Kzinti

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Physiology

On average, kzinti stand much taller than humans with a large male standing as much as eight feet (or 2.4 meters) in height and weight nearly 500 pounds (or 226 kg) with females being slightly shorter and less massive. The Kzinti homeworld has a gravity approximately 1.2 times that of the Earth which contributes greatly to their size and strength. In addition, their homeworld is, on average, 10 degrees colder than Earth, resulting in the additional genetic adaptations below.

It should be noted, however, that despite the perception that kzinti are large, in comparison to the native fauna of their homeworld, they are considered small. Typically, large land predators take prey no more than twice their weight, and usually less than their weight. By contrast, lone kzinti will stalk and kill zerkitz up to ten times their weight, and hunting parties will take a a'kdzrow of up to twenty-five metric tons. Because the primitive ecological structure did not allow the kzinti to assume the niche of large predators due to competition from the v'speel stalker and the pack hunting grlor, it is assumed that the kzinti were, instead, forced into the intelligence niche resulting in a society based in cooperative hunting.

Kzin are bipeds, standing erect on short, digitigrade legs. Kzin are typically covered in dusky brown or tan fur with individualized black markings not unlike that of a terran tiger most commonly appearing on the face and hands. This coloration allowed their ancestors to blend into the more mountainous regions and cave systems of their world to avoid detection by prey. Specimens with full black fur are rare and all who have them are taken by the Black Priests. They are powerfully built, with thick limbs and torso and, although mammalian, they do not have a mammal-like rib cage, instead possessing a latticework of cartilaginous and bone struts encasing their torso. They have long, semi-prehensile tails and possess tetradactyl hands ending in three thick fingers and an opposable thumb, all possessing fully retractable claws, while their feet have three toes, also with retractable claws, and a dewclaw.

Kzinti possess a tri-cardial blood system, consisting of two semi-independent and redundant circulatory systems and a third, transitory proto-heart that controls pressure between the two systems, allowing blood to transition between them as necessary. As a result, a kzin could suffer cardiac arrest in any one of the hearts only for it to be restarted by the remaining two while blood flow remains relatively unaffected, perhaps causing only a slight light-headed sensation or transitory vertigo. Further, blood born pathogens and contaminants, including injections, are much slower to affect a kzin, often taking up to five or six times that standard time frame to take full affect unless both circulatory systems are affected (or injected) simultaneously.

All kzinti possess a region analogous to a cat's "scruff" situated from the base of their neck down between their shoulder blades. Stimulating this region, through massage, kneading or gentle gripping pressure can cause involuntary weakness, pacification and even receptiveness in a kzin. This is a conditioned response, theorized to be a hold over from ancient evolution, and many kzinti keep this area covered; although the triggered response is not strong enough to off-set actual aggression, hostility or other such visceral emotions.

Kzinti are exclusively carnivorous to the point that they are incapable of readily digesting plant matter primarily due to a lack of the necessary enzymes in their digestive track to break down the cellulose structure. They are known to regularly hunt even sentient species and to regularly consume the spoils of these hunts although these are "officially" declared as punishments for crimes against the Patriarchy.

Senses

The head is quite cat-like in appearance, although with a large cranial bulge. Their eye colors vary from yellow to near-red, with round pupils instead of cat-like vertical slits. They do, however, possess a tapetum lucidum, which is a reflective layer behind the retina that sends light that passes through the retina back into the eye. While this improves the ability to see in darkness, it appears to reduce net visual acuity, thus detracting when light is abundant. This gives the kzin a minimum light detection threshold up to seven times lower than that of humans and also has the effect of causing a kzin's eyes to glow slightly in response to light sources. Kzinti eyes have a visual range between 200 and 850nm allowing them to see into the ultraviolet and infrared spectra unassisted.

Kzinti ears are structurally similar to fans and parasols, allowing them to fold tightly against the skull to the point of closing. Humans and kzinti have a similar range of hearing on the low end of the scale, but kzinti can hear much higher-pitched sounds, up to 64 kHz, which is 1.6 octaves above the range of a human, and even 1 octave above the range of a dog.

