Loads and Loads of Races

Slimy, freaky, fast, and strong in every shape and size.

"There were green creatures with horns, brown creatures with flat-crooked heads, silver things with red things sticking out of blue things, big furry things, little furry things, creatures with big fish eyes, creatures with no eyes, and creatures with things I couldn’t even begin to describe."

— Grael, Star Wars Legends

One common way of cementing the grand scale of a fantasy or science-fiction world is to include a wide variety of different sapient races. As is often the case in speculative fiction, "race" in this trope actually means species, or sub-species — we aren't talking ethnicity or skin color here. And racing is right out.

When you have 15 or more, not counting hybrids, you have Loads and Loads. Note that this trope can't be an Informed Attribute; the creator needs to give each race at least a little description, screentime, or artwork.

In science-fiction, Loads and Loads of intelligent species may be a way to distinguish planets from one another and display the diversity one might expect to see traveling across the galaxy or universe. For example, one world might be inhabited by a group of reptilian aliens while another could be full of Starfish Aliens or even Eldritch Abominations. Fantasy works might be more inclined to have Beast Men — species that are essentially humans with some added fur or scales — into their diverse world, but the fantasy and science-fiction uses of this trope tend to be fairly similar overall. (Compare Beast Fable.)

One Gender Races are not uncommon in works with Loads and Loads of Races. Some of the races included in such works may be Always Chaotic Evil or serve as Evil Counterpart Races to another group known for being more heroic. Having many different races tends to involve Hats, though highly detailed Multicultural Alien Planets can be an effective way of mixing things up.

The differences between each race also need not be incredibly large, and they might not even be entirely separate species. So long as the creator of a work makes a point of distinguishing between them in more than just culture, all of the races could be similar-looking Human Aliens.

Sometimes a race is less a biological species, and more of a mutation or modification (such as werewolves, zombies, cyborgs, vampires). Some works treat these as mere variants of whatever they used to be, but in other works they are treated, for all intents and purposes, as separate species. Compare Monster Mash.

May be a sign of a Fantasy Kitchen Sink. Compare Standard Fantasy Races, which can occasionally overlap with this trope.

When a game lets players choose their character or team from a great number of playable races, it has a Massive Race Selection instead. Note that card games do not involve "playing" a race, so their examples are listed here instead.

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Examples:

Anime and Manga

• Delicious in Dungeon features many races as befitting fantasy story:
  • Our Kobolds Are Different: Members of the Kobold race look like bipedal dogs. They also have a sharper sense of smell and poison resistance.
  • Hobbits: Chilchuck is a halfling with keen senses. He is so light that he can avoid setting off pressure plate traps, and also has a very youthful appearance. Because of their diminutive stature, fast aging compared to other races, and child-like appearances, halflings tend to suffer the most discrimination.
  • Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Dwarves spend their time mining and digging holes underground. Males have long, unkempt beards. Females lack the facial hair, but both genders are short and stout compared to humans, and also much stronger. They also have high interest in ores, gems, and minerals. Senshi is an exception since he likes cooking better than mining. Namari, a female dwarf, is highly versed in metals and weaponry.
  • Our Elves Are Different: Elves here have Pointy Ears, live much longer than humans, and are the most magic-proficient race. If Laios is to be believed, humans in general think they're good-looking, especially the long ears.
  • Our Gnomes Are Weirder: Gnomes are second only to elves when it comes to magic. They also apparently can communicate with nature spirits, and negatively see the elves' use of magic as too clinical.
  • Our Mermaids Are Different: There are two types of merfolk. The first is human-type merfolk, which look like traditional mermaids. They can sing enchanting songs to lure adventurers into the water. The other is fish-type merfolk (mermen), which wield tridents and look like fish with human arms. They're more fish than human though, since they hatch from eggs and spend their juvenile stage looking like regular fish. The two species are apparently unrelated, as a mermaid happily eats a juvenile merman in a side-chapter.
  • Our Orcs Are Different: Orcs here are a Proud Warrior Race with porcine features. While their unsavory reputation as savage raiders is both justified and not as clear-cut as it appears, they value courage, strength, and honesty and dislike cowardice. Senshi is on relatively good terms with the orcs, which in turn make them treat the party relatively well. They have different standards of beauty than other humanoid races; according to them, elves are hideous.
  • Our Nymphs Are Different: Dryads are combinations of Plant People and actual plants. Their main bodies are plants, but their flowers are humanoid and can move around. They're also monosexual, as there are male and female flowers. Pollinated flowers later turn into pumpkin-like fruits with human faces on them. They seem to be largely mindless humanoid monsters and not a real race however.
  • Oni: Called ogres in the western regions, these are a rare race native in the east, and are the largest and strongest race thus seen yet. They're extremely tall and muscular, and possess a pair of vertical horns.
  • All Trolls Are Different: Trolls have so far only been seen in Imagine Spots, but it's confirmed that they do exist as a distinct demihuman race, and seem to resemble ugly, brutish humanoids. That said, an omake suggests they're actually a myth.
  • Beast Man: Aside from the above mentioned kobolds, individuals known as "beastkin" exist who have their souls bound to an animal's by The Dark Arts, either turning them into half-animal chimeras permanently or allowing them to turn back and forth.
  • Our Demons Are Different: In this case, they are Eldritch Abomination Emotion Eaters hailing from a dimension of infinite energy. They'll help grant one's innermost desires, but in actuality want to feed on their growing desires to gain power until they grow to literally apocalyptic strength.
  • Our Goblins Are Different: Goblins have so far only been seen in Imagine Spots, but it's confirmed that they do exist as a distinct demihuman race, and seem to resemble ugly, brutish humanoids.
  • Our Humans Are Different: The setting has a rather specific definition of "human". In the west, elves, dwarves, halflings, ogres/oni, and gnomes all fall under the umbrella of human alongside standard humans, which are referred to as tallmen (because they're taller on average than all of the other races, with the exception of ogres). The definition is based on the fact they all have 206 bones, while the other races, like goblins, orcs, and kobolds, fall under the broader definition of "demihuman", which do not have that number of bones. In the east, there is no such classification, since there are only really oni/ogres and humans/tallmen.
• Dragon Ball: Freeza's army is made up of members of countless different intergalactic races, the Other World is populated by the deceased members of even more races, and then there's all the different races introduced in GT. Finally there's the races the series focuses on the most: humans, Saiyans, Namekians, Freeza's unnamed race, Majins, Kais, Ogres, and the humanoid animals that live on Earth alongside humans.
• Interspecies Reviewers has the human Stunk and elf Zel, plus angel Crim, visit various brothels, and rate their experience on a 0 to 10 scale. Among the brothels they visit are humans, elves, nekomimi, harpies, fairies, demons, orcs, minotaurs, hyenas, lilim (devilettes), salamanders, cyclops, myconids, golems, will-o-wisps, serpentines, succubi, the undead, slime girls, witches, leprechauns, and dagons. All are lawful and taxable, so there's something for every persuasion and fetish.
• Level E has almost every episode dedicated to a different alien infiltrator, though it's often just the recurring prince.
• One Piece has a number of races and tribes, members of most of which can be found on Big Mom's dream nation of Totto Land.
  • The most widespread, dominant, and plot-relevant race is the humans, and most of the main characters are also humans (or modified humans, such as Franky and Brook). Even the humans of the series are much more widely varied than humans of our world: normal humans in One Piece can go up to almost 9m tall (such as Big Mom) and live to around 140 years (Dr. Kureha is 141 post-timeskip). They can also be pretty much any shape and size.
  • After humans, the fishlike underwater races are the most prominently featured in the story, befitting an oceanic setting. There are two variants: Fishmen (who are anthropomorphic, with torsos based on aquatic animals like fish and octopuses) and Merfolk (who instead has lower halves based on aquatic animals, much like classic mermaids). It is unclear how distinct the two really are: while they are physiologically different, have different abilities, and seem to have somewhat different worldviews, most of them live in the same location (Fishman Island) and they can interbreed with one another, with the resulting offspring being either a fishman or a mermaid that could be of any aquatic animal. Both can also produce Half-Human Hybrids (Big Mom has several kids who are either half-fishman or half-mermaid), and on a darker note they're also subjected to the same prejudice and mistreatment from many humans who believe them to be nothing more than fish.
  • Then you've got the sky-based races: Winged Humanoids who originated from the moon and currently live on the clouds above the world. There are three variants: the Shandians (who once actually lived on the blue seas before getting knocked into the sky), the Skypieans, and the Birkans. The size and shape of their wings distinguish them from each other. Similar to the fishmen and the merfolk, it is unclear how distinct they are from one another, and we know very little about their genetics due to the fact that they have been in constant conflict for a long time now.
  • There are also the giants, humanoids whose sizes can range from anywhere between 12m to 22m. They are seen here and there across the Grand Line, although the most famous giants are the warrior types who hail from the island of Elbaf. Some of them are pirates while others work for the Marines. They can also breed with fishmen/merfolk to produce hybrids called Wotans, though only one has been shown so far. There are also subsets of giants: one is the 'Mysterious Giants' represented by the Yeti Cool Brothers, both of which are twice as tall as the tallest giants at around 40m; then there's the 'Ancient Giants' such as Oars and his descendant Little Oars Jr., and those can reach a height of about 60-70m and have horns!
  • On the other end of the size spectrum is the the dwarves, who are nothing like the usual fantasy dwarves and are more akin to fairies instead, being tiny humanoid creatures (smaller than a foot) with fluffy tails, pointy noses, and somewhat chibi appearances, with a dash of gullibility on top. They're also prodigious with growing plants, adding to the 'natural fairy' aesthetic. So far they've only been shown to live on Green Bit, which is part of Dressrosa, and thanks to Big Mom we know they too can produce Half-Human Hybrids.
  • Next are the minks, which are a millennia-old race of humanoids with animalistic features, specifically furry mammals, that basically makes them look like your standard furry. They live on the island of Zou, located on the back of a humongous elephant, and they have two rulers who divide their rule into 'day' and 'night'. All minks are born warriors and they can use an electrical ability called Electro, which is even noted to be a telltale sign of a mink. They can also transform under the light of the full moon into a super mode called Sulong, which could go berserk if the mink using it isn't disciplined. Much like fishmen and merfolk, minks of different animals can interbreed and produce offspring of a completely different mammal, although we've never seen or heard of a Half-Human Hybrid.
  • Finally, we have the humanoid long-limbed tribes: the longarms, the longlegs, and the snakenecks. Members of the longarm tribe have an extra elbow joint, which gives them very long arms but are otherwise proportioned similarly to normal humans. They also seem to dress in Chinese-style clothing. Members of the longleg tribe have extremely tall legs which puts them on average at the same height as the bigger humans (though their everything else is, again, proportioned similarly to normal humans). Like the sky races, the longarms and the longlegs have been fighting each other for a long time, but hybrids between the two (known as a longlimb human) can and do exist, as Big Mom has one trapped in her son's book. Finally, the snakenecks have ridiculously elongated necks (seeing a pattern yet?) and a tendency to have very thin and slender bodies, which makes them look more like, well, snakes. We've never seen a full-blooded snakeneck, but we have seen Half-Human Hybrids of all three thanks to, once again, Big Mom.
  • There are also a bunch of other races and tribes that we currently know extremely little about, such as the Three-Eyed Tribe (they have three eyes which help them hear the Voice of All Things) or the Kinokobito (tiny mushroom people, one of which was seen in Big Mom's book), and new races are constantly being introduced: the most recent representatives of new races include King (a Winged Humanoid with fire powers, referred to as a Lunarian) and Yamato (stated to be an Oni, which may or may not have anything to do with either humans or giants).
• There's loads of various aliens in Space☆Dandy, as in addition to unique one-time background characters, it's Dandy's job to find undiscovered aliens.
• Tower of God: Besides normal humans there are the Red Witches and Silver-Haired Dwarves, the Da'an tribe, which are a docile tribe of giants with eight eyeballs around their head, at least three kinds of Horned Humanoids, three kinds of Winged Humanoids, three kinds of Lizard Folk, several races with eggheads and varying numbers of eyes, shape shifters, shrimp people, all kinds of Amazing Technicolour Population, giant slimes, dog people, and many more.

