History Characters / MassEffectRaceTropesCitadelAssociate

** {{Lampshaded}} InUniverse with the movie series "Blasto: the Hanar Spectre," itself an AscendedMeme from the BioWare fandom.

* DeathFromAbove: In addition to their CoolStarship, the Volus also have an advanced bombing fleet that can be earned as a War Asset in ''Mass Effect 3'' too.

** 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). In ''Mass Effect 3'', the Volus gift to the cause if they're won over are bombing fleets.

* CreepyMonotone: They all have the same voice which never changes its inflection (save one that was indoctinated, and even then, it was more like a SmugSnake variation of the same monotone.)

* TheComicallySerious: Pretty much [[PlanetOfHats every elcor you meet]] due to their slow, ponderous delivery and pre-announced emotional state.

** Their hat is being excessively polite, and they can't even hold guns. So you wouldn't think they'd be dangerous combatants, right? Well, according to certified {{Badass}} Zaeed Massani, they can be deadly if they manage to get those tentacles around your throat. Furthermore, they're literally out of their element when dealing with most people since they're an aquatic race. On their homeworld, they're ''predators''.

* CombatTentacles: Zaeed had to wear a neck brace after tangling with one.

* CreepyMonotone: They all have the same voie which never changes its inflection (save one that was indoctinated, and even then, it was more like a SmugSnake variation of the same monotone.)

* TheClan: Their entire society descends from this type of culture. Their name for themselves is "Vol-Clan."
** They also refer to others in this fashion, notably calling the quarians "Clanless," implying that their understanding of Clan is tied to Homeworlds. Friendlier or more considerate volus call them Migrant-Clan or Star-Clan.

* DudeWheresMyRespect: They view themselves as TheChewToy of the galaxy, and with fairly good reason. Despite being one of the first races to inhabit the Citadel thousands of years ago, they're extremely annoyed humans were given a Council seat in only three decades. With their physical weakness off-planet, being forced to wear pressure suits off their homeworld, and their VaderBreath VerbalTic thanks to their rebreathers, they get treated like crap as well. This, despite being the main merchant class of the galaxy.
** In fact, when visiting the Council for the first time, a turian and salarian will be discussing the volus clinging to the coattails of the humans if they get a Council seat, and the salarian states the ''hanar'' and the ''elcor'', in ''that order'' will be joining the Council before the volus do. Talk about HilariousInHindsight.

* 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".
** Though more considerate volus have been seen to refer to them as "Migrant-Clan" or "Star-clan."

* JokeCharacter[=/=]LethalJokeCharacter: Moderate shields, low HP, so short that they just stand behind cover rather than duck, and they trade melee skills for a poor man's cloak and an emergency shield. On the plus side, they can buff everyone's shields and have abilities like Stasis and Recon Mine.

* MightyGlacier: They are very slow, but their hides are bulletproof and they can use what other species would consider to be [[ShoulderCannon vehicle mounted weaponry]] as personal arms.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: They tend to be cautious, polite, and slow. They can also punch holes in bulkheads and make very good bouncers, and their standard armaments would be considered heavy caliber or artillery by other species. The Codex entry simply states they're slow to anger, but when they're pissed, ''look out''. The human at Afterlife in Omega in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' is treading thin ice, as the elcor bouncer is the first and only time players see an annoyed elcor. The human wisely decides to back down.

* CoolStarship: Due to a clause in the Treaty of Farixan, the volus navy was only one dreadnought. But as it turns out, they don't really need any more than that: said dreadnought is also one of the single most advanced warships in the galaxy, outfitted with a [[WaveMotionGun spinal Thanix cannon]] and armed with enough firepower to reduce a planet to ashes three times over. You can recover this dreadnought in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' and add it to your war assets.

** An idea of how overpowered the volus made the Kwunu. The average Council dreadnought and capital-class Reaper clocks in at two kilometres. Harbinger clocks in at a solid three kilometres. The Kwunu? Five. In fact, when you found the Kwunu, it was said it was found among several dead Reapers. It was clearly able to hold its own while it waited for help.

