Sci-Fi Story Recommendations

[Michionlion]

Hi all, I've been looking around for days for sci fi stories that deal with 'uplift' or similar scenarios, where a few main characters get to control the destiny of some huge species or such. I've read Sentient by Magicwrtr, and quite a few non-erotica books such as the Star Force series by BV Larson (and of course all the classics like the Culture series). I've been unable to Google my way to an answer for more, so have come here for word-of-mouth recommendations, either/both erotica and just regular scifi. Hopefully we can compile a list of cool scifi empire - building stories!