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Description
A simple sketch I made of the Core Races of Westwall, I made this alongside their vital stats however I changed a few last minute so ended up removing them from the picture and adding them in the description instead:

The true and original Core Races are simply Human, Dwarf, Aelf, and Orc
but Goblin and Ogre are fairly prominent politically in the world of westwall, and Goblins best fill the role of the diplomatic character so I added them

My approach to fantasy races with Westwall has always been in stark contrast to cosmetic races popularized by the likes of MMOs and other "balance" obsessed multiplayer games.
Cosmetic races being races that differ in no way besides appearance.

This is Fantasy, when someone plays a brutish orc they should feel as if they are an Orc besides simply looking the part.
An inverse example would be Baldur's Gate 3, where they did away with the different racial stats of DND in favor of having all races be functionally the same.

Gnomes, Orcs and Dragonborn all share the same strength and strength potential...

Races in Westwall however, are very different from each other
Their differences in physical and mental abilities have shaped them and their cultures in different ways.
Playing a character against the grain will be unique and challenging in it's own way, but is not impossible, just different.

The idea that having identical races somehow offers more roleplay options is the silliest of all, as if there are no differences there is no roleplay.
One cannot roleplay the uncharacteristically strong gnome if all gnomes are as strong as orcs.

Anyhow, those numbers don't mean much on their own so here is more information.

First things first, The Special stats themselves
SPECIAL stats
These fundamental statistics are your character's natural abilities, they are affected by one's race/class and traits and are very static, they are not easily changed.

Strength:
Strength represents your physical prowess and brute force
Perception:
Perception represents your senses and general awareness
Endurance:
Endurance represents your durability and toughness
Intelligence:
Intelligence represents your ability to learn, as well as your logic and problem solving ability
Agility:
Agility represents your speed, grace and reflexes
Lore:
Lore represents your combined magical potential

---
Westman:
Meadow Folk

The Meadow Folk of Westwall are a hardy and good-natured race. Defenders, Paladins, and Rangers, the men of the West never leave a comrade behind.
Strength: 11 -
The Meadow Folk are a stocky and strong race, oftentimes farmers and guards, they have no problem with heavy lifting and martial combat

Perception: 9 -
Though not lacking strongly in any sensory abilities, the meadow folk are nonetheless quite domesticated in their ability to perceive threats, Socially: their lessened awareness gives them the reputation of being naïve

Endurance: 12 -
Hardy and durable, the Meadow Folk are known to be able to work long days with little complaints, they are enduring and are often calm under pressure.

Charisma: 11 -
Friendly and agreeable, the meadow folk are a warm people known for their confident and generous personalities.

Intelligence: 10 -
of average Intelligence, the meadow folk are neither quick nor dull, though their humble nature leads some to think of them as slow, this is simply not the case and they just lack the conniving cowardice of the lesser races and prefer honesty over guile

Agility: 9 -
Although not particularly encumbered and of steady foot, the meadow folk nonetheless lack the grace necessary to excel as rogues or assassins. They are decidedly blue collar in most endeavors, preferring brute force to a graceful touch. Overall the Meadow Folk make better marathon runners than sprinters.

Lore: 0
Westmen, as most races, are not inherently magical , although of course magically gifted humans do exist, they nonetheless have no default affinity and are a rarity.
Only 1 in 1000 westfolk have enough mana to be a proper mage.

---
Dwarf
Stoneskin Dwarves

The ruling race of the Dwarven Mountains, often called True Dwarves to differentiate themselves from their low born cousins, the Stoneskin dwarves are golem like hulking masses of dense armor-like skin and sinewy muscle.
They are as immovable as the mountain they reside in.

Strength: 14
The Stoneskin Dwarves are incredibly strong, in terms of raw lifting ability they can lift and carry items many times their own weight, which is a feat other races stronger than them cannot boast.

Perception: 8
The beady eyes and stubby ears of the dwarves are below human standards.
Many an old dwarf may be called deaf by human standards, and this reflected in their booming voices.
Dwarves evolved to live within deep cavernous lairs, where strong vision and advanced hearing are of lesser value to them.
The folks of Westwall add that the Dwarves sense of taste is by far their worst sense, though the dwarves disagree.

