The everyday pieces of technology that support modern lifestyle.
Voci Codex Primario
Biotici
I Biotici sono individui in grado di manipolare l’energia oscura e di creare campi di distorsione utilizzando gli impulsi elettrici del cervello: è un talento molto raro, ma per produrre campi di distorsione sufficientemente potenti ed efficaci è necessario un intenso addestramento e l’inserimento di particolari amplificatori per via chirurgica.
La potenza delle abilità biotiche varia molto in base alle caratteristiche e alla specie dell’individuo. Esistono tre diverse categorie biotiche. Quelle telecinetiche, usano dei campi che riducono la massa degli oggetti per spostarli o per farli lievitare. I campi cinetici, al contrario, aumentano la massa degli oggetti per bloccarli o immobilizzarli. Infine, i campi di distorsione, sono in grado di alterare rapidamente la massa degli oggetti per indebolirne l’integrità strutturale.
Quasi tutte le specie organiche possono sviluppare abilità biotiche anche se questo comporta dei rischi non indifferenti. I biotici sono stati esposti all’elemento zero in età prenatale, cosa che in genere provoca tumori maligni letali. Nel loro caso però, si formano dei noduli di eezo che vanno a integrarsi nel sistema nervoso.
Computer: Intelligenza Artificiale (IA)
Un'intelligenza artificiale è un sistema computerizzato autocosciente in grado di imparare e decidere in modo autonomo. Per creare un'IA cosciente è necessario un codice versatile, un lento e costoso processo di insegnamento e un computer quantistico dedicato esclusivamente a questo scopo.
Un'IA non può essere trasmessa attraverso i canali di comunicazione o in una rete informatica. Senza un computer quantistico a ospitarla, l'IA non è altro che un immenso insieme di file. Caricando questi file in un altro computer si crea una "nuova" personalità, dato che l'hardware quantistico può dare origine, per definizione, a variazioni del tutto imprevedibili.
La vicenda dei Geth evidenziò il pericolo rappresentato da un'IA ribelle, tanto che nello Spazio della Cittadella tutte le IA sono ufficialmente illegali. Tuttavia, secondo alcuni gruppi le IA sono esseri viventi e senzienti che dovrebbero godere degli stessi diritti riservati agli organici. Inoltre, affermano che l'uso continuato e disinvolto del termine "artificiale" sia un segno di razzismo da parte delle forme di vita organiche. L'aggettivo "sintetico" è considerato più politicamente corretto.
Computer: Intelligenza Virtuale (IV)
Un'intelligenza virtuale è una forma avanzata di interfaccia utente che utilizza diversi strumenti per simulare una conversazione naturale, tra cui un'interfaccia audio e un avatar virtuale con cui interagire. Anche se un'IV può sembrare effettivamente intelligente, non è autocosciente e non può né imparare né agire in modo autonomo.
Le IV vengono utilizzate come sistema operativo nei computer commerciali e domestici. Sono disponibili anche versioni di IV limitate, più compatte e specializzate. Alcune svolgono il ruolo di segretarie personali, filtrando le chiamate in arrivo e programmando le riunioni in base alle priorità definite dall'utente. Altre sono avanzati motori di ricerca che si propagano nell'intera rete di extranet per recuperare le informazioni richieste.
Le IV commerciali sono acquistabili presso qualsiasi rivenditore di software in un'ampia varietà di personalità. Le boutique di abbigliamento e gli hobbisti costruiscono spesso delle IV uniche secondo le proprie necessità o preferenze. Anche se la simulazione via software di personalità viventi è illegale, la ricostruzione di celebri figure storiche del passato è piuttosto comune.
Elemento Zero ("Eezo")
Quando viene percorso da una scarica di corrente elettrica, questo raro materiale noto come elemento zero ("eezo") emette un campo di energia oscura che aumenta o riduce la massa di tutti gli oggetti presenti al suo interno. Questo effetto può essere usato per generare una gravità artificiale, per fabbricare materiali edilizi estremamente resistenti e per moltissime altre applicazioni, anche se viene utilizzato prevalentemente per consentire il viaggio spaziale iperluce.
