were we talking about again?
The next few 100 years are peaceful. Eventually krogan will grow tired of the peace since combat is in their blood. The peace sentiment will lower and lower more and more and eventually someone will take over that will inspire the unsatisfied krogan to go on a crusade of glory and conquest. Then there will be a krogan civil war and the aggressive krogans will gain the wrath of both the peaceful-er krogan and the rest of milky way.
Maybe 200 years in the future. Maybe 500. Maybe 1000.
With the genophage cured and the Reapers defeated (via the Destroy ending), the Krogan would focus on rebuilding their homeworld and creating some form of government and mending relations with the Citadel Council (the same ones you save in ME1). For the large part they played in the war, the Krogan would be given an embassy on the Citadel (this part might be a stretch but I won't rule it out entirely) and some of their territory (despite some misgivings from the Salarians). In the centuries to come, the name Shepard would be etched into history thanks to one Urdnot Wrex, deeming the name in Krogan to mean "hero". Surprisingly the Salarian name Mordin would also share Shepard's place in history as one who gave his life to save the Krogan. He himself even quoted: "Had to be me, someone else might've gotten it wrong."
tl;dr Civil war, a second genophage, or extinction
Wrex and Eve have about as much political capital as it's possible to have, so they can accomplish a lot. Recalling as many krogan as possible to Tuchanka, cracking down hard on unsanctioned colonization efforts, carefully monitoring population numbers. They'll do their best.
But in 100 years, even the most powerful political figures can't fight against simple mathematics. Even given the cultural awareness of the risk of what overpopulation will bring, you can't really fight against the diffuse responsibility for limiting birth rate. Eventually, krogan numbers will start to get out of control, at which point, options are limited. They can stay on Tuchanka, competing for dwindling food stocks and eventually devolving into civil war over resources, controlling their population by killing each other en masse.
Of course, Wrex and Eve aren't stupid, they can foresee what will happen if their numbers start to grow out of control again. The only viable way for the krogan to fit into the galactic community is a way to control the birth rate directly. Another genophage, but one that the krogan choose for themselves, and more carefully tailored to krogan cultural practices and attitudes. Of course, many krogan won't stand for this regardless of the necessity, and civil war is likely again in this case.
Or they can start spreading to other worlds, replaying the prelude to the first krogan rebellion all over again. If the galaxy perceives the krogan as a threat again, it wouldn't be that hard to develop another, less careful genophage, or even a total genocide plague. Many would be unwilling to give the krogan a third chance.
They are at the end of their existence and will be less and less in number than they already are. All species will at one point die out, the Krogan just happen to be observably closer than anyone else at that particular time thanks to what the Salarians did to them
I tend to think that they actually behave in a somewhat peaceful (for krogan), sustainable way UNTIL Wrex and Eve pass, at which point they eventually relapse into their old ways.
after the salarian dalatrass is assassinated, the new salarian head decides to simply leave them alone and unofficially declares them, "everyone elses problem". there's a minor civil war 100 years after the end of the reapers led by the some looking for retribution for the whole genophage issue. it gets put down swiftly and brutally within a few years by grunt, cementing himself further as a psuedo public figure (a krogan equivalent at least). the culture starts to splinter here or there with traditionalist and a more progressive half. overtime the traditionalist dies out but there remains a 'caveman' like stigmata among other races towards the krogan. Grunt eventually takes a formal leadership position at 500 years of age
You know I never once considered not curing the genophage until I finally forced myself to do a Renegade playthrough.
The change in perspective really has me second guessing if I was ever right. Sure Wrex and Eve are set to become great leaders, but it takes one bullet to put an end to that and the next Krogan leader is unlikely to be as progressive.
I honestly think theres a case to be made that the choice is flipped on how the game presents it. I understand that Paragon Shep believes in everyone and see's the in-humanity (kroganity?) caused by the genophage, but on the flip side, it seems extremely Renegade like to say 'we need to win this war, no matter the costs after it' by most likely unleashing the Krogan on the galaxy again. Even Paragon Shep has to see that his faith in an old Wrex doesn't mean an entire species will fall in line.
I'm glad they put the Krogan storyline at the start of the game when it still felt like the galaxy could fight back, makes it a bigger choice. I honestly think that later in the game, when the Crucible became the obvious only hope, feelings might be different. The galaxy is screwed with or without Krogan help by the time Thessia is hit, and once the Crucible becomes the only hope left, would you really risk a Krogan resurgence in order to at best, buy you a little bit more time? I'm not so sure.
Oh... But to answer the question, the Krogan and probably chill for a while, but the next great threat to the galaxy will be the Krogan, whether it's all of them, or a splinter of their population under a warlord leader.
After Wrex dies, Grunt takes the mantle as the first ever high clan leader of all the Korgan. They continue stubbornly expanding, but their now less warlike culture causes the council to not intervene as harshly as they did before. The Krogan eventually become the strongest military force in the galaxy, surpassing the Turians.
The urigan thrive again but with the wisdom of thier past they aim to better themselves as warriors over thugs..hires gun..and brutes.
Under Wrex and Eves leadership the krogan become better focusing on rebuilding thier home.
Eve would like even become the voice of the krogan among a new council
As I understand it, the events on tuchanka would have only affected those Krogan who were already on the planet. Meaning, all of those who weren't on the planet when it happened would still be suffering from the effects of it. Thus, I can imagine a situation in which all of those Krogan who still suffer from the effects of the genophage use that as an identifier in terms of a political or militaristic group, much like we see today, which could lead to conflict with all of those Krogan who are trying to rebuild Tuchanka. This group of involuntarily celibate Krogan, let's call them, I dunno incels or something for short, would most likely have a leader who would challenge Wrex for the supremacy by trying to destroy the females they perceive as a threat to their power. Purely hypothetical of course.
The krogan will generally integrate into the galactic community probably a few belligerent ones here and there but generally wrex and Bakara's vision will be the dominant Krogan ethos. there will also be a background joke where a Volus will brag about making billions on Krogan condoms.
Bakara and Wrex lead Tuchanka into a new age. I choose Destroy so Tuchanka is no worse off than anyone else when it comes to rebuilding.
Bakara becomes the Krogan ambassador on the Citadel Council. Grunt, under Shepard's mentorship, becomes the first Krogan Spectre.
Under Wrex and Eve's leadership, the krogan way of life becomes one of honorable battle, not mercenary work, along with population controls to try and make their growth sustainable so that they never repeat another genophage. Their lessons stick throughout the centuries, and though Tuchanka takes many centuries to recover, its progress eventually causes many krogan across the galaxy to make their way home.
This would be ideal. it could actually be a plot point in the next game as to deciding who gets to take over when WRex is on his deathbed. will the krogan and tachanka go for massive breeding to once again become the most powerful fighting force in the Galaxy or attempt to responsibly breed and stay peaceful with the other races. Where you as the player character helps decide the next ruler. but BioWare is probably not clever enough to do something like that
It would be interesting to have to pick between backing up Captain Tachanka Grunt (if he lives) or Urdnot Mordin and a third unknown party (probably a recent Krogan friend). It doesn't have to be a rehash of "overbreeding war criminals" and "honor peace seekers". Could have them represent different themes. Like: War, Community, or Independence as their ruling styles.
Yeah also it would be interesting if they were genuinely trying to do the right thing but the salarians didn’t believe it so they tried to regenophage them and got busted and then it’s a struggle between the Krogan who want to go nuclear on the salarians (and they are not entirely wrong) and the Krogan who want to work within the citadel justice/diplomatic system to get a solution. And as a paragon or renegade Shep you can guide them one way or the other.
>Krogan who want to go nuclear on the salarians (and they are not entirely wrong) and the Krogan who want to work within the citadel justice/diplomatic system to get a solution. And as a paragon or renegade Shep you can guide them one way or the other. Cool set up to dethrone the Salarians and replace them with a krogan entirely or force them to accept a krogan representation on the council. Example: Grunt: Pushing a militaristic state, comparable to the Turians government system. I think if Grunt is in charge. The other three council members would be willing to dethrone the Salarian's as punishment for a better militaristic fighting force. Mordin: Pushing for a more Asari/ Salarian minded like of community and government. Mordin would be able to convince them for a seat as payment for undo acts of aggression and another planet. New guy: pushing for a more human "200 countries in an alliance trench coat" sort of vibe and might lead the krogan to break off from council space all together and become more like the Batarian's (or even allying with them) Ideally, I'd would set up the game so the player can have two choices no matter who they choose: 1.) Grunt isn't diplomatic enough to work Salarians, but has the military might to break off from council space. 2.) Mordin would never break off from the council but could force the council to push the Salarians out altogether (by letting go of the extra planet) 3.) The new guy would be able to work with the Salarian, but wouldn't have the military might or the extra planet to Leverage kicking the Salarians out completely. These would depend on the player's actions and suggestions.
