Elcor

The elcor are a Citadel species native to the high-gravity world Dekuuna. They are massive creatures, standing on four muscular legs for increased stability. Elcor move slowly, an evolved response to an environment where a fall can be lethal. This has colored their psychology, making them deliberate and conservative.

Biology
Elcor evolved on a high-gravity world, making them slow, but incredibly strong. Their large, heavy bodies are incapable of moving quickly, but they possess a rather imposing stature and immense strength, as well as thick, tough skin. They move using all four limbs to support and balance their massive bodies. Given their method of communication, they likely have highly-attuned olfactory senses.

Elcor speech is heard by most species as a flat, ponderous monotone. Among themselves, scent, extremely slight body movements, and subvocalized infrasound convey shades of meaning that make a human smile seem as subtle as a fireworks display. Since their subtlety can lead to misunderstandings with other species, the elcor prefix all their dialog with non-elcor with an emotive statement to clarify their tone.

History
Prehistoric elcor traveled across Dekuuna in large tribal groups. These groups were likely led by the oldest and most experienced elcor. This may have later developed into the elcor culture of Elders, whose wisdom could keep the tribe safe provided they followed the correct guidance (see below).

According to their ambassador, the elcor were just making their first forays into space travel when the asari made contact with them. With their help, the elcor discovered the closest mass relay and, within a single lifetime, had established a regular trade route to the Citadel. The elcor quickly became one of the more prominent species in Citadel space, though they still have to share an embassy with the volus.

Culture
Elcor usually prefer to stay on their colonies rather than travel in space, which may be why few elcor are seen on the Citadel or on other worlds. Possibly because of their size or evolution in the open air, the elcor find the necessary confines of space travel uncomfortable. Evolving in a high-gravity environment where a fall could be lethal has made elcor psychology deeply cautious and conservative. Their culture is built on small, tight-knit groups, and their conservative nature means the elcor government is extremely stable. Despite this, they are always welcoming to outsiders.

Economy
The elcor economy is small, only slightly larger than the Alliance's, but extremely well developed. They see no point to rushing things, and are fond of making thorough, century-long development plans. They don't need to trade for any resource—they have all they require to supply their own needs, and trade only in finished goods. Any attempt to embargo their space would be fruitless.

Government
The elcor government is known as the Courts of Dekuuna. The elcor follow the recommendations of their Elders, who spend years poring over ancient records of jurisprudence to determine the precedent that should be followed in any given situation. The Elders record closely argued and minutely detailed instructions on what course to follow in any theoretical crisis. These are filed away in huge libraries of data discs and are consulted when needed. This makes elcor policies very predictable, provided one has done a great deal of research.

Military
Because of their slow, conservative psyches, elcor are not suitable for making the spur-of-the-moment decisions necessary in combat situations. Instead, they rely on sophisticated VI combat systems. These war machines can choose between thousands of gambits developed and polished over centuries by elcor strategists.

The slow speed and immense size of the elcor makes them easy targets. Fortunately, their durable hide allows them to shrug off most incoming fire. Elcor warriors don't carry small arms; their broad shoulders serve as a stable platform for the same size of weapons typically mounted on Alliance fighting vehicles. According to an elcor diplomat on the Citadel, elcor soldiers are called "living tanks" by their enemies, among other less flattering names.

The elcor do not maintain a large fleet of military starships. This seems to be due to a combination of their conservative nature preventing hasty rushes to war, and their relatively-isolated and self-sufficient economy that would never encounter a trade dispute serious enough to threaten war over. The Treaty of Farixen limits non-Council members of the Citadel to possessing only one Dreadnought for every five that the turians possess, which, by 2183, would allow non-Council members to build up to seven dreadnoughts. It is not known how many dreadnoughts were built by the elcor military, or even if they expend the effort to build any at all.

Notable Elcor

 * Calyn
 * Harrot
 * Petozi
 * Xeltan

Elcor Worlds

 * Dekuuna - homeworld
 * Ekuna
 * Oltan
 * Sangel
 * Thunawanuro

Trivia

 * Shepard can overhear a news story on the Citadel about a human director named Francis Kitt. He is planning to direct a production of Hamlet using elcor cast members who will utilize their native body language and pheromones. Kitt claims he wants to give human audiences the chance to judge Hamlet "by his deeds and not his emotions". In Mass Effect 2, the production became an award-winning hit and it can be seen in the commercials on the Citadel. According to the commercials, the production is 14 hours long. The line on the advert stating you have not experienced Shakespeare until you have heard in in the voice of an Elcor pays homage to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country where General Chang states that "[y]ou haven't experienced Shakespeare until you have have heard it in the original Klingon". Kitt's own name is likely an homage to two Elizabethan writers, both of whom have been put forward as the possible "true author" of Shakespeare's plays: Francis Bacon and Christopher "Kit" Marlowe.
 * The elcor won the "Best New Species of the Year" award from the official Xbox magazine.
 * The political structure of the elcor was loosely inspired by the Talmudic scholarship of Judaism.
 * The elcor were originally going to have mouths similar to those of humans and asari, but this was changed due to the extra work needed to lip sync their speech. Instead, elcor mouths were changed to their current state where a short animation could be used repetitively without it being noticeable.
 * The elcor speech pattern is a subtle reference to HK-47 from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, in which statements are predicated by an emotion or verbal style.
 * During a conversation with Garrus on the Normandy, Shepard can learn about an elcor serial killer that was active on the Citadel during Garrus' early days with C-Sec.
 * So far two female elcor have been depicted in-game. One can be seen in the advertisement for elcor Hamlet on the Citadel quoting one of Ophelia's lines, and speaks in a feminine voice unlike the voice used by other elcor. However, since traditional Shakespearean productions had males playing females, the elcor could be male. In Mass Effect 3 another female elcor can be heard by listening to the Blasto 6: Partners In Crime advertisement on the Presidium Commons.