A/N: Reopened this, to include a series of small stories or interviews detailing the concepts of biotics from the viewpoints of several different races.


Perspectives on Biotics: Lady Benezia T'Soni, Lunarch of the Temple of the Sun Ascendant of Athame's Glory

Excerpts from an interview conducted in 2169, during Benezia's tenure as asari ambassador to the Systems Alliance. Interviewer was Charles Wong of the Alliance News Network.


CW: We are gratified to have with us today one of the most skilled practicioners of the biotic arts, Matriarch Benezia T'Soni. She is the second highest priestess in the asari church of Athame, and the first asari ambassador to the Systems Alliance from the Asari Republics. She is also the high matriarch of House T'Soni, a noble house with a linage dating back almost ten thousand years, a pedigree on par with that of any of the Noble Families of Earth.

CW: [Bows, as to a head of a Family]

CW: Be welcome, your Grace.

BT: [inclines head with a gentle smile] I thank you for your courtesy, Mr. Wong.

CW: Before we talk about biotics, I do have a few general questions. How are you finding Earth?

BT: Your world is beautiful, but sorely wounded. I am astounded at the energy and drive of your people to reclaim what is lost, and the magnificence of your past history rivals that of any other race known to the Citadel. I have seen your Great Wall of China, your Pyramids, the beauty of the Imperial Palace – but I have also seen your grand arcologies and beautiful colonies such as Eden Prime and Bekenstein. These wonders are just as great as those from your past. We are indeed blessed to call you kin.

CW: Milady, there are those who are somewhat confused by the asari claiming humanity as their cousins. While I am surely speaking for every human when I say we are grateful that the asari stopped the turian butchery of our kind, there is an undertone that perhaps the asari would not have acted if humans had not been so similar?

BT: [Nods slowly]. Mr. Wang, when you look at my hands, what do you see?

CW: Five fingers. Fingernails.

BT: And my eyes?

CW: Pupils, iris. Eyelashes.

BT: [Smiles] Humans and asari share things no other race have. The number of our teeth, the shape of our bones, the form of our bodies. Your children were fascinated when I visited a water-park and my skin pruned just like theirs did when in water for too long, and that I had a belly button. Your language is comfortable in throat, unlike that of turians or salarians.

BT: [Makes gesture of siari unity] Humans and asari are not merely 'similar' , we are the only kin in the galaxy. We have shared with you secrets of our technology, our biotics, our knowledge that we would never share with even the salarians, with which we have been allies for centuries. We see you as cousins because, perhaps, all beings seek those like themselves in the dark.

CW: Thus explaining the curious extranet show 'Fleet and Flotilla?'

BT: [laughs and nods, smiling] Exactly! Turians and quarians are cousins in the same way that humans and asari are. They have not treated their kin well, but we are not so foolish as do the same. Humans are inventive, creative, flexible, and energetic. You are natural partners for the asari, both personally and as a species. It is why the Asari Republic send a figure of such importance as myself – not to flaunt my own status – to be your ambassador, rather than some mid-level bureaucrat from the Republic government.

CW: So the asari value humanity? Some say the asari having so much invested in humanity is unsafe for the Systems Alliance.

BT: I happen to agree … and yet , I would not change our course. In many ways the asari have become too hidebound, too content and lazy, to continue our old path. Our dominance of galactic politics and finances weakens every day, and we cannot afford to merely maintain the status quo.

BT: [Thoughtful look] As for the SA, Mr. Wong, we are not merely aiding you. We are protecting human markets, human interests, from being overwhelmed by alien competition. We are preventing diplomatic incidents and other unpleasantry. We do not doubt humanity will stand on it's own two feet, but we don't wish that to come at the cost of skinned knees and bruised dreams.

CW: Very well put, milady. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to spend some time on the topic of biotics.

BT: That is acceptable, as I am something of an expert among the asari on the Art.

CW: Milady, there are many misperceptions among humans about the nature of biotics, and the possible dangers biotics may bring into the lives of normal humans. While we are all very proud of our men and women in service who have devoted themselves to mastering this skill to protect us, there are always those who misuse any form of power. Can you give us some kind of idea what your people did to prevent such misuse of biotics, given that you have lived with it for millennia?

BT: The Art is not an easy thing to explain, Mr. Wong, even for those of us who use it as naturally as breathing. The salarians have spent many years researching the cold science behind it, and they control it by limiting who has it, with switches and chemicals. The turians approach it as some form of ritual magic, I suspect, and ghettoize and isolate their practicioners. Neither of these approaches has stopped the occasional biotic terrorist or lunatic from wreaking havoc and death.

BT: [makes gesture of siari separation] We asari do not usually even think about it as a separate concept, as we are all born with it. The idea of preventing misuse is … a non-sequitor, as if I asked you how you prevented your fellow humans from being cruel to one another.

CW: But anyone can be cruel or mean, it's hardly anything that requires special training or skills.

BT: [with an elegant hand motion, lifts the cup of tea sitting by her side to her hand, and smiles after sipping.]

BT: And for the asari, any of us can use simple biotics as early as what for you would be childhood. An asari child can use lift before she can walk, she can draw on mass fields before she learns to drive an aircar. Control is something we do not have in that fashion. For us to 'control' the users would be impossible, as every asari's birthright is this power.

BT: [frowns] To answer your larger question… the best method of control would be to educate your people on the nature of biotics.

