But maybe it's a tad racist of me to fault an entire race for Fargoth and Gaenor.

But yes, I agree. Each race in Elder Scrolls games gives a somewhat different feel. In Morrowind you could be a Dark Elf and feel at home, in Cyrodil be an Imperial, in Skyrim a Nord, etc. Or on the other hand choose the non-dominant race for that region, and then feel a bond of solidarity with each member of your race you come across. That's pretty nice, but it doesn't justify a second playthrough in my opinion. You get that feeling of racial camaraderie no matter who you choose, so if you choose a different race for your character it'll be the same, just with the friendlier NPCs in slightly different locations. In a game as large as Skyrim, where you won't remember the locations of a huge percentage of the NPCs anyway, it'll all come out to the same thing.

But that extends only to the humanoid races. I think a Khajit or Argonian might actually warrant separate playthroughs since they have limitations on the sort of armor they can wear, and might get drastically different reactions from NPCs due to their usually unique social status.

But despite all such things, I usually just stick with Breton. They seem like the best all around class for magic defense and a bit of a magic boost (I like to do sword and magic type characters).