Xorcrans live in nomadic tribes that wander the Fuligin Field. Each tribe is ruled by a warlord, who maintains power via violence and control of the meager resources the tribes find in the Field. Warlords are usually very skilled fighters who have many wives, slaves, and warriors. Each tribe has a hierarchy that includes a warrior caste, an esoteric caste, a commoner caste, and slaves.

When a Xorcran is born, they are put through the ritual of rejection, then given over to the caretakers (commoner caste and slaves) who take care of all children in the tribe. Children of the warlord are given special status, but still must pass the right tests, as do all children. At age seven, like their Harkanian cousins, the children are sorted between castes and begin training as warriors, esotericists, or common jobs. No one is born a slave. At seven, they also engage in a naming ceremony, where the child chooses their own name. Before this, they are simply referred to as xardat. At age 16, Xorcrans have their own tests which determine if they are fit to become adults and be properly initiated into their craft. If they fail, they have until they are 25 to pass, and then they are banished or enslaved (they get to choose). Most choose slavery.

At 25, they also decide if they wish to keep their childhood name or pick a new one. Most pick a new one and keep the old one as a second name. Surnames do not exist among the tribes, though in other countries, the name of the tribe is often adopted as a surname.

Most slaves are taken in raids on Harkanian pilgrimages, other tribes, or nearby countries. Non-Xorcran slaves can join Xorcran society if they eat the special meat Xorcrans prepare that they claim is the flesh of the Grey Arbiter. (In truth, it is simply meat infused with msawhat and blasphemy.) The result of eating this food is to corrupt the eater into a more monstrous form, though rarely do they take on the actual form of a Xorcran. Some Harkanians come close after this process.

Each tribe regularly holds war councils where the greatest warriors discuss their raiding targets. These councils often become battles in and of themselves as warriors disagree. Warlords can be deposed during these fights, political alliances can form, and the balance of power can shift. The warrior caste gets first choice of all resources of the tribe, especially water and food, with the Warlord determining the order. After a raid, the bounty is always distributed among the tribe at the Warlord's whim. All warriors are also hunters. No one but men may become warriors.

Warriors treat women little better than slaves. They take many wives and lavish them with presents and keep them comfortable, sometimes taking their council, but wives are also traded, sold, beaten, killed, and raped.

The esotericist caste is small but powerful. They consider themselves independent to a certain degree. They make up the priests, necromancers, befoulers, cacosingers, liesmiths, doomsayers, vilecasters, hollow mages, agonists, or whisperers. They have no real hierarchy, but the eldest among them usually make up the default leadership. They serve as advisers to the warlord and influence the tribe from the fringes. They are distrusted by commoners and feared by slaves. People of all genders are welcome if they show promise as an esotericist, but they must present as a man or a woman or be banished. Even slaves may end up in this caste if they have talent and either something to buy their own freedom or an esotericist willing to do so.

Anyone found using a forbidden esoteric art is banished.

Commoners make up the majority of the tribe. Fuligin smiths, weavers, potters, cooks, caretakers, healers, and herders. They serve the warriors and esotericists. Gender among commoners is still a rigid male-female binary, but men among the commoners treat women better than warriors do and women commoners have more rights and equality with their fellow commoners (though still are treated as property by warriors). Commoners can challenge a warrior to a fight, and, if they win, become a warrior. The warrior who loses is then enslaved by the former commoner. This is very rare, as commoners lack access to resources (food and water, especially) to learn fighting skills. Any commoner who shows aptitude for esoterics is recruited by the esotericist class.

As mentioned above, slaves are usually taken in raids. These slaves can buy their way into the commoner or esotericist caste, and if they buy into the commoner caste, they can challenge their way into the arrior caste. Most slaves just try to buy their freedom, timing it when they are near other countries so they do not have to try to survive in the wastelands. A slave buying their freedom is not considered bad, nor is it rare, but it is difficult and can have economic consequences for the owner.

Warriors do not get married; they simply take wives. A wife can come from any caste, though it is a brave warrior who tries to impose his will on an esotericist. A woman has the right to refuse, but the warrior has the right to physically force her. If she can fight him off, she remains free. This is rare, however. Warriors also buy, sell, and trade wives among themselves. They find it beneath them to buy a wife from a commoner, but they will steal a commoner's wife by force if they wish. Esotericsts do not get married, nor do they take, buy, sell, or trade wives. They sometimes form couples or long-term romantic/sexual relationships, but they never formalize it, as formalizing it might result in someone else owning their esoteric objects. It is forbidden for an esotericist to allow a non-esotericist take one of their objects, and further it is forbidden for any but their apprentices to inherit their objects. Thus, marriage is seen as contradictory to this process and avoided. Commoners get married all the time, though it is not valid except among themselves. A warrior can still, after all, take their wife from them. Commoners sometimes have same-sex relationships, but marriage among these is forbidden as well. However, unmarried couples are allowed though not well liked. Slaves cannot get married, though they often consort with one another. A warrior will not take a slave as a wife as that is seen as beneath them.

Xorcrans are nomads, but they do not have a set territory. They wander the Fuligin Field, and if they cross paths with another tribe, they go to war. These skirmishes are usually brief and end with taking of slaves on both sides. The tribe's esotericists determine the directions the tribe travels.

All Xorcran tribes keep herds of Pit-monsters that are semi-domesticated. These are used for food, trade, and defense. Food among the Xorcrans is hard to come by due to the landscape they live in, and thus, it is always carefully preseved, prepared, and controlled. Those who prepare food are considered to be stewards of the property of the warriors who caught the food or protected the herds. Herders serve warriors but do not own the herds.

Art and crafts among the tribes are usually either practical (weaving or tent-making or so on) or hobbies, but never the central occupation of a tribe member. Slaves engage in most practical crafts to serve the tribe, but many commoners do as well as part of simply living in the tribe.

Xorcrans have two festivals that happen every few years, based not on chronology but on where they are in their wandering. When they are near The Pit, they hold the festival of Rising, where they celebrate when they rose from The Pit. This celebration is a feast that ends with two Pit-monsters being sacrificed to The Pit and many dances and chants and orations of history. Even the slaves are allowed to join in. The other festival is when they are at the heart of the Fuligin Field. At this time, they honor the unrisen dead. This festival is a somber one wherein they speak the names of the dead (which they do not otherwise speak) and raise a msawhat bonfire in the hopes of drawing an undead form of their lost tribes folk.

Xorcrans are feared by Harkanians because they often raid their pilgrimages. They are also feared by people in the countries south of the Field, as they raid there as well. Outside of this area, most do not know specifically of the Xorcrans, being only aware that the Fuligin Field is "full of dangers" or similar. Like Harkanians, Xorcrans do make alliances with local dragons, who take on the powers of a fuligin dragon.

If a Xorcran goes out into the world, they are usually seen as a strange kind of Brannish or some kind of spirit folk, and thus, they experience initially whatever treatment those nations would experience in the circumstances. If they are understood to be a Xorcran or simply a nomad of the Fuligin Field, they will generally be feared. If they are found to be a follower of the Grey, they will usually be feared and possibly arrested or killed.