Known Space

Known Space is the fictional setting of several science fiction novels and short stories written by author Larry Niven. It has been also in part been used as a shared universe in the Man-Kzin Wars spin-off anthologies sub-series. It is the name given by humans to an area of the galaxy near the Earth which is explored and settled several centuries in the future and is peopled by alien races such as Pierson's Puppeteers, Kzinti, and the many races of the Ringworld. Late in the series, this area is an irregularly shaped "bubble" about 60 light-year across. The stories span approximately one thousand years of future history, from the first human explorations of the Solar System to the colonization of dozens of nearby systems (and with some references to the far distant past). The stories which now comprise the "known space" series were originally conceived as separate series, the "Belter" stories, featuring solar-system colonization and slower-than-light travel with fusion-powered... full article at wikipedia