Many roleplaying games treat race like a variation of human. Elves are pointy-eared humans, dwarves are short, stocky humans with beards.  Rarely are these common races truly alien in their thinking.  In the Toy Soldier Universe, this is a deliberate choice, as the common races of the Universe, elves, dwarves, gnomes, orcs, et cetera, not only act very human, they ARE human.  The common races of the Toy Soldier Universe are homo sapiens.  Where humans are homo sapiens sapiens, goblins are homo sapiens goblinus, and dwarves are homo sapiens glabrous.  Almost all the common races diverged from a common ancestor with humans before recorded history.  So, in the Toy Soldier Universe, playing your character as very human is encouraged.  Very human in all their merits and flaws.

Just as humans are determined, energetic and enthusiastic, so too are they stubborn, lazy and unmotivated.  Just as the simplest human can rise beyond his humanity to the realms of heroic, so to can the most high and powerful human slip into the depths of depravity.  As humans can be a guardian angel for someone weaker than them, so too can they become tyrannical monsters, lording over those same weaker people.  Ultimately what this means to the game is; elves are not bastions of wisdom, a thousand years old, and devoid of any compassion.  Elves are human, homo sapiens eternus, they are just as flawed as any human you know, and just as insightful and compassionate as any human would be in their shoes, even if they are a thousand years old.  For elves, like humans, age is not a measure of wisdom, though it is usually a strong indicator, and an old elf is likely wiser than a young elf when he is nine hundred, but no more than an old human of ninety.

Understand that we are talking about racial differences in this article, not cultural, societal and ethnic differences, that will be handled in the article on culture.  Many of the differences between human species is cosmetic, an elf may look smaller and more frail than a dwarf, but neither has a strength advantage or penalty over humans.  Orcs are bigger and stronger than humans but the belief that they are stupid is a cultural stereotype and orc brains are actually slightly larger and just as dense as a human brain, so in reality, they are probably marginally smarter than humans. However, gnome brains are as large as human and 15% more dense with neural tissue than a human cousin, and gnomes are measurably smarter than humans. 

So racial differences are literally variants in humanity, different attributes, vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, but not cultural memes, which are reflections of racial prejudice and priviledge, depending on where in the universe you are.  Are orcs less intelligent than elves? Simply, no.  They, outside of the Empire, tend to be woefully under-educated, and academically stunted, but they are just as capable of learning almost anything that another human race is capable of learning.

Allyri - Draconis Homo Sapiens: A race of dragon-people native to the world of Draconia.  Though they are called homo sapiens, they are not human from the same ancestry as the other races.  Instead, the Allyri were created in the living memory of some of the elder dragons, a magical creation of the Draconian Gods.  Allyri are divided up into sub-species by wing colour and size/type.  There are 5 types of metallic allyri that are common, 5 chromatic, 5 gem, 5 imperial (known as Longjen or Lungjen) 5 esoteric, 5 stellar.  Allyri vary in size from small to large but average at about 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in) with allyraposa shying in at a minimum of 76 cm (2 ft 6 in) and the largest stellar allyri topping off at 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in).  Allyri also vary widely in their preferences of profession, and run the gamut between favouring martial, arcane, divine, occult, skilled and psionic classes.

Androids - Homo Sapiens Automatum: Androids are a race that has existed since the First Interstellar War.  Though originally a unique creature, androids were created from living people turned into constructs usually to escape some fatal condition.  However, during the Second Interstellar War, Captain Listerae Honeyoak started up an ancient artifact called the Soul Forge and it began producing independent androids.  With no known way to stop or destroy it, it looks like androids are a new race in space. Androids are created, usually resembling humans, but occasionally they are given features of another race.  Luwraek Blackhand was among the first androids and he was created as a gnome (which he was before the transformation.)  Androids can generally look vaguely like any race, but without modifications, they all have the same attribute modifiers, adjusted for size.  Androids are usually 2 m (6 ft 7 in) tall, with a humanoid shape, but since they can be made to resemble elves, dwarves, gnomes, minotaurs, they theoretically could be found with any size from pixie to jotun.  Androids generally favour the disposition of the race they resemble, this is often because they were at one time of that race, or perhaps their soul was that race when adopted to fuel an android body by the Soul Forge.

Arachnids (Rachs) - Arachnida Latrodectus Psycho:  Rachs are a true anomily.  They generally come in two types Psycho and Psycho-er.  Most rachs are raving psychopaths.  In general rachs do not feel strong emotions and the ones they do feel tend to be baser, such as anger, fear, jealousy.  Though exceptions exist, most rachs are violent psychopaths with no heart or mercy, that will simply use a homo sapiens until he is used up then eat him.  The ones who aren't total psychopaths are usually demented psychotics.  These rachs often have a God complex, and view themselves as the masters of all living things.  Though these are behavioral and thus one could argue cultural, there is definitely something alien about a rachs brain.  And even when their motivations are fathomable, they are often seemingly irrational.  Rachs are generally not a good PC race, the females are to powerful, the males to devoted to their queens and the drones, dedicated to hive work. Arachnids come in Female (queen), Male (king), Male (warrior), Female (spayed Drone).  All queens are psionic, and often quite high level.  A king is always a Psychic Warrior, usually high level, though he can diverge into other classes, and when he does he favours psionic classes.  Warriors favour martial classes with psionic martial classes like the marksman or aegis, taking precedence.  Drones are psionic as well but often choose classes like vitalist, or dread, never a martial class. A queen is a large creature, standing about 2 m (6 ft 7in) tall and about 3 m (10 ft) long with an abdomen about 1.8 m (6 ft) in diameter.  A rach king is a medium creature standing about 1.5 m (5 ft) tall, approximately 2.1 m (7 ft) long with a 1.2 m (4 ft) abdomen.  Drones are medium creatures circa 1.35 m (4 ft 6 in) tall, 1.8 m (6 ft) long with a 1 m (3ft 3in) abdomen. Finally, warriors are small creatures, they stand about 1 m (3 ft 3 in) 1.35 m (4 ft 6 in) long and has an abdomen around 76 cm (2 ft 6 in).

Cthulhans - Homo Lolligo Facies: The chtulans are probably extradimensional beings that scholars believe diverged in the homo genus hundreds of thousands of years ago.  Though they may have been native to this plane in the beginning, something from the plane they found themselves on, a hundred thousand years ago, definitely changed them.  Cthulans generally do not make for a good PC race as they are alien, usually, and unfathomable, often, and even if they are closer to human thinking, they are not homo sapiens, and they generally have alien viewpoints, and even if you get past all that, there is a social stigma against cthulans in civilized parts. There is only one subrace of Cthulans, though they do have a varied culture that divides them clannishly. Cthulans stand about 1.8 m (6 ft) on the average, and tend towards psionic classes.  Cthulans have no religious impulse that is commonly referred to as faith, and they are sorely lacking in arcane ability.  As such they tend to use their own variation of spindizzies that run on psionic power.

Dwarves - Homo Sapiens Capillatus:  When people think dwarf, they think either 1.3 m (4 ft) master craftsmen (and women), or miners, with grumpy dispositions, a la Snow White or JRR Tolkien, or they think 20 ft (6 m) master craftsman (no women), and miner, who is killed by sunlight, a la Norse legends.  Neither are true. Or at least not completely true.  Grumpy disposition is not part of their genetic make up, so therefore is cultural, and though there are dwarves who are naturally 20 ft tall, they are not generally harmed by sunlight, and though there are dwarves harmed by sunlight, they don't tend to be 20 ft tall. Dwarves have four distinct phenotypes; Deep, Hill, Mountain, and Void. 

Deep Dwarves (Homo Capillatus Profundum) are bald, usually (because of an unusually high level of testosterone in males), pale skinned, stone grey bearded (male and female), with a surly disposition (arguements can be made for cultural training, but I personally believe that the high T makes them moody, and female deep dwarves, though suspicious and cautious, are not overly dour or irritable).  Deep dwarves have very good eyes that see deep in the infrared spectrum but get dazzled in areas of bright light.  Also, invariably, deep dwarves, who grew up deep dwarves, have faced off on more than one occasion with the horrors that dwell in the deep and therefore have the deep warrior trait. Magic-using (fairly common) and psionic (even more common) deep dwarves often undergo a secret ritual to Odin that transforms their Stonecunning to Stonesinging.  Deep dwarves take pride in their craftsmanship (especially in cold iron/starmetal and silver/mithral) and like all dwarves construct nonmagical crafts in half the time. Like all dwarves, it'll cost you for these service abilities.
Deep Dwarves are also naturally cautious in their diplomatic dealing, and while this keeps them from unpredictable failure, it also really prevents unusual success.

Hill Dwarves (Homo Capillatus Nocivi) tend to be less stocky than other phenotypes of dwarf, and often wear their beards close-cropped.  Female hill dwarves are much less glabrous than other dwarves and often have no (and can't grow) facial hair. Unlike other dwarves, hill dwarves do not live deep underground, or underground in the mountains, or deep inside a floating hunk of rock.  Instead, hill dwarves tend to make their communities close to other humans and dwell in burrows dug into the side of hills.  Hill dwarven eyes are not adapted for seeing in the dark, though their burrows are often poorly lit and thus hill dwarves see better in low light than other humans.  Like other dwarves, they have massive internal organs and are highly resistant to poisons, disease, magic and fatigue (among the many other effects that having a large heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, gall bladder, stomach, et cetera, would have to improve your health).  Being less massive than mountain or deep dwarves, they are also not as slow and steady as other dwarves, nor as stable.  They also do not possess the dwarven ability of Stonecunning.  Also, unlike the dwarves of the mountain and caverns, they have great senses, and are incredibly sure of foot.  In addition, they are noted for their determination (or stubborness depending on who you ask), as well as their ability get what they want in negotiations. Dwarves of all types have a reputation as craftsmen extraordinaire and Homo Nocivi lives up to that reputation.  They are also industrious urbanites, crafting mundane objects in half the time (including masterwork) and they charge for their skills accordingly.

