Loads and Loads of Races: Difference between revisions

* Larry Niven's ''[[Known Space]]'' series has Humans, Kzinti, Puppeteers, Outsiders, Pierin, Kdatlyno, Trinocs, Bandersnatchi, Grogs and more. Those are only the contemporary races, the Thrint, Tnuctipun, Pak, Martians and others have gone (mostly) extinct. And then there are all the myriad humanoid subspecies on Ringworld...

* ''[[Discworld]]'' started with humans, trolls, and elves, although even this was explained in the context of Rincewind trying to work out why there were still dryads. Then gnomes and dwarfs got added in ''[[The Light Fantastic]]'', and gnolls in ''[[Equal Rites]]''. Then ''[[Reaper Man]]'' added zombies, vampires, werewolves, weremen, bogeymen and banshees. Then ''[[Lords and Ladies]]'' introduced [[The Fair Folk]], so the elves that had been vaguely mentioned previously had to be explained as [[Half Human Hybrids]]. ''[[Feet of Clay]]'' added golems, and ''[[Carpe Jugulum]]'' added the Nac Mac Feegle (and the Igors, if they count as a race). ''[[Thief of Time]]'' included yeti. ''[[Unseen Academicals]]'' introduced {{spoiler|orcs}} and featured the first mention of goblins, who would go on to play a major role in ''[[Snuff]]'' (as well as a throwaway reference to a "Medusa" in the Watch). (And ''[[Night Watch (Discworld)|Night Watch]]'' had a brief mention of kvetches, but never really explained what they were beyond being covered in hair).

* In ''[[Lacuna]]'', Saara implies this about the universe.

* The likely world record for Loads and Loads of Races almost certainly belongs to [[Alan Dean Foster]]'s [[Spellsinger]] series, in which literally ''every species'' of mammal, bird, amphibian, or turtle on Earth has an equivalent intelligent race. An unspecified number of insect (Plated Folk) and spider (Weaver) species likewise come in sentient as well as mundane varieties. [[Lions and Tigers and Humans, Oh My!|Humans are also present]], as are numerous other intelligent races, some with a mythological basis (dragons, fairies, unicorns) and others made up from scratch. All told, that's got to be ''tens of thousands'' of races at a minimum, possibly over a million.

 

* ''[[Star Trek]]''. The humans, the Vulcans ([[Our Elves Are Better|space elves]]), the Romulans (the Vulcans' nastier cousins [So... Space Drow?]), the Klingons ([[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]s), the Borg ([[Bee People]]), the Cardassians ([[Planet of Hats|spies and assassins]]), and the Ferengi ([[Space Jews|interstellar merchants]]) are the most prominent ones. However there are a lot more that turn up only in individual episodes or plot arcs, and unimportant ones represented by a main character (Betazoids, Trill, Denobulans...)

* Where does one begin with ''[[Doctor Who]]'', world's [[Long Runners|longest running sci-fi television series]]? [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Time Lords]], [[Omnicidal Maniac|Daleks]], [[You Will Be Assimilated|Cybermen]], [[Proud Warrior Race|Sontarans]] and their enemies the Rutan Host, Ice Warriors, Zygons, Tereleptils, Silurians and Sea Devils, the Nestene Consciousness, Zarbi, Menoptera, Eternals, [[Physical God|Osirans]], Usurians, Monoids, Alpha Centaurians, Axons, Argolin, Foamasi, intelligent cacti from Zolfa Thura, Tractators, the Cheetah People, Haemovores and their giant cousins the Great Vampires, Tharils, [[Giant Enemy Crab|Macra]], [[Plant Aliens|Krynoids]], [[My Friends and Zoidberg|and even humans]]. ''Then'' the new series introduced Raxicoricofallapatorians (often mistakenly called the Slitheen), Ood, Judoon, Sycorax, Adipose, Pyrovillians, Saturnynians, Crafayis, Malmooth, Weeping Angels, the Silence, and many other background races and individuals. Don't even get ''started'' on the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]] of which one race, Chelonians, have been mentioned in the new series...