Card Games

• Duel Masters follows suit after its "parent" game, Magic. This is an unquestionably long list, and still growing. A few (like Starnoid and Pegasus) are exclusive to only one creature.
• Magic: The Gathering is very much this. Aside from Humans there are: Amphin, Angels, Aven, Bird-Maidens, Centaurs, antelope Centaurs, deer Centaurs, Cephalids, Changelings, Cyclopes, Dauthi, Demons, Devils, Djinn, Dragons, Dwarves, Dryads, Efreet, sentient Elementals, Elves, Eumidians, Faeries, Flamekin, Giants, Goblins, sapient Golems, Gorgons, sapient Gorillas, Hags, Homarids, Iquati, Kami and other sentient Spirit races, Kithkin, Kitsune, Kor, Lammasu, Leonin, Loxodon, fishtailed Merfolk, Merfolk with legs, flying Elf-Merfolk, Metathran, Minotaurs, Mistfolk, Mycoids, Myr, Nantuko, Nezumi, Nightstalkers, Noggles, Ogres, Orcs, Orochi, Ouphes, Phyrexians, Puca, Rhox, Sangrazuls, Selkies, Serpent people, Slivers, Soltari, Soratami, Sphinxes, Surrakar, Thalakos, Thrulls, Treefolk, Trolls, Vampires, Vedalken, Viashino, Werewolves, Wolfir, the talking Wolves of Tel-Jilad... since the game pulls creatures from about 50 different planes, it's kind of justified.
  
  And that's not even counting subspecies. Just counting the types of goblins there are common Dominarian Goblins, Kobolds, Rathi Moggs, Mercadian Kyren, the Mirran Krark-Clan, Kamigawan Akki, Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Boggarts, Redcaps, Hobgoblins, and Spriggans and Stream Hoppers, ratlike Jund dragon fodder, and Phyrexian Squealstokes.
• Munchkin has loads of races by now, due to its many expansions and editions which can all be combined:
  • The original had humans (the standard-race for every player), dwarfs, elves and halflings
  • The expansion packs gave orcs, lizard guys, centaurs and gnomes.
  • Munchkin Bites added changelings, vampires, werewolves and, with the Pants Macabre expansion, mummies
  • Munchkin Conan added Cimmerians, Stygians, Kushite and Zamorians
  • Munchkin Legends had the standard dwarfes, elves and halflings and added fauns
  • Star Munchkin added cyborgs, felines, mutants and, with the The Clown Wars expansion, bugs
  • And all of those races can be combined with the Half Breed card, so a character can easily be half-dwarf, half-cyborg or half-Cimmerian, half-Faun.

