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'Known Space' is the fictional setting of several science fiction novels and short stories written by author Larry Niven. It is the name given by humans to an area near the Earth which is explored and settled in the future. This area reaches out approximately 60 light-years in all directions from the Earth. The stories span approximately one thousand years of future history, from the first human explorations of the Solar System to the colonization of dozens of nearby systems (and with some references to the far distant past).
In the process of exploring space, humankind encounters several intelligent alien species, including the following:
★ Kzinti: a very large and belligerent species of cat-like aliens with whom humans fight several brutal interstellar wars. Kzinti tactics are somewhat cat-like in nature, 'Scream and leap' being the primary mode of attack. Niven himself wrote little about the Man-Kzin wars, although many of his stories refer to them having taken place in the past. The ''Man-Kzin Wars'' short-story collections were primarily written by other authors. The Kzinti "crossed-over" in to the ''Star Trek'' universe in the animated episode "The Slaver Weapon", which was written by Larry Niven and draws heavily from Niven's own short story "The Soft Weapon."
★ Pierson's Puppeteers: a highly technologically advanced race of three-legged, twin-necked herbivores descended from herd animals, and noted for their so-called cowardice. Their commercial empire directly and indirectly controls events throughout Known Space and beyond, and Puppeteer plots are behind many of the larger events in Known Space.
★ Outsiders: fragile, low-temperature (they drink liquid helium) aliens that cruise through deep space. The Outsiders trade information, and are responsible for introducing FTL travel to humans. They have a mysterious connection with the starseeds, a space-born plant that travels to and from the galactic core.
★ Pak: interstellar ancestors of humanity whose life-cycle mimics the stages of human aging. A Pak who reaches the age of 30 to 40 may become a 'Protector' of his descendants. Pak Protectors were the builders of the Ringworld.
★ Kdatlyno: a slave species of the Kzinti until humans free them. Kdatlyno "see" by way of radar and create sculptures intended to be "seen" by Kdatlyno, but which can be felt by other species such as humans and puppeteers.
★ Thrintun: an apparently long-extinct ancient species who ruled the galaxy through telepathic mind control. One of their technologies, the stasis field, has effects that include indefinite suspended animation and imperviousness to damage, which has figured in several Niven stories. Thrintun are small (approximately 1 meter tall), reptilian, with green scaly skin, pointed teeth, and a single eye.
★ Grogs: sessile sentient creatures, shaped like furry cones. They are eyeless, earless, and have a prehensile tongue. They can also control animals telepathically. The Grogs are thought to be the descendants of the Thrintun species, after two billion years of de-evolution.
★ Tnuctipun: an apparently extinct ancient race of carnivores contemporaneous with and mostly enslaved by the Thrintun. They were known for their technological prowess, especially in genetic engineering. They secretly plotted to overthrow their Thrintun masters using many of their creations. When it appeared that they would succeed, the Thrintun used a psychic amplifier that forced every living creature in the galaxy with a notochord to commit suicide.
★ Bandersnatchi: colossal slug-like creatures, originally created by the Tnuctipun to be grown as a food source by the Thrintun. Believed to have only animal intelligence by the Thrintun, the Tnuctipun actually engineered them as highly evolved both mentally and physically, in an apparent plan to breed an army to help overthrow the Thrintun. At one time found throughout the Thrintun empire, the only survivors during modern time are on the planet Jinx, though they are later found on the Ringworld and a forested planet called Beanstalk.
★ Trinocs: named for their three eyes; they also have three fingers, and a triangular mouth. Methane breathers and culturally paranoid, at least by human standards. First encountered by Louis Wu in the short story "There is a Tide."
★ Martians: primitive humanoids who lived beneath the sands. Martians burst into flames when brought in contact with water. In the novel ''Protector'', the Martians were wiped out when Jack Brennan caused an ice asteroid to crash into the surface of Mars. Some Martians still exist on the "Map of Mars" on the Ringworld.
★ 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 bodyguards, but the Kzinti rebelled and used the Jotoki technology to create their own empire.
★ Morlocks: semi-sentient humanoid cave dwellers on Wunderland. Named by humans for the creatures in H.G. Wells' ''The Time Machine''.
