The Kzinti (singular Kzin) are a fictional, very warlike and bloodthirsty race of felinoid aliens in Larry Niven's Known Space series. FicTioNaL is a Gaming Legend. ... Subfamilies Felinae Pantherinae Acinonychinae Machairodontinae (extinct) The Felidae family includes lions, tigers, domestic cats, and other felines as its members. ... Larry Niven Laurence van Cott Niven (born April 30, 1938) is a US science fiction author. ... Known Space is the fictional setting of several science fiction novels and short stories written by author Larry Niven. ...

Background and history

Kzinti evolved from a plains hunting cat, stole their current space-faring technology, and bred (most of) their own females into sub-sapience. They are larger than humans, standing around eight feet tall and weighing around five hundred pounds. These lion-sized bipeds have large membrane ears, a cylindrical torso without a spine, and large fangs and claws. A small percentage of Kzinti are stunted and exploited addictive telepaths, and they aren't legally allowed to breed. Kzin females are sub-sapient, with a vocabulary of less than a hundred word/sounds and primarily instinct-driven behavior, and are treated as chattel property by males, although some stories imply that this was not always the case. Binomial name Panthera leo (Linnaeus, 1758) Synonyms Felis leo (Linnaeus, 1758) The lion (Panthera leo) is a mammal of the family Felidae and one of four big cats in the genus Panthera. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Warning: This is NOT a scientific article. ... Personal property is a type of property. ...

They are the first on-going alien contact that humanity has met within the Known Space universe. The first contact with humanity ends the human golden era of peace, where even history has been rewritten in a non-violent whitewash; organized violence was virtually eliminated, being reduced to roughly 1 in 1000 people, and there was no interpersonal violence, except occasional out-bursts in the asteroid belt where medical and psychological care were spread too thinly. Known Space is the fictional setting of several science fiction novels and short stories written by author Larry Niven. ... First contact can refer to: an astronomical phenomenon - see first contact (astronomy) the first meeting of members of two different civilisations - see First contact (anthropology) a theme of science fiction literature - see First contact (science fiction) an episode from the fourth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation dealing with... Image of the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. ...

The Man-Kzin Wars

The series offers an intricate and evolving weave of character development that melds these beings into some of the most complex fictional creatures in any literature, period...
- Quantum, on The Man-Kzin Wars

The Kzinti, with vast technical superiority (including gravity drives, telepaths, and a large military empire), detected a human exploration ship in deep space, the Angel's Pencil. After the Kzin telepath learned that the humans were unarmed and didn't even understand the concept of weapons, they attempted to kill the human crew in a slow, painful manner using an inductive heating weapon hoping to capture their ship intact for intelligence purposes. However, humans being human, one of them used the fusion-powered propulsion drive as a weapon and destroyed the Kzin ship, beginning the First Man-Kzin War. The crew then warned Earth of the warlike aliens, although the transmissions were initially dismissed as an outbreak of psychosis. Then a similar encounter between another human ship and vessel led to the destruction of the more primitive human ship. However, one of the human prisoners, with the aid of a rogue Telepath, was able to escape to the Angel's Pencil and warn them of the danger from their increasing penetration into Kzinti space. Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are bipedal apes belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin for wise man or knowing man) under the family Hominidae (known as the great apes). ...

In the course of the First Man-Kzin War, the Kzinti invaded and occupied the human colony of Wunderland, in the Alpha Centauri system, using it as a staging point for an attack on Earth. In a replay of first contact, the peaceful humans used communications lasers, fusion drives, and mass drivers to cut the first invasion fleet to ribbons. Over the next several decades, three more fleets were launched against Earth, and all were beaten back. However, after near defeat by the fourth fleet, it was becoming clear to Earth's military leaders that the Kzinti were learning to wage war more effectively than their traditional 'scream and leap' tactics, and that the Solar System's defenses would quickly succumb to the Kzinti's superior numbers, firepower, and technology, were it only wielded with a modicum of tactical and strategic sense. In order to delay the next attack, a Terran Bussard ramjet starship was utilized as a relativistic kill vehicle. Using iron slugs accelerated to 99% of the speed of light, it devastated a portion of the planet, killing humans and Kzinti alike and delaying the launch of yet another Kzin fleet against Earth. A number of specialists traveled aboard this ship, using Stasis fields for lithobraking, and successfully assassinated the Kzin military genius Chuut-Riit who was leading the Kzinti on Wunderland. Yet, it was only a matter of time until the next assault fleet would come. Known Space is the fictional setting of many of Larry Nivens science fiction stories. ... Alpha Centauri (α Cen / α Centauri) is the brightest star system (a triple star system) in the southern constellation of Centaurus, and contains the fourth brightest star in the night sky, with an apparent visual magnitude of −0. ... Earth (IPA: , often referred to as the Earth, Terra, the World or Planet Earth) is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth largest. ... Bussard ramjet The Bussard ramjet method of spacecraft propulsion was proposed in 1960 by the physicist Robert W. Bussard and popularized by Carl Sagan in the television series and subsequent book Cosmos as a variant of a fusion rocket capable of fast interstellar spaceflight. ... A relativistic kill vehicle (RKV) or relativistic bomb is a hypothetical weapon system sometimes found in science fiction. ... This article or section should be merged with Stasis A stasis field is an imaginary phenomenon that is often used in science fiction that slows the passage of time inside it, or stops it entirely. ... Lithobraking is the a technique of descent by an unmanned space vehicle to the surface of a terrestrial body by which the vehicle is slowed by the use of friction with the bodys surface. ...

