->''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, ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''

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 [[PlanetOfHats 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 OneGenderRace. These usually include:

* Stout ([[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwarf]]): Gruff, usually associated with hard physical work and masculinity. The typical Stout is the dwarf. Often has a counterpart in SpeculativeFiction settings, in the guise of humans genetically or cybernetically enhanced for heavy labour or [[HeavyWorlder life on high-gravity planets]], or possibly actual robots. The ProudWarriorRace, if they aren't one of the [[AlwaysChaoticEvil evil races]], may also fill this role.
* Fairy ([[OurElvesAreBetter Elf]][=/=][[OurFairiesAreDifferent Fairy]][=/=][[OurAngelsAreDifferent Angel]]): The most magical race, relatively speaking. Can include angelic types or even [[PhysicalGod gods]]. The typical Fairy is an elf who [[ElvesVsDwarves doesn't get along with Stouts]], and is correspondingly more "[[{{Elfeminate}} feminine]]" to counter "masculine" Stouts (longer hair, greater delicacy, and likely to be the archer). Recently, having this be a CuteMonsterGirl is more and more common. In SpeculativeFiction, substitute humans with [[PsychicPowers psionic abilities]], or [[ProudScholarRaceGuy advanced]] but not quite {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s. See also SpaceElves.
* Mundane ([[HumansAreAverage Human]]): [[AudienceSurrogate 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 JackOfAllTrades of the races. This is usually the role cast for humans, unless you have...
* High Men ([[OurElvesAreBetter Taller Elf]][=/=][[HumansAreSpecial Human]][=/=][[OurGodsAreGreater God]]): Usually a historical or [[WitchSpecies 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. If the {{Precursors}} still exist in a SpeculativeFiction setting, they might fill this role if TheFederation isn't heavily idealized.
* Cute ([[{{Hobbits}} Hobbit]] or [[OurGnomesAreWeirder Gnome]]): 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. Tends to either overlap with Mundane (to produce {{Hobbits}}) or Fairy (to produce gnomes), but usually designed with a larger dose than usual of FunPersonified.

This doesn't include the various "[[AlwaysChaoticEvil evil races]]" that crop up, though some of those can fit into the above categories as well [[FantasyAxisOfEvil as their own]].

If the heroes in this setting form a FiveManBand, 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 TheBigGuy.)
In the role of a SixthRanger, the 'sixth species' may be a lost or hidden race, namely there's always a LastOfHisKind or some ancient ruins of the once great species. This set up usually enforces HybridOverkillAvoidance to keep [[CompetitiveBalance the balance.]]

See SquareRaceRoundClass for the deliberate subversion. The FantasyAxisOfEvil is the EvilCounterpart.
----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* While it is not emphasized all too much, SoulEater has the Stout Meisters, or fighters, Fairies/Witches, the highly magical species, the Mundane/Humans, whom the meisters and weapons protect, the Shinigami are the High Men(although we only know two) and the Weapons would be the Cute, as over half of them are incapable of self-defense and are always told to stay with their meister, in weapon form while in combat.
* ''HeroicAge'' has the Golden Tribe as the FairFolk, the Silver Tribe as the High Men, the Bronze Tribe as the Cute (being the weakest), the Heroic Tribe as the Stouts, and the Iron Tribe (Humans) as the mundanes. It should be noted that all the races have psychic potential.
* ''MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'' 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.
* ''OnePiece'': Mundane Humans, Stout [[OurGiantsAreBigger Giants]], Cute [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent Merfolk]], which are distinct from the [[FishPeople Fish Men]], who could be considered Stout or High Men, and the Fairies are of course the [[IncrediblyLamePun Drag Queens]].
** However, the people who eat a Devil Fruit could also fit Fairy. Each devil fruit has a distinct, never to be repeated power (or at least, no more than one person at a time can have a particular fruit's power). Some change your body composition (such as becoming made of rubber in the case of the main character) or give you a unique ability (like Mr. 2's ability to shapeshift into anybody he has touched). Other powers include turning into animals (and shapeshifting into different body structures of them, as demonstrated by [[TheMedic Chopper]]). Or being made of an element (light, sand, smoke, fire etc).
** There are also the Long-Arm Tribe and the winged peoples like the Skypieans, Shandians, and Bilkans (who hail from the moon, how's that for a precursor/lost race?)
* ''PetitePrincessYucie'' has each race is a different world, of Humans, Demons (Stout), Angels (Fairy), Ghost (High-Men) and ironically, Fairies (Cute). The final episodes showed that there was a sixth world, the Magic World.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* StarWars:
** Stout: Wookies, though Gungans can also fulfill this trope
** Fairy: Twi'leks (though they aren't as magical as they are "fair")
** Mundane: Humans, especially if on Naboo or with the Rebellion
** High Men: Jedi
** Cute: Ewoks (was there any doubt?)
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]
* Subverted in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'', despite it having roots in DungeonsAndDragons. There is only one type of humanoid on C'hou: humans (elves are just a different kind of human with pointed ears), broken into six races, plus a whole lot of mixed-race individuals. None of these are “special” in any way, though elves are second-class citizens in Ketafa.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* When one looks only at the magical beings in ''Literature/HarryPotter'', giants are Stout, goblins are Fairies, Wizards are Mundane, centaurs are High Men, and House Elves are Cute/Hobbits.
** Taken to a bigger perspective, [[{{Muggle}} muggles]] are mundane and wizards are Fairies. Goblins, although they are businessmen rather manual workers, are somewhere between Stout and Fairies.
