Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,577
edits
Five Races: Difference between revisions
→Literature
m (Mass update links) |
|||
| (13 intermediate revisions by 8 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{quote|''Learn now the lore of Living Creatures!
''First name the five, the free peoples:
''Eldest of all, the elf-children;
''Dwarf the delver, dark are his houses;
''Ent the earthborn, old as mountains;
''Man the mortal, master of horses;
''And half-grown hobbits, the hole-dwellers.''
|'''Treebeard's''' song on the lore of creatures, ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''}}
Many fantastic settings attempting a universe will end up using 'races' of people. This is less in the spirit of being different species and more an easy way to soapbox or [[Planet of Hats|describe different points of views]] and aspects of normal people; or, in a game world, simply to give the player a wider range of choices. At least one has a good chance of being from a [[One-Gender Race]]. These usually include:
* Stout ([[Our Dwarves Are All the Same|Dwarf]]): Gruff, usually associated with hard physical work and masculinity. The typical Stout is the dwarf. Often has a counterpart in [[Speculative Fiction]] settings, in the guise of humans genetically or cybernetically enhanced for heavy labour or life on high-gravity planets, or possibly actual robots. The [[Proud Warrior Race]], if they aren't one of the [[
* Fairy ([[Our Fairies Are Different|Fairy]] or [[Our Angels Are Different|Angel]]): The most magical race, relatively speaking. Can include angelic types or even [[Physical God|gods]]. The typical Fairy is an elf who [[Elves vs. Dwarves|doesn't get along with Stouts]]. Recently, having this be a [[Cute Monster Girl]] is more and more common. In [[Speculative Fiction]], substitute humans with [[Psychic Powers|psionic abilities]], or [[Proud Scholar Race Guy|advanced]] but not quite [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien
* Mundane ([[Humans Are Average|Human]]): [[Audience Surrogate|What the modern reader most identifies with.]] The least magical race, usually enjoys simple pleasures instead of adventuring, a la Tolkien's [[Hobbits]]. Usually the [[Jack of All Trades]] of the races. This is usually the role cast for humans, unless you have...
* High Men ([[Our Elves Are Better|Taller Elf]] or [[Humans Are Special|Human]]): Usually a historical or [[Witch Species|fantastic interpretation]] of what humans are or want to be, at least in character. A setting that doesn't have elves as Fairy or High Men simply doesn't have elves [[Morrowind|*cough*]]. If the [[Precursors]] still exist in a [[Speculative Fiction]] setting, they might fill this role if [[The Federation]] isn't heavily idealized.
* Cute ([[Hobbits]]/Moogle/[[Our Gnomes Are Weirder|Gnome]] etc): The fifth, increasingly common group, and becoming more popular in modern gaming. They may seem weak, but have a sort of closer-to-Earth spiritual purity and inner strength that allow them to succeed in the face of adversity. [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|Or not.]] Tends to either overlap with Mundane (to produce [[Hobbits]]) or Fairy (to produce gnomes), but usually designed with a larger dose than usual of [[Fun Personified]].
This doesn't include the various "[[
If the heroes in this setting form a [[Five-Man Band]], there will typically be one of each race represented, since each race can usually "map" to one of the five slots better than any of the others. (Humorously enough, this often means that the Dwarf in the party fills the role of [[The Big Guy]].)
Line 22 ⟶ 23:
See [[Square Race Round Class]] for the deliberate subversion. The [[Fantasy Axis of Evil]] is the [[Evil Counterpart]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'' has humans (mundane) mermaids (fairy), and Ancients (high men) in the categories. Panthalassa and Suiyou don't seem to fit anywhere, except maybe as another mixture of fairy and high men.
Line 43 ⟶ 44:
== Fan Works ==
* Subverted in ''[[
== Literature ==
* When one looks only at the magical beings in ''[[Harry Potter]]'', giants are Stout, goblins are Fairies, Wizards are Mundane, centaurs are High Men, and House Elves are Cute/Hobbits.
