G'Kek
The G'Kek are a fictional extraterrestrial race from David Brin's Uplift Universe.
General Information
As a race the G'Kek are wheeled creatures with four eye stalks instead of heads protruding from a central cavity, looking rather like "a squid in a wheelchair." Their spokes were susceptible to arthritis in old age, especially under significant gravity. They where known for their talents in weaving and agility and preferred living in zero-g satellites while they where still a part of the galactic oxygen-breathing civilization.
History and origins
The G'Kek where the client race of the Drooli, giving them the name G'Kek ab-Drooli in the galaxy. This delightful, unique --if impetuous --species was slaughtered by the Obeyer Alliance for a gambling debt. The self-righteous Jophur took the enthusiastic lead in the genocidal operation; destroying the G'Kek down to --and including --the rootstock (in direct contradiction of prior contractual agreements, and the feud authorization issued by the Institute for Civilized Warfare). The only known location of G'Kek to have survived the extinction of the rest of their spieces resides on the planet Jijo. There they live as sooners, a small group of illegal inhabitant living in medieval conditions hiding from the galactic civilization. They where the first of the exile races of Jijo, having arrived 2000 years before the time when the upplift war trillogy takes place.