#Din Korlack

[c-rowlesdraws]

This afternoon I’m having an english muffin and working on a fanfic and thinking about the shared volus-elcor embassy.

Because the shared office wasn’t the way things always were.

The volus were the third species to find the Citadel. At that time, this enormous, miraculous ancient space station had plenty of room for everyone to share. Even if the asari and salarians balked at the volus’ environmental requirements, the Keepers would have happily converted large sections of the station to accommodate the new arrivals— it’s their job to encourage aliens to settle there, after all...

Centuries pass, and more aliens start showing up, and they want to settle on the Citadel, too. As fate would have it, all of them are adapted to a thin nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere incompatible with volus biology. And of course, the Keepers accommodate them by re-allocating some of the station’s space. They depressurize volus residential and commercial areas, refill them with alien air, adjust the height of ceilings and doors; they leave no trace, as unsentimental as they are efficient. It’s only fair, of course, and the volus still have some neighborhoods left, but it still stings every time those green things come around and start knocking down the walls. Every time the volus are made to cede territory to aliens without argument.

Imagine you’re the volus ambassador in the year the first elcor ambassador is officially appointed. You know all of this history. It’s a familiar story: your people are strong and successful, but they’ve also experienced sacrifice and dismissal. They’ve been rejected from a seat on the Council for over a thousand years, despite proving their worth over and over again. They’ve held tenaciously onto the power they’ve won, but everything has strings attached. Your people have to be clever and quick, on the bleeding edge of galactic economic and political trends— for a people regarded as not physically adept, they’re keeping a lot of plates spinning. You’re the volus ambassador, and you come into work one day and your colleagues tell you, oh, you’re going to be sharing your office from now on.

With the elcor.

The elcor, who have only just established a regular route to the Citadel three hundred years* after first contact, who consider that bold and speedy. The elcor, still in that honeymoon just-happy-to-be-here phase of galactic integration. The elcor, who live in scattered countryside settlements instead of cities, who care little for trade because they already produce everything their citizens need. The elcor, governed by a council of elders who discuss old laws and historical precedents in patient circles until a fair and respectful consensus is reached or everyone involved has died of old age, leaving a new generation to pick up the debate. Elcor C-SPAN is the biggest snoozefest on galactic television.

And now one of these rustic, ponderous hippies has been given half of your office.

Of course, the elcor ambassador probably thinks this is super awkward too, but you’re the volus ambassador; you’re not thinking about that. You’re steamed. Your exosuit is doubling as a crockpot. You have to sit there at your desk and do e-mails like everything is fine while on the inside you’re simmering like buffalo chicken dip on game day, and you know: no matter how many top economists and businessvol your people produce, you’re never getting the respect you deserve. 

And you’re never getting that Council seat.

*in ME1, Calyn proudly tells Shepard that the elcor established a regular route to the Citadel “within one lifetime”. Later official media giving the elcor a 400-year lifespan makes this line, in retrospect, extremely funny.

[omegastation]

(if you don't want to read something critical avoid this post because something bothers me a bit)

one of Shepard's first conversations in the Citadel in ME1 is with Din Korlack, who is so grumpy that we think, aaaaw, he's just mad the volus don't get a seat on the Council, but he talks about how some species are not seen as equal, and when you get to Avina in the embassies and you ask her about the volus and Council seats, she ends her little speach with "The embassies allow lesser species to have a voice on the Citadel." she was 100% programmed to tell visitors that, with those words.

fastforward in me3 and you can tell the writers don't know how to deal with the batarians and the sheer level of atrocity that has been commited in me2 yes yes, the reapers would have done worse in arrival and shepard had no choice, and yes, the batarians have done terrible things but it's so big, as in "every remaining batarian knows shepard's face because of what they're done" big that the writers can't deal with what truly happened and what it should do to a human being

so we get a sort of simplistic story in me3 to make the guilt seems less than it should be (the remaining batarian leader, Balak, is bad and wants revenge). after a talk with him, batarians with their ships become war assets. it goes okay?

but when Officer Noles asks Shepard if they want Balak arrested and Shepard replies "I want you to put a bullet in his head… but we're all making some sacrifices today", I'm thinking that's a very questionable default line right there and that's not how I see Shepard. because yes Balak is not exactly someone innocent in this story but the use of the word 'sacrifices' is really annoying me considering arrival and the near extinction of the batarian race.

