Virana is a unique world, and while you can certainly find all the common player character races from AD&D 2nd Edition here, their situation may be a bit different than than in a "vanilla" world. Especially the ratio of humans to non-humans is notable, with the population of modern day Virana (about 375 after the founding) consisting of more than 90% humans. This is tied in with the history of the world, other races have had their time of glory in previous ages, but their civilizations have declined to a point where the demi-humans are a clear minority.
Playable Races
Humans
The humans are the most populous race of the world, accounting for more than 90% of the civilized population (not including tribal monsters, like orcs, goblin, lizardmen and more).
Humans of Virana comes in all colors and shapes, just as in the real world, with physical features typically varying by region. All modern civilization in existence today has been built by the humans, and they are the rulers and the movers and shakers of the world.
Elves
Once upon a time, the elves had a great civilization, and they were one of the dominant races in the world, along with the dwarves, whose civilization also existed at the same time. The elves built great cities and controlled large regions of the world. However, something yet undiscovered by historians happened, and the elven civilization fell into decline, and then ruin in short order. The elven population sank dramatically, the city ruined, and the civilization lost.
Today, elves still inhabit Virana, but in very small numbers. Most of them have joined the human civilization, and live among humans in their cities and villages. The elves being excellent craftsmen, they are often hired by human craftsmen, such as armorers and weaponsmiths, but also other occupations where high craftsmanship is appreciated, such as architecture and furniture. Very few elves own their own business. Those elves that do not live among the humans tend to live in secluded villages in the forest or highlands, with little or no contact with the rest of the world. They are generally not hostile of disposition, but prefer to manage on their own. These villages are usually simple affairs, far removed from the greatness of elves past. Most humans have seen elves more than once in their lifetime, but not everyone sees them on a day to day basis. This has led to many humans being a bit suspicious about elves, although it is generally not a serious problem.
Half-Elves
Half-elves are reasonably common in Virana, due to the elven integration into the human society. It's not particularly rare for an elf to end up with a human mate.
Half-elves doesn't have their own society, and generally tend to human locations. This is obviously due to the fact that this is where thy were raised, since half-elves are almost always the offspring of an elf living among the humans, the isolated elven villages almost never produce half-elves.
Dwarves
The plight of the dwarves is surprisingly similar to the elves. They too had a great civilization at the same time as the elves, and these two civilizations were (mostly) friendly with each other and traded goods and ideas. Then, at the same time as the elven civilization fell into decline, the dwarven civilization followed suit. As with the elves, nobody alive today knows the reasons for this.
Similar to the elves, the dwarves too have integrated into human society, and are considered valuable craftsmen. While the elves are more known for their exquisite designs, dwarves are better known for their solid handiwork, although the creations of both dwarves and elves are generally considered superior to human made products in both form and function. As with elves, dwarves are generally also a bit distrusted by the common folk. Dwarves are a bit rarer than elves, dwarves doesn't live in every village, and many people only see dwarves when they travel to a larger settlement to trade goods.
Halflings
Halflings have never held an important role in the history of Virana. They seem to be happy with living the simple life, and generally don't compete with the other races for control of the land. Halflings have been around as long as anyone can remember, but they generally never made much out of themselves, leaving the other races to just accept them as a fact of life.
Halflings are not as sought after as craftsmen as elves and dwarves, but they are renowned for their woodcarvings.
Gnomes
The rarest of common races. Gnomes tend to gravitate toward the larger cities, and form their own small districts there. It is extremely uncommon to see a gnome out in a village.
Gnomes tend to be interested in technical stuff and machinery, and while you won't find any advanced machinery in Virana, Gnomes often partake in designing and building mills, dams, castle gates and siege engines.
Dragons
The
dragons of Virana lived a very long time ago. At one time, dragons ruled the world. They were the civilized race of their time, and while they didn't build cities, they had a well-functioning civilization.
At the time of the dragons, the dwarves and elven races were still young, their glorious civilizations still to come. The good dragons took these races under their wing, protecting them, and helping them prosper. Why the dragons went into decline is not know, but this decline opened up for the dwarves and elves to rise to prominence and build their empires.
Tribal Monsters
Many monsters have formed communities of their own. These often compete with the humans for the land.