One thing I've often enjoyed about the fantasy novels that I like is that there are clear reasons (whether spiritual or physical) for the existence of strange creatures and monsters. Does anyone else do this?
For example I have the following ideas for my own campaign world:
1. There are creatures who represent a kind of extra planar invasion. These include undead (basically undead are posessed bodies that have different ranges of power. A zombie is more or less a mindless hunger spirit while a ghast is an intelligent crafty spirit capable of wielding magic and planning tactics) actual physical demons (which need a lot of magical power just to come from their own world).
2. The results of magical experiments--either sentient constructs or mutations.
3. Nature spirits from the native world. These range from highly intelligent beings to ones that are little more than plants and fungi.
4. Creatures who are from another plane but are benevolent, summoned or sent to help the natives.
I don't know if this simplicity is desirable for everyone, but at times I find D&D to be such a stew of different ideas that just having a creature around adds another story and level of complexity you don't always want.
I'm not completely sure what you're driving at here, but I get the impression you are discussing the develoment of coherent, setting-specific explanations for why things are they are in a D&D world (specifically focused on creatures and "monsters" in this case). I concur; in my own world-building, achieving this level of coherence has become essential to me (and in all facets, not simply monsters). Examples include:
Demons: When Sithis Baal, the original "divine" incarnation of the elemental force of Evil in the multiverse, was slain by the second generation of gods, his corpse became a black festering pit which spawned its own horrid life. Thus, demons. As in the core canon (at least as far as 3.x is concerned), obyriths came first, with tanar'ri evolving concurrent with mortal souls.
Aberrations: These are known as "Void-kin." They are descended from the demons which sprang from Sithis Baal, and they are what lived in the Void (hence their name) before the creation of the mortal world in its current form. Thus, the canon of aberrations being unnatural, and even existing before the world we know, is preserved, while at the same time making them absolutely and unredeemably evil. I make this latter distinction because, in reading the history of aboleths, I began to feel they had a little bit of a claim that everything else had unfairly impinged upon them, seeing how the fish-race came "first" (or close to it). While this early origin may be the case, I felt it should also be clear that they Void Kin have no rights to the world, being descended from the abhorrent progeny of Sithis Baal's corpse.
Devils: Devils are the result of my version of the Biblical Fall. Though not particularly "religious," myself, I find it to be a compelling literary and dramatic occurence, thus its inclusion. The spirits brought down gave rise to the devils. As in core settings, they engage in the eternal Blood War with the demons, which (as described in the Fiendish Codex II and adapted to my own story) existed before the Fall.
Giants: When the Titans created the world, some of their children (the titans in the MM) stayed behind. Over ages spent in the mortal world, they themselves became mortal, and thus the races of giant-kind. As the original Titans were and are powerful magical and elemental beings, many of their descendant lines have retained strong affinities for certain aspects of nature (i.e., fire, frost, and stone giants, amongst the others; ogres are a degenerate race which came about thousands of years later).
Dark Elves: I do not have drow. I have come to not so much dislike drow as find them unsuitable for my purposes; thus, dark elves. When the elves first descended from the primal starry skies and dispatched the insurgent empires of the Void Kin (in their most potent form, the Nether Lords; i.e., illithids, ethergaunts, and the like, which periodically seized control of the world), they learned the secrets of arcane magic from their enemies. There then came a great divide over whether the elves should use the powers of the Void Kin without compromise or restraint, or whether to temper the knowledge, ban certain studies (such as necromancy and the summoning of fiends), and thereby willingly "forget" such secrets. Those who argued in favor of unrestrained magic became the dark elves.
Goblins: When the elven race split in two, the dark elves set about using their magic wantonly. In an effort to defeat their kin, they began magically-enhanced breeding programs based on slaves they had taken. From gnomish stock came the small, cruel, and clever goblins; from dwarves came the brutish and hardy bugbears; and from the stock of their own captured high elf cousins came hobgoblins (thus the exceptional racial hatred, not to mention the +2 racial bonus to Dexterity).
There are more, and these are obviously bound up in a detailed setting-specific history that lends them more context when understood in full. Unfortunately, that full understanding eludes even me, to date, as I am still in the process of creating it, and I never seem to be able to get it into one coherent document. But I can dream, can't I?
