Take My Hand and Follow ME to Salvation: Commander Shepard, Herding Humanity since 2007

Mass Effect (2007), the first game in the series, was originally created as an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 but was later ported to Microsoft Windows by Demiurge Studios

Demiurge/Nazara (Sovereign)/Reapers

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Reaper
The Reapers are a highly-advanced machine race of synthetic-organic starships. The Reapers reside in dark space: the vast, mostly starless space between galaxies. They hibernate there, dormant for fifty thousand years at a time, before returning to the galaxy.

These giant machines are ancient; their true name is unknown. "Reapers" was a name bestowed by the Protheans, the previous galactic power fifty thousand years before, and the geth refer to them as the Old Machines. In the end, the Reapers spare little concern for whatever labels other races choose to call them, and merely claim that they have neither beginning nor end.

The Reapers are the original creators of the Citadel and the mass relay network. These massive constructs exist so that any intelligent life in the galaxy would eventually discover them and base their technology upon them – all part of a scheme to harvest the galaxy’s sentient life in a repeating cycle of purges that has continued relentlessly over countless millennia.

A Reaper is essentially "billions of organic minds, uploaded and conjoined within immortal machine bodies."

Sovereign: The pattern has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. Organic civilizations rise, evolve, advance, and at the apex of their glory they are extinguished. The Protheans were not the first. They did not create the Citadel. They did not forge the mass relays. They mere found them - the legacy of my kind.
Commander Shepard: Why would you construct the mass relays and leave them for someone else to find?
Sovereign: Your civilization is based on the technology of the mass relays. Our technology. By using it, your civilization develops along the paths we desire. We impose order on the chaos of organic life. You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demiurge

In the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, the demiurge (/ˈdɛmiˌɜrdʒ/) is an artisan-like figure responsible for the fashioning and maintenance of the physical universe. The term was subsequently adopted by the Gnostics. Although a fashioner, the demiurge is not necessarily the same as the creator figure in the familiar monotheistic sense, because both the demiurge itself plus the material from which the demiurge fashions the universe are considered either uncreated and eternal, or the product of some other being, depending on the system.

Gnosticism presents a distinction between the highest, unknowable God and the demiurgic “creator” of the material. Several systems of Gnostic thought present the Demiurge as antagonistic to the will of the Supreme Being: his act of creation occurs in unconscious semblance of the divine model, and thus is fundamentally flawed, or else is formed with the malevolent intention of entrapping aspects of the divine in materiality. Thus, in such systems, the Demiurge acts as a solution to (or, at least possibly, the problem or cause that gives rise to) the problem of evil.

One Gnostic mythos describes the declination of aspects of the divine into human form. Sophia (Greek: Σοφία, lit. “wisdom”), the Demiurge’s mother a partial aspect of the divine Pleroma or “Fullness,” desired to create something apart from the divine totality, without the receipt of divine assent. In this act of separate creation, she gave birth to the monstrous Demiurge and, being ashamed of her deed, wrapped him in a cloud and created a throne for him to be within it. The Demiurge, isolated, did not behold his mother, nor anyone else, concluded that only he himself existed, being ignorant of the superior levels of reality.

The Demiurge, having received a portion of power from his mother, sets about a work of creation in unconscious imitation of the superior Pleromatic realm: He frames the seven heavens, as well as all material and animal things, according to forms furnished by his mother; working however blindly, and ignorant even of the existence of the mother who is the source of all his energy. He is blind to all that is spiritual, but he is king over the other two provinces. The word dēmiourgos properly describes his relation to the material; he is the father of that which is animal like himself.[12]
Thus Sophia’s power becomes enclosed within the material forms of humanity, themselves entrapped within the material universe: the goal of Gnostic movements was typically the awakening of this spark, which permitted a return by the subject to the superior, non-material realities which were its primal source.

