An
alien race from
David Brin's
Uplift sci-fi series of novels. The Tandu are a species of warriors, fighting against their foes with a ferocity almost unparallelled elsewhere in the
Five Galaxies. The greatest pleasure for a Tandu is the chance to crush enemies, or to see their race dominate over others in the
cosmos.
The Tandu are similar in appearance to the preying mantis of Earth, except much larger. They have two spiky, insect-like legs, which hold their bodies over a meter off the ground. A Tandu has six arms, each tipped with a bunch of razor-sharp claws. These are used either as close combat weapons in their own right, or to grip more destructive weapons. The Tandu also have a number of sensory stalks protruding from their chitinous carapace, which function as eyes, ears, taste buds and possibly other sense as well. The Tandu are formidable foes in close combat, with no real weak spot, nor is there any tactic against which they are intrinsically vulnerable.
The Tandu are deadly enemies of Earthclan, as it claims to have Uplifted itself. This defies the religion of the fanatic Tandu.