Humans

Most humans are the descendants of pioneers, conquerors, traders, travelers, refugees, and other people on the move. As a result, human lands are home to a mix of people—physically, culturally, religiously, and politically different. Hardy or fine, light-skinned or dark, showy or austere, primitive or civilized, devout or impious, humans run the gamut.

Physical Description
Humans typically stand from 5 feet to a little over 6 feet tall and weigh from 125 to 250 pounds, with men noticeably taller and heavier than women. Thanks to their penchant for migration and conquest, and to their short life spans, humans are more physically diverse than other common races. Their skin shades range from dark brown to very pale, their hair from black to blond (curly, kinky, or straight), and their facial hair (for men) from sparse to thick. Humans have short life spans compared to the other common races, reaching adulthood at about age 15 and rarely living more than a century.

Relations
Just as readily as they mix with each other, humans mix with members of other races, among which they are known as “everyone’s second-best friends.” Humans serve as ambassadors, diplomats, magistrates, merchants, and functionaries of all kinds.

Kingdoms
Human lands are usually in flux, with new ideas, social changes, innovations, and new leaders constantly coming to the fore. Members of longer-lived races find human culture excitingbut eventually a little wearying or even bewildering. Since humans lead such short lives, their leaders are all young compared to the political, religious, and military leaders among the other races. Even where individual humans are conservative traditionalists, human institutions change with the generations, adapting and evolving faster than parallel institutions among the elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings. Individually and as a group,humans are adaptable opportunists, and they stay on top of changingpolitical dynamics. Human lands generally include relatively large numbers of nonhumans (compared, for instance, to the number of non-dwarves who live in dwarven lands).

Religion
Heironeous, the god of valor, is the most commonly worshiped deity in the "civilized" human lands, while Hextor, the god of tyranny and enemy of Heironeous, is the most commonly worshiped in the "heathen lands." Some humans are the most ardent and zealous adherents of a given religion, while others are the most impious people around.

Language
Humans speak Common. They typically learn other languages as well, including obscure ones, and they are fond of sprinkling their speech with words borrowed from other tongues: Orc curses, Elven musical expressions, Dwarven military phrases, and so on.

Names
Human names vary greatly. Without a unifying deity to give them a touchstone for their culture, and with such a fast breeding cycle, humans mutate socially at a fast rate. Human culture,therefore, is more diverse than other cultures, and no human names are truly typical. Some human parents give their children dwarven or elven names (pronounced more or less correctly).