>>Why did the V'Straki go all colonial-imperialist despite being
>>ill-adapted to the worlds they were conquering?
>
>I haven't read any of what y'all are talking about, so I don't really
>have a dog in this fight, but it occurs to me that this particular
>point has plenty of real-world historical precedent. Look at all the
>places on Earth that are absolutely unsuitable for English people, but
>which were part of the British Empire. :)

Oh, sure, empires gonna conquer.

To extend the analogy, though, imagine that the Aztec Empire not only kicked Cortez's butt, they proceeded to invade Europe and exterminate its entire population. And then they decreed that, in the interest of world peace, no one would ever again be permitted to live above 36⁰N, anywhere on Earth, on pain of immediate execution upon discovery, because clearly that was the conquistadores' problem.