In the Mass Effect trilogy, Commander Shepard went up against plenty of opposition, from Saren and the Geth to the Collectors and Reapers. With that in mind, it’s a small surprise that, early on, one of Shepard’s greatest obstacles is often the very governing body designed to protect the Milky Way. Reluctant to grant humans — who by their standards are still a very young race when it came to advancement — any kind of real power, this became a point of contention for human politicians like Donnel Udina, who believed humanity had more than proven itself.
Granting Shepard status as the First Human Spectre was a huge deal, but even that upgrade did little for humanity’s influence. When Shepard brought them news about Saren Arterius’ betrayal, the Council was hesitant to believe the word of a human over one of their own. To make matters worse, they were less inclined to believe the Commander when they started talking about the inevitable Reaper invasion, even with the proof of Sovereign tearing the apart Citadel before their eyes.
The Council was formed in 500 BCE by the Asari and Salarians, the first two races to achieve space flight and discover the Citadel. At the time of discovery, they believed the Citadel had been built by the Protheans before their mysterious disappearance from the galaxy, though that eventually proved false and the origins of the Citadel and its strange Keepers remained a mystery. It was the Asari who originally proposed joining efforts with the Salarians to form a governing body aboard the vessel, and in time they welcomed ambassadors from the Volus, Elcor, Quarians, Hanar and Batarians to represent their people on the Citadel.
Composed of a single representative of from each of the galaxy’s three dominant races, the Turians, Asari and Salarians each brought a unique aspect to governing. The Asari tend to play diplomatic roles, while the Salarians act as secret intelligence and the Turians provide militaristic support. Though these races welcome other galactic species to hold associated membership through their ambassadors on the Citadel, the other species are given very little to no actual power over the fate of the galaxy, though their suggestions are taken under advisement by the the Council.
After stumbling upon the Rachni, the Council races realized the threat they posed. It was the Salarians who reached out to the primitive Krogan race, which had been living in the ruins of their homeworld on Tuchanka. Seeing the force they could provide against the Rachni threat, the Salarians uplifted the Krogan, providing them with technological advances in exchange for their barbaric efforts to stop the Rachni. Unfortunately, after the Rachni were exterminated, the Salarians determined that uplifting the Krogan was a grave error, and it wouldn’t be long before they overran the galaxy and dominated.
They began fighting the Krogan, in hopes of stopping their violent spread across the galaxy. However, it wasn’t until they encountered the Turians and joined forces with them that they were finally able to put the Krogan back in their place. The Salarians designed the genophage, a biological weapon that would significantly decrease the Krogan ability to reproduce at such an alarming rate, and the Turians deployed it against them. Due to their efforts against the Krogan, the Turians were inducted into the Council’s core governmental structure as the third dominant race presiding over the rest of the galaxy.
In time, the Turians eventually encountered humanity, who had recently discovered and entered Galactic space using the Charon Relay. Believing their invasion to be a breach of Galactic Law, the Turians attacked, which quickly escalated into what humanity came to know as the First Contact War. Before the war became devastating, the Council intervened, revealing itself to humanity and welcoming them into the galactic fold.
Humanity, who had seen significant technological advancement thanks to discovering the Mass Relay network and other sentient life in the Milky Way, found themselves subjected to Galactic Law restraints when Council Spectre Saren Arterius discovered they were building and experimenting with Artificial Intelligence. During this time, human Alliance soldier David Anderson was on the roster to become the first human Spectre, but Saren sabotaged his efforts when he blew up a refinery full of innocents and pinned the blame on Anderson.
It wasn’t until Commander Shepard became the First Human Spectre and exposed Saren’s underhanded dealings and affiliation with the Geth and the Reaper Sovereign that humanity finalyl gained influence with the Council. For Shepard’s efforts in stopping Saren during his attack on the Citadel, humanity was offered an official position on the Council. However, it was only a matter of years before Udina betrayed the Council, attempting to sell them out to Cerberus so humanity could gain the upper hand. Despite Udina’s actions, Shepard’s work to stop him and the Reaper threat proved that, even though some humans weren’t ready to govern the galaxy, there were humans capable of galactic cooperation and peace.
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