Terminus Systems
The Lawless Frontier Beyond the Council
The Terminus Systems were a vast, ungoverned region beyond Citadel space, home to a loose affiliation of minor species united only in refusing the Council's authority. A haven for piracy, the slave trade, and mercenary gangs, the Terminus centered on the trade hub of Omega.
The Terminus Systems lay on the far side of the Attican Traverse, beyond the space administered by the Citadel Council or claimed by the human Systems Alliance. They were home to a loose affiliation of minor species, united only in their refusal to acknowledge the Council's political authority or to observe the Citadel Conventions. Lawless and fractious, the Terminus became a haven for piracy, the slave trade, and the great mercenary gangs, with the station Omega serving as its de facto trade capital. The region's instability would draw Commander Shepard into the heart of its conflicts. (Mass Effect; Mass Effect 2)
A region without a government#
The Terminus Systems were located on the far side of the Attican Traverse, beyond the space administered by the Citadel Council or claimed by the human Systems Alliance. They were populated by a loose affiliation of minor species, united only in their refusal to acknowledge the Council's authority or to adhere to the Citadel Conventions. That independence came at a steep price, for the Terminus was fraught with conflict: war among its various species was common as governments and dictators constantly rose and fell. (Mass Effect)
The region had no central government, though the station Omega served as its trade capital. Before the Alliance expanded into the Voyager Cluster, the turians had mapped the Terminus in great detail using an interferometric array, with one end in the Attican Beta cluster and the other at the planet Gromar. (Mass Effect; Mass Effect 3)
A haven for crime#
The Terminus Systems were a haven for illegal activity, particularly piracy and the slave trade. The prevalence of batarian criminal gangs was so great that the batarian language became a lingua franca across the region. It was from these systems that the galaxy's largest mercenary organizations drew their strength, among them the Blue Suns, the Blood Pack, and Eclipse, all of which operated with little fear of Citadel law. (Mass Effect; Mass Effect 2)
At least once a year a fleet from the Terminus invaded the nearby Attican Traverse, typically in small raids against poorly defended colonies. The Council rarely retaliated, knowing that sending patrols into the Terminus could unify its disparate species against a common foe and trigger a long and costly war. (Mass Effect)
Colonies and homeworlds#
Despite the dangers, the Citadel species were not deterred from traveling through and even extensively colonizing the Terminus Systems. Humans, turians, salarians, elcor, asari, and volus each maintained a sizable colonial presence there, and because the Council's authority was effectively nonexistent, these colonies were often fully independent of any interplanetary government. The Terminus also encompassed the homeworlds of two species: Rannoch, the lost world of the quarians, and Heshtok, homeworld of the vorcha. Its many clusters and worlds, anchored by Omega and crossed by relays such as the Omega 4 Relay, made the region both a frontier and a crossroads at the galaxy's edge. (Mass Effect; Mass Effect 2; Mass Effect 3)
Frequently asked questions
- What are the Terminus Systems?
- The Terminus Systems were a vast ungoverned region on the far side of the Attican Traverse, beyond the space administered by the Citadel Council or claimed by the human Systems Alliance. They were home to a loose affiliation of minor species united only in their refusal to acknowledge the Council's authority or to observe the Citadel Conventions.
- Did the Terminus Systems have a government?
- The Terminus had no central government, and war among its various species was common as governments and dictators constantly rose and fell. The station Omega served as its de facto trade capital.
- Why was the batarian language a lingua franca in the Terminus Systems?
- The Terminus was a haven for piracy and the slave trade, and the prevalence of batarian criminal gangs was so great that the batarian language became a lingua franca across the region.
- Why did the Citadel Council rarely retaliate against Terminus raids?
- At least once a year a Terminus fleet invaded the nearby Attican Traverse, typically in small raids against poorly defended colonies. The Council rarely retaliated, knowing that sending patrols into the Terminus could unify its disparate species against a common foe and trigger a long and costly war.
- Which homeworlds were located in the Terminus Systems?
- The Terminus encompassed the homeworlds of two species: Rannoch, the lost world of the quarians, and Heshtok, homeworld of the vorcha. Despite the dangers, Citadel species such as humans, turians, salarians, elcor, asari, and volus also colonized the region extensively.