** Taken to a bigger perspective, [[
* [[Tad Williams]]' ''[[Memory,
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' may be the [[Trope Maker]] here, with Elves (High Men), Dwarves (Stout), Ents (Fairy), Humans (Mundane), and Hobbits (Cute). However, the situation gets a bit murkier once you look deeper into the mythology, with several alternative arrangements and even subsets of the races themselves.
** Alternatively, the Elves are the fairies and the role of High Men is filled by the Númenoreans.
** The Elves themselves are subdivided, with the High Elves (the Noldor and to a lesser extent, the Teleri) filling the High Men role and the Grey and Green Elves (The Sindar and Laiquendi) filling the more Mundane role. The Vanyar who play little part in the books might be the Fairies. The the Avari might fill the Sixth Ranger or Fallen roles, but play almost no part in the stories (though some would have become the forerunners of the Orcs at the hands of Morgoth).
* The ''[[Dragonlance]]'' novels, and the associated ''[[Dungeons
* An exception is [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' novels, which have many different races, but only three are especially defined: Humans, Dwarfs (note the plural spelling) and Trolls (and although very different, Dwarfs and Trolls are both Stout by the trope's definitions). Elves appear in only
** Gnomes (and
** Actually, the humans are nearly every race depending on who we're talking about: Witches = Fairy, Wizards = High Men, Watchmen = Stout, Moist (a late addition) = Cute, and the Mundane are the other characters who tend to get seen only once or twice.
* [[David Weber]] specifically invokes the trope name in his ''[[Bahzell]]'' series. Aligning the five races with the trope isn't all that straightforward though
Line 66 ⟶ 67:
** Also of note in the series are the Half-Elves. They would consider themselves the '''High Men''' of the setting but no one else does because they only maintain their uniqueness when breeding with full Elves or other Half-Elves. If they interbred with the far more numerous humans their Elf traits would be swamped by the far more numerous humans and as such they aren't considered a proper race.
* Terry Brooks's ''[[Shannara]]'' has these as well, though the origins are different for most. Except Elves, which are the Fairies, and seperate from humans though inter-breedable, Dwarves, Trolls, Gnomes and others are all off shoots of humans. Dwarves and Trolls share Stout, Gnomes and most humans are Mundane. Elves are literal fairies, as well as being the High Men, the latter shared with the Druids. He seems only to lack the Cute, though the Gnomes of Storlock might count, as might the Elves.
* In [[Neal Stephenson]]'s ''[[Cryptonomicon]]'', Randy Waterhouse divides humans into groups based on the races from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. Hands-on geeks (including Randy himself) are Dwarves, ivory-tower academics are Hobbits, brilliant [[Bunny Ears Lawyer
* The [[
** Nonetheless, it's not hard to make those races with a prominent role in the first novel fit this trope, with cactacae (gruff and hard to hurt) as the Stout, vodyanoi (watercraeft powers) as the Fairy, Garuda as High Men (note that they're socialists like the author), and khepri as the Cute (very Woobie-ish despite the bug heads).
* Averted in the [[Codex Alera]], which ''does'' feature five sentient races, two of which fit into the categorization (Alerans/humans are High Men, and Marat, as basically neolithic elves, are Fairy with a [[Proud Warrior Race]] flavor of Stout mixed in). The other three races, however ([[Wolf Man|Canim]], [[Abominable Snowman|Icemen]], and [[Horde of Alien Locusts|Vord]]) don't fit in ''remotely''.
** The Canim might count as the Mundane. Yes, the nine-foot tall, possibly immortal ''[[Wolf Man|wolf men]]'' are the Mundanes.
* In [[Philip Pullman]]'s ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' trilogy, we have:
** The [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|panserbjørne]] ([[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|intelligent, armour-clad]] [[Everything's Worse
** The [[Our Angels Are Different|angels]] as the fairies
** Humans as the mundanes, obviously
Line 79 ⟶ 80:
* ''[[Vurt]]'' uses robots for stout, humans for mundane, and dogs for cute. (Not talking dogs or anything, but they're an honorary race because they can interbreed with some of the others.) Depending on how you look at it, "vurts" (beings that were created in virtual reality but escaped into the real world) occupy either fairy or high men, and shadows (never explained except that they're humanoid and telepathic) take whatever's left over. However, unlike most of the above settings the boundaries between the groups are relatively fluid, with five common two-way hybrids (counting cyborgs), five three-way hybrids, and five four-way hybrids, plus a theoretical fiver that has yet to come into existence.
