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The ''Man-Kzin Wars'' is a series of Military Science Fiction short story collections (and is the name of the first collection), as well as the Eponymous conflicts between mankind and the Kzinti that they detail (the Kzinti call them the "Wars-With-Men"). They are set in Larry Niven 's Known Space universe; however, Niven himself has only written a small number of the stories. All of the cover art for the books in the series is drawn by Stephen Hickman . BACKGROUND The first story set in the Man-Kzin Wars, ''The Warriors'' ( 1966 ), was also Niven's first sold story and one of the first of what would become his Known Space series. Niven did not consider himself a good author of war stories; therefore, although a number of his later stories referenced the Man-Kzin Wars, he never actually showed them. However, there was a large fan demand for stories covering the conflict, and a number of his author friends had shown interest in writing tales set in the timeframe. Niven therefore allowed the Man-Kzin Wars to become a Shared Universe , starting with the 1988 release of ''The Man-Kzin Wars''. Initially, there were only plans for two volumes. Niven, along with John Hewitt (one of the main writers for the Ringworld RPG ) composed a "Bible" for aspiring writers, including several pages of notes composed between the two of them and photocopied pages of the RPG. The Bible included corrections for some of the inconsistencies among Niven's work. David Brin , Jerry Pournelle , and Poul Anderson were the first authors approached, and all ended up writing stories. Roland Green had also shown interest, and Niven wanted to get Joe Haldeman and Hewitt to compose stories, but they never came to pass.'' Scatterbrain '', pp. 293-301 After the release of the second volume, reader demand was enough to allow continuing released periodically, continuing to the current day. Starting with volume three, Niven himself has composed several additional entries. THE STORIES The series offers an intricate and evolving weave of character development that melds these beings into some of the most complex fictional creatures in any literature, period... † Additional Notes:
CANONICITY While it may appear to the casual reader that the Man-Kzin War stories are part of the actual Canon of Known Space, there are many subtle incompatibilities, and a few large ones. In Niven's introduction to ''Man-Kzin Wars IV'', he noted stories had been rejected "because they didn't fit my standards." Some readers have misinterpreted this to mean Niven would reject any non-canonical story. But Niven is the editor of this series of "shared universe" stories and, as any editor would, he may reject a story for any number of reasons. According to Edward M. Lerner (Niven's co-author on the forthcoming ''Fleet of Worlds''), Niven has ruled at least one story non-canonical: Mark O. Martin & Gregory Benford's "A Darker Geometry".Edward M. Lerner's comments are archived in the "Chat: 4th March 2007" here: {Link without Title} That story, which presumes to rewrite much of the Known Space background, is certainly the most glaring example of a Man-Kzin War (MKW) story quite incompatible with canon. Other MKW stories claim the Kzin did not invent their own high technology, rather they took over the Jotaki's technological culture. This directly contradicts the statement in Niven's "The Soft Weapon" that the Kzinti themselves developed both atomic power and, later, the gravity polarizer."The Soft Weapon" (''Neutron Star'', p. 123) In Donald Kingsbury's "The Survivor," it appears humans invent the hyperdrive themselves-- yet it is stated in both the epilogue of Niven's ''A Gift from Earth'' and in his interstitial notes in ''Tales of Known Space'' that the Outsiders sold the hyperdrive to the Human colony of We Made It. But aside from the excesses of "A Darker Geometry," the most fundamental contradiction in many MKW stories is the assumption that Kzinti are as intelligent as are humans. It is one of the underlying premises of Niven's earlier writings, including the Known Space series, that-- to quote Niven-- "When a species begins to use tools, environment no longer shapes that species. The species shapes the environment to suit itself. Beyond this the species does not develop.""Passerby" (''All the Myriad Ways'', p. 21) is not a Known Space story, but the same premise applies. In other words, when a species is able to dominate its environment, it quits getting more intelligent. That is why in Known Space the mind-controlling Thrintun are rather stupid, but the timid Puppeteers are highly intelligent. Since the Kzinti are physically more formidable than are humans, they began to dominate their environment before they grew as smart as did humans-- and they never got any smarter, at least not (according to ''Ringworld'') until the Man-Kzin Wars once again started selecting for smarter Kzinti. In short, while some of the MKW stories seem to be compatible with canon, others clearly are not. Since the story of Hal Colbatch's "Telepath's Dance" is summarized in Niven's later "Fly-By-Night," this seems a good indication this story has been accepted by Niven into the canon. But although certain elements from other MKW stories have been worked into later Niven stories, notably the Kzinti family life from Jerry Pournelle & S.M. Stirling's "The Children's Hour," it cannot be said that any MKW story (other than those by Niven himself) is actually part of the Known Space canon, unless and until Larry Niven himself states they are. RECURRING CHARACTERS
