Quarians

Art by Railroad-blues

Nomads on a galactic scale, the **Quarians** are a people with no home. Forced into exile after losing their homeworld Rannoch and their colonies to their own Artificial Intelligence creations, the Geth, the quarians are born and spend their lives centered around the wellbeing of the Migrant Fleet. An amalgamation of whatever salvaged vessels they can scrounge up and repaired and overhauled variants of ancient ships, the Migrant Fleet is the wandering home of the scrappy species.

Rannoch held no natural insect species, and as such the quarians evolved in symbiosis with the natural flora of the planet. As they became starbound and ventured from world to world, it was realized that this symbiosis, while strengthening them on their own planet, weakened their immune systems abroad. Forced to live in sterile environments aboard ships after their exile, the situation has only worsened. Quarians live within environmental suits almost all of their lives, only leaving in tightly-controlled environmental chambers or in the most desperate of circumstances.

## History

### The Morning War

Hailing from the world of Rannoch, the quarians were always a technologically capable species. They created the geth around the late 1850s CE to be used as labourers and tools of war. The quarians kept their programming as limited as that of any VI, nothing close to an AI, remaining mindful of the Citadel Council's laws against artificial intelligence. But as the quarians gradually modified the geth to do more complex tasks, developing a sophisticated neural network, these changes altered the geth to such an extent that they became sentient. One day, a geth unit began asking its overseer questions about the nature of its existence. While this was not the first time a geth unit had asked if it had a soul, it was the first time doing so had caused fear.

Panicked, the quarian government ordered the immediate termination of all geth in the hopes of preventing a revolution. Many quarians opposed the termination of the geth, but were forced to give up or terminate their geth servants. After the quarian government declared martial law on Rannoch, those who sympathized with the geth were outnumbered, and an indeterminate number of them were either detained or killed. The quarian sympathizers have since been forgotten by their own people, though they are remembered by the geth themselves.

The quarians severely underestimated the power and sophistication of the geth's neural network. The geth reacted to defend themselves, and the resulting confrontation erupted into a planetwide war. Billions of quarians died, and the survivors were eventually driven from their homeworld. The only reason quarians were able to escape was because after they had fled to a certain distance, the geth no longer recognized them as a threat and ceased pursuit.

After being refused aid by the Citadel Council, the quarians fled the system in what remained of their fleet. Shortly thereafter, the Council stripped the quarians of their embassy as punishment for their carelessness, though a treaty was agreed upon forbidding an attack on the geth in order to avoid provoking them. Ever since, the quarians have drifted from system to system, searching for resources to sustain the Migrant Fleet and also for a new world to colonize. They even retain hopes of someday reclaiming Rannoch from the geth.

## Biology

### Stature

Quarians are generally shorter and of slighter build than humans. Quarians have an endoskeleton, lips, teeth, and two eyes with eyelids and tear ducts; they also have three thick fingers on both hands which include a thumb, an index finger, and a long finger, similar to the middle fingers for humans, as well as three toes on each foot. Quarian facial structure and hair actually makes them the most similar to humans in physical appearance. Their lower legs are bowed backwards significantly, compared to asari or humans. Aside from hands and legs, their general body shape and sexual dimorphism is similar to humans. Male quarians, however, lack a third toe. Their ears differ in a noticeable fashion from those of humans. Also like humans, quarian blood is red.

### Immune System

The most distinguishing feature of quarian biology is their weak immune system, compounded by centuries of living in sterile environments. As a result, all quarians by necessity dress in highly sophisticated enviro-suits, to protect them from disease or infection if they are injured. Their suits can be compartmentalized in the event of a tear or similar breach to prevent the spread of contaminants (similar to a ship sealing off bulkheads in the event of a hull breach). Along with their suits, quarians also have extensive cybernetic augmentations integrated into their bodies. A quarian's lifespan is roughly equal to a human's but is prone to be less if infection breaks into the suit.

Quarian immune systems have always been relatively weak, as pathogenic microbes were comparatively rare in their homeworld's biosphere. Furthermore, what few viruses and other microbes were native to their homeworld were often at least partly beneficial to them, giving them a symbiotic relationship with their environment. After living aboard the Migrant Fleet for generations, the quarians' immune systems have atrophied further still due to the years in the sterile environment of the Migrant Fleet. As such, quarians are given various vaccinations and immunizations to help ward off disease. However, they prefer the safety of their suits even in clean environments and are reluctant to remove them without a good reason.