At this point, a passing Outsider ship sold the colony of We Made It the secret of hyperdrive, a technology unknown to the Kzinti. Hyperdrive ships were dispatched to Earth, where the faster-than-light drive was used to pre-emptively attack the Fifth Invasion fleet, liberate Wunderland, and go on to attack other Kzinti worlds. The FTL drive allowed the human fleets to coordinate and concentrate their forces beyond anything the Kzinti could manage, even letting them outrun and jam the news of each successive Kzin defeat. The first indication the Kzinti Patriarchy had that much of the Kzin empire was gone and that a significant percentage of all Kzinti had died was when human warships appeared in the skies above their homeworld. The Outsiders are an alien race in Larry Nivens Known Space series. ... Known Space is the fictional setting of many of Larry Nivens science fiction stories. ... Hyperdrive is a name given to certain methods of traveling faster than light (FTL) in science fiction. ... FTL may refer to: Faster-than-light, a general scientific concept FTL Games, the video game development division of Software Heaven Inc. ...

In several different stories by other authors playing in the universe we see references to a total of five additional Man-Kzin wars take place. The net effect of these wars is summed by a retrospective comment from Louis Wu in the Ringworld novels: "The Kzinti aren't really a threat. They'll always attack before they're ready." With decreasingly impressive logistical and technological advantages, each Man-Kzin War results in the confiscation or liberation of one or more colony planets by the humans. In this way humanity contacts the Pierin and Kdatlyno, former slave species, and takes over worlds such as Canyon (formerly Warhead) and Fafnir (formerly Shasht). Cover sample of Ringworld Book 1 in the Series. ... The Kzin (plural Kzinti) are a fictional, very warlike and bloodthirsty race of felinoid aliens in Larry Nivens Known Space series. ... The Kdatlyno are a fictional alien species. ... Known Space is the fictional setting of many of Larry Nivens science fiction stories. ...

Eventually (in Ringworld) we learn that the Kzin reverses were deliberately engineered by the Pierson's Puppeteers, who lured the Outsiders to We Made It in the first place. The Puppeteers had hoped that the culling of a quarter to a third of the more aggressive members of the Kzinti with every war would result in a more peaceful race, or at least one that was capable of coexisting with other species without trying to kill and eat them at every turn. This shift in Kzin attitudes succeeded spectacularly, although the Kzinti themselves do not think very highly of the changes, nor of the price they paid to achieve them. In fact, a fringe faction of the Kzinti known as the Kdaptists, frustrated with the reversals their race had suffered against humanity, went to far as to adopt the human concept that God had created humanity (not Kzinti) in His image, and that He favors and protects humans over other races. Piersons Puppeteers, often known just as Puppeteers, are a fictional alien race from Larry Nivens Known Space books. ... The Kdaptists are a fictional religion in Larry Nivens Known Space Universe, first mentioned in Ringworld, and elaborated upon in the Man-Kzin Wars series. ...

As the Puppeteers expected, a form of "natural" selection occurred, with the more mindlessly aggressive Kzinti dying in ill-advised wars and the more moderate, intelligent, and cautious Kzinti surviving, presumably to think long and hard about the consequences of starting yet another war. By the time the Kzinti attained the level of sophistication and foresight needed to win against humans, they no longer had the numbers or the drive to do so.

At one point, Louis Wu, while visiting the Kzin homeworld and given access to the Kzinti Patriarch's game preserve, was confronted by a young Kzin and his father. When the youngster asked "Are they good to eat?", Louis Wu responded with a grin (baring of the teeth being a Kzin challenge to battle) and the older Kzin responded "NO". Wu muses that it would be safer for the young Kzin to eat arsenic than a human being. Louis Gridley Wu is the main protagonist in the Ringworld series of books, written by Larry Niven. ...

Kzinti in other science fiction

The Kzinti also appeared, along with allusions to slavers and stasis boxes, in The Slaver Weapon, an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series written by Niven, as a proud and carnivorous species. They were incorporated into the Star Fleet Universe where they became a powerful empire known as the Kzinti Hegemony, mortal enemies of that universe's Lyran Star Empire - although it is alluded that the Kzinti and Lyrans share common ancestry, a claim both sides violently reject. They have not otherwise been mentioned in the mainstream Star Trek universe. (Rumors continue to persist that the Tzenkethi - who have been mentioned in various Trek television shows - were based on the Kzinti, but this appears to be a coincidence based mainly on the similarity of the two races' names.) Spoiler warning: In Larry Nivens fictional Known Space universe, the Thrintun (singular Thrint) were a long-extinct species which ruled the galaxy through telepathic mind control. ... The term stasis has several meanings: A state of stabilty, in which all forces are equal and opposing, therefore they cancel out each other. ... The Slaver Weapon is an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series. ... Star Trek: The Animated Series is an animated science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. ... This article deals with meat-eating animals. ... The Star Fleet Universe is the variant of the Star Trek fictional universe as detailed in the series of tactical and strategic interstellar wargames from Amarillo Design Bureau Inc. ... In the fictional Star Fleet Universe, the Kzinti Hegemony is a powerful stellar empire violently opposed to the Lyran Star Empire and allied with the Hydran Kingdoms and eventually with the United Federation of Planets and the Gorn Confederation in the General War. ... In the fictional Star Fleet Universe as represented in the range of games from Amarillo Design Bureau Inc. ... The introduction of this article does not provide enough context for readers unfamiliar with the subject. ...

