Kokebi live in sprawling communities stretched across many large asteroids in the asteroid belt. They choose asteroids large enough to have a very small amount of gravity, which is all they need. This allows them to leap between them but also have some stability. Every community is led by a council made up of elected elders (kokebi over the 700 years old). There is no distinction between genders, and all work is shared. Everyone takes turns as a guard, as a healer, as a teacher, with childcare, with herding, with building, and so on. Those who show more aptitude in one area over others settle into those roles only after 500 years. Because they gain sustenance from starlight, they spend most of their days outside absorbing it. When something causes a lack of starlight in the area, they move.

Kokebi measure time differently. They compare their lives to planets, stars, and other astronomical bodies. They consider a century a "moment" and a millennium a "mere glimpse." They do not count years, months, or days, but moments. Because they measure their lives against astronomic bodies, they always say their lives are very brief. (All measures of time listed are in Shem-years for ease of understanding.)

Children are raised by members of the community and taught by other members as they cycle through their tasks. Children are allowed to play carefree until they are adults save for occasional stretches of education. They take on responsibilities about halfway through their first century, and they are considered adults only after their first century is over (a single moment). Kokebi say "we are young for but a moment" in reference to this.

Arts are very important to the kokebi, especially visual arts and light art. Artists are revered, but not a special class unto themselves. They still must contribute to the community in other ways. Art is often focused on the cosmos or imagining what is on the surface of distant planets.