The Kzinti (singular: Kzin) are an alien cat-like species developed by
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His 1970 novel ''Ringworld'' won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Hugo, Locus Award, Locus, Ditmar Award, Ditmar, and Nebula Award for Best Novel, Nebula award ...
in his ''
Known Space
Known Space is the fictional setting of about a dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories by American writer Larry Niven. It has also become a shared universe in the spin-off ''Man-Kzin Wars'' anthologies. The Inter ...
'' series.
The Kzinti were initially introduced in Niven's story "The Warriors" (originally in ''
Worlds of If'' (1966), collected in ''Tales of Known Space'' (1975)) and "
The Soft Weapon" (1967), collected in ''Neutron Star'' (1968). A Kzin character, Speaker-to-Animals (later known as Chmeee), subsequently played a significant role in Niven's
Hugo and
Nebula
A nebula (; or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral, or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the Pillars of Creation in ...
award-winning ''
Ringworld
''Ringworld'' is a 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. ''Ringworld'' tells the story of Louis Wu and his companions on a mission to the Ringworld, an ...
'' (1970) and ''
Ringworld Engineers
''The Ringworld Engineers'' is a 1979 science fiction novel by American writer Larry Niven. It is the first sequel to Niven's ''Ringworld'' and was nominated for both the Hugo Award, Hugo and Locus Awards in 1981.
Origin
In the introduction to ...
'' (1980), giving considerably more background on the Kzinti and their interactions with human civilizations. Following ''Ringworld'', Niven permitted several friends to write stories taking place in the time following "The Warriors" but before "The Soft Weapon"; These stories (including a handful by Niven) were collected in some volumes of ''The
Man-Kzin Wars'', which eventually reached fourteen volumes, the first published in June 1988. Kzinti also appears in ''
Juggler of Worlds'' (2008) and ''
Fate of Worlds'' (2012), novels within the Fleet of Worlds series (cowritten with
Edward M. Lerner).
The Kzinti were also written by Niven into the ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...
'' universe, appearing first in ''
Star Trek: The Animated Series''. Similar characters also appeared in ''
Star Trek: Lower Decks'' and in ''
Star Fleet Universe'', as well as material for ''
Star Trek: Enterprise'' that was never produced because of the series' cancellation.
Background and history
Kzinti evolved from a plains-hunting
felid
Felidae ( ) is the Family (biology), family of mammals in the Order (biology), order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats. A member of this family is also called a felid ( ).
The 41 extant taxon, extant Felidae species exhibit the gre ...
, on a planet slightly colder and drier than
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
. The Kzin word for their home planet translates as Homeworld, often known as Kzinhome, among the Kzinti themselves. It is the third planet orbiting the star
61 Ursae Majoris.
The Kzin civilization was at an iron-age technological level, when an alien race called the
Jotoki landed, and made stealthy
first contact with a tribe of primitive hunter/gatherer Kzinti: they were interstellar merchants, looking for a species they could use as mercenaries.
Once the Jotok had taught the Kzinti how to use high-tech weapons, and other devices (including spacecraft), the Kzin rebelled, and made their former masters into slaves -- as well as the occasional meal. The crest of the Riit (Royal) family appears to be a bite mark -- though it is in fact a
dentate leaf
The following terms are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade is divided into two or more leaflets ...
, with the words "From mercenary to master.", written around it in Kzinti script.
Kzin society is extremely male-dominated. The leader of the race is called the
Patriarch
The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and ...
, and is a hereditary title. The Kzinti call themselves "heroes" or the "Hero 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. Kzin honor, called ''strakh'', is similar in many ways to the
samurai
The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...
code of
Bushido
is a Samurai moral code concerning samurai attitudes, behavior and lifestyle. Its origins date back to the Kamakura period, but it was formalized in the Edo period (1603–1868). There are multiple types of bushido which evolved significantl ...
. ''Strakh'' serves as almost a sort of currency or favor system, since their culture has no analog for money. For example, if the Patriarch gets meat from a seller's market stand, the seller gains considerable ''strakh'', which will bring honor to the seller, aiding him to attract better customers, gaining ''strakh'', i.e. higher status within the community.
Once Kzinti gained access to genetic-manipulation technology, they used to bring out the most "heroic" qualities, and reduce the undesired ones. To this end -- and because females are not valued except as bearers of children -- the male-dominated Kzin society bred (most of) their own females into sub-sapience.
