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%%* BizarreAlienPsychology: The books are {{Xenofiction}} told from the perspectives of the lion-like hani.%%Doesn't explain how it fits the trope.

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%%* * BizarreAlienPsychology: The books series features no less than ''eight'' distinct species, all of whom are {{Xenofiction}} told from various shades of BlueAndOrangeMorality or {{Starfish Alien|s}} to each other. The hani, mahendo'sat, and newly discovered humans are just unpredictable enough to each other to be dangerous, the perspectives stsho are constitutionally incapable of violence, the lion-like hani.%%Doesn't explain how it fits kif have nothing their fellow oxygen-breathers would recognize as loyalty or morality, the trope.t'ca have five brains and speak in matrices, the knnn can barely communicate even through t'ca translators, and the jury's still out on whether the chi are even sentient (good luck trying to communicate the concept of traffic laws to those last two).



* CouldntFindAPen: Tully writes out some FirstContactMath in his own blood on the deck of the ''Pride'' after forcing his way onboard. Pyanfar had already pretty much rejected the theory that he was some kind of escaped exotic pet, but this evidence of a writing system clinches it.



* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Played with. The AlwaysChaoticEvil kif ''know'' that other species have empathy, morals and other things [[BizarreAlienPsychology lacking from the minds of kif]]. Kif who deal with other species study up on these things in order to try to use logic to predict what other species will do, but still fail more often than not due to lacking any intuitive understanding of the topics.



* ExperiencedProtagonist: Pyanfar Chanur begins the series as a successful merchant captain with decades of trading voyages under her belt. By the end, she's graduated to LivingLegend.



* FeudalFuture: Hani clans are run by a ruling lord and maintain territory on the homeworld (or in some cases a station). Lords can be challenged by unmarried males (usually their sons) or ambitious neighbors, as when Pyanfar's son overthrew her husband and went after Chanur's territory (ruled by her brother, his maternal uncle).
** The second book in the series clarifies that "Clan" system became the dominant Hani culture due to the Mahendosat making FirstContact in a region where this was the custom. Gaining advanced technology and powerful allies so early so fast more or less caused the resultant space faring clans to dominate the world and the eventual world government.

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* FeudalFuture: Hani clans are run by a ruling lord and maintain territory on the homeworld (or in some cases a station). Lords can be challenged by unmarried males (usually their sons) or ambitious neighbors, as when Pyanfar's son overthrew her husband and went after Chanur's territory (ruled by her brother, his maternal uncle).
**
uncle). The second book in the series clarifies that "Clan" system became the dominant Hani culture due to the Mahendosat making FirstContact in a region where this was the custom. Gaining advanced technology and powerful allies so early so fast more or less caused the resultant space faring clans to dominate the world and the eventual world government.government.
* FingerExtinguisher: The primate-like ''mahendo'sat'' have cigarette-like "smoke stick". Spacer ''mahen'' have the habit of putting them out with their fingers. While this does impress non-spacers, the real reason for doing it is that if a smoke stick has cooled off enough to put out with bare fingers, it's also cooled off enough to not ignite flammable gasses and liquids that might leak in spaceship cargo holds or SpaceStation docksides.



* GambitPileup: ''And how.'' Pages at a time are devoted to characters explaining or musing on the latest double-cross or convolution. Every single faction in the series, and there are several per species, has multiple plans- some of them mutually contradictory- all going on at the same time.
* TheGhost: Pyanfar herself in ''Chanur's Legacy''. While she's constantly mentioned, she appears only in Hilfy's dreams.

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* GambitPileup: ''And how.'' Pages at a time are devoted to characters explaining or musing on the latest double-cross or convolution. Every single faction in the series, and there are several per species, has multiple plans- plans -- some of them mutually contradictory- contradictory -- all going on at the same time.
* GenderedInsult: Due to the way the lionlike hani's gender roles play out, sons are expected to be nothing but trouble for their parents. Hani women use "son" as an insult and "gods give you sons" as a curse, which gets awkward when a male becomes part of a foul-mouthed and female-dominated spacer crew and they have to think about who they're actually insulting.
* TheGhost: Pyanfar herself in ''Chanur's Legacy''. While she's constantly mentioned, she appears only in Hilfy's dreams. dreams.
* GirlsWithMoustaches: All the ([[CatFolk leonine]]) hani have AnimalFacialHair regardless of gender. This confuses TokenHuman Tully until they manage to impress on him that [[AmazonBrigade all the hani]] he's dealing with are "she".



