History Main / WainscotSociety

* Both Mary Norton's ''Literature/TheBorrowers'' series and Creator/TerryPratchett's later, comparable Literature/NomesTrilogy provide examples of {{Lilliputians}} with literal MouseWorld Wainscot Societies (that is, they live behind the wall panels and under the floorboards of human buildings). Both these races are small in mumbers and scattered in the modern world, but have substantial histories; the Nomes especially have a working society inside a department store. John Peterson's ''Literature/TheLittles'' are very similar to the Borrowers, but take the ''Mouse'' World concept a step further, having some mouse-like features (i.e. a tail, buck teeth, and large ears).

* ''WebVideo/RatsSMP'': [[MouseWorld The rat world]] exists in the nooks and crannies of the human world, hidden behind walls and in attics and alleyways. According to El's [[DefectorFromDecadence backstory]], some parts of rat society even have their own class system. There is often interaction between the two worlds, as the rats often still have to obtain food from ''somewhere'', and Acho's backstory demonstrates [[APetIntoTheWild how exactly one might fall between the two societies]]; meanwhile, a few humans (including the Grandmother, the Eldest Daughter, [[spoiler:and the Maid]]) are both aware of the rat world and are willing to help them out in times of need, causing the rats to regard them as a safe space of sorts.

* The ''Film/MenInBlack'' movies have alien immigrants forming a rather chaotic Wainscot Society, policed by the (mostly) human [[TheMenInBlack Men in Black]] to enforce a rather shaky {{Masquerade}}.

* ''WebVideo/RatsSMP'': The rat world exists in the nooks and crannies of the human world, hidden behind walls and in attics and alleyways. According to El's [[DefectorFromDecadence backstory]], some parts of rat society even have their own class system. There is often interaction between the two worlds, as the rats often still have to obtain food from ''somewhere'', and Acho's backstory demonstrates [[APetIntoTheWild how exactly one might fall between the two societies]]; meanwhile, a few humans (including the Grandmother, the Eldest Daughter, [[spoiler:and the Maid]]) are both aware of the rat world and are willing to help them out in times of need, causing the rats to regard them as a safe space of sorts.

* ''WebVideo/RatsSMP'': The rat world exists in the nooks and crannies of the human world, hidden behind walls and in attics and alleyways. According to El's [[DefectorFromDecadence backstory]], some parts of rat society even have their own class system. There is often interaction between the two worlds, as the rats often still have to obtain food from ''somewhere'', and Acho's backstory demonstrates [[APetIntoTheWild how exactly one might fall between the two societies]]; meanwhile, a few humans are aware of the rat world and are willing to help them out in times of need, causing the rats to regard them as a safe space of sorts.

* ''WebVideo/RatsSMP'': The rat world exists in the nooks and crannies of the human world, hidden behind walls and in attics and alleyways. According to El's [[DefectorFromDecadence backstory]], some parts of rat society even have their own class system. There is often interaction between the two worlds, as the rats often still have to obtain food from ''somewhere''.

->''”Young man, understand this: there are two Londons. There's London Above―that's where you lived―and then there's London Below―the Underside―inhabited by the people who fell through the cracks in the world. Now you're one of them. Good night.”''

There is a society, which may well resemble the real world at some time in the present or past. And then, alongside that society, there is a whole other social system with its own rules and hierarchies. It may be secret or obscure, or hard to access in some way. This is the ''Wainscot Society,'' sometimes just called a "wainscot" for short.

(Wainscots are wooden panels on the interior walls of houses; the trope name comes from the fact that the secondary society lives "behind the wainscots", sometimes literally. The TropeNamer is an entry in [[http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=wainscots The Encyclopedia of Fantasy,]] which discusses many examples.)

It is also required that the secondary society is a fully-fledged ''society'', with family groups and traditions; "ordinary" secret conspiracies and spy agencies ''don't'' qualify, and nor do weird parallel dimensions which some characters can enter. '''If you can't talk about a whole secondary society, it isn’t a Wainscot Society.'''

