The fallen are not really evil humans, they where origionally human but where twisted by magic and while still similar to human aren't really any more.

They could be saving "Non human" playable Races for an expansion.

They have already said you will be able to mod the game including adding your own art if you have the tools and the skill.

I don't think they need to have playable elves, trolls, etc. That would make it a very generic fantasy game indeed.

I'm happy with it as is for the moment, though I may try out new races modded in.

Correct. However, there is a problem. It won't be easy to create 3d models for the various creatures. I don't have any 3D modelling experience of course, but I can imagine that it's not easy. The question is: How many Elemental players will have the skill to create these 3D models?

The problem is the game is really lacking for interesting factions.A bonus to mana or whatever is a pretty dull difference between fations.

I always thought the races and lore in GC2 were dire compared to MOO1/2 or Sword of the Stars , and sadly I feel the same about Elemental factions.Go check out the mod Fall from Heaven for great lore and factions that are actually different.

I don't think it makes much difference whether factions look different based on clothing styles or body designs. What I'm hoping to see most is AIs (with agendas based in the back story) that make as much or more of a difference in game play as any blunt instruments like a faction bonus for agility or mana production.

The races are also my biggest fear with this game.  One of the reasons I am drawn to fantasy games is because of the diversity that you just don't get in real life.  I like thinking about how swarms of undisiplined orcs and goblins would fair against the hit and run tactics and expert archers of elves or the sheer size and strength of giants or dragons.  It's fine if they want to do something different but it will be unlikely they can capture this large diversity with only humans, especially on the good side which I wouldn't think would be mutated.

I also felt that the races in the various Galactic Civ games was the weak point.  Only a couple were memorable to me and the rest just kind of all felt the same.  It's still early and I don't have much information so hopefully the races will be memorable and interesting but it is really the only thing that seems substandard at the moment.  Still it's the game I am most looking forward to next year.

I agree with your idea, but, there is one downfall to that. If certain characters always have the same goals because they are following a set story the game will get very predictable. Every time you would see a certain enemy you would know exactly who they are looking to kill and how they play out in the story. Certain countries would go to war with each other every time you play, because the story says so. I know obviously good will always face off against evil. I  wouldn't like to see the outcome of the game come down to the same two factions every time I play, as it might if it follows a set story.

A backstory will be there of course, and your idea for following stories is a great idea IMO, I still think they'd have to find a way to randomize the story elements so the game wouldn't be the same every time.

I don't mean that I want the AI for a given faction to be extremely predictable. I simply want the variation of goals to reflect both the 'back story' in terms of what happens before the start of a given game and the 'middle story' that evolves as the events.log for a given game instance grows. This is analagous to the balking some people have when others of us mention wanting map features ('dungeons,' etc.) to have some integration with the story layer of the game. When I want a linear story that I might be able to guess or will simply know upon a second pass, I stick to novels and film/video. For Elemental, I expect it to be more like a hypertext/building-block/'interactive' sort of thing.

Originality is both claimed far too often and rather overrated as a goal. On this specific point of how the playable factions look, Elemental is aiming to be at least 'unusual' in the fantasy TBS genre, and I'm getting increasingly tired of how much people want to complain about the idea in advance seeing how it will play by the end of Beta 1. Which is odd for me because the main reason I put GalCiv I down fairly quickly was that you can only play it as the Terrans.

p.s. Could you explain what you mean by "plutonic fantasy?" Even if you meant Platonic instead of plutonic, I still can't quite guess what you mean there.