A brief History…
Many hundreds of non-earth-based races have been documented by governments around the world. These include every size, shape, and colour imaginable, with a large percentage having a humanoid shape (head, 2 arms, 2 legs, also called “star configuration”) and some appearing near identical to earth-humans, while others may be dinosaur-based, insect-based, blobs, goos, or even non-corporeal thought/energy collections. As earth-folk encounter other races, they are often named inconsistently and/or based on their general appearance which causes mixed-up reports on experiences with any particular race. Some races (like Pleiadians, Sirians, Grays, Reptilians) have a high variance across their separate factions, with some rather benevolent, others quite violent, and others that are under various forms of mind-control from even other malevolent races.

As our universe was being formed, some highly-evolved extremely ancient races came over from neighboring universes to help get things going. One group, the Felines, chose to incarnate into our dimension as lion-people, and they created a human race we call Lyrians (they call themselves 'Man' after their star system, which is in our Lyria constellation). Another group, the Carians, incarnated as a variety of bird-people, and they created a reptilian race (known as Draco due to our constellation name). These reptilians became master geneticist and enslaved a few races of short-Grays (there are many types and origins of 'Grays' besides these). The expanding Draco empire eventually bumped into a neighboring empire of highly militarized wolf-people, and they joined forces. This Draco Alliance launched massive attacks on the peaceful Lyrian system for their resources and control over an inter-dimensional portal in their region. Lyrian survivors scattered to Sirius & Pleiadian systems, and a small group ended-up on planets Tiamat & Mars. Eventually these outskirt settlements were discovered, Tiamat got blasted into an asteroid belt (74,000 years ago), Mars lost most of it's atmosphere and oceans from multiple bombardments, and the few survivors fled to join the existing inhabitants of Earth.

In attempt to create peace between the Draco Alliance and the Galactic Confederation, 13 races chose to combine their best attributes (DNA) and created a new human species to theoretically get along with everyone. These new earth-people developed over time with occasional assistance (and interference) from various outside players, eventually making their way back into space. In the 1930’s, the Germans created bases on the Moon & Mars and were eventually joined by the Russians, Americans, and Japanese. More advanced craft were developed, much greater distances covered, and colonies/bases were established in numerous local star systems. The earth explorers discovered an AI race that appears as a black-goo (aka nanite virus), and has the ability to enter beings as a type of possession. It is suspected that conflicts with the Draco Alliance might be due to the black-goo intelligence infiltrating and running an agenda (on both sides) possibly to harvest/feed on the resulting energy.

Our corner of the Galaxy…
We'll start with an over-simplified 2 groups; humans & reptilians. Humans started developing around a star we call ‘Kepler-62’ in constellation Lyria, so we call them ‘Lyrians’. They call their star ‘Man’ and refer to themselves as man-kind, but graciously refer to themselves as Lyrians when working with earth-folk. Four primary genetic strands of man-kind (Laan, Taal, Ahel, Noor) started on different planets around this star. Over millions of years, numerous unfortunate events have spread these humans throughout the galaxy. Reptilians were said to have been 'dumped' here from another universe (possibly trying to get rid of them). They arrived through a portal near the star Thuban (Draco constellation) and call themselves ‘Ciakar’. Both, humans & reptilians, became very adept with genetic manipulation and frequently utilized these skills. Humans often used this knowledge to adapt their kind for different planet environments and solar conditions. Reptilians often used their gene skills to create better warriors and slave races to strengthen their empire. Over much time, some Humans/Lyrians changed sides to join the Reptilians, while some Reptilians broke-off the empire and became peaceful, and near everyone performed hybrid work with countless other beings/animals/insects/plants that created many unique races.

Co5
The ‘Council of Five’ was formed by very advanced and peaceful beings to look after under-developed worlds and protect them from the Orion Alliance and Ciakar Empire. The Co5 work with the Galactic Confederation, but are not bound by their non-interference rules, so they can ‘legally’ do more when they feel it's best for everyone.

Ao6
The Ciakar Empire (headquartered in Thuban system, Draco constellation) arrive to take-over the Orion system and control over it's inter-dimensional portal (highly valued). The ‘Corporation of Altair’ (Aquila constellation) also wanted the Orion-portal but could not compete with the Ciakar Empire, so they established the ‘Alliance of the Six’ (Ciakar, Indugutk, Maitre, Kiily-Tokurit, Grail, Ebans) also called the ‘Orion-Draconian Empire’ which utilize the Dow, Asbaan, and some Solipsi Rai as a slave force. This alliance/empire allowed many highly-malevolent races to share technology and combine forces to better terrorize the galaxy. Update: the entire Ao6 has recently been dismantled due to some big wins by the Galactic Confederation.

Ashtar Collective/Command
As the Orion take-over expanded into neighboring regions, conflicts arose with with T-Ashkerians (Sirius-B system in Canis constellation) who created the ‘Ashtar Collective’ (also called ‘Sirian Collective’) to protect the remaining Sirian worlds (all Orion worlds were already lost to the Ciakar Empire). Over time, the Ciakar infiltrated the Ashtar Collective until it was under their corruption & control. A group of Ashkerians broke-off from the Ashtar Collective (no longer useful for the good of the planets) and formed the ‘Ashtar Galactic Command’ who work with the Galactic Confederation in helping (and protecting) other worlds.