Balak just told Shepard he feels he can't save his people. and if you read the war assets, batarians are described as "enraged survivors". he even implies that the remaining batarians are basically cut from war info, he knows the location of Reaper forces because he's listening to Council transmissions. so he's basically their only hope at this point, and it's clear he doesn't know what to do. the level of despair there is just really high

"No collection of vessels is more eager to engage the Reapers than Khar'shans last warships."

so... it's not like i want shepard to be a full on batarians fan but there was a better way to express themselves after talking to Balak

[anghraine]

I played a bit more of my overhauled Paragade Vanguard run, and I'm still struck by how incredibly good the game looks. I love the way you get your first dim glimpse of the Citadel before you really know what you're looking at:

The whole sequence is just really cool.

Also, I enjoy the Codex entries a lot? I loved the explanation of "light lag"—that is, the combination of FTL travel with the perception delay of visible distant events you can see, but not in real time. I'm also morbidly fascinated by the very weird position of the volus in galactic politics, because I'd totally forgotten they're considered "a client race" of the turians and have actually been allied with the asari and salarians since long before the turians themselves were in the picture, Council politics-wise. Justice for Din Korlack!!

[oakstar519]

ok so from the wiki i have:

barla von

din korlack

doran

expat

han olar

jahleed

am i missing anyone?

ok wait hang on. how many volus are there in me1

[annakie]

Look, Din Korlack has a point.  Not only do the Volus and Elcor have to share an embassy on the Citadel, but their shitty embassy has one window, which is too tall for Volus to stand next to and see out of.  And even if he COULD see out, the only view is the top of some trees and a tiny bit of the side of a hill? 

Meanwhile, humans, who just got there, get their own space and this view:

I’d be pissed off, too, Din.

[valentine--heart]

[sarcastic-slab]

[big-ass-magnet]

It is absolute bullshit that the volus didn't get a council seat. They were the third species to ever arrive at the Citadel! They are responsible for the galactic economy's existence!

And they don't get it because council races are expected to cough up a certain number of people and ships to protect the station, which they can't provide.

GOSH that's awfully convenient, don't you think? How quickly after the volus arrived did the salarians and asari sneak that into the rules? Ten minutes? Twenty?

The council go on and on about how a species has to "earn a seat", but then when a species does - which the volus absolutely do!!!! - ahhhh sorry, turns out there's a mandatory arms quota that you just so happen to not be able to meet, whoops.

And then the turians show up, beat up the krogan and then whoops they do have the resources to meet that quota you mentioned so I guess they get a council seat!

I bet you anything if the council thought they could afford to weasel out of giving the turians a seat, they absolutely would have.

[oldfashionedhand]

Council Posting 1

Maybe I’m just getting cynical in my old age, but as time goes on, I find I have less and less patience with the Citadel Council.

My issue isn’t even with the individual councillors per se (though they certainty have their own problems I want to address at some point), but the system of the Council itself.

You have unelected representatives of just 3 species making decisions which impact maybe 80% of known sentient species in the entire galaxy. Sure, they don’t have any “official” power, but its made pretty clear that in practise standing against the Council will turn you into a galactic pariah.

So you’re a Council member species. Maybe you’re barred from joining the executive committee but you still have some kind of say in the decisions, right? Think again, friend. The council might decide, if you’re lucky, to grant your species an embassy. This will give you the great privilege of putting an item on the meeting docket, after which you have no control over what decision the Council might come to or whether they’ll even bother to address it all. Lucky you.

OK, so being a member species isn’t great. How about you try and join the Council. You might think, going by the message the Council itself puts out, that you join by being patient and proving yourself worthy. 

Again, you would be very wrong.

If you want to join the Council, the best approach is by being too powerful and therefore too much of a threat to ignore. Do you think the Turians had to wait around 2 millennia like the Volus before joining. Haha, fuck no. Din Korlack might have a bit of a chip on his shoulder, but frankly I can fully understand his resentment (also I’m  still a little bitter they made him a traitor in ME3).

