They were among the first spacefarers in the region, anomalous, because their
primary policy seems to be to acquire the widest possible area about their
homeworld from which strangers are excluded. Certainly they did not seem to go
to the stars to make contact with outsiders. Or perhaps some experience lies in
their past which has made them what they are. Stsho allow no real information
about stsho to leak out of their space, which greatly vexes the curious
mahendo’sat.
Legendarily Llyene is a treasure world of fantastical wealth. It is certain that
stsho trade is lucrative in all directions, and that they are the source of a
great deal of technology that the mahendo’sat turn to various purposes.
The Kif
Kif are tallest of the species of the Compact, very lean and having virtually no
body fat. They are mostly hairless, except for a close-growing strip down the
midline of their elongate, long-snouted skulls — which is seldom visible, as
kif go robed and hooded and seldom bare their heads. The skin is gray and soft,
if very tough and much wrinkled, and hot to the touch of hani or mahendo’sat.
They are agile and strong; their claws are retractable and very sharp. Their
eyes are usually red-rimmed: they prefer very dim light. What their genders are
is a matter of guesswork. They may have two, but outsiders often use it of a kif
in complete uncertainty, and he by convention which the mahendo’sat began: kif
use he and occasionally she of themselves, but whether this precisely reflects a
mahen/hani style gender distinction or something more like the stsho is still
uncertain. Kif give few clues to aid the guesswork.
Kif got into space independently, through an arms race, and acquired starflight
through contact with tc’a, whose wisdom in this other species question.
Kif are totally carnivorous, incapable of swallowing anything very large. Two
independent sets of jaws exist within the snout, one to bite, another to reduce
the intake to pulp and fluids. They prefer live food, and actually have rather
delicate appetites: they are repulsed by carrion and could not easily handle
cooked meat.
Color does not play a part in their decor, which is generally utilitarian and
often black and gray. The light in their dwellings is quite dim. They have keen
night vision, and indeed much of their homeworld dwelling is underground, though
some mahen scientists have disputed on the basis of the kifish eye (smaller than
the eyes of other nocturnals on other worlds) whether the species did not in
fact originate as a diurnal hunter and change its lifestyle in the remote past.
As kif do not share data with mahendo’sat, and stsho and hani have no interest
in the question, it goes unanswered. Curiously kif do practice art, which seems
confined to objects of ordinary use, weapons, cups, boxes and containers, which
are embellished in tactile patterns. They place little value on mass-produced
goods and great value on objects they believe to be unique, or on consumables
such as rare and endangered species or uncommon liquors. They do appreciate
intoxicants of various kinds but are the most moderate of known species in their
consumption: individual kif who have become intoxicated have been killed
outright by their companions.
Kif are facile linguists, great mimics, and in particular speak fluent hani, as
well as their own several languages. Their homestar is Akkt, their homeworld
Akkht, which outsiders often confuse, and reputedly both mean home or homebase,
since home as understood by kif has the connotation of a place to which one
repairs to gather one’s forces for the next season. When they discovered
outsiders, the shock and subsequent period of organization enabled a few leaders
to seize power on Akkht, and eventually let the space-faring kif seize power
over Akkht entirely.
Kif have historically had little organization, usually engaged with each other
in disputes and continual snatching of property from weaker kif. They have the
concept of sfik, or face, in which the stronger will hold to a thing and defy
all comers. The more attractive and unique the prize, the greater the sfik.
Their interest in art perhaps revolves around this; of particular sfik-value are