Eru

The eru are an amphibious humanoid race native to the now destroyed homeworld of Balmorra. Most eru now live on the garden world of Taneth. After discovering that their planet's star, Gideon, would go supernova, the eru organized a full-scale exodus, transporting approximately one billion eru to Taneth, making it their new homeworld.

Biology
Eru possess a physiology common to the amphibious species on Earth, including low light vision and excellent swimming skills. Their bony exoskeleton and dense cartilage makes them tough and resistant to glancing blows. An egg-laying species, the eru emerge from their egg as a tadpole that develops arms, legs, and head-tails during their second year of life.

Roughly the same size as a human infant during this time, their limbs are weak and unable to support their weight, forcing youthful eru to remain in aquatic environments for much of their childhood. They stand an average of 1.8 meters, have smooth green, blue, purple, or brown skin, and large black or dark maroon eyes with lids that are seldom used. They are capable of breathing underwater; however, and like the hanar eru do not experience difficulties out of water.

Eru possess exceptional olfactory and pheromone-sensing skills, enhanced by head-tresses. These tendrils are used to detect the emotional state of another being, but are most effective underwater. Within eru culture, the ability to sense pheromone changes is an essential part of the communication process. All eru have fourteen sensory tentacles and multiple hearts, which are capable of beating separately. Like their sense of smell, eru language is maximized for use underwater and not fully pronounceable in a gaseous atmosphere. In addition, eru use other communicative cues when submerged, such as reading the swirls in other eru's large eyes.

Eru are a highly adaptable species, being cold-blooded. After leaving their dying homeworld, drifting in space for an additional five years and eventually settling on Taneth, the eru evolved so that their physical and biological properties would adapt faster and better to their respective environments, making them very capable in colonizing planets with alien environments. Balmorra, their dead homeworld, was a humid and oceanic planet, possessing far more seas than land. Taneth, although humid in itself, possesses two distinct climates; tropical and arid, the latter being completely unknown to a species that has lived in seas, swamps and oceans most of their lives. Eventually, all it took were a few stubborn eru who chose to settle in the arid parts of Taneth, adapting and evolving in a way so they could survive in any climate possible.

From the neck down, eru are very similar to humans and asari, possessing five fingers and three toes. However, unlike the aforementioned species, eru do not have nails. In addition to their ability to adapt to alien environments fairly quickly, the eru also possess a biological phenomenon known as "rapid cell regeneration". Cells in an eru's body rapidly regenerate over time to create stronger, tougher cells and tissue. For example, if an eru is ever shot, their body will adapt and evolve a tougher skin that can withstand certain firearms. This also gives them unnaturally long lifespans; the average eru can live up to 600 years.

Rapid cell regeneration also poses one disadvantage. When an unborn eru is exposed to element zero, the mutated cells that cause species to use biotics are relentlessly attacked by the eru's powerful immune system, quickly breaking down and destroying the biotic cells. As a result, biotic abilities in eru are extremely rare; only 1 in every 500,000,000 eru show signs of biotic potential, and those eru are often exposed to biological engineering before birth to make their immune systems inherently weaker, granting them their biotic abilities, but making them more prone to diseases and notably decreasing their average lifespans.

History
The eru ancestors evolved from the oceans of Balmorra onto land. In this period of their lives, a frog-like metamorphosis occurred as the eru became more adaptable to the arid environments on their planet.

At approximately 350 CE, the eru discovered the ruins of an ancient civilization that existed before them. Initially believing the mysterious civilization to be a precursor race that evolved on Balmorra long before them, not knowing that the ruins belonged to the Protheans who colonized Balmorra before the eru ever set foot on land. From the technology of the mysterious species, the eru vaguely learned of the mass relays, and that one potentially exists in their own system. A few years after this miraculous discovery, the eru became a spacefaring species after colonizing their moon.

Around 370 CE, eru scientists learned that their star, Gideon, was on the verge of going supernova. As a result, the eru launched a full-scale exodus to abandon their dying star system. One billion eru boarded thousands of ships, willing to take them to the farthest reaches of space. However, the eru were still in their infancy in terms of space travel, and they never attempted to activate the mass relay occupying their system, until now. Of the approximately 16 billion eru that lived on Balmorra, 15 billion stayed behind.

Following the destruction of the star Gideon, Balmorra was blasted out of its orbit. First, the massive amounts of radiation fried Balmorra completely, turning it into a burning, nuclear wasteland. Later, after being punched out of orbit, Balmorra's temperature dropped below freezing levels. As of 2186 CE, Balmorra still exists as a rogue planet, although its current location is unknown.

After activating the relay, the eru flotilla spent five years drifting in space, desperately trying to find a new planet to inhabit. Eventually, they stumbled upon the Empyrean Cluster and the Aether System. One planet, Taneth, stood out from the other terrestrial bodies, for being one of the younger planets, and hitting the "sweet spot" to sustain organic life. A planet with an atmosphere similar to that of Balmorra, but with environments completely differing from the eru's home planet, the orphan race decided to land on the newly discovered planet. In the following years, the eru spent many years in colonizing and turning the planet into their new homeworld.

