Collector (Mass Effect)

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Mass Effect 2.

The Collectors are a faction in Mass Effect.

Attributes

"No minds, replaced by tech. No digestive system, replaced by tech. No souls, replaced by tech."

-- Mordin Solus

Collectors are bipedal humanoids that appear to have some characteristics of eusocial insects. The Reapers created them by radically altering the Protheans with genetic and cybernetic modifications. Collectors are known to have an affinity for biotic powers.

Collector technology is very advanced for the Mass Effect setting. They are the only race known to have man-portable directed-energy weapons, and they also make use of organic technology for some applications, particularly the swarms of insect-like biomachines that they use to immobilize their victims when attacking colonies.

Organization

The Collectors are apparently organized like an insect hive, with a Collector General commanding a population of drones. The Collector General is under the direct control of the Reaper known as Harbinger.

Threat Assessment

Advanced technology makes the Collectors powerful, but their numbers are small. Only one Collector ship was seen, and their raiding pattern does not indicate the existence of many more. They are regarded as a threat to Earth, but presumably only if they can use their typical tactics of attacking without warning and rapidly incapacitating the population with their seeker swarms.