** ''Pollen'', another novel by Jeff Noon in the same Verse goes into a little more detail, explaining the origins of beings like the Shadows who would clearly fill the Fairy role given their psychic powers. Intelligences from Vurt tend to be more like demigods and so fall outside of the normal 5-race categorisation.
* ''[[
** Helmacrons!
*** [[Cute but Cacophonic]], sure. Plus they want to conquer the universe despite being less than an inch tall. They are hilarious though also [[Not So Harmless]].
== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[
** Let's see, perpetually angry and put-upon, physically strong and bulky and used for labor when they were enslaved, lacking in telepathic "magic"
*** If gnomes are consider Cute, when you consider the gnomish love of ceremony for the sake of ceremony and of illusion for the sake of trickery, the Centauri make a perfect fit. (For example, they loved tricking humans into believing they were a lost Centauri colony, and they cheat at cards just for the fun of it.)
* In ''[[Star Trek:
** Compare this to ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Deep Space Nine]]'' where humans drop down to highish Mundanes, Romulans serve as rarely seen High Men (if not especially admirable ones), and the Ferengi are a kind of [[Grotesque Cute]].
** ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' would later play this trope even further with the Xindi, a race of five technologically advanced species who all evolved on the same homeworld. There's a species that's clearly their equivalent of humans; a warlike, reptilian-humanoid species; an insectoid species that's very alien and inscrutable; a fairly pacifistic simian species, and a relatively peaceful, meditative species of manatee-like aquatic aliens. There was also a sixth race of avians who died out when their homeworld was destroyed.
* Would you believe the children's video ''Wee Sing in Sillyville''? (Purple) Pasha is Mundane, the (yellow) Spurtlegurgles are Fairy, the (blue) Twirlypops are High Men, the (red) Bittybooties are Stout, and the (green) Jingleheimers are Cute. Technically, they're all humans, but this is a [[Planet of Hats]] where the [[Fantastic Racism|most important distinction between people]] is their favorite colors.
* Some of Moya's crew in ''[[
* Early in [[Stargate SG
** Ancients as "High Men" since they are the [[Precursors]] and are generally idealized (except when they're called out for being [[Neglectful Precursors|neglectful.]]
** Nox as "Fairy" due to their invisible floating cities and ability to bring back the dead. None of this is magical, of course, but it's still far more impressive (and mystical-seeming) than the other advanced technologies in the verse.
Line 103:
== Mythology ==
* The [[Ur Example]] is [[Norse Mythology]], with the Aesir and Vanir (gods) as "Fairy", Light Elves as "High Men"; Black/Dark Elves AKA Dwarves as "Stout"; and Humans as "Mundane". Tolkien likely adapted his
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Dungeons
** From the 3.5e PHB races, we get:
*** Dwarves are Stout, because they're [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same|all the same.]] Also Half-Orcs, though they're human-sized.
Line 116:
** The 4th Edition PHB races follow a similar pattern:
*** Stout - Dwarf, Dragonborn: Dwarves are the classic Stout race. The [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|proud warrior race]] of the Dragonborn also qualifies, though they're multiclassed with High Men. Goliaths and Half-Orcs from the PHB 2 also fit here, and one can also make an argument for the Shifters. Minotaurs, from the PHB 3, sit firmly on here. The [[Mechanical Lifeforms|Warforged]] also fit neatly into this category, as well.
*** Fairy - Eladrin, Tiefling: Eladrin are the magicial elves, so they fit Fairy to a T. Tieflings are a darker example, being humans with diabolic traits resulting from a [[Deal
*** Mundane - Human: Naturally.
*** High Men - Elf, Half-Elf: The forest-loving elves and the [[Half-Human Hybrid]] half-elves can easily be placed here. The PHB 3 adds the Githzerai, mosaic folk from the Elemental Chaos (but oddly enough, not the Githyanki).