* DudeWheresMyRespect: They view themselves as TheChewToy of the galaxy, and with some reason. Despite being one of the first races to inhabit the Citadel thousands of years ago, they're extremely annoyed humans were given a Council seat in only three decades. With their physical weakness off-planet, being forced to wear pressure suits off their homeworld, and their VaderBreath VerbalTic thanks to their rebreathers, they get treated like crap as well. This, despite being the main merchant class of the galaxy.

* CoolStarship: The volus navy has only one dreadnought. But as it turns out, they don't really need any more than that: said dreadnought is also one of the single most advanced warships in the galaxy, outfitted with a [[WaveMotionGun spinal Thanix cannon]] and armed with enough firepower to reduce a planet to ashes three times over. You can recover this dreadnought in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' and add it to your war assets.

[[folder:Krogan]]
!!Krogan
[[quoteright:215:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Krogan-001_3852.png]]

->''You ask a krogan if he'd rather find a cure for the [[DepopulationBomb genophage]] or [[HiredGuns fight for credits]], he'll choose fighting -- [[BloodKnight every time]]. [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy It's just who we are]].''
-->--'''Urdnot Wrex'''

'''Homeworld:''' Tuchanka

The krogan originated on the DeathWorld of Tuchanka, which made them an extremely resilient -- and violent -- species. These traits have caused them to have a very troubled relationship with the other Council species; the physiology which makes them so difficult to kill (which includes, among other things, duplicate and even triplicate organs and redundant vital systems) made them crucial to ending the Rachni Wars, but once they were allowed to settle other planets, their population exploded and they began moving in aggressively on worlds already settled by other species, leading to the Krogan Rebellions and the introduction of the [[SterilityPlague genophage]]. Most krogan encountered around the galaxy are hired thugs of one brand or another.

Krogan are available for multiplayer, and can use the [[TheRedMage Sentinel]] and [[WalkingArmory Soldier]] classes. The Resurgence pack adds [[MagicKnight Battlemaster Vanguard]], Retaliation adds [[BarrierWarrior Shaman Adepts]], and Reckoning adds [[StrongerWithAge Warlord]] [[DropTheHammer Sentinels]].

