The veyr are the hidden citizens of great cities, an imposing people who treat streets as kin, buildings as witnesses, and hospitality as a sacred weapon. They can smell poison in a cup, hear danger through walls, and make themselves terribly difficult to dislodge once they have claimed a place. To outsiders they may seem monstrous, secretive, and too powerful for ordinary urban life. To one another, they are guardians of the forgotten, keepers of promises, and living proof that every city has a heart beneath its paving stones.

Veyr are broad-shouldered humanoids with heavy bones, compact waists, long fingers, and skin ranging from charcoal gray to deep umber, brick red, tarnished bronze, or pale ash. Their faces combine strong, almost sculptural features with large reflective eyes adapted to dim streets and subterranean halls. Short ridges, swept horns, or blunt crown-like growths commonly rise from the brow, though their shapes vary by lineage. A veyr's skin is cool and faintly porous, carrying the smell of rain on stone after exertion. Hair is usually coarse and dark, sometimes streaked with metallic colors. In moments of fear or anger, fine luminous lines appear beneath the skin, tracing old scars, family marks, and the outlines of nearby doorways.

Veyr society is organized around households rather than bloodlines. A household may include relatives, apprentices, sworn guests, retired enemies, rescued strangers, or even a beloved building's appointed caretaker. Members exchange favors through carefully witnessed promises, and breaking an oath can damage a person's standing for generations. Veyr value competence, memory, and the ability to remain calm during crisis. Their festivals are practical celebrations: the reopening of a repaired bridge, the first meal in a restored home, or the safe return of a missing traveler. They are fond of masks, not for deception alone, but because a mask represents the role one accepts for the good of the community.

Veyr religion centers on the Hearth Below, a collective ancestral presence believed to dwell in foundations, thresholds, and shared fires. Priests called Underkeepers tend civic shrines, preserve legal oaths, and mediate disputes between households. Veyr favor lawful and protective traditions, yet many reject distant rulers in favor of local responsibility. Their strongest moral expectation is not obedience but guardianship. A veyr who uses power without sheltering anyone is considered spiritually hollow.

Veyr homelands are not bounded kingdoms but living districts hidden within larger cities. Their neighborhoods occupy disused aqueducts, vaulted markets, bell towers, drainage galleries, and old foundations beneath official streets. Architecture favors thick walls, overlapping walkways, recessed windows, rooftop gardens, and doors marked with layered household sigils. Every important structure has at least one public room, because a building that cannot shelter a stranger is considered spiritually unfinished.

Veyr are protective toward ordinary city dwellers, particularly laborers, street children, refugees, and anyone excluded from respectable districts. They are wary of aristocrats, conquerors, and institutions that claim ownership over entire neighborhoods. Many veyr work as masons, advocates, watch officers, undertakers, couriers, inspectors, or discreet enforcers. Their alliances are often practical rather than sentimental, but a veyr who accepts someone as part of their household may defend that person against an army.