* TadWilliams' ''MemorySorrowAndThorn'' has four (or five depending on how you count) heroic races that more or less fill these roles. Humans are of course Mundanes, the Sithi occupy both the Fairies and High Men role, Trolls are Cutes, Niskies are both Fairies and Cutes, and Dwarrows (the underground cousins of the Niskies) are both Stouts and Cutes. And of course there's a corresponding FantasyAxisOfEvil for the BigBad's allies.
* ''TheLordOfTheRings'' may be the TropeMaker here, with Elves (High Men), Dwarves (Stout), Ents (Fairy), Men (Mundane/High), and Hobbits (Cute/Mundane). 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 Númenóreans.
** The Elves themselves are subdivided, with the Vanyar[[hottip:*:Fair Elves]] who stay in the Undying Lands once there and play little role in the books as the Fairies, Noldor[[hottip:*:High/Deep Elves]] as the High Men, the Teleri (including the Falmari[[hottip:*:Sea Elves]], Sindar[[hottip:*:Grey Elves]], Laiquendi[[hottip:*:Green Elves]], and Silvan Elves) as the Mundane (relatively speaking), and the Avari who also play little role in the books as the Cute.
* The ''{{Dragonlance}}'' novels, and the associated ''DungeonsAndDragons'' game setting, have a large number of races, but the ones who get the lion's share of the spotlight are Dwarves (stout), Elves (fairy), Humans (mundane, especially the Barbarians), and Kender (cute). The High Men role is filled by two nations of the other races, namely the Solamnians (humans) and the Silvanesti (elves).
* An exception is Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{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 three novels, ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'', ''Discworld/TheWeeFreeMen'' and ''The Science of Discworld II: The Globe'', and are sociopathic extradimensional pillagers instead of the usual Tolkien-esque [[HiddenElfVillage isolated sages]]. Gnomes, Vampires and Werewolves are increasingly used, but tend to be more focused on the individuals rather than well-culturally defined races.
** Gnomes (and pictsie) are kind of like the "cute" race, but more [[ViolentGlaswegian violent]]. They are tiny and hard-headed in every sense of the word. Vampires and Werewolves [[strike: tend to be bastards]]vary considerably, with one known group of organized bastards in each race contrasting sharply with characters like Angua and Maladict[[spoiler:a]].
** Actually, the humans are nearly every race depending on who we're talking about: Witches = Fairy, Wizards = High Men, Watchmen = Stout, Twoflower (early on) or Moist (a late addition) = Cute, and the Mundane are the other characters who tend to get seen only once or twice.
* DavidWeber specifically invokes the trope name in his ''{{Bahzell}}'' series. Aligning the five races with the trope isn't all that straightforward though
** Dwarves are '''Stout''' Short, physically strong and industrious. Also in the process of kicking off their world's version of the Industrial Revolution. The old empire ran on Magitek powered by Wizards, and there's not enough to power anything so they've had to invent new ways to do what they know are possible.
** Elves are '''Fairy''' Mystical, immortal and rarely found outside their one city state. They suffer a species wide form of Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder from the fall of the empire. Most were once human warlocks who gave up their powers in exchange for immortality, although some new ones have been born from time to time.
** Humans are generally '''Mundane''' but with elements of '''High Men''' as in this setting only humans can become wizards or the psionic Magi. Humans can breed with all the other races, and their hybrids can also be Magi or Wizards. All half humans except for half-elves are sterile. WordOfGod suggests half-human hybrids may have a high chance to be Magi or Wizards than normal.
** The hradani and halflings don't fit well into either the '''Cute''' or '''High Men'''.
*** The hradani can fit in '''Cute''' for certain values of cute with their fox-like ears though it conflicts with their current ProudWarriorRaceGuy image. They ''used'' to be '''High Men''' but lost their status after being enslaved and used as shock troops by dark wizards in the back story and only one Wild Wizard and maybe a handful of elves even remember the fact. In many respects they qualify as Orcs.
*** The halflings would fit the more traditional '''Cute''' role but are generally described as sneaking, lying cowards that no one has any use for. The only exception are the Marfang Islander Halflings who are considered brave to the point of insanity. They are descended from servants and slaves of dark wizards exposed to too much magic.
** 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 Creator/NealStephenson's ''Literature/{{Cryptonomicon}}'', Randy Waterhouse divides humans into groups based on the races from ''LordOfTheRings''. Hands-on geeks (including Randy himself) are Dwarves, ivory-tower academics are Hobbits, brilliant {{Bunny Ears Lawyer}}s are Elves, normal people are Men, the enigmatic, [[{{Immortality}} immortal]] [[TheMentor mentor]] Enoch Root is a Wizard, CrazySurvivalist Andrew Loeb is Gollum, etc.
* The Literature/{{Bas-Lag Cycle}}, which includes ''PerdidoStreetStation'' and [[Literature/TheScar its]] [[Literature/IronCouncil sequels]] are a notable aversion, with [[LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces more bizarre fantasy races than you shake a stick + 1 at]].
** 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 ''Literature/CodexAlera'', 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 ProudWarriorRace flavor of Stout mixed in). The other three races, however ([[WolfMan Canim]], [[AbominableSnowman Icemen]], and [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Vord]]) don't fit in ''remotely''.
** The Canim are the Stout, as only the smallest of the [[FantasticCasteSystem castes]] can use magic. The Icemen are another flavor of Fairy. The Vord ''would'' fit somewhere in the FantasyAxisOfEvil, except that they ate everyone that came within arms' reach.[[hottip:*:The Eldritch, for the record.]]