* TheAgeless: Implied to be either this or ''incredibly'' long lived. Wrex is at least over a 1000 years old and shows no signs of slowing, and his father is implied to have lived even longer than that. Unfortunately, the violent nature of krogan life tends to keep them from taking advantage of this.
* AlienBlood: Orange.
* AlienNonInterferenceClause: A poster child for this Trope. According to Eve and Mordin, the krogan would have been a whole lot more peaceful had they been allowed to advance scientifically at their own pace, instead of being "uplifted" by the salarians to fight in a nasty war.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: This is literally how their society operates: leadership of a clan, or even a group of clans, tends to hinge on who kicks the most ass and leadership is often transferred via {{Klingon Promotion}}s. It's actually a weakness in their society, as the big, brutish warlords take over and silence the (relatively) reasonable, but typically weaker, krogan. Wrex, despite being a natural leader who could plan ahead, would have gotten nowhere if he wasn't the baddest mother on Tuchanka.
* 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. Only after getting to know Eve and Wrex in the third game does he begin to have a more optimistic view on redeeming the krogan race.
* 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. Even the one female you meet has a deep, booming voice.
* 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.
* TheBerserker: 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.
** The Codex explains that this used to be a rare trait, and old Krogan society, [[EverybodyHasStandards as warlike as it was]], considered the phenomenon a hazard to public safety and locked up anyone who exhibited the trait. Then they had a nuclear war that razed their entire civilization and much of the planet, which served as a genetic "choke point" event. Bloodragers were far more likely to survive the postapocalyptic wasteland, thus the trait became mainstream.
* BizarreAlienBiology: Aside from the krogan redundant organs, their immune systems were even able to beat the original genophage, forcing the salarians to make a new-and-improved one.
* BloodKnight: {{Deconstructed}} over the course of the series, especially in the third game. While krogan 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.
* TheClan: Like the volus, they have a tribal clan culture, though based less around barter and more around murder.
* CloserToEarth: 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.
-->'''Wrex''': 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.\\
'''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.
* ColonyDrop: Abused this tactic frequently during the Krogan Rebellions. Particularly large asteroids even rendered several turian planets completely uninhabitable.
* CombatPragmatist: When they started to lose the Krogan Rebellions, due to the superior navy fielded by the turians, they resorted to just throwing asteroids at turian colonies. Cheap, effective, and it didn't require anything more expensive than a bunch of pissed off krogan with fusion torches. Use of these as weapons were banned by the Council races, but the krogan didn't have a problem with it.
** Their weapons are very clearly designed for utility and brute power, fitting their culture. Their guns are heavy and look like bricks with triggers, but they will kill what they're pointed at in short order.
** Warlords 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. Warlords only care about results.
* CrazyPrepared: The krogan created the ''Graal Spike Thrower'' as a shotgun specifically designed to ''hunt'' Thresher Maws, possessing blades that can cause massive internal damage should the wielder be swallowed alive. Only the krogan would design a shotgun entirely around the eventuality of ''being eaten alive'' and wanting to take your devourer down with you.
** Their hospitals are designed like military bunkers, as seen in Mordin's loyalty mission, in order to withstand the structural damage a blood-raged krogan might inflict.
* DeathWorld: They come from one. It was naturally this, and then it was made worse due to the ancient krogan turning it into a Post-Apocalyptic wasteland over the course of a series of nuclear wars. To put it plainly, the krogan, tough as they are, are actually prey on Tuchanka. Rather, they're so tough because they had to evolve to survive all the shit trying to kill them.
* DropTheHammer: They've outfitted their planets with gigantic seismic hammers, designed to summon thresher maws. That, and the Krogan Warlord Sentinels are equipped with hammers capable of channeling their own biotic energy into the strikes, and unleashing an electrical burst.
* DyingRace: Unless someone turns the genophage around. In the third game, [[spoiler:you can do just that, or only make the krogan think you did]].
* EliteMooks: Every krogan ever encountered who's not a boss.
* 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.
* EnemiesEqualsGreatness: One of their central beliefs.
-->'''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.
* EnemyCivilWar:
** Tuchanka is constantly locked in warfare between clans. Political borders on Tuchanka are determined solely by the range of a clan's artillery weapons and the strength of their defense cannons.
** Should the genophage be cured, with Wrex dead and Eve alive, a major one will break out between Eve and Wreav.
* ExoticEquipment: To quote Garrus:
-->'''Garrus:''' Some krogan believe that testicle transplants can improve their virility, counteract the genophage. It doesn't work, but that doesn't stop them from buying. Ten thousand credits each, that makes forty thousand for a full set. Someone's making a killing out there.
