Author's Note:

Overview

The Lithoid Trade Federation is one of the oldest and most influential of the Union's factions, a write up on them is wise. Do not Disappoint Mr. Harris. Admiral A. Shepard

Biology

Lithoid's is a catch-all term for living rock creatures. The skeleton says that the most likely explanation is that 'souls who were tossed into the shroud when the Relays were destroyed were then spat back out and bonded to and altered a variety of different minerals.' Me personally? Not a biologist, or whatever this is. People who don't know what they're talking about are quick to accuse them of being synths but the rocks deny this. As they put it 'Our bodies are composed of a type of self replicating crystal capable of recording information with ease and integrating with surrounding minerals.' It's part of the reason why rare crystals are so valuable for building synthetics. Also they reproduce asexually, in a manner of speaking: After preparing a suitable mass of stone or minerals a piece of a Lithoid body is inserted inside forming a Lithoid fetus and then buried for several years. Lithoid Fetuses absorb geothermal energy before being born several years later, Lithoids live for on average 80 or so years during which time they continue to absorb and expel minerals to maintain their unique biology. The Lithoid's of the Trade union come in one of three different types all native to one single solar system: Geologia.

The Crystal Hive: A space borne race composed of a mineral core usually with one or two thin veins of Element Zero with roughly a dozen spikes of rare crystals with at least two other smaller chunks of rare crystal clumps orbiting the main body. While this body type is best suited to space they face difficulties in environments above Zero G the use of Eezo implants help mitigate the issue. The word Hive in Crystal Hive doesn't imply an actual hive mind but rather an insect-like social structure built around a single Queen responsible for reproduction. As a rule they tend to favour living in the shadows of other planets, the reasoning for this is that when especially bright light hits their crystals, such as direct exposure to sunlight, dangerous beams of energy are produced which can harm their fellow Crystals and their structures and push them around in random directions.

Golema: The Golema are large seven to eight foot tall lithoids composed almost entirely out of bright orange stone with thin veins of blue rare crystals forming swirling patterns around their bodies. We're given to understand that these swirls act as eye like light receptors through which the Golema can see. The Golema's huge bodies lend them massive brute strength and their bodies composed of mostly hardened minerals give them incredible strength. Their internal biology is comparable to an internal combustion engine which refine minerals and air born gasses into a volatile mixture inside of their 'stomachs.' As a by-product excess minerals are expelled from their backsides in a mixture with the volatile stomach chemicals from inside of the Golema bodies resulting in what's referred to as 'Volatile Mots' which as the name implies, is extremely unstable and prone to exploding if it receives excessive stimuli. This requires a specialised gel based toilet to prevent the Golema from being killed by their own feces.

Gaul: Gaul are four legged two armed creatures averaging seven feet tall when you discount a mane of gemstones coming up their backs and ending in a single horn jutting out the top of their horse like heads. Despite what their vaguely horse like centaur type body implies the Gaul have no relationship to any earth-borne animals nor have they any connection to the mythical Unicorn or Centaur and are in fact entirely composed of minerals like their fellow Lithoids. When Gaul eats Minerals their digestive tracks dissolve the stones releasing Exotic gasses as a by-product. The Gaul's unique body structure necessitates a lot of unique furniture both to support them and the capture the valuable Exotic Gases that they expel from their posterior's when they eat.

History

The Lithoid Trade Federation is one of the oldest civilisations in the galaxy emerging directly from the aftermath of the mass Mass Relay destruction, second only to the Lich Necropsy. Not by coincidence the two factions have a history of bloody conflict with one another. At the time the Lich's still possessed a strong anti-synth mentality left over from their Zroni ancestors, the Lithoids aren't synth's but at the time the Lich's weren't able to comprehend the concept of living rocks. Some historians have argued that the Lich's used the conflict as a means to mass produce Flerkin corpses to stuff the souls of the rest of their people into. The Lithoid's natural predisposition to mass producing unique materials gave them a technological edge over the Lich's who at the time were still reliant on Mass Effect based weaponry. Contact with other races such as a the Chozo led to the Lithoids to start trading their advance technology and rare unique resources with the aliens and helped to build the foundation of what would eventually become the Stellar Union. Eventually the Lich's and their Flerkin scions read the minds of the Lithoids during which time they discovered that they had minds to read, a thus far unprecedented event among synthetics. So the Lich's were given the option of either acknowledging that they attacked the Lithoids for no good reason or keep fighting a pointless conflict. They chose the first and the Lithoids were more than happy to buy off their enemies, helped along by the realisation that thanks to this same telepathy the Lich's now had access to the full range of Lithoid technology. The greatest technological feat of the Lithoids however was building a matter decompressor mega-structure around a black hole designed to extract the ultra-dense material from inside of the black hole in the form of minerals providing a near limitless supply of material and food to the Lithoids.