Line 125:
*** Mundane: Humans again.
*** Cute: Hobbits/Halflings.
* Almost every ''[[New World of Darkness]]'' [[Tabletop Games]] has exactly five clans/auspices/paths/etc. of the species under discussion; the sole exception is ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
* Similarly, the ''[[
* ''[[
* In ''Alternity'' (a short-lived TSR project whose material was recycled into d20 Modern/Future), there were a number of races, including one clear stout (primitive, clawed brutes) and one clear fairy (light-weight psions). Humans were mundanes, while the other races didn't fit the standard categories: techies with scaly armor, agile fliers, and ''[[Neuromancer]]'' style cyborgs.
** To Specify, they are:
Line 138:
*** ''The Cute'' - Possibly a subversion, they're a race of lizard people called T'sa.
** Subsequent games based off of the system - Gamma World and Dark* Matter - follow a similar pattern, which is usually just the races mentioned above mechanically with different fluff.
* ''[[Magic:
** As a good example, Kamigawa block:
*** '''Mundane''': Humans, as they often are.
Line 144:
*** '''High Men''': the soratami, or cloudfolk. Besides generally being quite good at everything they do, and literally living high in the clouds, [[Break the Haughty|they think they're better than everybody else.]]
*** '''Fairies''': the foxfolk, or kitsune-bito. They have a lot of clerics and archers. They're physically smaller than humans.
*** '''Cute''': here's the main subversion: Akki (goblins) and nezumi-bito (ratfolk) both share the ground between cute and [[
** Of course, Magic generally tends toward having ''six'' races in any given setting, one for each colour plus humans (who appear in all colours).
** The ''Lorwyn''/''Shadowmooor'' double-
*** '''Mundane''': Kithkin (basically short humans)
*** '''Stout''': Giants, although they were more of a secondary race. Among the five primary tribes, the Merfolk (Merrow) were a sort of intellectual variation on the Stout archetype.
*** '''High Men''': Elves. Full stop.
*** '''Fairies''': [[Spell My Name
*** '''Cute''': Goblins (or Boggarts, as the local variety were called) are probably the closest thing, being silly comic relief-types, as goblins often are in Magic.
* ''[[Xevoz]]'' is both a line of action figures AND a tabletop game, utilising six races rather than five and averting many of the usual associations by way of its ''sci-fi'' setting, apart from a Mundane race and a robotic race representing the Stouts. {{spoiler|Until you learn that the robotic race is really Mundanes in cybernetic bodies, making it
** Two new races were introduced towards the end of Xevoz, to reinforce the fantasy element; one of them is very similar to the Mundanes but magically empowered, making them something between High Men and Fair Folk.
* ''[[
* The ''[[Talislanta]]'' game system averted this trope so hard, they even used it in their advertising ("No Elves"). Granted, some of their races do fall into one of the five categories above (for example, [[Winged Humanoid|Muses]] are Fairies and [[Gadgeteer Genius|Yassan]] are Stouts) but with ''several dozen'' species of humanoids available as PCs, that was bound to happen to some of them.
* ''[[Warhammer
** The Empire - Mundane
** Bretonnia - Mundane
Line 171:
** Tomb Kings & Vampire Counts - these don't really follow the standard Race issues, as some of them are highly magical but not particularly Fairy-like, while others are tough and capable warriors but don't resemble Mundane or High Men in any other way, and most of the Stouts are special units and not part of the standard army.
** Skaven - The ratmen are also hard to define. They have a lot of magitek like a variation of Fairy, but are evil plague bringers. They have large numbers for melee but each is rather weak, but they are expendable so feel free to shoot into melee. All in all they are Mundane with some hints of the others. They might even be Cute if you have dark humor as they blow themselves up or 'accidentally' kill each other with such alarming frequency (and then blame it on their enemies rather than any fault on their own part) that their sourcebook itself advises you to laugh it off and move on. It's notable that Fantasy, being what it is, has absolutely no Cute races. The closest they get are the Halflings, who aren't a playable race (anymore thank Sigmar), and are more fat and lazy than Cute.