* 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]] -- if Grunt's individual tastes also apply to that of his race in general, that is. 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.
** Matriarch Aethyta even claims to have once watched a krogan drink a [[LudicrousGibs liquefied]] [[ImAHumanitarian turian]] on a dare, although the results weren't very pleasant, [[NoodleIncident for the krogan or the witnesses]].
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Sound a lot like the Ancient Spartans, huh?
* FluffyTamer: Much like the human domestication of wolves over time into dogs, the krogan have (mostly) tamed the varren found on Tuchanka. We see in the second game, they use them for pit-fighting and as guard dogs. Indeed, it's mentioned that the varren named Urz at the Urdnot camp is a former pit champion, yet, feed him and he will follow Shepard around like an overgrown ''[[BigFriendlyDog puppy]]''.
** Averted with '''Kalros'''. The krogan aren't stupid, they know to stay the hell away from "the mother of all Thresher Maws". This apparently makes them smarter than one particularly unlucky [[spoiler:Reaper]].
* GeniusBruiser: While rare, watch out for the ones who demonstrate this. Warlord Okeer was one of the most feared krogan in history precisely ''because'' he was a scientist.
* {{Giant Mook}}s: Though they aren't ''technically'' much taller than a human or asari, and this height is from the humps on their backs -- their heads are actually a good level lower than those of humans and asari, leading to many conversations where krogan look ''up'' to talk to other people, they are a lot bulkier.
* GodzillaThreshold: Moral and ethical questions aside, the krogan certainly pushed this during the Rebellions. Despite all the might of the turian empire, the krogan were actually ''winning'' the war before the genophage was used, having pushed the lines all the way to one of Palaven's moons.
** Conversely, the decision to cure the genophage in the aftermath of the Reaper invasion also qualifies. Nearly everyone (barring the salarian dalatrass) sees another future krogan expansion as an acceptable risk; being better to fight [[EnemyMine alongside them]] and die at their hands tomorrow, than fight without them and die ''today''.
* HadToBeSharp: Well, they did ''evolve'' on a DeathWorld. This explains their incredibly resilient biology, as well as the fact that every profession, from engineers to diplomats to scientists to shamans, go about their business with warrior and survivalist mindsets.
** 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. Prey species ''also'' tend to be ExplosiveBreeders; on Earth, prey species tend to survive by out-breeding their predators, so that even if some die, the species lives on. 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.
* HandCannon: The only krogan pistol we see, the Executioner, only holds one shot per 'clip' but does more damage than most sniper rifles. Justified, because it's designed by krogan to kill other krogan.
* HealingFactor: In addition to being MadeOfIron, with multiple redundant organs, their physiology allows them to heal very quickly.
* ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty: They mature fast, and age ''very'' slowly. We don't even know what the natural krogan lifespan is, other than the fact that they can easily outlive asari. The only reason there aren't more ancient krogan around is that they tend to meet violent ends. It's entirely possible that simply cannot die of old age at all and are only vulnerable to death by unnatural causes.
* ImmortalProcreationClause: Their [[ExplosiveBreeder complete disregard of this]], coupled with their naturally aggressive natures, is what led to the Krogan Rebellions.
* 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.
* KlingonPromotion: The preferred method, even among their scientists.
--> '''Fortack:''' My predecessor said no one would understand the true worth of my work. As I pulled my blade from his chest, I knew he was telling the truth.\\
'''Shepard:''' Not exactly what I would call effective academic peer review.
* KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect:
** 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...
** The Clan Urdnot Mechanic says that he gets very little respect from people, even though at the end of the day ''somebody'' has to maintain all the guns.
* LightningBruiser: In the first game, almost all krogan enemies were this. In the second game, they lose the "lightning" part and quite a bit of the bruiser, becoming much slower and weaker. In the third game, the krogan multiplayer characters, ''especially'' the Battlemaster, play this straight again.
* MagicKnight: Krogan battlemasters have biotic abilities such as Warp and Barrier while still retaining the healing factor, durability, and brute strength of normal krogan.
** It's mentioned that biotic abilities amongst krogan were somewhat rare even before the genophage. Any krogan you encounter who has biotic power (such as Wrex) is most likely over a [[BadassGrandpa thousand years old]], making them a particularly EliteMook.
* MyGreatestSecondChance: If Eve and Wrex are alive when the genophage is cured, it becomes this for the krogan race.
* NailEm: One of their shotguns, the Graal Spike Thrower, shoots spikes that cause bleed damage and decapitate people with headshots.
* NotWorthKilling: As a corollary to EnemiesEqualsGreatness, this is one of the most humiliating fates a krogan can suffer. Warlord Okeer describes being ignored as the worst insult one can inflict on an enemy, and the Patriarch begrudgingly states how insulting it is that Aria has kept him alive all these centuries and expresses excitement when he finds out that there's someone out there that wants him dead.