Same with Humanity, its pretty clear that a major part of the Alliance’s rapid ascension was how potentially dangerous they were. Which is why a lot of the politics in Mass Effect 1 is the Council working out how to co-opt humanity into their system, trying to find a balance between keeping them invested but also not granting them too much power.

Don’t get me wrong, I do think saving the Council provided a lot of goodwill and also reassurance, as it proved the Alliance would work to protect not dominate the Council and member species. But I don’t think the offer would have been made at all, if the Alliance were not already in a position of strength.

And don’t get me started on Avina. Just the way its been programmed to dodge any potential criticisms of the Council as even the most milquetoast enquiry is met with a regretful apology that such a question is outside the scope of its programming. Or the sheer unchecked arrogance of the statement about it being “unfair” to make the Volus a Council species as it would place an enormous burden on a “lesser species”.

My Shepard will still always save the Council regardless, as the solution definitely isn’t keeping the same broken system but just a bit worse, with  1 species, humanity, dominating rather than 3. However, I’d like to imagine there was some sweeping institutional reform once the Reaper War was over.

TL;DR: The Council needs to get off their high horse, take a good look at themselves, and reform to become an *actual* voices for the species of Citadel Space.

[max--phillips]

Me, forgetting about recurring volus character Din Korlack:

Me, hearing someone use the name Din:

[wafflesrock16]

It’s Mer-May! Turian Mermaids, anyone?

I’m back on my bull-shit and working on the sequel to Fathomless Depths. I’m nowhere near ready to publish anything, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t share something for this month. So here’s a snippet from the first chapter:

The volus were penguin herders who split their time between the glacier choked ocean and snow strewn shores. They flourished in the near permanent freeze, bundled in feathers, skins, and furs, as at home beneath the waves as the flocks they attended.

Their seas were too cold for permanent merian outposts. During the summer when the ice pack retreated, scouts would investigate and report any changes or resources of note. But they always returned before the biting jaws of fall, with ice nipping at their tail fins. 

It was considered the worst assignment in the merian military. No matter how intense the sun’s rays the waves always retained an uncomfortable chill. 

Now, despite his heightened station in the world, Garrus found himself swimming the frigid waters with an envoy of merian scholars and soldiers. An aggrieved growl stuttered in his chest. Whatever the volus herders had found had better be worth this trip, he thought irritably. 

The Normandy had been forced to turn back by heavy ice flows. Not built to sustain bludgeoning or gouging by glaciers, their merian escort had pressed on alone. 

“This water is disgusting,” an older merian commented. “What’s the human phrase? A frozen hell-hole?” 

Garrus hummed in annoyance. Lorik Qui’in had proven to be an invaluable asset when it came to negotiation with pirates or patrol discipline. The amber eyed merian was, however, a man accustomed to certain luxuries. Warm, tropical waters being one of those. 

“Do you think it’ll be colder near the island?” Lorik wondered aloud, adjusting his own fur seal cape. “I cannot imagine bare rock holding much warmth.”

“Quiet, Qui’in.” Garrus admonished subvocally. The old man’s bitching was starting to rub off on the rest of the envoy and the last thing he wanted was to listen to muttered complaints the rest of the way to the volus capital. 

Thankfully, Lorik kept his mouth shut and after what felt like a lifetime of plowing through the heavy waters, the rocky sea floor rolled up beneath them. Their arrival was heralded by the squawks and cries of thousands of penguins, their sleek, black and white bodies leaving trails of bubbles in their wake as they soared beneath the surf. 

The water smelled like guano and Garrus watched Lorik gag in revulsion as a passing penguin shit right next to him. Where was the fucking volus chieftain they were meeting? Garrus felt like he wanted to crawl out of his plates.

Up ahead, the squat, round forms of the volus finally bobbed into view. They were heavily layered in penguin pelts, heads adorned with crowns made from seashells and brightly polished stones. Garrus could barely make out the bulbous, yellow eyes from beneath their trappings when the most ornately decorated of the bunch swam up to him. 

“Tsk,” the chieftain slurped. “Greetings Palaven clan. I am Din Korlack, leader of the majestic Irune tribe.” He gestured stubby fingers bound in kelp at the other volus behind him. “Welcome to our shores. Your haste in this matter is most appreciated.”

