Magic World: Fantasy Races

Hey guys welcome back.

So this world of mine will be inhabited by several of the races that are currently seen in fantasy settings, such as elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, half-elves, orcs, and other various things. This brings up an interesting concept though: How do you blend real historical cultures and races with non-human, yet humanoid fantasy races?

Well in my case, I'm keeping all the normal races of humans, and blending them among the "non-human" races.

So for example, among the different types of elf are European/Caucasian elves, and Asian elves, which range from the UK to Taiwan, and all through the southern continent, where the Dark Elves live. (Just don't call them Drow, aka the D-word. That's their word.)

Also there are Orcs among the Native Americans and tend to be peaceful and calm, unlike their cousins, and also among the descendants of the Mongols, and more slim, fast versions in Africa. Also it should be noted that these orcs are more like the Half-orcs found in D&D, rather than full orcs of the same setting.

Dwarves can be found in Europe, famously in Scotland, but also among the tribes of South America, among other places.

Gnomes live in a few different places, like Greece, and various countries of the middle east, such as Dubai and of course Iran, Iraq, etc, and down into Pakistan and India, but they also have a presence in Ireland.

Halflings come from all over the world, they're as diverse as Humans, and in fact are equally as regarded despite their smaller size. The ratio is about 3 humans to 1 halfling.

Half-elves are found anywhere that elves and humans are, and are the only half-breed race. Among elves they're called half-elves too by the way. Humans are inclusive, seeing half-elves as humans who have some elven blood, whereas elves are exclusive, seeing them as being "only" half-elf. However this is an old viewpoint, and changing slowly with the times.

Elves and humans as previously mentioned, are the only two races that produce offspring, but not the only two races that can mate. However when any  other two races will produce children that are either one race or the other, but never half and half. Or at least not very often. If it happens at all, it's a fluke of nature, a perhaps one in a billion chance. Those children are often born with some very strange features, like if a Dwarf has a child with a halfling for example, you get something between the two, a skinny dwarf with long dexterous fingers, and a fantastic beard.

Now while all the old prejudices remain, this affords the opportunity for a few new ones. The KKK and Skinheads are against African Americans, and the Westboro Baptists are against... well anyone who's not them, there are also organizations who oppose Gnomes, mostly because of their middle eastern heritage. There are also anti Dwarf, and Anti Elf organizations, but also Anti Human organizations as well, but for the most part, at least in the US, the grand melting pot of all nationalities, colors, races, and creeds, things are more or less okay, everyone more or less gets along, though some old prejudices are hard to avoid. Most people of other races don't trust Orcs, seeing them as hoods and/or thieves,  Orcs whose ancestors were brought to the US as a result of the slave trade still view white people with distrust and mild contempt, but again, this is a gross generalization, and is more about how people view things more than it is about how things actually are.

So there we go. I'd thought about adding Giants to the mix, but first there was a lot of scientific and biological reasons why that wouldn't work, and also I figured they would take up way too much space.

Okay, that's enough for now. I keep keeling over the keyboard, which means it's time to move along.

Comments, suggestions... yeah, you know it by now.

Thanks for reading!