Chapter 2: Races
“Many bipedal races exist, but here we concentrate on humans, elves, and dwarves. It remains to be seen whether the dark-pelted orcs, the shaggy red goblins, the secretive trolls, or the reptilian and scaly achaz even qualify as civilized. For the moment, we will not consider the man-eating ogres, the shy water sprites that dwell in the Sea of Seven Winds, or the one-eyed cyclopes from the islands of the same name.
Much variety exists within the races discussed here. Tall Thorwalers from the north have little in common with the diminutive Moha from the vast jungles of the far south. The same can be said of the elves; firnelves may view the world differently than their relatives, the wood elves, but the elves as a people do not vary as widely in terms of stature and appearance as do humans. The dwarves of Aventuria vary little in their physical appearance as well, yet one can hardly confuse a pastoral hill dwarf from the region of Angbar with a heavily armed dragon warrior from a delving in Xorlosh.
Even if one could judge an orc or goblin according to their local heritage, most observers care little to do so. This differs for the cold-blooded lizards where one can tell a slender achaz apart from a murderous mar at first sight, but these beings are so strange to us that almost any attempt to classify them further is doomed to failure.”
—excerpt from Humans and Nonhumans: A Phenotypical Comparison, by Strathus, Blessed One of Hesinde, Garethan copy, 586 FB
A wide variety of races spread across Aventuria over the course of history. Some of them, such as the lizardfolk or the trolls, ruled over the world in times past and left traces in many areas. In current-day Garetia one can still find the remnants of so-called troll castles, whose intent and purpose remains a mystery even to scholars. The ruins of lizardfolk cities, upon which many human cities have been built, feature in a great number of Tulamydian fairy tales and are viewed as arenas of bygone epic battles between the warm— and cold-blooded races.
Many of the old races cultures experienced their golden ages many centuries ago, and their days of great knowledge and powerful magic are long gone. The promise of great wealth and power lures many adventurers out in search of the mysteries of this distant past.