Kzinti Hegemony

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This is an article about the Kzintis as they exist in the Star Fleet Universe and not as they appear in Larry Niven's Known Space universe. If you are seeking information about Known Space, see the above link.

The Kzintis of the Star Fleet Universe have cat ears, instead of the bat ears of Known Space's Kzin.

A selection of Kzinti warships, defending the Heemony from Klingon and Lyran aggression - and sometimes causing Star Fleet some trouble...

In the fictional Star Fleet Universe, the Kzinti Hegemony is a powerful stellar empire violently opposed to the Lyran Star Empire and allied with the Hydran Kingdom and eventually with the United Federation of Planets and the Gorn Confederation in the General War.

In the fictional variant of the Star Fleet Universe as represented in the games Star Fleet Command II: Empires at War and Star Fleet Command: Orion Pirates from Taldren, the Kzinti Hegemony was named the Mirak Star League, with the species Kzinti renamed for SFC to the Mirak.

[edit] Background material

The Kzinti originally come from Larry Niven's Known Space stories. Niven adapted his story "The Soft Weapon" as an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series, "The Slaver Weapon". The epidode also mentioned that the Kzinti had fought four wars with the Federation, and lost all of them. The Kzinti have never been mentioned in any Paramount productions since The Animated Series, and by current canon, they do not exist in the Star Trek Universe.

However, the Kzinti were mentioned (if not shown) in a few other episodes and early novels, making them part of the continuty as of the time Star Fleet Battles was being designed. So the Kzinti were included as an extra enemy of the Klingon Empire. In fact, the Kzinti use of drones was used as an initial explanation for why Klingon ships had a high number of phasers that mostly fired to the rear.

Since that time, the Kzintis have seen some changes for the SFU compared to Niven's Known Space universe. While the original episode kept close to Niven's discriptions, SFU art has always shown Kzintis with cat ears and furred tails. More recently it was decided that Kzinti females are sentient (something that had not been explicitly stated either way until the production of GURPS Prime Directive). Finally, there is a difference in grammar: In Known Space, the singular is 'Kzin' and the plural is 'Kzinti'; in SFU, the singular is 'Kzinti' and the plural is 'Kzintis'.

[edit] History

The Kzintis have fought wars with all of their neighbours, the Federation, the Klingon Empire and their perennial nemeses, the Lyran Star Empire. More recently, the Kzintis became allies - or more accurately, co-belligerents - of the Hydran Kingdom. After the Four-Powers War the Hegemony formed a tentative accord with the Federation, which lead to an alliance during the General War. The General War started as the 'Fifth Kzinti-Lyran War' with the Klingons invading some months later and a substantial portion of Hegemony territory was occupied by the Coalition with two full-scale assaults on the Kzinti homeworld of Kzintai. Eventually, with Federation assistance they forced Coalition forces from their territory. After the War ended they were involved in a Civil War as a disgruntled faction - which had been opposed to the Hegemony's ruling Patriarch and sought refuge and developed a power base in the WYN Cluster, launched an attempted coup of the Hegemony itself in the WYN War of Return