The classic example of this is the Geonee, who "as we know" copied the jump drive from Ancients artifacts, and therefore didn't "really" invent it. The fact that they were busily travelling the universe before the Vilani stomped them is quite irrelevant.
Of course, if the Vilani hadn't run into them for another century or two, they might have become big enough to resist, and might now be listed amongst the Majors.
The Geonee, of course, claim to have been the Ancients, which means that if that was true, they were the original inventors of the jump drive anyway, so they are really a major race, just one oppressed by other nasty people...
In a sense they are right. The civilisation of the Ancients seems to have been multi-species, with the Super-Droyne just being the few hundred leaders at the top. Surely the billions of other members of their society were Ancients, too? If that is the case, then, yes, the Geonee were Ancients - and so were the Vilani, and the Zhodani, and all the other "minor race" humans, not to mention the Vargr, the Droyne, various Ancient created artificial intelligences, and any other sentient species that were around and travelling in the time of the Ancients.
For some reason, I really like this idea.
Alan Bradley
