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Content Warning: Genocide

Chapter 1 - The Suitless Spectre

"Who the hell are you?! And how are you not wearing a suit?!"

Nara'Ven vas Shellen nar Alarei really wished he wasn't alone in the depths of the Shellen right now. Quarians were very economical with space, so it was rare to find someplace you could be alone in - a liveship was just about it.

He had come down here to find a quiet place to watch Fleet and Flotilla when he had noticed a strange rectangular black object on the ground. After examination, he concluded it was a book - an actual, honest-to-god physical book. He had never seen one of those before.

Before he could analyze it further, the suitless quarian with dark red eyes had suddenly appeared in front of him. For some bizarre reason, he looked to be wearing 21st century human casual business attire. Wait, how did he know what that was?

Before he could think about that some more, the creature responded.

"I am an Ancestor, visiting this world."

Nara'Ven's eyes widened. An Ancestor was about the only thing that made sense in this situation. But that still didn't explain the weird clothes.

"Allow me to explain. The book you picked up is called the Death Note." He reached into his pocket and handed what looked to be a primitive writing utensil to him. "If you write someone's name in it with their face in your mind, they will die. Specify the cause of death to the right of the name, and - so long as the death is physically possible - it will happen. If you do not specify a cause of death, or write an implausible cause of death, they will simply die of a brain aneurysm."

Nara'Ven stared. He wanted to laugh, wanted to dismiss this all as a hallucination but…

There was something to this. He had good instincts, and for some reason he knew this "Ancestor" wasn't lying.

"Let's say I believe you," he said as he accepted the proffered writing utensil. "Why come here?"

Unexpectedly, the creature become annoyed.

"Let me tell you, it was not easy. Usually only Shinigami are allowed to hold these-"

"Shinigami?" He questioned.

"Death gods. They always have one of these notes. It took considerable persuasion to be permitted to leave the ordinary afterlife, and even more persuasion to convince a Shinigami to let me borrow one."

"What is the afterlife like?"

"I cannot tell you," he replied instantly. "And in any event, that is not why I am here. Congratulations, Nara'Ven vas Shellen nar Alarei. You will be the quarian peoples' hand of vengeance."

"What do you mean?" He asked - though he was pretty sure he knew.

"Do you even need to ask? You are so-called 'suit rats'. For a mistake made 300 years ago, the galaxy has doomed you to an eternity in the void."

Suddenly the Ancestor's eyes became darker, and he grinned viciously.

"Now you can exact your revenge on those that have wronged you."

Without saying anything, Nara'Ven immediately pulled up a live feed of Citadel Daily Debate. It was a fortunate coincidence that they were hosting a debate on giving the quarians a homeworld at the exact time he had picked up the Death Note.

Or was it?

"-they must never be allowed to colonize!" The asari the screen identified as "Matriarch Teven Delara" screeched. "The Geth were an inexcusable mistake. If we even give those damn suit rats a single inch-"

Using the strange writing utensil, he quickly wrote the following into the Death Note:

Matriarch Teven Delara

He didn't specify a cause of death. A brain aneurysm was just fine by him.

"Excellent target," the Ancestor complimented him. "Watch."

"I don't care if they don't like it. It's the proper and just punishment for their inexcusable mistakes. This is a lesson that must be taught to them for all eter-"

The Matriarch immediately stopped and collapsed onto the ground. Panic engulfed the studio for a few moments before the stream was cut off.

It was real. The Death Note worked.

"I am leaving," the Ancestor suddenly announced. "You know what to do." Without any warning, the Ancestor vanished as quickly as he appeared.

Yes. Yes, Nara'Ven knew exactly what to do.

It was time for some fucking payback.

-votsr-

Had to change "heart attack" to "brain aneurysm" for the default method since this is Mass Effect. I don't even think you can give a krogan a heart attack…

-votsr-

Chapter 2 - Three Unexpected Deaths

"How did this happen?!"

"Three brain aneurysms at once?!"

"Someone murdered them, I know it!"

The emergency meeting of the Council of Matriarchs was unusually panicked, given how calm Matriarchs typically were. But given what had just happened, the panic seemed appropriate.

The Council was dead. All of them. In a middle of a meeting detailing a possible trade agreement with the Batarian Hegemony, all of them had collapsed and died of brain aneurysms simultaneously.

