Volus

Art by Railroad-blues

The **Volus**are a squat species of creatures that hail from the chilling, ammonia-aired world of Irune. Requiring pressurized breathing suits when dealing with other species, the volus have nonetheless become skilled tradesmen and financiers across the galaxy despite these differences in basic biochemistry and the limitations imposed upon them by those traits. The volus government, the Vol Protectorate, is a hierarchical system where trade is king, with clans bartering everything from land to goods, machinery to even people.

One of the least physically adept sapient species within the known galaxy, the Volus have overcome this weakness by educating themselves elsewhere. Having spent millenia on their homeworld honing the fine art of trade and negotiation, there is not a volus alive who couldn't go toe-to-toe in a discussion with trained tradesmen of other species.

## History

### Joining the Citadel

The volus were the third race to post an embassy to the Citadel after the asari and salarians, in 266 BCE. The volus' mercantile prowess made them instrumental in developing a stable galactic economy. They authored the Unified Banking Act, which established the credit as the standard currency of interstellar trade, and the volus continue to monitor and balance the galactic economy even today. After first contact with the turians during the Krogan Rebellions in the first millennium CE, the volus petitioned for client status within the Turian Hierarchy.

### Dissatisfaction with the Council

Despite their important contributions to the Citadel and galactic society, they had never been offered a seat on the Council as of 2183. This is a source of anger for some volus, particularly the volus ambassador at the time Din Korlack. Council races need to have provided some extraordinary service to the Citadel, such as the turians' military support during the Krogan Rebellions. Council races also need to provide fleets, resources, and economic aid in case of disaster, none of which the volus can currently supply.

As of 2179, the volus had been negotiating with the Systems Alliance through the Turian Hierarchy over colonisation rights to Patavig.

## Biology

The volus homeworld Irune features an ammonia-based ecology and a gravitational field 1.5 times that of Earth, as well as a high-pressure atmosphere. This is reflected in the physiology of the volus themselves. The volus are unable to survive unprotected in an atmosphere more suitable to humans and other carbon-based lifeforms, and as such require protective suits capable of providing the proper atmosphere, as well as being pressurized to support the volus. Traditional nitrogen/oxygen air mixtures are poisonous to them, and in the low-pressure atmospheres tolerable to most species, their flesh will actually split open.

As the volus are never seen outside of their protective suits, little else is known about their appearance and physiology. It has been noted; however, that volus have cloacae, a trait they share with the salarians. Some volus individuals have also shown themselves capable of using biotics.

Despite individuals distinctly sounding like males or females to human listeners, volus genders are apparently a mystery as well. The volus themselves consider the question both intrusive and hilariously irrelevant, to the point that supposedly the STG has a running tally of all the blatant misinformation the volus have said on the subject. With little else to go on, people simply assign an arbitrary gender value on a volus based on what they sound like.

## Culture

> *"Clan Yap have announced that their lands south of Muta Canyon are now under the ownership of Clan Wen, with Clan Yap receiving in exchange three thousand citizens formerly of Wen status, including myself." -* Chutis Yap
>
>

Volus culture is dominated by trade, whether it be of land, resources, or even other tribe members. The volus have a reputation as traders and merchants, and many, such as Barla Von, work as some of the best financial advisers in Citadel space. Due to the volus not being physically adept, they tend not to be violent, and can even seem overly-pacifistic and cowardly to other, more militant species. The volus homeworld Irune is remarkable for having done away with warfare as an institution of the state, as the volus lack the romantic view of war found in the galaxy's more aggressive species. Physical skirmishes between groups rarely last long, and are almost always ended by social castigation, bargaining agreements, or harsh economic sanctions.

Volus have two names but no family names. According to volus sensibilities one cannot own a person, so using a family name would essentially be laying claim to their offspring. Possibly because of their tribal origins, volus tend to refer to members of other races by their source world rather than species name (i.e. "Earth-clan" instead of "human"). A notable exception to this is that they refer to quarians as "Migrant-clan", or "clanless", due to their lack of a homeworld. They also tend to refer to themselves as "Vol-clan".

Known volus nonverbal cues include laying one's palms flat on a table, an action roughly analogous to humans steepling their fingers.

### Clans

* Clan Bektun
* Clan Friss
* Clan Holun
* Clan Korlack
* Clan Molu
* Clan Tarka
* Clan Tox
* Clan Ulra
* Clan Von
* Clan Wen
* Clan Yap

## Further Lore

### History

* Volus Colonization Timeline (List of Volus worlds)