| 1 | This page is for listing the tropes related to the Citadel Council species in the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' universe, [[PlanetOfHats each with their own]] ([[AvertedTrope often averted]]) tropes. |
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| 3 | For the pages listing tropes related to specific characters in the trilogy, see the [[Characters/MassEffect Mass Effect Character Index]]. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | This page includes ''significant'' spoilers, and some are by their nature unmarked. Read at your own discretion. |
| 6 | |
| 7 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 8 | |
| 9 | [[folder:Citadel Space in general]] |
| 10 | |
| 11 | [[https://masseffect.fandom.com/wiki/Codex/Citadel_and_Galactic_Government#Citadel_Space Citadel Space]] is an unofficial term used to refer to the area of the galaxy that recognizes the authority of the Citadel Council. It covers the vast majority of military, economic, demographic, scientific, and political power in the known galaxy. |
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| 13 | ---- |
| 14 | |
| 15 | * AIIsACrapshoot: |
| 16 | ** In-universe, Citadel Space holds the opinion that simple [=VIs=] can provide everything an AI can without the risk of rebellion. As a result, the creation of advanced [=AIs=] is heavily regulated, and the Citadel governments shut down all their "true" [=AIs=] 300 years ago, soon after the Geth War. AI research is still allowed but scrutinized and monitored very heavily. |
| 17 | ** However, note that this policy is only internal and they're willing to coexist with external polities composed of [=AIs=]. [[https://masseffect.fandom.com/wiki/Cerberus_Daily_News_-_August_2010#08.2F11.2F2010_-_Alien_AI-Controlled_Ship_Makes_Contact_in_Salarian_Space The only time they've discovered a truly alien AI]], they made peaceful first contact with it and set up trade despite having the ability to easily destroy it (though there were still tensions). |
| 18 | * AllNationsAreSuperpowers: Subverted. While it seems that groups like the Systems Alliance or Asari Republics are superpowers that control countless worlds, reading [[AllThereInTheManual the codex and Cerberus Daily News]] reveals that in actuality they're simply EU-style federations of independent states that exist to present a unified front to other galactic polities. The only faction that plays this trope is the Turian Hierarchy, being a straight empire that was forged in the aptly named Unification Wars. |
| 19 | * AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Halfway between the United Federation of Planets in ''Franchise/StarTrek'' and ''Series/Babylon5'''s Interstellar Alliance. |
| 20 | * BenevolentPrecursors: In the "Refusal" ending of ''3'', [[spoiler:the current Citadel races are wiped out by the Reapers, but the knowledge they leave behind allows the next cycle to finally triumph over them]]. |
| 21 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: |
| 22 | ** Compared to the militaristic turians, the other Citadel species seem weak. But one must remember that the Krogan Rebellions were going on for years before the turians intervened, indicating that they were anything but an easy fight to the krogan empires. In the earlier Rachni Wars, they held off the rachni for over a century before uplifting the aforementioned krogan. In ''Revelations'', Goyle also notes that despite being less militarized than the turians, the asari and salarian fleets are actually bigger collectively than the turians are alone (with generally better technology for the latter), and that both dwarf humanity's own strength. |
| 23 | ** Citadel Space in general qualifies. With its high standards of living, tolerance, first-resort use of diplomacy, heavily demilitarized current state, and devotion to UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar, many Terminus residents see them as soft. But as their past wars show, the Council species can become just as savage as anyone else when pushed - and their savagery is backed by an extremely powerful economy. It's just been a long time since they've had to take the gloves off (and the speed of the Reapers' advance doesn't really give them a chance when it would be useful). Even in the peacetime of the present, there's a reason that even a hardened batarian terrorist like Charn fears provoking the Council more than anything. |
| 24 | * CombatDiplomacyStealth: The three Council races each specialize in one of these approaches, and each recognizes the benefits of having the other two. Turians have the strongest military in the galaxy, asari are considered the galaxy's best diplomats, and salarians are masters of intelligence gathering. Humans can supplement all three as needed. |
| 25 | * TheFederation: Citadel Space consists of trillions of individuals in many species united in a European Union-esque arrangement. It's been continuous for over 2,700 years by the time of the games, so the species are fairly well-integrated with each other. |
| 26 | * 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. When humans joined the Council, they filled the role of the JackOfAllStats that can supplement any of the three as needed. |
| 27 | * FireForgedFriends: |
| 28 | ** The current PowerTrio of the Council species was formed in the aftermath of the Krogan Rebellions, in which the turians, asari, and salarians led a galactic war effort against the krogan empires in a conflict that lasted centuries. At the end of it, the turians rightfully gained a Council seat and the stage was set for 1,500 years of peace and progress. |
| 29 | ** The Eden Prime War and especially the Reaper War does the same thing to the existing Council species and the newcomer of humanity, as well as previously exiled member species such as the quarians and krogan. Special mention goes to the turian-human relationship. Ultimately, the relationship between Vakarian and Shepard is mirrored in the relationship between their species - despite having initially gone to war with one another, the fact that both their homeworlds are hard-hit by the Reaper invasion causes them to bond together to the point where their ground troops trade good-natured barbs about each other. |
| 30 | -->'''Garrus:''' Why does the Alliance hire pilots with brittle bone disease?\ |
| 31 | '''[[HandicappedBadass Joker]]:''' You're shitting me. The turian military has one about ''me?''\ |
| 32 | '''Garrus:''' Oh, absolutely. I heard it myself from a private back on Palaven.\ |
| 33 | '''Joker:''' All right, why does the Alliance hire pilots with brittle bone disease?\ |
| 34 | '''Garrus:''' So their marines can beat someone in hand-to-hand combat drills. |
| 35 | * GalacticSuperpower: Anyone who's anyone is part of Citadel Space. Barla Von claims that 80% of the known galaxy's population recognizes the Council's authority. In ''Andromeda: Annihilation'', a bioterrorist notes that killing ''trillions'' of Citadel Space citizens wouldn't do much, because "there's far too many of them on too many worlds to really change the balance of power." The implications of this are pretty ridiculous. |
| 36 | * HufflepuffHouse: |
| 37 | ** Among other hints, the codex noting that there are several turian client ''races'' (as opposed to just one, the volus) implies that there are many minor species in Citadel Space that we simply never see during the events of the four games. |
| 38 | ** ''Ascension'' notes that there were a dozen species in Citadel Space's society before the humans arrived. Ignoring the humans, raloi, and Virtual Aliens, all of whom made first contact after this point, that leaves five or six species unaccounted for. The games only show seven: asari, turians, salarians, elcor, volus, hanar, and drell (the batarians having left Citadel Space before the humans arrived, and the quarians and krogan having been expelled). And the drell probably aren't being counted because their population is mostly on one planet and doesn't even constitute a rounding error. Both ''Andromeda'''s in-universe history exhibit and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGtc7ndGn18&t=175s Barla Von's dialogue in the first game]] also state that there are ''dozens'', plural, of sapient species in Citadel Space, and that only the most powerful and influential are represented on the Citadel via embassies, further indicating that there are a lot of minor species that we simply don't see. The hanar, volus, and elcor all have embassies, for reference, so these other species are logically less important than them. |
| 39 | * InterspeciesRomance: After thousands of years of integration, this has become fairly common in Citadel Space, to the point that popular mainstream movies are produced about the subject (e.g. ''Fleet and Flotilla'') and the most populous Council species, the asari, considers it the average rather than the exception. |
| 40 | * MegaCorp: Due to Citadel Space's extreme wealth, even its mid-sized corporations are capable of taking over entire ''planets'' in the Terminus systems. |
| 41 | * PowerTrio: The Council powers initially consist of the Asari Republics, the Turian Hierarchy, and the Salarian Union, which are by far the most powerful polities in the galaxy. There are four Council powers after the first game, the fourth member being the human Systems Alliance, but they're a distant fourth ([[AllThereInTheManual comparable to the elcor]]), so the trope still stands ''de facto''. |
| 42 | * SpeciesLoyalty: Downplayed. Each of the polities making up Citadel Space are overwhelmingly composed of one species, but interspecies mixing among worlds is standard. Even the new human world of Elysium is noted to be 50% non-human, and this is not implied to be ''particularly'' abnormal for colony worlds. There are even references to thriving ''vorcha'' populations in Citadel Space, enough for some of them to reach mainstream acclaim as actors. |
| 43 | * StandardSciFiFleet: Each faction in Citadel Space makes use of thousands of frigates, destroyers, cruisers, carriers, and dreadnoughts, as well as a larger number of corvettes and fighters. Space freighters, colony ships, yachts, and so on are commonplace among the civilian population. |
| 44 | * {{Utopia}}: Reasonably close to one. Crime and corruption still exist to some extent, but the average citizen is ridiculously rich in material goods compared to even first-world citizens today, major utilities and healthcare are free (the codex mentions gene therapy and extranet access as specific examples), interstellar travel is cheap and common, genetic diseases have been eradicated with average human/turian/etc. lifespans being up to 150 years (with other species varying depending on their own biology), and businesses are booming and ready to provide just about any service that isn't free for fairly reasonable prices. Citadel Space is borderline post-scarcity thanks to widespread asteroid mining, H3-DT fusion power,[[note]]For civilians; military starships are powered by antimatter-matter annihilation instead.[[/note]] omnipresent [=VIs=]/robots, and microfabricators, with many conversations in ''Mass Effect 2'' making it clear that sapient labor and a select few rare resources (like antimatter and certain light and heavy metals) are the only things that have much value anymore. The average citizen is so materially rich that even multi-thousand ton FTL capable spaceships are considered ambitious but buyable by single middle class travelers.[[note]]A retired NCO buys the obsolescent destroyer ''Audacity'' in the novel ''Initiation'', and several quarian pilgrims make reference to wanting to buy a ship to bring back to their fleet, as if such a thing is perfectly doable.[[/note]] In the [[AllThereInTheManual comics and novels]] released to coincide with ''Andromeda'', more than one character notes that the biggest challenge in (non-human) Council societies is [[VictoryIsBoring boredom]]. |
| 45 | * WeHaveBecomeComplacent: Justified. The last major galactic wars (the Krogan Rebellions) were nearly 1,500 years ago. As a result Citadel Space is effectively demilitarized at the time of the games, to the point that humanity (which explicitly has mere tens of billions of people compared to ''trillions'' in the rest of Citadel Space at a generally higher level of development, i.e. humanity has less than 1% of the total population and industry) is able to get within striking distance of the established great powers' military strength in less than thirty years by building thousands of warships, and a fringe terrorist group with probably significantly less than a single percent of humanity's economic power built [[https://i.imgur.com/KYHjxO7.jpg over sixty]] [[https://i.imgur.com/FflHk84.jpg heavy cruisers]] and [[https://i.imgur.com/26Bva06.jpg a dreadnought]] in just a few years with the funds skimmed off the top of shell companies, funds minor enough that no one noticed they were missing.[[note]]Which, considering a moderately popular soft drink company has yearly revenue of more than 4.38 quadrillion credits (Tupari's ads say that they sell 12 trillion bottles per day), and minor interstellar traffic jams can knock over a trillion credits off the galactic economy in a single day with no one noticing (per CDN), is completely believable.[[/note]] Citadel Space maintain fleets and armies just large enough to put down infrequent pirate raids, insurgencies, and the occasional rogue state, much like, say, the United States post-Cold War. This leaves them woefully unprepared when the Reapers arrive, and due to the speed of the Reapers' advance, they never get a chance to go into total war production to compensate. |
| 46 | -->'''Kaidan:''' I can't blame [the Council], though. They've had over a thousand years of peace. Who'd want to believe that's over? |
| 47 | * AWorldHalfFull: While not without its faults, Citadel Space is generally presented as quite a nice place to live. |
| 48 | [[/folder]] |
| 49 | |
| 50 | [[folder:Turians]] |
| 51 | !! Turians |
| 52 | [[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/turians_codex_image_3287.jpg]] |
| 53 | |
| 54 | ->''If you want a problem [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy shot]], ask a turian...'' |
| 55 | -->--'''Renegade Shepard''' |
| 56 | |
| 57 | '''Homeworld:''' Palaven |
| 58 | |
| 59 | The third race to join the Citadel Council. The Turian Hierarchy is a very organized and militant society. Every physically and mentally-sound turian is either a soldier, a retired soldier or training to be a soldier. This has resulted in the Turian Hierarchy having the largest military force in the galaxy. Turians were the first alien species that humanity encountered. Unfortunately, this encounter took the form of the First Contact War. Although the other two Council Races managed to end the war diplomatically, human-turian relations are still rocky. |
| 60 | |
