A bit of back story on the war between my kind and Max's.
The Mantis and the Lace Monitors share the same home world, and our kind has been at war since we first became sentient beings. The Lace Monitors, with their overbearing strength and resourcefulness, were driving the mantis kind to extinction. However, due to the Mantises' lack of individual freedom, and the entire hierarchy moving and acting as one, we managed to greatly surpass the Lace Monitors in technology and were the first species of the two to reach space and contact other species. The two species eventually came to a cease fire agreement, mostly due to the Mantis threatening to bombard their capital from orbit. The grudge between the Mantis and Lace Monitor still stands strong though, even though the war has long since been stopped.
Also, the order of space age is as follows; Zoltan, Engi, Slug, Mantis, Rockmen, Lace Monitor, And Humans and their likeness. With Zoltan being the first to reach space age, and Humans being the last.