The Sentient Races

The sentient races is a term used in Cambrium to encompass all races that express sentient thought. While it often excludes beastkin or monstrous folk that choose not to follow the majority of social norms, it does include those who do follow societal norms. Below is a list of all the playable sentient races that players have access to in Cambrium in regards to being common, uncommon and rare.
Please keep in mind that this is not accurate for all areas of Cambrium, but instead takes the median of sentient race commonality. There are areas where humans may be more uncommon than mountain dwarves, or places such as the underdark where drow and duergar are more common.

Common

• Aarakocra
• Bugbear
• Dwarf (Hill)
• Elf (Half-Elf, High, Wood)
• Genasi (Air, Earth, Fire, Water)
• Gnome (Forest, Rock)
• Goblin
• Goliath
• Halfling (Lightfoot, Stout)
• Harengon
• Hobgoblin
• Human
• Kenku
• Kobold
• Leonin
• Orc (Full, Half-Orc)
• Owlin
• Shifter
• Tabaxi
• Tiefling (Standard, Variant)
• Verdan

Uncommon

• Dwarf (Mountain)
• Eladrin
• Elf (Drow, Sea, Shadar-Kai)
• Fairy
• Firbolg
• Giff
• Grung
• Hadozee
• Halfling (Ghostwise)
• Hexblood
• Lizardfolk
• Locathath
• Loxodon
• Minotaur
• Satyr
• Simic Hybrid
• Tortle
• Triton
• Dhampir

Rare

• Aasimar
• Centaur
• Changeling
• Custom Lineage
• Dragonborn (All subraces)
• Dwarf (Duergar)
• Elf (Astral, Moon, Sun)
• Gith (Yanki, Zerai)
• Gnome (Auto, Deep)
• Half-Dragon (All subraces)
• Plasmoid
• Reborn
• Thri-Kreen
• Tiefling (Zmeyian)
• Vedalkan
• Warforged
• Yuan-Ti

Cultural Changes

This is primarily in comparison with the cultural aspects of races from D&D 5e's Forgotten Realms, and what difference there is between it and Cambrium. Some may not have many or any changes at all, while others will have drastic changes.

Drow

The drow subrace does not have the same evil connotations in Cambrium as they do in Forgotten Realms. Though drow are still seen as dangerous, it is not because they are an inherently evil subrace as Lloth is not their main deity. Instead, the drow tend to forgo any of the known deities and instead worship a figure known as the Woundfather, as do all the subterranean sentient races. Most descriptions of this entity often take the form of a huge, burrowing worm of some sort, but no decisive evidence has ever been found as to the Woundfather's appearance.
Drow in Cambrium are a female-only subrace, which means that biologically all drow are assigned female at birth. While it is possible that male drow can be born it is extremely rare, and what happens to the male drow that are born remains a mystery. Instead, in order to procreate drow will travel to the surface to search for a suitable mate that characterises what they wish in a child - strength, intelligence, cunning, certain looks, etc. Once a child is conceived they have no further contact with the male partner and return to the Underdark. A child conceived this way is always drow and will always be a full-blooded drow. This journey, when a drow decides to take it, is known as the Matriarch's Pilgrimage, and has gained the attention of unsavoury individuals looking for the opportunity to experience a sexual encounter with a drow partner. Most of these people end up dead or heavily mutilated for being unworthy.
Drow culture can be likened to shinobi and other ninja-like cultures. They excel in subterfuge, assassinations, poisons and illusion magic. This is what earned them their dangerous reputation rather than their worship to Lloth and questionable cultural practises. Although other races can be trained in the art form of the shinobi it is believed that none can ever be as talented as the natural gift of the drow. Rather than spiders being the de facto symbol of the drow, in Cambrium it is a snake - specifically the black mamba.

Sun and Moon Elves

Taking the mantle of most despised elf subraces are the sun and moon elves, due to their connections to the evil sun and moon deities Sköll and Hati. It is believed that these two subraces were created with a spark of divinity from the twin deities, Hati creating the moon elves first and Sköll, growing envious, making the sun elves second. Although sun and moon elves are not inherently evil, their culture is often looked down upon by other sentient races because of any real or perceived connection to the apocalypse deities. Their culture can be likened to Aztec and Mayan cultures respectively, sharing similarities but also having stark differences between them, while also constantly being at war with one another. This is because, at the heart of both of their cultures, they believe that it is their creator deity that starts the apocalypse, and so contends with the other in order to ensure their opposing prophecies do not come to fruition. This has caused many bloody, chaotic wars between them, though this conflict has died down somewhat in the past century.
Sun and moon elves are a rarity in places dominated by other sentient races, and some will actively avoid civilisation altogether in order to avoid persecution. Those that do choose to venture into cities and settlements that are not dominated by their own kind often find themselves met with suspicious glances, unfavourable treatment and sometimes outright refusal by vendors or merchants. Even those who do not follow the doctrine of the apocalypse deities find it a struggle not to be judged for what they were born as.

Beastkin

Beastkin refers to sentient races that have more animalistic proportions or may be seen as less 'civilised' than others. This includes goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, minotaur, centaurs, orc, grung, kobold and locathath. While many still have fairly primal cultures (Goblins, bugbears, grung, kobold and locathath specifically) they are not always treated with the same outright hostility as they might in the Forgotten Realms. Similar to the sun and moon elves they are often met with unfavourable treatment and the occasional hostile stranger in busy cities and other settlements.
Hobgoblins, orc, minotaur and centaurs are usually seen as wardens of nature in Cambrium. They are often druids or rangers that protect their habitats (Cave systems for hobgoblins, forests for orc, mountains for minotaur and steppe/grasslands for centaurs), so while they may be more tribalistic in nature in comparison to present day culture they are at least seen as 'the noble savages' of the beastkin world. While their presence is similarly uncommon in busy cities, they tend not to meet with the same hostility as the 'lesser' beastkin, as many would describe them. As such, they are often separated into two categories: lesser beastkin for goblins, bugbears, grung, kobold and locathath, and greater beastkin for hobgoblins, orc, minotaur and centaurs. Bugbears are considered the top of the food chain and cultural hierarchy for the lesser beastkin, while hobgoblins and orc are often tied for the greater beastkin, varying depending on location.
It is considered impolite to refer to these sentient races as beastkin openly, as many of the 'greater' races have been fighting against the animalistic connotations of such a description. Instead, a movement that has been taking off throughout Cambrium instead refer to these cultures as clans - for example, the goblin clan or the minotaur clan, and a person from those races are clansmen, clanswomen or clansfolk. The term 'clansmen' does not have the same negative connotation in Cambrium as it does in the real world. Within these clans are more subclans, each one as diverse as the other, which often house one or two, or sometimes three, different family lines under one clan leader, to whom they swear fealty to. For example, the Bloodfang clan is a well-known bugbear clan situated in the Dragon's Throat mountain range that is famous for its berserker barbarians.