| 61 | Turians are available for multiplayer and can use the [[TheRedMage Sentinel]] and [[WalkingArmory Soldier]] classes. The Retaliation DLC also adds [[StealthExpert Ghost Infiltrators]], [[JetPack Havoc Soldiers]], and Saboteur Engineers. The Reckoning DLC adds [[SheFu Cabal]] [[PoisonousPerson Vanguards]]. |
| 62 | ---- |
| 63 | * 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'']]. |
| 64 | * BadassArmy: They have extremely disciplined armies, the largest fleet of non-Reaper warships (well over 10,000), the most dreadnoughts (39), and a proud military tradition. |
| 65 | ** They were able to hold their own against the krogan empires in a decades-long war of attrition at a time before the genophage when the krogan were actually [[ExplosiveBreeder breeding faster]] than the other races. They also managed to take down the fleets of krogan dreadnoughts with cruisers and frigates, which required a lot of expertise and production capability. |
| 66 | ** "Reaper troop transports have dumped hordes of husk to capture Palaven's inhabitants but met with little success. Reaper capital ships are destroying city after city. But much of the turian fleet is still operable, and the citizenry is heavily armed. [[DoNotGoGentle The turians refuse to be intimidated]]." To put this perspective, the turians are holding their own (even if it's just barely) against the largest part of the Reaper fleet assigned to any individual planet, which they sent in knowing the power of the turian fleet. They even managed to destroy a few Sovereign-class capital ships in the opening attack (contrast the humans and asari who got completely curbstomped in a few hours once the Reapers committed their forces.) They are the only race who actually manage to fight the Reapers on even terms (even if it was still a HopelessWar); the Reaper attacks on Earth and Thessia [[CurbStompBattle quickly turn into routs.]] This could be attributed to Palaven leadership actually preparing for the Reapers, as Garrus and his father convinced the Primarch to consider the fact that the Reapers were real. |
| 67 | ** Of note is that every turian who is of age and is of sound mental capability is a soldier. Military service is mandatory across the entirety of their space. If that turian can walk and talk, that turian is trained to fight. Supplemental material notes that every turian household keeps small arms inside, and every able-bodied turian of fighting age can use them. In ''3'' this extends to rocket launchers, thanks to the ability of common nanofabricators to produce designs like the Krysae. |
| 68 | ** Of particular note is the Armiger Legion. Every member has a PowerFist, consumable packs that grant borderline invincibility, the best weapons in the empire, and a ''jetpack''. |
| 69 | * BirdPeople: A less obvious example than usual, but they were modelled after birds of prey, and indeed do have some raptor-esque traits. More than a few Alliance soldiers will refer to them occasionally as "the birds", though these days in admiration. |
| 70 | * BizarreAlienBiology: |
| 71 | ** Their homeworld, Palaven, has a weak geomagnetic field, meaning it gets bombarded by more solar radiation than comparable planets like Earth or Thessia. How did Palaven's life adapt? It evolved a semi-metallic carapace. |
| 72 | ** They also have dextro-protein chirality (which is basically the biochemical equivalent of being a book read right-to-left in a library of books read left-to-right) and are the only race aside from quarians with this chirality. As such, they can eat any food a quarian can eat. Foods that levo-protein races like humans and asari can eat, on the other hand, will pass out the other end without providing any sustenance at best, or outright kill them at worst. |
| 73 | * BluntMetaphorsTrauma: Though many aliens seem to have trouble with human metaphors, turians in particular struggle with the concept fullstop. Even Garrus has a problem with 'em. Although they are intrigued by how humans have a way with words. |
| 74 | * BottledHeroicResolve: The DLC turian classes have a "Stimulant Pack" power that boosts shields and weapon damage. |
| 75 | * ButForMeItWasTuesday: Humans and turians fought a war that led to humanity's entering the greater galactic population. Humans call it the First Contact War. Turians call it the Relay 314 Incident. |
| 76 | * CatFolk: While they're mainly modeled after birds, their facial features are very leonine. |
| 77 | * ColonyDrop: |
| 78 | ** The turians frequently employ this tactic as a solution to deal with ground-forces, notably seen in the First Contact War and casually suggested by Garrus to take out the enemy geth on Rannoch, much to Tali's horror. |
| 79 | ** They were also frequently the victims of this during the Krogan Rebellions. The krogan had a habit of smashing asteroids into turian planets. [[TheDeterminator It just made the turians angry.]] Notably, Palaven's moons are classified military installations, specifically to prevent hostile forces from using them as a weapon against the planet. |
| 80 | * CombatByChampion: One of the traditional ways turians can resolve large-scale conflicts: a duel between chosen representatives of each party. Parodied during a certain Roleplay/CerberusDailyNews story covering the War on Taetrus. A turian general and a leader of the rebel group Facinus got into a sword fight to decide the fate of Taetrus. When the rebel leader lost, very obviously photo-shopped images started surfacing the next day showing the general cheating in the duel. Facinus used these images as an excuse to declare war anyway. |
| 81 | * CombatPragmatist: In a way. In their culture, every turian serves in the army for a while after they reach puberty. Therefore, any population center with adults is considered a military installation. They are... reluctant to abandon this mindset when facing other species. To give an example, during their siege of Shanxi, the turian fleets bombed entire city blocks [[ColonyDrop from orbit]] simply to take out ''individual fireteams.'' As revealed in the third game, they also hid a massive bomb in a major tectonic fault line on Tuchanka as a backup plan in case the genophage didn't work. |
| 82 | -->'''Garrus:''' Brutal, but it makes a certain kind of sense. Put the krogan down hard if they tried anything. |
| 83 | * {{Conscription}}: At 15, turians begin a compulsory term of military service for an unknown length of time (possibly to age 30,) at the end of which they decide whether to remain with the military or become a civil servant. Those who choose to leave are still reservists and can be called back into action should the need arise. The turian military also handles civil service duties such as maintaining infrastructure, police, and bureaucracy, meaning these reservists aren't necessarily going to be handling combat roles except in extreme times of need. |
| 84 | * DefeatMeansFriendship: The turians absorb any conquered enemies (both turians and other races) into their ranks as supplementary units. While these units are rarely treated as anything more than infantry or cavalry, at the conclusion of a successful term of service, they are then granted full turian citizenship, with all rights and responsibilities thereof. |
| 85 | * {{Determinator}}: A popular saying goes: "[[BadassBoast You will only see a turian's back when he's dead]]." Early in the Krogan Rebellions, the krogan tried to destroy the turians' will to fight by [[ColonyDrop hurling asteroids at their colonies]]. All this did was make the turians even more determined to win. When the Reapers invade Palaven in ''Mass Effect 3'', they continue holding their own and refuse to surrender, to the point that they pin down massive amounts of Reaper resources into conquering their homeworld for months on end, giving everyone else time to continue the fight elsewhere. |
| 86 | * 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 turians' first response was to ready an even larger fleet. |
| 87 | * DoNotGoGentle: More than any other race in the galaxy, the turians breathe this trope. Despite obviously losing, they spend almost the entirety of the Reaper War (implied to be months), engaging the Reapers in an extended slugging match over their homeworld on relative terms that forces the Reapers to commit more to a single front, and with a krogan alliance, score the single largest victory in the war. Absolutely no other race that has their homeworld heavily targeted even comes close putting up the level of resistance that the turians do. |
| 88 | * EveryoneHasStandards: The Citadel archives show that even the turian military didn't want to deploy the genophage, with a GeneralRipper basically overriding them and the salarians and pressing the BigRedButton himself. |
| 89 | * FantasticCasteSystem: Downplayed. Turian society is stratified into 27 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 26th tier is gained by joining the (compulsory) military service, and promotion to the 25th by honorably completing said service. |
| 90 | * FantasticDietRequirement: As turians come from a dextro protein-based biosphere, they can only live off of food with a matching chirality and have to take care not to eat foods meant for levo protein-oriented species. |
| 91 | * FantasyCounterpartCulture: They're about halfway between space Prussians and space Romans with some Confucianism thrown in for flavor. Literally in this last case - since making peace with the humans, a small but growing number of turians have taken up Confucianism. That said, their dominant religion, while Shinto-esque, parallels Christianity enough that heaven, hell, and saints, amongst other things, are used as translations of their faith's equivalent concepts. |
| 92 | * FatalFlaw: Rigidity; they are so obsessed rules, laws, and regulations that the mere act of breaking any of them is practically their BerserkButton. Consequentially, they either can't or won't think out of the box, even when they really need to. A few turians, like Garrus and later Victus, acknowledge that this strict adherence to their established order has hindered their ability to think creatively, especially in the face of a threat as great as the Reapers. |
| 93 | * FighterMageThief: They're the fighter to the asari mage and the salarian thief. |
| 94 | * {{Foil}}: Turians are contrasted against humans more than any other race, especially due to their history with the First Contact War. It's considered ''incredibly unfortunate'' that the [[HumorlessAliens turians]], of all species, were the ones that made first contact with humankind, because the turians are so disciplined and rigid about laws that they opened fire on unidentified alien ships without even ''attempting'' to communicate, and when things escalated to warfare, they defaulted to tactics that humans consider ''war crimes''. After the war, turians now look at humans as upstart punks with a baby military who won't learn their place and constantly whine to the Council, while humans view turians as glorified Space Fascists. Things finally cool down throughout the series as humans prove themselves an asset to Council Space, and turians show that they are just as earnest about ''defending'' humans and other species from other threats as they are fighting them. By the end of the original trilogy, the two can be considered VitriolicBestBuds. |
| 95 | * FourStarBadass: ''Many'' examples. The Cerberus Daily News brought turian General Partinax to the fore, who dueled Facinus leader Kihilix Tanus. His record is surviving seven duels, 5 to first blood and 2 to the death. The codex also references Admiral Coronati, who managed to defeat the ''Reapers'' in a fight above Palaven using relatively primitive dreadnoughts by using the Reapers' [[MileLongShip massive size]] against them. |
| 96 | -->'''Codex:''' Knowing that the Reapers' weapons had a longer effective range than any of his own, Coronati made a short, daring FTL jump -- landing his dreadnoughts in the middle of the Reaper fleet. The dreadnoughts then turned to line up their main guns on the Reapers, which also needed to turn to fire on the turians. This ploy used the Reapers' size against them -- because they could turn faster, and their concentrated firepower downed several Reaper capital ships. |
| 97 | * FrontlineGeneral: Overlapping with FourStarBadass, turian generals can be found fighting alongside their front-line troops on Manae during the Reaper invasion, including General Corinthus and General Victus, who is next in line to be the turian Primarch. Garrus, who is a government adviser on the Reapers (and is even ''saluted by the generals,'') is right there in the thick of the fighting as well. |
| 98 | * GodzillaThreshold: ''Mass Effect 3'' reveals that their use of the genophage was this; despite all the military might of the turian empire initially turning things against them, the krogan were ''winning'' the war in the end, having pushed the line all the way to one of Pavalen's moons. When the turian's learned of the genophage, they pushed for it to be used as a weapon instead of a deterrent like the salarian's were planning. |
| 99 | * 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 utilized. |
| 100 | * HonorBeforeReason: Turians are noted to have very heavy social stigma against avoiding personal responsibility. A turian may choose not to advertise that they committed a crime but would likely admit to it if directly questioned. |
| 101 | * HoverTank: They have one, the Jiris. It can traverse any terrain, has powerful kinetic barriers, and has a cannon that shoots homing missiles accurately for over 20 kilometers. Unfortunately, it never comes up in the game, only being referenced in Cerberus Daily News. It saw heavy use during the War on Taetrus. |
| 102 | * HumanoidAliens: Bipedal with two forward facing eyes, but with a more bird/velociraptor like structure and metallic skin plates. |
| 103 | * HumorlessAliens: |
| 104 | ** Compared to most other species, anyway. Turians take discipline and protocol very seriously. Most of the funnier turians (like Garrus) are considered atypical of the species. The fact that turians are uptight fighting machines is one of the reasons the First Contact War was considered one of the ''worst'' ways for the human race to become introduced to Citadel Space. |
| 105 | ** Although they are just as likely to be [[TheComicallySerious Comically Serious]] {{Deadpan Snarker}}s. There's a reason why [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWYUiVfZo9k a certain dancing turian]] is so hilarious and memorable. And they ''do'' have jokes. |
| 106 | --->''"[[LightbulbJoke How many humans does it take to activate a Mass Relay?]]"'' |
| 107 | ** Wrex once said, regarding Garrus, that [[SarcasmMode it was just his luck]] he happened to know the one turian in the galaxy who thinks he's funny. |
| 108 | * IDidWhatIHadToDo: Turians take the most direct approach to a problem. They won't hesitate to shoot someone or commit genocide if that's what it takes to end a threat ''permanently''. See the running quote for Renegade Shepard's succinct view. |
