Yeah.
In sum:
• Player normally customizes and creates a species.
• The setting-description of any species offers three or more diverse examples of cultures.
• Each culture is the sum total of individual cultural backgrounds, like cards in a deck.
So similar to the way the Players Handbook encourages players to create their own Background, it is also possible to encourage players to create their own species. Ideally, a species is a feat to add a +2 ability improvement, a feat to add a +1 ability improvement along with proficiencies and-or ribbons, and a feat for a special racial ability, such as Misty Step. These feats can be reused in different ways to tweak or create a species.
Empowering the player to customize the species is most important. Even when WotC and Enworld take pains to maximize inclusiveness for reallife identities, the tradition to customize the species allows a player to resolve any unintended problematic a specific gaming table.
When officially describing a species, there should be three or more major features to choose from. For example, officially, some High Elves can have Misty Step, some High Elves can have Mage Armor, some High Elves can have Elven Accuracy. As the High Elf gains levels, they can pick up one or more of the other major features. Similarly, some Orcs might be Large (with a d6 size bonus to damage after calculation), while others have other major features. Darkvision is equivalent to a cantrip which seems equivalent to one martial weapon proficiency or two skill proficiencies.
When a player customizes a species, for example, they can choose one of the other suggestions for the major species, or swap the major feature for any feat.
Narratively, each species can have THREE abilities be prominent. For example, High Elf: Charisma, Intelligence, and Dexterity. The Player can choose ONE of these three for the ability improvement, or if the player prefers can choose any of the less typical abilities. The narrative makes clear that these three abilities a prominent and even celebrated, but dont represent all individuals.
• Player can officially customize and create a species.
Even when the player has the ability to tweak or to create a species, D&D still needs to present setting-narratives for each species, in a way that is inclusive.
Here the goal is to avoid essentialist racism, by noting both different kinds of cultures and individual diversity. Each species should have at least three notable cultures.
For example, the D&D Orc tradition is culturally something like a demonized fusion of African animists and Genghis-Khan Mongolian imperialists, and physically an animalized fusion of boar, gorilla, and neanderthal human. Traditionally, the Half-Orc playable species has low Intelligence and low Charisma, along with brute Strength and Constitution. These African-Asian tropes are Chaotic Evil.
Today, the physical prowess is admired, and individual Orcs are portrayed attractively. Yet the unfortunate tropes remain in place.
Tentatively, for the Forgotten Realms setting, I want to see:
The Orc becomes a normal playable species, replacing or in addition to the Half-Orc. (The origin of the Half-Orc assuming the rape of a human woman is also a problematic.)
The Evil "savage" Orc polytheistic Gruumsh culture can remain in place if there are notable alternative cultures.
An alternative Good "savage" Orc culture. The Many-Arrows tradition seems ok, but should probably be Good, to counter the racism of "animists are Evil primitives". I would be cool if this culture averages high Intelligence and Wisdom, in the sense of Wizardry and Druidry, flavoring as folk-medicine biological sciences and sacred coexistence with nature spirits. These Orcs are fully animistic (egalitarian neighborly coexistence with natural forces is sacred) and lack gods.
An alternative "urban" Orc culture. Where the "savage" alternative should be Good. It seems ok to me if the urban culture is Neutral, like normal humans. Here I would like to see Charismatic Orcs, operating politically. Actively avoid African American urban criminal gang tropes. Perhaps have a kind of "urban animism" that lives in sacred coexistence with urban spirits. (Compare the television series Tales from the Loop for examples of technological animism, where features of technology takes on a life of their own, in an inexplicable way that can be both wondrous or tragic. Urban fey who personify aspects of city life are possible too.) There are Orc-majority cities, as well as multi-species cities, where Orcs are one of several communities of the city.
Separately, there should also be human examples of animist, African, and Mongolian tropes that are positive and humanized.
So the Orc cultures are: Evil savage. Good Intelligent animists. Charismatic political urbanized animists. Something like that while noting there are also other cultures.
• Each species has three or more diverse cultures.
• If one of these cultures is problematic, the other two cultures need to be designed cautiously to contrast it.
• Three and more cultures convey that this species can be diverse and evolving.
While diverse cultures prevents the species from becoming essentialized, each culture itself must not become essentialized. Here the solution is to emphasize that cultures are made out of individuals. Here cultural backgrounds conveys the personal component as a member of a culture. While there can be "modal" backgrounds that are prominent within a culture and tend to characterize that culture, there are also many individuals with backgrounds that are non-modal that also comprise and round out that culture.
• Each culture is never monolithic
• A culture comprises diverse individuals defined by backgrounds.
• Modal backgrounds are the ones that are more prominent and tend to characterize the culture.
In sum:
• Player normally customizes and creates a species.
• The setting-description of any species offers three or more diverse examples of cultures.
• Each culture is the sum total of individual cultural backgrounds, like cards in a deck.
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