★ Whrloo: Meter tall insectoids 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 were intelligent cetaceans and various offshoots of ''Homo sapiens'' lineage such as the Hominids of the Ringworld. Most life in Known Space shared similar biochemistries, since they evolved from the Thrintun practice of seeding barren worlds with food yeast.
One aspect of the Known Space universe is that most of the planets colonized by humans are suboptimal for ''Homo sapiens''. During the first phase of human interstellar colonization (i.e., before humanity acquired FTL), simple robotic probes were sent to nearby stars to assess their planets for habitation. The programming of these probes was flawed: they sent back a "good for colonization" message if they found a habitable ''point'', rather than a habitable ''planet''. Sleeper ships containing human colonists were sent to the indicated star systems. Too often, those colonists had to make the best of a bad situation.
★ 'Earth', the human homeworld, is oppressive to an extent that would be unbelievable to most twentieth-century humans. For centuries, due to the perfection of organ transplant technology, all state executions are done in hospitals to provide organ transplants, and to maximise their availability, nearly ''all'' crimes carried the death penalty. This period ended when Jack Brennan, who had consumed the Tree-of-Life root and become a human version of the Pak Protector, used his superior intelligence to engineer social change in medical technology and social attitudes that eventually made the organ banks obsolete. Part of Brennan's manipulation was the development of a science known as 'psychistry'. Psychistry was used to 'correct' all forms of 'mental aberration'—the populace is incredibly docile. To combat overpopulation (one estimate is 18 billion people!), a licence is required to procreate, only available after exhaustive testing has determined that a prospect is free of 'abnormalities'; failure to acquire one before procreating is a capital crime. Due to the existence of the transfer booth and a one-world language and economy, the populace eventually becomes fairly genetically homogeneous. To prevent the development of new WMDs, all scientific research is regulated and all potentially dangerous technology is suppressed; there have been very few real breakthroughs in science since the twentieth century. A common title for people born on Earth is 'Flatlander', and they are considered naïve, vain and arrogant by the rest of the galaxy, having been born and raised in the only environment in Known Space without inherent dangers.
★ The 'Moon' is a separate entity, but is under the control of the same government as Earth. It, however, has its own distinct culture. Humans native to the Moon are called "Lunies", and tend toward tall, lean body types regularly reaching eight feet in height. They are frequently referred to as looking much like Tolkien Elves due to their physiques and alien allure.
★ 'Mars', fourth planet in our solar system and the first planetary colony in Known Space. Native 'Martians' were exterminated by the Brennan Monster. No one goes there, as resources are plentiful in the Belt and Jovian moons.
★ The 'Sol Belt' possesses an abundance of valuable ores, which are easily accessible due to the low to nonexistent gravity of the rocks containing them. Originally a harsh frontier under UN control, the Belt declared independence after creating Confinement Asteroid, a habitat with spin gravity that permitted safe gestation of children, and Farmer's Asteroid, the Belt's primary food source. Almost immediately a cold war began between the fiercely independent 'Belters' and the technology police of the UN. Several years of tension followed, but soon settled into a relatively peaceful trade relationship that held until the first Man-Kzin War. Transmissions received from exploration ships that pronounced the aliens hostile were decreed by the authoritarian and pacifistic Earth government as signs of psychosis by the explorers. When the Kzin invasion began, Earth suppressed all efforts at resistance, as they could not believe the aliens were hostile, but merely misunderstanding human communications as threats. Finally, a number of Belters engineered a small scale rebellion on Mercury, using the laser transport network to destroy the invaders. The consequences of the invasion severely damaged Earth-Belt relations for centuries.
★ 'Down' is the home world of the Grogs. It orbits a K-type star, significantly redder and cooler than Sol. Grogs, though friendly, are feared by humanity, due to their telepathic ability to control the minds of animals (and possibly sentient species as well). Because of this fear, humans have placed a Bussard ramjet field generator in close orbit about Down's sun to destroy the Grog population, should they take threatening action against any sentient species.
★ '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.
★ 'Wunderland' is a 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. The system has an asteroid belt in the shape of a semicircle, which gives it its name—the Serpent Swarm. The capital asteroid, Tiamat, houses one of the largest Kzin populations in Known Space.