Kzinti are often described as "anthropomorphic tigers," but there are significant, and visible, differences. Kzinti are larger than humans, standing around tall, and weighing around . These tiger-sized
biped
Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an animal moves by means of its two rear (or lower) limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from Latin ''bis'' ' ...
s have large and membranous ears, a barrel-chested torso, with a flexible spine, and large fangs and claws. One human gave an apt description of Kzin as "eight feet of death."
Unlike some popularly depicted anthropomorphic animals, Kzinti stand on two legs as do humans; they lack
digitigrade
In terrestrial vertebrates, digitigrade ( ) locomotion is walking or running on the toes (from the Latin ''digitus'', 'finger', and ''gradior'', 'walk'). A digitigrade animal is one that stands or walks with its toes (phalanges) on the ground, and ...
("backward-bending") legs. Hands have three fingers, and an opposable thumb, each with a retractable claw.
Kzinti are covered with a thick coat of long fur, which comes in various combinations of orange, yellow, and black. (Full black coats are rare.) Their tails are naked, and similar in appearance to a rat's tail; their noses are black. Kzinti ears have fur, but only on the outside of the ear, and only about halfway up the ear itself, usually appear pink, and are shaped like a segment of a Chinese
parasol
An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy (building), canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is usually designed to protect a person against rain. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionall ...
(or
cocktail umbrella; they are also sometimes described as "bat-winged"). They can fold back flat against the head for protection during a fight.
Kzinti speak in a hissing language they call the ''Hero's Tongue'', which in its written form resembles
commas and
periods.
Kzinti cubs are tested by the Black Priests. Females are tested for intelligence; those who fail their tests by revealing too much intelligence are killed. Males are tested for telepathy; the ones who exhibit telepathic ability are forced into addiction of a drug derived from the lymph of an animal called a ''sthondat'', which significantly increases
telepathic
Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...
ability. However, it is addictive and toxic, with long-term use, causing muscle atrophy, and thinning fur. The black-fur gene and the telepath gene are mutually exclusive; no completely black-furred Kzin is telepathic. All such cubs are taken by the Black Priests and raised within their cult.
Telepaths are tolerated by the warrior class, due to the specialized use of their skill; otherwise, they endure a low-
caste
A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...
position in society, just above the status of slaves; a slave is occasionally considered of a higher social status. Telepaths rarely, if ever, earn a name, and they are legally forbidden to breed.
Most Kzin females (''s.'' Kzin''rret'', ''pl.'' Kzin''rretti'') are sub-sapient, with a vocabulary of fewer than a hundred word/sounds, and primarily instinct-driven behavior, and are treated as
chattel by males. (''s.'' Kzin''tosh'', ''pl.'' Kzin''toshi'') This was not always the case: archaic Kzinrretti were sapient, until the Kzin used
Jotoki biotechnology
Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...
to reduce them to their current state, and also boosted the martial prowess in the males. Kzin society explains this, by stating that the (perhaps male?) Fanged God removed the Kzinrretti souls, as punishment for an attempted rebellion against him, shortly after he created the Kzinti. Nevertheless, even by the period of the novels, certain bloodlines still produce sentient females (as do some, if not most, primitive tribes). These tribes, long isolated from the patriarchy, avoided genetic modifications; at least two sentient females exist on Wunderland, and a population also exist on the Ringworld.
In the
Known Space
Known Space is the fictional setting of about a dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories by American writer Larry Niven. It has also become a shared universe in the spin-off ''Man-Kzin Wars'' anthologies. The Inter ...
universe, the Kzinti are the first ongoing alien contact that humanity has met. The
first contact with humanity ends the human
golden era of peace -- where even history has been rewritten with a non-violent whitewash; organized violence was virtually eliminated, being reduced to roughly 1 in 1000 people, and interpersonal violence was unknown, except for occasional outbursts in the
asteroid belt
The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, centered on the Sun and roughly spanning the space between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids ...
, where both medical and psychological care were thinly spread.
Naming convention
Kzintoshi are born without names, which they must earn through valorous deeds. They are originally known by their relation to their father when they are kittens. After maturity, they are known by their rank or occupation. A Kzin who has performed a great deed will be granted a partial name by a superior; a further, greater deed earns a full name, the second of which is the family name.
