Mass Effect: Andromeda introduced two new races to fans, and while that may have seemed like it wasn't enough for some, the Kett and the Angara came with enough baggage to satisfy even the hungriest of players. Much of the conflict introduced in the Heleus Cluster swarmed between the two races, and the native Angara were forced to stand strong on a multitude of levels if they had any intention of surviving.
The Angara Resistance did everything they could to oppose their oppressors, but for several Angara, it wasn't enough. Resistance fighter Akksul was abducted and imprisoned in a Kett labor camp for over a year, and by the time he managed to escape, he was fed up with not just the Kett, but with the Resistance itself. He broke away, forming his own faction: the Roekaar.
Named after ancient military fighters from Angaran mythology, the Roekaar began when Akksul started recruiting young Angara and disenfranchised Resistance members who didn't believe their leaders were doing enough. They bore a deep hatred for the Kett, so deep that when the Andromeda Initiative began arriving in the Heleus Cluster, the Roekaar's prejudice instantly judged them to be a threat.
Prior to the arrival of the Andromeda Initiative, the Roekaar and the Resistance went about their business, ignoring one another in their fight against the Kett. After the Andromeda Initiative entered the picture, the Roekaar turned their hatred to these new aliens, eventually prompting their own people to act against them for the greater good.
In hopes of putting a stop to whatever plans they intended to carry out, their assumptions of a hostile first encounter drove the Roekaar to take action. On Kadara, where many of the Initiative's refugees escaped after the Nexus Uprising, a cell of Roekaar led by Farah Noskos began murdering the aliens from the Milky Way. Angara who sought to help those aliens or offer them refuge were also brutally slain, and the serial killings led Reyes Vidal to seek help from the Pathfinder to get to the bottom of it.
Another cell on Kadara captured a human woman named Ruth Bekker, who suffered from a rare and lethal cross-species virus called TH-314. Discovering through experimentation that the Angara were immune to its effects, they continued experimenting on Bekker in hopes of cultivating the virus so they could spread it to the other aliens and wipe them out.
They launched numerous assaults on the Andromeda Initiative, but even as the Initiative proved their worth and their intentions to the Angara and the Resistance, it was not enough to console or even bring the Roekaar to the table to discuss cessation of hostilities.
Eventually, Akksul, who had been a student of Moshae Sjefa alongside Jaal Ama Darav, called Jaal out as a traitor to his people for joining forces with the Andromeda Initiative. He convinced several of Jaal's siblings to join the Roekaar, which wrought discord within his family unit. Jaal sought the aid of Pathfinder Ryder to help convince them the Roekaar were not the way and bring them back to safety.
As Jaal and the Pathfinder team battled through swarms of Roekaar in an effort to save his siblings, it became clear that Akksul had even more sinister plans in store. He lured the Pathfinder to Eos, but they were able to deflect the full assault and take out his teams. Enraged, Akksul drew Jaal and the Pathfinder to Havarl, where he openly tried to provoke Ryder into killing him and making him a martyr.
The player could kill Akksul, which would prove his philosophy about the Milky Way aliens was true -- they were truly no better than the Kett. If Ryder didn't shoot at Akksul when he aimed his gun at Jaal, he lost the respect of his men, who saw that, despite their xenophobic fear of all aliens, Ryder was actually different. They had done a lot to stabilize multiple planets, saved Moshae Sjefa from Kett exaltation and managed to instill some fear in the Kett themselves, who had, since day one, ruled the Heleus Cluster and made life for the Angara impossible.
If Ryder spared his life, most of Akksul's followers disbanded, and the Roekaar threat began to diminish. This made it easier for both the Andromeda Initiative and the Angara to focus on what truly mattered: wiping out the Kett. Working together (instead of against one another) provided them the opportunity to combine forces in the end game battles.
Given their experience with the Kett, it is difficult to blame the Roekaar for their initial reaction. However, in time, their activities against the Andromeda Initiative settlers and explorers proved to be just as bad (if not worse) than the enemy they felt so violated by themselves. They became the violent oppressors, battling not just the aliens they felt threatened by without cause, but also punishing their own people for interacting with and supporting them.
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