Ethnicity and Race in Voktegård

On Voktegård, the term "race" likely refers more to the skin tone of a species than anything else. This is distinct from ethnic cultures, which are often a blend of various species and races based on shared regional or religious history. In the Fifth Age, five of the Eight Nations have very blended populations made up of the following 7 ethnicities. (In The Fifth Age: Mørkland is home only to Mørkgoths; the The Shining Islands are home almost exclusively to Shining Islanders; and the New Dwarven City is home only to Dwarves and Gnomes.)

Vættir

(væ-TĒR) or “Blue Elves”. These were the first people brought to Voktegård by the Celestials eons ago. They very rarely have offspring with humans, and because of their particular bent on the Old Religion, they have religiously justified racial purity traditions that discourage siring children with any dark-skinned humans that would prevent the blue skin from carrying to the child. Almost without exception, Vaettir are racist, extremely religious (almost all are druids), and believe they are superior to all other life-forms on Voktegård. They abhor both the Marite cult and the Hyggoth way (especially skalds). Vaettir vehemently oppose any who would blaspheme the stars or the Celestials.

Nomads

These people historically wandered the plains in tribes. In the Fifth Age, Nomads may or may not still roam. They are composed of humans, elves, and half-elves from the now outdated "racial" groups of the "Svart", "Solbrun", and "Alfar"(ALF-är), or Pale Elves. Traditionally Nomads followed the Old Religion, but in the Fifth Age they may practice any religion they choose (or none at all).

Hyggoths

(HOO-gäths) Hyggoths are pale skinned humans, elves, and half-elves that originated in the Arr Mountains. They speak Common, Elven, and Abyssal. They practice a reformation of the Old Religion called Hyggothi that reveres a balance between the light of the stars above and the darkness below. As such, Hyggoths tend toward neutral alignments. Unlike most adherents of the Old Religion, all Hyggoths are considered to be priests of the Hyggothi spiritual path, pursuing their destiny in their own way. Bards (Skalds in Elvish) are considered keepers of the most sacred lore, although Hyggoths do have druids as well.
In the Fifth Age, Hyggoths live mostly in Gothiland, though some live in Dalland near the remnants of their ancestral homes.

Mørkgoths

(MœRK-gäths) or Barbarians are the pale humans and half-elves that serve the Forgotten Powers. They typically call them still "The Darkness" because they consider it disrespectful to imply that they ever forgot about their masters below. Because Mørkduergar are effectively extinct, the handful of them still alive on the surface are generally thought of as Mørkgoths in the Fifth Age. If a humanoid shows a Mørkgoth raiding party great battle prowess or boldness they may be offered the chance to renounce their old life, swear fealty to the Darkness, and become a Mørkgoth themselves. This is a much less common occurrence than it once was, as the Mørkgoths have been confined to Mørkland in the Fifth Age and they are slowly being hunted down by paladins. As a result of increasingly difficult living in Mørkland and the alternative of less abusive life elsewhere in the world, many Mørkgoths have defected to other nations. Most of the men (or those considered men by Mørkgoth standards) who do defect to other countries still maintain the tradition of tattooing a blue design of some sort on their face as an outward sign of their rejection of the The Forgotten Powers.

Dwarves

Duergar (DEW-ur-gär) are the descendants of those who guarded the surface from below in the mythic Third Age. There are technically three types of dwarves: "True" dwarves, Corrupted Dwarves (Mørkduergar) that are now effectively extinct, and Chymerical Dwarves (also called Gnomes). In the Dwarvish language itself, the word "dwarf" is dweorg (DWĀ-örg) and the word for Dwarvish word for Mørkduergar is erthahlafordswica (ƏRTH-al-a-FORD-zwika), literally "traitor of the land".

Shining Islanders

The dark and tan-skinned inhabitants of the Shining Islands. They have no Taint on the islands, have a capital city with gilded buildings, and practice their own secretive religion that focuses heavily on the inter-related concepts of purity, sin, and blood sacrifice.

Strangers

This term refers to any of the species that came to Voktegård during the Portal Tragedy of Gnō (or showed up randomly at the Portal some time after). This includes orcs, half-orcs, goblins, and Halflings. They have their own obscure histories, cultural traditions, and religions. The Strangers all seem to come from places in Oerth.