History Characters / MassEffectRaceTropesCitadelCouncil

** Major wars break out regularly, but their emphasis on philosophy & diplomacy do little-to-nothing actually stop/prevent them. It's typically another race that actually solves the problem.
*** Related to above, they choose not to have a particularly large army, instead preferring to train elite commandoes in guerilla-warfare tactics as well as relying on the turians, and later the humans, for larger military operations & defense. This comes back to bite them when [[spoiler: the Reapers attack Thessia. The turians & humans alike are stuck fighting on their respective homeworlds, and able to (barely) hold out for months. The asari, on the other hand, are completely overrun & lose their homeworld in a matter of days.]]

* FatalFlaw: [[{{Main/Pride}} Arrogance]]. The asari have a well-deserved reputation of being the galaxy's [[ProudScholarRace premier scholar race]]; they know it and take a lot of pride in it. This is further compounded by their [[{{Really700YearsOld}} Millennium-long Lifespans]]. However, this attitude causes several problems in their society:

** The asari arrogance is best exemplified in the third game

* FighterMageThief: The original three Council races fit this paradigm. The turians are the Fighters, being a disciplined ProudWarriorRace who serve as the primary military arm of the Council. The asari are the Mages, being particularly attuned to biotic abilities and diplomacy while also possessing natural telepathic abilities. The salarians are the Thieves, focusing on intelligence-gathering and science.

** Asari infantry also focus on guerilla warfare to weaken their enemy to make up for their lack of numbers, ranging from attacking weak spots, to destroying supply lines to weaken their enemy. When fighting an enemy that doesn't use supply lines or anything outright exploitable, all their skill goes out the window, which is why they are considered so dead, as all the major military powers rely on things like that to fight. The Reapers victory over them primarily comes from the fact that the asari can't use the same tactics against them like they would any other military force; Reapers don't need supply lines, command centers, hospitals, etc.

* CripplingOverspecialization: Their ground forces. The asari military's focus on elite biotic commandos and light infantry instead of a professional, mechanized standing army means that the turians are relied upon as the heavy hitters in any ground conflict. [[spoiler: When the Reapers attack Thessia while the turians are bogged down fighting another Reaper force on their own home front, Thessia falls swiftly once the Reapers win in space because of the lack of a large, standing ground army]]. They do seem to have some fairly effective air support of their own, but those survive about as long as the other species' against the Reapers.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Though typically not to the same degree as the salarians, turian culture's focus on obeying the letter of the law can lead turians to not consider extenuating circumstances. The most notable example was during the First Contact War, when turians destroyed a human merchant flotilla that was illegally opening mass relays then occupying their colony world. During this whole debacle the turians never considered that humans were obviously an uncontacted species which meant that they had no means of knowing about the laws they were breaking, and Citadel Space had no knowledge of humanity's military capabilities, which led them to attacking humanity without warning, only for them to get a nasty surprise when a fleet showed up to liberate their colony world. [[WhatWereYouThinking The asari and salarians were furious with the turians when they found out what was happening]], especially when the turian's first response was to get ready to get a larger fleet.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Though typically not to the same degree as the salarians, turian culture's focus on obeying the letter of the law can lead turians to not consider extenuating circumstances. The most notable example was during the First Contact War, when turians destroyed a human merchant flotilla that was illegally opening mass relays then occupying their colony world. During this whole debacle the turians never considered that humans were obviously an uncontacted species which meant that a) they had no means of knowing about the laws they were breaking, and b) Citadel Space had no knowledge of humanity's military capabilities, which left the turians with a nasty surprise when a fleet showed up to liberate their colony world. [[WhatWereYouThinking The asari and salarians were furious with the turians when they found out what was happening]].

* GodzillaThreshold: ''Mass Effect 3'' reveals that their use of the genophage was this; despite all the military might of the turian empire, the krogan were ''winning'' the war, having pushed the line all the way to one of Pavalen's moons.
* HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster: Turian biotics are subject to much [[FantasticRacism suspicion and mistrust]] by other turians and are taken out of normal military service and placed into special cabals. As a result of this stigma in society, some biotics decide to opt out of continuing to serve in the military after their mandatory service period has ended, to become mercenaries where their talents can be better appreciated and utilised.

** WillNotTellALie: This even counts for the numerous turian criminals and {{Arc Villain}}s. None of them will outright lie about their agenda, but they certainly don't mind half-truths and FromACertainPointOfView verbal tactics. It also makes them prone to {{Motive Rant}}s when things come to a head. Garrus is also an example. When talking about [[ThatOneCase the Dr. Saleon case]], whereupon he [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique "questioned"]] one of the Doctor's lackeys, Shepard can flat out ask if he used torture. Garrus will deflect the question and quickly change the subject, but he won't lie.

