The Cerberus Files: Historical Analysis of Citadel and Terminus Space

A/N: Thank God. The turian section is almost over with, all that remains now is the OOC notes and transition to the next race - the Batarians.

Writing the turians was very hard, since they are very 'alien' in their outlook. While both asari and salarians are certainly quite alien in many ways, their fundamental method of viewing the universe is not that different than certain human cultures throughout history. The turians were not that accommodating.
Work does continue on other projects, it's just slow. I think I'll hold off on putting any kind of timeline around when I think I will have the next piece ready, since I always miss my dates.

As usual, reviews are welcomed, and questions via review or PM encouraged!

Message Header: TYPHONET BEGIN ENCRYPTION STRING

HERA-SIX-NINE-NINE

ACKNOWLEDGMENT HANDSHAKE ACCEPTED

Lovely Jack, beautiful Rachel, and dutifully disagreeable Richard.

Our time in turian space has come to an end. Given the disturbances in the fallout of Feros, it is unlikely staying in the area would be conducive to our long-term health. Pel has already met up with me, bringing along Ms. Lawson to assist in coordinating the mass of anecdotes and information we must process.

The process of learning about the turians has certainly been eye-opening, and forces me to consider exactly how much of what the asari assume to be true regarding the turians is merely a smokescreen put forth by the Palavanus. Their anomalous actions and behavior strikes me as deeply ... off. And we have no rationales as to why or how this has happened.

I close our report with an overview of the important turians that I am aware of. I attempted to put together a profile on Tetrimus, the mouth of the Shadow Broker, but the information I collected is so fragmentary and contradictory that I have simply removed it.

Given what I have learned about P., Tetrimus seems like a laughable concern.

Cerberus Thought for the Day: The shadow of coincidence is the stain of collaboration. When in doubt, strike.

Modes of Address:

Turians are not very interested in formal titles. Primarchs, Autarchs, Chieftains and Praetors are referred to as such, while most other turians either go by their first or last name. The polite "cera", or an instance on being addressed by their military rank, is the closest they get to having an actual mode of address.

Likewise, for a turian to address a non-turian by their first name is considered a mark of approval and trust. Turians who usually go by their first name are more open to social discourse than those who rely on their last name.

Primarch Fedorian Kurthal, High Praetor: The huge and regal leader of the turians, Primarch Fedorian is often seen as a brutal and hard nosed figure, more inclined to use his fist than his mouth for diplomacy. This is perhaps an unfair attribution, as Fedorian is very skilled at interaction with aliens and in managing the morass of the turian government.

Fedorian can be summed up by his actions rather than words. He rose through the ranks of the military and meritocracy slowly but surely, eventually marrying a Vakarian female and joining the Kurthal Family as he reached the rank of General. Fedorian became a Praetor in the Troubles, the mini-civil war kicked off in turian space by separatists before the FCW.

When the FCW turned against the turians and they were shamed, and the sitting Primarch proved unable to even defend his own children against the predation of an outcast, Fedorian challenged and defeated him, taking the office for himself and holding onto it ever since. Fedorian has worked hard to attempt to make stable relations with the humans, which he sees as more honorable and trustworthy than salarians or asari, despite the troubled past between your two races.

Fedorian is blunt and given to a soldierly informality, and towers above most other turians, being larger and stronger than even most Palavanus. As High Primarch, his government has been noted for its focus on experimenting with and upgrading the turian fleet and attempting to stabilize the economy on their own rather than rely on the volus.

Fedorian is old friends with both Venari Pallin and Regilus Vakarian, and despite neither being 'officially' ranked as Primarchs, it is well known that if Fedorian steps down he will put one or the others name in the ring for consideration.

For such a powerful figure and a leader of the turians, he is surprisingly humble in his personal wealth, owning a small home near the Spire and a single aircar.

Admiral Tharaxis Davaria, Praetor, Chieftain of Clan Davaria : The second living Praetor, Tharaxis is technically retired, living at home with his children and writing books on military strategy. A coolly efficient tactician and hardened warrior, he also leads and organizes Clan Davaria, named for his own ancestor, yet another Praetor.