In rare instances, a sufficiently illustrious accomplishment will earn a nameless one a full name in one fell swoop. An example of this is the granting of a full name to Trainer-of-Slaves, who single-handedly delivered a fully working hyperdrive to the Patriarchy in the novella "The Heroic Myth of Lieutenant Nora Argamentine" by
Donald Kingsbury (appearing in''
Man-Kzin Wars VI'' (1994)), thus earning the full name Graaf-Nig.
An exception to this rule seems to accrue to the members of the Riit family, who have held the office of Kzinti Patriarch for uncounted generations. These appear to earn names upon reaching adulthood. However, in the 2006 novel ''
Destiny's Forge'' by author
Paul Chafe, the heir apparent to the Riit throne, "Pouncer", does not receive a name until it is earned by deed. (Under normal circumstances Pouncer would have received his Name automatically; however, in his position after the death of his father, earning his Name traditionally was essential to establishing his ''strakh'' as the heir to the Patriarchy.)
Only those Heroes who have earned a full name are allowed to breed. There seem to be exceptions to this, such as the reference made to Kzaargh-Commodore's harem in the novella "Catspaws" by
Hal Colebatch
Sir Harry Pateshall Colebatch (29 March 1872 – 12 February 1953) was a long-serving figure in Western Australian politics. He was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council for nearly 20 years, the twelfth Premier of Western Aus ...
(appearing in
''Man-Kzin Wars XI, 2005'') despite his not having yet earned a full name.
An example of a Kzin's naming transition would be:
* Birth description: Third-Son of Khral-Hrag
* Occupation description: Weapons-Technician
* Partial name: Frep-Technician
* Full name: Frep-Hrag
The Man-Kzin Wars
In several different stories by other authors writing in the universe, we see references to a total of five Man-Kzin wars taking place. The net effect of these wars is summed up by a retrospective comment from Beowulf Schaeffer in the short story "Grendel": "The Kzinti aren't really a threat." They'll ''always'' attack before they're ready", because the more certain one's victory is before a fight begins, the less honor is to be had from it. With decreasingly impressive logistical and technological advantages, each
Man-Kzin War results in the confiscation or liberation of one or more Kzinti 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). Several of the stories of the Man-Kzin Wars depict the nearest human colony at Alpha Centauri, called Wunderland, which was occupied by the Kzinti for over 50 years.
Eventually (in ''Ringworld),'' we learn that the Kzin reverses were deliberately engineered by the
Pierson's puppeteers, who
lured
''Lured'' is a 1947 American film noir directed by Douglas Sirk and starring George Sanders, Lucille Ball, Charles Coburn, Cedric Hardwicke, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, and Boris Karloff. The film is a remake of 1939 French film ''Pièges'' directed ...
the
Outsiders to
We Made It in the first place. This allowed the mayor of We Made It to purchase a faster-than-Light drive on credit from the Outsiders. Once the humans had FTL warships, the Kzinti couldn't defeat the humans in space combat. 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 instantly trying to kill and eat them. 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 so far as to adopt the human concept that God had created humanity (not the Kzinti) in His image, and that He favors and protects humans over other races.
As the puppeteers expected, a form of "natural" selection occurred, with the more mindlessly aggressive Kzinti dying in the wars with humans and the more moderate, intelligent, and ''cautious'' Kzinti surviving, presumably to think long and hard about the consequences of starting yet another pointless 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
Louis Gridley Wu, a fictional character, is the protagonist in Larry Niven's ''Ringworld'' book series.
Louis Wu was born in 2650 to Carlos Wu and Sharrol Janss. When he appears in ''Ringworld'', Louis is 6′2″ (188 cm) tall. Without ...
, 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
Kzin grin (baring of the teeth being a Kzin challenge to battle), and the older Kzin responded "NO". Wu muses that the Kzin have learned that it would be safer for the young Kzin to eat arsenic than a human being.
One of the reasons humanity is such a dangerous enemy is the psychological blind spot the Kzinti have toward human females. Since the Kzinti have bred intelligence out of their own females, an inexperienced Kzin is sometimes careless enough to leave human females to their own devices, usually with fatal results for that particular Kzin. It has been further described in the novels that a combat-trained human female is a hero's worst nightmare. The Kzinti term for any particularly competent human female soldier is "Manrret" (singular) or "Manrretti" (plural), so named out of a sense of
gallows humor regarding lethal encounters with the same. From the Kzinti point of view a Manrret's stamina, speed, reflexes, pain tolerance, and reasoning capability (enhanced
intuition
Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without recourse to conscious reasoning or needing an explanation. Different fields use the word "intuition" in very different ways, including but not limited to: direct access to unconscious knowledg ...
by virtue of increased interconnectedness between the left and right halves of the human female
brain
The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...
