Human male, a dedicated hunter and in 2647 an associate of Larchmont Bellamy. [Spoiler alert: "Grendel"] He was an accomplice in the kidnapping of Lloobee.
Reference: "Grendel"
waste heat
(a) The Puppeteers’ highly industrialized civilization put out so much waste heat that they were forced to move Hearth away from its sun, over half a million years ago.
(b) The life support system on the Lying Bastard was capable of storing waste heat when the ship approached a sun, and discharging it later, causing part of the ship to glow white.
A Human colony world orbiting Procyon A. It is a light-gravity world; an unofficial source claims 0.59 gee Ringworld Roleplaying Game— Explorer Book p. 43. The planet’s axis of rotation points directly through its primary, causing winds up to 1500 MPH in summer and winter. As a result, all buildings are underground. Flat concrete roofs are surrounded by barren deserts of fine sand. The deserts bloom in spring and autumn. Humans native to We Made It are called Crashlanders. We Made It is one of three or four Human colonies mistakenly settled following erroneous ramrobot signals; see slowboat.
Reference: "The Ethics of Madness", "Neutron Star", "Flatlander"
weather dome
On Gummidgy in 2647, a huge force field used to protect the Human settlement from its sun's fierce ultraviolet radiation.
Reference: "Grendel"
Weaver, Steve
Human male Belter, circa 2366 a crew member on the Angel’s Pencil. He was blonde, blue eyed, and big.
Reference: "The Warriors"
whales
Blue whales and sperm whales were extinct on Earth by 2850.
Reference:Ringworld ch. 24
whiplash of the heart
Louis Wu’s term for heartbreak. Teela Brown could not understand it, because she had never been emotionally hurt.
Reference:Ringworld ch. 2, 18
Wilson, Tanya
Human female, in 2647 an associate of Larchmont Bellamy, and his lover. [Spoiler alert: "Grendel"] She was an accomplice in the kidnapping of Lloobee.
Human male Flatlander, of the well-mixed racial stock typical of his era. Louis Gridley Wu MMGREWPLH was slender, with yellow-brown skin tones, straight black hair, and brown eyes with no perceptible slant Ringworld ch. 4, p. 47. Born in 2650 and raised a Flatlander in the brightly lit cities of Earth, Louis never saw the stars until he was 26 Ringworld ch. 5, p. 60. About age 20, in college, he studied Puppeteers and English, learned to use a typewriter, and smoked his first tobacco cigarette. He didn't have the patience to be a scientist, and he found writing was too much work. He chose self-reliant friends, and enjoyed the company of aliens. In his middle seventies, he developed an oratory skill while losing an election for a UN office. Although he had no formal training for war, circa 2750 he was trained to use a hand laser as a "light-sword", for a war that never happened. He also fought for three months as a guerilla during a revolution on Wunderland, before he could get to a ship. He was not a good swimmer, but could tread water; he was poor at learning new languages. Every 40 years or so, Louis tired of human company, and went exploring beyond the edges of Known Space on a long "sabbatical" in his singleship. A regular user of boosterspice, at the age of 200 Louis had the physique of a 20 year old. By then he had lived on each world in Human Space long enough to be known as a native. He owned an estate in Resht, on Earth (formerly in Iran), which had belonged to a baronial family for 500 years, with well-tended lawns and tennis courts.
First Contact with Trinocs: In 2830 Louis was 180 and a seasoned explorer, one who considered himself a "typical explorer type" but not a professional. [Spoiler alert: "There Is a Tide"] That year he made first contact with the Trinocs at an unnamed planet, where he also discovered a tiny neutronium "moon". See "There Is a Tide" (story summary).
First Ringworld Expedition:[Spoiler alert: Ringworld] In 2850 Louis Wu was recruited by Nessus, a Puppeteer, for the First Ringworld Expedition. He flew the Long Shot from Sol System to the Fleet of Worlds. He became first documented (and first publicly known in Human Space) Human to learn the location of the Puppeteer homeworld; along with Teela Brown, the first known Human to visit the Fleet and the first to set foot on Hearth. Although he was never the actual leader of the expedition, during exploration of the Ringworld he often used his oration and persuasion skills to convince the others to follow his suggestions. He started the expedition with Teela Brown as his lover, but ended with Halrloprillalar Hotrufan (Prill). He learned much of Puppeteer manipulations of Humans and Kzinti, but afterward apparently kept this information to himself. It was Louis' ideas and plans which allowed the expedition to escape the Ringworld and return to their homes. For details, see Ringworld (story summary).
After the First Ringworld Expedition: In 2851 following the end of the expedition, Louis returned to Earth with Prill. He and Earth shared the prize of the Long Shot and its Quantum II hyperdrive with Speaker-To-Animals and the Kzinti Empire. Years later, he participated in the Second Ringworld Expedition.
Reference: "There Is a Tide", Ringworld (throughout), The Ringworld Engineers (throughout), The Ringworld Throne, Ringworld's Children (throughout)
Wunderland
"Wunderland" by Joe Hale
A Human colony world orbiting Alpha Centauri A, with a gravity of 0.61 gee. In 2341 it had a population of 1,024,000, and München with a population of 800 was its largest city. Wunderland was invaded and occupied by the Kzinti Empire in a surprise attack in 2367, beginning the Man-Kzin Wars, and was not liberated until sometime after 2409. Louis Wu once fought for three months as a guerilla during a revolution on Wunderland, before he could get to a ship.
A gigantic twin disintegrator (operating like a Puppeteer disintegrator ) of enormous power, a weapon used by Humans during the Third Man-Kzin War to attack the Kzinti base on the planet Warhead (later known as Canyon). Its use carved out a canyon, and Wunderlanders have no doubt that attack ended the war.
