Known Space

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Known Space is the fictional setting of many of Larry Niven's science fiction stories. In general terms it is the name given by humans to the collection of stars and planets near the Earth, out to some 60 light years, which have been explored and settled in the books set in it. The Known Space stories span approximately a thousand years of history, from the first human explorations of our solar system to the colonization of dozens of nearby systems (and with references to events some billion years ago).

Overview

Races

In the process of exploring space, humankind encounters several intelligent alien species, including the following.

• The Kzinti, belligerent giant cat-like aliens with whom the humans fight several brutal wars – mostly offstage until the release of the Man-Kzin Wars short-story collections, largely by other authors.
• Pierson's Puppeteers, a technologically advanced race of three-legged, two-headed creatures descended from herd animals, and noted for their cowardice. Their commercial empire pulls strings across many movements and governments, and Puppeteer plots are behind many of the larger events in Known Space.
• The Outsiders, fragile low-temperature aliens that cruise deep space and trade information, introducing FTL travel to humans. They have a mysterious connection with the starseeds.
• The Pak, interstellar relatives of humanity whose life-cycle evidences the purpose of human old age. Builders of the Ringworld.
• The Kdatlyno, a species enslaved by the Kzinti until humans freed them. Kdatlyno "see" by way of sonar and create sculptures intended to be "seen" by Kdatlyno, felt by humans and licked by Puppeteers.
• The Thrintun, a long-extinct species which ruled the galaxy through telepathic mind control.
• The Grogs, sessile furry cones, which can control animals telepathically. The Grogs turn out to be the descendants of the Thrintun species, after two billion years of degeneration.
• The Tnuctipun, an ancient race of carnivores contemporaneous with the Thrintun; they are known for their technological prowess, especially in genetic engineering.
• The Bandersnatchi, colossal sluglike creatures, originally created by the Tnuctipun to be grown as a food source by the Thrintun;
• The Trinocs, named for their three eyes; they also have three fingers, a triangular mouth etc.
• Martians, primitive humanoids who lived beneath the sands. Recently extinct, except on the "Map of Mars" on the Ringworld.
• The Jotoki, sentient octopus-shaped beings formed by the joining of the lobes of five non-sentient eel-like life forms into a single brain. Former rulers of an interstellar empire, they used Kzinti as body guards, but the Kzinti rebelled and used the Jotoki technology to create their own empire.
• Morlocks, semi-sentient humanoid cave dwellers on Wunderland. Named for the creatures in The Time Machine.
• Whrloo, Meter tall insectiods with long eyestalks, their homeworld has low gravity with a thick, high density atmosphere. They never saw the stars until they were enslaved by the Kzinti.

Also figuring in some stories are intelligent cetaceans and various offshoots of Homo sapiens lineage. Most life in Known Space share similar biochemistries, since they evolved from the Thrintun practice of seeding barren worlds with food yeast.

Locations

One aspect of the Known Space universe is that most of the planets colonized by humans are suboptimal for Homo sapiens. The planets were measured and declared habitable by "dumb" robot probes who were then followed by sleeper ships who had to make the best of a bad situation.

• Down is the home world of the Grogs (see above), notable for the Bussard ramjet that remains in orbit to destroy the Grog population should they take threatening action against humanity.

