Husk

Husks are synthetic "zombies" created by the geth. When a human is captured, they are placed on impaling devices, huge spikes that Alliance marines have nicknamed "dragon's teeth". Over time the body's organs, skin and water content are converted into cybernetic materials; blood is changed to a sickly green fluid, and the body generates an electrical charge.

When the spikes are approached &mdash; say, if marines try to recover their dead comrades &mdash; the Husks are released and attack. The Husks will charge at their enemies and, once close enough, give off a powerful electrical blast which disables shields and causes massive damage.

Mass Effect: Evolution
On Shanxi, during the First Contact War, the turians, led by Desolas Arterius, uncovered an alien artifact, called the Arca Monolith. The monolith converted anyone who comes into direct contact with it into synthetic beings. The only known human to have fully escaped conversion was Jack Harper.

The monolith intrigued Desolas, and communicating with converted turians, whom his brother, Saren, dubbed meta-turians, in a strange alien language, brought the artifact to Palaven, where Desolas planned on attempting to use the monolith to replicate the same circumstances that enhanced Harper's abilities or create an army of synthetic beings to put the turian race at the head of galactic dominance. Unknown to Desolas, the meta-turians uncovered a second monolith beneath Temple Palaven, hidden away by their ancient ancestors to protect their species, to begin mass conversions. Saren managed to stop the meta-turians from multiplying by ordering an orbital strike on the temple, taking with it everything and everyone inside.

Mass Effect
Husks are encountered throughout the game, first on Eden Prime and then anywhere humans have been fighting the geth. No one knows why the geth do this to their captives. It seems like a lot of effort for a small result, though it is effective as a psychological warfare tactic to make soldiers fight their own dead. The geth used a ship full of husks, the MSV Cornucopia, partly as a trap and partly as a warning to other organic races not to enter their space.

Cerberus were studying husks as part of their experimental programme into creating a super soldier, and as a test they deliberately exposed a colonial pioneer team on Chasca to dragon's teeth. There were also husks in Saren Arterius' research facility on Virmire, possibly part of his study of indoctrination.

When Sovereign "possesses" Saren's body, the resulting creature strongly resembles a husk, and the Reaper indoctrination effect is similar to the "zombie" nature of husks, which suggests that the dragon's teeth are Reaper technology. A cache of the spikes was found buried on Trebin and had to be excavated by the local research team, but there is no evidence of who put them there or why.

Mass Effect 2
Husks are now known to be of Reaper origin, as it is clearly stated several times that the geth gained their dragon's teeth from the Reapers.

The Collectors appear to make use of husks along with several new husk variations, namely, the Abomination, Scion, and the Praetorian, all of which are noted to be more advanced than those previously fought by Commander Shepard in Mass Effect. It is also noted that no dragon's teeth are seen at places where the Collectors deploy husks. Shepard and the squad speculate this indicates the husks were transported by the Collectors from elsewhere, although this is never confirmed. These husks are encountered along with Abominations and Scions aboard a derelict Reaper when a science team falls victim to the Reaper's indoctrination. Shepard and the squad finds multiple dragon's teeth onboard, indicating that the husk variants were used by the Reapers at least 37 million years ago. It is currently unknown why the Husks used by the geth were less advanced and no other husk variants were seen alongside the geth. The basic Collector-produced husk seems somewhat different than geth-produced husks, lacking the electrical attack and using armor for defenses rather than kinetic barriers.

An excavation team in the Minos Wasteland on the planet Aequitas finds an alien artifact that creates advanced husks. This device does not look like dragon's teeth at all but instead is an orb filled with an unknown energy source that turned the excavation team into Husks with what appears to be a form of indoctrination, according to logs kept by the team, before it started creating more husks.

Other Types
Mass Effect 2 introduces three other advanced Husk forms:


 * Abominations - A Husk that will explode when in close proximity to an enemy.
 * Scions - Made from three husks fused together, Scions have powerful, long-range cannons.
 * Praetorians - Made from thirty husks fused together, a single Praetorian can devastate the battlefield.

Mass Effect 3
Husks will return in Mass Effect 3, and will make up the majority of the Reapers' ground forces. New types of Husks made from different species will also be introduced.

Other Types
Mass Effect 3 introduces several other Husk forms:


 * Cannibal - creatures based on batarians that replenish themselves by consuming other fallen enemies.
 * Asari Husk
 * Krogan Husk
 * Rachni Husk