Quarian

Approximately three centuries before the events of Mass Effect, the quarians created the geth as an AI workforce to serve as a cheap and efficient source of manual labor. Once the geth advanced from their rudimentary origins to a more sophisticated collective intelligence, achieved through a shared neural network developed by their creators with the intention of enabling their servants to carry out more complex tasks by pooling together processing power, they began displaying initial signs of self-awareness and start asking their creators existential questions. The quarians panicked and attempted to broadcast a signal to shut down all geth; in response, the geth refused to accept commands concerning their deactivation and rebelled against their creators, successfully driving them into exile following a war. The surviving quarians wander the galaxy as the Migrant Fleet, a massive flotilla of ships of various roles and sizes, some of which are salvaged or secondhand vessels sustained with recycled technology. Other species tend to look down on the quarians, seeing them as undesirable scavengers or condemning them for allowing the geth to emerge as a potential threat to the rest of the galaxy. == Concept and design ==

Tali'Zorah or Tali, a companion of Commander Shepard, served as the only example of a quarian in the first Mass Effect. Tali's initial concept drawings were finished before the geth's final design, though their "flashlight head" look thematically informed the aesthetic of her helmet's appearance along with the rest of the quarians'. While Tali is the only quarian squadmate available to the player throughout the series, another quarian character dubbed "The Crazy Quarian King" by BioWare senior staff member Mac Walters was originally planned for inclusion in Mass Effect 2. In an interview with GameSpot, Walters explained that the concept behind the character originated as an inspiration from an unhinged Irish character portrayed by David O'Hara in the 1995 film Braveheart, and that this quarian character is meant to be middle-aged and whimsical about his desire for revenge against the geth for the deaths of his loved ones and comrades. The quarian Migrant Fleet is envisioned to be over 50,000 ships strong with a distinctly refugee feel and all available space crammed with cargo, akin to a caravan filled with hoarded goods. The liveship, a large spherical vessel designated as food supply production centers for the quarian civilization, is designed to stand out among the many ships of the Migrant Fleet. Its spherical design is intended to communicate its effectiveness in maximizing the quarians' yield of cultivated crops. Other ships are intentionally designed to show they have been lived in for a long time: one type of ship has a central ring at its heart, with cargo modules strapped on to them to show quarian ingenuity when they run out of living space. A section of the plot of Mass Effect 3 takes place in Rannoch, the quarian homeworld. The developmental team wanted to create a world which seemed consistent with two architectural styles: the aesthetic of the quarian Migrant Fleet, and the utilitarian geth architecture. The team decided to retain an industrial style for Rannoch's quarian environments; it is supplemented with modular stainless steel sections inspired by the Lloyd's building in London's main financial district, with no hard line between interior and exterior environments as they are meant to blend. The team wanted to show that the geth had kept Rannoch in an almost-pristine state throughout their occupation of the planet, and so refrained from depicting any pre-existing battle damage in the planet's environments. Prior to the reveal of Tali's face in Mass Effect 3, the facial features of a quarian were uncertain as they are never seen without their visors within the game engine. BioWare artists regularly drafted variations on Tali's face throughout the series' development, and the decision on whether to provide a definitive reveal of her face was a long-standing internal debate. Concept artist Matt Rhodes in particular envisioned the quarians to be more alien-looking, with white skin, cat-like eyes and a lack of hair, and thought it would be a good opportunity "to push players to the edge" by subverting their expectations of what Tali's true appearance would be like. The final design for a quarian's face, as conveyed by a modified stock photo depicting an unmasked Tali, has human-like features and hair but with all-white eyes. ==Attributes==