* HumanoidAliens: The four oxygen-breathing species are humanoid (with the three methane breathing species being StarfishAliens):
** The hani are standard CatFolk.
** The mahendo'sat are covered in short, curly fur and have blunt, non-retractable claws.
** The kif have long snouts [[BizarreAlienBiology which come equipped with two sets of jaws rather than one]].
** The stcho are skinny, hairless and have large, pale eyes.



* InterspeciesRomance: Averted with [[spoiler: Hilfy and Tully. Everyone in the crew seems terrified of it and Hilfy gets married off to avoid the subject.]] However, in the fifth book, [[spoiler: some of Hilfy's dream states while in jump show just how much she misses Tully and wants to be with him. Furthermore, there are hints that while Pyanfar was against Hilfy being involved with the Tully, she had no problem with other members of her crew sleeping with him, specifically Chur.]]
%%* IntrepidMerchant: Pyanfar Chanur.

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* InterspeciesRomance: Averted with [[spoiler: Hilfy [[spoiler:Hilfy and Tully. Everyone in the crew seems terrified of it and Hilfy gets married off to avoid the subject.]] subject]]. However, in the fifth book, [[spoiler: some [[spoiler:some of Hilfy's dream states while in jump show just how much she misses Tully and wants to be with him. Furthermore, there are hints that while Pyanfar was against Hilfy being involved with the Tully, she had no problem with other members of her crew sleeping with him, specifically Chur.]]
%%*
Chur]].
*
IntrepidMerchant: Pyanfar Chanur.Chanur is the captain of an interstellar merchant vessel.



* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: [[spoiler:By the end of the series, Pyanfar is a political heavyweight in her own race, a Personage of the mahendo'sat, and the supreme commander of all kif.]]
* NoBiochemicalBarriers: Tully the human has no problem living on Hani food.



* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: [[spoiler: By the end of the series, Pyanfar is a political heavyweight in her own race, a Personage of the mahendo'sat, and the supreme commander of all kif.]]
* NoBiochemicalBarriers: Tully the human has no problem living on Hani food.

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* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: [[spoiler: By the end of the series, Pyanfar is a political heavyweight in her own race, a Personage of the mahendo'sat, and the supreme commander of all kif.]]
* NoBiochemicalBarriers: Tully the human has no problem living on Hani food.
NoSuchThingAsAlienPopCulture: Averted, crossing over with AlienArtsAreAppreciated; races with pop culture tend to trade it with each other.



* PlanetaryNation: Averted. The hani homeworld is noted to have multiple countries and languages. And cultures, Pyanfar is surprised to see a male Hani on a station.
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: In the first four books, Pyanfar's all-female-hani crew takes on [[spoiler: her husband, Tully the male human, and a kif named Skukkuk.]]

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* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Somewhat averted. Whenever possible, the crews try to get some trading in while gallivanting around Compact space, but a lot of other things take priority.
* PlanetaryNation: Averted. The hani homeworld is noted to have multiple countries countries, languages, and languages. And cultures, cultures. Pyanfar is surprised to see a male Hani on a station.
* ProudMerchantRace: The Hani and their rivals, the Kif, with the [[SpacePeople Spacer]] culture of humans being brought into the mix as the series progresses. The Hani are probably the most straightforward example here because their culture is fairly isolationist and not really looking to expand beyond their home system, making their traders the only ones who have a ''reason'' to leave their homeworld, while the Kif's main hat is more a general vicious opportunism (trade, theft, bullying, piracy... whatever works to one's advantage) and the Mahendo'sat primarily just seem to poke their noses anywhere they feel like.
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: In the first four books, Pyanfar's all-female-hani crew takes on [[spoiler: her [[spoiler:her husband, Tully the male human, and a kif named Skukkuk.]]Skukkuk]].



* SpaceStation: The Compact and trade within Campact space is heavily dependent on space stations. Very little page space is dedicated to ground-to-orbit / orbit to ground shuttles. And interstellar rated ships don't seem to be designed or equipped for planetfall.

