Buzzby

Look, Ed, I know that you think all of the Kzin are dead. Most people think that the last remnants wiped themselves out in a suicide attack. Over the centuries, the rest of the space-traveling species managed to come to a peaceful coexistence. For practical reasons, it just wasn't profitable to execute wars of conquest across interstellar distances.

The Kzin weren't practical. They not only had a warrior creed, they had warrior genes. The Kzin were descended from their planet's large predatory cats. A full-grown male Kzin most resembled a tiger who stands eight feet tall when upright and weighs in at 600 pounds. While quite intelligent, the natural ferocity of the Kzin made civilization a very long road. It was really made possible by the invention of a drug that would select for female offspring. With fewer males and room for them not to be too close to each other, conflicts could be set aside and progress, largely from the female contingent, could flourish.

The Kzin fought every species it encountered. And lost. They were relatively few, their resources limited, their weapons primitive, their ships slow. They were up against civilizations that had been at peace for millennia. At first the Kzin had some success. It didn't take very long at all for the advanced civilizations to arm their transports and shield them to make them invulnerable to the Kzin's weapons. The interstellar federation treated the Kzin like fleas. As soon as the Kzin couldn't hurt shipping or pass planetary defenses, they were ignored.

Unfortunately for the Kzin, they took to attacking planets with no spaceflight and no defenses. This was something that the federation could not ignore. Fleets of automated gunships were sent into Kzin space. They did nothing but orbit peacefully around Kzin planets. They would only respond when attacked, but the federation psychologists knew that the Kzin could not help but attack. The Kzin spent their entire species attacking invulnerable robot spaceships.

Anyway, Ed, that's the official story. There is a legend, though, about a lost colony of Kzin, that managed not to get caught up in the species-wide mania for conquest. A troop transport made an emergency landing on an uncharted world. Fortunately for the crew, the planet was quite capable of supporting Kzin life. In fact, it was a paradise for big predators. The current top-of-the-food-chain was a wolf-like creature weighing around 125 pounds. They quickly learned to get out of the way when the Kzin packs were hunting.

The troop carrier was repaired and communications were re-established. They were ordered to return to their home base for a final attack on the damned federation warship. They thought about going home to a certain death or staying in the Garden of Eden. It wasn't really that tough a choice.

Now the typical course of a Kzin colonization, planned or otherwise, is the rapid expansion of population, warlords fighting endlessly, population control, and a planet-wide effort to expand into space to conquer other Kzin or whoever gets in the way. This colony was different.

There was a plant native to this world that the Kzin had never before encountered. They first discovered it when burning a field of native weeds prior to plowing and planting. Those in the path of the smoke found themselves feeling different, friendlier, more communal, less competitive, generally more relaxed and happy. Every sense was more alive. The wind made music and caressed their fur. Food smelled and tasted wonderful. Colors were brighter. These smoked Kzin wandered off to lie in the grass and look at the clouds.

Katnibus, as this weed came to be called, quickly became popular. It was smoked, eaten, chewed, snuffed, and rubbed into the skin. For those who wanted it, katnibus extract was available from every healer. A popular weekend activity was to go to a club, dive into a room filled with katnibus and roll around until you were thoroughly elevated.

Every once in a while you hear stories from trading outposts about strange visitors from uncharted space. These beings are very tall and cloaked from head to toe in heavy robes and hoods. They wear gloves and never expose any parts of their bodies. They trade beautiful handcrafts and jewelry for information. All they really want are library updates, news updates, videos, music, and holograms. They leave just as mysteriously as they come.

Ed, I think they're from the lost Kzin colony, the one that was peaceful enough to survive. I think that they don't want to bother the rest of the species with bad Kzin memories. Someday, they may decide that enough time has passed for the aggression of the rest of their species to be forgiven. I hope that they live happily and in balance with the other inhabitants of the one planet where Kzin can live at peace.

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Vicki

That is an interesting story. I like it. Did you write that?

It kinda reminds me of a ficticious species of cat people called "Kilrathi," that are in a game called Wing Commander. I love that whole franchise, the games and the movie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_Commander_(franchise)

Set in the 27th century, the games tell the story of humanity's war against the Kilrathi, an alien species of large feline bipeds. Launching from carrier ships, the player fulfills various missions in starfighters. The games were all notable for their storytelling through extensive cutscenes. Starting with Wing Commander III, every game (excluding Secret Ops) contained cutscenes that incorporated live action filming, starring several major Hollywood actors, including John Rhys-Davies, Mark Hamill, Thomas F. Wilson and Malcolm McDowell.

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Buzzby

I did, but the Kzinti are sort of community property among science fiction writers. They were created by Larry Niven, who wrote stories and novels about them. Then he invited other sf writers to contribute stories to anthologies. To date, there are twelve volumes of these collections, the Man-Kzin War series. My Kzin are not identical to the Kzinti in the series. They've been modified to fit my cautionary tale.

I suspect that the writers appropriated the Kzin concept and employed it under another name. The Kzinti have been around since 1966 and are well-known by all serious sf fans.

Vicki

Just because I did not know about the Kzinti does not mean I am not a serious science fiction fan.

I just got back from seeing Star Trek for the second time, and I may go back again.

Maximus

To start very interesting topic. The fact that the original Kzin was a bunch of aggressive feline like super beings that evolved from constant aggressive and territorial disputes, they soon took to space only to find out that they are by no means a powerful species in comparison to others around them. Few resources and bad decisions forced their poverty. Sounds familiar. Then the one group of Kzin that didn't want war found a nice, serene planet with a special plant.

I believe this says a lot about our world as well as a good science fiction, and was quite thought provoking. If only we could all just sit back, find this special plant and concentrate on living for a change. Unfortunately I do not expect to see this in our world in my lifetime, but it would be nice.

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Cosmos

Where's the part about Katnibus becoming criminalized as the result of corporate Kzin interests? Don't they convince the receptive yet ignorant Kzin public that one snuff eventually materializes into degenerative abuse of the physically-addictive Katnipus?

Kiddin' aside, that was a pretty entertaining read. Nice job.

Hashishi

Nice one Buzz.

This:

Reminded me of a recent article from collumnist Charlie Brooker.

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Freedom_User

And all I wanted was to read something about kittens.