I can't help you with the functionality of the EOC editor, I have never used it, but in-game, simply typing #race is only a temporary change, same would apply to a player if a GM did that. To change an NPC's race permanently, (example), target the NPC and type #npcedit race 60 Then type #repop. I just posted about in-game editing a few hours ago on these forums.
http://www.eqemulator.org/forums/showthread.php?t=42465
There is a table in the database, called npc_types. It has every NPC on the server in there. It contains all the data for names, race, gender, class, stats, factionID's and a whole lot more.