| 109 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Often come across as this. Despite all their friction with humanity, after Earth is invaded by the Reapers, they are the first to step up in ''3'' to offer military aid, and the first willing to end the genophage, despite them being the ones who ultimately decided to use it. |
| 110 | * LawfulStupid: In-Universe, their adherence to following rules led to their brief war with humanity. Part of the resentment felt by humans is because, while they understand that they were simply enforcing galactic law, the turians never bothered to fire a warning shot or even explain that activating dormant Mass Relays was a felony, before they opened fire on them and proceeded to occupy one of their colonies. |
| 111 | * MasculineLinesFeminineCurves: Perhaps to [[{{Foil}} give them contrast]] with species like the [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe asari]], the turians tend to favor more straight lines in the TheAestheticsOfTechnology, their ships and weapons being particularly angular. Even the turians themselves have a kind of "edged" look to them, with their thin frames and semi-rigid plates on their skin. Yes, even the females, as shown in the third game's Omega DLC. In their case, they don't have long fringes; instead, their faceplates have more elaborate edges. |
| 112 | * TheMcCoy: To the [[TheKirk asari Kirk]] and [[TheSpock salarian Spock]]. |
| 113 | * MirrorChemistry: The majority of the galaxy is based on levo-amino acids, whatever other differences they have. The turians and quarians are the only ones with dextro-amino-based biology. This caused them a lot of trouble during the First Contact War. Since the food on the human colonies that they conquered were levo-amino-based, they had to ship in their supplies from the Hierarchy, eventually making their position untenable. |
| 114 | * MirroringFactions: Fought a war with humanity when the two species first met and were the most anti-human of the three council races but compare the stories of how the two races got their council seats. Despite the difference in [[MirrorChemistry biochemistry]], humans and turians have more similar lifespans, gender dynamics, and social structures with each other than with the other two Council races, the salarians and asari. |
| 115 | * MonstrousMandibles: Type 2, to the extent that their cheek-flaps can even be called "mandibles," that is. |
| 116 | * MoreDakka: They're very well-known for the Phaeston, which has a very high ammo clip for an assault rifle. |
| 117 | * TheNeedsOfTheMany: Turian philosophy is entirely based around this. The turian species as a whole always comes before the turian individual. "Squad before self" is how Tiran Kandros puts it in ''Andromeda''. According the codex this is so engrained into their society that the name of the in-universe musical anthem of the Hierarchy is "Die For the Cause" |
| 118 | * NobleBirdOfPrey: Designed after [[BirdPeople eagles]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3oypQkMsFE actually]], and definitely very lawful, though not necessarily good. |
| 119 | * OnlySaneMan: During the Reaper invasion, they're the only major military power who aren't unhelpful and refusing to fully commit to the war effort [[spoiler: (asari and salarians)]], fighting one another in civil war ([[spoiler:quarians and geth, krogan with themselves, humans with Cerberus]]), or penetrated by elements actively hindering the war effort ([[spoiler:hanar, the salarian government, Cerberus again]]). It's also a reason why they are the ones holding out best against the Reapers; they're the only race aside from humanity that ''tried to prepare for their arrival''. |
| 120 | * PlanetOfHats: Turians are renowned for and proud of their strict adherence to duty and protocol, and the fact that ''every'' member of their species has once served in the military. However, some turians are outliers. Some turians are funny, laid back, pacifists, hate red tape, and everything in between. |
| 121 | * ProudWarriorRace: |
| 122 | ** They're the most militaristic Council race by far, but they place heavy emphasis on discipline, so it's more accurate to call turians a Proud ''Soldier'' Race. It offers a {{Deconstruction}} of the trope as well: the much more proud, physically dangerous and violent krogan were defeated by the much-better organized, no-nonsense turians. It also provides an extra nuance to the issue of the genophage: if it wasn't deployed, the turians would've had to commit genocide. Their national anthem, fittingly enough, is entitled "''Die For The Cause''". |
| 123 | ** The prevalence of both firearms and military service among turians means that it is incredibly hard to suppress a resisting population center, as every able-bodied adult is a potential combatant. Part of the way internal turian conflicts are waged is that the turians will set up safe zones where those who do not wish to fight are allowed to withdraw. Once the evacuation deadline passes, any adult turians in the area of operation is considered a hostile and will be killed on-sight. |
| 124 | * ReligiousBruiser: They named the standard assault rifle of their military the Phaeston, after the turian spirit of creation. |
| 125 | * RepressiveButEfficient: As an authoritarian and meritocracy-driven society, turians are expected to stay the course and not oppose their doctrines. Garrus will even snark that his tendencies make him a "bad turian" due to his propensity to question authority. |
| 126 | * ShootTheDog: The salarians developed the genophage, but struggled with the moral dilemma of whether to use it to end the Krogan Rebellions. The turians unleashed the genophage instead, ending the Rebellions. |
| 127 | * SoldierVsWarrior: They fit this trope in comparison to most other races, but their antithesis is the krogan. The turians are organized, disciplined, and well-equipped. While not above warrior-like concepts like personal honor, orders tend to come first, and the job has to get done no matter the cost. |
| 128 | * SpacePlane: Contrary to being one of the more practical species, turian ships have this design if not strictly the function. |
| 129 | * SpacePolice: The fact that they have the largest fleet of warships in the galaxy (that includes the geth) make them the official peacekeepers of Citadel Space. |
| 130 | ** 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. |
| 131 | * SpaceRomans: Even their names sound Roman. They even resemble eagles, the empire's official animal. |
| 132 | * StuffBlowingUp: The Krysae is a turian-made [[SniperRifle anti-materiel rifle]] that fires high-explosive rounds. |
| 133 | * SuperDrowningSkills: Apparently turians are poor swimmers, according to Garrus in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3''. Makes sense considering the metal skin and apparent lack of body fat. |
| 134 | --> '''Garrus:''' You obviously haven't seen turians swim. It's a lot of flailing and splashing interrupted by occasional bouts of drowning. |
| 135 | * 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. |
| 136 | ** Speaking of sleazy politicians, "barefaced" is frequently invoked by turians to mock politicans in general -- The reason is that successful politicians can't align themselves with the interests of any single clan or colony. |
| 137 | * ThemeNaming: Turian names are basically Roman, often ending in either "us" or "ian". |
| 138 | * ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: See a ColonyDrop as a perfectly legitimate form of warfare. |
| 139 | * TribalFacepaint: The markings on turian faces are worn to signify the home colony that s/he is descended from, a tradition that began in the aftermath of the [[CivilWar Unification War]], when several colonial chieftains decided to break away from the Hierarchy to wage a particularly bloody war between themselves, shortly after their race ventured into space. While the Hierarchy restored the peace, many turians continue to adorn themselves with their colonial markings out of nationalistic pride. On a more lighthearted note, the term "barefaced" has entered turian vernacular to mean [[TattooedCrook someone who]] [[InvertedTrope is untrustworthy]]. |
| 140 | * {{Utopia}}: While the asari are a liberal democratic utopia and the salarians are libertarians, the turians are a right-wing military meritocracy like something out of ''Literature/StarshipTroopers''. Every citizen is in service to the state (their national anthem is called “Die for the Cause”), military service is mandatory at the age of 15, and their entire culture revolves around duty, discipline, and obeying superiors. The Hierarchy is governed by the Primarchs — skilled military leaders who exclusively have the right to vote, freeing up their citizenry to maintain their societal structure like a well-oiled machine. Every turian knows their place, and excessive ambition is not encouraged. They are allowed almost total personal freedoms (including racial and religious tolerance) as long as it doesn’t impede their duties to the government. They also enjoy a stable economy thanks to their client race, the mercantile volus, who vigorously manage it, and are ''not'' a command economy (even the military's main suppliers are privately-owned, like Armax Arsenal and ERCS), but an (authoritarian) capitalist market economy with commonplace entrepreneurship (there are no shortage of turian billionaires in the tech and entertainment industries according to the background text, especially Cerberus Daily News). |
| 141 | * VitriolicBestBuds: While there is still some tension with humanity due to the First Contact War, both races seem to actually get on with each other far better than they do with the salarians or asari. Both governments also are mentioned as having worked together quite well when building the original ''Normandy'', and nowadays the turians see humans as [[WorthyOpponent worthy opponents]], despite the fact that only 3% of their eligible population serve in the Alliance Navy. When the Reapers roll around, the turians are the first to offer aid to the humans and the Crucible project, even after their councilor had his famous air-quotes moment dismissing the reapers as a threat in the previous game. |
| 142 | ** Potentially become this with the krogan in the ''3'', though the krogan are naturally still bitter about the genophage. Primarch Victus hopes that the Reaper War will make them FireForgedFriends; the odds of this happening are better if Wrex is still alive. When the krogan join the human-turian alliance, the three races combined become arguably the biggest thorn in the Reapers' side. |
| 143 | * 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. |
| 144 | ** Some also come to view the Reapers this way, during the Reaper War. Quoth Primarch Victus: |
| 145 | -->'''Adrien Victus:''' ''"The strategist in me admires their brutality. The turian in me knows I'm watching the destruction of fifteen thousand years of civilization. '''My''' civilization."'' |
| 146 | * 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. |
| 147 | * YoungerThanTheyLook: Well, act would be the better word than look. Of the two main turian party members the franchise has had, both Garrus and Vetra act like and have careers of a human in their 30s but are in their mid to late 20s. As a whole it seems like the turian mature earlier than humans. Whether this is a societal or biological trait is still up in the air. |
| 148 | ** Their mandatory military service begins at age 15, which may indicate a commonly-accepted point of maturity among the species, comparable to age 18 for humans. |
| 149 | |
| 150 | [[/folder]] |
| 151 | |
| 152 | [[folder:Asari]] |
| 153 | !! Asari |
| 154 | [[quoteright:229:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Asari-001_8964.png]] |
| 155 | |
| 156 | ->''....if you want a problem [[ProudScholarRace talked to death]], ask an asari....'' |
| 157 | -->--'''Renegade Shepard''' |
| 158 | |
| 159 | '''Homeworld:''' Thessia |
| 160 | |
| 161 | One of the two founding races of Citadel Space alongside the salarians and the most powerful and widespread race in the known galaxy, the asari often take the role of diplomats. They are a long lived (lifespans generally covering a millennium) mono-gendered race but are seen as female by other species. Asari reproduce by linking their nervous system to another sentient being of any race and gender. The linking helps to randomize the asari's DNA while encouraging positive traits from the "father" species to manifest in the offspring (supposedly), which is always another asari. Partnerships of two asari are looked down upon by most of the species now as they believe it restricts genetic diversity (not to mention that asari born from such a relationship have a much higher chance of being Ardat-Yakshi, a very dangerous mutation). Their government is a loose federation of nation-states collectively known as the Asari Republics. All asari have biotic ability but require training to use it effectively. |
| 162 | |
| 163 | Asari is available for multiplayer in 3 and can use the [[SquishyWizard Adept]] and [[MagicKnight Vanguard]] classes. The Resurgence pack adds the [[BarrierWarrior Justicar Adept]] class, and the Retaliation DLC adds [[StealthExpert Huntress Infiltrators]] and Valkyrie Sentinels. |
| 164 | ---- |
| 165 | * AlienBlood: Bluish purple. |
| 166 | * AlienHair: They object to anyone (but themselves) referring to it as "tentacle-hair." |
| 167 | --> '''Liara:''' They're semi-flexible, cartilage-based scalp-crests that grow into shape--and they don't "flop around." |
| 168 | * AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Considered to be the most gifted race, due to their lifespan that easily quadruples everyone but krogan, MindMeld like powers, and extremely advanced technology, which all causes issues with other Council races. The asari deliberately cultivated this reaction among the Citadel races when they were first integrated, and while they are still considered to be extremely gifted in the 2100s, the significant number of asari born from one asari and another alien race has made being a direct asari or being associated with asari traditions something that is looked down upon within their own culture. That, and nearly every species on Thessia were naturally infused with eezo, making them natural biotic experts. [[spoiler: As Javik's comments and TheReveal on Thessia show, they were evolving at the same rate as humans in terms of technology and intelligence, but the intervention of the Protheans bolstered them to an advanced level, and those few who ever knew about it increased it even further by using a Prothean Beacon and keeping it secret from all other races.]] |