Comic Books

• In Phil Foglio's Buck Godot we find: the Klegdixal (slim humanoids) the Pogs (which look like turtles), Beemahs (which count as bioweapons), Kooblens (traders with some resemblance to Naga/mushus), the Thuxian (a Shout-Out to Alien), the Spug (which can be said a mixture of some frog and something) between others.Some pages show an even greater variety of races.
• The DCU has a high number of sentient races. Humans, Atlantians, Gorgons, Calorians ("Super Gorillas"), Homo Magi, Merfolk and Werewolves are earth residents across continuities. Extraterrestrials include Coluans, Daxamites, Durlans, Khunds, Kreel, Korugarans, the Reach, Tamaranians the last few Kryptonians and Martians along with innumerable others, with many represented in the Green Lantern Corps. Then there are the many races which hail from other planes of reality like the fey and gods.
• The Marvel Universe is bursting with races with Humans, Mutants, Inhumans, Atlantians, Lemurians, Deviants, Eternals, Avians, the Zebra-Children, Proto-Cavemen, vampires, sentient plants, genetically uplifted apes, an assortment of gods and a sentient bacterial hive-mind to name a few; and that's before we've even left Earth. The list of Alien races include Skrull, Kree, Shi'ar, Badoon, Brood, Wraiths, Chitauri, Titans, and an unknowable number of other races.
• Sillage, as the Spiritual Successor of Valérian, also have hundreds (if not more) of aliens races, most of them being only seen once in the background of a single panel. Its setting is a giant convoy of spaceships (each inhabitated by one or more alien races) traversing the galaxy.
• Valérian and its anime adaptation both have an enormous variety of aliens.

Fan Works

• The premise of the Pokémon and Star Trek crossover Intelligence Factor is that Pokérin has far more sapient species than any other planet in the galaxy.
• On the Shoulders of Giants has twelve spacefaring races in the Local Cluster alone. Given that it's technically set in the Mass Effect universe, this is on top of the eleven or so canon races.
• Seems to be the case in The Parselmouth of Gryffindor, to Hermione's growing dismay, between regular sapient species whom the Ministry of Magic overlooks (goblins, giants, dementors, serpents, etc.) to artificial beings (portraits, gargoyles, the Sorting Hat) to the more confusing creatures that can become sapient, but aren't always, like owls and boggarts.

Films — Live-Action

• The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a few dozens alien races ranging from Human Aliens (e.g. Asgardians, Xandarians, Vanir) to Rubber-Forehead Aliens (e.g. Frost Giants, Elves both dark and light, Zehoberei, Centaurians, Skrulls, Sovereign) to Humanoid Aliens (e.g. Chitauri, Sakaarans, Kronan, Flora Colossi) to Starfish Aliens (e.g. Celestials).
• The Men in Black franchise features dozens of alien species, as seen here. And considering that many aliens are able to pass themselves off as human (with varying degrees of success), some of whom are only seen in human form onscreen, there are likely even more species than are identified.
• The Star Wars series is an extreme example of Loads and Loads of Races, as the galaxy that serves as its setting has over 20 million sentient species. Even the first movie showed loads of races (though not too many non-humans in the main cast), and the Expanded Universe delights in detailing more and more of them, numbering in the hundreds.

Literature

• Older Than Steam: This happened to chivalric romance in The Renaissance, when Italian romancers like Ariosto and imitators like Richard Johnson and Lord Berners started stirring Greek Mythology into the mix. The non-human cast of medieval romances generally consisted of dwarfs, giants, and fairies; a Scandinavian author might add trolls, a more devout one angels and/or demons, dragons would occasionally be sentient, and there might be the occasional wildman or mermaid, but seldom anything else. Ariosto and Co took this selection and added satyrs, cyclopes, centaurs, nymphs, dryads, harpies, and sometimes even gods (coexisting unexplained with the Christian God on a Rule of Cool basis).
• Animorphs, very much so. You have your main races: the Andalites, Yeerks, Hork-Bajir, Taxxons, Skrit-Na, Helmacrons, Gedds; and your less mentioned but described ones like Arn, Anati, Kelbrid, Nesk, Mercora, Venber, Iskoort, Garatron, Orff, Leerans, Howlers, Ketran (the Ellimist is one), robot Chee, and extinct Pemalites, plus sapient whales and dolphins.
• China Miéville's Bas-Lag Cycle has at least 15 sapient races (and possibly several more whose identity as separate species or merely cultures hasn't been made clear), and that's not counting multiple types of undead, self-aware Dungeon Punk robots, Demons, elementals and Wyrmen who seem to be a borderline case.
• Books of the Raksura: There are dozens of intelligent species in every environment of the land, sea, and sky, the "Three Worlds" the setting is named after. They range from unusually-coloured humanoids to floating masses of vegetation, with just as much variation in lifestyles and societies. Interspecies relations range from cohabitation to predation, but the protagonist takes the view that people are intrinsically people, no matter what.
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Besides the menagerie of beings in Narnia: Dwarfs, Fauns, Dryads (tree nymphs/gods/spirits), Centaurs, Satyrs, Naiads (water nymphs/gods/spirits), Giants, Unicorns, Winged Horses, and Talking Beasts, other various beings are mentioned in certain books: The monsters and demons in the White Witch's Army (Evil Dwarfs, Evil Giants, Werewolves, Evil trees and plants, Ghouls, Boggles, Ogres, Minotaurs, Cruels, Hags, Spectres, People of the Toadstools, Incubuses, Wraiths, Horrors, Efreets, Sprites, Orknies, Wooses, and Ettins), the Humans from Calormen, Archenland, Telmar, and the Islands, Stars, Merpeople (traditional half human-half fish hybrid), Sea People (aquatic, water-breathing humanoids with purple hair), Duffers/Monopods/Dufflepuds (one-legged Dwarfs), Dragons, Sea Serpents, Giant Squids, Krackens, Birds from the Sun, Marshwiggles, Gnomes(who look a little more like devils with pitchforks than whimsical, diminutive cousins to Dwarfs), and Salamanders.
• H. P. Lovecraft mentioned or sometimes showed a few dozen aliens and other unpleasant things that want to drive you insane, then eat you in the Cthulhu Mythos. Subsequent authors and co-writer have expanded this greatly. That's not even getting into the godlike deity-aliens. Overall there are at least 30 intelligent races described.
• The world of The Dagger and the Coin was once ruled by intelligent dragons, who reshaped their human slaves into a wide variety of forms, some of which resemble "standard" fantasy races and some of which... don't. In addition to the Firstbloods (baseline humans), the Cinnae (pale, ethereal, intellectual, and rather snooty, filling the "elf niche") and the Yemmu (big, burly, and tusked, essentially big orcs or small ogres), we have the canine Tralgu, otter-like Kurtadam, aquatic Drowned, glowing-eyed Dartinae, arctic Haaverkin, reptilian Jasuru and Timzinae, eusocial Southlings, and the rarely-seen Raushadam and Haunadam.
• Just about every known dinosaur species has made an appearance on the island of Dinotopia.
• 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 (later explained as a society of gnomes) and the Igors (who may or may not be human, it's not quite clear). Thief of Time included yeti. Unseen Academicals introduced 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 had a brief mention of kvetches, but never really explained what they were beyond being covered in hair).
  
