STG Field Manual

Subfile AYT-001 : Alien Interaction with other primary races (asari, turian)

Prepared by Senior Agent Vessi, reporting specialist.

Compiled by Master Field Agent Kossi, Executive Agent SOLUTHUS, Senior Agent Soril, Senior Agent Dagama, Master Agent Kolar (retired), and Master Agent Unai (retired)

This is a Virshan-Orange file. Distribution is for senior (non-FCA/non-FAC) agents and specialists only.

Alien Relations and Interpretations

While the STG is not by any means a diplomatic group, nor one that should be making any kind of first contact or on-going contact with aliens, the reality is that we have to deal with aliens. And that's a problem, because by the Collapse, all aliens (save perhaps the elcor) are stupid.

All of them save the hanar and volus are obsessed with sex, violence, and stupidity like 'culture' and 'honor.' The asari are so warped they murder their own people while mouthing graashit about 'unity,' the turians are very literally split-souled and butchered most of their own race multiple times, humans are beyond idiocy, and the less said about batarians the better. Quarians are stupid, unwise, and stubborn, volus are so obsessed with money they can't see beyond it, and the hanar are creepier than the Collapse Plague. I shouldn't even have to mention the lack of vorcha intelligence or the ability to do anything but set things on fire and hit each other.

The only other race with any brains is the elcor, who decided some time ago to mostly ignore everything outside of their region of space and spend their time partying and getting blasted on drugs. There are times I wonder if they had the right idea, usually after having to liaison with some melodramatic Blackwatch 'professional' and un-fuck whatever they got wrong in a Council mission.

Sadly, we cannot live in a vacuum or afford to go on years-long drug binges. We are stuck with the aliens even if they are all morons.

As such, I assure you, at some point you will have to interact, comprehend, fix, or Shego help you, even predict what said morons are going to do next. Worse, we have to try and apply some kind of framework to understand their illogical, non-circular, and most of all, emotionally-driven psychology. This is about as easy as solving high-level math equations with all the variables rendered as interpretive dance routines.

Things no sane salarian would think of, such as concepts of morality being somehow on par with survival imperatives, are enshrined in alien religions full of invisible sky people, dead spirits who can see the future, and even less translatable drek. Flat-out insane discrimination on the most arbitrary and bizarre conditions – skin color (humans and turians), eye shape (batarians and drell), breast size (asari), even skull shape.

On top of this, they focus on elements of life that most salarians dismiss as unimportant – convoluted mating rituals that have no relation to actual worth, ignorance, and even flat-out trust of complete strangers, the human ideal of 'charity' and the turian one of 'hathra' that basically state you are a bad person unless you give away your belongings to complete strangers too stupid to get their own affairs in order… on and on and on.

There is a reason STG regs require that only senior agents and above deal directly with other alien groups, and it is to preserve your sanity, I assure you.

(This is probably why most Master Agents are not exactly stable any longer. You wouldn't be either if you had to run analysis on why certain patterns of scarves are more attractive to hanar than others, only to find the most valued ones are from ancient human pagan/syncretic rituals corrupted into the celebration of the birth of one of their invisible sky gods who they killed and claim came back to life… no, I'm not making this up and it isn't a typo.)

The STG has devoted two entire groups (Psychological Profiling or 'PsyProf,' and Aythaology, or the study of non-salarians) to study, analyze, extrapolate, categorize, and model alien behavior, beliefs, psychology, personality, and reactions. Ninety percent of the time we get it wrong because aliens are just that weird, and because alien reactions and what they focus on is so out-of-band from salarian norms. Aliens see good and evil as opposites instead of perspectives, think order is something you create rather than something that is only apparent in backglances, and other such nonsense.

PsyProf and AYT thus have to spend a tremendous amount of time breaking down alien reactions, thought patterns, 'logic,' and other factors to provide insight and understanding. For the most part that is akin to trying to translate the gibberish of a child into high-level dialogue. However, some of what is done by these groups as well as others is adjustments to our own thinking, based on the tendencies and understandings of centuries of STG experience when interacting with these alien morons.

None of you reading the above are surprised, or disagree with the concept that most aliens are, in the gestalt whole, Collapse-damned idiots of the highest order of selfish and shortsighted incompetence. Nor do any of you disagree with the idea that our own groups designated to make such idiocy into something understandable usually fail.

