Collector

The Collectors are an enigmatic race that live beyond the Omega 4 Relay, a mass relay within the same system as Omega, in the Terminus Systems. They are rarely seen in the Terminus itself, let alone Citadel space, and are generally regarded as a myth by Citadel citizens. Definite sightings of Collectors have been made on Omega every few centuries.

They are most well known for their odd trade requests for which they offer new technologies, often of a startling level of advancement. Their requests usually involve the trade of living beings in odd numbers and varieties, such as two dozen left-handed salarians, sixteen sets of batarian twins, a krogan born of parents from feuding clans, or two dozen "pure" quarians &mdash; quarians that have never left the Migrant Fleet due to illness, importance to the fleet, or disability. One of their current interests is in healthy human biotics. No one knows what happens to the individuals concerned after the exchange is completed.

Biology
The Collectors resemble human-sized bipedal insects with a chitinous exo-skeleton, four eyes, and a distinct, large, tapering head along with fully developed wings that allow them to fly over short distances. Each Collector appears to be little more than a drone with no distinctions between individuals. Although they do not appear to communicate vocally, since none are heard speaking, they have been heard to cry out in pain when shot or killed.

While exploring a supposedly derelict Collector ship, Shepard and team discover the true origin of the Collectors. Since they exhibit a similar quad-strand genetic structure unique to the Protheans, Shepard realizes that the race formerly believed extinct still exists but has been completely subjugated by their Reaper masters. Their DNA showed signs of "extensive genetic rewrite" including three fewer chromosomes, reduced heterochromatin structure, and the elimination of superfluous "junk" sequences.

While studying Collector data in the lab aboard the Normandy SR-2, Mordin Solus determines that the Reapers indoctrinated the Protheans and compensated for their growing lack of ability due to prolonged indoctrination through cybernetic modifications. The modifications are beyond any form of repair, each Collector drone being little more than a clone—it's unknown if they even still possess any form of gender—riddled with cybernetics, lacking glands or digestive system, and having any form of intelligence or self-awareness completely eradicated by indoctrination.

Periodically, individual Collector drones are "possessed" by an overseer, referred to as the Collector General who is itself being possessed by the Reaper known as Harbinger. In effect, Harbinger assumes control of individual Collectors to conduct battles personally. Upon possession, a Collector's skin becomes riddled by red-glowing cracks, and the eyes begin to emit a bright orange glow. Bearing a strong similarity to the husk conversion process used by Sovereign on Saren's corpse, this is probably due to cybernetic implants throughout a Collector's body. At this point, the drone becomes more resilient and wields powerful biotic attacks.

The Collector General differs considerably from a standard Collector, lacking any humanoid traits, with a much larger head, a short body, and multiple claw-like limbs.

History
All known expeditions to investigate the Collectors have failed. No vessel that has ventured beyond the Omega 4 Relay has ever returned - save those of the Collectors themselves. Some speculate that there is a black hole at the relay's counterpart, but this raises the question of how the Collectors can safely use it. Another, rather fantastic, explanation is that on the other side of the relay is a paradise which no citizen of Omega would care to leave due to the crime and suffering of the asteroid. A more likely reason is that the Collectors either detain or destroy any vessels encroaching on their space.

Though long believed to be a fringe threat or a myth, the Collectors suddenly emerge from the shadows a few months after the geth attack on the Citadel. A lone Collector vessel attacks and destroys the patrolling SSV Normandy, apparently unaffected by the ship's stealth systems. Though much of the crew escaped, Commander Shepard is lost in the attack.

Two years later the Collectors reappear as the culprits behind the mysterious mass abductions of human colonies. The Collectors attack their targets without warning, jamming all communications before releasing massive seeker swarms: insectoid probes that paralyze everyone in the colony. After that, the Collectors themselves gather all the paralyzed victims, seal them in stasis pods and depart, leaving no evidence of their presence. They also hire vorcha to release a bio-weapon plague onto Omega that would selectively kill all races on the station except humans and vorcha, leaving its human population ripe for the taking.

As a human-survivalist organization, Cerberus is intent on stopping these abductions, especially after realising that there is a Reaper connection to these Collector attacks. The Illusive Man recruits the resurrected Shepard to investigate the purpose behind these abductions. Due to their connection with the Reapers, the Collectors also use husks in their attacks.

