Saren Arterius

Saren in 2158

**Saren Arterius** is a SPECTRE agent for the Citadel Council, a veteran of the Turian Hierarchy and brother to deceased General Desolas Arterius.

## Biography

Born over two decades after his elder brother, Saren spent much of his young life looking up to the elder Arterius, already setting himself apart as an officer within the Hierarchy. When the time came for Saren to leave their hometown of Ibusanus, he excelled in training and was assigned to his brother's command.

In 2155 he was assigned to active service after only a year of training, and he was directly involved in several skirmishes on Shanxi during the First Contact War when it broke out a couple years later.

Following the war, Saren was in charge of the human prisoners Jack Harper and Eva Coré. He returned them to Arcturus Station and upon bringing them to the station, Eva tackled his brother, Desolas. Saren pulled Eva off of him then joined Desolas aboard the ship and departs the station. Later, when Jack and Eva came looking for the artifact that they found on Shanxi, Saren ambushed them with several of Desolas' bodyguards before Eva and Jack could escape. The guard who captured them is revealed to be their former companion, Ben Hislop.

While Eva pleaded with Ben to let Jack go, Saren arrived and orders Ben to release Jack, and to seize Eva. Eva tried to get away up a ladder, but it was brought crashing to the ground by Ben. While Ben combed through the wreckage, he came across Eva's unconscious body, and had a moment of clarity. Saren however quickly shattered it by ordering him to bring Eva to the ship immediately.

Once back on the turian homeworld of Palaven, Saren approached his brother in Temple Palaven to say that Desolas' servants, dressed as "Valluvian Priests" wouldn't move the artifact into the temple, even after he ordered them in the language that Desolas had dug up. Saren continued by saying that they were willing to appear with Desolas and wear the cloaks, but they wouldn't go the last kilometer they need them to. After Desolas had a short conversation with one of them, telling them they will move the artifact once the colonnade is clear, Saren said that he didn't like it as they don't serve them, rather they only cared about the Monolith. However, Desolas was confident that he could use the Monolith to control them effectively, as well as use it to perfectly replicate the circumstances that enhanced Harper's abilities without reducing him to a mindless husk. It was Desolas' plan to use the Monolith to evolve the turian race to the next stage, which Saren dubbed meta-turians, so that they would be able to put their race at the top of galactic dominance.

Saren became suspicious of the meta-turians' excavation of the lower levels of the temple. Unintentionally meeting with an escaped Eva and Harper, they discovered that the meta-turians were uncovering a second monolith. Harper explains that their ancient ancestors built this temple to hide the monolith so they could protect their species, and with two on the planet, the meta-turians will spread across Palaven and beyond.

After realizing the extent of Desolas' madness, Saren destroyed the Temple with Desolas and his bodyguards still inside, vowing to avenge his brother.

In 2159, he became the youngest turian ever accepted into the SPECTREs. Intelligent, cunning and capable, Saren quickly developed a reputation for ruthless efficiency. Although there were a number of unsettling rumors concerning the brutality of his methods, there was no denying his results.

In 2165, Saren investigated an illegal arms dealing on Juxhi. A mercenary group called the Grim Skulls, consisting partly of humans, was buying stolen weapons from turian sellers, something which Saren took personally. After wiping out nearly all the mercenaries and sellers, Saren interrogated a sole survivor, who tries to bargain for his life with information. Saren learned that the weapons are originally intended for the Blue Suns who were planning a major operation, but they pulled out at the last minute to avoid the attention of the SPECTREs.

Saren became interested in their activities, and tracked down a member of the Blue Suns, a batarian named Groto Ib-ba, cornering him at the Sanctuary, an upper-class brothel. Saren patiently tortured Ib-ba for information and learned much of the Blue Suns' actions on Sidon. After Ib-ba told him about Kahlee Sanders and the krogan bounty hunter whom Edan Had'dah had sent after her, Saren broke Ib-ba's neck and followed Skarr to find Kahlee, wanting proof that the Alliance had been acting illegally at Sidon.

Saren found Skarr on Elysium and intervened when the krogan attacked Jon Grissom's home. He saved Kahlee, along with David Anderson and Jon Grissom, then interrogated Kahlee about Sidon. Saren accepted her lie that it has been a training ground for human biotics but remained suspicious. Knowing Skarr was the key to finding the truth, Saren used his contacts to ascertain the krogan's next move. After Skarr destroyed the Dah'tan Manufacturing facility on Had'dah's orders, there was only one survivor, a female batarian called Jella who had been Had'dah's contact. Jella had been badly burned in the attack, but managed to give Saren Had'dah's name in a hospital before Saren let her die.

Wanting to flush out Had'dah, Saren decided to quietly leak news of Kahlee Sanders' extraction from Camala, knowing Had'dah would take the bait. After Kahlee was captured, Saren found himself assigned to work with David Anderson on the Council's orders, supposedly to evaluate Anderson as a possible SPECTRE candidate. However, the two disliked each other from the beginning; Saren with his universal dislike of humans, and Anderson resenting Saren's brutal methods.

In truth, Saren did not care about rescuing Kahlee; he only wanted to find Had'dah, along with Dr. Shu Qian, as he was becoming more interested in the artifact the two have discovered. When Saren and Anderson headed to the element zero refinery where Kahlee was being held, Saren let Anderson go ahead, then abandoned the plan, destroying the refinery. Saren found Had'dah and Dr. Qian in hiding. He killed the doctor on Had'dah's suggestion that Qian's irrationality had made him a liability, then, despite Had'dah's bargaining that without him, it will take Saren years to utilise their research, also killed the batarian, stating he is patient, and took their research.

Later, Saren gave a very negative report on Anderson to the Council, claiming he alerted the refinery's guards and wrecked the operation. Saren then dedicated himself to using Dr. Qian's research to find this artifact and use it, believing he had found a weapon to control the geth and humble humanity once and for all.

## Personality

Saren is staunchly opposed to the expansion of the human race, partly because of his experiences in the First Contact War and with his brother's fall, and partly because of the rapid expansion and callous disregard the newfound species seemingly had for the other living beings in the galaxy.