While this is true, it is also a weakness of the STG and salarians in general.

Salarians may be the smartest and most logical of races, but we also have our weaknesses, and arrogance is one of them. The view that 'aliens are stupid' often leads to arrogant dismissal of such aliens and their ability to match wits with us. Some of this is justified. The problem is that almost all aliens, even if they are not as smart, agile, and technologically advanced as we are, have other advantages. They live longer, they hit harder, they can take and give out more damage, and they're too stupid to realize they're overmatched. Some of them literally can't be infiltrated, and others are simply too crazy to accurately model.

Salarian arrogance and dismissal about alien capabilities has gotten more of you killed than a thousand plots. When we have acted against alien forces, intelligence units, or hard targets, more than one STG cell has not bothered to consider that stupid doesn't mean incompetent or harmless. And as a result, we've lost teams, cells, or in one case, most of an OTA due to this arrogance.

Thus, some of what you are trained in, given to read, or forced to endure in hyper-hypnosis is not one hundred percent accurate. Some of you have no doubt commented or complained to your senior agents, while others make sneering talk of cowardice, as if you're some spine-arched painted up Soluthus savage with a spear from the old days.

There is a reason for such inaccuracy. I assume many of you with more experience will note several trends:

First, there is a strong tendency for STG files to seemingly rate many threats as invincible, unstoppable, or godlike, which is later proven to be seemingly wrong when said threat (Tyriun no Kage, Akla, and Vensha T'koro all come to mind) is defeated. In some cases, threat estimations are overinflated, while in others we make it sound like anything short of orbital bombardment against a target is useless.

This is due to the fact that STG teams seemingly think just because you can out-think the enemy means you can kill him, her, or it. This is not true.

There is no STG team or group of STG teams that was going to ever do anything but slightly irritate Shaltah of Ilium. We lost twenty-five teams over six years trying, including a trio of Shieldbreakers. We had cells set up sniper teams and lost them. We had poison specialists, explosive experts, and Transcendentals all fail to take her out.

We gave her a BC9 rating and that was the end of it, until she was shot to pieces in a hellish three-way battle between the Blackwatch, the Nightwind, and for some fucking reason, the Eclipse Mercenary Group. Does that mean the report was wrong? Not from the point of view of an STG team.

The files are for OUR use. We don't assess, for example, if a Deathwatch kill team could take down nightmares like Tazzik. It's very likely they could, but these are not the 'STG Files that we hand out.' The assessments are based on the capabilities of an average salarian strike force or in some cases, a full combat cell.

Can a Black-Collapse threat really threaten the Salarian Union? That depends entirely on the threat. Tetrimus Rakora certainly can't kill us all, or keep from dying if we, say, orbitally bombarded him with a trio of cruisers for an hour. But we're very unlikely to ever be able to pin him down long enough to drop a fuel-air-eezo bomb on his head or lock him down with twenty Shieldbreakers.

The second reason the files are the way they are is due to another salarian trait, overconfidence. In theory, enough explosives, traps, and careful sniping could kill Tetrimus, or Thana Vathan. But the situation is not going to happen, and trying to set it up only gets more STG agents killed.

It's not that we couldn't, for example, kill Okeer. The problem is that if you go into a situation expecting normal STG tactics will work, there is a proven, demonstrated history that the STG team will underestimate the threat. Time and time again, we've given accurate profiles and yet an STG team fails to use the appropriate level of combat power or planning and fails.

When that happens, there is always a price to pay.

The final reason the things are the way they are is because the STG Master has a much wider view of the ramifications of the actions a field team or a cell will take. Sure, it's technically possible (with a lot of luck) that a set of cells could take down terror networks like the Insurgence or Pride of Dhan. They aren't invulnerable.

But consider Cerberus. It took the combined forces of sixty STG cells and twenty Spectres, plus large amounts of Hierarchy troops and even several Royal Hunting Parties to shatter that organization – and that was only after its own leader betrayed it. Going up against groups like that requires both extreme investment and expenditure of a huge amount of political capital – and that is not your call to make.

