weird mass effect lore question:
1) do you think biotic prisoners would have some sort of inhibitor that keeps them from using their abilities?
and
2) would the same thing be possible with inherently biotic races? (ex. asari)
Non asari: it’s probably possible to replace the external amp with something that inhibits, rather than enhancing, biotics?
Asari: usually don’t *have* amps, so that’s out (unless the character in question decided to get brain surgery for better superpowers? Liara seems to have an amp?). There’s lore that Cerberus invented a drug that prevents asari using biotics, but that’s recent. Also it can cause permanent damage, so I hope legitimate prisons aren’t using that!
On the other hand, asari have been around for a long time and they’ve had a lot of motivation to develop drugs that safely and temporarily suppress biotics, so maybe they already have a good one?
There’s lore in the Mass Effect: Invasion comic that biotic dampeners and mental inhibitors both exist and work on asari. It’s also implied that many biotic abilities require the use of your hands, which is why Cerberus had to use both on Aria to keep her from escaping.
Aria doesn’t recognize the biotic dampeners. So either Cerberus invented their own non-standard model, or only Cerberus has this tech. Personally I go with the former because I don’t buy that literally nobody else made them until humans did.
Cerberus seems to be doing their own research in this area—not wanting to rely on alien tech maybe?—so that could be why their stuff is bulky and unrefined, with nasty side effects. Though I also wouldn’t put it past them to think that permanently damaging a matriarch’s biotics with experimental drugs is a win.
Relevant panels (click for full size because Tumblr is cropping them to fit the grid):