Physically they are short in stature, averaging just over 3.5 feet in height. Their plumage is brilliant black on the back, tail, and face, while the head is adorned with a showy red crown. From the face’s lower part to the tail junction, plumage is white and more or less streaked with black spots. They have long, conical beaks and contain a very long and thin tongue. They have fleshy and featherless legs (from the knee down) and arms (from the elbow down), and both are gray-black and four-toed. Their chicks are born ovoviviparous, meaning they hatch within the mother's body, and families usually never have more than 3 or 4 chicks throughout their life.

Woodpeckers have always survived in a world full of larger and dangerous neighbors by avoiding confrontation and managing to live in peace. Daily home comforts are the goals of most Woodpeckers' lives: a place to settle in peace and quiet, far from monsters and clashing armies, a warm hearth, generous meal and drink, and fine conversations to enjoy. They're an affable and cheerful people who cherish the bonds of family and friendship, and they are also so generous that happily share what they have, even in lean times. The Woodpecker people practicality extends also beyond their plain and neat clothing. They're indeed concerned with basic needs and simple pleasures before anything else and have little use for ostentation.

Woodpeckers have always had excellent contacts and trading with their small neighbors, especially Squirrels and Catfishes. They share a lot with Squirrels in ways of life and thought, so much so that even their own architecture is very similar. Woodpeckers' settlements, in fact, have the appearance of a tree-house network, connected by simple suspension bridges. On the other hand, they share a passion for home pleasures and a quiet life with Catfishes. This has led to cultural and commercial exchanges over time, although they ignore or avoid talking about their mob-style ruling. Perhaps it's precisely because of their history of trade and cultural sharing that Woodpeckers decided, without notice or apparent reason, to join the treaty for the birth of Nava kingdom at the end of the Rats War.

The Woodpecker people are excellent carpenters, miners and bug breeders, they're also good farmers, beekeepers and artisans. They hold some rich mines, a thriving fictional literature, and well-valued pictorial and sculptural arts.

They speak the Aevar language, a subtle and melodious language able to make even a dull and narrow text harmonious and poetic (perhaps a Spanish gibberish).

Religiously they are mostly devoted to Azlean (deity of peace and medicine), Rowana (deity of hearth and family), and Vael Nhor (deity of magic and memories), but here and there also thrive the cult of Dykren (deity of gamble and subterfuge), Lotru Kori (deity of nightmares and suicide), Sia Mori (deity of dreams and will), and Caamiran (deity of justice and law).

Their Ancestral Princes were Finnan and Shaena, who taught their race the importance of hospitality and family. A good Woodpecker's home must always be clean, welcoming, comfortable and well-stocked; guests must always be respected, especially when it comes to other Woodpeckers, but they also must be respectful of the hospitality given. The well-being of the family is always at first place among a Woodpecker's priorities, even if the same thing is not always true for marital fidelity.

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