L'eezo viene prodotto quando un corpo solido, come un pianeta, viene influenzato dall'energia di una stella che diventa una supernova. Per questo è molto comune nelle fasce di asteroidi che orbitano intorno alle stelle a neutroni e alle pulsar. Queste regioni sono molto inospitali e pericolose per gli esseri organici, quindi le attività minerarie richiedono un uso intensivo di sistemi automatizzati e teleguidati, oltre che adeguatamente schermati. Solo poche megacorporazioni possiedono le risorse finanziarie per avviare l'estrazione di questa preziosa materia prima.
L'umanità scoprì l'eezo raffinato in una stazione di ricerca Prothean su Marte. Senza questa scoperta, non avrebbe mai potuto creare i campi di distorsione e sviluppare il viaggio iperluce.
Campi Di Forza
Se percorso da una scarica di corrente elettrica, l'elemento zero può aumentare o ridurre la massa di un volume spazio-temporale. Se la corrente è positiva, la massa viene aumentata; se la corrente è negativa, la massa diminuisce. Più potente è la scarica elettrica, maggiore è l'intensità del campo di energia oscura prodotto.
Nello spazio, i campi che riducono la massa consentono il viaggio iperluce e lo spostamento rapido ed economico dalla superficie all'orbita dei pianeti. I campi che aumentano la massa, invece, possono creare una gravità artificiale e allontanare i detriti spaziali dalle navi. In ambito industriale, riducendo o aumentando la massa si possono creare rispettivamente leghe metalliche più uniformi o materiali per l'edilizia più resistenti.
Le forze armate usano ampiamente queste tecnologie per migliorare la mobilità dei veicoli d'assalto in prima linea. I campi di distorsione sono anche essenziali per generare barriere cinetiche o scudi per proteggersi dal fuoco nemico.
Portali Galattici
Mass Effect e Mass Effect 2
Mass relays are feats of Prothean engineering advanced far beyond the technology of any living species. They are enormous structures scattered throughout the stars, and can create corridors of virtually mass-free space allowing instantaneous transit between locations separated by years or even centuries of travel using conventional FTL drives.
Primary mass relays can propel ships thousands of light years, often from one spiral arm of the galaxy to another. However, they have fixed one-to-one connections: a primary relay connects to one other primary relay, and nowhere else. Secondary relays can only propel ships a few hundred light years, however they are omnidirectional: a secondary relay can send a ship to any other relay within its limited range.
There are many dormant primary relays whose corresponding twins have not yet been located. These are left inactive until their partner is charted, as established civilizations are unwilling to blindly open a passage that might connect them to a hostile species.
Mass Effect 3
Un tempo ritenuti di origine Prothean, in realtà i portali galattici sono stati creati dai Razziatori utilizzando tecnologie evolutissime. Queste gigantesche strutture sparse in tutta la galassia generano corridoi di spazio dove la massa diventa praticamente assente: questo permette di spostarsi istantaneamente in sistemi che con i normali motori iperluce sarebbero raggiungibili solo con anni o secoli di viaggio.
I portali primari possono trasportare le navi a migliaia di anni luce di distanza, ma solo in un altro portale "gemello". I portali secondari, invece, consentono di spostarsi di appena qualche centinaio di anni luce, ma verso qualsiasi altro portale nel raggio d'azione.
Molti portali primari sono "dormienti", e la loro destinazione è sconosciuta. Spesso vengono lasciati inattivi di proposito dalle civiltà galattiche, nel timore che possa sbucarne una nuova specie ostile. I Razziatori, invece, non si pongono questo problema e ne fanno un uso spregiudicato.
Medi-Gel
Il medi-gel è la sostanza più utilizzata da medici, paramedici e personale militare in casi di emergenza. Oltre a fungere da anestetico locale, è anche un efficace agente coagulante e disinfettante. Una volta applicato, il gel aderisce saldamente alla ferita finché non viene sottoposto a una particolare frequenza di ultrasuoni. È immune ai liquidi (come il sangue), ai contaminanti e alle sostanze gassose.
Il medi-gel è un tipo di plasma geneticamente modificato creato dalla megacorporazione biotecnologica Sirta Foundation. Pur violando le leggi del Consiglio nell'ambito dell'ingegneria genetica, il medi-gel non è stato ancora messo al bando per via della sua indiscutibile utilità.
Factotum
I Factotum sono strumenti portatili equipaggiati con un microcomputer, una serie di sensori e un "minicostruttore". Versatile e affidabile, un Factotum può essere utilizzato per analizzare e modificare a distanza la funzionalità di gran parte dell'equipaggiamento standard, come armi e corazze.