Physically, a Mountain Dwarf (Homo Capillatus Metallum) is exactly what Tolkien was talking about; a stocky man, usually with a big bushy beard.  Even female mountain dwarves grow beards, though culturally some use balms to soften them, shave them off, or both.  Like all dwarves they have massive internal organs and incredible health.  Though they generally move slower than other humans, mountain dwarves are never slowed due to encumbrance; if they can lift it, they can move at full speed with it.  Also, this girth and density makes them immensely stable on their feet.  Living the vast majority of their lives underground, mountain dwarves have developed an ability they call Stonecunning.  Basically, their perceptive abilities when it comes to stonework is vastly enhanced compared to other humans.  It was once debated whether or not this was natural or learned behavior but with some mountain dwarves being separated from the earth and their cultures for generations, it hasn't bred out yet, leaving scholars to conclude that it is something in the brain chemistry, not cultural norming.  Like hill dwarves, well, all dwarves really, they are noted to be stubborn and to get what they want through that stubborness in negotiations. Mountain dwarves, like other dwarves, have a reputation for being craftsmen and also craft in half the time, charging for their crafts in line with these abilities.

The 20-ft-tall Void Dwarves (Homo Capillatus Spatium) live on asteroids, and mine and forge the metals of these asteroids.  Void dwarves look like 3 m tall dwarves who have been expanded to five times their size, and one hundred twenty five times their weight.  They have glossy black skin (not African or Jamacian, but rather Panther or Night Sky), and hair.  Their hair salt and peppers with silver by the time they are adult, and turns silver by the time they are middle aged.  Like all dwarves, their organs are even more massive than would be expected, making them even more hearty than one would expect of a 3 meter dwarf.  Like dwarves of shorter stature, void dwarves are slow moving (compared to other huge creatures), but like smaller dwarves they are uncannily steady on their feet and never suffer movement penalties due to encumbrance.  Void dwarves have eyes that see equally well into both the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums.  Usually spellcasters, void dwarves often have stonesinging instead of stonecunning, but some have physiologically abandoned both g-nomes.  Void dwarves without stonecunning or singing are usually more socially more cautious, and since they lack the sixth sense of other void dwarves, they also avoid social missteps, by avoiding extremes and untried methods.  These dwarves are painfully predictable, and will do what has been tried every time.  Void dwarves are brilliant craftsmen in metal and both mundane and magical metal items in half the usual time.  Though occasionally a void dwarf may strike a good bargain for barter with items rare in space (like wooden items), but in general, like all dwarves, those of the void are well aware of what skills they bring to the table and one can expect commensurate pricing.

Elves - Homo Sapiens Eternus:  Elves are ubiquitous in space opera, they generally look like androgynous, pointy eared, often slightly built and smaller than average humans.  The Toy Soldier Universe has numerous elven ethnicities, Alfar (Gold/Sun Elf), Nunnehi (Copper/Earth Elf), Nymph (Green/Sea Elf), Rualfar (Platinum/Star Elf), Sidhe (Silver/Moon Elf), Sluagh (Black/Dark Elf), and Sylph (Blue/Sky Elf).  Fundimentally, the differences between elven subraces are cosmetic, such as skin, hair and eye colour.  Other stereotypes about different elf types are both prevolent and not necessary grounded in facts.  Though it can be said that all elves tend towards lithe and graceful and slightly frail, and that all elves have better sight and hearing than humans, the rest is cultural and not necessarily fact based.

Alfar (Homo Eternus Sol), also known as sun elves, gold elves and high elves are generally upper classmen who see other elves and other humans as beneath them in the social pecking order.  They are usually fair haired and eyed with a golden tint to their skin (which is where they get their moniker Sun Elves) and gold flecks in their irises (from which comes Gold Elves).  During the elven monoculture of the early Avalonian Empire, Alfar were the noble caste and thus in the modern time, they all descend from ancient Elf Lords, and are all lords and ladies (hence High Elves).

Nunnehi (Homo Eternus Aeramen) who are also known as Copper Elves, Earth Elves, Green Elves, Wood Elves and Wild Elves, are a subsect of elves that live in harmony with nature.  Their skin varies from Coppery Red to Deep, almost black, Brown, though they always have a coppery tone to their skin.  Their hair and eyes are usually dark with browns and blacks being common, but also being possessed of coppery coloured flecks in the irises of their eyes.  In the time of the elven monoculture, the copper elves were mostly untouched by civilized society and thus never participated, and were mostly aloof from, the Succession Wars.  Though no one really knows for certain, it is generally believed that nunnehi rangers serving the Green Lords (elven druids, 95% nunnehi, who worship the World Trees) were the first elves in space.

Nymphs (Homo Eternus Veridis) also known as sea elves, lake elves and river elves, are elves who have physically adapted to life in the oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers.  Requiring much more physical prowess than land dwelling elves, the green elves are considerably stronger than their land-lubber cousins, but being so isolated from others outside of the waters had made the whole subspecies socially stunted, with no need to develop socially, they simply didn't.  Homo veridis is further divided into three subs; Veridis Oceanus, Veridis Vadum and Veridis Flumen. Veradis oceanus lives in the depths of the seas and has gills with underdeveloped lungs.  V. oceanus (Green sea elf) has trouble breathing in a waterless environment and sees by use of infrared vision as well as ocular vision.  Some v. oceanus have developed sonar, like a sea mammal such as a porpoise or whale.  V. oceanus is deep sea green in colour with blue to green hair and eyes (though occasionally coral red, pink and yellow eyes are known). Veridis vadum lives in shallower, coastal waters, and lakes and is equally at home above (lungs) and below (gills) the waves.  V. vadum is a rich aqua blue-green in colour with blue, green, red or brown hair and eyes which match the oceans depths of blue and green. V. vadum (Green lake elf) is not as physically powerful as v. oceanus, and not nearly so isolated, but still moreso than the average land elf, in both cases. Homo vadum is the most commonly encountered, if not the most common, green elf subspecies.  Veridis Flumen also known as river nymphs are nearly extinct and one would be hard pressed to fit them with Homo Veridis at all if it weren't for vestigial gills, and a pale green tone to their skin. V. flumen cannot breathe long underwater as their gills are barely functional, but they can stay underwater for the equivalent of holding ones breath underwater for ten times as long as a land dwelling human.  Further, v. flumen is not any stronger than land-dwelling humans, though they almost make a science of social interaction, definitely an art.

Sidhe (Homo Eternus Argentum), also known as silver elves and moon elves, are the most common subrace of H. Eternus.  Moon elves tend to epitomise what people think of when they think of elves, free-spirited and frivolous.  They are lithe and graceful, like all elves and they are also extremely charismatic and a little prone to rash behavior.  They have pale, silvery skin (where they get their name moon elves) with often silver hair though brown and blue are fairly common.  Most commonly sidhe have blue eyes, though brown, green and purple are not unknown, and always with silver flecks (hence silver elves).  Like all elven eyes, they see well ito the ultraviolet spectrum and see incredibly well in low light.  Also like other elves they are noted to be uncommonly perceptive.

Sluagh (Homo Eternus Tenebricosus) also called dark elves have monochromatic skin that varies from dusky gray to pitch black.  Their eyes, most commonly amber but often red and occasionally blue or purple, see well in the infrared spectrum and perfectly in the dark but are dazzled in full sunlight, and bright conditions.  They are noted to be as exceptional as other elves in sight and hearing, otherwise.  The hair of a dark elf is usually light, white to pale blonde, but is also occasionally silver as well as black. Sluagh, are as lithe and graceful (and frail) as other elves but are quite imposing and short tempered.  Dark elves are physiologically easily angered and have an over developed adrenal gland which makes them paranoid and quick to outburst with really, truly, frightening homicidal rage.

Star elves (Homo Eternus Astrum) are also known as Rualfar in Alfar, Realtasidhe in Sidhe and Shiv'Veth in Sluagh.  In elfin, they are commonly referred to as platinum elves or star elves. Star elves have always been the royalty of elvenkind, even before the Avalonian Empire when elves were tribal.  Interestingly, the E. Astrum subspecies is not a true subsect of elvenkind, as rarely are they born to a pair of star elves, but rather, the star elven phenotype appears among all elven races in rare instances.  Usually when this occurs, another star elf can be traced back no more than a few generations in their bloodline.  Two star elves will breed true, however.  Star elves are pale, almost platinum skinned, with black or silver hair and usually purple eyes with platinum flecks in the irises.  Blue, green, red and amber eyes are not unknown in E. astrum, and gold hair has been reported in at least one instance.  Star elves are wholly adapted to leadership; highly intelligent, insightful and charismatic, star elves are weak and clumsy compared to other elves.

Sylphs (Homo Eternus Caelum) also known as winged, sky or blue elves come in two distinct subraces that have evolved from the same E. Caelum parent species.  E. caelum volucris is adapted to high altitudes and mountain tops, they suffer greatly in too warm temperatures and thick air, so rarely come down from their peaks.  They have sky blue skin and usually blue eyes, though gray, pink and orange are not rare, and large bird-wings with regional differences in structure and and feather colour.  The other E. caelum subspecies, E. caelum bestiola, is merely cosmetically different than E. caelum volucris.  Their skin is usually bluer, than volucris, their eyes are commonly iridescent, and seemingly pupil-less, and their wings, insectile like a dragonfly's.  E.C.B is slower in the air than E.C.V, but capable of more maneuverability and the ability to hover.  They suffer greatly in cold, thin atmospheres and stick much closer to ground level and warmer climes.  Sky elves make even elves look clumsy and awkward, and are especially gregarious and outgoing, but they are exceptionally frail.  They also have insanely good eye sight and low-light vision.  The mating of E caelum volucris to E caelum bestiola will result in the child taking on the features and characteristics of one parent, or the other, usually along sex lines, males like their fathers, females like their mothers.

