Hello all, Ric here and welcome to another index video on a species, this time from the
Mass Effect Universe, the big, stupid jellyfish, that are none of those things, themselves,
the Hanar. Starting with their biology. The Hanar are
one of the few species that stand against the convergent evolution of the vaguely humanoid
form. They resembled pinkish jelly-like, well… blobs, with six trailing tentacles beneath
them. At first appearance, it looks like they stand on these, however they are actually
being suspended in an antigrav mass effect field and merely using their limbs to guide
themselves. This only applies on land which is not their native environment as within
the water, they are far more mobile. Their skin can produce a toxin which can be used
to deter others, although its effectiveness is limited.
Hanar also have no gender and communicate with one another through the movement of their
limbs combined with bioluminescence. This communication is often translated to an audible
form for other species through machine translation, as it is incredibly difficult to understand
for non-Hanar, although not impossible. Kahje, their home planet, is a water world,
with over 90% surface water which has permanent cloud cover, making for an incredibly humid
atmosphere. What landmasses there are, are therefore tiny island chains and scattered
Prothean ruins, and even these are mostly underwater. These prothean areas are heavily
respected and are large repositories of ancient but advanced technology. Some locales, like
Mount Vassla are used as part of religious holidays.
Other Hanar territories, include colonies of Undercurrent, Rough Tide and First Land,
although the latter is a gas giant, so the settlements are all orbital stations.
The Hanar follow a religion that reveres the Enkindlers. These Enkindlers are a mythologically
imbued interpretation of the Prothean people that came before the current civilisation.
It’s only a matter time when looking into the history of the Hanar before you’ll come
across the Prothean influence which is about as pronounced as it gets. For reference, the
Protheans were an interstellar empire that spanned several species, forcibly unified
under a single culture. They vanished around 50,000 years ago, leaving behind many remnants
of their civilization, upon which the current galactic civilisation based their own tech.
This has led many to study, the Protheans to be sure, but with the Hanar, it literally
goes much deeper because the modern Hanar were “uplifted” by the Protheans.
Basically, the Protheans would often experiment on other younger species that were still developing,
by introducing them to things like language. For humans, this was mostly overwritten and
ignored in their development, while the Asari took to their teachings, but the origins were
shrouded by time. For the Hanar however, they practically deified the Prothean’s especially
after their disappearance and not only credited them with some cultural developments, but
also with the very sentience of the Hanar, hence the term “Enkindlers”, starting
the fire or the spark of inspiration. As their ability to communicate, including
any spoken language is believed to be taught to them by their gods, the Hanar place a great
emphasis on that dialogue. They have a yearly festival called the First Cresting Bloom,
which culminates in a celebration of language. Alongside carefully considering their words
and constant politeness, they express apologetic attitudes towards any misinterpreted meanings
and consider it the height of rudeness to refer to themselves in the first person. This
leads them to use the term, “This one” as opposed to “I” or “me” when talking,
although fortunately they do not expect the same of others. They will refer to themselves
sin first person only around those they consider family. Additionally, every Hanar has two
names, their true name, referred to as a soul name, and a public name, called their face
name. The Soul name is usually a long and descriptive
term or phrase and known only to that Hanar, its close family and those it feels deeply
comfortable confiding in. These names often reflect their personality, which suggests
that the soul name is gained at a later date, not a birth name. If a Hanar tells you its
soul name, it is an expression of deep trust on the level of a familial bond. The face
name is used for their everyday interactions with everyone else. This name is far shorter
and simpler, usually only one word. Even these face names can be shortened to nicknames.
One of the more notable parts of Hanar history occurred around 1980 Citadel era when they
came across the planet Rakhana and its native populous of Drell. The Drell had ruined their
already arid world with excessive industrialisation and in danger of dying out with their planet.
The Hanar took pity on the Drell, and seeing is a moral imperative, they began a large-scale
evacuation of the Drell population. 375,000 escaped with the Hanar and entered into a
pact to repay them. Called the Compact, the agreement saw the Drell assist in the tasks
that the Hanar could not perform. The Drell may have voluntarily entered into
this agreement, but it nonetheless has some bad consequences. Firstly, the Drell have
developed a condition called Kepral’s Syndrome due to the ill-fitting humid atmosphere of
Kahje, that fatally ruins the Drell’s respiratory system. There are settlements on the planet
that can mitigate the effects of the illness, but all-Drell cities are left to decline,
with criminal elements abundant. The other side is of course the pseudo-class system
that eventually emerged. The thing is, that the Drell themselves often see the Compact
as a debt of gratitude, rather than any forced servitude, but from the outside perspective,
the Drell definitely have the shorter end of the bargain. Drell can refuse to honour
the compact, although doing so is seen as an ignoble act among their own, so the societal
pressure is to adhere to it. The Hanar government is called the Illuminated
Primacy and the leader of their religious section is called the “All-Bright”. These
titles are all based around themes of light, which for the Hanar, is their natural form
of communication and all ties back to their perceived gift of language.
On the galactic scene, the Hanar stand further apart than the other species. They maintain
an embassy on the Citadel, although are not a council race. This is partly because of
their physiology, being non-humanoid. Most of the galaxy’s technology is reverse engineered
or simply copied from Prothean schematics among other precursors, which are ultimately
select bread crumbs left by the Reapers. Because of this, most of the standardised tech is
based on the humanoid form and ill-suited for the Hanar. Inversely, many of the products
they create are therefore only suited for the Hanar, so the outside species have little
use for them. It’s not like there is no trade whatsoever, it’s just there is less
when compared to the other embassy species. In terms of combat, the Hanar generally do
not engage. They usually use their Drell assistants and agents when it comes to military matters.
Among the Hanar, issues are sometimes settled in duels of dialogue rather than fisticuffs.
Because of their lack of military prowess and the limited number of Drell under their
command, the Hanar prefer to deploy specialised strike squads, assassins and infiltrators
to make targeted strikes rather than engage in a prolonged military campaign. This means
that most of their actual military is reserved for system defence and not that expansive.
It is heavily supplemented by an automated defence system.
The Hanar belief of the Enkindlers sometimes presents issues for the rest of the galactic
community, as they can protest the unearthing of Prothean dig sites, considering it desecration.
Some more extreme examples of their faith also have the Hanar believing that they are
the Enkindlers chosen species, and therefore all others are inferior.
So, the Hanar are known as being very polite, sometimes egregiously and for the most part,
seek a harmonious existence among their own and others. Look, at that, I made it through
the entire Hanar video without mentioning Blasto the Spectre. Well. Now I have so, let’s
just clarify who Blasto is. He is a fictional Hanar spectre and movie character from a best-selling
series in-universe. Most of the allure probably comes from the juxtaposition of having a Hanar,
a stereotypically peaceful, non-combative and polite species, dual-wielding heavy pistols
and throwing one-liners. Considering the need for communication among
any society, it is not surprising that the Hanar have placed such an emphasis on the
importance of language for without it a means of communication, how would you hope to grow
your culture? Thanks for watching this video on the Hanar!
I’ve already done one on the Drell who share their homeworld, so that’s a look at another
side of their culture. Now for the votes on the next index video and I thought we could
look at either the, Vidiians from Star Trek, or at least as far as we know on them, or
because it’s been a while since I’ve featured any Fallout universe lore on this channel,
the Commonwealth Institute for another scientifically orientated group.
Votes are over on the community tab and feel free to suggest others to add to the bucket
list! Thanks again for watching and I’ll see you again for another science fiction
video. This one has been, Ric. goodbye!