Re: The Kra'Vak

This actually made me think of Zahn's Troftt Demesnes (sp ?).

The humans get into a war with a very large alien empire, only to later 
discover the aliens are normally divided into clans and prone to
internal 
bickering.  The reason the humans don't see this is because:

a) humanity is a huge threat and of a genocidal mindset, so the aliens
are 
willing to co-operate
b) culturally, two Troftt who see each other visually can pick up cues 
(tattoos ?) that indicate the pecking order, so chain of command is 
relatively clear, even across clans

The Troftt weren't aggressively expanding, but there was at least an 
acknowledgement that a fractured community could band together and be 
effective, but needed non-human mechanisms for it to work.

Tom
Tom + Dana McCarthy