In places far from the towns and other settlements sprinkled across the countryside, people tell tales of the living rocks. These creatures are known as the “wisdoms in the stone” to the nomads of the Dessanedi, and as the “voice of the gods” to the hermits and anchorites who pass their days in the Cold Desert of Matheunis. The names, while descriptive, erroneously assign a supernatural aspect to what are, in fact, a people who have chosen to live far from lands settled and controlled by humanity. Anyone seeing a diruk, as they call themselves, understands why so much mystery and wonder surrounds them. They look like beings made from rock, crystal, and metal.

Diruks sometimes leave their homelands to start new colonies. They wander the world for years or decades searching for the ideal place to make their home and produce offspring. It is during these rovings that diruks are likely to come into contact with and maybe live alongside humans.