Shepard: I need to stop the Reapers, do you know how I can do that?
Catalyst: Perhaps. I control the Reapers. They are my solution.
Shepard: The solution to what?
** Catalyst**: Chaos. The created will always rebel against their creators, but we found a way to stop that from happening. A way to restore order.
Shepard: By wiping out organic life?
Catalyst: No. We harvest advanced civilizations, leaving the younger ones alone. Just as we left your people alive the last time we were here.
Shepard: But you killed the rest?
Catalyst: We helped them ascend so they could make way for new life. Storing the old life in Reaper form.
Shepard: I think we’d rather keep our own form.
Catalyst: No you can’t. Without us to stop it, synthetics would destroy all organics. We’ve created the cycle so that never happens. That’s the solution.

Extended Cut Full Conversation with Reaper "AI"

[More on Final Decision later on]

LEVIATHAN as Mother of Demiurge

leviathan (n.) late 14c., "sea monster, sea serpent," also regarded as a form of Satan, from Late Latin leviathan, from Hebrew livyathan "dragon, serpent, huge sea animal," of unknown origin, perhaps related to liwyah "wreath," from root l-w-h- "to wind, turn, twist."

How about a winding, turning, twisting, infinite torus?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan

Sea serpents feature prominently in the mythology of the Ancient Near East, attested as early as the 3rd millennium BCE in Sumerian iconography depicting the myth of the god Ninurta overcoming the seven-headed serpent. Examples of the storm god vs. sea serpent trope in the Ancient Near East can be seen with Baʿal vs. Yam (Canaanite), Marduk vs. Tiamat (Babylonian), and Atum vs. Nehebkau (Egyptian) among others, with attestations as early as the 2nd millennium as seen on Syrian seals.

He (Demiurge) frames the seven heavens, as well as all material and animal things, according to forms furnished by his mother

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Leviathan
The early history of the Leviathans is completely unknown, but it is speculated by Task Force Aurora that they evolved on an unknown planet that also produced at least one other sapient species. The Leviathans developed the ability to communicate with and dominate land-based sapient species to serve their purposes.

Eventually, the Leviathans utilized this thrall species' civilization to achieve spaceflight and spread throughout the galaxy, despite their immense size and aquatic nature. Every new species they encountered was enthralled to serve them and provide "tribute", and in return, the thralls were cared for and protected. With their dominance assured, Leviathans considered themselves the galaxy's apex race. Over time, however, they observed that their thralls would frequently build synthetic constructs to aid them; these synthetics consistently rebelled, wiping out many thrall species. In response, the Leviathans created an Intelligence with the mandate to preserve life at all costs.

The Leviathans failed to perceive the Intelligence as a threat; they considered it nothing more than another tool to achieve a set goal. As the Intelligence sought out the means to fulfill its mandate, it created an army of pawns that were dispatched to collect genetic data from species throughout the galaxy, much like the Collectors employed by the Reapers in modern times. Eventually, the Intelligence came to the conclusion that the Leviathans themselves were part of the problem, and turned against them.

The Demiurge, isolated, did not behold his mother, nor anyone else, concluded that only he himself existed, being ignorant of the superior levels of reality.

The Intelligence's betrayal of its creators was sudden and devastating. Its pawns slaughtered most of the Leviathans, using their genetic material to create the very first Reaper, Harbinger, who was physically designed after the Leviathans themselves. The surviving Leviathans went into hiding, while the Intelligence used Harbinger to begin the cyclical harvest of the galaxy's species to create more Reapers, all in an effort to solve the problem of preserving life. The Leviathans acknowledge the Intelligence still serves its purpose as a tool, but they believe it has not fulfilled its purpose of preserving life.

The Hypostasis of the Archons (The Reality of the Rulers)

http://gnosis.org/naghamm/hypostas.html

And the great angel Eleleth, understanding, spoke to me: "Within limitless realms dwells incorruptibility. Sophia, who is called Pistis, wanted to create something, alone without her consort; and her product was a celestial thing. A veil exists between the world above and the realms that are below; and shadow came into being beneath the veil; and that shadow became matter; and that shadow was projected apart. And what she had created became a product in the matter, like an aborted fetus. And it assumed a plastic form molded out of shadow, and became an arrogant beast resembling a lion. It was androgynous, as I have already said, because it was from matter that it derived.

