Why do the pug seem so childish?

With species like the Quarg I can really "feel" the amount of power they have and the authority they exhibit.

But for some reason the pug just do not give off the vibe of a super powerful civilization, at least for me. For example in the >!wanderer!< storyline when you land on the pug planet they say "The human must like getting hit with the happy stick." I don't know but that just does not feel like something a Tier 3 or 4 civilization would say.

I can't really pinpoint anything else concrete but it's just throughout the entire Free Worlds storyline and pugglemug that I got this vibe. Is this by design? Is there something I'm missing?