Most are tall, typically 5'5" to 6'5" in height, with no clear advantage of one sex over the other. Most are russet-furred, with slight variations and additions of white, gray, black, brown, and sometimes yellow. They walk on heeled feet and have hands with five clawtipped fingers. Their musculature varies by trade, but none can be considered burly. Normal sex differentiation otherwise applies.

Hekoye have mastered weaving in recent years, and their clothing employs both coarse burlap-like material and hides. The typical adult garment for either gender is a hide poncho worn with or without a hood, that drapes to the elbow, underneath which a cloth tunic dresses them to the knees. Most also wear sandals.

The stereotypical Hekoye is seen as being soft-spoken and reserved in passions, at least in normal discourse, compared to many other cultures. In Hekoye culture, pride as other races might know it is subdued, as is verbal angst. It is against Hekoye culture to complain about one's lot in life, nor to give sympathy for one who does so.

Some outsiders may grow frustrated with the time required to negotiate with Hekoye elders. According to Hekoye tradition, they devote time and pensive thought to any decision except those that involve the gravest threat to life, and solutions only come after shrewd consideration of all alternatives.

The tribes of the Hekoye are scattered across an area roughly defined as the Hekoye Nation, with their "capitol" being a meeting place known as Ihtoli Maqahamok, located up in the mountains.