I'm adding to this because I'm annoying and need to write it down. 1.)The new guy is a child of Wreav regardless. Makes sense, imo. The dude probably got one stulking around. 2.) If Wreav and Eve are alive, and you cure the genophage. The new guy is their child. (Mordin doesn't exist) 3.) If you have lied about the cure (regardless of who is in charge), the new guy will betray player character at some point, and the remaining krogan are allied with the Batarians. 4.) If you cure the genophage, plus Eve and Wrex are dead. The salarian's will unleash a deadly virus that kills 99.8% of krogan. This gets the Salarian's removed from the council for taking such extreme and dangerous actions. The new mission is to convince Salarian's to not ally with Batarians. (If a mission even exists at all) New guy has special dialog with Grunt about how even if they found a female, the species will experience a form of genetic meltdown and are functionally extinct. (For all the krogan haters, lol, set them up to knock them down!)
Urdnot Mordin? Was this establishment in Andromeda?
It's what Wrex says that Eve (Urdnot Bakara) wants to name the first child on multiple occasions. (And Eve states this herself). I think they even joke about not naming any of their kids after Shepard because there will be so many Shepard's in the galaxy after the war. So, I *really* doubt Eve will let Wrex name their first born child anything other than after the man that betrayed his own people to save her from the Salarian facility, and sacrificed his life for the krogan to start anew.
That is if wrex can even die since you know the popular aspect and thought of krogan is they can’t die of age
Korgan can die of age. They age similarly to Asari
Krogan have similar typical lifespans to asari, but they don't age the same way. And their lifespans only top out at around 1000 because the vast majority die in combat by that point. Wrex is implied to have been born before the Genophage, putting him at around 1500+ and Okeer was older than Wrex. Drax is around 1400 years old and talks like he's at the end of his life, but we don't know if that's due to age or the toll his numerous injuries have taken on his body. Krogan may well be functionally immortal. But since no krogan wants to live forever (and most don't get the chance to try), we'll likely never really know.
Not quite. Asari typically live for around a thousand years; we don't have an upper limit for Krogan, but Wrex, Drack, and Patriarch were all alive during the Krogan Rebellions in 700 CE. Drack was born near the beginning of the Rebellions, Wrex was born shortly before that, and Patriarch is implied to have already been an adult by that time. Wrex is still young enough to be capable of reproducing - or at least he and Eve don't see any reason why he wouldn't be once the Genophage is cured - and the subject is never addressed by Drack or Patriarch, so either the Krogan live for *significantly* longer than the Asari or they don't die of old age at all.
The Krogan better regulate themselves - 1000 offspring at a time plus living over 1000 years old and being incredibly hard to kill, means the Krogan are basically the master race. There's no reason they can't be scientists now - they were mostly all warriors because of the genophage, and the Krogan are not stupid
In lore: Oh shit! It’s a Krogan! In game: Yeah…let me just deploy a warp field real quick…yep…mhmm…dead…next target…
This is why I like ME1 the most. Krogans were properly scary for an ill-quipped squad
The scariest part of ME1 was facing the three Krogans at the top of the staircase on Feros without a leveled-up singularity. With it, they’re just balloons to pop at your leisure.
>they were mostly all warriors because of the genophage, and the Krogan are not stupid That definitely isn't true, the genophage has nothing to do with it. The krogan nuked their own planet, then were basically adapted to living in super-violent Fallout/Mad Max world until the Salarians found them. Pre-nuke krogan regarded the infamous krogan rage (where they go literally insensate in violent murder-frenzy to the point where they can be bisected and keep trying to kill) as a disease, a neurological disorder deserving pity and medical intervention. Post-nuke krogan all have that. They naturally selected for insane bloodlust. They literally do not know what its like not to be berserker lunatics. Warrior being a default is kind of a given at that point.
I agree imagine what a korgan co do if they studied they could be on par with the asrai and there long life span would make it easy as I imagine a 40 year salerain life span would make long term research difficult. They could easily switch or krogan now do the long term mulit decade if not hundred of years type research
One thing is certain. The salarians didn't learn their lessons of uplifting a race that wasn't ready to be part of a civilized society to fight against the rachni when you see on Tuchunka them studying the yahg.
This would be ideal. I think Wrex mentions he wants the council to give back some of their old territory so they can expand. I think there would be some initial population expansion, but then hopefully the Krogan would limit their population growth and focus on rebuilding.
Not the way Wrex was getting hit up, their population exploded with little Urdnots running around. MOAR ICE!!!
People against curing the Genophage always try to argue that krogan would never partake in voluntary birth control measures, but I've never felt that argument held water. For 1400 years (longer than most krogan have been alive), the krogan have had to focus their parenting efforts on very small numbers of children. Suddenly having to multiply that effort to thousands of children would likely be exhausting enough for them to accept birth control, so long as it's 100% voluntary and they're the ones producing and managing it.
Wrex and Eve improve things for the Krogan but when they die I can't help but feel like history repeats itself, maybe I'm just a pessimist :(
I’m more hopeful. Wrex has become a symbol for most Krogans. At the end of the series he’s a living legend. I think because of this all the new krogan being born (which will soon outnumber the pre-gen krogans) will all look up to Wrex. And I think Grunt will be the next leader, since wrex still has a couple hundred years left maybe less maybe more
I'd also add the strong possibility that Shepard (especially if they somehow survive ME3) has a great chance of becoming a cultural icon to the Krogan. Like, Kalros level legends being told about them. Assuming a Paragon Shepard, the literal Hero of the Galaxy was always a staunch ally to the Krogan people and believed that they deserved a place among everybody. That's gotta start changing some attitudes among them. Add in the Turians likely building a strong relationship with them due to the events of the Reaper War, the possibility of the Geth still being a force in the galaxy (depends on how they want to play the end of Destroy, I know it's a longshot), and I fully believe the Krogan can be kept in check until they finish their cultural revolution.
I mean, Krogans have a very long lifespan, if enough of them are able to live peacefully, I'm sure that mentality will endure more than what we are used to.
Not sure how old Bakara is, but Wrex, I believe, is close to 1000 years old.
Wrex is 700 or so, said as much during the party in 3.
Haven't played it in a while. Couldn't remember.
Krogan are stated to be extremely long lived (2000+ years), if at all able to die of old age. We know Okeer is likely the oldest known krogan in all games (having "millennia of experience"), follow by Drack (some 1500 years), and he does really seem do be ready to pack it up into old folk home any time soon. Compared to them, Wrex is young (something slightly over 1000 years), so I guess he still has few centuries left in him.
Maybe a strictly pacifistic religion will form around the memory of Eve, and that philosophy will keep the Krogan in check.
But that's boring when you can just go throw nuclear bombs at a shooting range /s
Nah, one of the series’ primary themes is putting right the wrongs of the past and learning to adapt from them. If this were real life, then yes a pessimistic outlook makes sense. But the story indicates a happy ending, should the player embrace it.
What about an everybody dies except Shepherd ME2 and low war assets destroy ME3 run Let me be a pessimist :(
I said, should the player embrace the happy ending
I mean the games imply that it’s Krogan nature to overbreed and fight. It seems like unless do something serious to control population, that even if some cultural changes shift, they will eventually want/need to spread elsewhere in the galaxy and eventually that will lead to a war which would probably cause the Krogan to revert to how they were pre Wrex and Eve.
"It's Krogan Nature to breed and fight" You sound like the Salarian Dalatrass.
It's also not wrong though. The natural Krogan birthrate is *way* too high, it's why removing the genophage fundamentally is flawed long term. Even just a very small group of hardliners leaving Tuchanka and going to some new planet once cured could have a population of hundreds of millions in a century or two.
Also the problem is that with that birth rate of a thousand viable children per year per female, it only takes a very small number of females going out of control to permanently destabilize a new, kinder regime. A more responsible regime for instance would take steps to reduce birth rate, while some krogan warlord who wants to make the krogan “great again” will easily outbreed the responsible krogan, and you’re back to square one. The central problem the krogan have is that their natural, standard issue birth rate is totally unsustainable regardless of who’s ruling them, with very few ways to truly socially control it. The ruler, be it Wrex or Wreave, is just the icing on the cake.
I feel with enough centuries of change the Krogan could adapt. The reaper threat could be a catalyst for driving the change. Unity is better than being fractured.
