Human

Humans, from the planet Earth, are the newest sentient species of notable size to enter the galactic stage and are hands-down the most rapidly expanding and developing. They independently discovered a Prothean data cache on Mars in 2148, and the mass relay networks shortly thereafter.

History
In 2148, human explorers on Mars uncovered a long-ruined Prothean observation post, with a surviving data cache that proved Protheans had studied Cro-Magnon humans millennia ago. While religions tried to assimilate this discovery into their doctrine, a global rush began to decipher the petabytes of data from the outpost. Discovering information on a mass relay orbiting Pluto, explorers managed to open the Charon Relay and discovered it led to Arcturus. With the help of the fledgling Systems Alliance, humans expanded to other systems, opening any mass relays they could find.

Humans first came to the attention of the galactic community after a brief but intense conflict with the turians, known by humans as the First Contact War, begun in 2157. The conflict began when the turians attacked a human fleet attempting to activate a mass relay (illegal under Council law) and then occupied the human colony of Shanxi.

Led by Admiral Kastanie Drescher, the Second Fleet then launched a massive counter-attack, which caught the turians by surprise and expelled them from Shanxi. The conflict caught the attention of the Citadel Council, which wasted no time brokering a peace, thus introducing humans to the galactic community. As a consequence of the Alliance's swift and decisive action during the First Contact War, the Alliance became the representative and supranational governing body of humanity. Since then, humans have rapidly risen in prominence.

Biology
Humans have a fairly robust physiology. Their internal makeup and reproductive processes are typical of most bipedal mammals, and their size and proportions give the appearance of being strong, fast and agile. In comparison to the Council races, humans are roughly physically on par with turians (as very fit humans can punch them over and even throw them off the ground unassisted), and less agile than asari (whom they closely resemble), though fit human males are likely to be far stronger than the average asari. Humans would appear on average to be stronger than salarians but not as fast, due to the extremely elevated metabolisms of the latter. Like most organic races, humans are also capable of producing biotic individuals but there is a high risk of medical complications.

Humans can live to about 150 years, and recent medical advances have eradicated almost all known diseases that afflict them. However, as humans only emerged on the galactic stage within the last thirty years, it is highly likely that the introduction of new technology into their society will greatly increase their average lifespan. Humans reach physical maturity at eighteen years of age, at which point they have usually finished their academic education and either directly enter the workforce or begin training for a profession.

It has been noted that humans are unusual in the galactic community, because they have far greater genetic diversity compared to other species with more peaks and valleys. This makes human genetic material useful in biological experiments, as a control. It has been known to many council races that humans seem to have a immunity to most diseases, as shown in the mission from Mass Effect 2- Finding Mordin Solus.

Galactic Relations
Humans, represented by the Systems Alliance, have had an embassy on the Citadel since 2165. While the humans lack a seat on the Citadel Council, some other species dislike their sudden ascendancy compared to their status as relative newcomers on the galactic stage. Some species feel that humanity is overly expansive in its colonization efforts and aggressive attempts to get a seat on the Council. It took other species centuries to achieve what humanity has done in decades.

Humans have also been doing what the Council could not: colonize planets in the Attican Traverse, the Skyllian Verge and along the borders of the Terminus Systems, all volatile regions where the Council has little authority. Human forces came into minor conflicts with the batarians over the Verge, which the batarians had been attempting to colonize themselves. When the batarians asked the Council to declare the Verge a "zone of batarian interest", they were refused; in response, the batarians became a rogue state, blaming humans for depriving them of valuable resources, and human-batarian relations have been hostile ever since.

Unlike many species in Citadel space, humans have no close allies among the other races, though they are trade partners with the turians and asari. Without alliances or key political positions, humans have had to follow the edicts of the Council without having much influence on their decisions. Human ambassadors have been pushing to induct a human into the Spectres, the Council's elite operatives, as the first step to getting a seat. Once humanity does get a seat, they will be able to influence the Council's rulings, protect their own interests and have a say in the governing of Citadel space.

