History Characters / MassEffectRaceTropesCitadelAssociate

* TheReptilians

* [[CloserToEarth Closer To Tuchanka]]: Their females are apparently more reasonable and open to solving problems by methods other than violence than the males are. Doesn't mean they don't enjoy a good scrap too though.
-->'''Urdnot Wrax''': Our females don't lack for spirit. For males, a good show of force usually sorts things out. But women like to talk about it... then, think about it... (sighs) then talk about it some more... no offence.
-->'''Femshep''': Believe it or not, we sometimes have good ideas, Wrex. You should try listening.
-->'''Urdnot Wrex''': Yeah, but our women have so many of them... so sometimes I pretend to listen, and... well, let's just say Krogan females have tempers too.

* TheClan: Like the volus, they have a tribal clan culture, though based less around barter and more around murder.
* [[CloserToEarth Closer To Tuchanka]]: Their females are apparently more reasonable and open to solving problems by methods other than violence than the males are. Doesn't mean they don't enjoy a good scrap too though.

* BadassPreacher: The krogan Shamans, who endure trials that most races would consider too brutal even for [[TrainingFromHell special forces training]] (or even more significantly, trials considered brutal even by krogan standards, simply because they must fully prepare themselves for their role as a guardian of their sacred traditions and rites. They are available as biotic specialists in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' multiplayer, and are the [[MadeOfIron most robust]] out of all the adept-class characters.

*** Moreso, surviving against a thresher maw is part of their adulthood rite. If they actually manage to kill it, they are considered highly skilled. Mind you, the rite of adulthood is ''surviving'' the thresher maw attack. No one has actually killed one in a rite ever since Wrex had his rite, and that was just a little less than a thousand years ago (at least until Grunt did with Shepard as his battlemaster).

!! Drell

* HappinessInSlavery: DefiedTrope. The drell are very indignant when people suggest this, insisting they are '''[[BerserkButton not]]''' slaves! Those who chose to serve the hanar do so by their own volition and are proud to honour the Compact that exists between their people. No one's ''forcing'' them to do anything and they can leave their service at any time, although few do.

!! Hanar

* ThankTheMaker: The hanar worship the Protheans as Gods, whom they refer to as "The Enkindlers", believing they were the ones who gifted them with the gift of consciousness and speech. [[spoiler: Possibly confirmed by Javik in ''3'', who notes they probably could have taught them to speak ''better'']].

!! Volus

!! Elcor

!! Krogan

%%* AppealToForce
%%* AsskickingEqualsAuthority

* {{Berserker}}: This is what happens when a krogan enters "Blood Rage". They basically switch to a primitive, instinctual mindset driven to kill or destroy whatever's near them with little friend or foe recognition. It's explained that this is a result of their redundant biological systems -- when a krogan's life is endangered enough that a secondary system becomes necessary, their body "reboots" itself for a moment and the rush of blood and adrenaline causes them to go berserk.

* DeathWorld: They come from one. It's both naturally this and made worse due to the ancient krogan having turned it into a Post-Apocalyptic wasteland, after a series of nuclear wars.
** MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong: It's part of the reason they're so hard to kill, they evolved as ''[[AlwaysABiggerFish prey]]''.

* ExplosiveBreeder: Part of their evolutionary response to Tuchanka. Once taken out of those conditions, their population exploded. Hence the genophage, which causes miscarriages and stillbirths in 99.9% of pregnancies (i.e. only 1 in 1,000 pregnancies carry to term). As Mordin comments in VideoGame/MassEffect2, that would still give them a ''stable and sustainable population growth rate'' -- they are just ''that'' productive. It's simply that the krogan have been so morally degraded by the genophage that they are killing themselves faster than their newly altered reproductive rate can handle.

* ExtremeOmnivore: Krogan find just about anything appetizing, and can and will eat anything that has the slightest amount of nutrition. Regardless of whether or not it's stopped moving. Or if it can talk. [[DoesNotLikeSpam Except ramen.]] They can even eat food that's only meant for turians and quarians, and all that'll do is give them diarrhea.
** Hell, even turian food, which is known to ''kill'' levo-amino-acid-based races, just gives them the runs.

* OurOrcsAreDifferent: Pretty much fit squarely within the ''Blizzard Orc'' mold in everything but appearance.

