Race

Race is a basic building block of NPCs in That Which Sleeps. It describes fundamental attributes such as health, default combat statistics, and weights how the AI makes decisions. When populating a scenario, race is modified by culture. Cultures are then used to create nations.

Major races are the movers and shakers, possible world powers. Faction Races pursue their own agendas, but don't have the same presence. Minor races are much closer to being scenery, and can appear as such things as elite units and dangers.

Humans
"Lesser Race." Humans are common and uninteresting. They have the greatest scope in terms of culture and government.

Elves
"Elder Race." Likely long lived, lithe, and fond of arrows. Their POIs on the pre-kickstarter maps looked like trees. We know from Video Devlog 1 that you can decide during Scenario Creation they took over after the Old One was sealed away. That makes them extra powerful and causes the humans to hate them. They have a specialized government called an Elven Council which takes time to make decisions but can draw on considerable social resources when it does so.

Orcs
"Lesser Race." Presumably savage outsiders lurking in the hills, ready to sweep down in vast but poorly trained hordes. Karth has a special fondness for them and recruiting from them unlocks the Hordemaster.

Dwarves
"Elder Race." Solid and tough. We know from Video Devlog 3 that they get massive Defense. In the scenario The North Burns, there is a dwarf campaign in which heroes help dwarves establish a settlement. Then the dwarves start upgrading everyone's equipment.

They have the trait "To Dust": Dwarves become more mineral over time. Posting in the Bay 12 Games forums, King Dinosaur Games mentioned an ability to leave the map for the deep underground.

Gnomes
"Lesser Race." Whoopee.

Lizardmen
"Lesser Race." Definitely scaly. They favor swamps. King Dinosaur Games developer Josh claims them as his favorite race.

Flayers
"Outsiders." Humanoid, with a cephalopodian head, weird tentacles, and a reputation for munching on brains. These represent an eldritch intrusion into an otherwise fantasy-normal world. Unlike most races, they will mostly operate from the shadows. They won the first Kickstater Race election.

They are the Mind Flayers, or Illithids, originally from Dungeons & Dragons. Their name is subject to change to avoid copyright trouble.

Minotaurs
"Elder Race". They are an ancient race whose former glories are lost and who cling to existence in small tribes or in slavery. They have much ancient wisdom but their current path is one of savagery. They are great storytellers and can be a great boon for both the forces of light and of darkness. They ran a close second to the Mindflayers in the first Kickstarter Race election, but lost. They then had the highest vote for a race in the Old One or Race election, but lost to new Old Ones. They won the third Race Vote on the forums.

Racial Qualities
Much of the Modding Tutorial 1 video dwelt on the properties of the dwarves outside of the effects of their cultures and governments. These are divided into:


 * The cut of their jib: Age categories (ages when a member of the race is juvenile, mature, elderly, or ancient), education (the time, in years, between training events for juveniles), starting level and levelling rate, birth rate, and racial unity.
 * Base stats: Starting points in arcana, health, attack, investigation, will, and defense. Affect both Heroes and armed forces.
 * Personality: Opposing qualities on a scale of -10 to 10: disciplined versus creative, cautious versus bold, trusting versus cunning, devious versus honorable, selfish versus altruistic, individualistic versus diplomatic, and matriarchal versus patriarchal. -7 and 7 represent human extremes. Anything with values beyond that is crazier than we are. (Dwarves have -8 in disciplined vs creative.) There is also a variance stat.
 * Character Traits: Individuals' special quirks. A dwarf begins with the "To Dust" trait, one of the other dwarf traits, and three physical traits.
 * Racial traits: Race-wide special quirks, such as "underground."
 * The singular and plural noun, and a racial description.
 * The default portrait and the shape of the race's shield on the map.

Other Kickstarter Races
The developers occasionally hold votes on the backer forums for new content. Three races are currently known that have been in one of the polls but which did not gather enough votes.


 * The Yizrii, creatures that dwell in enormous organic "Gardens" and would rather not keep on forming frenzied swarms that ravage the lands for space for new Gardens.
 * The Dhaath, creatures made by the Old Ones to make things in turn. They are magic heavy and were dropped from the game until the Kickstarter's success again allowed rituals that can terraform the map.
 * The Dragonkin are an enigma. Dragonlike humanoids who fly around raiding. They placed last in the first election, did not do better when faced with more competition, and were dropped from the polls in favor of the Yizrii. The developers have hinted however that they will be included in the game in some form.