ozart Mud is inhabited by many strange creatures and species of creatures—some bipedal like the humans, elves, dwarves, and other player races; some instead four-legged; some winged, some scaled, some horned, some slimy; some not even technically alive. Some exist only on the Surface and others only in the Underdark, while still others can be found in either realm. Some of the more common varieties:

nimals come in all shapes and sizes. Some are predators, some are prey; some carnivores, some herbivores; large or small, clumsy or graceful. A wide selection of animals may be seen in the Nevrast Zoo, ranging from dogs and bears to hel hounds and sabre-toothed tigers. In the Underdark, the most numerous animal is the rothe, distantly related to cattle, which is used both as a beast of burden and a food source.

umans, including their subset high men, are native to the Surface and not found naturally in the Underdark: any human found there will most likely be a slave victim of a drow raid on a Surface community. On the Surface, they are one of the most numerous and prolific races, and thus tend to dominate large portions of the Surface world. Humans include more variations in coloring (eyes, hair, and skin) than almost any other race. Humans can be found in a number of cities including Nevrast, Raven's Bluff, New Thalos, Graecia, and Teron.

urface elves are divided into high and wood strains, each with their own enclaves tucked carefully away in forest areas. The elven kindreds of the Surface are dwindling with time; many of their old communities now empty due to sheer lack of numbers. In the Underdark, the situation is very different: the dark elves, or drow, are the rulers of the most prominent city-states and consider themselves to be the rightful overlords of the entire Underdark. The most powerful drow pride themselves on keeping Surface elf slaves as a mark of wealth and status. Elves of either realm are slender, with pointed ears and slightly slanted eyes. Drow have jet-black skin and often white hair, while Surface elves have pale complexions and a varied range of hair and eye colors.

urface dwarves remain much more numerous, and their communities much more visible, than Surface elves. Probably the best known of Surface dwarven strongholds is the Dwarfrealm of King Kerrin to the west of Nevrast, but it is not the only one of its kind: the far northwestern desert city of Kardash also boasts an almost purely dwarven population, and smaller communities abound. In the Underdark, the dark dwarves known as duergar are also prominent, with well-defended strongholds of their own and warriors and traders who walk the streets of Aluhryn with the arrogance common to their species. The drow of Aluhryn also hold a small number of Surface dwarves as slaves, forcing them to work in the drow's forges and mines. Surface dwarves and duergar alike are always bearded, females as well as males: a long thick beard is a powerful sign of status for them.

nomes of both the Surface and Underdark realms are fairly cautious, secretive, and even insular people. Surface gnome lands are well hidden: the best known is the cave complex to the northeast of Nevrast. Meanwhile, the deep gnomes, or svirfnebli, of the Underdark have their grand city of Galtherdelve and assorted outpost fastnesses in their ongoing struggle against the drow.

he homeland of the hobbit people is the Shire, situated northwest of Nevrast and governed by a Mayor, a Thain, and assorted advisors. This lush, peaceful land is a comfortable place to live, and made more so by the comfort-loving, hairy little folk who call it home.

aeries and sprites, the smallest and among the most magical of all the sentient races, generally hail from the Kingdom of Faerie. They share that mystical, well-hidden Surface realm with larger and more powerful warrior faeries who guard it against intruders. A few rare faeries may migrate to other realms, usually favoring forests.

he foul orcs and their distant cousins, goblins and kobolds, form a significant proportion of the world's population. These brutish humanoid creatures tend to have high birth rates and live for a long time, although most die by violence. Found in great numbers both on the Surface and in the Underdark, they are mostly used as soldiers or slaves by various evilly-inclined powers or organizations, such as the Dark Lord Sauron of Mordor on the Surface and various drow Houses in the Underdark. Sauron breeds elite orcs called Uruk-Hai who are stronger and smarter than their lesser brethren.

gres and trolls, larger and more brutish than the orcish races, are similarly spread out through the world. Trolls are used as shock troops and heavy-duty guards by the drow of Aluhryn and by Sauron of Mordor, both of whom breed them for their own purposes as they do orcs: Sauron's elite trolls are the Olog-Hai. Thus trolls are found extensively on the Surface and in the Underdark.

