I've had this idea about The Uplifters, or The Alid. Who are a race of four-eyed, long-necked, shy people whose scientific endeavours are unparalleled in the whole of Free Space.
They are rare now, but can be found behind the scenes all throughout the galaxy.
The Decivers
They gained a bad reputation, years later, because many of their accomplishments were found to be false.
The Alid are responsible for uplifting nearly every race of Free Space, and after uplifting them, the Alid and Aldani would then take these primitive species on a tour of the universe, teaching them, talking to them, and essentially allowing themselves to be worshipped.
As time went on, they started to take credit for many things that they, themselves, stumbled upon when they first began to traverse the stars. One notable thing was The Rings, which are large objects used for travelling Jump Lanes.
They told them that they built them, but in fact, they were ancient structures that pre-dated all current space-faring races.
The Rings were reverse-engineered years later, and now these large structures have been built as a way of charting new Jump Lanes.
The Beskins
The Alid journeyed far and wide to find society's who were similarly advanced, but they never found any. However, they did find many inhabited planets, each in different stages of development.
First, they found the Beskins, who were on the cusp of becoming space-faring. After many debates, they decided to make first contact with them.
The Beskins didn't trust the Alid, and there was an uneasiness to their initial encounters. The Beskins were socially stunted and a very isolated species, which became obvious later.
They were told of three previous societal collapses, which stunted the Beskins' advancements. They would constantly rebuild atop the ruins of ancient societies, learning from previous ones that came before.
The people of Besk quickly became close allies with the Alid, who were happy with how fast they learned. Many Beskins left their world to go with Alid teams, to explore and learn more about the cosmos.
The Doshans
The second race to be uplifted was the Doshans, who were far from space-faring. Not because they were stupid, but because they were too interested in their own world to want to leave.
Their society revolved around plant and animal life, and unlocking the secrets of their world.
When first contact was made, the Doshans hid. The Alid assumed they were frightened and not ready, but instead, the Doshans were holding a group meditation to commune with their long-gone. In order to ask for guidance.
Interactions were peaceful initially, but there were tensions between certain Alid and Doshan warriors. Tempers flared, but soon simmered back down.
The Alid brought some Doshans among the stars to teach them; however, it was noted that Doshans were very strong-willed on average and ended up disagreeing with the Alid on many things, which led to a good exchange of knowledge between them.
I wouldn't mind returning to this topic down the line, because this is as far as I've gotten with first contact and the Alid in general.
