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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 6526235" data-attributes="member: 6775031">There are two possibilities for why different races might tend to act differently. The first option is that it's mostly cultural, like it is between different human cultures in the real world. The second option is that there is some biological basis - some inherent difference in their anatomy, and how their brain works - which would cause them to act differently.The second option is highly unlikely, though. Dwarves and elves are too similar in visible, measurable ways, for them to be fundamentally different. It's not like the difference between humans and orks in 40k, where they really are different. Dwarves and elves have similar medical requirements, and give birth in nearly the same way. They eat most of the same foods. They react to physical stimuli in nearly identical manner. Neither one of them is anything like a sentient fungus with communal psychic abilities. There is just nothing about them physically, that would imply they are anything other than humans in some extreme fashion.That is an extreme example, and not one which I have ever seen in play. Elves and orcs can both inter-breed with humans, as can dwarves in some settings, indicating that they are all the same species at a genetic level. (The questions of elf/orc or elf/dwarf hybrids was not something that was addressed either way, since it wasn't something that would ever arise due to the cultural assumptions of the default setting.) Whatever DNA they have, which governs the formation of their brain structures, is more than 99% similar. What you are describing - one race made from stone, and another from divine blood - are just origin myths, as you would find in any two ancient cultures of real-world humans; it's unlikely that they're actually true, within any given setting. And even if you're playing in such a fantastic world that those myths are actually true, in spite of those disparate origins, then the fact that they can inter-breed means that the end result is two races which are biologically nearly identical. It would be like someone in the real world building an artificial human directly out of proteins; if the end result is close enough to a regular human that they can inter-breed, then they're close enough that the biological distinction can safely be ignored.Of note, D&D explicitly has included really alien races in the past. From what I've heard, 4E included some races that were literally made of crystals, or were sentient plants. Those races would act differently, based solely on their biology.I'm familiar with some science fiction, and the tropes associated with it. I know that, frequently, aliens are intended to serve as social commentary by being pointy-eared humans who act in a certain way. Star Trek was big on that. I know that humans are usually The Mario because Most Writers Are Human, and it's easier for the audience to relate.And I know that, if there really are intelligent aliens out there - which seems likely - then they might be really alien. They could be crystals, or oozes, or whatever. To them, every human ever born would be as similar as two peas in the same pod, in spite of whatever differences we might see between ourselves. And if those aliens existed in a fantasy world, then elves and dwarves and orcs would also seem nearly identical to humans, in spite of whatever differences those races might see between themselves.And just because we acknowledge them as Other, that does not necessarily make them monstrous. We could still be friends, of a sort, if we really wanted to. And we probably will, at some point in the future.</blockquote>

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