The asari are a fictional extraterrestrial humanoid species in the Mass Effect multimedia franchise developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. Introduced in the 2007 novel Mass Effect: Revelation, the asari are a sapient homeotherm species who are naturally inclined towards biotics, the ability to manipulate dark energy and alter the mass of objects through the use of electrical impulses from the brain, which produce various psychic abilities such as telekinesis.
The asari are depicted as beings with a feminine appearance by non-asari standards, a pansexual-panromantic orientation, and the capability of reproducing with any species. Asari can live for over a thousand years and go through three stages of life, which is analogous to the Triple Goddess archetype in Neopagan religious and spiritual traditions. Asari culture is depicted as being egalitarian, xenophilic, pro-diversification, pro-multiculturalism and anti-eugenics. The asari appear in most Mass Effect games and media: several are major characters, such as Liara T'Soni, Matriarch Benezia, Samara, Aria T'Loak, Lexi T'Perro and Pelessaria "Peebee" B'Sayle. In addition, the asari are playable characters in the multiplayer modes for Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect: Andromeda.
The asari have been recognized as an important aspect of the universe of Mass Effect and are popular among fans as subjects for expressions of fan labor, though they have received a wide range of positive and negative critical responses from their various appearances.
Concept and design As the initial step in the design process for alien races, the writing team would first supply a short paragraph describing the species. According to associate art director Matt Rhodes, the writers wanted a race of "beautiful, blue aliens" designed to add a familiar science fiction element to the series. Their blue skin references the Orion species from Star Trek. The Bioware team was also influenced by the 1992 space game Star Control II, with writer Patrick Weekes acknowledging the influence of the Syreen on the conception of the asari, with their feminine presentation, innate psychic abilities, and cultural emphasis on utopian ideals of cooperation and enlightenment.
Unlike the design process of most other alien races where their concepts would be focused outside of a human being's frame of understanding, Rhodes noted that for the asari, the process went in the opposite direction as they were "idealized". More alien-looking or unconventional designs for the asari were made, but were discarded for their lack of attractiveness from a human perspective. Due to budget concerns, BioWare realized they would be unable to make both male and female versions for each of the races, which led to the creation of an all-female one.The Final Hours of Mass Effect 3. Rhodes recalled that a drawing for a male asari individual was concepted by a team member, but it has since been lost.
Rhodes noted that the silhouette of the asari's fringe was originally concepted as a hair style, and the final design of the species' hair fins mainly arose from the designers' experimentation with different shapes. He indicated that the spiny fins hinted at the species' capability as a potential threat, as the asari would have developed over millennia of conflict and interactions with their environments. The asari's fins, also described as scalp tentacles, evoke the image of a woman "emerging from the water with her hair swept back". Inspiration was drawn mainly from sports-gear, such as climbing and scuba gear, particularly its "pliable, flexible" qualities. After the addition of the hair fins, the asari looked more aquatic, and thus their design was altered to fit with that; this also led to the writers altering the asari home climate to be more wet. Their clothing is meant to be both "alluring and sexy" while keeping a sense of "class and style", akin to a "Hollywood red carpet feel". Different silhouettes of clothing were made by the design team trying to find looks that a woman would wear, which would appear both futuristic but not "too far", while also keeping with the kind of clothes that would be worn in more aquatic environments.
To help create visual variation for many of the alien faces, art director Derek Watts came up with the idea of different face paints and tattoos, which were added to many of the races. Like many other races, asari too use facepaints, which helped with diversifying the characters. The asari's anthropomorphic faces, derived from face scans of professional models as well as manual tweaks performed by team members, helped make asari characters distinct from each other.
Attributes Biology The asari homeworld, Thessia, is rich with Element Zero, a fictional material which, when subjected to an electric current, releases dark energy. Within series lore, Element Zero is so abundant on Thessia that the water and soil contain large amounts of it, thus life on Thessia has adapted and evolved to its presence, including the asari's natural affinity for biotic abilities. While the asari mostly closely resemble humans in terms of biology, their blood color is markedly different due to the presence of Element Zero, which causes a violet-blue coloration at a molecular scale.