• The Fleet of Worlds are the five planets that are home to the Puppeteers (see above), presently being moved in formation at sub-light speeds out of the galaxy to avoid destruction as the wave of energy from an explosion of the galactic core sweeps towards the outer reaches of the galaxy.
• Home was one of Earth's most distant colonies, decimated by war with the Pak, but re-colonized in later centuries. The planet was so named by the colonists, due to its remarkable similarity to Earth. Home orbits the star Epsilon Indi.
• Jinx, orbiting Sirius, is a massive moon of a gas giant, stretched by tidal forces into an egg shape, with gravity near the limits of human habitability. The poles lie in vacuum, the equatorial regions are Venus-like (and inhabited by the Bandersnatchi); the zones between have atmosphere breathable by humans. Jinx's poles become a major in vacuo manufacturing area.
• Kobold was an artificial world created by Jack Brennan, a human Protector. Composed of a small sphere in the center ringed by a larger torus. Gravity generators facilitate movement between the two sections and are used in games and art.
• Mars, fourth planet in our solar system and the first planetary colony in Known Space. Native Martians were exterminated by the Brennan Monster to protect the colonists.
• Plateau in the Tau Ceti system is Venus-like, with a plateau (called Mount Lookitthat), half the size of California, rising high enough into the dense atmosphere to be habitable. Inhabitants (mountaineers) are divided into rigid hereditary castes, the crew and the colonists, depending on whether their ancestors piloted the colonizing vessel. The crew are the upper caste, and hold power through their monopoly on organ transplantation. The original colonists signed the Covenant of Planetfall agreeing that this outcome was just recompense for the labors of the crew during the voyage; that they signed at gunpoint as they were awakened from hibernation was kept secret from later generations. This system is changed by events in A Gift from Earth, and appears to be nonexistent by the time The Ethics of Madness takes place.
• Ringworld, an artificial world a million times larger than earth, built in the shape of a giant ring orbiting its sun, a million miles across and with a diameter of 180 million miles.
• Sheathclaws a planet colonized by humans aboard Angel's Pencil and Kzinti telepaths.
• Warhead was an uninhabitable Mars-like world being used as a military outpost by the Kzinti, until it was hit with an experimental weapon which tore a long, kilometers-deep, but narrow hole into the crust. Most of the planet's atmosphere fell into this artificial canyon, resulting in a breathable environment. The planet was then renamed Canyon, for the crater, and settled by humans in a huge city running up the crater wall.
• We Made It orbiting Procyon, got its name because the first colony ship crash-landed. Gravity is about three-fifths Earth's. The planet's axis is pointed along the plane of the ecliptic (like Uranus), creating ferocious winds during half of the planet's year of as much as 1,500 mph, forcing the people to live underground. Natives are known as Crashlanders, and tend to be very tall albinos. Their capital, which was the site of their ship's crash landing, is called Crashlanding City. We Made It also has one ocean.
• Wunderland is an inhabitable planet circling Alpha Centauri, and was the earliest extra-solar colony in Known Space's human history. It has a gravity of 6/10's that of Earth's and is extremely hospitable to human life. Wunderland was invaded and its population enslaved by the Kzinti during the first Man-Kzin war. It was freed near the end of the war by the human Hyperdrive Armada.
• Kzin, translates as Home-of-the-Kzinti or Kzinhome in the Hero's tongue. It orbits 51 Ursae Majoris and has higher gravity than earth and more oxygen in the atmosphere. It has two moons, known as the Hunter's Moon and the Traveller's Moon.

Asteroid belts are usually extensively colonized in Known Space, as well. Sol's is known as the Belt, while Alpha Centauri's is known as the Serpent Swarm.

Technology

The series also features a number of "gee whiz" inventions which figure as plot devices. Stories earlier in the timeline feature technology such as Bussard ramjets, and explore how organ transplantation technology enables the new crime of Organlegging, while later stories feature hyperdrive, invulnerable starship hulls, stasis fields, molecular monofilaments, Dyson Spheres, transporter booths (used only on planetary surfaces), the lifespan-extending drug boosterspice, and the tasp which is capable of stimulating the pleasure centers of the brain from a distance.

The impact of inventions and technology on society is a recurring theme in Niven's work. For example, addiction to electric brain stimulation resulting in Wireheads, or the effects of the invention of teleportation (not often addressed in the Known Space canon).

The milieu can be viewed as representing the climax of the pre-cyberpunk era of science fiction, as the cyberpunk themes of information technology and competition of various sub-governmental groups do not figure in the stories.

ARM

The ARM are the armed forces of the United Nations. ARM used to be an acronym for the Amalgamation of Regional Militia, though this is not a term in current usage by the time of the Known Space novels. Their jurisdiction is limited to the Earth–Moon system; other human colonies have their own militia. Nevertheless, in many Known Space stories, ARM agents operate or exert influence in other human star systems (see In the Hall of the Mountain King, Procrustes, and Neutron Star). These interventions begin following the Man-Kzin Wars and the introduction of hyperdrive, presumably as part of a general re-integration of human societies.

