War and Cuddles (interspecies society)

The Atilans were a brutal species that hadn't known a day of peace since before they began recording history. They conquered each other, raided enemy lands, and fought in long bloody wars. A century of fruitful harvests and milder climate had mellowed them out considerably, but they were still a fiercely competitive people when they met the soft-scaled Navo people.

The Navo's disposition was as soft as the scales that covered their bodies, and they did not understand the Atilan explorers whose first thought upon meeting the sapient species they shared a planet with had been to challenge them to a wrestling competition. The Atilans were confused as well. They had established an honor system that forbade unprovoked attacks on people who hadn't agreed to fight, and the Navo steadfastly refused every challenge issued. The displays of **** appalled the peaceful people who preferred to hug out their differences and give each other pleasure instead of pain.

The more 'diplomatic' Atilans made some headway when they treated the Navo's gentle ways as a competition, competing to see who could inflict more pleasure on whom. The Navo in turn came to realize that conflict was a non-negotiable part of Atilan culture and that the red, smooth-skinned beings were happiest when engaged in some form of roughhousing.

Concerned with the potential chaos of allowing this **** to go unchecked, and unable to come up with a different solution, the Navo summarily adopted every Atilan on the planet, vowing to care for their charges and channel their aggressive instincts into safe, supervised playfights.

The Atilans weren't exactly happy with this arrangement, especially as the worrysome Navo kept pulling them apart just when their fights were starting to be fun. And the safety equipment they tried to get them to wear was simply unbearable! The Navo were convinced that they were doing what was best for the Atilans, but over time the rambunctious beings became listless and withdrawn. Aggression was not just part of their culture, but an instinctive drive that was being repressed. For the good of their quarrelsome pets, the Navo would have to dial back their over-protective nature.