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The Thrintun (singular Thrint), in Larry Niven's fictional ''Known Space'' universe, are a long-extinct species which ruled the galaxy through telepathic mind control. They debuted in Niven's ''World of Ptavvs'', in 1966. == Biology and sociology == The Thrintun evolved on a planet where most animal species possessed telepathic ability. Natural selection led to an environment wherein no individual species possessed great advantage over any other; defenseless off-world species, however, were easy prey. A single Thrint can manage a few dozen sentient beings simultaneously; with an amplifier helmet, the same Thrint can control an entire planet. The Thrintun were green-skinned, scaly carnivores, eating and excreting through a single facial orifice lined with sharp teeth and fringed with pink feeding tendrils. They had a single eye in large, round heads. Their two hands had three large, clumsy fingers arranged in a mutually opposed fashion, like a mechanical grab. Niven is either inconsistent about the actual size of a Thrint, or supposes a wide degree of variation among them: in ''World of Ptavvs'', the character Kzanol is about half the height of a human, whereas later stories portray Thrintun as about 8 feet high. Thrintun had no internal mechanism for regulating appetite; for their own health and safety they had to learn while young to endure their constant, ravenous hunger rather than suffering from sickness due to overeating. The adult male IQ was between 80-90, while females were nearly mindless. Males came of age when they could effectively resist the telepathic control of their father. Thrintun referred to their telepathy as "The Power". In all their religions, The Power was self-evident of their manifest destiny to rule the galaxy. A loss or congenital lack of The Power is cause for exile, or more usually murder by the family, in their society. These unfortunates, called Ptavvs, are tattooed pink and are enslaved by other Thrintun. Their success in spite of low intelligence and poor skill with tools was due to the great advantage of their telepathic abilities; they never suffered much selective pressure to improve what they had. A Thrint's slaves could be far more intelligent than their master, but intelligence provided no protection at all against enslavement. Their society, though immense at its peak, was not very complex, consisting mainly of various families vying with each other for slaves and land. The only real laws were an indictment against murdering other Thrintun and two "unbreakable oaths": the ''prtuuvl'' for agreements between Thrintun, and the ''kpitlithtulm'' for agreements between a Thrint and favoured slaves. Violation of any of the above meant death by vivisection – enough to give even the most violently desperate second thoughts about doing so. The Thrintun developed a mediocre philosophic tradition in response to their need for control over their aggressive drives. Aphorisms such as "haste is not speed" represent deep wisdom to a Thrint. The combination of strong and insatiable hunger with low intelligence also leads Thrintun to act rashly. In ''World of Ptavvs'', Kzanol desperately wagers his future on a competitive animal race. Gambling is quite common among Thrintun. Similarly, Suicide Night was an unsurprising (to any Thrint) reaction by all the Thrintun to losing their war against the Tnuctipun. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thrint」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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