A kzin's sense of smell is about four times as strong as humans' as a result of the kzinti olfactory epithelium possessing almost twice as many receptors. As a result, the average kzin has a more acute sense of smell than humans. Unlike terran cats, however, kzinti do not possess vomeronasal (or Jacobson's) organ. Further, kzinti typically lack the ability to taste sweetness, which aids in their uncommon dietary nature as their modified sense of taste would cause them to some degree to ignore plants, a large part of whose taste appeal derives from their high sugar content, in favor of a high-protein carnivorous diet, which would still stimulate their remaining taste receptors.

Kzinti possess, on average, twenty-four movable vibrissae ("whiskers"), in four sets on each upper lip on either side of its nose and in tufts over the eyes. The structure of the brain region (barrel cortex) which receives information from the vibrissae is similar to that found in the visual cortex which permits the cat to create a three-dimensional map of its surroundings. This doesn't mean that sensing with vibrissae is a type of vision. It is still a touch sensation and environmental information is built up incrementally (in small steps). Vibrissae aid sensation and navigation. The upper two rows of whiskers are able to be moved independently from the lower two rows for greater precision during measurement. These whiskers are more than twice as thick as ordinary hairs, and their roots are three times deeper. They have numerous nerve endings at their base, which give extraordinarily detailed information about nearby air movements and objects with which they make physical contact. They enable a kzin to know that it is near obstacles without it needing to see them.

Finally, while all kzinti have an innate empathic sense referred to as ziirgah that allows them to instinctively sense the emotions of others through a mixture of observation and extrasensory perception. However, this sense is seldom developed beyond its natural, instinctual base and many are loathe to attempt to employ the ability with any conscious intent. It is this empathic ability that causes some kzin males to be born telepathic, although the telepathy gene is mutually exclusive to the gene that causes black fur, thus no kzin with completely black fur possesses telepathy. Those who exhibit telepathic ability are forced into addiction of a drug derived from the lymph of an animal called a sthondat. Sthondat lymph extract significantly increases telepathic ability, but it is addictive, and is toxic with long-term use, causing muscle atrophy and thinning fur. Telepaths are tolerated by the warrior class due to the specialized use of their skill, otherwise they endure a low-caste position in society, just above the status of slaves, with the occasional slave being considered of a higher social status. Telepaths rarely, if ever, earn a name, and are legally forbidden to breed.

Reproduction

Female kzinti, also referred to as kzinrett (pl. kzinretti) are only semi-intelligent, having long since been bred into sub-sapience by the Patriarchy, and are kept closely guarded in harems and are treated as little more than chattel by the males. Females are primarily instinct-driven and typically do not speak and generally only understand a limited number of words and phrases, seldom exceeding a hundred. Those demonstrating higher intelligence, as tested by the Black Priests, are put to death at an early age by decree of the Patriarchy. Kzinti females are in heat only when fertile, and kzinti generally engage in sex solely for reproduction.

Only kzinti males, or kzintosh (pl. kzintoshi), who have earned unique names through great deeds are permitted to acquire mates.

A fertile female kzin may have only three or four estrus cycles in her lifetime. As a result kzin population growth is extremely slow and kzin males compete strenuously both for females and for the resources to support them. An high proportion of kzin male deaths are due to challenge duels resulting from this competition , and in the adult population females outnumber males in a ratio of two point eight to one. In other words, between 50 and 75 percent of male kzin kits can expect to die in combat. Of these, most can expect to die at the hands of older and more established kzin, although among those Great Prides involved directly in the Man/Kzin wars almost 50 percent were killed in combat with humans or other species. Combat death among males begins in late adolescence and rises to a peak in young adulthood, declining steadily thereafter. This single fact dominates the entire kzinti social structure, and in fact the entire Patriarchy is built around the requirement to redirect the aggression of young males outward to prevent them from completely destabilizing the hierarchy. It is this high death rate that allows the extended polygamous mating structure that is the core of kzinti social life. Adolescent kzin, regardless of station of birth, can only look forward to a lifetime of status-driven combat with a better than even chance of violent death.

Psychology

Kzinti are, on average, slightly less intelligent than humans, although some members of the species are exceptions to that stereotype. Aggressive and territorial, kzinti have much more need of "elbow room" than do humans.

When time permits they frequently perform grooming, such as brushing their fur.

Language

The written script is based on claw-carvings in wood and is often described as 'dots and commas' by humans.