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* SpacePirates: The kif, who see every action as a bid for dominance, turn out to make excellent pirates. The knnn might also qualify, [[StarfishAliens if they had enough concepts in common with oxygen-breathers to be able to formulate the idea]]. They used to force their way onto stations and take what they want; after lengthy negotiations through t'ca/chi intermediaries, now they take what they want and leave something behind.
* SpaceStation: The Compact and trade within Campact space is heavily dependent on space stations. Very little page space is dedicated to ground-to-orbit / orbit ground-to-orbit/orbit to ground shuttles. And interstellar rated ships don't seem to be designed or equipped for planetfall.



** The main character's starship went quiet while floating through an AsteroidThicket in order to hide from kifish hunterts, and spy ships can sit invisible at the edge of a star system while gathering information on passive scanners.

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** The main character's Pyanfar Chanur's starship went goes quiet while floating through an AsteroidThicket in order to hide from kifish hunterts, and spy ships can sit invisible at the edge of a star system while gathering information on passive scanners.



* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Somewhat averted. Whenever possible, the crews try to get some trading in while gallivanting around Compact space, but a lot of other things take priority.


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* WalkingShirtlessScene: The entire hani species, being covered in fur and not sexually dimorphic above the waist. The protagonists have to buy shirts from the stsho when their [[HumansThroughAlienEyes rescued human passenger]], who is not covered in fur, gets cold. As for the fanservice aspect, see the cover of ''[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/531150.Chanur_s_Venture Chanur's Venture]]''.
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* BarefootCartoonAnimal: The entire hani race, apparently. Even when working on icy deck plating or running over debris, nobody pulls on boots. Book five mentions full-body suits used when working cold storage. Early books in the series indicate that hani are skittish about constriction of any sort on their hands and feet because it triggers their claws.
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* {{Crossover}}: _technically_ the Chanur books are set in the same universe as Cherryh's AllianceUnion books, although if you blink you'll miss it. The Compact gets one mention in {{Cyteen}} as a bunch of xenophobic aliens over on the other side of space, and Alliance and Union politics form part of the Tully's backstory, but that's it. [[spoiler: Alliance and Union have sown up all the profitable lines of expansion, and Tully is all that's left of independent Earth's attempt to investigate the one remaining direction open to them. It doesn't go well.]]

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* {{Crossover}}: _technically_ technically the Chanur books are set in the same universe as Cherryh's AllianceUnion Literature/AllianceUnion books, although if you blink you'll miss it. The Compact gets one mention in {{Cyteen}} {{Literature/Cyteen}} as a bunch of xenophobic aliens over on the other side of space, and Alliance and Union politics form part of the Tully's backstory, but that's it. [[spoiler: Alliance and Union have sown up all the profitable lines of expansion, and Tully is all that's left of independent Earth's attempt to investigate the one remaining direction open to them. It doesn't go well.]]
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* {{Crossover}}: _technically_ the Chanur books are set in the same universe as Cherryh's AllianceUnion books, although if you blink you'll miss it. The Compact gets one mention in {{Cyteen}} as a bunch of xenophobic aliens over on the other side of space, and Alliance and Union politics form part of the Tully's backstory, but that's it. [[spoiler: Alliance and Union have sown up all the profitable lines of expansion, and Tully is all that's left of independent Earth's attempt to investigate the one remaining direction open to them. It doesn't go well.]]
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trope is renamed Prefers Going Barefoot. Dewicking old name


* DoesNotLikeShoes: The entire hani race, apparently. Even when working on icy deck plating or running over debris, nobody pulls on boots. Book five mentions full-body suits used when working cold storage. Early books in the series indicate that hani are skittish about constriction of any sort on their hands and feet because it triggers their claws.

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[[quoteright:318:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chanur.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:318:[[CoversAlwaysLie The series is nothing like this]].]]


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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chanurbus.png]]
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* ''Chanur's Legacy'' switches viewpoints to Hilfy Chanur, an ensemble character in the first four books, after taking on OneLastJob.

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* ''Chanur's Legacy'' switches viewpoints to Hilfy Chanur, an ensemble character in the first four books, books who now captains her own ship, after taking on OneLastJob.


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* {{Nephewism}}: Pyanfar's niece Hilfy is the juniormost member of her crew in the first four books. She does have a son and daughter on the homeworld, but they're members of her husband's clan (usurped by the son in the first book) by hani inheritance laws and rarely appear.
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* CumbersomeClaws: Inverted. Controls in the ships of the hani are ''intended'' to be used with claws, causing problems for the clawless human Tully.