Erepata - Homo Sapiens Erepatis: The giant, elephant-headed warriors.  Generally single-minded in their pursuit of military excellence, the Erepata shun most arcane avenues, tending to concentrate on the more militant classes.  This is not to say that they are incompetant mages, only that few pursue magical paths.  Little is known about female erepata as they are not militant minded and tend to avoid "adventure", and other such nonsense.  Again this is not to say that there are no militant female erepata, only that they are exceptions.  Most female erepata have an over developed maternal instinct that leads them to healing and other life affirming paths.  Female erepata healers are commonplace on the Erapata homeworld of Simia, though there are no known erepata civilizations outside of there, so erepata, though common in space (at least males are common, females are virtually unknown), they return to Simia and the near monoculture of the h. erepatis, to mate and procreate.

Erepata come in four distinct subraces and eight phenotypes. The four subraces are, alphabetically; Elephas, Loxodonta, Mammuthus, and Palaeoloxodon.  Homo elephas has only one phenotype, loxodonta has two, mammuthus has two as well, and Palaeoloxodon is the most diverse with three phenotypes.

Assian Erepata (Homo Palaeoloxodon Namadicus) come from the continent of Assia and are an endangered species with less than thirty-five thousand known adult specimens of the species.  The largest species of H. erepatis, bulls stand 4.5 m (14.8 ft) tall and weigh an average of 7.25 tonnes (8 short tons). Both bulls and cows have tusks, though the tusks of females quit developing at sexual maturity.  The tusks of males continue to grow throughout the erepata's life and can reach a length of 3.5 m (11.5 ft), extending downward from the erepata's mouth, occasionally with a forward bend in the end of the tusks. Like other h. palaeoloxodons, they have loose and wrinkly, gray skin and usually brown eyes.  Their hair is coarse, black and abundant, though not omnipresent like in h. mammuthus.  Like the other palaeoloxodon species, p. namadicus has three digits on each hand and foot, and a finger/thumb combination on their trunk.  They live in extended family units with males in their own houses and females and children living communally.  All known Assian Erepata live in the Assian city of Baigeng.

Dwarf Erepata (Homo Mammuthus Creticus) are descended from a group of about five-thousand wooly erepata that somehow ended up stranded on the Creta Island, as it was formed off the north coast of Tangara, in the North Labasci Sea, some forty-thousand years ago.  They stand about 1 m (3.3 ft) tall, and on average weigh a whopping 105 kg (235 lb). They have, relative to their height, broad, thick bodies and limbs, four digited hands and feet, and large tusked heads on both sexes.  The hands of a dwarf erepata resemble the hands of other homo sapiens, although it is as if their middle and ring fingers are fused together, same for their middle toes.  Like wooly erepata, dwarf erepata are covered in long hair that can be blonde, red, brown or black with ruddy brown being most common.  They can have blue, green, hazel or brown eyes, with the latter being most common.  Dwarf erepata prefer colder climes, the climate of Creta being roughly the same as Great Britain, and dwarf erepata do not do well in the heat.  Their society on Creta is one of sedentary city states, run in an egalatarian communist government with no gender distinction.  Males are not markedly larger than females though they, like all erepata, are way more militant than the cows, and the cows tend toward diplomatic roles.

Forest Erepata (Homo Loxodonta Cyclotis) come from the Konga region of upper north-west Tangara (the continent on Simia where Africa is located), and make their homes in sedentary forest cities.  Smaller than L. Africana, and even E. Maximus, the male forest erepata stands between 2.4 - 3.0 m (7.87 - 9.84 ft) and weighs between 1 and 2 tonnes (1.1 - 2.2 short tons).  They have, like savannah erepata, pot-bellies, and both sexes have tusks that grow to about 1.5 m (5 ft) long and weigh about 23 - 45 kg (50 - 100 lb).  L. Cyclotis has thinner but denser tusks than L. Africana.  They are pink in colour. Forest erepata have five-fingered hands, four-toed feet and two-fingered trunks.  They are even less hairy than Savannah erepata, and often have blue or green eyes in addition to brown. Like Africana, h. cyclotis has over sized ears to help them with the jungle heat.

Indician Erapata (Homo Elephas Maximus) H. elephas' one phenotype is known as E. Maximus or Indician Erepata.  They stand about 2.75 m (9 ft) tall and weigh about 2 tonnes (2.2 short tons).  They have grey skin that is often mottled white with depigmentation and large, usually brown eyes. Homo elephas is hairy compared to loxodonta cousins and decidedly hairless compared to mammuthus and palaeoloxodon. Indician erepata have five-fingered hands and feet, with heavy finger and toe nails, one-fingered trunks, and thick, heavy, limbs and body.  Only male Indician erepata have tusks and they average 1.5 m (5 ft) in length and curve forward. Native to the lands of Indici on the world of Simia, Indician erepata are the most common both on Simia and in space, and generally represent the concept others have about the erepata.  Indician culture has nomadic herds of extended family units, where the males live alone, or with each other and the females, led by a matriarch live together with the children.  Males are encouraged to leave at puberty (about 11), and find themselves a male unit they can attach themselves to.  Which is how erepata military units formed.  Most erepata encountered in space will be immature male Indicians between the ages of 11 and 19.

Pygmy Erepata (Homo Palaeoloxodon Mnaidriensis) is a tiny specimen of the homo palaeoloxodon line. Standing about 1.8 m (5.75 ft) and weighing only 100 kg (223 lb), they are markedly smaller than other erepata.  Unlike their p. antiquus cousins, p. mnaidriensis only develop tusks in males, and these can be 1.3 m (4 ft) long, extending straight downward from the bull's mouth.  The molars and jaw of a pygmy erepata is disproportionally large with proportions more in line with a 2.4 m (8 ft) h. palaeoloxodon.  Their skin is gray, wrinkled and loose and their hair is usually straight and black.  Like p. antiquus, they have three-digited hands and feet and two digits on their trunk.  Pygmy erepata are native to the island chain of Movana in the eastern Labasci Sea.  Pygmy erepata live in villages that are made up of multiple, integrated families.  Each family has a Matriarch, and each village has an elected Hathor from these matriarchs.  These Hathors form the government of Movana.

Savannah Erepata (Homo Loxodonta Africana) hail from the plains of Africa on the world of Simia.  Africa, which means beautiful lands in Erepatan, is a large (think size of North America) savannah with a nation of semi-nomadic militants with a government that is largely communist and administrated by a herd of matriarchs called Hathors.  Savannah erepata are extremely large with males averaging 3.2 m (10.5 ft) tall and weighing, on average, 3 tonnes (3.3 short tons).  Like H. elephas, they have five-fingered hands and feet but with softer nails, and thicker limbs.  Unlike their elephas cousins, who are generally evenly thick all around, L. Africana is decidedly pot-bellied, or "pear" shaped.  Also, unlike elephas, their trunks have two opposing fingers. Savannah erepata are almost hairless with huge ears that help them dissipate heat, and usually brown eyes. Savannah erepata have comparably loose and wrinkled skin next to Indician erepata, and their skin is more even-toned and grey. The tusks of the loxodonta are prevalent in both sexes, though bulls have longer tusks than cows.  The tusks weigh from 23 to 45 kg (51–99 lb) and can be from 1.5 to 2.4 m (5–8 ft) long. They are curved forward and continue to grow throughout the erepata's lifetime. Loxodonta are named for the lozenge shape of their tusks, which are yellowish-white in colour.

Straight-tusked Erepata (Homo Palaeoloxodon Antiquus) is far larger than any other breed of erepata, except P. Namadicus.  Individual males have reached up to 4–4.2 metres (13.1–13.8 ft) in height, and  6.6 – 7.5 tonnes (7.25 – 8.25 short tons) in weight.  H. palaeoloxodon has grey skin, much like h. loxodonta, with a loose, wrinkly appearance. Tusks, more prominent on males but present in both sexes, extend straight out at a downward angle, occasionally with an upward curve at the end. Unlike other erepata, both sexes enjoy tusk growth their entire lives (in other female tusked erepata, theirs quit developing at sexual maturity (about 16)). Tusks can be as long as 3 m (10 ft) in aged individuals and weigh between 68 and 135 kg (150 and 300 lb)  Straight-tusked erepata have three digits on each hands and feet (two fingers and an opposable thumb) and two digits on their trunks; one much like a finger and the other a thumb, being shorter and fatter.  The p. antiquus is hairier than elephas or loxodonta, but not to the extent of mammuthus.  The hair of the straight-tusked erepata is coarse and usually black or brown and short.  H. palaeoloxodon has longer limbs than other erepata (other erepata seem "stubby" comparatively).  Ecologically, they favour neither warm nor cold climes being mostly found in the temperate region of the Labasci Sea, north of Tangara on the continent of Lemurae.  Straight-tusked erepata live in nomadic family groups of 5-15 mature members (A matriarch and patriarch, their sons and their sons mates and unmated daughters), and usually 2-8 children in various stages of development.

Wooly Erepata (Homo Mammuthus Primigenius) are native to the most northern climes of Simia in the sub-arctic region of Haelslund.  They are nomadic herds led by matriarchs and bulls live apart from the main herd. Fully grown males reach heights between 2.7 and 3.4 m (8.9 and 11.2 ft) and weigh up to 3 tonnes (3.3 short tons).  Their tusks, both male and female, continue to grow their entire lives and can reach 3m (10ft) in length with a heavy curve and weigh 90 - 180 kg (200 - 400 lb).  Like dwarf erepata, wooly erepata are covered in thick wooly hair that is usually ruddy red-brown but can be blonde, red, brown or black, with eyes that are usually blue but can be green, hazel or brown.  Like m. creticus, m. primigenius does not do well in the warmer climates preferring sub-zero temperatures and arctic climate.  Their ears are almost comically small for elephantoids, and covered with hair to prevent frostbite. They are matriarical and bulls are sent to live with their fathers and uncles when they are eleven.  Like all erepata, bulls are militant and cows, matronly.