  In the same vein as the Golems we get Gargoyles. On a stranger front, we get Demons, Things from the Dungeon Dimension, and certain Anthropomorphic Personifications (Time specifically, but maybe each one can be seen as a separate race). Also gods, genies (Sourcery), Auditors of Reality, occasional sentient dragons (The Colour of Magic and Guards! Guards!), "Stupid Lizard Men" (presumed extinct as of The Last Hero) and Furies (Unseen Academicals)
• The Four Horsemen Universe: According to exposition there are a few thousand species in the Union. Of those, 37 species work as mercenaries and a few hundred more commonly hire them. The first two books of the main series alone name humans, Besquith, Veetanho, Zuul, MinSha, GenSha, Jivool, Flatars, Tortantulas, Jehas, Cochkala, Pendals, Duplato, and Fey. The short stories add Arezzo (and their subculture Arritim), K'Kng, Oogar, and Avaka.
• Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash: There are humans, elfs, dwarfs, goblins, kobolds, gnomes, ash elfs, undead, centaurs, a fish people called sahuagins, giants, a hybrid orcs named mugow, trolls, fox man called runaruka, a race similar to hobbit called Korrigan and gremlins, all that in grimgar, in other continents there is more, like people with three eyes and more, more races and let's not talk about the other worlds there many, many, many, many more.
• In the Hainish 'verse by Ursula K. Le Guin every planet is a Lost Colony populated by Human Aliens descending from the same species. While people from different planets may look radically different, most planets are no more diverse than Earth. The biggest exception is Rokanan from Rocannon's World. As a result of some ancient genetic experiments it has five distinct species of Humanoid Aliens (some of which are also split into subraces, with rampant Fantastic Racism) and lots of species of non-humanoid aliens. Midway through the book the Earthling hero refuses to hunt since he may kill someone who can talk, though locals aren't that picky. Another victim of gene tinkering are indeterminate-gendered Gethenians from The Left Hand of Darkness.
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a total of 29 races spanning throughout the entire six-book series.
• Foster's Humanx Commonwealth series has a lot of races, as pretty much every planet with life has sentient natives also. Aside from a few dozen species known to the Commonwealth, the planet Quofum stands out as world-of-origin to perhaps hundreds of sentient races, some still extant and others extinct.
• InCryptid mentions at one point that there are over 900 known cryptid species, over 80 of which are humanoid (not counting non-humanoid sapients like Aeslin mice). Even limiting it to sapient species who actually appear in the series, there are lilu, johrlac, bogeymen, three species of gorgons, lamia, chupacabra, ukupani, huldra, tanuki, waheela, fūri, jorōgumo, wadjet, dragon princesses, finfolk, sirens, sasquatch, ghouls, jinks, cornwives, caladrius, sylphs, mara, plus many unnamed species... And that's not counting the dozens of different types of ghosts (though those mostly appear in the Ghost Roads series in the same universe).
• Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen is brimming with them. In addition to baseline humans, you have the Four Founding Races — the K'Chain Che'Malle, the Forkrul Assail, the Jaghut, and the T'lan Imass who used to be that verses cavemen before becoming collectively undead. There are also the K'Chain Nah'ruk, the K'Chain Che'Malle's Servant Race which rebelled. Then you have the three Tiste races: Tiste Andii, Tiste Edur and Tiste Liosan, who are alien to the planet on which most of the series is set and who are known as the Children of Darkness, Shadow and Light, respectively. Then you have the Tartheno Thelomen Toblakai, who have splintered into various offshoot races, most notably the Teblor, and are themselves descended from the Thel Akai. Then you've got a bunch of nonhumans who are part of the same general family as humans and their actual evolutional predecessors, the Imass, including the Barghast and the Moranth. Then you've got the Great Ravens and the Eleint, both of which are sentient races. Finally, there's a whole plethora of sentient demons. This is justified, however, by the creators of the Verse both being archaeologists and anthropologists and knowing exacly what they were doing when they created the setting, and evolution is an important factor in the development of all those different races, despite having a fantastic spin to their origins which includes a bunch of Elder Gods playing creators.
• The Myth Adventures novels have featured such nonhuman sentient races as Pervects, Imps, Deveels, Trolls/Trollops, gargoyles, dragons, gremlins, gnomes, Shutterbugs, Wuhses, vampires, werewolves, raterriers, mall rats, and dozens of others. The roster of Human Aliens is pretty long (Klahds, Jahks, Kewpies, Archers) too.
• In Catherynne M. Valente's The Orphan's Tales, she uses a wide variety of races, almost all of which are based on legends of our world. There are humans, to start with. There are animals such as hedgehogs, goldfish, cormorants, polar bears, and herons, which talk and have their own societies. Then there are Stars, djinni (made from Star-fire), the Yi, and the Hsien, for races that come from the heavens. Races that come from the sea include Magyrs, mermaids (a brief mention), Lamia, and selkies. On earth there are Arimaspians and other cyclops, giants, Griffins, dragons, Monopods, Cynocepheli, huldras, harpies, manticores, Gaselli, satyrs, kappas, and there are references to more.
• The Sector General series by James White, set on a space-station hospital, has so many races, they have a four-letter coding system to classify them rather than just list a few (or a few dozen). Even at that, humans have to share the code "DBDG" with two other (vaguely human-looking) species. There are well over fifteen species with at least minor speaking roles.
• In Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger series, 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. 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.
• Yet another Alan Dean Foster example: his standalone novel Glory Lane has numerous sentient species, and the cover artist went wild with dozens more.
• Totally Gobsmacking Galaxy has:
  • The vacuum-flask wearing Mercurians.
  • The Venusians, who try to sell you insurance all the time.
  • The Moonoids.
  • The Martians, who have feet that look like skis.
  • The Jovians.
  • The Saturnians and Titanians.
  • The Uranians.
  • The Neptunians, and their cousins, the Tritonites.
  • And finally, The (singular) Pluton.
• David Brin's Uplift Universe spans 5 galaxies which are packed with vast numbers of alien species, since they all keep genetically uplifting animal species to create new races. Not only are there thousands or millions of oxygen-breather species grouped in the various Galactic clans, but there are also very exotic retired races, hydrogen-breathers, sentient machines, quantum races, Solarians, and transcendent races. 215 have been named so far, with over 80 encountered or described in detail.
• In the Xanth series there are humans, centaurs, goblins, harpies, merpeople, demons, nagas, elves, werewolves, fauns, nymphs, ogres, giants, zombies, ghosts, and several other regularly-mentioned races.

Live-Action TV

• At least 25 different races have appeared in Andromeda.
• The Arrowverse originally had only humans. However, overtime, numerous races have joined in, including (but not limited to) metahumans, speedsters, Kryptonians, Coluans, Daxamites, Worldkillers, Imps, Demons, Angels, Martians, Dominators, Titanians, Thanagarians, Time Wraiths and Plastoids.
• In Babylon 5 the Milky Way has a large number of (usually humanoid) races — the major players near the Babylon 5 station are Minbari, Centauri, Narn, and Humans, plus the two Precursor races, but then there's the League of Non-aligned Worlds, a collection of at least a dozen minor powers, including the Drazi, Markab, Vree, and Pak'ma'ra. And then there're other species that only turn up once or twice like the Dilgar, the Streib, and the Soul Hunters. The Babylon Project wiki lists 77 known intelligent species, and is missing at least 2 more.
• Doctor Who has Time Lords, Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans and their enemies the Rutan Host, Ice Warriors, Zygons, Tereleptils, Silurians and Sea Devils, the Nestene Consciousness, Zarbi, Menoptera, Eternals, 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, Macra, Krynoids, 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...
• There's over a hundred types of Wesen in Grimm, as well as a few oddballs like ghosts, demons and golems.
• The Stargate-verse has around 22 known races, around half of which only appeared in a couple of episodes. Of those that didn't, we have humans, the Goa'uld and their Jaffa mooks, the Asgard, the ascended Ancients and their evil counterparts the Ori, the Wraith, and the Replicators and their Pegasus Galaxy counterparts the Asurans. Then there's the Ursini who menaced the crew of Destiny, and the Berserker Drones who appeared not long before SGU's cancellation. And, naturally, humanity, which is subdivided into Earthlings (called Tau'ri in the Milky Way and Atlanteans in the Pegasus Galaxy) and countless societies of Transplanted Humans.
• Star Trek. The humans, the Vulcans (Space Elves), the Romulans (the Vulcans' nastier cousins [So... Space Drow?]), the Klingons (Space Orcs), the Borg (Bee People), the Bajorans (Religious Revolutionaries), the Cardassians (spies and assassins), and the Ferengi (interstellar merchants) are the most prominent ones. A lot more that turn up only in individual episodes or plot arcs, and others are represented by a main character (Betazoids, Trill, Denobulans...) The Enterprise crew encounters a new alien race not quite Once an Episode. Of course, that's their mission. The result is a galaxy populated by at least hundreds if not thousands of races, of which all but a very few seem to be either Human Aliens, Rubber-Forehead Aliens, or Space Elves.
• The Ultra Series. Along with its numerous Kaiju, it's also had plenty of aliens (referred as Seijin, meaning Star-People, in the original Japanese) over its nearly 50 year run. While the original Ultraman and the preceding but lesser-known Ultra Q had some, it wasn't until the largely-Kaijuless Ultraseven that the aliens became a regular part of the show. To name the most well-known, we've got Alien Baltan, Alien Metron, Alien Zarab, Gutz Seijin, Alien Knuckle, Alien Temperor, Dada, Alien Mephilas, Alien Magma, Alien Babalou, Alien Hipporito, and Alien Valky. Phew!

