Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-3539474-20130910213054/@comment-1600847-20130917032726

It's been like that for every TES game, Nords have a Light Armor Bonus.

Plus I doubt that EVERY Altmer is a mage and EVERY Bosmer uses a bow. If you check the games, you'll see Altmer NPCs in Heavy Armor wielding swords and Bosmer as mages.