Some beings are rated Black Collapse because going after them and killing them is never going to be advantageous to the Salarian Union. When Vhensi Solus went rogue and ended up needing to be taken out, the STG Master at the time didn't act immediately because Solus was clearly working with the Shadow Broker and we weren't antagonistic. A senior agent went after him anyways and that has led to our current issues with the Broker.

Identification of threats is not a license to kill.

In summation, then, keep in mind the following dictates when acting on intelligence:

Assume the worst in ALL aspects: It has been repeated many times before that units (or worse, individuals) with an STG file aren't typically the kind of thing we engage. Yes, we know you have a no-doubt detailed and clever plan to stop (insert lethally dangerous and murderous nutjob target here), but have you considered the costs? Not only in the lives of STG agents, but equipment? Ships? Money spent to bypass defenses? Legal costs? Legal ramifications? Political fallout? Backlash or revenge plots?

Every one of the jhonrgi who have a file have it because they are literally more trouble than it is worth to kill. Since some of you are nearly vorcha-stubborn, let me repeat – if we wanted them dead, we wouldn't send you to do it. If you run into these people keep that in mind – assume the worst from the file and run if possible. You do not aid the Union by being dead.

If Protocol Nineteen is a designated response you shouldn't try it: Contrary to the beliefs of some junior agents, we do not assign this to targets just to kill off agents we don't like. Having an STG agent fall into the hands of some alien intelligence agency is bad enough, but falling into the hands of the Broker (or the Wheel help you, P.) is a disaster. Despite what you think, STG agents can and have been broken. While pain response from nerves can be disjuncted, you have no defense against mind-affecting drugs, nanite sequestration, or asari mind-rips.

The loss of data and possibility of counter-influence or even infiltration into the STG is simply not worth it. If the target is so dangerous that death is the only option, you should find another plan or another target.

Aliens are alien: The STG is a close-knit group and you will often not interact much with alien nationals of any kind, especially in analyst and support groups. Trying to deduce reactions or possible vulnerabilities from the sketchy data we have in the STG files on targets is a dangerous game, made more so by the fact that many times PsyProf and AYT get it very, very wrong.

For every target we get right, like the Element, we fuck up like with Tazzik or Okeer. Keep in mind that what makes sense to you may not be how an alien thinks, reacts, or is likely to respond.

Alien Interaction Guidelines : Asari and Turian

(This file only covers asari and turians. Humans and quarians can be found in subfile AYT-002, volus, batarians, drell, and the like in AYT-003.)

Aliens, like salarians, are not monolithic groups with one way of existence. No one sane would expect all salarians to act like Solus Clan members, or Lythari – yet repeatedly, I have seen dull-horned 'experts' think that all humans are hulking muscular suicide warriors, or that all turians are disciplined and unable to handle chaos, or that all asari are untrustworthy sex-obsessive liars.

(Well, okay, maybe the last one is true.)

Assuming things about an alien is an excellent method to experience failure, most likely organ failure from repeatedly being shot to pieces.

Races are made up of individuals who are just that – individual. While stereotypes often have a grounding in reality, this reality is equally given to false perspectives. Understanding aliens is very hard and beyond both the scope of this document and what you are expected to do. However, general guidelines can be very useful and, when applied to logical analysis, will yield much better results than racist assumptions.

Asari:

Having dealt with the asari longer than any other race, most salarians (rather arrogantly) assume we understand them. The 'average' asari comes off as mysteriously demure outside the mating chamber, rarely acting in a bold fashion, and always ready to discuss and mediate troubles. Their focus on sex is frustrating to us and is seen by some as enabling the yindo deviants, while their socioeconomic might is equally frustrating since no one else seems to want to challenge it.

However, the salarian people seem to forget that asari are on top because they put themselves there. Their ability to manipulate entire cultures over centuries and twist them to asari needs is incredibly dangerous, and their lifespans ensure they can simply wait out most short-term problems.

Asari are unique in that they differ greatly both based on their age bracket as well as their hierarchy. Maiden asari clanless are much different than maiden asari of the Thirty, for example. The rule is simple: clanless are powerless and seek power to change their lives. Clan members are powerless and seek power to influence the clan. Lesser House members are powerless and seek power to advance to the Greater Houses. Only members of the Thirty have power – and most of them don't, and seek it to become a leader of their house.

