Fans of BioWare's sci-fi RPG series Mass Effect have more than one holiday to look forward to in November. Correlating to a military rank on Commander Shepard's armor, N7 Day is celebrated on November 7th each year. N7 Day is seen as a celebration of Mass Effect fans' passion for the games, characters, and universe.

The first N7 Day was in 2012 and has carried on for nearly a decade. The Mass Effect community has always been an incredibly passionate one, in part due to how the story of the Mass Effect trilogy has been able to connect with fans. To those who may not know about N7 Day, here's everything to know about the celebration of the Mass Effect community.

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The significance of N7 comes from the armor worn by the game's lead character, Commander Shepard. The N is the classification for special forces, and the 7 signifies Shepard's rank at The Interplanetary Combatives Academy (which is often shortened to "N-School.") N-School works as a sort of officer training academy for Earth, in which officers from Earth's military are recruited to endure brutal training. As they progress through different levels of training, from military combat to zero-g training, they enter different "ranks" of officer.

After the first series of 20-hour training sessions, they earn the rank of N1. From there, they progress through different levels of training up until N6, in which the title of N7 is awarded after a brutal "training" exercise. N6 applicants are stranded on an asteroid with basic equipment and zero information on their location. The last one to run out of oxygen is given the rank of N7, the only rank able to be worn on uniforms or armor.

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Becoming an N7 level officer requires a heavy amount of discipline and sacrifice, which is reflected in the respect that the officers hold in their titles. Even qualifying as an N1 carries a tremendous amount of respect due to how grueling the training is. There are seven known N7s in the Mass Effect universe, including Captain Shepard.

Shepard's rank as an N7 is used in-game to showcase their competence as a leader. Often called a natural leader throughout the Mass Effect trilogy, being an N7 is used to showcase just how much combat and survival experience Shepard has already undergone. Further specification on how Shepard became an N7 depends on the psychological profile that the player picks for Shepard, ranging from them being a ruthless soldier who did what had to be done or the only survivor of a mission gone horribly wrong.

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N7 Day itself was actually created as a BioWare marketing platform, though that may have been inspired by a prior fan celebration. The first N7 Day was announced in a BioWare editorial on the original Mass Effect's fifth anniversary. Fans quickly picked up the idea of the celebration on Twitter, eager to come together as a community and discuss all things Mass Effect.

The second N7 Day in 2013 came with a thank-you video directed towards fans and five teasers for Mass Effect: Andromeda. The thank-you video was a love letter from BioWare to the fans and featured several voice actors from the games, including both male and female Commander Shepard, Liara T'Soni, Kaiden Alenko and Jack.   Once again, the community took to Twitter to discuss the original trilogy of games.

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2014's N7 Day, in comparison, was much tamer. Due to the upcoming release of Dragon Age: Inquisition, BioWare likely didn't have too much time to prepare anything as spectacular as the thank-you video from the previous year. Instead, they showcased some art from the upcoming Mass Effect: Andromeda as well as introducing the development team for the game. 2015's and 2016's N7 Day brought more promotion for Mass Effect: Andromeda and more fan support on Twitter.

After the release of the controversial Mass Effect: Andromeda, Mass Effect's 10th anniversary on 2017's N7 Day saw the community focusing on looking back at the fond memories they had with the original trilogy of games.  2018 was very similar, with BioWare asking fans what N7 meant to them, possibly playing off of the personal experience of becoming an N7 in-universe.

Last year's N7 Day saw some of the development teams expressing their love of the series on Twitter, though there were no new announcements on the Mass Effect series's future. With 2020's N7 Day approaching, some fans are hopeful for the series to return to the same glory that many hold the original trilogy to, though many other fans are skeptical. Whatever the case, N7 Day will undoubtedly bring an outpouring of love from the Mass Effect community.

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