->''....if you want a problem [[ProudScholarRaceGuy talked to death]], ask an asari....''

* SneakySpySpecies: Though partly renowned as a ProudScholarRace, the ''other'' half of their reputation is based around espionage and black ops. Because Salarians aren't a very imposing species, they rely on stealth rather than traditional armies, and even their soldiers prefer to make use of sneaky guerilla tactics rather than straight-up fighting. Throughout the galaxy, the Salarian Union is known for fleets based entirely around surveillance and its legendary Special Tactics Group - which has a reputation for ending wars before they even begin. Party member [[ScienceHero Mordin Solus]] embodies both hats, being a brilliant scientist who served in the STG [[spoiler: and took part in a covert biological attack on the krogan DMZ, reinforcing [[SterilityPlague the genophage]] with an upgrade of his own design and secretly disseminating it in person.]]

* ProudWarriorRaceGuy:

* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: It's never given much emphasis, but there are many hints that asari society is unusually martial for a people who haven't had a major war in 1,500 years. They have several monastic military orders (most famously the Justicars), and exalt their soldiers as "Huntresses", with a great deal of romanticism tied to them. There's also the stereotypes of what asari maidens do - the two stereotypically "maiden" things to do is become a stripper, or a ''mercenary.''In ''Initiation'', an asari matron leaves the huntress band she was part of, and buys a refitted warship to start a new band of mercenaries / huntresses with. This is portrayed in the novel as the sort of done thing, and she's portrayed in the same way a person today might be when they're buying their first house. Also, while the turians have a larger fleet than them by number of hulls, the average asari ship being so much larger means they definitely have the biggest fleet in the galaxy by raw tonnage - and potentially combat power, given that their ships are noted to be above-average in tech. And again - they maintain this fleet despite no peer adversary existing and not having had a major war in 1,500 years.

* BizarreAlienBiology: They're apparently able to produce viable offspring with every other sentient race in the galaxy, including ammonia-breathing volus, turians and quarians whom have an entirely different body chemistry from the other species in the galaxy, non-mammalian salarians, drell and krogan, and big stupid jellyfish (hanar). It's indicated in-game that the asari use their partner's DNA as a source of randomness to rearrange their own to produce a genetically unique child. They can obviously also mate with each other, though this is frowned on since contact with alien races became commonplace for their species.

* MirroringFactions: The basis of salarian civilization; males compete for the right to sire progeny on females, and females barter breeding rights as the source of their authority. Doesn't that sound ''just like post-genophage krogan?'' Salarians are also just as much {{Explosive Breeder}}s as the krogan were before being infected with the genophage. However they aren't nearly as hard to kill as the krogan and have much shorter lifespans.

* BoldlyComing: ''[[JustifiedTrope Justified]]''. Asari can mate with any other species, and it's encouraged that they do so. Relations between two asari are considered taboo, perhaps because the child has a higher (bit still tiny) chance of being born an Ardat-Yakshi. This unfortunately leads to some in-universe UnfortunateImplications about asari promiscuity.

* AbsoluteCleavage: More developed asari like Benezia and Samara seem to enjoy showing off their... assets. According to Liara and others, the bosom ''keeps growing'' for hundreds of years.

* ThemeNaming: Alliance Navy ships have name themes according to ship size: Frigates are named after historical battles (most notably the Normandy), cruisers are named after cities, dreadnoughts are named after mountains, and carriers are named after renowned historical persons.

* AlienBlood: The Turians have blue blood, although you'd be forgiven for not noticing until [[spoiler:Garrus takes a rocket to the face in ''Mass Effect 2'']].

** The majority of C-Sec officers are turian, making up over 50% of the total police force. We also know from the first game that there are several turian spectres, whereas we usually only ever see one representative of each of the other species amongst their ranks.

* StuffBlowingUp: The Krysae is a Turian-made [[SniperRifle anti-materiel rifle]] that fires high-explosive rounds.

* TattooedCrook: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]], as the Turians have widespread TribalFacepaint as a cultural tradition -- Instead, the equivalent stereotype is applied to turians who ''lack'' facial tattoos (and thus lack loyalty to a clan), with the phrase "barefaced" becoming a shorthand for untrustworthiness. Two of the three barefaced turians across the series are straight-up villainous (Saren Arterius in 1 and Warden Kuril in 2), while the third is a sleazy politician.