Endurance: 18
Mountainous, Immovable, Nearly Immortal, are all words that have been used to describe the Dwarves.
Hulking masses of muscle, bones many times the density of humans and even orcs, massive chests with powerful lungs, the dwarves are a marvel of durability.
Dwarven Endurance is evident in every facet of their being.
From their longevity, boasting the longest lifespan of any core race, to their poison and disease resistance, to their simple ability to drink any race under the table with ease, and even their unwavering temperament with a dwarf's heart rate rarely raising under situations others would consider stressful, the dwarves are a uniquely enduring race.

Charisma: 8
Blunt, judgemental, and rigid in social situations, the dwarves have often been considered to be lacking in charisma, their dry, stoic and wiser than thou attitudes rub many folks the wrong way.
Biologically, the dwarves have less expressive features than humans, with their beards, dark sclera, and lightly glowing eyes further limiting their range of expression.

Intelligence: 9
Although the dwarves may seem smart by human standards, due to their many advancements, impressive crafts and comparable knowledge, most of this is owed to their longevity, temperament, work ethic, lack of magic, and more logic based thinking than raw intelligence. In reality the dwarves naturally have a low metabolism and things just work slower, including their thoughts.
That's not to say they are dumb by any means, just not as quick as the faster thinking human races.

Agility: 7
Truly, all of the dwarves strengths naturally lead to them having this glaring weakness.
The Dwarf is a cumbersome tank of a being, and their movements echo that. Heavy thundering footsteps, short limbs and sturdy less flexible bones and joints don't make for a particularly dexterous race.
Besides that, their known longevity and durability leads them to value speed very little, dwarves do things slow and methodically and are not concerned with the impatience of the lesser races.

Lore: -1
Although Dwarves using magic are not unheard of, the dwarves magical affinity is naturally lower than others. To compensate for their poor magical abilities dwarves focus on runesmithing, using magically infused runes to increase their abilities.
Contrary to other magically weak races, dwarves have a natural resistance to magic, some speculate this resistance is why it is so difficult for dwarves to become mages to begin with.
---

Aelf
High Aelf

The High Elves of the Arcane Sanctum are a long lived, honorable, proud and intelligent race. Physically they are an imposing sight, standing two head taller than the average westman, with long thick hair often worn high that further contributes to their stature.
Physically they are fast moving, with quick reflexes and sharp vision.

Strength: 8
Although one could be mistaken into thinking the Elves are physically formidable with their superior height and length of limb, the reality is that the elves thin gracile bones and less dense musculature makes them much weaker than humans.

Perception: 12
Elves have sharp eyesight, their sharp angular eyes are much more effective than the average human.

Endurance: 7
The Elves stature coupled with their thin lean frames leaves them relatively fragile. Although not extraordinarily weak by any means, they are nonetheless more vulnerable than their size would indicate.

Charisma: 10
Elven Charisma is a balancing act, although the elves are known for their depth, passion, and morality, their dark sclera, craning necks, sharp stare, and stoic posture makes them seem less trustworthy.
Oftentimes they tend to come off as condescending or patronizing, even without meaning to.
They are bold and dramatic, but oftentimes cryptic, and lacking in common sense.

Intelligence: 12
Highly intelligent, the high elves are deep minded, reflective, philosophical, and put great thoughts into their crafts and skills.
Despite this, the elves are in some ways the least technologically advanced race, though in terms of comforts, aesthetics, and ornate works they excel, they have little to no mechanical expertise and in fact look down on the technologically reliant race as corrupted.

Agility: 13
Graceful, elegant, with fine control of every movement, the elves deft hands craft beautiful works of amazing detail and their dances are intricate and beautiful to behold.
In combat, those natural talents give them improved swordsmanship, with their superior reach and quick precise movements, elven blademasters are a cut above the rest, to the point where they sometimes toy with lesser combatants to give them a fighting chance.

Lore: 0
Despite the average natural Lore ability of 0, elves are in fact far more magically gifted than the other core races.
Not all elves have magical ability, in fact, most do not, but when they do, their abilities easily surpass most other races.
The outer regions of the elven territories typically boasts 1 in 100 magically gifted elves
with the inner high city around the sanctum tower itself boasting as many as 1 in 10
Magic is highly entwined into elven life and culture.