Il modulo microcostruttore può assemblare istantaneamente piccoli oggetti tridimensionali usando leghe leggere, ceramica o plastica industriale. Ciò consente di riparare e modificare gran parte dei dispositivi standard, oltre a riciclare dell'equipaggiamento di scarto recuperato.
I Factotum fanno parte dell'equipaggiamento standard dei soldati e dei coloni pionieri.
The Crucible
The Mars Archives describe a superweapon that the Alliance has named the Crucible, which exploits the technology of mass effect relays. Beyond the basic principles, however, researchers know little about how the weapon actually works.
One popular theory suggests that since relays can transfer matter and energy across the galaxy with little regard for distance, it may be possible to create a weapon for which range is barely a factor. Duplicating the advanced science used to build the relays has proven difficult, however. If the Crucible were completed, the challenge would become tuning the weapon to kill a Reaper halfway across the galaxy without inflicting unthinkable levels of collateral damage.
What is clear is that the Crucible's construction is a massive effort, drawing resources from throughout explored space. Staggering financial costs have been disregarded in the common effort to create something, anything, that can stop the Reapers.
La Genofagia
La genofagia è un'arma biologica utilizzata per porre fine alla Rivolta dei Krogan. I Turian riuscirono a mettere i Krogan alle strette, ma i nemici erano troppo numerosi per vincere la guerra con i metodi convenzionali. Per questo collaborarono con i Salarian per creare geneticamente un virus capace di contrastare la straordinaria natalità dei Krogan.
Il virus della genofagia "divorava" le sequenze genetiche principali, modificando ogni singola cellula della fisiologia krogan per impedire il ricorso alla terapia genetica sui tessuti infettati. Dopo essersi replicato al massimo, il virus moriva spontaneamente, limitando le possibilità di mutazione o contaminazione. Inoltre, il danno genetico apportato al DNA era ereditario. La genofagia creò una mutazione genetica che consentiva a una sola gravidanza su mille di andare a buon fine. Non ridusse la fertilità, ma solo il tasso di natalità della popolazione. Le femmine krogan in grado di portare a termine una gravidanza diventarono dei "trofei" che i signori della guerra si contendevano aspramente.
Il ricorso alla genofagia è ancora fonte di accesi dibattiti a livello galattico.
The Genophage Cure
It may be possible to reverse the genophage by extracting an immunity from the genetic data of a cured krogan female. A salarian geneticist named Maelon, a former student of Dr. Mordin Solus, discovered the cure through unethical experimentation on live subjects.
The complexity and durability of the genophage derives from biochemical countermeasures that the salarians wove into the plague in an attempt to make the sterilization incurable. No one is certain of how Maelon circumvented the countermeasures, but his work was complete enough to allow replication of his results.
In its original form, the cure restored fertility but severely compromised the immune system. This resulted in slow, painful death for all but one of Maelon's test subjects. If the beneficial aspects of the cure can be isolated, a specially tailored virus could repair the affected genes in other krogan.
Voci Codex Secondario
Tecnologia di scansione planetaria Argus
L'Argus rappresenta un notevole salto di qualità nel campo della scansione planetaria. Sviluppato dalla Ayndroid Group, un laboratorio di ricerca e sviluppo apparentemente di proprietà di Cerberus, questo potenziamento per i sensori della Normandy garantisce eccellenti valori di risoluzione e velocità di elaborazione durante le scansioni topografiche a lungo raggio.
Posizionando una griglia multistatica orbitale formata da 100 micro-satelliti radar, l'Argus trasmette rapidamente un modello altitudinale digitale (MAD) globale con una risoluzione di 15 metri per pixel (mpp), dove il vecchio scanner della Normandy offriva una risoluzione massima di 27 mpp. Una qualità d'immagine talmente elevata garantisce una superiorità in ambito tattico/difensivo a una velocità accettabile anche in assetto di guerra.
Riducendo la velocità di scansione ed elaborazione, l'Argus può raggiungere l'incredibile risoluzione di 0,001 mpp (un millimetro per pixel), ideale per le indagini geologiche e biologiche, le ricerche archeologiche e la sorveglianza a lungo termine. Impiegando questa vasta rete multistatica di micro-emettitori praticamente invisibili, l'Argus si dimostra un sistema versatile e virtualmente invulnerabile alle contromisure elettroniche. La struttura sferica della griglia dell'Argus, inoltre, consente di ottenere eccellenti immagini tomografiche dei bersagli.