Tharaxis is bluntly amused by humans, dislikes salarians, can't stand most asari, and prefers to hunt on Tuchanka. For years he was the high admiral of the turian fleet before settling down in his old age, but even at ninety he is no reclining figure, still active in many aspects of turian society.

Tharaxis' dislike of the asari stems from his younger days, when he had a long-lasting and torrid affair with an asari whose identity has never been confirmed. Apparently she was not loyal, something turians cannot tolerate, and the relationship ended violently by all rumors. There is a single asari at his estates in her late forties who uses his personal facial markings, and this is apparently his daughter by that asari, although since she has been raised from birth by turians, she is more turian in outlook than asari and does not use her biotics at all.

Tharaxis is moderately wealthy, but not outlandishly so.

General Invectus Rathaxan, Praetor: The third living Praetor, General Invectus is still active in the military, in charge of developing the turian military and keeping up with alien forces. He has been the primary backer of the human-turian joint military efforts since the end of the First Contact War, and is the turian most favorable towards humanity who is a major member of the turian government.

Invectus is famous for using perfectly conventional tactics in unconventional ways, and for dabbling in science. He is one of the only turians to be allowed to visit the Palavanus on matters non-essential, and is often called on by Fedorian or the turian government to act as a kind of translator for scientific matters. He is a hobbyist collector of Inusannon technology.

Invectus has been stained with some levels of scandal more than once for his favoritism of human culture and humanity. With his bondmate dead and his children all grown up, Invectus has been linked repeatedly to relationships with human females, something most turians find slightly off putting. Invectus has also traveled to Earth to race personally in GASCAR and to hunt in the radioactive wastes of the Middle East.

Exactly what led to Invectus' appreciation of humanity is unknown, but the rumors state that one of his sons fought in the FCW against a noble lord, who spared his life in a duel, thus winning the Praetor's gratitude. Confirmation is still in progress.

Invectus is famous for using a powerful omni-axe, which has been given the hilarious designation of 'Splitting Headache'.

General Adrien Victus, Primarch: Currently the highest ranking Primarch who has never stood for the High Primarchy, Victus is a successful rebel in a culture that usually disdains such.

Victus is known for highly unconventional tactics, a tight bond with his soldiers, a disdain for naval combat, and his personal bravery. He fought in the FCW, and was instrumental in stopping the counter-thrust of the Second Marine at New Edo, managing to reverse what should have been a crushing victory into a stalemate through clever use of pounce units.

Victus was one of many generals taken aback at the sheer fury your Solguard displayed at the Battle of Sol, and has been generally conciliatory towards humans ever since.

His primary importance is that he is the highest ranking active general who is likely to contest Fedorian's office at the next selection. The general is well liked by his soldiers, popular with the turian media, and far more diplomatic and nuanced than most turians.

Executor Venari Pallin, C-SEC: I know Venari personally, a hardened guardian of the Law who sees duty as higher than any other concern. A childhood friend of Fedorian, his rank in the meritocracy is actually very high, enough that he could easily be a Cluster Primarch if he so chose. Instead, he prefers to run Citadel Security, a job he takes to even more grimly since the death of his wife and children in terrorist activity.

Pallin is very by the book, but is willing to look the other way if it gets results. His innovations to C-SEC, such as Special Response and Special Investigations, have increased C-SEC's reactivity to off-station criminal networks that threaten the Citadel, and he is in close contact and cooperation with the major law enforcement organs of all major races, even batarians.

Pallin has long been an outspoken opponent of the SPECTRE programs and dislikes the entire concept as unworkable and dangerous, a stance that in the past has gotten him into rough seas, but in the fallout of the Saren incident, has won him praise for taking a tough stance and sticking to it by many turians.

Despite the fact that he sits in an office all day, Pallin should be considered highly dangerous, as he was the leader of the Deathwatch for twenty years before moving into law enforcement. Pallin is also curiously hostile to humans, not out of any personal dislike but his belief that your species are merely asari cat-paws. He saves actual hatred for the volus, who he sees as traitors to the Hierarchy.

