The Mass Effect series has over 30 different alien races with their own unique histories and advantages. Some alien races are romanceable, like Turians or Asari, and others are enemies, like the Reapers or Mass Effect: Andromeda’s Kett. There are also some aliens that don’t have prominent roles in the story but are fun to encounter nonetheless.
The Bolus are one of these races that definitely help build the world of Mass Effect but don’t have as prominent a role in the games. Though players cannot take a Bolus on missions with them or add them to their crew, these aliens are still fascinating and fun additions to the original trilogy.
Volus Biology
Design-wise, Volus kind of look like mechanical moles. Volus, much like Quarians, live inside their suits. The Volus homeworld of Irune was ammonia-based with a high-pressure atmosphere, so in order to survive outside of that environment, Volus must wear their suits. The “normal” air found in other places, like the Citadel, combined with a low pressure atmosphere will actually cause their skin to split open. As much as players would like to know what a Volus looks like under its suit, it’s probably best to leave it up to the imagination for now—for the safety of the Volus.
Volus share some biological traits with Salarians. However, other Volus have shown that they’re capable of using biotics, which is a rarity in Salarian genetics. Determining a Volus’ gender is another mystery as well, as many Volus think the question is irrelevant and intrusive. There is no concrete information about how to determine whether a Volus is male or female, though many times gender will be “assigned” based on how a Volus sounds. In their youth, all Volus suffer from Yoqtan (an equivalent to chickenpox in humans), which weeds out the “weakest” Volus children.
Volus History
Though the Volus were the third to create an embassy on the Citadel, they don’t have a seat on the Citadel Council. This lack of inclusion is a sore spot for many Bolus, especially because they have to share their embassy office with the Elcor. Through their business acumen, Volus have proven themselves to be instrumental in maintaining a booming galactic economy, yet they still were never offered a place on the Council. They also created the Unified Banking Act, cementing the “credit” as the standard currency throughout the Milky Way.
Volus are clients of the Turian Hierarchy. They pay the Turian government to keep them safe, and in turn, the Volus help make sure Turians have a successful economy. Players will mainly encounter Volus on the Citadel, especially because it’s dangerous for them to try to live in other environments that have too many unknown variables that could hurt or even kill them. Volus are another race noticeably missing in Mass Effect: Andromeda, though the starship Keelah Si’yah carrying alien races like the Quarians, Drell, and Volus is still supposedly on its way to Andromeda.
Volus Society
Volus are businesspeople at the heart of their society. They are known to trade pretty much any and everything they can and even consult with other alien races as financial advisors. They’re pretty much nonviolent, as their bodies aren’t well-equipped for physical skirmishes. More often than not, if there’s infighting, it ends up being solved via contractual agreements or sanctions.
The Volus government is called the Vol Protectorate, though it’s technically under the protection of the Turian Hierarchy. Volus also partake in a polytheistic religion whose stories are heavily based on the planet Jak Ser. Volus language has different dialects as well, and though not all of them are known, there’s at least one titled Iperian Volus. Though the Volus are small, they’re powerful economists that know how to drive a hard bargain. What they lack in physical strength they more than account for in their financial knowledge.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will be available Spring 2021.