The Rachni Wars

A conflict that started around 1 CE between the early Council and the Rachni. It started when the early Council was exploring the mass effect relay system and stumbled into Rachni territory; however, the territorial nature of the Rachni led to them attacking the Council explorers and starting a war against the Council. The conflict went on for centuries as the Rachni had overwhelming numbers and slowly invaded Council territory. The Coucnil was clearly going to lose the war until the Salarians, conveniently, found the Krogan and "uplifted" their culture. With the Krogan soldiers on their side and ability to match the Rachni's survival abilities in severe conditions, the Council was able to push back the Rachni and wipe them out. This was seen as the only course of action to take since the Rachni Queens were unwilling to communicate or negotiate during the war. The Rachni were declared extinct by the year 300 CE and the Krogan became heroes of the galaxy, but this was a fleeting victory for the Council in the end. This war also led to the creation of the law against exploring the mass effect relay system at a rapid pace (to prevent mass interstellar conflicts) that later led to the Turians attacking human explorers and starting The First Contact War.

The Rachni

The Rachni are an intelligent sentient race of insects. However, they are often very aggressive as whole, which has caused them to get into conflicts with other races. This aggressiveness is what also led to their extinction in the Rachni Wars. Although they may be extremely territorial, they try to stay away from other races and live on worlds other races can't live on, since their physiology can match that of even the strongest Krogan.

The Rachni are one of the most unique races in the Mass Effect Galaxy because of how they perceive the world and communicate. Overall, the Rachni perceive the world as a collective and are able to communicate with each other regardless of the distance. This psychic link allows them to experience the world as a whole through every other living Rachni, but this link can be interrupted by outside forces. This link can also lead to the Rachni as a whole to become closed off towards certain perspectives or to become manipulated by other people into a specific thought process. Although the Rachni have eyes, they see the world around them in auras and colors. Much like how we would see the world around us with heat vision, but,naturally, more detailed.

Lastly, the Rachni collective mind is managed by a Rachni Queen (or multiple Queens). In a way this is their form of government as the Queen(s) collaborative, filter, debate, manage, and control the Rachni brood's actions and thoughts. However, this is only because the Queen(s) have the strongest influence on the psychic link, but the Queen(s) can be manipulated or overridden by other forces.

The Krogan (Part 1)

The Krogan are a reptilian species (although they do remind me kind of turtles) in the Mass Effect story and are one of the oldest races in the galaxy. They have a strong sense of self preservation and do not work well with others. Overall, they are a physically strong race that can endure any environment and any situations, which makes them the perfect soldier; tough scaly skin and at least two, sometimes three, increases their survivability. If one organ fails in combat, they have one or two more to spare. Each Krogan stands at least seven feet tall and can weigh up to one ton. Yet each positive aspect of the Krogan comes from their will to survive the harsh environments of their home-world and galactic life. Their culture is very similar to that of the Klingons from Star Trek.

At the time of the story, the Krogan race mainly consists of clans and no central government. Each clan is only worried about what is best for them and how to survive in the galaxy, since the actions of the Krogan Rebellion and the Genophage (both future posts) have depleted not only their ability to continue on as a race and live, but also their entire culture.

 However, the Krogan race has not had an easy life in the past and in the present. Roughly four thousand years ago the Krogan were a intellectual and proud race that had advanced technologically to the same point that humanity is today (2010-ish, not 2183 when the story starts) but their pride got the best of them during this time. Eventually their clan nature and love of war erupted into all out civil war on their home-world, Tuchanka, where no one was safe. The conflict arose to such an immense level that nuclear weapons were dispersed across the entire planet. Leaving Tuchanka as a wasteland of ruins and nuclear fallout. Amazingly, they lived on but still held their ancestors tentions, until the Salarians came.

About two thousand years after the Krogan engaged in their civil wars, the Salarians discovered their planet and offered them new galactic technology if they would help them fight in the Rachni War. Eagerly, the Krogan race accepted their offer in hopes of creating a new life for their species and in promise of a great war in space. Although this decision helped the Council win the war, the Salarians would later view it as a mistake.

Salarian Special Task Group

The Salarian Special Task Group (STG) is an elite group of the Salarians's best scientists and fighters. Their actions are highly covert and the research they do is often to protect or enhance Salarian life; only close friends of the operatives and the operatives themselves know what goes on within. However, sometimes even the heads of the Salarian government are unaware of the actions of the STG and have been blind until the reproductions have taken place. This can be seen during the creation of the Genophage, which I will post soon, and the political, cultural, and social reproductions it created.