** Strangely, ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' comes closer if wizards are a race apart from ordinary humans (they do live much longer and have scientifically observable, heritable biological differences from non-wizards). So High Men would be wizards, Mundanes would be humans. The High Fae are Fairies (and sometimes the White Court), while the little faeries like Toot-toot are the Cute. Strangely, the closest to Stout are the Knights of the Cross; they're buff, no-nonsense warriors, some of them have craftsman-type skills, and they don't get on with Fairy-types at all. But there are only three of them, and they're BadassNormal humans.
* In PhilipPullman's ''HisDarkMaterials'' trilogy, we have:
** The [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy panserbjørne]] ([[NinjaPirateZombieRobot intelligent, armour-clad]] {{bears|AreBadNews}}) as the stouts, right down to the hard physical work (they're expert smiths) and masculinity (female bears were seen once, briefly, and males seem to be the only ones who do anything)
** The [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]] as the fairies
** Humans as the mundanes, obviously
** Witches (and, to a lesser extent, shamans) as the high men; they seem to have initially started out as humans (women only; male offspring of a witch will be a regular human) but have now advanced far beyond them and are able to perform magic, experience stimuli that humans cannot (such as feeling starlight and seeing [[OurSoulsAreDifferent dæmons]] from worlds where they would usually be hidden) and, importantly, be long distances from their dæmons without suffering
** The cute race is difficult, but the [[LilliputianWarriors Gallivespians]] or, more likely, the [[StarfishAliens mulefa]] would probably fit the bill.
* ''{{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.
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' examples: Humans are Mundane. Andalites are High Men. Hork-Bajir are Stouts. Chee, the Pemalites, and the Ellimist are the science-fiction equivalent of TheFairFolk. As for the "Cute," comic-relief role, all of the races can be humbled into playing this role at any time, so there is no need for a separate race to be the "Cute" one.
** Helmacrons!
*** CuteButCacophonic, sure. Plus they want to conquer the universe despite being less than an inch tall. They are hilarious though also not that harmless.
* TheDeathGateCycle has Humans as mundanes and Dwarves as stout while the Elves are mostly just a more civilised form of mundanes. The Patryns and Sartan are both fairies, being in some way descended from humans but possessing much more magical aptitude to the point of being considered demigods; they both look down on the other three races equally.
* Literature/TrappedOnDraconica: Discussed early on by Ben, who asks about them. Although Erowin shoots down most of them, they are actually represented. Elves are present but they function more or less like the mundane humans, a breed of intelligent tigers are created to be pets (check for closer to earth sensibility and innter strength traits) Dragokin for High Men, [[spoiler: Erowin herself becomes an angel and clearly more powerful then anyone else.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/BabylonFive'' has five major races. While some of them align with the archetypes above reasonably well (Human-Mundane, Vorlon-Fairy, Minbari-High Men), Narn-Stout is a bit of a stretch, and the Centauri definitely aren't Cute. (Although it's worth noting that the initially toadying Vir is a good example of Cute among a generally unCute race; Ivanova's "strength sometimes comes from the most unlikely of places" in her voice-over in the finale, as the camera shows Vir, practically defines the essence of the Cute. The Regent, with his quavering voice and ditzy kindliness, is an even better example of Cute.) Still, it's five races.
** Let's see, perpetually angry and put-upon, physically strong and bulky and used for labor when they were enslaved, lacking in telepathic "magic"-- no, Narns as stouts isn't ''that'' big a stretch.
*** 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 ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Klingons serve as Stouts, humans are High Men, and Vulcans are Fairies.
** Compare this to ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine 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 GrotesqueCute.
** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' 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 PlanetofHats where the [[FantasticRacism most important distinction between people]] is their favorite colors.
* Some of Moya's crew in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' ''almost'' fits. D'Argo as ''Stout'', Zhaan as ''Fairy'', Rygel as ''Cute'', Aeryn as ''High Men'', John as ''Mundane''. On the other hand, the show plays with these roles/assumptions often: Rygel has some disgusting attributes (and special mental skills like hard-nosed negotiation), Zhaan performs some scientific duties in addition to the mystical/telepathic, Aeryn's race has attained great power but tends to use it for tyranny, and John's sharp mind and all-around competence belie his mundane status.
* Early in ''Series/StargateSG1'', O'Neill is told that humans have taken the first step towards becoming "the fifth race"; and in the finale, Carter is told we've earned the role as any hope of saving the Milkyway would rest on us from then on. The closest fit to this trope would probably be:
** Ancients as "High Men" since they are the {{Precursors}} and are generally idealized (except when they're called out for being [[NeglectfulPrecursors 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.
** Asgard as "Stout" of the ProudWarriorRace variety, even though they are very technologically advanced and have shades of "High Men" or even "Fairy" at times
** Furlings as "Cute"; we know nothing about them, not even what they look like ("200" notwithstanding) but they sound adorable
** Humans as "Mundane", of course.
* There were hundreds of species in the [[TheFederation Systems Commonwealth]] of ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'', but the most influential races could be almost be categorized as such. Humans are naturally mundanes, though some of the genetically modified [[HumanSubspecies subspecies]] might qualify for other roles; the insectoid Than-thre-kull stouts; the inventive but not too cautious [[MadScientist Perseids]] arguably cute; and the Vedrans who founded the Commonwealth in the first place were high men, though after they disappeared they gained a legendary reputation more along the lines of fairies. Meanwhile the [[NietzscheWannabe Nietzschean]] subspecies of human consider themselves to be [[{{Ubermensch}} high men]], but their SocialDarwinism and betrayal of the Commonwealth make them closer to the [[FantasyAxisOfEvil fallen]].
* Several of the Votan species in ''Series/{{Defiance}}'' have been noted to resemble fantasy races:
** Castithans have an entry on the SpaceElves page, but they act a bit more like High Men, or Fallen in the case of the Machiavellian Tarrs.