Humans are generally seen to be very intelligent, abnormally ambitious, highly adaptable, individualistic and thus, unpredictable. They have a powerful desire to advance and improve themselves, and do so with such assertion that the normally staid Council races have been taken aback by their restlessness and relentless curiosity. Their economy, while much smaller than any of the Council races, is very powerful relative to their size, and their military prowess is amongst the greatest in the galaxy, despite the fact that only 3% of humans volunteer for the Alliance military, a far smaller proportion than other races. Their ability to defeat the turians in the First Contact War demonstrated graphically the potential of human military strength and is therefore a subject of concern for many races, who fear the consequences of another human-turian conflict.

Notable Humans
See Category: Humans for an alphabetical list of human characters.


 * Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams
 * Captain David Anderson
 * Ambassador Donnel Udina
 * Admiral Hackett
 * Jacob Taylor
 * Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau
 * Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko
 * Miranda Lawson
 * Commander Shepard
 * Subject Zero
 * The Illusive Man

Notable Ships
For military ships, see Alliance Navy.

MSV is short for Merchant Space Vehicle.

Cruisers

 * MSV Sevrum - Hijacked by extremists and crash-landed on the turian colony Taetus in 2185.

Freighters

 * MSV Adams - In a convoy near Intai'sei in 2183.
 * MSV Athabasca - Class Leader
 * MSV Borealis - Kowloon-class - Disassembled ship located on Feros in 2183.
 * MSV Broken Arrow - Athabasca-class - Attacked and boarded by the geth, and intercepted by the Cerberus starship Normandy SR-2, in the Nariph system in 2185.
 * MSV Collins - In a convoy near Intai'sei in 2183.
 * MSV Cornucopia - Kowloon-class - Discovered adrift in the Caspian system by the SSV Normandy in 2183.
 * MSV Corsica - Crash landed on a planet in the Amun system in 2185.
 * MSV Estevanico - Attacked by soldiers of the mercenary group Blood Pack, and forced down onto a planet in the Ploitari system in 2184. Logs recovered in 2185.
 * MSV Fedele - Kowloon-class - Private research ship of Dr. Heart. Intercepted by SSV Normandy in the Herschel system in 2183.
 * MSV Kowloon - Kowloon-class - Class Leader.
 * MSV Majesty - Kowloon-class - Attacked and destroyed by pirates in the Strenuus system in 2183. Commanded by Captain Willem.
 * MSV Ontario - Kowloon-class - Ship-jacked by biotic extremists. Intercepted by the SSV Normandy in the Farinata system in 2183.
 * MSV Strontium Mule - Athabasca-class - Attacked and boarded by soldiers of the mercenary group Blue Suns, and intercepted by the Cerberus starship Normandy SR-2, in the Arinlarkan system in 2185.
 * MSV Wallace - In a convoy near Intai'sei in 2183.
 * MSV Worthington - Kowloon-class - Discovered adrift in the Ming system by the SSV Normandy in 2183.

Frigates

 * MSV Hugo Gernsback - Commanded by Harris Fairchild. Crash-landed on 2175 Aeia in 2175.

Space Probes

 * CCCP 23 - Surveyed Luna in 1974.
 * Ultimate - Surveyed the planet Pauling in the Skepsis system in 2163.

Space Stations

 * Gagarin Station - Research Station - Construction (2142-48). Private Research Station (2149-58, 2170-85). BAaT Station (2159-2169). Site of bioterror attack (2184). Located at the outer edge of the Sol system.
 * Jarrahe Station - Research Station - Suffered a comprehensive systems failure with loss of all crew members, and visited by the Cerberus starship Normandy SR-2 in 2185. Located in the Strabo system.

Surveyors

 * Ibn Battuta - Surveyed the system Erebus in the Styx Theta cluster.
 * Kupe - Surveyed the systems Fortuna in the Horse Head Nebula and Aquila in the Ismar Frontier. Former posting of the poet Sofia Cabral.