Dr. Henwick,

I require a comprehensive report on the batarians ASAP. It seems we are doomed to interact with the things.

-Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov, Head of Special Projects Division

Political and Military Threat Analysis: Batarian Hegemony

History

Of all the alien species to have been marked by the colonials' entrance into the galaxy proper, the batarians perhaps were the most changed. It is a testament to the natural brutality of the KMC that the batarians, despite being so far removed geographically, ended up becoming so intimately bound with the colonial's affairs.

The batarians are a four-eyed anthropoid race native to the jungle world of Khar'shan. They typically stand taller than either humans or turians at an average of six and a half feet, and like humans, possess varying amounts of body hair on the face, chest, and back (albeit, to a greater extent.)

Batarians entered the galactic scene after the volus, unlocking the secrets of FTL travel through deciphered texts within badly damaged prothean ruins, continuing the trend of aliens borrowing the tools of the ancients rather than forging their own. The batarians proceeded to make nuisances out of themselves for the next eight hundred years through their practices of slavery, blatant xenophobia, and aggressive colonization close to other Council territories. Despite their brazen displays, however, their antics were kept easily in check by STG specialists, who had decoded every known batarian encryption and occasionally amused themselves by planting new ones in the heads of the batarians' own inept infiltrators.

At the time of Relay 118's opening, the batarians began their own push for a Council seat, citing their connections in the Terminus Systems and substantial military as "a good enough reason as any" to be considered for a seat. When Councilor Tevos pointed out the Hegemony's history of poor behavior and blatant xenophobia, the batarians took it in uncharacteristically good humor, pointing towards a recent change in leadership and a potentially new direction for their government (see below for more.) The Koprulu Sector changed that.

To Anto, the batarian ambassador to the Council, Thessia represented an enormous opportunity to his people. Here at last, his people could prove their worth and dedication to the galactic community at large, and hopefully secure a Council seat in the bargain. If the terrans could be promised a seat, why couldn't they? Anto contacted the Hegemon and told him to prepare Batarian First Fleet, and to load their ships with as many SIU troopers as they could handle. Thus, the batarians entered Thessia.

From the accounts of survivors and Desolas's public memoirs, the batarians by all accounts performed magnificently. Their previously mocked harpoon weapons, designed to punch through heavy plating and inflict massive bleeding, found worthwhile targets in the larger zerg broods, while the smaller zerg fell victim to the batarians' shock nets and their brutal powered gauntlets. By the time allied forces limped their way to the second cerebrate, the batarians had impressed the protoss enough to join them in the final charge against the throbbing zerg brain while the other forces provided a distraction. When Orbital Platform Siha came down, however, only three SIU soldiers survived the impact, and none of them with fully intact limbs. The sacrifice of the Hegemony's forces proved very high. I am left wondering what Anto must have thought, then, when said sacrifices were shrugged off by the Council in favor of disowning the asari and beginning their selfish cold war?

After an epic and now memetic forty-five minute rant in the Citadel Tower, Anto disbanded the embassy and announced the exit of the Hegemony from the Council. By the time Anto returned home, a new terran faction tearing through the Terminus Systems and looting everything in sight had been sighted. The Kel-Morian Combine.

Recent History: The KMC Corruption and an Unholy Alliance

The Hegemon at the time, Yagza the Conciliator, had spent the last twenty years of his life revolutionizing the Hegemony political machine. Gone were the days of openly decrying the promiscuity of the asari, the rigidity of the turians, and the duplicity of the salarians. The priest and political castes might have sullenly muttered to themselves about the heathen ways of foreigners, but Yagza recognized, probably accurately, that the ways of his people were widely seen by the galaxy at large as obscene, and that they would never be relevant until something changed. Hundreds year old legislature was overturned to make way for more relevant laws, and the slave laws were modified to more easily allow the lowest caste to work their way up from the bottom.

How could Yagza have known that in his lifetime, he would encounter a people just as depraved as his own?

The KMC saw in the Hegemony an opportunity. Fellow slavers and opportunists par excellence, barred from the Council, and in a similar dire need for allies, Vido Santiago and Elias Kelham extended greetings and the hand of friendship. Suddenly, the laws making trade and political alliances easier for aliens caught the attention of the previously despondent governor caste, as well as the ever enterprising merchants.