[c-rowlesdraws]

There’s one thing I just wanted to ask, if you don’t mind! In one of your recent posts, responding to a previous ask, you mentioned that the Volus don’t even have an embassy on the Citadel? I may be remembering wrong, because I could’ve swore that they did? Wasn’t their Ambassador like… Din Korlack? He shares an embassy room with the Elcor ambassador in the first game.

Maybe I misunderstood and you meant that they don’t even have they’re not even given enough respect to have their own personal embassy for themselves and they have to *share* a room with another species, but I just wanted to ask! Cause otherwise, big agree 100%! I love your art btw

Thank you! Yes, I did mean “they don’t even have their own embassy” as in, they don’t even have their own dedicated space and have to share with the elcor; I could have been clearer.

[omegastation]

I'm at the scene where Shepard finds Din Korlack with Zaeed and he goes from this:

to this:

And I know I've said this before but game animation sometimes makes it hard to interpret body language, because a lot of animation is just done weirdly or not as intentionally as one might hope (with bugs or things like that) but this was obviousy intentional. And a lot of Mass Effect has amazing and intentional body language that we can interpret.

Shepard here is trying to appeal to Din and make him understand he needs to give them the information, so that's a one to one with a lot of context, but I have no doubt that humans will often kneel or lower themselves to speak to volus and, if it's not done in a condescending way, that makes me weirdly happy. And no matter the look on Shepard's face (I love this volus but Din can be trying!), I do think it wasn't done in a condescending way.

I also think that Zaeed no moving at all in the background is a story in itself, of trust and friendship. You can tell there is history in that stillness.

[anghraine]

Continuing my Justice for Din Korlack hobbyhorse:

He is correct in ME1 about the weird subordinated position of the volus in galactic society. And "but they control the financial world and thus are really the ones in power despite officially being under the heel of the much newer-on-the-scene turians" argument sounds uhhhhh really super familiar.

Look, I know this one is more controversial... but justice for the Thorian! Is it using its mind-control enthrallment powers to spread beyond its natural home? The game gives us no reason to think so. It defends itself and enthralls the outsiders that showed up to colonize its home where it's been living for over 50,000 years with apparently few prior conflicts. Yes, that's bad in a personal autonomy sense, but the Thorian mostly just wants to survive and grow in its ancestral home without the likes of Ethan Jeong screwing everything up. Relatable tbh.

I am also Team Vorcha. We'll see if my feelings alter when I get to them in my personal playthrough, but in all the previous ones I watched I was like "vorcha liberation now!!!" yes I have powerful feelings about the silliest pixel aliens in this 20-year-old game. Talking differently is not a crime, and I too would be filled with 24/7 rage and hatred if I was treated by literally every power structure and almost every individual being the way they are. VORCHA RIGHTS

[wrexidentalinsurance]

Here’s how I imagine it going down (truncated version): Aria asks Shepard to bring all three leaders of the gangs, Eclipse, Blue Suns, and Blood Pack, to heel. Shepard plays nice about it (we need the allies after all), but thinks, “Leader of the Blue Suns, huh?” Go find Zaeed hunting down Korlack Din -> “I found out where Vido Santiago is.” “Well, what the hell are you waiting for, Shepard? Let’s go get that bastard.” *Boom* Vido is gone. Zaeed gets his revenge and enough money to retire on. Zaeed could take control but then upon learning about Aria being his boss lady, he’s like “I’ll pass, Shepard. The further away from that bitch I am, the better. Besides, I got my old crew back together. I would rather work for you and put another fighter in your corner. Aria can have the bloody Suns and drown ‘em for all I care.”

[annakie]

An Annotated Mass Effect Playthrough, Part Four

Wherein we make it to the Citadel, and do a lot of running around.

List of Posts: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

So right away, we meet Udina and the Council, way to throw us right into it.  

It’s a brief introduction and gives us an idea what Humanity is up against and who is representing us.  Basically, we’re supposed to get the idea that it’s a lot of bureaucratic bullshit, I guess.

This is also the first time we see Asari and Salarians, and they’re in reddish-brown and white, which really isn’t the best look.

Bioware continues to push the story forward.  We get enough to know that Udina is kind of an ass, and the Council isn’t going to just trust what some guy says even if he is the representative for billions of people.