Finoc - Homo Sapiens Felis:  Though not unknown in space, little is known about the homeworld and society of the finoc as the mysterious catfolk tend to avoid conversations dealing with their homeworld and deflect direct questions with various strawmen.  Superstitious in the extreme, omens and portents are everywhere in a finoc's life, and few finoc would consider acting against an omen.  For this reason, pure black finoc are shunned as the harbingers of doom.  Though rare, black finoc kittens are examined for any sign that they are not pure black, as black finoc are fine (if a little mistrusted), but pure black finoc are doom.  No finoc would take upon him or herself the bad luck that killing a pure black finoc would bring, but they will have nothing to do with one, or their family.

Giants - Homo Sapiens Gargantua:  Giants are generally not a PC race as they tend to be very powerful compared to other humans.  Usually high hit dice, high strength and high stamina, giants epitomise raw physical power.  There are generally considered three separate subspecies of giants, the fire giants, the ice giants and the jotun (pronounced Yo-tonne).  Other giant types, though fairly common, are not pure giants and are often cross-bred with other humans (wood giants are elf-giant hybrids and hill giants are ogre-giant hybrids)  Though hill giants are fairly common and even have their own culture, this is due to the overlap between the ogre and giant communities.  Hill giants are an artificial race.

Ice Giant (Homo Gargantua Glacies) Ice giants stand about 4.5 m (15 ft) tall with a variation of about 60 cm (2 ft) in either direction, and weigh a little less than 1.35 tonnes (3000 lbs), with females being 15 to 30 cm (6 to 12 in) shorter, and about 150 kg (335 lbs) pounds lighter.  Their skin is icy white to glacier blue, and their hair is a slightly muddier tone than their skin.  Ice giant eyes are blue, blue-white, pale yellow or pink and the irises look almost like snowflakes.  The hair on both sexes, and male beards are often so laden with ice, as to look like icicles themselves.  Ice giants have a larger than normal medula oblongata (animal brain) and the other synapses of the upper brain are underdeveloped.  This makes g. glacies somewhat bestial when compared to other human species, much like h. neanderthalis.  They are short-tempered and prone to violence, and somewhat dimwitted compared to other h. gargantua.  G. glacies does not do well in temperatures above freezing, and though in winter they will come south (or north), they retreat to the permafrost come spring.  Where many species, such as yaks, and mammoths, adapt to the cold with a combination of body fat and body hair, the ice giants did it entirely with a layer of heat impenetrable body fat.  Where this makes the giant impervious to cold, even that of space, the liquification point of this fat is the same as that of water, so high temperatures (above freezing) are uncomfortable for ice giants and can even be physically damaging to their bodies.  Heat that would damage other humans is downright devastating to ice giants.  Due to the long periods of darkness they live under, ice giants have adapted to seeing well in the dark.

Fire Giant (Homo Gargantua Ignis)  The typical fire giants stand about 4.25 m (14 ft) tall, though they can vary between 3.65 and 4.88 m (12 and 16 ft), and weighs about 3.1 tonnes (3.4 short tons), with females fifteen cm or so (six or so inches) shorter, and 20% lighter.  In stature, a fire giant looks much like an inflated dwarf.  If you took a dwarf, made him 3 ½ times the size, 40 times the weight and made their hair and beard orange-red and shimmering like a fire, you would have a fire giant.  Both males and females tend to wear beards, and they are usually fire red, thick and fine-haired.  As they age, the base of the hair on their head and face begins to turn black, like soot or charcoal, spreading further out until an aged fire giant looks as though their beard and hair is simply the dying embers of a flame in the coals.  The skin of a fire giant has actually managed to adapt to extreme heat, such as that found in volcanoes, until it has become impervious to anything short of a nuclear fire or blast.  The drawback of this is that they suffer greatly in sub-freezing temperatures.  In anything below 0^oC (32^oF), a fire giant's skin begins to freeze and he suffers emense pain.  A cold that can damage other humans is disastrous to fire giants.  The eyes of a fire giant have adapted to heat vision, seeing well into the infrared spectrum. 

High Giant (Homo Gargantua Nobilis) In long times past, giants were a much more common sight in space, and the ancient elves can tell you that the appearance of fire giants and ice giants has occurred within the last two millennia.  Before that time, giants in space had the appearance of large humans, albeit muscular, and attractive, extremely large, humans.  These are the Jotun, the High Giants, and lords of all giant kind.  Even now, fire giants bow to the superior tactical and strategic minds of the Jotun, and the ice giants cow to the High Giants’ superior strength.  A typical High Giant stands over 6.1 m (20 ft) tall and weighs about 5.4 tonnes (6 short tons) with females about thirty cm or so shorter, and a tonne (2200 pounds) lighter.  The skin of a Jotun is usually tanned or swarthy, though pale high giants are not unknown, and it is not unheard of for a Jotun to appear as if carved of some kind of stone.  Their eyes are often blue, green, or deep purple and their hair can be black, blond, fire red, ice blue, or royal purple.  Any combination of stone colors, from alabaster, to obsidian, to marble is possible too in both hair and eyes.  They have no particular resistance or vulnerability to heat or cold, and their senses though superior to h. sapiens, are still within the bounds of human ability.

Gnomes - Homo Sapiens Nasus:  Gnomes are ubiquitous in space.  An early adopter of space travel, gnomes generally come in two semi-distinct subspecies, Technognomes and Arcanognomes.  Technognomes show an affinity for technology and the magic of science, arcanognomes show an affinity for illusion and the science of magic.  Technognomes make spindizzies, GIPTD, and firearms, and generally deal in things better left to wiser people than gnomes.  Arcanognomes are illusionists and sorcerers that trick the mind with magic, they also make magical items, such as wands, rods, and staves.  A small and hearty folk, it is known that, like goblins, gnomes have 2 livers.  This tends to make them hale and hearty and resistant to things like disease and poisons.  Physically, technognomes (homo nasus technos) are indistinguishable from arcanognomes (homo nasus arcanos), but mentally, where technognomes show an affinity for gadgets, and constructs, they are incapable magic-users.  By that same vein, arcanognomes show an affinity for illusory magic, and even can perform magic tricks innately, they are flummoxed by technological items.  Both subspecies are small (about 1m (3.3 ft)) compared to humans, with bodies proportional and big heads.  They tend to be fair skinned, but can any human shade from Viking to Nigerian, with the only difference being melanin content and traditional homeland.  Darker gnomes hail from areas with more sunlight.  Their hair can be any shade of the rainbow, including common human colours like, brown, black, gray and white, with the human common shades being more common in n. technos, and the brighter shades, not generally known in humans, are more common with n. arcanos.  Both types of gnomes tend toward jewel-toned eyes with emerald, sapphire and topaz being most common. 

Goblins - Homo Sapiens Goblinus:  Goblins are physiologically similar to gnomes they both have large ears (though a gnome's are less pronounced), big eyes and big noses in males (though a goblin's is, on average, smaller than a gnome's).  Their skin differs in colour with gnomes being more human shaded, and goblins are green or blue.  Most goblins are green with shades that vary from pastel to almost black.  Bar'tor, however, are blue varying in shade from pastel to midnight. Rumours persist of red skinned goblins, however.  The eyes of a goblin are most commonly red or yellow (blue in bar'tor), but can appear in the same jewel tones as gnomes with amethyst purple considered the most attractive. Goblin hair is most commonly ruddy brown (deep blue in bar'tor), but can appear in any human shade or blue, green, pink or purple.  Purple hair is, again, considered the most attractive. Goblins, like gnomes, and unlike any other humans, have a redundant liver.  Where the second liver is generally useful in gnomes to protect against lab poisons, in goblins, it helps them survive in the impovershed conditions they are usually forced to live in.  One can not truly appreciate squallor until they've been in a goblin warren. The average goblin male stands between 89 cm and 109 cm (2 ft 11 in and 3 ft 7 in), with bar'tor shying in at the bottom half and ip-ara'dare topping the upper half.  An adult male goblin is known as a trog (abbreviated from troglodyte), probably in reference to their hygiene.  An adult female goblin is a harl, most likely an abbreviation of harlot, a common female profession. An immature goblin is known as a gobling.

Goblins come in four diverse phenotypes, the psionic Bar'Tor, the cowardly Bela'Wani, the feral Emm'Kevirda, and the over-courageous Ip-Ara'Dare.  Bela'wani are the most common (75%), and bar'tor are uncommon (15%).  Emm'kevirda and ip-ara'dare are rare and represent about 5% each.  Although each of these sub-races are distinct, they to not live segregated or in separate societies.  Rather, the cartels only recognise two types of goblins, insiders and outsiders.  The aforementioned figures assume that both parents are bela'wani.  When one or both are not, reduce the chance of bela'wani by 25% and add that to the chance of that parent's phenotype.  For example, if one parent is bar'tor, increase the chance of a bar'tor gobling to 40% (15 + 25) while reducing the chance of a bela'wani baby to 50% (75 - 25).  Emm'kevirda and ip-ara'dare remain 5% each.  If both parents are bar'tor, increase the chance of bar'tor offspring to 65% (15 + 25 + 25) while reducing the chances of a bela'wani child to 25% (75 - 25 - 25), and once again, the other two remain unaffected.  In the case of two different non-bela'wani parents, use the same formula.  If an ip-ara'dare procreates with a bar'tor the the chances of each different phenotype are as follows; bar'tor - 40%, bela'wani - 25%, emm'kevirda - 5% and ip-ara'dare - 30%.

