Quarians in Mass Effect (possible spoilers)

[Crayzor]

Something has been bugging me about the Quarians ever since I played Mass Effect 2. If I recall correctly, they have to wear their environment suits because they have lived in the sterile environment of spaceships too long. However, when you visit the Migrant Fleet in Mass Effect 2, all the Quarians there are wearing environment suits. Surely, if there are viruses in the Fleet that could infect the Quarians, their immune systems would never have degraded far enough for them to require the sealed suits.

In short, why do the Quarians need environment suits when on the Migrant Fleet? Is it just a copout by Bioware to keep what the Quarians look like a secret?

Also, why does Shepard need his suit sealed when on the fleet?

 

[Rynozeros]

i vote copout anmd shepard needs to seal his/her suit up cuz the human body is full of bacteria that could possibly harm/kill the quarians

 

[jamie5166]

I have no idea why they are suited, but Shepard is suited to stop him contaminating their ship.

Edit: sodding ninjas

 

[MellowFellow]

Thats a good question. Although I would guess Bioware wants to keep what the quarians look like a secret. Or at least that sounds like the most likely to be true. Maybe Bioware has not made what the quarians actually look like yet.

 

[wolf thing]

it is menchid that each quarian lives in there own enviroment. tali say it at one point

 

[thepopeofatheism]

Bioware doesn't want to reveal that they look like Geth with faces.

You can tell they modeled the Geth after themselves since they have the same body shape and their hands and feet are the same.

 

[Crayzor]

they have to wear their environment suits because they have lived in the sterile environment of spaceships too long

Actually, they have to wear enviro suits because the climate of their home planet was mostly composed of beneficial or non-threatening organisms that did not trigger their immune systems to adapt and strengthen, which is quite unique in the galaxy. Some centures later after they lost their homeworld, sterile enviroments forced unto them by their enviro-suits have caused them to develop a sensitivity to even their home climate, if they were ever to return.

Or something like that.

But that wouldn't explain why they need them on the Fleet. In the Mass Effect universe, all ships has a decontamination room beefore boarding, preventing any infections boarding, surely?

 

[Cyanin]

they have to wear their environment suits because they have lived in the sterile environment of spaceships too long

Actually, they have to wear enviro suits because the climate of their home planet was mostly composed of beneficial or non-threatening organisms that did not trigger their immune systems to adapt and strengthen, which is quite unique in the galaxy. Some centures later after they lost their homeworld, sterile enviroments forced unto them by their enviro-suits have caused them to develop a sensitivity to even their home climate, if they were ever to return.

Or something like that.

Well thaat is horribly depressing, i'm finding myself incredibly immersed in ME2, loving every minute, didn't even play the 1st one, this is amazing though..

 

[Destal]

they have to wear their environment suits because they have lived in the sterile environment of spaceships too long

Actually, they have to wear enviro suits because the climate of their home planet was mostly composed of beneficial or non-threatening organisms that did not trigger their immune systems to adapt and strengthen, which is quite unique in the galaxy. Some centures later after they lost their homeworld, sterile enviroments forced unto them by their enviro-suits have caused them to develop a sensitivity to even their home climate, if they were ever to return.

Or something like that.

Well thaat is horribly depressing, i'm finding myself incredibly immersed in ME2, loving every minute, didn't even play the 1st one, this is amazing though..

I highly reccomend you go pick up the first one. It will be well worth the money spent.

Also this poster pretty much nailed it.

they have to wear their environment suits because they have lived in the sterile environment of spaceships too long

Actually, they have to wear enviro suits because the climate of their home planet was mostly composed of beneficial or non-threatening organisms that did not trigger their immune systems to adapt and strengthen, which is quite unique in the galaxy. Some centures later after they lost their homeworld, sterile enviroments forced unto them by their enviro-suits have caused them to develop a sensitivity to even their home climate, if they were ever to return.

Or something like that.

