The world of Annwn is populated with a veritable plethora of sentient
beings, covering both the surface of the world and riddling the vast
caverns of
the Underdark. This section of my guide attempts to describe some
of
the races that make of the major civilizations of our world.
In general, sentient races can be divided into two major categories: peoples and creatures, based on their general habits. Creatures, despite being highly intelligent in many cases, follow behavioral patterns closer to animals than humans, and do not typically form civilizations. Dragons, for example, are classified as creatures rather than peoples, and are not discussed herein. Peoples may be further subdivided into three main types: humans, demi-humans, and humanoids. The categories alone make it blatantly apparent that this classification scheme was devised by humans, but it is nonetheless accepted by most of the major races.
The term humans is clearly self explanatory. Humans, despite arriving relatively late in the history of Annwn, are indisputably the most dominant race of our world. Unlike the other races, humans are incredibly diverse, and eight major sub races of humans exist throughout Annwn. Each of these races speak different languages (although still able to communicate haltingly to each other through a simple language known as common), have different physical appearances, practice different customs, hold different values and attitudes, and consider themselves completely separate groups of beings (a belief most other races find bizarre but amusing).
Demi-humans are those races which most closely resemble humans in attitudes and body structure. They are all bipedal warm blooded creatures, physically very similar to humans. The four demi-human races are the dwarves, elves, halflings and gnomes.
Humanoids are all remaining bipedal creatures, and include dozens of
races. Most notable among the humanoids are the orcs, goblins,
lizardmen,
ogres, and giants. However, this category also includes many
other
unusual creatures, such as sprites, arakoa, and sahaughin.