THE WARS Overview There are a total of six Man-Kzin Wars. The first began in the mid 2300 s. By this time, Human space was in the middle of the "Long Peace." ARM , the United Nations security force, has completely suppressed all 'dangerous' technologies, histories, mental illnesses, and media, leading to not only an end of war and almost all violent crimes, but a change in society so vast that most people have a difficulty even conceptualizing such things. The UN's reach is limited to Earth , however. There are a number of other colonies in space, the most important being the Asteroid Belt , Wunderland , We Made It , Jinx , and Plateau . First Man-Kzin War The Kzinti, with vast technical superiority (including gravity drives, Telepath s, and a large military empire), detected a human exploration ship in deep space, the ''Angel's Pencil''. After the Kzin telepath learned that the humans were unarmed and didn't even understand the concept of weapons, they attempted to kill the human crew in a slow, painful manner using an inductive heating weapon hoping to capture their ship intact for intelligence purposes. However, one of the humans used the ship's powerful drive system (which doubled as a communications laser) as a weapon and destroyed the Kzin ship, beginning the First Man-Kzin War. The crew then warned Earth of the warlike aliens, although the transmissions were initially dismissed as an outbreak of psychosis. Then a similar encounter between another human ship and Kzin vessel led to the destruction of the more primitive human ship. However, one of the human prisoners, with the aid of a rogue Telepath, was able to escape to the ''Angel's Pencil'' and warn them of the danger from their increasing penetration into Kzinti space. In the course of the First Man-Kzin War the Kzinti invaded and occupied the human colony of Wunderland , in the Alpha Centauri system, using it as a staging point for an attack on Earth. However, the human science-genius Dimity Carmody escaped to the colony world of We Made It . In a replay of first contact, the peaceful humans used Communications Laser s, fusion drives, and mass drivers to cut the first invasion fleet to ribbons. Over the next several decades, three more fleets were launched against Earth , and all were beaten back. However, after near defeat by the fourth fleet, it was becoming clear to Earth's military leaders that the Kzinti were learning to wage war more effectively than their traditional 'scream and leap' tactics, and that the Solar System's defenses would quickly succumb to the Kzinti's superior numbers, firepower, and technology, were it only wielded with a modicum of tactical and strategic sense. In order to delay the next attack, a Terran Bussard Ramjet starship was utilized as a Relativistic Kill Vehicle . Using iron slugs accelerated to 99% of the speed of light, it devastated a portion of the planet, killing humans and Kzinti alike and delaying the launch of yet another Kzin fleet against Earth. A number of specialists traveled aboard this ship, using Slaver Stasis Field s for Lithobraking , and successfully assassinated the Kzin military genius Chuut-Riit who was leading the Kzinti on Wunderland. However, it was only a matter of time until the next assault fleet would come. At this point, a passing Outsider ship sold the colony of We Made It the secret of Hyperdrive , a technology unknown to the Kzinti. Dimity Carmody, the escapee from Wunderland, was instrumental in developing it. Hyperdrive ships were dispatched to Earth, where the faster-than-light drive was used to pre-emptively attack the Fifth Invasion fleet, liberate Wunderland, and go on to attack other Kzinti worlds. The FTL drive allowed the human fleets to coordinate and concentrate their forces beyond anything the Kzinti could manage, even letting them outrun and jam the news of each successive Kzin defeat. The first indication the Kzinti Patriarchy had that much of the Kzin empire was gone and that a significant percentage of all Kzinti had died was when human warships appeared in the skies above their homeworld. Meanwhile, however, on Wunderland, now liberated by humans, a number of the surviving Kzin, led by Vaemar-Riit, last surviving kitten of Chuut-Riit, and with the co-operation of Dimity Carmody, Nils Rykermann, Leonie Rykermann and other humans, began to cautiously co-operate with humans and try to learn human ways, Vaemar-Riit even enrolling at a human University and obtaining a reserve officer's commission. These became known as the Wunderkzin, and some later proved to be human allies. This slowly growing Man-Kzin co-operation was bitterly opposed both by many other Kzin and by many revanchist humans on Wunderland, while others among the human and kzin communities on