There is something to be said about humanity's capacity for change.

Such a concept is present in other species of course, but for say, the Rezenaga, change tends to suit the purposes of their natural dispositions. The Rezenaga are conquerors, through and through, so their drive for change remains central to the concepts of conquest and subjugation. It is an effective drive, as evidenced by their current state of power in the galaxy, but it is also very singular. This made it simple to stop them from intruding upon our space in the Poros systems, for their tactics very much coincided with their basic beliefs, and that is overwhelming strength. Like all species they encountered, the Rezenaga sought to conquer us, but such a like-minded society was... let us say devout in their methods of warfare. Even when we were not looking into their minds we could tell when the Rezenaga would strike, how they would strike, and what was the breaking point for their fleets to retreat. This made our conflict with them a fairly brief one, one fought amongst themselves for the most part. I will admit that the Rezenaga have a naturally hardline disposition to their mentality that makes it initially difficult for us to manipulate, but the issue with them, at that time at least, was that when we figured out how to break one, it was a simple task to break the rest.

To them they were merely fighting the Ivallu, who had put up a valiant physical effort against the overwhelming strength of the Empire, but they never noticed our machinations in the shadows until it was too late. We manipulated half of their assaulting fleet into attacking their own, altering their minds to see only more foes to conquer and not their comrades in arms. Doing this, as well as inflaming their natural bloodlust and zeal for combat past the point of reason, resulted in them nearly destroying each other by the time the battle was done. What little ships that did leave never returned, of course, and for the longest time they branched out to conquer the rest of the galaxy, treating their encounter with us as if it never had happened. That appears to be the general consent among their populace, though I suspect the Empress is very aware of our capabilities. The recent negotiators from the Empire have been fairly difficult to deal with, though I am unsure if that is due to technological advances or due to a change in mindset at this point.

The Coalition as well represents a single like-minded drive, though this appears to be the result of a cultural and societal conditioning rather than a natural disposition like the Rezenaga. That is to be expected of course, as the Coalition has the most diverse spread of species in the galaxy within their ranks. Whether or not they are utilizing this diversity to its fullest extent is another thing entirely, but that is a matter for them to figure out for themselves. What is important to note here, as I have mentioned before, is that despite their physical differences amongst each other it is very easy to tell when someone is part of a Coalition. As with all individuals, there are variations, but the prominence of inclusiveness, equality, and depreciation of the self among them makes adjusting to them as simple as it was with the Rezenaga. They had initially approached us for aid when they first broke from the Empire, thinking to incorporate us within their ranks. A reasonable move from our perspective, but very different in motive when we looked into their minds. They simply came to us to be inclusive rather than anything rational like wanting to use our abilities against the Empire to their advantage. Their pure intent was disarming in a way, and some of us even felt the urge to help them just because of that. They soon came to their senses, however, and saw an opportunity of a different kind.

We assisted them in their war against the Empire by supplying them with the needed resources, but never in excess. Rather, we gave them a bit below the bare minimum, telling them that it was all we could do to supply them with the current amount we had then. They took us at our word, for their battle with the Rezenaga was one on an ideological scale. Knowing this, we knew they would never spend the time to look into our sources nor our true beliefs, of which we have none. In fact, all we had to do was to deliver the package, or in this case resources, to them telling them that we were behind them completely, and to keep up the good fight. They truly believed us to be on their side, while never knowing that another species that we had taken a liking to, the Migou, had dealt with and traded with the Empire. Of course the Empire did not know the Migou's connections with us either, making the Second Galactic Civil War a fairly profitable venture for us overall. The outcome of the war, however, was the one thing we could not predict.

We had predicted that the Coalition would lose the war due to the Rezenaga's own aggressive nature having an edge in combat over the Coalitions own ideological harmony. It doesn't mean the the Rezenaga are a superior species, but just that their own methodology was more suited to combat. It was a truly regrettable outcome, but we saw it as the natural way of things. It would still be profitable to interact with the Rezenaga with the Migou, but to have two powers, both rich in resources and different in demands, would have been the optimal outcome. We were realistic with our expectations however, and expected the inevitable to happen.

That is, until the humans entered the war.

Past our initial encounter with Steven Henry in our space, we did not speak to the humans as often as we expected to. Granted, this was most likely due to the fact that the Poros Systems and UPN space were separated by what was once Empire space, now Coalition. This divide made it fairly difficult to deal with the humans in any grand capacity, so what they were capable of was still somewhat of a mystery to us. The humans that Ghatanota saw during Howard's time seemed to be very much in their growing pains as a society, and there was little we could conclude from Steven's spacecraft other than the fact that humanity had developed their own Space Displacement Drive and were capable of spaceflight. An impressive feat for a species not uplifted by the Empire, but we had no idea how impressive they had become until the battle at Apura V. They had not only become a species that could navigate the stars, but possessed a strength and power that would allow them to conquer it.

