Mass Effect/Characters/Races

This page is for listing the tropes related to the many species in the Mass Effect universe, each with their own (often averted) tropes. For simplicity's sake, they are categorized as characters.

For the pages listing tropes related to specific characters in the trilogy, see the Mass Effect Character Index.

As with all character pages, this page includes significant spoilers, and some are by their nature unmarked. Read at your own discretion.

Turians


"If you want a problem shot, ask a turian..."

- Commander Shepard

The third race to join the Citadel Council. The Turian Hierarchy is a very organized and militant society. Every 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.

Turians are available for multiplayer, and can use the Sentinel and Soldier classes.


 * Alien Blood: Blue.
 * Badass Army: They have extremely disciplined armies, the largest fleet of warships, the most dreadnoughts, and a proud military tradition.
 * They were able to hold their own against the krogan clans in a decades-long war of attrition at a time before the genophage when the krogan were actually breeding faster than the other races.
 * "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. The turians refuse to be intimidated." To put this perspective, the turians are holding their own (even if it's just barely) against a particularly large part of the Reaper fleet 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.
 * Blunt Metaphors Trauma: 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.
 * But for Me It Was Tuesday: 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.
 * Colony Drop: 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.
 * They were also frequently the victims of this during the Krogan Rebellions, the krogan had a habit of smashing moons into turian planets. It just made the turians angry.
 * Combat by Champion: One of the traditional ways turians can resolve large-scale conflicts: a duel between chosen representatives of each party.
 * Combat Pragmatist: 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 simply to take out individual fireteams.
 * Doomed Homeworld: Due to their powerful military, Palaven was a major target for the Reapers in Mass Effect 3.
 * The Empire: Some random turians even call it The Empire by name, but it's far more benevolent than usual.
 * Facial Markings: See Tribal Face Paint.
 * Fantasy Counterpart Culture: They're about halfway between space Prussians and space Romans with some Confucianism thrown in for flavor.
 * Fighter, Mage, Thief: They're the fighter to the asari mage and the salarian thief.
 * Honor Before Reason: Turians are noted to have very heavy social stigma against lying; a turian may choose not to advertise that they committed a crime, but would likely admit to it if directly questioned.
 * Humanoid Aliens
 * Humorless Aliens: 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 Council Space.
 * Although they are just as likely to be Unfunny Deadpan Snarkers.
 * I Did What I Had to Do: 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 Shepard's succinct view.
 * The McCoy: To the asari Kirk and salarian Spock.
 * Mirror Chemistry: 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 they conquered were levo-amino-based, they had to ship in their supplies from the Hierarchy, eventually making their position untenable.
 * Not So Different: 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...
 * Only Sane Species: During the Reaper invasion, they're the only ones who aren't unhelpful, fighting one another , hindering the war effort , or decimated.
 * And it makes perfect sense given their strong militaristic culture mixed with incredible discipline in contrast with the krogans' strong warrior culture with no discipline.
 * Proud Warrior Race Guy: Not as much as the krogan, but definitely the most militaristic council race. It'd be more accurate to call them a Proud Soldier Race.
 * This is related to the Mass Effect series general Deconstruction of the Proud Warrior Race trope with the Krogan. The much more proud, physically dangerous and violent Krogan were defeated by the disciplined, no-nonsense, ruthless Turians. One defense of the genophage was that if it hadn't been deployed, the turians and allies would have had to commit genocide.
 * Putting on the Reich: Subverted, most of the societal values and attitudes detailed for turians seem to be based off old school Prussian values rather than Nazi influence.
 * Shoot the Dog: 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.
 * Space Romans: Their species name was derived from "Centurion" in story design phases of the franchise, and their names tend to sound like a cross between roman and alien.
 * Super Drowning Skills: Apparently turians are poor swimmers, according to Garrus in Mass Effect 3. Makes sense considering the metal skin and apparent lack of body fat.
 * Tribal Face Paint: The markings on a turian's face is meant to signify the tribe that he/she belongs to. Tribes that no longer technically exist thanks to a unification in the past, but hey, tradition's tradition. The term 'barefaced' has come to mean someone who is untrustworthy in turian society. It also means politician.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: 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 worthy opponents (see below), despite the fact that only 3% of the population serve in the Alliance Navy. The turians know that if more humans served in the military, they'd be practically unstoppable.
 * Worthy Opponent: What they (grudgingly) consider the humans. The First Contact War (which they refer to as the Relay 314 Incident) was the first truly meaningful military opposition they had faced in a millennium. This has become Friendly Enemy with some Teeth-Clenched Teamwork by the time of Mass Effect 1, and by Mass Effect 3 the two races are basically Vitriolic Best Buds.

Asari


"....if you want a problem talked to death, ask an asari...."

- Commander Shepard

One of the two founding races of Citadel Space alongside the salarians and the most powerful and widespread race in the galaxy, the asari often take the role of diplomats. They are a long lived mono-gendered race, but are seen as female to other species. Asari reproduce by linking their nervous system to another sentient being of any race, and partnerships of two asari are looked down upon by most of the species now, as they believe it restricts genetic diversity. All asari have biotic ability, but require training to use it effectively.

Asari are available for multiplayer in 3, and can use the Adept and Vanguard classes. The Resurgence pack adds the Justicar Adept class.


 * Alien Blood: Purple.
 * Amazon Brigade: Any asari force, by virtue of all its members being female.
 * Black Eyes of Evil: 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 Ardat-Yakshi, though, it's played straight.
 * Boldly Coming: Justified. Asari can mate with any other species, and it's encouraged that they do so. Relations between two asari are considered taboo because the child can be born an Ardat-Yakshi. This unfortunately leads to some in-universe Unfortunate Implications about asari promiscuity.
 * Can't Argue with Elves: Asari have played themselves as this for millennia and gotten away with it.
 * The Chessmistress: 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 or a plan to pay off.
 * Crystal Spires and Togas: The dominant aesthetic of the asari culture. Even some of their weapons conform to it in Mass Effect 3, being smooth, white and elegantly curved.
 * : In the third game.
 * Elite Mooks: Their entire military is made of up these. While they are effective to say the least, this by consequence makes their military relatively small and unable to wage an effective drawn out war, instead relying on the turians for protection.
 * Exotic Equipment: 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.
 * Facial Markings: 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.
 * Fighter, Mage, Thief: The mage in the asari-turian-salarian Trio.
 * Flash Step: Asari multiplayer characters do a short-range version of this instead of rolling.
 * Blue-Skinned Space Babes
 * The Hecate Sisters: 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, they feel the need to settle down and raise a family; the "Matron" phase. And once they tip over the six hundred point, they retire to become Matriarchs, using their experience and power to lead and advise (politicians, spiritual leaders, and bartenders).
 * One of their religions involves worshiping a goddess who vacillates between the three stages as well.
 * Homosexual Reproduction: 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.
 * Double Standard: The penalties for withholding Prothean technology from the galaxy at large are among the most severe the Citadel enforces.
 * Even worse: The Asari were the first to discover the Citadel and founded the Citadel Council, so they were the ones who created the rule.
 * Immortality Begins At Twenty: Averted. They start to leave childhood at the age of forty, and are legally considered adults at eighty. That's forty years of puberty.
 * Immortal Procreation Clause: The ability to choose when to get pregnant means that the asari population stays fairly stable.
 * Knight Templar: The Justicar order, who are generally kept away from other species to avoid a diplomatic incident brought on by their very strict code.
 * Lady of War: Averted, mostly, with asari commandos—who are as hard-nosed and physical as most other soldiers in the galaxy. Played straight however, with justicars, if Samara is any indication. Even in the midst of battle, she is very lady-like.
 * Magic Knight: Again, asari commandos. Or anyone serving in the asari military.
 * Masculine Lines Feminine Curves: Asari architecture and technology is usually very sleek and curved. For example, compare the Disciple shotgun to every other weapon of its type.
 * Mayfly-December Romance: How asari relationships with any other species that isn't asari or krogan tend to turn out.
 * Mind Over Matter: They are the only species with natural biotics.
 * Obstructive Bureaucrat: Apparently, this is one of their hats, in addition to Boldly Coming.
 * See the running quote for Shepard's succinct view.
 * One-Gender Race
 * One Woman Army: Asari commandos are considered to be the deadliest fighters in the galaxy. Getting into a one-on-one fight against one is practically suicide... unless you're with Commander Shepard. 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. In the second case, the two of them killed each other.
 * 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. 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 female alien equivalents of Rambo.
 * Ultimately,  The asari commandos are such exceptionally-skilled warriors that their entire military is built around elite commando militia, ideally suited to supporting the heavier turian forces. However, when   Even before that, their peaceful liberal utopia would have been destroyed two or three times over already without first the Krogans, then the Turians, and finally the humans doing most of the actual fighting while Asari commandos snipe from the sidelines.
 * Our Elves Are Better: Either subverted or double subverted, depending on how much truth you read into Javik's words to Liara.
 * Screw You, Elves: Gianna Pasarini from the first and second game seems to really enjoy bringing asari in for their crimes, and she's apparently not the only one who enjoys rubbing it in when the asari screw up, including one of their own Matriarchs, Aethyta, who says that the asari on Thessia "laughed the blue off [her] ass" when she suggested that asari should spend their maiden years doing something more productive than stripping.
 * Our Vampires Are Different: The Ardat-Yakshi. They're Asari with a genetic mutation that impairs their ability to Mind Meld. 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 euphoric experience, and boosts the Ardat-Yakshi's Psychic Powers, 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.
 * Out with a Bang: The Ardat-Yakshi again.
 * Rubber Forehead Aliens: They look almost exactly like human woman, 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.
 * Although an overheard conversation at a bachelor party involving a turian, human, and salarian in the second game implies that there's something More Than Mind Control going on, as all three find the asari stripper attractive for wildly different reasons.
 * Space Elves
 * Stronger with Age: 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 biotics getting medieval on your ass.
 * The Kirk: To the turian McCoy and salarian Spock.
 * Utopia: Asari Society is the most technological and culturally advanced society in space..
 * Warrior Monk: The Justicars, with a side-order of Knight Errant.
 * Stronger with Age: 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 biotics getting medieval on your ass.
 * The Kirk: To the turian McCoy and salarian Spock.
 * Utopia: Asari Society is the most technological and culturally advanced society in space..
 * Warrior Monk: The Justicars, with a side-order of Knight Errant.

