Tali'Zorah nar Rayya

' "Our Pilgrimage proves we are willing to give of ourselves for the greater good. What does it say about me if I turn my back on this?" '

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya (later known as Tali'Zorah vas Neema, then Tali'Zorah vas Normandy) is a quarian and a member of Commander Shepard's squad. Though young, Tali is a mechanical genius. She is on her Pilgrimage, a rite of passage to prove her worth and bring something of value back to her people aboard the Migrant Fleet. Her class is Quarian Machinist, similar to the Engineer class.

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya is voiced by Liz Sroka.

Dossier
Having reached maturity, Tali left her birth ship, the Rayya, and departed the Migrant Fleet on her Pilgrimage. On her travels she began hearing reports of geth, who had never ventured beyond the Perseus Veil since driving her people into exile, and became curious. She tracked a patrol of geth to an uncharted planet, waited until one was separated from its unit, then disabled it and removed its memory core. She recovered a file from its audio banks that revealed Saren Arterius was behind the attack on Eden Prime, but possessing the file put her in grave danger. She was pursued by Saren's forces, and escaped to the Citadel.

On her way, Tali was shot and had to go to the Med Clinic for treatment. She told Dr. Chloe Michel she wanted to trade her information to the Shadow Broker in exchange for a hiding place, but was double-crossed by Fist who was working for Saren. She was expecting to meet the Shadow Broker in person but met a "messenger" with a group of assassins. Tali threw a tech proximity mine to defend herself, and was aided by the timely arrival of Commander Shepard's team.

To repay the Commander for saving her life, Tali presented the proof that Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson needed to get Saren's Spectre status revoked. Tali's data also provided the first mention of the ancient machine race called the Reapers, who hunted the Protheans to extinction, and the mysterious Conduit. Wanting to help fight the geth and prove herself, Tali then joined Shepard's team.

Tali spends her time in the Normandy's engine room. Engineer Adams is very impressed by her knowledge, wishing his crew were half as smart as Tali. They often work together to disassemble any abandoned technology, such as old orbital probes that the Normandy's survey missions discover. Shepard can chat to Tali about her fascination with starship technology and the Normandy's unique design, especially the enormous drive core.

Tali talks about life as a quarian nomad, her Pilgrimage and the ramshackle three-hundred-year old vessels in the quarian Migrant Fleet. Her mother died five years ago due to an airborne virus and although Tali is sad about this loss, such deaths are an unfortunate fact of life aboard the Flotilla. She also reveals that her father is the head of the Admiralty Board - the highest authority of the quarian people - meaning everyone has high hopes for Tali's Pilgrimage.

Tali also offers some insight into the geth: why the quarians originally created them, how they rebelled, and how the neural network functions. She explains that her people struck first to try and stop the geth before the war started, but underestimated how far the geth had developed. Shepard can debate this with her, pointing out that the quarians basically attempted genocide against another sentient species.

At first Tali is very excited about being on board the Alliance's most advanced vessel, but she begins having problems. She can't sleep because she's not used to a ship that runs so quietly (to a quarian, a quiet ship means a dead engine or worse, a malfunctioning air filter). She also says that compared to the crowded conditions of the Migrant Fleet, the Normandy feels disturbingly empty, "it's like half the crew is missing". She manages to adjust over time and becomes much more cheerful. Tali enjoys visiting the crowded, noisy Wards on the Citadel because they feel like home, and she particularly likes the music in Flux, hoping to take a copy back to the Flotilla.

If Shepard treats Tali with respect, the quarian is very grateful, explaining that her people are usually treated like second-class citizens. On Virmire, at the salarian camp, Tali is nervous about the upcoming assault on the base, but promises she will 'fight with fire' for Shepard's sake. After the mutiny, when Shepard steals the Normandy and heads to Ilos, Tali enjoys the adventure of it all, but wonders what the Council would do if the Citadel Fleet caught up with them. Shepard is sure Tali's father would pull strings to keep his little girl out of jail, but Tali isn't convinced: stealing ships is a capital offence amongst the quarians, stating that "he'd probably want to execute us himself."

If Tali goes with Shepard to Ilos, she finds the planet eerie and feels as if they are trespassing there. She claims the quarians once tried to find Ilos as a new potential homeworld, but they never expected it to feel so unwelcome. After speaking to Vigil, Tali is saddened by what happened to the Protheans - like her people, the Protheans tried to fight back against the machines, but eventually lost everything.

Missions and Assignments
When Commander Shepard is completing UNC: Geth Incursions, to clear the geth from the Armstrong Nebula, a cache of data is found in a terminal, detailing the early days of the geth.

Once back aboard the Normandy, Tali asks Shepard to give her a copy of the data. Though it is heavily encrypted and might take years to decipher, it is a perfect gift for her Pilgrimage. Shepard can refuse - this is classified Alliance data, after all - or agree to her request, hoping the Alliance doesn't find out. Obviously, if Tali receives a copy of the data she will be very happy (it will enable her to return to her people once the mission is over) but if Shepard refuses, Tali says she will help catch Saren, but leave the crew afterwards, in order to find something of equal value and complete her Pilgrimage.

Mass Effect 2


' "Shepard? Is that...you're alive?" '

After the events of Mass Effect, Tali returned to the Migrant Fleet and joined the crew of the Neema. During the events of Mass Effect 2, Tali is 24 years of age.

In Mass Effect 2 Commander Shepard, while investigating the disappearance of human colonies with Jacob Taylor and Miranda Lawson, encounters Tali at Freedom's Progress, a human colony, where she is searching for Veetor, another quarian who had been on the colony during the Collector attack due to his pilgrimage. 