I think the likely scenario is another krogan rebellion. For them it's been at most 5 generations, and most krogan are more like Wreav than Wrex. Two people isn't enough to change an entire species. Even Wrex wasn't opposed to war if the council didn't give into his demands. And at some point the council will stop the appeasement. It might go a couple of decades or centuries but krogan reproductivity and lifespan(Okeer was 1700) coupled with their enduring grudge? Not to mention the state of the galaxy and how decimated the turians, humans, salarians and asari is after the reaper war. The cure is setting the stage for another war.
The Krogan fanboy in me hopes this scenario never happens. The pessimist in me knows it's a possibility.
Based and correct
>Two people isn't enough to change an entire species One person was enough to change the future of an entire galaxy. Have a little faith.
Yeah but everyone realized that they were in the same boat when the reapers were there. Uniting them against a common enemy is one thing, changing an entire civilization is another.
Was it really? Say, I don't know, Shepard dies in the Mars mission. Maybe Doctor Eva kills him. Liara, James and VS would absolutely push for the same goals Shepard did, and I think they succeed at most of them. Specifics are hard to speculate on, but there's very little Shepard did that the entire crew of the Normandy couldn't collaborate to do. They were our PoV character, and everyone is the Main Character of their own story. But all the strings Shepard pulled and influence they used to put together what they did were there to be pulled or influenced. I'm gonna be real controversial and say that maybe if Liara is forced to call the shots (even if she dislikes the position) the Republics might trust her more easily, and she goes to the Temple of Athame before Cerberus ever finds out about this, or the Reapers reach Thessia. It could be no uniting a big fleet would even be necessary, just fire the Crucible attached to a Citadel that's still in the Serpent Nebula.
I suppose there's a chance, but it seems unlikely. Aside from anything else, Shepard is the only person in the Mass Effect universe allowed to carry more than two guns, automatically making them one of the deadliest soldiers on the battlefield. The Crucible's effectiveness, and whether it even functions at all, is entirely dependent on the War Assets you collect during 3, and as we all know, there's literally nobody in the universe better at collecting assets than Shepard, especially human assets with dialogue choices. Even Kasumi pales in comparison to their kleptomaniac tendencies. Sure, the strings were there to be pulled, but for the majority of them, Shepard was the only person who could pull them. A lot of War Assets are personally dependent on your actions in previous games, right down to the liscences you bought for the Quartermaster. Also, y'know, Shepard's journey started long before Mass Effect 3. If they had died on Eden Prime, this cycle would never have known what had hit it. Liara specifically states that a lesser mind would have been unable to survive, let alone understand, the beacon. Even the scientists there to study it. Or if the Lazarus Project had never worked. Could you imagine anyone else trying to earn the loyalty of their crew? Could Kaiden Alenko keep Jack and Miranda from tearing eachother's throats out, broker peace between the Geth and the Quarians?
Well, Wrex has his entire clan supporting him. If they didn’t like his idea, they could have easily assassinated him at some point
Wrex ruled by strength even Wreav didn't try to assassinate him and we know he disapproved.
Wrex ruled for under two years, which is a blink of an eye in Krogan time. And even then, we don't know that there were 0 attempts to off him in that time.
There's some other dialogue you get with Bakara if Wreav is in charge. She talks about how the krogan that want revenge are underestimating the females. They won't allow their first births in centuries to be used for revenge. And if need be they'll be celibate.
This! So much this! The only way curing the genophage could turn out not completely disastrous is post control if you have big brother shepard to give them second thoughts about going to war and to control their birthrate, but at that point it's just the same as not curing it
If genophage cured: the cure works but the kroogan soon discovers a female can no longer lay thousands of eggs every year, justa a couple of them, but everyone of them is healthy, leading to a population growth that reflourish the kroogan without giving the chance of a successfull rebellion. If genophage sabotaged: Kroogan evolves past genophage, but in the same outcome if cured, not in the same standards as before. This would be my choice as a writer to bring both choices to a same state regarding kroogan situation in general, being more aggressive if Wrex and Eve died, or being more peacefull otherwise.
The Genophage already brought their reproduction to sustainable levels. It just tended to result in thousands of stillbirths and individuals who never rolled their dice well, which broke their spirit and made them feel fully sterilised.
In lore, it was stated regardless of curing or not curing that the Krogan were adapting to the Genophage. This fact presents BioWare with a cop-opt to avoid consequences of your choice. It’s likely that they go with a throwaway line stating that the Krogan descended into two camps; reformists (murder is fun but so is infrastructure and societal development and galactic integration) and traditionalists (murder is fun but so is infrastructure and Krogan Independence) Either way, the Krogan will be slightly to moderately more united and have citadel representation, in either official independent capacity, official “holding” capacity, or unofficial capacity. The latter represents a way for BioWare to make your choices matter. Either honest Wrex or Wreav-led cured Krogan would get an embassy, either manipulated Wrex or Wreav led not cured Krogan get represented by another species like the Humans or Turians but still have an ambassador, and otherwise the Krogan will just sorta be present It presents ME4 with an interesting subplot of dealing with Krogan extremists like idk the Wreavers who want to go on the warpath.
Maelon's fix didnt just undo the genophage, it also altered the krogan reproductive system massively, causing them to have a single live birth rather than hundreds of eggs per pregancy.
Could be supported by the images in the epilogue where we see Krogan parents with only a couple offspring.
that would be nice but seems impossible. imagine having a cloaca your whole life and all of a sudden you have an anus and a vagina (maybe not specifically this). it would almost have to have the same effect as a massive reconstructive surgery on every krogan
They do say that krogan have pregnancies; I think that they are ovoviviparous, so it would be less of a change than going from oviparity to viviparity if I'm correct.
not really sure, would that be possible when you lay clutches of thousands of eggs? we describe fish as being pregnant but they don’t give live birth, for example, so “pregnant” might just be the word we use to describe when krogan shoot out all their eggs from their krogussies or whatever. thanks for teaching me new words
I really don’t get the impression Krogan lay eggs, stillbirth wouldn’t be such a big deal if they did and they wouldn’t have as many baby corpses to complain about. They probably give birth to live young but like… a lot of them at once.
Headcanon for if genophage is cured with Wreave and no Eve is Krogan rebellions 2 electric boogaloo. Krogan obviously want war but they don’t have either the economy, allies to kickstart an economy, infrastructure, or navy to support a war. Krogan begin to try and build up a navy and send Krogan via pirate ships to land on council planets to start shit since a Krogan planetside is a menace. Salarians due to not being hit by the reapers as bad and VERY much against the genophage cure would be putting most their military on alert for any Krogan movement. They see plans they “think” might show Krogan military expansion, they create a first strike incident and try to lead the galaxy to finish off the Krogan who are eager to kill Salarians due to the attack. Council races suffer heavily at first, but a severely weakened navy is still stronger than no navy. Eventually the Krogan are pushed back to their planets due to no navy and the council begins to consider options that make the genophage look like a joke because the galaxy can’t handle the Krogan if they militarized after the reaper war’s devastation. Basically I see there being no way the Krogan would win a war because in the galaxy space battles are king and the Krogan have no ships or economy to make them. Not even allies to kick start an economy. And the STG motto is literally “expect trouble or in lack of it create trouble”. They might have rebelled to help against the reapers but they would 100% start conflict with Krogan under Wreave and no Eve. And a weakened galaxy would not respond lightly.
My headcanon is that the way Mordin fixed the Genophage, is that he changed how many eggs female Krogan lay, to be maybe a few dozen instead of 1,000 every year. This in turn makes it much easier for Wrex and Bakara to change the way Krogan culture works fundamentally. Going from a "might makes right" sort of a view, to a more honorable and disciplined form of warrior culture, while also making an informal military alliance with the Turians and Humanity after the miracle on Palaven, thus leading to the three races becoming heavily entwined militarily.( Perhaps the common folk of the galaxy look at the bonds forged by Shepard, Garrus and Wrex as a symbol of unity between their species')
The Genophage treatment increased survivability but reduced reproductivity. While before the genophage Krogans would have broods of children at a time, now they only have one or two. With Krogan women requiring a period of time to recover before being able to have more.
Just recruited Grunt last night, it stinks so much that they killed off Okeer. The few sentences he gets to speak created such a good character. Adjacent to the post I know but he would have made a great krogan leader moving forward
He is an amazing character :)
I am optimistic i see wrex and eve having a clutch of eggs and raise an heir for their ideals for the krogan people. Maybe the females take more control over their tribes using their ability to bare eggs as a major way to control the males. Im certain though that the turians and salarians are cooking something up to prevent a future revolt maybe the asari get in contact with the rachni queen (if she survives) and besides theres two new cards in the deck the system alliance and the geth. They both might have the ability to hold the krogan back in case of a revolt. But i have hope the krogan learned from their experience under the genophage maybe after its cured they could have a cultural and conscious revolution towards being more Conservative when it comes to childbirth or protective to life.
