We Made It

We Made It is a planet from Larry Niven's fictional Known Space series. Orbiting Procyon, its capital is called Crashlanding City and its inhabitants are Crashlanders. Both the planet and the capital got their names because the original colony ship crashed there.

Much of the limited descriptions of We Made It come from the viewpoint of one of its natives, Beowulf Shaeffer. The planet is highly tilted on its axis, much like Uranus. This results in high-velocity windstorms half of the year that will literally tear apart anything in the way; in fact, this is about the only tourist attraction. Buildings are completely underground, and roof level is at the surface. The surface gravity is 0.8 gee. There is one ocean on the planet, in a constant stormy condition, elsewhere the planet is a barren desert landscape. There is one moon.

Because its gravity is much lower than Earth's, and because much of their time is spent underground, Crashlanders are usually tall, slightly built, and (as of Shaeffer's time) 40% of the population is albino. They use tannin secretion pills to build up an endurance to sunlight on Earth and other inhabited worlds.

It was originally scouted by Kzinti, who rejected settling it due to its high wind. Humans later colonized it, both species unaware until the First Man-Kzin War that it lay within the borders of the Kzinti Patriarchy (the only human world to do so). Outsiders were lured to We Made It during the war by a starseed lure, resulting in the purchase of hyperdrive. Until at least the period between the First and Second Man-Kzin Wars, We Made It was the prime producer of human hyperdrive ships.

According to Louis Wu, when the windy season ends, much of the population will go outside onto the cliffs and sing.

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