Batarian

BATARIAN "Then Vido decided to start hiring batarians. Cheaper labor, he said. Goddamn terrorists, I said." -Zaeed Masani, Human Mercenary

RACIAL TRAITS

Average Height: 5´ 7˝–5´ 9˝

Average Weight: 140–220 lb.

Ability Scores: +2 Strength, +2 Charisma or +2 Constitution Size: Medium

Speed: 6 squares

Vision: Normal

Languages: Basic, Batarian

Skill Bonuses: +2 Intimidate, +2 Survival Black Market Dealer: You gain a 10% discount when buying items from vendors or merchants with the Black Market keyword. This bonus increases to 15% at level 11.

Ruthless: If you attack any enemy in melee and it successfully hits, the target takes a –2 racial penalty to attack rolls until the end of your next turn.

Xenophobe: You gain a +1 racial attack bonus against non-batarian creatures with the Humanoid keyword.

Blade Armor: You can use Blade Armor as an encounter power.

Blade Armor * Batarian Racial Power

''An opponent tries to attack you head on. Time to show him the error of his ways, thanks to some batarian tech that you invented (or stole; no one’s the wiser)…''

Encounter Tech

Immediate Reaction Close Burst 1 Target: Each creature in burst

Requirement: An adjacent opponent attacked you

Hit: 1d6 + Strength modifier damage, and ongoing 5 (save ends).

Level 11: 2d6 + Strength modifier damage, and ongoing 10 damage.

A race of four-eyed bipeds native to the world of Khar'shan, the batarians are a disreputable species that chose to isolate itself from the rest of the galaxy. The Terminus Systems are infested with batarian pirate gangs and slaving rings, fueling the stereotype of the batarian thug.

Play a Batarian if you want. ..


 * To be ruthless and a renegade.


 * To be part of a race most people despise and/or loathe.


 * To be a member of a race that favors the Soldier, Sentinel and Vanguard classes.

Overview

The Citadel Council made first contact with the batarians in approximately 200 BCE, and granted the batarians an embassy on the Citadel a century later. Despite being welcomed into the galactic community, batarian aggression provoked several crises in galactic relations over the years. Sometime around 1785 CE, a batarian fleet bombarded the salarian colony world of Mannovai; in 1913, the Batarian Hegemony annexed the independent asari colony of Esan; and in 2115, Citadel forces skirmished with batarian forces on the planet Enael.

In the early 2160s, humans began to colonize the Skyllian Verge, a region the batarians were already actively settling. The batarians asked the Citadel Council to intervene and declare the Verge an area of "batarian interest". When the Council refused, the batarians closed their Citadel embassy and severed diplomatic and economic relations, becoming an inward-looking rogue state.

Money and weapons funneled from the batarian government to criminal organizations led to many brutal raids on human colonies in the Verge, culminating in the Skyllian Blitz of 2176, an attack on the human capital of Elysium by batarian-funded pirates and slavers. In 2178, the Alliance retaliated with a crushing assault on the moon of Torfan, long used as a staging base by batarianbacked criminals. In the aftermath, the batarians retreated into their own systems, and are now rarely seen in Citadel space.

Despite several disagreements with the Citadel and simmering hostility toward humans, most batarians prefer profitable pursuits such as drug running and slave grabs to out-and-out warfare. They have a reputation for being shrewd businessmen and merchants, though in more lawless regions of the galaxy like Omega, negotiations with a batarian are likely to be conducted at gunpoint.

Physical Qualities  Batarians are an anthropoidal race like humans and asari. Their most distinctive physical feature is their four eyes. Batarians also exhibit different skin tone colors: while most encountered batarians are a dark, brown-red hue with pale facial ridges, and rarely what appears to be a black and yellow striped pigmentation with light green facial ridges.

Playing a Batarian

Batarians place an extremely high value on social caste and appearance, and overstepping one's place is frowned upon. Casting aspersions on the monetary worth of a social better is considered a serious insult. Batarians strongly believe that species with fewer than four eyes are less intelligent; they often gain the upper hand in interspecies arguments because other races find it difficult to know which eyes to focus on when speaking to them.

Slavery is an integral part of the batarian caste system, despite being illegal according to Council law, and it is currently unknown how the batarians maintained standing on the Citadel for so long with slavery still actively practiced. The custom is so deeply ingrained in batarian culture that batarians consider the Council's anti-slavery standing to be prejudicial. Rogue batarian slave rings are feared throughout the galaxy, especially among colonists.

Body language is an important part of batarian society. For example, tilting one's head to the left is a sign of admiration and respect. When a batarian tilts his head to the right it is a sign that he is (or considers himself to be) superior to the one that the gesture was directed at. Therefore, this gesture can also be interpreted as an insult. Little is known about batarian religious beliefs. Salarian scientists have noted that batarians do believe in an afterlife. When a batarian dies, his soul leaves the body through the eyes. Treatment of the corpse is considered unimportant, unless the batarian's eyes have been removed by an enemy. It is suggested that the batarians' religious beliefs are based on words from sacred texts, similar to some human religions such as Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam.

The rest of the galaxy views the batarians as an ignorable problem. Their government, known as the Batarian Hegemony, is still hostile to the Systems Alliance, but beneath the notice of the powerful Council races. It is not known what the average batarian thinks about their enforced isolation, as the Department of Information Control ensures that only government-approved news enters or leaves batarian space. Given the batarian government's oppressive nature, it is speculated their supreme leadership is autocratic or totalitarian in nature. The batarians blame humanity for their troubles and claim they were forced to fend for themselves, despite the fact that their exile is largely selfimposed. The batarian homeworld, Khar'shan, is still divided amongst nation-states.

However, the batarians still provide up-to-date glossaries and linguistic rules to the rest of the galaxy (allegedly so they can continue distributing propaganda). Possibly due to the prevalence of batarian criminal gangs, batarian languages have become "lingua franca" in the Terminus Systems.

Male Names: Balak, Charn, Edan Had'dah, Eluam Ran'perah, Groto Ib-ba, Jath'Amon, Forvan, Solem Dal'serah, Tarak

Female Names: Jella