Setting aside their egotistical disposition, why do the Sophons want to remain independent? What goals do they have that would be mutaully exclusive with being a subordinate and why do they feel the need to aggresively expand?

I can only guess at their reasoning, but probably the largest is that by remaining independent they retain control over their resources, political decisionmaking etc, which allows them to focus more of their resources on scientific development/research/understanding than they would if they were under the thumb of another empire, and also maintain control over the direction that their research takes. For a species with such intense curiosity, this seems like a logical choice to make.

Also, one would think that the ideal for any spacefaring species would be to remain independent; that there would have to be very compelling reasons to hand over their sovereignty to another species/political entity. It's not like IRL nations willingly cede control over their fate to each other, so why would this be any different in a sci-fi setting?

If I may: why do you ask this question? Is there something about the Sophonity that gives you the impression that they wouldn't be, or want to be, major players?

The Sophons were a thing in ES1 though.

REDGUY wrote:

The Sophons were a thing in ES1 though.

True.  Without them Pilgrims would not have existed.  Also United Empire would have been different than what they are today.

Cause they are the smart ones, duh

Sophons need some loving in the lore