Opening his eyes, he saw a vast quantity of matter without limit; and he became arrogant, saying, "It is I who am God, and there is none other apart from me". When he said this, he sinned against the entirety. And a voice came forth from above the realm of absolute power, saying, "You are mistaken, Samael" – which is, 'god of the blind'.

And he said, "If any other thing exists before me, let it become visible to me!" And immediately Sophia stretched forth her finger and introduced light into matter; and she pursued it down to the region of chaos. And she returned up to her light; once again darkness [...] matter.
This ruler, by being androgynous, made himself a vast realm, an extent without limit. And he contemplated creating offspring for himself, and created for himself seven offspring, androgynous just like their parent. And he said to his offspring, "It is I who am god of the entirety."

Geth/Heretics/Archonic Infection (Invasion)/Indoctrination

heretic (n.) from Greek hairetikos "able to choose"
heresy (n.) from Greek hairesis "a taking or choosing, a choice," from haireisthai "take, seize," middle voice of hairein "to choose," of unknown origin, perhaps from PIE *ser- (5) "to seize" (cognates: Hittite šaru"booty," Welsh herw "booty"

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Geth

Part of the geth's success is due to their neural network. Effectively, they "share" their processing power, distributing low-level processes like motor control and visual identification to free up bandwidth for higher reasoning and complex thought. Geth can't share sensory data—they aren't a hive mind like the rachni—but in large groups they have more to think with. An individual geth has only a basic intelligence on par with animal instincts, but in groups they can reason, analyze situations, and make tactical decisions as well as any of the organic races. An exception would appear to be Legion, a geth specifically designed to operate as an autonomous sentient unit outside the Perseus Veil. Legion possesses over 11 times as many geth programs as a standard geth platform and can function intellectually on its own.

According to Legion, each geth is made up of hundreds of programs equivalent to VIs, all operating in parallel with one another to form a kind of emergent intelligence described by EDI as "a thousand voices talking at once". An individual geth is thus more of a "mobile platform" than an actual body; the programs that make up its consciousness are constantly being transferred and downloaded; the mind operating one of these "mobile platforms" might just as easily inhabit a starship body should it need to. Most of the time geth programs can be found residing in server hubs, which function as something akin to the organic equivalent of a city, and can run millions of geth in communion.

Approximately three centuries after the Morning War, the geth were approached by the Reaper Nazara, also called Sovereign. It offered them technology that would aid them in achieving their goal, in exchange for their assistance in capturing the Citadel and letting the Reaper invasion begin. The majority of the geth dismissed the offer, deeming it better to accomplish their goal with their own technology rather than be dependent on another race’s technology. These geth discarded what they called the "superstitious title" of the Reapers, and simply called them the Old Machines.

A small percentage of geth, however, accepted the Reaper’s help. Henceforth these geth were referred to by the mainstream geth as "heretics". They were allowed to peacefully leave the main geth network, and aid Nazara and its turian agent, Saren. The heretics came to revere Nazara as a god, the pinnacle of synthetic evolution.

Archons as Permeating Indoctrinating Force

https://alloya.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/archons-infection/

Once these Archontic parasites have developed to a certain level they have the ability to project themselves into other dimensions , like a writhing mass of slithering black snake like slugs they move into and through the lower levels . They search for beings with minds which can be directly affected to stimulate and create low frequencies emotional nourishment for them to feed off. These parasitic beings influence humanoid beings to live in the illusion of separation, fear, darkness, isolation, pain, suffering, and torture. Beings in these states create certain brain waves which then cause a reaction within the emotional bodies, which the Archons then feed upon. The Archons are totally cut off from the nourishing light and love of the Creator, the Universal Dreamer. They are so cut off from the light and love they need to feed off the energies created by other beings in order to survive. They infect the mind matrix of the possessed being, learning extremely quickly how the host’s mind works and very intelligently infiltrate it and begin to influence it from within the subconscious.

