Seems odd to use ‘Gygaxian Democracy’ when the idea is to move away from what EGG wrote so long ago, but let’s give this a try.
I need more interesting races to work with than those in the Revised System Reference Document. “Humans in funny suits” doesn’t do it for me, I need non-human races to be more other the more powerful they get.
Notes on social mores and behavior are good, especially since they lead other thought, but I am more interested in what they are and do.
Let’s start with the basics: dwarves, elves, halflings (optional), gnomes, half-orcs (people get unhappy without half-orcs and gnomes, it seems).
Actually, while that’s my primary focus, don’t let that stop you. Minotaurs, ogres, flying lizardmen, whatever strikes your fancy.
Tell me about them. I’m not looking for just a list of races to consider, I want to know what makes them not-human.
Make them other. Make them clearly not human. Make them weird… and don’t worry too much about power level. I can make almost anything reasonable work, I just need a direction.
Some things to consider when making something not human are their ceremonies. Humans make sense of change through ceremony (weddings, graduation, funerals, rites of passage, bridal/baby showers, babtisms, mating rituals, fertility rituals, etc). Can you imagine a race without ceremony, or imagine alien reasons for ceremony, or alien methods? I know this isn’t what you asked for, but they’re questions that sprang to my mind in the process of thinking of something that is.