* This is a common element of the {{Wuxia}} genre -- martial artists belong to a second society known as "Jianghu" where AsskickingLeadsToLeadership. Sometimes it is taboo to involve Jianghu residents in the power struggles of the wider world or vice versa, while at other times the intersection between the heroes of the jianghu and the government of the Empire (or the Kingdoms) defines the plot.

* ''Series/BeautyAndTheBeast1987'' concerns the denizens of a society living in the various tunnels beneath New York City, occasionally interacting with normal humans such as the heroine.
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Bones}},'' Booth and Brennan investigate the death of a woman who was investigating the underground denizens of Washington DC, who are depicted as forming something of a distinct society; one of the main guest stars is a vet who suffers from PTSD and who lives down there.

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* ''TabletopGame/InNomine'' has angels and demons operating among humanity while remaining responsible to their superiors -- so Heaven and Hell are the wainscots here. A {{Masquerade}} is enforced, mostly to preserve secrecy on a case-by-case basis, and to allow humans free will.

* Both the TabletopGame/{{Old|WorldOfDarkness}} and the TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness feature multiple interacting hidden factions -- of vampires, werewolves, wizards, faeries, etc. -- who have substantial, organised social systems of their own. Vampires have their {{Masquerade}}; other beings have less formal systems of secrecy.

* ''Literature/{{Borribles}}'' are runaway children who have undergone an unknown process that gives them pointed ears and immortality. They live on the underside of human society: stealing what they need to survive, living in abandoned houses, and trying not to be captured by the authorities. Their enemies, the Rumbles, are fascistic rodent-like beings with a Wainscot Society of their own.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'' is built upon the idea that mythical creatures live among humans in separate societies, with occasional intermingling. Jake, for instance, is an Oriental dragon on his mother's side, a fact that is kept hidden from his {{Muggle}} father.

* ''WesternAnimation/ChipAndDaleRescueRangers'': Much like ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'' from whence it took inspiration, there exists a rodent society alongside the human one. The Rangers often cross the barrier between the two dealing with human villains that cause problems for animals.

* ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlack'' features the same Wainscot Society as the live-action film, above, as it is a continuation of that.

* ComicBook/TheEternals in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse are an ancient, small, but widespread group of very powerful beings who tend to depend on TheMasquerade when living among humans, but who also sometimes form semi-independent communities in remote locations.
* Also in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, the "Morlocks" (mostly seen in the ''ComicBook/XMen'' comics) are (or were) a minor Wainscot Society of freakish-looking mutants living in [[BeneathTheEarth tunnels under New York]], but occasionally visiting the surface.

* ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' features two Wainscot Societies, both of which uphold TheMasquerade to avoid drawing the ire of The Man:

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and its spin-off ''Series/{{Angel}}'' have vampires, demons, and other supernatural beings running a society of sorts in parallel to the humans on whom they prey, while mostly preserving TheMasquerade.

* ''Webcomic/SamAndFuzzy'' has the second world, or the Underground in more common parlance, a semi-secret society of supernatural beings whose existence would break TheMasquerade. They live BeneathTheEarth in a giant network of tunnels and [[UndergroundCity Underground Cities]]. Regular humans (and the less noticeable supernatural beings) that are aware of the Underground can move freely between the surface and Underground, though not without a considerable Masquerade created by the AncientConspiracy. All others are quarantined to the Underground, and offenders are fitted with an ExplosiveLeash or outright KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade. In the ''Sam and Fuzzy''-verse, the Underground is significantly ahead of the overworld technologically, and is often used as a testing bed for new developments that the surface world isn't ready for yet. [[spoiler:The end of the comic's MythArc leads to an UnmaskedWorld, permanently removing the figurative Wainscot]].
* ''Webcomic/SkinDeep's'' fantastic creatures mostly live as humans using a TransformationTrinket, but have a network of safe-houses called "Avalons" where they can be themselves. Most Avalons are small, located in supposedly abandoned buildings, but some are [[HiddenElfVillage entire self-contained towns]] hidden in remote areas or inside the walls of giant warehouses. The bigger ones also serve as homes for "monsters" who can't disguise themselves, or those who simply don't choose to enter human society.