Culture

Lithoids have a strong mercantile spirit, if given the choice between fighting an enemy or buying them off then as a rule the Lithoids will buy them off. One should never assume that choosing not to use violence is not the same thing as being bad at it. Lithoid bodies are incredibly durable and filled with brute strength, not even mentioning the fact that their bodies are composed of what's effectively ammunition, much of the early history between the Lithoid factions is marked by bloody conflict. This currently crosses over into aggressive corporate tactics, Lithoids have a slow reproductive cycle so they don't seek a expansionist policy only taking worlds when they determine the world in question has valuable resources that they can't otherwise get. Lithoids are also widely acknowledged as being responsible for the invention of the Solar Credit, one credit is worth enough energy to power an average household of four for one month, reportedly it was the result of some political concessions on their part. Energy was the primary resource of the Lich's, through the concession they had gained a foothold in the Lich's economy, additionally compared to the multiple exotic resources of the Lithoids the unified energy of the Lich's was reportedly much easier.

Military

Lithoids reportedly regard the military as something of an unpleasant last resort. They prefer customers to enemies. That said it is often said that one should, above everything else, fear the peaceful man who has been brought to violence. While no official military exists in place of that there are numerous mercenary cartels the largest of which is the all Lithoid Cold Stone Company. The Mercenary forces make for a diverse array of violence to dump on potential enemies while the ships Cold Stone fields are filled with the most advanced Tebrid engineering and technology they can get their hands on.

Space Navy

Corvette Class: Amethyst

Amethysts are high speed hit and run specialist vehicles armed with twin Gatling Rare Crystal laser guns. As one crystal fires seven more on rotation are being charged, because of this the corvettes are able to fire near constantly which combined with their speed makes for a high aggression unit. Such units are usually deployed in a swarm to overwhelm enemies with sheer fire power. Additionally the Hive takes full advantage of their space borne biology to remove any sense of life support or artificial gravity in favour of redundant engines, shield and weapons systems. Reportedly Corvettes can stay operational after taking more punishment than most cruisers, combined with their high speed and you get a terrifyingly efficient high spec unit.

Destroyer Class: Ruby

Rubys are manned predominantly by Gaul. Rubys also doubles as highly effective mining ships, the main purpose of the ship's facilities is to extract minerals from asteroids and destroyed enemy ships in order to keep the Gaul crew men fed, through this a massive quantity of exotic gasses can be produced. This gas can be sold to any number of companies but the main purpose is to provide the weapons with a theoretically limitless stream of ammunition for magneto plasma cannons for long distance explosive attacks.

Cruiser Class: Peridot

Peridots are personnel carriers designed predominantly for carrying Lithoid troops into battle. The Hull of the ship is covered in a Rare Crystal point defence grid in the meantime its main armaments operate on a Volatile Mot missile rack and are supplemented by Exotic Gas plasma cannons. The idea is to keep the ship from receiving damage as it makes planet-fall and drop troops on enemy worlds and then picking them back up once whatever destruction that they have wrecked has been finished.

Battleship Class: Garnet

Garnets are Lithoid battleships stocked predominantly by AI programs with a small contingent of Crystal Hive. Similar to the Amethysts systems and technology unnecessary for the Hive such as artificial gravity generators and life support units have been removed with redundant weapons, shields and engine systems in their place. A single garnet reportedly has sufficient fire power to crater several cities all by itself.

Titan Class: Unknown

Juggernaut Class: Unknown

According to the boasts of Lithoid officials if these ships were ever deployed in battle the target they would be sent after would be charred seven times over.

Collosus: Obsidian

The Obsidian Collosus is a weapon of planetary destruction designed specifically to crack open a planet and facilitate the extraction of it's natural resources. Classified as a crime against sapient life if used on a garden or inhabited world.

Ground Forces

Cold Stone is a ruthless enemy when provoked, each of it's variety of Lithoid soldiers uniquely qualified for unleashing destruction on the battlefield whether it's being sniped by lasers or crushed under the weight of brutal war maces Lithoids do not hesitate to make full use of their brute strength when the call to arms comes. Those who respond to the call of arms undergo permanent bodily modifications for the purpose of turning their forms into weapons of devastating power on the battlefield.

Sapphire Snipers

Members of Sapphire Snipers are an all Crystal Hive unit. Each of their Rare Crystals have been methodically shaped and integrated into a sophisticated omni-directional laser array, their entire bodies have been encased in a Dragon Scale shell commonly found on space ships leaving their physical bodies indestructible.

Diamond Breakers

Diamond Breakers consist exclusively of Golema soldiers with plates of Dragonscale armour bolted directly to their frames. The Diamond Breakers dual wield grenade launchers often at nearly point blank range for the purpose of breaking the enemy over their knee. Supplementing the use of Grenade launchers each Diamond Breaker is equipped with a two handed Neutronium mace containing enough weight and raw offensive power punch holes into most ships in a single hit, and all ships with enough hits.

Jasper Calvary

A division consisting entirely of Gaul soldiers that have undergone augmentations attaching them to tank treads and encasing them with Dragonscale armour. The machinery is powered entirely by a exotic gas plasma reactor fuelled by the Gaul's own... explosive emissions contained inside of a fuel tank. The exotic gasses also feed into a lance on the arm of the Gaul that also doubles as a plasma flamer, there have been many occasions where a Jasper has charged a enemy, skewer them, and then pull the trigger on the flamer with enough force to send the fools flying. When not charging into battle the Calvary instead makes use of mounted twin Gatling guns to cut down enemies at range.