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I agree with this as well. With my campaign world, before I include a race, I try and answer the questions of why are they here and how did they get there. I may not tell the players, but when I know, it makes other questions down the line simpler for me to answer.
Edit: Saern, I may steal your Goblin/Dark Elf past. :P
I sometimes do this when monsters are going to play an important role in the campaign. I do not do it for every monster. But most monsters have a creation myth and their own god...
My Crater Sea campaign world suffered a major catastrophe a hundred years ago when a star was crashed into the city of the big, bad, evil empire. The devestation was much more extensive than planned, destroying the evil empire, 3 other nations, and over half the landmasses of 6 other nations. The resulting destruction left a new ocean in the middle of the world, and killed off most of the orcs, goblinoids, dark elves, ogres, giants, trolls, etc. The only common evil race to survive unscathed were the gnolls, since their homeland was a penninsula (and now is an island) that jutted out from the rest of the old mainland. The jungles of the yuan-ti and rakshasa were also mostly unaffected, and the new ocean was quickly colonized by kraken, sahuangin, and kuo-toa, as well as a powerful and dark entity known as the Starfallen. It somehow allied itself with the gnolls, yuan-ti, sahuagin, kuo-toa, kraken, and vampires of the coasts to form a powerful evil union. Evil kenku, shifters, worgs, and other animalistic races have also been known to work for the Starfallen, as well as technologically advanced warforgers, changelings, and derro.
I think others are hitting upon what I was trying to talk about. It's having a sense of common myth that has versimilitude. What you want to know is why are certain races inherently evil, or why are there so many of them? In a way if you think about it the humanocentric D&D worlds are odd because there are so many races of rather powerful creatures.
In my setting what I'd like is to have this idea, a little similar to the Sith-Baal one (what a great name!) in that it involves the evil monsters generally being a kind of invasion force from another plane while other extra planar creatures are aligned with humanity against them. However the original conflict ended ages ago--only in a new magical age has the ancient menace reared its ugly head.
@ Cato Novus: I used to hate the idea of magical breeding programs in D&D, because I had no good idea about what that would really be like. It seemed far too modern. But somewhere around the 28,567 time of watching LotR, the scene of Saruman pulling the Uruk-hai out of the ground allowed me to realize that one can keep a less modern feel and still have that element to the games. Thus, the history of my goblins. The actual idea was implemented for a single adventure where I wanted to pair the two races together; I never even got to use that adventure, but it struck me so much that I decided to keep it! Thanks for the inspiring words.
@ MrFish: And thanks for the kudos on the name. Getting the "right" name is so utterly important. I struggled to come up with that for over a month; looking for something evil enough. All the other evil gods in my setting use the names of "real-world" demons (just like in the core, but a different set); likewise, they and all fiends are collectively known as the Baal. It occured to me that the ultimate evil god should bear this as part of his name as well, to give a reason for the nomenclature. I then got to thinking about other things that seemed suitably evil, and Star Wars' Sith kept coming to mind. I tried to merge them into one name, but the phonetics were just "wrong." But many cool bad guys have two names, so I went with Sithis Baal and am very pleased.
Just for a little more detail (Don't tempt me! I've got tomes of this stuff), each of the "elder races" in my setting is afflicted with a racial sin. Before Sithis Baal was defeated, he committed (one of several) divine betrayal(s). As life began to awaken from the raw elements, he presented each of them with a draught. Knowing no better, they drank deeply. Thus Sithis Baal insured that mortal life would forever have the seeds of evil. Thus the mainstays that dwarves are greedy, orcs are wrathful, elves are prideful, etc.
My greatest goal and concern is coherence and internal consistency. I strive to have an explanation for everything; one anchored in the evolving story that has come before.
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Some times I go for the ultimate simplicity and just say that the creatures have always existed - they were created that way by the gods, or somehow evolved. Of course, I tend to have heavy religious focus in my homebrews (excepting one) so this is never an issue the players question. When the God of War explains how his magic sword works, you tend to accept the handywork of deities.
The cool thing is when you have creation myths--whether they are 'sin' myths or just popped into existence myths--you can always change them, call them legends or literary inaccuracies or whatever you want to do. It's kind of fun to do that now and then, to have some loremaster say "lies, all lies! I alone know the truth of the existence of vampires in this world, and now you will know it too..."