D&D General Melf's Guide to Greyhawk: The Shield Lands

[Maxperson]

I don't think that evil, even in 1E, means "instantly begins rampaging and destroying things."

Remember, the Horned Society/Hierachs are evil as well, but they want to have a functioning government and society. Probably quite a few guildmasters across the Flanaess are evil, too, and not just the assassins and thieves.

Evil is selfish and doesn't care about anyone but themselves and their family and friends. That honestly fits well into a whole lot of societies, both fantasy and real, without much problem.

With regard to humanoids, they were basically evil raiders. Not even a neutral city would let in close to 6000 of them to settle down. It's far too great a risk. It's far more likely that non-evil humanoids made their way to the city and gradually grew to the numbers of today, raising their children to be..............people. Some would be evil. The overwhelming majority, like humans, would be neutral, just wanting to left alone to live and earn money to survive. And some would even be good.