* OneManArmy: Any krogan warrior is dangerous, but krogan battlemasters in particular are, alongside asari commandos, arguably the deadliest fighters in the entire galaxy... with the exception of Shepard. The two times you hear about a fight between an asari commando and a krogan battlemaster, one ended in a draw[[note]]while they killed a ''space station''. Literally. Most of the people on it survived, but the station itself didn't.[[/note]] and the other killed both.
* OurOrcsAreDifferent: They pretty much fit squarely within the ''Blizzard Orc'' mold in everything but appearance.
* OurWeaponsWillBeBoxyInTheFuture: Krogan weapons are all very boxy. Most notably the Claymore shotgun, which looks like a brick with a trigger.
* PlanetOfHats: Due to living on a DeathWorld, the krogan have grown to be proud {{Social Darwinist}}s. Unfortunately, this also gave them the circular logic of thinking that anything that's destroyed/killed must have been weak, or else it wouldn't have been destroyed. Along with their extremely tough physiques, this callous attitude towards violence and death made them perfect shock troops against the rachni, but served them badly in relation to the rest of the galaxy. They've spent thousands of years paying the price for it, and Wrex and/or Eve are the only ones who seek to change it.
** It also contributed greatly to their fall. After their defeat in the Krogan Rebellions, they began subconsciously seeing themselves as weak, and so made no effort to build themselves back up until a few influential krogan snapped them out of it.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: DeconstructedTrope. The krogan are all afflicted with a SterilityPlague, but their culture hasn't adapted; rather than work to overcome the genophage and preserve krogan lives, they just keep hiring themselves out as mercenaries and engaging in civil wars. Thusly, they are slowly but surely [[DyingRace dying out]].
** The krogan built devices known as "Maw Hammers" whose entire purpose is to summon thresher maws. Let me repeat that to make it clear: ''they built devices to '''summon''' thresher maws so they could fight them.''
*** Moreso, surviving against a thresher maw is part of their adulthood rite, at least in Clan Urdnot. 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).
* PutTheLaughterInSlaughter: Several krogan characters can be heard laughing gleefully as they kill an enemy. Krogan {{Player Character}}s in multiplayer are no exception.
* 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.
* RagnarokProofing: Their architecture is built with this in mind. It's justified in that their world and everything in it is so hostile that if the krogans don't make it to last, they'll just have to rebuild it soon. It's even mentioned that the reason why ''hospitals'' on Tuchanka are built like bunkers is because of the tendency of injured krogan to enter [[UnstoppableRage Blood Rage]], which makes them literally destroy ''anything'' in their path.
** Shepard and team encounter ancient temples and underground tunnels in ''3'' which have remained remarkably well preserved for nearly a thousand years or more. Most party members are naturally quite taken aback about how impressive the ancient krogan's engineering prowess was.
** Clan Urdnot's base of operations seems to be an old nuclear missile silo. It's remarkably well-preserved considering that the nuclear war that nearly wiped out the krogan occurred over 2000 years ago! And given all of the various rubble strewn around, one seriously doubts that anyone has been maintaining it for this long either.
* RiteOfPassage: In order to determine their worthiness to a clan, all krogan must undergo a trial when they reach adulthood. Clan Urdnot's rite, at least, involves killing things. Lots of things. [[spoiler: And then surviving five minutes of a thresher maw spitting acid at you (unless you're ''so'' badass you actually kill it)]].
* 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: krogan 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.
* SmarterThanYouLook: Self-destructive tendencies aside, the majority of the krogan run into in the series come off as just as intelligent as -- sometimes even more so than -- any other species in the galaxy, despite being stereotyped as brutes with less than average intelligence.
* SoldierVsWarrior: They are the warriors in comparison to just about every other species in the galaxy, but ''especially'' the turians. The krogan suffer just about every problem and pitfall that comes with being the "warrior" form of this trope, including poor battle tactics, lack of training and optimal equipment, and favoring competition over teamwork. These drawbacks (such as their reliance upon their numbers instead of strategy) did not bode will for them when the galaxy turned against them during the Krogan Rebellions.
* SpareBodyParts: They have two, three or four of damn near everything important (that includes nervous systems and testicles), which is what makes them so hard to kill. Wrex makes an offhand comment about how great a redundant nervous system is when told how Shepard got spaced, only to be told humans don't have them.
-->'''Wrex:''' Oh. That must have been painful, then.
* StayInTheKitchen:
