The drefra (meaning “new soul” in Glakesh) were a species of spider-like hermit crabs from the Verdant Sea. Originally a deep sea species, following the destructive Hollow Quake of the 5th Dispensation, the drefra moved more inland along the coast of Kaybi, Kharam, and Akye. The drefra naturally collect the shells of the solopod giant seasnail to use as protective armor on their soft backs, but they could also use suitable manmade items and driftwood as alternatives.
The Hollow Quake created one of the largest recorded tsunamis in the history of the Confederation, driving many deep sea animals closer to the shorelines of the Confederation. The drefra, primarily seeking aquatic plants for their diet, were quick to clean the beaches of these lands of the thousands of tonnes of washed up kelp and seagrass. These crabs were believed to be the reincarnated souls of the sailors and coastal inhabitants by surviving Eavons, the crabs quickly becoming important figures in maritime society.
In these local communities, it was common to commission or self-produce a hollow replica of the head of a recently deceased family member. In an annual holiday aligned with the drefra mating season, dozens of mourners on boats would go out to the tidal reefs and lower the deathmasks into the ocean as offerings, designed to be suitable protective shells for the swarms of drefra spawning beneath the tides. As the drefra occasionally find their way to shore to collect sea glass as part of their mating ritual, it is considered very good luck to spot a drefra wearing the deathmask of someone you knew in life, as they have come back to the land of the living to briefly pay a visit. All these factors also made fishing and eating drefra taboo, the practice becoming fully illegal in the 5th Dispensation after a deathmask of Princess Willomah khe-Espino was included in the annual ritual. Once the Solstice War began, the drefra were observed to return to the depths and away from the coasts, rarely to be seen again.