Sentient aliens[]
Cherryh has been praised for her complex, well-developed alien cultures. Her Alliance-Union universe features numerous sentient alien species, including the following:
| Species name | Home system | Home planet | Appearing in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amaut | Hunter of Worlds | Industrious, stocky humanoids; little regard for other races that are in the way of valuable resources | ||
| Anhit | Wave Without a Shore | |||
| Caliban | Gehenna | Forty Thousand in Gehenna | Large, semi-reptilians of uncertain intelligence; some bond telepathically with the descendants of colonists (the forty thousand) abandoned by the Union | |
| Chi | Chchchoh | Chanur novels | Sticklike yellow methane-breathers; frenetic; linked to T’ca | |
| Elee | Kutath | Faded Sun trilogy | Humanoid, artistic, perhaps akin to Mri | |
| Hani | Ahr | Anuurn (Ahr II) | Chanur novels | Bipedal felines, with many parallels to lions; matriarchal society - only females travel off-planet, as merchants and traders; males are considered too unstable, at least until Pyanfar Chanur changes the rules |
| Hisa | Pell's Star (Tau Ceti) | Downbelow | Downbelow Station, Finity's End (novel) | Peaceful brown-furred bipedal mammalians; called "Downers" by Pell stationers |
| Human | Sol | Earth | ||
| Iduve | Hunter of Worlds | Dangerous, psychic, predatory humanoids who travel in lone, huge, immensely powerful spaceships and terrorize other species with their sometimes incomprehensible behavior; more technologically advanced than any other known civilization; members of several species, including at least one human, have been forcibly taken as slaves | ||
| Kalliran | Hunter of Worlds | thin, hollow-boned humanoids; vehement pacifists | ||
| Kif | Akkt | Akkht | Chanur novels | Long-snouted bipedal carnivores; extremely competitive; Quickly shift "loyalty" to whoever is in power (or likely to take over, in their frequent, often lethal power struggles) |
| Knnn | Unknown | Unknown | Chanur novels | Multi-legged methane-breathers; packrats; chaotic; they (along with the Tc'a) control the most advanced jump tech in the Compact, capable of hovering above gravity wells, changing course vector mid jump and capable of perfect jump sync |
| Majat | Alpha Hydri | Cerdin (Alpha Hydri II or III, depending on source) | Serpent's Reach | Hive-mind insectoids - the entire species consists of four distinct hive-minds, identified by the Meth-maren by color (blue, green, red and gold) |
| Mahendo'sat | Iji | Chanur novels | Highly political mammalians and therefore not especially trustworthy; introduced the Hani to space travel | |
| Mri | Kutath | Faded Sun trilogy | Humanoid; tripartite caste-based society; militaristic | |
| Nemet | Brothers of Earth | Humanoid; strict honor based society; reminiscent of Atevi, Mri, and Shonunin | ||
| Regul | Faded Sun trilogy | Xenophobic; juvenile and adult forms are highly differentiated; eidetic memory; averse to direct violence, prefer to employ other species for such to remain out of harm's way | ||
| Stsho | Llyene | Chanur novels | Hermaphroditic; physically and emotionally fragile | |
| Sharrh | Merovingen Nights series | Advanced; aggressive; territorial | ||
| Shonunin | Cuckoo’s Egg | Bipedal mammalians; less technologically advanced than humans | ||
| Tc'a | Oh’a’o’o’o | Chanur novels | Serpentine methane-breathers; multipartite brains; linked to Chi (Pets? Symbiot?) Highly advanced, likely on par with the Knnn |
The novels Port Eternity and Voyager in Night feature additional sentient alien races that exist in the Alliance-Union universe. The Morgaine books are built around the actions of a humanoid race called Qual, Khal and similar names, while Morgaine herself is a half-blood member of the "ancestors of the qual", and the third book in the series, features an arboreal species called the harim.
See Also[]
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