Here’s the systems map with overlaid white circles showing how far you can get with top-end conventional FTL drive in six months, and a year respectively. Which is a good way of showing which clusters can hook back up and form pockets of civilisation. Learning the secret of the Reaper Drives would double the range or halve the time but really someone’s got to crack the secret of the relays to bring back full-on galactic civilisation.
Multi-System power blocs with the resources and personnel to re-ignite galactic society might emerge at:
1: Hawking Eta, Ninmah Cluster, Nimbus Cluster, Styx Theta, Caleston Rift.
2. Armstrong Nebula, Nubian Expanse.
3. Attican Beta, Hades Gamma, Artemis Tau
4. Local Cluster, Arcturus Stream.
5. Crescent Nebula, Eagle Nebula.
Postmortem Studios 
Map is error. It’s already been established that the Charon relay leads to Arcturus. There is only one relay in the Local Cluster. So why does the relay connect to the Exodus Cluster in-game?
Interesting map, where did you find the numbers for the speed and range of ships?
I’ll google this a little.
200 time the speed of light seem a speed achieved by ship in this universe. Also, long range travel can be problematic
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/FTL
According to the codex top end ships like the Normandy can do about 12-15 light years per day and The Reapers go twice as fast.
hmm, interesting numbers there. So to travel 20’000 ly it would take them around 4.6 years … Quite a ride.
This era make me think of the conquistators. Pirates, booty, fame and glory!
Oh, a pirate’s life is a wonderful life,
A-rovin’ over the sea,
Give me a career as a buccaneer
It’s the life of a pirate for me
Oh, the life of a pirate for me!
Oh, a pirate’s life is a wonderful life,
They never bury you’re bones,
For when it’s all over a jolly sea rover
Drops in on his friend, Davey Jones
Oh, my good friend , Davey Jones!
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S70N6c5dZ-8)
I’m not a great W-D fan, but this scene inspire ma a lot for some characters. Put Schmeee in a volus custome. Throw in some krogans, turians and assari in the lot (i know you like them) and well ,you got a tasty if not funny buch of pirates. It could make for a twisted N7 crew or a Evil nemesis and mysterious, albeit excentric, captain.
I love to twist iconic media like this in my games in order to get an instant “feel”. I usually twist the reality a little under the guise of propaganda and such. In a way, it is very effective since players can refer to the material without feeling to much pain about it (ie gungans and jarjar binks) and it leaves them with a lot to do without to much effort from my part.
Ever since the Templin Institute, a youtube channel focused on exploring alternate worlds, put forth their proposal for a post Reaper universe, I have been interested in running a tabletop game set in that universe. Your articles have been a tremendous help. While their video focuses on the galaxy at large over centuries, your articles give a good idea of the immediate situation in the local cluster mere years following the destruction.