by Humans and later renamed Fafnir. The Kzinti are disarmed and restricted to police weapons only. This restriction was still in effect as late as 2657, as specified in The Soft Weapon. Aftermath Over the next decades and centuries, some Kzinti dream of another war, and go to great lengths (such as piracy, seeking Slaver stasis boxes, and going to Ringworld) in an attempt to gain enough of an upper hand to begin one. There is at least one "major incident" after the Fourth War, which some humans describe as another "war" (see Flatlander). However, each Man-Kzin War ended with the death of of all Kzin then alive, and the confiscation of two Kzinti worlds. The surviving Kzinti finally faced the reality that another all-out war would bring no benefit. At the time of Ringworld, Kzinti numbers are still less than of what they were when they first encountered humans. In the events of Ringworld, Nessus inadvertently reveals to Wu and Speaker-to-Animals that the Man-Kzin Wars were engineered by the Puppeteers. The Puppeteers viewed the Kzin as too dangerous and hoped a series of wars in which successive generations of the most aggressive Kzinti males were selectively killed off by humans would help breed reason into the Kzinti as the preferred alternative over outright extermination. 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 victory for humans. Recurring characters Chuut-Riit — Leader of the Kzinti conquest forces occupying Wunderland. Buford Early — ARM general known for unorthodox tactics. Ulf Reichstein-Markham — Wunderland resistance leader and, eventually, traitor. Dimity Carmody — Interpreter of the alien hyperdrive manual. Nils Rykermann — Biologist on Wunderland, later resistance leader, later Wunderland politician. Rarrgh — Kzin soldier, later protector of Vaemar-Riit, later seneschal of Vaemar-Riit's palace. Leonie Rykermann — Wife of Nils Rykermann. Vaemar-Riit — Son of Chuut-Riit. Leader of the "Wunderkzin". Arthur Guthlac — Originally an Earth museum guard and illegal collector of forbidden militaria, later brigadier on UNSN General Staff. Reception The series has been described as one of the better-known works related to the theme of armed conflict in science fiction. Canonicity Larry Niven has never specifically addressed whether or not these stories are part of the canon of Known Space stories. He has ruled A Darker Geometry as definitely