SALARIAN

Salarians were the second species to join the Citadel. They are warm-blooded amphibians native to the planet Sur’Kesh. Salarians possess a hyperactive metabolism; they think fast, talk fast, and move fast. To salarians, other species seem sluggish and dull-witted, especially the elcor. Unfortunately, their metabolic speed leaves them with a relatively short lifespan; salarians over the age of 40 are a rarity.

Salarians are known for their observational capability and nonlinear thinking. This manifests as an aptitude for research and espionage. They are constantly experimenting and inventing, and it is generally accepted that they always know more than they are letting on.


BIOLOGY

The salarians are a bipedal race of amphibians, with tall, elongated bodies. Their heads are long and thin, and have a pair of horns protruding from the top of their skulls. Salarian skin varies in color, but most have a shade of blue or grey. Some however are brightly colored, ranging from light red to green. Salarian eyes are large, oval and have thin membranes in place of eyelids. Salarians blink upwards, rather than downwards as humans do. The pupils are a wide slit, oriented horizontally, and iris colours include green, purple and brown.

Salarians are noted for their high speed metabolism, which allows them to function on just one hour of sleep a day. Their minds and bodies work faster than most sapient races, making them seem restless or hyperactive. The drawback of this active metabolism is a short lifespan of around 40 human years.

The salarians are haplo-diploid egg-layers; unfertilized eggs produce males and fertilized eggs produce females. Once a year, a salarian female will lay a clutch of dozens of eggs. Social rules prevent all but a fraction from being fertilized. As a result, 90% of the species is male.

Salarians also have photographic memories and rarely forget a fact. They possess a form of psychological ‘imprinting’, tending to defer to those they knew in their youth. Salarian hatching is a solemn ritual in which the clan Dalatrass (matriarch) isolates herself with the eggs. The young salarians psychologically imprint on her and tend to defer to her wishes. During the hatching of daughters, the Dalatrasses of the mother and father’s clans are present at the imprinting. This ensures the offspring have equal loyalty to both, ensuring the desired dynastic and political unity. Salarian sex drive and reproduction appear to differ from that of humans and it is not hormone-based. They are, however, attracted to the asari.


HISTORY

On their first three interstellar colonies, the salarians planted settlements named Aegohr, Mannovai, and Jaëto. The salarians were the second species to discover the Citadel. They opened diplomatic relations at once and became one of the founding species of the Citadel Council. In a gesture of trust, the salarians opened the records of one of their intelligence services, the League of One, but this quickly created problems when the League’s members found themselves in danger as a result. The League slaughtered the entire Salarian Union inner cabinet, but were later hunted down, leaving only relics behind.

The salarians also played a significant role in the advancement of the krogan species. The salarians provided the krogan with advanced technology and a new, tranquil home planet (in order to manipulate the krogan into eradicating the rachni for the Council). The peaceful home planet and better technology put less strain on the krogan as a species; they no longer had to worry about simply surviving on a dangerous planet with primitive technology, as they did before contact with the salarians. This comparatively easy life, combined with their exceedingly high birth rate, allowed the krogans the time, numbers and energy to spread through Citadel space, aggressively claiming formerly allied planets as their own. In order to end these “Krogan Rebellions” the salarians then provided the turians with the genophage, a biological weapon that effectively sterilized the krogan resulting in almost all krogan pregnancies ending in stillbirth.

Though their military is nothing special, salarians are currently seen as the premier intelligence and information-gathering arm of the Council, though some see the salarians as manipulators.


CULTURE

Salarians excel at invention, preferring to use cutting-edge technology rather than settle for anything less. For example, their GARDIAN starship defenses put emphasis on high performance over reliability even though a malfunction could cost lives.

Salarians see information gathering and even spying as imperative when dealing with other races, simply because “knowledge is power”. Alliance counterintelligence agencies are constantly uncovering salarian agents and cyber-warfare incursions, but there is little they can do to stop them.