Salarians


"...if you want a NEW problem, ask a salarian...."

- Commander Shepard

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). 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.

Despite being outnumbered nine-to-one by the males, female salarian 'dalatrasses' (clan / family leaders) wield the most political power on their home-world.

Salarians are available for multiplayer, and can use the Engineer and Infiltrator classes.


 * Alien Blood: Green.
 * Asexuality: Most of them are asexual, except in regards to the asari. Unfertilized eggs laid by their Dalatrasses (read: family matriarchs) are born as males. Fertilized eggs are born as females. Siring them is dealt with in a business/political agreement fashion ("Reproduction Negotiations"). As such, the majority of the population are males.
 * Combat Pragmatist: They consider declarations of war to be superfluous and stupid.
 * 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 (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.
 * 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.
 * Fighter, Mage, Thief: The thief in the asari-turian-salarian trio.
 * Gender Rarity Value: Females are rare, influential, and extremely well-protected, due to the reasons listed under Asexuality. You will never see a salarian female in a combat role unless things are very dire.
 * The Greys: Or at least the closest equivalent in the Mass Effect setting.
 * Men Are the Expendable Gender: Justified, since males vastly outnumber females, and due to Gender Rarity Value and simple statistics male salarians are far more likely to be casualties in combat.
 * Motor Mouth: A few of them. At the very least they talk faster than most other species.
 * Not So Different: The basis of salarian civilization; males compete for the right to sire progeny on females, and females barter breeding rights as the source of their authority. Doesn't that sound just like post-genophage krogan?
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: One of their hats, apparently. Since Salarians are hyper-active and have shorter lifespans, they think more for the short term (in contrast to the asari, who think so long-term that they sometimes seem complacent or wishy-washy). Case in point, the first few thousand years of galactic war were continuously their fault. They activated the relay which brought the rachni to the universe and started the Rachni Wars, they then uplifted the krogan to defeat the rachni, then they sterilized the krogan in order to stop the Krogan Rebellions. Mass Effect 3 then shows that
 * See the running quote for Shepard's succinct view.
 * Overly Long Name: Salarians always introduce themselves shorthand. A salarian's full name includes their personal name, family name, and the city, district, country, planet, star system, and star cluster of their birth.
 * Photographic Memory
 * Planet of Hats: Salarians aren't very durable or long-lived, but they are expert at covert operations and intelligence gathering.
 * The Spock: To the turian McCoy and asari Kirk.
 * Underestimating Badassery: 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.
 * We Are as Mayflies: With a lifespan of around 40 years, they are shortest-lived of the powerful species.

Humans


"....But if you want a problem fixed, ask a human."

- Commander Shepard

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. 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 Wild Card; they are going to change the galaxy, but no one is certain how so.

Humans are one of the seven races available for multiplayer, and are the only one with access to all the classes and a customizable gender.


 * Ambition Is Evil: 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.
 * Dude, Where's My Respect?: That said, when humans actually are deserving of their merits, the other races are rather hesitant to award them.
 * America Takes Over the World / China Takes Over the World / United Europe: Hints are given about it. Apparently the three leading powers back on Earth are the United North American States (which includes the US, Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean islands), The European Union (which may be one country now) and the People's Federation of China.
 * India is also mentioned as a major power in the novels, and possibly the richest individual nation around.
 * Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Other races are quietly terrified that this might happen, given that the humans were able to hold their own against the turians, having never fought them before, with such a small percentage of humanity's population in the military. Many say that if the turians and humans ever got into a long war with each other, it would wreck a significant portion of the galaxy.
 * Used as a Batman Gambit by Udina's predecessor, Ambassador Goyle, in the book Revelation. When an illegal Alliance operation is uncovered, the Citadel Council prepares to sanction humanity back into the Stone Age. Realizing that this would doom humankind to a fate much like the quarians or the krogan (the entire species reduced to a punchline and unable to do anything significant in Council Space for hundreds—if not thousands of years), Goyle boldly states that if the Council does this, the Systems Alliance will declare war on all Citadel Space. She was aware that humanity wouldn't ever win such a suicidal war, but that any victory would be so hollow that the Council would never want it to happen. That's how scared of us they are.
 * Badass Army: You don't tangle with the turians by having any less.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Throughout the series, its indicated that various races are terrified of humanity for their martial prowess, even when they come waving a banner of peace. Who only knows what they'd do if they actually decided to declare war.
 * The Empire: Subverted. Aliens fear this from the humans as a whole, but it never really gets as far as they think.
 * Humans Advance Swiftly: Humanity went from first contact to major political force in the galaxy in less than 50 years as opposed to the centuries that others have required to reach lesser status. This comparatively absurd advancement speed with little sign of slowing is part of the reason most races are quietly terrified of the potential of humanity.
 * Humans Are Average: 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. Most other species can only be two, and the krogan can only be three.
 * Humans Are the Real Monsters: The most despicable and feared terrorist organization in the galaxy (Cerberus) and the largest NGO Superpower criminal empire (Blue Suns) are both human organizations (though the Suns have some major batarian influence as well). It puts a bit of a drain on their reputation, especially since Cerberus was formerly an Alliance organization.
 * Humans Are Leaders: This is how they see themselves, anyway. And it's embodied by Ambassador Udina and the Illusive Man in the negative sense, and Admiral Hackett and David Anderson in the positive sense, and Commander Shepard can fall anywhere between them on the scale.
 * Although should Shepard have done everything right, the arrival of the Sword-Fleet, with Normandy leading the charge to retake Earth, makes it hard to argue that humanity doesn't honestly deserve this reputation.
 * See the running quote for Shepard's succinct view.
 * Humans Are Special: Played straight early on, horribly deconstructed later.
 * Humans Are Warriors: Part of the reason humanity rose to prominence so quickly is because they managed to give the turians difficulty in battle. An achievement intimidating enough to give weight to the new species' opinions in the political arena.
 * Jack of All Stats: According to various comments from other races. They are also the only species able to use every class in the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer.
 * Humanity generally are described as having the diplomacy of the Asari, the stealth of the Salarians, the might of the Turians and the stubbornness of the Krogan. In battle they are just as likely to appear out of nowhere, kick their enemies arse, offer them a hand in friendship, all the while complaining to their allies that they should have been called sooner.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold/Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Depending on the ending in the first game.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With the turians. There might be tension, but these two societies have more in common with each other than with the salarians or the asari. They even co-designed the Normandy with the turians.
 * We Are as Mayflies: Played straight with Asari and Krogan, who both live to be over 1,000 years. Averted with the Salarians, whose fast metabolisms gives them maximum lifespans of just 40 years. Even worse are the Vorcha, who can count themselves lucky to see the 20.
 * Vorcha see inflicting and receiving pain as normal communication(heck, they beat each other up as children). The Codex doesn't specifically state that they die of old age. Maybe it is just unheard of for a Vorcha to live that long without their aggressiveness getting them on the wrong side of something or other.
 * Wild Card: Given the relative newness of humanity on the galactic stage, most races aren't really sure how to predict human behavior.

