Pierson's Puppeteers

This is an example of a species using information from Wikipedia and LarryNiven.net. It is only provided as a demonstration of CSS and of altering the basic species template. The material here is used under "fair-use" provisions and no ownership or other rights are implied.

The Puppeteer homeworld, called "Hearth" by its inhabitants, no longer orbits a star. Accompanied by four companion worlds, it flies through space at just under the speed of light. When the Puppeteer Migration began, rather than flee their home, they took it with them!

..... I was fed up with humanoids. Chad Oliver in particular, an anthropologist, wrote story after story claiming that this is the only workable shape for an intelligent being. The puppeteers were my first attempt to show him a shape that could evolve to intelligence.... — Larry Niven, 05 June 1996

Hearth is densely covered with buildings of all sorts; a good portion are miles-high skyscrapers. To feed the one trillion Puppeteers on the planet, four farming worlds are needed. The five worlds, all of similar size, are arranged in a Klemperer Rosette, appearing from a distance to be a five-pointed star. The farming worlds are circled by strings of small orbital artificial suns. The homeworld has no orbital lights. It glows by its own light, in patches the shapes of continents and the colors of sunlight.

The five worlds are heading towards the Lesser Magellanic Cloud some 200,000 light years away. A few humans have been allowed to settle on one of the farming worlds. Conservatives use the humans to investigate dangerous regions in the path of the migration.

Basic Information

Biological Traits

Every Puppeteer is trained at a young age to respond to danger from which it cannot flee by tucking both necks beneath its forelegs and folding its legs beneath itself, to resemble a furry footstool. Assuming this position is called the "explosion reflex." A fearful Puppeteer may remain in this fetal position for hours or possibly days, quivering with fear, withdrawn from a hostile universe. However, the presence of preventable danger will bring the Puppeteer out from hiding in its own belly.

Socially, two notable traits of Puppeteers are their racial/cultural penchant for cowardice and their tendency to congregate in herds. The cowardice is thought in Puppeteer society to originate with the Puppeteer instinct for turning one's back on danger. However, the trait is thought by many to actually originate from their herd instinct, as the instinct to turn one's back is linked to an instinct to kick the hind hoof at an attacker.

All in one motion, the puppeteer had spun on his forelegs and lashed out with his single hind leg. His heads were turned backwards and spread wide, Louis remembered, to triangulate on his target. Nessus had accurately kicked a man's heart out through his splintered spine. —Larry Niven, "Ringworld"

Lifespan

They are very long lived, rarely dying from accident or disease.

Genetics and Reproduction

Puppeteers do not discuss their sex life with aliens.

Puppeteer reproduction requires the use of a non-sentient host animal of a different but related species, called a "Companion," about half the size of a Puppeteer. A male and a female Puppeteer deposit sperm and egg inside the Companion, the female using an ovipositor. The foetus grows inside the Companion's body in a parasitic fashion, apparently like a digger wasp larva. When the baby is mature it "hatches" of out of the host's body and is cared for by its Puppeteer parents. The host animal is invariably killed in the "birth" process. Companions are bred to each other by Puppeteers to provide hosts for Puppeteer reproduction.

Culturally, the Companion is considered part of the family. Confusingly, Puppeteers claim they have two male genders, preferring to be addressed as "he," and they refer to Companions as "females." However, this is a cultural bias, and does not reflect actual Puppeteer or Companion biology.

No forms of contraception except abstinence and major surgery — neutering — will work for Puppeteers.

Ecology and Habitats

The vast majority of Puppeteers live in miles-high apartment buildings and arcologies. Their stepping disc technology is used ubiquitously; the buildings contain no hallways or air ducts. Everyone and everything, even fresh air, is brought in by stepping disc.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Puppeteers are vegetarians, and eat a variety of grains, grasses, and leafy vegetables. They also eat bread. Like all vegetarians, Puppeteers eliminate (pass excrement) where they eat, and their dining halls are equipped with rows of stepping discs in the proper position to whisk the manure away.

Civilization and Culture

Major Organizations

Puppeteers have a monolithic world culture, which they call the Concordance.

They have two political parties: The majority Conservatives, and the minority Experimentalists. In peaceful times, when nothing needs to change, the Conservatives rule. In times of trouble, when change is needed, the Experimentalists are voted in — but only for the duration of the emergency. It should be noted that the Experimentalists are only slightly less conservative than the Conservatives. After all, they are still Puppeteers!

Relationship Ideals

As herd animals, Puppeteers have a strong need to socialize with each other. Large public squares between their enormous buildings give them a place to gather frequently in large groups. Puppeteers artificially add the odor of their herds to their breathing air and objects in their environment; even flowers emit the smell of Puppeteers. Their individual living spaces are filled with virtual images of Puppeteer herds.
Puppeteers demonstrate their fitness and compete for mates in formal dances attended by large numbers, perhaps something like the grand balls of human high society, termed simply "The Dance." When courting, Puppeteers rub their necks together and intertwine them.