Normally, the rare salarian females are cloistered on their worlds out of tradition and respect. Powerful female Dalatrasses are dynasts and political kingpins. They determine the political course of their respective regions through shrewd negotiation. Though male salarians rise to positions of great authority in business, academia, or the military, they rarely have any input on politics, with the exception of the salarian representative on the Citadel Council who is a male.

Due to their method of reproduction, salarians have no concept of romantic love, sexual attraction, or the biological impulses and social rituals that complicate other species’ lives. Male-female relationships are rare (due to the scarcity of females) and more akin to human friendship. Sexuality is strictly for the purpose of reproduction. Ancient social codes determine who gets to fertilize eggs, which produces more daughters to continue the bloodline. Fertilization generally only occurs after months of negotiation between the parents’ clans, and is done for purposes of political and dynastic alliance. No salarian would imagine defying this code. Salarian names are quite complex. A full name includes – in order – the name of a salarian’s homeworld, nation, city, district, clan name and given name. Most, however, go by their given name.

The salarian race also includes the Lystheni “offshoot”. How the Lystheni are distinct from mainline salarians and why they are currently unwelcome in Council space is unrevealed. Lystheni salarians may be found living among batarians, exiled quarians, and other galactic refuse at Omega.

Salarians celebrate “Betau”, the first day of their New Year. Traditionally, it marks the end of winter in the southern hemisphere on the salarian homeworld, Sur’Kesh. During this occasion, they repay debts, and petition favors from one another.


ECONOMY

The salarian economy is the smallest of the three Council races, but still far larger than the Alliance. It is based on “bleeding-edge” technologies; salarian industries are leaders in most fields. They make up for a lack of military quantity by holding a decisive superiority in quality.


RELIGION

Salarians are not notably religious, but as free-willed sentients there are exceptions. One of the less favored salarian religions (which the Council deems a “cult”) worships a goddess, and claims that a certain pattern of overlapping craters in the southern hemisphere of Trelyn resembles her. Many salarians believe in a wheel of life, a belief that is spreading due to the short life-spans of salarians – the believers claim that life cannot be so short when so much is left to do.


GOVERNMENT

The salarian government, since at least the formation of the Council in 500 BCE, is called the Salarian Union. It is a labyrinthine web of matrilineal bloodlines, with political alliances formed through interbreeding. In many ways, the salarian political network functions like the noble families of Earth’s Medieval Europe. Structurally, the government consists of fiefdoms, baronies, duchies, planets, and marches (colonization clusters). These are human nicknames, as the original salarian is unpronounceable. Each area is ruled by a single Dalatrass (matriarchal head-of-household) and represents an increasing amount of territory and prestige within the salarian political web.

Approaching 100 members, the first circle of a salarian’s clan comprises parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, and cousins. The next circle includes second cousins, etc, and escalates to well over 1000 members. The fourth or fifth circle of a clan numbers into the millions. Salarian loyalty is greatest to their first circle and diminishes from there. Their photographic memories allow salarians to recognize all their myriad relatives.


MILITARY

In principle, the salarian military is similar to the Systems Alliance, a small volunteer army that focuses on maneuver warfare. What differentiates the salarians is not their equipment or doctrine, but their intelligence services and rules of engagement. The salarians believe that a war should be won before it begins (a doctrine also espoused by some of humanity’s greatest generals, such as Sun Tzu). The unquestioned superiority of their intelligence services allows them to use their small military to maximum effectiveness. Well before fighting breaks out, they possess complete knowledge of their enemy’s positions, intentions and timetable.

Their powerful intelligence network is spearheaded in the field by Special Tasks Groups (STG) who monitor developing situations and take necessary action, usually without the shackles of traditional laws and procedures. The effectiveness of the STG during the Krogan Rebellion is what provided the template for the Council to establish their SPECTRE program immediately afterward.

