Hi all, Ric here again with some more Mass Effect lore, continuing on from the previous
video where we discussed the duties of the Citadel Council and a brief history concerning
its formation. But what about the structure on which the Council is based? The great interspecies
smelting pot of cultures political plays and a theatre of commerce, the Citadel itself.
This ancient, majestic space station sits as a crown amid the serpent nebulae and has
been the home to many governments before the Asari even found their way to it. Estimates
originally placed it at around 50,000 years old and being constructed from the same materials
and design style as the Mass Relays, it was assumed to also be of Prothean origin, originally
their seat of power before they all mysteriously vanished.
This is a total fallacy, one that many species still have a hard time digesting, even when
confronted with the truth. The nature of the Citadel is far more insidious than it appears
and the perfection of this ancient bear trap cannot be understated. In fact simply describing
its function begins to sound more like an elaborate conspiracy; going some way to explain
why the galactic people have such a hard time taking those few woke individuals seriously.
But we’ll get to that in a minute. Beginning with its location. The Citadel itself
lies at the heart of the Mass Relay network, the system of interstellar travel spread across
the Mass Effect universe. In a similar fashion to the proverb, all roads lead to Rome, all
relays eventually lead to the Citadel. It sits at the centre of the web, with a great
number of relays terminating inside the Serpent Nebula meaning that any fledgling spacefaring
race that uses the relays inevitably stumbles across it. This is how the Asari first discovered
it in 580 BCE, followed by the Salarian Union sixty years later.
The Station is 44.7 Km long, almost 28 miles and arranged into three distinctive features.
The ring, 7.2km wide is called the presidium, from which a tower can be accessed. This tower
is 1047 meters tall and extends from a bridge leading to the centre of the Presidium. From
the outer edge of the ring lie the five Wards, 43km long, 330m thick arms that house entire
cities on their inner surfaces. The station operates on a 20 hour day and the gravitational
average is 1.02G, maintained by its rotational speed and mass effect fields. The total width
of the station is 12.8km in diameter. Each Ward is covered by a 7 meter oxygen-nitrogen
atmosphere with all structures that extend above this sealed against the vacuum of space,
while the Presidium is completely pressurized and features a simulated day-night cycle.
Standing inside the presidium, one can see the curvature of the structure rise off into
the distance. As mentioned, the outer shell of the Citadel
is comprised of the same material as the Mass Relays making it nigh impervious to damage.
This is used to the station’s advantage if attacked, as it can contract the ward arms
to form an immutable pillar, through which no known weapon can penetrate.
The Seprent Nebula itself is actually a colourless nebulae made up of reflective particles, given
an ambient purple hue by the lights of the civilizations providing a stunning backdrop
for the residence of the Station. However, the citadel is located in a relatively calm
area of the nebula as the further out you go, the denser it gets until flying a ship
through it is like running into a sandblaster. The small particles of the nebulae appear
to be of a variety of elements, suggesting that it is artificial in nature. The current
theory is that the waste produced by the Citadel is atomised and flushed into space, which
led to the formation of the Serpent nebula with time. This is further supported by the
fact that the Nebula hasn’t begun to dissipate, nor condense with time. So this adds another
layer of defence as it’s near impossible, or at least inadvisable to fly a ship through
the cloud. If the course mists don’t shred you, mess with your sensors, or clog your
ship up, then the electrical discharges will probably render you powerless or suffering
from a mild case of the explosions. The only way safely in or out is through the
Mass Relays that lie within the safe zones of the Nebula, making for perfectly defensible
choke points. The Citadel itself is managed by the Keepers, an insectoid race of possibly
sentient drones. All interaction with the Keepers has failed and any attempt to interfere
with them has led them to self-terminate by dissolving. Eventually the Council ruled to
leave them alone and continue to let them maintain the Station as only they have access
to its inner workings and therefore an understanding of how the ancient structure works. Despite
being biology, they are most likely a product of genetic technology and act in an automated
fashion, repairing, rearranging and cleaning the Citadel as if trying to keep it in its
default state. The layout of the Citadel, it’s location
in the Relay network and its defensive nature make it the perfect place to set up a central
seat of power, despite it being based on technology that has still failed to be reverse engineered
or understood completely. Its inner workings and the lower levels are in fact inaccessible
through a combination of Keeper-only access and the impenetrable hull.
