"Mass Effect" - Universe [5] Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hanar

There were three species on the council at the beginning of "Mass Effect": the asari, the salarians, and the turians. The asari were the first species since the Protheans to find the Citadel. The salarians were second, and the two species set up the Citadel Council. The Council was supposed to be able to look out for the greater good of the galactic community, rather than forwarding the agendas of those that sat on it. Species that could demonstrate this selflessness were given a seat.

Many other species also found the Citadel over time, and joined the galactic community. Most did not have the resources to help the galactic community, and did not join the Council. Instead they were given embassies. The turians were granted a seat on the Council after they defended the Citadel species during the Krogan Rebellions.

Answer: A Mass Relay

The Citadel was a large space station at a busy node in the mass relay network. This made it very easy for species to find it, and to branch out to the rest of the galaxy. The galaxy's space faring civilizations believed it to be the pinnacle of Prothean engineering, along with the mass relays. It was the heart of the Prothean empire.

This was only half true. The Protheans found the Citadel the same way the modern species found it, as did the species that came before the Protheans, and so on. Every 50 000 years at least one species would achieve spaceflight, and would find the Citadel. It would become the hub of their empires that would link all their colonies. And then they would disappear. The extinction events were so complete that humanity's colleagues in space only had solid evidence of the most recent extinction.

It turned out that the Citadel and the relay network were not constructed by the Protheans, as originally believed, but by their exterminators, the Reapers. The Reapers built the network so that any species that found it would develop their technology along paths that the Reapers desired. The space-faring species would make their way to the Citadel, the heart of the network, and set up a galactic government. By accessing the stored data on the Citadel, the Reapers could easily learn everything there was to know about a species, including the location of all their colonies. The Reapers could then quickly spread out into the galaxy from that central node.

It was eventually revealed that the Citadel itself was a giant mass relay. It connected to dark space, where the Reapers waited, and it was their gateway into the Milky Way. The Reapers were so advanced and massive that they could easily overwhelm any security guarding the Citadel when they suddenly entered, and would be able to download the Citadel's data stores before its occupants could ever figure out what was going on.

This cycle of extinctions was put on hold by the Protheans. They knew that the Citadel was maintained by the Keepers, and they they would open the Citadel for the Reapers when a certain signal came. The Protheans reprogrammed the system to ignore the signal the next time it was sent, buying future races time. When the signal was sent and the Reapers did not come, Sovereign, a Sentinel of the Reapers left in the galaxy, set about fixing the situation.

Answer: Peak 15 Research Facility

The Peak 15 Research Facility was one of many isolated research labs on Noveria. Companies could rent the labs to experiment with dangerous materials, and design hazardous products, such as chemical or biological weapons. During "Mass Effect", Peak 15 was being used by Binary Helix, a company that Saren held substantial stock in. Benezia was there growing rachni, a species once thought extinct.

ExoGeni did not have any interests on Noveria (or at least any that were made apparent). They had a building on Feros that they used to run one of their major projects.

The Breeding Grounds were found on Virmire, and were the location of Saren's project to create an army of cloned krogan.

Sha'ira was the asari consort, and was wealthy and respected enough to have a location on the Presidium. She had many high-ranking clients from a number of different species, and some people were willing to shell out many months worth of income just for a single meeting.

Answer: Quarians

The quarians have a sad tale. 300 years before the events in "Mass Effect" they were evicted from their homeplanet by the geth in a bloody war.

The geth were created as mechanical servants for the quarians, and were not individual artificial intelligences (AI). AI research was restricted by the Citadel. The geth formed a neural network that would allow them to share resources to perform faster. When enough geth were close enough together, an intelligence started to form. The quarians realized what had happened, and tried to shutdown the geth. However, it was too late, and the geth defended themselves. After a massive genocide of the quarian race, the few remaining quarians fled to space in whatever ships they could get. The geth did not pursue, and instead took an isolationist stance, hiding behind the Perseus Veil. No one really knew what the geth were doing, and all attempts at communication were met with hostility.

During the events of "Mass Effect", the quarians lived aboard the Migrant Fleet, the single largest fleet in the entire galaxy. Their weakened immune systems made settling a new planet very difficult, and quarian politics often focused around whether to settle a new planet, or attempt to retake their homeworld.

Answer: The geth

The geth were the mechanical servants of the quarians that rebelled against their masters 300 years before "Mass Effect". We didn't learn a whole lot about the geth in "Mass Effect", but their history and culture were filled out quite a bit in "Mass Effect 2".

The geth made up the majority of enemy units fought in "Mass Effect", and especially so on the main story worlds.

Geth were entirely software, and used mobile platforms to move about. Most mobile platforms that housed the geth could contain many individuals. The mobile platforms that Shepard fought usually had about 100 geth individuals each.

The geth were individually unimpressive, but when in proximity to one another, they shared resources to make computations faster. This also allowed for more advanced process to take place. Eventually, with enough geth close together, a rudimentary intelligence formed. Most geth lived in large storage units with other geth, creating vast neural networks. The geth could not hold secrets from one another, as every geth knew every other geth's "mind". Because the geth communicated at the speed of light, it was easy to form a consensus on how to handle every situation, reaching a true democracy. When not surrounded by other geth, such as when in a mobile platform, it was described as being lonely and with a dimmed view of the universe.

Answer: Zhu's Hope

Feros was a former Prothean metropolis, with ancient buildings extending through the cloud tops. The human colony of Zhu's Hope was set up by the company ExoGeni, at the top of an old skyscraper. During the events of "Mass Effect", Zhu's Hope was under siege by the geth. Depending on Shepard's actions, the inhabitants of Zhu's Hope could either rebuild the colony or be relocated back to Earth.