SisterTrope to {{Masquerade}} (a system of intensive secrecy, and one common means by which a Wainscot Society in close contact with mainstream society may be kept separate), and MouseWorld (a setting full of beings much smaller than normal humanity, who may well form a Wainscot Society). In other cases, the wainscot's population may be based BeneathTheEarth, in an UnderwaterCity, on an unusually convenient IslandOfMystery, in an AlternateDimension (maybe a DarkWorld) to which fairly accessible portals exist, or anywhere else that can somehow permit fairly easy access to the mundane world -- or they may just be InvisibleToNormals. A really AncientConspiracy may have become a fully developed society in its own right; the AlienAmongUs might be one of many, who have planted a replica of their home society among humans. The HiddenElfVillage is more detached from the mainstream than this trope requires, though if its inhabitants are forced into increasing contact with the rest of the world, it may be transformed into a Wainscot Society.

* Both ''Literature/TheBorrowers'' and the Literature/NomesTrilogy provide examples of {{Lilliputians}} with literal MouseWorld Wainscot Societies (as they live behind the wall panels of human buildings). Both these races are quite small and scattered in the modern world, but have substantial histories; the Nomes especially have a working society in a department store. ''Literature/TheLittles'' are very similar to the Borrowers, but take the ''Mouse'' World concept a step further, having some mouse-like features (i.e. a tail, buck teeth, and large ears).

* The ''Literature/NomesTrilogy'' by Creator/TerryPratchett has the Nomes living as this. Masklin's dwindling band live by a motorway service station subsisting on leftover takeaways. They take a truck ride, and discover a whole new society of Nomes living under the floorboards of a department store.

%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!

* The [[spoiler: ancient gods]] in ''Literature/TheLongDarkTeatimeOfTheSoul'' have their own entire otherworldly realm, but find themselves repeatedly forced to pass through ours. Unusually, traveling to the other dimension and back is easy enough that Dirk is able to develop the knack as soon as he realizes it's actually possible.

* The ''Literature/ApprenticeAdept'' series is set on the planet Proton, which on the surface of things is a dead world, destroyed by its human colonists in search of the rarest and most precious mineral of all, forcing the human population to live in sealed cities. The hero Stile realises that he is one of a very select few who can cross at will to the ''other'' Proton -- a green and fertile world sharing the same space, but powered by magic and home to many races and sentient beings.
* The very first ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' book implies that it's set in such a society, probably in England, with human-sized carts and buildings occupied by the FunnyAnimal protagonists, and mentions of mischief committed by the rat villain with livestock. The fact that this raises obvious questions such as, "Even if the area is mostly deserted, how do humans not notice the miniature stone fortified abbey?" might be part of why the series rapidly got an EarthDrift.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' features a classic example in ''Face The Raven'', a "Trap Street" supposedly included on maps for copyright purposes is actually a neighborhood of London [[InvisibleToNormals hidden from view]] by a perception filter. The neighborhood serves as refuge to a society made up of aliens, monsters, and the other dispossessed of space and time. The perception filter also masks their appearance, allowing deserters from the Sontarans and Cybermen to live regular lives amongst the others.

* This is a common element of the {{Wuxia}} genre -- martial artists belong to a second society known as "Jianghu" where AsskickingEqualsAuthority. Sometimes it is taboo to involve Jianghu residents in the power struggles of the wider world or vice versa, while at other times the intersection between the heroes of the jianghu and the government of the Empire (or the Kingdoms) defines the plot.

* Many traditional stories have fairies, djinn, or similar beings living invisibly alongside humans, but occasionally becoming visible or otherwise interacting to do strange things. For example, Welsh tales told of fairy folk from an invisible island in Cardigan Bay coming ashore to trade with humanity, while Arabian legends speak of [[FantasticReligiousWeirdness good Muslim djinn performing the pilgrimage to Mecca, invisibly]].