Sources
- GameMass Effect, BioWare, 2007
- GameMass Effect 2, BioWare, 2010
- GameMass Effect 3, BioWare, 2012
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
Blood Pack
The Blood Pack was a brutal mercenary group built around krogan muscle and vorcha cannon fodder, founded by the exiled Battlemaster Ganar Wrang and based in the Terminus Systems. Banned from Citadel space, they took the contracts no other gang would touch, favoring overwhelming violence over discretion.
Blue Suns
The Blue Suns were one of the galaxy's largest mercenary organizations, a private security outfit turned criminal empire operating out of the Skyllian Verge and the Terminus Systems. Founded by Zaeed Massani and Vido Santiago, they grew into a fearsome force spanning dozens of systems before crossing paths with Commander Shepard.
Citadel Council
The Citadel Council was the executive committee that governed Citadel space from the Citadel Tower, composed of representatives of the asari, salarians, and turians, and was the ultimate authority over Council law, interspecies disputes, and the covert Spectre agents.
Citadel
The Citadel was a colossal deep-space station in the Serpent Nebula that served as the political and cultural heart of Citadel space and the seat of the Council. Long believed to be a Prothean relic, it was in truth a Reaper construction and a dormant trap at the center of galactic civilization.
Eclipse
Eclipse was a mercenary corporation founded by the asari commando Jona Sederis, prized for advanced equipment, heavy use of biotics, and a willingness to take any contract a client could afford. It blended security work with a vast smuggling operation and counted among the three rival syndicates that ruled Omega's underworld.
Omega
Omega was a sprawling space station built in the hollowed husk of an asteroid in the Terminus Systems, a haven for criminals and outcasts ruled by the asari warlord Aria T'Loak. Often called the dark counterpart to the Citadel, it had no central government and changed hands only through violence.
Mentioned in39 entries
Aria T'Loak: The Pirate Queen of Omega
Aria T'Loak was the de facto ruler of the space station Omega, an asari of centuries' experience who governed the lawless heart of the Terminus Systems with an iron grip. Driven from her throne by Cerberus, she fought beside Commander Shepard to retake it during the Reaper War.
Batarian
The batarians were a four-eyed species native to Khar'shan whose insular government, the Batarian Hegemony, withdrew from the galactic community and became infamous for slavery, piracy, and hostility toward humanity before the Reapers overran their space.
Batarian Hegemony
The Batarian Hegemony was the oppressive, isolationist government of the batarians, native to Khar'shan. A rogue state hostile to the Systems Alliance, it sponsored deniable piracy and slaving across the Terminus Systems before the Reapers overran it.
Blood Pack
The Blood Pack was a brutal mercenary group built around krogan muscle and vorcha cannon fodder, founded by the exiled Battlemaster Ganar Wrang and based in the Terminus Systems. Banned from Citadel space, they took the contracts no other gang would touch, favoring overwhelming violence over discretion.
Blue Suns
The Blue Suns were one of the galaxy's largest mercenary organizations, a private security outfit turned criminal empire operating out of the Skyllian Verge and the Terminus Systems. Founded by Zaeed Massani and Vido Santiago, they grew into a fearsome force spanning dozens of systems before crossing paths with Commander Shepard.
Broker Terminal: the Shadow Broker's window on a galaxy at war
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Citadel Council
The Citadel Council was the executive committee that governed Citadel space from the Citadel Tower, composed of representatives of the asari, salarians, and turians, and was the ultimate authority over Council law, interspecies disputes, and the covert Spectre agents.
Citadel Fleet: the Council's defence force and what one battle cost it
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Collectors
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Commander Shepard
Commander Shepard was a Systems Alliance N7 marine who became the first human Spectre, exposed the rogue agent Saren Arterius, and led the galaxy's resistance against the Reapers. Shepard's gender, history, and many of the choices that shaped the war were never fixed, and the final fate of the cycle turned on the Commander's own decisions.
Drugs: the narcotics and medicines of the galaxy
Drugs were chemical substances that altered the normal bodily functions of an organism, and the galactic market for them was lucrative enough that criminal enterprises produced, sold, and smuggled them despite legal restrictions. They ranged from lifesaving antibiotics to red sand, a narcotic refined from element zero that granted brief biotic power, and to suppressants engineered to strip a biotic of that power entirely.
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