The destruction of the Rhekasolis was the first time we saw the true might of the human spirit, and it shook some of us. The following charge of the human fleet into Empire space and subsequent defeat of Empress Szetschu was not much of a surprise after that, but the Treaty of Itraxy was. We had not involved ourselves in the negotiation of the Treaty's terms, as the Poros systems had incurred virtually no damage during the war, but that did not mean we didn't keep an eye on its development. Should the Treaty have held any clauses that were potentially harmful to our interest an... alteration would have to have been made. What the humans had done instead, however, was bring about a situation that was relatively beneficial to us. By allowing both the Empire and the Coalition to exist, as well as making the restoration of the Fractus Systems a top priority, the humans had not only created a more open market to profit from, but also created a large opportunity for us to... assist with. This situation did not come without some notes of worry, however, as there was something different about the humans of this time.

When we encountered Steven there seemed to be a difference to him compared to those of his kind in the past. He and Howard shared the same sense of curiosity between each other but there was an air of... confidence around Steven. We did not know if that was exclusive to him as an individual, but it was a large enough presence in his mind that it piqued our own curiosity for the first time in many years. Of course, with that curiosity came a note of caution. Steven's mind was far more guarded than the humans of Howard's time, and we suspect that it could be due to humanity's own impulse to consider not just one possibility, but many.

Howard's writings might be works of fiction, and perhaps not even the first to introduce the concepts of mindreading to the humans, but what they had done was further push humanity to consider the very possibility of such an ability to exist. Steven may have held a jovial tone in his talks with us, but if Howard was correct in one aspect of his fiction, what was to stop the man from believing everything else that was written as well? When attempting to look into the explorer's mind, we were met with a resistance that shocked even Ghatanota, who up until that point had the most experience with humans. We could still interact with Steven through mental communications, but beyond a few emotions and the occasional fleeting thought, his mind was closed to us. Had he stayed a little longer with us we would have been able to break past these defenses, but he left soon after his encounter with us. I am of the mind that he must have suspected that we were attempting to peer into his mind, and left before any information could have been leaked. An overly cautious sentiment that did not fit the man's openness to discussion, but the only logical conclusion I am able to come up with.

If one man could put up so much resistance, then what was to be assumed about the rest of his species? Even if Steven himself was an outlier, what Howard had done with his fiction was take away one of our greatest advantages, and that was our mystery. It appears that Howard had made fear of the unknown a popular concept amongst humans, but rather than be shackled by this fear, the humans sought to eliminate this fear altogether by pursuing all types of knowledge. At the same time, however, the prominence of their subconscious mind in their behaviors serves as a filter of sorts, screening out the ideas that appear to be nonsensical or not yet plausible. What this does is balance change with habitual stability, which makes humanity develop at a steady rate of change rather than through sharp spurts of growth like the other galactic powers.

As I have mentioned before, it is not that the other galactic powers are not an imaginative sort. In fact, given the distribution of the conscious mind over the subconscious mind that other species have, they should have a larger creative mind than the humans. However, it is due to this very reason that the other galactic powers do not possess much variation of thought, at least on the surface. I say this because the very nature of the conscious mind is one that is easily influenced by outside information. The conscious mind is considered to be "creative" in this aspect because it is more accepting of outside ideas and able to be influenced far easier in this regard. Theoretically, what this does for a species is keep them in a constant state of change due to how easily their minds can be influenced by mere ideas. However, what results instead is that one idea, or group of ideas, gains prominence over the others and pressures the other dissenting opinions out of existence due to the naturally low resistance on the part of the conscious mind. Of course this frame of mind is still subject to change, but it is of a more orderly sort of change.

That cannot be said of humanity, whose own patterns of change can be seen as chaotic at best. Ironically, this chaotic nature of human change is the result of the stability brought upon from their own subconscious behaviors. Humans in general seem to possess a frame of mind that does not outright reject change, but executes it in a far more unpredictable manner. To use a human analogy, consider throwing a glass orb against a wall. If the wall is made of something weak, say paper, the orb should essentially burst right through the wall. Now say that the wall is made of something much harder, like stone, when the orb strikes it it shatters into small pieces, scattering in many different directions. The wall of paper represents a fully conscious mind, while the wall of stone represents a fully subconscious mind, and the glass orb represents change. Now let us say that the wall is made of something soft, but not as weak as paper. A sheet of foam in this instance. When the orb is thrown at this, there is a small initial resistance on the part of the foam, but eventually the material gives way and the orb makes its way through relatively unscathed. That is the state of mind for most species in this galaxy. For humans, imagine a thin, flexible sheet of wood. When the glass orb is thrown at this wall, it shatters, but not without causing a crack in the wood. Through this crack small bits of the glass will make their way through. Sometimes it will be a large portion of the glass, and other times no glass will make it through at all. That is the nature of humanity's disposition to change.