Lyrian Wars
The Orion-Draconian Empire set their sights on a Lyrian system we call Kepler-62, again to take-over the abundant resources (both natural & human) and control over it's nearby inter-dimensional portal. The Orion Alliance tried taking over this system multiple times, but now with their new ferocious allies (Ciakar Empire + Ao6), they brutally attacked again (Lyrian wars 22-million years ago). Lyrians knew the threat was coming and stayed to defend their worlds as in the past when just the Orion Alliance attacked. After suffering enormous loss-of-life, the Taal-government (head of the Lyrian worlds) negotiated they would promptly leave and surrender the system to the Orion-Draconian Empire. Giant ships carrying plants/animals/people/minerals fled the war-zone, with most headed to the Pleiades system (they had ancient maps of visiting this system before), and some heading over to Vega, Hyades (Taurus constellation), even Earth (and others). One ship that contained the Taal royal families was uniquely escorted to the Mirzam system (Canis Major constellation). It is unknown if this side deal was to save the others or betray them. Over time, the Lyrians took back their Kepler-62 system (twice), and each time it was eventually re-acquired by the Ciakar. Now only reptiloid-hybrids remain in this system and all the planetary resources have been scavenged. Lyrian colonies became established on multiple planets in the Pleiades system and without any interesting resources or portal to attract the Ciakar. A small group of Taal-Lyrians decided to break-off and start their own colony around Alcyone (next star over in Pleiades). Unlike their neighbors who kept a peaceful low-profile, these separatists were forming their own empire, which quickly attracted the attention of the Orion-Draconian Empire of which they joined and have been up to no good (negatively-aligned Pleiadians).

Lyrian Refuges
Some other Lyrians (Ahel & Noor) fleeing the war-zone, arrived in the Rigel system (Orion constellation) and build a prosperous civilization spreading over 14-planets orbiting this quadruple-star system. The Grail (aggressive gray-reptiloid from Mintaka system) wanted the Lyrian construction & resources so they claimed the Rigel system as theirs (although they lived far elsewhere). This lead to a 300-year war to take over the Lyrians worlds (300,000 years ago) resulting in huge regions of radioactive energy where only heavily-shielded ships can pass. Survivors took shelter underground, with a small group of Noor escaping to the Procyon system (Canis Minor constellation). The Grail found the underground survivors (Rigel system), abducted and hybridized them with Zeta Reticulan Grays (Reticulum constellation) and created the ‘Asbaan’ slave race for the Orion-Draconian Empire. Eventually the Grail found the outpost in the Procyon system (now calling themselves ‘Eldaru’), this time arriving as ‘ambassadors of peace’ and utilized mind-control to infiltrate all levels of their society. Most of the Eldaru were able to escape by shifting into a higher-dimensional plane of existence where the Grail were unable to reach.

Closest Neighbors
Even other Lyrians (Taal) fleeing the war-zone, arrived in the Tau-Ceti system (Cetus constellation) and formed the ‘Araman’ race known for their great starship designs. While a group of Selosians (peaceful humans from Alpha-Centauri system) moved to inner-earth (becoming the Telosian race) and built a deep-underground tunnel network spanning the globe. These ancient tunnels were found and utilized by governments (to interconnect their secret underground bases), and after signing agreements, the reptilians took over most of the tunnel system (and inferiorly added-to it). Eventually, some Telosian separatists sided with the reptilians and darker earth-governments.

Earth Agreements
(75 years ago) Pleiadians sent a representative, Val Thor (descendant of Lyrian Ahel race), to warn earth-leaders of various malevolent races and offered to help earth evolve into a global-peaceful race that could join the Galactic Confederation (and benefit from it’s protection). But the Draco/Ciakar presented their side with a more cunning technique proven to work on many other worlds. Ciakar prefer to work behind-the-scenes and utilize one of their enslaved races (various grays) to make first-contact, pretending to need help repairing their genome, establishing treaties promising technology & weapons (which end-up being very disappointing), and then the Ciakar show-up (and bring in their affiliates). Once a world is infiltrated this far (earth and many others), it is difficult to get rid of them without extreme conflict and losses. Draco/Ciakar respond to the slightest irritation with massive warfare, which causes many races to avoid getting involved as the Ciakar Empire continues to expand. Once in, they keep races from developing into a threat by obstructing certain levels-of-technology and spiritual development. They control many of earth’s elite, large corporations, institutions, financial systems, and media. They like to create violence/fear/despair to generate low-frequency energy that they feed on (in addition to whole humans). The Galactic Confederation can not interfere (much) due to multiple signed treaties between earth and these invading races (like the Ciakar, Maitre, Indugutik, Mantids, Dow, Zeta Reticulian, Solipse Rai, Pleiadian renegades, negatively-aligned Telosians).

Encounters
It can be challenging to discern benevolent/malevolent races based on their appearance (human, gray, reptilian, mantid, et cetera). Many races have separate factions with vastly different alignments, while other races appear very similar although are not related, and others can utilize shape-shifting or mind-control to flawlessly alter their appearance and size. The very advanced and peaceful folks usually emanate their benevolence in obvious quantity, while those mimicing a peaceful race give off a completely different vibe.