Bar'tor (Homo Goblinus Mensus) Also known as Strong Soul Goblins and Blues, the word bar'tor literally translates to Elfin as Strong Souled.  They are on the smaller side of goblins with the tallest rounding out at just about 1 m (3 ft 4 in).  They are not as diverse in size as other the bela'wani phenotype, however.  So, even though their upper limit is just about in the average range for other goblins, they do not, under normal circumstances, get any smaller than the smallest adult bela'wani.  However, they average 94-95 cm (about 3 ft 1 in) whereas bela'wani average about 99 cm (3 ft 3 in).  From the lightest sky to the darkest night, bar'tor are blue in skin tone, they most commonly have green, blue or purple eyes, and likewise with their hair.  Purple is considered by most trogs to be the prettiest colour, though the harls prefer...well, they honestly could not care less, so long as the trog is clean.  Aside from skin tone, the thing that sets bar'tor apart from other goblins is psionics.  Without exception, bar'tor are psionic, and even the most militant usually seek careers as aegis, marksmen, psychic warriors or soulknives.  It can't be stressed enough, that bar'tor are bright!  Their intelligence rivals that of ancient elves and old dragons, and they have uncommon insight.  As a matter of fact, the brain of a bar'tor is about 10% larger than other hominids, and 50% more dense.  Bar'tor goblings are usually bored by the Fomorian Public School system by the time they are adolescent, but most goblins are too dirt poor to afford to send their kids to private institutes, so most bar'tor are woefully undereducated.  They are also terribly under socialised, and suffer from a lack of empathy, though not to the degree of bela'wani.  Bar'tor are absolutely weak, frail and clumsy compared to other goblins.

Bela'wani (Homo Goblinus Ordinarius) The Common Goblin.  Their name, Bela'wani, translates in Elfin to mean Thief's Heart and that pretty much sums up the philosophy of the bela'wani.  Bela'wani literally have an over-developed (for humans) fore-brain and underdeveloped sense of empathy and the ability to relate to others, that is almost psychopathic, if it were accompanied by a psychopath's raw charisma, but it is not.  Instead, this combination of traits makes common goblins abrasive at best, with many social faux pas, and downright irritating most of the time, as they totally fail to see the consequences of their actions outside of how it affects them.  On the other hand, the rare bela'wani with a modicum of charisma comes across as quite meek and mild-mannered, perhaps over-cautious, but not a downright coward.  Physically, bela'wani are frighteningly strong for their size, as adroit as an elven ranger, and usually in good health despite their squallorous living conditions.  Bela'wani have an overdeveloped sense of self-preservation, and will usually lose moral rapidly in a fight.  The only exception to this is their ves'a (their mother and their five siblings).  When any of their ves'a are threatened, bela'wani can become very brave, indeed.  Even socially, when confronted by a strong opposition, a bela'wani's opinion is likely to cave to pressure, unless his ves'a still disagrees.

Emm'kevirda (Homo Goblinus Maestus) Feral Goblins.  Emm'kevirda translates to Mind of the Beast in Elfin, and basically, they are goblins who are born feral.  Physically indestinguishable from a bela'wani, there are some differences, they are just not immediately apparent.  For instance, where a bela'wani or ip-ara'dare usually have ruddy brown hair, an emm'kevirda is most commonly green haired.  If not they will usually match hair in gray, brown, or black, to the local vargr pack in the warren. They also average a taller height than bela'wani. In warrens without vargr, infants who are suspected of being emm'kevirda are left, ostensibly, to die of exposure, in areas that do have varg packs.  This practice irritates the bleepity-bleep out of the vargr, who see it as wasteful and more than that, hateful.  A varg, though they can be cruel at times, would never consider abandoning a pack mate, no matter how deformed, or mentally damaged. So, the vargs usually collect the infants and raise them.  They are usually not emm'kevirda, though some are, and after a childhood among vargr, that is almost a moot point.  Even a child who is not emm'kevirda is quite feral after being raised by vargr.  A life among head-height wolfen makes a young goblin, even more isolated and uneducated than independant warrens. However, their insights and instincts are much sharper.  Also, emm'kevirda have an empathy with vargr that borders on telepathic, and being backed by a pack of 135 kg (300 lb) wolves who are brighter than most humans makes a goblin less fearful for their lives.  When among their pack, emm'kevirda are virtually fearless, and even other feral goblins are less cautious.

Ip-Ara'dare (Homo Goblinus Sanguis) Bloodfire Goblins.  The moniker "bloodfire goblins" comes from the Elfin translation of ip-ara'dare, which translates as "Oath of Blood on Fire".  Bloodfire goblins are almost physically indistinguishable from bela'wani, at first glance.  However, where like bela'wani, they usually have brown hair, purple is a close second.  They also most commonly have purple eyes, but any jewel tone is possible.  Though ip-ara'dare only rise to about 110 cm (3ft 7 in), they are almost never smaller than 100 cm (3 ft 4 in), and average about 105 cm (3 ft 5.5 in).  Ip-ara'dare are utterly devoid of fear, and most are a little light on common sense.  Physically, however, they are no different than bela'wani.

Humans- Homo Sapiens Sapiens: What to say in a pitch about the most generic, most average, most mundane species of the lot?  I guess, answer the question of why?  Humans are not the most numerous, prolific, or ubiquitous species of the lot, so why are they the most mundane, generic and average of hominids, and why is it called hominid and humanoid, and not gnominid and dwarfoid to describe these characteristics?  Simply, humans invented it.  The systems of classification that say humans are average strength, average stamina and average intelligence are classified that way because the systems of classification were invented by humans.  This is because when one compares one's self to another, they do so with the assumptions of what is average among their own species and make the comparison using their own species as the base.  So, in conclusion, humans made the system, humans decided what average looked like and compared that with the average of the examined species.  So a human male can lift and carry an average of 45 kg (100 lb, 7 st), the average orc, 62.5 kg (140 lb, 10 st), and the average gnome 27 kg (60 lb, 4 st).

Koira - Homo Sapiens Canis: The dogfolk are an incredibly diverse species with as many breeds as there are dog breeds.  Also like dogs (and humans) the differences are mostly cosmetic, and nothing really separates a Koira Mastiff from from a Koira Chihuahua except size. Koira are a simple people with a fairly simplistic government system.  Hierarchy and position are important to a koira, and a dogperson is generally really concerned with where they stand in relation to others in their "pack" but are perfectly happy being the low dog, as long as the hierarchy is clear.

Lizardfolk - Homo Sapiens Reptilia: The lizardfolk, or lizardpeople, or Kalifa (the people) in their own language, are a race of reptilian humans that diverged from h. s. sapiens during the Great Divergence between one hundred twenty thousand and eighty thousand years ago

Bakali (Homo Reptilia Ordinarius) Common Lizardfolk

Inkali (Homo Reptilia Mysticus)  Mystic Lizardfolk

Mankali (Homo Reptilia Pumilus)  Pygmy Lizardfolk

Minotaurs - Homo Sapiens Bos/Bison/Syncerus:  The minotaurs are diverse lot, with many breeds (eight Bos, six Bison and one Syncerus).  Homo Bos is more common than Homo Bison, and Homo Bos Taurus (Common Minotaur) is the most ubiquitous. Homo Pelorovis is extinct but may still exist on some worlds.  Homo Bos Palaesondaicus is also extinct, as is Homo Bison Palaeosinensis.  Homo Bos Primigenius and Homo Bison Antiquus are almost extinct and are breeds in serious decline.  Like bovines, most minotaurs are very prolific with one bull leading a herd of cows and juveniles.  Female minotaurs are three times more likely in a birth than males, and on top of it, males are twice as likely to suffer from SIDS.  Contrary to popular folklore, minotaurs do not live in caverns or mazes.  According to a popular minotaur philosopher, Thorvorik Bloodreaver, "Why would I let anyone trap me in a bleeping maze?!  AND, if I was so adept with mazes, why in the nine furnaces of Hell would I stay in one?!"  Also, being fairly large creatures they are not fond of deep underground places, which are generally designed for much smaller creatures.  Most minotaurs live in semi-sedentary herds, like villages.  Bulls in general have too much testosterone, and a competitive nature, that doesn't mix well with a minotaur's love of wine, that most of them, bulls and cows alike, have.  Therefore, few bulls can tolerate each other for long periods, and even one's sons become annoying after adolescence.  Because of this, in most herds, bulls live apart from the herd which is made up of females and immature bulls.  Like all homo sapiens, minotaurs are omnivores, though those with a high meat diet tend to be bigger, stronger, and more violent.  For this reason, minotaurs limit their meat intake to small animals, and as a supplement to a much larger diet of grasses, leaves, nuts, berries and fruit.  Unless they are going into battle, in which case they will "bulk up" on animal proteins for as long as they have warning of the attack.  Give them enough warning and minotaurs really can be the savage beasts of fable.

Bos Minotaur - Homo Sapiens Bos: Bos are what everyone thinks of when they imagine minotaurs; large, hairy, bovine-headed humanoids.  Standing, roughly between 2.1 and 3.7 m (7 and 12 feet) depending on breed, minotaur musculature is extremely dense and they weigh considerably more than a human of their stature.  Male bos minotaurs are colour-blind, seeing only in black and white, but their eyes have adapted with reflective retinae and most of them see incredibly well in diminished light.  Female bos minotaurs are not so hampered.

The eight bos minotaur breeds are;

Aurochs Minotaur (Homo Bos Primigenius) Aurochs have a light saddle marking on their back.  Calves are born with a chestnut colour, and young bulls change to black with a white eel stripe running down the spine, while cows retain a reddish-brown colour. Both sexes have a light-coloured muzzle, but variation in hair colour does not exist. Their horns grow from the skull at a 60° angle to the muzzle facing forwards and are curved in three directions, namely upwards and outwards at the base, then swinging forwards and inwards, then inwards and upwards, in a manner indicative of spanish fighting bulls.  Both bulls and cows of the aurochs have horns and they are no less sized or lethal on cows, though cows are considerably smaller than bulls and have commesurately smaller horns.  Bulls of the aurochs species stand about 4 m (13.1 ft), females only about 3 m (9 ft 10 in).  They have massive elongated and broad horns that reach 80 cm (31 in) in length.  Aurochs minotaurs are nearing extinction with no known planet having any more than about twelve thousand adults.  Aurochs minotaurs favour "natural" classes such as Druid, Hunter, Ranger and Shifter (called a Spirit Walker).

