Andalite - Interspecies Relations

Interspecies Relations

Andalites have varied relations with many different species outside their planet. They are generally known to be a helpful, friendly race, spreading enlightenment and aid wherever possible. However, an example that mars their reputation and simultaneously jades many Andalites to their own culture as well as that of outside species, is Seerow's Kindness, named after Prince Seerow, one of the first Andalites to be stationed on the homeworld of a newly discovered species, the Yeerks.

In their natural state, the Yeerks are blind, defenseless slugs that are, however, capable of entering the brains of other species, interfacing with their host's mind, and then controlling the creature. When the Andalites arrived, the Yeerks had already taken a clumsy, weak race known as the Gedds as their hosts. Despite this, most of them never became aware of anything beyond the small, natural pools of their homeworld. Seerow felt sorry for the Yeerks, and taught them the technology they needed to travel beyond their world, and showed them the stars. He built them portable Kandronas, devices mimicking the rays of the Yeerk sun, allowing them to leave the confines of their world.

In return for Seerow's aid, the Yeerks betrayed the Andalites, attacking their outpost and slaughtering the minimal guarding force (who had been instructed by Seerow not to fire on any Gedds), and stole the Andalite fighters that were on the ground, escaping into space, but not before circling around to the far side of the planet to bring their fellow Yeerks aboard. Then, the Andalite ships, loaded with numerous pools full of Yeerks, left the homeworld, aiming to conquer the galaxy with the technology that Seerow had given them.

Ever since, the Andalites have fought against the Yeerks, trying to prevent them from taking over more innocent worlds. The Yeerks have already taken over numerous species, including the cannibalistic Taxxons, who voluntarily submitted to the Yeerks, and their ironically herbivorous shock-troops, the Hork-Bajir. These species were, however, slow to reproduce and insufficient for the massive number of Yeerks that needed hosts. There have also been many failures like the Hawjawbrans, who couldn't be infested because their brain is spread out throughout their body; the Yeerk's eventual goal was to fully infest Class 4 and Class 5 races (Andalites and humans, respectively), which would give them the troops they needed to take over more worlds and expand their empire. Their ultimate prize would be the Andalites, for whom the Yeerks had developed a deep hatred, despite the species' initial kindness towards them.

The Andalites are also enemies of the Kelbrid. The two species have a strict treaty, whereby neither can enter the other's space; the exact history of their relations is mysterious, however, especially considering neither side actually knows anything about the other, including what they look like.