Mythology and Religion

• Classical Mythology features many "races": Ordinary mortals, gods (including titans and daimones), nymphs, cyclopes, giants, centaurs, satyrs, fauns, and six-armed Gegenees; plus various bizarre Human Subspecies: headless Blemmyes, one-eyed Arimaspians, dog-heads, one-legged Skiapodes, four-legged Artabatitai, hermaphroditic Makhlyes, short-lived Kalingoi, mouthless Astomoi, ageless Makroboi, Golden and Silver Men, and more.
• Buddhist cosmology is basically split as follows: there are six realms; human, animal, Deva, Asura, Pretta (hungry spirits) and Hell. Each of these realms is both a state of mind and a physical place (except for humans and animals who share the same location) however there are several sub-realms. Prettas are constantly hungry spirits who can be both living in their own ghostly realm or living invisible among us, and although not as bad as a hell is the second to worst fate. Hell is inhabited by both denizens in constant suffering and demons who torture them and there are up to ten with different environments (for example of cold, water, fire etc). None of these life forms is perpetual, they all would die and be rebirth again in another realm and is said that we all probably were reborn in one at least once. The only irreversible status is Enlightenment. Once attained, there are three types of Enlightened Beings; Arhats, Boddhisatvas and Buddhas.
  • Arhats live in absolute contemplation. Boddhisatvas are Buddhas who choose to keep existing in the Universe to help other beings out of pure compassion. Non-Boddhisatva Buddhas are fully separated from the material Universe or Samsara.
  • These are the official canonical realms present in the Buddhist scriptures and agreed by all, however other life forms are incorporated whether as folklore or as canon from posterior branches (like Mahayana and Vajrarayana branches) which include such as Gandharvas (heavenly musicians), the bird-like Garudas, the snake-like Nagas, the warrior Dakas and Dakinis, the poltergeist Yakshas, dragons, the demons or Maras, etc. Most of these are folkloric imports from other religions and cultures incorporated into Buddhism and almost all of them are classified as part of the animal realm (yes, animal in Buddhism does not refer only to the literal members of the Animalia kingdom but include most non-human mythological creatures even sapient ones like Yakshas, Dragons, Garudas and Nagas). Unlike other Eastern religions Plants are not included and Buddhists do not think Plants have a soul or are reborn.
  • Devas includes from some who are in deep meditation to the gods and goddesses of the other religions from Hinduism to Paganism, whilst the God of both monotheist Hindu schools and the Judeo-Christian religions is the Mahabrahma, another Deva who mistakenly thinks is the creator of the universe (although in some scriptures is said that actually Mahabrahma did acknowledge Buddha’s superiority and became Buddhist, that’s why God in South Park is Buddhist). They have their own realm but they also can interact with us.
  • Asuras, sometimes call Titans and Giants, are a Proud Warrior Race who are in constant war. Despite this its realm is not considered to be hellish, on the opposite is one of the three "upper" realms^note The "upper realms" are those where suffering is the least; human, Deva and Asura, whilst those where the suffering is greater are animal, Pretta and Hell. It is often said that you can only attain Nirvana in the Upper Realms as animals can't fully comprehend Dharma and the other two suffer too much. However this is the reason why be born as human is considered also to be the best condition. Devas and Asuras can practice and learn Dharma, and attain Nirvana if they want to, but few do as in the case of Devas they are involved in so much luxury and pleasure that rarely look for spiritual practice and the Asuras are too involved in war and is said to be the place were violent people reborn.
  • Maras or Demons refer to both the ones who torture people in the Hells^note and when they die they normally end in Hell again being tortured and evil spirits who torment people in our world although this last one is non-canonical.
  • Some Buddhists believe that the ghosts people see in haunted houses and are study by the paranormal are actually the Prettas, although traditional descriptions of the Prettas makes them less humanoid and more zombie-like or monstrous.
  • Pure Lands are the opposite of Hells, in the sense that they are places of peace and comfort where the very lucky ones can reborn to practice Dharma in the best circumstances and attain Nirvana easily. However Pure Lands are not from the original canon and are believe to exist only from some branches, and are not a seventh realm they are part of the human realm as their denizens are mostly human, but can't be sense or reach by normal physical means, working more like a paradise Pocket Dimension. Pure Land Buddhism focus on reaching them after death.
  • Another subject of Buddhist debate is animal intelligence and extraterrestrial life. Whilst modern Buddhist understand animals as in the scientific sense (which excludes, for example, bacteria and microorganism which is why in Buddhism taking medicine to kill micro organic life is not a problem) some animal forms like Polifera do not correspond with the traditional definition of animal in the Buddhist sense as it outright said that animals, in Buddhism, refer to sentient beings who have a mind, even if much limited when compared to humans. While animal sentience is undeniable in most species, specially of vertebrates, a Sponge have no brain and thus no mind, and thus is not an animal in the Buddhist sense. Also the fact that some animals are capable of limited reasoning like crows and apes is a no surprise for Buddhism as mythological sentient creatures like Nagas are traditionally considered be part of the animal realm and some Nagas are thought to be Buddhists^note Some scriptures say that animals like Nagas can practice Buddhism but that animals can't attain Nirvana, their practice solely help them to be reborn in a Upper Realm after death. There are interesting debates on what would happen if Dharma can be thought and understood by an animal, for example an ape.
  • In the case of extraterrestrial life, there are several approaches. For some Buddhists this is precisely what Buddhist scriptures talk about when talking about these realms; other planets or dimensions and its inhabitants. Other Buddhists think that in the event of the discovery of intelligent alien life forms they should be classified as part of the human realm disregarding their look (even if they are Starfish Aliens) as the term "human" in Buddhism should not be taken literally to mean "homo sapiens" but to mean "sentient physical being capable of understanding Dharma", this is supported by some Scriptures who literally say there are humans who live in "other realms" and are at least in part different to the humans of Earth (because they are bigger, of different colors, etc.).

Tabletop Games

• Dungeons & Dragons has dozens, if not hundreds, of races across the various editions. As of 5th Edition, including various subraces, dragonmarks, and various bloodlines, there's over 100 options, just for the playable characters alone, and that's just from Official material alone. In fact, here's JoCat's list of some of the races, in song form.
• Aside from the half dozen playable races (Tau, Eldar, Necrons, humans, Orks, and Tyranids), Warhammer 40,000 has several dozen other named races confined solely to background material. Here's a partial list.