Autarch Joram Talid, leader of Family Talid: Joram's father was the Admiral in charge of the disaster that became the First Contact War. (I have taken Dr. Minsta's advice to avoid the term 'Relay 314 Incident', since that name infuriates humans.) As such, given the fact that a good fourth of the Family died and the admiral committed ritual suicide in shame, it should be no surprise that Joram hates humans and the Systems Alliance.

What is surprising is his methods of opposition. According to rumor, he went to the Palavanus for advice on how to combat humanity, and is taking their advice seriously. He has become a rather successful businessman, pioneering techniques in light mining and other industrial areas humanity is trying to expand into, crippling your markets. His politics can be felt heavily on the Citadel, where he constantly agitates against human interests, and he is suspected to be one of the major supporters of smuggling restricted items to the Batarian Hegemony.

A tall, dignified looking turian, Talid has become very popular in some salarian circles, and many turians on the Citadel look up to him as well. A traditionalist in all other ways, he is a frequent visitor to the Citadel Chambers.

Family Talid has lost much of its former wealth and influence, but still remains a highly populous family, giving Joram no end of supporters and assistants in his quest to derail humanity's operations. I am frankly astonished you people haven't already assassinated him.

Autarch Geldan Mantha, leader of Family Mantha: A grim and ancient turian, Geldan is commonly nicknamed 'the Executioner' for his unbelievable skills with a sniper rifle. He was crippled by (and crippled in turn) your Michael Saracino in the First Contact War, in their sniper duel during the Raid on Dalthos Fortress, and yet is not bitter towards humanity.

Requiring a grav chair to move around, the leader of Family Mantha focuses most of his time and energy on organizing opposition to the policies of Primarch Fedorian. He has often stated if he were younger and could walk he'd happily challenge Fedorian for the post of Primarch, a challenge that Fedorian has no honorable way to answer.

The core of Mantha's disagreement with Fedorian has to do with his calm acceptance of the Volus pulling away from the Hierarchy, which he sees as blatant threat from the salarians and asari. The only thing he agrees on with Fedorian is that making allies with the humans and thereby perhaps splitting the asari/salarian combination is the best path for the Hierarchy to take.

Extremely argumentative and a very well known proponent of the uses of assassination as a justified political tool, Mantha is as close as the turians get to having a master of intelligence services. He works with the Palavanus in this regard on occasion, although remotely.

Autarch Regilus Vakarian, leader of Family Vakarian: A figure of seeming little importance at first glance, Regilus is one of the most influential turians in the entire Hierarchy for many reasons. He was a highly acclaimed general, rising in rank alongside Fedorian and Pallin during the Troubles, and made his name breaking the Third Facinus Rebellion with minimal losses. His tactics were almost Palavanus-like in their elegance, resulting in him being the designer of most turian tactics used today.

His career stalled heavily after his marriage to his wife, who beat him in ceremonial combat for the right to marry and thus put his ascent up the meritocracy on hold. Instead of sitting still, he joined C-SEC along with Pallin, and was instrumental in forming many of its more paramilitary functions, such as Special Response, along with Pallin.

He retired from C-SEC to take up leadership of the Family after the death of his father, trying to rebuild Family Vakarian's depleted ranks through various means, and became the de facto voice of the Families on Palaven during the Patriarchal selections due to his close relationship with Fedorian. Regilus was also a big player in the military reforms after the end of the FCW, and the push to incorporate more missile technology into the turian fleet.

Given Family Vakarian's extremely high cachet among the meritocracy, and the fact that the only reason he isn't a Primarch is due to his wife's halting of his career, many would happily see Regilus replace Fedorian if the latter ever decided to step down. His fiercely traditionalist outlook and focus on turian honor and valor is seen as more proper than the rather laid back attitudes of Fedorian, and he remains skeptical of humans.

The families (and histories) of Regilus, Fedorian and Pallin are tightly intertwined, and there's a great deal of innuendo that the three males all knew each others mates quite intimately before they were bonded. More scurrilous tales suggest that Regilus and Pallin profiteered from their C-SEC positions in the way of weapons smuggling and other unsavory things, which I have problems believing. In any event, the finances of Family Vakarian have been on the decline with several members dying of a rare turian disease, and Regilus' wife suffering such as well.

Regilus's only son, Garrus, is entangled in the hunt for Saren, but I was able to find out very little about him except that, like his father, he is a deadly sniper and in C-SEC.