The language, itself, sounds clashing and terrible to human ears, but is in fact pitched and cased with several modes; mode being dependent upon who you are talking to. Although there is only one main language (the Heroes' Tongue), it has many modes including Mocking, Deferential, Technical and Royal, which is only spoken to and by royalty(the Patriarch and his kin). A human with plenty of spit and a good falsetto can learn the basic mode of the H. T. and be understood anywhere, but pronunciation will be difficult; similarly Kzinti can learn to speak Terran with some difficulty.

Kzinti count in octal, which means decimal-ten is represented a o12, d100 as o144 and so on.

Body language is, of course, very different from that of humans. A list of kzinti expressions and gestures follows:

Emotion	Manifestation
Worry	A flattening of the fur
Frustration	Open-shut flare of nostrils, ticking noise from throat
Readiness	Ears laid flat
'smile'	Twitching of ears
Slyness	Slight lidding of eyelids; could also mean calculating thought
Laughter	Twitching of ears and tail
Dismissive shrug	Yawn
Confusion	Careful sniffs of air, slight raise of muzzle
Threat	Bearing of teeth/fangs
Salute	Claw rake in front of own face.

The tail is a great indicator of a kzin's mood. A lashing tail signifies worry. A dragging tail shows depression, a raised tail happiness. If the kzin's tail is hidden between it's legs, it is badly frightened. A slow, teasing motion of a kzinrret's tail-tip is considered extremely sexy by males, as is a cool, defiant stare.

The ears, too are highly expressive - a twitching indicates amusement, laid flat they indicate nervousness or readiness; and fanned out they indicate intent concentration or alertness. Sitting, standing or lying down with the legs splayed is considered obscene in both males and females.

Body language is also important in social encounters. Those of lower social status keep their eyes averted, except when challenging (and that in its correct place). Submission is signaled by covering of nose with paws, prostrating oneself or, in extreme circumstances, exposing belly and throat. A kzin who is about to attack or challenge will often adopt a threatening posture. The ears fold back to prevent them from being ripped or torn, the fur bottles out to hide the shape of the flesh, the tail becomes stiff and erect, ready to whip an opponents legs from under him. The lips pull back from the fangs in challenge, and the claws emerge ready for a fight. A kzin in this posture is about one second away from screaming and leaping - a favoured method of attack.

Kzinti also use scent a lot. They scent-mark with glands in cheeks and hands, occasionally using their urine. Their hormones are far more active than humans: a gingery smell signals excitement - either anger or fear.

See also: Lexicon

Home World

The Kzinti homeworld orbits the star 61 Ursae Majoris at a distance somewhat greater than that at which Earth orbits the sun. It is a larger world, with gravity 1.2 times that of Earth's. Its year is roughly one and a half times longer than Earth's, and its day is 27 hrs and 36 minutes long. The climate of this world is cooler and drier than Earth's, and since it has a definite axial tilt it also has seasons. It receives less light from it's star, which is redder than Sol; and is consequently dimmer.

The Kzinti refer to this world only as "Homeworld": it has no other name.

Culture & Customs

The Kzinti social system is draconian in its complexity but ultimately simplistic at its root: kill or be killed.

One way to improve a kzin's social caste comes through ritual dueling with a ceremonial dueling knife known as a wtsai. Whether the loser of such a duel is killed outright as honor demands, the victor may and often does remove the loser's ears. It is not uncommon for kzinti to carry such dried ears as trophies on their belts. The terms 'earless' and 'nameless' are synonymous for having no honor in kzinti society. It should be noted that such duels are subject to cultural protocols dictating when and against whom they may be conducted.

The Dueling Traditions serve to limit the damage of inevitable conflict. Skatosh sets the limits on a challenge duel, and prevents the brother of a slain warrior from claiming vengeance if the fight was fair, which also prevents a squabble from becoming a pride-war. Skalazaal exists so that when pride-wars occur worlds are not sterilized as Pride-Patriarchs contend for what they might wrest from each other.

-- Destiny's Forge: A Man-Kzin Wars Novel by Paul Chafe

Another, more convention manner by which a kzin may raise in rank is through the awarding of achievements -- bust most notably, achievements of renown that benefit the whole of the kzinti people, the Pride, or the Patriarchy.

