Asari: Justicars

Despite the refinement and sophistication of asari culture, criminality remains a fact of life. The asari solution to the most vicious and destructive criminal element is the Justicar Order.

Justicars are an asari class of virtually untouchable extra-judicial executioners operating almost exclusively within asari territory. In the last decade alone, Justicars have smashed dozens of criminal rings inside asari territory, operated by asari and non-asari alike. Their methods range from subtle where possible, to brutal where necessary. Trained for extreme strength, biotic capacity, resourcefulness, asceticism, and ruthlessness, the fanatical justicars are romanticized and feared throughout asari society.

Although justicars generally work alone, their effectiveness arises from the huge body of knowledge they can access. Any asari who enters the ranks of justicars has already spent centuries in a combination of criminal investigation, military intelligence, and combat experience; the collective body of justicar knowledge exceeds even that of the Spectres.

Justicars tend to be independent, requiring little help but also scorning it such advanced skill and experience usually travels with a powerful ego. The conflicts presented by such arrogance prompted the Justicar Order to develop the Oath of Subsumation. The Oaths pledge protection of the innocent, and defense of common law and the norms of asari society. The effect of the Oaths is conservative, ensuring that justicars respect the existing distribution of asari power rather than staging a coup to rearrange a society according to justicar satisfaction. Nevertheless, the possibility of such an attack is a source of anxiety -- and counter-intelligence -- among the asari elite.

Of all the pledges, the Third Oath of Subsumation is sworn the least of any of the oaths. Requiring a Justicar to swear loyalty that overrides the dictates of even the Justicar Code, the Third Oath is usually invoked in matters where even the black-or-white thinking of justicars is forced to concede the existence of gray.