The book series "Old Man's War" by John Scalzi is one of my favorite book series, I always find myself returning to this universe while sketching ideas. Here's the most technologically advanced creature in the universe, the Consu, a fierce, and strongly religious alien race. They engage in ritualistic conflict with other sentient species believing that any aliens killed by Consu warriors are thereby guaranteed another place in the cycle of creation. Battle itself, rather than victory, is so important to the Consu that they will scale their weapons technology to that of their opponent in order to keep the battle fair.