"How did this happen?" One of the matriarchs asked. "This CANNOT be a coincidence. This was a deliberate assassination."

"But how?" Another returned. "How do you cause three different sapient beings to die of brain aneurysms at once!"

"I DON'T KNOW!" The former screamed in frustration. "But we have to figure this out!"

"Well, let us get to the main question," a third said. "WHO did this?"

"There are a lot of people who want the Council dead," the first one said thoughtfully. "But who could have had the resources to do this?"

They slowly went down the list and, to their frustration, ruled out every possible culprit.

The Krogan? No, of course not. All they cared about was fighting and credits.

The Batarians? There was motivation, but they did not have the resources or technology to do this.

The Quarians? They had the technology, but not the resources. And it wasn't like killing the Council was suddenly going to get them un-exiled.

Pirates or mercenaries? If so, what was the motivation? There had been no manifesto or lists of demands. All three had simply died without warning.

The Humans? Of course not. They were trying everything they could to ingratiate themselves to the Council. This would result in their exile from known space.

The Volus? Why? This had caused chaos in the galactic markets.

And obviously, all three Council races could be ruled out.

So WHO did this?

The debate raged for days, but nobody could find any reasonable explanation. Nor would they find one before the aneurysms became far more frequent.

-votsr-

It was so tempting.

After all, he could specify the cause of death in any way he wished. He could have one of the victims write a Khelish word in blood, for example.

But he couldn't risk it. This COULD NOT be traced back to the Migrant Fleet or their species would go extinct in the resulting war. As tempting as it was to let people know it was the "suit rats" doing this, it was simply too dangerous. Like all quarians, Nara'Ven vas Shellen valued the collective above the individual and was not prideful enough to endanger his entire species for the sake of his ego.

He made his decision.

Unless I need something specific, it's going to be brain aneurysms until further notice.

-votsr-

Chapter 3 - Things Fall Apart

MYSTERIOUS MASS MURDERS DECIMATE ASARI GOVERNMENT

Citadel News Network - The Asari Republics have been crippled over the course of one day as a sudden and unexplained series of deaths via brain aneurysm killed approximately 97% of the Council of Matriarchs.

Investigators throughout the galaxy are baffled and do not know how this is possible, nor how the killer could avoid detection…

-votsr-

It was a secret location, known only to the Matriarchs. All of them knew the only reason that they had survived was that their names were not publicly known.

And none of them knew what to do.

"What do we do?" One matriarch asked out loud. "How do we stop this? Is there anything we CAN do to stop this?"

"To be blunt, I do not think so," one of the other Matriarchs responded casually. "I believe someone is taking their revenge out on us."

"But why?"

"Do you need to ask?"

Despite the terror that engulfed all of them, they had been thinking a lot about who would do this and why. And while thinking about that, they had come to an uncomfortable conclusion:

There were a LOT of different sapients throughout the galaxy that would relish the Republics' death.

The krogan were ecstatic. They were having fucking betting pools on which species would die next. They hadn't been paying close attention to the Migrant Fleet, but from what they'd heard everyone in it was highly amused by this.

"Everyone…" One of them said slowly. "The Asari Republics might deserve to die."

"WHAT?!"

"WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?!"

"Think about it," the other continued, not fazed by the reaction. "How long have we kept Vendetta a secret despite knowing what will come? How many injustices have we allowed to continue simply because we never wanted to address them?"

The Matriarch lowered her head and sighed.

"We just might deserve this."

-votsr-

The Migrant Fleet was abuzz with gossip. Everyone was absolutely tickled pink that the Republics - one of the strongest advocates for forcing them to wander the void forever - had been laid low by a seemingly supernatural force that they were powerless to stop. Some thought the Ancestors were taking their revenge on the asari.

In the Shellen, Nara'Ven continued to say nothing, and kept the Death Note a closely guarded secret. He didn't need the fame.

This was SO satisfying to him.

-votsr-

Chapter 4 - The Centre Cannot Hold

CITADEL COUNCIL DISSOLVED AMID MULTI-SPECIES LEADERSHIP MURDERS

Citadel News Network - The massacres that have laid all three Council species low in the course of just one week have forced something once unfathomable: the dissolution of the Citadel Council. Nearly the entire leadership of all three species' governments have been destroyed in what appears to be an active, successful genocide…

…we would like to inform our readers that we will be relocating our staff to an environmentally sealed dome on Irune for their protection, as the Citadel is no longer considered safe. We have accepted an offer from VolusTech for sponsorship. Accordingly, our news network will henceforth be known as VolusTech News Network…

-votsr-

It was a nightmare.