Chora's Den was a club on the Citadel. It was the location of Fist's office, a small-time crime boss. Chora's Den was where Shepard talked to Harkin for information on Garrus. It was also where Shepard learned about Tali.

C-Sec was the shortened name for Citadel Security, and like its name implies, was also found on the Citadel. C-Sec was the primary police force for the Citadel. Garrus worked for C-Sec before joining Shepard's squad.

The Prothean dig site was an archeological dig site on Therrum. Liara was working there when she was attacked by geth. She locked herself in the ruins, but couldn't escape. At least not until Shepard rescued her.

Answer: Genophage

The krogan were once a strong and proud species. They could survive very harsh environments and had unrivaled natural healing capabilities. They also reproduced amazingly fast, with many thousand being born in a single clutch.

The salarians found the krogan and uplifted them from their homeworld, giving them space flight. With this new technology, the krogan expanded very fast, claiming planets that the other species didn't want or couldn't inhabit. However, the krogan began targeting and uprooting planets already settled by Citadel races. When the Citadel council warned them to stop, the krogan ignored the order. A vicious war to stop krogan expansion ensued.

The salarians created the genophage, a genetic modification that altered krogan birthrates significantly. Without their ability to keep their numbers up, and their generally weak tactical and technological minds, the krogan were pushed back.

During "Mass Effect", krogan generally hired themselves out as mercenaries, preferring to fight rather than deal with politics and science. Because many left their homeworld to continue their violent lifestyle (and often getting themselves killed), the krogan populations were dropping even further. Most krogan harbored a deep hatred and distrust towards the salarians.

Vrolik Syndrome is an unofficial name for osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease). Joker, the pilot of the Normandy, suffered from this condition.

Kepral's Syndrome was a fictional syndrome that was explained in "Mass Effect 2". The drell were a reptilian race, and many relocated from their native dry Rakhana to the more humid hanar homeworld, Kahje. This shift to an environment that the drell were not well adapted to caused Kepral's Syndrome.

The Collectors, seen in "Mass Effect 2", had access to a vast amount of technology, and could engineer their own intricate bio weapons. They released a deadly virus on Omega Station.

Answer: Flux

Flux was one of two clubs found on the Citadel, the other being Chora's Den. While Chora's Den was a gentlemen's club, Flux was a gambling establishment with a dancefloor. Flux was where Shepard met David Anderson when planning to steal the Normandy.

On Feros there was a creature called the Thorian that had lived during Prothean occupation of the planet. It resided in the Thorian Chamber, which was just beneath the human colony of Zhu's Hope. The colonist were being used as test subjects by ExoGeni.

Port Hanshan was the main port on Noveria. It housed docking bays and many corporate offices. None of the labs were housed at Port Hanshan. Companies had to travel by shuttle or ground vehicle to get to the research labs.

The original mission to Virmire was to investigate a call for help by a salarian STG. After fighting through to the salarian camp, Shepard learned that that Saren had a base on Virmire and was attempting to breed krogan.

Answer: Elcor

The volus/elcor embassy was the only embassy apart from the human embassy that Commander Shepard could visit during "Mass Effect".
The Council races (asari, salarians, and turians) all had embassies, as well as Council races such as the hanar.

The quarians once had an embassy, but it was taken away when they accidentally created the geth. The batarians also had an embassy, but closed it when the Council sided with the humans on territorial disputes. The krogan lost their embassy when they attempted to settle worlds already settled by other Citadel races.

The keepers, despite maintaining the Citadel, otherwise didn't interact with the larger galactic community, and thus didn't have an embassy. Races like the geth and the rachni never integrated themselves with the other races, and thus didn't have embassies either.

Answer: The humans and the rachni

The Rachni War started around 1 CE and lasted for a century. The rachni were a hostile insectoid race that could live in harsh environments. They had a hive-mind and were very difficult fight. The salarians found the krogan, and uplifted them off their native Tuchanka. The Citadel used the krogan to fight the rachni, and sent them onto the harsh rachni worlds, driving the rachni to near extinction.

As thanks for their help against the rachni, the Citadel gave the krogan a number of worlds (but not a Council seat). The krogan started to expand their territory, however. They soon started to take planets claimed by other Citadel species, and the Krogan Rebellions started in roughly 700 CE. The krogan were initially too strong for the Citadel races to repel, and many worlds were lost. The turians, however, soon found the Citadel, and decided to help the Citadel Council. They used their massive fleets and excellent military training to hold the krogan at bay, but they also started to lose the fight. The salarians finally came up with the genophage, which they passed along to the turians to use. After the genophage was released, the turians handily restored order to the galaxy. For their efforts, they were granted a seat on the Citadel Council.

When humanity first escaped their home system, they sent probes and exploration teams through many relays. The Citadel had laws governing the use of the relays, and did not allow use of a relay until its partner had been mapped. This law came from the aftermath of the Rachni War. Humanity hadn't met any other species, though, and didn't know of these laws. When turians saw a human enter a restricted relay, they attacked, starting the First Contact War in 2157 CE. Because humanity had just encountered a new species that was initially hostile, they built up their forces and attacked, not knowing exactly what they were up against, but ready to defend themselves. The turians responded in kind. The Council saw what was happening, and made humanity aware of the greater galactic community, stopping the conflict before it escalated out of control. The First Contact War, as it was called by the humans (called the Relay 314 Incident by the turians), was a short conflict of only a few months, and relatively few casualties, but left a bitterness between humanity and the turians for decades. Humanity augmented the Citadel fleets with their own ships, and became official allies of the turians, if begrudgingly.

By the time humanity arrived on the galactic scene, the rachni were long considered extinct.