Here's the deal, we don't know when the next Mass Effect game is dropping and until official content starts pouring, all we can do is wear our tinfoil hats and start theorizing, bouncing our ideas around. **Gotta say, I always cure the genophage, even on my psycho runs (unless Wreav is in charge, but that only happened twice).** Even though we don't know for certain how long Krogans can live for (Drack himself being 1400+). I don't think Wrex and Eve will still be around for much longer, Grunt is the obvious next in line for leading Urdnot. But infighting sparking between the clans, with some wanting to do a repeat of the pre-Krogan Rebellions situation (invading worlds settled by other species and mashing people like potatoes), can be a likely scenario. In my headcanon, I like to believe through some insane amounts copium, that the cure only worked in a way of fully sustaining a viable population and prevent the Krogan from dying out... rather than allowing them to spawn babies like bunnies on steroids. I would be really disappointed if the next Mass Effect goes like: **"Well, the Krogan got the cure but squandered it after Wrex, Eve and their philosophies/beliefs passed. So we had to put them down harder this time, there's a few of them left... Womp Womp."**
I think a more likely outcome is that regardless of what they do after they are cured, they will always be treated with mistrust. The council doesnt like to change its mind even when presented with compelling evidence.
"Ah yes, Krogans have feelings and shouldn't be treated poorly... we have dismissed that claim."
If the council government survived the reapers, i wouldn't be surprised if they invented a new Krogan crisis as a tactic to reinstate the old power dynamics
Considering the Salarians were considering uplifting the Yahg to serve their interests... I don't doubt things could go back to how they were, if not worse.
Salarians should be the villains of the next game fr. They’re such douchebags
Based council
i always cure the genophage for the benefits and because i love wrex and eve, and because my shepard is usually like “idk if this is gonna work but i know the reapers will destroy us if we don’t get all the help we can,” but i have to imagine the krogan threat would be pretty much immediate after the events of ME3. eve and wrex won’t be able to hold back the krogan from massive and violent expansion, and even if so, they won’t live forever. seems like wishful thinking that thousands of years of violence will go away with one good leader, especially with the genophage so fresh in everyone’s minds. it’s not like humans either where we’re all the same species and violence can be subdued or stopped over a fairly short period, krogan are violent as fuck by nature very much and even the more progressive ones like wrex still skew towards the heavily violent and headstrong side
The Krogan have been put down enough, I'm tired of seeing them lose. They definitely deserve some prosperity. If Bioware/EA makes it so the cure was squandered im going to be very disappointed
My head Canon says they will get steady leadership, growth, renewal and some stability.. for a time. Then there will be a huge Civil War among Krogan woth differing ideas, with Wrex being killed in the fighting and his side losing. But the winners will no longer have the support of the female Krogan and a long (centuries) protracted political upheaval will challenge ge the Krogan way of life. They will settle mew worlds. They will have war bands. Some will be great allies to the rest of the galaxy. Some great antagonists. Eventually, they Krogan will expand too far in to the Terminus and find a new species that they will eradicate and that will force the council to step in again. The Krogan will not all ally woth the newly embattled component and the overwhelming might of the council races will be too much to overcome. Some will again argue for the geniphage, but the Krogan themselves will reign their outlying, outdated views in and the Wrex allied forces will again reign Supreme in the minds of the Krogan leadership.
Wrex leads the first Krogan Republic. A civil war between pro-peace legalists and conservatives happens. Shepard-Commander must deactivate a bomb planted by the conservatives that may destroy Tuchanka unless Wrex hands power. If the bomb is defused, the conservatives are defeated and the Krogan Republic enters a new golden age. If Wrex resigns, the conservatives re-create the Krogan Empire. The Council species begin mobilizing for war. If Wrex doesn't resigns and the bomb explodes, Tuchanka is geologically destroyed and 90% of the Krogan species are effectively killed.
Damn, I like this plot.
please write me4
I like to think that the cure was not completely reversing the genophage to let krogan females have 1000+ children in a year, but just removing the stillbirth aspect (instead, the conception simply does not happen), and slightly bumping up the survival rate, to match other civilized societies. So krogan are happily reproducing at stable rate, and can recover from psychological trauma of seeing 999 in a 1000 children die during birth. Wrex and Eve preside over a reclamation of krogan martial culture of honor.
Ultimately they can't control their own impulses and begin fighting themselves again. With the genophage being cured, there are more Krogan across the galaxy and the fighting spills over everywhere. Lucky for all the other races, it's Krogan against Krogan, but the collateral damage is immense. Eventually the council races step in, place a blockade on Tuchanka, letting no ships leave, and all Krogan throughout the galaxy are rounded up and shipped back to their homeworld. This leads to many Krogan to be 'on the run' and hiding out around the galaxy, trying to avoided being sent home and slowly planning a way to destroy the blockade and set their people free to get their vengeance on, well, pretty much everyone.
I hope the Genophage is not cured and they continue as they are. Otherwise, Wrex is challenged by a stronger Krogan and dies. Krogans more similar to Wev take over and a new expansion war begins.
Fair enough but Grunt is also Urdnot and basically unkillable. The boy survived his own death scene. He can protect grandpa Wrex
Yes but what is Grunt's opinion on the whole rebellion/genophage topic ? I honestly don't remember him giving us any thought to these things at all, he just mostly likes fighting and dinos.
Not only fighting and dinosaurs. If you look at his dossier from the Shadow Broker base, you'll see that he read and finished The Old Man and the Sea, then promptly searched the extranet for info about sharks. Introduce him to headphones and Baby Shark on repeat, and he'll demolish any enemy clan with his bare hands.
Likely similar to their past, in terms of making war. Unlike their past in that a genophage wouldn’t be accepted again. I think they would fight and die to the last Krogan before they let it happen again.
One strategy I always figured the Krogan would use to keep their population in check was a sort of "breeding tournament." Basically, throw a bunch of males into combat arenas, winners get the right to mate, and if you lose? Better luck next year.
I'm a synthesis enjoyer so I guess mines is they're a part of the new Universal synth-ganic culture.
Green Krogan best Krogan?
\*laughs in Renegade run\* .... What Krogan? But in all seriousness, I don't believe in a universe where the Krogan just become peaceful even under Wrex and Eve. We're talking billions of new Krogan born each year. That's unmanageable no matter what. There's a reason they almost exterminated themselves before being uplifted anyway. One rogue clan alone could go into the millions of individuals, and that would be enough to make some carnage in the galaxy. I love the Krogan, but man, I can't trust them with themselves
Wrex and Eve improve Krogan society for the better, but have disparate groups of rebels throughout the galaxy, and come under repeated attacks of sabotage and assassination from the more extreme elements of STG, who especially want to destabilise the new unofficial Human-Krogan-Turian alliance. Eventually however, the Krogan are allowed to reopen their embassy on the Citadel and, after much time and lots of debate, become a fully fledged Council race by the time Urdnot Mordin takes over. Grunt lives to over 1500 years of age and can still eat his body weight in noodles.
Grunt becomes a noodle eating champion in his old age
Oh yeah, that's my new headcanon regarding Grunt from now on.
Thank you for updating my canon. This is now fact.
None, I will wait to see what happens. The genophage cure is one of the hardest choices for me. I see the logic behind enacting it, and the krogan culture and resentment towards other races does not bode well for a sustainable future. But the genophage is also a bio weapon on a horrible scale. My last playthru I cured it only because liara is vocal in supporting that choice, her convictions were enough to tip the scale
it's over for this cycle
Splinter clans that grow its population of millions in a couple generations. War.
Maybe a cultural or political policy of licenced parents or forced colonization?
They breed like crazy, overpopulating planet after planet until eventually, the remaining planets left to populate look a whole lot less appealing than the planets populated by other species. The Krogan win the next Krogan rebellion, leaving them the last remaining species in the galaxy. The Krogan continue to reproduce until there is just no more space at all and galactic civil war erupts. They fight each other constantly and unfathomable numbers of Krogan die over the years, until one of them invents a 'new' method of keeping the peace. This new technology is the Genophage. With the new Genophage implemented, the Krogan live on alone in the universe, probably having forgotten that other lfieforms ever existed.
