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You have a race...the Amplitur, who travel the cosmos finding other races and taking them over. Once they conquer them they use genetic engeneering to bend them to "The Purpose". THe have defeated every race they have come across, no matter how long it took. Centuries ago they came across another group of races, this one called the Weave, and combat ensued. The Weave has fought vainly but they know that one day they will lose, so they send out a search for other races to help them. The come across earth and decide to try and get us on their side. Pretty standard stuff so far right... so here is the twist.

None of the other races in the galaxy like war, or are any good at it.. they fight in a Napoleonic fashion, with rules adn brute force. The Weave knows we are the difference, for our ability to "enjoy" war makes us the perfect allies. But the Weave fears us just as much because we are so dangerous, and they don't understand our warlike manner any more than the Amplitur does.

So while they try to get our help and use us they also try to hold us at arms length. They admire us as you would admire a alligator... for his ability to hunt, but they fear us for the same quality. These books ask the question, what is human nature... and why do we think that aliens will be the agressors instead of us? They also tackle issues like genetic engineering and war, in a way that makes you think about the downside of the first adn the upside(?) if the second. An interesting 3 book series to be sure.

[Mod: review linked, but still unrated. -- Brad, 07-Sep-2007]
[Mod: review re-linked, but still unrated. -- Brad, 09-Sep-2007]

These books ask the question, what is human nature... and why do we think that aliens will be the agressors instead of us?

and that is the amusing little point that is lost on most people. ALL life (excepting certain of the most basic types of algae) exists by confiscating/appropriating/developing resources gathered or needed by other forms of life. whether it's plants competeing for water/sunlight/soil (and what is soil? it's dirt with dead plant matter in it) or the vegetarians that consume the plants or the carnivores that consume the vegetarians all of life is about using others for the gain of self.
why is there thieving and robbery? because it is more efficient in the short term to take resources from others rather than developing them yourself.
why are there gangs and physical intimidation? to drive off competitors to resources or to confiscate resources from the 'other' more efficiently.
why is there war? because it is nothing more than the first two questions writ large.

there isn't any reason NOT to expect LGM's to be at least potentially dangerous simply because they would be life and they would be other. if THEY are the technologically superior when we meet, the danger to mankind is likely to be very grave indeed. just as they should be concerned about us were the situation to be reversed.

But, just becasue they have created the technology that allows them to come to earth does not mean that they would be more advanced in other areas. If they were a hive mind, for instance, and had no natural enemies where they came from, they might have not "real" weapons. There are simply too many scenarios... and that is why good scifi will live on, becasue good authors use a scenario that has not been done yet.

umm, a species capable of reasonable interstellar travel wouldn't need weapons per se. the drive on their ship would be quite sufficient. but there isn't even a need to do that. simply dropping rocks from orbit would be quite devastating indeed. considering that right now we'd (the entire planet) have a serious problem trying to lift >20 satellites (much less manned shots) to geo-sync within 6 months all they would have to do would be to stand off at L4 and L5 or the moon proper and there wouldn't be a damn thing we could do about it.

also, i can't imagine a technological civilization that sprang from a mono-culture ecology. blue-green algae with lasers and warp drive? in any biosphere, even a mono-culture biosphere, there is still competition for resources.

the aggressiveness in life is not a function of intelligence it is a function of life. hell, virii are as simple and unintelligent as you can get and they survive and propagate by subsuming and destroying the cells of a host entity and while it's not a survival trait it's not unusual for virii to prove lethal to the host as well as the hosts cells.

intelligence isn't violence, intelligence asks if there might not sometimes be a better way than violence. the answer is not always affirmative.