A quarian who wishes to remove their suit must take antibiotics, immuno-boosters, herbal supplements, or the like in order to do so safely, and even then there are inherent risks. As a result, physical acts of affection are difficult for quarians, even for the purposes of reproduction. Ships in the Migrant Fleet often contain "clean rooms" where quarians can give birth or undergo medical procedures in relative safety, though there are always risks. The most intimate thing quarians can do is link their suit environments. However, doing so guarantees a quarian will get sick, although they will usually adapt over time.

### Amino Acid Chirality

Like turians, the quarians are a dextro-protein species of reverse chirality from humans and asari. The food of levo-protein races such as humans or asari is at best inedible and at worst poisonous, most likely triggering a dangerous allergic reaction. Quarians who want to taste something (other than the refined edible paste issued to all who leave on their Pilgrimage) can eat specially purified turian cuisine, though the typical quarian diet is vegan, as livestock were found to possess an inefficient resource-to-calorie ratio when stored on the Migrant Fleet.

Aside from the oft-mentioned maladjusted immune systems, the quarians have surprisingly robust physiology. Much like the Drell, their muscle structure is much more dense than the average species, resulting in a more armor-like skin.

## Culture

> *"Trash? What do you mean, trash? That will be my next skycar!" -* Tenlei'Vido vas Shellen
>
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The quarians' top priority is the survival and sustainability of the Migrant Fleet. Most of their laws and customs revolve around this goal. It is illegal for couples to have more than one child, so that the fleet can maintain zero population growth (if the population begins to shrink, this rule is temporarily lifted, and incentives may be provided to encourage multiple births). Families are thus very small and close-knit. Homosexual relationships are not unheard of, however.

Because every quarian depends on his or her crewmates to survive, they are much more community-minded than individualistic species like the krogan. Loyalty, trust, and cooperation are highly prized qualities.

Quarians enjoy storytelling as a means of escape from their often trying lives aboard the fleet, and are known to hold dancers in high esteem.

Young quarians are required to undertake a Pilgrimage outside the fleet in order to pass into full adulthood. The Pilgrimage is an opportunity for quarians to experience the world outside the Migrant Fleet, interact with other cultures, and learn to appreciate life among their own people. Their departure is a major event; the whole crew assembles to see them off, and they are given many gifts to aid them on their journey, along with immunity-boosting injections and advice on surviving on the outside. The young quarian cannot return to the flotilla until they have found something of value to bring back - whether information, money, or supplies. When they return, they do not go back to their birth ship, but instead select a new ship to join; this helps maintain genetic diversity by preventing intermarriage between close relatives. The quarian presents their gift to the captain of the new ship to prove they will not be a burden on the crew. Although the gift may be rejected if it is subpar, this is very rare, as most captains are eager to welcome a new shipmate on board. Having a large crew is a prestigious thing, as it means the captain has the financial and material means to provide for many people.

Conditions aboard most quarian ships are extremely cramped. It is not uncommon for all family members to share the same small living space, which in turn is in close proximity to many other families' quarters. These spaces are often uncomfortable and ill-designed for living in, having been reappropriated from other functions such as storage. Families decorate their individual dwellings with colorful quilts, which serve to muffle sound and also to make the environment more cozy. Quarians place low value on personal possessions, instead evaluating objects by their usefulness and bartering them for other items once they are no longer needed. Every ship has a designated trading deck where those looking to barter can gather to do business.

Quarians wear their environmental suits at all times, partly in case of a hull breach and partly in response to the lack of personal space aboard the flotilla. Because their suits make it hard to identify individuals on sight, quarians have developed the habit of exchanging names whenever they meet.

Over time, the environmental suits themselves have gained symbolic and cultural significance, and being fitted with their first suit is considered a rite of passage. After returning to the fleet after their pilgrimage, they may alter their suit to reflect their new status as adults. Linking suit environments is seen as the ultimate gesture of trust and affection.

Due to their history with the geth, quarians are reluctant to place complete trust in virtual or artificial intelligences, but they also show surprising compassion towards them and are far more likely than other species to treat them as living beings.

Quarians refer to commanding officers of any ships, quarian or non-quarian, as captain, regardless of rank. Their reasoning is that the CO's decisions always carry great weight on his/her own ship.

## Further Lore

### Culture

* Khelish
* Pilgrimage

* Quarian Holidays

### Governments

* Admiralty Board
* Conclave

### History

* Quarian Colonization Timeline (List of Quarian worlds)