Tali said it would take them about 60 years to adjust to their planet again, whereas a new planet could take 600.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

It's a cultural thing. They've become so used to environmental suits that they always wear them except in private. I think that's the explanation given in Ascension.

 

[Internet Kraken]

Maybe Bioware has not made what the quarians actually look like yet.

Well BioWare intentionally designed the Quarians to have several similarities with the Geth. So Quarians probably have a body that is very similar to the Geth (excluding the face), only organic. Which might actually be a bit unpleasant.

I have no idea why they are suited, but Shepard is suited to stop him contaminating their ship.

And yet some of my squad mates are wearing nothing more than a breathing mask.

 

[Shoes]

they have to wear their environment suits because they have lived in the sterile environment of spaceships too long

Actually, they have to wear enviro suits because the climate of their home planet was mostly composed of beneficial or non-threatening organisms that did not trigger their immune systems to adapt and strengthen, which is quite unique in the galaxy. Some centures later after they lost their homeworld, sterile enviroments forced unto them by their enviro-suits have caused them to develop a sensitivity to even their home climate, if they were ever to return.

Or something like that.

didn't even play the 1st one, this is amazing though..

*Slaps you*

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

I have no idea why they are suited, but Shepard is suited to stop him contaminating their ship.

And yet some of my squad mates are wearing nothing more than a breathing mask.

And they wear nothing more than a breathing mask in vacuum or any other incredibly hazardrous environment. I have yet to figure out why.

 

[Rogue of Hearts]

If you talk to Tali a bit she will tell you something along the lines of how they can make each other sick which is why even among family or very close familiars they have to go through a process where they sorta "build up an immunity" so that they can share their environment. Since they can get very sick and the duration of sickness can last for weeks at a time, I doubt they would want to be out of their suits when two or three (each capable of making everyone sick) are known to be boarding one of the ships of the Fleet. Also, a visitor might be completely contained in their suit but some other organism or potential pollutant may have survived on the outside of that visitor's suit, which would spell disaster for all the quarians on that ship if they weren't contained in their own suits.

 

[Oomii]

They don't. They needed to wear their environment suits because your ship is not sterol and so it would contaminate the area if not in a clean zone.

Seems like you could wear your environment suit and have it decontaminated though.

 

[Penitent]

Doesn't it help that regardless of the sterility of the ship in question, the ship is still in space and thus lacks proper oxygen to breathe?
I know that the ship we saw in the Migrant Fleet has grass and plants, but for the whole, battleships and the like aren't very good at generating their own environments.

 

[CommyGingerbreadMan]

As above said, but Im going to further that the ships they have are WAAAAAY old. So one could assume that the envirosuits may also be a safeguard against oxygen (or w/e they breathe) escaping. Not to mention like others have said each one has something that ca make the other sick.

I would liek to add that perhaps some things can get past decontamination. All Quarians leave the Flotilla at one point, whose to say one didn't go off and at one point have sex with another species and carries a bug in them, a minor one that made them sick at the time, that lay dormant on them? They have such fragile Immune systems, why take chances? Tali was able to do Sheperd, but after taking a massive amount of Herbal remedies and antibiotics. AND she still got a little sick.

 

[Daniel Armstrong]

*sigh* read through your Codex's it gives a clear reasons why.

- They have to wear suits because the ships are not sterile - the only time they ever take there suits off is to reproduce or make love - they do that on special sterile ships.

- Oxygen costs too much to maintain and they are already using environmental suits so the use of oxygen on non-sterile ships would be pointless (or something like that)

 

[Theron Julius]

Taking off their suits always carries a risk. It's always possible that the area they are in isn't 100% sterilized, even in the Flotilla. They also wear it partly because of psychological reaction to the lack of space in the Migrant Fleet. The suits give them a sense of personal space and separation that they wouldn't have at all without them. The only thing I'm angry about is the suspense they're forcing us to go through while we wait for ME3 to see a Quarian's face (one in particular). If they don't show an unsuited Quarian in ME3 I'm gonna be angry.