Races of the Forgotten Realms
A brief rundown of the races found in Faurun. This list is not meant to
be inclusive and excludes many of the monster races and societies found
in the Realms. This information was compiled from A Grand Tour of the
Realms and Demihuman Deities
Humankind
Humans are the dominant race in the Realms. They come in all shapes,
sizes, and colors. Individuals sometimes show the height of a halfling,
the slenderness of an elf, or the stockiness of a dwarf, but are completely
human. Human skin color varies from the pale, almost translucent Lantanese
to the dusky, dark-eyed natives of Unther with ever shade inbetween. Humans
are one of the most aggresive of the major races. Humans have a spoken
and written language that is accepted as Realmspeak and Tradetongue even
among the nonhuman races. Humans seem to provide equal chance to men and
women; while there is a tendancy in many Realmsian societies for women
to occupy a domestic role, there is little resistance to a powerful female
leader or proficient wizardess, should a woman choose such a position as
her goal in life. The Faurun pantheon is wide-spread across much of the
main continent, worshipped by humans and to a much lesser extent by other
races.
Dwarves
The dwarves of the Realms are a short, stocky people who seem to be
part of the earth itself, ranging in hue from a rich earth-red to a granite
stone gray. Both male and female dwarves have beards, although dwarven
women usually shave. Dwarves are dour and mistrustful of magic beyond that
which a magical axe can lend. The dwarven written language, rarely used,
is known as Dethek Runes. The Stout Folk of the Realms worship a pantheon
collectively known as the Morndinsamman led by Moradin.
Shield dwarves (aka mountain dwarves)-A subrace of dwarves
in the North. Their numbers have dwindled with the passing years due to
interspecies wars with goblinkin and their slow recovery of their losses.
Gold dwarves (aka hill dwarves)-A subrace of dwarves that
thrives in the South in the city of Eartheart and the dwarven nation of
Underhome.
Elves
The elves of the Forgotten Realms are human height but much more slender.
Their hands and fingers (of which they have four, not five) are half-again
as long as a human's, and delicately tapered, and their bones are light
and surprisingly sturdy. Elven faces are thinner and more serene and their
ears, like the ears of elves in half a hundred known worlds, are pointed.
There are five subraces of elves in the Realms. Elves call their own race
Tel'Quessir
(translated as the people) and nonelven races
N'Tel'Quessir
(translated as not-people). In the Year of Moonfall (DR 1344), the
decision was made by the elven court after 500 years of deliberation to
begin The Retreat. Elves in Retreat make for Evermeet across the sea or
to Everska on the edge of the Great Sand Sea of Anauroch. The elven nation
of Evermeet is ruled by Queen Amlaruil. The elves of Evermeet do not allow
other races to her shores and consequently are the strongest sea power
in the Realms. There are rumors of great magics and extradimensional gates
that are used to expediate the passage of elves out of the human world
to Evermeet. The moon elven alphabet is known as Espruar. The elven pantheon
is the Seldarine, led by Corellon Larethian.
Gold elves (aka sunrise elves, high elves, or Ar-Tel'Quessir)-Typically
have bronze skin and copper, black, or golden blond hair. Their eyes are
golden, silver, or black. This race of elves is somewhat equivalent to
the standard grey elven subrace. Most of the elves on Evermeet are gold
elves.
Moon elves (aka silver elves, gray elves, or
Teu-Tel'Quessir)-These
elves are much paler than gold elves, with faces of bleached white tinged
with blue. Their hair tends to silver-white, black, or blue, though all
normal human hair colors have been reported in this race. Their eyes are
blue or green with gold flecks. Moon elves are the most tolerant of other
races. Most adventuring elves and half-elves are of moon elf descent. This
race of elves is most equivalent to standard high elves.
Wild elves (aka green elves, forest elves, wood elves or
Sy'Tel'Quessir)-This
group of elves is reclusive and distrusting of nonelves, in particular
humans. They tend to be a copperish hue with tinctures of green with brown
or black hair and green, brown, or hazel eyes. They are the least organized
of the elven people and have no nation to call their own although they
can be found in every elven nation and on Evermeet. This race of elves
is equivalent to standarnd sylvan elves.
Sea elves (aka aquatic or water elves)-There are two groups
of sea elves in the Realms, those of the salty waters of the Great Sea,
the Shining Sea, and the Sea of Swords, and those of the Sea of Fallen
Stars. Great Sea elves are radiant in different shades of deep greens with
some patches of brown on their bodies. Fallen Star sea elves are vaious
shades of blue. Both have the full variety of eye and hair colors found
among other elven peoples.
Dark elves (aka drow, night elves, or
Ssri'Tel'Quessir)-Drow
have obsidian black skin, pale eyes and white hair. Most of this subrace
lives underground and its members are evil and shunned by other elven races.
The drow worship a separate pantheon, lead by Lolth.
Note: A child born to two elves of different subraces takes on the
characteristics of one or the other subrace and is never a mixture of the
two.
The half-elven peoples
Half elves are a mixture of human and elf. They are stockier than elves,
but thinner than humans, and may or may not have the distinct elven pointed
ears. They still have the slender,finely chiseled facial features of elves.
It is possible for a half elf to pass as either race for a short period
of time, but the duplicity is usually discovered. Half-elves are not a
true race, but the product of a union between a human and elf. They have
no national or racial heritage other than the area in which they are brought
up. Many half-elves have the skin tone of their elven parent although to
a lesser degree. Half-elves may have children, but the child always has
the race of the other parent (human is the other parent is human, elven
if elven). A second generation half-elf results only from the union of
two half-elves.
Gnomes
The gnomes are a small friendly race common across most of Faerun.
They are smaller and less stocky than dwarves, but believed to be distantly
related to the Stout Folk. Their natural light coloring, ranging from light
ash to maple to buffed oak, increases the tendency to think of gnomes as
a woods folk--when they are thought of at all. Gnomes are sometimes called
the Forgotten Folk even though they are an everyday site in major cities
and have large communities of their own. Gnomes have a wisdom about them,
a kind of common sense in a world filled with magical things. They have
a penchant for illusion and often know to look beyond appearances to see
what is really there. Gnomes worship a pantheon collectively known as the
Lords of the Golden Hills, led by Garl Glittergold.
Halflings
Halflings in the Realms have the appearance of human children. They
have a light covering of downy hair most noticeable on the backs of their
hands and the tops of their bare feet. Halflings come in all the same skin
and eye colors as humans. Halflings are spread among the human population,
but there are rumors of a halfling nation in the far South. The Small Folk
of the Realms worship a pantheon collectively known as Yondalla's Children.
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