CW: To many of us with no background or ability in such things, there doesn't seem to be much difference in what you did that magic. What is biotics?

BT: The Art, at its simplest, is simply a natural being mimicking the properties of the mass effect fields generated by our technology. We can affect mass and gravity, and utilize dark energy to alter, shape, and create reactive forces or disruptive ones in the reality around us. The Art is something each asari embraces or uses as she will. Some use it in battle, others use it to create beautiful art. It can find application in building homes and businesses, or in physical exploration of their own limits.

BT: [Crosses legs, leaning back] The best answer I can give is that Art is more what the user bends it's power towards, rather than the technical power of mass effect manipulation itself. No machine can mimic what biotics can do.

CW: I believe I see what you mean, although the turian viewpoint of seeing it as magic is one many humans will continue to hold.

BT: Perception, I have found, is a lens that sharply limits comprehension by its inability to look beyond the easily seen. Magic implies a mystical force, and certainly there are aspects of the Art that are somewhat mysterious and even arcane. But these things can be explained with science, with easily understood laws, and all biotics has a cost.

CW: I see. There are also those who fear such powers of the mind can let biotics read their thoughts.

BT [laughs, smiling and shaking her head] If it were only so simple, the asari would have much less reason to gossip and mingle. No, Mr. Wong. Biotics does not affect the mind or thoughts in anyway, except in that they are controlled by the electrical impulses of a living being's nervous system. No biotic can 'read thoughts' or even mimic the gross effects of an asari meld. Even the most tightly bonded asari, with centuries of togetherness, cannot read each other's thoughts – at best, emotional states and fears.

CW: What about the sheer power available to biotics? Last month, an L2 veteran biotic had a psychotic break and attacked an open market. He was able to take down a dozen heavily armed policemen and crash a shuttle before the Commissariat disabled him.

BT: Any form of power can be abused, Mr. Wong. A rogue battlesuit pilot could kill dozens. A deranged fighter pilot could blow up innocent transports or bomb civilian cities. An insane turian sniper once shot and killed seventy four victims before he was caught at it. Any kind of power shorn of secure methods to prevent abuse will have that problem.

BT: [Leans forward] But the answer to that is not fear, or to shun biotics. A biotic is not a god, Mr. Wong. I am considered one of the strongest biotics in the galaxy, and I can tear apart an armored vehicle with little more than a wave of my hand. I can turn aside a hail of bullets, leap down five stories and land without hurting myself, or lift several tons with no effort at all. And yet, , I am not invincible. I bear scars where a sniper nearly killed me centuries ago.

CW: I would have thought with all that power that you would be.

BT: The Art does not make one omnipresent or omnipotent. I cannot stop what I cannot predict or see, and I cannot keep myself behind a barrier for entire cycles, or days on end. Biotic tire, and the more of the Art one calls upon the more exhausted you grow. We require more food, more water, more rest, and have a low tolerance for certain environments. A $25 phase field disruptor will make the powers of most biotics fail or at least fade.

CW: Interesting. What is your view of the Senate's decision to require biotics to register with the government and allow tracking devices to be incorporated into their amps?

BT: Humans have a strong predilection for privacy, whilst asari see privacy as the lonely fear of communal joys. That being said … the decision is both understandable and disappointing. The Systems Alliance government has only so many biotics, and the ugly episode you referenced earlier will only increase the fear and distrust normal humans have of their fellow biotics. The other beach of that particular bay is that it sends a message to those biotics that said government does not trust them.

CW: Trust is earned, Your Grace. Biotics is still very new to humans, and they will require time for us to get adjusted.

BT: That is true, but it goes both ways, Mr. Wong. It is hard for the asari to know what to think of humans when you appear endlessly fascinated by the asari who wield the Art, and terrified of your own kind who do the same.

CW: A telling point. The first human combat biotic, Commander Gabrella Connor, once described biotics as more of a tool than a weapon. Most humans, I've found, tend to look at it in those concepts. How do the asari view it?

BT: It is an art, as we call it. A weapon is merely a tool corrupted in use to commit violence with. A tool is merely an extension of the wielder's will. Art is a creation, something that is willed into being. You cannot view it as a mere thing, Mr. Wang, because it is dangerous. It can and will turn on the user if the are incautious, or if they rely on it too much.

CW: There are those – particularly turians – who feel that some of the things humans have done with biotics have 'cheapened' it. In particular, a few younger biotics have used it to in surfboarding, in skydiving, and in gymnastics. What is your view on this?

BT: [laughs, and leans back, grinning] Oh, surfboarding is perhaps the most wondrous thing I have ever had the chance to partake in. I myself had to rely on the Art to keep my form in balance atop the waves. It is sad that so much of Earth's oceans are polluted and damaged, but that you have kept a shallow bay free of such toxins to allow the enjoyment of the waves is … worthy of praise.

BT: [More serious expression] But to the question – no, I see no problems with such. We call it an Art because we see it as such. Biotics fills every aspect of the asari lifestyle, and I am sure that it will become more and more natural to you as your species develops it – you are so similar to us, that we cannot help but feel you too will eventually call on it as we do.

BT: [Folds arms] Using it in dance, in art, in making and creating beauty instead of death – is that not a purer, better way to draw upon it's cerulean radiance? The turian view is perforce an artifact of the turian outlook on life as a struggle and a battle.

CW: I see. We thank you for your time and consideration, Matriarch, and hope that the people of Earth make a good impression on you.