how important is legacy to each race? i've been thinking about how the elves are dying out - surely there would be some pressure to essentially rebuild their race? is it a simple process or is it more like tolkein where elves can only procreate with their soulmate (and if half of your race is dying out, then that severely limits your, well, dating pool)
Gosh that's a fun question to ponder. Most of my lore is very Lord of the Rings movies inspired since I feel like that's something that a lot of people have seen or at least know about. So it's a good frame of reference without getting too bogged town in original lore. But this definitely isn't a canon rp either since that's an even bigger lore sinkhole.
Elves are obsessed with history and culture. They are dedicated to the preservation of books, scrolls, art, artifacts, and heirlooms. They like to keep their history in tangible form so that it is less likely to be mistold (although it's highly likely that perspective warped some facts from the very beginning). Elves are pretty snooty and care more about staying the same than they do about staying alive. They'd rather die out than adapt. I think as a whole they've given up on enduring and instead are focusing on creating and maintaining those artifacts that they can be remembered by. The members of this adventuring party are exceptions though, those who don't buy into the consensus that change is wrong. That's why they were on this diplomatic mission.
Dwarves also value their culture very highly. But it takes a more nebulous form. They don't really care about texts and artifacts. They do value family heirlooms like weapons or armor, but for the most part their history and culture is kept alive through song and storytelling which changes over time. To them what is important is keeping the song of their people alive. There isn't a huge consensus among the dwarven folk as to what to keep and what to let fade away. For the most part it varies by family. Specific families will have stories they want to be passed down or axes they want to keep sharp.
Haflings are similar to dwarves in that what is important to preserve varies family to family. Many of them care about old letters, books, cookware, and the family's home and plot of land. Halfling culture is not dying out, but it's not growing either. Halflings don't think too much about the future or the distant past and instead prefer to live in the moment. There are petty feuds that passed down through generations but that's not really cultural.
Humans are humans. As a whole they don't have any unified priorities. Some humans greatly value history and try to preserve as much of it as possible and some believe the past must be shed in order to progress. But that could be, in part, due to the fact that humans are in the early part of their history and they know it. They are growing, exploring, and founding new cities very often these days. They have entered an era of creating culture, rather than preserving it.
Sorcerers are born about three or four times a millennia and therefor do not have a culture to share.