Hey! So, I noticed a post of yours talking about how much different races are in your gfs world. I'm currently worldbuilding for my homebrew campaign that I'll run in two weeks. I want the races to be unique and break stereotypes (such as goblins being greedy, orcs being barbariac, etc.) What tools did your gf use to figure out what the races should be in her world/what are some examples of it? Thanks!
This got really long, I’m sorry. :’) I tried to be as thorough as I could though!
Basically, she tried to do the opposite of the shitty, racist things that white dude authors usually do with fantasy races. She didn’t make new of everything, but she took what was existing in the canon lore and made it her own, twisting things to better fit the world she wanted to tell stories in. Some of her updated races were inspired by real world cultures and mythology (especially weird misogynist myths to turn upside down) and did a lot of research on them. Another thing she thought about was how the influence of magic on the world and how it would effect certain races.
Since you mentioned orcs, I’ll start with them: They are still tribal and still have the blood rage, since that’s pretty integral to what orcs are, but both things are a result from being hunted so much that they were blessed by a god called Gruumsh, who gave them the ability to defend themselves. (It’s very inspired by TES lore I think, where they used to be related to elves but were changed.) They’re also really connected to nature and animals, naturally have a proficiency in Animal Handling, and typically tribes have a really close relationship with one animal from the area that they’re from. But on top of that, they’re also one of the races that are at the top when it comes to engineering and technological advances, right under the gnomes. They help the world recover after a phenomenon when magic is wiped out of the land, and without the orcs, they wouldn’t ever develop scientific medicine.
She has some lore about goblins too: they’re in a state of flux right now, where a grand majority of them are trying really hard to end the stigma on their race. A lot of them can be found in cities, trying to escape what people think of them.
Magical reproduction is super common among some species rather than physical reproduction (dwarves are carved from stone, gnomes have little gnomeling plants that they carry around in dirt backpacks for gestation, the world is heavily populated with LGBT+ folks so gender/sex doesn’t matter when it comes to magic rituals to make babies, etc.)
Dwarves are also very in-tune with nature! They have a close relationship with the Elemental Plane of Earth because they live underground, so there’s a lot of dwarven druids and rangers who instead of working against nature (like dwarves do in a lot of canon fantasy worlds) their mission is to protect the mountains from the Underdark below because they feel an innate urge to protect the stone.
Also I think it kind of started as a joke, but dwarves eat stone too? A dwarf once told me that instead of like cow milk or something, they make milk out of stone? I’m not sure if she was joking or not but it’s kind of hilarious and it makes me like dwarves more.
Drow aren’t inherently evil. You can find drow farmers with big sunhats on. The idea of a purely evil species is pretty racist, so she tends to stray away from that at all costs. (Related: Yuan-Ti Purebloods don’t exist ‘cause yikes! Racist and probably antisemetic.)
She basically re-packaged all of the tiefling and devil lore to make it more interesting; she really embraces the tiefling variants. Tieflings’ appearances and inherent magical abilities and bonuses are related to the devil that they are related to. My tiefling druid, Leda, is my favorite example because she’s so weird: She’s the granddaughter of Tiamat, so she looks super dragon-like (scales, weird feet, claws) and instead of Hellish Rebuke, she has a breath weapon. Little homebrew things like that have made tieflings go from my least favorite race to one of my favorites to play.
High elves are typically the most boring to me in any setting, but she made them pretty rad in a simple way: their appearances typically depend on what time of the day and year they were born. Morning elves are pale while night elves are very dark-skinned; summer elves have golden or green eyes, spring elves have blue or hazel, fall elves have orange or red, and winter elves have purple or silver.
Half races aren’t just half-human. There’s an infinite combination! My latest character, Gadget, is the daughter of a half-elf/half-orc and a gnome, so her physical appearance has little glimpses into that. That has really made the world feel more real and alive.
An example of turning misogynist myths on their head is Gorgons. In her world, they were created by a goddess after men were invented to help protect women, and they’re a very neutral good species. A lot of them are super peaceful and monk-like.
I hope that helps! She told me to mention that you definitely shouldn’t feel pressured to go along with canon; it’s mostly just the basic chunk of clay for you to mold into what you want to exist in your world. Have fun with it! And don’t be afraid to be weird.
