Actually that brings up another question. One of the many reasons we humans developed intellect in the first place (yes i consider humans to be smart) was our frail physique or the other way around that our big brains made powerful ape physique obsolete (mountain chimps are no joke).Arioch wrote: That could probably be better worded. Once the space war was lost, the Delrias didn't expect to win any large-scale battles, but they considered themselves to be unconquerable; because they are so large and physically dangers, and of a culture in which nearly every fit adult has fighting skills, they expected to be able to make occupation so costly that the Loroi would give up the attempt and agree to a peace treaty. They were making plans for perpetual to-the-last-man resistance similar in some ways to what the Japanese were planning at the very end of WWII. However, the Loroi special forces were able to effectively decapitate the Delrias command structure and control some key replacements, and so each of the Delrias worlds surrendered promptly after limited fighting. This unexpected reversal (confounding the expectations of the Delrias populace) led to the collapse of the society and a bloody civil war.
Anyway what i wonder is what could possible have motivated the delrias need for physical prowess when clearly brains wins over brawns in evolutionary terms. Were they competing with gigantic predators? (yes i'm well aware that they themselves are gigantic predators). This question also applies to the Niberen which i assume are on similar intellectual capacity as us Humans.