* RagnarokProofing: Their architecture is built with this in mind. Justified as it's mentioned that the reason why ''hospitals'' on Tuchanka are built like bunkers is because of the tendency of injured krogan to enter Blood Rage, which makes them literally destroy ''anything'' in their path.

* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: They certainly seem to think so. If you encounter a krogan enemy, there is a 95% chance that it is wielding a shotgun.
** FridgeBrilliance when you realize that because their eyes are set wide like on a prey animal, they lack the ability to focus over long distances, which makes shotguns, with their short range effectiveness, the most practical weapons of choice for them.
*** Plus they are tough enough to just charge straight into the thick of things, and they are just as likely to punch/headbutt enemies.

** The use of tanks is somewhat understandable, since Tuchanka is populated by constantly warring tribes who like to mark their borders by the range of their guns, has undergone several nuclear wars and plagued by burrowing thresher maws. Their roads clearly ''aren't'' going to be well-maintained. It's likely most of the roads are millennia old and likely only see a road-crew to patch the worst of the damage, once every few centuries.

* UndyingLoyalty: [[spoiler: To humanity, and Shepard in particular, if Shepard chooses to cure the genophage in ''3''. Wrex vows that Shepard's name will now mean "Hero" in their language and expresses near the end of the game, that since Earth is basically ''ruined'', that the krogan would willingly offer space on Tuchanka for refugees. This is particularly telling since as {{Explosive Breeder}}s, the krogan are going to be hard pressed for space as it is! They also give the largest amount of military forces in the game outside of the Alliance]].
* UseYourHead:
** How krogan show dominance. It is also their melee attack in multiplayer ([[spoiler:as well as Wrex's in the ''Citadel'' DLC)]]. It's not uncommon to see krogan players headbutting each other between waves.

---> '''Shaman''': ''[laughs]'' I like this human, s/he ''understands!''

** [[MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong Mother Tuchanka Makes You Strong]]: It's part of the reason they're so hard to kill, they evolved as ''[[AlwaysABiggerFish prey]]''.

* [[KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect Krogan Scientists Get No Respect]]: Aside from Warlord Okeer and Clan Urdnot's resident scientist, krogan scientists are actually so rare that most races doubt they exist, if they even consider krogan intelligent enough to have scientists ''at all''. It's a peculiar self-enforced variant as well. The Urdnot scientist under Wrex complains endlessly that he's forced to waste his time on "things that don't explode" like agriculture, medicine, transport...

* ExplosiveBreeder: Part of their evolutionary response to Tuchanka. Once taken out of those conditions, their population exploded. Hence the genophage, which causes miscarriages and stillbirths in 99.9% of pregnancies (i.e. only 1 in 1,000 pregnancies carry to term).

* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: The male versions of the species were specifically designed to be the {{Spear Counterpart}}s to the asari. We never see the females.

* SelfDestructMechanism: Attempts to examine them too closely will cause them to vaporize themselves. This is to prevent anyone from discovering their true nature. One salarian manages to build a scanner that can examine them without triggering the mechanism, and he more or less deduces their origin -- long after Shepard found out the hard way, of course.

* ProudMerchantRace: They basically ''made'' the Citadel economy. Their engineers and designers are responsible for the security and value retention of the Citadel Credit, a universal currency used even outside Citadel member races' territories.

* ProudMerchantRace: They basically ''made'' the Citadel economy.

* ProudMerchantRace

Unfortunately, the transition hasn't been seamless. Drell physiology evolved on a primarily arid world, but it rains every day on the hanar homeworld. Their lungs can't handle the moisture, and a terminal disease known as "Kepral's Syndrome" often occurs in late adulthood.

Unfortunately, the transition hasn't been seamless. The drell are built for a primarily arid world, but it rains every day on the hanar homeworld. Their lungs can't handle the moisture, and a terminal disease known as "Kepral's Syndrome" often occurs in late adulthood.

Overpopulation left the drell planet polluted and starved of resources before the species had even developed fusion power. The hanar saved hundreds of thousands of them as their world died; in gratitude, many drell choose to serve the hanar in some fashion under "The Compact", becoming part of the Illuminated Primacy. Do ''not'' compare this with slavery within drell earshot: "Anyone can refuse to serve. Few do. We owe our existence to the hanar. We are proud to repay the debt."

