Reapers

**Reapers**, so named by the Protheans (known as the "**Old Machines**" by the geth), were an incredibly advanced species of living spaceships, they resided deep in the dark space between galaxies -- hibernating there for 50,000 cycles at a time.

The only known sapient, space-faring species in the Milky Way that the Reapers were aware of and never attempted to eradicate were the xel'naga.

## History

The Reapers were built by the Catalyst more than a billion years before the Common Era using genetic material harvested from the Leviathans. The first Reaper built was the Harbinger. They were part of the Catalyst's scheme to preserve sapient life, awakening from hibernation to cull the Milky Way of species advanced enough to create synthetic lifeforms that might destroy them. They would, during each cycle, preserve and catalog the memories and genes of each species that they eradicated.

In order to speed up the advancement of spacefaring races, the Reapers -- under orders from the Catalyst -- constructed the Citadel and the mass relay network.

In one of their early harvests, the Reapers destroyed the Slaver Empire. During this harvest, however, the Leviathans managed to kill one of the Reapers -- leaving its corpse in space where it would come to be called the Leviathan of Dis.

During the course of a later harvest, the Reapers discovered the Iconians had advanced much faster than anticipated and had moved beyond the need for the mass relay network -- making the job of killing them much more difficult. In anticipation of other species advancing at different time tables, the Reapers left a message for synthetic lifeforms on the planet Aia -- a way to awaken and summon the Reapers into the galaxy outside of their normal cycle. They pulled stars from across the galaxy, creating the Conclave of Eight, to call attention to this planet.

Some time later -- after having gone through hundreds of their harvests -- the Reapers returned to cull the Protheans. The Protheans resisted and fought back -- but to no avail.

The next culling was slightly delayed, thanks to actions taken by the Protheans and by Commander Shepard. Nevertheless, the Reapers were able to return to the Milky Way to begin their harvest. With Shepard working to unite the galaxy against the Reapers, war erupted between the Reapers and their indoctrinated minions, and the free-thinking civilizations of the galaxy.

Finally, Shepard and his allies constructed the Crucible, and ultimately Shepard used it to end the threat of the Reapers -- merging himself with the Catalyst in order to control them. He ordered them to help the galaxy rebuild, then -- fearing that he was beginning to become indoctrinated by the underlying directives of the Catalyst -- had the mass relay network destroyed, and moved the Reapers and the Citadel itself outside of galactic space. As one final measure, he had the Reapers erect a barrier around the edge of the Milky Way itself.

## Physiology & Abilities

The Reapers, having cataloged the memories of every species they wiped out, contain billions of minds interconnected into immortal, machine bodies. These bodies were designed to look very much like the Leviathans -- which, in turn, bore a resemblance to cuttlefish.

### Subtypes

There were various subtypes of Reapers, which were distinguishable from each other, but each bore a unique appearance. These included:

* The Harbinger
* Capital Ships - also called "Sovereign-class"
* Troop Transports
* Processors
* Destroyers

### Indoctrination

Reapers, and Reaper artifacts, had an ability to control the minds of those in close contact with them. This mind control was permanent, and subtle enough that the subject would still believe they were acting of their own free will. This ability remained even after a Reaper itself was killed, as they were connected to the consciousness of other Reapers. A research team was indoctrinated while inside the Leviathan of Dis, 37 million years after it had perished.

### Armaments

Aside from indoctrination, Reapers were incredibly powerful warships, including weapons that fired at near-light speeds. One such weapon fired a beam of molten metal, that is capable of tearing through even the sturdiest spaceships or those with shielding.

## Source

Reapers are derived from *Mass Effect*. For canon information, please visit:

* Mass Effect Wiki