Maelon Heplorn

Maelon Heplorn was a salarian geneticist and former operative of the Special Tasks Group who studied under Mordin Solus. Together with his mentor he took part in modifying the genophage, the biological weapon that suppressed krogan reproduction, the original effects of which had been wearing off over the centuries.

Student of Mordin Solus#

Maelon was a former operative of the Special Tasks Group and a student of Mordin Solus. Described as surprisingly stronger, more intelligent, and more capable than he appeared, he accompanied Mordin and an STG team to Tuchanka to test the effects of a modified genophage strain, charged with hauling the heavy dispersal unit to the deployment zone. When the team came under fire from hostile krogan, Maelon questioned the risks of the operation while Mordin insisted on proper placement of the device. After the mission, with a krogan female dead in an explosive diversion, Maelon began to doubt the work, asking his mentor whether they were doing the right thing. Mordin reassured him of the dire galactic consequences of krogan freed from the genophage, though he conceded he could not know how the krogan would behave in such a future.

Defection to Clan Weyrloc#

By 2185, Maelon was reported captured by krogan warriors of Clan Weyrloc, who were attempting to reverse the genophage. Mordin asked Commander Shepard to help retrieve his former student. When confronted, however, Maelon revealed that he was not held under duress at all but had volunteered his services to the krogan. He expressed extreme guilt over his role in the genophage, which he had come to consider a form of cultural genocide, and admitted he had originally taken part only because he believed his mentor knew best.

Maelon argued that the genophage had not made the galaxy any less chaotic, pointing to batarian and geth aggression, and that krogan males fought over fertile females and turned to mercenary work because they had no alternative. He claimed a thriving krogan population could have helped the Council stop Saren and the geth at Eden Prime. Mordin dismissed this as speculation and maintained that their work had been correct given the verified data.

Fate and the cure#

Mordin and Shepard put an end to Maelon's experiments. Infuriated by his protege's betrayal and unethical methods, Mordin tried to shoot him. Shepard could intervene, reminding Mordin that he was not a murderer, or let Maelon die. If spared, Maelon was told to take his work elsewhere and run a clinic on Omega, since the STG would erase his progress and no krogan would trust him to deliver a cure. As he left, he told Mordin that the genophage needed to end. Shepard also decided whether to retain Maelon's research data or destroy it.

That decision carried lasting weight. During the Reaper War it emerged that not all the females in Maelon's experiments had died: some survived, were recovered by the STG, and were brought to Sur'Kesh. One, nicknamed Eve, explained that although Maelon had good intentions, his methods had grown more barbaric as he went. If his research was preserved, it proved essential to finalizing a cure for the genophage. If Maelon had been spared, he followed Mordin's advice and opened a clinic on Omega before going into hiding under a bounty placed by Clan Weyrloc, and he could send Shepard a message if the genophage was ultimately cured.