Toys

• BIONICLE: Toa-Matoran-Turaga, Makuta, Vortixx, Rahkshi; the Visorak, the Skakdi (which include the Piraka), Zyglak, and various unnamed races in the Matoran Universe. Agori, Glatorian, Skrall, Bone Hunters, Great Beings, and Elemental Lords on Spherus Magna.

Video Games with loads of non-playable races

• In addition to the twelve playable races represented by the player characters, Armello has a number of unplayable other critters referenced through various cards and occasional random events. The King being a lion is the most obvious example, but there are also snakes, bats, boars, pigs, various species of cat and dog, frogs, lizards, hedgehogs, field mice, yaks, multiple kinds of stoats, some lemurs, druids that are heavily implied to be deer, and a random in-game event where the player encounters goblins.
  • Interestingly enough, some members of both the Bandit clan and the Dragon clan had their species represented in some cards before the expansions made them into playable races.
• Earth Eternal started beta with 22 PC races. Note that they are mechanically identical; all 22 play the same with nary a stat or ability difference, thus they don't give Massive Race Selection. In-universe, however, they're all entirely separate species (mostly Humanoid Aliens, plus Plant People, Clockwork dudes, Cyclopes, Yeti, and Warcraft Orcs with the serial numbers filed off). Then there were the non-playable races in the lore — mushroom people, tree people, vampires, liches, humans, Dor'kana aliens, demons, gods, creepy Dwarf/Mole-Rat guys, the extinct Maar, and more Humanoid Aliens. Sadly, the actual game only has 12 PC races, presumably still with no mechanical distinction.
• In addition to the 10 playable races of The Elder Scrolls series, the setting also has numerous other non-playable races seen or mentioned in the lore. To note:
  • Non-playable/historical Races of Men include the Nedes (ancestors of most modern races of Men in Tamriel with a pre-Columbian Meso-American culture), the Atmorans (a hardy Proud Warrior Race with Barbarian Tribe traits who may be the ancestors of most of the races of Men, and definitely are the ancestors of the Nords), the Yokudans (ancestors of the Scary Black Man Master Swordsman Redguards), the Kothringi (an extinct human tribe formerly native to the Black Marsh), the Reachmen (an offshoot of the Bretons native to "The Reach" region between Skyrim and High Rock who have many Druidic elements), and the Skaal (a Noble Savage offshoot of the Nords who live in harmony with nature in Solstheim).
  • Non-playable/historical Races of Mer (Elves) include the Ayleids (extinct "Wild Elves" of Cyrodiil who formed the first Empire in Tamriellic history and enslaved the aforementioned Nedes), the Dwemer (extinct "Deep Elves or Dwarves" who were masters of Magitek and Steampunk technology, who could bend the laws that govern the world), the Falmer ("Snow Elves" who were nearly wiped out by aforementioned Atmorans with most of the survivors fleeing the Dwemer, who twisted them into the Morlock-like monsters they are today), the Left-Handed Elves (or "Sinestral Mer" who were driven to extinction by the aforementioned Yokudans), and the Maormer ("Sea Elves" native to Pyandonea, a tropical archipelago to the south of Tamriel, who have "Chameleon" and are ancient enemies of the Altmer (High Elves)).
  • Non-playable/historical Beast Man Races include the Bird Men (extinct Bird People native to ancient Cyrodiil who were hunted to extinction by the Khajiit), Dreugh (humanoid octopi who once possessed far greater intelligence and were said to have ruled the world at one point during the Dawn Era, the Imga (Altmer-loving intelligent great apes native to Valenwood), Lilmothiit (extinct "fox folk" formerly native to the Black Marsh), Minotaurs (half-human half-bulls who trace their ancestry to the offspring produced by the first human Empress of Tamriel and her bull demigod lover), and the Sload (emotionless, isolationist, "slug-men" native to the Thras archipelago to the southwest of Tamriel).
  • Other non-playable/historical races who do not neatly fit into one of the above classifications include the Giants, Goblins, Hist, Ogres, Rieklings, and Spriggans.
  • The continent of Akavir, far to the east of Tamriel, has four (known) races of its own: the Ka Po' Tun "Tiger Folk", the Tsaesci "Snake Vampires", the Tang Mo "Monkey Folk", and the Kamal "Snow Demons".
  • For additional details on these (and the playable) races, see The Elder Scrolls: Races sub-pages.
• Final Fantasy XIV, in addition to having eight PC races, also has the Garleans, an NPC race who hail from The Empire. There are also numerous Beastman races that appear over the course of the story, from hostile races such as the lizard-like Amal'jaa, the insectoid Gnath, and the snake-like Ananta to friendlier races such as the Moogles, the Lupin, and the Kojin, as well as others of indeterminate temperament, from the small mercantile Namazu to the massive dragons of Draviania, just to name a few.
• Guild Wars 2 features Humans, Asura, Charr (Cat Folk), Norn (Norse giants), Sylvari (plant people), Centaurs, Dredge (communist molerat people), Giants (several subraces), Grawl (ape people), Hylek (Mayincatec frog people), Kodan (polar bear people), Krait (snake people), Largos (humanoid manta rays), Ogres, Quaggan (pacifist manatee/whale people), Skritt (hiveminded rat people), Tengu (bird people), and some more familiar fantasy races. Only the first five are playable, disqualifying it for Massive Race Selection.
• Halo just barely qualifies, counting subspecies and mostly-extinct ones. The fifteen are smart A.I.s, the Flood, the Forerunners, humans, Huragok/Engineers, Jiralhanae/Brutes, Lekgolo/Hunters, Ruuhtian Kig-Yar/Jackals, San'Shyuum/Prophets, Sangheili/Elites, T'vaoan Kig-Yar/Skirmishers, Unggoy/Grunts, Yanme'e/Drones, Yonhet, and the unnamed minor species (at least one more) of the Covenant fringe.
• Kingdom Hearts not only has all the races from various Disney worlds, but also the Heartless, Nobodies, Unversed, and Dream Eaters, though whether they count is a matter of contention.
• The Legend of Zelda has loads of non-playable races: Across the entire series there have been Humans, Goblins (subdivided into Moblins, Bokoblins, Miniblins, Bulblins, and Big Blins), Fairies, Dragons, Zoras, Gorons, Kokiri, Skull Kids, Sheikah, Gerudo, Deku, Tokay, Koroks, Picori/Minish, Twili, Ooccas, Kikwis, Mogmas, and many more. Humans are further divided by the long-eared Hylians, mystical Sheikah, and Gerudo, the latter being a group that is most notable for their skin color and unusual gender imbalance. There also are various round eared humans from locations outside of Hyrule such as the Holodrum, Labryana, Ordon and Hytopia. They appear nearly identical to the Hylians, though presumably lack their connection to the goddess Hylia.
• Mass Effect:
  • The setting qualifies since the only race available for single-player characters is human, though Mass Effect 3 multiplayer falls under Massive Race Selection instead. In just the races of the current cycle, we have asari, batarians, Collectors, drell, elcor, hanar, humans, geth, krogan, quarians, rachni, salarians, turians, volus, vorcha, and yahg. Other races are said to exist off-screen, though only a few are actually named. Also known are the protheans (the dominant race of the preceding cycle and the original form of the Collectors), the thorian (a mind-controlling plant creature predating the current cycle), the Inusannon (the race dominating the cycle prior to the protheans), the Reapers (the Big Bad, a race of cybernetic Eldritch Abominations that harvest spacefaring peoples every 50,000 years or so), and the Leviathans (a roughly 1 billion-year-old species of building-sized squid whose ill-advised attempt to protect their vassal races from themselves caused the Reapers' creation). Supplementary materials mention a race that used Brain Uploading to escape their world (people in-universe just call them the Virtual Aliens), the raloi (birdlike aliens), and the Kirik, a race of biotic insects with signs of intelligence.
  • Mass Effect: Andromeda continues the tradition by adding two new major races (the kett and the angarans), mentioning many more (the Archon says that the kett conquered over a thousand other species, named ones including the eealen, thusali, and sirinde) and allowing at least one of them in multiplayer. The single player protagonist is still always human.
• Might and Magic VI has a single playable race (humans), and takes place in a setting with elves (at least three variants, though only two were known at the time), dwarves (at least two variants, though the second wasn't revealed until two games later), goblins, orchs, centaurs, demons-that-are-really-aliens, demons-that-are-not-aliens, angels, genies, efreet, minotaurs, gremlins, halflings, robots, dragons, lizardfolk, gnolls, treants, naga, cyclops, trolls, ogres, several elemental beings (four known at the time)... admittedly, many of those don't actually show up in that game, but they had been established to exist by previous games and a concurrently released game that took place on the same world. The following RPG games also count, as the only one that arguably reaches 6 playable races is VIII, and that depends on if you count vampires that explicitly reproduce by infecting others with vampirism as a 'race' for the purposes of the Massive Race Selection trope.
• The Starfleet Adventures mod for Escape Velocity Nova has at least fifteen governments controlling territory on the map, and that's when you count the United Federation of Planets as a single species to save time. The number tops thirty easily when you don't. Your Player Character is human, though there are nonhuman command crew available.
• Super Mario Bros. has a massive amount colorful and unique races. The ones with bigger focus on them in the main platformer series alone are Humans, Toads, Koopas, Yoshis, Piantas and Lumas, with many other minor friendly ones here and there. The sentient races that tend to stick to the Mook side of things add Goombas, Koopa Troopas (and their many variations), Lakitus, Shy Guys, Boos, Bob-ombs, and several others to the list. Take into account the races added by the RPG subseries, the many, many spin-offs, and the Shared Universes with the Donkey Kong and Wario series, and the numbers skyrocket faster than you can say "Mamma Mia!".
• Touhou not only has tons of characters but tons of races as well, with at least one representative from any youkai ZUN wants to add. The first Windows era game only contains humans, vampires, fairies, a Mage Species, and what is heavily suspected to be a Chinese dragon. However, other games introduce animals-turned-youkai, humans-turned-youkai, ghosts, demons, celestials, gods, Lunarians, a shinigami, kappa, tengu, and whatever the hell Yukari is, and the list goes on.
• While World of Warcraft has 23 playable races as of Shadowlands, the series has almost a hundred more unplayable races, with more and more added in every expansion. These include ogres, mogu, naga, tol'vir, nerubians, arakkoa, mantids, wolvar, ethereals, jinyu, tuskarr, saurok, qiraji, furbolgs, kobolds, hozen, gnolls, quilboars, grummles, harpies, murlocs, and so on.