** Irathient are a bit of a blend, they're strong, proud warriors (or at least the Spirit Riders are, we saw some peaceful homesteaders in a flashback) like the Stout. They are deeply spiritual, some even have clairvoyant abilities, and have a connection to nature like Fairies. Possibly even some shades of the Savage. But they also seem the most human-like of the Votan.
** Indogenes are highly intelligent and responsible for most Votan tech like the Arks, force-blades (intended as [[LaserCutter surgical tools]], converted into [[LaserBlade weapons]] by the Castithans), and their own cybernetic implants. Kind of Fairy or competing with Castis for High Men.
** Liberata actually resemble dwarves physically and were once an economically powerful and war mongering race. But were conquered by the Castithans long ago and have turned towards generosity and servitude since then.
** Sensoth are hard to categorize, a big hairy and peaceful servant race. The Gulanee aren't even humanoid and have yet to appear in the series. And the Volge would belong fully on the FantasyAxisOfEvil.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mythology]]
* The UrExample is NorseMythology, 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 FiveRaces from these.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' is the TropeMaker, more or less (after shamelessly rewriting [=LotR=], which in turn plundered the common domain to shamelessly rewrite mythology and folklore.)
** From the 3.5e PHB races, we get:
*** Dwarves are Stout, because they're [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame all the same.]] Also Half-Orcs, though they're human-sized.
*** Elves as High Men.
*** [[CaptainObvious Humans as Mundane.]]
*** Halflings as Cute, as well as being roguish sorts.
*** Gnomes as Fairy, being the only race that gets the natural ability to cast spells.
** The 4th Edition PHB races follow a similar pattern:
*** Stout - Dwarf, Dragonborn: Dwarves are the classic Stout race. The [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy 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 [[MechanicalLifeforms 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 DealWithTheDevil. Forgotten Realms gives us Genasi, elemental blooded beings, and the PHB2 also gives us Devas, reincarnated divine beings, while the PHB 3 adds the Wilden who are guardians of nature and Shardminds who are crystals held together by pure thought.
*** Mundane - Human: Naturally.
*** High Men - Elf, Half-Elf: The forest-loving elves and the HalfHumanHybrid 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).
*** Cute - Halfling: The short, sneaky guys. Gnomes from the PHB 2 also qualify, with some multiclass with Fairy.
** As for the original game, we had:
*** Stout: Dwarves again.
*** Fairy: Elves, with elements of High Men, and could wield both steel and magic depending on which "mode" they were in.
*** Mundane: Humans again.
*** Cute: Hobbits/Halflings.
* Almost every ''NewWorldOfDarkness'' TabletopGames has exactly five clans/auspices/paths/etc. of the species under discussion; the sole exception is ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'', with six seemings (and only four Courts (the Seasonal Courts), or two courts (the Sun and Moon Courts), or a different four courts (the Directional Courts). In the core-book ''TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated'' was like this too, but supplements added the Zeka (radioactive Prometheans) and the Unfleshed (artificial, instead of made from human corpses), as well as more Refinements than the 5 in the core. There are usually five political factions, as well, with the "black hat" (evil) group usually being an evil faction as opposed to a race.
** ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'' is an exception. Hunters have no 'inherent' groups, and have ''twelve'' political factions presented in the corebook alone (plus at least twenty professions).
** ''TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters'' seems to attest to the end of the five-by-five system. There are five Thresholds Sin-Eaters can be linked to once they return from the dead... and eight Archetypes they can follow to determine their role as one of the Bound.
* Similarly, the ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'' was built around five different races of supernatural beings, each of which had their own game -- ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'', ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'', ''TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion'', ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'', and ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheDreaming''. After ''Changeling'' and ''Wraith'' were discontinued, White Wolf tried to fill the gap (maintaining the "five races" structure) with ''TabletopGame/HunterTheReckoning'' and ''TabletopGame/DemonTheFallen''. It should be noted that, although they maintain 5 as the magic number, none of the races fall distinctly into any of the five categories; in fact, any race can fill any of the categories to some extent (with the exception of Cute, which seems to be the sole province of the Changelings...this is not true of the new incarnation of Changeling, ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'', in which Changelings are mentally damaged trauma survivors.).
* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' features seven kinds of playable ''Exalted''. Of the five main types, Solar Exalted are the High Men, Lunar Exalted the Stout, Sidereal Exalted the Fairy, and the Dragon Blooded the most Mundane ones. The fifth kind, however, breaks the pattern, as the Abyssal Exalted are more interested in causing the end of the world than in being Cute. [[http://keychain.patternspider.net/archive/koc0001.html Most of them, anyway...]] Of the two optional types, Alchemical Exalted are Stout, while Infernal Exalted don't appear to fit the pattern.
** Infernal and Abyssal exaltations are corrupted Solar ones, so they're "fallen" High Men. The game mechanics reflect this by having the castes and abilities very close in effect to those of Solars.
* 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:
*** ''Stout'' - A race that bears a strong resemblance to Wookies called Weren, and another race of agile fliers called Sesheyan.
*** ''Fairy'' - The psychic race of the setting, bearing a strong resemblance to Grays, called Fraal
*** ''Mundane'' - Humans, duh.
*** ''The High Men'' - the race of ''Neuromancer'' cyborgs listed above, called Mechalus by the setting.
*** ''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.
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'''s different settings often drift towards this.
** As a good example, Kamigawa block:
*** '''Mundane''': Humans, as they often are.
*** '''Stout''': the snakefolk, or Orochi-bito, consists of snake warriors and shamans. They tend toward being [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy proud warrior race people]].