★ '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 of as much as 1,500 mph during half of the planet's year, 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.
★ '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 repressive system is changed by events in 'A Gift From Earth', and appears to be nonexistent by the time "The Ethics of Madness" takes place.
★ 'Home' was one of Earth's most distant colonies, orbiting the star Epsilon Indi. The planet was so named by the colonists, due to its remarkable similarity to Earth. It was decimated by war with the Pak, but re-colonized in later centuries.
★ 'Canyon' was once was an uninhabitable Mars-like world known as 'Warhead'. It was being used as a military outpost by the Kzinti, until the planet was hit by a weapon called the "Wunderland Treatymaker". The attack tore a long, narrow, kilometers-deep crater into the crust approximately the size of the Baja peninsula. Most of the planet's thin atmosphere fell into this artificial canyon, resulting in a breathable environment, complete with a sea at the bottom. The planet was then renamed for the crater, and settled by humans in a huge city running up the crater wall.
★ 'Gummidgy' is a jungle world popular with hunters. It is home to the 'Gummidgy Orchid-Thing', a sessile carnivore that hangs from trees and is a popular trophy for the wealthy.
★ 'Fafnir' is a former Kzin colony covered almost entirely in water. It has one continent, called Shast. It was captured by humans during the Man-Kzin Wars.
★ 'Margrave' is still a frontier world. It is home to enormous birds the inhabitants have dubbed 'Rocs'.
★ 'Silvereyes' is, at the time of 'Ringworld', the furthest Human world from Earth (60 days at Quantum-I hyperdrive speeds). Though never given anything more than a name check in Niven's own stories, the Man/Kzin Wars books state it is entirely covered by a world ocean, with groves of Slaver Sunflowers growing up from the bottom of the ocean.
★ 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 radiation from an explosion of the galactic core sweeps towards the outer reaches of the galaxy.
★ 'Kobold' was an artificial world created in the outer Solar System by Jack Brennan, a human Protector. Composed of a small sphere in the center ringed by a larger torus. Gravity generators facilitated movement between the two sections and were used in games and art. Brennan destroyed Kobold just prior to leaving for his war with the Pak Protectors.
★ 'Ringworld', an artificial world three 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 186 million miles. It was built by the Pak, who later abandoned it. It is inhabited by a number of different evolved hominid species, as well as Bandersnatchi, Martians and Kzinti.
★ 'Sheathclaws', a planet colonized by humans aboard Angel's Pencil and descendants of a rogue Kzinti telepath. It orbits an as-yet-unspecified star 98 light years from Earth, and kept its existence secret for several centuries.
★ 'Kzin', translates as Home-of-the-Kzinti or Kzinhome in the Hero's Tongue. It orbits 61 Ursa 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 Traveler's Moon.
The series feature 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, transfer booths (teleporters 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.
The 'ARM' are the police force 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. An agent of the ARM, Gil Hamilton, is the protagonist of Niven's sci-fi detective series, ''Flatlander''.
Their basic function is to enforce a number of laws to the effect of ensuring the long-term survival of the human race, specifically control of population growth and weapons of mass destruction. In short, the ARM hunts down women who refuse birth control and suppresses all new technologies. This makes them incredibly unpopular despite an ongoing campaign of propaganda—when asked, they will make claims of suppressing inventions that would destroy the world economy, force the legalization of murder, annihilate planets, etc. Of course, these claims, by their very nature, can never be proven. Early in their existence they were able to put on a friendly face by directing a portion of their efforts to policing "organlegging", but they were forced to abandon this when artificial organs were developed despite their anti-tech laws (see ''A Gift From Earth''). However, they are able to maintain control through their monopoly on many advanced technologies that they have suppressed and developed themselves. Among the many technologies they control and outlaw are all trained forms of armed and unarmed combat, as well as chemical and electronic mind control (collectively known as psychistry). Agents of the ARM are commonly known as ''Schizes'', due to the artificially induced state of paranoid schizophrenia they are kept in to enhance their usefulness as law enforcement officials in a society that keeps most of its populace docile and naive through the aforementioned science of psychistry (see "Madness Has Its Place").
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 through the "Bureau of Alien Affairs" (see "In the Hall of the Mountain King", "Procrustes", "The Borderland of Sol", 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.