| 169 | * AllWomenAreLustful: Most of other races have this impression of asari. Justified to a small degree considering that it's pretty common for those in their maiden years to either become mercenaries or dancers/prostitutes. Their reproduction habits and concepts about sexuality don't help either. This is actually seen by some as something of a problem in their society--Aethyta, in ''2'', comments that asari maidens should be doing productive jobs instead of wasting their youths table-dancing or adventuring as mercs. Joker gets a viciously boneheaded remark on the subject in ''3'' when [[spoiler:Thessia is destroyed by the Reapers]], noting that things might have gone better for them if they had more commandos and fewer strippers. |
| 170 | * AmazonBrigade: Any asari force, by virtue of all its members being female. |
| 171 | * BadassArmy: All asari troops have powerful biotic powers, decades to centuries of training/experience, and, thanks to their powerful economy, access to the best non-experimental gear that money can buy. |
| 172 | ** The asari commandos are widely considered to be some of the most dangerous warriors in the galaxy, as even the "typical" asari commando has spent two or three decades training and hardening themselves for war, with the long-term professionals having quite literally spent centuries learning how to fight. Even the codex notes that getting into a one-on-one fight with one is practically suicide. Their navy is also the third most powerful in the galaxy, behind the turians and geth. There's a turian saying: "The asari are the finest warriors in the galaxy. Fortunately, there are not many of them." |
| 173 | ** On a strategic level, asari territory can usually be quickly conquered... and just as quickly becomes an ungovernable quagmire, as elite biotic insurgents sabotage and assassinate ''everything''. It is worth noting that, even though their standing army on Thessia and other asari worlds are quickly overwhelmed by the Reapers, it is still ''extremely'' difficult to actually subjugate a planet whose ''entire population'' consists of biotics, and the asari's decentralized nature makes it hard to force a surrender unless ''all'' of them agree to submit. |
| 174 | ** The armed forces of an asari settlement also depend on the city-state in question. Those of a small colony or town will be little more than light militia of a few asari with small arms and light armor. The defense forces for a major city on a core world can be large and well-armed, with tanks, artillery, and aircraft. |
| 175 | ** Measuring their ship models reveals that, due to their odd shape, they actually have about twenty times the volume of turian ships of the same type. Their cruisers mass significantly more than human and turian dreadnoughts, though lack the sheer one-shot firepower due to their railguns' power being dependent on length. Despite their size, the codex also notes that asari ships are if anything quicker than those used other species. |
| 176 | * 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 aquatic 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. |
| 177 | * BlackEyesOfEvil: Subverted with most asari: asari eyes turn black when they "meld," an act that merges their nervous system with anothers that is also how asari reproduce. With [[OutWithABang Ardat-Yakshi]], though, it's played straight. |
| 178 | * 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 InUniverse comments about asari promiscuity. |
| 179 | * CantArgueWithElves: Asari have played themselves as this for ''millennia'' and gotten away with it. |
| 180 | * TheChessmaster: Matriarchs, the oldest asari, are said to make plans that are so complicated (often spanning decades or centuries) that most other beings find them incomprehensible. When you have centuries of life left, you don't really mind waiting a decade or two for a plan to pay off. |
| 181 | * CripplingOverspecialization: |
| 182 | ** 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. |
| 183 | ** 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 deadly by pretty much all the other races, 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. |
| 184 | * ConstantlyCurious: Asari have a fascination with learning and understanding, because their longevity means they can patiently wait to figure a difficult topic or subject out. This is also reinforced in their sexuality and mating cultures--one asari on Illium mentions that dating any race besides a krogan is popular because it's less commitment (the asari is guaranteed to outlive them), and Cora mentions in ''Andromeda'' that asari are curious about everything and take a lot of time to "[[ExperimentedInCollege figure things out.]]" According to Peebee, this greatly diminishes once they get to the Matriarch stage. They stop being curious and stop wanting to learn new things because they're so sure they've SeenItAll by that point. Again, this also depends on the individual. Samara is a Matriarch well beyond her wanderlust years, and staunchly rigid in morals, but she has a very open mind, particularly in regards to humanity. |
| 185 | * CrystalSpiresAndTogas: The dominant aesthetic of the asari culture. Even some of their weapons conform to it in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', being smooth, white and elegantly curved. |
| 186 | * DoomedHometown: In the third game, some of their worlds burn. [[spoiler:Specifically, their homeworld, Thessia, to an extent]]. |
| 187 | * EliteMooks: Their entire military is made of up these. While they are [[OneManArmy effective to say the least]], this by consequence makes their military relatively small and unable to wage an effective drawn out war (keep in mind, this is all relative; their actual military is still one of the most powerful in the galaxy), instead relying on the turians for protection. To put it in perspective, you hear two separate accounts of a commando dueling a krogan veteran. In the first case, the battle lasted for ''days'', blew up a space station, and ended in a draw (Wrex vs. an unseen asari, but heavily implied in-game to be Aria.) In the second case, the two of them killed ''each other'' (Matriarch Aethyta's parents, and by extension [[spoiler:Liara's grandparents]].) The turians have a saying, "The asari are the finest warriors in the galaxy. Fortunately, there are not many of them." |
| 188 | * ExoticEquipment: They are renowned for being able to mate (and produce viable offspring) with either gender of any species in existence, due to the unusual nature of their nervous system and reproductive methodology. This does not, however, address the messy issue of where parts... go. However, the fact that asari give birth (Atheyta says she didn't "pop [[spoiler:Liara]] out.") implies that asari have an orifice analogous to a vagina (especially since love scenes between [[spoiler: Liara and, in Andromeda, Peebee]] reveal that asari anatomy is similar to human women to the point that they have nipples). The "Lair of the Shadow Broker" DLC for the second game implies that they have some kind of lower-body erogenous zone colloquially referred to as "azure". ''Andromeda'' makes it clear that they can have and enjoy sex without melding through Peebee's romance arc. |
| 189 | * 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. |
| 190 | * FacialMarkings: Most (but not all) asari have some kinds of marking on their faces, ranging from subtle (Liara) to not-so-subtle (Councillor Tevos). What significance they have, or even if they're natural or artificial, has not been explained. |
| 191 | * FantasticDietRequirement: Thessia has such high concentrations of element zero that traces are found in all living things, and the asari consequently adapted to a diet laced with the substance. Consequently, Thessian eateries make two separate menus, one with eezo and one without, and asari living offworld have to take eezo in dietary supplements. |
| 192 | * 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. |
| 193 | * FantasyCounterpartCulture: Of the ancient Greek city-states, apparently. |
| 194 | * FatalFlaw: ''[[{{Main/Arrogance}} 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: |
| 195 | ** They are ''extremely'' [[{{WeHaveBecomeComplacent}} stagnant]] on a technological-cultural level, and have no real desire to innovate, meaning their technology has [[{{MedievalStasis}} largely been the same for nearly three millennia]]. Matriarch Aethyta mentions how her proposal to build Mass Relays got her laughed off of Thessia. |
| 196 | ** Major wars break out regularly, but their emphasis on philosophy and diplomacy do little-to-nothing to stop/prevent them. It's typically another race that actually solves the problem. |
| 197 | *** 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 and defense. This comes back to bite them when [[spoiler: the Reapers attack Thessia. The turians and 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 and lose their homeworld in a matter of days.]] |
| 198 | ** Most younger asari spend their first three centuries as strippers or mercenaries, rather than serve their society in any meaningful way, which causes further stagnation. |
| 199 | ** The asari arrogance is best exemplified in the third game, [[spoiler: when the Reapers attack their homeworld. It is revealed that they have secretly been hoarding an incredibly valuable Prothean beacon from the rest of Citadel space, an action that is [[{{Hypocrite}} highly illegal in the citadel laws THEY largely created]], all just to maintain an advantage over the rest of the galaxy. They could have used and shared this technology to destroy the Reapers, but instead they squandered it to keep an edge, which very nearly dooms the only chance to save their species and the galaxy from the Reapers]]. |
| 200 | * FighterMageThief: The mage in the asari-turian-salarian Trio. |
| 201 | * FlashStep: Asari multiplayer characters do a short-range version of this instead of [[UnnecessaryCombatRoll rolling]]. |
| 202 | * GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: They look like human women wearing [[RubberForeheadAliens rubber headpieces]] and blue makeup, just "other" enough to be exotic but still attractive to humans. [[BoldlyComing And everyone else.]] |
| 203 | * HeartIsAnAwesomePower: ''The'' singlemost powerful and influential species of their cycle, 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. |
| 204 | * TheHecateSisters: A species-wide example. Their life goes as such: once they mature, they spend two hundred years in a state of perpetual wanderlust and thrill-seeking, tending to be mercenaries, explorers, and strippers; a life phase they call the "Maiden" years. Once they hit three hundred or so, they feel the need to settle down and raise a family; the "Matron" phase. Once they tip over the seven hundred point, they retire to become Matriarchs, using their experience and power to lead and advise (politicians, spiritual leaders, and bartenders) -- though a very few number of them become [[KnightTemplar Justicars]]. One of their religions involves worshiping a goddess who vacillates between the three stages as well. |
| 205 | * HighOnHomicide: This is what makes Ardat-Yakshi so dangerous. When an Ardat-Yakshi melds with someone, she experiences an intense euphoria similar to heavy-duty narcotics. This sensation is extremely addictive, and Ardat-Yakshi who kill leave behind astronomical body counts in their attempts to experience that feeling again. |
| 206 | * HomosexualReproduction: [[OneGenderRace Naturally]]. Their unique reproductive method, which is closest to a strange form of parthenogenesis, only requires the partner to have an advanced nervous system to produce offspring. |
| 207 | * HotSkittyOnWailordAction: There are recorded instances of asari-elcor romances, and at least one case of asari-elcor offspring. |
| 208 | * HumanoidAliens: Of the species encountered in the game, asari are the ones that most resemble humans, with blue skin and cartilaginous structures instead of hair. |
| 209 | * {{Hypocrite}}: |
| 210 | ** They are behind a number of the Council's laws, including one that requires any species who uncovers Prothean technology to turn it over to the Council [[spoiler:while they secretly keep an intact beacon on their homeworld in order to give themselves a technological edge over the rest of the galaxy.]] |
| 211 | ** 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. |
| 212 | * IfItsYouItsOkay: They are the "you" to many people of many species. No matter what your species is, if you're attracted to women, odds are you're attracted to asari. They can even get ''salarians'', who are otherwise asexual, in the mood. |
| 213 | * ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty: Averted. They start to leave childhood at the age of forty, and are legally considered adults at eighty. That's ''forty years of puberty''. According to Liara they still suffer from NotNowKiddo well into their second century. |
| 214 | * ImmortalProcreationClause: The ability to choose when to get pregnant means that the asari population stays fairly stable. Apparently there is also no age restriction on fertility, either, since both of Liara's parents were well into their Matriach phases by the time she was born. |
| 215 | * KnightErrant: How Samara describes Justicar the order, literally. |
| 216 | * KnightTemplar: The Justicar order, who are generally kept away from other species to avoid a diplomatic incident brought on by their very strict code. |
| 217 | * LadyOfWar: Averted. Although the asari are noted for their elegance, asari commandos are as hard-nosed and physical as most other soldiers in the galaxy. Played straight however, with justicars, if Samara is any indication. |
| 218 | --> '''Samara:''' [[PreMortemOneLiner Find peace in the embrace of the goddess.]] |
| 219 | * LongGame: Asari plans and military strategies tend to be as long-term and far-reaching as possible. This greatly contrasts them with their Council peers, who look for short-term and practical solutions. Especially the salarians, who pride themselves on coming up with the most immediate solutions possible. |
| 220 | * LongLived: Asari live to over 1,000 on average. [[https://masseffect.fandom.com/wiki/Cerberus_Daily_News_-_October_2010#10.2F18.2F2010_-_.22Living_History.22_Lecture_Extended One Cerberus Daily News story]] states that there are still a few surviving asari veterans of the Krogan Rebellions, meaning it's possible (though rare) for them to live to be over 1,500 years old. |
| 221 | * MageSpecies: All asari are natural biotics, and as revealed in 3 [[spoiler:this was deliberately engineered by the Protheans, or at least enhanced, since the planet itself was infused with eezo]]. |
| 222 | * MagicKnight: Again, asari commandos. Or anyone serving in the asari military. |
| 223 | * {{Magitek}}: Weapons like the Acolyte are designed to simulate biotic effects like Warp to complement an asari's natural biotics. |
| 224 | * MarsNeedsWomen: Inverted, because most races have an abundant asari fetish. In ''Andromeda'', kett files on the various Milky Way species specifically say that the asari -- in particular, their reproductive methods -- hold the most potential of them all. They are uninterested, however, in the emotional or spiritual aspects of it. |