The Salarians

 The Salarians, as mentioned before, were the second race to make it to the Citadel and help establish the Citadel Council. They are based off of the stereotypical blue/gray alien look, but have some unique qualities to them. Overall, all of these qualities are a result of them having a high metabolic rate. The benefits of this include having faster than normal thinking, agility, and energy than other races; for example, a Salarian needs only needs one hour of sleep every day. They are strong with critical thinking skills and working in complex situations.However, there are cons to having such abilities; they live for roughly forty years, think other people are slow or unintelligent, and lack the adrenal glands that cause other species to have a sex drive.

As a result of such cons, much of their lives are spent doing work or research  since they know they won't live for a long time. The lack of a sex drive also strongly influences their culture and government. Salrains do not understand the concept of love and many relationships are for political reason or only extend into friendships. Their government matches that of a feudal system during the middle ages. Relationships are political and genes are what matters when choosing a mate for reproduction. Also, their race has a high male to female ratio, so ones genes would determine how successful they are to mate with a female.

Other than what I have mentioned, their military matches humanity the most and is completely voluntary. Although they may not be the strongest race physically, they emphasize on technology and creating alliances with more physically capable races. However, such ideologies led them to bringing the Krogan several hundred years ahead of their time and the later creation of the Genophage.

Special Tactics and Reconnaissance

The Special Tactics and Reconnaissance (also knows as Spectres) are elite individuals that are selected by the Citadel Council to enforce galactic stability and peace. However, such individuals are given the power to do anything anything in order to enforce the tasks they are given by the Council. In a way they can be considered above the law and very dangerous, although opinions on their role in the galaxy varies considerably from heroes to villians. The Council created this group sometime afters it establishment and saw the need for people to not be bound by laws in order to ensure galactic peace and stability. Often the Council sends them on tasks that either require highly trained soldiers to tip the balance in a war or would require them to break the law in order to complete their objective. Ultimately, the Council can have a Spectre's status removed if he or she does something atrocious or would go against the Council's wishes. The Council keeps record of what they are assigned to do but not what they do to complete their mission. Each individual goes through an intense screening process and must be approved by all members on the Citadel Council. There are estimated to be less than a hundred Spectres in the galaxy and most work alone. If a Spectre chooses to go rogue and work against the Council, then another Spectre is sent to exterminate the rogue agent.

Citadel Security

This is a small military branch present on the Citadel and in charge of its security. Also know as C-Sec, Citadel Security is responsible for making the Citadel a safe place for all races and handling internal affairs between the races. Up until events unfold in the first part of the game series, C-Sec mainly consists of Turians because of their strong sense of duty and honor. Although it is the stabilizing force on the Citadel now, C-Sec wasn't established until the Turians joined the Citadel Committee but it only formalized the security on the station. However, it (like most other forms of security enforcers) has its fair share of corrupt officers. It would appear that when the Turians are separated from their culture for too long (or not directly linked to the main Turian government somehow) they become susceptible to loosing or replaceing their strong cultural beliefs with those they associate with. Although this change can happen, it does not occur that often but it does often lead to the most dangerous Turians in the galaxy.

The Unification War

Although the Turians did not join the Council until around the year 900 CE, they had been exploring just as long as the Asari or Salarians. The Turians had several colonies throughout the galaxy and had traveled through several mass relays long before meeting the Council. Fortunately (and unfortunately) they had not crossed paths yet, because it is this war that would shape the Turian government to be united enough to fight the Krogans in the future.

However, when the Asari and the Salarians were forming the Council, the Turians were in an all out civil war in 500 CE. Before the war, each colony acted like its own state underneath the grand government and each colony had its own leader, but as time went on and more colonies were added--disputes began to ensue. At this point the Turain government was not all encompassing, but only in direct control of their home planet's laws and policy, Palaven. Much like the American colonies under British rule in eighteenth century. As the feuds grew into all-out-war among the colonies, the main government didn't want to get involved and tried to be diplomatic throughout the war. Each colony as a sign of loyalty began wearing tattoos and face paint to symbolize where they were from or what they believed in. Years went by and colonies were being decimated and overtaken by opposing factions until fewer than a dozen factions remained.