An unfathomable, horrible nightmare.

Teyi T'Sera wished desperately that this was all some sort of horrible dream. She had pinched herself so many times that her skin had started bleeding. But it was real.

All too real.

Their leaders were dead. All of them, from all three Council races, across all positions of government. Every time they tried to appoint new leaders, they immediately died as well. It was just possible enough to get enough low-level people in administration positions to allow the day-to-day functions to go on. But they were completely fractured.

The Republics were gone. The Hierarchy was gone. The Union was gone.

AND SHE WAS ON THE FUCKING CITADEL!

She thought coming here would be wonderful. Maidens were supposed to explore, right? And it was wonderful. So many different people to meet and things to see. She was having the time of her life.

And then it had started.

She would never forget the moment she first read the Citadel News Network bulletin announcing the Massacre of the Matriarchs. It still sent chills down her spine just thinking about it. But, unfortunately, she had more important things to worry about. Like the fact that C-Sec was gone and everyone was fending for themselves.

She learned to use a gun really quickly, and was never parted from it. She killed other people and stole their food - she'd already shot over a dozen people. The Citadel was worse than Omega, and it had all happened in a WEEK!

Teyi T'Sera wasn't sure about much. She might die. She probably would die. But she did know one thing for certain:

If the Goddesses did not exist, then the human Devil sure as shit did.

-votsr-

You might recognize Teyi T'Sera from Envirosuits and Doobies. I like Jade Tatsu's convention of re-using characters in multiple stories, so I'm doing the same as well.

-votsr-

Chapter 5 - A Passionate Intensity

"Are we really going to do this?"

"Why not? It's not like anybody can stop us."

-votsr-

BATARIAN HEGEMONY ANNEXES CITADEL, ENSLAVES POPULATION

VolusTech News Network - The Batarian Hegemony has taken advantage of the anarchy engulfing the galaxy to claim the Citadel by right of conquest, announcing today that the Serpent Nebula is now considered Hegemony Territory and should be treated as such. Additionally, an estimated 10 million surviving residents were immediately enslaved upon their arrival, and are currently believed to be working under extremely harsh conditions…

-votsr-

The shadows were Teyi T'Sera's friend.

She had been lucky. She was hiding in a maintenance shaft when the Hegemony came and had managed to escape their notice. And fortunately, the Citadel was HUGE and the Batarians were more interested in working people to death than exploring all of it. If those scumbags thought that they could put a collar on her, they had no idea of the woman the last two weeks had forced her to become.

She killed in the shadows. She had developed a reputation: "The Blue Bitch". She smiled whenever she heard it. She wasn't exactly sure what she was trying to accomplish beyond survival and perhaps revenge, but it still felt good. To hurt the Hegemony and make sure all the Batarians living on this station saw her in their nightmares.

She would NEVER let them make her a fucking slave.

Never.

-votsr-

Nara'Ven vas Shellen felt triumphant. Not just at the delightful events of the last two weeks - which, incidentally, had basically allowed the Migrant Fleet to plunder any world they wanted to - but at the information he had just received.

It had not been easy. Getting this many names from the Shadow Broker cost him a fortune - a fortune that he didn't have and had to creatively steal from bank accounts across the entire galaxy. But it was here.

Finally.

It was time to send the Admirals the message.

-votsr-

Admirals,

I will make this plain to you: I am the Death God, and I am a quarian in the Migrant Fleet. Do not attempt to identify me, or else you're all dead.

Exactly two weeks after you read this message, almost every turian in the Trebia system will immediately drop dead. You will be there to conquer their home system and make it our own. Any surviving turians we can enslave. You don't have to worry about defense, either - I will personally kill any who attempt to intrude.

Save me your moral outrage. You are doing this, because this is the moment we have been waiting for for 300 years.

-votsr-

The Admiralty Board stared at the message in shock. They wanted to dismiss it all as an elaborate prank, but you did not get this far in the Migrant Fleet without good instincts. This message was screaming the truth at them.

