Citadel Council

The Citadel Council is the governing body of the Citadel. Convening in the impressive Citadel Tower, this three-man dictatorship is the ultimate authority in Citadel space, passing judgement for violations of Council law, settling disputes between governments, and maintaining law and order, often through the use of its own covert intelligence service, the Spectres. The Council is an executive committee composed of one representative each from the member species. Though they have no official power over the independent governments of other species, the Council's decisions carry great weight throughout the galaxy. No single Council race is strong enough to defy the others, and all have a vested interest in compromise and cooperation.

Each of the Council species has general characteristics associated with the various aspects of governing the galaxy. The asari are typically seen as diplomats and mediators. The salarians gather intelligence and information. The turians provide the bulk of the military and peacekeeping forces.

Any species granted an embassy on the Citadel is considered an associate member, bound by the accords of the Citadel Conventions. Associate members may bring issues to the attention of the Council, though they have no impact on their final decision.

History
The Citadel Council was founded in 500 BCE by the asari and salarians, the first two races to independently discover the Citadel, the leviathan-built station used by the reapers as a gigantic mousetrap, at the hub of the mass relay network. It was the asari who suggested forming a governing body aboard the space station in partnership with the newcomer salarians. The founding of the Council marks the beginning of the Galactic Standard (GS) calendar, the year 0 GS.

Over the next 500 years, the Council rapidly expanded outward from the Citadel, encountering several new races and incorporating them into the growing galactic community. The volus were the earliest known race that the Council made first contact with; in 200 BCE, the Council granted the volus an embassy at the Citadel in recognition of their contributions to Citadel space, including the Unified Banking Act which established the credit as a standard currency. Along with the volus, the batarians, elcor, hanar, and quarians were also welcomed to the fold during this time.

The Rachni Wars
The times of peaceful first contact ended abruptly for the Council with the accidental discovery of the rachni around the birth of christ. The hive-minded, insect-like rachni reacted with extreme hostility and initiated a large-scale war with the races of Citadel space. Negotiation with the rachni queens was impossible; the queens could not be contacted in their underground nests on the rachni worlds.

A turning point in the war came when the salarians made first contact with the krogan in 80 AD, who had been living in the post-apocalyptic ruins of their homeworld Tuchanka for nearly two thousand years. The krogan were uplifted and manipulated into serving as soldiers for the Council. The resilient krogan succeeded where other Citadel races could not. Able to survive on the harsh rachni worlds, the krogan stormed rachni nests and exterminated queens one by one. By 300 AD, the rachni were declared extinct. As a reward for their service, the krogan were given a new, pristine homeworld. A lasting result of the Rachni Wars was the Council's establishment of new laws which prohibited the activation of uncharted mass relays.

The Krogan Rebellions and the Turians
Some 400 years after the end of the Rachni Wars, the Council once again found itself embroiled in a galaxy-wide conflict. The krogan, having exploded in numbers and encroaching on the territories of other races, were asked by the Council to withdraw from the asari colony of Lusia. Outraged, the krogan refused. The Council ordered the recently-formed Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Tactics and Reconnaissance to make a preemptive strike against krogan infrastructures, and the Krogan Rebellions began.

This conflict persisted for a century, ending only after the Council made first contact with the turians, who agreed the krogan were a threat and declared war against them. The turians inflicted a lethal blow using the salarian-developed genophage; without the ability to quickly replenish their forces, the krogan dwindled. Following the Rebellions, the Citadel Conventions were drawn up. Since 900 AD, the turians have filled the military and peacekeeping niche in Citadel space vacated by the krogan. In recognition of their role during and after the Rebellions, the turians were inducted into the Citadel Council as the third race with full membership.

Expansion, Conflict, and Humanity
The next thousand years were relatively peaceful ones for the Council, interrupted only by some minor galactic incidents and the Morning War of 1895 AD. In that conflict, the quarians were driven from their worlds by the geth, machines created to serve the quarians that had achieved sapeience, resulting in a civil war. With invasion by the geth an immediate threat, the Council refused the quarians' pleas for help and revoked their Citadel embassy, and also implemented restrictive laws on AGI research and development.

During this time the Council continued to explore the galaxy, encountering new races with varied success. One diplomatic failure occurred with the yahg, a pre-spaceflight race discovered by Council surveyors in 2125 AD. A Council delegation was dispatched to the yahg homeworld Parnack, expecting to quickly establish diplomatic relations. Unfortunately, the predatory yahg misinterpreted the delegation's non-subservient behaviors as an attitude of contempt and promptly slaughtered the delegates. The Council responded by cutting off contact with the yahg and declaring Parnack off-limits to Citadel races; the Council asserted that the extremely aggressive yahg were poorly suited to integrate with the galactic community.

In 2152 AD, the Council has achieved first contact with the newly-encountered humans, a transhumanist species originating from earth. The council's attempts to "guide" the systems alliance only further cemented it's role as the undisputed master of the galaxy, Securing a council seat, and allowing them to uplift the abandoned races.