*** '''High Men''': the soratami, or cloudfolk. Besides generally being quite good at everything they do, and literally living high in the clouds, [[BreakTheHaughty 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 AlwaysChaoticEvil. Akki also have a little stout thrown in, whereas nezumi show minor tendencies towards fairy or mundane.
** 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-block--particularly the ''Lorwyn'' part--was fairly explicitly this, with:
*** '''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''': [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Fae, singular "Faerie"]]. Also pretty damn evil.
*** '''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 FiveRaces after all.]]
** 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.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' also has five races, though they break down a bit differently: Stout (dwarfs), High Men (elves), Mundane (humans), Low Men ([[OurOrcsAreDifferent orks]]), and Big Mean [[FutureSlang Fraggers]] ([[AllTrollsAreDifferent trolls]]). Fairy is reserved for somewhat further-out races, and anything Cute was either killed off a while ago or is now starring in some twisted simsense flick.
* 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, [[WingedHumanoid Muses]] are Fairies and [[GadgeteerGenius Yassan]] are Stouts) but with ''several dozen'' species of humanoids available as [=PCs=], that was bound to happen to some of them.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' has these, more or less.
** The Empire - Mundane
** Bretonnia - Mundane
** High Elves - Fairy (with a touch of High Men)
** Wood Elves - Fairy & High Men (The Elves themselves/Fairy & Stout (Forest Spirits)
** Dark Elves- Fairy & High Men
** Orcs - Stout for Orcs and Wild Orcs, Stout/Highmen for Black Orcs (a smarter more disciplined subspecies)and Mundane for Goblins, with maybe some cute if you can stomach their dark humor in a couple units designs.
** Dwarfs - Stout
** Warriors of Chaos - High Men (the evil version) with a bit of the Stout, as the army has a very Germanic/Norse Barbarian feel to it. Followers of Khorne in particular carry a lot of the Stout combined with being High Men, as they're frenzied, unstoppable warriors with a fondness for axes.
** Beasts of Chaos - Mundane/Fairy with Stout Minotaurs and Fairy/Stout Dragon Ogres (but once again, evil)
** Daemons of Chaos - Fairy, some High Men (the evil version)
** Ogre Kingdoms - Stout for the Ogres, Mundane for the Gnoblers
** Lizardmen - Mundane/Stout for the Saurus, Stout for Kroxigor and other large beasts, Fairy for the Skinks and Slann
** 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.
* TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} has its own, equally twisted version:
** 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.
** Space Wolves - Stouts with some Highmen, but when you ride into melee on the back of giant wolves howling for glory in battle, you are definitely more Stout than Highman. Especially in a space game.
** Chaos Space Marines- High Men, with spiky bits (and very evil). Followers of Khorne and Nurgle combine this seamlessly with the Stout. Especially Khornates, who are OneManArmy ProudWarriorRaceGuys who are arguably the greatest warriors in the canon.
** Eldar- Fairy/High Men
** Dark Eldar- Fairy/High Men with even ''more'' spiky bits, and even eviler
** Orks- Stout
** Daemons of Chaos- Fairy/High Men
** Tyranids- Mundane/Stout depending on which part of the army you're looking at
** Necrons- Stout, with a subversion of High Men thrown in for good measure
** Witch Hunters- Mundane with a dash of Fairy and High Women in the form of the Sisters of Battle
** Daemon Hunters- High Men turned up to 11 with the Grey Knights, and then you look at their elite units which are psychic for some Fairy action.
** Tau- Mundane but with big, big guns and mechs up the wazoo.
** Not anymore, but earlier editions had the Squats, which were a copy of the dwarfs in the fantasy editions- Stouts
* {{Traveller}}: Traveller has numerous sapient species, but one can make an effort
** Mundane=Solimani and Vilani
** High Men=Zhodani
** Stout=Aslan
** Fairy=Ancients, Droyne, and Hivers. The Ancients are closer to {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.
** Cute=No major races(Vargr definitely are not cute). Some minor races would qualify.
* On the planet of NewHorizon, there are actually ''six'' races, but they generally follow this trope. Jotun Wafans are Stout, Aesir Wafans are cute, Vanir Wafans are high, Medeans are fairy, and Olympians are mundane. Prometheans might be either high or mundane, depending on how you look at it; they're cyborgs.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' 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 ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' -- Hume, Elvaan, Tarutaru, Galka and Mithra -- vary somewhat from the established roles, but they do reinforce the five-as-magic-number nature of the trope:
** Stout: Galka ({{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s who are renowned for strength and are essential to the mining side of Bastok's economic success)
** 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)
** High Men: Elvaan (a less pure representation: While having an arrogant and warlike attitude, they place value on honor and are less individualistic than the Humes)
** Cute: This one is split between Tarutaru (overlapping with Fairy; this is a pretty straight portrayal, incorporating a sense of spiritual purity with wildly varying levels of childishness; the writers seem to like to combine reasons to take them seriously with comments and behavior meant to make them hard to take seriously) and Mithra (a more FanService-y portrayal; these {{Cat Girl}}s tend to be varied in personality, but are in-touch-with-nature, hunter, FragileSpeedster types originating from a somewhat xenophobic culture).
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'''s Ivalice setting fits this trope: Hume are Mundane, Bangaa are lizardmen that mix stout (they're strong) and mundane (they're almost as adaptable as humans), Moogles are Cute (though have the technological advancements usually found in Stout races), Nu Mou (dog/donkey/camel-mixed people with tons of magical prowess but not much else) are Fairy, and Viera (OneGenderRace of bunny women) are High Men - being a combination of naturalist magic users and elf-like ProudWarriorRaceGuy archers. Later games added the [[CuteMonsterGirl Gria]], a Cute/Stout hybrid, the Aegyl - angelic High Men (although unlike most their lifespan is ''shorter'' than humans), and Seeq - stout boar people.