"…what do we do?" Shala'Raan finally managed to get out. She had NO idea how to feel about this.

"What do you think we do?" Han'Gerrel replied. "We conquer the Trebia system."

"The Council will-" Zaal'Koris began before stopping himself.

"Exactly. Absolutely nobody can stop us, including the Hegemony."

"THIS IS HORRIBLE!" Shala'Raan suddenly screamed. "BILLIONS WILL DIE!"

"Don't you think I know that?" Han'Gerrel snapped. "There isn't anything we can do to stop it. You heard them - if we try to find out who they are, they will kill us. And I don't think they will hesitate."

"But…enslavement?" Rael'Zorah was still in shock. "We can't do that. No matter how horrible the turians are, nobody deserves to be enslaved."

"We can modify that plan," Han'Gerrel replied. "Set aside a ship or two in order to let any surviving turians leave the Trebia system, with the understanding that they will never return on pain of death!"

"I can't believe we're doing this!" Shala'Raan was horrified. "The galaxy will despise us for all eternity once they know the Death God is a quarian!"

"Who cares?"

The statement stunned everyone. Daro'Xen had been silent until now.

"In case you haven't noticed, they're a little bit too worried about a galaxy-wide genocide. Let them hate us. Trebia should be ours by right of conquest. As distasteful as I find the Death God's methods, I agree with the point they are making."

The Admiralty Board was silent. This was the dictionary definition of a hard truth. There really was no way around it.

"Well," Rael'Zorah sighed, "I guess we're going to conquer Palaven."

-votsr-

Yeah, I know you need a face and a name for the Death Note. But the Admiralty Board doesn't ;)

-votsr-

Chapter 6 - New Rannoch

The day had finally come.

-vostr-

Admirals,

Today is the first day of the Quarian Empire. The galaxy will be - has been - brought low, and we will rise from its ashes. You will be the public faces and day-to-day leaders of this Empire. However, you will follow my orders or I will kill all of you. Understood?

Understood.

-vostr-

President Nartul Mentus was proud of his people.

President - the title enraged him. The Death God had eradicated them without firing a single shot. The Hierarchy had been brought low not by military superiority, but by fucking magic.

The humiliation galled him.

Still, he was a turian, and he couldn't give up now. Shortly after the eradication of the Hierarchy's leadership, he had abandoned his old Primarch title and declared himself President of the Republic of Palaven. It was pathetic compared to what they once had, but they were - against all odds - doing alright for themselves. Food production was back online, and the Death God seemed to tolerate their exis-

He thought no more as he and billions of turians died in an instant.

It was a moment that would be remembered for all eternity.

-vostr-

TREBIA DEVOID OF LIFE! DEATH GOD KILLS OVER 6 BILLION TURIANS IN LARGEST GENOCIDE IN GALACTIC HISTORY

MIGRANT FLEET ANNEXES TREBIA SYSTEM AND CLAIMS IT BY RIGHT OF CONQUEST

IS THE DEATH GOD A QUARIAN? MIGRANT FLEET VEHEMENTLY DENIES SPECULATION

-vostr-

"I feel sick," Shala'Raan said as the Migrant Fleet moved into the Trebia system.

"We all do," Zaal'Koris replied. "Keelah, I wanted us to colonize a new world, but…not like this. Not like this."

"What's done is done," Daro'Xen said, displaying her usual casual sociopathy. "Trebia is ours now, and we recalled all pilgrims before the genocide started. With the resources of Trebia at my disposal, I should be able to get us out of these suits in under a year. I suggest none of us leave this system until the Death God is ready to make their next move. If anyone finds out the Death God is among us, we will be the most despised species in all the galaxy."

"Agreed," Rael'Zorah spoke up. "I'll never be able to live with this…but for the sake of my people, I will bear it."

All were in agreement.

-vostr-

Thankfully, they didn't have to kill anyone in the nearby systems. All of the turians who were left got the message and evacuated.

Only about three thousand turians survived the massacre. Three thousand, on a planet that had over 6 billion people on it yesterday.

It was hard to wrap your head around.

Of the three thousand who survived, all but fifty chose to attack the quarians on sight rather than attempt to surrender.

Fifty were left.

Fifty.

One of those fifty regarded the Admirals as they supervised their evacuation from what was once Palaven, and what would never be Palaven again.

