All throughout the galaxy, a network of Mass Relays allowed for instantaneous travel across
distances that would otherwise take centuries using conventional FTL propulsion.
These relays were believed to have been the greatest work of the now long extinct Protheans.
Their existence allowed younger civilizations to expand across an otherwise impassable galaxy.
While the network itself remained shrouded in mystery and large sections remained unexplored,
even a cursory study revealed its pathways were hardly random.
There was a definitive center to the network, a place where every Mass Relay would eventually
lead: a solitary nebula that hid a colossal deep space station, known to the races of
the galaxy as the Citadel.
Its location at the center of the mass relay nexus made the Citadel a natural capital of
economic, political, cultural, and military activity.
This role was formalized by the eponymous Citadel Council, which convened aboard the
station and represented the interests of the most powerful civilizations in the galaxy.
Races contacted by the Council or who discovered the Citadel independently typically maintained
embassies there as a way of becoming involved in the greater galactic community.
So critical was the Citadel to galactic civilization that star systems under the control of its
member races were unofficially referred to as “Citadel Space”.
The Citadel was unique in its status as the headquarters of a galactic intergovernmental
organization and it remained one of the few territories operated collectively by the Council
rather than by any one of its member states.
Administration was handled by council officials and an array of virtual intelligences, while
internal security was provided by Citadel Security Services, better known as C-Sec.
C-Sec was perhaps the most visible example of the Council’s philosophy, a volunteer
service composed of roughly 200,000 constables recruited from every civilization within Citadel Space.
Its officers were responsible for maintaining order across the densely populated station,
providing everything from customs enforcement, pirate suppression, investigations, and enforcement.
This was not an easy task.
The Citadel maintained a population of just over 13 million residents, with tens of thousands
of tourists, government officials, traders and businessmen transiting through the station
each day.
The most mysterious residents of the station were also its oldest.
A bio-engineered insectoid race known as the Keepers were the station’s only “native”
life forms and was assumed to have been created by the Protheans for the sole purpose of maintaining
the Citadel and its systems.
Such maintenance was essential in the continued operation of the Citadel.
It was a massive structure consisting of a central ring 7.2 kilometers in diameter from
which 5 massive arms protruded, each 43.6 kilometers long and 330 meters thick.
During an emergency, these arms were capable of closing in on itself, transforming the
station into a long impenetrable cylinder.
The central ring and five arms were home to the Presidium and Wards respectively.
The Presidium was the gleaming heart of the Citadel, site of various governmental offices
and embassies of the Citadel Council, as well as home to some of the galaxy’s most elite
and powerful individuals.
Its interior was marked by lush parks and freshwater lakes complete with artificial
sunlight and gentle breezes.
The Presidium’s epicenter was the Citadel Tower, a distinct monument home to the Council
Chambers where matters affecting the entire galaxy were debated and decided.
The Wards, by contrast, were much more utilitarian, featuring conventional buildings, skyscrapers,
and infrastructure reminiscent of more traditional planetary cities.
Unlike the Presidium they did not maintain any artificial day-night cycle and activity
here rarely ceased.
The Wards constituted the residential and economic sectors of the station, home to millions
of Citadel citizens and some of the galaxy’s largest businesses and corporations.
While it was among the most cosmopolitan urban centers in the galaxy, featuring concert halls,
amphitheaters and more exotic forms of entertainment, the Wards were also home to the Citadel’s
more disreputable elements.
Various crime syndicates were known to have operated aboard the station, as well as a
thriving black market.
Despite thousands of years of occupation, it was not until the final few years of its
operation that many of its secrets and mysteries were finally uncovered.
Through the actions of the human Specter Commander Shepard, it was revealed that neither the
Mass Relays nor the Citadel had been constructed by the Protheans - they were simply the last
to make use of the station before it was abandoned and re-discovered by the Asari.
The Citadel was in fact the key component in a cycle of galactic genocide, a trap intended
to wipe out the heart of the galactic community and it’s leadership in a single stroke.
Over the countless millennia of its existence the Citadel bore silent witness to the rise
and fall of countless civilizations.
Whether in the latest cycle it's true purpose might have been discovered in time to prevent
its execution remains unknown.
In Atlas, the Templin Institute investigates the most storied places from across alternate worlds.
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