Mass Effect meta-ish rambling
May. 21st, 2010 07:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skellywagI know that not everyone has a degree in biology; hell, even I don't. But, from what I can tell so far, Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 have put a lot of significance into biology. Sure, lots of it is made-up science fiction biology mixed with chemistry and tech, but still. Lots of biology.
I put links to pictures of the alien species I talk about within the text of what I've written, but here's all of the races up here at the top, just in case you don't feel like hunting for them (in alphabetical order, because I'm like that):
Asari
Drell
Hanar
Krogan
Quarian
Salarian
Garrus Turian
There are more than a dozen alien species in these games. Some are given a lot more significance than others. Hours of dialogue (maybe an exaggeration, but not by much) are spent learning about their differences in culture. It's all very interesting. But there's a lot less about the unique biologies of the alien species. Probably because they're a lot less unique than one would expect. The most science-y thing I can remember reading in the game codex referred to the Turians and Quarians being unique for being built of dextro-amino acids (as opposed to levo-amino acids, apparently), the result being they might glean no nutritional value from human cuisine, or it might cause akin to an allergic reaction or death. Admittedly a small and insignificant detail in the larger scheme of things, but I found it interesting—though it would have been more interesting if they'd gone on to tell what Turians do eat. In that same vein, it would be interesting to see whether any of these aliens are silicon-based life forms (as opposed to carbon-based, like humans). Central nervous system vs. nerve net vs. some other sensory system. Why, all these aliens seem to have four limbs—except the Hanar, who are actually pretty unique aside from looking like a giant pink squid. But anyway, I find the supposed convergent evolution (unrelated species evolving parallel structures coincidentally) of a dozen alien species highly annoying.
But this is all precursor to a more specific discussion: Sex and Reproduction. Yeah, I went there.
From what I can tell, not having completed a romance of either a Quarian or an Asari in game, the Asari are the only species for which we get any specifics on the "how" of reproduction (and even then, not all that much). But then, the Asari are the "hot" aliens, the ones that make xenophilia look good. And, they're monogendered in the female direction. However, despite the games being marketed more heavily towards male players than females, the Asari are still pretty interesting.
Though the implication is there that they will engage in sex as recreation, the Asari only reproduce deliberately—there are no "accidents". This is because an Asari aiming to reproduce can perform some impressive genetic tampering (the point of which being genetic diversity) by employing some form of psychic ability. It's pretty much brain-sex. The Asari must also, I presume, have entered the Matron Stage of her life, though it isn't clear if, before that stage, an Asari lacks the capability to reproduce, or the desire to.
The Asari can create offspring with a partner from any species, any gender, can pick and choose desirable genetic traits from that partner as she sees fit. I assume the result is usually a baby Asari, but if the mother can take whatever genes she wants, it stands to reason she could take enough genetic material from her partner to create a baby of the partner's species if she felt like it. That being said, though the Asari can reproduce with any species, probably they can't have sex with any species. Theoretically, there are species for which they should have incompatible parts. (Specifically, I'd say the Hanar are one of them, but who knows what their tentacles are actually for…)
The only other species we get any kind of reproductive detail for are the Krogan, and in their case it has more to do with population control than sex. The Krogan are culturally a more primitive species than many of the others to which we are introduced, and the understanding is that they were not culturally advanced enough for space travel when the first Asari made contact with their planet. Krogan have a very high birth rate, but traditionally this was countered by high mortality due to clan conflict and infighting. This also guaranteed that only the strongest Krogan would survive to pass on their genes, thus strengthening the species as a whole.
With the advent of space travel, the Krogan no longer had only each other to fight. And, despite being technologically more primitive than other species, they are a physically superior fighter and don't have nearly as much trouble as they should have conquering colonies and planets. Apparently, there was the very real concern that a veritable Krogan horde might sweep through space and annihilate everything in their path. Thus the Salarians and Turians created something called the genophage, and it was the Turians who administered it to the Krogan homeworld and all of their colonies.
