Salarians | Mass Effect 1 Wiki

Salarian Biology

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 amphibian 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 have photographic memories and rarely forget a fact. They also 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 matriarch, known as the Dalatrass, 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 Culture

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.

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.

Salarian Government

The Salarian government 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.

Salarians League of One

Before they joined the Citadel Council, the Salarians' most potent military tool was a small reconnaissance team known as the League of One. Their primary training was in espionage and assassination. Never more than a dozen strong, the teams was adept at infiltrating the tightest defenses and eliminating all necessary obstacles. 

Only a few top members of government and military were privy to the League's identities. League members wore no distinguishing garments, and held no particular rank. The only evidence was a small medallion presented to each member upon induction. This secrecy was maintained until the formation of the Council.

In an effort to dispel rumors and appease their new Asari partners, the Salarian Union released all classified documents pertaining to the League. The League of One was suddenly exposed and in danger of being hunted by Enemies of the Salarians. Before any harm could be done, the team mysteriously disappeared. Most assumed this was a convenient lie to help hider their identities, but a few months later, the inner cabinet was murdered. Though there was no incriminating evidence, it was clear who was responsible.

Realizing the threat posed by this rogue outfit, the Special Tasks Group dispatched a team of hunters. When they didn't return, the STG dispatched ten of its brightest operators with broad discretionary powers. Only two returned; they reported no evidence of the  League.

No further incidents were reported and it was assumed the League was wiped out. Some recently declassified documents, however, have suggested there may have been a thirteenth member who eluded the Salarian military.

Salarians Military Doctrine

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.

Conventional wisdom holds that the Salarians know everything about everyone, and this is not far from the truth. In war, 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.

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.

While capable of defending themselves against most threats, the Salarians know that they are small fish in a universe filled with sharks. As a point of survival, they have cultivated strong alliances with larger powers, particularly with 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 might threaten them risks Turian intervention.

Salarians Special Tasks Group

Salarian intelligence field agents are grouped into an organization called the Special Tasks Group. STG operators work in independent cells, performing dangerous missions such as counterterrorism, infiltration reconnaissance, assassination, and sabotage.

The STG is a proactive organization, puncturing worrisome trends before they become movements. At any time, a dozen groups are operating covertly within the lawless Terminus Systems, sowing dissent among the various factions. Civilian analysts also note how troublesome "hinge points" individuals in Terminus frequently meet unexpected deaths.

STG operators are feared throughout the galaxy for their clear-eyed, remorseless practicality. They are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their mission, even if it kills civilians or results in the team's own destruction. In many ways, they are aking to the Council Spectres. 

Recently, a number of STG cells have been redeployed from Salarian Union. It is assumed they are in the Terminus and Attican Traverse, investigating reports of Geth activity beyond the Perseus Veil.