| 225 | * MasculineLinesFeminineCurves: Asari architecture and technology is usually very sleek and curved. For example, compare the Disciple shotgun to every other weapon of its type. They also tend to be lightweight, which makes sense given that heavy weapons make it harder to use biotics frequently. This becomes [[GameplayandStoryIntegration enshrined in game mechanics]] in the third game, as lightweight weapons allow their wielders faster cooldowns on their powers. |
| 226 | * MayflyDecemberRomance: How asari relationships with any other species that isn't asari or krogan tend to turn out. This is a major factor in the asari worldview; asari know that they will outlive several mates, but rather than getting depressed about it, they accept it and enjoy the time they have with them. Judging by how a turian in ''2'' reacts when his asari partner tries to bring it up, "the lifespan talk" is a known and dreaded event in any asari-(shorter-lived species) relationship. |
| 227 | * MentalFusion: Asari have the ability to connect to the neural signals of any organic species. The ability is so potent that they can read or transfer thoughts. When mating, they combine thoughts and feelings with their partner, entering an extremely intimate inner world. If they want to produce an offspring from the union, they gather genetic information through the merger. Overall, it's a highly-versatile power with both practical and perverse capabilities. |
| 228 | * MindOverMatter: They are the only species with natural biotics. [[spoiler: In actuality, the Protheans altered their entire species to give them all biotics]]. The trope is even an occasional battle-cry in the second game. |
| 229 | * MoreThanMindControl: When discussing asari flirting with him, Mordin admits that he feels attracted to them, and speculates that it can't be pheromones, but "neurochemical" -- in other words, they use subtle mind control to influence even salarians. |
| 230 | * NavelDeepNeckline: 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. |
| 231 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: |
| 232 | ** Hiding the Prothean treasure trove to give themselves an advantage not only weakened the galaxy as a whole, but possibly made them overlook the Reaper warnings said trove may have had. |
| 233 | ** Backing out of the war summit negotiations due to bad blood between the krogan and salarians came back to bite them in the ass when the Reapers attacked Thessia as they had no krogan support to call upon. |
| 234 | * NoClearLeader: Whereas most other species have some kind of centralized government or representative (not counting Citadel Councilors), the asari have an e-democracy where laws are determined through public forum without elected representatives. The closest they have to such individuals are the matriarchs, who generally gather followings who heed their counsel, but even they are more honored advisors who (in theory) have no more say in lawmaking than any other Asari citizen. ''Mass Effect 3'' deconstructs this when the Reapers invade and the Asari find themselves unable to mount a successful defense due to not having a clear command structure. In contrast, the Turians, with their top-down authoritarian government with clear lines of succession, manage to hold the Reapers back for weeks, while Thessia is lost in a matter of hours. |
| 235 | * ObstructiveBureaucrat: Apparently, this is one of their hats, in addition to BoldlyComing. |
| 236 | * OneWomanArmy: Asari commandos are considered to be the deadliest fighters in the galaxy. This is perfectly summed up by the War Assets entry for the Serrice Guard, a unit of asari commandos. After a space battle with a Blood Pack ship, they and the Blood Pack were forced to crash land on a planet. [[CurbStompBattle Over the course of nine days, the Blood Pack suffered over a hundred casualties from traps, ambushes, and night assaults.]] When the Blood Pack gave up and finally surrendered, they found out that they had only been fighting ''five'' asari commandos. They're like the alien equivalents of Franchise/{{Rambo}}. |
| 237 | * OurVampiresAreDifferent: The Ardat-Yakshi. They're asari with a genetic mutation that impairs their ability to MindMeld. In the most extreme cases of the syndrome, this "burns out" their partner's neuro-nervous system, which also allows the Ardat-Yakshi to consume the victim's memories. This is a narcotic experience, and boosts the Ardat-Yakshi's PsychicPowers, so they invariably become addicted to the process. This is why any Ardat-Yakshi is either carefully secluded and monitored or executed for refusing to submit to the former. |
| 238 | * OutWithABang: The Ardat-Yakshi again. |
| 239 | * PhallicWeapon: Inverted with the ''Destiny Ascension''. Instead of looking phallic, it looks more... "feminine". |
| 240 | * PlanetOfHats: BoldlyComing [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Blue Skinned Space Babes]] mixed with SpaceElves. Asari can mate with anything, and it's apparent that both their culture ''and'' biology encourage them to, and because of their longevity, they also tend to be patient and very willing to learn. However, some asari are not promiscuous (either mating for life or not mating at all), some hate politics, and a few are flat out worse {{Blood Knight}}s than the krogan. |
| 241 | * ThePoorlyChosenOne: [[spoiler:The Protheans cultivated early asari civilisation and left them an intact Beacon, having chosen them as the most likely race to defeat the Reapers in the next Cycle. However, they didn't plan on those asari who found the thing keeping it a secret even from their own people, so that they (and the rest of the galaxy, by extension) were left woefully underprepared when the Reapers came.]] |
| 242 | * ProportionalAging: A 40-year-old asari is considered young, with the 106-year-old Liara being the equivalent of her 20s. |
| 243 | * ProudWarriorRace: 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 are 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. |
| 244 | * ReadTheFinePrint: Illium is described as "[[WretchedHive Omega]] with expensive shoes" because of this trope. It's quite possible to become an indentured servant or medical test subject if the signee doesn't watch out. |
| 245 | * RubberForeheadAliens: They look almost exactly like human women, just with fleshy tendrils (they're cartilage-based crests and semi-flexible, according to Liara in the third game) on top of the scalp, skin that is implied to be scaly in texture by the game's graphics, and natural skin-colors being varying shades of blue or purple. The game designers knew early on that they would have to make the asari the most human-like of the alien species so that they would still be attractive to players. This is {{lampshaded}} in ''2'' when a human says asari look like humans, and a turian says they look like turians, leading the human to wonder if asari manipulate your mind to make them seem attractive to whoever looks at them. |
| 246 | * ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: They are responsible for the bulk of the laws that Citadel Space follows, being the race that found and appropriated the Citadel first. As such, these laws have very asari-centric leanings. Nowhere is this made more apparent than when Shepard visits Thessia and discovers that [[spoiler:despite imposing and enforcing laws on other species to reveal and share any working Prothean technology that's discovered, they'd been harboring a working Beacon ''for millennia'', but kept it hidden so that they would retain a technological edge on every other race.]] |
| 247 | * 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. |
| 248 | * ShortRangeShotgun: Averted with their shotgun, the Disciple. It doesn't do as much damage as shorter ranged shotguns like the Claymore, but it's very accurate and light. That doesn't mean that it's weak, however. |
| 249 | * 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]]. |
| 250 | * SoldierVsWarrior: Asari troops compared to turian ones. While individually more powerful and skilled, the asari forces lack strong organization above the level of city-states (so field army sized at best), meaning the turians are able to field larger, better-organized, heavier-equipped armies dependent on more complex infrastructure. |
| 251 | * SpaceElves: In many respects they're similar to the traditional "high elf" fantasy archetype, being an advanced, enlightened culture that focuses on art and learning but is backed up by elite, graceful warriors. |
| 252 | * StrongerWithAge: One of the reasons Matriarchs are so respected. If they get irritated with you, congratulations, you have one of the galaxy's most powerful and patient [[MindOverMatter biotics]] getting medieval on your ass, and she probably has the connections and intelligence to ruin your life a thousand times over. |
| 253 | * SquishyWizard: Asari are no stronger than human women, making them on average physically weaker than even male humans, but their natural biotic powers more than make up for it. |
| 254 | * TheKirk: To the [[TheMcCoy turian McCoy]] and [[TheSpock salarian Spock]]. |
| 255 | * UndyingLoyalty: Asari Commandos have the concept of the Tiamna, a steadfast bodyguard who never abandons her charge, no matter what the situation. |
| 256 | * {{Utopia}}: Just as the turians are a right-wing, militaristic utopia, the asari are a liberal democratic one. They have a direct e-democracy and local councils as government with an EU-style federation representing their interests on the galactic scene (their main governing body is called the Asari ''Republics''), are notably non-militaristic (though are so rich that they can still maintain a powerful military), place great emphasis on art and education, and are multicultural to the extreme, with any species liable to be found on asari worlds, even vorcha. Their decentralized market-based economy is extremely powerful (repeatedly noted to be the galaxy's largest) and asari corporations and guilds have their fingers in every sector of galactic commerce. Their society is the most technological and culturally advanced (not to mention the richest) society in space. |
| 257 | ** Which isn't to say that they're without internal strife. We see plenty of asari criminals throughout the series, including corrupt government officials and businesswomen, and in ''Andromeda'', we're told by Cora, who served four years with an asari commando unit as part of a cross-species military integration program that asari space remains hectic enough that they require peacekeeping units to be active full time, generally dealing with domestic asari threats; "terrorists, cults, rogue Ardat-Yakshi, people demanding a withdrawal from the Citadel..." |
| 258 | * WarriorMonk: The Justicars, with a side-order of KnightErrant. |
| 259 | [[/folder]] |
| 260 | |
| 261 | [[folder:Salarians]] |
| 262 | !!Salarians |
| 263 | [[quoteright:209:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Salarian-001_6518.png]] |
| 264 | |
| 265 | ->''...if you want a [[MadScientist NEW problem]], ask a salarian....'' |
| 266 | -->--'''Renegade Shepard''' |
| 267 | |
| 268 | '''Homeworld:''' Sur'kesh |
| 269 | |
| 270 | The second race to discover the Citadel and one of the two founding members of the Citadel Council. Their metabolism is much faster than those of other species; on the one hand, this means they're the second shortest-lived sentient beings in the galaxy after the vorcha. On the other, they waste a ''lot'' less of their lives sleeping. They also have "reproduction contracts" instead of marriages (which Mordin attributes to an inability to sustain courtship emotions). Similar to the asari, the salarian government is collection of clans, families, fiefdoms and duchies collectively referred to as the "Salarian Union" [[note]]Definitely NOT to be confused with [[Literature/{{HonorHarrington}} the Salarian League]][[/note]]. The Council based the Spectre program off the salarian Special Tasks Group, although the Spectres aren't as well-funded -- you don't see STG operatives buying their own weapons. |
| 271 | |
| 272 | Despite being outnumbered nine-to-one by the males, female salarian "dalatrasses" (clan[=/=]family leaders) wield the most political power on their home-world. |
| 273 | |
| 274 | Salarians are available for multiplayer and can use the [[TheEngineer Engineer]] and [[StealthExpert Infiltrator]] classes. |
| 275 | ---- |
| 276 | * AlienBlood: Green. |
| 277 | * AlienNonInterferenceClause: Averted. The salarians have a nasty habit of trying to groom primitive races as quick fixes for their problems, which they call "uplifting". This leads Mordin and Padok to argue they should have such a rule, but they seem to be in the minority. |
| 278 | -->'''James:''' These lizards like playing God, huh?\ |
| 279 | '''EDI:''' The salarians appear to have learned nothing from the Krogan Rebellions. |
| 280 | * AltarDiplomacy: Salarians, being amphibians, don't have any real sex drive and with that no concept of such things as romantic love (except for the ones that hook up with asari). Reproduction rights are determined by negotiation to continue certain dynasties or alliances, for which family history is very important. A family that loses their history can become a non-entity in such negotiations, as evidenced if Shepard returns one family's history. |
| 281 | * BadassArmy: The salarian military is basically the [[CombatPragmatist pragmatic]] in the galaxy, who use espionage and stealth technology. |
| 282 | ** Salarians prefer to win a war before it starts through stealth, precision strikes at an enemy's vital weak point and consider the notion of notifying the enemy that they will be attacked to be insane. Of particular note is the Salarian [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous Special Task Group]], a special forces organization so badass that they are what inspired the Spectres, as well as provide a good chunk of the original Spectre agents. Their doctrine is actually very similar to humanity's own, albeit larger and more advanced: a relatively small volunteer force that relies on crippling the enemy before the war begins instead of slugging it out; humans cripple the enemy ''during'' the war; salarians would rather ensure the war doesn't happen. |
| 283 | ** One hallmark of salarian strategy is that they approach warfare very asymmetrically, gathering massive amounts of intelligence on an enemy before any conflict begins. They also emphasize crippling their enemy with attacks and techniques that leave it impossible for the enemy to fight, such as using the genophage to shut down the krogan, or employing various large-scale, engineered bioweapons such as gene-modded varren to disrupt enemy population centers and economies. They have no qualms with uplifting another species to fight their battles for them such as the krogan or the yahg. |
| 284 | ** While their fleet is the second smallest on the Council (just above humanity's), they also have the best technology on average - for example, by the third game all of their point-defense lasers use UV instead of infrared wavelengths (giving them six times the effective range), all of their dreadnoughts have stealth drives, and even their scouting craft have Thanix cannons as standard. |