Later, Commander Shepard and the crew of the Normandy head to the quarian flotilla where the quarians put Tali on trial for treason. Shepard decides to step in and help Tali, as do a few other quarians, including Veetor and Kal'Reegar. With Shepard and Kal'Reegar speaking on her behalf she is either exiled for her alleged crimes, disgraced by her father's experiments, or the charges are dropped after Shepard makes an impassioned speech on her behalf. Following her exile or exoneration she rejoins Shepard and the crew of the Normandy and assists them in their mission to put an end to the Collectors' campaign of mass human abductions across the galaxy. Following their naming conventions she becomes Tali'Zorah vas Normandy in the eyes of the quarians at this point. 

Tali is a potential romance option for a male Shepard. Similar to romances in the first Mass Effect, no intimate physical relations occur until the final mission is initiated. When she joins the team, yeoman Kelly Chambers tells Shepard that Tali may wish to be 'more than just friends'. When Shepard pursues romance with Tali, she confirms the yeoman's thoughts, revealing her interest in the Commander since their first meeting. Until this point, however, Tali had never initiated any contact with Shepard, doubting that he would see her as she truly is—selfless, courageous, and devoted—through her bio-suit. Happily, Shepard proves her wrong. In agreeing to pursue more intimate contact, she decides that she must 'feel [his] skin against [hers]'. Unfortunately, quarians' weak immune system make such an act dangerous, if not deadly. She thus requests that Shepard wait until she can adequately make herself ready. With Shepard's support, Tali prepares herself for her first exposure to unfiltered atmosphere, among other things, by taking several antibiotics and 'herbal supplements'. During a private moment shortly before entering the Omega-4 mass relay, Shepard removes her mask, and the two consummate their love. After the encounter, Tali informs Shepard that she caught a cold without her pressurised suit on, although, she admits, it was 'totally worth it'. 

=
Details of the "treason" charges

Tali had shipped home numerous pieces of geth for research projects by her father, who was searching for ways to "hack" and defeat them. In his haste, he ignored safety protocols. The geth parts reanimate, take over a ship, rebuild themselves and kill everyone aboard. A unit of quarians sent on a rescue/exploratory mission is also wiped out. Tali is accused of endangering the whole flotilla by, in effect, smuggling the enemy inside the flotilla in an irresponsible manner. Shepard leads a team including Tali to clear the geth-infested ship and look for evidence.

Tali's father reveals everything in a recording that he left on board the geth-ravaged ship shortly before he died. The recording explicitly clears Tali from any wrongdoing, accepting full responsibility for his blunder. Other log entries show him talking to other members of the crew as they pressure him to have Tali send back larger, more active — and more risky — pieces of Geth, which would make the project go faster. He forcefully refuses, saying he would not risk having his daughter suffer any political "blowback" if something goes wrong.

Tali's father had been an aloof and distant authority figure to his daughter. In an another log entry it is discovered that the reason for his haste was that he had promised Tali once he would build a home for her on the quarian homeworld. These discoveries are the most compelling declarations of love that Tali had ever heard from her father, and now he's dead.

Tali cannot bear the thought of her father being remembered solely for endangering the flotilla, the worst crime a quarian can commit. She's willing to risk conviction and have the onus fall upon herself rather than see it stick to her father.

Shepard is chief advocate for Tali at the trial because, under quarian law, the commander of a crewman's ship is the advocate for that crewman. He chooses whether to present the evidence or not.

Quarian Machinist
Quarian Machinist is Tali's class power.

Tali's Appearance
Having completed her pilgrimage, Tali's new look was designed to be familiar yet noticeably more mature than in the original story.

Trivia

 * Quarian names are comprised of three parts - the quarian's given name and clan name, the title ('nar' means 'child of', while 'vas', adopted after the quarian has completed their Pilgrimage and joined a ship, means 'crew of') and the name of their ship. Therefore 'Tali'Zorah nar Rayya' means 'Tali of the clan Zorah, child of [born aboard] the Rayya'.


 * In some close-ups of Tali's face, it is possible to see her face through her breathing mask, but only her eyes and nose are visible. What can be seen appears very similar to humans. The rest of Tali's face has yet to, or may never be, revealed.


 * The lower portion of Tali's helmet bears a distinct resemblance to the "flashlight heads" characteristic of geth troopers; likely a hallmark of quarian design.


 * Tali carries a knife strapped to her boot.


 * Tali sometimes exclaims "Keelah!" when shocked. This word is implied to be the quarian's way of saying "God." In the Mass Effect 2 Tali video, the word is used again as "Keelah Se'lai."
 * Keelah Se'lai appears to be some kind of highly flexible quarian expression with multiple possible meanings - it is spoken in chorus by the assembled quarians at Tali's trial in an almost prayer-like fashion, as well as in a triumphant shout or battlecry by Kal'Reegar on Haestrom.


 * When her combat drone is summoned, Tali will occasionally shout, "Go for the optics! Go for the optics!" This may be a reference to Baldur's Gate 2's Minsc, who shouted, "Go for the eyes, Boo! Go for the eyes!"
 * Tali's combat drone is named Chikktika, another subtle reference to Baldur's Gate 2. Chikktika Fastpaws is the loyal raccoon familiar of Baervan Wildwanderer, a gnomish deity worshipped by Aerie.
 * By pursuing a romantic relationship with Tali, Commander Shepard becomes the first person to see her face, smiling lovingly when he sees it. Though, the player isn't shown her face.