List of alien species in the Honorverse

This is a list of known aliens in the Honorverse. By the time of the Honorverse accounts, humanity had met 12 sentient alien species. However only a few, including the Stilties, Treecats, Beowulf Gremlins, Terran dolphins, were actually named. The list also includes human variants as a result of genetic engineering.

Intelligent species

Alphanes

"Alphanes" were an ancient race of sentient bipedal reptilians, perhaps related to Growlers, that vanished from the galaxy some time before humans ever left the Sol system. They inhabited several planets in what is now Human space over 100,000 years ago. They built cities out of crystals that seem to have been grown from bedrock. Their books were holographic crystals activated using AC power.

Dolphins

See: "Dolphins"

Gremlins

Intelligent species native to Beowulf in the Sigma Draconis system near Old Sol. They were about as intelligent as Old Earth dolphins and seem to be slightly less intelligent than Sphinxian treecats.

Human variants

* "Grayson-Masadan variant"
* "Mesa Genetic Slaves"
* "Mesa Human Variant"
* "Scrags" ('superhuman soldier' descendants)
* "Mfecane genetic variant"
* "Meyerdahl Beta modification" (genies)

tilties

Stilties were a fictional species in the Honorverse fictional universe. They were native to Medusa in the Basilisk system, and were more or less equivalent technologically to late Bronze age humans when discovered. They lived in clans, some nomadic, and others settled in small towns at important trade junctions. Politically, most groups were organized by extended families and led by the head of the currently dominant family. Town organization was more complex, but political arrangements everywhere were similar to Terran Bronze Age political arrangements outside of the major civilzations and cultures.

They were tall, slender and trilaterally symmetric. They were warm-blooded and bear living young, yet were somewhat similar in appearance to a very large praying mantis of Old Earth. Stilties used their upper limbs for manipulation (much as with human hands and arms) while standing on tripod legs (with 6 knee joints), which were impossibly long and slender by human standards. Instead of bending hip joints, their bodies swiveled with the assistance of the complex knee joints. They were able to move very quickly when they wished to do.

They were intelligent and communicate via a combination of chemical clues, voice, and postures (primarily of the three arms). Nevertheless, it was possible for humans to interact with them despite having the wrong chemical emissions and only 2/3 of the correct number of arms. Establishing communication presented more than the usual difficulties after they were discovered when the Basislisk terminus of the Manticore Wormhole Junction was mapped.

Being colored a mottled green-gray, similar to Medusan moss (a persistent visual theme throughout Medusan biology), the natives looked "like some sort of circus freaks" and the atmosphere "might smell like the downwind side of a chemical refinery with buggered filtration." (Stromboli, p.104 HH1) Their coloring had the effect of providing exceptionally good camouflage, at least to human senses, in the Medusan environment. Medusan were quite good at moving stealthily, especially in their natural environment, the color was not the only factor.

After their discovery, which coincided with the discovery of the Basilisk terminus of the Manticore Junction, the Star Kingdom of Manticore assumed a protectorate over the planet and its inhabitants, but disclaimed sovereignty. There was strong political opposition to a Manticoran annexation of the planet itself, and against any but a protective role with regard to the Stilties. However, the Basilisk terminus was claimed outright by Manticore. Medusa acquired, over the first couple of decades of their relationship with Manticore, substantial orbital trading and transshipment facilities, most in orbit around the planet. Nearly all of this orbital infrastructure was destroyed during the Basilisk raid by the People's Republic of Haven.

Trade and other interaction with Medusa itself was limited, as the Medusans produce little of economic value, though it was steadily increasing as they acquire more technology and as Manticoran sponsored economic development proceeds. Manticore maintained a Resident, with police and a small armed force, to keep peace and to prevent importation of goods and materials unsuited to the Medusan technological standing. No advanced weapons, no chemical industries with toxic effluents, and so on. With the exception of some serious problems caused by an attempted coup by Haven before the start of the Haven-Manticore War, this policy had proven to be a success for both Medusa and Manticore.

Treecats

See: "Treecats", "List of treecats"

Uncertain intelligence species

Growlers

"Growlers" were a sort of reptilian dog that make good pets and growling sounds. They are hypothesized to be the degenerate descendants of the Alphanes. They were found on all Alphane worlds.

Animals

Kodiak maximus

Native to Gryphon, the "Kodiak max" is a bear-like predator which is hunted for its pelt.

Hexapuma

The hexapuma` was a fictional species of feline-like creatures who shared the Sphinxian habitat with treecats in a series of novels and stories about the Honorverse by David Weber.

They were hexapedal (six-limbed) creatures native to the planet Sphinx orbiting Manticore-A. Adults were commonly ten meters long, making them Sphinx' largest predators, both deadly and ill-tempered. Apart from their size, they bore a striking resemblance to their relations, the treecats, except that they are not sapient.

Hexapumas had retractable eight-centimeter claws on all six limbs. These claws were essentially reverse scimitars; they were curved and razor-sharp along the inner edge, as opposed to (Terran) feline claws which are curved but only sharp at the points. They were composed of an organic substance with a mineral-like base, as opposed to hair, cartilage or horn. They also had fifteen-centimeter canine teeth, which protruded from the jaws in a manner similar to the canines of Terran saber-toothed tigers.

Hexapumas were apex predators in the Sphinxian ecosystem, although they generally avoided treecat territory; a single treecat was no match for a hexapuma, but an entire clan of treecats was able easily take down even a healthy, mature, hexapuma. Treecats referred to them as "death fangs" due to their strength, ferocity, and nearly universal aggressive attitude, even when not hunting. Human settlers on Sphinx rarely traveled without weapons due to the threat presented by hexapumas and other predatory wildlife. Stephanie Harrington was said to have been the only human ever to face a hexapuma armed with only a vibro-knife yet survive.

phynixan Sabrepike

A particularly vicious freshwater predator native to Sphynx.