Drell


Overpopulation left the drell planet polluted and starved of resources before the species had even developed fusion power. The hanar saved hundreds of thousands of them as their world died; in gratitude, many drell choose to serve the hanar in some fashion under "The Compact". Do not compare this with slavery within drell earshot: "Anyone can refuse to serve. Few do. We owe our existence to the hanar. We are proud to repay the debt."

Unfortunately, the transition hasn't been seamless. The drell are built for a world where water is in short supply, but it rains every day on the hanar homeworld. Their lungs can't handle the moisture, and a terminal disease known as 'Kepral's Syndrome' often occurs in late adulthood.

Drell are available for multiplayer, and can use the Adept and Vanguard classes.


 * Cadre of Foreign Bodyguards: To the hanar.
 * Green Skinned Space Hunk: The male versions of the species were specifically designed to be the Spear Counterparts to the asari. We never see the females.
 * Guttural Growler: We meet all of three drell (four including the multiplayer), all male, and they all have raspy voices.
 * Humanoid Aliens
 * I Owe You My Life: The compact between the drell and hanar was formed after the hanar saved as many drell as possible from their dying homeworld.
 * Photographic Memory: Though they can't always control them. When they're concentrating, they're fine. But when idly recalling memories, they'll often get locked into PTSD-style flashbacks. Depending on the memory, it can be a good thing. Or a very not good thing. Like the day you met your wife. Or the day you get shot in the knee.
 * The Reptilians
 * Undying Loyalty: To the hanar.
 * Wandering The Galaxy: Many drell who do not choose to join in the Compact instead opt to wander around the galaxy, partaking in other cultures and species.

Hanar


The hanar live in the oceans and communicate through bio-luminescence, which makes adapting to galactic society more of a challenge for them. Other species mainly know them as 'those excessively polite jellyfish who worship the Protheans.' They also saved the drell from total extinction nearly a century pre-series.


 * Beware the Nice Ones: Their hat is being excessively polite, and they can't even hold guns. So you wouldn't think they'd be dangerous combatants, right? Well, according to certified Badass Zaeed Massani, they can be deadly if they manage to get those tentacles around your throat. Furthermore, they're literally out of their element when dealing with most people since they're an aquatic race.
 * Lampshaded In-Universe with the movie series "Blasto: the Hanar Specter," itself an Ascended Meme from the BioWare fandom.
 * Combat Tentacles: Zaeed had to wear a neck brace after tangling with one.
 * Starfish Aliens
 * Third Person Person: The hanar uniformly refer to themselves as "this one" when speaking with others unless (we are told) they're very close - or, as in the case of Regards the Works of the Enkindlers in Despair - they're being very rude.

Volus


The volus tend to be great businessmen and run many of the galaxy's wealthiest corporations. Their skin cannot withstand the types of atmospheres that other species live in, so when not on their worlds they wear exosuits which cover their entire bodies. Although the volus were the third species to discover the Citadel, their small military has led to them being denied a seat on the Council because they are unable to make the contributions to galactic security that are expected of the Council races. To compensate for their small military, the volus have become a client race of the Turian Hierarchy, lending their economic know-how to the turians in exchange for turian protection.

"C-Sec officer: I need you take a deep breath and calm down, sir. Volus: You're mocking *hhhkkk* me!"
 * The Chew Toy: Mass Effect's designated go-tos for comic misfortune.
 * Clingy Costume: Not only do they live in ammonia-heavy atmospheres, they also live in high-pressure environments. So without the suits, not only will they suffocate, they'll burst.
 * Cool Starship: The volus navy has only one dreadnought. Said dreadnought is also one of the single most advanced warships in the galaxy, outfitted with a spinal Thanix cannon. You can recover this dreadnought in Mass Effect 3 and add it to your war assets.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Quite a few of them.
 * Explosive Decompression: Justified; since the volus come from a very high-pressure world, exposure to atmospheres that other races find comfortable will cause them to burst.
 * The Faceless: By necessity. We have less idea what they look like than we do the quarians.
 * Heavyworlder
 * Proud Merchant Race
 * Space Jews: Far from toydarian levels though.
 * Talking Lightbulb: Not only that, but they also have lights on their suits where a human would have eyes, which blink periodically as human eyes would.
 * Vader Breath: Often played for comedy.

Elcor


The elcor are natives of Dekuuna, a world with incredibly high gravity. As a result of living on a world where even falling down can be lethal, the elcor have developed a very patient culture. The elcor speak in monotones, but use scent and subtle facial cues to indicate the tone of what they are saying. Since other species cannot perceive these cues, elcor who frequently interact with other species are trained to prefix their speech with an emotive indicator.


 * Beware the Nice Ones: They tend to be cautious, polite, and slow. They can also punch holes in bulkheads and make very good bouncers, and their standard armaments would be considered heavy caliber or artillery by other species.
 * Creepy Monotone: Only because they don't express emotion through tone of voice.
 * Heavyworlder: A straight example of this trope, which is why they stand and walk on all four of their limbs. This has also affected their psychological development, inclining them to be careful and conservative, carefully considering every action before taking it. This is due to evolving on a world where falling down due to a misstep can result in a serious, potentially fatal, injury.
 * I Do Not Speak Nonverbal: They sound like a whole species of Eeyores, although some of them have started hacking translators to get around this.
 * Mighty Glacier: They are very slow, but their hides are bulletproof and they can use what other species would consider to be vehicle mounted weaponry.
 * That Makes Me Feel Angry: Justified. See above.

Krogan


"You ask a krogan if he'd rather find a cure for the genophage or fight for credits, he'll chose fighting - every time. It's just who we are."

- Urdnot Wrex

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

Krogan are available for multiplayer, and can use the Sentinel and Soldier classes. The Resurgence pack adds Vanguard Krogan.