For all the fancy words about unity, peace, and understanding, asari are amusingly much simpler to manipulate than turians or humans with the proper motivation. Keep in mind, though, that the asari are also more experienced with social manipulations than any other race and it is not impossible for them to turn the tables on you. Asari have had centuries of this kind of interaction and it is their specialty, so seeking to manipulate them must be done carefully.

The key thing to remember with asari is that they don't live any slower than the rest of us. An asari maiden may seem innocent and playful, but she's still been alive for a century. Asari will always be more skillful, well-trained, and capable of many more skillsets than any non-asari. They have all the time in the world to devote years or even decades to honing a single skill or discipline, and will have had the chance to examine things at great remove that no salarian could hope to match. When it comes to matching their schemes, keep in mind some of their plans stretch across decades, centuries or even millennia.

Maiden asari are consumed with sexuality. This is least pronounced in the Thirty, who can usually manage to be discreet, as well as the Lesser Houses and clans, who tend to keep such things behind closed doors. For the most part, maidens in the clans or Thirty are more given to follow the guidance of elders and family members, and tend to define themselves by their interests. Sexuality to them is part of a closed-loop game among asari.

Maiden clanless, on the other hand, have defined their entire lives by such things for over a thousand years, and have only gotten more outrageous over time. The clanless maiden who has no opportunities on Thessia may find an alien mate and change her life, so her sexuality is her weapon. The fact that most obsess over it is due to the fact their culture drowns them in it.

The clanless has no other skills or advantages – most are poor, have no backers, and can only look forward to centuries of drudge work before dying well before their betters. As such, clanless maidens can often be tempted with money and support but more often by confidence and having belief in them. A pursuit based on sexual acts is unlikely to last long (although Alteration Line GV-4 is focused on producing taller, more muscular, and robust FCA units for asari specialization).

Maiden clan, Lesser House, and Thirty are almost never seen far outside of Asari Space (for different reasons). In particular, maidens of the Thirty are almost always accompanied by a House Guard, who are trained for centuries to protect the maiden's life as well as her happiness. As such, these more guarded asari are not suitable for approaching – clan asari are basically brainwashed anyway.

Matrons are almost always family focused, and thus are bound by the twin dicta of being tied to offspring and worrying about their stability. Most asari are mated with non-asari and thus will lose their mates in short order – one reason why very few non-outcast asari mingle sexually with salarians beyond the maiden years.

Matrons of the Thirty and Lesser Houses are never, ever seen outside core Asari Space. Clan Matrons are so immersed in clan affairs that the same is true. Clanless matrons are an easier access point than maidens – while salarians are, well, not the most gifted of lovers in that regard, a salarian who can provide a financial contact, job, or even contract work is a lifeline to a poorer clanless matron with worries about her children's future.

Matrons are all going to be distracted by their offspring and less aware of other events. As such, utilization of them in any STG role is likely to be limited at best.

Matriarchs are not a figure an STG cell should attempt to coerce or manipulate, regardless of status. They simply have too much experience and are far too grounded in the lives they've developed in most cases. Specialist asari analysts with specific training are the only STG cells authorized to deal with matriarchs.

For working on official Council missions, the only asari you are likely to be paired with are Spectres. Justicars do not work with the STG and the asari police is strictly intra-territorial. Most asari Spectres are infiltration, seduction, and data specialists and are at least capable of doing their job. The only one of note is Tela Vasir, who has done operations with the STG for centuries and is capable of holding actual conversations or appreciating more subtle ops suggestions. Vasir has participated in over six hundred joint STG missions (nineteen of them involving elements that would have been troublesome if exposed to the Thirty) and has not once betrayed our trust or communicated STG secrets, methods, or sources.

Per Protocol 9383-A-Vasir, STG units are formally ordered to return the same courtesy.

In general terms, asari are focused on long-term outcomes that allow them to play to their strengths. For the most part, asari do not have serious levels of political infighting, separatists, or the like. Those who cannot fit into the asari society as a whole are either shifted to Ilium or flee the Asari Republic for the Systems Alliance or Omega. While there are a handful of 'unaffiliated' asari colonies, all of them – save Ilium – are little more than backwater accumulations of those who don't bow to the Thirty.

