The Races of Zora

This page’s goal is to help the player understand how the basic races of D&D live in the world of Zora and more specifically in the areas around the Empire of Ara where the campaign will be set. As such, the races will be classified as to how populous they are.
The Majority races: Human, Tiefling and Half-Elven They make a large percentage of the population of the country and all are widely accepted with very little racial tension or discrimination. They are considered the founding races of the Empire and are allowed to work in any field they are qualified to.
The Minorities Dwarfs: A small community can be found in the Empire, most of them come from the northern lands of Auriga. While there is some discrimination against them for being outsiders, they are usually respected for their craftsmanship and are considered by the people of Ara as fellow ‘Children of the stars’.
Tabaxi: This cat like beings’ hail from the islands south of The Waterfall Coast, the largest of them nicknamed by the Empire as the Island of Cats. They were conquered by the Empire 100 years ago and now most of the Tabaxi living in the mainland do so as slaves, descendants of war prisoners or as low-class workers. They tend to be treated with discrimination and are considered as “Otherkin”; not children of the stars.
Dragonborn: Very few Dragonborn immigrated from the northern isles after the great cold froze half their island, now most make a living by the edge of the great black desert, while they are considered Otherkin they are respected for their strength and resilience and feared for their imposing stature and demeanor.
Halfling: This race is quite a rare sight in the Empire and more often than not they are confused with children. Some even make themselves look like children to avoid problematic situations. Considered Otherkin by some, Children of the Stars by others. The largest population can be found in the Snake Isles where they coexist with Half-Orks.
Gnomes: Extremely rare in the continent they tend to be found in isolated communities or as immigrants from the very far away lands of Chara. People of the Empire might not even know what a gnome is; regardless of that they are seen as Otherkin.
Half-Orks: Are an extremely rare sight in the Empire. Heavily feared, most of the people of Ara only know them for the raiding and pirating they do in the southern sea. Mothers tell their children to behave or the Orks will take them to the Snake Isles to be eaten.

What about full Orks and full Elves?
Full Orks are very animalistic and while some are used by half-Orks as berkserkers, there is no real full Ork civilization other than very primitive nomadic groups.
What happened to the Elves? Nobody knows. There are many ruins all over the region that tell of a great Elven civilization in the ancient past, with technology rivaling or surpassing the present. Now the extinct Elven race only exist in the faded memories of the very few half-elven families that managed to trace or imagine their lineage to the almost mythical past