Manufatti
A sostegno dello sforzo bellico, il Consiglio della Cittadella ha ordinato la requisizione immediata di tutti i manufatti Prothean, in particolare reperti attribuibili ai Razziatori e registrazioni dei loro attacchi.
La ExoGeni Corporation ha dato l'esempio donando manufatti paleotecnologici di recente scoperta e mettendo a disposizione le banche dati delle colonie scientifiche distrutte dai Razziatori. Anche numerosi magnati si sono accodati cedendo gran parte delle proprie collezioni private.
Nonostante la promessa di amnistia per chiunque detenesse illegalmente questi manufatti, non tutti hanno adempiuto alla richiesta del Consiglio. Molti reperti sono finiti sul mercato nero nei pianeti in mano alla criminalità organizzata, probabilmente venduti da profughi indigenti.
I manufatti rubati continuano a essere al centro di numerose attività di contrabbando, e le incursioni armate contro i siti archeologici hanno reso estremamente rischiose perfino le operazioni legali. Dopo i recenti attacchi di gruppi mercenari contro gli archeologi dai quali erano stati assoldati, la Elanus Risk Control Services ha iniziato a offrire servizi di sorveglianza a tariffe vantaggiose presso i principali siti archeologici.
Biotica: Amplificatori biotici
I biotici possono manipolare i campi di forza utilizzando le decine di noduli di elemento zero presenti nel loro sistema nervoso che reagiscono agli stimoli elettrici del cervello. Gli amplificatori consentono ai biotici di sincronizzare i noduli per creare campi di forza più grandi e più stabili, migliorando una particolare disciplina o talento.
Gli impianti sono interfacce innestate chirurgicamente in cui vengono inseriti gli amplificatori. Nel caso degli Umani, in genere gli impianti sono dietro il collo per facilitare l'accesso, anche se il biotico deve sempre tenerli puliti per prevenire infezioni di vario tipo.
Negli impianti possono essere inseriti diversi tipi di amplificatori, e sul mercato è possibile trovare modifiche e aggiunte in gran quantità. I migliori impianti e amplificatori in commercio sono quelli prodotti dalle artigiane asari, anche se gli impianti L3 dell'Alleanza (disponibili dal 2170) sono decisamente più avanzati.
Biotics: Life as a Biotic
Biotics possess extraordinary abilities, but they must live with minor inconveniences. The most obvious issue is getting adequate nutrition. Creating biotic mass effects takes such a toll on metabolism that active biotics develop ravenous appetites. The standard Alliance combat ration for a soldier is 3000 calories per day; biotics are given 4500, as well as a canteen of potent energy drink for quick refreshment after hard combat.
Another issue is electric charge. Electricity accumulated in starship drive cores must be discharged, and so must the electricity in a biotic user. Biotics are prone to small static discharges when they touch metal.
Unfortunately, human biotics also face suspicion and persecution, beginning with the popular misconception that they can read and control minds. Biotics symbolize the dehumanization of mankind to people philosophically or religiously opposed to gene modification and cybernetics. Militaries are the only organizations that always welcome biotics, offering them huge recruitment incentives.
Biotics: Training
Biotic implants and amplifiers only provide the potential to create coherent mass effect fields. Whether biotics can actually do so is largely determined by their training.
Biotics must develop conscious control over their nervous systems, sending specific electrical impulses to the element zero nodules embedded in their nerves. They are taught to use their implants and amps with biofeedback devices and physical mnemonics. Specific gestures or muscle movements fire the proper sequence of nerves to activate a certain skill.
Conatix Industries pioneered biotic training with the Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training program. Although BAaT did not achieve the desired results, many techniques taught are still used today.
Many human think tanks are trying to develop some form of biotic super soldier. Most are benign efforts to create more flexible troops. Others, less publicly known, are unapologetic attempts to create Nietzschean supermen.
Communications
Real-time communication is possible thanks to networks of expensive mass relay comm buoys that can daisy-chain a transmission via lasers.
Comm buoys are maintained in patterns built outward from each mass relay. The buoys are little more than a cluster of primitive, miniature mass relays. Each individual buoy is connected to a partner on another buoy in the network, forming a corridor of low-mass space. Tightbeam communications lasers are piped through these "tubes" of FTL space, allowing virtually instantaneous communication to anywhere on the network. The networks connect across regions by communications lasers through the mass relays.
