Thank you all, but as Foster suggested, I'm going to choose to make my own race. If you want to help with brainstorming, I posted a few quick ideas in the brainstorming forum :).
Well, I chose vampires because I wanted to write a war story, something dark and gloomy. Not hopeless, but...Desperate I guess. Nasty, brutish, blood-sucking vampires were perfect as an enemy of the other races.
Ok, so this isn't an "is this cliche" post, I just want to see who likes vampires and who doesn't. Just so we're clear, I'm not talking the sparkly kind. If you do like vampires, how would you like to see them portrayed in a medieval european setting?
Are there any websites or research books that anyone can recommend regarding what life was actually like for a medieval knight, what the rules were, and what political abilities or weight knights had?
Well, I wasn't going to actually use the term in my story, as they would have no conept of evolution. I simply used it so those answering the question could better understand what I meant. In the story they call the elves "distant cousins lost to time" or "our lost cousins." Or just cousins...
Oh, I suppose I should have added more detail
Anyway, they also have heightened sight and hearing to help them deal with predators like snow tigers (or the occasional rogue dragon). They operate under a limited democracy (similar to ancient greece) rather than the human feudal system. If I can...
I kinda wanted an opinion on one of my races. They are basically Elven descendents called the Druvan. They use limited magic, like they can light candles or lanterns. They can also open doors and so forth. They lost a lot of their magic ability when the elves migrated up north after their...