Yagza, at first enthusiastic, watched in horror as the KMs, having quickly assessed the situation, armed his political rivals to the teeth with Koprulu technologies and instructed them, in no uncertain terms, to make certain their leader was compliant.

The armed uprising that followed could not truly be called a revolution, for it was almost entirely bloodless. Yagza sent a short, poignant statement to the Council before meeting the crowd outside his palace. He was strangled to death in full view of the curious Santiago and Kelham, who were sternly informed that spilling the blood of the Hegemon was punishable by death.

Anto the Vindictive, disillusioned former ambassador, rose to the rank of Hegemon. Within a year, the first Waygates orbited Khar'shan. The Hegemony cast its lot with the Combine.

Castes

The caste system within the Hegemony is as complex as it is inflexible. Despite the slight loosening of the laws due to Yagza's influence, the truth of the matter is that the top and bottom of the caste system will never move. The slaves will remain slaves, the soldiers will remain soldiers, and the priests and governors will retain their extensive powers. That being said, the Book of Karza (available over the extranet in English and still barely decipherable) includes any number of loopholes, exceptions, and marriage laws that may allow advancement to even the lowliest slave. The odds are minute, but measurable, and even the most conservative priest would not deny advancement.

However, it is worth noting that, unlike our own (or even most) races the batarians do not actually prize advancement. Ambition, certainly. Success, definitely. But climbing up the castes is discouraged, if for no other reason beyond tradition that even the batarians recognize that their system is to some degree rigged. Slave revolts among batarians slaves are uncommon. The soldiers complain, but desertion is practically non-existent. Only among the merchant caste is there a true desire for advancement, and that mostly stems from their extensive interaction with the Terminus Systems.

That being said, their relationship with the KMs could eventually change this voluntary stagnation … provided the UED permits these miserable specimens of sapience to survive long enough to improve themselves.

Forgive my less-than-professional tone; aside from the obvious disgust I feel at these slaving degenerates, I have found a great deal of gender stratification within their society, and the nature of said stratification disgusts me. Both male and female batarians can be found at all levels of batarian society barring the military and the Hegemon. Female batarians born into the soldier caste cannot be soldiers … and are either lowered into the slave caste or used as "birthers" to continue the production of soldiers. It says a great deal that even the KMC have displayed open disgust at this practice. At least the ban on female Hegemons makes a certain warped kind of sense: Karza, the first and greatest Hegemon, was male, and thus there can only be male Hegemons.

Slave Caste: Lowest of the low, performers of manual labor deemed degrading or simply more tedious than usual. The lucky ones might become bed slaves. The unlucky ones end up colonizing planets in the Traverse. Non-batarians have it worse, as they lack the opportunity for advancement and are frequently discriminated against, even by the other slaves.

Soldier Caste: Despite the excessive posturing of the merchants and governors, the batarians do not actually place much value in battle and conflict. From an objective standpoint, one might argue that the batarians are weary of placing too much power into the hands of their soldier caste and tempting an overthrow of their system. From a non-objective standpoint, I call the batarians ungrateful bastards who do not pay nearly enough recognition to the caste that won them the respect of the protoss. More on their military shortly.

Labor Caste: Interestingly, the batarians value labor more than soldiering. A peculiar reversal; see above for my thoughts on it. The labor caste is barely visible to the galaxy at large as they lack both opportunities and motive to travel, thanks to the government's strict rules regarding travel. In truth, they shore up the batarian economy to a far greater degree than any slave, but both popular opinion and the batarians themselves would deny this.

Merchant Caste: The most frequently encountered batarians outside their space, merchants embody the true spirit of the batarian people: enterprising, opportunistic, and viciously unscrupulous. The merchant caste batarians are a common sight in the Terminus Systems, and it is usually the merchants who found new colonies, independent of the Hegemony or otherwise.

Calling them "merchants" does not quite do these specimens justice. They are just as often explorers, pirates, and colonists. The second tenet of Karza is (rough translation): "Wealth and riches to those who take what can be taken, stagnation and starvation to the sloth." The merchant caste capitalizes on all available opportunities or gaps in the market, taking advantage of the comparative amount of freedom they possess relative to other castes.

