The Moties are the aliens in
Niven/
Pournelle's Mote series (
The Mote In God's Eye and
The Gripping Hand).
The Moties are a differentiated group of species, each type genetically engineered and bred for specific tasks; There's an
Engineer caste, for example, that's superspecialized to work quickly and intuitively on technological constructs. They have the disadvantage, however, that they don't innovate well- new technology comes slow to them.
The Moties are trapped in a small (3
planet)
solar system, which also boasts large collections of
asteroids situated at the
Trojan points of the two outer planets (both
gas giants), and even civilization in the comets outside of Mote
Gamma (the outermost planet)'s
orbit.
The only Alderson point in the system leads directly to the interior of a red giant star, which is why the Moties (who had already developed the Drive) were trapped inside the system.