More info on Aliens

The galaxy is very big and we are just one of its many peoples.  

Perhaps the best way to view the situation was made by Captain J Millner of Range 3.

“To us the galaxy is a wonderful new place full of interesting new races. We explore with expectations of hope and fear. We want to make friends. We worry about accidentally starting a war. On the other hand; most aliens, who have been living, working, traveling in space for hundreds of years, see it as a large sea of mostly useless star systems, each much like the next. Humans are just another race among many. Meeting us is a novelty, or it is business as usual for them. This lack of interest towards Humanity is likely a good thing, but some of us find it oddly disturbing.” 

The Data Files

Following our first diplomatic meeting with the Saurians, we received a great deal of info.  The statements here are a brief overview of our galactic neighbors, put together from that info and from the opinions of high command. 

The Saurian, lizard people are one of several reptilian races in the galaxy. 

Their home world is about 66 LY away, but they have a colony world 19 LY from Earth. 

This, makes them our closest natural neighbor. This is of critical important to future development, both diplomatically and geographically. According to their records, they have been space traveling for 8,000 years, exploring this area of the galaxy, planting colonies and ensuring the survival of their species. (They were not clear how they relate to some of the other lizard like races.)

The UN is concerned that we may be stepping on their tails with our activities. Although they do not seem hugely advanced, they have had a long time to refine their technology. Thus the diplomatic core aims at developing a friendship, while the military considers defensive postures of strength, wanting to avoid seeming aggressive or weak.  

 

The Zetans, AKA the Grays, are a short humanoid race who are very curious and acquisitive. 

Their home world about 150 LY from Earth. 

"They are the neighbors who poke their nose in your business and borrow your yard tools without asking. They like to claim that they are highly advanced, with a culture that is beyond war and social strife. They are sneaky lil bastards." That is what the Saurian said. 
It seems the Grays value Humans as warriors. They have been responsible for many abductions over the last century, first examining us, later kidnapping us to use as troops. They are at war with the "Lobstrons" and we dont know how it is going. The Saurian claim to be neutral in the war.

The Mollusk Sapiens AKA Lobstron, are a hostile lobster like race.
Their home work is about 160 Ly from Earth.
Because of the Gray's use of Humans as warriors, we seem to be considered an enemy race by the Lobstron. Thus far no contact with them has been friendly. No words have been exchanged. The UN wants to open diplomacy but has not yet found a way.  The UN-EDF considers attack by the "clawful critters" highly likely in the near future.
The Saurian said "They are demanding and uncompromising, not the sort of race you can easily get along with. Our last war with them was 200 years ago. We expect another eventually."

The Analla, AKA the Antarran, are the elder race and hold dominance over all the galaxy. 

Their home world is near the galactic center. 25,000 LY distant.

"They dont much care what you do. So long as you do not destroy planets or interfere with their comfort, they will not exerciser their role as Peace Keepers. But if you get on their bad side, they will use their advanced tech to drive you back to the stone age. They have done it to several races. When dealing with the Analla, show a lot of respect." That is the Saurian advice. 
"The Analla seem arrogant and condescending, because they are powerful. They build giant FTL ships that violate many known laws of physics. They do not share their secrets. They do not trade because there is nothing other races have that they want. They allow other races to self govern because it is the wise thing to do." 
The UN does not yet have any solid facts on this race, only what the Saurian told us. 
 

Side Note 1;

There is no interstellar law. The Analla do not have a guide book for proper behavior. It is known that genocide offends them, so the mass bombing of a race’s home-world is off the table. However they don't seem to care if a few small colonies get destroyed.

Side Note 2;

Because of FTL travel, borders are almost meaningless. Distance does matter, for travel times. But in theory you could plant a colony 100 light years away from home with out much worry, because nothing can effectively block travel. You can not set up border security posts.

Side Note 3;

The universal translator is a computer program ( similar to what humans were experimenting with ) that allows near real time communication. It requires a large data base of each language and a bit of time to familiarize itself with the participants mods of speech or text. It works well enough in most exchanges but can fail horribly at the most critical times. For example; in a noisy tense situation with people speaking rapidly and demanding quick responses.

Distant Neighbors of Importance

The TyrNallan, AKA the Tyranyans, are the Empire. 

Their home world is about 1,000 LY from earth. 

"For reasons built upon protection of themselves, they expanded to control a region of space and to absorb the nearby races into their civilization. They put themselves first but are not horribly abusive of their subject races. They are quite aggressive towards outsiders." said the Saurian. "They have been exploring space for about 4000 years. Although officialy not interested in trade, there is a merchant class in the Empire that does conduct trade with outsiders."
 
Of great interest to the UN is the fact that Tyranyans are very humanoid in appearance. Thus, we may be mistaken for them by some aliens. We do not expect them to be a problem any time soon. 

The Zuruff who live near the Empire.
" Small furry friendly aliens. They found Humans about 1300 years ago and recruited them as warriors. However things did not go as expected. The small group of Humans soon came to dominate the Zuruff, as protectors and overlords. Thus the star kingdom of Ruffinna was born. This has long been a cautionary lesson for other races who consider employing aliens as a warrior class." the Saurian explained with no small amount of humor.  

The Sprron, AKA Fugguians are blob monsters who like to expanded. 

Their home world is unknown. 

"They are a fungi race, who only inhabit high carbon-dioxide worlds ( like Venus ). Not only do they look very alien their modes of thinking are also very unlike ours. They do not set up outposts in other star systems, they rarely make any orbital stations. They are big on bio-tech. They do try to claim all planets that are similar to their home world, and ignore all others. The selective pattern of expansion they follow has caused them to cover a wide area of space with huge gaps in it, as many systems were of no value to them.When you first run across them, you may think them native to the planet, as little if any space tech is likely to be present. They do not conduct interstellar trade and relations."  the Saurian made no apology for their own policy of exterminating Sprron where ever they find them.