The instruction manual for the PC game Star Fleet Command clearly refers to the Kzinti by name in the background story for the rival race, the Lyrans. This race is introduced in Star Fleet Command II: Empires at War by simply changing the Kzinti Hegemony to the Mirak Star League. Starfleet Command is a computer game based on the board game Star Fleet Battles. ... In the fictional variant of the Star Fleet Universe as represented in the games Star Fleet Command II: Empires at War and Star Fleet Command: Orion Pirates from Taldren, the Mirak Star League is the name given to what is referred to in the Star Fleet Battles universe as the...

Kzinti are thought to have influenced the creation of the similarly Felinoid Kilrathi, the primary antagonists of the popular Wing Commander video game series of early-to-mid-nineties. Whether this is true or not, a small part of Wing Commander II takes place in a region of space called the Niven Sector. The Kilrathi are a race of warlike, felinoid aliens in the popular computer game series Wing Commander by Origin Systems. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Wing Commander game series. ... Namcos Pac-Man was a hit, and became a cultural phenomenon. ... Layers of Atmosphere - not to scale (NOAA) Outer space, also simply called space, refers to the relatively empty regions of the universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. ...

Kzintis in the Star Fleet Universe

An example of a Kzinti from the Star Fleet Universe.

The Kzintis in the SFU - who have traits setting them apart (no bat ears, sentient females, Kzinti/Kzintis as singular/plural etc) from the Kzinti of Niven's works - have fought wars with all of their neighbours, the Federation, the Klingon Empire and their perennial nemesis, the Lyran Star Empire, and are long-standing allies - or more accurately, co-belligerents - of the Hydran Kingdom. The Hegemony eventually formed a tentative accord with the Federation and allied with them in the General War, but they have been involved in major wars with the Klingons and Lyrans, such as the Four Powers War and the General War itself, in which a substantial region of their territory was occupied by their Coalition enemies and two full-scale assaults were made on the Kzinti homeworld of Kzintai. Eventually with Federation assistance they forced the Coalition forces from their territory, but after the War ended they were involved in a Civil War as a disgruntled faction - which had been opposed to the Hegemony's ruling Patriarch and sought refuge and developed a power base in the WYN Cluster - launched an attempted coup of the Hegemony itself in the WYN War of Return. The Star Fleet Universe is the variant of the Star Trek fictional universe as detailed in the series of tactical and strategic interstellar wargames from Amarillo Design Bureau Inc. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1200x1200, 622 KB)A Kzinti in the Star Fleet Universe, drawn by Dale McKee. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1200x1200, 622 KB)A Kzinti in the Star Fleet Universe, drawn by Dale McKee. ... This article or section may need to be cleaned up and rewritten because it describes a work of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. ... This page is about the race. ... In the fictional Star Fleet Universe the Hydrans are an original race developed specifically for the game universe. ... In the fictional Star Fleet Universe as represented in the range of games from Amarillo Design Bureau as well as the first two Star Fleet Command games (and the Orion Pirates stand-alone addon for Starfleet Command II) from Taldren, the General War was an 18-year conflict waged between... A coalition is an alliance among entities, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest. ... In the fictional Star Fleet Universe variant of Star Trek, the Alpha Octant is home to a number of interstellar governments. ... A coup d’État (pronounced ), or simply coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government through unconstitutional means by a part of the state establishment — mostly replacing just the high-level figures. ...

In the fictional variant of the Star Fleet Universe as represented in the games Star Fleet Command II: Empires at War and Star Fleet Command: Orion Pirates from Taldren, the Kzintis were renamed as the Mirak. The Star Fleet Universe is the variant of the Star Trek fictional universe as detailed in the series of tactical and strategic interstellar wargames from Amarillo Design Bureau Inc. ...

External links

• Kzin homepage at LarryNiven.org (fansite)
• Website for the Man-Kzin Wars novel Destiny's Forge
• Homepage of MKW author Paul Chafe
• Fan page about the Kzin language, including a Kzinti font (currently dead)
• Notes on the Kzin Language. Another fan page about the Kzin language and script, presented in a mock-scholarly article.
• Man-Kzin Wars Series-- Chronological Listing, Volume Listing, Author Listing, & Man-Kzin Wars Title Listing
• A Kzinti Reference Grammar
• Urhixidur Font Foundry - includes a Kzinti font