With this system, the only delay is the light lag between the source or destination and the closest buoy. So long as all parties remain within half a light-second (150,000 km) of buoys, seamless real time communications are possible. Since buoys are maintained in all traveled areas, most enjoy unlimited instant communications. Ships only suffer communications lag when operating off established deep space routes, around uninhabited outer system gas giants, and other unsettled areas.
During wartime, comm buoy networks are the first target of an attack. Once the network is severed, it can take anywhere from weeks to years to get a message out of a contested system. In systems where a buoy network has not yet been built or has been destroyed, rapid communication means ferrying information through high-speed courier ships and unmanned data drones.
Communications: Administration
While comm buoys allow rapid transmission, there is finite amount of bandwidth available. Given that trillions of people may be trying to pass a message through a given buoy at any one time, access to the network is parceled out on priority tiers.
The Citadel Council and the Spectres have absolute priority; if they are using all the bandwidth, everyone else must wait. Individual governments and their militaries enjoy the next-highest tier. During wartime, civilian communication can suffer hours or even days of lag. Intelligence agencies study ping time through various systems to predict military buildups.
Below the government and militaries, bandwidth priority is sold to the highest bidder. Media conglomerates, particularly headline news networks, purchase higher priority to provide their viewers with timely information and response capability (for example, financial instructions and investment firms) also invest heavily in priority access. The funds acquired through sales of bandwidth are used to maintain and expand the communications infrastructure.
While everyone with a computer has guaranteed free and unlimited access to the galactic extranet, they are the last in the line for bandwidth and may have to wait for their requests to be processed. Bandwidth resale corporations use investment capital to purchase blocks of high priority access, made available by paid subscription.
Communications: Methodology
As the population of the galaxy increases and new worlds are settled, timely access for home users and frontier settlements with underdeveloped communications infrastructures is a growing problem. To ameliorate bandwidth issues, a sophisticated array of data caches and virtual intelligence search agent programs are available.
When a user submits a query, it is first routed to the data cache, the user's search agent VI collates mountains of locally-stored data to find the desired material. If the information is not available locally, the query is passed along to neighboring systems, and then outward in an expanding network. VI search agents in those systems replicate the search. If the desired information is found, it is compressed into a "burst" file and queued for transmission to the source system. The burst is assigned a priority based on the number of queries for it; the greater the number of queries, the higher the priority.
When a new solar system is first connected to the net, a selection of the most popular data is installed locally. Though storage hardware is cheap, the capacity required to hold all the data produced everyday by trillions of people on hundreds of worlds is not trivial. It's not economical to store local copies of all the data available on obscure topics just in case.
As colonies mature, older and less-popular chunks of data filter into them as a result of queries and are placed in the local archive. Searches for obscure topics are increasingly likely to produce instant results as the archive grows.
Communications: Quantum Entanglement Communicators (QEC)
When a pair of quantum-entangled particles is separated, a change to one particle will affect the other instantaneously, wherever it lies in the universe. QECs exploit this effect to transmit binary data any distance. Two pairs of entangled particles are necessary for transmission and reception.
While QEC technology is extremely expensive and difficult to produce, it offers two enormous advantages. First, it allows instantaneous communication over any distance without reliance on the network of comm buoys, which is limited due to the sheer volume of space. Further, destruction of buoys hampers a foe’s military intelligence; comm buoys are the first targets of raiders in wartime. Second, quantum communications cannot be intercepted between source and destination, allowing no "wiretaps."
Unfortunately, QECs cannot replace the galactic civil communications infrastructure. First, they have extremely limited bandwidth. A single entangled particle can only transmit a single qubit (quantum bit) of data at once. Second, the system’s exclusively point-to-point nature precludes peer-to-peer networking and data dissemination through the galactic extranet.
The most strategically appropriate military application of QECs is at the headquarters level. Each Alliance colony would maintain a QEC at its military headquarters and each fleet flagship in its CIC. All the pairs for these would be located at a central facility within Arcturus Station. During an attack, a facility would signal Arcturus to transmit its information to every other fleet and colony. However, destruction of the comm center at Arcturus would collapse the entire network.
Computers: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
An artificial intelligence is a self-aware computing system capable of learning and independent decision making. Creation of a conscious AI requires adaptive code, a slow expensive education, and a specialized quantum computer called a "blue box."