Naming Conventions

Kzin with high status have full names; those with low status have not earned a name, and are called by their profession. A moderate status earns a "partial name", for example "Chuft-Captain". Unlike Human aristocrats, even a Kzin born to a high-status family must earn his name.

Honor

The Kzin call themselves "Heroes" or the "Heroes Race" and because they believe themselves to be "heroes", their society places a very high value on "acting Heroic" and behaving in a heroic fashion. To Kzin society, "heroic" means being honorable and having integrity. Honor being more important than profit, they neither lie nor bluff and promises are binding, and personal danger is never taken into consideration.

Strakh is a sort of currency or favor system since. For example if the patriarch gets meat from a sellers market stand the seller gains considerable strakh which will bring honor to the seller allowing him to get better customers which leads to more strakh, which gives the seller a higher status within the community.

Conquest

It is the purpose of the Patriarchy to direct the naturally aggressive tendencies of the various Kzinti prides outwards in conquest rather than inward where they could threaten to tear the race apart and lead into a destructive spiral of engagements strictly to fulfill the vengeance required as a part of their code of honor.

Kzinti refuse to perform menial work or practice animal husbandry. Therefore they must have slaves to perform these tasks, "or be barbarians roaming the forests for meat". A "conquest leader", leading the conquest of a planet, is entitled to one percent of its wealth for life.

Clothing

Partially due to their naturally insulating fur and partially due their inherent reluctance to undertake tasks such as animal husbandry or textiles, there is no real demand for clothing among the kzinti. There is no stigma for nudity and almost all females spend their entire lives unclothed. Males will, on occasion, wear artifacts that are more ceremonial or serve as a convenient place to holster items or display trophies from their hunts, but this amounts to either a series of belts, pouches and, most infrequently, something akin to pants; but for the sake of freedom of movement, they remain averse to anything resembling shirts. When circumstances dictate, kzin males will wear full armor or environment suits, but these are usually specific to military engagement when the strength of flesh and the speed of muscles would likely prove insufficient defense against an enemy.

History

Based on analysis from http://www.allyngibson.com/?page_id=1783; currently in-progress

2048: The UNSS Icarus makes contact with the inhabitants of Alpha Centauri VII. This is Earth’s first official extraterrestrial contact. The Centaurans are quite humanoid, descendants of Greeks transported from Earth in the 3rd Century.

2049: The Kzinti appear in the Alpha Centauri system. The Icarus crew proves instrumental in defeating the Kzin. This marks humanity’s second contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence, and the first that is clearly not of human stock. This is the first of the Man-Kzin Wars.

2054: Second Kzin attack on Alpha Centauri; referred to as the Second Man-Kzin War.

2058: Third Kzin attack on Alpha Centauri; the third Man-Kzin War.

2063: The flight of the Phoenix.

2064: The Kzinti make one more attack. The Kzinti are once and for all defeated by Earth forces, travelling to Alpha Centauri in converted DY-500 ships equipped with warp drives. Fourth and final Man-Kzin War.

2065: the McDonnell-Rishal Treaty that saw an end to the conflicts between humanity and the kzinti

Mythology

The Unspoken Power of the Black Priests

"...And the Great Prides and the kzintzag alike adhere to the traditions because the Patriarch does. Some traditions serve the species, like the code of honor, and the Dueling Traditions, but many serve only the priesthood, and the priesthood serves the Black Priests. [...] The High Priests stay in their temples and seek unity with the Fanged God. Perhaps they achieve it, who knows? We say the High Priests are most powerful because they sanctify the ascension of the Patriarch, but this not power because they cannot choose not to do it. We say the other cults serve the High Priests, but this is like saying you serve your slaves by providing them food and shelter. The Black Priests act for the High Priests in the waking world, and what High Priest even knows what a Black Priest does? A Black Priest comes into a Pride-Patriarch's stronghold and says 'The High Priests have so commanded,' and who can question them? The Black Cult are many things, all of them dark, all of them powerful, and their stranglehold on our species stars with the Kitten's Test. They are the Bearers of Bad Tidings, and what tidings are worse than the news that a promising son will be taken to become Telepath, that a daughter still suckling will be abandoned to the jungle verge? Who in all the Patriarchy does not fear the Black Cult?"

"They are just one order among many, and others are more dangerous."