) are far superior to a man's. This gives some Kzin reason for considering each of the genders of humanity to be a separate alien species.
On Wunderland, the leader of Kzin has developed a bond with a human female that only they understand.
Kdaptist
The ''Kdaptists'' are a religious sect of the Kzin. Prior to contacting humans, the predatory Kzin had conquered every species they had encountered, but humans—who, at the time of first contact, were believed by the Kzin to be unarmed pacifists—have consistently defeated the Kzinti. This was baffling and humiliating to the Kzinti, whose own religion told them that they were the pinnacle of creation.
During the first Man-Kzin War, a fighter pilot named Kdapt-Captain was captured by the ''Catskinner'', an
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
sent by the Terrans to the
Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri (, α Cen, or Alpha Cen) is a star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus (constellation), Centaurus. It consists of three stars: Rigil Kentaurus (), Toliman (), and Proxima Centauri (). Proxima Centauri ...
system. Kdapt-Captain was kept in near-total
sensory deprivation
Sensory deprivation or perceptual isolation is the deliberate reduction or removal of stimuli from one or more of the senses. Simple devices such as blindfolds or hoods and earmuffs can cut off sight and hearing, while more complex devices can ...
, except for the smell of his dead and rotting shipmates. He suffered from dehydration and starvation for several days, and when he was finally rescued (by humans), claimed to have seen
God
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
.
Changing his name to Kdapt-Preacher, he settled on
Wunderland and lived as a
hermit
A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions.
Description
In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...
, telling whomever he met that God made Man, not Kzin, in his own image. He began wearing a mask of human skin during his prayers, so that God might think he was one of His human children.
By the time of the events in ''Ringworld'', Kdaptism had become a minor, if not tolerated, religion.
Speaker-to-Animals
This is a list of fictional characters featured in the ''Known Space'' novels by Larry Niven.
Individual characters Sigmund Ausfaller
Sigmund Ausfaller, a native of Earth, is a member of the Amalgamated Regional Militia ("ARM"), working in t ...
, when confronted, tells
Louis Wu
Louis Gridley Wu, a fictional character, is the protagonist in Larry Niven's ''Ringworld'' book series.
Louis Wu was born in 2650 to Carlos Wu and Sharrol Janss. When he appears in ''Ringworld'', Louis is 6′2″ (188 cm) tall. Without ...
that he was raised by Kdaptists but that it 'didn't take'.
Homeworld
The Kzin homeworld is called "Kzin" by all other races save the Kzinti, who call it "Homeworld" or "Kzinhome". It orbits the star
61 Ursae Majoris and has stronger
surface gravity
The surface gravity, ''g'', of an astronomical object is the gravitational acceleration experienced at its surface at the equator, including the effects of rotation. The surface gravity may be thought of as the acceleration due to gravity experi ...
and both a longer day and year than Earth. The Patriarch rules from a large palace on the planet. At the end of the last Man-Kzin War, around 2618, Kzin was occupied and disarmed by human armies.
Patriarch
The Kzinti Patriarch is the leader of the Kzin race. As with other facets of the Kzinti culture, natural selection is used to choose the Patriarch through combat. Throughout the range of the Known Space books, the patriarchy is held by the Riit family. The patriarch has a range of privileges, including a protected hunting reserve and the authority to assign full names to Kzin who have brought glory or honor to the Kzinti empire. There are in fact two Patriarchs as the smaller, lost colony of Kzinti on the
Ringworld
''Ringworld'' is a 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. ''Ringworld'' tells the story of Louis Wu and his companions on a mission to the Ringworld, an ...
also has a patriarch in addition to the main Kzinti empire.
In other science fiction
''Star Trek''
The Kzinti appeared, along with allusions to
slavers and
stasis boxes, in "
The Slaver Weapon", an episode of ''
Star Trek: The Animated Series'' adapted by Niven from his short story "The Soft Weapon". ''
Star Trek: Enterprise'' producer
Manny Coto wanted to include the Kzinti in an episode called "Kilkenny Cats", had the series continued beyond its fourth season. The Kzinti are also mentioned in dialog in the seventh episode of ''
Star Trek: Picard''.