Asari do not value intelligence and cleverness the way a salarian does. Instead, they prize the ability to understand – emotionally and viscerally. Asari use sex and linking so much because it is a fantastic tool to bypass most of the defenses other races put up, and to make themselves both seen as something to care about and less dangerous. The asari fleet is the most powerful, they have the largest economy, a huge tech lead in many industries, and an absolute monopoly on the optronics that underlie all modern technology – and idiots thinking with their phallus see them as 'less of a threat' than the turians or humans.

(Granted, I would hope most salarians don't think with their phallus, but the number of yindo groups is rising yearly and we had to liquidate an entire cell that had gone full-out yindo a few weeks back.)

See ranting above about stupidity of aliens.

Standard considerations for asari:

Always assume that any non-clanless asari is going to report interactions to someone in her clan or Family. Plan accordingly and do not overfish the waters. Non-clanless are followers of authority to a fault and are encouraged to defer hard decisions to matriarchs – be prepared for interference.

Clanless asari are powerless but also nearly invisible in asari culture. They are useful in obtaining low-scale background information but will have no access to clan or House dealings. Clanless can be very bitter, and their adherence to the concept of asari unity does not extend to the clans. On the other hand, they tend to be fearful and worshipful of the Thirty and will rarely if ever betray them.

The only time of vulnerability of any member of the Thirty is in her maiden years, especially if she wanders far from Asari Space, which most do not do. Locating such members is critical and contact must be done by specialists only.

Never forget that if you bond with an asari she can see your memories in some cases, particularly members of the Thirty. If you're some kind of yindo deviant under wraps and have to go do that kind of thing then do it with drell, at least they're discreet and can't read your mind.

Turians:

Turians are quite possibly the most frustrating and illogical alien race we are forced to deal with. Their adherence to their outdated honor codes and refusal to surrender or retreat is only matched by the sheer silliness of their love of melodrama and chasing thrills. Their innate ignorance of the reality of the universe's cruel truths is further made more infuriating by their stubborn refusal to change their minds on just about anything. This is a society where a figure like Sparatus was made Citadel Councilor because in turian minds he was dangerously open to changing his mind and listening to the opinions of others before making decisions.

Sparatus. Yeah. When that's your idea of an open-minded freethinker…

Turians are credulous and naïve about motives, distrustful and yet blind to manipulations that don't involve gross physical combat, equate physical prowess with competence and have an ugly predilection towards assuming their fancy fleets, guns, and whatnot would stop sabotage. As such, they come off as intolerably arrogant, dismissive of others and above all else, what humans call 'edge-lording' (the most appropriate salarian term is in the old cant of Manthus, 'hajanhsa,' meaning literally "blind-spirited-pretense-of-martial-prowess")

This leaves turians at the very bottom of the intelligence/espionage ladder.

The turian advantage, however, is that one cannot break a turian. A turian who is devoted to the Hierarchy will not and perhaps cannot betray them. Turians can and have died in agony that would break a krogan without betraying their principles or fellow turians. While there are turian separatists, these beings cannot be manipulated any more than regular turians can, their only real differences being in who they choose to slavishly obey.

Turians (with the notable exceptions of the Deathwatch and the Palavanus) tend to see espionage as dishonorable and hiding intent as cowardly. This makes them easier to plan for than the polymorphic humans, and less frustrating to follow than the long-view asari. Dealing with turians can be straightforward in most other areas.

Turians tend to organize their lives around ascent up the meritocracy and performing their duties to the best of their abilities, but even among turians, there are those who are more ambitious than others. Cells forced to interact with turians should lay out their plans or requests in such a way that the turian will see it as benefiting himself or the turians as a whole, with the latter being a safer bet.

Turians can lie, but most do not do so. If a turian gives his sworn word on something, then it is almost unheard of for them to go back on such a declaration. That should not make you think they are trustworthy, however – more than once, clever turians have achieved impressive results because assumptions were made in exactly what a turian promised to do.

For the most part, you will interact with regular turians. Separatists can be dealt with the same way with the caveat that all separatist groups are politically dangerous and that under no circumstances can any link from the STG to any separatist group ever be allowed to fall into Hierarchy hands. Regular turians value honor and valor, and pretty much should be mostly dealt with by Solus Clan members of a more martial bent.

