About four hundred Earth-standard years ago, another technologically advanced starfaring species appeared on the fringe of the Triangulum Galaxy. They arrived in a ramshackle fleet with a rapidly failing stardrive that had been shedding outlying ships for decades.
They had been a colony fleet sent to a system a mere dozen light years from their home. It had been their species’ second most incredible undertaking in their history, second only to stopping killing each other over petty tribal differences long enough to assemble it – literally and figuratively. The colonists came from all walks of life and every part of their homeworld, impressive given their shared history of violence at the slightest provocation.
As a testament to their creativity and determination, they transformed a barely-habitable world with an unbreathable atmosphere into a new homeworld in less than a hundred years. Of course, it wasn’t like they had much of a choice in the matter. Their stardrive had fused completely at the edge of the star system, forcing them to undertake a seven month marathon crawl with a jury-rigged ion drive barely worthy of consideration as a propulsion system powered by solar sails and every power source they could scrounge from the ships whose crews had perished during their intergalactic journey.
These newcomers were bipedal, taller, and bulkier than Gliror, but shorter and more lightly built than a Thabbo. Their body hair was much thinner, more a decorative vestigial trait than anything resembling fur. Also unlike Thabbo, these creatures could control their more violent tendencies for the most part. As Gliror and Thabbo both soon discovered, these tendencies could reappear with alarming speed and force.
Gliror explorers first encountered them a little over two and a half centuries ago. This first contact was with a group of prospectors surveying a system near their adopted homeworld. Communication was eventually established between these prospectors, the Gliror explorers, and linguists from both species. Despite their brutish appearance, they turned out to be intelligent and relatively peaceful.
The first Gliror to meet them sarcastically referred to them as “Bothata,” an ogre-like creature from their mythology. It is still occasionally used as a mild racial slur, usually semi-jokingly. After the two races learned to communicate, the newcomers formally introduced themselves as “humans.”
After contact was normalized, the two species enjoyed mostly peaceful relations. Humans and Gliror both being descended from social hunters, however, did and still does lead to occasional skirmishes. Neither side has ever allowed things to escalate to open warfare. Again, both sides are descended from social hunters and both sides have enough imagination to figure out the likely outcome. Some groups on both sides even appear to have fun with the situation, most notably the informal wargames between Patrol ships and their Gliror counterparts. Officially, neither the Alliance nor any local Gliror government will endorse these activities, but informally both sides treat it as valuable training.
Humans are a highly expansionist species. They have fleets constantly prowling the frontier looking for anything interesting and profitable, and these explorations bring them into contact with whoever got there first. With their hair triggers and species-wide paranoia, these contacts don’t always go well. Fortunately, the Alliance maintains a solid diplomatic corps and they can usually smooth things over.
When Alliance exploration goes badly, it has sometimes led to war. In most cases, it’s short-lived and the diplomats can fix things. On one occasion, humans encountered a species even more violent than themselves, one that not only is disinclined toward peaceful relations but is also better at mass destruction, and things got ugly. Enter the Thabbo. First contact was marked by immediate hostilities from the Thabbo and resulted in the Alliance explorers taking heavy losses before barely escaping. When the diplomats stepped in they were tortured and eaten by the Thabbo, apparently because it was funny. After a series of wastefully destructive battles, a bloody stalemate was reached. The Thabbo more or less behave themselves in Alliance space, and the Patrol doesn’t go to known Thabbo-controlled areas.
Expansion in the humans’ case also involves extensive colonization. Where Gliror would take what they need and move on, or maybe leave a base camp in especially promising hunting grounds, humans will move in en masse and settle for the long haul. Colonization of choice worlds has led to some tense diplomatic engagements between the Alliance and local Gliror, usually resolved by the colonists agreeing to leave certain areas undeveloped and let hunting parties come and go.
Sometimes this colonization is accidental. As the Pedro Cabral’s drive failed, outlying ships started falling out of its warp bubble. Most were simply lost with all hands, either dropping into intergalactic or deep interstellar space. Some got far luckier than anyone could have hoped and found themselves in the same situation as the Pedro Cabral, reentering normal space near a world suitable for colonization. There are several of these “Lost Colonies,” and two were notable for their own expansionism.
Katzbalger Industrie’s contribution to the Tau Ceti mission found itself adrift near a resource-rich world with a pleasant climate. They beached their ship and set up shop immediately. As they had originally intended to start their own semi-independent colony, they were well prepared to build a fully-independent colony instead. Over the last few centuries, they have set up their own interstellar corporate state controlling a dozen worlds. While they aren’t as paranoid and warlike as the Alliance, their technology makes them dangerous foes when provoked. Void Pirates have learned to steer well clear of Katzbalger shipping, and even Thabbo don’t usually antagonize them unnecessarily.
Sonoziel was originally colonized by a megachurch’s missionary ship. Emerging from warpspace within spitting distance of a planet with breathable air was seen as confirmation of God’s plan for them, and they eventually became a fanatical theocracy run by holy warriors. These events led to the bloodiest war in Alliance history, ravaging dozens of systems and killing billions. The once-beautiful Sonoziel itself was a casualty of this crusade, reduced to a blasted, radioactive rock with poisoned atmosphere, and mantle-deep cracks in the crust radiating out from the miles-deep crater where the capitol had been.
Another casualty of this crusade was the concept of belligerently organized religion in the Alliance. While religion isn’t outlawed or even socially unacceptable, megachurches and large religious movements as politically-active blocs have fallen heavily out of favor. For the most part, the humans of the Alliance now consider religion a largely private matter; unsolicited discussions of religious beliefs are considered gauche in the extreme.