History Characters / MassEffectRaceTropesCitadelAssociate

* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: The male versions of the species were specifically designed to be the {{Spear Counterpart}}s to the asari. We never see the females in the games (though they are acknowledged to exist).

* EndangeredSpecies: It's even possible to completely destroy the Krogan race: if the player saves the rachni queen and kills Wrex in 'Mass Effect 1'', destroys Maelon's work in ''2'', and finally saves save the rachni queen, allows the bomb to explode on Tuchanka, and stop Mordin or Padok from curing the genophage in ''3'', and the Krogan are completely extinct - with the ''Rachni'' taking over Tuchanka.

- let the nuclear bomb on Tuchanka explode in ME3
- stop Mordin from curing the genophage in ME3

* GentleGiant: Despite easily being the largest of the Citadel races, elcor have zero desire to start fights with other races, more often then not preferring to conduct their business in peace, though if pushed hard enough, they will get violent.

** The volus ''do'' have a perfectly respectable space-fleet (for a non-council race), and their strong economy means they can afford to equip their ships with all kinds of goodies. For example, the volus were the first Citadel race to deploy a dreadnought armed with magnetohydrodynamic weapons (Thanix cannons).

* TheFaceless: By necessity. We have less idea what they look like than we do the quarians.
* FantasticRacism: The volus descend from a clan-like culture, something they take ''very'' seriously. Due to the quarians being exiled from their world by the geth, some volus have taken to insulting refer to them as "Clan-less."

%%* HeavyWorlder

'''Elcor Bouncer:''' With barely constrained menace: Try it!

* GentleGiant: Despite easily being the largest of the Citadel races, elcor have zero desire to start fights with other races, more often then not preferring to conduct their business in peace.

** Their weapons are very clearly designed for utility and brute power, fitting their culture. Their guns are heavy, ugly, blocky, crude, and have high recoil, but they will kill what they're pointed at in short order.

** Their word for this is 'krantt': those willing to kill and die on your behalf. It's actually one of the ''nicer'' parts of their culture - you don't have to be the toughest, you just need to have good friends.

* SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler:Over time, they eventually stopped responding to the Reapers and responded only to the Citadel. Once the Prothean scientists on Ilos woke up, they sabotaged the Citadel so that it wouldn't respond to the Reaper sentinel left behind (Sovereign), giving the current cycle a slim fighting chance that probably no cycle before had... thus preventing the Keepers from turning the Citadel into the Reaper Front Door]].

* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: One time, in ''MassEffect1'', two elcors will be talking and ''not'' prefacing their sentences with emotions. Of course, they don't ''need'' to.

** They can only move on ground through the use of special fields that hold them up. In their native oceans, however, they can apparently move with astonishing speed and agility.

The reptilian Drell are a client race of the Hanar. 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."

* BerserkButton: They are highly offended when people compare their loyalty to the Hanar to be akin to slavery.

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:If you failed to save Kahje in the Hanar Diplomat side quest in VideoGame/MassEffect3, a news report will inform you that the planet quickly fell to the Reapers and they exterminated its entire population. Made worse when you realise that, due to their UndyingLoyalty to the hanar, the drell living on Kahje most likely remained to fight alongside them, leading to their race becoming extinct as well.]]

* 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''.]]

* Acrofatic: In multiplayer the Volus combatants prove to be on par with their human comrades in terms of running speed, despite being short and round. They're also capable of combat rolls and dodges, although this a slightly reduced speed. They also lack the ability to vault over cover or elevated platforms, although [[GameplayAndStorySegregation this is likely a consequence of them being]] divorced from the TakeCover mechanic.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Plucky as they as they may be, Mass Effect 3 shows that Volus troops are capable of kicking ass.

* {{Flanderization}}: In Mass Effect 1, the volus might have audible breathers, but it's not very loud, and one can only hear it during pauses in the conversation where the actors likely paused for breath anyway, coming off as a neat attention to detail rather than a goofy character trait. In Mass Effect 2, we start seeing volus characters speak with a nasal voice, and must often pause to take a loud, heavy breath mid-sentence. By Mass Effect 3, this has become their default depiction, where even the volus soldiers in multiplayer prefix all of their lines with a loud "HHHHHK".

* GentleGiant: Despite easily being the largest of the Citadel races, Elcor have zero desire to start fights with other races, more often then not preferring to conduct their business in peace.

