Palaven

Palaven is the turian home world. The planet has a weak metallic core which allows greater than normal levels of radiation to breach the planet's atmosphere. As a result, most life on Palaven has evolved some kind of metallic exoskeleton to protect itself from high levels of radiation. Although life on Palaven is carbon-based and oxygen-breathing, it is built on dextro-amino acids. This places the turians in a distinct minority on the galactic stage; the quarians are the only other sapient dextro-protein race. Despite the high levels of radiation, Palaven is not as hot as one would think, the weather being equivalent to hot-tropical on Earth.