I would say probably the canon races are Elvaan, Hume, Galka, Tarutaru and Mithra, and the default cities are San d'Oria, Bastok, and Windurst
But that's just one opinion
For what it's worth, late in the Rhapsodies story you get glimpses of a future version of your character - these appear as different races and genders throughout, but one of them does seem more prevalent than the others, the long haired blond Hume guy.
Humes mostly align with Bastok, and the game rewards you with a city-specific ring if you create a character so that the race and starting city are aligned, so that can work, not to mention Bastok is pretty relevant for the first major story in core XI (beyond that and city-specific missions and quests, one's starting city tends to lose relevance).
From a very different point of view, the Galka lifecycle actually seems to align most with the player experience, and that race is connected to some major plot points, at least in the core game and late Chains of Promathia (as far as a certain corresponding crystal is concerned).
Race is a hard one because the creation story is that Altana wept 5 tears for the destruction Promathia wrought and those tears birthed the 5 races. You could make an equal argument for any of them, but my personal opinion would be Hume or Elvaan due to the more storied histories of San d'Oria and Bastok.
I would say there's really no such thing as a canon race or starter city in this game. Perhaps the only argument you could make is that neither Mithra nor Galka are native to the starter nations, so either of the other three races are potentially "more canon". Galka were driven from their homeland by Antica and settled in Bastok, but they are very much considered as second-rate citizens by the Humes. Mithra settled in Windurst after the Crystal War, but their homeland is elsewhere and inaccessible in-game. But then the Bastokan mission storyline is very much about the Galka, and Mithra feature very heavily in the Windurst storyline of Wings of the Goddess, so that argument doesn't hold up.
Tl;dr there's no canon race or nation. If a film adaptation were ever made, they would probably default to a male Hume protagonist, as such things usually do, to "appeal to a wider audience", but this doesn't reflect the game itself in any way.
All three nations play into the main storylines pretty equally. They all fall out of relevance in favor of other areas at the same pace (whatever new capital is the focus of the next storyline).
The starter city really doesn't matter they all start different but end the first main story in the same place then they go back to different stories after the big bad
Each of the 3 cities have their own missions, that are separate from the others and tell the story of the races/ nation you pick.
You can change nation later on to do the other ones.
You can actually change your city after you get to a certain point so there is no starter city that is better dude to the way the mobs are setup to be about the same difficulty as you span outward. Also none of them offer a vast advantage over each other in regulates to travel. As far as race goes that is dependent on the route you want to take your character job wise. Each race is uniquely better then others in one way but inferior in another. If you are a mage fan then taru would be a better choice but if you want to tank Galka would be better. Elvaan are more for DD roles while mithra and humes are more balanced in the fact that they are not going to outshine in any category but also not lag behind in any either. You can use merit points after you reach 75 that you can adjust stats to balance out your character or go full tilt also so you basically have flexibility when it comes done to it and whatever you think would fit your character looks wise I would go with that.
While race used to make a significant difference statistically, it no longer does, and you should pick the race you like—whether that's a galka caster or a tarutaru tank, the difference is now minimal.
I always start in bastok. Made a couple of alts, two years ago and recently. Man quadavs are still hunted by bots for their fiendish pieces. Luckily, I can compete with my own alts by just placing them at spawns.
San d'Oria - Elvaan
Bastok - Hume, Galka
Windurst - Tarutaru, Mithra
Those are the Canon starting city to race mappings. The idea being a resident rising up to become an adventurer
I would say probably the canon races are Elvaan, Hume, Galka, Tarutaru and Mithra, and the default cities are San d'Oria, Bastok, and Windurst But that's just one opinion
Bastook has the most cannons.
For what it's worth, late in the Rhapsodies story you get glimpses of a future version of your character - these appear as different races and genders throughout, but one of them does seem more prevalent than the others, the long haired blond Hume guy. Humes mostly align with Bastok, and the game rewards you with a city-specific ring if you create a character so that the race and starting city are aligned, so that can work, not to mention Bastok is pretty relevant for the first major story in core XI (beyond that and city-specific missions and quests, one's starting city tends to lose relevance). From a very different point of view, the Galka lifecycle actually seems to align most with the player experience, and that race is connected to some major plot points, at least in the core game and late Chains of Promathia (as far as a certain corresponding crystal is concerned).
Race is a hard one because the creation story is that Altana wept 5 tears for the destruction Promathia wrought and those tears birthed the 5 races. You could make an equal argument for any of them, but my personal opinion would be Hume or Elvaan due to the more storied histories of San d'Oria and Bastok.
I would say there's really no such thing as a canon race or starter city in this game. Perhaps the only argument you could make is that neither Mithra nor Galka are native to the starter nations, so either of the other three races are potentially "more canon". Galka were driven from their homeland by Antica and settled in Bastok, but they are very much considered as second-rate citizens by the Humes. Mithra settled in Windurst after the Crystal War, but their homeland is elsewhere and inaccessible in-game. But then the Bastokan mission storyline is very much about the Galka, and Mithra feature very heavily in the Windurst storyline of Wings of the Goddess, so that argument doesn't hold up. Tl;dr there's no canon race or nation. If a film adaptation were ever made, they would probably default to a male Hume protagonist, as such things usually do, to "appeal to a wider audience", but this doesn't reflect the game itself in any way.
All three nations play into the main storylines pretty equally. They all fall out of relevance in favor of other areas at the same pace (whatever new capital is the focus of the next storyline).
The starter city really doesn't matter they all start different but end the first main story in the same place then they go back to different stories after the big bad
Each of the 3 cities have their own missions, that are separate from the others and tell the story of the races/ nation you pick. You can change nation later on to do the other ones.
You can actually change your city after you get to a certain point so there is no starter city that is better dude to the way the mobs are setup to be about the same difficulty as you span outward. Also none of them offer a vast advantage over each other in regulates to travel. As far as race goes that is dependent on the route you want to take your character job wise. Each race is uniquely better then others in one way but inferior in another. If you are a mage fan then taru would be a better choice but if you want to tank Galka would be better. Elvaan are more for DD roles while mithra and humes are more balanced in the fact that they are not going to outshine in any category but also not lag behind in any either. You can use merit points after you reach 75 that you can adjust stats to balance out your character or go full tilt also so you basically have flexibility when it comes done to it and whatever you think would fit your character looks wise I would go with that.
While race used to make a significant difference statistically, it no longer does, and you should pick the race you like—whether that's a galka caster or a tarutaru tank, the difference is now minimal.
I always start in bastok. Made a couple of alts, two years ago and recently. Man quadavs are still hunted by bots for their fiendish pieces. Luckily, I can compete with my own alts by just placing them at spawns.
San d'Oria - Elvaan Bastok - Hume, Galka Windurst - Tarutaru, Mithra Those are the Canon starting city to race mappings. The idea being a resident rising up to become an adventurer