message 0059

• Comparison between Kif (Chanur books) and Iduve (Hunter of Worlds)

>From: Lesley Grant <lgrant>
>Subject: cherryhlist
>Date: Mon, 14 Dec 92 9:11:49 GMT

	Having just re-read _Hunter of Worlds_ over the weekend, an idea
struck me. Are the iduve Cherryh's 'first draft' of the Kif? Unlike the
Kif they're humanoid, but they do seem to be very Kifish in their behaviour
(and perhaps their society, although we're not told much about Kif society).
The iduve are predators, they do not feel emotions like other races, they
are dependent on logic alone while dealing with others. They are also very
fast over short distances, like the Kif who can run so fast the Hani eye
can't track them properly (and given the hani are also hunters, that must
be pretty fast).
Their cultural
values (and indeed language are Kif-like in the extreme). Consider these
examples, drawn from the glossary in the back of _HoW_:

arastiethe: honour; the power and burden of being iduve, of being of a
	particular nasul (clan), or simply of being oneself. Honour is
	the obligation to use power, even against personal preference,
	to maintain moral and physical integrity.

chanokhia: the practice of virtue, the studied avoidance of crudity, and
	 a searching after elegance and originality.

vaikka: a demonstartion of arastiethe; could be roughly translated as
       'revenge' if not that vaikka is often taken in advance of actual
       injury, to offset disadvantage. Vaikka need not involve damage, for
       arastiethe can be demonstarted by help as well as harm.

vaikka-chanokhia: an art form peculiarly iduve. True vaikka-chanokhia is
	such that the recipient cannot possibly reciprocate.

All of the above are part of the Kif mindset, and are easily translated by
one Kifish word: sfik.
	In manner too, the iduve seem Kif in disguise; they 'hiss' when
annoyed - the glossary indicates that a 'soft kh' is to be taken as a 'hiss'.
Presumably the iduve then say 'kkkh' rather like the Kif. They study up on
other races ("'Friend': I understand this idea. I have learned it"), but
have the tendency to see all actions in their own terms alone. 
	What do others think? A lot of the iduve seems to be in the later
Kif. The language is very similar, the values seem similar, the physical
capabilities are similar. Do others think that Cherryh took this alien
race and re-worked it into the (more successful, I think) Kif?

				Lesley