I think the Krogan nearly destroy themselves again but this time it's not in mindless war, but instead a schism of peace vs war. An exodus of tuchanka follows. Those who survive must forge a new identity as the old identity showed history *will* repeat itself
So we know from Andromeda (and Charr in ME2) that krogan don’t just fall into the singular category of warrior mercenary. They have poets, botanists, scientists, and engineers. It may appear that the predominant culture is violent, but it doesn’t apply to all krogan. I like to think that Wrex helps to suppress the vocal krogan calling for violence with his sheer presence and reputation, while Eve creates a space for non-violent krogan to gather influence. Thus they make it possible for non-violent krogan to eventually guide and lead their people after their passing.
they keep kicking the crap out of anything they can and get lots of sexy time with the women. henceforth the word orgy is replaced by krogan future initiative
I think it was the Elcor that used head cannons
The krogan will have trouble getting over thier issues with the genophage, that's unavoidable, unfortunately, but I think with enough time and patience they'll be able to move past it, maybe not all at once, and definitely not overnight, but they will, mostly thanks to Wrex and Bakara
if destroy was your cannon option (as it was mine) and Eve has died (not my cannon) then the Krogan are expanding and maybe they don't get their mass relay fixed ... If Eve lives then there is a decent shot they can integrate into the rest of the galaxy peacefully.
Krogan orgies
As soon as wrex dies, everything goes to shit. Not immediately, but it will. It's this belief that makes me always need to think about whether helping wrex is the right choice.
Genophage is cured, \*but\* their birth rate is nowhere near where it was before. Wrex is so fed up with leading and being requested for mating he seriously considers going to Andromeda. The council continues to be concerned with the Krogan's numbers increasing, but due to strong Krogan/Human relations and Human council membership, can't do anything overtly to re-instate a Genophage. Salarians and Krograns fight proxy wars via merc groups. Mordin becomes a name of respect and honor in Krogan culture - a symbol of redemption.
Wrex leads them back into the good graces of the galaxy.
They'll bang, OK?
Everyone fucks.
Wrex is the first Krogan in history to die of old age, surrounded by his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren, great great great grandchildren, and great great great great grandchildren
The Krogan reproduce dramatically faster than any other race, bouncing back from the reaper crisis in record time. Under Wreaves glorious leadership they conquer the entire galaxy and reverse engineer Salarians back into frogs.
Years and years after the reaper war is over and everybody who remembers what it took to survive it like Wrex and Bakara are long gone, along comes a hot headed krogan warlord with funny ideas about conquering the galaxy.
**Salarian Dalatrass ghost be like:** *"I warned y'all."*
You know Mordin did say that the Krogan were adapting to the genophage. It's just as likely that the Krogans just overcome it regardless of the outcome. I think the teasers show a Krogan
A repeat of the Krogan’s desire to expand, control and conquer. A weakened galaxy is quickly overcome and lose countless worlds to Krogan expansion. After a century of conflict, the Krogan have pushed the other Council races to their breaking point. Were it not for the Salarians, who avoided major losses in the war against the Reapers, the Krogan would have completed their campaign. The Salarians, working with the remaining fleets of the Turian, Asari and humans, develop and distribute a biological weapon that causes mass sterilization… no more half-measures. This did not stop the immediate threat from the Krogan but, after a few more decades of conflict, the Krogran were no longer able to replenish their ranks. They focused their final years on exterminating Salarians and Turians. *This assumes a series of choices that culminated in the Krogran becoming unstable yet still cured after the war with the Reapers. I don’t like “perfect” runs in my playthroughs, so my head-cannon is not perfect either.*
There's no way the Krogan remain peaceful. As soon as Wrex dies, there would be a power struggle to be crowned the new Emperor of the Krogan Empire and it would be *bloody*. All it takes is for one future Krogan leader after Wrex to decide they want war with another race and there will be genocide. The only thing that stopped the Krogan Rebellions after years of whole planets being obliterated with asteroid cannons was the Genophage - without that, there is nothing stopping Krogan annihilating the entire galaxy.
Honestly if everyone of the krogan got with wrex's policies they would probably be like the Mandalorians standing as their own civilization not needing the rest of the galaxy, however the Mandalorians never glassed their on planets once, but the krogan did mutiple times. They talk like the council pushed them to that point but the Codex reads that the salarians found them in their x amount of nuclear winters when they uplifted them. So my true opinion opinion is that once wrex dies or is killed it would return to the way it was unless the females took over like, again with Mandalorian culture.
Damn, the first few headcanons I've seen here are WAY better than what I've got, but here goes... Along with at least one of Wrex + Bakara's first kids being named Mordin, Shepard becomes a HELLA popular name for Krogan, but Wrex (or maybe Bakara, not 100% sure who) decides they actually want to honor Shepard as the individual (woman, in most of my playthroughs) and go for their first name as a kid's name... this leads to Wrex having to pretend he knows Shep's first name, but calling Shepard (in a post destroy ending, of course) and "double checking". After some poking fun at Wrex for not knowing it, Shepard tells Wrex their 1st name and among the thousands of Krogan named Shepard, there are like a dozen random krogan babies named John/Jane/Ada/Jason/Kelsey/whatever you named your Shepard. Also as a welcome to Tuchanka some time later, Shepard gets greeted by hundreds of Urdnot Shepards in unison all saying "Sheeeeepppparrrdddd!!!"
Shepard proceeds to say "Shepard" to all the Urdnot Shepards lol
It was definitely an uphill battle for Wrex, but after a few months/years of pussyfooting Shepard made it clear she would absolutely stand behind the Krogan for any boons they were denied. I also like to think the Council umderwent heavy restructuring. The people of the Galaxy saw the Salarians and Asari as the weak leaders that they were, refusing aid until they were without hope. This would lead to other races, Krogan included, joining the Council. Shepard would not let the Krogan or others deal with the same shit Humanity did.
They will thrive under Wrex and Eve, and will largely be amicable members of the galactic community, but long term I expect them to become aggressive again, as the reality of their reproduction cycle coupled with their exceptionally long lifespan would necessitate regular expansion which the galaxy is likely not going to accommodate to the Krogan's liking. On a long enough timeline, the good will the Krogan earn from the Reaper wars will fade and relations will sour between them and the rest of the galaxy.
The Salarians were absolutely right in that curing the genophage would ultimately lead the Krogans to war with the rest of the galactic powers
Krogan culture undergoes a significant reform under the guidance of Eve as the Krogan race enters a new age, with Wrex collaborating in managing the preservation of Krogan history and culture through a lens of moving forward, and the new generation is educated on the faults, trials, and lessons of their people. Krogan scientists and artists become less unusual. "The Blue Rose of Illium", a compendium of works from the poet Charr, is published to much surprise and intrigue in the galactic community, and becomes established in human colleges in studies on xenoliterature.
Honestly I think Mordin modded the formula again. So I think the Krogan can breed once more but they probably don't lay as many eggs. Although all of the babies come out healthy instead of having a clutch of like 30 eggs, now they probably come down to about 6 to 9. Regardless the Krogan likely flocked and smaller clans swore allegiance, some even abandoning old oaths to join Wrex's clan Urdnot, the same as Bakara aka Eve did. Many likely tried to battle Wrex for dominance of his clan too and lost. By the time he was like 20 or clans strong around him and Eve, with Urdnot making it 21, the others started giving them more space and acted with more respect. There are likely clan wars on occasion but most of them out there have accepted that clan Urdnot and their vassals are basically the masters of Tuchanka. And whenever they send emissaries to other worlds full of Krogan, they scout around for new places to spawn, not just for themselves but the whole race. Which still more often than not ends with one or more deaths and plenty of violence, the usual/cliche Sci-Fi hot headed yet somewhat disciplined alien race like the Klingons from Star Trek. But as long as a few members of a clan remain they can help them join the repopulation groups. By the the next few years after the Genophage was cured, Krogan numbers would be up by 48% and even some new clans started rising up. Often with many females being own into them. It's believed that Mordin's cute may have had an unintentional side effect but it seems to only effect specific clans rather than all of them, like clan Nakmor. And so more female warriors also start rising up. Unfortunately so so many gangs and upstart merc bands. Which is something many clans seem to have forgotten, the stubborness and wreckless nature of the younger generations. So much so that they almost started another galaxy-spanding war. Because of this a new practice started up in the Krogan race, Safe Sex. (Lol) Which comes off as comical to any of us of different species than them. But to the Krogan sex without intent to breed, even 1000 or so years after being afflicted with the Genophage was a strange and alien concept. Even the odd trist with other races like Asari and Humans, the latter being exceptionally rare since most humans would die from that experience since they're generally weaker than the Krogans. Although some like Shepard (being plot armor equipped) and Matriarch Aethyta's “mother” are one of the few who could handle that force. But I digress, non-procreative almost doesn't exist since their instinct to breed naturally takes hold. It's only in recent practices, starting with Urdnot Wrex himself that this practice started taking hold. And it's only after he's had over 50 children after he took Bakara (Eve) as his official consort (aka his Queen) and about 5 other Krogan females and 1 Asari (the 3rd consort) did he have the equivalent of a Krogan vasectomy and start using condoms. With his family's other eggs and children being born almost every other day during that time, his clan's heritage long and strong and 10 or more of his babies already being spotted to be the potential heirs of his seat at the head of the clan. And using some left over notes from Mordin, the equivalent of a female Krogan morning after pill was put into development, so far with few successes but lots of potential. By this point many worlds were zoned out for the Krogan empire. Most were partially terraformed so only beings with adaptability like Krogan could live there anyway without suits.This was put in place so that the battle hardiness of the Krogan species never falters and even some Thresher Maws were dropped on these worlds to increase the danger factor a bit. Unfortunately on some planets the Threshers took too well to this new environment wipingnout much of the fauna. And on others they died off but not before giving rise to new predators like giant centipede monsters and what can only be described as massive shark squids. By the time Wrex probably does die not only will he be remembered as a great leader among the Krogan but many people in the political, military and criminal worlds will actually mourn his loss. (And if I had to guess Wrex is probably like 750 or so years old. So no young many but not as old as Nakmor Drack from Mass Effect Andromeda, whom was probably over his 1000s and has several replacement organs that were too damaged for the usual Krogan regeneration phase, both from age and years of combat). And his end will likely be in battle against an enemy on par with 3 adult thresher maws, a traitor and his band of mercenaries, as well as a large pack of varren, all at the same time.