---

Orc
Eastern Orc

The Orcs of Fire Mountain are the bane of civility, peace and progress. They are cruel, violent, ruthless, and their entire culture revolves around strength and war.
Strength: 16
By far the strongest of all of the Core Races, Orcs have been known to tear spines from their enemies with a single pull, crush human skulls with one hand, and flip over entire caravans with a charge.
Their muscles are dense and powerful, with the majority of their strength being in their limbs and upper body.
The orc is built for damage, lacking the lifting power and burden capacity of a dwarf due to a relatively weak core.(Though not weak by any human standard of the word.)

Perception: 10
The Orcish perception is well developed, superior to the average human, allowing them to effectively hunt down their prey

Endurance: 12
The Orcs are a rugged and survivable race, their rough skin, dense bones and powerful musculature provides them defense from enemy combatants.
Yet despite this, they are not known for their longevity, a naturally high blood pressure, near constant state of agitation, and a tendency to commit more power than their bodies can handle causes orcs to have the shortest lifespan of all of the core races.

Charisma: 6
Orcs don't converse so much as they command, snarl, growl and shout.
Uncaring, Blunt, and Crass are the ways in which one could explain Orcish Communication.
Physical body language, scent and actions say more to orcs than do words.
In that way towards each other they are capable of organizing and formulating effective strategies for war, but to other races they are usually considered rude at best and bestial at worst.

Intelligence: 7
Orcs have a certain low cunning that might give someone the impression that they are smarter than they are.
In reality they are quite simple in their thinking and have little care to learn things that are not directly related to war or combat.
Higher learning is of no interest to them, and the pursuit of knowledge a waste in the eyes of an orc.

Goblin biologists measuring their brain power were surprised that a race that conquered much of the continent and had weapons of war beyond other races were so weak minded.
Instead, their advancements are related to their short fast lives, orcs do not waste time, they are determined, fast thinking, and have a cold logic to their thoughts, unburdened by nuance and detail they have a binary way of processing the world.
Their penchant for enslavement and theft contributed greatly to their technological advancements as well, raiding the best tech and having no inertia or attachment to their own creations.

Agility: 11
Fast and explosive is the orcish agility, though not graceful by any means the orcs are nonetheless fast moving and have superior twitch reflexes.
They move faster than humans, swing their weapons faster, and their long quick limbs coupled with naturally superior reflexes makes them dominate combat against slower combatants.

Lore: 0
Like all of the core races, the average orc does not possess an inherent magical ability, though the percentage of orc's with magical ability is greater than that of humans, and far greater than that of goblins and dwarves.
When Orcs do possess magical ability they are almost exclusively pyromancers and firelords, with other forms of magic much less common.
Orc Mages also possess a lowered spell count albeit each spell is more powerful compared to humans.

---

Goblin:
Cove Goblin

Strength: 7
Goblin possess a certain wiry strength for their size, most of which is in their forelimbs, they have quite a strong grip and dense sturdy bones.
Pound for pound goblins are not a weak race, however larger races can overpower them.

Perception: 13
Goblins are highly perceptive, noticing tiny details that others overlook, they can see better in the dark than humans and their sense of smell and hearing are equally superior.
Besides that they are highly socially perceptive.

Endurance: 7
For their size goblins possess a rugged toughness, but ultimately are not as durable as their larger counterparts.

Charisma: 13
Goblins are renowned for their shrewd diplomacy, cunning use of language, and perceptive empathy.
Some goblins have even been considered to be mind readers, in reality these so called psychics are usually just have highly developed sense of empathy.
(Goblin empathy does not mean sympathy however...)

Intelligence: 14
Goblins are known to be very clever, always a few steps ahead, goblins stack and rig the game in their favour, no matter the game they're in.

Agility: 10
Although they look rather stocky with their thick joints and robust bodies, the goblins are quite agile, their motor skills are highly developed and their light weight gives them an advantage in speed.
They are also adept climbers, and quick on the draw.

Lore: -2
Goblins are the least magical of the core races
Goblin wizards are more of a fable that folks talk about as to anything anyone's really seen.

