Racial Politics
while racism is common enough (especially among shardbound folk1 – shardfree types generally either lose such prejudices fairly soon, or die, surprised), systemic racism is rare. most people in the polychotomy define themselves firstly by their phyle membership2 – racial identity, while important, is nowhere near as significant. many would likely regard it as being about as important, identity-wise, as religion.
and so, unlike the stories that children get told before bedtime, in the real world one rarely comes across race-based kingdoms, whether of the cyclopean giant variety, the hidden elven variety, or the talking animal variety3.
that being said, racial groups, even some comparatively large ones, do exist. they tend, however, to mainly focus on cultural activities – arts, crafts, foods and the like. and while the heads of such organizations do sometimes adopt high-sounding titles, they generally have little power. these days, the Elven High King is more likely to be interested in obscure points of strategy in century-chess than in conquest.
history, nonetheless, records exceptions. the Gnome Insurgency of VI 192-203 is by now mostly the stuff of dusty old tomes, but the brief Gnoll Tyrrany of VII 112 is still part of living memory for some of the older elves (including the above-mentioned High King). the most significant racially motivated event in anything resembling recent history, of course, was the Siege of Dragons (V 150 – VI), but the question of whether the Siege began with an attack by the dragons or against the dragons continues to be a great way to get into a heated (sometimes violent) argument with historians.
1 although, keep in mind that, for some phyles (the MDC comes to mind), at least 80% of their membership are ‘bound.
2 admittedly, at least one phyle takes racial identity very seriously. but they still admit members of other, lesser, races, in, admittedly, subsidiary roles.
3 certainly, some races exhibit a tropism towards particular phyles. goblins, for example, are common in the wretched victims, elves in the all-seeing eye, dwarves in the regium.