The Keepers are a bio-engineered, insectoid race found only on the Citadel. They are completely harmless, and appear to exist for no other reason than to maintain the Citadel and its systems.
The keepers are believed to have been created by the Protheans to serve as the caretakers of the station, and have become essential to the Citadel's operation. Very little is known about them, as they do not communicate with other species.
Physically, the keepers resemble large aphids. Little else is known about their biology, other than what can be observed with the naked eye. Attempts to capture a keeper or take it into custody for study will cause the creature to undergo a sudden "self-destruct," with acid being released internally destroying it. The affected keeper literally melts into a puddle of proteins and minerals in less than a minute, preventing any research from taking place.
Due to the fact the keepers persist in destroying themselves when interfered with, they are nearly impossible to scan or study. By Citadel Council law, it has become illegal to interfere with the keepers on penalty of imprisonment, because the Citadel cannot be maintained without them. No matter how many keepers die due to old age, violence, or accident, they always maintain a constant number. No one has discovered the source of new keepers, but some hypothesize they are genetic constructs: biological androids created somewhere deep in the inaccessible core of the Citadel itself.
Keepers are mute, at least to the perceptions of other races. Some Citadel scientists believe the keepers communicate between themselves with telepathic images, but this is mainly speculation. Their inorganic components (specifically, the component on the keeper's back and its attached antenna) are speculated to facilitate the coordination between the keepers and the Citadel.
It is later revealed that the keepers, along with the Citadel, predate the Protheans; they are, in fact, the key to the Reaper genocide, which occurs when a civilization is judged to be sufficiently advanced for harvesting. According to Vigil, the keepers were likely once a race that was either created, conquered, or indoctrinated by the Reapers, possibly even the first race they enslaved. Whatever their origins, the main purpose of the keepers now is to maintain the Citadel in its attractive pristine state so that sentient organic life will settle there, and support their habitation of the Citadel once they take possession of the station, as they have for countless other races throughout time.
However, once an organic species has settled on the Citadel and reached the required level of technological advancement, the Reapers' current Vanguard, a single Reaper left behind to monitor the situation, sends a signal to the keepers compelling them to activate the Citadel relay to dark space, and begin the process of genocide. The Protheans succeeded in altering this reaction to the signal, though too late to save the Protheans themselves from extinction at the hands of the Reapers. The keepers have changed and evolved so they only respond to the Citadel itself; they are now no longer under Reaper control and pose no threat to anyone anymore.
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