Nah, if I remember right, those arrows use the poison from a tree frog’s skin, not something like a snake’s venom. So still poison!

That was my first thought!

That’s not what I’ve seen. The stories I’m familiar with usually involve defending those things where they already exist, not establishing them. Even in cases where that needs established, as often as not, they’re usually protecting someone else who embodies that ideal.

I’m sure there are stories similar to what you’ve described, but I don’t see that in the stories I’m familiar with.

It’s always seemed strange to me that earth never made any sort of meaningfull technological progress despite having access to a galaxy full of new tech.

This actually seemed reasonable to me - if alien tech is anything like ours, we lack the parts to make the parts to make the parts to make the tech, so we can’t mass produce any of it yet. And we’re a bit of a backwater - what resources we do have of galactic interest (vibranium, maybe?) isn’t for sale. So we make do with what scraps do find their way to earth.

Stories don’t need to be told, humans need to tell stories. That’s what makes us human, and is how we spread ideas like honor, justice, and even civilization itself.

Hero stories reinforce all of these ideas, and others besides.

As they burned, it hurt because