Unfortunately, the transition hasn't been seamless. The drell are built for a world where water is in short supply, but it rains every day on the hanar homeworld. Their lungs can't handle the moisture, and a terminal disease known as "Kepral's Syndrome" often occurs in late adulthood.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:In ''3'', even if you successfully accomplish the Diplomat's side mission, the elcor are hammered to the brink of extinction. When Shepard asks how many were saved, the Diplomat pauses, brings his head down and answers "Not... ''enough''".
** It's worth noting that the elcor infamously do not emote. Their body language is subtle enough that other species miss it entirely. That he ''visibly'' droops his head is the equivalent of wailing sorrow to a human.]]

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:In ''3'', even if you successfully accomplish the Diplomat's side mission, the elcor are hammered to the brink of extinction. When Shepard asks how many were saved, the Diplomat pauses, brings his head down and answers "Not... ''enough''".]]

* HappinessInSlavery: DefiedTrope. The Drell are very indignant when people suggest this, insisting they are '''[[BerserkButton not]]''' slaves! Those who chose to serve the Hanar do so by their own volition and are proud to honour the Compact that exists between their people. No one's ''forcing'' them to do anything and they can leave their service at any time, although few do.

* PhotographicMemory: Though they can't always control them. When they're concentrating, they're fine. But when idly recalling memories, they'll often get locked into [=PTSD=]-style flashbacks. Depending on the memory, it can be a good thing. Or a very not good thing. Like the day you met your wife. Or the day you got shot in the knee. Some also decide to abandon the present and live in the past.

* WeAreAsMayflies: Drell on Kajhe, given as much medical attention as the hanar can grant them, have an average life span of eighty years. For comparison, thanks to their own medical advances the average human, turian, batarian, or quarian life span in the Franchise/MassEffect universe is one hundred and fifty. However, this might be due to being ill-suited to the moist environment of Kahje, which commonly leads many drell to suffer Kepral's Syndrome. In a more arid environment, it's possible that their life expectancy is much longer.

* InsaneTrollLogic: Invoked by the the Indoctrinated Hanar in the third game, who believe that since the "Enkindlers" now are the Collectors who worship the Reapers, logic demands that they submit to the Reapers as well.
--> '''''[[RageBreakingPoint Paragon]]'' Shepard''': You... Big! ''Dumb!'' '''Jellyfish!'''

* ThankTheMaker: The Hanar worship the Protheans as Gods, whom they refer to as "The Enkindlers", believing they were the ones who gifted them with the gift of consciousness and speech. [[spoiler: Possibly confirmed by Javik in ''3'', who notes they probably could have taught them to speak ''better'']].

* ClingyCostume: Not only do they live in ammonia-heavy atmospheres, they also live in high-pressure environments. So without the suits, not only will they suffocate, they'll ''burst''.

* TookALevelInBadass: Prior to their addition to multiplayer, you never even hear of any volus combatants[[note]](Though the in game codex does note that the Volus military serves as an auxiliary force to the turian military of which it is nominally a part, though they are usually relegated to support roles as the turians do most of the fighting)[[/note]].

** Because of this, it's mentioned that Francis Kitt's seminal [[AlienArtsAreAppreciated all-Elcor peformance]] of ''{{Hamlet}}'' is over ''14 hours'' long!

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: When Shepard asks how many elcor civilians the evacuation teams managed to save in ''3'', the Diplomat, who prefaced every previous line by stating his current emotion, simply says "Not...''enough''". It's ''that'' obvious how upset he is.