The asari have been variously described as all-female and mono-gendered, or hermaphroditic and sexually ambiguous. Most asari choose to use feminine third-person, singular personal pronouns as an efficient means of conversing with gender binary species on terms they could understand. The asari are evolutionarily conditioned to be pansexual and panromantic, biologically capable of procreating with any sentient life form, and can reproduce with any known sex, gender or species—asari genes are entirely dominant, their offspring are always asari, regardless of their "father's" genetic species, which has led to in-universe claims of asari promiscuity. Instead of trading cellular material directly like other biological organisms, asari reproduce by "melding": linking their nervous systems with their partner's and utilizing the electrical pattern of their partner's system to provide a template for half the DNA of their resulting child.
A small section of the asari population is affected by a genetic condition which manifests at sexual maturity and develops over time, causing the death of whomever the individual mates with instead of reproducing offspring. Known as Ardat-Yakshi or "demon of the night winds" in the asari language, these individuals are offered the chance to accept a monastic life of supervised asceticism upon diagnosis in order to overcome the psychological needs of their condition, but some are addicted to the "ecstasy" that advances with each fatal union. In Mass Effect 3 the Ardat-Yakshi serve as a basis for the Banshee, synthetic-organic creatures described in designer notes as "the Reaper version of an asari Matriarch". The Banshee's silhouette is wispy and intimidating as a result of being stretched taller by the Reapers' conversion process.
Asari can live for over a thousand years, and go through three developmental psychology stages of life: the Maiden stage, where they explore the world out of curiosity and restlessness, with many trying their hand at dancing in bars or working as mercenaries during this time; the Matron stage, where they begin to feel the desire to settle down to raise children; and finally the Matriarch stage, where they are often elevated as leaders of their communities, dispensing wisdom from centuries of life experience.
Culture
The asari's long lifespan makes them comfortable with observation and centuries long planning, and influences their conservative yet convivial attitude toward other species and their belief that their pluralistic worldviews, ideologies and values will inevitably shape the general galactic culture in the long term. In diplomacy, this manifests in a tendency to soft power centrism for the asari, as they seek millennia-spanning investments to maintain stable balances of economic, political, and military power.
The asari were the first to discover the Citadel, and proposed the creation of a multispecies governing council after they made first contact with the salarians. As part of the Citadel Council, they serve as its "mediators and centrists". The asari have the largest economy of all the Milky Way species; their economic power and diplomatic reputation allowing them to wield persuasive influence throughout the galaxy. In spite of their galactic-wide influence, the asari do not have a single organized world government; politically, Thessia is composed of loose confederacies known as the Asari Republics which are similar in concept to the polis of Ancient Greece. Policy is decided through the ebb and flow of public opinion within sprawling but well-organized electronic democratic institutions, with the opinions of local Matriarchs being treated with deference and the closest analogue to an executive decision-making body. The military strength of each Asari Republic is essentially a collection of local warrior bands which are not sufficiently organized for large-scale military campaigns but nevertheless have individual members who are well-armed and exceptionally skilled in biotic abilities. An asari commando, who is dressed in a tight military style as opposed to the flowing clothing preferred by asari civilians, is more powerful than the best human biotic adept, whereas lack of biotic talent will exempt an asari individual from military service.
The visual design of asari architecture is inspired by the work of Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. The smooth curves and horizontal lines of Nos Astra, the capital of the asari-influenced world Illium reinforce the signature Mass Effect style. A typical building in Thessia is characterized by large, swooping curves, while the Temple of Athame where Commander Shepard uncovers a secret artifact in Mass Effect 3 has upward-swooping lines like a cathedral. The worship of the goddess Athame was originally the predominant mainstream religion before the asari achieved spaceflight. Siari is the most popular religion in contemporary asari society, which is grounded on pantheism and the belief that all life is fundamentally similar.
Appearances The asari first appear in Mass Effect: Revelation, the franchise's inaugural media installment. The Citadel Council is introduced in Revelation and is presented as the governing body and ultimate authority in Citadel space: the councilors pass judgement for violations of Council law, settle disputes between interstellar governments, and occasionally provide direct intervention in the form of special operations by delegating to its special forces personnel, the Spectres, which count asari commandoes among their number. A representative from the asari is always a member of the Council along with the salarians and the turians. In the video games, asari characters are encountered either as non-player characters or enemy units in innumerable missions and scenarios. Several asari character variants are playable in the multiplayer modes of Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect: Andromeda. Asari characters are featured prominently in several Mass Effect media including novels, comics, and an animated film, either as main or supporting characters.