Quote Originally Posted by india View Post
So err, what happens if you let the council die in the first game? Or if they're kept alive? I mean I'm asking for spoilers here, hope that's OK.....I'd be grateful if someone who's already playing could oblige, with tags of course....
Nothing major. Whether or not the Council lives or dies has no effect on the game. I haven't played through with an "evil" character on Mass Effect 1 and exported it to Mass Effect 2 yet, so I only know of the "good" playthrough. Making a pre-generated character instead of an imported character will always result in the Council dying.

Council lives:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
Minor dialogue throughout the game, and you get to briefly speak with the Council and Ambassador Udina/Anderson (again, depending on who you choose in ME1) about reinstatement to the Spectres once you arrive on the Presidium. They become so arrogant, it's almost worth killing them in ME1, as they outright refuse to acknowledge everything about the Reapers. They believe Sovereign was a highly-advanced Geth ship rather than a Reaper. Choosing to be reinstated into the Spectres has no effect on gameplay either.