Governor Caste: From here, the Hegemon is chosen, but the governors themselves are still less important and more numerous than the priests. Comprising representatives from various batarian colonies and nation states, the governor caste is chiefly responsible for justifying its own existence by making their KM allies happy and keeping the peace between their peoples. Ambassadors to other species are taken from this caste, and the position is considered highly prestigious due to the enormous number of opportunities the Hegemony might be presented by the alien nations. It is not uncommon for ritual combat to ensue to determine who the candidates will be: Anto reportedly killed seven other politicians for his own position prior to being Hegemon.

A small sub-caste within the group also trains in military tactics and strategy before entering their military as officers. Said governors receive little respect from their peers, but the soldiers have not been heard complaining.

In recent years, the gaps between the three castes have closed as the KMC empowers the merchants and governors with further wealth and technology while the priests have a harder and harder time controlling their previously complacent populace. Tensions are rising within the Hegemony as, at long last, the KMC accomplishes through raw greed what the Citadel could not through diplomacy: challenging the caste system.

Priest Caste: The priests probably have more to do with governing than the actual politicians ... or at least, they used to. It is they who interpret the texts of Karza and enforce the caste system. It is also they who control popular support and opinion ... previously.

No governor has ever survived long without the support of the priest caste, as can be seen by Yagza's swift removal. In recent years, the KMC has taken a dislike to the priests, likely due to their beliefs making it sometimes difficult to cooperate with and occasionally disgusting them. A steady rift grows between those who command the faith of the people … and those who control the flow of income.

The Hegemon: It is he who alone who may gainsay the priests, send forth Khar'shan's forces, or approve agreements with other races. Still, going against the grain produces predictable results, as Yagza demonstrated.

The power of the Hegemon remains steady while the priests is fading, even despite the recent overthrow of the past Hegemon. Anto, a shrewd negotiator thanks to many days spent in the Citadel Tower, has continually managed to consolidate his own power and make his own name known in KMC households through frequent appearances in KMC media.

Amusingly, despite having benefited greatly from the uprising, he approves the priest caste slowly hemorrhaging power and relevance, likely because he knows his own position is secure, and that even if the Hegemony were to be completely restructured by the aristocracy and merchants, they would still need a leader, and Anto has proven cannier than most.

Military Analysis

The batarians themselves are reviled for their practice of slavery and their aggressive expansionism, but their (groundside) military is actually rather respected. The soldier caste (and they are soldiers, not warriors) must adhere to some of the strictest tenets of Karza and maintain impeccable conduct at all times. Soldiers are forbidden to dishonor the name of Karza; no tactics that he himself would have disapproved of. This does not disclude brutal measures such as biological WMDs or slamming asteroids into planets, but batarians are forbidden to loot or rape, and taking slaves of their own is likewise forbidden unless they receive a commission. The discipline enforced on the soldier caste is comparable to the turians' own, albeit with far fewer opportunities for advancement.

The batarian navy has until recently lagged behind most other races; the fragmented prothean ruins allowed them to limp to the Citadel and back, but provided far less data on the usage of eezo enhanced ship guns. As a result, according to the KMC, much of the batarian navy feels and indeed looks "cobbled together," trading all aesthetics and creature comforts for speed and bigger guns. While the ships work and indeed, cost far less than might be expected, the toll on batarian crews is enormous, and no batarian patrol can survive leaving port for an extended period of time lest the supplies run out and/or the crew goes insane.

Previously the batarian navy's chief strength was its ability to project a large amount of power over a small area for a very brief amount of time – even the salarians respected the raw short term power the batarians could produce. Extended slugging matches with the Council swiftly favored their forces as logistics set her cold unfeeling jaws over the batarian troops, but even then the Council usually ended up operating at a loss. The batarian navy knows where to pick its fights – even if the merchants of the Hegemony do not.

With the advent of KMC weaponry, batarian heavy cruisers and dreadnoughts now feature rudimentary yamato cannons, while several cruisers and frigates now sport cloaking devices. While this has done an undeniable service to the navy's overall combat capability (and greatly angered Council members into the bargain,) the large reactors have further reduced room for other supplies and crew amenities. The batarians' reach is shortened, even if they now hit harder than ever before. It is clear the KMC intends to use their navy as a vanguard of their eventual counterattack against the Dominion. How they intend to maintain the batarian crews and ships while also preventing the crews from going insane is unclear.