Despite all this uncertainty, the location, the Presidium in particular lends itself well
to governance. The Tower acts as both station control as well as a grand amphitheatre, making
it the obvious location for the Citadel Council to reside. Plus its central location stands
out as a point of authority. The Presidium is a comfortable environment for the majority
of species and offers a clean utopian environment with many bridges and balcony offices leading
it to become a natural location for politics and the wealthy of the galaxy to congregate
near political powers. And the Wards provide distinct cosmopolitan
locations full of commerce, residential areas and can comfortably house around 13 million
individuals. These arms were called, Zakera, Kithoi, Tayseri, Bachjret and Aroch (or Shalta)
and were lively locations of multiple levels and many towers threaded with a network of
lifts and automated taxis, the latter of which were installed by the Council. Not to generalise…but…generally,
the further from the Presidium you get the more industrial and “rougher” the environment.
So the Citadel seems custom designed to be a hub of power in the galactic scene, probably
designed by the Protheans to serve this exact purpose, right? Well, that’s where the Citadel’s
true nature is revealed. You see, the Citadel was not constructed by the Protheans. They
stumbled on it 50,000 years ago in the same way the Asari did, and in fact the same way
another species, the Inusannon had before them. The Citadel, and the Mass Relays connected
to it, were all developed by a power known as the Reapers, a galactic scale threat that
harvested all intelligent space-faring life every 50,000 years or so.
I won’t go into the whole storyline here, as I’m sure it’s a familiar one by now,
but sufficed to say as each harvested species results in the creation of a new Reaper, I
feel confident in saying that their trap worked, a lot.
When activated by the single Reaper left to monitor the galactic landscape, the Citadel
would activate its own internal Mass Relay and port in the entire Reaper armada from
beyond the galactic edge, the Dark Space. Instantly, the Reapers would have access to
the governing body of the known universe, their alluring bait of a perfectly functional
throne from which to rule end up dropping the sword and beheading the monarchy, the
empire, the council whatever ruling body it was. Even the fact that the Citadel Tower
is exposed in the way it is, where the literal chambers of the ruling elite reside, becomes
a liability as it stands open to attack from within.
But that’s just the start; this death trap gets even worse. The Citadel is Reaper tech
and with its inner workings a mystery, it was highly unlikely that its programming could
be altered. The Protheans were the first to succeed here, after who knows how many others
failed, but I digress. Simply put, the Keepers, under Reaper control could simply deactivate
the Mass Relay network. Any military stationed at the Citadel is cut off from reinforcements,
or even evacuation as without Mass Relays, braving the tumultuous Serpent Nebula will
result in destruction. Then every system then becomes isolated from the others while the
Reapers travel from one inhabited system to the next.
This is why the lower levels of the Citadel are so well protected, for inside resides
the guiding artificial intelligence, the Catalyst which oversees Reaper operations. The Keepers
passively resist all attempts to understand them, to reduce any possibility that a curious
race would learn how they function, or how the station functions. It’s this ignorance
and acceptance of the Citadel’s functions that allows for the Reapers to attain victory
with minimal loses. The allure of the Citadel is a powerful one, after all a good trap requires
good bait. One more thing. All evidence of a previous
race is carefully removed from the Citadel, except for a few select traces to maintain
the farce that it belonged to a race like the Protheans. It’s likely that the Keepers
are the ones that go around the station, repairing the damage and removing all technology installed
by previous occupants. But what happens to it all? All the uncollected bodies, the skycars,
the posters, the furniture? Well, remember I said the Serpent Nebula was suspected to
be artificial in origin and doesn’t dissipate? Perhaps its replenished every 50,000 years
or so with the atomised debris of previous civilizations.
That must be an eerie time after the Reapers retreat back into Dark Space. The keepers,
cleansing the station, restoring everything to factory defaults, leaving it just as the
Asari found it. Ready for the next occupant to arrive and say, “Well, This place is
perfect.”
Thanks for listening. The Citadel is a beautiful creation and the moment it’s revealed in
the Mass Effect intro is a gaming moment I’ll remember forever, but so was the revelation
that it was a giant snare-trap. Of course with the Catalyst neutralized in any ending,
now the station is just that, so that’s all good right? I’ll see you next time for
a video on C-Sec, the Citadel’s police force and until then, thanks again and goodbye!