* [[Warhammer
** Imperial Guard- Mundane
** Space Marines- High Men in general, though now subsets exist with the Chapter Codexes, the first real variation being the Space Wolves and Grey Knights (see below). It is unknown if future Chapters will produce more variants.
Line 197:
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' has this: Humans as the Mundane, Ronso as the Stout, Guado as the Fairy, Al Bhed as the High Men (they represent what Humans really are, when the roots of the Yevon religion are revealed), and the Hypello fill the role of the Cute.
* The five races of ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]''
** Stout: Galka ([[Proud Warrior Race Guy
** Fairy: Tarutaru (Highly magically inclined, depicted as close to nature, though not to the extent Mithra are)
** Mundane: Hume (While depicted as the driving intellectual force behind industrial development, this race is typically self-absorbed and prone to putting personal ambition over other concerns)
Line 206:
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' tries to give each side one of each category.
** The Alliance has '''Dwarves''' for Stout, '''Night Elves''' for Fairy, '''Humans''' for Mundane, '''Draenei''' for High Men, and '''Gnomes''' for Cute. '''Worgen''' overlap with both Stout and Mundane.
** The Horde, meanwhile, does play around with the concept a bit (being generally comprised of races that are usually portrayed as [[
*** The only ones who really can't be pidgeonholed like this at all are the undead humans of the Forsaken - they have inverted, played-with elements of the Mundane, Fairy and Stout all at once.
* ''[[
** About the Zora in ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
*** It's stated in the game that when the goddesses flooded Hyrule to seal [[Big Bad|Ganondorf]] away, the water was also made mostly uninhabitable (which is why there’re no fish on it, only some few monsters) so that no one could just swim to the bottom and release Hyrule (and Ganondorf) by mistake. That’s why the Zora were forced to evolve into the Rito to live on land (and in fact, despite their bird like features, their wings come from the magic of the Sky Spirit Valoo and thus, are not part of their evolution).
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
*** This makes sense when you learn that ''[[Twilight Princess]]'' and ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
* The [[Phantasy Star]] Universe has this in the most obvious ways
** [[CAS Ts]] are Stout (actual robots)
Line 219:
** Humans are... humans
** Beasts are cute for most of their time, but warp into Stout as a super power.
* Believe it or not, fits quite well on the “races” of Tellius, the ''[[Fire Emblem|Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance]]'' (and ''Radiant Dawn'') setting:
** Gallians/beast tribe laguz are the Stout being [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]] (tigers and lions are [[Mighty Glacier]] whereas cats and wolfs are [[Fragile Speedster]].
** Serenes/heron laguz are the Fairy, being angelic, very magically inclined and also very fragile.
Line 225:
** Phoenicis/hawk laguz and Kilvas/raven laguz are a combination of Mundane (being the [[Jack of All Stats]] among the laguz) and High Men (compared to the beorc).
** Goldoans/dragon tribe laguz are the High Men, living isolated from everyone else and declaring themselves as neutral regardless of whatever happens to the outside world. They also have some elements of Stout (mainly on their dragon forms, which tend to be huge).
** Finally, while no race in particular could be considered Cute by itself alone, plenty of laguz could qualify thanks to being [[Petting Zoo People]], and some of the beorc characters among both games, being children, also easily qualify.
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' has Redguards, Orcs and Nords as '''Stout''', Breton as '''Fairy''', Dunmer and Imperial as '''Mundane''', Altmer as '''High Men''', Wood Elves as '''Cute''', and in addition, Argonians and Khajiits as '''Beasts'''.
** Redguards could also be counted as High Men, considering their pick of the attributes and martial skill, and their history of military and naval prowess.
** The events between [[Oblivion]] and [[Skyrim]] move the
* ''[[
** The Humans are, of course, the '''Humans.''' ([[Captain Obvious]] to the rescue!) However, due to their mundanity, and the way some of them value hard work, they may well also fill the '''Stout''' role.
** The Mr. Saturns are the '''Fairies.''' They're weird and quirky, and they may have magical powers. Maybe. They're an entire race of [[Cloudcuckoolander|Cloud Cuckoolanders]], so it's hard to tell.
