Hmm...well, the game takes place on the Human home continent, but you've got 8 races to choose from: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Daemon, Orc, Goblin, Vampire, and Gnome.
A bit of background about daemons and vampires...
Daemons aren't those pitchfork-wielding, red dudes down in Hell. Those are Devils. Daemons among the oldest races in the world, and they live a very long time. They're more supernaturally gifted Humans who have an innate resistance to magic and psi. Think more
Sesshomaru, and less
Mephistopheles. Though, unlike yokai, they're not spirit beings or anything...they're mortal like everyone and everything (and I do mean
everything) else.
Vampires are fairly similar to Anne Rice-style vampires, more fair folk and less hideous monstrosities. While, at one time, they were reviled and shunned by all other races due to their evolving to subsist largely on blood (they
can eat normal food, but its less nourishing to them), and their general pale complexion and such. What they
aren't are mystical, immortal monsters whose bite turns those its used against either into a vampire or a ghoul. Vampire law strictly forbids drawing blood (in
any manner, not just through biting) from any living, sapient creature. They're known to take blood from animals, when they need to, but that's more an act of necessity...like eating bugs in the forest when you've run out of proper food.
Vampires can breed, like everyone else, and they die, just like everyone else. In place of natural blood, all Vampires are taught from the time they enter school (which is mandatory) how to create alchemical blood using a special powder and plain water. Vampires are very deeply-entrenched in rationality, and while they do recognize the gods above as higher forms of life worthy of respect, they don't worship them, for the most part.
Now, you might've noticed a lot of death talk in this post...and there's a reason for that. One of the over-arching themes of the game is that everything dies. Everything
must die eventually, gods included. You see, when a person dies, their essence is given a judgment, they're either sent to Paradise, the Afterworld, or Hell. Most people end up in the Afterworld, which is fairly similar to the world they left, except nobody gets hungry and such, since they're dead. However, you don't stay in any of these afterlives forever. Your time in the afterlife is limited; the better (or worse) you were, the longer you'll spend in your respective afterlife.
What happens once that time's up? You get recycled. Your essence is sent back into the natural flow, at that point, it becomes pure again, wiped clean of any memories and such. Good people are rewarded, neutral people can enjoy life a bit longer, and evil people will get their just punishment, but not for eternity.
What happens should you try and get around this, try to achieve true immortality? You get tracked down endlessly by a being called the Deathbringer. It'll find you, it'll get to you, and when it does, it'll kill you. Oh, and that afterlife? You just lost that privilege. You get recycled immediately.