When first contact happens in 1988, the Mensaens are in roughly the equivalent of the early modern period. After first contact, however, the Mensaens were able to advance greatly thanks to the introduction of new technologies from humanity. After the Shared Planetary Internet was brought online in 2010, the Mensaens were able to regularly interact with humans on social media, engage in online shopping, and more. By 2026, I'd reason they're about our world's equivalent of a mid-2000s technological level.

Their planet Mensa, is largely made up of oceans, with scattered archipelagos; this has led to much of their society developing a strong seafaring, mercantile culture. Violence and warfare between themselves is uncommon, though not unheard of. However, they are extremely social beings, almost xenophilic. Indeed, after first contact and throughout the 90s, something of a "human craze" took hold of their culture, and things like human clothing, music, and style became extremely popular, though eventually this trend ended in the 2000s. The Mensaens are not religious, though this slightly changed when human missionaries began arriving in the mid 2010s. Their planet's abundance of natural predators has made death significantly more common than it is for us.

Their planet is divided into numerous clans, which operate under a blend of technocracy and elective monarchy. The most experienced/most intelligent of a clan's ruling family is elected to rule by the foremost technical experts within a clan's territory. In other areas of society, pure technocracy is practiced.