An AI cannot be transmitted across a communication channel or computer network. Without its blue box, an Ai is no more than data files. Loading these files into a new blue box will create a new personality, as variations in the quantum hardware and runtime results create unpredictable variations.
The geth serve as a cautionary tale against the dangers of rogue AI, and in Citadel Space they are technically illegal. Advocacy groups argue, however, that an AI is a living, conscious entity deserving the same rights as organics. They argue that continued use of the term "artificial" is institutionalized racism on the part of organic life; the term "synthetic" is considered the politically correct alternative.
Computers: Haptic Adaptive Interface
Advances in computing have done away with traditional input devices like keyboards. Instead, modern input peripherals are usually holographically displayed in front of the user at a height and angle for ergonomic ease. Machines that use this interface detect a user through a microframe chip in the user's glove that "keys in" to the computer. Once a user is accepted, motion accelerometers in the user's gloves match his hands' location with that of a proportionate but smaller "mirror" set of controls inside the computer itself. As the user presses against the holographic field, force-feedback in the glove kicks in, giving a slight resistance. A person can feel his way through using a touch-screen that isn't actually there. A simple toggle switch on the back of the hands allows the glove to be turned off when not in use.
Haptic interfaces have become so common that some individuals undergo cybernetic enhancement surgery to have the accelerometers implanted in their fingertips. "Going bareskin" is the sign of a committed computer user who no longer has to fuss with putting on gloves or cleaning them with alcohol wipes to get rid of the clammy-hand smell.
Computers: Synthetics
"Synthetic" is the politically correct term for an artificially intelligent computer. An artificial intelligence (AI) is capable of learning and independent decision making--capabilities beyond the simple virtual intelligence (VI) software used as computer operating systems.
An AI requires both quantum computing hardware (brain) and adaptive software (consciousness). When first brought online, an AI runs at a very low processing speed, with a handful of input sources, and the intellectual capability as a newborn human. AIs experience life at the speed their hardware runs, and can absorb information from millions of sources at once. If "switched on" at full capacity, they cope badly with the deluge of input. At best, such an AI is severely autistic; at worst, it is insane.
As operators teach AI to reason and filter incoming data, they increase the AI's processing speed. At a year's age, an AI can observe, consider, and react hundreds of times faster than its organic creators. Mature AIs may be frustrated by the comparative "slowness" of the organics they must interact with.
Galactic culture mistrusts synthetic life. While physically immobile, an AI can assert its will by taking control of networked computing systems. AI laboratories are physically isolated from the galactic extranet and placed in remote, uninhabited locales.
Some futurists believe the ascendancy of synthetics is inevitable. The theory of technological singularity asserts that as the rate of technological advancement increases, there will come a point at which AIs can modify themselves faster than organics can. Eventually, synthetic life will be able to self-evolve so rapidly, organics will lose the ability to comprehend the process.
Not all believe such an evolution to be negative. Transcendency cults believe organic minds will one day be uploaded and emulated as software data, providing synthetic immortality.
Computers: Virtual Intelligence (VI)
A virtual intelligence is an advanced form of user interface software. VIs use a variety of methods to simulate natural conversation, including an audio interface and an avatar personality to interact with. Although a VI can provide a convincing emulation of sentience, they are not self-aware, nor can they learn or take independent action.
VIs are used as operating systems on commercial and home computers. Minimal VI 'agents' are also available. Agents are compact and specialized. Some serve as personal secretaries, filtering calls and scheduling meetings based on user-defined priorities. Others are advanced search engines, propagating themselves across the extranet to collate user-requested data.
Commercial VIs in a variety of stock personalities are available at any software retailer. Boutique firms and hobbyists also build unique VIs to personal specification. Although software emulation of living personalities is illegal, reconstructions of famous historical figures are common.
Credits ("Creds")
The standard credit was established by the Citadel's Unified Banking Act as the currency of interstellar trade. The credit has a managed floating exchange rate, calculated in real time by the central bank to maintain the average value of all participating currencies. Some regional currencies are worth more than a credit and some less.
Hard currency can be stolen or counterfeited, so electronic fund transfers are the norm. More importantly physical transactions cannot easily be tracked, making them ideal for tax evasion or the purchase of illegal goods.