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* PlanetaryNation: Averted. The hani homeworld is noted to have multiple countries and languages. And cultures, Pyanfar is surprised to see a male Hani on a station.

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* PlanetaryNation: Averted. The hani homeworld is noted to have multiple countries and languages. And cultures, Pyanfar is surprised to see see a male Hani on a station.


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* SpaceStation: The Compact and trade within Campact space is heavily dependent on space stations. Very little page space is dedicated to ground-to-orbit / orbit to ground shuttles. And interstellar rated ships don't seem to be designed or equipped for planetfall.
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crosswicking a new trope



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%%



!!Provides Examples Of:

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!!Provides Examples Of:
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* FTLTravelSickness: Most of the oxygen-breathing alien species experience their own issues with Jumps. The hani become paralyzed and their minds enter a dream-like state, and after coming out of jump are groggy and shed horribly. If the stsho experience jump without sedation they simply die from shock. Only the kif (and all life from their homeworld) are unaffected by the experience. Nobody knows how [[StarfishAliens the methane-breathing species]] handle Jumps.
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[[caption-width-right:318:[[ContemptibleCover The series is nothing like this]].]]

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[[caption-width-right:318:[[ContemptibleCover [[caption-width-right:318:[[CoversAlwaysLie The series is nothing like this]].]]
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Direct link.


* BearHug: Invoked. Hani apparently don't embrace, and when Tully does so to Pyanfar out of gratitude for his rescue, it scares the hell out of her. It is described step-by-step as a strange, alien custom. The rest of the crew understands they're a sort of non-verbal expression of affection (probably because he was a lot more sedate with them than he was [[{{Glomp}} with the captain]]).

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* BearHug: Invoked. Hani apparently don't embrace, and when Tully does so to Pyanfar out of gratitude for his rescue, it scares the hell out of her. It is described step-by-step as a strange, alien custom. The rest of the crew understands they're a sort of non-verbal expression of affection (probably because he was a lot more sedate with them than he was [[{{Glomp}} [[TheGlomp with the captain]]).
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* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: Fairly hard. Most of the characters are space merchants, and space pirates exist, but the ships (FTL jumps and instantaneous velocity changes aside) obey the laws of physics; relativistic velocities and information wavefronts frequently figure in the plot, acceleration can be lethal, and [[spoiler:ColonyDrop events are threatened.]]
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* HigherTechSpecies: The [[StarfishLanguage incomprehensible]] methane breathing [[StarfishAlien knnn]] are this to the other spacefaring species (including humanity), at least in regards to starship technology. Specifically, the knnn's starships can use HyperspaceLanes which are nonviable to any other species, can change direction while travelling through {{Hyperspace}}, can pull non-hyperspace accelerations which would tear apart the ships (and smush the passengers) of any other species that tried them, and can synchronously enter hyperspace in groups, the last of which lets them drag unwilling starships along with them through hyperspace. Although they are technically a member of the seven species Compact, they regularly violate Compact laws, and there's nothing the other species can do about it.

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* HigherTechSpecies: The [[StarfishLanguage incomprehensible]] methane breathing [[StarfishAlien [[StarfishAliens knnn]] are this to the other spacefaring species (including humanity), at least in regards to starship technology. Specifically, the knnn's starships can use HyperspaceLanes which are nonviable to any other species, can change direction while travelling through {{Hyperspace}}, can pull non-hyperspace accelerations which would tear apart the ships (and smush the passengers) of any other species that tried them, and can synchronously enter hyperspace in groups, the last of which lets them drag unwilling starships along with them through hyperspace. Although they are technically a member of the seven species Compact, they regularly violate Compact laws, and there's nothing the other species can do about it.



** Anything in hyperspace is totally invisible (or is at least going faster than anything coming from it, so you only know it's there after it's gone) and is going so fast when it drops out that it doesn't really matter, so one tactic that is mentioned as something even the Kif won't use due to [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction MAD]] is to drop out near a target and drop off a large bomb as you go screaming through the system before going back into hyperspace. Of course, this is more of a problem when dealing with the species that can stop instantly out of hyperspace and [[StarfishAlien are unable to understand the concept of traffic laws]].