"You speak of the Hunt Priests. The Black Cult are too stealthy to ripple the drinking pool, but they are the ultimate power in the priesthood. All the orders are pledged to obey the High Priests, but it is the Black Cult that speaks for them. The Hunt Priests do not apply the Hot Needle save at the order of the Black Cult. The puzzle traps of the Conundrum Priests hold their enemies, the Practitioner Priests in every Pride serve as their eyes and ears and noses. They do not often show their power, but they are playing a long game, as are we."

-- Destiny's Forge: A Man-Kzin Wars Novel by Paul Chafe

Kzinretti Sub-Sapience

"It is told that in the time between the wet season and the dry Chraz-Rrit-Star-Sailor won the fortress of K'dar from the Sorcerer Pride. Among his prizes he took the kzinrett P'rerr as his own. His consort V'rere became jealous and betrayed him to his enemies in order to gain his empire for herself, and so Chraz-Rrit was nearly slain in an ambush at Hrar. While he lay wounded the Sorcerer Pride attacked the Citadel, and V'rere too was nearly slain in the defense. The Fanged God became so angered that V'rere's ambition had so nearly destroyed the Patriarchy, and so commanded that all kzinretti surrender their reason, so that never again would consort and sire contend against each other. P'rerr wished only to be with Chraz-Rrit and so submitted to the Fanged God's will, but V'rere refused in her pride, and so the Fanged God banished her to the jungle forever. As a reward for her loyalty P'rerr was told that the line of the Patriarchy would forever flow through her."

Pouncer waved a paw dismissively. "This is a kitten's tale."

"Every kitten's tale carries truth init, or at least wisdom. There is more to this one. It is told that after her banishment jealous V'rere scheme to again by by Chraz-Rrit's side, and so when once more the cool season turned into the hot, and she came into her fertility, she disguised herself as P'rerr. She stole into the Citadel and played with P'rerr and told her stories, and because P'rerr had given her reason to the Fanged God she did not notice that V'rere was disguised as she. When V'rere had P'rerr's trust she gave her the tea of the zee flower, and P'rerr fell into a deep and dreamless sleep. In the dead of the night, still disguised, V'rere came to the Patriarch and mated him, and when the hot season again became cool she bore him kits. Knowing she could not maintain her ruse forever, she put her kits beside sleeping P'rerr and stole out into the desert once more. When P'rerr awoke she thought they were hers and suckled them. But Egg-Stealer the grashi had been hiding in a burrow in the Patriarch's Garden and saw it all happen, and when V'rere had gone he ran to the Fanged God and told him everything.

"The Fanged God was enraged at V'rere's trickery and to punish her he commanded the prey animals to leave the jungle, that V'rere would be forced to follow them across the desert and know thirst. Then he commanded the Black Priests to examine every kit of the Patriarch's Line in their fifth time around the seasons, and to banish all who carried the signs of the Line of V'rere. Finally, his anger abated, he turned to Egg-Stealer and thanked him for his warning and granted him a boon. And Egg-Stealer asked that his line become to plentiful that it would never end, and the Fanged God made it so, and this is why the grashi flourish in flood and in drought and on every world, why even when the kzinti leave a place the grashi remain where they have been."

-- Destiny's Forge: A Man-Kzin Wars Novel by Paul Chafe

Differences between the Fanged God and the God of the Humans

"You have your Fanged God, and we our Bearded God, but they might almost be two faces of the same entity. Both of them demand truth, honor and justice of us."

"But your Bearded God also demands that you love your enemy," the kzin rumbled softly. "And the Fanged God does not."

-- Man-Kzin Wars XIV by Larry Niven

"Some of us believe Fanged God and Bearded God have their own kingdoms. Others have conceptions more subtle: that the Fanged God is the heroic aspect of the Bearded God, who being omnipotent has no need for heroism."

-- Man-Kzin Wars X: The Wunder War by Hal Colebatch

The Extended Pantheon

"Do you have a god that watches over travelers?"

"We have a saint. Saint Christopher."

"Ah. For us, the brave traveler, who dares the unknown, comes under the attention of Amara, third male kit of the Fanged God. But he lives on the Traveler's Moon, which orbits Kzin with the Hunters' Moon. I am not sure how much attention he pays to the goings-on of this world."

-- Man-Kzin Wars XIV by Larry Niven