Autarch Erenis Varok, leader of Family Varok: the biggest of the "Big Four" Families, Erenis Varok is that rarest of creatures, a female Family leader. While turians are not sexist in the way humans are, their culture has definitive roles for males and females, and most females do not ascend to leadership of Families. (Clans, yes, but not families.)

That being said, Erenis is leader and Autarch by her skills and abilities alone. She has single-handedly revived Family Varok from a broken collection of distant relatives into a mighty and united force, boasting generals, admirals, and three Cluster Primarchs. She is only Autarch, yet is poised to ascend to Primarch during the next cycle, and has been seen practicing martial arts and ax combat with Deathwatch instructors, making many think she plans on challenging Fedorian. A female High Primarch would send shockwaves throughout the Hierarchy, and probably not good ones, as many of the more traditional colony clusters would be absolutely livid.

Erenis is a very unconventional turian, who focuses mostly on economics and working with the various military commands to offset revenue losses from volus investors pulling out. She's started something of a trend among turian women to be 'more responsible' with money, to encourage saving and investing. Her businesses, unlike most turian companies, are more than mere transfer points for the military, often investing in foreign markets and bringing the revenue back to invest into the Hierarchy.

While the turians do not count wealth as a primary driver of success, she is indeed very wealthy, probably the richest turian in the Hierarchy. There has been some talk of her being invited into the Citadel Court of Corporations as the first turian member.

Given her age, the fact that she has not bonded to a mate yet is somewhat unusual. She is rather rare in that she has gone ahead and had children (eleven so far) by various turian males, and shows little sign of slowing down. She has been particularly outspoken in her statements suggesting that turian birthrates are too low, which – given that there are now more turians than any other race – seems outright ludicrous.

Autarch Tarren Sparatus, Citadel Councilor: This rather aggressive fellow is a microcosm of everything turian, which is no doubt why he was chosen. Sarcastic, sullen, and argumentative, Sparatus is often the odd man out in Citadel votes, which is a clear source of frustration for him.

Formerly a general and a member of the Deathwatch, Sparatus was never a highly placed associate of those in power, despite his achievements. He was very unhappy with the outcome of the FCW and feels his current position is pointless. Despite this, he is loyal to the Hierarchy and dutiful to beyond the tolerance of other turians, and endures with few complaints.

Sparatus delights in malaproping various human sayings and gestures to infuriate humans, including mangling your various sayings and using the 'air quotes' gesture to impugn anything he has his doubts about. Ms. Lawson has called this 'trolling', a term I do not quite understand, but if the idea is that his acts are deliberate, this is certainly true.

Sparatus is well known for his appreciation of music other than turian, about the only non-conformist thing about him, and is given to listening to batarian force-opera and human death metal.

Warden Kuril of Meshar, Blue Suns commander: The most famous of the turian outcasts, Kuril turned his back on the meritocracy and the Hierarchy over fifty years ago, when the batarian raids on his colony claimed his wife and children and the official response was simple to protest to the Council. Kuril has an intolerance for slavers and crime that makes Justicars and Commissars look kindly, and he is in charge of a massive deep space high security prison where he incarcerates the worst criminals in the galaxy in return for fees.

Kuril was once highly placed in the meritocracy, even in line for a role as Autarch. His violent separation from the Hierarchy still causes whispers four decades later, as does his brutal treatment towards criminals (or worse, slavers) who are unlucky enough to be in his grasp.

Kuril was famously supportive of your Commander Shepard in her RRU days, often sending along Blue Suns pickup ships to gather up any pirates or slavers smart enough to surrender to Shepard before a fight. He has gone on record as saying if there were more Butchers and Justicars in the galaxy, there'd be no need for such hard acts as committed by the Deathwatch and other groups – such as Cerberus.

Kuril is a truly terrifying opponent in battle, having been a member of the Deathwatch for many years. He is perhaps the only known turian who has turned down the offer of reconciliation with the Hierarchy, who offered him the Trials to rejoin the turian people after his Blue Suns unit tracked down and captured a pair of Facinus separatists.