Wunderland sought to manipulate the situation for their own ends. There are also on-going human situations - for example Nils Rykermann, a Wunderland academic, in love with Dimity Carmody, married Leonie Rykermann, one of his students, during the occupation, believing Dimity to be dead. This situation has not been resolved. There is also a growing relationship between Dimity and Vaemar-Riit which is somewhat ambiguous - the two are depicted together on the cover of ''Man-Kzin Wars XI''. The war ends in 2433 with the signing of the MacDonald-Rishaii Peace Treaty. The vast majority of the Man-Kzin Wars stories are set just before, during, or just after the First War. "The Peace" Following the end of hostilities, the Human forces use their hyperdrive ships to initiate a blockade of all Kzinti worlds within range of Human space. The Kzinti of both Their Homeworld and the prominent colony of W'kkai attempt to begin researching hyperdrive technology in an attempt to break the blockade, with the High Admiral of W'kkai also hoping to overthrow the Patriarch. Due to the treachery of Ulf Reichstein Markham, the Kzinti of Kzin gain access to hyperdrive designs and an engineer familiar with them in 2438 . During this time, the Kdaptist religion spreads among the Kzinti. On Wunderland, an attempt is made to form a stable, democratic government. On Earth, although no one seriously believes the Kzin will stay away, the ARM resorts to its old habits of trying to eliminate all knowledge and technology of war. We Made It continues to create hyperdrives, as the Human military forces attempt to reverse-engineer Kzinti gravity technology. They also attempt to locate and form an anti-Kzin alliance with the Pierin aliens (although according to the Ringworld RPG , the Pierin may already be enslaved at this point). A troika of officers - . The book becomes extremely popular and helps raise morale, as well as the belief that the Kzin will attack again. Second Man-Kzin War All information on the second war comes from the Ringworld RPG guidebook. It begins in 2449 when the Kzinti launch "diversionary raids" on Sigma Draconis and Barnard's Star (which can probably be Retconned to be due to the Barnard's Starbase from ''The Heroic Myth of Lieutenant Nora Argamentine'') and ends in 2475 with the liberation of the Kdatlyno from Kzin rule. Third Man-Kzin War The Third War is mentioned in the Ringworld RPG and '' The Ringworld Engineers ''. According to the game, it started in 2491 and ended in 2531 . However, subsequent stories by Niven have apparently made the war end several decades earlier. At the end of the war, the Wunderland Treatymaker weapon is used on the Kzinti fortress-world of Warhead, creating a huge, habitable canyon on the otherwise Mars -like world. Warhead is annexed by the humans and renamed Canyon. Fourth Man-Kzin War The Ringworld RPG dates the Fourth War as starting in 2560 and ending in 2584 , but like the Third War, later stories have moved those dates back several decades. The war began with Kzinti suicide attacks on Epsilon Eridani . During the war, human adventurers engage in similar suicide attacks on Kzinti Harem s. The war ends in 2505 with the signing of the Covenant of Shasht (a Kzinti world). Fifth Man-Kzin War All that is known is that the Fifth War ends sometime near the end of the 26th Century , from a reference in ''Prisoner of War''. Sixth Man-Kzin War The Sixth and final war is mentioned in '' Ringworld '', '' Flatlander '', and '' The Soft Weapon ''. It began around 2600 and lasted for around two decades. During the war, human forces occupied Kzin itself. As part of the peace treaty, humans annexed two Kzinti worlds, including Shasht (renamed Fafnir). Also at the end of the war, the Kzinti Patriarchy is completely and totally disarmed of all military vessels and technology. Aftermath Over the next decades and centuries, some Kzinti dream of another war, and go through great lengths (such as piracy, seeking Slaver stasis boxes, and going to Ringworld ) to attempt to gain enough of an upper hand to begin one. However, the Kzinti leadership is wise enough to accept that they have been defeated, and another war would be far too costly; according to Louis Wu , each Man-Kzin War ended with the death of 2/3 of all Kzin currently alive, and the leadership feared that a Seventh War could result in the total extinction or enslavement of the Kzin. In the events of '' Ringworld '', Nessus reveals to Wu and Speaker-to-Animals that the Man-Kzin Wars were engineered by the Puppeteers as an alternative to wiping out the Kzin themselves. The Puppeteers viewed the Kzin as too dangerous, and a series of wars in which the most aggressive of their males were killed would help breed reason into them. To that end, the Puppeteers used a Starseed Lure on Procyon to ensure that the Outsiders would equip mankind with hyperdrives, knowing that it would be the tool that would allow them victory. The Puppeteers wisely chose not to divulge that information until after their Fleet Of Worlds had left the range of Kzinti starships. REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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