The Salarians are a major race in Mass Effect.
Salarians are humanoids of amphibian ancestry, originating from the planet Surkesh. They have relatively high metabolisms, which results in them having short life expectancies (averaging around 40 years). Their high metabolism leads to an appearance of hyperactivity, and salarians mature and deal with most life issues much more quickly than humans. Salarians tend to be highly intelligent, which may be related to their high metabolism.
Physically, salarians tend to be tall and slender. The salarian skeleton has a high ratio of cartilage to bone, making them quite flexible. Their strength and endurance are unremarkable for humanoids.
Little is known about the government of the Salarian Union. The head of government is known as the Dalatrass, but how she obtains her position is not known. Male salarians vastly outnumber females, elevating the importance of females in their society. Most important government officials are females.
During the Rachni Wars, the salarians gave advanced technology to the krogan to recruit them as military allies. While successful against the rachni, the krogan themselves became a problem, leading to a war known as the "Krogan Rebellions". The salarians developed a biological weapon to limit krogan fertility, known as the "genophage", but it was the turians who decided to release the genophage and end the war.
Salarians of Note
- Doctor Mordin Solus
The salarians are an advanced race with their own military assets. These are effective for defense of Salarian territory, but considerably smaller than those of the turians; in large conflicts, they typically rely on turian support. Their ships are noted for using point defense lasers in a near-ultraviolet spectrum, giving them more firepower and six times the range of other Mass Effect factions' lasers but causing them to wear out more quickly. As of 2086 the salarians have developed dreadnoughts that use the same stealth system as the Normandy SR-2, masking their heat signatures through hull refrigeration and heat sinks and using a special heatless mass effect drive for propulsion.
Salarians have a well developed intelligence service known as the Special Tasks Group. Salarians are typically aware of foreign military objectives, plans, assets, and movements far in advance of open hostilities, and they feel no compunctions whatsoever against pre-emptive strikes.