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** Anything in hyperspace is totally invisible (or is at least going faster than anything coming from it, so you only know it's there after it's gone) and is going so fast when it drops out that it doesn't really matter, so one tactic that is mentioned as something even the Kif won't use due to [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction MAD]] is to drop out near a target and drop off a large bomb as you go screaming through the system before going back into hyperspace. Of course, this is more of a problem when dealing with the species that can stop instantly out of hyperspace and [[StarfishAlien [[StarfishAliens are unable to understand the concept of traffic laws]].

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Repair Dont Respond. If an example is wrong, just fix it.


* BizarreAlienPsychology: The books are {{Xenofiction}} told from the perspectives of the lion-like ''Hani''.
* BizarreAlienSexes: The ''stsho'' have three sexes, called "gtst", "gtste", and "gtsto". If emotionally disturbed, they will undergo "phasing" and [[GenderBender change sex]] as well as personality.

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* %%* BizarreAlienPsychology: The books are {{Xenofiction}} told from the perspectives of the lion-like ''Hani''.
hani.%%Doesn't explain how it fits the trope.
* BizarreAlienSexes: The ''stsho'' stsho have three sexes, called "gtst", "gtste", and "gtsto". If emotionally disturbed, they will undergo "phasing" and [[GenderBender change sex]] as well as personality.



* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Most of the non-Hani have very alien sets of priorities, culminating with the knnn (whose idea of "commerce" is to barge in, take whatever they want, drop a pile of random objects and leave[[hottip:*:This is already considered an improvement on their historically earlier practice of ''just'' barging in, taking whatever they want, and leaving.]]).

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* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Most of the non-Hani non-hani have very alien sets of priorities, culminating with the knnn (whose idea of "commerce" is to barge in, take whatever they want, drop a pile of random objects and leave[[hottip:*:This leave[[note]]this is already considered an improvement on their historically earlier practice of ''just'' barging in, taking whatever they want, and leaving.]]).leaving[[/note]]).



* CassetteFuturism: That special sort of early 80's sci-fi where smallish personal computers are a thing but nobody could think of a better recording medium than magnetic tape. Tully makes an audio cassette of English for the computer, stated to be mobile, to translate into Hani. Also; the crew is stated to have pagers on their waistbands.
* CatFolk: The Hani are a species who are essentially bipedal intelligent lions.

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* CassetteFuturism: That special sort of early 80's sci-fi where smallish personal computers are a thing but nobody could think of a better recording medium than magnetic tape. Tully makes an audio cassette of English for the computer, stated to be mobile, to translate into Hani.hani. Also; the crew is stated to have pagers on their waistbands.
* CatFolk: The Hani hani are a species who are essentially bipedal intelligent lions.



* DeathWorld: The kif homeworld is hinted to be incredibly hostile, to the point that a species of vermin from it reproduces faster than Tribbles, eats almost anything, and survives every attempt to purge them from the ship.
* DefectorFromDecadence: Skukkuk the kif.

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* DeathWorld: The kif homeworld is hinted to be incredibly hostile, to the point that a species of vermin from it reproduces faster than Tribbles, tribbles, eats almost anything, and survives every attempt to purge them from the ship.
* %%* DefectorFromDecadence: Skukkuk the kif.



* HonorBeforeReason: Pyanfar sheltering Tully.

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* %%* HonorBeforeReason: Pyanfar sheltering Tully.



* InterspeciesRomance: Averted with [[spoiler: Hilfy and Tully. Everyone in the crew seems terrified of it and Hilfy gets married off to avoid the subject.]] Lampshaded twice in the fifth book, with a desperately grateful mahendo'sat ready to offer a marriage proposal, and awesomely so with Hilfy and two stsho:
---> If gtsto proposed a threesome she was going to run for it.
** Not quite. In the fifth book, [[spoiler: some of Hilfy's dream states while in jump show just how much she misses Tully and wants to be with him. Furthermore, there are hints that while Pyanfar was against Hilfy being involved with the Tully, she had no problem with other members of her crew sleeping with him, specifically Chur. Yeah, I was surprised CJ Cherryh went there too, but not disappointed.]]
** Also, [[spoiler: Hilfy's preference for Tully was apparently so well known that a rival captain (not even Chanur kin) used it to get under her skin. How obvious does it have to be to not only make it off The Pride but to become common knowledge in another clan?]]
** Mahendo'sat officer hitting on Pyanfar in the first book.
*** Not to mention the one who hits on Hilfy in the last book.
* IntrepidMerchant: Pyanfar Chanur.