Stories in Known Space

Unlike many fictional universes, the component tales of known space were largely released as short stories or serials in various science fiction anthology magazines. These stories were generally subsequently released in one or more collection volumes. To add some further confusion, some of the shorter novels were also later re-released as part of collections. Due to the large number of stories, it is particularly difficult for a completionist fan of the series to have read the entire span of the work. There are also a number of short stories that are very similar to Known Space stories in style and technology, but which are not a part of the Known Space Universe. ("Bordered in Black" and "Wait it out" are examples.)

After the mid-1970s, Larry Niven began to write significantly less Known Space stories. In his note that accompanies "Man-Kzin Wars", he indicates that it had become more and more difficult to be inspired to write in the universe as it had grown too difficult. At that point, he opened up the series to works by other authors.

In the Known Space stories Niven had created a number of technological devices (GP hull, stasis field, Ringworld material) which, combined with the 'Teela Brown' gene, made it very difficult to construct engaging stories beyond a certain date - the combination of factors made it tricky to produce any kind of creditable threat/problem without complex contrivances. Niven demonstrated this, to his own satisfaction, with Safe at Any Speed.

Stories by Niven himself

Title	Published	First Appeared In	Collection
The Coldest Place	1964	Worlds of If	Tales of Known Space
World of Ptavvs	1965†	Worlds of Tomorrow	—
Becalmed in Hell	1965	The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction	Tales of Known Space
Eye of an Octopus	1966	Galaxy Magazine	Tales of Known Space
The Warriors	1966	Worlds of If	Tales of Known Space
Neutron Star	1966	Worlds of If	Neutron Star
How the Heroes Die	1966	Galaxy Magazine	Tales of Known Space
At the Core	1966	Worlds of If	Neutron Star
A Relic of the Empire	1966	Worlds of If	Neutron Star
At the Bottom of a Hole	1966	Galaxy Magazine	Tales of Known Space
The Soft Weapon	1967	Worlds of If	Neutron Star
Flatlander	1967	Worlds of If	Neutron Star
The Ethics of Madness	1967	Worlds of If	Neutron Star
Safe at any Speed	1967	The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction	Tales of Known Space
The Adults	1967†	Galaxy Magazine	—
The Handicapped	1967	Galaxy Magazine	Neutron Star
The Jigsaw Man	1967	Dangerous Visions	Tales of Known Space
Slowboat Cargo	1968†	Worlds of If	—
The Deceivers	1968†	Galaxy Magazine	Tales of Known Space
Grendel	1968	(collection only)	Neutron Star
There is a Tide	1968	Galaxy Magazine	Tales of Known Space
The World of Ptavvs	1968	(novel)	—
A Gift From Earth	1968	(novel)	—
Wait It Out	1968	Futures Unbounded	Tales of Known Space
The Organleggers	1968†	Galaxy Magazine	The Shape of Space
Ringworld	1970	(novel)	—
Cloak of Anarchy	1972	Analog Science Fiction	Tales of Known Space
Protector	1973	(novel)	—
The Defenseless Dead	1973	(collection only)	The Long ARM of Gil Hamilton
The Borderland of Sol	1974	Analog Science Fiction	Tales of Known Space
ARM	1975	Epic	The Long ARM of Gil Hamilton
The Ringworld Engineers	1980	(novel)	—
The Patchwork Girl	1980	(novel)	—
Madness Has Its Place	1990	(collection only)	Man-Kzin Wars III
Procrustes	1994	(collection only)	Crashlander
Ghost	1994	(framing story, collection only)	Crashlander
The Woman in Del Rey Crater	1995	(collection only)	Flatlander
The Ringworld Throne	1996	(novel)	—
Choosing Names	1998	(collection only)	Man-Kzin Wars VIII
Fly-By-Night	2002	(collection only)	Man-Kzin Wars IX
Ringworld's Children	2004	(novel)	—
The Hunting Park	2005	(collection only)	Man-Kzin Wars XI

† Additional Notes:

• "World of Ptavvs" was expanded and republished as a novel in 1968.
• "The Adults" was expanded and republished as "Protector" in 1973.
• "Slowboat Cargo" was expanded and republished as "A Gift From Earth" in 1968.
• "The Deceivers" was subsequently renamed "Intent to Deceive"
• "The Organleggers" was subsequently renamed "Death by Ecstasy"

(Note that most stories appeared in more than one collection, though only one each is listed here.)