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 fewer 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, as said above, good stories require conflict, and the ARM, as of the early 31st century, has made Known Space so safe and staid that conflict is all but impossible to find. (see ''Safe at Any Speed''). 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."
(Note that most stories appeared in more than one collection, though only one each is listed here.)
Main articles: Man-Kzin Wars
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. However, Niven also states that this is ''not'' an invitation to violate his copyrights, so fans should try to avoid publishing works that are too obviously based in the Known Space universe without Niven's given permission.
Niven was also reported to have said that "Known Space should be seen as a possible future history told by people that may or may not have all their facts right."
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. The writing of "Down in Flames" was a result of a conversation between Norman Spinrad and Niven in 1968, but at the time of its first publication in 1977 some of the concepts were invalidated by Niven's writings between '68 and '77.
1. Expanded and republished as a novel in 1968
2. Expanded and republished as ''Protector'' in 1973.
3. Expanded and republished as ''A Gift From Earth'' in 1968.
4. Subsequently renamed "Intent to Deceive"
5. Subsequently renamed "Death by Ecstasy"
★ Encyclopedia of Known Space
★ The Incompleat Known Space Concordance
★ Timeline of the Known Space universe
★ Website for the Man-Kzin Wars novel Destiny's Forge
★ Homepage of MKW author Paul Chafe
★ "Known Space Home Page" (semi-official fan site)
| Contents |
| Overview |
| Species |
| Locations |
| Technology |
| ARM |
| Stories in Known Space |
| Stories by Niven himself |
| Man-Kzin Wars |
| Playground |
| References |
| External links |
Overview
Species
In the process of exploring space, humankind encounters several intelligent alien species, including the following:
★ Kzinti: a very large and belligerent species of cat-like aliens with whom humans fight several brutal interstellar wars. Kzinti tactics are somewhat cat-like in nature, 'Scream and leap' being the primary mode of attack. Niven himself wrote little about the Man-Kzin wars, although many of his stories refer to them having taken place in the past. The ''Man-Kzin Wars'' short-story collections were primarily written by other authors. The Kzinti "crossed-over" in to the ''Star Trek'' universe in the animated episode "The Slaver Weapon", which was written by Larry Niven and draws heavily from Niven's own short story "The Soft Weapon."
★ Pierson's Puppeteers: a highly technologically advanced race of three-legged, twin-necked herbivores descended from herd animals, and noted for their so-called cowardice. Their commercial empire directly and indirectly controls events throughout Known Space and beyond, and Puppeteer plots are behind many of the larger events in Known Space.
★ Outsiders: fragile, low-temperature (they drink liquid helium) aliens that cruise through deep space. The Outsiders trade information, and are responsible for introducing FTL travel to humans. They have a mysterious connection with the starseeds, a space-born plant that travels to and from the galactic core.
★ Pak: interstellar ancestors of humanity whose life-cycle mimics the stages of human aging. A Pak who reaches the age of 30 to 40 may become a 'Protector' of his descendants. Pak Protectors were the builders of the Ringworld.
★ Kdatlyno: a slave species of the Kzinti until humans free them. Kdatlyno "see" by way of radar and create sculptures intended to be "seen" by Kdatlyno, but which can be felt by other species such as humans and puppeteers.
★ Thrintun: an apparently long-extinct ancient species who ruled the galaxy through telepathic mind control. One of their technologies, the stasis field, has effects that include indefinite suspended animation and imperviousness to damage, which has figured in several Niven stories. Thrintun are small (approximately 1 meter tall), reptilian, with green scaly skin, pointed teeth, and a single eye.
★ Grogs: sessile sentient creatures, shaped like furry cones. They are eyeless, earless, and have a prehensile tongue. They can also control animals telepathically. The Grogs are thought to be the descendants of the Thrintun species, after two billion years of de-evolution.
★ Tnuctipun: an apparently extinct ancient race of carnivores contemporaneous with and mostly enslaved by the Thrintun. They were known for their technological prowess, especially in genetic engineering. They secretly plotted to overthrow their Thrintun masters using many of their creations. When it appeared that they would succeed, the Thrintun used a psychic amplifier that forced every living creature in the galaxy with a notochord to commit suicide.