The genophage is a virus that eats genetic tissue, reducing not fertility, but the viability of offspring. The codex goes into a lot more detail, but suffice to say that only 1 of 1000 pregnancies were carried to term. This is nearly identical to the wording in the codex, suggesting Krogan are something similar to a placental mammal, even though they resemble something between a turtle and a dinosaur (to my eye). That seems like a pretty low birth rate to me, but then, we aren't told what kind of gestation period Krogan females have, nor how long it takes their young to reach maturity, nor even what the current population of Krogan is. The number is either a mark of how many Krogan there were before the genophage, or an indication that there is a problem that might ultimately result in the extinction of the Krogan.
But, again, this is population-related biology and not sex.
Given that my favourite character in the game is a Turian, it is this species I'm most curious about, but I can generalize about the Asari, Salarians, Krogan, Quarians, and Drell also. The Asari are monogender, but the rest have males and females (though, of the rest, Quarians are the only species where we actually get to see their females). The implication is that Asari, Salarians, Quarians, Drell, and Turians have reproductive parts compatible with humans. (Though, since none of the romantic cut scenes are extensive, there is always the possibility that they fell short of reproductive compatibility for intercourse and had to settle on other methods of sexual satisfaction. All these species have mouths and fingers, after all, though I'm pretty sure a Turian would have trouble with oral stimulation given their lack of lips.) Krogan, I'm not sure of, but apparently they have four testicles (or maybe it's an approximation to the structure, and the easiest translation from the Krogan language to whatever the standard language of space is) so it's possible the other attendant organs exist. There are a lot more little details about the species in reference to culture and courtship than there are about technique, but I'm not going to enumerate them because that would make this twice as long.
I'm going to go back to my Turians, now that I've probably given way too much background on other species. There's very little canon information about their reproductive biology, so I'm going to have to extrapolate primarily from their culture and what little is given about their generalized biology.
Turians have, in addition to an internal skeleton, what is referred to in the game codex as a metallic exoskeleton. Considering it evolved to protect against solar radiation and not as a form of structure and support (the purpose of the internal skeleton), the word isn't really accurate. It is a reflective, plate-like skin, and the word carapace seems more appropriate, even if "carapace" usually implies shell. At any rate, given the plating, I find it extremely unlikely Turians have any external genitalia. However, given Garrus's familiarity with the word "testicles" (or, again, the approximation to them, given language differences), probably Turians have them, albeit internal. Now, it already irritates me that species from different galaxies might coincidentally be compatible for sex, not to mention have the same or similar organs, so I really hesitate to make this comparison, but I imagine a male Turian's body might work the same as that of a male crocodile. (For those of you who don't know anything about animal sex, that means a penis that is usually internal, except for the occasions when the crocodile wants to use it, at which time it emerges from a slit near the crocodile's tail—on his belly side, though I would hope that goes without saying. I'm pretty sure the penis isn't scaled like the rest of the crocodile is, though that might give all new meaning to "ribbed for her pleasure".)
We don't actually get to see a female Turian in the games, but we know they exist from dialogue with Garrus. He says he had reach, but she had flexibility (in reference to the former comrade), and while the words were used as an innuendo, they were also used literally, which would imply female Turians are possibly smaller than the males—this specific one was, at least. An animal with a carapace (or an exoskeleton, if you want to go that way) doesn't have mammary glands, and most don't bear live young, so there wouldn't be much difference in body shape between male and female Turians.
In another dialogue, Garrus states he would compliment a female Turian's "fringe" (which I assume is the crest-like plating that sweeps backwards from their foreheads) and her small waist. Probably, female Turians have longer and more elaborate fringe, which might distinguish them from males. It's possible they also have different colouration, though that's just a guess on my part. Given how narrow Turians' bodies are, it is likely that they either do not have a very long gestation (which means lots of post-natal care in higher life forms) or they do not bear live young at all.
For all that the biology is different from a human's, from what I've sketched out here, the method would be about the same—at least for the sex, if not the reproduction part. I'm not certain, given the structures, whether a male Turian would require more or less foreplay than a human male does, but I'm inclined to say "more" just because it sounds like more fun that way. What's interesting about the question of method is the fact that, when Shepard romances Garrus as a love interest, he seems to have no idea whether sex between a Turian and a human is even possible. Alright, this seems pretty realistic, unless you've already romanced Thane Krios, a Drell.