And finally, after this, we’re set free.

The Citadel I think is one of the coolest locations in like almost any game I’ve ever played.  They do a great job of both making it feel huge, but also accessible.  Enough bridges to get across to places you need to get to, and after you walk somewhere once, Citadel Rapid Transit is great.  I still choose to take elevators about 80% of the time even when I can CRT somewhere, just because I like the squad conversations and news updates. There’s a shorter elevator rides mod that helps, too.

There’s so much to do and see, and having one of the main areas just be such an awesome combination of scifi futurism and lush greenery + water is both trippy and breathtaking.  I think, especially with the updated graphics mods/settings, the Presidium especially holds up fairly well.  I mean it definitely feels more populated and modern in ME3 but, I just consider this to be more of a residential / professional area of the Presidium and most of what we see in ME3 is a more retail section.

It’d be annoying to be a groundskeeper here, though.  Lots of green areas that you’d really need to climb to, or garden on a steep slant. :p

I always found it interesting that the natural first place to head to is into the ambassador’s office next door, where we find some friendly aliens, and one not-so-friendly one.  But honestly, this is a great place to find out the different ways other species view humanity, and how there’s apparently tiers of respect given to various species.

I always kind of hoped the Elcor would feature more prominently into the world in future games, but at least we got Hamlet.  I have SO MANY QUESTIONS about how Elcor like... do things?  We never see it but you have to assume that their hands have opposable thumbs and they’re able to stand on two legs, right?  I want to see what an Elcor ship looks like and Dakuna specifically.  Give us more elcor, Bioware!

BTW, the Mass Effect: Annihilation (aka the book that was supposed to be based on the Quarian Ark DLC that never happened in Andromeda) is totally worth reading just for the elcor character in it.  It’s also probably the best of the Mass Effect books, in my opinion.

Din Korlack’s got a point though, they not only have to share an office, but their view isn’t nearly as good as the human’s.  This is especially bullshit for the volus, who could stand on that railing and probably STILL wouldn’t have a view.

I love how Mass Effect 2 takes her from a completely forgettable character to making me think  “Sorry you’re gonna die in a few weeks, your mom’s really gonna miss you.” every time I see her.

PALIN DESERVED BETTER.

I don’t remember which ME3 mod it is, maybe the Spectre Expansion Mod or maybe EGM, but thank you whichever modder it was who made Palin’s story and death more clear in ME3.  Sorry Udina got you killed.

Also, it was good to get a dissenting opinion on Spectres from him.

Avina is such a good, optional way to get more loredump.  Yes, you can again ask them about Spectres if you want to hear about them again.  But I liked that each Avina terminal taught you a little more about whatever you were nearby, and the state of the galaxy in general and since they were programmed to be information dumps, it felt more natural to get information this way.

Don’t these people have jobs?

I love the Krogan statue, and the Avina terminal nearby telling you about it.  But now every time I see it, all I can picture is Grunt and his buddies climbing it.  So good.

Managed to get a clean shot of the crew without the UI in the elevator, thanks Flycam!  You have about a half a second to get this shot though, because the camera is stationary while the elevator is not.

Oh hell-lo Pailin, who is your charming-looking friend there?

This entire conversation needs to be longer. It’s a nice, quick introduction to Garrus, but, well, let’s spend a little more time with the main characters!!

I mean how can you not just not immediately love that?  Hey remember how bad Garrus’ face texture used to be?  Thanks, modders.

I just really love the Citadel tower.  Absolutely beautiful and atmospheric.

SO the thing is, if you can pretend that Saren isn’t, you know, already half Reaperized, 100% the Council is right to not just go throwing one of their longer-term agents in jail because Shepard had a bad dream and a random dockworker said the guy who killed Saren looked like this.

Honestly though, this and OH A GOOD CHUNK OF MASS EFFECT 2 would be so much easier if Shepard wore a bodycam. :p

Also, I wonder who took the dockworker’s testimony?  Did Kaidan run back real quick while Shepard was sleeping?

This was an embarrassment for humanity, and I agree with Udina that we needed more to go on before making demands of the council.  The council is right to not convict based off a bad dream Shepard had.  Go get some real proof!  Also, do a bunch of sidequests!