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* InterspeciesRomance: Averted with [[spoiler: Hilfy and Tully. Everyone in the crew seems terrified of it and Hilfy gets married off to avoid the subject.]] Lampshaded twice However, in the fifth book, with a desperately grateful mahendo'sat ready to offer a marriage proposal, and awesomely so with Hilfy and two stsho:
---> If gtsto proposed a threesome she was going to run for it.
** Not quite. In
the fifth book, [[spoiler: some of Hilfy's dream states while in jump show just how much she misses Tully and wants to be with him. Furthermore, there are hints that while Pyanfar was against Hilfy being involved with the Tully, she had no problem with other members of her crew sleeping with him, specifically Chur. Yeah, I was surprised CJ Cherryh went there too, but not disappointed.]]
** Also, [[spoiler: Hilfy's preference for Tully was apparently so well known that a rival captain (not even Chanur kin) used it to get under her skin. How obvious does it have to be to not only make it off The Pride but to become common knowledge in another clan?]]
** Mahendo'sat officer hitting on Pyanfar in the first book.
*** Not to mention the one who hits on Hilfy in the last book.
*
%%* IntrepidMerchant: Pyanfar Chanur.
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[[caption-width-right:318:[[ContemptibleCover The series is nothing like this]].]]
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* NestedMouths: The kif are stated to have phyrangeal jaws to chew their food well enough to swallow with their straw-width esophagi.
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* MulticulturalAlienPlanet: The hani homeworld is noted to have multiple countries and languages. In one chapter, Tully is absolutely gobsmacked to see a male Chanur in a space dock due to being raised in a LadyLand which considers males to be too psychologically fragile for space travel.

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* MulticulturalAlienPlanet: The hani homeworld is noted to have multiple countries and languages. In one chapter, Tully Hilfy is absolutely gobsmacked to see a male Chanur hani in a space dock due to being raised in a LadyLand which considers males to be too psychologically fragile for space travel.
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* MulticulturalAlienPlanet: The hani homeworld is noted to have multiple countries and languages.

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* MulticulturalAlienPlanet: The hani homeworld is noted to have multiple countries and languages. In one chapter, Tully is absolutely gobsmacked to see a male Chanur in a space dock due to being raised in a LadyLand which considers males to be too psychologically fragile for space travel.
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[[quoteright:318:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chanur.jpg]]
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The Chanur novels are a set of five books by Creator/CJCherryh. They all revolve around the Chanur clan, led by political master Pyanfar Chanur, spacefaring members of a species called ''Hani'': [[{{Catfolk}} anthropomorphic lions]] to the rest of us. A collection of other bizarre aliens (barely) coexist with them in a loose coalition known as the Compact, and the series consists mostly of political manipulations, conspiracies, and sociopolitical analysis after a single human named Tully escapes from his captors and stows away on the clan's ship at dock. Things get very complicated. It is notable in that the lone human is ''not'' the viewpoint character, and is always seen [[HumansThroughAlienEyes through alien eyes]] in this fine example of {{Xenofiction}}.

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The Chanur novels are a set of five books by Creator/CJCherryh. They all revolve around the Chanur clan, led by political master Pyanfar Chanur, spacefaring members of a species called ''Hani'': [[{{Catfolk}} anthropomorphic lions]] to the rest of us. A collection of other bizarre aliens (barely) coexist with them in a loose coalition known as the Compact, and the series consists mostly of political manipulations, conspiracies, and sociopolitical analysis after a single human named Tully escapes from his captors and stows away on the clan's ship at dock. Things get very complicated. It is notable in that the lone human is ''not'' the viewpoint character, and is always seen [[HumansThroughAlienEyes through alien eyes]] in this fine example of {{Xenofiction}}.
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The Chanur novels are a set of five books by Creator/CJCherryh. They all revolve around the Chanur clan, led by political master Pyanfar Chanur, spacefaring members of a species called ''Hani'': [[{{Catfolk}} anthropomorphic lions]] to the rest of us. A collection of other bizarre aliens (barely) coexist with them in a loose coalition known as the Compact, and the series consists mostly of political manipulations, conspiracies, and sociopolitical analysis after a single human named Tully escapes from his captors and stows away on the clan's ship at dock. Things get very complicated.