The Kzinti were incorporated into the
Star Fleet Universe where they control a powerful empire known as the Kzinti Hegemony, mortal enemies of that universe's
Lyran Star Empire. It is alluded that the Kzinti and Lyrans share common ancestry, a claim both sides violently reject.
The Kzinti are also represented in the lore of the Star Fleet Battles universe tabletop gaming system, with a number of scenarios and starship sheets devoted to them.
The ''
Star Trek Log'' series, written by
Alan Dean Foster
Alan Dean Foster (born November 18, 1946) is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction. He has written several book series, more than 20 standalone novels, and many novelizations of film scripts.
Career ''Star Wars''
Foster was the ghost ...
, hints that the
Caitians are an offshoot race of archaic Kzinti (where both genders are intelligent) who have renounced conquest. According to a memory of Lieutenant
M'Ress, the secondary communications officer in ''
Star Trek Logs'', the Caitian and Kzinti languages are similar enough that M'Ress can pass as a Kzin just long enough for her to send off a distress call from a Kzinti raiding ship.
The Kzinti reappear in the comic ''The Wristwatch Plantation'', also by Niven (and which included the Bebebebeque from his ''
Draco Tavern'' stories). Kzin appeared on a star map seen in several episodes of ''
Star Trek: The Next Generation'', and a triple-breasted feline stripper from ''
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier'' was referred to backstage as a "Kzinrrett". The name of the
Tzenkethi, mentioned in ''
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', was rumored to be an almost-
anagram
An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...
of "Kzinti".
The instruction manual for the PC game ''
Star Trek: Starfleet Command'' clearly refers to the Kzinti by name in the background story for the rival race, the Lyrans. This race is introduced in ''
Star Trek: Starfleet Command II: Empires at War'' by simply changing the Kzinti Hegemony to the
Mirak Star League.
On May 17, 2012, the MMORPG ''
Star Trek Online
''Star Trek Online'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Cryptic Studios based on the ''Star Trek'' franchise. The game is set in the 25th century, 30 years after the events of '' Star Trek: Nemesis''. ''Star Trek O ...
'' introduced the Ferasans as a playable race for the in-game Klingon Empire faction. The Ferasans were based upon the Kzinti from "The Slaver Weapon", but the alternate name "Ferasan" had to be chosen due to legal issues.
On March 6, 2020, the Kzinti were mentioned in the seventh episode of ''
Star Trek: Picard'', where William Riker mentions that they have been causing problems on the planet Nepenthe.
A Kzin crewman appears in ''
Star Trek: Lower Decks'' as a minor character in several episodes starting in Season 2. In the episode "The Spy Humungous", he briefly assumes a pose similar in appearance to the Kzinti design seen in ''The Animated Series'' before straightening his back into a proper humanoid posture, which he explained as essential to maintaining a commanding presence.
''Star Fleet Universe''
The Kzintis in the SFU, who have traits setting them apart (e.g., no bat ears, sentient females, Kzinti/Kzintis as singular/plural) from the Kzinti of Niven's works, have fought wars with all of their neighbors: the
Federation
A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
, the
Klingon Empire
The Klingons ( ; Klingon language, Klingon: ''tlhIngan'' ) are a humanoid species of aliens in the science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''.
Developed by screenwriter Gene L. Coon in 1967 for the Star Trek: The Original Series, original ''Star T ...
, 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
A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces.
Formation
According to ''A G ...
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.
In the fictional variant of the
Star Fleet Universe as represented in the games ''
Star Trek: Starfleet Command II: Empires at War'' and ''
Star Trek: Starfleet Command: Orion Pirates'' from Taldren, the Kzintis were renamed as the Mirak.
References
External links
Kzin homepage at LarryNiven.net (official site) Homepage of MKW author Paul ChafeAnother fan page about the Kzin language and script, presented in a mock-scholarly article.
Known-Space/Man-Kzin Wars Series-- Chronological Listing, Volume Listing, Author Listing, & Man-Kzin Wars Title Listing Galactic Civilizations 2 - official Kzinti Empire Forum Thread
{{Larry Niven
Fiction set around 61 Ursae Majoris
Known Space
Fictional warrior races
Fictional extraterrestrial species and races
Star Trek species