""Some krogan believe that testicle transplants can improve their virility, counteract the genophage. It doesn't work, but that doesn't stop them from buying. Ten thousand credits each, that makes forty thousand for a full set. Someone's making a killing out there...""
 * Alien Blood: Orange.
 * Asskicking Equals Authority
 * Badass Army; The biggest badassArmy in the galaxy; even with the genophage wrecking their numbers and their homeworld in a state of Fallout-style post-apocalyptic decay, the krogan are still able to field an army that makes the other species' contributions look meager. This is exemplified in the War Assets in 3: a unified krogan force under Wrex, with Eve keeping them under control, can contribute more to your ground assets than any three other species put together save the geth. They're also the only race that takes the "Army" in Badass Army completely literally. Unlike the humans or turians who have a Badass Space Navy, the Krogan military is entirely based on ground troops, as their fleet was decommissioned at the end of the Krogan Rebellions.
 * Berserker: This is what happens when a krogan enters "Blood Rage". They basically switch to a primitive, instinctual mindset driven to kill or destroy whatever's near them with little Friend or Foe recognition. It's explained that this is a result of their redundant biological systems—when a krogan's life is endangered enough that a secondary system becomes necessary, their body "reboots" itself for a moment and the rush of blood and adrenaline causes them to go berserk.
 * Blood Knight
 * Death World: They come from one.
 * Mother Tuchanka Makes You Strong
 * Dying Race: Unless someone turns the genophage around. In the third game,.
 * Elite Mooks: Every krogan ever encountered who's not a boss.
 * Enemy Civil War: Tuchanka is constantly locked in warfare between clans.
 * Exotic Equipment: To quote Garrus:

"Wrex: Oh. That must have been painful, then."
 * Explosive Breeder: Part of their evolutionary response to Tuchanka. Once taken out of those conditions, their population exploded. Hence the genophage, which causes miscarriages and stillbirths in 99.9% of pregnancies.
 * Extreme Omnivore: Krogan find just about anything appetizing, and can and will eat anything that has the slightest amount of nutrition. Regardless of whether or not it's stopped moving. Or if it can talk. Except ramen.
 * Giant Mooks: Though they aren't technically much taller than a human or asari, they are a lot bulkier.
 * HAD to Be Sharp: Well, they did evolve on a Death World. This explains their incredibly resilient biology, as well as the fact that every profession, from engineers to diplomats to scientists to shamans, go about their business with warrior- and survivalist mindsets.
 * One thing pointed out on the game's wiki is that krogan have eyes on the sides of their heads. Predator species (felines, canines, monkeys... humans) have forward-facing eyes for better focus and depth perception, which helps in the hunt. Prey species (bovines, equines, rodents, etc) have side-eyes, which sacrifices focus for much better peripheral vision. Let's repeat: krogan are Tuchanka's equivalent of rabbits, given how fast they can reproduce. Well, when your planet's deadliest predators are massive acid-spitting sand worms... everything is prey.
 * Healing Factor
 * Immortality Begins At Twenty: They mature fast, and age VERY slowly. We don't even know what the natural krogan lifespan is, other than the fact that they can easily outlive asari. The only reason there aren't more ancient Krogan around is that they tend to get killed before they reach such ages.
 * Immortal Procreation Clause: Their complete disregard of this, coupled with their naturally aggressive natures, is what led to the Krogan Rebellions.
 * Klingon Promotion: The preferred method, even among their scientists.
 * Magic Knight: Krogan Battlemasters have biotic abilities such as Warp and Barrier while still retaining the healing factor, durability, and brute strength of normal krogan.
 * One-Man Army: Any krogan warrior is dangerous, but krogan battlemasters in particular are, alongside asari commandos, arguably the deadliest fighters in the entire galaxy...with the exception of Shepard. The two times you hear about a fight between an asari commando and a krogan battlemaster, one ended in a draw and the other killed both.
 * Our Orcs Are Different: Pretty much fit squarely within the Blizzard Orc mold in everything but appearance.
 * Proud Warrior Race Guy: Deconstructed Trope. The krogan are all afflicted with a Sterility Plague, but their culture hasn't adapted; rather than work to overcome the genophage and preserve krogan lives, they just keep hiring themselves out as mercenaries and engaging in civil wars. Thusly, they are slowly but surely dying out.
 * The krogan built devices known as "Maw Hammers" whose entire purpose is to summon Thresher Maws. Let me repeat that to make it clear: they built devices to summon Thresher Maws so they could fight them.
 * The Reptilians
 * Rite of Passage: In order to determine their worthiness to a clan, all krogan must undergo a trial when they reach adulthood. Clan Urdnot's rite, at least, involves killing things. Lots of things.
 * Shotguns Are Just Better: They certainly seem to think so. If you encounter a krogan enemy, there is a 95% chance that it is wielding a shotgun.
 * Fridge Brilliance when you realize that because their eyes are set wide like on a prey animal, they lack the ability to focus over long distances, which makes shotguns, with their short range effectiveness, the most practical weapons of choice for them.
 * Spare Body Parts: They have two, three or four of damn near everything important (that includes nervous systems and testicles). Wrex makes an offhand comment about how great a redundant nervous system is when told how Shepard got spaced, only to be told humans don't have them.

"Shaman: Not every krogan can be the strongest warrior, but each must inspire his peers to battle at his side."
 * True Companions: Their word for this is 'krantt': those willing to kill and die on your behalf. It's actually one of the nicer parts of their culture - you don't have to be the toughest, you just need to have good friends.


 * Use Your Head: How krogan show dominance. Is also their melee attack in multiplayer.
 * Zerg Rush: Traditional Krogan tactics were built on attritional mass-unit warfare. Equipped with cheap, rugged gear to overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers.

Keepers


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


 * Chekhov's Army
 * Demoted to Extra: Barely appear in the second and third games.
 * Insectoid Aliens
 * Insectoid Aliens

Quarians


"''It's always the same thing. "Ooh, she could get sick. Ooh, she's vulnerable. I wonder what she looks like under the helmet.""

The quarians were a former associate-level member of the Citadel, until their AI servants, the geth, overthrew them when the quarians attempted to exterminate them following the realization they were gaining true sentience. With all their worlds taken from them, the quarians were left homeless, with the surviving population living aboard the traveling Migrant Fleet. Life on the flotilla has taken its toll on them; the sterile environment has caused their already-finicky immune systems to atrophy, rendering them almost entirely trapped within their environmental suits.

While technically the Migrant Fleet is not part of the Citadel, they still have to abide by Citadel laws while in Citadel space, which is why they stay out of Citadel territory if possible. Historically, the Citadel in general and the Council in particular have sided against the Migrant Fleet in legal matters, which has not endeared them to the Citadel.

Quarians are available for multiplayer, and can use the Engineer and Infiltrator classes.