At this time the main government, known as the Hierarchy, decided to step in and bring the colonies into line once again. Each colony was too weak to fight the Hierarchy and the government gained complete control over all of its colonies. Also, the Hierarchy decided to change their political system to reflect a militaristic system and have the colonies declare allegiance to the new system. All though many Turians still keep the symbols of their colonies the overall hatred and animosity has died down and been replaced by strong loyalty towards the new militaristic system.

The Turians

The Turians are remarkably similar to that of humans in shape, size, and action. The average Turian has the same lifespan of a human and their physical appearance is like a mix of a humanized raptor. Each Turian also has an array of facial markings symbolizing where he or she is from and his or her political affiliation.

However, the most interesting aspect of the Turian race is their political system; it could be best described as a militaristic socialism reinforced by strong sense of moral duty. As a whole the Turian race has a strong sense of honor, duty, and self sacrifice for the good of the whole. The overall infrastructure consists of militaristic ranks where an individual is recruited at the age of fifteen and goes through a rigorous training program until the age of thirty. This program leads them to be the perfect citizen within their society and their advancement within their culture is based on earning higher rankings and positions within the government. Although being at a lower rank (also known as "tier of citizenship") is not demeaning or a sign of a lack of ability, ones rank merely shows where they are best suited within ones culture. A Turian can never be "demoted" within the system, but he or she simply finds his or her niche within the culture and does whatever he or she can to support the Turian race. Overall, it is the strong sense of duty and honor that holds up the socialistic aspects of their society. But often their militaristic nature can get the best of the individual. Although they are not overly aggressive like Krogan, they understand the rules of engagement and total war.

Yet this culture was created from a large civil war called The Unification War, which mostly formed their tiered citizenship and all-encompassing governmental system. Which made them the perfect candidates to help the Council with  the Krogan Rebellion in 700 CE (700 AD in human time and a post I will put up after putting up the Krogan race post), and this war would determine their role within the galactic community.

Each Turian also has a large amount of political and religious freedom, like humans, and can adopt the belief systems of both with no objections as long as it doesn't ruin a Turians' ability to do their duty or job within their race. Overall, Turians are viewed as the moralistic, honorable, but militaristic race within the Milky Way Galaxy.

The First Contact War

Shortly after discovering that one of Pluto's moons was a mass effect relay encased in layers of ice. Although the discovery of the data archive on Mars had advanced human technology by hundreds of years, the mass relay by mars (know as the Charon Relay) was the final key to unlocking inter galactic exploration. Shortly after its discovery humanity began an aggressive campaign for exploring the galaxy and finding the aliens that left such grand technology. However, this aggressiveness towards exploration and expanding human colonies is what led to the events of the war.

Unbeknownst to humanity, the Citadel Council had made activating certain relays illegal (as to avoid intergalactic incidents or to prevent exploration from getting out of control). Yet a Turian police patrol saw a patrol of ships trying to activate a relay and instead of giving a warning to the patrol or trying to communicate, the Turians attacked and destroyed all but one ship, which made it through the relay before it could be destroyed. That one ship escaped and warned the rest of humanity that life was out there. Retaliation was swift and humanity had met its first alien race in the Milky Way Galaxy. Turians saw their actions as keeping the peace, but humanity saw this event as an act of war; and so began the First Contact War in 2157.

Over the next couple months space fights broke out near mass relays as humanity began its first galactic confrontation. Eventually, a section of the Turain fleet made it to the human colony of Shanxi and began orbital bombardments. The colony surrendered shortly after since it couldn't last long with its forces being destroyed in an instant from above. Humanity quickly regained its forces and took back the colony from Turian control.
These actions quickly got the attention of the Council, which led to peace talks among the two races and humanities introduction into the galactic community.

The results of the war led to humanity showing the Council it could hold  its own and make a difference in the galaxy, and a poor decision within the Turian military to enforce galactic policy. This war also lead to pro- and anti-race groups being created on both sides and throughout the galaxy; some encouraging humanity to work with council or work independently without the Council.