Webcomics

• The world of Devil's Candy is populated by devils, who are technically one species but come in an incredible number of hereditary “devil types” encompassing pretty much every folkloric monster you’ve ever heard of and some that you haven’t. The main cast features an imp, a grindylow, a cyclops, a vampire, a satyr, a daemon, and a Frankenstein's Monster, and the grindylow and the cyclops are of mixed heritage (the former is half-something invisible, and the cyclops is half-nymph). Spread pages full of people are a sight to behold, because every single person is a different kind of monster. According to legend, they were all one race before a mysterious figure called the Giver gifted them with various augmentations.
• Drowtales may qualify, largely as the result of curses, transformation spells that couldn't be reversed, and genetic engineering experiments. Specifically, you've got: elven races (dokkalfar, drowolath, drowussu, vanir, ver'drowendar, and xule'solen), dwarven races (duergar and gnomes), goblins (embari, halmes, rift halmes, hemoines, kotorcs, and noz), ferals (normal cat, squashed - face cat, and racoon variants), nagas, driders (waeliniders, streekaiders, and ne'kalsaiders), dryads, and locust faeries.
• In the El Goonish Shive storyline "Dan in the MUD" this is lampshaded when the jinn lists countless races to choose from to play as.
• Homestuck: Including Humans, Trolls, the patron races of each players Sburb world and whatever Always Chaotic Evil monsters lurk in them, the many races inhabiting both Prospit and Derse, the many races that make up the semi-sentient Familiar lusus of Alternia, the Felt, Cherubs, the cosmic Horrorterrors, and whatever Bec and Doc Scratch are, Andrew Hussies universe is filled with innumerable sentient species, and they're all as crazy as he is.
• Kill Six Billion Demons technically only has four race categories, being angels, devils, humans, and servants, but that last encompasses a vast number of species: goblins, kind people, rootless, eidolons, infinite mothers, xixo vong, and many more.
• The Mansion of E has numerous species living in the vast underground complex beneath the Mansion; their ancestors were gathered there as exhibits in a zoo by another now-vanished species. They include Humans, Gnolls, Nomes, Ghasts, Oozes, Wyrms (large and small), Troglodytes, Saurs, Motihauls, Ichyoids, Helipaths, Gobules, Pales, Jibjibs, Spyders, Robots, Killer Trees, and Talking Rocks.
• The Order of the Stick has plenty, based as it is on D&D, but it also has a surprisingly broad distribution among the actual characters. Even discounting random monsters, there have been at least three named characters for each of the following: human (Roy, Haley, Elan), elf/dark elf (Vaarsuvius, Lirian, Zz'dtri), dwarf (Durkon, Hilgya, Kraagor), halfling (Belkar, Serini, Hank), half-orc (Thog, Therkla, Bozzok), kobold (Yikyik, Kilkil, the Oracle), lizardfolk (Gannji, Enor, Malack), goblinoid (Redcloak, Jirix, Right-Eye)—plus the occasional sylph (Celia), gnome (Leeky), catfolk, weird frog person, ogre, etc.
• In Platinum Black, there are humans, satyrs, Regenerators which come in all shapes, dark skinned people with mouse ears, medusa... slug... people? and just about every kind of beastman you can imagine.
• In Rice Boy's homeworld, Overside, there tend to be well-defined civilisation-races like the Frog-Men of Spatch, the Fin-Folk of Tenshells, the Machine-Men of the Iron Teeth, the Horned of the Stone Palm... and then there are people like Arctaur, with four closely-packed legs and a head like a cross between a broken donut and a power adapter. Many oneshot body types seem to once have been part of their own race, but estranged in space or the Last of His Kind. Beyond the above, the wiki names and describes Blackbirds, Dimmons, Fluters, Gaundts, Gorrkans, Hornèds, Ice-Striders, Machine Men, Rhed, Sahtans, Shade-Kin, Sirpah, Trills, and War-Men. There are also the unnamed inhabitants of Seen and Taragi, and the mysterious White Formless.
• Schlock Mercenary features humans, neophants, primates, amorphs, F'Sherl-Ganni, Pa'anuri, Frellenti, Fobott'r, Vhorwed, Uniocs, Uklakk, Schuul, O'Benn, Kssthrata, Daehremmah, Ystreben, Kreelies, Bradicor, and Enireth. Members of each of these have been prominent protagonists or antagonists of at least one story arc.
  • One strip suggests that even these are just the tip of the iceberg.

