Ancestries of Golarion

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Valeros, a human.

There are many ancestries of Golarion whose traits, heritages, and lineages represent differentiated humanoid species, and whose cultures and backgrounds differentiate them as peoples in fundamental ways.

Ancestries are sometimes referred to as races, though the term is more limiting in scope to biological differences.

Core ancestries

The predominant cultures of Golarion are known as the core ancestries:

• Dwarves
• Elves
• Gnomes
• Goblins
• Halflings
• Humans
• Leshies
• Orcs

Heritages

A hellspawn nephilim monk.

See also: Category:Versatile heritages

The descendants of different combinations of ancestries are sometimes referred to as being of versatile heritages. This includes descendants of multiple ancestries, or being of mixed ancestry, as well as descendants of beings from other planes or people who were supernaturally influenced before or soon after birth, also known as planar scions.

Examples of versatile heritages include:

• Aiuvarins, who are descended from elves
• Changelings, who are descended from hags
• Dromaars, who are descended from orcs
• Geniekin, or elemental planar scions, who are descended from genies and other elemental beings
• Hungerseed, who are descended from oni
• Nephilim, who are descended from celestials, fiends, monitors, or other planar entities associated with religion

Other ancestries

For a list of all ancestries and heritages described on PathfinderWiki, see the Ancestries and heritages category. For a list of human ethnicities, see the Human category.

In addition to the core ancestries and their heritages, there are other distinct ancestries known to the peoples of Golarion.

Notable ancestries include:

• Catfolk
• Kholo
• Kobolds
• Lizardfolk
• Ratfolk
• Tengus

References

Ancestries are a core part of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and are detailed in Player Core and GM Core. Paizo has also published several major related sourcebooks, including Ancestry Guide, Inner Sea Races, and Bastards of Golarion.