Chapter 5: Uncommon Cuisine - Heroes' Feast

Chapter 5: Uncommon Cuisine. A visit to one of the great cities in the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons-Waterdeep, the Free City of Greyhawk, or even the uncanny Sigil, the City of Doors-overwhelms the senses. Voices chatter in countless different languages. The smells of cooking in dozens of different cuisines mingle with the odors of crowded streets....Scattered among the members of these more common races are the true exotics: a hulking dragonborn here, pushing his way through the crowd, and a sly tiefling there, lurking in the shadows with mischief in her eyes. A group of gnomes laughs as one of them activates a clever wooden toy that moves on its own accord. The vast worlds of the multiverse are brimming with humanoid life of all shapes, sizes, and creeds. Yet despite the bountiful biological diversity of the planes, some groups are simply more common than others: namely humans, elves, dwarves, and halflings. Their sheer numbers set the culinary standard of the realms; but off the beaten path, a panoply of less prevalent cultures cut their own paths through the world of food. From the proud dragonborn and the outcast tiefling to the steadfast warforged and the angelic aasimar, these rare folk represent vibrant and powerful cultures that make their mark in the worlds where they may be found. Frequently referred to as "uncommon," these humanoids can blend into the multicultural cosmopolitan cities of the planets they populate. However, they are often confronted by harmful social stigmas in the outlying hamlets of some of the more xenophobic communities, which even go so far as to deem them "monsters." In such archaic places, even groups as ubiquitous as dwarves and halflings can be met with nervous xenophobia. While the great urban centers of the multiverse worlds, such as Waterdeep, Sharn, or Greyhawk, readily welcome residents from far-off lands, their metropolitan cultures are simply too entrenched to accept much outside influence. Without a proper community in...