What are "The Elementals" of the Black Shroud?

[Enkidoh]

You can see a similar model of the elementals in Elpis. At least with what we've been shown the rare times we see them in the cnj quest line.

It's not just a 'similar' model, they are literally elementals, with a sidequest in Elpis actually finally revealing what they really are and why they're so difficult to communicate with:

the elementals were actually familiars created by the Ancients to regulate aether in the environment, but, for some reason that wasn't adequetly explained there, they were designed not to communicate normally but to communicate via information carried on the aether, which made them obtuse even to their creators (presumedly this was done to allow them to communicate across vast distances).

The quest specifically dealt with one of those elementals being given a task that due to encountering a situation it was not 'programmed' for, it ended up stuck in a feedback loop that the player had to try and resolve (bascially, it was sent to fetch someone but the person it was meant to speak to was asleep, and it wasn't programmed to deal with that - simply poking the person in emote woke them and the elemental was able to continue in it's task). Because of this, it's entirelly probable that the Final Days and the Sundering... "broke" them and made them take their directive of "protect the environment and regulate it's aether" far too zealously.

The Elpis sidequest in question is called "Woken By the Familiar" incidentally for those wanting more information.