The batarian groundside forces are a far sturdier specimen of an organization. Each batarian trooper trains with unguided primitive Kishock harpoon guns and rudimentary power gauntlets, weapons that require a great deal of strength to use in addition to significant aim compensation in the case of the guns. Mastery of these weapons is required before advancement can occur, at which point the batarians are issued the weapons they can expect to use on the battlefield – all of which are considerably easier to use.

Batarian troopers are trained in endurance and survival training in a wide array of environments, from the thickest jungles to the most frigid of tundras. Troopers are issued only the most rudimentary of equipment, most of which is purchased from Batarian State Arms. While previously a joke of a weapons manufacturer, recent events have earned BSA much respect.

Surprisingly, the batarian troopers have consistently overperformed in battle – though both my and their enemy's expectations have always been low. Their esprit-de-corps is commendable, and their leadership is well aware of proper utilization of terrain and artillery. Batarians also make use of psychological warfare, issuing war chants that can be heard for miles while sounding off incredibly deep war horns that KMC officials report make them "queasy" to hear. Thanks to the deep voices of the batarians and the translator's inability to produce an accurate language equivalent of their "haka," the effect is surprisingly unnerving to colonial troops.

Basic batarian infantry have adopted CMC armor, but prefer to keep their units mixed, as the greater size of the armor hampers mobility in jungles and urban areas. Their weaponry is now fully provided by a freshly invigorated Batarian State Arms, who have adopted colonial weaponry practices and upscaled their own guns. If the prevalence of BSA weapons in the Terminus Systems is any indication, quality has finally overtaken quantity in importance to the weapons manufacturer.

Of note are the rare, well-trained, and well-equipped Special Intervention Unit (SIU.) Deployed only in the most hostile and high-risk of situations, the SIU are trained to deal with literally any situation in the most efficient and final manner possible. SIU troopers seem more likely to be born than made: any member of the soldier caste may apply to be a member, but the KMC reports a near 20% mortality rate and a staggering 93% washout rate. Only the finest physical specimens possessing the most iron of wills will make it.

KMC reports on their capabilities are scanty. The SIU earned the respect of the protoss on Thessia (no mean feat) but beyond their jet black armor and oddly cordial behavior to the other races, the SIU is largely an unknown. One KMC platoon, unable to crack a heavily fortified Dominion outpost in New Sydney, were given a surprise assist by the SIU. The KMC sent them out, and "watched the red explosions blossom on the horizon, while snatches of screams could be heard on the wind." The platoon walked into the encampment the next day to find the batarians burning the colonial bodies all in a pile, each corpse's eyes gouged out. Only two of the twenty-six batarians sent in were lost.

Political Relations

Asari Republics: It is unclear how many times the asari have built a bridge with the batarians only to watch in resignation as the batarians burned it. Their history together is punctuated by periods of uneasy peace, followed by the batarians predictably overstepping their bounds. The Republics has always been revolted by slavery, and the frankly horrifying stories of asari slave treatment have long been a sticking point. That being said, times have changed.

Of the races in the Council, the asari and batarians probably have the most neutral relationship. The two fought together on Thessia, and were subsequently ignored despite their considerable contributions and sacrifices. The batarians are content to harass the salarians and turians while leaving the asari alone, something that gives their people a small amount of satisfaction. This absence of conflict cannot quite be attributed to altruism, however: the Republics now heavily garrison their remaining planets on the orders of the High Matriarch, making pirate raids cost prohibitive, and asari are also responsible for funding the Eclipse Sisterhood, a sizable mercenary organization currently employed by the KMC. This has resulted in a sort of "friend of my friend" understanding between the two governments, even if it is implicit rather than stated.

There is no formal contact between their peoples (and indeed, no communication appears likely for quite some time) but the present time seems to be one of the lighter periods of interaction between them. Anto the Vindictive has also been known to occasionally praise the asari's resilience to the KMC, although it is unclear whether this is genuine or a simple attempt to please Aria.

Salarian Union: The relationship between the salarians and batarians is reminiscent of a comedy routine. The batarians are the swaggering braggarts with much to prove, while the salarians are the giggling trickster in the corner. Aside from the sudden alliance with the KMC and their exit from the Council, the batarians have never surprised the Union. The Union has decrypted everything, has spies everywhere, has bugs everywhere.

