Geth

A geth mobile platform

The geth are a race of sapient AI programs which operate various robotic "mobile platforms". They are a major yet reclusive race in Mass Effect.

History

The Geth were created by the Quarians as a labor force. They were never intended the Geth to achieve true artificial intelligence, giving them only "virtual intelligence" capable of dealing with their tasks and reacting to unusual circumstances. By design, however, they were also networked, so they could share resources when needed to deal with difficult problems. When Geth worked together in large numbers, true artificial intelligence emerged.

The now-sapient Geth began to pose disturbing questions to their creators, who reacted fearfully by trying to destroy the Geth before they could organize an uprising. The attempt failed, and the "Morning War" broke out between the Geth and Quarians. The Geth were victorious, and the Quarians were forced to flee in what would become the Migrant Fleet. The Geth settled on satellites and space stations in what used to be Quarian territory and became isolationists, destroying unknown ships entering their space.

Centuries later, the Reaper Nazara approached the Geth and offered them advanced technology in return for their aid in capturing the Citadel. The consensus of the Geth was to refuse, but a portion of the Geth refused to accept the decision. The greater Geth population allowed them to leave, and the Geth that followed Nazara became known to other Geth as "Heretics".

Organization

The geth do not have any formal government- they refer to organic species' governments as forcing consensus, whether it be an autocracy forcing one individual's will, or democracy forcing the most broadly accepted average of views. All geth consider issues, then come to a consensus on what to do. When a rare schism forms, the dissenters leave, as with the geth Heretics.

Attributes

The geth are a race of sentient AI programs. Alone these programs are unintelligent, but when networked together they gain sapience. The programs can exist in stationary hubs containing millions, or can be transfered by the hundreds in order to operate various "mobile platforms" ranging from humanoid robots to spaceships. In combat geth humanoid platforms use projectile weapons, personal shields, plasma throwers, personal cloaking devices, and sensor jamming. Geth starships use similar weapons, though less is known about them. They are adept at hacking, and resisting hacking attempts. Any critically damaged geth automatically wipes its data core and overloads its systems. If hacked, infected files are deleted and restored from backups.

Nazara provided the Heretic Geth with the technology of producing zombie-like cyborgs known as Husks from organic beings.

Territory

The geth possess an unknown amount of star systems, likely dozens. They do not inhabit the planets within the star systems, instead choosing to construct and live in massive space stations. Their territory lies beyond a huge nebula of opaque dust and gas called the Perseus Veil, which is difficult to scan through or navigate.

Threat Assessment

The geth have considerable industrial powers, as one fleet consisted of anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 ships of unknown armament. Also, one of their space stations (originally quarian, but extensively rebuilt later) was known to be over 20 km long and 11 km wide, which, despite the large amounts of empty space in it, is considerably larger that the stations constructed by the United Federation of Planets. Their hacking abilities are formidable for any technologically dependent race that faces them. On the ground they are a fearsome foe; in space, their firepower is likely somewhat below that of the United Federation of Planets (exact estimates are difficult, since only relatively small geth ships were seen in the game).