Kansas City— A city on Earth, the location in 2320-67 of the headquarters for Skyhook Enterprises. Douglas Hooker lived in a skyscraper there. ["The Ethics of Madness"]

"Kdatlyno" by Bonnie Dalzell Copyright © 1975

Kdatlyno— An interstellar species of Known Space. ["At the Core", "Grendel", "There Is a Tide", "Fly-By-Night"]

Physiology: Kdatlyno are huge, 10 foot bipeds with great flat feet, and arms long for even their height. They have an armored brown hide, curved silver-tipped claws at knees and elbows, and retractile claws on the knuckles of their huge hands. Their heads are eyeless and noseless, with a gash of a mouth. Above that is a goggle-shaped tympanum (eardrum). They constantly emit a supersonic whistle, one tone; they "see" by sonar (but see Editorial Note for Continuity/Science).

Behavior/Psychology: Kdatlyno are said to be "touchy" and have a strong sense of honor. They need plenty of room, hence cannot travel on a small starship. In a confined area they will soon go insane.

Culture: In 2645 the Kdatlyno sphere was half the size of Human space. Their worlds were impoverished due to their former enslavement by the Kzinti. In 2647 they were building industries.

Interspecies relations: The Kdatlyno worlds were conquered by the Kzinti Empire, and freed during the Man-Kzin Wars. In 2657 some Kdatlyno remained legal Kzinti slaves.

See also Lloobee, Hrodenu.

Editorial Note: Continuity/Science

"Captain Kidd" Copyright © 1997 by The Icon Factory

"Kidd, Captain"— [Spoiler alert: "A Relic of the Empire"] The alias of a Jinxian pirate, captain of the Puppet Master, who claimed to have discovered the Puppeteer homeworld and plundered three Puppeteer starships. Soon after, in 2644, he took Dr. Richard Schultz-Mann captive on Mira Ceti-T. See "A Relic of the Empire" (story summary). ["A Relic of the Empire"]

kitchen— see autokitchen

Known Space— The entire volume of space explored by Human-built starships [1]. In the pre-hyperdrive era (before circa 2409), most exploration was by ramrobot. ["The Ethics of Madness"]

Kzin (planet)— The Kzinti home world.

Kzin (sentient being)— An individual of the Kzinti species. ["The Warriors", "The Soft Weapon"]

Kzin telepath— A Kzin forced to take sthondath lymph extract, which turns him into a highly effective telepath, able to read both Kzinti and most alien minds with ease. However, attempting to read the mind of a herbivore, such as a Puppeteer, would drive the telepath insane. The drug also makes a Kzin telepath highly neurotic. He typically suffers from depression, and has a generally unhealthy appearance and lack of personal grooming, with matted, unkempt fur, a drooping tale, and red eyes. Despite the rarity and value of telepaths, they are treated as very low-status individuals, hence are almost always named Telepath, for their profession. See also Telepath. ["The Warriors", "The Soft Weapon"]

Kzin, by Lisa A. Free copyright © 1984 by Chaosium

Kzinti— A highly aggressive, cat-like and warlike interstellar species, one of the most prominent in Known Space. The Kzinti Empire fought, and lost, four interstellar wars with Humans. ["The Warriors", "At the Core", "The Soft Weapon", "There Is a Tide", Ringworld]

Physiology: Larger than Human, a large male Kzin may be eight feet tall and weigh nearly 500 pounds. They are bipeds, standing erect on short legs. They have bright orange fur with individualized black markings, which most commonly appear on the face and hands. They are powerfully built, with thick limbs and torso. Although mammalian they do not have a mammal-like rib cage. Instead they have a latticework of bone struts encasing their torso, connected by cartilage. The head is quite cat-like in appearance, although with a large cranial bulge. Their eyes are strangely colored, with round pupils instead of cat-like vertical ones. Their fan-like ears fold like Chinese parasols. They have a naked, pink, rat-like tail. Kzin (their home planet) has a gravity of approximately 1.2 gee [2]. However, the Kzinti colonized other worlds millennia before Humans did, so different Kzinti are adapted to different gravity levels [2a]. Kzinti and Human biochemistry are very similar; they can eat Humans without allergic reaction, and gain nourishment from the meat (see food yeast).

Sex and Reproduction: Female Kzinti are only semi-intelligent (or at least non-verbal) and are kept closely guarded in harems. They are never carried aboard Kzinti warships or intentionally exposed to the dangers of war. Kzinti females are in heat only when fertile, like most mammals but unlike Humans [3]. It appears likely that Kzinti engage in sex only for reproduction, also unlike Humans [4].

Behavior/Psychology: Although it is never stated directly, it seems that the Kzinti are on average less intelligent than Humans. Aggressive and territorial, Kzinti have much more need of "elbow room" than do Humans. A Kzin "grin" is not a smile— the Kzin is baring his teeth for an attack. When one Kzin challenges another, he screams and leaps. When time permits they frequently perform grooming, such as brushing their fur. The Heroes' Tongue, the Kzinti language, sounds like cats fighting.