The Human Race

In the Mass Effect story humanity has been the most recent species to join the Citadel Council and the most rapidly expanding species in the galaxy. The events of the game take place in the year 2183 and here is a brief history of the events that occurred up to this point:

• 20th and 21st century humanity begins to explore space and finds alien ruins on Mars in 2148, which shows that humanity definitely isn't alone in the universe.
• This discovery leads to the nations of earth pooling their resources to create the Systems Alliance, a global  governing body and military protection program, to protect humanity as a whole.
• Over the next year humanity discovers the mass relay in their system and begins to explore the galaxy.
• After eight years of exploring and advancing technology to match that of the relay system, humanity confronts its first alien race and engages in its first galactic war called the First Contact War.
• 2157, the war ends and humanity is introduced to the Council and the other species in the galaxy.
•  2165, humanity gains an embassy and a seat on the Council Committee due to its willingness to explore the galaxy and participate in galactic affairs.

Overall, humanity isn't too different from any other futuristic representations of us. However, it is notable that humans live a fraction as long as some of the other species in the galaxy and are seen as an aggressive, goal-oriented race. Our resilience, determination, and dedication often astounds the other races; yet this does make some fear us and think of us as the future "bullies" of the universe since we try to get what we want.

The Citadel and its Council.

The Citadel, as mentioned before, is the main galactic hub of the mass effect relay system and general gathering place of the Milky Way Galaxy. This giant space station houses roughly 13 million citizens and any race is welcome to live and visit the citadel. However, only the races that are willing to participate in Citadel law and government are given an embassy and committee member to represent them in galactic matters. Although this committee has no real bearing on the any other races individual governmental system, it helps determine galactic laws and policies, which those participating governments must obey.

The head of this committee is the Council, who have complete power over the committee and often deal with decisions that require immediate action or carry a high degree of galactic severity. One committee member may join the Council once his or her race has proven to be significant or highly influential to the galactic community. The picture above shows the only three races that are present on the council; a Turian councilor who represents action and the military philosophy, an Asari councilor who often provides wisdom and peaceful guidance, and a Salarian councilor who represents discovery and philosophical guidance. Throughout the course of the story the main character can choose to earn humanitites position on the council or create a less flavorful option, which I will reveal later.

Overall, this council has good intentions but sometimes its concern for the good of the galactic community prevents it from giving up its traditional philosophies or making a decision that could have better results in the long run (or vice versa). Such examples include the events that led to the Krogan rebellion, the lack of action to help the Quarians, and the exile of the Yahg (all of these I will mention in future posts).

Races in the Milky Way Galaxy.

The races within the Mass Effect story each have a unique back story and personal complexity to them. The picture above provides an idea of what some of the races look like but it does not contain all of them, which I plan to makes posts about each race as I continue this blog. The list of races within the galaxy can be portrayed easiest by putting them into two groups: Citadel races; those that actively participate and collaborate with the Citadel's galactic government, and Non-Citadel races, those that don't or did interact with the government but no longer for follow it. Some races also exist out of such lists, but I will have to describe them later as to not spoil too much of the story too quickly.

Citadel Races: Asari, Drell, Elcor, Hanar, Humans, Keepers, Salarians, Turians, and Volus.

Non-Citadel Races: Batarians, Collectors, Geth, Krogan, Quarians, Vorcha, and Yahg.

If you are interested in knowing more this website is a good place to go. Also note that this list contains the races that are capable of self-thought, reflective, and sapient overall.

The Mass Effect

The game is originally named after what is called the "Mass Effect." An event where a race/species finds a mass relay (basically a giant space transporter that allows you to travel across the galaxy in seconds to another relay station, shown in the picture above) in their local solar system and adapts their technology to allow them to explore the Milky Way Galaxy. Once a race uses the relay and discovers other  races they become part of the galactic community; therefore, experiencing the "Mass Effect" where slowly over time the entire galaxy is almost or completely aware of itself and the races within it. The main hub of this galactic transport system is called the Citadel (seen in the background picture) and this massive station becomes the galactic center for all the races. It houses the main galactic government for those who are willing to participate in the established system, which is entirely based on which race gets to the station first. However, not all races in this story end up wanting to participate in such a galactic government or system.

Welcome!

Hello, this is the new blog that I have created where I will try to share once a day something about one of my favorite stories--Mass Effect. Hopefully, I will be able to explain and portray things about this video game that either intrigue you to follow the story line or investigate into this massive universe created by Bioware. The first couple posts will be about the universe and general plot details and should slowly move into the plot of the three trilogies from my perspective. This is mainly for a class project and I will try to provide pictures that I personally take, find easily online, or used by other public wiki sties (like masseffect.wikia.com) to help give context to the story.