When having to manipulate regular turians, keep in mind that they also have their prejudices and arrogant assumptions. Most will think salarians are cowardly and weak – demonstrations of martial skill, bravery, and valor will greatly impress them to the point that they will listen carefully to proposals and even consider less-than-valorous acts if the payoff is likely to help them ascend the meritocracy.

Turians don't value information discipline like we do, and aside from military research facilities, have a demonstrated weakness in infowar defenses for civilian targets, including critical targets such as medical facilities, power generation, and financial centers.

Comms security is also relatively weak and a cell that operates in turian areas with a decent cover can obtain a great amount of low-level but broad information with little to no risk. Covers recommended are those that turians disdain, such as geology/metallurgical analysis, art or cultural studies, or medical work.

Turian sexuality is not a recommended inroad. Turian chirality aside, males will injure salarian females in coitus and the turian female's anatomy isn't suited to salarian males. Furthermore, turians do not attach much value to sex (unlike humans), and while the females are as bad as asari maidens, tend to not indulge much with aliens.

Outcast (not separatists, but those who have abandoned the Hierarchy entirely) turians deviate greatly from the norm, and are more inclined and open to treachery and less-than-upfront conversations. While they are still obsessed with valor in most cases, honor has become more situation to them and most are willing to follow a strong leader who can engage them emotionally.

The Blackwatch is the usual unit the STG gets paired with in Council assignments. For the most part, they are boringly professional, non-communicative to the extreme, obsessed with honor and bravery, and very likely to be best used as bullet shields and/or distractions. While they are very combat competent and at least quicker on the uptake than the average turian military grunt, they are also mostly glory-seeking lunatics whose idea of victory is dying heroically. Keep your communications to a minimum and (if possible) let the team liaison do all the talking.

The Blackwatch is laughable, but the Deathwatch must never be underestimated. Of all the intelligence groups we have to fend off or deal with, they are the closest to being competent on our own level. They are both utterly fearless and completely without pity or morals, have an admirable grasp on the use of brutality and overkill as messages, and delight in being dishonorable towards those they feel do not deserve to be treated with honor.

No Deathwatch agent should be trusted and assume any interaction with them is part of a plan to weaken the STG. Being able to manipulate them is not something a non-specialist should ever attempt.

The Palavanus are even more un-turian to disturbing levels. Evincing concepts and reactions no other turian has (sarcasm, cunning, and openly malicious trolling) they have withdrawn from day-to-day operations but are still highly active in turian society. As they stand outside of both the chain of command and the meritocracy, they are not driven to prove themselves, and cannot be manipulated in that fashion. In fact, it's a remarkably bad idea to attempt to manipulate a Palavanus at all. They are, of all aliens, the closest thing to our mental equals and are every bit as nasty and dangerous as a pissed-off dalatrass.

In general terms, turians are focused on their families, their own standings in the meritocracy, and the general welfare of turians and the Hierarchy as a whole. Pack animals by evolution, the tendencies of groupthink and displays of self-sacrifice are not only common but expected. Turians do not prize or value innovation, deviance, or counter-culture. They are, to quote a particularly drunk Master Agent Kolar, "boring as a fucking accounting cant and twice as useless when solving problems."

Keep in mind the turians obliterated over a hundred million of their own people to stop revolts and routinely chastise asari justicars for being too soft on crime. Let that sink in a minute, and try not to engage in hysterical laughter, that never helps.

Standard considerations for turians:

Turians are completely driven by their perception of honor and valor (and to a lesser degree, bravery). These are modified by their love of melodrama. At the same time, turians also have a sort of persecution complex and see themselves as struggling against the universe. The best cold approach for any turian will always be to engage him or her in concepts that touch on this.

Criticism (logical and well-founded or not) is never appreciated or tolerated by any turian. They tend to make decisions in a decisive manner (if not based on, you know, actual information) and then stick to said decision even if it is clearly wrong. Changing a turian's mind is best done by appeals to valorous or otherwise foolhardy actions that place them in a positive light. The Blackwatch is particularly vulnerable to this.

Always keep in mind that long-term infiltration of turians is only possible in the outer regions. Unlike humans, volus, and asari, turians have at least enough sense to keep aliens far away from their homeworld and primary industrial centers. Focusing on obtaining useful intel and contacts on the periphery of the Turian Hierarchy can still produce useful results due to turian weakness in comms security, however.