When the batarians stepped on the Council's toes in the past, the asari issued sanctions, the turians engaged in costly slugging matches, and the salarians waited for the opportune moment. Then, when the smoke cleared, batarians would find water supplies contaminated with viruses, omni-mines strewn about their own campsites, and would be issued orders that charged them directly into artillery fire. Meanwhile, the orbiting ships find themselves firing madly into one another as their sensors go haywire and indicate enemy ships closing in from all directions.

Like the turians, the batarians have decried the salarians as cowards, and struggled to take revenge. The recent cold war has finally provided the opportunity, as state-funded pirates strike at outer salarian worlds before fading back into the Terminus Systems. The actions are completely deniable and diverting significant resources towards the batarians would provide an opening to the turians. The Hegemony is finally able to slightly even the score.

ITSA: The only Council affiliate with both the means and motivation to strike against (and be struck by) the Hegemony, the ITSA openly reviles the slavers, particularly as unscrupulous merchant-caste members take up piracy and strike lightly defended ITSA worlds. The brief conflict in 2504 has not been forgotten, and the ITSA long for a more conclusive showdown, even despite their own comparatively miniscule fleet. The Hegemony, for their part, wish the ITSA would leave them alone; they know where their ships are headed for shortly, and can ill-afford an invasion while their ships are absent. One spark could set off the fiery new nation, and the Hegemony are desperately trying to avoid that.

Irune Ultranationalists: The batarians have pointedly remained quiet about the volus. It seems they have assumed (correctly) that their support might taint the reputation of their cause. Then again, the volus have openly stated their loathing for the batarians, so that instead may be the cause.

Elcor Remnants: See ITSA. The elcor are slow to anger but impossible to calm once enraged, and the batarians are far past the point of forgiveness in their eyes. The fact that elcor have historically been among the most prized of slaves for their strength means that even before the formation of the ITSA, the elcor and batarians have had a turbulent relationship.

Krogan: Krogan slaves aren't worth it, while batarians are frequently better employers than sport. The two have a neutral relationship, though batarians are a far more tolerated sight than most Council races.

Quarian Refugees: Quarians are valued for their technical expertise, but their diets and exosuits typically proved expensive to accommodate for. Quarians traveled batarian space frequently back before the Great War, and many had trade ties and agreements to prominent batarian families. Like the hanar, their finicky biology proved the quickest path to understanding; quarians are forbidden to be taken as slaves. The fact that the quarians also possessed an enormous fleet and little reason to hold back if pushed certainly helped. According to the KMs, the batarians nowadays frequently lament the absence of the Migrant Fleet within their borders; in addition to believing that their technical expertise could have been bent towards joining their alliance, the batarians actually enjoyed their company.

Geth Consensus: No known contact aside from fighting together in the Great War. It is unclear if the geth really understand the consequence of slavery or how repulsive it is to most sapients.

Protoss: Of all the races that had to earn the respect of the protoss for their combat prowess, it had to be the batarians? Does the elder race not disapprove of rampant slavery and xenophobia? Do these advanced being truly value mastery of the martial arts over a robust sense of morality? This is truly sickening.

No known contact between the two races following the Great War.

Threat Level: Orange

Along with their KMC allies, the batarians represent a serious problem. They are numerous, motivated, and will shortly be present in force within the Koprulu Sector. The relatively ramshackle nature of their fleet and primitive mastery of cyberwarfare may prove their undoing, but the fact is that they are too numerous and too prone to unexpected bouts of uncharacteristic cunning for me to endorse their immediate destruction. The KMC involvement points to an eventual political revolution as the aristocracy is finally overtaken by the merchants and soldiers, but given the KMC's and merchant caste's characters I would say whatever new government that rises from the ashes will be even worse than the previous one.

I am forced to recommend an alliance with the KMC. Mengsk must die and must die soon. I would suggest utilizing the batarian/KMC alliance to accomplish this while slowly undermining their military capability. The easiest means of doing this would be destroying the remaining Waygates over Moria; without them both governments suffocate.

Dr. Henwick,

No one enjoys recommending a deal with the devil, and certainly no one enjoys making it, either. Your suggestion will be considered, however repugnant it might be.

-Alexei


A/N: Due to popular demand, asari are next.