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The Chanur novels are a set of five books by Creator/CJCherryh. They all revolve around the Chanur clan, led by political master Pyanfar Chanur, spacefaring members of a species called ''Hani'': [[{{Catfolk}} anthropomorphic lions]] to the rest of us. A collection of other bizarre aliens (barely) coexist with them in a loose coalition known as the Compact, and the series consists mostly of political manipulations, conspiracies, and sociopolitical analysis after a single human named Tully escapes from his captors and stows away on the clan's ship at dock. Things get very complicated.
complicated. It is notable in that the lone human is ''not'' the viewpoint character, and is always seen [[HumansThroughAlienEyes through alien eyes]] in this fine example of {{Xenofiction}}.
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* BlackCloak: Kif never wear anything but. Justified in that they seem to have taboos against not carrying weapons, and [[KnifeNut they always have some ready.]]

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* BlackCloak: Kif never The kif all wear anything but. Justified in that hooded black robes. Being completely color blind they seem ''used'' to have taboos against not carrying weapons, and [[KnifeNut wear robes whose color was just determined by whatever color fabric was cheapest, until a mahendo'sat merchant, as a practical joke, sold some kif fabric with patterns made from violently clashing garish colors, causing those kif to lose face when laughed at by non-color blind species. The thing is, in kif society losing face can be ''deadly'', so to avoid such a thing in the future all kif decided to wear black, since they always have some ready.]]''can'' tell the difference between black and non-black.

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* CassetteFuturism: That special sort of early 80's sci-fi where smallish personal computers are a thing but nobody could think of a better recording medium than magnetic tape. Tully makes an audio cassette of English for the computer, stated to be mobile, to translate into Chani.

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* CassetteFuturism: That special sort of early 80's sci-fi where smallish personal computers are a thing but nobody could think of a better recording medium than magnetic tape. Tully makes an audio cassette of English for the computer, stated to be mobile, to translate into Chani.Hani. Also; the crew is stated to have pagers on their waistbands.



* OperatorIncompatibility: The hani ship as recessed controls usually operated by the hani's retractable claws. Tully has to come up with a work-around.
* PlanetaryNation: Averted. The hani homeworld is noted to have multiple countries and languages.

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* OperatorIncompatibility: The hani ship as has recessed controls usually operated by the hani's retractable claws. Tully has to come up with a work-around.
* OurNudityIsDifferent: Hani only wear breeches, no shirts. Of course, they don't have breasts unless pregnant or nursing.
* PlanetaryNation: Averted. The hani homeworld is noted to have multiple countries and languages. And cultures, Pyanfar is surprised to see a male Hani on a station.
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* CassetteFuturism: That special sort of early 80's sci-fi where computers have tape decks but sit on a desk instead of having a dedicated mainframe room; like a UsefulNotes/Commodore64. Tully makes an audio cassette of English for the computer, stated to be mobile, to translate into Chani.

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* CassetteFuturism: That special sort of early 80's sci-fi where smallish personal computers have tape decks are a thing but sit on a desk instead nobody could think of having a dedicated mainframe room; like a UsefulNotes/Commodore64.better recording medium than magnetic tape. Tully makes an audio cassette of English for the computer, stated to be mobile, to translate into Chani.
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* CassetteFuturism: That special sort of early 80's sci-fi where computers have tape decks but sit on a desk instead of having a dedicated mainframe room; like a UsefulNotes/Commodore64. Tully makes an audio cassette of English for the computer, stated to be mobile, to translate into Chani.
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* StarfishAliens: The feline hani, apelike mahendo'sat, and doglike kif are the only anthropomorphic species. The insectoid stsho have three genders and [[ShapeshiftingSquick switch between them when stressed]]. Two (three?) others breathe methane instead of oxygen: the serpentine tc'a, who [[CthulhuMythos think with six brain lobes at once]] and ''reproduce'' when stressed and have symbiotic little bundles of sticks living on them, and the technologically superior knnn, black balls of hair that not even the tc'a can understand.