Banteng Minotaur (Homo Bos Javanicus) Banteng minotaur is a redundant statement, much like wonton soup, as banteng translates as minotaur from the Javani language.  Banteng inhabit the region of their homeworld, known as Javana, and have evolved into their own species.  The banteng shows extensive sexual dimorphism; adult bulls are generally dark brown to black, larger and more sturdily built than adult cows, which are thinner and usually pale brown or chestnut red. Aged bulls may turn grey. Their underparts (the front parts that are covered by a one piece bathing suit) are white to light brown. They have a big white patch on their rump. Horns are present on both sexes, and are typically 60 to 95 cm (24 to 37 in) long.  Bulls have long, slender horns with sharp tips and a circular cross-section, and are smooth except for the wrinkled base. The horns of cows are short and tightly curved, pointing inward at the tips, while those of bulls arc upwards and slightly forward. Their tail, measuring 65 to 70 cm (26 to 28 in), ends in a black tuft.  Banteng minotaurs are active during the day as well as at night, though activity at night is more in civilized areas, as banteng are not adapted to seeing in low light, unlike many other minotaurs.  Herds comprise two to twenty adult individuals, and generally a single mature bull.  Banteng stand about 2.4 m (8 ft) tall, with females standing about 2 m (6 ft 7 in).  Banteng bulls favour the martial classes, especially cavalier and samurai, whereas banteng cows favour scholarly classes, such as Arcanist, Alchemist, Cleric, Investigator or Wizard.  Cows with an artistic bend may become Bards with some frequency.

Common Minotaur (Homo Bos Taurus) As Bos minotaurs are more common than bison minotaurs (except B. Primigenius and B. Palaesondaicus), and B. taurus is the most plentiful of the Bos minotaurs, it stands to reason that these are the minotaurs people are most familiar with.  Standing about 2.4 m (8 ft) with females somewhat smaller at 2.1 m (7 ft).  Bos minotaurs look pretty much like humans that have had bovine features grafted to them.  Their head is large and cattle-like, and usually horned on the males, usually not on the cows.  They have a layer of hair that covers most of their bodies, five-digited hands and cloven hooves for feet.  The patterning of their hair, colour and length tends to be regional, with minotaurs of a similar area displaying comparable body markings. So, there are minotaurs with jersey patterns, holstein patterns, angus colouration, longhorns, polled breeds, highland longhairs, basically as many separate "breeds" of minotaur as there are modern bovines.  Aside from cosmetic differences, such as length of horns, hair and body markings, all b. taurus are the same species.  Eugenics suggests that some minotaurs are better for certain tasks, and some are more, or less, agressive, but like the differences in human "subraces" this is simply not true, and common minotaurs vary in attitudes and aptitudes as widely as other human species, even within the same "subrace".  Minotaurs are a simple people at heart, they favour basic classes that are fairly generic; Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard.

Gaur Minotaur (Homo Bos Gaurus) Gaur Minotaurs are immense.  Standing 3.7 m (12 ft) on the average, they are among the largest living breeds of Bos Minotaurs. Gaur minotaurs look a lot like oversized Gayal minotaurs with brown to black hair. In the old bulls, the hair becomes very thin on the back of the head and shoulders. A bull is dark brown, approaching black in very old individuals. The upper part of their head, from above the eyes to the nape of the neck, is ashy grey, or occasionally dirty white. The muzzle is pale coloured, and the lower part of the legs are pure white or tan. The cows and young bulls are paler, and in some instances have a rufous tinge, which is most marked in groups inhabiting dry and open areas. The tail is shorter than in the typical minotaur, reaching only to the backs of the knees.  Unlike gayal minotaurs who have flat heads, the gaur minotaurs have a convex ridge on their forehead between their horns. Both sexes have horns, which grow from the sides of the head, curving upwards. At their bases they present an elliptical cross-section, a characteristic that is more strongly marked in bulls than in cows. The horns are decidedly flattened at the base and regularly curved throughout their length, and are bent inward and slightly backward at their tips. The colour of the horns is some shade of pale green or yellow throughout the greater part of their length, but the tips are black. The horns grow to a length of 60 to 115 cm (24 to 45 in). The cow is considerably lighter in colour than the bull. Her horns are more slender and upright, with more inward curvature, and the frontal ridge is scarcely perceptible. In young minotaurs, the horns are smooth and polished. In old bulls they are rugged and dented at the base.  Gaur minotaurs are almost entirely devoid of magic, outside of druidry (and related, like rangers), and the most common class for gaur minotaurs is Samurai.

Gayal Minotaur (Homo Bos Frontalis) The Gayal Minotaur is a large breed standing about 2.4 m (8 ft) tall with short black-brown hair covering their entire bodies, except hands, forearms, feet and calves/shins which are white or yellowish.  Their thick and massive horns extend almost directly outwards from the sides of the head, and curve somewhat upwards at the tips, but without any inward inclination.  Both sexes have horns, though in gayals it is the females that are most prone to using them. Female gayal minotaurs are more agressive and beligerent than male gayals.  Bulls are almost narcaleptic in their docility, Gayal minotaurs shun arcane arts but tend to be rather pious. Divine casters, especially Paladins and Antipaladins, are commonplace in cows and clerics and oracles are common among males. Gayal minotaurs worship Baphomet.

Kouprey Minotaur (Homo Bos Sauveli) Kouprey minotaurs are an endangered species of minotaur, also known as a Forest Minotaur or a Gray Minotaur.  Unlike their prairie, plains and steppes dwelling cousins, these minotaurs live in low, partially forested hills, where they eat mainly grasses and leaves. Their preferred habitat is open forest and savannas often near thick monsoon forests. They are a diurnal breed, most active during daylight hours.  They can be grey, dark brown or black. The horns of the female are lyre-shaped with antelope-like upward spirals. The horns of the male are wide and arch forward and upward; they begin to fray at the tips at about twenty years of age. Both sexes have notched nostrils and long tails.  Kouprey minotaurs stand about 3.1 m (10 ft) tall, with females about 2.7 m (9 ft).  Unlike the thick and muscular, almost ridiculously proportioned other bos breeds, kouprey's are built much like over height humans with bovine features, though they weigh considerably more than a similarly sized human.  Forest Minotaurs favour classes that allow them to express themselves naturally; Druid, Hunter, Ranger, Slayer, Shifter and the like.

Primitive Minotaur (Homo Bos Palaesondaicus) H. bos palaesondaicus is to h. bos taurus what h. sapiens neanderthalus is to h. sapiens sapiens.  Basically a primitive, brutish, bovinid, that may or may not be extinct.  Looking much like a hulking, feral, common minotaur (bos taurus), the primitive minotaur is 15 - 30 cm (6 - 12 in) taller than their common descendants, on average with a commensurate weight gain.  The hair patterns, colours and length of a b. palaesondaicus are just as variable as with common minotaurs and tend to match similar climates as their descendants.  However, primitive minotaurs can only be mistaken for common minotaurs at a distance or in poor light, as b. palaesondaicus has an exaggerated stooped stance and a shaggy, wild appearance -- filthy, lousy, and mangy.  Primitive minotaurs are an extremely endangered species that may already be extinct; forced out by a more adaptable homo bos taurus. 95% of primitive minotaurs are Barbarians, the remainder are mostly Shaman and a few Skalds.

Yak Minotaur (Homo Bos Grunniens) Yak minotaur is a bit of a misnomer as a Yak is a male (bull) homo bos grunniens, and a female (cow) is known as a Nag. However their society is one of male dominance, so it makes sense that the species was named for the male (can anyone say "man"). Yaks are heavily built minotaurs with bulky frames, sturdy legs, rounded, cloven hooves, and extremely dense, long fur.  While yaks are generally dark, blackish to brown in colouration, they can be quite variable in colour, often having patches of rusty brown and cream. They have small ears and wide foreheads, with smooth horns that are generally dark in colour. In males (yaks), the horns sweep out from the sides of the head, and then curve forward. Yaks horns grow to a length of 51 to 101 cm (20 to 40 inches) The horns of females (nags) are smaller, only 1/2 to 3/4 the length, and have a more upright shape.  Both sexes have long shaggy hair with a dense woolly undercoat to insulate them from the cold.  Their tail is long and horselike rather than tufted like the tails of other bos or bison.  There is less sexual dimorphism between yaks and nags than with bulls and cows of other breeds.  The average yak stands about 2.1 m (7 ft) tall with the average nag standing about 2 m (6 ft 7 in) tall.  Yak minotaur's physiology is well adapted to high altitudes, having larger lungs and heart than minotaurs found at lower altitudes, as well as greater capacity for transporting oxygen through their blood. Conversely, yak minotaurs have trouble at lower altitudes,and are prone to suffering from heat exhaustion above about 15 °C (59 °F). Further adaptations to the cold include a thick layer of subcutaneous fat, and an almost complete lack of functional sweat glands. Grunniens generally favour the ranger professions (hunter, ranger, slayer)

Bison Minotaurs - Homo Sapiens Bison: There is some debate among scholars as to whether h. bison is its own species or a subspecies of h. bos, but both sides have a point, so until they settle that question, we will ask the minotaurs, who definitively see themselves as different species.  H. bison is, on the average, taller and bulkier than h. bos.  They have larger heads, and broader shoulders that makes them have a more hunched appearance.  Bison are nomadic and travel in herds.  The bulls leave the herds of females at twelve or thirteen years of age, and join a herd of males, which are generally smaller than female herds. Mature bulls rarely travel alone.

