Hmmm. Mostly by toning up and down evil
Goblins were one of the main inspirations for my current world. I disliked Goblins being cowardly and weak and kicked around. I wanted them more like the elite warriors briefly depicted in the Dresden Files. So, The Goblin Empire is the main antagonist. They fought all the other nations to a standstill, routed the dwarves, burned out the elves, ect, it was only with a full alliance and a lot of magical oomph that the other kingdoms were able to push back the Goblin hordes. The Leaders of the Empire are Gold skinned goblins, generally have character classes and now will be much easier to represent thanks to Volo, and generally highly magical. The Greenskins are a lesser off shoot, and make up the ravening horde, constantly exploding population growth and increased mental stats. They aren't physically imposing, but every one is sneaky and doesn't fight fair. Hobgoblins take the place as the backbone of the military, strategic war leaders and more suited for the army versus army combat of large scale encounters instead of the hit and run tactics of the Greenskins. Bugbears are the breakers, the brutes, still having a modicum of stealth, and prefering ambush, but they are the heavies of the military machine that churns against the boundaries it was set with. Funny enough, they line up kind of well with the Halo Covenant. The Golds are the Prophets, the Hobs the Elites, the Bugbears the Brutes, and the Greenskins the combination of Jackals and Grunts.
Orcs therefor took on a different role. They laid aside their long war with the dwarves when the goblin empire threatened to wipe them out of existence. They are heavily influenced by their gods, and there is actually a quiet revolution going on amongst their gods, but this was the one time Gruumsh bent and agreed to an alliance. The form of the alliance is rather clever, the orcs did not agree to not conquer the lands of their allies. Instead, they agreed that as long as their allies did not attack them, they would conquer the rest of the world first, and save them for last. So the Orcs turned to a war of conquest with the Goblins, and they are one of the only nations that still enters into Goblin territory and fights, through a series of secret paths through the mountains protected by shamanistic magic. They play nice with the world, and will either agree ti stop trying to conquer the world, or simply wait to break the alliance once they are strong enough to do so. It is a very uneasy peace, but the Orcs are still weak from the Goblin Wars, so it isn't of immediate concern.
Gnolls, Minotaurs, and Trolls are all demon spawn. I like the flavor of them being like plagues and diseases that crop up from time to time and must be dealt with before they spread and cause too much trouble. Gnolls are pretty self-contained to themselves and hyenas, but Minotaurs arise mostly from cults that sink deeper and deeper under the influence of Baphomet. Trolls are literally small and weak versions of Vaprak, and I love how they just regenerate and regrow as reproduction. They are very weird.
I haven't found a place for Kobolds yet, but I did do takes on the Yuan-Ti and the Drow.
The Yuan-Ti religion revolves around ritual cannibalism and the idea of those you consume becoming part of you and then in turn whoever consumes you gains both you and the ones you consumed. It is all in the beliefs of unifying to restore the Serpent Gods so they can consume each other and unify into the World Serpent who was turn asunder at the beginning. This is possible, because the gods fed the people their blood, and in turn by consuming on another the people concentrate this blood, so that it can be increased and restored to the gods. As such, eating an unwilling individual is considered horrendous, the act of being chosen as sacrifice is an honor, and can be refused if the person believes they are not yet ready. Over all the Yuan-Ti end up more neutral, and none of my players have encountered them and their beliefs yet.
I don't use the descriptors Pure-Bloods, Malisons, and Abominations, because that is human-centric and stupid. They aren't going to call their lowest ranked "Pure" and they wouldn't call their most honored "Abominations". Instead it is Thin-Blood, Half-Blood and Full-Blood, representing how much of the blessing of the gods they have received and concentrated within themselves.
The Drow are also not neccessarily evil. Lolth was exposed to a massively concentrated dose of the Far Realms, and as such is very, very crazy. She was exposed because she placed herself between the blast and her people, painting them in her shadow, and like shadows they cannot stand the light. What happens to a society run by someone who is utterly paranoid though? Who is mad and unstable at all but the best of times? My solution was to kind of make them an entire race of the Addams Family. Trying to kill each other with poison or blades is all just good fun for about half of them, the other half take it deadly seriously. Of course, the pranks could be as minor as water buckets and grafiti as well. The point isn't killing each other, though they can do so in good spirits, but to see if they could pull the wool over each others eyes. They function and operate, mostly because Lolth's Son is a very busy bee, and they can even trust each other, after all, if your friend is close it is much easier to deceive him, snag the antidote to the poison he dosed you with and give his house key to your servant so they can paint the entire of his home in magenta polka dots.
Yet another race my players have not encountered yet, mostly becuase they are reclusive and have little interest in the surface, beyond fighting the abominations that are trying to make there way there. One thing Lolth never forgets is that she hates the Far Realms and will see them all destroyed and killed, and so her children have become very good at following her wishes.
I probably have more, but can't think of them now
