Diruk

Diruks are an intelligent race of rock-like Visitants which inhabit the Ninth World's Earth.



Appearance and Traits
Known by nomads of the Dessanedi as the "wisdoms in the stone" and as the "voice of the gods" by Matheunis hermits and anchorites, diruks seem to appear as living formations of rock, with no two ever looking alike. Each is formed from a unique mixture of inorganic elements, such as crystal and metal though most seem to have stone as the primary component of their bodies, flecked with some transparent crystals. Some, however, have forms made from raw ore and others look like they're made of clear crystal. Despite what people call them, there always seems to be a supernatural aspect to describe what they are, though they choose to call themselves diruks.

While they all move at slow paces, their sizes can vary greatly, from being that of a small rock to that of a massive boulder, about 2-3 times the size of the average human being. Most tend to be the latter and usually weigh up to 10 times that of a human. Unable to breathe and consume organic matter, diruks don't seem to fill any ecological niche, instead absorbing any of the materials of which they're made via a central orifice. They avoid water, being poor swimmers as the result of their enormous weight, and use intense inner heat to melt down any consumed materials into energy that's used to to sustain and repair damage to their bodies.

Lacking any gender, diruks find the concept of assigning one utterly bizarre. While they're aware that organic beings need to mate in order to reproduce, they consider such a process too strange and disturbing for their tastes. whenever a diruk decides to procreate, it simply produces a nodule on any side of its body, once that nodule grows to a sufficient size, it will break off and become a new diruk.

Society and Culture
Those diruks who seem to be made from much finer elements will usually hold higher places within diruk social circles, with those made from more base materials living along the lower rungs of diruk society, such as having a diruk leader appear to have crystalline bodies, while their surrounding "commoners" seem to be made out of sandstone, granite, or even lead. They generally distrust humanity due to being exploited at various points in their history by the latter as labor slaves or prey to be hunted down for precious minerals. Consequently, they remain reluctant to deal with any humans and might turn aggressive if one were to trespass onto one of their territories.

Meanwhile, human beings consider diruks to be as cold and impassive the the rocks they resemble, due to the fact that diruks struggle to emote the same way that humans or other organic lifeforms do. They manage to make for these limitations, however, through their speech patterns, which involve venting smoke from any fissures in their bodies or changing the colors of the crystals that decorate their stony hides. For example, green expresses the emotion of pleasure and happiness, while red indicates anger or the threat of violence. Blue implies sadness while a rose color communicates affection with something or someone. Yellow signifies curiosity and any other color besides the ones mentioned are meant to convey expressions and/or emotions beyond normal human understanding.

Lastly, diruks will sometimes end up leaving their homelands in order to start new colonies elsewhere. This mission, however, may last years or even decades until they they're able to find the ideal to spot to create one and produce any offspring. A diruk is likely to encounter a human being the most during such ventures.

Miscellaneous
Much like other visitant species, diruks can be found practically anywhere throughout the Ninth World. However, their largest concentration is located along the southern rim of the Clock of Kala, with another very large concentration within the western portion of the Cold Desert of Matheunis.