Angara

The angara are the only known extant sapient race native to the Heleus Cluster of the Andromeda galaxy, and arose on the planet Havarl. By the time of the Andromeda Initiative's first contact with them, the angara had been waging a decades-long resistance against the invading Kett.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The angara are warm-blooded mammals. They have a similar leg structure to a quarian, a salarian or a kett, along with relatively broad shoulders and narrow waists. They have two black eyes with blue irises, a single pair of nostrils, and folds of flesh on the sides of their heads that extend to their chests. Angara hands have the bone structure for five fingers, but the final three fingers on each hand are densely webbed together into a single digit. Angara are sexually dimorphic: male angara are taller than females, and females have wider hips and rounder faces. Skin colors feature various shades of blue or mauve, sometimes shading into green or tan. Their blood is deep blue in color.
They have different internal biology and taste buds to humans and other species. For example they are immune to the capsaicin used to spice most food, while finding the methyl anthranilate used in most candy to cause a painful burning sensation.
Although all organisms produce a natural bioelectrical field, the angara produce an especially intense field and can exert fine control over it for purposes such as communication. Angara physiology is also dependent on sunlight, specifically the electromagnetic radiation that a sun emanates. Lack of real or artificial sunlight causes them to "go dark", which weakens their immune systems and bio-energy significantly. Prolonged lack of sunlight can lead to a coma and then death. To supplement their sunlight intake or provide a light source when natural light is not readily available, the angara make use of powerful ultraviolet lamps that give them both heat and light. The angara also seem to be resistant to cold, as some angara on Voeld prefer living there even more than Aya.

Civilization and Culture

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Although the angara have between 200 and 300 languages, their most common language is Shelesh, a lingua franca developed in the early days of angaran spaceflight before the Scourge. Shelesh faded into obscurity when angaran civilization collapsed, but has recently been revived as separated angaran settlements have reestablished relations.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

The angara as a people are very free with their emotions, demonstrative and "larger than life". If they love you they hug you, if they hate you or if you make them mad, they punch you; this extends to their own family members. The angara are typically mistrustful of other races, which is understandable; the last outsiders they met were the kett and they have done nothing but attack and enslave the angara.
While they have only one true mother and father, the angara share their parents with the community. Their families are very large, consisting of multiple mothers and many siblings and cousins, and play an important role in their lives.
As a species, the angara are communally-focused rather than individualist, their society structured around an ideal of "horizontal collectivism." While individual liberties, legal equality and private property do exist in angaran society, social convention stresses that individual angara subordinate their own personal desires for that of the greater whole, whether that take the form of the family unit, the community in which they dwell, or the species in general. Charity, cooperation and self-sacrifice are emphasized, and crimes are assessed and punished not just by the nature of the offense but how widespread the resulting consequences are.
The angaran calendar uses a seven day week. The days are named Sabay, Tef, Vaa, Ema, Roa, Fev, and Bav.

History

The angara are creations of the Jardaan, an advanced alien race native to Heleus that were also responsible for creating the Remnant machines. The Jardaan designed the first angarans centuries ago and seeded them on several planets within the Heleus Cluster. The reasoning behind the creation of the angara is unknown.
According to the angara, they were once a highly advanced species that originated on Havarl and spread to many worlds in the Heleus Cluster. An ancient site on Havarl known as the Forge holds the oldest pre-Scourge ruins known to the angara, and is regarded as the birthplace of their civilization. The appearance of the Scourge ruined the angara's worlds and sent their civilization into a pre-industrial dark age that lasted a century. The angara of five worlds, including Havarl and Voeld, eventually rediscovered spaceflight and reestablished communication with each other, finding that the centuries of isolation had created divergent cultures. The angara began to expand again, colonizing Kadara and Aya, and efforts were made to establish a new unified government for their species.
The kett invasion of the Heleus Cluster in 2744 disrupted the rebuilding of angaran civilization. No angaran records of first contact with the kett survive, and so the exact circumstances of how the angara were overwhelmed are muddled. The few details of the early years of the invasion indicate that the kett played the angara against each other, making overtures of peace and trade to one angara world, assassinating the leadership of another, and ignoring a third. This led a period of infighting among the angara, which the kett took advantage of to solidify their occupation. By the time the angara realized who the true enemy was, their military and space fleet had been destroyed. Multiple angaran resistance movements were established to battle the kett, but saw little success until 2814, when Evfra de Tershaav reorganized them into the Angaran Resistance, headquartered on Aya.
The arrival of the Andromeda Initiative, although welcomed by the Angaran Resistance, has provoked a faction of angara called the Roekaar. Founded by the charismatic Akksul out of resentment for the Resistance and hatred for the kett, the Roekaar are a xenophobic paramilitary force hostile to all non-angara. The Roekaar are officially disavowed by the Angaran Resistance.

Common Myths and Legends

While the angara have many different religions, all share the same basic tenet: that when an angaran dies, he or she is reincarnated and the reincarnated soul stays in the family, making their lineage stronger. However, it is believed that the souls of exalted angara are forever lost to them in all ways.
Angara prefer to worship in private. In their view, faith is the strongest when no one sees it. They honor the isolation of their kett-enslaved kin, who are forbidden to express their spiritual beliefs.
In recent times, a number of young angara came to believe that enlightenment can be forced by throwing themselves at death. Labeled "Gloryseekers", they train and prepare as hard as anyone in the Resistance, then proceed to carry out suicide missions against the kett. They do so with calm hearts, so that they remember when they reincarnate stronger and wiser and they should be better suited to fight back against the kett.
According to Gloryseeker beliefs, when one doesn't fear dying, there's everything to gain and nothing to lose. As long as the angara goes out fighting kett, it doesn't matter if the mission succeeds or fails, but coming back from it alive with nothing accomplished is considered cowardly in Gloryseeker eyes. Cowardly hearts aren't worthy of "blessed rebirth."
Gloryseekers do not like the loss of their friends as much as anyone, but they accept it as part of their beliefs even if other people view it as messed up. Older angara like the priestess Roshwar Linn view their deaths as needless sacrifice, to the point that she needs someone to talk sense into them. Gloryseekers, in turn, are irritated by her lack of action against the kett.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Jardaan