First Contact War
Humanity's first meeting with aliens, and its first war.
The First Contact War is humanity's first conflict with an alien species in the Mass Effect universe. About ten years after leaving the Sol system, humanity meets the turians, and the encounter erupts into a brief but vicious war that ends when the Citadel Council intervenes and welcomes humanity into galactic society.
Quick Facts
- Belligerents
- Humanity vs. turians
- Ended by
- Citadel Council intervention
Lore & Background
The war began when turian forces tried, by force, to stop human explorers opening a new mass relay, to prevent a repeat of the Rachni Wars, which had started when explorers unleashed the rachni from unexplored space. The turians call it the "Relay 314 Incident".
Reader's Guide
A Mass Effect tie-in story set during the war tells the origin of the Illusive Man.
Its aftermath and the lasting tension between humans and turians are a recurring theme of the series, beginning with the 2007 novel Mass Effect: Revelation. Saren Arterius resents humanity because of the war and works to undermine David Anderson's bid to become a Spectre.
More in Campaigns & Missions
Elsewhere in Mass Effect
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