In every war the salarians have fought, they struck first and without warning. For the salarians, to know an enemy plans to attack and let it happen is folly; to announce their own plans to attack is insanity. They find the human moral concepts of ‘do not fire until fired upon’ and ‘declare a war before prosecuting it’ incredibly naive. In defensive wars, they execute devastating preemptive strikes hours before the enemy’s own attacks. On the offense, they have never issued an official declaration of war before attacking.

Biotics are virtually unknown in the salarian military. Those with such abilities are considered too valuable to be used as cannon fodder and are assigned to the intelligence services or even to be allowed to freely roam the galaxy freely. Thus salarian biotic users are kept under the strict scrutiny of the Dalarass to
which they are most loyal.

While capable of defending themselves against most threats, the salarians know the value of alliances, especially with those with a stronger military like the turians. Though the relationship between the two species was rocky at first due to the krogan uplift fiasco, the salarians take pains to keep this relationship strong enough that anyone who threatens them risks turian intervention. The salarian navy has sixteen dreadnoughts, which is considerably less than the maximum they are allowed to build according to the Treaty of Farixen.


RACIAL TRAITS

Homeworld: Sur'kesh
Lifespan: 40 years
Creature Size: Medium
Movement Speed: 4
Talent: Salarian
Level Up: 100xp


TALENT: SALARIAN

Rank1 Salarian Level1 Eccentricism: Seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted, who is very interested in technical subjects of every little thing, Salarian often focus on increasing their knowledge at cost of lacking social skills. Salarian starts game with +2 to Intelligence and -2 to Charisma and -2 to Strength. The excessively high metabolism makes them tall and lean but not built muscularly. A physically strong Salarian is a rare sight.

Rank2 Salarian Level5 Amphibious: Salarians can breathe underwater and have a swim movement speed of 5 squares. This is 25% faster than their movement on land, and 66% faster than human can move on the land.

Rank3 Salarian Level10 Rapid Metabolism: This perk ensures they only need to rest for 1 hour to gain the benefits of an 8 hour rest. In a battle all combat talents have reduced cooldown by 1 round.

Rank4 Salarian Level15 Hyperactive: The Salarians are very agile and quick, this allows them to be moving before their mind has fully comprehend the threat. Salarian Gains +1 Move or +1 Standard Action every other round.

EvolutionA Bonus Attack: Salarian can attack one more time with main hand using the highest attack bonus available in same turn.
EvolutionB Instinctive: Salarian receives additional +5 bonus to Reflex Save.

Rank5 Salarian Level20 Scientific Mind: Mind of a Salarian questions everything around it and within it. It seeks answers, reasons and explanations ranging from what exists at the edge of universe to the reason behind why we even exist. It scrutinizes the facts presented before it and only then accepts it. It dives into the complex of things to find an underlying pattern or relations which binds the parts of the whole together. It accepts the truth however bitter it is, and does not veil its eyes with are more acceptable but inaccurate explanation. It finds beauty in both the complexity and the simplicity. Salarian receives additional +2 bonus to Intelligence attribute.

EvolutionA Genius: Geniuses have a certain skillset and way of perceiving the world in bigger detail and with higher clarity. They see the world more simply, as it is for them, and thus produce works which can seem so complex. This is evident in all their interaction with the world. Even an ordinary Salarian is considered a genius among humans. But a genius among Salarians themselves, now that is a whole new level. Salarian Intelligence attribute further increases by 2 (Total +6 Specie Intelligence Bonus).
EvolutionB Keen Intellect: Faculty of reasoning and understanding objectively, especially with regard to abstract matters, the Salarian now add Intelligence modifier as associated attribute to will saves. This stacks with any Wisdom modifier that the Salarian may already have.
EvolutionC Mind over Body: Your diligent training and intense mental focus combine to allow you to overcome physical threats with the raw power of your mind. Salarian now uses Intelligence modifier in place of Constitution modifier for determinating health pool and fortitude save.