** The Starmen are the '''High Men.''' They have advanced psionic powers, and they come from another realm. While their powers are incredible, they're also Giygas' troopers, and therefore kind of, uh, [[
** The Tenda are the '''Cute.''' And, as they will frequently tell you, they're shy.
* ''[[Mass Effect]]'': Some are a bit of a stretch, but the playable races fall into these types.
Line 243:
** Cute - Quarians. While not exactly small, they're the least warlike race and are perceived as harmless. Also, Tali's accent.
*** [[Keet|Salarians]], [[Fun Size|volus,]] and [[Gentle Giant|elcor]] can also be thrown into the Cute category.
** Vorcha, batarians, and the other [[
* ''[[Nethack]]'' doesn't follow the standard exactly:
** ''Humans'' are more High Men than Mundane: strong and balanced, can be any role (class), and are the only race than can choose their alignment. Their only major disadvantage is that without infravision, they are blind in the dark.
Line 252:
* Even in [[Cthulhu Mythos]]-inspired "[[Cthulhu MUD]]", you have mundane Humans, cute Zoogs, stout Deep Ones, high Yithians, and fairy Mi-Go. Keeping in mind, of course, that Yithians (despite being benevolent and intellectual) are body-jumping cone-slugs, the Zoogs are furry blue primates with tentacle-faces, Deep-Ones are fish-frog people, and Mi-Go (flying shrimp-fungus) are as evil, ugly and technologically-advanced as normal Fairies are good, pretty and, magical.
* [[Just for Fun]], let's attempt this with the Origins of ''[[City of Heroes]]''- almost purely aesthetic descriptions of how your [[Superhero]] got their powers...
** Stout: Technology- In the style of [[Iron Man]] or [[Astro Boy (
** Fairy: [[Functional Magic|Magic]]- Most associated with otherworldly forces such as [[Our Demons Are Different|demons]] or [[The Fair Folk|fey]], magic is famously ill-defined but much like Technology, can come down to those who use magic itself (a la [[Doctor Strange]]) or those who are merely empowered by it (see: [[Wonder Woman]]).
** Mundane: [[Badass Normal|Natural]]- Characters of this origin are usually normal humans, [[Charles Atlas Superpower|keeping up with superfolks through sheer skill]]. Alternatively, they can be non-human but using powers that are entirely natural for their species. Two examples that exemplify each type: [[Batman]] and [[Superman]].
Line 268:
** Mundane: More or less normal Humans.
** Fairy: Fairies. The Sproutlings/Flowerlings are a mix of this and Cute, maybe with a little High Men thrown in.
** Stout: Humans with animal characteristics (made up of both [[Petting Zoo People]] and [[Funny Animal
** High Men: It's a bit of a stretch, but this can be seen in the Jumi.
** Cute: Lillipeas
Line 290:
* ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'': Any citizen of any race could be considered Mundane, but as for the characters of whole civilizations:
** Dwarf = Anyone who can swing a granite throne as a weapon would naturally be a Stout. They're also the most advanced, with technology that canonically reaches into the High Middle Ages and, with player influence, goes [[Clock Punk|even further]].
** Human = High
** Elves =
** Goblins = Low
** Kobolds =
* ''[[The Legend of Dragoon]]'' has this too.
** Human =
** Winglies = High Men / Fairy
** Gigantos =
** Minintos =
** Dragons = Low
* ''[[Rift]]'' plays with the trope: There are arguably only four playable races, total (bahmi and dwarves—the respective Stouts of their factions—are distinct races, but [[Humans
* ''[[Opoona]]'' pulls this off, thanks to the co-existence in the game of both science fiction (alien) and fantasy aspects.
** The Tizians, the game's focal race, are the '''Stout.''' They're an incredibly powerful [[Proud Warrior Race]] and the galaxy's police force, but, since they can use magical Force and are ''[[Killer Rabbit|really adorable]],'' they have '''Cute''' sub-traits.
** The game features fairies as the game's '''Fairy''' race. Fairly straightforward. This also includes the Elemental Aura spirits, which are somewhat fairy-like in nature.
** Humans are the game's '''Mundane''' race. Unusually, they're not the one's we're supposed to identify with, as most of the game's humans take a background role.
