Houk are massive, muscular humanoids native to the planet Lijuter. Never developing starship technology of their own, they emerged into the greater galaxy after initial contact with Vaathkree traders during which they offered their services as laborers and bodyguards. Often taken as mindless brutes, Houk are noteworthy for their strength and short tempers but can be surprisingly cunning; nonetheless, Houk prefer to solve problems with violence, and see no reason to be bound by treaties or contracts.

Their natural strength and resilience means Houk gladiators are in high demand, especially for arena masters who can’t afford a rare Wookiee combatant. A Houk named Torog became famous in the Besberra arena after fighting off waves of opponents and wild beasts for five hours, then dropping dead. This alone wasn’t remarkable, until a post-mortem showed that for four of those hours, Torog had been fighting with a broken neck.