Turian (Mass Effect Supplement)

Turian

Physical Description

Source

Humanoid avians, turians are covered in a metallic chitin layer. While this offers almost no protection against even the lightest of attacks, it offers them a level of immunity to solar radiation, which their homeworld is bathed in. Turian hands have three thick fingers and an opposable thumb on each hand, each tipped with talons, though similarly to their armor, these talons are ineffective in combat. Male turians bear jagged, horn-like crests that extend past the back of their head, while female turian crests are much shorter and rounded, and cover their pin-like teeth far better.

Unlike many other races, turians are distinctively predators. Their front-facing, alert eyes are remarkably keen, and they are almost exclusively able to digest meat. As life on Palaven is in the minority of galactic life, being built on dextro-amino acids rather than the more common levo-amino acids, turians must be careful of their diet, as digesting levo-amino foods at best gives no nutritional value, and at worst is lethal.

History

Turian history is largely inconsequential to most turians, typically being embroiled in one battle or another, each bringing as little significant change as the last. However, as turian society began to populate other planets, conflicts became much larger in scale, culminating in what would later be known as the Unification War. Without direct oversight of the Turian Hierarchy, colonies became tribes, becoming more xenophobic and distrusting by the day. When war finally broke out, the Primarchs of the Turian Hierarchy maintained a neutral stance. When less than a dozen tribes remained, they struck, crushing their weakened opposition. While this ultimately ended intra-species conflict, it would take years until animosity completely faded.

Shortly after the unification of turian society, they were officially invited to the Citadel Council amidst the Krogan Rebellion. While initially successful in defense of Citadel space, the following counterattack devastated several turian colonies, with three turian worlds becoming completely uninhabitable after the krogan used fusion torches to throw asteroids at them. Emboldened by their unique form of valor, they fought back twice as hard, ultimately succeeding in deploying the salarian-developed genophage on the Krogan homeworld. Having obliterated their advantage in numbers, the war ended shortly after. It was due to this war that the turians were given an official seat within the council.

In 2157 CE, a small human fleet passed through Relay 314 into turian space. Following Citadel doctrine on the activation of uncharted relays, the fleet was obliterated, with a single vessel returning to warn the Alliance, resulting in a counterattack that ultimately escalated into full blown war. Within weeks, turian forces had seized the human colony of Shanxi, with the Alliance garrison being forced to surrender. One month later, the Alliance Second Fleet forced the turians offworld, and both armies began preparations for interplanetary assault. With the swift intervention of the Council, conflict was barely avoided and humanity was welcomed to the galactic community. After heavy reparations from the turians, both races hold non-insignificant animosity toward one another.

Society

Since the Unification War, turians normally wear elaborate tattoos marking their colony of origin, though it is not known which markings distinguish which colony or if color has any meaning. These markings are usually white — particularly on turians with darker carapaces — but can be of other colors such as blue for Garrus Vakarian or red for Nyreen Kandros. The lack of facial markings is looked down upon in turian society; the turian term "barefaced" refers to one who is beguiling or not to be trusted. It is also a slang term for politicians.

Turians are noted for their strong sense of public service. It is rare to find one who puts his needs ahead of the group. Every citizen from age 15 to 30 serves the state in some capacity, as anything from a soldier to an administrator, from a construction engineer to a sanitation worker. Turians have a strong inclination toward public service and self-sacrifice, so they tend to be poor entrepreneurs. To compensate, they accepted the mercantile volus as a client race, offering protection in exchange for their fiscal expertise.

Turian society is split into 27 ranks decided via meritocracy, with civilian at the lowest (reserved for client races and children) and Primarch being the highest, and the species is known for its strict discipline and work ethic. Turians are willing to do what needs to be done, and they always follow through. They are not easily spurred to violence, but when conflict is inevitable, they only understand the concept of "total war." They do not believe in skirmishes or small-scale battles; they use massive fleets and numbers to defeat an adversary so completely that they remove any threat of having to fight the same opponent more than once. They do not exterminate their enemy, but so completely devastate their military that the enemy has no choice but to become a colony of the turians. It is theorized that another conflict between the rapidly advancing humans and the turians could annihilate a large portion of known space.

Turian Names

Turians are given personal names by their parents and take on a family name. High-ranking turian officers also include their title in their names, either in addition to their full names or as a replacement of their personal name. Sometimes turians go by their family name only.

Male Names: Adrien, Avitas, Castis, Chellick, Corinthus, Desolas, Garrus, Illo, Jacobus, Joram, Kuril, Lantar, Lilihierax, Lorik, Macen, Mehrkuri, Nihlus, Quentius, Sapartus, Saren, Septimus, Tarquin, Tiran, Tonn, Venar

Female Names: Abrudas, Aciia, Aemicida, Alta, Banrae, Caevea, Cicean, Duronea, Iciria, Juteia, Nyreen, Orinia, Pliras, Quidas, Selone, Sidera, Sipia, Valevas, Vetra

Family Names: Actus, Arterius, Barro, Kandros, Kryik, Nazario, Nyx, Oraka, Pallin, Qui'in, Rix, Sidonis, Talid, Vakarian, Victus, Vyrnnus

Turian Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Strength score increases by 1.
Age. Turians are considered mature at 15, and typically live to around 100 years of age.
Alignment. Turians lean towards Lawful alignments due to extensive military influence. Turians do not have dogmatic tendencies so are generally neither good nor evil.
Size. Turians stand over 6 foot tall sometimes reaching up to 7 foot or taller. Your size is Medium
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Warrior Culture. You gain two combat powers of your choice. Dexterity is your casting modifier for these powers.
Metallic Skin. You gain a number of armor points equal to your Constitution modifier. These armor points are regained at the end of a long rest.
Languages. You can speak, read and write Turian.

Variant: Barefaced Turian

Barefaced turians as a social group are those who were raised outside of turian colonial influence, particularly in the Terminus Systems. As such, they lack many markers of turian culture: their distinctive markings, their warrior training, and grooming practices, particularly in care for one's talons; rather than being kept short for convenience they are kept long and even sharpened so as to keep a weapon on-hand at all times.

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores increase by 1.
Age. Turians are considered mature at 15, and typically live to around 100 years of age.
Alignment. Turians lean towards Lawful alignments due to extensive military influence. Turians do not have dogmatic tendencies so are generally neither good nor evil.
Size. Turians stand over 6 foot tall sometimes reaching up to 7 foot or taller. Your size is Medium
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Sharpened Talons. Your talons are a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Dexterity modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
Metallic Skin. You gain a number of armor points equal to your Constitution modifier. These armor points are regained at the end of a long rest.
Languages. You can speak, read and write Turian.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
6′ 0''	+2d8	80 lb.	× (1d4) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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