Element Zero

Fictional record. This page describes a mining commodity from a fictional setting, not a real material. Information is based on the cited canon, with adaptations and interpretation distinguished where necessary. It is kept separate from the real MineArchive corpus — see Fictional.

The rare material of the Mass Effect games, called eezo, that releases dark energy when an electric current passes through it, creating the mass effect fields that give the series its name: faster-than-light travel, artificial gravity and biotic powers all depend on it.

Where it occurs

Eezo forms where solid matter is struck by the energy of a supernova. It is common in the asteroid debris around neutron stars and pulsars, which are dangerous places to mine, and some planets hold smaller, safer deposits that formed around a larger one. Omega's asteroid is mined for it, the station's major export, and in Mass Effect 2 it is found on garden worlds and the former sites of spacefaring civilisations across the galaxy.

How it's obtained

The primary sources around dead stars need robotics, telepresence and heavy shielding against the radiation, and only a few major corporations can afford the set-up; planetary secondary sources are safer to mine but yield less. In Mass Effect 2 the player's ship scans and probes planets for it; in Mass Effect: Andromeda it is detected by orbital scan and mined with the Nomad rover on Elaaden and Voeld.

Properties

A positive current through eezo raises the mass of everything in the field, a negative current lowers it. In dust form it is toxic to organic life and mutagenic: a child exposed in the womb may develop eezo nodules in the nervous system that give biotic powers, though many exposures do nothing or cause terminal cancer.

Why it's valuable

The basis of the setting's technology and economy. The SSV Normandy's drive core cost 120 billion credits for the element zero in it, and the biotic drug red sand is said to be made from it. The discovery of refined eezo in the Prothean ruins on Mars gave humanity faster-than-light drives before the Charon relay was found.

Uses

Starship drive cores and faster-than-light travel, artificial gravity, high-strength construction materials, weapons, medicines, and the induction of biotic ability. In Andromeda it is a crafting resource for a long list of weapons and armour.

Canon & adaptations

The wiki's background section reproduces the codex; the rumour of rich deposits in the Nemean Abyss and the question of how accidental the first biotic exposures were are presented by the games themselves as unsettled. The player-facing mining of Mass Effect 2 and Andromeda is game mechanics rather than lore.

Recorded claims

Each claim is marked with its basis — explicit canon, MineArchive inference, adaptation only, or fandom interpretation — and attached to the source(s) below. Where tellings disagree, both are kept.

• An electric current through element zero releases dark energy that raises or lowers the mass of everything in the resulting field. (explicit canon) ^1,2
• Eezo forms where solid matter is affected by a supernova and is common in the asteroid debris around neutron stars and pulsars, which are dangerous to mine. (explicit canon) ¹
• Dust-form element zero is toxic and mutagenic; exposure in the womb can produce biotic ability or terminal cancer. (explicit canon) ¹
• The Normandy's drive core cost 120 billion credits because of the element zero it needed. (explicit canon) ¹

Fictional mines producing this

Included only where MineArchive's own research gives a reasonable evidential basis.

• Omega
  The station's major export, from the mines and processing plants beneath it.

Sources

1. (primary canon) Element Zero — Mass Effect Wiki — Mass Effect Wiki (Fandom), reproducing the games' codex text; read through the MediaWiki API
2. (interpretation) Mass Effect — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
3. (primary canon) Omega — Mass Effect Wiki — Mass Effect Wiki (Fandom), reproducing the games' codex text; read through the MediaWiki API

Record created: 16 October 2026 · Last researched: 16 October 2026