Woo first char! Also, the whole smithing underwater arguement is a moot point anyway considering that there are other ways to raise the general tech level than metallurgy.
We just didn't since they're more difficult, and we could metalwork. Plus, we're going to think in a human fashion, not a Kakt or whatever fashion, meaning that they may have thought of thingswe never would have, and vice versa.
And finally, if we went with any race that didn't seem plausible, it doesn't really matter that it was unlikely; we'd be playing in a setting where it was unlikely, but it happened anyway.
To elf(ninja): They wouldn't burst. Humans don't burst immediately if we get out of a space-suit. They'd get the equivalent of the bends, though, if it was in water, start suffocating if it was in air, and probably have an extremely bad reaction in space, worse than the blood bruising(And maybe boiling if there was enough exposed) a human would get. But why would their suits be super weak anyway?
On another note...WHOOO FIRST FACTION!
Say a laser hits it? Meh, these are deep-sea creatures presumably, and in reality those do burst if brought out of their depth.
))