★ Bandersnatchi: colossal slug-like creatures, originally created by the Tnuctipun to be grown as a food source by the Thrintun. Believed to have only animal intelligence by the Thrintun, the Tnuctipun actually engineered them as highly evolved both mentally and physically, in an apparent plan to breed an army to help overthrow the Thrintun. At one time found throughout the Thrintun empire, the only survivors during modern time are on the planet Jinx, though they are later found on the Ringworld and a forested planet called Beanstalk.
★ Trinocs: named for their three eyes; they also have three fingers, and a triangular mouth. Methane breathers and culturally paranoid, at least by human standards. First encountered by Louis Wu in the short story "There is a Tide."
★ Martians: primitive humanoids who lived beneath the sands. Martians burst into flames when brought in contact with water. In the novel ''Protector'', the Martians were wiped out when Jack Brennan caused an ice asteroid to crash into the surface of Mars. Some Martians still exist on the "Map of Mars" on the Ringworld.
★ 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 bodyguards, but the Kzinti rebelled and used the Jotoki technology to create their own empire.
★ Morlocks: semi-sentient humanoid cave dwellers on Wunderland. Named by humans for the creatures in H.G. Wells' ''The Time Machine''.
★ Whrloo: Meter tall insectoids 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 were intelligent cetaceans and various offshoots of ''Homo sapiens'' lineage such as the Hominids of the Ringworld. Most life in Known Space shared similar biochemistries, since they evolved from the Thrintun practice of seeding barren worlds with food yeast.
Cover of January 1975 ''Analog'' for The Borderland of Sol showing Jinx (artist: John Schoenherr)
Locations
One aspect of the Known Space universe is that most of the planets colonized by humans are suboptimal for ''Homo sapiens''. During the first phase of human interstellar colonization (i.e., before humanity acquired FTL), simple robotic probes were sent to nearby stars to assess their planets for habitation. The programming of these probes was flawed: they sent back a "good for colonization" message if they found a habitable ''point'', rather than a habitable ''planet''. Sleeper ships containing human colonists were sent to the indicated star systems. Too often, those colonists had to make the best of a bad situation.
★ 'Earth', the human homeworld, is oppressive to an extent that would be unbelievable to most twentieth-century humans. For centuries, due to the perfection of organ transplant technology, all state executions are done in hospitals to provide organ transplants, and to maximise their availability, nearly ''all'' crimes carried the death penalty. This period ended when Jack Brennan, who had consumed the Tree-of-Life root and become a human version of the Pak Protector, used his superior intelligence to engineer social change in medical technology and social attitudes that eventually made the organ banks obsolete. Part of Brennan's manipulation was the development of a science known as 'psychistry'. Psychistry was used to 'correct' all forms of 'mental aberration'—the populace is incredibly docile. To combat overpopulation (one estimate is 18 billion people!), a licence is required to procreate, only available after exhaustive testing has determined that a prospect is free of 'abnormalities'; failure to acquire one before procreating is a capital crime. Due to the existence of the transfer booth and a one-world language and economy, the populace eventually becomes fairly genetically homogeneous. To prevent the development of new WMDs, all scientific research is regulated and all potentially dangerous technology is suppressed; there have been very few real breakthroughs in science since the twentieth century. A common title for people born on Earth is 'Flatlander', and they are considered naïve, vain and arrogant by the rest of the galaxy, having been born and raised in the only environment in Known Space without inherent dangers.
★ The 'Moon' is a separate entity, but is under the control of the same government as Earth. It, however, has its own distinct culture. Humans native to the Moon are called "Lunies", and tend toward tall, lean body types regularly reaching eight feet in height. They are frequently referred to as looking much like Tolkien Elves due to their physiques and alien allure.
★ 'Mars', fourth planet in our solar system and the first planetary colony in Known Space. Native 'Martians' were exterminated by the Brennan Monster. No one goes there, as resources are plentiful in the Belt and Jovian moons.