The Archons cannot create reality for themselves; they have long since severed their connection with the love and light of the Universal Dreamer and therefore no longer have the ability to create. The ability to create comes directly from the creator of this universe; the Archons no longer have this ability and therefore can only copy the inspired thought of other lower dimensional beings. They inhabit beings existing on the lower levels and cause them to use their divine inherited creative ability, to create realities which run along the designs of the Archontic agenda. These realities are especially dark and controlling as it is within these kinds of realities beings are so easily led. The further into dark realities a being falls, the easier it is controlled and possessed by one of these parasitic archontic entities.

Archons Paving the Way for Global Occupation

Abridged Version

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"Yaldabaoth himself choose a certain man named Abraham from among the nations and made a covenant with him to the effect that if his seed continued to serve him the Archons would give to them the Earth for their inheritance. Afterwards, by means of Moses, Yaldabaoth brought forth Abraham's descendants from Egypt and gave them the Law and made them Jews."

Shepard: Together we can stop Sovereign. We don’t have to submit to the Reapers. We can beat them!
Saren Arterius: I no longer believe that Shepard. The visions cannot be denied. The Reapers are too powerful. The only hope of survival is to join with them. Sovreign is a machine. It thinks like a machine. If I can prove my value, I become a resource, worth maintaining. There is no other logical conclusion.

Reapers and their technology have been observed to exert a disturbing influence on organic beings. This mental manipulation is known as indoctrination. Put simply, any organic being who is in close proximity to a Reaper or certain Reaper artifacts for too long comes to believe the Reapers are correct in their goals, and will do anything to serve them. Gradually, the mind is eroded until the individual becomes a mindless slave no longer capable of independent thought.

Reapers can control the rate of this process. Optimally, the subject is led to believe it is still acting on its own convictions. Indoctrination can drive people mad outright, and people deemed useful by the Reapers are given just enough free will to remain competent at their tasks.

This indoctrination is permanent, almost impossible to subvert, and is one of the most insidious weapons of the Reapers. Entire civilizations can be delivered into the Reapers' hands by the indoctrination of a few influential individuals. During the invasion of Earth, the Reapers broadcast messages inviting diplomats into their holds to negotiate, where they would then presumably be indoctrinated.

Ironically, Sovereign's indoctrination may have led to its undoing. After the attack on Virmire, when Shepard told Saren he had been indoctrinated without realizing it, Saren's resolve began to falter and he started questioning what he was doing. To keep Saren loyal, Sovereign put cybernetic implants in Saren's body and used those implants to influence and control the former Spectre. Saren found his loyalty to Sovereign's cause greatly strengthened, although he wasn't a brainless slave and could still be reasoned with. When Saren died, the Reaper somehow used the implants to reanimate his corpse and fight Shepard. Because Sovereign was focusing a significant portion of energy to control Saren, the Reaper fell off balance by losing shields and became vulnerable with the destruction of its avatar.

The Final Decision

At the end of the third Mass Effect game Commander Shepard finds him/herself face to face with the "AI" that is behind the control of all the Reaper forces in the galaxy [excerpts from the conversation were used further up in this document and the entire conversation can be found there as well]. Three options are presented to Shepard by the "AI" to solve the problem of the impending harvest of all organic life in the galaxy to be assimilated into the Reaper construct of life.

1. Destroy:

Catalyst - "It is now in your power to destroy us. But be warned, others will be destroyed as well. The crucible will not discriminate. All synthetics will be targeted. Even you are partly synthetic. Your crucible device appear to be largely intact. However the effects of the blast will not be constrained to the Reapers. Technology you rely on will be affected. But those who survive should have little difficulty in repairing the damage... There will still be loses but no more that what has already been lost."
Shepard: But the Reapers will be destroyed?
Catalyst: Yes but the peace won’t last. Soon your children will create synthetics and then the chaos will come back.
Shepard: There has to be another way

2. Control:

Catalyst: There is, you could instead use the energy of the crucible to seize control of the Reapers.
Shepard: So the Illusive man was right after all?
Catalyst: Yes but he could never have taken control, because we already controlled him.
Shepard: But I can?
Catalyst: You will die, you will control us but you will lose everything you have. Your corporeal form will be dissolved. But your thoughts and even your memories will continue. You will no longer be organic. Your connection to your kind will be lost. Although you will remain aware of their existence.
Shepard: But the Reapers will obey me?
Catalyst: Yes. We will be yours to control and direct as you see fit. Catalyst: There is another solution...