Average Technological Level

With the exception of the Outsiders, Puppeteers possess technology far in advance of any species in Known Space. Selling their GP hulls and other products of their advanced technologies gives them enormous wealth, which is used to influence other species, both on a cultural and an individual basis. For instance, it is said that a Kzin who attacks a Puppeteer will soon find himself financially ruined.

For technological and scientific research, Puppeteers employ careful observation and safe investigation, ensuring no personal or social risk is taken by anyone. Their advancement is aided by unmatched powers of deductive reasoning and logic. They view humanity's discovery of scientific principles and new worlds through trial-and-error, exploration, and serendipity to be hazardous and irrational.

I had explained that our civilization was dying in its own waste heat. Total conversion of energy had rid us of all waste products of civilization, save that one. We had no choice but to move our world outward from its primary. There was much madness that year. For that reason it is famous in our history. But we had purchased a reactionless, inertialess drive from the Outsiders. You may have guessed their price. We are still paying in installments. We had moved two agricultural worlds; we had experimented with other, useless worlds of our system using the Outsider drive. In any case, we did it. We moved our world.— Nessus, "Ringworld"

Major Language Groups and Dialects

The beautiful, complex musical voice of the Puppeteers cannot be imitated by any other species in Known Space. Two throats, each with three larynxes, plus an eighteen note octave scale, gives Puppeteers verbal communication densely packed with complex meaning. Each throat can produce intonations ranging from pure single notes, to dissonant harmonies, to orchestral music. In communicating with humans, Puppeteers use a throaty contralto which men find distractingly sexy. A Puppeteer scream of fright has been described variously as an exploding steam calliope and as a church choir being burnt alive.

The Puppeteer's large brain allows them to carry on two independent conversations at the same time, in two separate languages. They are outstanding linguists, a feature of both their superior intelligence and their need to protect themselves diplomatically. When interacting with humans, they speak the human language of Interworld.

Common Dress Code

A sane Puppeteer's mane is always well groomed, to indicate social status and personal preference. Even low ranked Puppeteers keep their manes combed and be-ribboned. High status Puppeteers have their manes braided and/or coifed; perhaps fluffed or curled into ringlets, sometimes dyed, and decorated with jewels or braided with bright metallic strands. Natural mane colors resemble those of terrestrial horses, ranging from browns to auburn and yellows. Unkempt manes usually indicate insanity, or at least long-term emotional distress.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Puppeteers' fear of danger has lead them to strive for subtle, behind-the-scenes dominance in the affairs of other species. They do not hesitate to resort to blackmail, bribery, or any other form of influence. They prefer to avoid using even carefully applied violence, but if necessary they will employ an outside agency for such unpleasantness. The Puppeteers' drive to minimize danger, coupled with their pragmatism, gives them a ruthlessness beyond that of even the Kzinti, only falling short of the Pak. To ensure their own safety, they might go so far as to utterly destroy another species.

Puppeteers distrust aliens and their motives, often conducting their business through agents. In dealing with the paranoid Trinocs, they use robotic intermediaries. The Puppeteer business empire influences civilizations unheard of in Known Space.

Disclaimers

1) This article is free. You get what you paid for.
2) No, I won't share my world with you. At least not yet. This may change as I get farther along.
3) The opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect those of my employer, the WorldAnvil team, anyone with common sense, or (all the gods know) my spouse.
4) This material is licensed under the Creative Commons BY-SA License. That means if you use any of this in your own work, you must give me credit and you must use the same license.

Identifiers

Singular

Puppeteer

Plural

Puppeteers

Adjective

Puppeteer

Scientific Name

Pupusarus piersoni

Location

Homeworld

Hearth, a world nearer the Galactic Core

Geographic Distribution

Throughout known space, although most are found on the "Fleet of Worlds".

Physical

Anatomy & Physique

Puppeteers have two forelegs and a single hindleg ending in hoofed feet, and two snake-like heads instead of a humanoid upper body. The Puppeteer brain is housed not in the heads, but in the "thoracic" cavity well protected beneath the mane-covered hump from which the heads emerge. They use the "mouths" to manipulate objects, as a humanoid uses hands.

Average Height

180 – 200 cm

Average Weight

60 – 74 kg

Facial Structure

The heads are very small, containing a forked tongue, extensive rubbery lips, rimmed with finger-like knobs, and a single eye per head.

Coloration

Grey to Brown

Mental

Intellect & Perception

Average Intelligence

Puppeteers are highly intelligent.

Sensory Capabilities

Because the heads are able to turn in any direction, a Puppeteer can have a nearly 360° view of its surroundings, with one head facing forward and the other back. The Puppeteer processes this varied visual information with a highly developed visual cortex. A running Puppeteer will often hold one head high and the other low to obtain a panoramic perception and to see around obstacles. The two heads also provide outstanding facility for precision work, since a Puppeteer can have both a close-up view and an overall view of its work, simultaneously.