* WorthyOpponent: What they (grudgingly) consider the humans. The First Contact War (which they refer to as [[ButForMeItWasTuesday the Relay 314 Incident]]) gained the respect of the turians due to the resourcefulness and unconventional tactics of humanity. This has become FriendlyEnemy with some TeethClenchedTeamwork by the time of VideoGame/MassEffect1, and by VideoGame/MassEffect3 the two races are basically VitriolicBestBuds. Even as early as ''Mass Effect 1'', the first human spectre was recommended for the position by Nihlus, a turian spectre.

* WrittenByTheWinners: The impression the player is given with the Krogan Rebellions in the first game was that the Genophage was a [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill final blow]] to force them into submission. It's not until the third game from Adrien Victus that you learn that the war was effectively a CurbstompBattle in the Krogan's favor, and the Turian homeworld was almost destroyed had it not been for the Salarians developing the Genophage to steralize them.

* ExperimentedInCollege: PlayedWith. Though same-sex relationships are not frowned upon in asari culture (because they see gender as meaningless) same-species couples between asari are a huge taboo. That said, it's common for asari commandos to form sexual relationships during deployment, and it's seen as a natural part of them "figuring things out". Of note here is that have romantic relationships with other Asari is not seen as a taboo so much as having children with other Asari.

* FantasticRacism: Asari frown on Asari-Asari mating, with the derogatory "pureblood" epithet aimed at offspring. According to the Asari, making with another Asari doesn't add anything, as they use the DNA of other species as essentially a random number generator. On a deeper level, Ardat-Yakshi can be the result of an Asari-Asari union, which may be the source of the bigotry.

** They frown on Batarians for allowing slavery as part of their culture, but one of their noteworthy planets, Illium, has slavery legalized through legal loopholes. When confronted over it, they will insist that it's "Indentured Servitude." Even the Asari from Synthetic Oversights will call it for what it is: "slavery", and the Citadel isn't fooled, either.

* SexGod: Everyone seems to want the asari, regardless of race or gender. Humans, turians, salarians, hanar... According to Javik, the asari were the ''only'' "primitive" race the Protheans dated, though the Quarians were also consider rather attractive. The rest they conquered and enslaved. Or ate. The reasons for it are discussed by NPC's in ''Mass Effect 2'', where a few bar patrons (a salarian, human, and turian, all males on a "stag party" because of the salarian's reproduction contract) wonder why they're all attracted to an asari dancer, as well as thinking that asari look similar to their own respective species, and wonder whether it's genuine attraction or if there's some sort of subtle mental manipulation going on. This is strongly hinted is the case, since salarians ''have no sex drives at all'', yet the salarian starts becoming entranced anyway. On the other hand, Steve Cortez, one of the few explicitly gay men in the series, expresses no attraction to asari when it comes up, and while there are plenty of cases of krogan being interested or in relationships with asari, there are also a handful of krogan who dismiss asari as physically unappealing. ''Videogame/MassEffectAndromeda'' introduces the angara, and almost immediately we're told that asari are the most popular Milky Way race amongst them. A xenophobic group called the Roekkar explicitly finds their race's interest in them to be [[CategoryTraitor treason to the species]]. ''Andromeda'' also reinforces the notion that attraction to asari doesn't override human sexual orientation, as Cora, a heterosexual woman who served with asari commandos notes that she wasn't interested in even experimenting with them, and that their friendship was enough.

* SmugSuper: Owing to their being the most technologically advanced and "enlightened" of the species, quite a lot of characters and npcs alike will remark on how "arrogant" the Asari are. This comes to a head by the third game with the revelation that [[spoiler: the Asari had been hoarding Prothean technology over the millennia to keep their edge on other races]].

* DidntSeeThatComing: When the Andromeda Initiative went around looking for settlers, several salarian females saw it and thought it sounded like a fantastic idea, rather than sitting around at home playing dalatress. Enough of them signed up to throw some serious monkey-wrenches into typical salarian politics.

* HistoryRepeats: Mordin notes to Shepard that the biggest mistake the Salarian's made was rashly uplifting the Krogan to fight the Rachni without considering the long-term consequences. When visiting Sur'Kesh, the Salarian homeworld, you'll find that they have several Yahg in captivity to study to determine if ''they'' should be uplifted.

* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: Discussed. Individually, the Systems Alliance is not yet even close to matching the military or economic prowess of any of the individual Citadel races, let alone the political bloc they represent. What the rest of the galaxy fears is humanity's military and economic ''potential'', not their present might. Despite the fact that something to the tune of 3% of humanity's total population serves in the military, the Systems Alliance was still able to give the Turians a decent fight during the First Contact War. Ironically, this is also a big part of why humanity wasn't given the same treatment as the Batarian Hegemony was. Humanity's potential contributions to galactic society are too great to ignore - but that doesn't mean the Citadel ''couldn't'' ignore them if they wanted to. The Systems Alliance's potential military might is also a strong part of what endeared Humanity and the Turians to one another after the First Contact War - the two species have highly similar traditions of civic and military service.

* BashBrothers: Humanity and the Turians have a great deal in common with one another, but this trope doesn't start to pay off properly until ''Mass Effect 3'', where the Turians quickly forge an alliance with Humanity that may well be instrumental in saving the galaxy from the Reapers. Even as early as ''Mass Effect 1'', there are shades of this trope; despite the Turian Heirarchy having first encountered the Systems Alliance in an armed conflict, the two factions put their heads together to design possibly one of the most iconic {{Cool Starship}}s in videogaming, the ''Normandy''.

* EntitledBastard: Some aliens see them this way, especially the Elcor and Volus. Almost immediately after joining the galactic community, humanity instantly started ''demanding'' a seat on the Council in spite of other, stronger, more established species having to wait centuries for the same honor. It doesn't help that Humanity's representative to the Council is [[AssInAmbassador Ambassador Udina]] - you have to wonder who thought ''that'' appointment would be a good idea.

* HumanityIsSuperior: Averted early in the series, discussed in the middle, then thoroughly subverted at the end. Starting out, humanity is a minor power who is weaker than most other established species. After the first game, humanity becomes a lot more involved in interstellar politics. However, after Earth is attacked, humanity desperately has to seek allies from the other species, with most of the final war assets coming from those species. Even then, though, human organizations contribute more war assets than any other cumulatively: the Alliance can max out somewhere in the 1500 range, with Ex-Cerberus defectors contributing close to another 250, while the Asari, Krogan, Turians, Quarians, and Geth all hover around 600-800, accounting for roughly 23% of the 7800 war assets needed to get the best ending in the ''Legendary Edition.''

* HumansAreWarriors: Human military tactics are considered rather unpredictable by the standards of the other races; their motto may as well be "achieve more with less." Pound-for-pound, humans rival the batarians in capability (if not numbers), but lack the sheer brute force of the krogan, the discipline, power, and support system of the turian navy, the skill and biotics of the asari, or the savvy and intelligence of the salarians. However, humans are unmatched in maneuverability, flexibility, VI support, and individual initiative. Human tactics are focused around [[AttackItsWeakPoint striking high-priority targets and supply lines]] rather than [[VictoryByEndurance wars of attrition]]. They even introduced the idea of Carrier-class starships to the galaxy. This trait was part of what endeared Humanity to the Turians so quickly, despite their awful first contact; the Turian Navy is much older and much better-established than the Alliance, but Humanity's strong military discipline and sense of duty are only two of the numerous traits they have in common with the Turians, something that benefits the entire galaxy when the Reapers come a-knockin'.

* VitriolicBestBuds: With the Turians. Some lingering tensions remain following the disastrous First Contact War, but the two races have more in common with each other than they do with the Salarians or the Asari. The two species putting their heads together produced the ''Normandy'', possibly one of the most iconic CoolStarship[=s=] in science fiction. When the Reapers finally arrive, the turians are the first of any species to offer military aid to humanity, with the turian councilor even helping Shepherd [[CuttingTheKnot sidestep the Citadel Council's authority to do so]].

* WeakButSkilled: Humanity's hat. As newcomers to the galactic stage, the Systems Alliance has neither the sheer numbers and power of the Turians, nor the elite troops and intelligence capabilities of the Asari and Salarians. The reason they're still taken seriously, in spite of these factors, is that humanity's penchanat for getting incredible results from minimal investment has caught the notice of every race in Citadel space, for better or for worse. Militarily, the Systems Alliance represents a formidable naval power despite Humanity's status as newcomers, and inferior size and power versus the other races. Economically, human-run corporations have been responsible for some incredible advances in their short time on the galactic stage. The reason the Citadel tolerates Humanity's excesses is not because they're afraid of what they are now - it's because they're both afraid and respectful of what Humanity could be to the galactic community given time to grow. ''Literature/MassEffectRevelations'' drives this home - the only reason the Citadel doesn't relegate the Alliance to Batarian Hegemony status is Ambassador Goyle convincing them that it's in the best interests of ''everyone'' involved to give Humanity time to grow and compensate for their mistakes.

