Re: Traveller Inspirations

Scott (2G) Kellogg claims that three of Traveller's aliens are drawn from
  the works of Poul Anderson - the Vargr, Virushi, and Ael Yael.  I've read
  very little Anderson, let alone those stories, so I can't confirm or deny.
  But I *have* read a lot of Larry Niven, another name on the source list,
  and I've always felt that another three species were inspired by him.

One thing to note is that none of these three is a direct copy:  there are
  a lot of differences.  But there are also similarities.

Pierson's Puppeteers, the cowardly, social herbivore with a very *alien*
  body structure (two heads, brain in the body, two front legs and a single
  back one) and a talent for grand/subtle manipulation, were split up among
  the Hivers and the K'Kree.  The Centaurs got the diet, the attitudes,
  the gregariousness (and the approach to building starships, to some
  extent) and the mostly-quadruped body, while the Hivers got what I think
  is the better part of the deal, the talent to shamelessly manipulate
  interstellar societies for their own ends.  Also the odd number of limbs
  and all that.

Any feline race tends to be written alike, so maybe the Aslan aren't *really*
  like the Kzin.  For one thing, in an interesting reversal, the females are
  not only sentient but sometimes more 'civilized' than the warrior males.
  Also, although the Ftierle came to blows with Humans in the past, they
  don't seem to show the same headlong 'scream-and-leap' agression-over-
  strategy that was the Kzinti trademark.  The evidence here is inconclusive.


If anyone can find better sources, let me know.

- -------------------------
Kelly St.Clair (Daydreamer)
[email removed]