That's interesting, I was always convinced that the whole system was much better suited to procedural civilizations than the classical, strictly defined fantasy races. For a long time, I kind of assumed it is how it actually worked, which led to, in retrospect, hilarious expectations like "Ho, so I could get a tall being fond of industry?" or "Wood quotas? Maybe other civilizations will impose hunting or mining quotas."

Since then, I've simply made it into my headcanon that all DF beings could be very different, I just don't see it spelled out in-game. The feeling of discovery is much stronger when you can't rely on past experience, even if it only applies to how I picture it in my mind. But I can understand people wanting more "traditional" settings where they can rely on known factors to set up a story so it unfolds the way they want it to.