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Some historians have been struck by the fact that Humanity reacted with instant, universal hatred and loathing the moment they first set eyes upon the Arachnids. The reaction is all the more pronounced given that the Orions, Ophiuchi, Gorm, Tangri, Thebans, or even Rigelians had not provoked that reaction. Yet the Bugs did . . . and closer acquaintance only made it worse. Their physical appearance was horrific enough, resonating as it did with some of Mankind's darkest phobias, but Humans might have been able to handle the way they looked if not for the way they acted . . . and if they had not epitomized the soulless alien menace with whom communication and compromise alike were utterly impossible. And in fairness to Human phobias, every one of their allies appears to have reacted to the Bugs in precisely the same way. More even than in the case of the Rigelian Protectorate, the only possible objective for either side in the Fourth Interstellar War was the complete extermination of the other.    When the Theban War ended in March 2302, the second extended period of peace since the Third Interstellar War descended upon the explored galaxy. It lasted for just under sixty years . . . and ended in a holocaust which would have stunned even a survivor of ISW-3.    The genesis of the Fourth Interstellar War can be found in the mere existence of the Arachnid Omnivoracity. The general experience of the galaxy's starfaring races had convinced them that (with the possible exception of the Tangri Confederacy) there was no longer any such thing as "Atilla the Hun in starships." The common view was that the steadily growing cosmopolitanism and integration of the galaxy's races was the way of the future. While one could not completely rule out something that would destabilize the situation or the possibility of some new, external threat, few observers truly believed deep down inside that anything like the wide-ranging carnage of ISW-3 was likely to reoccur. Individual aberrations like the Theban War (which, after all, had sprung from a series of circumstances which were extremely unlikely ever to recur) might disturb the peace from time to time, but, all in all, the galaxy had become a much safer place as the various races learned to live with one another and recognized the value of peaceful co-existence.    That comfortable view, unfortunately, gave those who held it no conceptual basis to handle something like the Arachnids. No one had ever visualized a race with which all communication would be literally impossible, nor had even the carnivorous Tangri, who regarded themselves as the only true intelligent species, ever regarded all other races' sole utility to be as a food source. The apparent regimentation of Arachnid society, its juggernaut determination to crush any competing race, the utter single mindedness with which it pursued its goals, and the total disregard its neuter warrior caste showed for their own lives--much less their enemies' lives--were even more horrific than the Rigelians had been . . . and even the Rigelians lay over a Standard Century in the past, with no more relevance to the present than Terran witch-burning or the pre-space Orion practice of sacrificing defeated enemies to the gods. The civilized galaxy, quite simply, was out of practice at dealing with races which were insane by its standards, and it was totally unprepared for the carnage it was about to face.    ISW-4 represents the ultimate in scenario books. The interludes read just like a book and they are pages long. Technology is extended as HTL 12 and 13 are present. Those technologies represent huge improvements over technologies of the past. The Starfire Design Studio expects that the total size of ISW-4 will reach 225 pages (in a 9 pt font!)    Back