Mass Effect Asari

**Name**: Asari
**Dice**: 12D
**Dexterity**: 1D / 4D+2
**Knowledge**: D / 4D
**Mechanical**: 1D / 4D
**Perception**: 1D / 4D+2
**Strength**: 1D / 3D+1
**Technical**: 1D / 4D+1

**Move**: 10 / 12
**Size**: 1.39 - 1.85 m
**Weight**: 35 - 106 kg

**Special Abilities**:

* **Biotic Aptitude**: Asari do not require bio-amps.
* **Diplomats**: All asari gain a +1D bonus to Con, Bargain, and Persuasion rolls
* **Melding**: Asari have the ability to entwine their nervous system and minds with a partner. While this occurs, the two share sensations and thoughts. With a Difficult Willpower roll the asari can even relive the partners most recent memories. Joining can also be used against an unwilling target. With an opposed Willpower roll versus the targets Willpower skill the asari can implant simple instructions as follows: Simple (defeat your opponents roll by 16 or more), Complex (defeat your opponents roll by 26) and Permanent (defeat your opponents roll by 36+). This is a vile and vicious act and if used too often it will incur the full wrath of the asari people and Citadel Spectres. Using this ability costs a Character Point and if used against someone’s will awarded with Dark Side Points.

**Description**: The Asari are native to the planet Thessia. They are often considered the most powerful and respected sentient species in the known galaxy. This is partly due to the fact the asari were the first race after the protheans to achieve interstellar flight, and to discover and inhabit the Citadel. An all-female race (however, see below), the asari are known for their elegance, diplomacy, and biotic talent. Their millennia-long lifespan and unique physiology - allowing them to reproduce with a partner of any gender or species - give them a conservative but convivial attitude toward other races. The asari were instrumental in proposing and founding the Citadel Council, and have been at the heart of galactic society ever since. Because of their long lifespan, asari tend to have a 'long view' not common in other races. When they encounter a new species or situation, the asari are more comfortable with an extended period of passive observation and study than immediate action. They are unfazed that some of their investments or decisions may not pay off for decades or centuries. Matriarchs can seem to make incomprehensible decisions, but their insight is evident when their carefully-laid plans come to fruition. In interstellar relations, this long view manifests in the unspoken policy of centrism. The asari instinctively seek to maintain stable balances of economic, political, and military power. Traditionally asari spread their influence through cultural domination and intellectual superiority. They invite new species of advanced development to join the galactic community, knowing that their ideals and beliefs will inevitably influence the existing culture. The asari tend toward communal, consensus attitudes among themselves too: for example, they prefer to live in shared spaces aboard starships even if there are alternatives available. Asari believe that their offspring acquire the best qualities of the 'father' from the melded genes, but evidence is anecdotal. They frown upon interspecies conception, believing that, as genetic traits and cultural insight can be gained from mating outside their species, it is wasteful for asari to reproduce together. The results of such unions are occasionally referred to as 'purebloods', which is a great insult among the asari. It is unknown if this is merely a social convention, or if the added genetic diversity is truly advantageous. Clearly the asari were quite successful when they had no other species to mate with, and returning to the old way does not seem to result in 'inferior' offspring. The asari governmental structure, known as the Asari Republics, is relatively broad; the asari came late to the notion of world government. For centuries, their homeworld of Thessia was dotted with loose confederacies of great republican cities. The closest Earth equivalent would be the ancient Mediterranean city-states. Since the asari culture values consensus and accommodation, there was little impetus to form larger principalities. Rather than hoard resources, the asari bartered freely. Rather than attack one another over differing philosophies, they sought to understand one another. Only in the information age did the city-states grow close; communication over the internet evolved into an 'electronic democracy'.

**Personality**: Asari can live to be over 1,000 years and have three stages to their life: Maiden, Matron, and Matriarch. In the Maiden stage, asari seek to go out and learn as much about the galaxy as they can. Military service is also common in this stage. In the Matron stage, asari seek to mate with interesting partners in order to have daughters of their own. The Matriarch stage grants an Asari great power and influence over other asari as they will defer to the wisdom of the Matriarchs in times of crisis.

**Physical Description**: Typical asari individual has a blue to purple complexion; the gas giant Sharblu was named after a famous asari soprano with a distinctive skin tone that resembled the planet's atmosphere. Some Asari can also have a teal complexion, but this seems to be a rarity. Some asari have facial markings, which are unique color patterns that vary for every asari. Some of these facial markings are associated with eyebrows by humans, but the asari do not think of the markings as such themselves. In the place of head hair, asari possess semi-flexible, cartilage based scalp crests that grow into shape. These structures are rigid, and do not "flop around" as some believe.

**Homeworld**: Thessia
**Religion**: Siari
**Biotics**: Many asari are naturally biotic to some degree.
**Example Names**: Liara T'Soni, Mallene Calis, Nassana, Benezia, Sha'ira.
**Source**:

* Mass Effect Wiki: Asari
* Mass Effect d20 RPG (pages 15-19)
* thedemonapostle