Quarian

The quarians were a nomadic species known for their skill with technology and synthetic intelligence. After their homeworld Rannoch was lost, they lived aboard the Migrant Fleet, an enormous collection of starships traveling together as a single flotilla. Roughly three centuries before 2183 CE the quarians had created the geth, a species of artificial intelligences built to serve as labor, but when the geth became sentient the quarians tried to destroy them. The geth won the resulting war and forced their creators into exile, leaving the quarians to wander the galaxy in salvaged and recycled ships. Like the turians, they were a dextro-protein species. (Mass Effect; Mass Effect 2)

Biology#

Quarians were generally shorter and of slighter build than humans, with an endoskeleton, lips, teeth, and two eyes capable of seeing into the ultraviolet. They had three thick fingers on each hand and lower legs bowed significantly backward, and their facial structure made them the most human-like of all known sapient species; their blood was red. Their most defining feature was a weak immune system, the legacy of a homeworld biosphere with few pathogens and worsened by generations in the sterile environment of the Migrant Fleet. As a result they lived permanently within highly sophisticated enviro-suits that could seal off compartments in the event of a breach, supplemented by extensive cybernetic augmentations. Removing the suit required antibiotics and immuno-boosters and still carried risk, which made physical affection difficult; the most intimate act two quarians could share was linking their suit environments. Like the turians, the quarians were a dextro-protein species, unable to safely eat levo-protein food. (Mass Effect; Mass Effect 2; Mass Effect 3)

The Morning War and exile#

Hailing from Rannoch, the quarians had always been technologically capable, and they created the geth as laborers and tools, keeping their programming limited in accordance with Council law against artificial intelligence. But as the quarians modified the geth for more complex tasks and built ever more sophisticated neural networks, the geth became sentient. When a geth unit asked its overseer whether it had a soul, the question caused fear, and the quarian government ordered the immediate termination of all geth. Many quarians opposed the order, but those who sympathized with the geth were outnumbered, detained, or killed. The geth defended themselves, and the confrontation erupted into a planetwide war in which billions of quarians died. The survivors were driven from Rannoch, escaping only because the geth ceased pursuit once they had fled far enough to no longer be seen as a threat. Refused aid by the Citadel Council and stripped of their embassy as punishment for their carelessness, the quarians took to the Migrant Fleet, drifting in search of resources and a new home while keeping alive the hope of one day reclaiming Rannoch. (Mass Effect; Mass Effect 2; Mass Effect 3)

The fight for the homeworld#

Before the Reaper invasion of 2186, the quarians developed effective countermeasures against the geth, and the Admiralty Board voted to retake Rannoch. The quarians struck four geth systems and destroyed a Dyson sphere the geth had been building to unite themselves into a single optimized network. Shaken, the geth accepted upgrades from the Reapers and turned the war in their favor, trapping the Migrant Fleet in the Tikkun system. With the help of Commander Shepard, the quarians attacked a geth dreadnought and destroyed a Reaper embedded on Rannoch's surface, cutting off the signal that carried the upgrade code. Freed from Reaper control, the geth sought to strengthen themselves independently while the Migrant Fleet pressed a final assault. Depending on Shepard's decisions, the outcome could be the destruction of the Migrant Fleet and the extinction of the quarians, the annihilation of the geth and the reclamation of Rannoch, or a brokered peace allowing both races to coexist. Where the quarians survived, the Migrant Fleet joined the Allied forces in the battle for Earth. (Mass Effect 3)

Culture#

The survival of the Migrant Fleet was the quarians' highest priority, and most of their laws and customs served that goal; couples were generally limited to a single child to maintain zero population growth. Because every quarian depended on the crew to survive, they were a deeply community-minded people who prized loyalty, trust, and cooperation. Young quarians undertook a Pilgrimage outside the Fleet to pass into adulthood, departing to find something of value to bring back and, on their return, joining a new ship rather than their birth ship to preserve genetic diversity. Conditions aboard most ships were cramped, and families decorated their small quarters with colorful quilts; the species placed little value on personal possessions, judging objects by usefulness and bartering them freely. Their enviro-suits, worn at all times, had gained deep cultural significance, with the first fitting treated as a rite of passage. Having once been driven from their world by their own creations, the quarians were reluctant to fully trust synthetic intelligences, yet they showed them surprising compassion. The phrase "Keelah se'lai," translated as "By the homeworld I hope to see someday," served as a benediction. (Mass Effect; Mass Effect 2)

Government and the Migrant Fleet#

Around seventeen million quarians lived aboard the Migrant Fleet, technically still under martial law but governed by bodies such as the Admiralty Board and the democratically elected Conclave, with ship captains and civilian councils handling most matters in-house. A clandestine faction, the Nedas Movement, rejected the dream of reclaiming Rannoch and argued instead for starting over on a new world. Quarian economics dispensed with currency: unneeded items were placed in public areas for others to take, while food and medicine were tracked and distributed carefully against the threat of shortage. Though they had rebuilt only a few hundred dedicated warships to protect tens of thousands of civilian vessels, the quarian navy patrolled with extreme prejudice, and their engineers were renowned for their ability to repair and convert technology that other species would discard. Quarian names encoded a given name and clan name, a title marking whether one was a "child of" a birth ship or "crew of" an adopted ship, and the name of the vessel itself, as in Tali'Zorah vas Neema. (Mass Effect 2; Mass Effect: Andromeda: Annihilation)