* FatalFlaw: For all their intelligence the salarians' relatively short lifespans appear to make them very shortsighted when it comes to decision making on a galactic scale. For example, uplifting the krogan without taking into account the long term consequences of their birth rate, especially when freed from the natural mortality rate of Tuchanka. Worse still it seems they feel the [[spoiler: yahg]] are a great new prospect for uplifting into galactic society. Oddly enough, Councilor Linron in ''Mass Effect 3'' takes the opposite stance, thinking in long-term matters regarding the dangers of curing the genophage... but she's doing so at the worst possible time.

* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: ''The'' singlemost powerful and influential species in the universe, powerhouses in nearly every field, most of it owed simply to the fact that they're ''very good at being civil and friendly''. For a concrete example, the asari have the greatest economy in the galaxy, just because they're that skilled at charming people into trade deals.

* WorthyOpponent: What they (grudgingly) consider the humans. The First Contact War (which they refer to as [[ButForMeItWasTuesday the Relay 314 Incident]]) gained the respect of the turians due to the resourcefulness and unconventional tactics of humanity. This has become FriendlyEnemy with some TeethClenchedTeamwork by the time of VideoGame/MassEffect1, and by VideoGame/MassEffect3 the two races are basically VitriolicBestBuds. Even as early as ''Mass Effect 1'', the first Human spectre was recommended for the position by Nihlus, a Turian spectre.

* FantasticRankSystem: Downplayed. Turian society is stratified into 33 separate tiers of citizenship, each with its own distinct set of social privileges and duties. However, turian society is intensely meritocratic, and moving up the ladder is not only possible but to some extent ''expected''. For example, promotion to the 32nd tier is gained by joining the (compulsory) military service, and promotion to the 31st by honorably completing said service.

* {{Utopia}}: Downplayed compared to the asari and turians, but they are the libertarian utopia to the asari left and the turian right, their Hats being intelligence, technology, and commerce, always in competition with one another on the merit of their brains and finances, being utilitarian and self-interested in the extreme, yet making it work (mostly) through sheer brainpower.

* DidntSeeThatComing: When the Andromeda Initiative went around looking for settlers, several salarian females saw it and thought it sounded like a fantastic idea, rather than sitting around at home playing dalatrass. Enough of them signed up to throw some serious monkey-wrenches into typical salarian politics.

* InformedAttribute: They're stated to be amphibious and capable of breathing water, but we never actually see this happen.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold[=/=]JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Depending on the ending in the first game. Despite being, for better or worse, an ambitious and warlike race, humans come to the rescue of the Citadel and prevent a return of the [[OmnicidalManiac Reapers]]. Whether this means saving the entirely alien Council from the jaws of certain death and becoming a part of the wider community, or sacrificing them in favor of fighting Sovereign, is entirely up to Shepard.

* TyrantTakesTheHelm: If a human-led council takes over Citadel politics in ''2'', they become this, imposing excessive (and in some cases, ludicrous) laws in the name of security, being seen by the other species as arrogant, oppresive and bullying, causing a massive spike in racial tensions, to the extent it's stated some (unseen) species have actually left Citadel politics in protest.

* BashBrothers: Humanity and the Turians have a great deal in common with one another, but this trope doesn't start to pay off properly until ''Mass Effect 3'', where the Turians quickly forge an alliance with Humanity that may well be instrumental in saving the galaxy from the Reapers. Even as early as ''Mass Effect 1'', there are shades of this trope; despite the Turian Heirarchy having first encountered the Systems Alliance in an armed conflict, the two factions put their heads together to design possibly one of the most iconic CoolStarship[=s=] in videogaming, the ''Normandy''.

-->'''Garrus:''' Why does the Alliance hire pilots with brittle bone disease?
-->'''[[HandicappedBadass Joker]]:''' You're shitting me. The turian military has one about ''me?''
-->'''Garrus:''' Oh, absolutely. I heard it myself from a private back on Palaven.
-->'''Joker:''' All right, why does the Alliance hire pilots with brittle bone disease?
-->'''Garrus:''' So their marines can beat someone in hand-to-hand combat drills.

** They frown on Batarians for allowing slavery as part of their culture, but one of their noteworthy planets, Illium, has slavery legalized through legal loopholes. When confronted over it, they will insist that it's "Indentured Servitude."