Shala'Raan vas Tonbay: Quarian Admiral and Tali's Auntie Raan

Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay was a member of the quarian Admiralty Board and a friend of the Zorah family for more than twenty-five years. Known to Tali'Zorah as "Auntie Raan," she was a steadier presence than the board's hawks, undecided on the question of the geth and willing to weigh each choice on its merits as the quarians moved toward war and the reclamation of their homeworld.

Auntie Raan#

Raan had known the Zorah family for over twenty-five years and was close enough to Tali that the younger quarian called her Auntie Raan. She and Tali's mother had synchronized their suits so they could share a clean room for Tali's birth, an act that left Raan ill for a week, and it was Raan who first placed the infant Tali into the environmental bubble that quarian children wear. Among the admirals she took no firm side on the geth, neither hawk nor sympathizer.

Moderator of Tali's trial#

When Tali was accused of treason before the fleet, Raan presided over the hearing but recused herself from judgment because of her ties to the family, serving instead as moderator and spokesman. Hoping a show of genuine surprise would move the judges, she withheld news of the geth attack on the Alarei until the proceedings opened, so that Tali's shock would be plain. In the end it fell to Raan to announce the verdict, whether Tali was acquitted of all charges or found guilty and sentenced to exile, an outcome that turned on how Commander Shepard had argued on her behalf.

The war for Rannoch#

Raan gave provisional support to Han'Gerrel vas Neema and Daro'Xen vas Moreh in the vote for war against the geth. During the strike on the geth dreadnought she held to the mission plan and tried to stop Gerrel when he opened fire while Shepard's team was still aboard, then threatened to charge him with treason for the betrayal. She tasked Xen with countering the geth after learning of the Reaper upgrades, and asked Shepard to rescue Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib after his ship went down. Later she furnished the Commander with a Sync Laser and the coordinates of the elusive Reaper base on Rannoch, before her own ship was shot down over the planet.

The resolution of the conflict turned on Shepard's choices. Where Tali had died and Raan had taken her place, choosing the geth over the quarians drove Raan to take her own life, while choosing the quarians saw her reluctantly destroy the geth platform that turned on Shepard, regretting the act because the synthetic had seemed sincere. Should peace be won between the two peoples, a newly sentient Geth Prime welcomed her to Rannoch, and Raan proposed the southern continent for settlement for its rich farmland. In the days that followed she renamed herself Shala'Raan vas Rannoch, though even then she carried some wariness about the peace.