★ The 'Sol Belt' possesses an abundance of valuable ores, which are easily accessible due to the low to nonexistent gravity of the rocks containing them. Originally a harsh frontier under UN control, the Belt declared independence after creating Confinement Asteroid, a habitat with spin gravity that permitted safe gestation of children, and Farmer's Asteroid, the Belt's primary food source. Almost immediately a cold war began between the fiercely independent 'Belters' and the technology police of the UN. Several years of tension followed, but soon settled into a relatively peaceful trade relationship that held until the first Man-Kzin War. Transmissions received from exploration ships that pronounced the aliens hostile were decreed by the authoritarian and pacifistic Earth government as signs of psychosis by the explorers. When the Kzin invasion began, Earth suppressed all efforts at resistance, as they could not believe the aliens were hostile, but merely misunderstanding human communications as threats. Finally, a number of Belters engineered a small scale rebellion on Mercury, using the laser transport network to destroy the invaders. The consequences of the invasion severely damaged Earth-Belt relations for centuries.
★ 'Down' is the home world of the Grogs. It orbits a K-type star, significantly redder and cooler than Sol. Grogs, though friendly, are feared by humanity, due to their telepathic ability to control the minds of animals (and possibly sentient species as well). Because of this fear, humans have placed a Bussard ramjet field generator in close orbit about Down's sun to destroy the Grog population, should they take threatening action against any sentient species.
★ '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.
★ 'Wunderland' is a 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. The system has an asteroid belt in the shape of a semicircle, which gives it its name—the Serpent Swarm. The capital asteroid, Tiamat, houses one of the largest Kzin populations in Known Space.
★ '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 of as much as 1,500 mph during half of the planet's year, 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.
★ '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 repressive system is changed by events in 'A Gift From Earth', and appears to be nonexistent by the time "The Ethics of Madness" takes place.
★ 'Home' was one of Earth's most distant colonies, orbiting the star Epsilon Indi. The planet was so named by the colonists, due to its remarkable similarity to Earth. It was decimated by war with the Pak, but re-colonized in later centuries.
★ 'Canyon' was once was an uninhabitable Mars-like world known as 'Warhead'. It was being used as a military outpost by the Kzinti, until the planet was hit by a weapon called the "Wunderland Treatymaker". The attack tore a long, narrow, kilometers-deep crater into the crust approximately the size of the Baja peninsula. Most of the planet's thin atmosphere fell into this artificial canyon, resulting in a breathable environment, complete with a sea at the bottom. The planet was then renamed for the crater, and settled by humans in a huge city running up the crater wall.
★ 'Gummidgy' is a jungle world popular with hunters. It is home to the 'Gummidgy Orchid-Thing', a sessile carnivore that hangs from trees and is a popular trophy for the wealthy.
★ 'Fafnir' is a former Kzin colony covered almost entirely in water. It has one continent, called Shast. It was captured by humans during the Man-Kzin Wars.
★ 'Margrave' is still a frontier world. It is home to enormous birds the inhabitants have dubbed 'Rocs'.
★ 'Silvereyes' is, at the time of 'Ringworld', the furthest Human world from Earth (60 days at Quantum-I hyperdrive speeds). Though never given anything more than a name check in Niven's own stories, the Man/Kzin Wars books state it is entirely covered by a world ocean, with groves of Slaver Sunflowers growing up from the bottom of the ocean.
★ 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 radiation from an explosion of the galactic core sweeps towards the outer reaches of the galaxy.
★ 'Kobold' was an artificial world created in the outer Solar System by Jack Brennan, a human Protector. Composed of a small sphere in the center ringed by a larger torus. Gravity generators facilitated movement between the two sections and were used in games and art. Brennan destroyed Kobold just prior to leaving for his war with the Pak Protectors.
★ 'Ringworld', an artificial world three 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 186 million miles. It was built by the Pak, who later abandoned it. It is inhabited by a number of different evolved hominid species, as well as Bandersnatchi, Martians and Kzinti.
★ 'Sheathclaws', a planet colonized by humans aboard Angel's Pencil and descendants of a rogue Kzinti telepath. It orbits an as-yet-unspecified star 98 light years from Earth, and kept its existence secret for several centuries.
★ 'Kzin', translates as Home-of-the-Kzinti or Kzinhome in the Hero's Tongue. It orbits 61 Ursa 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 Traveler's Moon.