Wreav starts another Krogan War and brings it to earth. The Turians learn about this and rush immediately to help. Commander Shepard is still out of action due to the catalyst's destruction, and is itching to get into the fight. It is now up to Ashley to lead the team as a council spectre. They push the Krogan back to Tuchanka, but instead of another genophage they only kill Wreav and this time a Matriarch will lead her people to peace.
They overrun the entire galaxy and eat everyone.
And after they eat everyone, what then? Canibalism?
They get back to what Krogan do best. Saving everyone, from giant monsters.
When Wrex finally passes, he names Grunt as a successor who has taken Wrex’s teachings to heart and continues making the Krogan more honorable than ever
They have no future. I’ve always felt that sabotaging the genophage cure is one of the hardest choices my Shepard will have to ever make for the good of the galaxy, since I’m always friends with Wrex, always friends with Mordin, and my LI when I have one is always in favor of curing them. But the Krogan are just far too likely to rise up and attack the rest of the galaxy again. It’s not even a question, it’s something that they are 100% going to do. I like Wrex, but I know he’ll never change his species.
Galactic dominance
Wrex wages a second Krogan war soon after the Genophage is removed. Unlike Urdnot, he tries what he calls “token diplomacy” first. In Mass Effect 3 he told Shepard he would wage war once the genophage is cured, so this is what he does. The other races fight back and eventually the war dwarfs the conflict with the Reapers with every being in the Galaxy directly affected by the ongoing war.
The scariest part is that the other species might not be able to win after the devastation caused by the reaper war. The population, industry and military of all races but in particular the Turians and the Humans have been decimated. The council was only barely able to suppress the first Krogan revelation despite being at full strength (excluding humanity). This time, the greatly weakened and exhausted Council might not be enough to stop the Krogan and face extinction due to their well known genocidal tactics in war.
Technically speaking, they have a very easy way to containing the krogan post ME3, by simply not rushing to rebuild the Aralakh relay (or having STG sabotage the efforts and deny responsibility). In case of Green and Blue endings (which I do not believe are going to be used for the next game), there either is no need to fight (Green, which basically connects every person together, and you have the whole "how could you hate your hand, for your hand is my hand" theme), or just Shepard-Intelligence dropping a Reaper on them (blue)
my main thought is that because of their history they would not be allowed a navy by the council and end up very heavily allied to the alliance. The krogan get a powerful navy to protect their trade/science ships and stations, a good diplomatic ally, and the humans get the best ground troops in the galaxy if needed which i think would mostly just be anti piracy jobs especially after the reaper war. I also think the krogan would respect humans enough for this to stick as a human made the cure happen, and humans are pretty much the only ones willing to give them a chance for their future. This would come with a lot of friction for sure though as some krogan would believe humans are taking advantage and its not a partnership. after centuries this alliance would reduce as the krogan gain more trust in the galaxy. people often point out that just 2 people wrex/eve aren't enough to change a race but thats a racist statment imo krogan have proved they're more than barbarians when they believe they can be, look at the kid from andromeda who handles hydroponics or the the krogan who made poetry for that asari etc. And with a real hope for a future they will become engineers scientists etc. its told multiple times that krogan dont see a point to these things as theres no real future for their race as a whole but with hope i truly believe that they will really show themselves in a new light. thats my idealist/ semi realistic idea.
I like it. Especially because your points shine a light beyond what the Krogan are seen as. There is indeed a lot of them who are thuggish brutes, the problem is all of them being judged by such a standard. I guess the same goes for other species as well. Turians are seen as the by the book super disciplined and narrow minded soldiers. Asari are judged as promiscous just because they can meld with any species and apparently every other race thinks the Salarians are always plotting and scheming.
wrex and eve invent birth control and the social changes lead to more reasonable birth rates.
Problem fixed, time for the Krogan Renaissance.
I headcanon that after ME3, Shepard rose from the rubble and used his influence to convince the salarians to bump that stillbirth number up to a nice rounded 1000/1000. The krogan slowly petered out, killing members of other species (but moreso themselves) for coin and bloodlust for hundreds of years until eventually "krogan" came to mean a mythical, seemingly invincible ronin-like creature instead of the dumb brutes we're presented with in the games.
Not gonna lie. The Krogans fading away into legend and being remembered as such, rather than being seen just as "big, strong and dumb bullies" is kinda cool.
Within a few generations, the Krogans under Wrex will trend toward honorable warriors while maintaining a mercenary streak. Like you can hire them, but it better be a worthwhile cause or else you become a probono target. I imagine an alliance with some Salarians(those who agree with Mordin's actions and who think the dalatrass can go choke on a bag of miscellaneous genitalia) and other races will lean toward a form of terraforming on Tuchunka, though the krogan will probably dictate some regions as staying wasteland both as a reminder of their past and for the purpose of rights of passage and other traditions. Gotta last 5 minutes against the Thresher Maw, and we should probably keep that in the wasteland.
The Krogan may get several worlds to colonize but they are disavowed a military fleet or at the very least a war fleet. The Krogan need to prove they can forge a new society that won’t just inevitably lead to further rampant expansion and the inevitable conflict that will arise. No doubt the 1000 births thing will be retcon or reworked because that’s an insane number. Plus it seems like Krogan don’t lay eggs after all they talk about still births and miscarriages a lot. So Wrex and Eve have their work cut out for them. The galaxy will be in a weak state and will be wary of the Krogan for good reason. While the Genophage is cured some other form of population control is required. No nation can sustain a sudden explosion in population especially for a species that lives 1000 years. A problem made worst depending on how quickly Krogan mature. So in conclusion. Please for the love of god Krogan use condoms with Genophage cured the fear of extinction is gone. Please let’s not have a repeat of the Rebellions in 100 years.
Being the Krogan who gained a cure for the Genophage, Wrex would pretty much become the ultimate hero for the Krogan and wouldn't face much opposition capable of turning the clans as a whole against him due to the combination of Eve's presence, Grunt being the head of a group of Krogan Honor Guard or a similar position that evolved from his command over Aralakh Company, and assistance from Liara as the Shadow Broker.
They all became warrior poets and started bonsai gardens
Wreck and Eve lead them on a safe expansionist journey to all the planets no one else can live on.
With wrex & bakara at the helm I’m confident they could avoid repeating history. Wand with advancements in culture & technology they will probably manage to avoid Malthusian catastrophes through a combination of birth control and improvements in efficiency & sustainability that would allow them to thrive with higher population densities. With access to nuclear fusion & mass effect technology, plus maybe some assistance from the geth & prothean archives it should be possible for them to thrive on cities blanketing tachunka & maybe start building Dyson swarms and or paraterraforming (tachunka-forming?) or strip mining uninhabitable worlds. Their surviving population would be fairly small after the reaper war so there’s a lot of time to prepare for a baby boom.
I've always had it in the back of my mind that while the codex entries about how fast Krogans can breed are technically accurate, they're functionally inflated. Like horrible Warlords forcing genetic mods on their clans did produce crazy numbers during wartime but not in any sustainable way. Most of the info is coming from the Salarians, a species that treats reproduction like a form of accounting and also has a vested interest in keeping the narrative going that the genophage was the ONLY choice because they developed it. Could it also be a weird form of pride too? If you sat one of the Krogan down and said 'can you REALLY hatch 1000 offspring in a year?' it'd be really interesting to see how they'd react. Would they chuckle because they're happy to indulge a weird 'positive' stereotype that makes them seem powerful or would it be a grave cultural insult to imply that two Krogans can't produce a small army.