| 285 | * BizarreAlienBiology: They have green blood, blink only with lower eyelids, are a haploid-diploid egg laying species without a sex drive, they only live to be about forty due to a very high metabolism, and they have a skeletal structure that is primarily composed of cartilage. |
| 286 | * ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Though they present a united front to the rest of the galaxy, the various salarian Dalatrasses are engaged in endless political maneuverings and backstabbings to gain power and maintain alliances on their homeworlds. This is particularly notable with how they treated the League of One, their most elite intelligence operatives. In order to curry favor with the asari, they released the League's personnel files, which exposed all of the members and led to them being hunted down by their enemies. |
| 287 | * CombatPragmatist: They consider declarations of war to be superfluous and stupid. When they attack, it is without warning and after as much time as feasible gathering intelligence and undermining the enemy. |
| 288 | ** They also consider very few measures to be out-of-bounds. One of their research facilities in the third game shows that they were researching altering varren ([[DeathWorld Tuchanka]] wolves) to be ''even more'' powerful, violent, and fast-breeding so they could be dropped onto enemy planets to completely wreck the ecosystem and attack civilian populations. A throwaway note on one planet suggests they're observing certain areas in the Terminus Systems, and any individuals who have the idea of uniting the warring pirates and slaving bands always die mysterious and untimely deaths. |
| 289 | ** Their reliance on their intelligence networks turned out to be a devastating weakness when the Reapers attacked, as the salarians' entire doctrine lay in destroying the enemy before conflict even began. Since they didn't virtually own the Reapers' communications network nor could prepare for or target their weaknesses prior to the unexpected attack, the salarian military was left at a severe disadvantage. |
| 290 | ** Basically, they are all about ''avoiding'' having to actually fight the enemy unless necessary, though they are capable fighters when it comes down to it thanks to their huge military, advanced technology, and super power status. |
| 291 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: The salarians are very short-lived, and therefore never think of long-term ramifications. They need the problem solved '''''now''''', and as the race quote notes, they end up just creating larger problems. |
| 292 | * 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. |
| 293 | * EverythingIsAnIpodInTheFuture: Salarian weapons are typically small, sleek, and aerodynamic. While not quite as [[MasculineLinesFeminineCurves light or curved]] as asari weapons, they aren't far off from looking like something Apple, Inc. would release today. |
| 294 | * ExplosiveBreeder: It goes unremarked, but, as the [[AllThereInTheManual in-game codex]] notes, they are "haplo-diploid oviparous amphibians". In other words, female salarians lay dozens of eggs automatically once a year, and they don't need sex to make them hatch; sex merely determines whether or not the eggs will hatch into more females, who will lay more eggs. Salarian worlds are invariably densely populated as a result -- theoretically, salarians can actually ''outbreed the krogan''. This may explain why the salarian homeworld has much more people than the turian or asari ones, even though the salarians have managed to spread out their population into the colonies; there's just that many of them. |
| 295 | * FantasyCounterpartCulture: Salarians overall can be compared to modern-day China, as the Union is an industrial powerhouse with a humongous population, an accent on a large number of males, focus on gaining as much profit as possible, and the ability to wear many hats at once, such as being traders, intelligence gatherers and soldiers. |
| 296 | * 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, Dalatrass 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. |
| 297 | * FeudalFuture: The Salarian government is divided into fiefdoms run by matrilineal dynasties in a manner similar to medieval Europe. |
| 298 | * FighterMageThief: The thief in the asari-turian-salarian trio. |
| 299 | * {{Foil}}: To the krogan. One's a race of extremely durable, extremely long-lived, {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s who believe ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer. The other is species of short-lived, squishy[[note]]Not just in the sense of having fewer HitPoints; salarian skeletons have a much higher cartilage-to-bone ratio than most other species[[/note]] scientists who rely on subterfuge, intelligence (both in the military and the cerebral sense) and the best spies in the galaxy. While none of these differences justify the FantasticRacism that both species throw at each other, it's easy to see why the animosity would start. |
| 300 | * ForScience: Practically the salarians [[PlanetOfHats hat]], though it's heavily lampshaded that this ''often'' [[IdiotBall doesn't turn out so well]]. |
| 301 | * GenderRarityValue: Females are rare, influential, and extremely well-protected. You will never see a salarian female in a combat role unless things are ''very'' dire. |
| 302 | * GrenadeLauncher: They are particularly well-known for the Scorpion Heavy Pistol, and the Venom Shotgun; both of which have to be treated as such. |
| 303 | * TheGreys: They share a lot of similarities with this trope, aside from the actual skin color (which can range in varying shades of browns, reds, greens, and yellows); salarians are an alien species that are extremely intelligent and scientifically advanced, they are physically frail and have short life spans, they have large almond shaped eyes with indistinct pupils that make them appear like solid black orbs, and they have a nasty habit of fiddling around with less advanced species for scientific experimentation or to fight their wars for them. The biggest divergence is that they are very much a known quantity in galactic society and lack the inscrutability of true Greys. |
| 304 | * HeliumSpeech: The salarians speak with funny, squeaky voices, sounding very much like this trope. |
| 305 | * HistoryRepeats: Mordin notes to Shepard that the biggest mistake the salarians 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. |
| 306 | * InformedAttribute: They're stated to be amphibious and capable of breathing in water, but we never actually see this happen. |
| 307 | * MenAreTheExpendableGender: Justified, since males vastly outnumber females, and due to GenderRarityValue and simple statistics male salarians are far more likely to be casualties in combat. |
| 308 | * 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 krogans?'' Salarians are also just as much of an {{Explosive Breeder}}s as the krogans were before being infected with the genophage. However they aren't nearly as hard to kill as the krogans and have much shorter lifespans. |
| 309 | * MotorMouth: A few of them. At the very least they talk faster than most other species. |
| 310 | * OnceDoneNeverForgotten: Uplifting the krogan. According to Urdnot Eve in a conversation with Padok Wiks, she's never gotten through a conversation with any salarian without them bringing it up, either lamenting it or patting themselves on the back for it. |
| 311 | * OnSecondThought: The Citadel archives show that the salarians decided they didn't want the genophage deployed, and argued against it, as did most of the turians. However, a GeneralRipper turian basically bullied the salarians and turians and pressed the BigRedButton himself. |
| 312 | * OverlyLongName: Salarians always introduce themselves shorthand. A salarian's full name is, in order, is their homeworld, nation, city, district, clan name and given name. For example, Administrator Bel Anoleis' full name is Rannadril Ghan Swa Fulsoom Karaten Narr Eadi Bel Anoleis. |
| 313 | * PhotographicMemory: As well as bolstering their skill as spies, it helps them keep track of their enormous extended families. In salarian terms, a "genius" is one whose memory is so sharp that they can recall trivial information on the spot as if it's still happening. The salarian pilot Kallo Jath is renown to have a particularly sharp memory even among salarians. |
| 314 | * PlanetOfHats: Salarians aren't very durable or long-lived, but they are expert at covert operations and intelligence gathering. They also tend to be [[PragmaticHero strictly pragmatic]] and amoral. But Mordin and Maelon alone are perfect examples of how widely this can change and vary. |
| 315 | * ProportionalAging: Opposite the [[LongLived asari]], salarians' short lifespans mean they also have very short childhoods. It is considered completely normal for a salarian to be a tenured professor in high-level academia at the age of sixteen. |
| 316 | * ShortLivedOrganism: They have by far the shortest lifespan of the Council races, maxing out around forty years. (For comparison, given the advancements in the setting, humans regularly live past 100.) To offset this, salarians only need to sleep about one hour per night, allowing them to get more accomplished in their shorter overall lifespan. |
| 317 | * SneakySpySpecies: Although 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.]] |
| 318 | * TheSpock: To the [[TheMcCoy turian McCoy]] and [[TheKirk asari Kirk.]] |
| 319 | * StealthInSpace: All salarian ships are equipped with the same stealth technology as the ''Normandy'', even their dreadnoughts. |
| 320 | * StickyBomb: They manufacture a pistol for their special forces called the Scorpion that shoots blue sticky grenades. Salarian Infiltrators in multiplayer are also fond of them. |
| 321 | * StuffBlowingUp: Salarian weapons are fond of this trope. For example, the Venom shotgun and Scorpion pistol both fire explosive projectiles instead of bullets or slugs. |
| 322 | * ThatsWhatIWouldDo: Ultimately the salarians' FatalFlaw in their handling of the genophage. Before they achieved interstellar travel, salarians' rapid breeding led to a critical OverpopulationCrisis on Sur'Kesh, with all the environmental damage that comes with it. The salarians adapted to this crisis remarkably quickly, leading to their current system of allowing only ten percent of eggs to be fertilized. The salarians expected the krogan to adapt similarly quickly to the genophage, not accounting for differences in psychology and evolutionary history. |
| 323 | * TrulySingleParent: Sex determination in salarians is determined by whether or not an egg is fertilized. Unfertilized eggs hatch into males, so any female salarian with sons is a truly single parent by definition. |
| 324 | * UnderestimatingBadassery: |
| 325 | ** Other species tend to do this. As Mordin points out, while the salarians aren't physically imposing as the other races, their sheer aptitude for stealth and subterfuge, combined with their reputation as "easily dismissable", means that ''no-one'' ever sees them coming. |
| 326 | ---> '''Mordin:''' Advantage of being salarian. Turians, krogan, vorcha, all obvious threats. ([[VerbalTic sharp inhale]]) Never see me coming. |
| 327 | ** It is also worth pointing out that the salarians were the ones who began the Citadel's Spectre program and formed its first operatives, with the structure of the Spectres being based on a looser pattern of the salarian STG. Those who underestimate the salarians clearly have no knowledge of Citadel history. |
| 328 | ** Indeed, the Citadel Archives reveal that the first Spectre was a salarian STG operative, [[RecruitingTheCriminal recruited from prison]], due to using 30 civilians as live bait in order to flush out the assassin he was chasing. |
| 329 | ** Javik is [[DidntSeeThatComing highly surprised]] to learn that they evolved ''at all'', let alone became one of the dominant species in the current Cycle. |
| 330 | ** The salarians also discovered the Citadel only a few decades after the asari, [[spoiler:and unlike the asari, the salarians didn't have the advantage of the Protheans intervening to speed up their evolution]]. |
| 331 | * {{Utopia}}: They are the libertarian utopia to the asari left and the turian right, with their Hats being intelligence, technology, and commerce. The Salarian Union, in many ways, resembles a kind of enlightened feudalism; structurally, the government consists of fiefdoms, baronies, duchies, planets, and marches (colonization clusters), only really working together through complex matrilineal dynastic bloodlines, with political alliances formed through interbreeding. Each house is ruled by a single Dalatrass (matriarchal head-of-household who also act as political kingpins) which represent an increasing amount of territory and prestige within the salarian political web. Though male salarians rise to positions of great authority in business, academia, or the military, they rarely have any input on politics (with rare exceptions). The dalatrasses determine the political course of their respective regions through shrewd negotiation. The fiefdoms are 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. |
| 332 | * WeakButSkilled: Salarians are hardly the strongest or toughest species out there. However, thanks to their accelerated metabolism, they can be quite quick in combat, described as "like a cat" by David Anderson who witnessed a salarian Spectre in a BarBrawl. They extend this to strategic doctrine in warfare as well; the salarians will hit their enemy hard in the places they are most vulnerable before an opponent has an opportunity to respond because they have spent that much time and effort [[AwesomenessByAnalysis analyzing them first]]. |
| 333 | * WeAreAsMayflies: With a lifespan of around 40 years, they are shortest-lived of the powerful species behind the vorcha, who rarely last beyond 20 years. |
| 334 | * TheWorfEffect: The STG is said (and in the first game, shown) to be a BadassArmy with some of the best technology and training in the galaxy, comparable to the Spectres (except they ''don't'' have to buy their own gear). However, by the time of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Cerberus manages to sneak onto Sur'Kesh undetected and surprise and stomp out an entire base of STG guards with only moderate casualties, with only Shepard being able to help repel them. Campbell even says that, due to Cerberus' technology, the salarians may as well have been throwing rocks. |
| 335 | * WorfHadTheFlu: However, this is due to the salarian preference to end a war before their enemy even knows that it has begun. They were completely blindsided by the Reapers, meaning most of their traditional tactics didn't apply and they didn't expect Cerberus to suddenly get a major technological advantage [[spoiler: due to being augmented by salvaged Reaper tech from the Collector Base]]. |