Kuril is famously barefaced, refusing to use his old colony markings. Since the loss of his wife, he has been in relationships with his asari lieutenant for the past thirty years, although they have no offspring – then again, a prison station is hardly the place to raise a family.

Imperial Prince Regent and High Pretarch Thanix Palavanus, leader of Family Palavanus: The leader of the Palavanus and the theoretical heir to the office of Imperator, Thanix is both a celebrated warrior and a skilled and famous scientist.

A physicist and weapons designer by nature, Thanix has lead turian fleet and weapons developments for over fifty years, building or designing many elements of the turian war machine. Much of the development of the most recent addition to the turian arsenal, the SKYTALON suit and the SPEAR minigun, are his work, as are increasing levels of turian sophistication in optronics technology.

Thanix boasts an intelligence level unmatched by even salarians, literally off the scale of the Rienar Intelligence Measure – in your terms, well above 250 IQ. He is so intellectual and intelligent that he has a cadre of other Palavanus that have to translate most of what he said into language that normal beings can understand.

Thanix rarely bothers to 'lead' the Family, with each member pretty much doing whatever takes their fancy. His current fixation has turned from weapons towards Inusannon technology, particularly research into the biotic-reactive ruins of Gryt-III. Thanix, according to what I have been able to discover, thinks the basalt plain and the eezo-carved sigils there are containing something, and has been exhaustively researching it for the past three years.

The last time he interacted with the public was at the cessation of the First Contact War, when he declined to summon the Palavanus for a Council of Woe. Given Pel's insight into what usually happens when such a convocation occurs, it is very likely that if he had agreed, humanity may not have survived. He has gone on record as saying humans are not a threat, but could be used as one, whatever that means.

Among the many quirks of the Imperial Prince is that he dabbles in the wheel religion of the salarians along with his own ancestor worship. More recently, rumors state he has been splitting his time between his research and time in the ancestral shrine.

P. , He Who Is Not: By far the strangest and most baffling of the many turian outcasts, the enigmatic figure known only as P. may be the most dangerous being in the entire galaxy. While at this point he hasn't acted against humanity or the Systems Alliance, who knows when that will change?

I will admit to admiring him simply because he has gleefully murdered and plundered members of the Thirty, supposedly by seducing them. The irony of those manipulative fools being played by a turian is too delicious to ignore.

Almost nothing is known of his origins. He simply seemed to appear almost sixty years ago, and very few have met him face to face. Those who have say he wears all-black face-paint with a single pink glyph on his forehead. Pink is a very rarely used color in turian culture, because turians have difficulty seeing it. The color, when used, is a mix of concepts of both rejection or non-conformance and misdirection. For black to cover the entire face, combined with the pink glyph, would seem to indicate a rejection or a misdirection of valor, a very curious concept indeed. The glyph itself is the more ominous thing, as it has shapes that invoke certain asari glyphs found in the Temple of Athame.

P. is an information broker, a crime lord, a terrifying assassin, a master thief, and above all else a showman. While he rarely appears in person, his broadcasts and snippets of his perspectives are found all over the extranet. His voice interrupts news broadcasts to share 'the P's Truth', an attempt to expose the sordid acts of various governments, and more than one black ops program has met grisly ends at the hands of P. and his army of operatives. He grandly announces whatever acts he's pulled off across the extranet, often including mocking footage of the reactions of governments.

What becomes terrifying about this is that often times these videos are in what would be seen as secure locations, such as the private offices of high government officials, or (amusingly) the bedroom trysts of asari matriarchs. He has even gone so far as to do what no other outside group has done, and record the reaction of the Council of Matriarchs, somehow, from within the Temple of Athame!

P. has no stated motives or goals aside from sheer chaos – one minute he may hack money from the asari to pay for disaster relief for humans, the next he may be slamming an asteroid into an turian colony and then stealing money from the relief efforts set up to help it to send to the quarians. If there is any pattern to his acts, it is that his harmful acts are limited to hitting the asari, salarians and turians, while his helpful acts focus on the other races. He is also a foe of large corporations, and delights in taunting (and killing) intelligence agents of any race.