** A somewhat complicated case. Female krogan are not warriors. They have to breed if they're fertile; if they aren't, they're CannonFodder, decoys used to hide the fertile ones. Some clans even share their females. However, this attitude was inflicted upon them by outside forces. Thanks to the genophage, a fertile female is ''the'' most valuable resource of the krogan, followed only by a healthy baby krogan, and the krogan would much rather see a thousand males dead than one fertile female risked in battle. In fact, it's implied in 3 that the krogan society was a matriarchy instead of a patriarchy before the genophage reduced them near extinction; and there are one or two mentions of Shiagur, a female Battlemaster who parleyed her fertility into an enormous, ferociously loyal army of children and lovers under her command, and pursued a very successful career in piracy. Upon her death at the hands of a turian, krogan all over the galaxy swore blood oaths against the crews involved. Several ''thousand'' of those turians died in open combat or assassination in the name of Shiagur.
*** History repeats itself if the genophage is cured and "Eve" is alive: she raises an army to counter Wreav's ambitions.
** Two krogan in the second game even have a conversation regarding why females and children have to be segregated from the males. Were the males to reside with their families, they would all just become one vulnerable target for their enemies.
* SterilityPlague: The genophage, althogugh Mordin clarifies in VideoGame/MassEffect2 that it doesn't so much sterilize them as cause the vast majority of pregnancies to lead to stillbirths and miscarriages. Technically, every female krogan is fertile... she'll simply birth a ''lot'' of dead children before she gets one that lives.
* TankGoodness: You see krogan vehicles are all over Tuchanka. One in particular, the Tomkah, is a ''huge'' IFV that's referred to as a tank. It makes the Mako look puny in comparison, probably because it's meant to carry krogan. Note that just because it's heavily armed and armoured, this doesn't mean it's any more durable against an attack by Thresher Maws. If anything, it's a great supplement of iron for their diet.
** 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 is 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.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Krogan weapons tend to be this when used on other species, like humans, because they were designed to kill [[MadeOfIron other krogan]]. For example, there's the Striker, an automatic krogan assault rifle that shoots explosive shells.
* TurtlePower: To continue the animal theme (turians are birds, salarians are frogs), krogan resemble bipedal tortoises.
* TrueCompanions:
** 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 who will gladly fight alongside you.
--->'''Shaman:''' Not every krogan can be the strongest warrior, but each must inspire his peers to battle at his side.
** 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 xenophobia.
* 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]].
* UnstoppableRage: If a Krogan is injured enough, they have a chance of entering a "Blood Rage", during which they will try their best to destroy pretty much everything and everyone around them.
* 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.
** A Renegade option in the second game gives Shepard the option to do this to shut up Uvenk, gaining the respect of the Shaman in the process, who's impressed they actually bothered to learn something about their culture.
---> '''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 (see Grunt's face for reference), which expand and calcify into one large rigid plate after the krogan becomes an adult. It's also said by Zaeed that losing the plate is the one thing krogan truly fear above all else. "The threat of it drives them mad."
* VitriolicBestBuds: Can become this with the turians in the third game under the right conditions, but these include [[spoiler:curing the genophage]].
** They also share this dynamic with humanity, if the genophage is cured, and Wrex and Eve are alive. Wrex outright states that after that, every krogan born will know that the name "Shepard" will mean "hero". Plus, he also offers humanity some space on Tuchanka while Earth gets rebuilt.
* WarriorPoet:
** Krogan Shamans, who command a lot of respect for being the ones who keep their spirituality and traditions alive.
** The krogan ruins encountered in the third game show that the krogan were once artistic. Their works are blocky, but highly coloured and indicative of a strong aesthetic sense, reminiscent of ancient Egyptian art.
** There's at least one very outspoken krogan poet: Charr, who refers to his asari lover Ereba as the "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LcgzUhy1ds Blue Rose of Illium]]."
* WomenAreWiser: If "Eve" is any indication, the krogan females are much more farsighted than the men, and are content to control the males from behind the scenes. The genophage [[LysistrataGambit made their voice stronger and louder]] in krogan politics.
* ZergRush: Traditional krogan tactics were built on attritional mass-unit warfare - foot-soldiers equipped with cheap, rugged gear to overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers.
** 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. Any later and the krogan would have reached the turian homeworld -- they were that desperate.
* WeHaveBecomeComplacent: According to Eve, the krogan may have always been violent and callous about death, but in the past they were far less warlike. Self-industrialization (long before the salarians appeared) brought about a sense of complacency and invincibility. Life of a DeathWorld was suddenly too easy, so they searched for different challenges by pitting themselves against each other. Eventually, they developed nuclear power, and the rest is history.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Keepers]]
!!Keepers
[[quoteright:217:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Keepers_Codex_Image_6411.jpg]]