* ''WorldOfWarcraft'' 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 AlwaysChaoticEvil). The template does still apply, though, and ''roughly'' speaking it runs '''Orcs''' as Mundane (for obvious reasons), '''Tauren''' as the High Men (being the most spiritual of the peoples and the example the Orcs and Trolls look up to), '''Blood Elves''' as Fairy (tee hee), '''Trolls''' as Stout (note how often trolls have their backs against the wall and get out of it), and '''Goblins''' as a sort of UglyCute. This still gets mixed up a bit, though, and the Horde is generally allowed to play around with their "roles" more than the Alliance is.
*** 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.
** And now we have the neutral race, '''Pandaren'''. They're mostly Stout, but have elements of High Men (The Wandering Isle and the Mists of Pandaria) and Cute (because they're anthropomorphized pandas!)
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series typically has about 5 (occasionally 6) races that occasionally change from game to game starting with Ocarina of Time: Hylians (Mundane), Sheikah (High Men), Gorons (Stout), Zora (Fairy), and Kokiri (Cute with Fairy traits). In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'' the Dekus replace the Kokiri. In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker Wind Waker]]'' the Zora get replaced with the Rito, and the Deku/Kokiri are replaced by the Koroks.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' really screwed with this, retaining the Zora, Goron, and Hylians, but giving no mention of the Kokiri or Sheikah (unless certain decals are to be taken into account...), while the only remnant of the Gerudo is the desert and [[BigBad Ganondorf]]. To balance the scale, we are introduced to the Twili (banished to another dimension, resemble both Sheikah and Gerudo), the Yeti (of whom only two are known), and, most disturbingly of all, the Oocca, who occupy the line somewhere between Fairy and pleasantly innocuous horror.
*** This makes sense when you learn that ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker Wind Waker]]'' exist in [[http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/Split_Timeline_Theory separate timelines]].
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' has the Hylians (Mundane), Mogmas (Stout), Kikwi (Cute), Sheikah (High Men), and Ancient Robots (Fairy). Oddly enough, Gorons are still present, but don't play as big a role.
* The PhantasyStar Universe has this in the most obvious ways
** [=CASTs=] are Stout (actual robots)
** Newmans are Fairy (bio-engineered race for psychic magic)
** Humans are... humans
** Beasts are cute for most of their time, but warp into Stout as a super power.
** Dewmans are High Men, due to them being Humans mutated by the SEED virus.
* Believe it or not, fits quite well on the “races” of Tellius, the ''[[FireEmblem Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance]]'' (and ''Radiant Dawn'') setting:
** Gallians/beast tribe laguz are the Stout being ProudWarriorRaceGuy (tigers and lions are MightyGlacier whereas cats and wolfs are FragileSpeedster.
** Serenes/heron laguz are the Fairy, being angelic, very magically inclined and also very fragile.
** Humans/beorc are obviously Mundane (duh).
** Phoenicis/hawk laguz and Kilvas/raven laguz are a combination of Mundane (being the JackOfAllStats 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 PettingZooPeople, and some of the beorc characters among both games, being children, also easily qualify.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' 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'''.
** The events between [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]] and [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]] move the Altmer -- or at least [[TheUsualAdversaries their government]] -- to [[FantasyAxisOfEvil Fallen]] instead.
* ''{{Earthbound}}'', despite ostensibly being set in modern-day EagleLand, manages to pull this off, mostly.
** The Humans are, of course, the '''Humans.''' (CaptainObvious 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 {{Cloud Cuckoolander}}s, 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, [[AlwaysChaoticEvil evil.]]
** The Tenda are the '''Cute.''' And, as they will frequently tell you, they're shy.
* ''MassEffect'': Some are a bit of a stretch, but the playable races fall into these types.
** Stout - Krogan are burly brawlers with SpareBodyParts galore (including multiple hearts, gonads, and nervous systems) who communicate through headbutts.
** Fairy - Asari are elegant, long-lived, "squishy," and often capable of throwing people around with their minds.
*** Hanar also fit into this category, as they're deeply spiritual and enigmatic.
** Mundane - [[ShapedLikeItself Humans are human]]. [[HumansAreSpecial But...]]
*** The drell might also be mundane. We don't see enough of them to know for sure.
*** The batarians are also shown to be rather mundane. They start out as an AlwaysChaoticEvil sterotype, but evolve into a more nuanced race in the second and third games.
** High Men - Turians are honorable, steadfast types who are entrusted with keeping the peace.
*** The geth are orderly, progressive, and, for the most part, peaceful.
*** [[{{Precursors}} The protheans]] were enigmatic, austere, and [[GoodIsNotNice ruthelessly dedicated to preserving]] their [[TheEmpire empire]].
** Cute - Quarians. While not exactly small, they're the least warlike race and are perceived as harmless. Also, Tali's accent.
*** [[{{Keet}} Salarians]], [[FunSize volus,]] and [[GentleGiant elcor]] can also be thrown into the Cute category.
** Vorcha, yagh, and other AlwaysChaoticEvil races have their own places on the FantasyAxisOfEvil.
* ''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.
** ''Dwarves'' are Stout to a tee: strong and tough, but lacking in mental faculties and poor at spellcasting.
** ''Elves'' are the archetypical ''Faeries'': very intelligent and wise, but physically frail. Elven weapons and armor are made of wood and leather instead of iron, and future versions may penalize elven characters who wield iron weapons.
** ''Gnomes'' are basically ''Elves'' Lite: not as smart, but fairly bright and reasonably sturdy, with an affinity for gems.