And scan some Keepers for this shady guy!

Which is actually good quest design, because you really have to go to every nook and cranny in the Citadel to find them all, though it would have been nice if they showed up on the minimap.   Really gets you to explore and get to know the area like the back of your hand.

This time around, I forgot to grab the one outside Dr. Michele’s office and had to hunt for it before heading up to grab the last one at the docks.

Thank you, though, Barla Von, for telling us all about the Shadow Broker and telling us about Wrex.  See u in ME3.

Bioware please give us diverse-suited volus in a remaster.  Maybe I’m reusing a pic of Din Korlack, you’ll never know! :p

Thanks, texture modders, for really highlighting what the end of the hanar’s noses look like. 

The hanar are another species I wish we got more of throughout the series.  They are probably the most alien of all the aliens we interact with.   I mean, at least we got Blasto.  I’d really love to visit Kahje someday.  I know it’s in the comics, but you know, in-game.

Annnd let’s go visit Sha'ira.

I have very mixed feelings about Sha'ira.  On one hand, she’s clearly very respected, is probably making bank, in control of her own destiny etc.  On the other hand, she’s probably the asari we have the second most interaction with in this game after Liara, and after just seeing Benezia’s boob-tastic clothing and then heading to Chora’s Den soon to see the dancing asari we’re getting a very slanted view of the species.  I think Bioware course corrects in later games but oof this is such a dude-fantasy alien species in ME1 it hurts.  Especially since Liara is almost a born-sexy-yesterday trope.

Also... don’t touch me if I don’t wanna be touched. =\

Noveria advertisements... that just say Noveria.  I guess this is effective marketing in 2148.

Look how great those shadows from the tree are... actual definition in shadow... wow.

Raise your hand if you’ve missed this conversation in a playthrough before and reloaded like an hour or more past to make sure you get it.

It’s one of those little moments that they didn’t have to put in.  Just a little conversation reflecting on humans and humanity, and our place in the world, and showcasing Ash’s wit and Kaidan’s adorkableness.  Also making sure you appreciate all the work that went into this particular view.  It’s a pause in the action and all the things you have going on, and it’s so great for characterization and making you feel a part of the world.  

Speaking of the view... I decided to flycam it.  Warning, I spoil some of the “magic” below.

Pretty quickly, you see that the arms are actual objects, untextured on the non-visible side.

I decided to head for the closest line of “cars” on the bottom center-left to see what those “cars” looked like.

Flycam feels pretty fast when you’re trying to frame a specific shot just right... but when you need to travel a great distance, it feels verrry slow.

It took me probably close to five minutes of traveling to make it all the way there.

What I discovered was... a few of the buildings are real, the rest are a very good painting.

This is how far away the citadel is from the rest of the map. That grid would be that entire view from outside Dr. Michele’s office all the way to the edge of the shops on the other side, plus some extra.

So both the building that those “cars” (the string of white lights) are coming from and going to are... on the painting.  Neither one are physical objects.

Made some gifs.

You can see the lights moving at a mostly-downward angle, while it looks like they’re just heading south when standing on the Citadel.  Also you can see other lights moving farther up the map.

And here you can see the lights “disappearing behind a building” but they’re really just hitting an invisible wall, the dark angle of that building is just a part of the wall painting.   

Looking up from the wall...

So that was a fun distraction.

Emily Wong deserved:

Better.

An entire shirt.

A mention in ME3 after she gave her life on social media defending Earth against the reapers while keeping her cool reporting on the invasion the day before ME3′s release.

That day before launch though... was amazing.  Bioware did such a great job on social media with the reaper invasion happening on twitter.  I loved that lots of fans got into it, too, posting photoshops and their own reaper invasion stories.  I remember being at work that day but not actually working very much.  A few friends and I had a google hangout going on to report in on anything we saw happening on social media and keep up with it and to be very hyped together online.  

We reblogged a bunch of it on fuckyeahbioware starting about here and working backwards through numbers.  

One of the ME3 mods, and again, sorry, don’t remember which, does give Emily a nice tribute through an email.  She deserves it.

Okay that’s enough for this post!  Will try to finish up the Citadel next time!