'''Homeworld:''' The Citadel

The keepers are an insectoid race that inhabit the Citadel. They do not acknowledge the other species and all they do is maintain the Citadel, which they seem to understand better than anyone else who lives there. It is generally believed that the Protheans created them, but no-one knows how they sustain themselves or where they even get the materials for their repairs.
----

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

* RagnarokProofing: Their architecture is built with this in mind. It's justified in that their world and everything in it is so hostile that if the krogans don't make it to last, they'll just have to rebuild it soon. It's even 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.

* GlassCannon: They have some powerful abilities in multiplayer, but can't take that much damage (in fact, they have the lowest health). As such, their melee's are actually a CloakingDevice and an InstantShield.

* EnemyCivilWar: Tuchanka is constantly locked in warfare between clans. Political borders on Tuchanka are determined solely by the range of a clan's artillery weapons and the strength of their defense cannons.

* StayInTheKitchen: A somewhat complicated case. Female krogan are not warriors. They have to breed if they're fertile; if they aren't, they're CannonFodder, decoys used to hide the fertile ones. Some clans even share their females. But unlike other examples, this is not because of misogyny as such. Thanks to the genophage, a fertile female is ''the'' most valuable resource of the krogan, followed only by a healthy baby krogan, and the krogan would much rather see a thousand males dead than one fertile female risked in battle. In fact, it's implied in 3 that the krogan society was a matriarchy instead of a patriarchy before the genophage reduced them near extinction; and there are one or two mentions of Shiagur, a female Battlemaster who parleyed her fertility into an enormous, ferociously loyal army of children and lovers under her command, and pursued a very successful career in piracy. Upon her death at the hands of a turian, krogan all over the galaxy swore blood oaths against the crews involved. Several ''thousand'' of those turians died in open combat or assassination in the name of Shiagur.

* StayInTheKitchen: A somewhat complicated case. Female krogan are not warriors. They have to breed if they're fertile; if they aren't, they're CannonFodder. Some clans even share their females. But unlike other examples, this is not because of misogyny as such. Thanks to the genophage, a fertile female is ''the'' most valuable resource of the krogan, followed only by a healthy baby krogan, and the krogan would much rather see a thousand males dead than one fertile female risked in battle. In fact, it's implied in 3 that the krogan society was a matriarchy instead of a patriarchy before the genophage reduced them near extinction; and there are one or two mentions of Shiagur, a female Battlemaster who parleyed her fertility into an enormous, ferociously loyal army of children and lovers under her command, and pursued a very successful career in piracy. Upon her death at the hands of a turian, krogan all over the galaxy swore blood oaths against the crews involved. Several ''thousand'' of those turians died in open combat or assassination in the name of Shiagur.

* TheAgeless: Implied to be either this or ''incredibly'' long lived. Wrex is atleast 2500 years old and shows no signs of slowing, and his father is implied to have lived even longer than that. Unfortunately, the violent nature of krogan life tends to keep them from taking advantage of this.

* ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty: They mature fast, and age ''very'' slowly. We don't even know what the natural krogan lifespan is, other than the fact that they can easily outlive asari. The only reason there aren't more ancient krogan around is that they tend to meet violent ends.