Kzin, by Lisa A. Free copyright © 1984 by Chaosium

Kzinti (continued):

Culture: The Kzinti Empire is ruled by a feudal-style aristocracy. Those 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. According to a Puppeteer (who may have a biased perspective), 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" [5]. A "conquest leader", leading the conquest of a planet, is entitled to one percent of its wealth for life. Kzinti use base eight numbers, perhaps indicating they have eight fingers.

Interspecies relations: Kzinti believe they should rule the galaxy, and until decisively defeated by Humans in the Man-Kzin Wars they conquered all intelligent species they encountered, enslaving the Kdatlyno and the Pierin, and apparently exterminating the Chunquen. Even after the Man-Kzin Wars were over, the Kzinti still owned Jotaki and Kdatlyno slaves. In times of peace, Humans sell foodstuffs to the Kzinti, buy metals from them, and employ them as games theorists [6].

Kzinti alphabet— It appears as a series of dots and commas. ["The Warriors"]

Kzinti Empire— When it made first contact with Humans circa 2366, the Kzinti Empire was much larger than Human space, and ruled several slave races. Over the course of four Wars with Men (Man-Kzin Wars), the Empire was greatly reduced. Two worlds were confiscated at the end of each war [7], and in 2850 the Kzinti numbers were less than an eighth of what they were when they first met Humans [8]. The Covenants of Sasht, negotiated at the end of the fourth and last war in 2505, restricted the Kzinti and their spaceships to police weapons only. Worlds belonging to some or most of its slave races, including the Kdatlyno and Pierin, were freed during these wars. However, in 2658 some Kdatlyno legally remained Kzinti slaves. In 2645 the Kzinti Empire was still slightly larger than Human space [9]. ["The Warriors", "At the Core", "The Soft Weapon"]

Kzinti "incidents"— In addition to the four "official" Man-Kzin Wars, there were a number of "incidents", both minor and major. It appears that two "major incidents" would be characterized by some as actually being wars. [10]. The following incidents are documented:

(a) A series of Kzinti ships hid on Cue Ball, waiting to ambush starships visiting scenic Beta Lyrae. This began at the end of the Fourth Man-Kzin War (circa 2505) and ended in 2657. See "The Soft Weapon" (story summary). ["The Soft Weapon"]

(b) Circa 2615 there was a "major incident", which Beowulf Shaeffer calls a "war", during which men earned a hellflare tattoo, worn on the shoulder, by learning to kill adult Kzinti with "bare hands, feet, elbows, knees, and whatnot" [11]. ["Flatlander"]

Editorial Note: Continuity

"Kzinti lesson"— "The more efficient a reaction drive, the more effective a weapon it makes." This lesson was taught to the Kzinti by Humans during the First Man-Kzin War, circa 2367-2420. ["The Soft Weapon"]

Kzinti ghost legends— The Kzinti had legends of captured weapons haunted by their dead owners. ["The Soft Weapon"]

Footnotes

[2] "On Kzin, low orbital velocity was around six miles per second" (Ringworld Engineers ch. 21, p. 213). On Earth, it's around five miles per second.

[2a] A Kzin says "The ship [Angel's Pencil] was generating one and twelve sixty-fourth gee before it stopped rotating" ("The Warriors", Tales of Known Space p. 145). Presuming the ship was using 1 gee, the most obvious interpretation would indicate a Kzin "gee" is 0.84 that of Earth standard. (The gravity of We Made It, the ship's destination, is only 0.59 gee, so that doesn't appear to be what the Angel's Pencil was using.) However, since there is direct evidence the gravity of Kzin (the Kzinti homeworld) is higher than Earth's, there must be some other explanation. It may be that Kzinti use the gravity of whatever world they grew up on as their "standard gravity", or it may be they inherited their measurement from the Jotoki.

[3] Referring to a harem of female Kzinti, Chmee said "Six were in their mating period" (Ringworld Engineers ch. 28, p. 288).

[4] Concerning Kzinti, Niven states "Large warm-blooded animals that have to fight don't have big impressive dongs. There's no flexibility in their mating habits (We have some partial understanding of why humans are an exception.)" ("Introduction", Man-Kzin Wars IV pp. vii-viii).

[5] "At the Core", Neutron Star pp. 65

[6] "At the Core", Neutron Star pp. 64

[7] Ringworld ch. 2, p. 18

[8] Ringworld ch. 1, p. 13

[9] "The human sphere of colonization is some thirty light-years across... the Kzinti [sphere] is fractionally larger" ("At the Core", Neutron Star p. 54).

[10] Niven states "There were major 'incidents' as well as the four wars... 'Six times over several centuries, the Kzinti attacked the worlds of men...' I've forgotten where the quote comes from, but at least two 'incidents' must have been major ones" ("Canon for the Man-Kzin Wars", Scatterbrain p. 293).

[11] "...he wore a hellflare tattoo on his shoulder, which meant he'd been in Kzin during the war thirty years back, which meant he'd been trained to kill adult Kzinti..." ("Flatlander", Neutron Star p. 129)