In Mass Effect , the Protheans are believed to be the elder race of the Milky Way .
Mass Effect is later revealed that Protheans , like many races before Protheans , were controlled and destroyed by the Reapers .
In Mass Effect , the Protheans are believed to be the elder race of the Milky Way , but it is later revealed that they , like many races before them , were controlled and destroyed by the Reapers .