Drell are human-shaped and look like a combination of fish and reptile, complete with what look like external gills on the sides of their heads. Thane refers to his deceased wife several times, so we know there are female Drell, but I have no clue what sex might be like for their species. In this part of the universe, Drell are at least as rare as Hanar—in that you only get to see two Drell in the games. Drell have very little human contact, it seems, but when Shepard propositions Thane, there is no, "Hmmm…I wonder if it's possible…"
I only mention this because Turians are absolutely everywhere in the games, and this isn't the first time Garrus has worked with humans (you can't romance him until the second game), but he has no idea if he can sex up a human woman. I think this has more to do with the culture of his species than Garrus as a person, though, because he is all too willing to try it out after Shepard suggests it. As in, you see several Turians who are anti-human, including a politician who actually campaigns as anti-human. It is entirely possible that it is frowned upon for Turians to engage in relationships with humans, which would explain Garrus's ignorance. It is entirely possible that Turian culture frowns upon all interspecies relationships. Given Turian society is militaristic, I think it's pretty likely.
Now there's something interesting. In spite of the Turians' militaristic society, they seem like they might be pretty casual about recreational sex. Actually, maybe not "in spite of", but rather, "because of". It seems like female Turians can have equal status to the males in the military, and stress relief comes in all forms. I can't think of many jobs more stressful than being a soldier. Garrus mentioned sparring as stress relief, as well, but I bet he enjoyed the sex more.
One last thing, that sort of offshoots from my prior topic. Female Turians are probably the equal of their men. But we don't get to see any. No female Turian C-Sec agents or mercs. But on military ships even lacking female soldiers, there's probably still recreational sex going on, or so I figured. And then I wondered, "Is homosexual intercourse even possible between Turians?" If they do have internal anatomy similar to a crocodile, probably not. Crocodiles have only the one posterior opening, and it's also the one from which the penis emerges. Turians would need to have internal biology that is at least a combination of mammalian and crocodilian (if not altogether different from both) in order for intercourse to be possible between two males (aka at least two posterior openings). Not every species has to be as stupid and closed-minded as humans. If Turian men don't feel emasculated by their female soldiers, then I find it entirely likely they don't feel emasculated by a bit of recreational homosexuality.
I put links to pictures of the alien species I talk about within the text of what I've written, but here's all of the races up here at the top, just in case you don't feel like hunting for them (in alphabetical order, because I'm like that):
Asari
Drell
Hanar
Krogan
Quarian
Salarian
There are more than a dozen alien species in these games. Some are given a lot more significance than others. Hours of dialogue (maybe an exaggeration, but not by much) are spent learning about their differences in culture. It's all very interesting. But there's a lot less about the unique biologies of the alien species. Probably because they're a lot less unique than one would expect. The most science-y thing I can remember reading in the game codex referred to the Turians and Quarians being unique for being built of dextro-amino acids (as opposed to levo-amino acids, apparently), the result being they might glean no nutritional value from human cuisine, or it might cause akin to an allergic reaction or death. Admittedly a small and insignificant detail in the larger scheme of things, but I found it interesting—though it would have been more interesting if they'd gone on to tell what Turians do eat. In that same vein, it would be interesting to see whether any of these aliens are silicon-based life forms (as opposed to carbon-based, like humans). Central nervous system vs. nerve net vs. some other sensory system. Why, all these aliens seem to have four limbs—except the Hanar, who are actually pretty unique aside from looking like a giant pink squid. But anyway, I find the supposed convergent evolution (unrelated species evolving parallel structures coincidentally) of a dozen alien species highly annoying.
But this is all precursor to a more specific discussion: Sex and Reproduction. Yeah, I went there.
From what I can tell, not having completed a romance of either a Quarian or an Asari in game, the Asari are the only species for which we get any specifics on the "how" of reproduction (and even then, not all that much). But then, the Asari are the "hot" aliens, the ones that make xenophilia look good. And, they're monogendered in the female direction. However, despite the games being marketed more heavily towards male players than females, the Asari are still pretty interesting.
Though the implication is there that they will engage in sex as recreation, the Asari only reproduce deliberately—there are no "accidents". This is because an Asari aiming to reproduce can perform some impressive genetic tampering (the point of which being genetic diversity) by employing some form of psychic ability. It's pretty much brain-sex. The Asari must also, I presume, have entered the Matron Stage of her life, though it isn't clear if, before that stage, an Asari lacks the capability to reproduce, or the desire to.