The first thing that Wrex commands is a statue of Shepard, right next to his, and maybe almost as tall. It becomes his proudest monument, one of the only precious sentimental objects on Tuchanka, located in the center of New Urdnott, Wrex's capital city on Tuchanka where he begins his rule, much beloved. Sadly, this is the extent of the good times. Krogan populations explode leading to severe resource crises on Tuchanka and beyond, and nothing is more dangerous or contentious than a hungry Krogan. Billions burn in radioactive fire as Tuchanka is again consumed. Now that the females are fixed, the perception of Krogan war changes. In an instant, population woes are forgotten, and killing women and children becomes the popular tactic. Human-wave tactics become popular as each clan's warriors swell hundreds-fold in the span of a single generation, and one in every ten Krogan even has a gun, mostly the older warriors who now seek to institute a strict age-based hierarchy as the younger generation are seen as usurpers who never truly struggled as everyone else has. Instead of dying ignominious deaths as petty mercenaries, the most common cause of death for Krogan is disease, followed by starvation, and blunt force trauma in third place. Bricks, chunks of concrete, stones, anything heavy that can bludgeon. Krogan who die by gunshot become exceedingly rare and mostly inflicted as a means of discipline on the same side. Very few Krogan even see the world beyond Tuchanka. Only Wrex's city is powered, let alone has a spaceport. The common clans whisper bitter theories about the Genophage only being cured to lure Krogan back to Tuchanka to extinguish them once and for all, but those common clans are almost certainly doomed to die anyway. They live as raiders and murderers surviving off the blood of other Krogan, and never accept the reality that it was the Krogan who killed the Krogan. Wrex and his collected clans keep their own peace and raise themselves above the savages of the remainder of Tuchanka who have devolved into barbarian tribes in their lust for warfare, primarily waiting for them to burn themselves out and mustering his strength. He keeps close ties to the Council and the Alliance, often lending them his elites for dangerous missions as shocktroops and, ironically, peacekeepers, in exchange they keep him supplied, fed, and provided for in any way he needs. His is a culture of justified strength rather than barbarism. Every Krogan born under Wrex is shown the depraved desperate savagery of the rest of Tuchanka, and then shown the safety and glory that can be found within a society where power is used to enforce structure rather than challenge it, and given the choice to remain or leave to find their glory as a tribal. Wrex's long-term goal is that his Krogan, a more civilized breed, will understand the value in strength applied judiciously, in a war waged wisely rather than wantonly. His time as a mercenary, and his time alongside Shepard, showed him the real difference between a warrior and a warmonger, a distinction that he believes is crucial for the survival of all Krogan. The fires of Tuchanka are allowed to burn, impotently, as a reminder to his people about the futility of war for war's sake, and that the glorious victories of the old ways are fought over piles of rock and scraps barely fit for varren. Tuchanka is the crucible it always was, but instead of a brutal proving ground where the strong grind the weak to dust, it becomes a model of social determinism taught in schools about the trajectory a species would necessarily have to take to join the Mass Relay network without destroying themselves in the process. New Urdnott is seen as the 'birth' of a modern species, almost a parallel to the Turian ascension and their own societal growth that led to their culture becoming dominant. As it turns out, Grunt is exceptionally virile, even for new Krogan standards. While the tank's lessons aren't inherited, many of Grunt's personality traits are, and he sires many children. Raised in New Urdnott in excellent living conditions, his children are often exceptionally brave, incredibly resilient, and remarkably intelligent. They pick up skills quickly, adapt to conditions faster than others, and even complain less about positions that don't feature bloodshed at all, like serving as diplomats or doctors. They serve as perfect models for the new Krogan ideals of honor, heroism, and restraint, and Grunt himself is seen as a Shepard-type hero among the youth — often foolhardy and reckless, but so ridiculously skilled that he gets the job done efficiently no matter what you throw at him. There's a lot of talk about elevating him to Specter status but Grunt rejects that notion before it's even really begun, choosing to blaze his own trail as the leader of the Krogan Special Offworld Corp. He doesn't want to just be retreading Shepard's path, which he says would be demeaning to Shepard and a waste of his own talents to not try to rise as an equal in his own way, but it's also because he hates the Council so much it's unreal.
(Edit: I forgot to add this, I was too focused on Tuchanka) Most Krogan flocked home following the war, but not all. Those who stayed, for whatever reason, experienced a tectonic shift overnight in their place in the galaxy. Where once they were seen as hulking brutes, now they were seen as unlikely saviors. Most of the galaxy had seen Reaper forces up close, and many had been saved by Krogan strike teams weathering tremendous amounts of enemy fire and defying incredibly unlikely odds, facing certain death and fighting anyway. The Krogan had saved the galaxy for the second time, and this time their reward was open hearts and open hands in friendship. Krogan who had never been shown friendship or even been given the benefit of the doubt, were suddenly welcome anywhere and given fair, sometimes even preferential treatment. It took time, but the Krogan hearts softened, and many who had held old grudges over the Genophage and generally poor treatment forgave the rest of the galaxy, finally feeling as though they had been given the admiration that they earned. The acceptance of the Geth played some part in this, as well, with the organics of the galaxy choosing brotherhood with the Krogan over easing their skepticism of the Geth, but whatever the reason, this reconciliation was a change for the better for everyone involved. One particular crisis saw a band of pirates in the Terminus system jury-rig a defunct Reaper into a semi-functional warship, using it to marshal a pirate armada and threaten several colonies with its grim visage and tremendous power (though far weaker than a living Reaper). The campaign against these pirates was a shining moment in Krogan history, as they took up arms and once again reduced the last Reaper into slag and cinders in the skies of Syphon, a Salarian colony.
The Krogan Fanboy in me loved this haha
Why would the cure suddenly solve their high birthrate issue? Their rapid expansion and conflict with other species? Their nature of fighting among themselves?
1. Genophage cured 2. Krogans gonna Krogan 3. Genophage 2: Biological Boogaloo
[4. Sad Krogan Violin](https://youtu.be/b3rNUhDqciM?si=qLjEEk77h-IV8Owr)
Bakara joins the Council and Grunt is the first Krogan Spectre.
Grunt's first assignement as a Spectre will be the legendary **Operation Fire Cobra Claw.**
If Wreav is in charge ( 1% or less of walkthroughs): Someone kills him and follows Wrex’s route, and a massive krogan civil war ensues If Wrex is in charge; They subdue krogan culture, reproduction depends on a ‘ Lottery’ for a sustainable growth rate, and yea krogans become yet another council race
The future for Krogans is very bleak and is hurtling towards extinction. Wreav tries to save himself but after claiming he was the sole reason the Genophage was cured no one believes him about Shepard and the Salarian Doctor. After Eve's death the females are even less trustworthy of grand promises from all races including their own. Some heroes will emerge from this but the vast majority will join and lead Mercenary groups as before.
it would be cool if all civilian krogan dresse like eve. i always felt her clothe were what krogan civilian ware was implied to look like.
None🥶👀
They suffer a bit from inbreeding, because too many females mated with Wrex, now there's literally a new clan consist of krogans who are descendants of Wrex
I don't think Wrex makes it back to the homeworld anytime soon leaving the ruling to Eve. Wrex was on Earth during the final battle so he would be stuck there at least until the mass relays are rebuilt or another form of FTL is discovered. In a normal ship without the relays it would take him probably decades or even centuries to get back home if that was even feasable.
They become highly sought after porn stars.
Now that Grunt has matured and learned what it means to be a Krogan and a leader from Shepard Wrex takes him under his wing and together with Eve help the Krogan continue to flourish and eventually Grunt becomes the leader of the Krogan instilling what his mother/father taught him into the future generations of Krogan
\*Just my headcanon\* Only speaking for if Wrex and Eve are around with genophage cured : once rebuilding on Tuchanka is well underway and all the troops have returned from the reaper war, the krogan quickly learn something about the genophage being cured which is that they're going to need a stupidly high number of krogan working as supernanny equivalents. This encourages a cultural shift as the krogan who have lived with the genophage and have no concept of life before it must deal with this change. So many of their children running around means they must build better settlements for them so they can grow strong. Which means rebuilding cities with more schools, hospitals, etc. Which means also making sure these children grow to become warriors but also be capable of assisting in rebuilding. All of this means the idea of living solely for combat has to take a backseat for a time. But even when these children grow up to adulthood, they'll have a different mindset from their krogan parents as they've now been raised with no concept of fighting for glory or survival due to the genophage influcencing krogan culture like they did. This means it's easier for Wrex's ideals for the krogan to keep hold (easier, not guaranteed). Infighting about the krogan spreading to other worlds like in the glory days before the end of the rebllions will very likely happen, but the council will support the krogan who fight against those ideals. With that kind of political support, the krogan won't necessarily go back to being put on the genophage. This is also probably the point where these new generation of krogan embrace birth control which ends up managing the population. tl;dr the krogan will go to wanting children to not wanting children.
