Salarian

The Salarians are a major race in Mass Effect.

Attributes

Salarians are humanoids of amphibian ancestry. They have relatively high metabolisms, which results in them having short life expectancies (averaging around 40 years). Their high metabolism leads to an appearance of hyperactivity, and salarians mature and deal with most life issues much more quickly than humans. Salarians tend to be highly intelligent, which may be related to their high metabolism.

Physically, salarians tend to be tall and slender. The salarian skeleton has a high ratio of cartilage to bone, making them quite flexible. Their strength and endurance are unremarkable for humanoids.

History

Salarians were the second extant race to discover the Citadel, arriving after the asari. They are co-founders of the Council.

In their war against the rachni, the Salarians gave advanced technology to the krogan to recruit them as military allies. While successful against the rachni, the krogan themselves became a problem, leading to a war known as the "Krogan Rebellions". The salarians developed a biological weapon to limit krogan fertility, known as the "genophage", but it was the turians who decided to release the genophage and end the war.

Threat Assessment

The salarians are an advanced race with their own military assets. These are effective for defense of Salarian territory, but considerably smaller than those of the turians; in large conflicts, they typically rely on turian support. As of 2086 the salarians have developed dreadnoughts that use the same stealth system as the Normandy SR-2, masking their heat signatures through hull refrigeration and heat sinks and using a special heatless mass effect drive for propulsion.

Salarians have a well developed intelligence service known as the Special Tasks Group. Salarians are typically aware of foreign military objectives, plans, assets, and movements far in advance of open hostilities, and they feel no compunctions whatsoever against pre-emptive strikes.