Ogres, by contrast, appear naturally only on the Surface. Unlike trolls, they are rarely used by a greater master, preferring to give their loyalty only to their own kind.

any kinds of giants are found on the Surface of the world. Half-giants reside with humans in the city of Teron in the western Dunes of Thakilran. Hill giants, frost giants, and other brutish kindreds also make their homes on the Surface. In the deep otherplanar depths of the Abyss, beyond the Portals from the Surface, more intelligent and malevolent fire giants and storm giants congregate together and plot to increase their power.

f the many creatures of the world, few are as frightening, as awe-inspiring, as a dragon. These mighty reptiles cast a powerful, and often malignant, shadow over the Surface world, terrorizing their foes with their great size and strength, their magics, and their dreaded dragonbreath—fire, cold, acid, lightning, and other attack forms. Fortunately for all lesser beings, dragons mostly tend to be loners—those few that actively congregate together are truly dangerous. Many dragons of varying levels of power may be found, strangely enough, in the land called the Dragonrealm. Other individual dragons, powerful and deadly elders, make their lairs in more distant parts of the world. Names and titles such as the Fire Drake, the Ash Dragon, the Chaos Dragon, and Tiamat have been passed down and feared for many generations.

he malevolent otherplanar entities known as demons do not dwell permanently on either the Surface or the Underdark, but reside in the Abyss, the home of utter evil. However, being creatures of intrinsic magical power, it is easy for them to travel to the Surface or the Underdark as they will, sometimes to wreak havoc of their own choosing, other times to further the plans of some greater master. Demons can also be summoned from the Abyss and bound in servitude against their will by powerful spell-casters, but wise casters will slay their demon when they feel their control slipping, ere it slays them. Of greater concern to the folk of the Surface—and to the svirfnebli of the Underdark—are the entities called half-demons, the aludemon and cambion species who are half of demonic blood and half of mortal (usually orcish, drow, or human) and stride both realities with ease. Demons can be banished back to the Abyss, but half-demons cannot, and often prove invaluable in the service of the drow forces.

ot quite alive and yet not dead, the beings known as undead make a mockery of the natural order of creation and life. Some undead, such as skeletons, ghouls, and zombies are corporeal, creatures of solid bone or unliving flesh, while others such as specters, wraiths, and ghosts are incorporeal, and do not have solid body, but all exist beyond death. The vast majority of undead are evil. Undead gather in many places, such as the Nazgul and their lesser wraiths in Mordor; ghosts in the Negative Plane; the minions of X'all, the Dark Corrupter, in his realm of Dark Corruption; the wights in the Underdark; and in many other locales.

lementals are living masses of earth, fire, water, or air: absolutes given bodily form by powerful magic. Elementals are otherplanar, like demons, and can only exist in the world for a short period of time, when summoned by some form of sorcery. Thus they may be found equally on the Surface or in the Underdark, doing the bidding of some mage or cleric.

here are numerous forms of animated plantlife in the world of Mozart Mud. Animated trees of oak and maple and other woods stride the Surface, as do bushes of enchanted thorns. In the fungus gardens and myconid caves of the Underdark, giant mushrooms called shriekers are used to warn against enemy approach. Some of these plants are fiercely intelligent and sentient, while others are mindless organic constructs.

ozes and slimes are primordial, single- or few-celled, almost mindless forms of life that exist solely to consume. These organisms—it would be a stretch to call such primitive life creatures—infest the western tunnels out of Aluhryn, causing a menace to all adventurers. These organisms secrete powerful acids with which to consume and digest their prey, and despite their small size can easily take down an adult drow.

olems are unliving constructs, usually statues of wood, clay, or some kind of stone or metal, animated by sorcery. Some golems are simply animated like huge metal puppets, while others are far more dangerous, having been given true sentience by binding a spirit—often a demon or other Abyssal entity—within them. Mages must be ever watchful that such demonic golems do not turn on their makers. Golems are used by assorted sorcerers both on the Surface and in the Underdark, usually to guard fixed points or items.