The six bison minotaur breeds are;

Ancient Bison Minotaur (Homo Bison Antiquus) Called the Antique or Ancient Bison Minotaur, this species is highly endangered with no known herds numbering more than 20 adult individuals and less than ten thousand known adult specimens on any planet they are known on.  The average antique bison minotaur stands about 3.4 m (11.25 ft) with significant sexual dimorphism between sexes.  They are most commonly black or brown haired, with huge bovinid heads and smaller horns than is typical with h. bos.  Both sexes are usually horned. Their eyes are commonly brown, though blue, green and hazel eyes have been encountered and seem to appear in clusters with more blue, green and hazel eyed minotaurs appearing in some tribes than in others.  Unlike h. b. palaeosinensis, there is no significant difference in brain size or density between h. b antiquus and h. b. bison, though ancient bison minotaurs are a little less socially advanced other bison minotaurs.  Antique minotaurs favour the less advanced classes, such as Barbarian, Druid, Ranger, Shaman, and Shifter, though they are capable of learning any profession they are exposed to.

Common Bison Minotaur (Homo Bison Bison)  Also known as "buffalo men" they are the secondmost common of the minotaur breeds and most common among h. bison.  The average bison minotaur stands about 2.7 m (9 ft) with females about 30 cm (1 ft) smaller.  Commonly dwelling in nomadic herds on the plains of their homeworld, wars with h. bos explorers almost drove them to extinction.  Though bigger than h. bos taurus, they are much less violent, and more prone to diplomatic solutions.  Since earlier bos taurus' were more war-like and aggressive, they dominated much of their homeworld.  It was unheard of diseases that finally brought the invading taurens to a halt.  Influenza, small pox and scarlet fever had been around in the Buffalo Lands for centuries, but it was virgin field epidemic to the taurens.  The bos taurus invaders died by the thousands and those few who made it out or survived the various plagues, truly believed that the bisons had cursed them and wanted nothing more to do with the Buffalo Lands.  That was a few centuries ago, the buffalo men have recovered considerably, though they are still less common than the bos'.  Hunter and Ranger are the most commonly practiced professions among h. b. bisons, seconded by Druid and Shaman, though there are a fair number of common bison minotaur Alchemists, Shifter, Skalds, Slayers, Sorcerers, and Vigilantes.

Long-horned Bison Minotaur (Homo Bison Latifrons) B. latifrons is enormous, possibly the biggest minotaur to walk the planet.  The average long-horned bison minotaur stands 4.1 m (13 ft 9 in) with a horn span of 2.1 m (7 ft), and very little sexual dimorphism.  Unfortunately, they are in decline.  Scholars suggest that there is less than twenty-five thousand adult specimens of h. b. latifrons left on their homeworld and less than ten thousand more scattered throughout space.  The long-horned bison minotaur is most often brown-haired with darker hair on their heads and tails, but can be blonde, ruddy or black haired as well.  They are most commonly brown eyed with rare instances of blue and green.  These minotaurs are, by far, the most docile of minotaur breeds and phenotypes.  They are slow to anger, quick to forgive transgressions, and pious in their worship of the minotaur ancestors.  Goblin scholars generally believe that the prodigious horns on these minotaurs are less weapons and more threat display.  When you stand 4 meters tall and have a 2 meter span of horns, you present a very big threatening figure to a predator.  Their docility is not due to a lack of brain power.  Though their brains are quite a bit larger than other homo sapiens, they are less dense and only weigh about the same as their smaller cousins.  In other words, they are not stupid, though they are less socially advanced than their more modern cousins.  Being as docile as they are, long-horned bison minotaurs make poor primary combatants like fighters and paladins, but do well in skills and arts based classes such as alchemist, bard, druid, hunter, rogue, shaman, shifter and swashbuckler.

Primitive Bison Minotaur (Homo Bison Palaeosinensis)  Primitive bison minotaurs are a evolutionary ancestor of modern bison minotaurs, much like neanderthals are to modern humans.  Though extinct on the minotaur homeworld rumours persist of sightings, much in the same way as sasquach sightings on Earth, and they may exist on some primitive worlds.  Averaging 15 to 30 cm (6 to 12 in) taller and quite a bit bulkier than common bison minotaurs, primitive bison minotaurs have a dirty, unkempt appearance, at best and some are downright mangy. Primitive bison minotaurs have smaller brains than modern bison minotaurs and more muscle mass.  Primitive bison minotaurs are aggressive omnivores, who live in hunter/gatherer communities, with the strongest bull reigning over any other male and all the females and children.  They have a higher animal protein diet than other minotaurs.  Primitive bison minotaurs favour simple classes that do not require a lot of brains, such as Barbarian, Brawler, Cleric, Fighter, Oracle, Ranger, Shaman, Shifter, or Sorcerer.

Steppe Bison Minotaur (Homo Bison Priscus) Slightly larger and bulkier than common bison minotaurs, the steppe bison minotaurs are a rapidly declining species of peaceful, highly intelligent, herd dwelling, mostly herbavores.  While they are omnivores, they generally keep their animal proteins to rodents, small birds and insects/larvae, and their wide horn span seems to be more for threat display than combat, like h. b. latifrons, though they are perfectly capable of fighting with them.   Steppe bison minotaurs are commonly brown haired, but can be blonde, black or white (not albino) with usually brown eyes, though occassionally blue.  While larger than h. b. bison, their brains are also heavier and h. b. priscus is smarter than other humans on the average.  It also should surprise no one that steppe bison minotaurs tend to pursue cerebral classes like wizardry and psionics and indeed most of their warriors are Aegis'.

Wood Bison Minotaur (Homo Bison Bonasus)  The wood bison minotaur is the second most common of the bison minotaurs.  Typically taller and thinner than h. b. bison, they stand about 3.1 m (10 ft) tall on average though their weight is only comparable to the shorter common bison minotaur.  They also tend to be better jumpers and climbers than their common cousins, but possess less stamina and move slower.  They too are most commonly brown haired, but it is more of a honey shade than chestnut.  They also come in blonde and black hair.  Blue eyes is most common, though green happens fairly frequently as well, especially in blondes, and brown eyes are never seen on a black-haired wood bison minotaur.  Since they are more adroit than other minotaurs, they tend to favour classes that allow them to showcase their higher dexterity, such as Gunslinger, Hunter, Ninja, Ranger, Swashbuckler and Slayer.

Syncerus Minotaur - Homo Sapiens Syncerus  The actual buffalo minotaurs, h. s. syncerus was murdered to extinction by the more violent and primordial h. bos palaesondaicus and h. bison palaeosinensis some 2500 years ago.  To be fair, they were probably hunted to extinction, as all archaeological evidence, points to syncerus as being mostly unviolent family groups of quiet ruminates who consumed next to no animal protein, even grubs and insects, and had no manufactured weaponry.  And there is considerable evidence that the fire wielding primitive minotaurs cooked and ate their enemies.  It appears that their extremely wide horn span was to deter animal predators, and engage in ritual combat, as there are some records that h. s. syncerus did such things for mating rights.

The Syncerus minotaur breed is/was;

1. Giant Buffalo Minotaur (Homo Syncerus Antiquus) H. syncerus antiquus was the last of the syncerus minotaurs, hunted by homo sapien predators to extinction about 2500 years ago.  Other h. s. syncerus phenotypes died out to aggressive predators long before recorded history, but antiquus was large enough to deter any non-sapient predators.  Standing a little shy of 4 m (12 ft 6in), the horns of the giant buffalo minotaur spanned 2.7 m (9 ft) from tip to tip.  Giant buffalo minotaurs were probaby brown or black with lighter coloured hair on their heads, forearms and calves, and probably brown eyed.

Nissling - Dracohominis Pangorio Nissus: The nisslings are a race of tiny dragon-men that emigrated, accidentally from their original world of Pangorio, to the dragon homeworld of Draconia.  Though originally they were not at all draconic, and part of the family crocodylidae; Crocodylus Homo Nissus.  When nisslings found themselves on Draconia they were taken to the Draconic Council, for their fate to be assertained.  Would they be returned to Pangorio, to their own world and time (it was assertained that they had come some ten thousand years into their future), or would they be assimilated into the world and culture of the dragons.  Many of the draconic clans were convinced that the little reptile-men were dragons, but try as they might, they could not find any draconic blood among the nisslings.  They could, on the other hand, find plenty of evidence that dragons had interacted with nisslings in the past.  Many black, green, copper and forest dragons had traces of nissling blood dating back from (acquired by alchemical dating methods) before the Age of Dragonmen, some five to seven thousand years ago.  Even the Ancient Wyrm Oolong Tesseract-Troi could not remember that far back. 

Common knowledge holds that the Black Dragon, as he is known, is somewhere between four and seven thousand years old, but due to tesseracts caused by his relatives (usually from before the Butcher Mage's War) in the time before he fully transformed into a dragon, even he is not certain how old he is, though he probably has a better idea than a loose three thousand year span of time.  But even he has spotty memories of the time before his first metamorphosis, his childhood.  He remembers mischief with his sister, he remembers the undying love of his parents, but he also remembers the prejudice and bigotry of the high court, who assumed that he was always up to no good, even when he was just minding his own business, or doing normal stuff, like bathing.  He remembers the torture of the psychotic and psychopathic wizard who kidnapped him as a child, but he can't remmber whether he was there for six hours, six days or six years.  Born allyri, the Black Dragon, used time travel to journey to times and places no allyri had ever gone.  Rumours persist through the ages that Oolong possesses the Opal-wing ability to tesseract.

In any event, Oolong had never heard of them, so he decided he needed to ask someone with more knowledge of these things, and he had two choices, a scholar of history and an unparalleled bard; first the scholar, the bard was distracting.

Selnar was no help.  He rolled the name over and over on his tongue and seemingly randomly pulled books from the shelves, flipped through them, also apparently at random, said no a couple of times, slammed the book closed and drifted in a haze to the next book, repeating the word again.  After some where near an hour of this and hundreds of books later, Selnaris showed no signs of coming up for air and Oolong left him rambling when he was convinced that he was grabbing the same books for a second or third time.

