The Main Races

The four main races of Warhammer are Dwarves, Elves, Halflings and the most populous, Humans.

Dwarves

Dwarves are dour and belligerent, but highly martial, a tough people in mind and in body. The typical Dwarf will be between 4'6" and 5' tall, but the slabs of muscle which typically sheathe a Dwarf's body mean that they rarely weigh much less than a human. Dwarven muscle-density is much higher than that of a human of similar build, and their hair and beards (the length of which they hold in the highest esteem) are coarser and thicker. Their bones are shorter, wider and stronger, and there is usually very little fat stored on a Dwarf's body. Dwarves value four things above all else: age, wealth, reputation and skill. They favour bludgeoning or chopping weapons such as hammers and axes, and most wear metal armour in battle. Female Dwarves are outnumbered by males by more than three to one.

Dwarves are incapable of learning most forms of Magic. However, their magical runic weapons, most notably Ghal Maraz (literally "Skull-splitter," Sigmar Heldenhammer's legendary weapon and the titular Warhammer) are famous, and rightly so. Through certain rituals, these items can be given strange powers, or made to bestow them to their wielders.

Dwarves are very direct and practical. Khazalid, Dwarf-language, uses little metaphor or simile, and they use little even when talking in Reikspiel or any other language they know.

A strange cult of Dwarves called Trollslayers exists. These Dwarves have been disgraced, crossed in love, or otherwise humiliated, so they shave their heads and grow a spiked, orange-dyed crest of hair as a symbol of their "career". They seek the toughest monsters to fight, their only means of redemption being a glorious death in battle.

Dwarves harbour grudges notoriously and have a Book of Grudges installed in every major settlement. The most longstanding feud is that against the Greenskins, secondly against the Elves since the devastating War of the Beard.

Elves

Elves are a tall people, often above six feet. They are very slender and usually highly intelligent; they are faster, have a quicker reaction time, and are less mortal than, Dwarves, Halflings or Humans, but do not possess the same physical endurance as Dwarves or Humans. Their sharp eyes give them excellent skill with missile weapons (they favour longbows, but some use swords). Famously, they have pointed ears, long, straight hair, and beautiful features. Though most Elves are High Elves from Ulthuan, a few Wood Elves live in the forests of the Empire and its surrounding lands and Sea Elves often visit the great port of Marienburg in the Wasteland.

Elves speak Eltharin (further divided into Tar-Eltharin, the High Elf dialect, and Fan-Eltharin, that of the Wood Elves) as a first language and commonly Reikspiel as a second, in even tones. Elves are typically very patient, though even they have a limit.

Elves do not like quantities. Numbers below seven are fine, but above that and they start resorting to analogy. Their measure of the amount of cloth needed to make a cloak would be "the amount needed to make a cloak". If sent to scout for enemies, they will not return and say there are "thirty", they may say "more than we can handle" or "as the stars in the heavens". Instead of counting, they will simply see what the situation reminds them of.

Elves also tend to think in threes whereas Humans think in twos; alive/dead, big/small, etc. Elves think more along the lines of the principle, the contrary principle, and its negation: alive/dead/never lived, big/small/insubstantial, etc.

Halflings

Halflings are a race as short in numbers as they are in size. They are usually under four feet in height and never much above it. They are plump and weak-muscled, which makes them horrible slaves, according to the Skaven. They rely on the surrounding Empire to protect their homeland, the Moot, and also on their specially trained Fieldwardens. They are an earthy people by nature, preferring to be left alone to farm, eat, drink and smoke. They are excellent with the sling, also using maces, swords, and their leaf-bladed knives, nimble and dextrous and they socialise freely, and in the Moot they usually prefer to go about barefoot.

Halflings are the most Humanised of all the non-Human races, and have been with the Humans of the Empire for as long as anyone cares to remember. They copulate furiously and most have at least one sibling, and many can trace their lineage back for generations.

The rarest type of Halfling is one that gets bored. Halflings who have a roguish streak make off for the Empire, and this has led to preconceptions of Halflings as pickpockets and thieves. To a Halfling, though, everyone is one big family. And if this is the case, why would anyone mind you taking something?

Humans

Humans are much like the humans of our own world but Old World Humans are much more rugged than our humans, living as they do in a more demanding age, such as it is.

Credit to Games Workshop, "Mad" Alfred Nuñez, Jr, and Andy Law