'''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.

-->'''Grunt:''' ''(fresh out of the tank)'' If you're weak and choose weak enemies, I'll have to kill you.
-->'''Wrex:''' Krogan are judged by the strength of our enemies.
-->'''Shaman:''' May your foes be strong enough to keep you sharp.
-->'''Dagg:''' I envy your enemies, Commander. To be hated by ones so powerful speaks well of you. My krogan would destroy anything we face to earn such a reputation.

* ExplosiveBreeder: Part of their evolutionary response to [[DeathWorld 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.
** A comment made by Warlord Okeer in VideoGame/MassEffect2 mentions letting the genophage kill "a thousand in a clutch". As a clutch typically means the eggs laid by a single female at the end of a gestation period, that implies that female krogan can have over a ''thousand'' offspring in ''one pregnancy''.
* 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 which is poisonous to all other races, and all that'll do is give them diarrhea.

** Averted with '''Kalros'''. The krogan aren't stupid, they know to stay the hell away from "the mother of all Thresher Maws".

* TheReptilians: Physically similar to bipedal turtles/tortoises with a hump in place of a shell. They also take after tortoises in that they lay a large clutch of eggs, of which only very few survive to reach adulthood. (Initially due to their DeathWorld home world, later due to the [[SterilityPlague Genophage]].) They also have extremely long natural lifespans like turtles/tortoises.

* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: They certainly seem to think so. If you encounter a krogan enemy, there is a 95% chance that it is wielding a shotgun. This works for several reasons: krogans are tough enough to just charge straight into the thick of things, and they are just as likely to punch/headbutt enemies, which makes a powerful, short range weapon like a shotgun ideal. Secondly (this is where the FridgeBrilliance kicks in), because they have eyes set in the sides of their heads instead of forward-facing ones, they lack the ability to focus over long distances, which makes shotguns, with their short range effectiveness and cone-shaped blasts, the most practical weapons of choice for them.

* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: The male versions of the species were specifically designed to be the {{Spear Counterpart}}s to the asari. We never see the females (though they are acknowledged to exist).

* AlienBlood: When one is shot dead by Saren, a black liquid can be seen oozing from its body.
* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler: Possibly another "repurposed" race used by the Reapers]].

* {{Flanderization}}: In Mass Effect 1, the Volus might have audible breathers, but it's not very loud, and one can only hear it during pauses in the conversation where the actors likely paused for breath anyway, coming off as a neat attention to detail rather than a goofy character trait -- they are not depicted as bumbling or dorky, and in fact are often quite respectable. In Mass Effect 2, we start seeing Volus characters who struggle to walk, speak with a nasal voice, and must often pause to take a loud, heavy breath mid-sentence. By Mass Effect 3, this has become their default depiction, where even the Volus soldiers in multiplayer prefix all of their lines with a loud "HHHHHK".

** The volus ''do'' have a perfectly respectable space-fleet, and their strong economy means they can afford to equip their ships with all kinds of goodies. For example, the volus were the first Citadel race to deploy magnetohydrodynamic weapons (Thanix cannons) in any quantity.

* Acrofatic: In multiplayer the Volus combatants prove to be on par with their human comrades in terms of agility and running speed, despite being short and round.

** One thing pointed out on [[TheWikiRule the game's wiki]] is that krogan have eyes on the sides of their heads. Predator species (felines, canines, monkeys... humans) have forward-facing eyes for better focus and depth perception, which helps in the hunt - estimating distances to pounce and such. Prey species (bovines, equines, rodents, etc) have side-eyes, which sacrifices focus for much better peripheral vision so they can see any predators coming and flee. Let's repeat: krogan are Tuchanka's equivalent of ''rabbits''. Well, when your planet's deadliest predators are massive acid-spitting {{Sand Worm}}s... everything is prey.

** Battlemasters were known for their brutally efficient battle tactics. They took hostages, committed genocide, used terror tactics, and anything else in their means to completely crush an enemy. This was considered even extreme by ''krogan'' standards; krogan may be violent, but they believe in personal honor. Battlemasters only care about results.

** Battlemasters (which Wrex is the last of) were known for their brutally efficient battle tactics. They took hostages, committed genocide, used terror tactics, and anything else in their means to completely crush an enemy. This was considered even extreme by ''Krogan'' standards; Krogan may be violent, but they believe in personal honor. Battlemasters only care about results.