On the other hand, Andiallyra giggled when he mentioned nisslings and sang him a song about living in the swamp that he found absolutely delightful.  Apparently it was from a legendary figure in the bard world, Kipess ("like kites with a p and alot of sss," she said) the first Nissling Bard.  Andi had hypothesized, that Nissling was the name of either a city or nation on Draconia, pre-allyri, pre-Draconic Council, pre-Elfin language.  She never had occasion to see what the Elves or Dwarves, with their longer histories might know, but since neither race had much contact with the Allyri before the Cataclysm, she doubted they knew much.  Nissling, she surmised, was located somewhere near the place where Darkeast is now, and the only written reference to Kipess she could find called him a "dragon-man" in Old Draconic.  His name was taken from a role call page salvaged from a school in the Ur city of Miribex, the ruins of which are being excavated by elven scholars.

Ogres - Homo Sapiens Brutum:  When people think of ogres, they generally think, big, hairy, smelly, overly strong, incredibly stupid brutes, hence homo sapiens brutum.  The problem with this categorisation is that there is a sizeable minority of ogres that don't fit that description at all.  Ogres like Prince Arthur Goldenwyrm III, are definitely big and distinctly strong, but hairy?  Depends on your perspective, compared to elves, he is positively a gorilla, compared to dwarves, he is a mexican hairless cat.  Smelly?  Not if he can help it!  And stupid?  Go ahead and think that, you'd be wrong, and you'll be sorry.  Or ogre-magi like Arthur's bio-father, big and hairy, and overly strong, but clean and perfumed and definitely NOT stupid.  Evil and sick, not stupid.

There are three distinct phenotypes of ogres (h. s. brutum); the common ogre (b. bellua), the high ogre (b. nobilis) and the ogre-magi (b. medeis).  Common ogres make up about 75% of encoutered ogres, whereas ogre-magi are about 20%.  Only one in twenty ogres is a high ogre.  Cross-breeding between ogre phenotypes, does not result in a mixed race, the child is either a common, high or ogre mage, with chances following the above statistics.  75% of children born to a cross-couple, will be b. bellua, 20% b. medeis, and the remainder b. nobilis.  This holds true regardless of the phenotypes of the parents, so long as they are mixed.  In births where the parent's phenotypes match, the offspring is 95% of the time a match to the parent's phenotype, but 5% of the time, they are born high ogres.

Common Ogre - Homo Brutum Bellua: Common ogres stretch the definition of sapient.  Upright a common ogre measures about 3 m (10 ft) tall but due to their distinctly stooped appearance, they usually only reach about 2.4 m (8 ft) at the top of their heads.  Despite being more than half again the height of homo sapiens sapiens, the brain of homo brutum bellua is smaller and less dense than h. s. sapiens, making them mentally and socially stunted.  However, what they lack in intellect, they make up in raw physical power.

Common ogres, and indeed ogres in general, epitomise strength.  The weakest of ogres, those considered absolutely enfeebled by other ogres, make the average human look like a child, just as the average human of other breeds makes an ogre look childish, intellectually.

Common ogres come in all the skin tones of humans, but also green, blue and red lending to ogre magi blood.  Scholars have noticed that ogres with blue, or red skin, which they believe denotes ogre magi blood, tend to average brighter than other ogres.  And those with green skin, which the believe is a throwback to an earlier iteration, tend to be more aggressive.

Ogres are also extremely under developed socially.  Hygiene doesn't rank very high on an ogre's priority list and most ogres are filthy to the point of being repugnant.  Further, they are not socially sophisticated enough to avoid incestous relationships, so negative traits, such as deformities and illnesses are prevalent among ogres, even among those who don't come from incest, as incest is far too common and even if your parents weren't related, chances are your grandparents were.

High Ogre - Homo Brutum Nobilis:  B. nobilis, the High Ogre, is an emergent species of ogre, that until recently scholars didn't even recognise as a separate species.  Now, scholars believe they are witnessing the evolution of ogres in real time.  They believe that the genetic uniformity of the ogre race reached a breaking point and forced evolution, causing a genetic explosion that resulted in the high ogre.  They point to the fact that any ogre coupling can produce a b. nobilis, but coupling between high ogres, thus far, has always resulted in another high ogre.

Physically, without the common deformities of common ogres, there is not much difference between a common ogre and a high ogre.  A high ogre stands about 3 m (10 ft) tall but doesn't have the stooped over appearance of their common relatives.  Their arms are disproportionately large for their bodies and legs but without the prevalent kyphosis of the common ogre, they do not possess a "drag-knuckle" appearance, though, like their common cousins, they are capable of moving tri or quadrepedally, and are incredibly stable on their feet compared to other homo sapiens.

The brain of a high ogre is comparable with those of common humans both in size and density, and it turns out that, without the lack of intellect, high ogres are not socially handicapped, and when reasoned with about hygiene, find the concept agreeable.  Also, though deformities among high ogres do occur, they are less common than in other human species, even when a high ogre isn't educated enough to avoid incest.  It also turns out that without kyphosis and deformities, ogres can be quite good-looking, and desirable, especially to those attracted to strength in men and women.  This is evidenced in the increase in hatgoblins, yatte, orco, bracka and dark elven oni in the Fomorian Empire.

High ogres are most commonly blue or red in colour, though common human shades exist as well.  There has yet to be discovered a pure-blooded high ogre with green skin.

Ogre Magi - Homo Brutum Medeis:  Ogre magi, so called because of their innate magical abilities, are an uncommon phenotype of ogre, that are often, to the detriment of the assumer, mistaken for high ogres.  Ogre magi are often mistakenly refered to as Oni, an asiatic monster, which is a mistake because oni are actually any breed of ogre (though it is most commonly ogre-magi) crossed with any breed of elf (most commonly sluagh).  Ogre magi are huge, even compared to other ogres.  The average ogre magi stands about 3.65 m (12 ft) tall with over-sized arms, but no kyphosis.  As a matter of fact, many ogre magi are samurai, whether in title or actual character class, and are pretty straight-backed at the best of times.  Full-blooded ogre-magi are either blue for northern island ogre magi or red for southern ogre magi, evolved near the equator.  This skin tone has about as much effect on abilities, traits, and stereotypes as does similar disparagies in the colour and amount of melanin does in humans (h. s. sapiens), which is to say, none, but both sides insist that they are superior and enslave the other in their home territories.  Like humans, blue ogre magi are "adapted" for the cold, they have extra body fat and an all around thicker build.  Blue ogre magi complain about the heat at anything hotter than room temperature.  Red ogre magi have decidedly less body fat than their blue counterparts which makes them appear taller than blues, an optical illusion.  Red ogre magi get cold easily and will develop goose pimples in less than room temperature, which they will complain about.  The hair and eyes of an ogre magi are usually of normal human shades, most commonly black hair and blue eyes. Ogre magi are drawn to cultures of rigid law and heirarchy where honour is more important than benevolence.

Orcs - Homo Sapiens Dentis: Orcs are a complicated species, like humans in general, and are difficult to shoehorn into a singular category.  These are not your Tolkien orcs, slavishly loyal to some unfathomable evil, nor are the Warcraft orcs, though they resemble them more.  Orcs are a complicated species.

The thing about orcs is that they are only recently "civilized." The current over culture of the orcs of the Toy Soldier Saga, is one of honour and personal sacrifice for the good of the whole.  There is an Empire, of Fomorians (what the "goblinoid" races call themselves). It is run much like a Federated Monarchy or a Constitutional Monarchy, with a Federation of sovereign clans coming together under the banner of a High Chief or Emperor who recently formed a constitution for the people with the assistance of the other Clan Lords and Champions.  However, the Federation is less than five hundred years old, and represents the first galactic civilization of the Fomorians in living memory.  Even the oldest elves and dragons cannot recall a time when the fomorians were so organised.  Some came close, but everytime they began to socially excel, and rise out of their tribal environment, the elves would show up and beat them back into the stone age.

Then, less than 400 years ago, a number of fomorians got together and brought the fight home to the elves, in space.  This conglomerate of semi-advanced fomorians, mostly orcs and goblins, ultimately failed in their goal of eliminating the elves, but the seeds of civilization were planted in the hearts of the fomorians, and the elves could not beat them back this time.  Led by the charismatic highlord, Elatha, the Fomorians stole away with the assistance of heroes that would've been called traitors by their people and began Fomorian Civilization, hidden deep in the unknown reaches of space.

Although there are two "breeds" of orc they are not classified as such by scholars.  When draconic scholars began the classification of humans, there was but one "orc", homo sapiens dentis. Then scholars noticed a psychical difference between two different orcs; there are the "Indigenous Orcs" and the "Balorian Orcs".  Initially, scholars thought they were looking at evolution in real time, and classified two phenotypes of orcs; Homo Dentis Primagenious and Homo Dentis Balorus. However, they soon learned that nothing genetically separates the two breeds of orc, there are simply environmental differences.  Indigenous orcs haven't had the benefits of Balorian and Fomorian society.  Balorian children are generally well fed, well adjusted and healthy, whereas hardships abound in indigenous orc culture, and infant mortality, maternal death and malnutrition are more common.  Kyphosis, or a bent over, stooped, feral appearance, is more common among Indigenous orcs often caused from malnutrition combined with protein overdoses as a child.  Also, Fomorian society is, in some ways, more advanced socially than many others.  Elatha established a public school system for Balorian children, to take place over the winter months when they were cooped up anyway, leaving the summer months for those activities that take place outside.

With social advancement came technological advancement and better food storage evolved into canning with tempered glass jars and rubber seals, and refrigeration, which led to temperature control measures in the caves, heating and cooling.  Personal hygiene, which became more common among Balorians, led to sanitation, sewer systems and combined with heating and cooling, gave the Fomorians, hot and cold running water, and general plumbing.  Plumbing and heating led to green houses, which led to better food supply and the Fomorians ate well.

Nissling

Ogres

Orcs

Otterfolk

Ratfolk

Simians

Shoggothi

Trolls

Vargyr

Wolfen