This page will discuss the races, listing them in order of commonality within the Seattle shadowrun community. Feel free to make in-character comments about them, posting as if you're responding to a Shadowlands BBS post, or start an article of your own on a specific race.
Orks have their base stats modified by +3 BOD, +2 STR, -1 INT, and -1 CHA with Low-Light (LL) vision. They're more inclined to combat roles.
All right, we all know what the anatomy textbook says about us. Bulkier than a breeder, hairier, tusks, lots of kids. We catch a lot of crap for it from the ignorant, too– tusker trogs that are no better than rats. But I'll tell you what I really see in the damp streets of the Ork Underground:
Hungry people. Eager people, ready to work and seize whatever their life can give them. Born and crammed too many together, a rough lifestyle - and heck, a number of them are born human and turn ork halfway through puberty, screwing them up in the head even further, but having a brother that was once human puts a perspective on things. We're probably the most common metahuman in this line of work too, even moreso than humans.
The turnover rate's high - teenagers eat a lot of quaalz, teenagers with extra testosterone make even smart ones dumb sometimes. Probably explains why we turgan don't completely control this market yet.
We live hard and play hard. What's not to like?
– Raggok (08:12:20/10-2-64)
Humans are the base, zero-cost race. They have a minimum of 1 in all attributes and a max of 6.
Really?
– Jack (08:15:45/4-16-64)
Dwarves have their base stats modified by +1 BOD, +2 STR, and +1 WIL with thermographic vision. No metahumanity explicitly has any enmity towards them. They are well-suited to all roles.
Ah-ha-ha-ha, fraggin' HA. That's right I'm a wee man that frags around makin' tinker toys for fraggin' UNICORNS and FAERIES. We're thick little people and all our women are bearded and ugly. HA HA HA you brilliant fraggin' drek!
I ain't sayin' you're not more likely to find a dwarf workin' on your car or in the 'trix than moppin' your floors. But we're people, there's a lot more to us than that. We're the industrious sort. You ain't gonna find a lot of panhandlin' dwarves. And yeah, sometimes… folks look down on us. Both literal and figurative-like. But we don't get too much drek from any metahuman. We ain't green an' -disgusting- an' are down-to-Earth. Maybe that's why we got our hoops bounced out of the Underground in the early 40s. But I put enough of those tuskers in the ground on the way out. Plan to come back and finish the job, one day.
The keebs and tuskers cry about getting hit on the Night of Rage. We got hit too. But while they're cryin' in their salads we're drinkin' carburetor fluid. We're gettin' drek done. And I'm still here. An' that's the take away. Dwarves're tough. We don't move easy. You wanna knock us down? You're gonna need a dozer an' an army.. You get close enough and we're gonna grab you an' rip yer ears off. And when all else fails and you try to outlast us- Well. We live a real. Long. Time. Drekheads.
– ScudtheChud (20:10:32/9-5-64)
Elves have their base stats modified by +1 QUI and +2 CHA with Low-Light (LL) vision. They're suited to most roles, but excel at conjuring.
Elves, huh? Lot of drek about the pointy eared frags holing up in Tir and turning their nose up at anyone and everyone that isn't their own. While that's true, not all of us appreciate it.
Growing up where I did, trogs everywhere would bend down to spit on you just the same. See an elf, attribute that snooty tech to all of them. It's not like it's hard to pick us out. Look for tall and pretty ones, confirm the pointy ears. Sure, you'll find a dandelion-eater residing in a tree house somewhere out in Tir, getting 'back to their roots' - or whatever new-age drek justification. Same elf will turn up that nose at eating a
decent, non-soy burger.
Take my advice, hit up one of the dive bars in Seattle if you want to meet a *real* elf. The drekheads in Portland are self-serving. If you're not their meta-type, go ready to deal with a lot of snooty remarks directed your way in polite, smiling Sperethiel. Drek, word of advice to any trogs out there working for a Sperethiel-speaking johnson? Count your money twice. Seen it happen more than once. All I'm saying? Elves are no different than any other fragger out there, it's the ones who don't think that you've got to worry about.
There is a big fragging problem in the city and it isn't the trogs who started it.
– Reo (04:15:22/4-15-64)
Gnomes have their base stats modified by +1 BOD, +1 STR, and +2 WIL with thermographic vision. Like all metavariants, they have a penalty to merchant rolls. They are an extremely small. They excel at magic and resisting it. All awakened gnomes are shamans.
Gnomes? You wanna hear about gnomes?
Wait, drekhead! I'm DOWN HERE!
No, I'm not a child. No, I don't want any fraggin' toys. Yes, I *DO* have a mustache.
Yes, I /am/ better than you. Stronger, tougher, smarter, eat less, and take up a fraction of the
room as your fat ass.
I might be tiny and have a sweet-tooth, but I'm not your fragging toy.
This is why a buncha us folks have chosen to be luddites in Europe and Asia.
– ANGLER (15:48:37/7-29-64)