Tnuctip

Tnuctipun (singular: Tnuctip) were a sapient species of small carnivorous creatures which lived about 1.5 billion years ago.

Prior to being enslaved by the Thrintun, the Tnuctipun were already a highly advanced civilization which practiced genetic engineering. The Thrintun deemed them useful and granted them more freedom than they did to other conquered races in exchange for the Tnuctipun's services in creating useful species of fauna and flora. The sapient Bandersnatchi were created by them as a food animal.

However, the Slavers found out that most of the Tnuctip creations were actually rigged, and the Bandersnatchi's unsuspected sapience made them valuable as spies. When they realized the extent of Tnuctip infiltration, the Slavers had only one solution, which required the destruction of not only the Tnuctipun but of nearly all sapient species in the galaxy. Without their slaves, the Thrintun themselves soon died out as well. Curiously, the Bandersnatchi were among the few sapients that survived (being immune to the Thrintun's telepathic powers), and it's believed that some Thrintun evolved into the sessile Grog species.

Appearances

 * "World of Ptavvs", by Larry Niven (1965)
 * "A Relic of the Empire", by Larry Niven (1966)
 * "The Soft Weapon", by Larry Niven (1967)
 * "The Handicapped", by Larry Niven (1967)
 * "There Is a Tide", by Larry Niven (1968)