* AttackAttackAttack: They were strong enough to wage war on the rest of the galaxy 1,200 years ago, but that was back when they had an empire of hundreds of planets and fleets of dreadnoughts. Many krogan still seem to think that they are living in those days and that the only thing stopping them from conquering the galaxy is the genophage -- not their disunity, or their lack of industrial capacity, or their lack of fleet, or them not having any territory other than a burnt-out husk of a planet that keeps trying to eat them. Mordin shows concern in his loyalty mission that if the genophage is cured, the krogan will try to get "revenge" on the Council and end up getting wiped out by the turians and humans for their trouble.
* BadassArmy; Even with the genophage wrecking their numbers and their homeworld in a state of VideoGame/{{Fallout}}-style post-apocalyptic decay, the krogan are still able to field an army that makes the other species' contributions look meager. This is exemplified in the War Assets in ''3'': a unified krogan force under Wrex, with Eve keeping them under control, can contribute more to your ground assets than any other race, even the geth. They're also the only race that takes the "Army" in BadassArmy completely literally. Unlike the humans or turians who have a {{Badass}} SpaceNavy, the krogan military is entirely based on ground troops, as their fleet was decommissioned at the end of the Krogan Rebellions.
* BadassBaritone: Every krogan you meet speaks in a very deep voice, as befitting a species of their stature.

* BloodKnight: {{Deconstructed}} over the course of the series, especially in the third game. While Krogans value strength and martial prowess, they are more than just simple thugs who enjoy killing, having a deeply spiritual side. Many older Krogan such as Wrex hate that they've [[{{Flanderisation}} flanderised]] themselves into this after the genophage ravaged their species.

* DeathWorld: They come from one. It's both naturally this and made worse due to the Ancient Krogan having turned it into a Post-Apocalyptic wasteland, after a series of nuclear wars.

* ExplosiveBreeder: Part of their evolutionary response to Tuchanka. Once taken out of those conditions, their population exploded. Hence the genophage, which causes miscarriages and stillbirths in 99.9% of pregnancies.

** Matriarch Aethyta even claims to have once watched a Krogan drink a [[LudicrousGibs liquified]] [[ImAHumanitarian Turian]] on a dare, although the results weren't very pleasant, [[NoodleIncident for the krogan or the witnesses]].

* GeniusBruiser: While rare, watch out for the ones who demonstrate this. Warlord Okeer was one of the most feared Krogans in history precisely ''because'' he was a scientist.

* HealingFactor: In addition to being MadeOfIron, with multiple redundant organs, their physiology allows them to heal very quickly

* InLoveWithYourCarnage: As a proud race of warriors, it should come as no surprise that various Krogan often express respect and admiration towards Shepard's prowess as a soldier and talent for raw destruction.
* KillItWithFire: The best way to take down a krogan enemy in-game is with incendiary ammo or a fire based ability. It stops them from regenerating, and burns through the armor they're quite likely to have.

** It's also rather surprising how accepting the krogan are of krantts comprised of other species. They don't even really object to Grunt choosing Shepard to be his Battlemaster. Only one does, and his agenda has nothing to do with xenopohobia.

** How krogan show dominance. It is also their melee attack in multiplayer. It's not uncommon to see krogan players headbutting each other between waves.
** A Renegade option in the second game gives Shepard the option to do this to shut up Uvenk, gaining the respect of the Krogan Shaman in the process, who's impressed they actually bothered to learn something about their culture.
---> '''Krogan Shaman''': ''[laughs]'' I like this human, s/he ''understands!''
** Also [[JustifiedTrope justified]]. The krogan have large chitinous plates on their heads to absorb impact. These start out as lots of separate little plates on krogan youth, which expand and calcify into one large rigid plate after the krogan becomes an adult. It's also said that losing the plate is the one thing krogans truly fear above all else.

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LcgzUhy1ds Blue Rose of Illium]]

** The game's lore also explores what happens when the factions of ACommanderIsYou are not kept separate: The Krogan may have enjoyed ExplosiveBreeder and thus Spammer Faction status, but that didn't mean their troops were weak - quite the opposite. What happens when you have [[GameBreaker Elite Spammers]]? The galaxy nearly fell to the onslaught of a single recently-uplifted race and the Council Races barely won by implementing the Genophage.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:In ''3'', even if you successfully accomplish the Diplomat's side mission, the elcor are hammered to the brink of extinction. When Shepard asks how many were saved, the Diplomat pauses, brings his head down and answers [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness "Not... ''enough''".]]]]

** Matriarch Aethyta even claims to have once watched a Krogan drink a [[LudicrousGibs liquified]] [[ImAHumanitarian Turian]] on a dare, although the results weren't very pleasant.

--->'''Blasto''': This one doesn't have time for your solid waste excretions (opens fire).

--> '''Krogan Shaman''': *''Laughs''* I like this human, s/he ''understands!''