It was at this point that the asari made first contact with the eru. To show a gesture of good-will, the asari suggested to help the eru settle in on their planet. Since then the asari and eru have collectively worked together to rebuild the eru race from the ashes. A few decades after first contact, the eru gained associate membership on the Citadel.

As of 2186 CE, the eru enjoy a golden age and are thriving on Taneth as if it were their birth planet. Tazal noted that all eru that exist today have been born on Taneth. Few ever mention Balmorra, and fewer even know of its existence.

Culture
Eru culture is centralized around family and kinship. Eru families are made up of one patriarch, or matriarch, the respective head of a family, and they are the ones who decide most of their family's affairs. Young eru are bound to their family's patriarch or matriarch's rules until they reach the age of 15, when they are "released" from their family. Although eru can choose to stay with their families, few ever do so. Most eru past the age of fifteen wander out into space looking for adventure, join mercenary bands, apply for the military, or some even enlist themselves in scientific academies.

Only a few eru are capable of using biotics, which is considered a great gift. When it's established that an infant eru has biotic potential they are taken away from their families to train in special schools. These biotic eru are referred to as "the Orphans", due to them not belonging to any "true" family, being only truly loyal to those who are willing to hire them. Orphans are often employed by Taneth's political factions as assassins or special forces agents and operatives. The Orphans are noted as among the most powerful biotics in the galaxy, next only to the asari commandos.

There is a notable caste system within eru society. Eru born into older, wealthier, or nobler families have a higher say in Taneth's governance, while eru born in poorer, or "common" families will find that it becomes harder for them if they want to become respectable politicians, even then few ever attempt to take that path. Most eru that are born in common families become soldiers, scientists, farmers, or spacers.

Economy
A vital part of eru society is the presence of the Eru Cartel, an interstellar crime syndicate composed of several eru clans who collectively collaborate in the trade of illegal and controversial products. Even though the eru possess several trade alliances between the asari and the volus, from a financial standpoint income received by the government is relatively low, and even less is distributed among the citizens of eru space. Because of this, the Cartel remains the only truly reliable source of income for the government, and by extent eru civilians.

Despite the positive influence the Cartel has on the eru, the syndicate remains largely ostracized by the Council. The Council officially disavows the existence of the Cartel and brands the organization as illegal. As a result, many disputes arose between spokesmen of the eru and Citadel officials. Furthermore, these escalating disagreements between what eru see as a fundamental part of their society, and what the Citadel views as nothing more than a glorified crime syndicate, has blocked the eru from ever gaining an embassy of their own.

Religion
Taneth possesses a state atheism, and the An-Faleel hold a deeply nihilistic and cynic view of the universe. However, there are many non-political eru who are deeply religious, following the Unity Doctrine. Rather than being a conventional religion, the Unity Doctrine is a philosophy that dictates that a formless, faceless, voiceless, and nameless entity, known only as "the Presence", dictates all life in every universe and plane of existence possible. The Presence is said to be omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, but not omnibenevolent, and does not directly interfere with organic and/or synthetic lives, but instead "guides" all living beings, allowing them to choose their own path.

When an eru dies, its spirit returns to the Presence, who shapes it into a new eru and returns it to the universe. The concept of death as an ending to life is unknown to the eru. Rather, death is seen as simply the beginning of the next stage of an endless journey.

All life is considered sacred to the eru, who try to live in harmony with the universe. They call this concept the "oneness with the universe".

Language
Little is known about eru language except for a few non-translatable terms.
 * eru - people of the tides
 * sera - greeting given to fellow eru
 * balmorra - old home
 * bal - old
 * morra - home
 * taneth - vast tidings
 * serjo -  honorary title, meaning "sir" or "noble"

Government
The main ruling body of Taneth and its colonies are the An-Faleel, a political faction instituted following the eru exodus to Taneth. The An-Faleel consist of members from prominent Eru families, unanimously chosen by their respective family members, who in turn are democratically re-elected by incumbent An-Faleel members.

The An-Faleel are the ruling governmental body of the eru as of 2183. It is known that the eru have multiple political parties, one of which is the eru-nationalist and xenophobic Sa-Hadeer, whose influence seems to have grown after the Battle of the Citadel.

Since the eru have multiple rivalling political factions, they also seem to have a diverse array of political beliefs. While the Sa-Hadeer are notably totalitarian and supremacist, the An-Faleel are known for their liberal stances on individualism, royalism (to a degree), and egalitarianism.

Notable Eru

 * Tazal Praga
 * Veradun
 * Geljin-Ur

Eru Worlds

 * Taneth - homeworld
 * Balmorra - former homeworld
 * Gideon Prime
 * Tenmar
 * Alinor
 * Artaeum
 * Lilmoth
 * Arenthia
 * Hegathe


 * Ghorne
 * Sancre Tor
 * Silvenar
 * Rachiri
 * Ephus
 * Orilia
 * Thedulia
 * Alcaire
 * Torval