Tuchanka

Description
Scarred by bombardment craters, radioactive rubble, choking ash, salt flats, and alkaline seas, Tuchanka, the krogan homeworld, can barely support life. Thousands of years ago life grew in fierce abundance under the F-class star Aralakh (a Raik clan word meaning "Eye of Wrath"). Tree analogs grew in thick jungles, their roots growing out of shallow silty seas. Life fed upon life in an evolutionary crucible. This world died in nuclear firestorms after the krogan split the atom. A "little ice age" of nuclear winter killed off the remaining plant life. In recent centuries many krogan have returned to their homeworld. The reduced albedo has caused global temperatures to rise. In order to maintain livable temperatures, a vast shroud was assembled at the L1 Lagrange point. It is maintained by the Council Demilitarization Enforcement Mission (CDEM) which is based on orbiting battlestations.

CDEM ADVISORY: Visitors to Tuchanka land at their own risk. The CDEM will not attempt to extract citizens threatened by clan warfare.

TRAVEL ADVISORY: The ecology of Tuchanka is deadly. Nearly every native species engages in some predatory behavior; even the remaining vegetation is carnivorous. Travel beyond guarded areas is strongly discouraged.

Population: 2.1 billion Capital: currently Urdnot (since 2183) CDEM Garrison: 2,400 (in orbital battlestations)

Additional Information
"It's a miserable place to live, but it's a more miserable place to die," said turian general Rilix Aescorus of the krogan homeworld when he first set foot on it. Death comes in many forms on Tuchanka, from the radioactive fallout spread by the krogan's nuclear war, to the lethal heat from the reduced planetary albedo, to vicious and predatory animal life. This is to say nothing of the krogan themselves, whose internal clan wars continue to this day. Fortunately for the rest of the galaxy, krogan warfare rarely spills out from the planet -- the Citadel Navy, under the auspices of the Council Demilitarization Enforcement Mission, maintains a ban on the krogan ever building warships. Every few years, another krogan warlord violates the law, but usually an alliance of rivals ends his dreams of hegemony before the Citadel Navy even has to fire a shot.

Trivia

 * Tuchanka is the first homeworld of any species that Shepard can visit.
 * If Shepard has not yet bought a Serrice Ice Brandy for Doctor Chakwas, then a bottle can be purchased from Ratch's Wares.
 * The planet, among other locations, is featured in the Mass Effect 2 cinematic trailer, where Grunt is seen killing a Thresher Maw.
 * The cover art for Mass Effect 2 displays Tuchanka's surface in the background.