The Veyr are small, broad-tailed forest folk who regard wood as both material and relative. They raise lodges in the roots of ancient trees, redirect streams with astonishing precision, and consult druids before cutting even a fallen branch. A Veyr adventurer may be a patient carpenter, a river-watcher, a grove priest, or a restless young builder determined to discover what lies beyond the forest. Wherever they travel, they carry the scent of cedar smoke, wet earth, and freshly worked timber.

Veyr are compact, broad-shouldered folk covered in dense brown, russet, gray, or nearly black fur. Their rounded ears sit close to the skull, and their expressive whiskers twitch whenever they are curious or alarmed. Their powerful incisors range from amber to deep orange and continue growing throughout life, requiring constant use. Wide, flattened tails provide balance on narrow branches and help steer them through water. Veyr hands are nimble despite their sturdy build, with blunt claws suited to digging, carving, and gripping wet timber. Their clothing favors layered barkcloth, woven fiber, treated hide, and carefully fitted wooden fasteners.

Veyr culture is organized around lodges, work circles, and grove pacts. A lodge is both household and civic institution, with shared stores, communal workshops, and responsibilities divided according to skill rather than gender. Craft is a form of autobiography. A Veyr's greatest works are expected to reveal their maker's character, and a poorly made object is considered more embarrassing than an ugly one. Seasonal festivals celebrate first rains, successful flood control, the planting of new groves, and the return of migratory animals. Storytelling frequently takes the form of carved panels, with generations adding new scenes to the same beams.

Most Veyr revere the Great Turning, an interwoven cycle of growth, decay, water, and renewal rather than a single divine figure. Their druids teach that every tree has a history, every river has a temperament, and every structure must eventually return its materials to the forest. Veyr communities tend toward neutral alignments, valuing balance over law or freedom, though individual Veyr may be orderly builders, rebellious wanderers, or fiercely protective guardians.

Veyr settlements are built where forest and water meet. Their lodges combine woven roots, packed mud, living saplings, and precisely fitted timber. A mature settlement may include raised walkways, submerged entrances, communal halls, seed vaults, workshops, and channels that guide water through the settlement without eroding its foundations. Veyr do not consider wood a dead material. Fallen branches are honored as gifts, while living trees are shaped slowly and only with consent from the grove, its druids, or the spirit believed to dwell within it.

Veyr are generous hosts and practical allies, but their friendliness is often expressed through labor rather than ceremony. They respect communities that maintain their homes and waterways, regardless of ancestry, and they have a particular fondness for farmers, rangers, herbalists, and anyone who repairs what others discard. They distrust reckless loggers, wasteful nobles, and outsiders who treat forests as scenery. Veyr diplomacy often begins with an offer to fix something and ends with an invitation to share a meal in the lodge.