Az discusses some of this in His own book, but I’ll share this with you so you can see how I worked my mythology.
It’s known that 4 is a sacred number in a lot of cultures, and in Trials it is no different. There are 4 “base” races, from which all other races are variations of: humans, dwarves, elves, and goblins. (The dwarven race is no wise related to other races born with “dwarfism”).
How does this fit into the Balance? Good, Evil and Neutrality must all have their due, and in equal amounts, and it falls out that goblins represent evil, dwarves represent good, and humans represent neutrality. Don’t get offended like Frank did; the race represents the morality, but of course, the Balance trickles further down because there are equal amounts of good, evil and neutral within each. As in, yes, there are actually good goblins (not easily found, otherwise they wouldn’t last long among their fellows), and there are some nasty dwarves (not such a surprise with a race known for drinking and loving the more precious gifts from the Worlds), and we know humans represents every drop on the spectrum.
Hey, you say, what about the elves? Well, the gods played tricky with them, and even Az may not be completely forthcoming about why they were made the way they were, but the elves were split into 3 subraces, which is touched upon in Break. There are the Heighkyn, or Fair Elves, the Dharkyn, or Black Elves, and the Rhiankyn, or Red Elves. These names are not meant to denote skin color (although some believe the Rhiankyn are called Red Elves for their habit of painting themselves in blood before a battle), but to denote their hearts, again….broken down to represent good, evil, and neutrality.
A point of interest…yes, the Heighkyn represent good, but the vast majority of mortals have the others backwards. The Dharkyn actually represent neutrality, and the Rhiankyn represent evil, whereas most believe it to be the other way around. The Rhiankyn are quite simply a nomadic, war-loving race, given to senseless violence and feuding. The Dharkyn may be more prone to dabble in dark magicks, but overall, they are almost apathetic.
And as Azzie is wont to mention, the neutral races are just so much more fun to be around.
azbaelus 