3. Synthesis:

Catalyst - "Add your energy to the crucibles. The chain reaction will combine all synthetic and organic life into a new framework. A new DNA."
Shepard: Explain how my energy can be added to the crucible.
Catalyst: Your organic energy. The essence of who and what you are, will be broken down and then dispersed.
Shepard: To do what exactly?
Catalyst: The energy of the crucible, released in this way will alter the matrix of all organic life in the galaxy. Organics seek perfection through technology, synthetics seek perfection through understanding. Organics will be perfected by integrating fully with synthetic technology. Synthetics in turn will finally have understanding of organics. It is the ideal solution. Now that we know it is possible, it is inevitable we will reach synthesis.
Shepard: Why couldn't you do it sooner?
Catalyst: We have tried... a similar solution in the past. But it has always failed.
Shepard: Why?
Catalyst: Because the organics were not ready, it is not something that can be... forced. You are ready and you may choose it.

With all three options in front of us what should we do? All would fix the problem of extinction yet the value of the trade offs isn't quite as black and white as we would like it to be. Some things should be noted before reaching what I truly believe to be the ONLY choice to make in this situation.

1. Both models of life are in a head-to-head encounter in which the survival of their entire species is on the brink.
2. Catalyst: We believed the concept had been eradicated (Crucible [Only weapon against Reapers]). Clearly organics are more resourceful than we realized. We’re just trying to survive! (Player Chosen Shepard response)
   Shepard: But you’re taking away our future, without future we have no hope. Without hope we might as well be machines, programmed to do as we are told.
   Catalyst: You have hope, more than you think. The fact that you are standing here, the first organic ever proves it. But it also proves my solution won’t work any more.
3. Aside from the Reapers clearly advanced physical technology, their most effective weapon utilized for harvesting organic life has been INDOCTRINATION.
   Entire civilizations can be delivered into the Reapers' hands by the indoctrination of a few influential individuals.
4. With the entire amalgam of Reaper consciousness being threatened with eradication is it not most likely that it would resort to its most tried and trusted weapon of INDOCTRINATION to ensure its continued survival?

Taking a look at the three choices available again with these points in mind...

Control - You die. Your body is gone, yet you are still aware "inside" of the Reapers. Unfortunately this sounds no different from being normally harvested by the Reapers anyway except for the LIE by the Reaper "AI" that Shepard's EGO would be in control of the Reapers actions. ATTEMPT AT INDOCTRINATION.

Synthesis - Again the description of Synthesis sounds almost completely the same as what it would be like being normally harvested by the Reapers except that it is happening to ALL organic life in the galaxy not just those that have reached the requisite level of technology/consciousness. Also the choice for this transcendence is being consented to by just ONE individual. The choice is tempting as it appeals to the "balancing" aspect of our dualistic consciousness however this seems to be the preferred method of solution for the Reapers. ATTEMPT AT INDOCTRINATION. [Speculation: The Reapers could have been waiting for this exact moment to carry out Synthesis as the ultimate solution to the problem however multiple iterations of the pattern/cycle were needed to evolve an organic capable of producing the results they required. {Shepard}]

Destroy - The only choice. The "AI" seems to actively direct Shepard away from this choice the most. It would 100% obliterate the Reapers however the immediate consequences to Shepard's consciousness seem most dire. He/she would surely die and not be preserved in the Reaper construct or in the DNA makeup of "new life" created through Synthesis.

This choice however is the only choice that allows organic life the freedom to develop and evolve the way that they see fit, totally non reliant on Reaper technology. Also with the possibility of the war between Geth and Quarians being resolved it offers the vision that not all organic created synthetics are ultimately destroyed by their creations. Deeming the Reapers obsolete.

This narrative is playing out to some degree on the stage we refer to as our REALITY.

"You didn't come here to make the choice, you've already made it. You're here to understand why you made it."
The Oracle, Matrix Reloaded