Man-Kzin Wars

Title	Published	Collection	Written By
Iron	1988	Man-Kzin Wars	Poul Anderson
Cathouse	1988	Man-Kzin Wars	Dean Ing
Briar Patch	1989	Man-Kzin Wars II	Dean Ing
The Children's Hour	1989	Man-Kzin Wars II	Jerry Pournelle & S.M. Stirling
The Asteroid Queen	1990	Man-Kzin Wars III	Jerry Pournelle & S.M. Stirling
Inconstant Star	1990	Man-Kzin Wars III	Poul Anderson
The Survivor	1991	Man-Kzin Wars IV	Donald Kingsbury
The Man Who Would Be Kzin	1991	Man-Kzin Wars IV	Greg Bear & S.M. Stirling
In The Hall Of The Mountain King	1992	Man-Kzin Wars V	Jerry Pournelle & S.M. Stirling
Hey Diddle Diddle	1992	Man-Kzin Wars V	Thomas T. Thomas
The Heroic Myth Of Lieutenant Nora Argamentine	1994	Man-Kzin Wars VI	Donald Kingsbury
The Trojan Cat	1994	Man-Kzin Wars VI	Mark O. Martin & Gregory Benford
The Colonel's Tiger	1995	Man-Kzin Wars VII	Hal Colebatch
A Darker Geometry	1995	Man-Kzin Wars VII	Mark O. Martin & Gregory Benford
Prisoner Of War	1995	Man-Kzin Wars VII	Paul Chafe
Telepath's Dance	1998	Man-Kzin Wars VIII	Hal Colebatch
Galley Slave	1998	Man-Kzin Wars VIII	Jean Lamb
Jotok	1998	Man-Kzin Wars VIII	Paul Chafe
Slowboat Nightmare	1998	Man-Kzin Wars VIII	Warren W. James
Pele	2002	Man-Kzin Wars IX	Poul Anderson
His Sergeant's Honor	2002	Man-Kzin Wars IX	Hal Colebatch
Windows of the Soul	2002	Man-Kzin Wars IX	Paul Chafe
One War For Wunderland	2003	Man-Kzin Wars X	Hal Colebatch
The Corporal In The Caves	2003	Man-Kzin Wars X	Hal Colebatch
Music Box	2003	Man-Kzin Wars X	Hal Colebatch
Peter Robinson	2003	Man-Kzin Wars X	Hal Colebatch
Three At Table	2005	Man-Kzin Wars XI	Hal Colebatch
Grossgeister Swamp	2005	Man-Kzin Wars XI	Hal Colebatch
Catspaws	2005	Man-Kzin Wars XI	Hal Colebatch
Teacher's Pet	2005	Man-Kzin Wars XI	Matthew Joseph Harrington
War And Peace	2005	Man-Kzin Wars XI	Matthew Joseph Harrington
Destiny's Forge	2006	Destiny's Forge	Paul Chafe

Playground

Niven has described his fiction as "playground equipment", encouraging fans to speculate and extrapolate on the events described. Debates have been made, for example, on who built the Ringworld (Pak Protectors and the Outsiders being the traditional favorites, but see Ringworld's Children for a possibly definitive answer), and what happened to the Tnuctipun.

A rough draft of a "final" Known Space story titled ["Down in Flames"] is in circulation, which includes a controversial revelation about the Tnuctipun. However, the publication of Ringworld appears to make this draft obsolete.

External links

• [Encyclopedia of Known Space]
• [Timeline of the Known Space universe]: Warning: spoilers.
• [Website for the Man-Kzin Wars novel Destiny's Forge]
• [Homepage of MKW author Paul Chafe]

 

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