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The Outsiders are an alien race in Larry Niven's Known Space series. They are many legged beings that are invariably described as a cat-o-nine-tails with a fattened handle. They are composed of ultracold, superconducting liquids.
Outsiders are estimated to be the most advanced species in Known Space, possibly the Galaxy, but the extent of their development remains unknown.
They spend all of their time chasing starseeds and selling information to the races they find along the way. Their prices are enormous, and scaled to the estimated impact the information will have on the civilization of the client race. Their most common wares are interstellar propulsion systems of various types.
They maintain a strict commercial ethos regarding any form of knowledge, which shrouds them in a secrecy only wealth can penetrate. They do not haggle.
The Outsiders are thought to have evolved on a cold world with no atmosphere, similar to Neptune's moon Nereid (which they lease from the Earth government). They live on thermoelectricity by lying with their heads in sun and their tails in shadow; the temperature difference sets up a current.
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