Settings where humans aren't 'The Mario'

[Brother Oni]

There's CS Lewis' Narnia books where humans ('Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve') become more physically and mentally able the longer they spend in Narnia.

Less warlike, more Waaaaaaaaughlike.

And I seem to recall a note or a short story somewhere mentioning that pretty much everything *not* in the galaxy is Orks.

While I agree that Orks are more warlike, that doesn't translate directly into competence. Even if the Orks had set up a massive empire the size of the Imperium with a zogging huge Warboss in charge of everything, chances are they'd be too busy with infighting to get anything done (not that the Imperium is that much better, but at least they know which direction to point their weapons most of the time).

The footnote was that Imperium probes sent out into the vast reaches of space beyond known space, have reported nothing back but Ork signals.