The Asari can create offspring with a partner from any species, any gender, can pick and choose desirable genetic traits from that partner as she sees fit. I assume the result is usually a baby Asari, but if the mother can take whatever genes she wants, it stands to reason she could take enough genetic material from her partner to create a baby of the partner's species if she felt like it. That being said, though the Asari can reproduce with any species, probably they can't have sex with any species. Theoretically, there are species for which they should have incompatible parts. (Specifically, I'd say the Hanar are one of them, but who knows what their tentacles are actually for…)
The only other species we get any kind of reproductive detail for are the Krogan, and in their case it has more to do with population control than sex. The Krogan are culturally a more primitive species than many of the others to which we are introduced, and the understanding is that they were not culturally advanced enough for space travel when the first Asari made contact with their planet. Krogan have a very high birth rate, but traditionally this was countered by high mortality due to clan conflict and infighting. This also guaranteed that only the strongest Krogan would survive to pass on their genes, thus strengthening the species as a whole.
With the advent of space travel, the Krogan no longer had only each other to fight. And, despite being technologically more primitive than other species, they are a physically superior fighter and don't have nearly as much trouble as they should have conquering colonies and planets. Apparently, there was the very real concern that a veritable Krogan horde might sweep through space and annihilate everything in their path. Thus the Salarians and Turians created something called the genophage, and it was the Turians who administered it to the Krogan homeworld and all of their colonies.
The genophage is a virus that eats genetic tissue, reducing not fertility, but the viability of offspring. The codex goes into a lot more detail, but suffice to say that only 1 of 1000 pregnancies were carried to term. This is nearly identical to the wording in the codex, suggesting Krogan are something similar to a placental mammal, even though they resemble something between a turtle and a dinosaur (to my eye). That seems like a pretty low birth rate to me, but then, we aren't told what kind of gestation period Krogan females have, nor how long it takes their young to reach maturity, nor even what the current population of Krogan is. The number is either a mark of how many Krogan there were before the genophage, or an indication that there is a problem that might ultimately result in the extinction of the Krogan.
But, again, this is population-related biology and not sex.
Given that my favourite character in the game is a Turian, it is this species I'm most curious about, but I can generalize about the Asari, Salarians, Krogan, Quarians, and Drell also. The Asari are monogender, but the rest have males and females (though, of the rest, Quarians are the only species where we actually get to see their females). The implication is that Asari, Salarians, Quarians, Drell, and Turians have reproductive parts compatible with humans. (Though, since none of the romantic cut scenes are extensive, there is always the possibility that they fell short of reproductive compatibility for intercourse and had to settle on other methods of sexual satisfaction. All these species have mouths and fingers, after all, though I'm pretty sure a Turian would have trouble with oral stimulation given their lack of lips.) Krogan, I'm not sure of, but apparently they have four testicles (or maybe it's an approximation to the structure, and the easiest translation from the Krogan language to whatever the standard language of space is) so it's possible the other attendant organs exist. There are a lot more little details about the species in reference to culture and courtship than there are about technique, but I'm not going to enumerate them because that would make this twice as long.
I'm going to go back to my Turians, now that I've probably given way too much background on other species. There's very little canon information about their reproductive biology, so I'm going to have to extrapolate primarily from their culture and what little is given about their generalized biology.
Turians have, in addition to an internal skeleton, what is referred to in the game codex as a metallic exoskeleton. Considering it evolved to protect against solar radiation and not as a form of structure and support (the purpose of the internal skeleton), the word isn't really accurate. It is a reflective, plate-like skin, and the word carapace seems more appropriate, even if "carapace" usually implies shell. At any rate, given the plating, I find it extremely unlikely Turians have any external genitalia. However, given Garrus's familiarity with the word "testicles" (or, again, the approximation to them, given language differences), probably Turians have them, albeit internal. Now, it already irritates me that species from different galaxies might coincidentally be compatible for sex, not to mention have the same or similar organs, so I really hesitate to make this comparison, but I imagine a male Turian's body might work the same as that of a male crocodile. (For those of you who don't know anything about animal sex, that means a penis that is usually internal, except for the occasions when the crocodile wants to use it, at which time it emerges from a slit near the crocodile's tail—on his belly side, though I would hope that goes without saying. I'm pretty sure the penis isn't scaled like the rest of the crocodile is, though that might give all new meaning to "ribbed for her pleasure".)
