C.J. Cherryh's Compact Space, wherein takes place the Chanur saga[1], is a
setting unlike either the official Third Imperium setting or the Clement
Sector setting, but is nevertheless quite suitable for setting a Traveller
campaign in. It has many of the characteristics of a 'good' Traveller
setting, most notably governments that are weak at the interstellar level,
trade being 'driven' by small, independent ships (player-character size,
what FASA once called 'Adventure-class ships'), and communication limited
to the speed of ship travel.

One does not need to have the possible intrusion of humans into the setting
to promote conflict and adventure; differing interests and attitudes,
especially where different races are involved, is enough. The
oxygen-breather species of Compact Space are (mostly) usable as PCs; of the
methane-breathers, only the T'ca are usable even as NPCs - the Chi seem to
have no existence except as symbionts/parasites on the T'ca, and the Knnn
are really usable only as a disruption, much like any natural phenomenon.

The novels give us a viewpoint of the Hani, who turn out to be a fairly
good match for the Aslan. An important difference is that prior to the
events of the Chanur saga, Hani males in space was culturally impossible,
and afterward, vanishingly rare. However, the Tlakhu is a reasonable analog
for the Han, and there are many cultural parallels between the Hani and the
Aslan, to the point that Cherryh was asked if (and denied) the Hani were
influenced by the Aslan.

Second in visibility to the Hani are the Mahendo'sat and the Kif. Kif
society seems to run on _sfik_, which in some ways seems to be Vargr
charisma-based social status cranked up to eleven - or maybe twelve. There
seems to be an undercurrent in Kif society that says, in effect, that
anyone who can credibly threaten one's _sfik_ is an enemy that should be
destroyed; anyone who can be used to add to one's _sfik_ should be so used,
and anyone whose _sfik_ is above one's own may be someone who one should
respect and 'ride the coattails of'. _Sfik_ competition is by no means
'friendly'.

Mahen society places a lot of store on Personage, which has some
similarities to both _sfik_ and Vargr charisma, but definitely toned down,
and there is also an element of Hiver Manipulation in there. It is not
nearly as cutthroat as _sfik_, but Mahen governments have fallen when
leaders have their Personage reduced.

The stsho are somewhat enigmatic; they are portrayed as non-violent and
very manipulative, but it's not the same kind of manipulation that the
Hivers or Mahendo'sat practice; it's more the kind of underhanded
manipulation that includes writing contracts that are so long and complex
that important information and constraints are lost in the verbiage. Stsho
are probably not suitable as player-characters; we only ever see them in
roles that are traditionally handled as NPCs.

Technology tends to rest near the lower end of most Traveller settings -
personal weapons seem to be mostly slug-throwers, though lasers aren't
unknown. Starships are mostly tramp traders, going where profit seems most
likely, and trade is mostly speculative.

FTL travel isn't quite the neat
one-subjective-week-equals-one-objective-week of stock Traveller; perceived
(subjective) time, objective (real-universe) time, and biological time
(measured by physiological effects) may all be different. There seems to be
three classes of interstellar routes: Those that can be run only by Knnn
ships, those that can be run by high-mass ships, and those that can only be
run by low-mass ships. There are also four basic classes of ships:
Ground-to-station shuttles, miner craft, trade ships, and 'hunters'.
There's examples in the stories of trade ships shedding mass - essentially,
dumping cargo and running empty - to be able to make the 'low mass' routes;
there are also indications that 'hunters' are relatively overpowered for
their size and can also utilize the 'low mass' routes because of it. There
is also a suggestion that 'hunters' can do what Traveller would call
'micro-jumps'.

Traveller works shipbuilding based on volume, not mass, so you may need to
be a bit arbitrary in deciding what ships can handle which routes. If you
limit your ship classes to e.g., Beowulfs, Maravas, Subbies, and Corsairs,
then perhaps Beowulfs can do 'low mass' routes if empty; Maravas and
Corsairs (having higher-powered drives) can do 'low mass' routes
unconditionally, and Subbies can only do the mass routes.

The primary type of campaign for Compact Space would be a Merchant
campaign; there's no indication that any of the interstellar powers attempt
anything readily recognizable as organized combat; the closest we see is
the ad-hoc gathering of Kif v. non-Kif, led by Chanur's Pride, at Annurn -
but that's not exactly "Kif empire vs. Hani/Mahen allied empires"; it's
more like a Kif leader thinks he can gain enough _sfik_ at Hani expense to
become the prince of all Kif.

It's not clear whether piracy is a thing in Compact Space, or whether the
closest one comes is theft and/or mislabeling and 'misrouting' of cargo
containers while dockside. Either way, the Kif have a definite reputation
when it comes to the latter.

[1] _The Pride of Chanur_, _Chanur's Venture_, _The Kif Strike Back_,
_Chanur's Homecoming_, _Chanur's Legacy_. The first four books represent a
single story arc, and some argue that this is the complete saga, with the
fifth book, _Chanur's Legacy_,  representing a new, separate story.

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