** ''Orcs'' are as stupid as dwarves and no stronger than gnomes, and hated by most other sentient races. Their only saving graces are their innate poison resistance and that cannibalism is natural to them.
* Even in CthulhuMythos-inspired "CthulhuMUD", 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.
* JustForFun, let's attempt this with the Origins of ''CityOfHeroes''- almost purely aesthetic descriptions of how your SuperHero got their powers...
** Stout: Technology- In the style of IronMan or Manga/AstroBoy, these heroes were built to be, either using technology or ''being'' it (as in, being a robot). Thus, they often relate to engineers and computer scientists, and [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters a looong history of weapons technology]].
** Fairy: [[FunctionalMagic Magic]]- Most associated with otherworldly forces such as [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]] or [[TheFairFolk fey]], magic is famously ill-defined but much like Technology, can come down to those who use magic itself (a la Comicbook/DoctorStrange) or those who are merely empowered by it (see: WonderWoman).
** Mundane: [[BadassNormal Natural]]- Characters of this origin are usually normal humans, [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower 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}}.
** High Men: [[AppliedPhlebotinum Science]]- You could say that the liberal and [[LampshadeHanging very self-aware]] abuse of HollywoodScience is the attempts to become better than what humans can achieve.
** Cute: [[{{Mutants}} Mutation]]- Essentially, an rip-off of the entire Franchise/{{X-Men}} concept, but with less FantasticRacism. Mutation can make one an UglyCute monster to a CatGirl.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles'' Have the Lilties be (Stout), with their warriors ways even though they are Cute Bruisers, they even went to war with the (Fairie), the Yulks, who are intelligent creatures who study magic. The (Humans) can be both Clavats and Selkies since they both appear most human, and one is a farmer and the other is a thief. (High Men) can be the Carbuncle, since they live long time and know secrets of the past, and of course, Moogles are (Cute).
* ''GuildWars2'':
** Stout: Charr - physically strong and industrious warriors, engineers, and inventors.
** High Men: Humans - elegant, magical, and proudly hold their dying civilization above the barbaric Norn, Charr, and Sylvari.
** Mundane: Norns, overlapping with Stout - a race of Viking-inspired giants fond of simple pleasures and as a race unambitious (personal quests for glory are another story).
** Fairie: Sylvari - enigmatic and empathic plants newly awakened in the world, gifted with strange magics and a mysterious sense of purpose.
** Cute: Asura, overlapping with High Men - magically powerful and condescending to other races, but increasingly played for comedy rather than seriously.
* The Spanish role playing game ''{{Anima}}'' subvert this: Instead of actual Races, they are the Souls of a long gone races which born in a Human Body. They, technically, are humans, but, their soul is un-human. They give a little benefit for have that soul in exchange of Experience points.
* ''LegendOfMana'' has five races, but only four of them really fit one. Luckily, one of them can be split into two distinct groups:
** 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 PettingZooPeople and {{Funny Animal}}s).
** High Men: It's a bit of a stretch, but this can be seen in the Jumi.
** Cute: Lillipeas
* In ''{{Halo}}'' the various client races of the Covenant can be fit into these groups.
** Grunts - the cute race
** Jackals - the mundane race
** Brutes - the stout race
** Elites - the High Men
** Engineers - the fairy race (on account of their almost magical skill in repairing almost anything)
** Drones are arguably stout given their mechanical skill and propensity to solve non-mechanical problems with violence
** Depending on one's point of view Prophets can be either fairies for their highly spiritual rhetoric and technological outlook or mundane people for their politics and variety of occupations.
** Hunters also fit the stout category.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' has humans for mundane and dwarves for stout. In the backstory elves were fairy, but by the time of the game city elves are mundane and the Dalish elves, while they would like to think of themselves as fairy, are at best mundane with fairy qualities. The qunari fit into the high men role, at least in terms of philosophy, and certainly consider themselves "higher" than all other ''bas''.
** Appearance-wise the redesign in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' put the Dalish into the role of the Cute, but in keeping with the [[DarkFantasy themes]] they are also elf-supremacists with a tendency towards violence against outsiders.
** There actually are at least five confirmed races in the setting:
*** Stout: Dwarves
*** Mundane: Humans, city elves.
*** Fairy: Dalish elves have some elements of this.
*** High Men: Qunari
*** Cute: Elves have some elements of this. Also possibly the Fex, a sentient race native to Par Vollen, though they haven't appeared in any Dragon age media so far. Their existence was confirmed by WordOfGod in an interview.
* Most of the ''BreathOfFire'' games, with the exception of ''Dragon Quarter'', actually have this trope going as well combined with more than a bit of PettingZooPeople action.
* ''AgeOfWonders'': shadow magic kind of has these archetypes for its "good", "neutral", and "evil" races.
** Stout=Dwarves (good), Tigrans (Neutral), Orcs (Evil)
** High men=Archons (good), Humans (neutral), Dark Elves or Undead (Evil)
** Cute=Halflings (good), Frostling (neutral), Goblins (Evil, or as close to "cute" as evil can get)
** Fairy=Syrons, possibly elves (good), Draconians or Frostlings (Neutral), Dark eves or undead (Evil)
** Mundane=possibly elves (good), Nomads (neutral), Shadow Demons (evil)
* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'': 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 [[ClockPunk even further]].
** Human = High Men -- Though they're only in the Bronze Age, and are far shorter lived than any other sentient save kobolds, they're physically the biggest, they own all the land and currency, and they have the largest armies.
** Elves = Fairy -- distant, worship 'forces' of nature, and their druids have more leadership role than priests of other races.
** Goblins = Low Men -- could have the potential to catch up with Dwarves and/or Humans, if [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder murderous treachery]] wasn't their [[PlanetOfHats Hat]].