 * Alien Hair: The only alien species, in fact, to apparently have hair.
 * Bizarre Alien Biology: Quarian immune systems have always been weak, because they evolved to assimilate and co-opt foreign microbes rather than to fight them off as in other species.
 * Bubble Species: they have to stay in their environmental suits at all times or risk getting very sick.
 * Clingy Costume: Oh good God, is this justified.
 * The Engineer: All quarians are skilled mechanics. You'd be too if you spent your entire life on a starship.
 * Everything Trying to Kill You: Thanks to a combination of their immune systems and general biology, everything made of levo-protein will trigger potentially severe allergic reactions. And anything dextro will make them extremely sick.
 * The Faceless
 * Fantastic Racism: By many people in the galaxy towards them, and by some quarians towards the geth.
 * Fighting For a Homeland: What this means to the quarians varies from person to person. Most want to actually go back to Rannoch, but they'd be satisfied with a planet to at least have a temporary settlement on. Which the Council keeps denying them.
 * The quest for their homeworld is fueled by it being far harder for them to adapt to a new planet than to re-adapt to Rannoch.
 * Gas Mask Mooks: Every quarian combatant is technically this, including squadmate Tali'Zorah. Also subverted since they're good guys and there are several named ones with distinct personalities.
 * Gender Is No Object: The only species besides humans where both genders get equal face time. The challenges of Fleet life make sexism a luxury they can't afford.
 * Generation Fleet: The Flotilla has been voyaging the stars without a port for over three hundred years, having departed Rannoch in Earth year 1895 CE.
 * Genocide Backfire: The Morning War was started when the quarians issued a blanket order to permanently destroy all active geth. We don't know much about the ensuing war itself, but the end of the war saw only about seventeen million quarian survivors. We do know as of Mass Effect 3 that a not-insignificant number of quarians openly sided with the geth in response to what was viewed as an extremist stance, but none of them survived.
 * Hartman Hips: The females have them. As a Spear Counterpart, the men all have exaggeratedly-wide shoulders.
 * Humanoid Aliens: Although they're bipedal, stand upright and use two appendages like all other species. Under their masks
 * Ill Species: Their immune systems are incredibly weak; even a small breach to their environmental suit can cause serious illness and major suit damage (or removal without large amounts of preparation) can very easily cause their death.
 * Mirror Chemistry: The other "dextro" species besides Turians.
 * Multicultural Alien Fleet: Despite being the smallest and most confined species introduced so far (with a few exceptions ), the quarians also have the greatest cultural diversity (traditions, accents, etc.).
 * Noodle War: The Morning War is one of the murkiest topics in the setting. We know very little about what actually happened, beyond the blanket order to shut down the geth, the geth retaliation, and the ultimate destruction of most of the quarian species. Mass Effect 3 offers some other slivers of information: many quarians sided with the geth in the war, and the geth could have destroyed the last fleeing survivors but held their fire. Descriptions of Rannoch indicate that weapons of mass destruction were employed at some point, but we can still not explain why casualties were so high. Since weapons of mass destruction usually kill 90% of the population not 99.9%.
 * Properly Paranoid: The quarians are extremely defensive of the civilian fleet and the liveships; if they can't determine the nature of an incoming ship, they will hit it with everything available.
 * Racial Remnant: The quarians believe very strongly in maintaining their culture from before the war.
 * Redshirt Army: The quarian marines (excepting Mauve Shirt Kal'Reegar and squadmate Tali'Zorah) don't seem to fare too well against a good Zerg Rush of geth, mechs, or varren.
 * Justified and brought up by Shepard. Their weak immune systems mean that it is nearly impossible for them to participate in a long, drawn-out, ground engagement. Even a minor wound could end up being fatal. Therefore, they don't have as much preparation for them. When combat seems unavoidable the Quarians tend to just bomb everything from orbit and then send in a few squads of marines to mop up anything the bombardment did not get.
 * Rite of Passage: The Pilgrimage. When a quarian comes of age, they leave the Flotilla to try and find something of value to the fleet. When they return, they are considered adults and can choose the ship they want to be part of.
 * Robot War: They tried to shut the geth down before they could start one...and got exactly what they were trying to prevent. Whoops.
 * Space Jewpsies: Blended, minus Unfortunate Implications for both.
 * There's also elements of Space Muslims there, what with them required to go on a pilgrimage, and helmets which look vaguely like hijabs.
 * Hell, you can also make associations between the Pilgrimage and the Amish tradition of Rumspringa, at least in popular conception. In the first game, Tali even notes that (like Rumspringa) the Pilgrimage is designed to allow young quarians to either feel homesick and gain new appreciation for the Fleet, or to find a new life for themselves.
 * Talking Lightbulb: The lights on their mouthplates.
 * Terminally Dependent Society: Most of their food comes from a few agricultural superships at the heart of the Flotilla. The quarians are very paranoid about their well-being.
 * Terrified of Germs: Because their immune systems evolved to assimilate foreign microbes, not resist them. To the point where they have to wear their environmental suits on their own ships.
 * Wrong Genre Savvy: See Robot War.

Batarians


A species whose formal political entity, the Batarian Hegemony, has separated from the Citadel Council due to perceived favoritism toward humanity during territorial disputes. Their society is caste-based (including slaves), and the Hegemony is also known to condone and support illicit terrorist activities against Citadel and other states, particularly the Alliance.

The Resurgence Pack makes batarian Sentinels and Soldiers available for multiplayer.


 * Exclusively Evil: There aren't many who like them, to put it mildly, and the Hegemony does nothing to dispel this notion. Batarian slavers / pirates / spy rings come up more often than those of any other species, with only a handful of vaguely-sympathetic ones on Omega. It takes the refugee influx of the Reaper invasion for Shepard to meet ordinary civilians.
 * Butt Monkey: They live under an oppressive regime, their decision to sever ties with the Council has supposedly led to a poor economy, a disproportionate number of Renegade choices involve killing them, in the Arrival DLC and  Even joining in the fight against the Reapers hasn't helped their reputation. As seen here Alliance soldiers don't warn batarian allies of ambushes and "forget" that medi-gel works on them.
 * Extra Eyes: Batarians have four eyes, one pair where a human would have theirs, and a slightly smaller pair higher up on the forehead. This makes it difficult for other species to know where to look when talking to them.
 * My Species Doth Protest Too Much:
 * You can meet individual batarians who can be reasoned with on Omega. Sure they're trying to kill you before you talk them down, but that's more due to panic and paranoia.
 * In Mass Effect 3,
 * Rubber Forehead Aliens: Imagine a human with yellow skin, needle-like fangs in their mouth, ridged foreheads, prominent diagonal "strut-like" designs on either side of their mouth, four sets of nostrils, and four eyes. That's basically the design of the batarians.
 * Retcon: Before Bring Down the Sky is downloaded, their codex entry in the first game shows them looking more like four-eyed salarians.

Vorcha


The vorcha are a short lived and violent species with the ablity to adapt to any condition. Most people consider them to be little more than talking vermin and they are usually only seen as cannon fodder for mercenary groups such as the Blood Pack.

The Rebellion Pack makes vorcha Sentinels and Soldiers available for multiplayer.


 * Exclusively Evil: You never meet any nice ones, though it is justified; they don't live long, have a culture that expresses emotions through violence, and are looked down upon by literally every species in the galaxy; even the quarians (themselves frequently the victims of Fantastic Racism) will very deliberately differentiate themselves from Vorcha, or use racist expressions. They don't really have any choice other than to be scavengers or mercs. Even then, it is noted that many live peaceful lives.
 * One is even an actor in a radio drama! In universe, it is a film, but players only hear an audio drama preview for it, so the vorcha is more than just a voice actor.
 * Mordin mentions "Asari-Vorcha children have an allergy to dairy". Asari-Vorcha offspring. May express more of a curiosity or depravity that certain asari hold than the civil nature of certain vorcha.
 * Cannon Fodder: Treated this way by the Blood Pack's krogan leaders.
 * Healing Factor: They can adapt to almost anything, and heal themselves mid-battle.
 * Mooks: The only vorcha you ever meet are Blood Pack mooks.
 * We Are as Mayflies: Twenty-year lifespans.
 * You No Take Candle: How they tend to speak. Some Vorcha appear to have learned how to speak properly, as Shepard found out on the Citadel when dealing with the leadership of the Blood Pack. It is also unclear whether their speech is truly a sign of low intelligence (most people assume it is), or just a result of being society's uneducated outcasts. Certainly, all the vorcha Shepard talks to understand what is being said to them, and are apparently capable of being reasoned with, (even if they are too aggressive to get very far in that regard,) so it may be that the racism against the vorcha is unjustified, though they do little to help their own image.

Rachni


The rachni were an insectoid race who attempted to invade Council Space approximately 2,000 years before the start of the series. They were defeated only when the salarians recruited the krogan, who proceeded to hunt the rachni into extinction. In Mass Effect 1, Shepard discovers an attempt to bring the rachni out of extinction.