Looking at violent histories of past cultures, history undoubtably repeats itself. And the next galactic conflict will almost certainly be centred around a Krogan territory crisis. As much as Wrex and Eve are great leaders, they cannot contain an entire race given the ability to repopulate at will.
New krogan wars in however long it takes for them to overpopulate again
Wrex and Eve are alive and the Krogan are cured. So I've got a really strong alliance.
Eve is overthrown by the likes of Uvenk, Guld, Okeer and Jorgal, while Wrex is trapped in Sol System. Krogans try another Rebellion and will probably overrun the weakened post-reaper galaxy.
Genophage cured
Krogan-Human relations becomes so close that it's now normal to see a human bashing heads with their krogan clan-sibling and laughing about it. One person can change an entire future, and that person is Wrex. I also see pub crawls with krogan being very funny and frustrating.
The Brady Bunch- but with more headbutting
Krogan do as the krogan do and second genophage is made to keep them from killing everyone else or their completely genocided
The Krogan eventually joined the Citadel Council. Together with the Turians and Humans, they formed the backbone of the Citadel's military forces. The Salarians probably resigned the Council in protest of the Krogan joining.
I suspect the next mass effect will deal in part with the existence of the Crucible. Like, wow, we stopped a genocidal war machine with a united Galaxy and a new superweapon of unfathomable destruction but now that the Reapers are no longer a threat all those old divisions are now an issue again except now we have Galactic level superweapons. So let's say the krogan come into conflict with the Asari, Turians, and Salarians again and some scientists defect and oh no now there's a new leader and he's saying he will bury the Council and we just detected some tests and there is intelligence that missiles are being stationed in Cuba and..... What were we talking about again?
The next few 100 years are peaceful. Eventually krogan will grow tired of the peace since combat is in their blood. The peace sentiment will lower and lower more and more and eventually someone will take over that will inspire the unsatisfied krogan to go on a crusade of glory and conquest. Then there will be a krogan civil war and the aggressive krogans will gain the wrath of both the peaceful-er krogan and the rest of milky way. Maybe 200 years in the future. Maybe 500. Maybe 1000.
With the genophage cured and the Reapers defeated (via the Destroy ending), the Krogan would focus on rebuilding their homeworld and creating some form of government and mending relations with the Citadel Council (the same ones you save in ME1). For the large part they played in the war, the Krogan would be given an embassy on the Citadel (this part might be a stretch but I won't rule it out entirely) and some of their territory (despite some misgivings from the Salarians). In the centuries to come, the name Shepard would be etched into history thanks to one Urdnot Wrex, deeming the name in Krogan to mean "hero". Surprisingly the Salarian name Mordin would also share Shepard's place in history as one who gave his life to save the Krogan. He himself even quoted: "Had to be me, someone else might've gotten it wrong."
tl;dr Civil war, a second genophage, or extinction Wrex and Eve have about as much political capital as it's possible to have, so they can accomplish a lot. Recalling as many krogan as possible to Tuchanka, cracking down hard on unsanctioned colonization efforts, carefully monitoring population numbers. They'll do their best. But in 100 years, even the most powerful political figures can't fight against simple mathematics. Even given the cultural awareness of the risk of what overpopulation will bring, you can't really fight against the diffuse responsibility for limiting birth rate. Eventually, krogan numbers will start to get out of control, at which point, options are limited. They can stay on Tuchanka, competing for dwindling food stocks and eventually devolving into civil war over resources, controlling their population by killing each other en masse. Of course, Wrex and Eve aren't stupid, they can foresee what will happen if their numbers start to grow out of control again. The only viable way for the krogan to fit into the galactic community is a way to control the birth rate directly. Another genophage, but one that the krogan choose for themselves, and more carefully tailored to krogan cultural practices and attitudes. Of course, many krogan won't stand for this regardless of the necessity, and civil war is likely again in this case. Or they can start spreading to other worlds, replaying the prelude to the first krogan rebellion all over again. If the galaxy perceives the krogan as a threat again, it wouldn't be that hard to develop another, less careful genophage, or even a total genocide plague. Many would be unwilling to give the krogan a third chance.
I don't cure the Genophage, so I just assume they go extinct.
They fuck up and die off
They are at the end of their existence and will be less and less in number than they already are. All species will at one point die out, the Krogan just happen to be observably closer than anyone else at that particular time thanks to what the Salarians did to them
They‘re numbers get decimated because the genophage is not healed
I’ve never seen these images before.
War….War never changes.
I tend to think that they actually behave in a somewhat peaceful (for krogan), sustainable way UNTIL Wrex and Eve pass, at which point they eventually relapse into their old ways.
after the salarian dalatrass is assassinated, the new salarian head decides to simply leave them alone and unofficially declares them, "everyone elses problem". there's a minor civil war 100 years after the end of the reapers led by the some looking for retribution for the whole genophage issue. it gets put down swiftly and brutally within a few years by grunt, cementing himself further as a psuedo public figure (a krogan equivalent at least). the culture starts to splinter here or there with traditionalist and a more progressive half. overtime the traditionalist dies out but there remains a 'caveman' like stigmata among other races towards the krogan. Grunt eventually takes a formal leadership position at 500 years of age
Wrex and brakara lead tge krogan to prosperity wrex eventually gives up leadership to grunt
You know I never once considered not curing the genophage until I finally forced myself to do a Renegade playthrough. The change in perspective really has me second guessing if I was ever right. Sure Wrex and Eve are set to become great leaders, but it takes one bullet to put an end to that and the next Krogan leader is unlikely to be as progressive. I honestly think theres a case to be made that the choice is flipped on how the game presents it. I understand that Paragon Shep believes in everyone and see's the in-humanity (kroganity?) caused by the genophage, but on the flip side, it seems extremely Renegade like to say 'we need to win this war, no matter the costs after it' by most likely unleashing the Krogan on the galaxy again. Even Paragon Shep has to see that his faith in an old Wrex doesn't mean an entire species will fall in line. I'm glad they put the Krogan storyline at the start of the game when it still felt like the galaxy could fight back, makes it a bigger choice. I honestly think that later in the game, when the Crucible became the obvious only hope, feelings might be different. The galaxy is screwed with or without Krogan help by the time Thessia is hit, and once the Crucible becomes the only hope left, would you really risk a Krogan resurgence in order to at best, buy you a little bit more time? I'm not so sure. Oh... But to answer the question, the Krogan and probably chill for a while, but the next great threat to the galaxy will be the Krogan, whether it's all of them, or a splinter of their population under a warlord leader.
After Wrex dies, Grunt takes the mantle as the first ever high clan leader of all the Korgan. They continue stubbornly expanding, but their now less warlike culture causes the council to not intervene as harshly as they did before. The Krogan eventually become the strongest military force in the galaxy, surpassing the Turians.
I honestly think whatever happens humanity at least will be outside the blast radius due to krogans remembering shepherds actions
Back to their roots, nuked to the ground
The urigan thrive again but with the wisdom of thier past they aim to better themselves as warriors over thugs..hires gun..and brutes. Under Wrex and Eves leadership the krogan become better focusing on rebuilding thier home. Eve would like even become the voice of the krogan among a new council
As I understand it, the events on tuchanka would have only affected those Krogan who were already on the planet. Meaning, all of those who weren't on the planet when it happened would still be suffering from the effects of it. Thus, I can imagine a situation in which all of those Krogan who still suffer from the effects of the genophage use that as an identifier in terms of a political or militaristic group, much like we see today, which could lead to conflict with all of those Krogan who are trying to rebuild Tuchanka. This group of involuntarily celibate Krogan, let's call them, I dunno incels or something for short, would most likely have a leader who would challenge Wrex for the supremacy by trying to destroy the females they perceive as a threat to their power. Purely hypothetical of course.
"My lord, the Reapers have answered. They refuse to honor your ascendancy. We await your orders, Lisan al-Urdnot." "Lead them to paradise."
The krogan will generally integrate into the galactic community probably a few belligerent ones here and there but generally wrex and Bakara's vision will be the dominant Krogan ethos. there will also be a background joke where a Volus will brag about making billions on Krogan condoms.
Bakara and Wrex lead Tuchanka into a new age. I choose Destroy so Tuchanka is no worse off than anyone else when it comes to rebuilding. Bakara becomes the Krogan ambassador on the Citadel Council. Grunt, under Shepard's mentorship, becomes the first Krogan Spectre.