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Zarathustra or Zoroaster was the prophet and founder of Zoroastrianism.

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  • Home planet of the Little Fuzzies in H. Beam Piper's novel Little Fuzzy. Zarathustra is a forested planet with a rich profusion of animal life and valuable mineral reserves, whose native inhabitants are golden-furred, Ewok-like humanoids, referred to by Earth-humans as Fuzzies. They did not have a name for themselves that meant just THEM to the exclusion of other species - they refer to themselves as 'people', but also regard all sapient life-forms (e.g. humans) as people, and were happy to accept the name 'Fuzzies' to distinguish themselves from 'Big Ones'.

Unfortunately, humans were more ambivalent over whether to recognise Fuzzies as people when they realised that, if Zarathustra was inhabited, this would make the Fuzzies its legal owners. For a while, the company who 'owned' Zarathustra tried to argue that Fuzzies could not be sapient, and even tried to massacre them so that the question could never be resolved.

Ultimately, though, the coming of humans may be the best thing that could have happened. Fuzzies suffer from a genetic disorder which means that their offspring are frequently either stillborn or born too malformed to survive. Humans realised that this was due to a dietary deficiency (both parents need to eat a titanium-rich diet well before conception for healthy offspring to be conceived), and have been providing dietary supplements. Since it is not feasible for humans to maintain a hands-off approach, they have also been offering classes both in practical skills such as bow-making, archery, and cooking, and in understanding human culture for those who wish to live with humans. There has also been talk of inviting Fuzzies to attend human schools, as this would benefit all concerned; Fuzzies would appreciate the chance to learn to read human books, and, as Fuzzies are much more friendly, co-operative, and emotionally stable than humans, they would be likely to be a civilising influence on human children.

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