It is not impossible for goblins to have magic, but simply very rare.
Goblins attest that there's nothing magic can do that their tech can't do better, so have little reason to care about this.(Unmagical Cope)

Description
A simple sketch I made of the Core Races of Westwall, I made this alongside their vital stats however I changed a few last minute so ended up removing them from the picture and adding them in the description instead:

The true and original Core Races are simply Human, Dwarf, Aelf, and Orc
but Goblin and Ogre are fairly prominent politically in the world of westwall, and Goblins best fill the role of the diplomatic character so I added them

My approach to fantasy races with Westwall has always been in stark contrast to cosmetic races popularized by the likes of MMOs and other "balance" obsessed multiplayer games.
Cosmetic races being races that differ in no way besides appearance.

This is Fantasy, when someone plays a brutish orc they should feel as if they are an Orc besides simply looking the part.
An inverse example would be Baldur's Gate 3, where they did away with the different racial stats of DND in favor of having all races be functionally the same.

Gnomes, Orcs and Dragonborn all share the same strength and strength potential...

Races in Westwall however, are very different from each other
Their differences in physical and mental abilities have shaped them and their cultures in different ways.
Playing a character against the grain will be unique and challenging in it's own way, but is not impossible, just different.

The idea that having identical races somehow offers more roleplay options is the silliest of all, as if there are no differences there is no roleplay.
One cannot roleplay the uncharacteristically strong gnome if all gnomes are as strong as orcs.

Anyhow, those numbers don't mean much on their own so here is more information.

First things first, The Special stats themselves
SPECIAL stats
These fundamental statistics are your character's natural abilities, they are affected by one's race/class and traits and are very static, they are not easily changed.

Strength:
Strength represents your physical prowess and brute force
Perception:
Perception represents your senses and general awareness
Endurance:
Endurance represents your durability and toughness
Intelligence:
Intelligence represents your ability to learn, as well as your logic and problem solving ability
Agility:
Agility represents your speed, grace and reflexes
Lore:
Lore represents your combined magical potential

---
Westman:
Meadow Folk

The Meadow Folk of Westwall are a hardy and good-natured race. Defenders, Paladins, and Rangers, the men of the West never leave a comrade behind.
Strength: 11 -
The Meadow Folk are a stocky and strong race, oftentimes farmers and guards, they have no problem with heavy lifting and martial combat

Perception: 9 -
Though not lacking strongly in any sensory abilities, the meadow folk are nonetheless quite domesticated in their ability to perceive threats, Socially: their lessened awareness gives them the reputation of being naïve

Endurance: 12 -
Hardy and durable, the Meadow Folk are known to be able to work long days with little complaints, they are enduring and are often calm under pressure.

Charisma: 11 -
Friendly and agreeable, the meadow folk are a warm people known for their confident and generous personalities.

Intelligence: 10 -
of average Intelligence, the meadow folk are neither quick nor dull, though their humble nature leads some to think of them as slow, this is simply not the case and they just lack the conniving cowardice of the lesser races and prefer honesty over guile

Agility: 9 -
Although not particularly encumbered and of steady foot, the meadow folk nonetheless lack the grace necessary to excel as rogues or assassins. They are decidedly blue collar in most endeavors, preferring brute force to a graceful touch. Overall the Meadow Folk make better marathon runners than sprinters.

Lore: 0
Westmen, as most races, are not inherently magical , although of course magically gifted humans do exist, they nonetheless have no default affinity and are a rarity.
Only 1 in 1000 westfolk have enough mana to be a proper mage.

---
Dwarf
Stoneskin Dwarves

The ruling race of the Dwarven Mountains, often called True Dwarves to differentiate themselves from their low born cousins, the Stoneskin dwarves are golem like hulking masses of dense armor-like skin and sinewy muscle.
They are as immovable as the mountain they reside in.

Strength: 14
The Stoneskin Dwarves are incredibly strong, in terms of raw lifting ability they can lift and carry items many times their own weight, which is a feat other races stronger than them cannot boast.

Perception: 8
The beady eyes and stubby ears of the dwarves are below human standards.
Many an old dwarf may be called deaf by human standards, and this reflected in their booming voices.
Dwarves evolved to live within deep cavernous lairs, where strong vision and advanced hearing are of lesser value to them.
The folks of Westwall add that the Dwarves sense of taste is by far their worst sense, though the dwarves disagree.

