Hollowfolk

Cryptologic Name: Koiloforma oplomistis
Planar Origin: Hallownest
Habitat: Subterranean
Diet: Manavore

Appearance & Morphology
Hollowfolk, also referred to as "husks,” “husk warriors,” or “hollow knights” are a small, semi-corporeal race of creatures. Their bodies consist of shadowy energy which usually takes on a vaguely humanoid shape, though the forms their bodies take on are widely varied. Their heads are made from a bone-like material and also vary widely in shape, though all seem to have a single pair of blank eye holes.

Behavior & Magical Abilities
Hollowfolk form vast subterranean kingdoms, excavating elaborate tunnels and caverns in which they build cities beneath the surface of the soil. These beings can excrete a substance which can be mixed with soil to harden the interior of their caverns and provide structural stability within their underground homes.
Hollowfolk possess some rather unique magic for sustaining themselves; as semi-corporeal creatures comprised primarily of energy, they do not eat in the way we would normally think of the word. Instead, they forge tools and weapons imbued with a special type of magic which allows them to absorb mana from other living things (primarily animals, though they can do so with any living macroorganism including plants and fungi) and transfer it to themselves or other hollowfolk (as such we can essentially conceptualize them as omnivores, though… well the distinction is technical enough you can think about it however makes most sense for you). The details are a closely guarded secret among these elusive beings and while we, as humans, can communicate with them, they have not shared any of the specifics about how these tools function. We do know, however, that it requires special skills to forge them and hollowfolk with the necessary talent to become smiths are highly revered within their society.

Field Notes

• A fascinating aspect of hollowfolk culture is their utilization of a variety of arthropod species (insects, crustaceans, arachnids, etc.) for a wide array of purposes within their society, many of which mirror human society’s utilization of mammalian species. For example, stag beetles and other larger coleopterans often used for pulling vehicles and agricultural jobs in a manner similar to horses or oxen. Hollowfolk seem to have the ability to establish some sort of telepathic link to insect species through a bonding ritual, allowing them to train these animals in a way that is not generally believed possible otherwise. Unsurprisingly, this ritual is also a closely-guarded secret that we know little about.

• From my discussions with the few members of their species I’ve had the pleasure of meeting I’ve learned that on their home plane they have even greater variety of arthropod species than we do here on Earth (a surprising statistic as arthropod species account for more than half of all extant animal species), many of which are independently sentient without the use of the hollowfolk’s magic.