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The Swall commander sends you a (very likely whitewashed) version of their history and biological information; excluding any genetic information, of course. In return, you send them a Hegemonic introductory video; one that is intended for new species about to become a <span class="mu-i">subjugate</span> species.
They are a sexually reproductive race of bipeds; and are indeed amphibious. It seemed at some point in their evolution, being able to remain in both land and water was incredibly beneficial, and they have retained that ability even now, being able to breathe air as well as filter water through their gills. On a planet with such a wide tropical band and so many island habitats, it makes sense to be able to move between both. The Swall developed on their home planet of Swallia, which is a very comfortable and nice planet for most life forms. Not as fecund as Vetuck II, but a huge degree of biodiversity and the climate makes this place teeming with highly evolved and niched life forms.
Their sexes lack the dimorphism of Jaxtians and Vetuck aliens; their females lack secondary sexual characteristics such as breasts- as they are not mammals. However, they still have a very strong k-selection strategy; as their females put almost all of their bodily resources into an egg, which is watched after by both parents in a strong bonding ritual before the child is born. This, in combination with their constant need to adapt to two totally different habitats, lead to an incredible development of the brain and their intelligence.
In fact; even cursory tests of their intelligence between your races indicates that the Swall can be <span class="mu-i"><span class="mu-s">significantly more intelligent then a Jaxtian</span></span>. Due to your species eugenic progress, the average Jaxtian is still a bit ahead of the average Swall- but their geniuses are more then a match for your own. This information is not told to you by the Swall themselves- so it is not a bluff. It is apparent from studying the data; their people developed the combustion engine something like five times in total isolation from each other. The past one hundred years of industrial progress from early industrial revolution to the early computer age is more then proof enough.
Their most modern history also shows signs of their strenght- it seems the few remaining nation states on the planet after many years of war and conquest were able to break the MAD stalemate by putting aside their differences and combining forces; possibly to deal with the threat of aliens. Who they also correctly predicted to be common, due to where they are located in your galaxy- and they are currently forming their polity and experimenting with a moon mission to one of their homeworld's two moons. There are <span class="mu-i">living</span> members of this species who grew up in houses which did not have electricity or running water.
It is, perhaps, very fortunate you ran into them while you had a head start.