** Kobolds = Cute -- scrawny and sneaky, hardly have a civilization or warriors to take seriously, but they're [[EnsembleDarkhorse favorites with some]].
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'' has this too.
** Human = Mundane -- Their main ability is to swing a weapon. Other than that they have no outstanding capabilities, and are what you find populating most of the world.
** Winglies = High Men / Fairy hybrid -- At least formerly. They ruled the world 11,000 years before the start of the game. They're also the only sentient race who can fly or use magic naturally. Their technology is far advanced and are really what the humans strive toward, in only in actions.
** Gigantos = Stout -- Given their strength (Kongol stopped a pillar from landing on the party.) it's not a surprise that they're the stout.
** Minintos = Cute -- You only see a few of them, but their appearance says it all. Short in stature, bright clothing, shocking pink hair.
** Dragons = Low Men -- They're always being enslaved, if they're not being killed off. The Dragoons used them to defeat the Winglies, then the whole first half of the game is finding out random people are Dragoons, some with dragons. Greham and Lenus come to mind. You fight three in the course of the game, solely to kill them.
* ''{{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 [[HumansByAnyOtherName Mathosians and Eth]] are [[HumansAreSpecial human nationalities]] and high elves and Kelari are [[OurElvesAreBetter elves]]), most of them overlap more than one category, and it'd be a stretch to call ''any'' of them Cute.
* ''{{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 ProudWarriorRace and the galaxy's police force, but, since they can use magical Force and are ''[[KillerRabbit 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 Giants--incredibly ancient, have been on the planet much longer than humans, connected to nature, and implied to be very wise.
** 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}}s, though it's not present in the English version.
* GameMod RedAlert3Paradox:
** Cute: Design-wise, Empire of the Rising Sun, who overlap with Fairy by having PsychicPowers.
** Fairy: Allied Nations, with their almost magical technology.
** High Men: Order of the Talon fit this the most, when they are not scheming nations against each other.
** Mundane: Allied Reservists, International Inc.
** Stout: Confederate Revolutionairies, but they also subvert it by using dirty tactics and stealth.
* The newly announced ''DragonQuestX: Waking of the Five Tribes'' features (surprise surprise) six races (wait, what?). Breaking with tradition, humans may be the protagonists, but they don't seem to be an actual playable race, and might not even be native to the world of the game. Instead we have:
** Ogres = Stout - Exceptionally tall and muscled ProudWarriorRace of [[{{Youkai}} red-skinned oni]]. Females definitely have BoobsOfSteel and AmazonianBeauty in effect.
** Wedi = High Men - Look like androgynous humans, but with the additions of blue skin and fins.
** Elves = Fairy - Short little FairFolk with pointy ears, pixie wings, and an apparent propensity for magic.
** Dwarves = Mundane - Having the height of Fairies, the adorableness of Cute, and the technological prowess of High Men makes them [[JackOfAllStats even out]] to an all-around Mundane.
** Pukuripos = Cute - Tiny little rabbits decked in jester attire. Always smiling.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* TwiceBlessed, 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 ''TriquetraCats'', 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; [[SixthRanger Antreyki]] = Proud Warrior Race/animal people
* Lampshaded somewhat in OurLittleAdventure 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.]]
* The premise of CarpeChaos about 5 intelligent Aliens races and how they interact with each other.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''FraggleRock'' has a glancing acquaintance with this Trope, as the series centers around a fantasy ecosystem that intertwines four different races (often without any of them being aware of it). Arguably, the Silly Creatures (i.e. us) are Mundanes, the Doozers are Stouts, the Gorgs are parodies of High Men, and the Fraggles themselves are Cute with Fairy tendencies.
* ''FairlyOddparents'' actually fits this if you include the alien races. Granted, some are more important than others, but...
** Mundane: Humans, of course.
** Fairy: The magical races (Fairies, Anti-Fairies, Pixies, Genies, etc.)
** High Men: The denizens of Wonder World, Turbo Thunder's world, who all had superpowers.
** Stout: Boudacians, Princess Mandie's race. If Mandie (and the arranged military alliance with Yugopotamia)is any indication, they seem to be a ProudWarriorRace.
** Cute: The Gigglepies. [[TastesLikeDiabetes Sickeningly so,]] [[InvokedTrope intentionally.]]
** AlwaysChaoticEvil: Though this can also apply to the Gigglepies, this is the Yugopotamian's [[PlanetOfHats hat.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** 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. ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' also adds Republic City.
** 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 CloserToEarth parts.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' refuses to fit into this well. All of the pony types would be considered Cute/fairies, but show traits of the other typings, while at the same time, non-pony races would be a better fit for the other 4 archetypes. This section will list which races could fit where.
** Stout: {{Pegasi}} used to be a ProudWarriorRace before the founding of Equestria and are now doing jobs such as weather managing while Earth ponies develop great physical strength, and their magic makes them superior farmers.
** Fairy: {{Unicorn}}s are a WitchSpecies and each one can [[PersonalityPowers use magic associated with his/her special skill]]. They also have hints of ProudScholarRace. All of the pony types would be considered this relative to non-ponies.
** Mundane: Earth ponies lack the overt magic and flight that the other races have, but they can grow crops better than the others, and some develop vast physical strength. Pegasus and Unicorns may also fulfill these roles as well.
** High Men: Alicorns have both flight and magic; the more powerful ones are {{Physical God}}s able to move the sun and moon, though their rareness might preclude them from being considered an actual race in and of themselves.[[hottip:*:A grand total of four have appeared onscreen, and one was magically created.]]
** The Cute: [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter All of the ponies are really, really, cute]].
[[/folder]]

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