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* StarfishAliens: The feline hani, apelike mahendo'sat, and doglike kif are the only anthropomorphic species. The insectoid stsho have three genders and [[ShapeshiftingSquick switch between them when stressed]]. Two (three?) others breathe methane instead of oxygen: the serpentine tc'a, who [[CthulhuMythos [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos think with six brain lobes at once]] and ''reproduce'' when stressed and have symbiotic little bundles of sticks living on them, and the technologically superior knnn, black balls of hair that not even the tc'a can understand.
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* HigherTechSpecies: The incomprehensible methane breathing knnn are this to the other spacefaring species (including humanity), at least in regards to starship technology. Specifically, the knnn's starships can use Hyperspace Lanes which are nonnviable to any other species, can change direction while travelling through Hyperspace, can pull non-hyperspace accelerations which would tear apart the ships (and smush the passengers) of any other species that tried them, and can synchronously enter hyperspace in groups, the last of which lets them drag unwilling starships along with them through hyperspace. Although they are technically a member of the seven species Compact, they regularly violate Compact laws, and there's nothing the other species can do about it.

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* HigherTechSpecies: The incomprehensible [[StarfishLanguage incomprehensible]] methane breathing knnn [[StarfishAlien knnn]] are this to the other spacefaring species (including humanity), at least in regards to starship technology. Specifically, the knnn's starships can use Hyperspace Lanes HyperspaceLanes which are nonnviable nonviable to any other species, can change direction while travelling through Hyperspace, {{Hyperspace}}, can pull non-hyperspace accelerations which would tear apart the ships (and smush the passengers) of any other species that tried them, and can synchronously enter hyperspace in groups, the last of which lets them drag unwilling starships along with them through hyperspace. Although they are technically a member of the seven species Compact, they regularly violate Compact laws, and there's nothing the other species can do about it.

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* InsaneTrollLogic: Parodied with a [[TimeCube Timecube-esque]] mahendo'sat who leaves a long rambling message about how to secure interstellar peace by arranging the stars to produce the right colors of light.

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* InsaneTrollLogic: Parodied with a [[TimeCube Timecube-esque]] mahendo'sat who leaves a long rambling message about how to secure interstellar peace by arranging the stars to produce the right colors of light.
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from trope pages

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* AccidentalArt: In one of the novels the main characters must carry an important ''stsho'' dignitary on their starship as a passenger. Knowing that the stsho love the color white, they get their hands on whatever white furniture and decorations they can and hastily shove them into the stsho's room. It turns out that stsho art consists of abstract designs in infinite shades of white, and they'd created for their passenger a masterpiece of stsho interior design.


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* AnimalFacialHair: The Hani have beards and moustaches, along with manes. Both genders, which causes Tully some confusion at first.


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* BigCreepyCrawlies: The Chi, neon-yellow arthropodoids, and Knnn, hairy black arachnoids.


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* ColonyDrop: A ship coming into a system out of hyperspace is travelling at a very high fraction of the speed of light. In theory, it's possible for a ship to hop out of hyperspace, drop off an asteroid so that it's on a collision course for an inhabited world, and then hop back into hyperspace. Since the asteroid will itself being travelling at a very high fraction of light-speed, not only is it impossible to stop, it doesn't even need to be very big to cause massive amounts of destruction. This form of Colony Drop was never used in the series, but one of the antagonists did threaten its use.


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* ExtraParentConception: The stsho have three sexes, called "gtst", "gtste", and "gtsto", and form mating trios instead of mating pairs. None of the sexes can exactly be called male or female, since a stsho which fills the young-bearing role in one trio can simultaneously fill a non-young-bearing role in a different trio. Nothing beyond that is known, since the stsho are an extremely private and xenophobic race which refuses to share details of their biology with any other species. For further strangeness, sufficient psychological/emotional stress can cause a stsho to undergo "phasing" and spontaneously change sex as well as personality.


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* HigherTechSpecies: The incomprehensible methane breathing knnn are this to the other spacefaring species (including humanity), at least in regards to starship technology. Specifically, the knnn's starships can use Hyperspace Lanes which are nonnviable to any other species, can change direction while travelling through Hyperspace, can pull non-hyperspace accelerations which would tear apart the ships (and smush the passengers) of any other species that tried them, and can synchronously enter hyperspace in groups, the last of which lets them drag unwilling starships along with them through hyperspace. Although they are technically a member of the seven species Compact, they regularly violate Compact laws, and there's nothing the other species can do about it.


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* OperatorIncompatibility: The hani ship as recessed controls usually operated by the hani's retractable claws. Tully has to come up with a work-around.


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* TruceZone: Meetpoint station is at the intersection of six alien races' territories, where all of them come to trade.

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