The mortal races generally live short lives of a few centuries at best, and while they may learn arcane magic, it rarely comes to them without effort and dedication: none of the mortal races are arcane creatures. They have spread across the face of Arda, particularly the humans, who dominate Khitai, Batubatan, Selentia, and the great plains that lie between those regions. All have souls, and can leave the Cycle of Arda for Heaven if they believe in the God of the True Faith.
Centaurs
Half-human, half-horse, the origins of the centaurs are lost in the past. Most live out on the steppes of central Arda, but centaurs are common enough throughout the settled temperate lands of Selentia and Khitai. They can breed with other centaurs or with horses, and the form of the female in the coupling determines the form of any offspring. They live short lives of around fifty years, and are proverbially tempestuous and hotheaded.
Davinans
The davinans resemble reptilian humans with dark-patterned scales over their bodies and the hairless head of a lizard, but they are warm-blooded. They dominate the equatorial jungles of tropical Mungoda and Iloilo at the base of the peninsula of Minj, and are rarely found elsewhere: there are persistent rumours of davinans living in Malatra, but there is little to justify the claims of great davinan kingdoms in the interior of Malatra. Davinans are proverbially treacherous. Like humans, they rarely live for more than a century at most.
Dwarves
Masters of metalworking and mining, the dwarves live underground in some of the mountains and hills of Arda. They are small compared to the other races, with some kingdoms having an average height between 3 and 4 feet. Most dwarves resemble humans, with the exception of the dwarves of Louvo in Minj, who resemble the kattar. Many are skilled smiths and metalworkers, and some men (women and children never leave the safety of the mountains) live on the surface among the other races. Dwarves can live for two to three centuries, and can survive for long periods of time with little food and drink. They are proverbially wealthy and greedy, much like the land-dragons.
Unlike the other mortal races, dwarves are literally creatures of the earth: they are carved from rock by their most skilled sculptors and awakened to flesh and blood life by the quality of the work and the breath of their maker. As such, dwarves do not need to eat (though they enjoy doing so), age very slowly (though they do die of old age after several centuries, and those who live among other races tend to die noticeably younger, often by a few decades) and there are no female dwarves (though they are not sexless: dwarves enjoy dallying with women, and often exchange their work for such favours).
Humans
The humans resemble the giants in appearance, but are much smaller (average height of 5 to 6 feet) with fair skin that has darkened in the hotter lands of the north. They have spread across the surface of Arda, though they rarely live underground like the dwarves and the land-dragons. They are the dominant race in almost all kingdoms of Arda: they are merely uncommon in Malatra, Minj and the eastern half of Mungoda. Even Glendal, where the fey of the south-east fled to avoid humans, still has trading ports where they live in enclaves. The great empires (Kaikuhuru, Selentium and Khitai) have all been human empires: the True Faith is the religion of the humans, whose greatest figures (Gatanades, Akabah and Duryadhi) are all human. Humans can interbreed with the fey and the giants, and the offspring of such unions are fertile.
Kattar
The kattar resemble feline humans, with short golden-brown fur over their bodies and the face and ears of a cat. They come from the tropical peninsula of Minj, where they are the dominant race, and from where they spread first to Batubatan and then to the coastal kingdoms of temperate Selentia. The origins of the kattar are unclear: while the humans are clearly the descendants of the giants, the kattar have no obvious antecedents. It may be that the old legends about their journey south from lands far north and east of the island of Vien are true. In those legends, the kattar are the survivors of a once-great empire that sank into the Great Northern Ocean in a great cataclysm. Why this land is not known to the giants or the gods is not explained: although most kattar are pagan, they do not worship the gods of the humans. Instead, their religion focuses on the fey. Like humans, kattar rarely live for more than a century, and are proverbially curious and prone to travelling.
Lesser Giants
The lesser giants are larger than the humans they resemble, usually 9 to 10 feet tall, and more often than not display the same tempestuous nature and sense of honour that is associated with the giants. There are two distinct groups of lesser giants, the Mercanians of the far south and the Taboti of the Mountains Under Heaven. Unlike their far larger relatives, the lesser giants can breathe freely below the heights of the mountains.
Mercanians resemble the humans of the Mistral Sea, fair of skin and hair, and are found throughout the lands that border that sea. They are particularly attuned to the cold south, and find the lands north of the Nenian Mountains almost intolerably hot throughout most of the year. The blood of the Giants runs in their veins, and they are easily roused to violent and excessive emotions. Mercanians live for one and a half to two centuries, and are proverbially honourable.
Taboti resemble the darker-skinned humans of Batubatan, but have four arms instead of two. They predominate in Tabot, are widespread throughout Masulpatam and Batubatan, and rare in Khitai, where they are not trusted by the imperial authorities.
Rumours persist of a third group of lesser giants in Lower Malatra that resemble the davinans, sometimes with two arms and sometimes with four. These rumours clearly have as much substance as the claims of davinan kingdoms in the interior of Malatra.