Let's Talk: The Dao

Before I can do the Dao Article, I want to articulate the basics of what the plans for them are and try to pick everyone's brains on some ideas. So, join me below the cut for what should hopefully be an interesting discussion!

The central theme for the Dao is technology (and, more specifically, technological integration). Lots of drones and cyborgs and implants and stuff. As I see it, pretty much everything that the Dao field in a fight is either a drone or some sort of special forces operative. Societally, the individual Dao pretty much do their own things while computer programs scan their thoughts in order to determine the 'Consensus' among various communities and uses that Consensus to set the laws and appoint leaders. So, unlike the Colser, the Dao have managed to integrate technology and artificial intelligences into their lives without becoming lazy and stupid, but the 'catch' is that said integration causes their society to become more rigid and mechanical.

Right now there's two big questions to resolve about the Dao before I can get to work on the article: How sophisticated is their technology and what do they look like?
As I see it, based on their position in the galaxy, the Dao's tech level is somewhere below the Imperial Republic (though not necessarily that much; humanity's technological progression has been slowed somewhat by fractiousness and diaspora), but I want to be sure everybody is on base with that.
Appearance-wise, I'm pretty stumped. The big question is "Should the Dao be humanoid or not?" Obviously humanoid Dao will make finding models easier, but it will also leave us with only one faction (Alien League) able to utilize models which are neither space bugs nor humanoid.

If the Dao are humanoid, the next question becomes "should I make them Space Dwarves to match/contrast with the Colserans' Space Elf aesthetic?"
If they're not humanoid, that raises two questions: Firstly, should I specify what they look like at all? Not specifying will make writing the article (and future Dao-related fluff) significantly harder, but will adhere better to our 'model agnostic' philosophy.
Of course, if I am going to detail the appearance of non-humanoid Dao, I need to figure out what exactly they look like.

It would also be possible to make the Dao a multi-species civilization, though that might make them too similar to the Alien League (as a reminder, the Alien League is a group of alien civilzations southeast of the Imperial Republic who have banded together to defend themselves from said Imperial Republic).

Finally, the name is Not Very Good. I can sort of make a connection between Taoism (it's pronounced 'dao') and our 'Dao', but it's tenuous at best. So better names would be welcome. We came up with Turids, after all!