When the Alliance joined the Citadel, its various national treasuries were linked into the credit network. A human with a bank account of Mexican pesos, Japanese yen, or Indian rupees can purchase any item priced in credits at fair market value. All economies participate in the credit network are required to price items in both local currency and credits.
Drones
Drones are small robots used to support and supplement organic soldiers on the battlefield. They have no Artificial Intelligence of any kind but follow fixed, minimally adaptive programs. Most varieties employ mass effect levitation to improve mobility.
All modern armies rely on veritable fleets of drones for routine soldiering (static garrisons, patrols, etc.). The use of drones in non-critical duties keeps manpower need down and reduces casualties in low intensity conflicts. Less advanced races and cultures with less sensitivity to casualties have correspondingly few drones in their inventory. Drones are of little use in conventional open field battles, as they are poorly armed and armored.
In addition to combat drones, support drones are used to assist organic units in the field. Reconnaissance drones are small, stealthy craft that screen combat units in the field and warn commanders when enemies are spotted. Electronic Warfare drones supplement battlefield technicians, serving as mobile jammers and ELINT (ELectronic INTelligence) gathering platforms. Military and civilian police utilize "dazzler drones" equipped with powerful strobe lights to disorient and subdue intruders using nonlethal force.
Drone formations are officially referred to as wings, (i.e. "Deploy the 4th Assault Drone Wing on the left flank"). Common soldiers often refer to friendly formations as flocks and enemy formations as swarms.
Security Mechs
The death of thousands of security and military personnel in the Battle of the Citadel was a loss felt throughout the galaxy. As large numbers of qualified personnel transferred to the Citadel to replace those that died, short-handed security companies filled out their numbers with large-scale use of unmanned security robots. Commonly referred to as "mechs", the security robots are typically grouped into light and heavy varieties. Light mechs come in a variety of sizes but are easily distinguished by opposable digits that help them in their versatile security roles. Heavy mechs lack digits and are simply weapons platforms intended to keep the peace in high-threat areas. The quadrupedal dog mech has a "face" composed of contraband-detection sensors, and it too is armed in case a perpetrator resists arrest.
A typical security mech has an extremely limited virtual intelligence. Its duty is straightforward and narrow, usually to guard an area, run a friend-or-foe program to halt unauthorized access, and fire a set of prerecorded voice commands to warn troublemakers away from the area. Light security mechs are equipped with irritant sprays and electroshockers to force compliance, and heavy mechs may be outfitted with flash-bang stunners for similar purposes. When facing an opponent armed with a firearm, any mech will immediately resort to lethal antipersonnel weapons to neutralize the threat. If the situation turns violent rapidly enough, it may not even use its warnings.
Security mechs are frowned upon for actual military duty. Though tough enough to survive most firefights, their VI simply does not have the programming to plan an ambush, rescue a hostage, treat a wound, or any of countless other objectives that a soldier must be able to perform on the fly.
The Shroud
What the krogan call the Shroud is a technological remnant of the Salarian Uplift. After Tuchanka's nuclear war released tons of smoke and dust into the atmosphere, the planet temporarily cooled from global dimming--except at the poles, where the albedo was lowered by soot. As clouds trapped the resulting heat, enormous swaths of permafrost melted, releasing methane captured in clathrates from previous millennia. This potent greenhouse gas created a runaway heat cycle that was called "the nuclear summer."
Without intervention, Tuchanka would have sunk into a slow but certain mass extinction. The salarian solution was to assemble the Shroud, a permanent sun shield of trillions of tiny diffractory lenses placed at the L1 Lagrange point, the point in space where the lenses' naturally stable orbit would shade the planet.
The salarians settled on a delivery method that became known as the Shroud Towers. The towers were essentially enormous coilguns that could fire a payload of lenses into space along with the equipment necessary to monitor the payload's trajectories. Many krogan warlords enthusiastically approved of the plan, some because they believed in saving their homeworld, but most because they saw future military applications for the Shroud Towers. The Shroud was completed on schedule over the next few decades, by which time the rachni held the warlords' full attention.
The Krogan Rebellions were not kind to the Shroud Towers. All but one was destroyed during the push for krogan demilitarization. The remaining tower, often referred to as "the Shroud" even though that is technically incorrect, was repurposed for cloud seeding and atmospheric repair. It remains on the landscape as an anachronism, a symbol of a time when krogan and salarians helped themselves by aiding one another.