Endurance: 18
Mountainous, Immovable, Nearly Immortal, are all words that have been used to describe the Dwarves.
Hulking masses of muscle, bones many times the density of humans and even orcs, massive chests with powerful lungs, the dwarves are a marvel of durability.
Dwarven Endurance is evident in every facet of their being.
From their longevity, boasting the longest lifespan of any core race, to their poison and disease resistance, to their simple ability to drink any race under the table with ease, and even their unwavering temperament with a dwarf's heart rate rarely raising under situations others would consider stressful, the dwarves are a uniquely enduring race.

Charisma: 8
Blunt, judgemental, and rigid in social situations, the dwarves have often been considered to be lacking in charisma, their dry, stoic and wiser than thou attitudes rub many folks the wrong way.
Biologically, the dwarves have less expressive features than humans, with their beards, dark sclera, and lightly glowing eyes further limiting their range of expression.

Intelligence: 9
Although the dwarves may seem smart by human standards, due to their many advancements, impressive crafts and comparable knowledge, most of this is owed to their longevity, temperament, work ethic, lack of magic, and more logic based thinking than raw intelligence. In reality the dwarves naturally have a low metabolism and things just work slower, including their thoughts.
That's not to say they are dumb by any means, just not as quick as the faster thinking human races.

Agility: 7
Truly, all of the dwarves strengths naturally lead to them having this glaring weakness.
The Dwarf is a cumbersome tank of a being, and their movements echo that. Heavy thundering footsteps, short limbs and sturdy less flexible bones and joints don't make for a particularly dexterous race.
Besides that, their known longevity and durability leads them to value speed very little, dwarves do things slow and methodically and are not concerned with the impatience of the lesser races.

Lore: -1
Although Dwarves using magic are not unheard of, the dwarves magical affinity is naturally lower than others. To compensate for their poor magical abilities dwarves focus on runesmithing, using magically infused runes to increase their abilities.
Contrary to other magically weak races, dwarves have a natural resistance to magic, some speculate this resistance is why it is so difficult for dwarves to become mages to begin with.
---

Aelf
High Aelf

The High Elves of the Arcane Sanctum are a long lived, honorable, proud and intelligent race. Physically they are an imposing sight, standing two head taller than the average westman, with long thick hair often worn high that further contributes to their stature.
Physically they are fast moving, with quick reflexes and sharp vision.

Strength: 8
Although one could be mistaken into thinking the Elves are physically formidable with their superior height and length of limb, the reality is that the elves thin gracile bones and less dense musculature makes them much weaker than humans.

Perception: 12
Elves have sharp eyesight, their sharp angular eyes are much more effective than the average human.

Endurance: 7
The Elves stature coupled with their thin lean frames leaves them relatively fragile. Although not extraordinarily weak by any means, they are nonetheless more vulnerable than their size would indicate.

Charisma: 10
Elven Charisma is a balancing act, although the elves are known for their depth, passion, and morality, their dark sclera, craning necks, sharp stare, and stoic posture makes them seem less trustworthy.
Oftentimes they tend to come off as condescending or patronizing, even without meaning to.
They are bold and dramatic, but oftentimes cryptic, and lacking in common sense.

Intelligence: 12
Highly intelligent, the high elves are deep minded, reflective, philosophical, and put great thoughts into their crafts and skills.
Despite this, the elves are in some ways the least technologically advanced race, though in terms of comforts, aesthetics, and ornate works they excel, they have little to no mechanical expertise and in fact look down on the technologically reliant race as corrupted.

Agility: 13
Graceful, elegant, with fine control of every movement, the elves deft hands craft beautiful works of amazing detail and their dances are intricate and beautiful to behold.
In combat, those natural talents give them improved swordsmanship, with their superior reach and quick precise movements, elven blademasters are a cut above the rest, to the point where they sometimes toy with lesser combatants to give them a fighting chance.

Lore: 0
Despite the average natural Lore ability of 0, elves are in fact far more magically gifted than the other core races.
Not all elves have magical ability, in fact, most do not, but when they do, their abilities easily surpass most other races.
The outer regions of the elven territories typically boasts 1 in 100 magically gifted elves
with the inner high city around the sanctum tower itself boasting as many as 1 in 10
Magic is highly entwined into elven life and culture.

