Wirlomeyan

The Wirlomei, also known as Wirl are a stateless group of people known to haunt ancient pit-like structures all around Rathnir known as "Pisus"

Most specimens were known to haunt the citadel of Utumno before it was destroyed by Axyr during the Usurpation of Yimmu-Audal, currently an unknown amount of wirlomei have adopted a nomadic lifestyle or have formed diaspora populations, mainly in Ardat Mosul.

It remains unclear whether wirlomei are related to humans or are a different species entirely. This uncertainty is born mostly from their small population numbers, lack of cooperation with researchers and lack of any cities, settlements, or dense population centres to speak of; aside from the aforementioned pisus whose number and locations are unknown.

Morphology
The wirlomei people are either made partially or entirely out of a black, either dust or dewy-like, substance called singru. Apart from that wirl morphology is remarkably inconsistent, having enormous variation on both composition, size, and shape amongst specimens. It's even been appreciated how a single individual can dramatically change their appearance with time.

As a general rule most wirlomei adopt a human-like bipedal disposition. However, exceptions to this are abundant.

Origin
There are two mainstream theories that speak about the nature of the wirlomei, the called "acquired umbrism theory" and the "fundamentalist umbric theory"

Acquired umbrism theory.
This theory sustains that wirlomei are an Annuvo-Etschari people, traditional builders and traders that just so happen to suffer from a disease caused by the infernal influence of the Nether. This theory is favoured in Escharia.

Fundamentalist umbric theory.
This theory sustains wirlomei are not humans in the slightest, rather being a species of demon born out of shadow/void overgrowth. This is the most widely accepted out of the two theories although is considered blasphemy by the escharien as it's deeply linked to the Cruor Heresy.

Culture
Wirlomei hold no ancestral land, being dispersed all around Rathnir. They are known to not form nor integrate into societies, which makes it ever harder to study them but easy to know whether they are or not present in a given zone.

The wirl people do tend to gather withing ruinous citadels from time immemorial, called pisus. It's unknown whether these citadels were constructed by other wirlomei long ago or if they're occupying them illegally; nor is it known what exactly is inside them. The only two known wirlomei citadels are Ninansuyo and Utumno, of which neither stand today.

The wirlomei are extremely secretive. If not entirely made out of it, a wirl will grow singru appendices to cover up any recognisable features with a kind of veil-like construction which will conceal any recognisable features they might have. It's not known why this practice is as commonplace as it is, given there have been cases in which a single wirlomeyan specimen will adopt a shape more or less secretive depending on the situation and intentions they have, as evidenced by Axyr.

Historically they worshipped an unknown god, lost to the times after a crusade was launched by Escharia to convert them into Soleannen. It's believed this resulted in the burning of what little historical record was held inside the fortress, as they possessed no writing system before being integrated in the empire.

They currently practise what seemed to be a highly secular version of Soleannen known as Cruor Cruoris, but encrypted manuscripts found in the ruins of Utumno seem to indicate no conversion ever took place, despite what the Escharien crusade intended. However, the dating and decryption of these books still result problematic for researchers.

The wirl language (also known as Utumnic) is an historical language mostly used for record-keeping, most wirlomei can communicate using Rathnir's lingua franca or simply don't talk amongst themselves to begin with, preferring to communicate with each other via sensations and auras made out of singru, nearby shadows and environmental dew.