| 336 | * YouCanAlwaysTellALiar: According to Mordin, salarian body language has distinct cues for hiding something to protect yourself (which inspires curiosity in others) or for more complicated reasons (which inspires discretion). He compares cheating this system to humans faking a yawn; it's almost impossible to pull off convincingly. |
| 337 | |
| 338 | [[/folder]] |
| 339 | |
| 340 | [[folder:Humans]] |
| 341 | !! Humans |
| 342 | [[quoteright:219:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Human-001_6644.png]] |
| 343 | |
| 344 | ->''"... But if you want a problem ''[[HumansAreSpecial fixed]]'', ask a human."'' |
| 345 | -->-- '''Renegade Shepard''' |
| 346 | |
| 347 | '''Homeworld:''' Earth |
| 348 | |
| 349 | The most recent species to enter the galactic scene. Humans are a bipedal race originated from Earth. They are the most culturally and genetically diverse of all of the species in the series. On Earth itself, humanity is still very much divided, with major powers including the [[ExpandedStatesOfAmerica United North American States]], [[UsefulNotes/ToGetRichIsGlorious The People's Federation of China]], and the [[UnitedEurope European Union]], but they all agree to project themselves as one faction to the galaxy through the Systems Alliance. They have advanced in galactic politics more quickly than other races, leading to a belief that humans are all impatient bullies. This advancement coupled with humanity's penchant for devising innovative ideas has led to humanity being considered to be something of a WildCard; they are going to change the galaxy, but no one is certain how so. |
| 350 | |
| 351 | Humans are one of the races available for multiplayer, and are the only one with access to all the classes and a customizable gender. The Rebellion Pack DLC adds the Ex-Cerberus Vanguard and Adept, and the Earth Pack adds N7 special forces characters for all of the classes, each with unique movesets and abilities. Additionally, the Reckoning Pack adds the [[TheStraightAndArrowPath Talon]] [[HiredGuns Mercenary]] [[TrickArrow Engineer]]. |
| 352 | ---- |
| 353 | |
| 354 | * AllTakeAndNoGive: The way humanity is seen by the other races, with humans demanding they be given equal, if not preferential, power and treatment to the other races, despite having done nothing earn it. |
| 355 | * AmbitionIsEvil: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]. Humanity's hat is hyper-ambition. A lot of the aliens you meet don't seem to appreciate the fact that they've been grabbing all the power on the galactic stage in the last forty years, when most other races take ''centuries'' to do so. |
| 356 | * ArchEnemy: With the batarians. The Hegemony and the Alliance have been engaged in a proxy war for years in the Skyllian Verge, with Alliance Marines facing off against batarian paramilitaries (like Balak's group), with various warlords and pirate bands being backed by both sides to fight the other. The batarian pirates who attacked Mindoir are an example of a Hegemony-backed band, whereas Lord Darius's gang is an example of an Alliance-backed band. ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' also reveals that the Hegemony is just itching for an excuse to start a war with humanity. As of the third game, this would have probably already happened after the destruction of one of their mass relays and the resultant death of over 300,000 batarians, if they weren't unfortunate enough to end up as the Reapers' first victims. |
| 357 | * 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. |
| 358 | ** Humanity was also doing this in ignorance during the First Contact War. They fought the turian forces deployed to Shanxi to a standstill and were gaining ground. However, the turian military was orders of magnitude bigger than humanity's (not that humans knew that at the time), which had a mere 200 modern space warships at the time, and were preparing to route considerable reinforcements to the Shanxi theater when the Citadel Council intervened and prevented the war from escalating. A recording of two turian soldiers interrogating a human POW from the Citadel Archives even suggests that they may have been considering mounting an invasion of Earth before the ceasefire was called. |
| 359 | * BadassArmy: The Alliance military is very small, both on the ground and in space, compared to the other Council races, but an emphasis on maneuver warfare, flexibility, and innovative tactics and technology enables them to match larger and more established militaries, like the Batarian Hegemony. Codex data from across the franchise implies that the N7 Special Operations Program was hardcore enough that virtually every other Citadel race respected the graduates as bonafide badasses. |
| 360 | * 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''. |
| 361 | * BizarreBabyBoom: Biotic abilities in humans only began to manifest after several starship "accidents" in the 2150s accidentally exposed pregnant women to Element Zero ''in-utero''. As such, most of the first generation of human biotics are only around 30 years old. |
| 362 | * CombatPragmatist: The war doctrine of the Alliance is to quickly cut behind the enemy and destroy key installations, supply lines, and command centers. They're very big on offense; colonies only get token garrisons for immediate defense, but anyone who attacks will have the full force of the Alliance navy coming down right on their heads soon after. Likewise, their defense strategy boils down to having their Fleets positioned at key nexus points in the Relay Network, so should one of their colonies get attacked, TheCavalry will never be more than a jump or two away. |
| 363 | * {{Determinator}}: Lampshaded by the various races, that despite overwhelming odds, humans never give up. Turians are excessively disciplined and krogan are outright stubborn, but humans have an uncanny ability to pull off the impossible. |
| 364 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: The trilogy ends with a rebuilt Earth as the center of Council Space, with the Citadel anchored by the Conduit in London.]] |
| 365 | * 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. |
| 366 | -->'''Pallin:''' If the Council wants to make humanity their favorite pet that's their business. But that doesn't mean I have to like it.\ |
| 367 | '''Shepard:''' The Council treats us like second class citizens. We have to fight for everything we get.\ |
| 368 | '''Pallin:''' Good. Then fight for it, but don't expect the rest of us to just sit back and let you take it. |
| 369 | * ExpandedStatesOfAmerica: The United States has been expanded and renamed the United North American States. It now also encompasses Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean islands. |
| 370 | * FantasticRankSystem: The ranking system of the Systems Alliance differs slightly from any modern one. While the Marines are no longer independent of the Navy, they like to keep some of their own ranks out of tradition. [[http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Codex/Humanity_and_the_Systems_Alliance#Systems_Alliance:_Military_Ranks A complete list of the rank structure is present in the Codex.]] |
| 371 | * FatalFlaw: If the turians' is rigidity, the asari's arrogance, and the salarians' shortsightedness, then humanity's fatal flaw is hubris. |
| 372 | ** Humans have a tendency to bat way above their league, often parading around like their major players in galactic affairs, when they're barely even a middle power on the galactic stage. During a meeting with the Council, Ambassador Goyle boasted that if the Council followed through on its threats to inflict devastating sanctions on humanity, then the Alliance would gear all its resources towards total war... only for the Council to call her bluff, and point out how empty that threat was, forcing Goyle to use a more diplomatic compromise. |
| 373 | ** This hubris also leads humans to [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow mess with things they really shouldn't]], to include Reaper tech, which inevitably leads to indoctrination. This is particularly on display with Cerberus, who use salvaged Collector and Reaper materiel to enhance their own soldiers, and use them in operations against not just aliens, but the Alliance too, which only serves to aid the Reapers in the long run. |
| 374 | ** Unlike the other races, who acknowledge that they're part of a large galaxy that requires compromise with each other, humans, especially earlier in the franchise, [[ItsAllAboutMe often act only for themselves]], making demands of the Council that favor them specifically, and [[EntitledBastard then getting angry when they feel they aren't getting their due]], even if they've done nothing to earn it. They also have a tendency to act like they can and should go it alone, resisting cooperation with other races, and rejecting compromise; Paragon Shepard can call people on this, saying that humanity needs to be willing to work with other races, not try and lord over them. It's implied that part of the reason for this is because humans are still so new to the galactic community, that they haven't been around long enough to see themselves as really part of it (not helped by their first interaction with said community being a violent one). By the time of the third game, [[CharacterDevelopment they've broadly gotten past this]], acknowledging that the Reapers are too big of a threat to think only of themselves, and need to work with other races to defeat them. |
| 375 | * TheFederation: Back on Earth, there's the United North American States and [[UnitedEurope the European Union.]] There's also the Chinese People's Federation, but it's not clear if they really are a federation or just a PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny. These three super-nations comprise the three major Earth-based powers in the Systems Alliance. |
| 376 | * FighterMageThief: While the other three races specialize in one of these categories as an entire species, humans provide superlative individuals in all three categories. Zaeed is by far the best mercenary in the Terminus, so he is the superior Fighter. Jack is by far the most powerful biotic living, making her the superlative Mage. Kasumi is quite literally the best Thief in the galaxy, whose hacking and infiltration abilities earn her the respect of even a salarian Spectre. |
| 377 | * GunboatDiplomacy: Unlike other races who are content to let the asari handle diplomacy, humans are not afraid to flex some muscle themselves with their navy. If the council is sacrificed, they use dreadnoughts to scare other colonies into compliance with their interests, causing the asari to [[LampshadeHanging use this exact phrase while criticizing the action]]. |
| 378 | * HumanityIsInfectious: While there are naturally some exceptions, for the most part, humanity has easily adapted to the galactic scene, showing great enthusiasm and expressing a desire for a deeper role in galactic politics and in protecting it from threats. |
| 379 | * 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'' (though in fairness, those given races are also committed to their own fronts). |
| 380 | * HumansAdvanceSwiftly: Humanity had access to mass effect technology for only seven years and only a few colonies before making disastrous first contact with the Turian Heirarchy. Despite this early misstep, they continued on to become a major political force in the galaxy and subsequently gained a seat on the Council, only ''26 years'' from initial first contact. To put the extent of this achievement into perspective, it often takes ''centuries'' for most races to even reach a lesser status. |
| 381 | * HumansAreAverage: |
| 382 | ** Physically, humans are the middle ground in almost every way compared to other species, which has proven to be an advantage of sorts. Thane's dossier reveals humans are generally easier to assassinate than asari or turians, and Grunt counts them as less hardy than quarians, which may or may not be because of the quarians' environment suits. In fact, in multiplayer, humans are the only species that can play ''any'' class. |
| 383 | ** Mordin reveals in the second game that humans have the most genetic variability in the galaxy, meaning it's nearly ''impossible'' to predict where they can fall on the the biological bell-curve, compared to those of other species. If it weren't highly unethical, this would make them wonderfully valuable as a test group for medical experiments. |
| 384 | ---> '''Mordin:''' Biotic abilties, intelligence levels. Can look at random asari, krogan, make reasonable guess. Humans too variable to judge. Outliers in all species, of course. Geniuses, idiots. But human probability curve offers greater variability. |
| 385 | ** This also flummoxes the kett. While they identify desirable traits in other species (discipline from turians, salarian cleverness, krogan aggression, asari biotics), they find humans to possess no obvious genetic advantages. Yet their sheer determination in the face of this perplexes the kett. |
| 386 | * HumansAreLeaders: Played with. Many of the Alliance's authority figures have a pretty substantial impact on the galaxy, for better or for worse. |
| 387 | ** [[AssInAmbassador Ambassador Udina]] is bombastic and forceful, but he's also such a massive asshole that his supposed position as the ambassador of all humanity comes off as more of a joke. One gets the impression that the Council would have been much, much more willing to give him what he was asking for if he'd had even a shred of political tact. |
| 388 | ** The [[KnightTemplar Illusive Man]] is a genuinely skilled, incredibly cunning leader, and a natural politician. He's able to pose a serious problem to the Shadow Broker despite having had a fraction of the time to set up his intelligence network. However, his lack of respect for the Citadel's political system and his intense xenophobia both prevent him from becoming the great statesman he could have otherwise been, relegating him to the leader of a NGOSuperPower, [[spoiler:and later to a mere puppet of the Reapers]]. |
| 389 | ** [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Fleet Admiral Steven Hackett and Admiral David Anderson]] are positive examples. Hackett's actions in the third game do a lot to solidify this trope in the eyes of other Council races. Where other militaries only fight a local war against the Reapers in their planets and their systems alone, Hackett comes up with a truly galactic strategy and coordinates anti-Reaper operations in all theatres. He is the first and only one to figure out that conventional victory is impossible and adapts an effective sea denial strategy until the Crucible is ready. The only other strategic decision of value - drawing in the krogan - was made in support of the humans' overall strategy. Anderson is not nearly as much of a strategist as Hackett, but he is still a forceful and capable leader of men. Both of them are skilled and tactful military officers who get several opportunities to improve their individual mettle. |