---

Orc
Eastern Orc

The Orcs of Fire Mountain are the bane of civility, peace and progress. They are cruel, violent, ruthless, and their entire culture revolves around strength and war.
Strength: 16
By far the strongest of all of the Core Races, Orcs have been known to tear spines from their enemies with a single pull, crush human skulls with one hand, and flip over entire caravans with a charge.
Their muscles are dense and powerful, with the majority of their strength being in their limbs and upper body.
The orc is built for damage, lacking the lifting power and burden capacity of a dwarf due to a relatively weak core.(Though not weak by any human standard of the word.)

Perception: 10
The Orcish perception is well developed, superior to the average human, allowing them to effectively hunt down their prey

Endurance: 12
The Orcs are a rugged and survivable race, their rough skin, dense bones and powerful musculature provides them defense from enemy combatants.
Yet despite this, they are not known for their longevity, a naturally high blood pressure, near constant state of agitation, and a tendency to commit more power than their bodies can handle causes orcs to have the shortest lifespan of all of the core races.

Charisma: 6
Orcs don't converse so much as they command, snarl, growl and shout.
Uncaring, Blunt, and Crass are the ways in which one could explain Orcish Communication.
Physical body language, scent and actions say more to orcs than do words.
In that way towards each other they are capable of organizing and formulating effective strategies for war, but to other races they are usually considered rude at best and bestial at worst.

Intelligence: 7
Orcs have a certain low cunning that might give someone the impression that they are smarter than they are.
In reality they are quite simple in their thinking and have little care to learn things that are not directly related to war or combat.
Higher learning is of no interest to them, and the pursuit of knowledge a waste in the eyes of an orc.

Goblin biologists measuring their brain power were surprised that a race that conquered much of the continent and had weapons of war beyond other races were so weak minded.
Instead, their advancements are related to their short fast lives, orcs do not waste time, they are determined, fast thinking, and have a cold logic to their thoughts, unburdened by nuance and detail they have a binary way of processing the world.
Their penchant for enslavement and theft contributed greatly to their technological advancements as well, raiding the best tech and having no inertia or attachment to their own creations.

Agility: 11
Fast and explosive is the orcish agility, though not graceful by any means the orcs are nonetheless fast moving and have superior twitch reflexes.
They move faster than humans, swing their weapons faster, and their long quick limbs coupled with naturally superior reflexes makes them dominate combat against slower combatants.

Lore: 0
Like all of the core races, the average orc does not possess an inherent magical ability, though the percentage of orc's with magical ability is greater than that of humans, and far greater than that of goblins and dwarves.
When Orcs do possess magical ability they are almost exclusively pyromancers and firelords, with other forms of magic much less common.
Orc Mages also possess a lowered spell count albeit each spell is more powerful compared to humans.

---

Goblin:
Cove Goblin

Strength: 7
Goblin possess a certain wiry strength for their size, most of which is in their forelimbs, they have quite a strong grip and dense sturdy bones.
Pound for pound goblins are not a weak race, however larger races can overpower them.

Perception: 13
Goblins are highly perceptive, noticing tiny details that others overlook, they can see better in the dark than humans and their sense of smell and hearing are equally superior.
Besides that they are highly socially perceptive.

Endurance: 7
For their size goblins possess a rugged toughness, but ultimately are not as durable as their larger counterparts.

Charisma: 13
Goblins are renowned for their shrewd diplomacy, cunning use of language, and perceptive empathy.
Some goblins have even been considered to be mind readers, in reality these so called psychics are usually just have highly developed sense of empathy.
(Goblin empathy does not mean sympathy however...)

Intelligence: 14
Goblins are known to be very clever, always a few steps ahead, goblins stack and rig the game in their favour, no matter the game they're in.

Agility: 10
Although they look rather stocky with their thick joints and robust bodies, the goblins are quite agile, their motor skills are highly developed and their light weight gives them an advantage in speed.
They are also adept climbers, and quick on the draw.

Lore: -2
Goblins are the least magical of the core races
Goblin wizards are more of a fable that folks talk about as to anything anyone's really seen.

It is not impossible for goblins to have magic, but simply very rare.
Goblins attest that there's nothing magic can do that their tech can't do better, so have little reason to care about this.(Unmagical Cope)