Batarian
From Mass Effect Wiki
Despite several disagreements with the Citadel and simmering hostility toward humans, most batarians prefer profitable pursuits such as drug running and slave grabs to out-and-out warfare. They have a reputation for being shrewd businessmen and merchants, though in more lawless regions of the galaxy like Omega, negotiations with a batarian are likely to be conducted at gunpoint.
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[edit] History
In the early 2160s, humans began to colonize the Skyllian Verge, a region the batarians were already actively settling. The batarians asked the Citadel Council to intervene and declare the Verge an area of "batarian interest." When the Council refused, the batarians closed their Citadel embassy and severed diplomatic and economic relations, becoming an inward-looking rogue state.
Money and weapons funneled from the batarian government to criminal organizations led to many brutal raids on human colonies in the Verge, culminating in the Skyllian Blitz of 2176, an attack on the human capital of Elysium by batarian-funded pirates and slavers. In 2178, the Alliance retaliated with a crushing assault on the moon of Torfan, long used as a staging base by batarian-backed criminals. In the aftermath, the batarians retreated into their own systems, and are now rarely seen in Citadel space.
[edit] Culture
Body language is an important part of batarian society. For example, tilting one's head to the left is a sign of admiration and respect. When a batarian tilts his head to the right it is a sign that he is (or considers himself to be) superior to the one that the gesture was directed at. Therefore this gesture can also be interpreted as an insult.
The rest of the galaxy views the batarians as an ignorable problem. Their government is still hostile to the Systems Alliance, but beneath the notice of the powerful Council races. It is not known what the average batarian thinks about their enforced isolation, as the Department of Information Control ensures that only government-approved news enters or leaves batarian space. Given the batarian government's oppressive and totalitarian ideals, it is speculated their supreme leadership is one of fascism or absolute monarchy. The batarians blame humanity for their troubles and claim they were forced to fend for themselves, despite the fact that their exile is largely self-imposed.
However, the batarians still provide up-to-date glossaries and linguistic rules to the rest of the galaxy (allegedly so they can continue distributing propaganda). Possibly due to the prevalence of batarian criminal gangs, batarian languages have become lingua franca in the Terminus Systems.
[edit] Military
Little is known about the batarian military other than the fact it is largely nationalized; most batarian military hardware is produced by an institution called Batarian State Arms.
The batarian fleet is known to operate at least one dreadnought (as a non-Citadel race, they are not bound by the Treaty of Farixen and may have more). They also field smaller vessels, including the Hensa class of cruisers. However, given one member of this class -- later obtained by the quarians and refurbished as the Idenna -- was twenty years old in 2183, the batarians may have retired the Hensa class from active service by this time.
[edit] Mass Effect
Edan Had'dah, an extremely rich and powerful batarian living on Camala, is a major player in the events of Mass Effect: Revelation, but despite the fact they have their own Galactic Codex entry and are still very much a part of galactic society, batarians make no appearance in the retail release of the game; as Lieutenant Zabaleta notes with relief, batarians no longer come to the Citadel.
They are, however, mentioned during a few planetary scans. Batarian surveyors were responsible for bankrupting several human corporations by claiming that the planet Klensal was a rich mining prospect when it is actually mostly barren rock. The batarians are also accused of stealing the so-called 'Leviathan of Dis', supposedly the remains of a genetically engineered living starship found on Jartar. They now claim no such remains were ever found despite the fact that the salarians documented it before the Leviathan mysteriously vanished.
Among humans, batarians are now known mostly for their slaving practices, particularly their raid on the planet Mindoir in 2170. Once captured, the slavers implant control devices in the skulls of their slaves without bothering with anesthetic. Talitha, abducted from Mindoir, was a victim of this practice. The batarians are also known to enslave addicts of the biotic drug 'red sand' when they can no longer afford to support their habit. Rear Admiral Kahoku was well-known for his victories over the batarians in the Skyllian Verge.
Several of the background choices for Commander Shepard involve the batarians:
- Colonist - Shepard's friends and family were killed by batarian slavers during the raid on Mindoir.
- Spacer - Shepard meets Lieutenant Zabaleta, a former Alliance marine, who is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after witnessing the batarian raid on Mindoir.
- War Hero - During the Skyllian Blitz, Shepard held off the batarian ground troops single-handed until reinforcements arrived.
- Ruthless - At Torfan, Shepard sacrificed several team members to finish off the batarians hiding underground, even those who surrendered.
[edit] Bring Down the Sky
In Mass Effect's first downloadable content add-on, Bring Down the Sky, batarian extremists were responsible for hijacking Asteroid X57 and using it to attack the human colony of Terra Nova. Originally intending to just snatch X57's human engineers and take them as slaves, the batarians brutally executed them and decided to use the asteroid as a weapon. Balak, the ringleader, claimed this was the will of the 'batarian rebellion', and revenge for human activities in the Traverse. However, some of his underlings, most notably Charn, Balak's second-in-command, did not want to commit this act, but initially signed up thinking it would just be a another slave raid. The attempted asteroid drop - which would have destroyed Terra Nova and killed millions of people - was thwarted by Commander Shepard.
The batarian extremists on X57 consist of several kinds of troops:
- Batarian Trooper. A basic grunt armed with a pistol.
- Batarian War Beasts. Despite the name, these are varren identical to those found on Feros (and referred to as such by the batarians).
- Batarian Shock Trooper. Biotic troopers with Vanguard-type abilities and shotguns.
- Batarian Rocket Trooper. Another basic grunt who is armed with a rocket launcher.
- Batarian Engineer. Essentially a batarian sentinel who can Sabotage weapons and use Neural Shock.
[edit] Mass Effect Galaxy
Batarians also play an integral role in Mass Effect Galaxy as the main antagonists.
As the batarian ambassador Jath'Amon attempts to negotiate a peace treaty between the batarians and the Citadel, batarian terrorists try to stop the meeting by exposing the Citadel to a biological weapon. Fortunately for the Council, the terrorists, secretly led by Jath'Amon himself, are defeated by Jacob Taylor before having a chance to use the weapon.
[edit] Notable batarians
[edit] Trivia
- In the French version, batarians are called "butarians".
[edit] Sources
| Citadel | Asari • Elcor • Hanar • Human • Keeper • Salarian • Turian • Volus |
| Non-Citadel | Batarian • Collectors • Drell • Geth • Krogan • Quarian • Rachni • Reaper • Vorcha |
| Historical | Prothean • Rachni |