P. runs (or is behind) many businesses, most of which are part of a grand organizational network that focuses on supplying turian outcasts and separatists, building up crime rings, and operating several turian outcast mercenary organizations. The level of his connections is mired in shadows, there's literally no telling how many mercenaries, pirates, and private security organizations actually answer to some front company run by him. Given the level of wealth and influence he has, he is certainly capable of being a threat to any galactic power, possibly even the Citadel Council itself – even the Shadow Broker and Aria do not antagonize him.

P. is well known for truly outrageous feats of hacking and theft, including siphoning over a billion credits from the coffers of the Citadel Tax Offices and making off with a cutting-edge experimental salarian heavy cruiser in the midst of testing. But his networks are often used for darker acts as well, assassinations and bombings. Six Matriarchs of the Thirty, three lesser Primarchs, and more than one member of the Six Families has fallen by his hand. Only one patchy recording of him in actual combat exists, some fifty years ago, with him laughing in uproarious mockery as he battled Mithrax Arterius, a Praetor and one of the most dangerous SPECTRE's in history, before overpowering him and escaping.

No one ever confirmed to meet him in combat has survived except Mithrax, and the video clearly shows that the Praetor was losing. Pel has already told us of the fierce power held by these turian heroes, and Mithrax was a SPECTRE atop that. In interviews held after, Mithrax was insistent that P. was literally toying with him. Whatever P. is, I cannot advise attempting to attack him.

His criminal status is literally beyond any other sentient alive, as he is wanted in Citadel, turian, salarian, asari and Noverian courts, with no less than two hundred million credits in bounties on his head and six hundred and eleven death sentences. The turian government refuses to call him P. , instead titling him as "He who is not", and have ritually struck the very idea of his existence from every roll of valor.

There were once many justice brigades devoted to bringing him down, but nineteen years ago over 90% of them were murdered in their sleep, and the rest woke up to find a cheery pink ribbon tied around the necks of their mates and children. Since then even the turians have not found the bravery to actually go after him.

The so-called 'Hand of P' is an equally confusing turian known as Rolan Quarn, a masterful impersonator and thief extraordinaire. Rolan Quarn appears on videos distributed to the extranet extolling his master's virtues and warning of nefarious 'Citadel Plots'. Turians who claim to have known Quarn say the turian on the videos certainly has his voice and mannerisms, but that isn't his face. Then again, the turian appearing on each such video has subtle plating and eye socket differences in every single video, so Quarn may have cybernetics underlying his facial plating allowing him to alter his features on the fly.

P. also maintains a literal harem of asari outcasts, numbering in the dozens, and boasts well over fifty daughters. The very curious thing about these daughters is most of them appear to be closer to ninety than sixty, which might mean P. is older than he appears – or that he was active before he came to fame as P. The role of the "Daughterhood of Chaos" seems to be penetrating asari, turian, and salarian culture to scout and identify targets.

The rumored hideout of P. is a system deep in the core-edge of the Traverse, inside a black hole cluster and with an uncharted relay the only way in or out. Neither the SPECTRE agents or STG units sent after him have ever found a trace of his whereabouts, and several units that have gone looking for him have simply vanished, including a team of nine SPECTREs – one a war priestess of Athame – and a dozen heavily trained Final Line Soldiers. Again, the Citadel gave up on this effort years ago.

Likewise, rumors of his origins are wild and unsubstantiated. Many claim he must be a Palavanus, but the few people who have seen him claim he lacks their fringe structure or stature. Many of these theories are so much garbage, but I have heard one theory from both STG contacts and from the lips of Matriarchs of the Thirty when I was still a Priestess. They both claim that P. is not actually an entirely new phenomena, that a figure similar to P. was active early in the First Krogan Rebellion after the Turians entered the war, as well as the Second Krogan Rebellion.

It took me a while to find evidence of this, as someone has been very diligent in cleaning the extranet as well as offline libraries, but I was able to find a fragmentary STG report about the salarian interaction with Ganar Okeer being interrupted by a figure that seems very similar to P., which they drove off only with heavy losses.

Is not Okeer one of the associates of Saren? Perhaps reaching out to ask him what he knows would be more productive than speculating in ignorance. Whatever P. is, for him to be that old is clearly impossible, unless he is using some form of cryonic suspension and only appearing in person when the time is right.