Biology Quarians are largely human-shaped. They have distinctly curved lower legs that make for a seemingly digitigrade appearance. Quarians are generally shorter and of slighter build compared to humans. Their hands consist of a thumb and two fingers, while their feet have two large, prominent toes. Like the turians, quarian biochemistry is based on dextro-amino acids, which sets them apart from most other species, including humanity, which are based on levo-amino acids. They cannot eat human food, or ingest any substance that is based on levo-amino acids. According to series lore, quarians have compromised immune systems due to the relative lack of microbes in their homeworld, which further atrophies after living aboard sterile starships for generations, to the point where their body's ability to fight diseases is compromised or entirely absent. As a result, the quarians always wear their environmental suits, which are built from a scavenged assortment of materials, and their faces obscured by the visors on their helmets. Sexual contact with other species is a significant and potentially fatal biological hazard for a quarian. Culture The quarian government is depicted as an amalgamation of ship-based representative councils and military dictatorship. Fleet operations are overseen by a judicial review body known as the Admiralty Board, which consists of a panel of admirals who form determinations which are legally binding through consensus, and it is empowered to overrule the civilian government during times of emergency. Due to the circumstances of their living conditions, the Migrant Fleet operates on a subsistence-centric economy, with much of their efforts directed towards the perpetual salvage and repair of used technology and the cultivation of essentials such as food, water and air, with little infrastructure for heavy industries. The quarians live on a vegan diet out of practical, as opposed to ethical, concerns: this is because the amount of water required to sustain livestock is exponentially more than the amount plant life need to grow, and that water supplies are conserved very carefully onboard starships. Because the quarian government is obliged to provide essentials and medical support for every individual, its leadership strategically determines the course of the Fleet to bring in resources and income. All young quarians must participate in a rite of passage to adulthood known as a Pilgrimage, where they leave their home ships and experience the world outside the Migrant Fleet, and may not return until they have recovered something of value to bring back to their communities. The quarians as a community are generally unwelcome in much of explored space, though individual quarians often manage to secure work as miners, engineers and technicians on numerous worlds by leveraging their people's reputation for their knowledge and skill with technology. The Migrant Fleet has at its disposal several hundred warships to serve as its defense, but it is not considered a credible threat by other civilizations due to the precarious existence and rag-tag nature of the Fleet as a whole. ''Keelah se'lai, a well known quarian phrase within the Mass Effect'' universe which means "by the home world I hope to see one day", refers to the quarians' desire to return to their homeworld, which had been under geth occupation since their defeat. ==Appearances==

The quarians are first introduced through Tali, who is the only representative of her people to appear in the first Mass Effect. The quarians are also featured in the backstory of the game's primary antagonistic faction, the geth. During her pilgrimage journey, Tali encounters a geth unit by chance and disables it for study, as the geth rarely venture outside of geth space. When she recovers information from the unit's memory core, she unwittingly discovers a connection between a geth faction and the turian agent Saren Arterius, who answers directly to the Citadel Council. Upon her arrival at the Citadel, Tali intends to trade the information in return for a safe refuge from a powerful information broker known as the Shadow Broker, but is saved by Commander Shepard from a rogue agent of the Shadow Broker who attempts to silence her permanently. Quarian culture and society is depicted with greater detail in the tie-in novel Mass Effect: Ascension, and in the main series sequel Mass Effect 2. Numerous quarian characters are introduced in Mass Effect 2, with several playing prominent roles for the remainder of the original trilogy's narrative arc. For example, Shepard first learns of a connection between the abductions of human colonists and a mysterious insectoid race known as the Collectors from Veetor'Nara, a quarian who resides in a remote human settlement as part of his Pilgrimage journey, who escaped the attention of the Collectors while all the other humans were taken. Tali is once again available for recruitment as a squad member; her backstory and side mission explore the intricacies of the quarian political and legal system, as well as the rise of irredentism throughout quarian society with regards to the reclamation of their homeworld Rannoch. In Mass Effect 3, Shepard is tasked with securing an alliance with the quarians to assist in the war effort against the Reapers; in return, the quarian leadership request Shepard's assistance in battling the geth occupation of Rannoch. During the course of the war, Shepard may access a geth server to disable geth fighter squadrons which are assaulting quarian lifeships, where the truth about the origins of the geth rebellion and the ensuing conflict from their perspective may be revealed. At the end of the story arc, players are presented with three possible outcomes to resolve the geth and quarian conflict. Two of these, where Shepard sides with either the geth or the quarians which results in the apparent extinction of the other race, are available to all players regardless of any prior decisions being carried over up to that point in the narrative. The third resolution to this conflict, a peaceful ceasefire between the two sides, requires a specific number of choices to be made by the player in both Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, most of which are made during entirely optional events. Quarians of both genders and various classes are also available as player characters in the multiplayer mode of Mass Effect 3. The quarians do not appear in Mass Effect: Andromeda; instead, the story of a contingent of quarian colonists is told in the game's tie-in novel Annihilation, where they form the majority of the colonists on board the ark ship Keelah Siyah, which is bound for the Andromeda Galaxy as part of the Andromeda Initiative. In other media The quarians are featured as a themed skin for Anthem player characters, released on November 7, 2019, in commemoration of "N7 Day", an informal celebration of the Mass Effect franchise observed annually. ==Reception and analysis==

According to player statistics released by BioWare for Mass Effect 3 in March 2013, 27% sided with the quarians, 37% with the geth, and 36% achieved a truce between both sides. ==Cultural references==

The quarian phrase ''keelah se'lai'' has been referenced by Amazon's Echo device; it is triggered as an automated answer if the phrase "Does this unit have a soul?" is spoken. An advanced persistent threat (APT) group which targets various states' Ministries of Foreign Affairs as well as telecommunication companies in Africa and the Middle East since the late 2010s utilizes custom backdoors as part of its modus operandi; one variant which was used to target the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2012, as well as the US State Department in 2013 is termed "Quarian". == References ==