"We know you did this." He glared death at them. "You are monsters. The embodiment of Evil itself. NOTHING we did to you could possibly justify this."

The admirals winced.

They didn't disagree.

-vostr-

The ceremony was somber, moreso than it should have been. A new planet for them should have been a cause for celebration. Nobody felt like celebrating.

And so Palaven died on that day, and New Rannoch rose in its place.

It was the first of many.

-vostr-

And that's the end of Palaven. You see how versatile the Death Note is?

-votsr-

Chapter 7 - Aria Takes Thessia (and Sur'Kesh)

Aria T'Loak.

I am the Death God. I will make this plain for you: do you want to rule Thessia and Sur'Kesh, starting exactly two weeks from now?

I will tell you the same thing I told the Admirals: spare me your moral outrage. Thessia and Sur'Kesh will die by my hands, and nothing you can say will stop me.

But it won't be the end.

I am offering you a chance to be the President of the Protectorates of Thessia and Sur'Kesh. Once the massacre is complete, you will be permitted to recolonize the worlds. We will allow you to do whatever you wish, subject to the overriding laws and taxation obligations of the Quarian Empire.

I only want one answer from you: are you in, or out?

I'm in, you fucking Devil. I'll make sure my people survive you.

-votsr-

Aria stared at Thessia.

She had to turn off the vid feeds. It was nothing but bodies for miles and miles. She knew they would never remove the stench from the soil of Thessia. Seeing BILLIONS of sapients snuffed out in an instant had shaken her to her core. She wouldn't be the same way ever again.

She was no longer a mercenary ruling an abandoned space station. She was the inheritor of her people, and she was going to act like it.

The worst part about it - the thing that made her want to claw her eyes out with rage - was that she had to obey the Death God. If she didn't, everyone would die. She HATED how the Death God could order anyone to do anything they wanted at all times. And she was enraged by the fact that she was now the ruler of the "Protectorates of Thessia and Sur'Kesh."

Still…she had to bear it. As the Death God said, it wasn't the end.

As soon as they were settled, they would immediately build city-sized memorials to the dead on both planets. Relatives from across the galaxy were going to give eulogies. They WOULD recover from this.

She, like everyone else, strongly suspected that the Death God was a quarian, but could not prove it. For better or worse, the galaxy belonged to the Migrant Fl-the Quarian Empire now. She hated it and everything the Death God had done, but she did not live centuries without learning how to compartmentalize pain and loss.

She would lead her people into the future, under the rule of the quarians.

-votsr-

Yup, Aria, you gotta take it. The galaxy belongs to the Quarian Empire now. Deal with it.

-votsr-

Chapter 8 - Dawn of the Empire

It was a day that later historians would use to mark the end of the Citadel Era and the beginning of the Quarian Era.

Every single sapient in the entire galaxy who had an omni-tool or other electronic device received the same message simultaneously. It went down in history as the Declaration.

Sapients of the Galaxy

We hereby declare the official foundation of the Quarian Empire. All of you will be subject to our overriding laws and taxation. We do not intend to be harsh masters; you will be free to do as you wish within some reasonable limitations.

And we can now reveal the truth: yes, the Death God is among us. And they have conquered the galaxy for us.

You know what will happen if you do not obey us. For an example of our might, we refer you to the massacre of the Hegemony's leadership we have just carried out.

We will be annexing the Citadel and declaring it as our capital shortly.

Everyone was stunned. But everyone also agreed on two things:

First, the quarians were monsters. More than monsters. They were Devils given sapient form. Any sympathy anybody once had to their plight as the Migrant Fleet died with the revelation that they had slaughtered 20 billion sapients without even the slightest hesitation.

And second, they had to do what the quarians said. The Death God could kill any of them, at any time. There was no getting around this. They were the subjects of the Quarian Empire now.

Copious amounts of alcohol and narcotics were consumed in the aftermath of the Declaration. It didn't really make it much easier to deal with.

-votsr-

Teyi T'Sera thought she knew what Evil was. But now, she didn't think there were words in any sapient language to describe the barbarism of the quarians.

20 billion people. 20. BILLION. PEOPLE. Her entire family on Thessia. Her lifelong friend Delen. All of them were dead and gone and she would never see them again.

Because of THEM.