Technology
The series feature 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, transfer booths (teleporters 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 police force 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. An agent of the ARM, Gil Hamilton, is the protagonist of Niven's sci-fi detective series, ''Flatlander''.
Their basic function is to enforce a number of laws to the effect of ensuring the long-term survival of the human race, specifically control of population growth and weapons of mass destruction. In short, the ARM hunts down women who refuse birth control and suppresses all new technologies. This makes them incredibly unpopular despite an ongoing campaign of propaganda—when asked, they will make claims of suppressing inventions that would destroy the world economy, force the legalization of murder, annihilate planets, etc. Of course, these claims, by their very nature, can never be proven. Early in their existence they were able to put on a friendly face by directing a portion of their efforts to policing "organlegging", but they were forced to abandon this when artificial organs were developed despite their anti-tech laws (see ''A Gift From Earth''). However, they are able to maintain control through their monopoly on many advanced technologies that they have suppressed and developed themselves. Among the many technologies they control and outlaw are all trained forms of armed and unarmed combat, as well as chemical and electronic mind control (collectively known as psychistry). Agents of the ARM are commonly known as ''Schizes'', due to the artificially induced state of paranoid schizophrenia they are kept in to enhance their usefulness as law enforcement officials in a society that keeps most of its populace docile and naive through the aforementioned science of psychistry (see "Madness Has Its Place").
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 through the "Bureau of Alien Affairs" (see "In the Hall of the Mountain King", "Procrustes", "The Borderland of Sol", 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 fewer 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, as said above, good stories require conflict, and the ARM, as of the early 31st century, has made Known Space so safe and staid that conflict is all but impossible to find. (see ''Safe at Any Speed''). 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 appearance | Collection |
|---|---|---|---|
| "The Coldest Place" | 1964 | ''Worlds of If'' | ''Tales of Known Space |
| "The World of Ptavvs"[1] | 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"[2] | 1967 | ''Galaxy Magazine'' | — |
| "The Handicapped" | 1967 | ''Galaxy Magazine'' | ''Neutron Star |
| "The Jigsaw Man" | 1967 | ''Dangerous Visions'' | ''Tales of Known Space |
| "Slowboat Cargo"[3] | 1968 | ''Worlds of If'' | — |
| "The Deceivers"[4] | 1968 | ''Galaxy Magazine'' | ''Tales of Known Space |
| "Grendel" | 1968 | (collection only) | ''Neutron Star |
| "There is a Tide" | 1968 | ''Galaxy Magazine'' | ''Tales of Known Space |
| ''World of Ptavvs'' | 1968 | (novel) | — |
| ''A Gift From Earth'' | 1968 | (novel) | — |
| "Wait It Out" | 1968 | ''Futures Unbounded'' | ''Tales of Known Space |
| "The Organleggers"[5] | 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 |
| ''Fleet of Worlds'' (co-authored with Edward M. Lerner) | 2007 (scheduled) | (novel) | — |
| ''Juggler of Worlds'' (co-authored with Edward M. Lerner) | 2008? (scheduled) | (novel) | — |
(Note that most stories appeared in more than one collection, though only one each is listed here.)
Man-Kzin Wars
Main articles: Man-Kzin Wars
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. However, Niven also states that this is ''not'' an invitation to violate his copyrights, so fans should try to avoid publishing works that are too obviously based in the Known Space universe without Niven's given permission.
Niven was also reported to have said that "Known Space should be seen as a possible future history told by people that may or may not have all their facts right."
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. The writing of "Down in Flames" was a result of a conversation between Norman Spinrad and Niven in 1968, but at the time of its first publication in 1977 some of the concepts were invalidated by Niven's writings between '68 and '77.
References
1. Expanded and republished as a novel in 1968
2. Expanded and republished as ''Protector'' in 1973.
3. Expanded and republished as ''A Gift From Earth'' in 1968.
4. Subsequently renamed "Intent to Deceive"
5. Subsequently renamed "Death by Ecstasy"
External links
★ Encyclopedia of Known Space
★ The Incompleat Known Space Concordance
★ Timeline of the Known Space universe
★ Website for the Man-Kzin Wars novel Destiny's Forge
★ Homepage of MKW author Paul Chafe
★ "Known Space Home Page" (semi-official fan site)
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