I like the idea that race influences cultural traits, but doesn't determine them. And that real societies and macro-cultures are what you get when you mix a bunch of these influences (and others) together.

So I'm ideating on what those influences should be for my setting. I'm going to break it down into two groups: "Major" races and "Minor" races. Major races are those that are true-breeding and common in many areas; minor ones either are "sports" (not true breeding but formed by other forces from some base race) or are quite rare/localized. This is only for convenience and is utterly out-of-world.

Humans: Major race.
Humans aren't as good at most things as most of the other major races. Yet they're one of the most common, especially in Noefra, and have outsized influence. Why? Two adjectives: Devout and Sociable. Humans are the ones who invented turning to the gods/ascendants for power "at scale". Gwerin were too busy focusing on the arcane and ihmisi on the kami. Dwarves were bound up in tradition and runes. Orcs, well, orcs were in a bad place at that time, being utterly in the grip of a demon-powered tyrant. So humans invented religion. And to this day, the most devout societies are uniformly ones where humans have substantial influence.

Humans are sociable in a way none of the other major races are. Unlike goblins (from where they were created), they're not tied to a clan/tribal memory. Gwerin have always focused on heritage and lineage as well as individual power. Ihmisi go with the flow of nature, generally living and working in family/tribal units (by default). Dwarves are intensely traditional and clannish, leading to xenophobia. Jazuu are too competitive and perfectionist. Only humans (speaking as a group) have perfected the art of thinking of themselves by nation instead of a family. Even the ancient aelvar empire wasn't really a cohesive thing--there was the emperor, who was the most powerful. But most things were done at the family/clan level, with constant uproar.

Human traits: Devotion/Sociability. Human-dominant societies tend to be open to outsiders...as long as they bend the knee and assimilate. They learn easily from others (unlike the hidebound dwarves or the snooty gwerin) but don't go to the manic extremes of goblin-dominant societies.

Gwerin (aka high elves): Major race.
One of the four oldest humanoid races (along with goblins, dwarves, and jazuu). The OG masters of the arcane. Many populations have long bred consciously for arcane potential, and you're not considered an adult until you can cast at least one minor spell. Family matters...but infighting among families is legendary. Subtle politics, with nasty hidden barbs and verbal jabs. Used to be (until about 250 years ago) nearly ageless (reaching ~1k on average). That went away and made lots of people very very mad. Now they only live ~200 years (still the longest of any of the humanoid races).

Gwerin Traits: Arcane Power/Subtlety/Aesthetics. Gwerin-dominated societies tend to be very orderly and beautiful...on the outside. With nasty vicious infighting on the inside. Everyone looking out for themselves and their own power and family. But super high magic.

Ihmisi (aka wood elves): Major race.
Split off from the aelvar (elven ancestors) because they couldn't/wouldn't lean into the arcane. OG masters of primal magics. Still heavily bound to the kami, the spirits of the land. "Tread Lightly" is a byword. As a result, they don't (when left alone) generally do cities or big civilizations and prefer to drift on the wind as hunter-gatherer or very lightly settled semi-nomadic/pastoral tribes. But unlike the gwerin, their tribes are generally very cohesive internally, acting highly communitarian. Not usually fond of outsiders (because they don't respect the land). Shorter lived than the gwerin (whom they have an ancestral dislike for and vice versa), they live ~120 years.

Ihmisi traits: Natural power/community/xenophobia

Goblins (including hobgoblins and bugbears): Major race.
The oldest continuous race, and the ancestor of, well, everyone but the elven races, dwarves, and jazuu. Mostly by intentional manipulation on the part of the gwerin. Short lived, fast breeding, very chaotic and tribal. Tribes share most of their long-term memory unconsciously, to the point where a tribeless goblin has only the barest sense of object permanence. Highly not individualistic--the tribe is the basic unit and individual goblins are mostly just units. They have names and identities, but tend to hold them very lightly if at all. And coordinate mostly unconsciously. This leads to huge trend-following--one will have a bright idea and the next thing you know, they're all doing it. But persistence isn't their best trait. The more settled tribes have areas littered with half-finished projects. They create hobgoblins (by pouring collective psychic energy into one goblin) to serve as stabilizers and leaders, because hobs are buffered from the tides of memory a bit. Different tribes generally have a harder time understanding (at the root level) each other than outsiders--outsiders are weird, but other tribes are slightly wrong (in an uncanny valley effect). This leads to constant low-level warfare if left unchecked. Mostly of the "raiding" variety. They live ~60 years.

Goblinoid traits: Curiosity/inventiveness/tribal nature/lack of persistence. Goblin dominant societies...aren't much of societies. Just a bunch of tribes. Unless held together by the personal power of a hobgoblin (or group of hobgoblins). In which case it's a loosely-tied bunch of tribes mostly moving in the same direction, where mostly means "like herding cats hopped on meth".

Dwarves: Major race.
Close relatives to the jazuu and giants, oddly enough, and descended from the titans of antiquity. Tradition and Clan. Those are the keywords for most dwarven societies. If it was good enough for grandpa, and Do it for the family. A dwarf's clan is part of themselves--they take the shame of the clan as personal shame (and vice versa); the success of one dwarf ennobles all that clan's members to some degree. Writing is taken very seriously--lying in print is one of the deepest taboos. Incremental refining of processes is much favored over new ideas. They live ~150 years.

Dwarven traits: Tradition/clan/endurance. You can count on dwarven-dominant societies to not change much at all, even if you wait a dozen generations. They're great at refining inventions of others (as long as they've been around enough to not be new). Magic and devotion are both tools to be used, not things to be taken as core.

Jazuu (aka goliaths): Major race.
Also descended from the titans, they can be transformed into the true giants and their societies are normally intertwined heavily. But this aspiration (to become a giant) requires intense personal dedication and "perfection". And requires several others to permanently give up their chance at becoming giants. Which requires them to accept you as the better candidate. Thus, jazuu dominant societies are "by the book" (with the "book" being constantly updated to serve as the universal "here's how you do things" manual) and extremely competitive, but fair-minded. Cheating is taboo. Innovation is encouraged, but channeled and often incremental. They live ~100 years.

Jazuu traits: Strength/competition/fairness. Their societies are paradises for workaholics...unless you don't measure up. Those who fall behind end up getting ground down or kicked out. Nicely, but exile "to find your own way" is still exile. Not incredibly family oriented.