She wanted so desperately to kill them. To use her skills to slaughter as many quarians as she could. But she was not stupid. The galaxy belonged to them. Teyi had been watching some Batarian enforcers from a security shaft when she saw them both die instantly. It didn't take her long to infer what happened.

And so now she did her absolute best to contain her rage as she walked up to what was once the Council Chambers to get her Quarian Empire Citizenship Card.

This fucking SUCKED.

-votsr-

…yeah.

-votsr-

Chapter 9 - Instilling Discipline

IMPERIAL COUNCILOR ZAAL'KORIS ASSASSINATED!

Empire News Network - The entire Empire has been shaken with the news that the wise and compassionate Councilor Zaal'Koris was assassinated in cold blood on the Imperial Center [Citadel] today. Condolences have poured in from throughout the Empire, and it is clear the galaxy will sorely miss his compassionate leadership…

-votsr-

"Good fucking riddance."

"FINALLY, someone got one of those Devils."

"Monsters get what they deserve."

-votsr-

Councilors,

This will not happen again.

-votsr-

IMPERIAL CENTER CLEANSED OF TRAITORS!

Empire News Network - The Empire celebrated the cleansing of 25 million heretics from the Imperial Center by the Death God today…

-votsr-

The Citadel Massacre (everyone still called it the Citadel out of defiance) was meant to be a lesson, and it was a lesson learned.

There was NOTHING they could do to stop the quarians. If they tried, millions would instantly die. It was horrible. It was a disgusting existence.

But it was the way things had to be, and now everyone knew it.

-votsr-

My username is "SympathyForTheQuarians" for a reason. I LOVE giving them power.

-votsr-

Epilogue: The Quarian Eternity

5000 Years Later…

Ner'Yet was worried. The Aka'Ven had been relentlessly studying the strange giant device they had discovered for months. There was endless debate on what to do with it. Eventually, however, the Assembly of Elders had agreed to send a single scouting ship through it.

And now that he was on the other side of it, a MASSIVE spaceship was directly in front of his tiny one. He had no idea what to do, so he decided to go with standard First Contact Protocol and opened a communication line to the ship.

"Greetings," he said nervously. "I am Ner'Yet Dashar of the Aka'Ven Union. We come in peace, and wish to open diplomatic relations between our peoples."

The reply was instant.

"Ner'Yet Dashar, we welcome your people to the Quarian Empire. We have been monitoring you since you first achieved spaceflight and are delighted to welcome you into our Empire as equal subjects. In three days, a fleet will be sent to your system to begin the annexation process. You will be free to run your species however you wish, subject to the overriding laws and taxation of the Quarian Empire."

Ner'Yet Dashar was stunned into silence. Especially because they had spoken in PERFECT Akvari.

"…what?" He finally managed.

"You heard us. The galaxy belongs to us, and you are our subjects. Do not be alarmed. We are not cruel masters. All we ask is for your obedience and taxation money to pay for the expenses of maintaining the Empire."

Ner'Yet could say nothing. He had been expecting a lot of things from First Contact, but he had NOT been expecting this.

"Again, a fleet will be in your home system within three days. Please prepare. Have a good day, Ner'Yet; we look forward to meeting you soon."

The transmission was cut off.

After about ten minutes of stunned silence among the crew, Ner'Yet finally mustered up enough composure to give an order.

"Well, you heard them," he said somberly. "Looks like we're in the Quarian Empire now."

-votsr-

Hope you enjoyed it!

(Also, you might have noticed I never mentioned the Geth. That is a deliberate choice. They can't be killed with the Death Note, so I'll let you imagine what happened.)

-votsr-

EXTRA: 190 Years

To expand on the rewrite mentioned above, here's a short extra.

-votsr-

He was not sure when he had lost track of time.

He had paused it to begin his centuries-long writing spree when he was in his shared living quarters. The others in the room at the time became statues, ones that quickly lost their novelty.

190 years. It had taken the Death God 190 years of frozen time to write down the names of 20 billion sapients. It was only possible in his universe: Element Zero interacted with the Death Note, allowing them to stop time. It did not do this anywhere else.

Never once in the near two centuries of writing did he pause. Never did he consider that what he was doing was an unspeakable atrocity.

Perhaps if he had, he wouldn't be so lonely in the afterlife.