Drell

The drell were a reptile-like species who had emerged from the arid deserts of the dying world Rakhana before being rescued by the hanar and resettled on the ocean-covered world of Kahje. Bound to their benefactors by gratitude, the drell fit comfortably into galactic civilization and served the hanar in a tradition of obligation known as the Compact. They were noted for their wiry strength, their eidetic memory, and a polytheistic faith that held the body and soul to be separate entities.

Biology#

The drell were omnivorous reptile-like humanoids with an average lifespan of around 85 galactic standard years. In appearance they resembled asari and humans, but their muscle tissue was slightly denser, giving them a wiry strength. Each hand bore what appeared to be five fingers, though the ring and middle fingers were fused. Their skin was infused with a venom mild enough to be served in drinks, which could cause mild hallucinations on oral contact. They possessed two sets of eyelids akin to the nictitating membrane of certain reptiles: an inner milky-white lid that closed from the sides, and an outer black lid that closed from top to bottom. Like humans and asari they could shed tears, and sexual dimorphism among them was roughly analogous to humans, with females bearing more pronounced head frills.

Because the drell had evolved in arid, rocky deserts, the humid, ocean-covered hanar homeworld of Kahje was tolerable only when they remained inside a climate-controlled dome city. The leading cause of death for drell on Kahje was Kepral's Syndrome, a noncommunicable affliction caused by cumulative exposure to the humid climate. It eroded the lungs' ability to take in oxygen before spreading to other organs, and no cure was known, though hanar scientific authorities worked toward a genetic adaptation.

The drell also possessed eidetic memory, an adaptation to a world where survival depended on recalling the location of every resource across vast distances. Their memories were so strong that an external stimulus could trigger a vivid, involuntary recall, so detailed that some drell mistook it for reality. The assassin Thane Krios remembered every killing he had performed and could describe each in flawless detail.

History#

The drell ancestors emerged from the dry, rocky deserts of the barren world Rakhana. Around the 1380s CE the already-arid homeworld began a swift descent into lifelessness brought on by disastrous industrial expansion. Lacking interstellar flight and burdened with a population of eleven billion, the drell faced certain doom. Around the 1980s CE the hanar made first contact, and over the following decade transported a total of 375,000 drell to their homeworld of Kahje. The billions who remained on Rakhana perished, warring over diminishing resources. By the era of Commander Shepard the drell had thrived alongside the hanar for roughly two centuries.

During the Reaper invasion of 2186, drell served in combat roles against the machines. If Kahje was saved through Shepard's efforts, the hanar repaid the deed by sending their best drell combat specialists to aid the wider war.

Culture#

The debt of gratitude the drell owed the hanar was known as the Compact, fulfilled by taking on tasks the hanar found difficult, such as combat. Any drell could refuse to serve, but because being asked was regarded as a great honor, few declined. Most drell were content to live on Kahje, where the hanar afforded them every opportunity to thrive, and although some outsiders regarded them as second-class citizens, they had in fact integrated into every level of hanar society as respected, productive members. Those who left Kahje tended to be solitary adventurers who sought out new species and adopted their cultures, numbering in the thousands and scattered across the galaxy in quiet, integrated lives.

Some drell formed bonds with the hanar close enough that the hanar would tell them their poetic "soul name." To communicate with the hanar, drell received implants in their eyes allowing them to perceive the bioluminescence the hanar used to speak, though this could alter their color vision. Known mortuary practice on Kahje involved preparing a body for sea burial, wrapping it in sea-vines, weighting it with stones, and sliding it into the depths while the hanar chanted funerary songs.

Religion#

Most drell were deeply religious, believing they possessed souls separate from their bodies. They saw death as a departure from the body and held that body and soul together formed a Whole; when the soul was traumatized or the body ill or injured, a person was no longer Whole. They also believed the body could be directed as a separate entity from the self, which led Thane Krios to take no personal responsibility for the killings ordered of him by the hanar.

The drell faith was polytheistic, with multiple gods prayed to in different situations, among them Amonkira, Lord of Hunters; Arashu, Goddess of Motherhood and Protection; and Kalahira, Goddess of Oceans and Afterlife. Many older traditions had begun to die out, as younger generations no longer believed the old ways could help them, and many drell instead embraced the hanar reverence for the Enkindlers or asari philosophies.

Language#

Little was known about the drell language beyond a few non-translatable terms. Drala'fa referred to "the ignored"; sere was an honorific for adult males; siha named a warrior-angel of the goddess Arashu and was used as a term of endearment for one "fierce in wrath" and a "tenacious protector"; and tu-fira described being unable to forget someone, "lost in another."