Origins
When Shepard and the team obtain a means to travel safely through the Omega 4 Relay to what is believed to be the location of the Collectors' homeworld near the galactic core, instead, they find a space station, which is the Collectors' base. After traversing through many hazardous obstacles and threats, Shepard and the team infiltrate the Collector base where they discover that the Collectors have been processing tens of thousands of humans they have captured, breaking them down and using them to create a Human-Reaper. EDI theorised that the Reapers tried to use Protheans to create a Prothean-Reaper, but failed. Shepard eventually destroys the Human-Reaper and proceeds to set a countdown which would destroy all Collectors on the base. As the Collector General is about to perish, Harbinger condemns the General's failure and states that he is "releasing control," revealing that a Reaper was controlling the Collectors all along.

Collectors were deployed against the last Protheans at the end of their cycle. Javik shows Commander Shepard a few visions about what happened, and how he and some of the last Protheans fought against them on Eden Prime.

Culture
The Collectors themselves are rarely seen since they usually operate through agents, such as the quarian Golo, to make their deals. It has been speculated that the Collectors make these strange requests because of strange fetishes or gruesome culinary tastes. However, it is more likely that they perform genetic experiments on these subjects, possibly testing their viability for use in the creation of a Reaper. Regardless of the possible danger, their requests are often granted by fringe groups because the technology the Collectors offer in return is often extremely valuable, giving any race who receives it an immediate advantage before it becomes adapted to the galactic community.

The Collectors are controlled by a single leader who can possess any member of its species at any time, instantly turning them into the most dangerous Collector on the battlefield. When a Collector is possessed by the leader the outer surface of their body appears to crack open, revealing an orange glow that resembles molten rock.

Upon studying the Collectors, Mordin Solus surmised that the Collectors are in fact mindless drones, "closer to husks than slaves" and lacking any form of culture. He observed that the Collectors show no concern for self-preservation, and will die in battle even if their fight is completely pointless. Believing that culture is impossible without intelligence, he hypothesized that the Collector living areas and bases are completely without any kind of art or creativity. All Collector technology and constructions, he said, exist only for their utility without ergonomics taken into account.

Troop Varieties

 * Collector Seeker Swarm – Capable of causing paralysis and of carrying victims away if numbers are large enough.
 * Collector Drone – Equipped with Collector assault rifles. Standard troop type, equipped with barriers on Hardcore and Insanity.
 * Collector Assassin – Equipped with Collector particle beam rifles and biotic barriers.
 * Collector Guardian – Equipped with Collector assault rifles and biotic barriers. Able to deploy personal anti-ballistic shields and warp ammunition.
 * Praetorian - A flying synthetic-organic construct armed with twin particle beams and strong biotic barriers. Can slam into the ground to damage surrounding targets and regenerate their barriers.
 * Collector General – Leader and conduit for Harbinger (seen in cut-scenes only).
 * Harbinger – A Collector possessed by Harbinger has biotic barriers and armour, equipped powerful biotic abilities.
 * Husks, Abominations and Scions are also utilized by the Collectors.

Warship Varieties

 * Collector Cruiser - A massive vessel used for transport of troops and abducted colonists. Armed with a multi-directional particle beam weapon.
 * Oculus - A small, eye-shaped spherical vehicle used to destroy enemy ships and defend the Collector Base. Piloted by a single modified Collector Drone, they are armed with a red particle beam weapon located in the center of its "eye".

Trivia

 * The Collectors were originally inspired by electron microscope photographs of insect heads. Their full-body designs ranged from humanoid to highly-abstract creations.
 * The Collector General greatly resembles Pilot from the TV series Farscape.
 * An article on the artistic creation of the Collectors can be seen here.
 * Although the Collector race did not make a return in Mass Effect 3, 2 video logs of the single surviving Prothean Javik's memory were accessible during the DLC mission "From Ashes", showed Javik and the last of his comrades fought off Collector drones on Eden Prime. Thus it indicates that the Collectors have been around as early as during the final days of the Prothean Empire.
 * Despite the Collectors not being encountered in Mass Effect 3, a Codex entry on the Reaper War states that the Reapers had used Collector swarms in Palaven. It is unknown if this was supposed to refer to the Seeker swarms or to the Collectors themselves.

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