Cat-like aliens

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Cat-like aliens—aliens that resemble terrestrial cats—are a common fixture in science fiction. The cat stimulates the imagination "attracting to itself a colorful and lively stream of myth, folklore, legend and fairytale"^[1]. To many ancient cultures the cat was not seen as merely a mortal animal, often associated with the divine or godlike being. In Egypt, the cat was also associated with some heavenly bodies ^[2] and was considered to be the "eye of the moon". This "otherworldly" trait lends itself well as a basis for species creation.

In science fiction and fantasy, the similiarity of inhuman species to cats allows the creator to give the "new" creatures qualities that people already associate with the animal in question. Cats in particular are symbolic of grace and affection. By adopting the genre of science fiction and inventing the device of underpeople created from animals, (the creator) could use the traits of the different animal species as symbolic tokens in his moral and metaphysical program.^[3]

Contents 1 Named Feline Races 2 Unnamed Feline Races 3 Other Feline Races 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Named Feline Races

• The Oriani - Leslie Gadallah, Cat's Pawn (Novel):

A pacifistic race of feline aliens who are at the center of a mystery in the book Cat's Pawn. The mystery (and the plot of the book) follow the main character, a human, as he uncovers the Oriani's deep dark secret. Their homeworld is Orion.

• The Hani - C.J Cherryh, The Chanur Novels:

A race of feline-like aliens featured largely in the Chanur Novels (Chanur is the family name of the primary Hani characters. The hani most closely resemble lions, with manes and beards on both sexes. Their fur primarily comes in shades of red and gold. Their society is very clannish, each clan consisting of several females and young and one male. Only female Hani are allowed to go into space, males remain on their homeworld. The Hani homeworld is Anuurn. (The first book in the Chanur Series: Pride of Chanur was nominated for the Hugo Award for best novel).

• The Gambolts - Robert Asprin, Phule Novels:

The Gambolts are a feline species in the Phule novels, one of the three alien races that have allied with humans - they are briefly mentioned in the first book (Phule's Company) but no actual members of the species are seen until the third book (A Phule and His Money). Gambolts are known for being faster, more agile and stronger than the human recruits in the Legion, but are also possessed of many catlike traits, including the desire to chase and catch small moving animals. The Gambolt species is also referenced in the Timewalkers RPG at www.warboards.org and their description matches that given in the Phule Novels,with the exception of a few added fur colors.

• The Kilrathi - Wing Commander (Computer game):

The Kilrathi are feline aliens who resemble lions but who have additional markings that identify which clans they belong to. Their society is an empire, the species itself having many warlike tendencies due to their predatory and territorial nature. They have appeared in every Wing Commander game to date, as well as making an appearance in the Wing Commander movie.

• The Hrrubans - Anne McCaffrey and Jody Lyn Nye (Doona novels)
• Feline Alien Research Troop - BoomBots (Video game)
• The Kzinti - Larry Niven, Man-Kzin Wars:

Kzin (plural: Kzinti) are a warlike species that have colonized parts of known space close to the solar system. Kzinti were first introduced by Niven in the "Known Space" sequence of short stories, and a Kzin character "Speaker to Animals" was then featured as one of the main characters in Niven's celebrated novel Ringworld (1970). This portion of Niven's universe was then spun off into a separate series, in which other writers were allowed to set stories, the "Man-Kzin Wars" series.

• The Sholan - Lisanne Norman, Sholan Alliance Series (novels)
• The Torrans - Jane Palmer, The Planet Dweller
• The Imkairi - Andrea Alton, Demon of Undoing
• Ci-Kat-A - Swat Cats
• Ctarl-Ctarl - Outlaw Star - A warlike species which controlls a sizeable empire. They apear humanoid but have brown/orange fur, large cat-like ears, and a tail. The Ctarl-Ctarl have super human strength and speed. They are able to increase their power further for short periods of time but doing so seems to consume a lot of calories and so they tend to eat large ammounts of food; as much as eight times as much as an average human. They are also shapeshifters that can transform into masive white tigers, though this ability is dependant on the phases of the moon. They had been at war with humans for qute some time but at the time Outlaw Star takes place the two have a neutral stance towards each other.
• The Coeurl - A. E. van Vogt, The Voyage of the Space Beagle
• The Nephilim - Avernum game series
• The Runa - Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow
• Dilgar - Babylon 5
• Spacecats - The Brak Show, Space Ghost Coast To Coast, Space Ghost
• The Sisters of Plenitude - Doctor Who
• Lynxians - Atomic Betty

[edit] Unnamed Feline Races

• Fritz Leiber, Wanderer (novel)
• Barton Paul Levenson - Rain and Revenge (short story)
• Corpse Grinders - (Movie, 2002)
• CyborGladiators (Tabletop game)
• Star Trek The Animated Series (cartoon)
• Reconnaissance - Bill McCay (Stargate SG-1 novel)
• Treasure Planet (Animated movie)
• Earth Girls are Easy (movie)
• Star Fox (Video Game)
• Mari - Susan Krinard (novella)
• Scrameustache - Roland Goossens (comic)

[edit] Other Feline Races

All of these are races which match some criteria but may not be technically both feline and alien.

• Felis sapiens, Red Dwarf (Television Series):

Felis Sapiens are not aliens, nor do they look like cats. They are the result of cats evolving into a humanoid species. There are certain differences - for example, the catlike fangs and the fact that Felis Sapiens have six nipples - however at first glance, they are indistinguishable from humans based on physical appearance.

• Transformers, Transformers Beast Wars (Cartoon):

While several of the transformers characters had animal modes based on actual earth felines, the race as a whole is not cat-like.

• Blinx: The Time Sweeper and his fellow Time Sweepers are also technically aliens, as they hail from another world. It is unknown whether the Time Sweepers are a race of cats who originate from the world housing the Time Factory, or a general name for workers who have been hired at the Time Factory and just happen to be cats. It is unknown if the employees of the Time Factory all hail from the same world, it is possible that the Time Sweepers were hired from many different worlds and time periods, similar to the methods used by the Eternals in The End of Eternity.

[edit] See also

• List of Fictional Aliens
• Index of fictional species
• List of fictional planets
• List of extraterrestrials in fiction by type

[edit] External links

• C.J. Cherryh's Official Website
• The Freedom Series
• The Sholan Alliance Fanclub