message 0084

• Chanur book covers/Physical appearance of the Compact races

>From: Lesley Grant <lgrant>
>Subject: cherryhlist
>Date: Wed, 10 Feb 93 8:43:36 GMT

> >From: seth@cie.uoregon.edu (Seth Scott)
> Just to discuss something rather trivial, what images do people have of the
> races in Compact space?  From the edition that I read (and the text, of course!), I have an idea th> at hani are significantly stronger (on the average) than
> humans are.  Pyanfar, for example, is shorter than Tully by about a head
> (she has to look up to look him in the face), but she breaks a kif's back
> with an open-handed blow.  (note that I'm discussing _female_ hani-- Khym Mahn
> is clearly stronger than most anything except another male hani!)
> Of the mahendo'sat, we learn that Pyanfar doesn't trust Jik alone in her 
> presence, unarmed, presumably because of his strength and his blunt, control-
> reaching claws.

	Well, I think the hani (female) are the smallest of the Compact
races -- they have to look up at humans, kif and mahendo'sat. Shsto I think
of as tall and gangly, although they may just seem tall due to their
general skinniness (is Dlimas in _Legacy_ supposed to be about hani-sized as
a young/still growing specimen?). T'ca are big, Knnn are big enough to easily
haul round a full hani-sized eva-pod. Humans, Kif and Mahendo'sat are all
about the same size in height, although I think Mahendo'sat are bulkier. The
Kif may seem slightly taller, again due to a lithe build, and the fashionable
floor length robes :-) Within races, of course, there's a wide range -- Chur
is a small, delicate Hani, Pyanfar's about average, Haral and Tirun are
well muscled, etc. I always got the impression that Jik was tall for a mahe,
as he's described as lanky, and Haisi is either very tall indeed, or Hilfy
is a titch! As far as strength goes, I'd say the oxy-breather scale is
something like male Hani, Mahendo'sat, female Hani, Kif, Human, Shsto. 

			Lesley