Volus

Volus
The volus are an associate race on the Citadel with their own embassy but they are a client race of the turians. They hail from Irune, which possesses a high-pressure greenhouse atmosphere able to support ammonia-based life forms. As a result, the volus must wear pressure suits and breathers when dealing with other species.

Racial Traits

 * Physical Characteristics : +2 Wisdom, +2 Intelligence. -2 Strength. Volus are known for their shrewd intellect but their smaller stature makes them weaker than most species.
 * Size : Small
 * Speed : 20 feet
 * Low-light Vision
 * Shrewd Negotiator : Volus add their Intelligence modifier as a bonus to their Charisma-based skills whenever money is involved. In addition, they always treat Knowledge (business) as a class skill and gain +2 racial bonus on it.
 * Small Arms : Due to their size, volus cannot use weapons designed for Medium or larger creature. They can only use weapons designed for small creatures.
 * Unimpressive : Due to their reputation as being craven, other races tend to ignore volus in combat situations. Volus characters will be ignored by enemies until there are no other opponents or until the volus actively attacks an opponent, after which they will be targeted like any other opponent.
 * High Pressure Suit : Whenever the volus is damaged by a critical hit to their direct HP, his suit becomes ruptured. The volus must make a repair check DC 15, spending 1 action and one repair kit to fix the suit. Each action, including the action spent repairing the suit, cause 1d6 damage from decompression. Other characters can repair the suit.

Volus Biology
The volus homeworld features an ammonia-based ecology and a gravitational field 1.5 times greater than that of Earth, as well as a high-pressure atmosphere. This is reflected in the physiology of the volus themselves. The volus are unable to survive unprotected in an atmosphere more suitable to humans and other carbon-based lifeforms and as such require protective suits capable of providing the proper atmosphere and pressurized to support the volus. Traditional nitrogen/oxygen air mixtures are poisonous to them and in low pressure atmospheres their flesh will literally split open.

Volus History
The volus were the third race to post an embassy to the Citadel, after the asari and the salarians. Their mercantile prowess made them instrumental in developing a stable galactic economy. They authored the Unified Banking Act, which established the credit as the standard currency of interstellar trade and they continue to monitor and balance the galactic economy today. After contact with the turians was established, the bolus petitioned for client status within the Turian Hierarchy.

Despite their considerable efforts and contributions to the Citadel and galactic society, they were never offered a seat on the Council. This is a source of anger for some volus. Council races need to have provided some extraordinary service to the Citadel, such as the military support provided by the turians. Council races also need to provide fleets, resource, and economic aid in case of disaster, none of which the volus are capable of.

Volus Culture
The volus culture is dominated by trade, whether it be land, resource, or other tribe members. They have a reputation as traders and merchants, and many work as some of the best financial advisers on the Citadel. Due to not being physically adept, they avoid violence and can seem overly pacifistic or cowardly to some other races.

Volus have two names but no family names. According to the volus you cannot own a person so using a family name would essentially be laying claim to their offspring. Possible because of their tribal origins, volus refer to members of other races by their source world rather than species (i,e, Earth-clan instead of human).

Volus Government
Their government is known as the Vol Protectorate. Rather than being a fully sovereign government in its own right, the Protectorate is a client state of the Turian Hierarchy. In return, the volus pay a tax to the Hierarchy, as well as deferring to the turians in all foreign policy matters and providing auxiliary troops to their armed forces. They maintain an embassy on the Citadel.

Volus Military
The volus are not physically cut out for combat, be it a full-scale war or even a bar room scuffle. As such, they are highly dependent on the turians for defense. The volus will support the turians in any war they might pursue and the turians will do the same for the volus. For this reason, volus manufacturers specialize in cheaper, lower grade copies of expensive turian equipment.

Volus prefer airpower in conflicts, counting on turians for ground support. They maintain several flotilas of heavy-bomber frigates capable of warfare in any atmosphere.