Salarian are a Race in Mass Effect Andromeda. This page will cover the characteristics of this race.
Salarian Information
The second species to join the Citadel, the salarians are warm-blooded amphibians native to the planet Sur'Kesh. Salarians possess a hyperactive metabolism; they think fast, talk fast, and move fast. To salarians, other species seem sluggish and dull-witted, especially the elcor. Unfortunately, their metabolic speed leaves them with a relatively short lifespan; salarians over the age of 40 are a rarity.
Salarians are known for their observational capability and non-linear thinking. This manifests as an aptitude for research and espionage. They are constantly experimenting and inventing, and it is generally accepted that they always know more than they are letting on.
Salarian Biology
The salarians are a bipedal race of amphibians, with tall, elongated bodies well-suited for their high metabolism, and skeletons composed of more cartilage than those of other races such as humans. Salarian heads are long and thin, and have a pair of horns protruding from the top of their skulls. Skin varies in color, from bright reds and greens to the more common shades of blue or grey. Their blood is a greenish color. Salarian eyes are large and oval and have thin membranes in place of eyelids. The pupils are a wide slit, oriented horizontally, and the irises can be dark green, purple, red, blue, or brown. Salarians blink upwards, rather than downwards as humans do.Salarians are noted for their high-speed metabolism, which allows them to function on just one hour of sleep a day. Their minds and bodies work faster than most sapient races, making them seem restless or hyperactive. The drawback of this active metabolism is a short lifespan of around 40 human years.
The salarians are amphibian haplo-diploid egg-layers; unfertilized eggs produce males and fertilized eggs produce females. Once a year, a salarian female will lay a clutch of dozens of eggs. Social rules prevent all but a fraction from being fertilized. As a result, 90% of the species is male.
Salarians have photographic memories and rarely forget a fact. They also possess a form of psychological "imprinting", tending to defer to those they knew in their youth. Salarian hatching is a solemn ritual in which the clan Dalatrass (matriarch) isolates herself with the eggs. The young salarians psychologically imprint on her and tend to defer to her wishes. During the hatching of daughters, the Dalatrasses of the mother and father's clans are present at the imprinting. This ensures the offspring have equal loyalty to both, ensuring the desired dynastic and political unity.
Salarian sex drive and reproduction differ from that of humans, with Mordin Solus claiming that it is not hormone-based. Reproduction is more of a necessity and salarians do not seem to desire sex for pleasure. They are, however, attracted to the asari, and one salarian notes that "even humans find the Consort irresistible."
Salarian Ark
Ark Paarchero is the Andromeda Initiative's designated vessel for transporting salarian colonists to the new galaxy. Mirroring design of its human counterpart, Hyperion, Ark Paarchero can accommodate 20,000 passengers and crew in cryogenic stasis.
Paarchero's development was plagued by early delays and disagreements between its senior crew and the Initiative's design team. The salarian penchant for constantly pushing the boundaries of technology was often ad odds with the realities of budgets and time constraints. At one point, it was calculated that if every "vital and necessary improvement" suggested by the salarian contingent was incorporated into the Paarchero's design, its launch would have been delayed until 2204 at the soonest.
After considerable negotiation and debate, a compromise was reached and Ark Paarchero departed the Milky Way in 2185 in the initial wave of settlers under the command of Captain Lumont Hayjer.
At some point after the Paarchero's arrival in Heleus, the vessel was captured by the kett and tethered to the Archon's flagship Verakan, where the kett interrogated and experimented on the salarian passengers.
Following a daring infiltration mission launched by Pathfinder Ryder and their team, the ark was safely rescued from kett forces and has returned to the Nexus.