 * Bee People
 * If you spared the rachni queen,
 * If you didn't spare the queen,
 * Cosmic Plaything: First,  Then   pushed them into a war that drove them to the brink of extinction, their survival hinging on the decision of a single human a thousand years later.
 * Endangered Species: They were actually thought extinct before a single queen egg was found. Shepard gets to decide whether or not to finish the job.
 * Genetic Memory: Queens apparently carry all the memories of previous queens with them.
 * Good All Along: The rachni are remembered for causing the bloodiest war in the history of the galaxy.
 * Hive Caste System: We've got workers (small exploding suicide bugs), soldiers, (bigger acid-spitting bugs), brood warriors (even bigger acid-spitting bugs with biotic powers) and the queen (freaking huge bug, combat capabilities unknown, whom we very fortunately do not have to fight).
 * Hive Mind
 * Hive Queen
 * Insectoid Aliens
 * Turns out they were this
 * Turns out they were this
 * Turns out they were this

Geth


"As individual runtimes, we are no greater than your software. Only when we share data do we become more."

- Legion

A race of synthetic constructs created by the quarians. Designed as Virtual Intelligences due to the threat of a Robot War, the quarians were not content to let well enough alone, and tinkered with the geth software enough to accidentally turn them into true AI. After this, the quarians attempted to destroy their creations, but the geth defended themselves and eventually pushed the quarians off the homeworld of Rannoch, not to mention their colonies. Afterwards, the geth avoided contact with the rest of the galaxy, save to kill travelers foolish enough to enter their territory. In Mass Effect 1, the geth ally with the rogue Spectre Saren Arterius to attack Council Space.

The Resurgence Pack DLC makes geth Engineers and Infiltrators available for multiplayer.

"Legion: It is not the destination that matters, but the journey."
 * Abnormal Ammo: A lot of their weapons. Their sniper rifle shoots a stream of molten metal, their shotgun shoots cluster rounds of superconducting projectiles, their heavy machine gun and submachine gun shoot clusters of donut-shaped superconducting toroids, and their Colossi shoot exploding energy balls to complement their anti-personnel machine gun. Their assault rifle on the other hand shoots relatively normal projectiles, except they're encased in a phasic envelope.
 * A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Initially played straight; their sentience resulted in a very bloody war with their creators, and the first time they reappeared after that, it was to attack the galaxy at large and aid the Reapers in their conquest. Eventually, though, it was revealed that the geth didn't fight offensively until they concluded there was no alternative, they spent three hundred years carefully avoiding antagonizing the galaxy, and the huge force that attacked the galaxy was a group of 'heretic' dissidents. That constitute five percent of their population. And all the rest want to do is be left alone to build their Dyson Sphere.
 * Alien Blood: Not technically, but they do have a white fluid that seems to serve the same purpose.
 * Alien Non-Interference Clause: The Geth enforce this on themselves as they believe all species should self-determinate.
 * The fact that every known species outside the Perseus Veil had dismantle-on-sight laws regarding A.I. probably didn't help.
 * Arachnoid Aliens: Their Armature and Colossi platforms. Their fighters also look rather insect-esque.
 * The Atoner: The geth as a whole give off this vibe. They outright state that they hold no ill will against the quarians, are actively repairing damage to Rannoch from the Morning War, and should peace be negotiated,
 * Badass Army: The geth have engineered every mobile platform to be capable of combat if needed, and they have some of the most advanced technology in the galaxy. If their support is secured in Mass Effect 3, then they end up contributing more effective ground assets to the war effort than any two other species combined, save for the krogan and humans.
 * Book Ends: The conflict between the geth and the quarians started when a geth asked its quarian mistress if it had a soul. will ask Tali the same question as a last appeal to reason.
 * Can Not Tell a Lie: Being creatures of logic, untruth is alien to the geth. They understand the concept, it just doesn't apply to them, much like emotion. They're even honest with each other about attacks in war.
 * They have, however, created some "harmless lies" in an attempt to study organics, such as a social experiment in which they spread word that certain stars will form the shape of a salarian goddess when seen from a certain batarian planet, then watched in confusion as salarians - without confirming this or even double-checking it - began to attempt at buying up property on that planet...which was completely made up by the geth for said experiment.
 * Certain upgrades to the geth code in Mass Effect 3 seem to show aversions to the trope, at least where is concerned; while they still do not actively lie and seem to show a disinclination for it,  became capable of being very conservative with the truth, albeit with fairly reasonable rationale.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: Some of their platforms are given distinct colors to distinguish them from one another. Moreso in Mass Effect 3, where there are are only five geth enemies but they are all uniquely colored. Geth Troopers are grey, Geth Rocket Troopers are white, Geth Pyros are yellow, Invisibility Geth Hunters are black, and Geth Primes are red.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Gets turned on them in Mass Effect 3, when
 * Cyber Cyclops: All platforms until the third game, which introduces three-eyed versions.
 * Do Androids Dream?: The geth asking their quarian masters whether they have souls is what made the quarians scared that they might turn against them.
 * Dyson Sphere:
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: Their philosophy in a nutshell. The heretics worship the Reapers as the source of their advancement. The true geth want to advance themselves without the Reapers' interference, no matter how much more arduous the task may be.
 * Interestingly enough, circumstances influence them to abandon this trope and

"Legion: It was apparently an acceptable trade."
 * Enemy Civil War: Emphasis on the civility; though they do fight each other,
 * Eva Fins: The higher-end platforms tend to sport one or two of these.
 * Face Heel Door Slam: Possible in Mass Effect 3. After joining galactic civilization and helping with the war effort, they can
 * Faceless Eye: The best way to describe the average geth head is a tube with a big glowing light in the end, surrounded by much smaller light. Legion has mobile flaps around its eye/s, allowing it to display... something.
 * Fricking Laser Beams: Unusually for this setting, they actually do possess laser weapons- for example, Geth Hoppers shot lasers from their eyes in the first game.
 * Heroic Neutral: Really, they mostly want to be left alone. Hell, that's a large part of their philosophy and belief system. However, second-hand accounts claim they shoot down any emissaries that have tried to make contact, including a quarian ship at one point according to the novels.
 * They also do precisely nothing about the splinter group of heretics that left the system, sided with the Reapers, and slaughtered millions of organics- until they get data that the heretics might be a threat to them, via a Reaper-derived virus. Upon learning that, they tell Legion who then asks Shepard for help.
 * Hive Mind / Mind Hive: Originally, they were a Hive Mind, only achieving sentience when enough units linked together. Eventually, they realized it was far more efficient to upload multiple programs into each body ('platforms,' as they call them), making their current incarnations into Mind Hives. Thus, they react to acts of aggression in a very hostile manner, as killing individual programs effectively decreases their intelligence.
 * Humanoid Aliens: Aside from Recon Drones, spaceships, and Armatures and Colossi, all their platforms are humanoid. Those aren't their actual bodies, however.
 * We Die Free: Averted.

""We are immortal. Our gods disowned us. We must invent our own reasons to exist.""
 * Individuality Is Illegal:
 * Instant AI, Just Add Water
 * Just a Machine: Had this aimed at them for most of the first game; Shepard can choose to avert this, and it starts getting questioned hard in the second game.
 * Large and In Charge: The more programs contained in a platform, the more intelligent the geth. The larger the platform, the more programs it can store. Ergo, the biggest ones are the smartest ones. Bet you'll regard colossi with even more terror now.
 * Machine Worship: Both factions aspire to the Reapers' state of being. The difference is in how they go about it.
 * Mecha-Mooks: Though they defy several traits usually associated with Mecha-Mooks, mostly because they have a sleek, thin, humanoid appearance, and aren't clunky or Made of Explodium.
 * Mechanical Evolution
 * Mechanical Lifeforms
 * No Need for Names: "We are all geth."
 * Poor Communication Kills: It turns out, the true geth are not bad guys. Unfortunately, they never bothered to tell anyone anything which led to the impression that they are. Doesn't help that they kill every sentient organic they encounter, and the only geth who have left the veil in 300 years are the heretics.
 * Ridiculously-Human Robots: They do soul-searching, they have religion, they have blood(-like substances), they scream when they die.
 * Robot Religion:
 * Robot Religion:
 * Robot Religion:


 * Robot War: They were only defending themselves, and regret the loss on both sides rather than holding a grudge.
 * Spider Tank: Armatures and Colossi.
 * Thank the Maker: Legion appends "Creator" to the name of any quarian they speak to, but there's no religious element.
 * We Have Reserves: Geth are effectively immortal unless their hubs are destroyed, and even then, they can simply upload their software to a new platform before dying. And new platforms are rather easy to make, so geth aren't exactly conservative with their troops.
 * But if their hubs and backups are destroyed, all hell will break loose: imagine that every time a human being died, everyone in their vicinity lost a bit of intelligence. When, they lost a significant fraction of their civilization; ergo, what if everyone in the United States lost fifty IQ points when the Twin Towers were hit. Cue the President being voted emergency powers and launching nuclear missiles - or in the geth's case,

Yahg


Hailing from Parnack, the yahg are known for their violent and aggressive nature. Consummate predators, the yahg possess unrivaled perceptiveness and mental adaptability. Discovered by the Citadel Council in 2125 CE, the yahg were unceremoniously barred from interaction with Citadel space after massacring the Council delegation.

As the yahg have yet to achieve interstellar spaceflight, Parnack goes unmolested during the Reaper invasion, and Admiral Hackett notes that they could end up running the next galactic cycle if everything else goes south. Given how dangerous they are now, the Reapers could seriously have their work cut out for them if the yahg had an additional 50,000 years of advancement.


 * Exclusively Evil: As far as the in-universe Codex is concerned, anyway.
 * Asskicking Equals Authority: Goes hand in hand with Authority Equals Asskicking.
 * Blue and Orange Morality: As a species built around a pack-like mentality, equality is an insult to them.
 * Composite Character: They have the adaptability of a human, the power of a krogan, the intelligence of a salarian and the discipline of a turian.
 * Extra Eyes: Yahg have four pairs of eyes, each designed to track and predict the movements of prey.
 * Fatal Flaw: These guys are immense control freaks. It works for their packs, but in the face of foreign affairs...
 * Getting one riled up might be another one, as it takes the "genius" from their Genius Bruiser status. It might have just been.
 * Genius Bruiser: They're stronger than krogan and it was said that had the intelligence of a salarian.
 * Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: We only know of their existence because . In a DLC, no less. Another yagh appears on Sur'kesh in the third game in the STG complex, where much fun is had with discussing the species' previous appearance.
 * Klingon Promotion: It's a tenant of the yahg pack-like mindset, evidenced by.
 * Large and In Charge: Based on how they tend to look, it's easy to assume that their pack leaders all fit the description.
 * Living Lie Detector: Due to a keen sensitivity to light and movement, the yahg can easily read the body language of any species, which did not end well when their first encounter with the rest of the galaxy was a group of politicians and diplomats.
 * Proud Warrior Race Guy: The most psychotic example in this series, by far.
 * Undying Loyalty: Yahg society is built around a pack mentality. A group of yahg will not cooperate until a single leader has attained dominance through either social maneuvering or brute force. Once the leader is established, the defeated yahg do not hold a grudge and former rivals serve their new superior loyally.

The Collectors


An enigmatic race from beyond the Omega 4 Relay, an unmapped relay from which no non-Collector vessel has ever returned. They've been around for centuries, yet only a few have ever seen them in person and many don't even believe they exist. They offer highly advanced technology in exchange for genetic samples from different species - and by 'samples', we mean living victims who are never heard from again.

In the aftermath of Sovereign's attack, they begin abducting entire human colonies for an unknown purpose.

"Mordin: Mental capacity almost gone, replaced by overworked sensory input transfers... transferring data to masters. No glands, replaced by tech. No digestive tract, replaced by tech. No soul - replaced by tech!"
 * Bee People
 * The Collector
 * Cybernetics Eat Your Soul:
 * Cybernetics Eat Your Soul:


 * Evilutionary Biologist: The entire species.
 * Frickin' Laser Beams: Quite a lot of their weapons fall under this trope, including the Collector Particle Beam.
 * Hero-Killer: If you screw up real bad, all of the team, including Shepard her/himself, get killed by the Collectors in Mass Effect 2.
 * Insectoid Aliens
 * Mooks
 * Airborne Mooks
 * Boss in Mook Clothing: Harbinger will sometimes directly control individual Collectors, turning them into one of these.
 * Elite Mooks: Guardians.
 * Giant Mook: Scions.
 * People Puppets: Harbinger treats them as such.
 * Slave Mooks:
 * Organic Technology: A lot of their technology, like the Praetorian (a flying light tank crab looking thing with dual lasers that appears to be made of a bunch of husks in an armored shell).
 * The Reveal:
 * Sealed Army in a Can: They've been around for  The Reapers just tried to use the more disposable   and heretic geth mooks first so they could have a back-up plan in case that failed.
 * Shrouded in Myth
 * Sealed Army in a Can: They've been around for  The Reapers just tried to use the more disposable   and heretic geth mooks first so they could have a back-up plan in case that failed.
 * Shrouded in Myth

Protheans


The Protheans were once the galaxy's dominant species. They are believed to have built the Mass Relays and the Citadel. However, they mysteriously vanished approximately 50,000 years before the series started.


 * Ancient Astronauts: They had a research outpost on Mars, and tagged and studied ancient humans before their destruction. There are also a large number of Prothean structures on the hanar homeworld, who fervently believe that they were uplifted by the Protheans.
 * Benevolent Precursors: In a scenario similar to the Forerunners, but these guys are much more sympathetic.
 * They were especially benevolent towards
 * Cthulhumanoid: There are statues with this theme on Ilos, and so it was speculated that they looked like this. Jossed by Mass Effect 2, which revealed . It also reveals that
 * Fling a Light Into the Future:
 * Higher-Tech Species: Even considering the fact that they didn't build the mass relays, their technology is still far beyond any known race's in the galaxy.
 * Hoisted By Their Own Petard: They uplifted the Rachni to function as living weapons, always selecting the most vicious and warlike queens for their breeding program, until the predictable happened and they had to burn 200 worlds to take control of the situation.
 * Mundane Made Awesome: According to Javik, Protheans liked passing time by having hours-long staring contests.
 * Proud Warrior Race Guy:
 * Ragnarok Proofing: Not all of it survived, but a impressive amount of their tech still works fifty thousand years after the fact.
 * Serious Business: Javik claimed that gambling was punishable by death within their empire. They also apparently passed the time via staring contests. That lasted for hours. Granted, it is Javik who makes that claim.
 * Space Romans: The Protheans were actually much like Ancient Rome, particularly in their methodology with conquering other species.
 * Suspended Animation: . In the "From the Ashes" DLC for Mass Effect 3,
 * Theme Naming: They apparently liked to name their virtual intelligence programs names that started with the letter V; Vigil, Victory, and Vendetta.
 * Suspended Animation: . In the "From the Ashes" DLC for Mass Effect 3,
 * Theme Naming: They apparently liked to name their virtual intelligence programs names that started with the letter V; Vigil, Victory, and Vendetta.

The Reapers


A race of machines who are believed to have hunted the Protheans to extinction. Shepard discovers that the Reapers are about to return and spends the trilogy trying to stop them.

