Spirits of Construction

Even though most of humanity is gone due to the Extinction, many Spirits that were born out of concepts related to them continue to thrive for now. In the case of some of them, one could think they try to continue or replicate continuing human work, progress, and achievements. In big cities, there are Spirits whose "creations" are the most easily spotted. The Spirits of Construction constantly build, change, and demolish the buildings located within their territories.
Spirits of Construction are pack creatures that show up mostly in urban areas. They are a product of humanity's ability to create buildings and as such, they can only manifest in the areas that humans once inhabited. Due to that close connection and the events of Extinction, their numbers are sure to drop in the future.

Appearance

Humanoid subtype

The most numerous subtype of this species the humanoid ones closely resemble what one would consider a stereotypical construction worker. Their bodies mimic the appearance of yellow or orange safety vests, blue jeans, and colorful hard hats. Sometimes they might have protective goggles or masks. Other than that, their faces have no features and look more as if someone tried to shape a shadow into a blank human head. They vary in size and shape mostly measuring between 1.4 and 2 meters. Some might show differences such as a more muscular build or additional limbs.
All of the humanoid Spirits of Construction can manifest tools related to construction within their arms. They use them for their intended purpose as well as their natural weapons.

Mechanical subtype

Much larger than their more numerous kin, the mechanical subtype of Construction Spirit tends to resemble various construction vehicles and machines often being a mix between them. Their metallic skin always comes in yellow and they might have some rotating lights somewhere on their bodies. While some tend to be rooted into the ground, others tend to move with either wheels or tracked treads, though some mechanical subtype specimens came in more humanoid shapes moving on two legs made out of steel beams. The smallest spotted specimens were only 2 meters tall while the largest one capable of moving by itself was 100 meters tall and the largest one rooted into the ground came up to 150 meters tall.

Behavior and properties

The Spirits of Construction tend to be active only 8 to 12 hours of the day. When nothing disrupts them, each specimen focuses on one of three tasks: construction, renovation, and demolishing. For the most part, the whole pack cooperates on only one of those three tasks but more chaotic packs have been spotted where two or more different specimens could be stuck in constant destruction and rebuilding of the same area of a building.
When a task is completed, the crew can disappear from the area with their territory, change the task it focuses on, or continue their work. The last one often results in unusual structures consisting of many buildings growing out of each other, forming skyscraper patchworks of different architectural styles.
Should anything intrude on their territory, those Spirits quickly turn violent. They don't seem to care about their own survival, completely focusing on killing or getting rid of the intruder. Even after the threat is gone, they immediately return to their previous task no matter the wounds they suffered.
The presence of the Spirits of Construction and the work they do often results in the fluctuations of the Familiarity in the area. Renovation, construction of normal-looking buildings, and demolishing of unknown structures tend to raise the level of Familiarity closer to the stable one while demolishing known structures and building abstract buildings can lower it significantly. Unless the changed sight really etches itself into one's memory, those changes are only temporary and another trip to the city might not reflect them.

Subspecies

Two subspecies of Spirits of Construction are different from the most common one described above. The two can only form in very specific circumstances and their behavior and appearance reflect that.

Hive builders

Hive builders manifest only in areas that were a wilderness that in a short span was inhabited and changed for human inhabitation. As such, they are nature spirits, mostly those of animals that already constructed their shelters (but focusing on hive insects) that adapted to the change by focusing on their traits of construction. As such, the buildings they create tend to at least partially resemble the structures of insects. When looking closer at them, one can notice that the "clothing" of humanoid specimens is really their carapaces with markings that resemble uniforms of construction workers and they might still have functioning wings or antennae. The changes within the mechanical specimens are way less noticeable but instead of being made out of metallic materials, they might be made out of more unprocessed, natural ones.

Ruin builders

The ruin builders tend to only appear in quickly developing areas that were suddenly abandoned, mostly due to catastrophes or war. They rarely construct anything new and if they do, they never finish it. Instead, they "renovate" ruins by placing things inside of them that make them look more abandoned: the dust, and trash, or by making them overgrown with plants and fungi. Their appearance reflects their territories, with chunks of their bodies missing or by being covered with moss and dirt. Ruin builders do not care for any intruders within their territories, letting anyone pass by or stay as long as they want.

Origin/Ancestry

Humans, Construction

Other names and nicknames:
Builders, yellow/orange vests, hardhats, Bobs
Genetics and reproduction:
As it is with other Spirits, they do not reproduce.
Taboo:
No matter what, Spirits of Construction cannot leave the territory marked by the yellow tape. Should someone remove the whole tape, the Spirits within the area will disappear before reappearing in a different part of the town once they regain enough strength. Removing the tape partially doesn't have any effect on them, besides alerting them to the actions of the intruder. The tape regenerates over time. However, it is possible to move the Spirits from the area or restrict it by partially removing the tape and adding more to expand or shrink it.

Territory

Territories of Construction Spirits tend to show up within the areas once inhabited by humans (or the rare still inhabited ones) known for their growth and quick development. They can show up in more rural areas but the cities are often the hotspots for their manifestation. When a new territory shows up, its borders are always marked with yellow tape with "CAUTION! CONSTRUCTION AREA" text repeating on its whole length. The territory can encompass an area as small as part of a building and as big as a whole city district. Even when the Spirits aren't active, construction sounds and radio music can be heard from their territory.
The Spirits are completely aware of what happens inside their territory and immediately know of any intruders and their exact location. At the same time, they are completely unaware of anything just outside of said area even if a threat could be mere millimeters from it.

A Crew: a single organism or a hive?

It is unknown whether a crew of Construction Spirits, as the packs of them are called, functions more as a hive of varied specimens or if all the "crew members" are only parts of a single organism. Those who decided to test it out come back with inconclusive data as when two or more different crews are examined, the results that are true for one crew can be false for the other one and sometimes doing the same test on one crew can have vastly different results supporting either one of these hypotheses.