** There are two candidates for '''High Men.''' The first are the Sages: Humans (or Tizians) born with overflowing amounts of Holy Force, giving them divine powers of healing and other things. They use their powers to essentially (benevolently, for the most part) rule the planet. Another might be
** The Nikoniko people are the more definite '''Cute.''' They're adorable meter-high, brightly-colored aliens who love artwork and have slightly-snobbish but well-meaning attitudes. They are also implied to have [[Verbal Tic
* [[Game Mod]] [[Red Alert 3 Paradox]]:
** Cute: Design-wise, Empire of the Rising Sun, who overlap with Fairy by having [[Psychic Powers]].
Line 322:
== Webcomics ==
* [[Twice Blessed]], being based on D&D, plays this pretty straight. So far, it has humans as as Mundanes, dwarves as the Stout, pixies as the Fairies, elves as the High Men, and gnomes as the Cute.
* In ''[[Triquetra Cats]]'', humans having colonized the solar system have come to develop into this: Earthlings = mundane/human; Martians = Stout/dwarf; Venutians = High Men/elf; Stationborn = Fairy/gnome; Outer System = Cute/Hobbit; [[Sixth Ranger|Antreyki]] = Proud Warrior Race/animal people
* Lampshaded somewhat in [[Our Little Adventure]] when Carissa touched on a theory where the human girl used the Magicant to create the first of four other races. These other four people were visibly unhappy about this in [http://danielscreations.com/ola/comics/ep0092.html this comic here.]
Line 336:
** Stout: Boudacians, Princess Mandie's race. If Mandie (and the arranged military alliance with Yugopotamia)is any indication, they seem to be a [[Proud Warrior Race]].
** Cute: The Gigglepies. [[Tastes Like Diabetes|Sickeningly so,]] [[Invoked Trope|intentionally.]]
** [[
* [[
** Earth Kingdom as Stout, though they could easily count as Mundane due to their diversity and larger population.
** Spirit World as Fairy.
** Fire Nation as Mundane. [[
** Air Nomads as High Men, particularly because they're all Airbenders. Bonus points for being nearly extinct at the time of the series.
** Water Tribe as Cute, for the underestimated (at least at the beginning of Book One) and [[Closer to Earth]] parts.
* [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]:
** Stout: Pegasi. The <s>Christmas</s> Hearth's Warming Eve episode reveals that, before the foundation of Equestria, the Pegasi were a [[Proud Warrior Race]] modeled closely after Spartan culture. Rainbow Dash best exemplifies her race, being very acrobatic and tomboyish. Fluttershy is notable for being very ''unlike'' most Pegasi, and her black sheep status is the exception that proves the rule.
** Fairy: Unicorns. They are the only race that can naturally cast spells, and frequently use a form of telekinesis to handle objects with greater dexterity than their other hooved brethren. Twilight Sparkle was born particularly gifted, able to learn and master many types of magic. Rarity is a fashion designer, and relies on her telekinesis to work with threads and needles.
** Mundane: Earth Ponies. They have no obvious special powers, apart from greater physical constitutions (which the show does not put much emphasis on). Applejack, and indeed most Earth Ponies, tend to be humble and [[Meaningful Name|down-to-earth]]. And while Pinkie Pie is noticeably more hyperactive, she exemplifies the Mundaneness of the race through her hedonist tendencies (a la Hobbits).
** High Men: Crystal Ponies. Long hidden from the rest of the world, until the events of The Crystal Empire. Equestria as a whole is a utopian society by Earth standards, but the Crystal Empire stands out as being particularly beautiful and perfect (thousand-year enslavement under an evil overlord notwithstanding). As natural-born Crystal Ponies do not have horns or wings, they can be interpreted as idealized Earth Ponies.
** Cute: Breezies. Tiny, butterfly-like ponies, with not much characterization beyond being adorable and scatterbrained.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Otherness Tropes]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
Line 350 ⟶ 357:
[[Category:Fantastic Sapient Species Tropes]]
[[Category:Ensembles]]
[[Category:Tabletop
▲[[Category:Five Races]]
| |||