| 390 | ** The ending makes this very apparent: [[spoiler: the permanent moorage of the Citadel is to the Conduit in London, strongly implying that Earth becomes the center of the rebuilt galactic community.]] |
| 391 | ** Humans were also the ones who conceptualized, planned and for the most part carried out the Andromeda colonization initiative. Jien Garson was the visionary, Alec Ryder wrote the book on being a Pathfinder, and most of your outposts there have human mayors. Even Kadara Port is under the stewardship of a human. |
| 392 | * HumansAreSpecial: Played straight early on, [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] later. In the context of the series, humanity did gain political power rather quick, but that's mostly due to [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]] being Shepard. Unfortunately, this trope leads the reapers to earmark humanity as the cycle's "dominant" species, which will be harvested to build a new capital-class reaper ship (all the rest will be mere destroyer-class reapers). This decision may have been influenced by [[WorthyOpponent Shepard destroying Sovereign]] in the first game. |
| 393 | * 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'. |
| 394 | * JackOfAllStats: According to various comments from other races. They are also the only species able to use every class in the ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' multiplayer. |
| 395 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: 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. |
| 396 | * TheLeader: Eventually take this role in the war against the Reapers over the other races. While the asari are the unspoken leaders of the galaxy, Javik points out that their lackadaisical approach to interstellar matters, combined with Shepard's aggressive efforts to prevent galactic extinction, has forced humanity to be at the center of the conflict in a make-or-break effort to defeat the Reapers once and for all. Despite this, it never crosses over into HumansAreSpecial territory [[SubvertedTrope completely]], instead showing humanity's strong independence in turn inspires and drives the other races to band together against a universal threat at long last, with each race bringing something equally important to the table that can either succeed or fail in truly saving the galaxy depending on how many war assets you acquire. [[spoiler:Each ending also leaves the Citadel moored over Earth, which implies that the efforts humans have taken to unite the galaxy have proven them at the forefront of them all, completing the trilogy's underlying story arc of humanity earning their place in the galaxy.]] |
| 397 | * MechaMooks: The codex says that the Alliance makes heavy use of drones to compensate for their lack of numbers compared to other species, ranging from flying tripod machine gun turrets to eight foot tall [[MiniMecha YMIR Mechs]] with a machine gun and rocket launcher combo to the anti-tank rocket drones to VI-piloted deep space fighters. In the various Alliance bases gone wrong that Shepard has to come to clean up, there are ''always'' huge amounts of mechs and drones there to defend it. [[AIIsACrapshoot In some cases, the mechs and drones are what killed everyone in the base.]] |
| 398 | * NoTranshumanismAllowed: |
| 399 | ** In response to the discovery of the Citadel species, many human countries passed strict laws on genetic engineering to preserve the uniqueness of the human genome. Augmenting existing human abilities is fair game, but adding new capabilities, like digesting cellulose or growing wings, is banned in most countries. {{Uplifted Animal}}s occupy legal grey areas, and cybernetic modifications - at least, less obtrusive ones - are completely acceptable. Deliberately inducing biotic ability in people where there was none usually involves criminal acts, but people who were born biotic due to incidental in-utero exposure are not sanctioned by any laws. The Systems Alliance Navy actually is a major employer of biotics, as they are often social outcasts in civilian society and the Navy can always use people who can crush things with their minds. |
| 400 | ** Alec Ryder takes this further and enhances a human (his kid) with an AI which can alter internal biological processes to give that human enhanced abilities, including even biotics. |
| 401 | * PlanetOfHats: DefiedTrope, and a ''huge'' BerserkButton for human politicians, military leaders, and colonists alike. What makes humans special is that they ''refuse'' to be marginalized or held back in any way, and that scares the other Citadel races and makes them question the hats they've been wearing for centuries or even millennia. But this, of course, means that humanity's "pseudo-hats" are ambition, defiance, and individuality, along with all of its [[JackOfAllStats strengths]] and [[ItsAllAboutMe flaws]]. |
| 402 | * SmallNameBigEgo: |
| 403 | ** As mentioned above, humanity's biggest flaw, especially at the start of the series, is hubris. They throw their weight around, make brazen demands, and believe they're entitled to respect and authority, despite being weaker than the ''[[http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Elcor#Economy elcor]]'' in practical economic terms. Lead codex writer [[https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/91957/mass-effect-cosmos-the-terminal-boondocks/p34 Chris L'Etoile]][[note]]His username is "Stormwaltz"[[/note]] sums it up: |
| 404 | --->'''Chris:''' The power vacuum at the end of ''Mass Effect 1'' is purely at the Citadel. The Council defense fleet there gets pasted, but the overall turian, salarian, and asari fleets outnumber the humans 10:1. Despite rah-rah-Earth-First rhetoric from Udina, it's utterly impossible for the Alliance to militarily best the Council on anything more than a local and temporary scale. All they have to do is gather their fleets and steamroll us. Also, we have a dozen colonies, none with a population larger than a modern city (Terra Nova, the largest at 4.4 million, is about equal to Riyadh). The Council races each have hundreds of colonies, many old enough to have populations in the billions. We can't out-produce or out-populate them, either. |
| 405 | ** An excellent example of this bias plays out during ''Mass Effect: Revelation''. It's stated that mere sanctions from the Citadel could ''cripple'' humanity, and the Council was willing to pass such sanctions on a whim for the relatively minor offense of the Alliance conducting AI research on Sidon. Ambassador Goyle [[EurekaMoment gets it into her head]] that HumansAdvanceSwiftly and the Council is trying to stymie their growth, so she attempts to get them to back down by implicitly threatening war. The Council scoffs and points out that the Alliance would badly lose such a conflict, but Goyle uses the issue of diplomatic breakdown as leverage, arguing that a prosperous, integrated humanity is better for everyone than creating another ostracized rogue state like the Batarian Hedgemony. With that in mind, the Council agrees to haggle down the sanctions to something more reasonable. Only when the meeting is ending does Goyle notice that it had all been a bit too easy, leading her to realize that the softer sanctions were what the Council had intended all along. [[FlawExploitation The economy-destroying sanctions were put up specifically to get Goyle to rail against the injustice of it all and demand a better deal, scoring a political "win" for the Alliance that ultimately involves submitting to the will of the Council.]] |
| 406 | * StandardHumanSpaceship: While in effect, at first glance something about the jagged flatness of human ships seems alien to our history of spaceflight. Seeing how turian ships share these traits despite their use of SpacePlane like designs while human ones keep the tradition of linear ships going, it's clear humanity took a lot of cues from their first contact species. The Normandy, a much newer ship and ironically a turian co-op design, seems to flex a more recognizably human style with its superfluous aerodynamic curves and more cylindrical fuselage making it look quite like a passenger jet. |
| 407 | * SuperSoldier: |
| 408 | ** The N7 classes. Not exceptionally skilled normal soldiers that become N7s, like Shepard or the base multiplayer characters, but the specialized ultra-elite units that are only playable in multiplayer. They include a biotic ninja who can explode things ''incredibly'' rapidly and teleport, an invisible cyborg with a monomolecular blade that can shoot lasers, a human tank equipped with very heavy PowerArmor which includes a shoulder mounted missile launcher, a wrist mounted grenade launcher, and enhancements for whatever weapon he happens to be holding, and more. |
| 409 | ** A SAM enhanced Pathfinder is even more so. The SAM enhancements consists of “profiles” that buff abilities on demand, allowing a Pathfinder to fight as any of the six classes at any time. |
| 410 | * SuperiorSuccessor: End up this to the Protheans, to everybody's surprise. [[spoiler:Especially considering the Protheans had elected the asari to lead the next cycle against the Reapers. Instead, asari leadership squander the gift of the Prothean beacon they were given and hoard secrets, leaving the galaxy woefully unprepared for the Reaper invasion and requiring humans to pick up the slack. Given your war assets are high enough, the Citadel will be moored permanently over Earth to emphasize their new role as the galaxy's leaders in all endings save Refusal.]] |
| 411 | * TankGoodness: The Mako is called a tank by marines, despite technically being an Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Perhaps treads didn't cut mustard in the future but saying tank held more traction than IFV. Naming aside, it is a fine piece of work; a powerful cannon, a coaxial machine gun, great speed, powerful shields that recharge, room for an equipped fireteam, can be dropped from hundreds of meters in the air on to a planet, has effectively unlimited ammo (though all weapons in this franchise share that trait), and [[GoodBadBugs a total disdain of the laws of physics]]. |
| 412 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: With the turians. The war between the humans and turians are still fresh in both races' minds so it makes collaboration filled with tension. By ''3'', it's strongly hinted that humans and turians are similar and on the way to becoming BashBrothers. |
| 413 | * ThemeNaming: Alliance Navy ships have name themes according to ship size: Frigates are named after historical battles (most notably the heroes' ship SSV ''Normandy''), cruisers are named after cities, dreadnoughts are named after mountains, and carriers are named after renowned historical persons. |
| 414 | * 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, oppressive 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. |
| 415 | * TheUnchosenOne: To the Protheans. They evaluated all of the "primitive" species in their cycle and determined that the [[spoiler: asari]] were the next cycle's best hope to stop the Reapers. Cue Javik's surprise when awakens to find that the Reapers are most interested in humanity -- in that a human, Shepard, is the galaxy's best chance of stopping them. Even then, it's implied that humanity wasn't the reapers' original choice for ascension. In fact, humanity wasn't even originally supposed to be part of the current cycle. Had it not been for the Protheans' tampering with the keeper signal, the Reapers would have invaded centuries before humanity achieved interstellar flight, meaning humanity would have been the first race of the ''next'' cycle. |
| 416 | * UndyingLoyalty: Should Shepard cure the genophage with Wrex as leader, the krogan will consider humanity their ally for the rest of time for saving them from extinction. |
| 417 | * UnitedEurope: It's mentioned that Europe is also politically active, apparently having become one Nation-State, although the United Kingdom is also mentioned, leaving it ambiguous whether it's a constituent member or a [[UsefulNotes/WithEuropeButNotOfIt separate entity]]. |
| 418 | * UnreliableExpositor: The codex the player reads is a in-universe primer for Systems Alliance personnel. While it's generally reliable on tech details and such, it falls headfirst into CulturalPosturing whenever discussing humanity's [[SmallNameBigEgo importance]] compared to the other species. Ironically, ''Mass Effect 3'' does bear out many of the assertions it makes - [[RightForTheWrongReasons just for VERY different reasons than the original authors could have envisioned]]. |
| 419 | * VictoryByEndurance: Human military strategy in a nutshell. Attack an enemy's resources and supply lines rather than their fleets directly, watch them "wither on the vine" and then when the time is right, curbstomp them. |
| 420 | * 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]]. |
| 421 | * WeAreAsMayflies: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzagged]]. Humans in this setting are lucky to break one century, but can reasonably live for as long as a hundred and fifty years. The trope is played straight in comparison to asari and krogan, who both live to be over 1,000 years, or synthetic races like geth, Collectors, and Reapers, who are biologically immortal. It's averted with other species, who have similar lifespans, and ''inverted'' with the salarians, whose fast metabolisms mean they can optimistically expect to live to 40 years. Even worse are the vorcha, who can count themselves lucky to see ''20''. |
| 422 | * 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 penchant 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/MassEffectRevelation'' 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. |
| 423 | * WildCard: Humanity's penchant for advancing rapidly and being incredibly assertive - if not boorishly demanding - have given it a galactic reputation as being wild cards. Given the relative newness of humanity on the galactic stage, most races aren't really sure how to predict human behavior. Some humans, like Ambassador Udina and Renegade Shepard, are pompous, self-important, racist assholes; others, like Admiral Hackett, Captain Anderson, and Paragon Shepard are incredibly charismatic MagneticHero[=es=] who make tremendous contributions to galactic peace through their military careers. Samara states that humans are more individualist than any species she's met. |
| 424 | --> '''Samara:''' If three humans are in a room, there will be six opinions. |
| 425 | * WorthyOpponent: The Reapers would never admit it given their enormous arrogance, but there's a good reason why Earth becomes the center of their offensive for the current extinction cycle over all other races. Races that have been part of the galaxy for ''thousands'' of years longer than humans. |
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