HOME | DD

Description

A truly ancient species, the Thrintun (singular Thrint) evolved some 1.5 billion years ago. Roughly humanoid in shape, the Reptiliod Thrintun stood 1.25 meters tall on average, had one large eye, a two way digestive system, several tentacles to aide in eating and lacked satiation impulses in regard to hunger. Most impressive however was their psionic abilities, common on their homeworld but largely absent elsewhere in the galaxy. This meant that the Thrint could casually bend most non thrintun sapients to their will if they are in close proximity, a property which could be amplified. Conquest for the Thrint consisted of little more than landing a force of overseers on the planet to dominate the populace and the construction of appropriate infrastructure and settlements. Never the less, one of their slave species managed to resist.

For all their psionic potential the average Thrint was by human standards rather stupid with poor impulse control and limited capacities towards forward thinking. In contrast the Tnuctipan were highly intelligent and adaptive. They soon made up the bulk of the engineers of the Thrintun empire and were given the greatest level of autonomy. This included limited use of psi-shielded helmets and chambers which allowed the slaves of specific thrintun clans to not only work on projects more effectively but also in secret as the thrintun never had a concept of patent laws. Covertly the Tnuctipan engineered specific items to undermine Thrintun control and covertly sabotage the economy of their master's empire. It took centuries, but ultimately the blow was struck. After decades of economic stagnation and decay many thintun worlds were devastated, allowing strategically placed cadres of Tnuctipan to escape Thrint influence to fight on against them. Caught unaware against a threat with superior strategic thinking at a time of weakness, the Thrintun rapidly lost much of their territory as their Empire fell apart. By the time holdouts could martial their resources, their position was hopeless. Tnuctipan victory seemed inevitable and so the remaining thrint engaged in one last Hail Mary move. They constructed a supermassive super-powerful psionic amplifier and used it to broadcast a message across the galaxy.

"Die."

And with that, effectively every single organic lifeform in the Milky Way with something resembling neurons simply shut down and died. Including most of the remaining Thrintun. Only beings locked away in a stasis field and a few robotic warships carrying out their final orders survived. Several subsequent kill orders were given over the next few centuries as precautionary measure. The main surviving population would be left with little and would eventually degenerate into the mostly stationary Gorgs. A few however would endure for eons to come. A common feature on most Thrintun spacesuits was a stasis field generator to deal with emergencies (devices that by their very nature could not be deactivated by their users once engaged) and a few individuals were locked away frozen in time because of this.

Known Space belongs to Larry Niven

Description

A truly ancient species, the Thrintun (singular Thrint) evolved some 1.5 billion years ago. Roughly humanoid in shape, the Reptiliod Thrintun stood 1.25 meters tall on average, had one large eye, a two way digestive system, several tentacles to aide in eating and lacked satiation impulses in regard to hunger. Most impressive however was their psionic abilities, common on their homeworld but largely absent elsewhere in the galaxy. This meant that the Thrint could casually bend most non thrintun sapients to their will if they are in close proximity, a property which could be amplified. Conquest for the Thrint consisted of little more than landing a force of overseers on the planet to dominate the populace and the construction of appropriate infrastructure and settlements. Never the less, one of their slave species managed to resist.

For all their psionic potential the average Thrint was by human standards rather stupid with poor impulse control and limited capacities towards forward thinking. In contrast the Tnuctipan were highly intelligent and adaptive. They soon made up the bulk of the engineers of the Thrintun empire and were given the greatest level of autonomy. This included limited use of psi-shielded helmets and chambers which allowed the slaves of specific thrintun clans to not only work on projects more effectively but also in secret as the thrintun never had a concept of patent laws. Covertly the Tnuctipan engineered specific items to undermine Thrintun control and covertly sabotage the economy of their master's empire. It took centuries, but ultimately the blow was struck. After decades of economic stagnation and decay many thintun worlds were devastated, allowing strategically placed cadres of Tnuctipan to escape Thrint influence to fight on against them. Caught unaware against a threat with superior strategic thinking at a time of weakness, the Thrintun rapidly lost much of their territory as their Empire fell apart. By the time holdouts could martial their resources, their position was hopeless. Tnuctipan victory seemed inevitable and so the remaining thrint engaged in one last Hail Mary move. They constructed a supermassive super-powerful psionic amplifier and used it to broadcast a message across the galaxy.

"Die."

And with that, effectively every single organic lifeform in the Milky Way with something resembling neurons simply shut down and died. Including most of the remaining Thrintun. Only beings locked away in a stasis field and a few robotic warships carrying out their final orders survived. Several subsequent kill orders were given over the next few centuries as precautionary measure. The main surviving population would be left with little and would eventually degenerate into the mostly stationary Gorgs. A few however would endure for eons to come. A common feature on most Thrintun spacesuits was a stasis field generator to deal with emergencies (devices that by their very nature could not be deactivated by their users once engaged) and a few individuals were locked away frozen in time because of this.

Known Space belongs to Larry Niven