"Saren: But the reaction of their deity is most telling. It is insulted."
 * Abusive Precursors: Good Lord yes! They hold the current page quote.
 * Zigzagged: They consider the
 * Ambiguous Robots: They detest organic creatures and seem mechanical in nature.
 * And I Must Scream: Several of the nasty fates they have in store for the galaxy, from turning people into husks, to Indoctrination, and.
 * Always Lawful Evil
 * Animal Motif: The Reapers look suspiciously like a techno-organic version of the reaper cuttlefish.
 * : How new ones are made.
 * Batman Gambit: A particularly devious (and brilliant) one is what makes the entire extinction cycle possible.
 * However clever it is (and it is very clever,) the scheme is severely hampered by the unanticipated actions of the Protheans.
 * Big Bad: The whole point of the trilogy is to bring them down, and they're behind much of the villains in each game.
 * Bigger Bad: For the first two games, an individual Reaper acts as The Man Behind the Man and the main driving force for the armies of the geth and the Collectors respectively. In the third game, they lead their Mooks in a direct attack.
 * Blue and Orange Morality: They claim this, but in truth it seems to have less to do with genuine inscrutability and more to do with their monumental arrogance and contempt for 'lesser races'. The truth is that while the Reapers are arrogant,
 * Brown Note: The deep bass sound-blasts that the Destroyers make are supposed to be able to instill a fear response in organics that hear it.
 * Cool Starships: They are remarkably powerful and even look really cool and sinister. Whatever your thoughts on their practices, there is no denying that they are awesome starships.
 * Cultural Posturing: It seems to be their national sport.
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy: Oh hell yes. Just about everything they do, from their Batman Gambit, to killing the hero once s/he showed how big of a threat s/he was, to attempting to recover his/her body to confirm the death, etc. REEKS of genre savviness.
 * To be expected: it is unknown how many cycles they've gone through, but it's clearly a very large number, so they've probably had lots of experience dealing with exceptional individuals.
 * Eldritch Abomination
 * Everything's Squishier with Cephalopods: The Reapers' design resembles that of an actual animal, the reaper cuttlefish.
 * Evil Sounds Deep: Every Reaper so far has spoken in teeth-rattling bass tones.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: Basically, being vaporized is probably the most merciful fate they can give you.
 * Higher-Tech Species: Almost all of their tech defies understanding. Some of them seem to defy the laws of physics.
 * I Am Legion: "We are each a nation."
 * Living Ship:
 * Machine Worship: The heretic geth worship them as gods, the pinnacle of what the geth aspire to be.
 * The Man Behind the Man:
 * Mechanical Lifeforms
 * Mind Hive: Its revealed in the second game that individual Reapers are actually made up of a collection of independent AI programs that work together with a singular will and goal.
 * Mind Rape: Reaper indoctrination. Quite possibly the most horrible fate a being can suffer.
 * Nigh Invulnerability: They can be killed but it takes an enormous amount of effort to bring down even a weaker Reaper.
 * To put this in perspective: in Mass Effect 2, it took the equivalent of a nuke and a half to take down one Reaper. A Reaper who technically hadn't even been "born" yet.
 * No Conservation of Energy: As far as anyone is able to tell, the Reapers appear to be perpetual motion machines with no need for fuel or maintenance. The Codex specifically mentions how impossible this should be, and how it allows previously unseen war strategies that require no supply lines even in the long term conflicts.
 * Omnicidal Maniac
 * One Ship Armada: It took two fleets, the Destiny Ascension and a massive stroke of luck to bring down Sovereign, a single Reaper capital ship. And while capital ships are the most powerful Reaper design, even the relatively smaller destroyers can take insane amounts of damage before they fall.
 * Order Versus Chaos: According to Sovereign, they "bring order to the chaos of organic evolution." He's not spouting arrogance there:
 * Outside Context Villain:
 * Precursor Killers: Though they're technically the alpha-precursors, they're still the ones who killed the Protheans.
 * Pretender Diss: Despite the size of their egos, they find the heretics' worship demeaning.

"Dying Reaper: Harbinger speaks of you."
 * Ragnarok Proofing: Well, the stuff they leave behind is supposed to go fifty thousand years plus without maintenance.
 * Regularly-Scheduled Evil: Their galactic genocides come every 50,000 years or so. Part of the plot of the series is the current iteration of the cycle has been delayed by several thousand years by outside forces, making the Reapers somewhat desperate to get things back on track.
 * Sapient Ship:
 * Sealed Evil in a Can: A rare case of self-sealing evil. They hibernate outside of the galaxy in between cycles both to conserve energy and prevent discovery.
 * Slave Mooks: Anyone who works for the Reapers is this. They don't see anyone or anything as their equal, or even worthy of respect. If you work for the Reapers, you are first either indoctrinated, implanted, zombified, or reprogrammed, and then you are dead. Period.
 * Spider Tank: The Destroyer model.
 * Sufficiently Advanced Alien
 * Villain Override: The closest they get to fighting Shepard in person...until the third game.
 * Worthy Opponent: They have come to see Shepard as "an annoyance." Considering how massive their egos are, this is pretty much the highest possible praise they could give an enemy.

Husks


"Thane: There are tales about such things among my people - devices buried on distant worlds that turn the finders into abominations."

Non-sapient synthetic creatures that are created using the bodies of organic beings. They are of Reaper origin. Husk is both the name of the 'generic' human zombie enemy and a general term for Reaper-fied organics.


 * Action Bomb: Abominations.
 * Arm Cannon: Cannibals, batarian-human hybrids from 3.
 * Body Horror: Oh god.
 * Cruel and Unusual Death: To create a husk, organics are impaled on spikes which converts organic materials into synthetic ones. Usually though, they're already dead.
 * Eye Beams: The primary attack Praetorians use.
 * Grenade Launcher: The Cannibal's Arm Cannon, in addition to shooting what appears to be red flechettes in the place of bullets, can also fire frag grenades. Unlike most examples of this trope, the grenades still take a few seconds to detonate after they land.
 * I'm a Humanitarian: Cannibals replenish health by eating their own dead (er, dead-er) allies.
 * Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How they are made.
 * Mooks: In all three games.
 * Boss in Mook Clothing: Banshees, husked Asari, in Mass Effect 3. They have Biotic barriers and armor instead of health which makes them immune to biotics, they can Flash Step, and they also have the ability to grab people and subsequently impale them with their hands, resulting in instant death. Sometimes they will stand still and briefly appear to charge up, after which they will scream and release an attack that covers a surprisingly large area. Finally, they throw powerful projectiles that move slowly but track their target. Have fun.
 * Giant Mook: Scions. Also a Boss in Mook Clothing. In Mass Effect 3, Brutes fill this role; they're huskified krogans with a turian head for higher intelligence.
 * Night of the Living Mooks
 * Slave Mooks
 * Elite Mooks: Marauders. Husked turians, they have kinetic barriers and a turian assault rifle, and also tend to buff nearby foes as well.
 * Ominous Walk: Banshees will engage in this when not teleporting around.
 * Power Floats: Before you take down their biotic barriers.
 * Our Zombies Are Different: Well, they're mechanical, for one thing. The creation process is taking (preferably living) organic beings and impaling them on spikes, which slowly replaces tissue with machinery. They start out as somewhat standard zombies (albeit with electrical attacks), but Mass Effect 2 and especially Mass Effect 3 features tons of varieties with neat abilities like exploding, having guns built into their arms, and being very durable.

Thresher Maw


"Zaeed: Standard operating procedure when you get a thresher maw is run the hell away. Pick up sticks. Move the hell out! Krogan don't know any better."

Tuchanka's ultimate predator, Thresher Maws are enormous subterranean creatures that spend their whole life eating or searching for something to eat. Thanks to their method of reproduction (spores that can survive in space), they've made it to plenty of other planets. In the Sole Survivor background, Commander Shepard was the Sole Survivor of a thresher maw attack triggered by a particularly nasty Cerberus cell.


 * Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: The first time one is encountered in the first game can be like this.
 * Kaiju: Kalros especially
 * Mother of a Thousand Young: The legendary Kalros, said by Eve to be the mother from whom all Thresher Maws spawn. This is *probably* an exaggeration, but
 * Sand Worm
 * Timed Mission: On Grunt's loyalty mission in the second game, you have to survive a thresher maw attack for five minutes. Or you can just kill it.
 * Worm Sign