The aliens are intelligent intertidal creatures whose reproductive unit is about 10-20 individuals. They spend time in a community pool, where they emit sperm, eggs, whatever, unconsciously; these come together in the water and form the babies. The adults almost always eat in the pool, and they're messy eaters, which gives the babies something to grow on. An alien can't distinguish its children, or who it mated with, so all loyalty is to the community. They don't have loyalty to individuals -- like herd animals.

Their language and their personal dealings have little emotional content; they're mostly rational agents, and they'd remind us alternately of Aspberger's cases (bright, scientific, and emotionally unaware) or even evil beings (in that they don't care about individuals, or not much).

The humans are a group of libertarians who fled a crackdown on cultural, political, and religious diversity, a hundred years back. The ship they're in is a warship (a military unit defected). It took them a hundred years to get to the alien system, so they've little fear of pursuit. In a century of living in an artificial environment, their libertarian, tolerant ways are under strain, since they have to cooperate on almost everything.

They want to settle in the system; the aliens may not let them.

I can think of some conflicts that could generate characters:

* Aliens are afraid of our ability to work as a unit, for irrational reasons; they may decide to exterminate us pre-emptively
* Other aliens want to cut a deal, to get our interstellar drive, or other things
* Humans disagree on whether to disarm; whether the aliens are naive and to be exploited or dangerous and to be fought or avoided
* Humans note that the aliens reflect their ideology, and are disturbed by it or gratified
* Maybe others

What I'm hoping for is comments along the lines of, wouldn't it be cool if you had such-and-such happen. I'll take any other comments you have, too.

Will, I really liked the conception process of the alien race and the implications for their society, but the eating thing seemed odd to me. Perhaps it’s just the short description used here but it seems comical.

Onto possible conflicts: if the aliens like cooperation, unless they perceive humans as a threat, I don't see why they wouldn't like them working as a unit. The irrationality doesn't work for me for a race of bright, rational, and scientific (your words). I could buy that they misread or misunderstand some social/ emotional cues from the humans and these are interpreted as threatening, but irrationality strikes me as false given the rest of the description (IMO).

I would hope that at least some of the humans think the aliens are worth befriending, although taking advantage of and being scared of the aliens are certainly likely.
In this vein, I think an interesting conflict will be how the crew has to reconcile their values of tolerance and libertarian views when applying those to other species. Especially if the aliens are perceived as a potential threat.

I hope some of this helps. Again, I really liked your new alien race and would definitely want the story to explore conflicts between their views and values, and those of the more independent, individualistic human crew.

I wouldn't classify individuals with Asperger's as "bright, scientific and emotionally unaware" however. In my last job I supervised an apartment building for people with mental health diagnoses. One gentleman was diagnosed with Asperger's and he was VERY aware of his emotions - he just often had trouble controlling them, especially in social situations. There tends to be a normal or even high IQ as well as a tendency to become preoccupied with a certain subject nearly to the exclusion of everything else - often leading to extremely in-depth and esoteric knowledge.

There is also a tendency to use very large words (and a lot of them), but often they encounter difficulty in communicating because thoughts and words get strung together often without consideration for what is being said.

The thing sbout this is that their behaviour in regard to certain triggers can appear irrational. It isn't to them but it is to an external observer. So, literally anything could be a point of conflict here, from cultural taboos to behavious patterns.

How technologically advanced are these aliens? Do they spend most of their time in the pools? If it were me, I would take the high ground far from the ocean and count on the aliens' reluctance to venture far from the pool. How would these aliens differentiate their loyalty to the group and their loyalty to their particular intertidal pool?

I would also look at the aliens' religious beliefs, just because they are rational beings does not preclude them believing in something greater than themselves. Think of how vulnerable they are to the elements. They must sense power out there.

I would also wonder about genetic diversity within such a community. Do you get the occasional migrant?

On the subject of language, why do they have to have a verbal language? Perhaps they could communicate with each other through chemicals emitted into the water, others receive these chemical which induce a certain sympathetic thought or process of thought. They may not have or need a spoken language.

Cool, imagine getting into a pool with them and they can read all your thoughts! Or your chemical markers come across as evil to them because of your belief in free-will and self-determination.

What would happen if the humans could drop an alka-seltzer into the pond and send them all 'deaf'.

They could have such and allegiance to their own pond because all the sediment acts like a kind of 'archive' a history of thoughts and conversations etc of all the ancestors.
Imagine what memories and feelings and the like, storms or rough seas could stir up.

heh heh, I've gone and amused myself.

Some questions re your conflicts:
* Aliens are afraid of our ability to work as a unit, for irrational reasons; they may decide to exterminate us pre-emptively.

(I thought they were like super-duper rational)

* Other aliens want to cut a deal, to get our interstellar drive, or other things

(I don't understand where the 'other' aliens came from, surely the intertidal aliens would never dream of leaving their ancestral pools.)

* Humans note that the aliens reflect their ideology, and are disturbed by it or gratified

(Aren't these 'libertarians' likely to despise the lack of 'free will' displayed by the aliens' culture? Wouldn't you be tempted to want to get one or two out of their incestuo-soup and into another pool.)

Ideas for sources of conflict:
* Human activity, clearing land, mining resources making cement altering groundwater runoff, sewerage e-coli etc contaminates waterways. Humans never had to live in an ecosystem where another species could complain or take reprisal before.

*Perhaps something has happened to the humans on their long voyage and they have trouble reproducing. Lets say the aliens see this lack of fertility as a clear indication that humans as a species heading for extinction. In that context, if I were an alien and saw humans doing something that would have lasting impacts on me and my progeny I would intervene rather than have to deal with the mess after the humans were gone. It could be something as simple as teaching them riddles or brainteasers conundrums etc to something as devastating the introduction of blue-green algae from the water dumped from the spacecraft upon landing.

*Maybe they just see us as filthy creatures riddled with parasites and diseases, or maybe these renegade soldiers somehow unwittingly introduce a venreal disease into the pools.

'The serpent beguiled me...'

(Tell me if you want me to shut-up.)