We don't actually get to see a female Turian in the games, but we know they exist from dialogue with Garrus. He says he had reach, but she had flexibility (in reference to the former comrade), and while the words were used as an innuendo, they were also used literally, which would imply female Turians are possibly smaller than the males—this specific one was, at least. An animal with a carapace (or an exoskeleton, if you want to go that way) doesn't have mammary glands, and most don't bear live young, so there wouldn't be much difference in body shape between male and female Turians.
In another dialogue, Garrus states he would compliment a female Turian's "fringe" (which I assume is the crest-like plating that sweeps backwards from their foreheads) and her small waist. Probably, female Turians have longer and more elaborate fringe, which might distinguish them from males. It's possible they also have different colouration, though that's just a guess on my part. Given how narrow Turians' bodies are, it is likely that they either do not have a very long gestation (which means lots of post-natal care in higher life forms) or they do not bear live young at all.
For all that the biology is different from a human's, from what I've sketched out here, the method would be about the same—at least for the sex, if not the reproduction part. I'm not certain, given the structures, whether a male Turian would require more or less foreplay than a human male does, but I'm inclined to say "more" just because it sounds like more fun that way. What's interesting about the question of method is the fact that, when Shepard romances Garrus as a love interest, he seems to have no idea whether sex between a Turian and a human is even possible. Alright, this seems pretty realistic, unless you've already romanced Thane Krios, a Drell.
Drell are human-shaped and look like a combination of fish and reptile, complete with what look like external gills on the sides of their heads. Thane refers to his deceased wife several times, so we know there are female Drell, but I have no clue what sex might be like for their species. In this part of the universe, Drell are at least as rare as Hanar—in that you only get to see two Drell in the games. Drell have very little human contact, it seems, but when Shepard propositions Thane, there is no, "Hmmm…I wonder if it's possible…"
I only mention this because Turians are absolutely everywhere in the games, and this isn't the first time Garrus has worked with humans (you can't romance him until the second game), but he has no idea if he can sex up a human woman. I think this has more to do with the culture of his species than Garrus as a person, though, because he is all too willing to try it out after Shepard suggests it. As in, you see several Turians who are anti-human, including a politician who actually campaigns as anti-human. It is entirely possible that it is frowned upon for Turians to engage in relationships with humans, which would explain Garrus's ignorance. It is entirely possible that Turian culture frowns upon all interspecies relationships. Given Turian society is militaristic, I think it's pretty likely.
Now there's something interesting. In spite of the Turians' militaristic society, they seem like they might be pretty casual about recreational sex. Actually, maybe not "in spite of", but rather, "because of". It seems like female Turians can have equal status to the males in the military, and stress relief comes in all forms. I can't think of many jobs more stressful than being a soldier. Garrus mentioned sparring as stress relief, as well, but I bet he enjoyed the sex more.
One last thing, that sort of offshoots from my prior topic. Female Turians are probably the equal of their men. But we don't get to see any. No female Turian C-Sec agents or mercs. But on military ships even lacking female soldiers, there's probably still recreational sex going on, or so I figured. And then I wondered, "Is homosexual intercourse even possible between Turians?" If they do have internal anatomy similar to a crocodile, probably not. Crocodiles have only the one posterior opening, and it's also the one from which the penis emerges. Turians would need to have internal biology that is at least a combination of mammalian and crocodilian (if not altogether different from both) in order for intercourse to be possible between two males (aka at least two posterior openings). Not every species has to be as stupid and closed-minded as humans. If Turian men don't feel emasculated by their female soldiers, then I find it entirely likely they don't feel emasculated by a bit of recreational homosexuality.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2010-05-23 04:04 am (UTC)I just realized Jillers could be a Hanar sent here to spy on us.
no subject
on 2010-05-24 11:26 am (UTC)Also I have no idea who Jillers is.
Also also. Your icon is totally creepy.