Web Original

• Fabled Hearts stories tend to have a lot of races, with at least one new race being introduced in each of the larger stories. An inter-dimensional train will do that for you.
• In The Gamer's Alliance: Several fleshed-out races exist in the world:
  • Humans. The most populous race in the world, they have many societies ranging from nomadic horse lords to sophisticated magocracies.
  • Elves. Graceful people who often live in forests but can just as easily be seen in cities as well. They have great knowledge of nature and its remedies.
  • Dwarves. Short and passionate people best known for their prodigious skills with the forge, many of them live under mountains although some have settled into human cities.
  • Gods. The immortals who live in the High Plane, they follow their own agendas and scheme against one another while using the mortal races for their own ends.
  • Faerfolc. Mysterious protectors of the forests, they and elves have a connection. They possess fey magick which can be beneficial or dangerous to anyone who comes across them depending on circumstances.
  • Dragons. Massive creatures who can fly and breathe fire and decimate armies. They've chosen not to interfere in mortal affairs, however, and merely observe events from their home mountains nicknamed the Roost.
  • Demons. Winged beings who originate from the Demon Realm and who have recently begun settling into the Land of the Living. They can shapeshift into many forms and are rather chaotic, seeing other races than themselves as lesser beings.
  • Lefein. Look deceptively like humans yet live for thousands of years. They're collectors of wisdom and are at home with various machines which they keep inventing.
  • Nymphs. A curious all-female race which lives deep in the forests. They often end up having sexual encounters with travellers which is why rangers call a nymph their fondest conquest. Under their gentle and curious exterior is something far more troubled, however.
  • Itica. Humanoid cat people who live a wandering lifestyle although other races rarely see them due to their preference to stay out of people's businesses. They have sharp senses.
  • Kitsune. Shapeshifting magical foxes who are often confused for demons. Guardians of lost knowledge and bardic songs, they're a musical and mischievous race who can just as easily be benevolent or malevolent depending on the circumstances.
  • Sirithai. Desert-dwelling lizardfolk who are ruthless but
  • Trolls. Hairy and seemingly dumb creatures although they are good at operating machinery of various kinds. They have invented a pastime referred to as trolling which includes having jokes on other people's expense.
  • Merrows. Merpeople who govern the oceans.
  • Pixies. Tiny winged humanoids who can channel magic more easily than other races.
  • Undead. Unnatural beings whose souls haven't settled into the Land of the Dead for various reasons and who thus exist between life and death. Several variants exist such as zombies, ghosts, liches, revenants.
• The Legatum series only has three stories so far, but there have been at least fifteen different races seen throughout the series, and it's likely this number will increase in future stories.
• Looming Gaia has five species of commoners (humans, dworfs, roshava, trolls, and ogres), five species of fae (elves, goblins, gnomes, sirene, and cecaelia), five species of gaians (fauns, satyrs, centaurs, minotaurs, and gorgons) ten types of nymphs (Hydriads, Isanae, Pyriads, Oreads, Aurae, Limniads, Faunae, Maenads, Dryads, and Pleiadae), several more or less intelligent monsters (kobolds, pixies, drau, adhene, demons, arachne, skorpius, spriggans, angels, cyclops, harpies, merrows, melusine, and abatwa) and four known now extinct species (gnolls, hogmen, orcs, and sprights)
• Orion's Arm: The setting contains millions of different "clades." Most of these are terragen (descended from Earth life) and include Human Subspecies (some of which look more like Starfish Aliens) and provolved animals. There're also A.I.s, cyborgs, robots, sentient vehicles, and at least 17 extant xenosophont species that have been identified, and only about a 10,000 light-year radius sphere of the galaxy has been explored.

Western Animation

• The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin has Illiops, Octopedes, Perloons, Grunges, Fobs, Illipers, Woodsprites, Elves, Snowzos, Anythings, Wogglies, Trolls, Bounders, Mudblups, Gutangs, Bird People, sapient bugs, and several unnamed monster species.
• The Ben 10 franchise revolves around a boy who can transform into several distinct superpowered alien species, starting with 10 and going up from there. Each species is fleshed out, either through screen-time, being All There in the Manual, or both. The image above is but a handful of the species revealed by the third series, and we're not even talking about the alien species established by other characters and villains.
• The Kung Fu Panda film series (and especially the TV show) has anthropomorphic versions of pretty much the entire Chinese animal kingdom.
• The original My Little Pony cartoon. Earth Ponies, Pegasus Ponies, Unicorn Ponies, Sea Ponies, Flutter Ponies, Bushwoolies, Grundles, Furbobs, Stonebacks, Flories, Crab Nasties, and more.
  • As of Season 9 of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, we have the first three of those as the most common races of equine, plus Crystal Ponies, Breezies, Changelings, Saddle Arabians, Zebras, Donkeys, Hippogriffs, Kirins, Mules, and Alicorns. When you extend it to non-equine races, you also have Dragons, Griffons, Diamond Dogs, Centaurs, Minotaurs, Gargoyles, Buffalo, Yaks, at least three sapient farm animals (two of which are taken care of by Applejack's family for some reason), Humans, Sea Serpents, Draconequii, Ahuizotls, Sirens, and all manner of anthropomorphic creatures a-la Catrina. If you dip into the books and comics, you add to the bundle Seaponies and Merponies, Trolls, Giant Spiders, Demons of varying sorts, Moonbeasts, and a plethora of intelligent underwater denizens.
• Ōban Star-Racers has both loads of alien races (including humans) who also race vehicles as part of a galaxy-wide Wacky Racing contest.
• Regular Show not only has numerous anthropomorphic animal species including Mordecai and Rigby themselves, but also many fantastical beings from earth or otherwise. Among them are Yetis, sentient vending machines, living clouds, super ducks and geese, ghosts, unicorns, Guardians, Synthronians, Carlocks, Anthropomorphic Personifications of brand drinks and video formats, Odd Job Gods(usually of mundane things like phone messaging and basketball), Robots, demons, and Lollilandersrepresented by Pops. All of them are shown as completely normal for a world that runs on Magic Realism.
• According to South Park, each species and race on Earth—from deer and elephants to Asian and Jewish humans—is actually a separate species which came to Earth countless years ago for an intergalactic reality TV show. Every other planet has only one species each.
• Star Trek: Lower Decks: Since an animated series doesn't have the same limitations as a live-action series (which traditionally relied heavily on Rubber-Forehead Aliens), the Cerritos is a true Federation melting pot, featuring nearly every Federation race, and a few non-Federation ones.
• Wakfu is this at first glance, though in fact it is a subversion of this trope. The "races" in Dofus (and by extension Wakfu) are more along the line of classes or religions. The characters may change in appearance to match that of their gods, but all are still basically "humans" (and there are un-classed, baseline human NPCs too). Which explains why interbreeding — like with Kabrok (an Osamodas) and Miranda (an Ecaflip), or with Sadlygrove (a Iop) and Evangelyne (a Crâ) — is perfectly possible.

Real Life

• Even if the taxonomy is in a state of constant flux and their status as a species fluctuates, fossil evidence points towards several different lineages of human cohabiting as recently as 50,000 years ago. Although their degree of sapience would vary quite a bit, all members of the genus Homo are known to be able to manufacture tools, and the latter lineages, such as Neanderthals, have been shown to be capable of elaborating art. There is also genetic evidence of two of those extinct lineages (the Neanderthals and the poorly known Denisovans) having mated with modern humans.
• Chimpanzees have been sighted manufacturing stone tools, so they have officially entered the stone age. Corvids (crows and ravens) do one better, as they sometimes bend metal into useful shapes and then use these metal tools to various tasks. They also remember where they put them for later re-use.
• Sea otters are known not only to use rocks to open or pry free shellfish, but also keep a preferred rock in a flap of skin analogous to the human armpit; keeping tools might be an even greater technological leap than merely using and discarding a found tool. They also have been seen using kelp as a net to hold crabs, or as a cradle for their pups.
• There are several groups of animals who show telltale signs of sapience and culture as we understand it, but not to the degree of complexity we humans exhibit. Those include the rest of the great apes, dolphins, elephants, and, surprisingly enough, parrots, crows and ravens, and octopi.

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