The wooden board in this case is a representation of the 50/50 distribution of the conscious mind over the subconscious mind. It is flexible, but sturdy at the same time. This is what makes it so difficult for Thulu's to influences anything in part of the humans, but also leaves them open to change through discussion and deliberation of ideas. The glass orb, change, shatters when meeting the resistance of the human mind, causing it to splinter in many different directions. This is what has caused the diversity of thought amongst humans to remain a constant in their civilization. That heightened sense of resistance to outside ideas in fact creates and splinters that single idea into many different ideas. Humans have a tendency to question even the most sensible of ideas, which is a result of their subconscious resistance to immediate change. If they so much as feel in the back of their minds that something does not feel right, they will speak out against it. The 70/30 distribution of other species, on the other hand, is much like the foam, with an initial resistance that eventually gives way to that singular idea. Glass will not shatter if not met with the right amount of resistance, and it appears that humanity has achieved, or was merely born with, that balance of resistance and flexibility that both breaks and allows the glass to come through.

What this results in is in multiple different "directions" that change is implemented. Most know this as the human's system of safety nets, but what the most alarming part of this method of change is that it is completely unpredictable, yet ironically within the realm of possibility. If the Thulus represented the chaos of the unknown, the humans in this way represented the chaos of what is already known. They are a constantly fluctuating species, making them hard to predict and plan against. What we could develop for one set of humans could be completely false for another group of a different frame of mind, and it is this divergence in thought that serves as their greatest societal defense against our own machinations. There is no way to appeal to all of humanity at once, and it is because of the variation of thought, alongside by their own subconscious defenses, that makes them possibly the most troublesome species for us to deal with in this galaxy.

A problem that only continues to grow, because it is due to their own curiosity that the realm of what is know grows and what is unknown shrinks. Rather than physically evolving over the years, the humans have developed a mindset that has resulted in a mental "evolution" that continues the more that they find out about the universe. To make this even more bothersome, this evolution occurs within their own subconscious, making it something that we cannot even prevent. It is not stretch to say that the Thulus are masters of conscious thought, but humans, whether knowingly or not, have become masters at altering the very subconscious themselves.

Perhaps it is because of this skill of there that the other galactic powers have become more difficult to handle as of late. Every since the Treaty of Itraxy humanity has become more involved in the realm of galactic politics, and as soon as they did show their might to the galaxy, things have changed. It is most likely subtle to the rest of the Galaxy, but there has been an alarming shift in attitude amongst the powers because of this. The Rezenaga have begun to run their own operations from the shadows, since they no longer possessed the overwhelming strength they thought they had, and they have steadily begun to develop an aggressive, yet persuasive method of diplomacy that has taken some time to adjust to. The Coalition has become more guarded of their activities, and no longer makes as much entreaties towards us to become a part of their civilization. Even when they do there is something different to their minds, a sense of ambition and also a tinge of... secrecy to their efforts. Perhaps it has something to do with the discovery of numerous Faar'Shar relics within their space, as the technology that have begun developing is... impressive to say the least.

These developments could merely be a natural progression of their own civilizations, but these recent developments coincide with the end of human isolationism too much to be a coincidence. Their introduction into the galaxy was bombastic to say the least, and with it came a small subconscious shift among the galaxy. The other powers felt something wrong with their methods when looking at the humans, and as a result have adjusted accordingly, which adds a new element of uncertainty to our dealings with them. This has brought a sense fear among some of my kind, a feeling that we have not felt in a long time. With that fear, however, also comes an excitement amongst my species. We finally had ourselves a competitor, one that not only challenged us themselves, but also provoked those subject to our manipulations to compete against us as well. There has been a sense of stagnation amongst my kind as of late, perhaps one that has been brought about by our own devices, but with the introduction of the humans we have met a species that does not alter the ways of the galaxy through meticulation, but instead through natural whims and drive. We do not know what will come about from this new element of change, but if humanity is involved, the only thing that we can predict is that it will be unpredictable.