Proud Scholar Race

aka: Proud Scholar Race Girl

Because 2D chess is not challenging enough.

"Our love of what is beautiful does not lead to extravagance;
our love of the things of the mind does not make us soft."

— Attributed to Pericles

While the Proud Warrior Race believes in warfare and martial honor as the pinnacle of cultural achievement, they have a counterpart in the Proud Scholar Race, who instead focus on matters of the intellect. Personality-wise, they may be aloof and detached, or quite gregarious and friendly (particularly if they're also The Empath). Either way, they have a tendency to be more intellectual, mystical or philosophical than most of the other species in the setting. This species of scholars tends to come in two flavors:

• Scientific Race: Their societal structure is centered around science, philosophy, and the arts. Their political structure may employ a Head Scientist, Philosopher, or Poet as a leader. They aren't necessarily a Higher-Tech Species, although that often overlaps. The key is that learning is the main cornerstone to their society. These are most likely to be Perfect Pacifist People possibly protected by Psychic Powers provided they can be explained away by sufficient study of science. They may live in a City in a Bottle of some sort. Those with a more practical bent will be The Engineer.
• Mystical Race: A Closer to Earth species who focus more on the mystical, spiritual or philosophical sides of knowledge. If any species has Psychic Powers, it's these guys. Their culture tends to gravitate toward a Crystal Spires and Togas aesthetic, and their technology may share a similar feel. Unlike other species, they may hold on to beliefs in higher powers (particularly if said powers are extant Sufficiently Advanced Aliens or Energy Beings). If the species is actually alien, then they overlap with Space Elves (and Telepathic Spacemen, if psychic). Less sympathetic versions of the species may overlap with Scary Dogmatic Aliens of The Fundamentalist variety.

Proud Scholar Races of either stripe tend to be portrayed as more peace-loving than some other species, but they tend to be rather dangerous when provoked, using superior technology, Psychic Powers and hidden superweapons to turn their foes into dust. They won't necessarily be portrayed as nicer people — sometimes, their love of knowledge will make them sympathetic compared to the madmen running around hitting things with swords, but other times, it will make them cold, slimy, and sinister compared to the honest fighters doing their duty for their country. Similarly, any non-scientists in this race (no matter how important to their society) will suffer Klingon Scientists Get No Respect — err, Vulcan Warriors Get No Respect.

This race may be friendly toward humans, or it might shun them because it detests their violent ways, or sees them as so far below them as to be insects. This species might be descended from the Precursors, or at least remember a time when they existed.

If both these and the Warrior Race are played as villainous, they basically become a split about the two terrifying sides of the Nazis—the Warriors are the mighty soldiers and strategists slaughtering and conquering, while the Scientists remain at home torturing people For Science! and for hate. For this reason, when villainous, the Scientist race may be prejudiced and regard other races as fodder for slavery and experimentation.

When heroic, the race is quite likely to resemble an idealised depiction of the academic circles of the Ancient Greeks. Expect Crystal Spires and Togas. They may or may not be a Higher-Tech Species. If their religious live is delved into, they will usually either follow an abstract and non-theistic philosophy or worship a God of Knowledge. Should the race have gone so far into this trope that they have gotten rid of all forms of entertainment or have lost their ability to think creatively, then they are an Advanced Civilization, Hollow Imagination.

When the Proud Scholar Race and the Proud Warrior Race are in opposition or rivalry, they tend to form an Elves Versus Dwarves dynamic, with the former taking the role of the Elves. This convergent evolution may be why many scholarly races take on elf-like features like pointed ears and a humanoid appearance. They may still retain nonhuman features such as unusual skin or hair colors, though; pale colors such as light blue are popular. Females of this sort of species tend to overlap with Green-Skinned Space Babe if they're actual aliens.

If they are into both learning and killing, they're a Warrior Poet Race instead. Compare Proud Industrious Race, Proud Hunter Race, Proud Merchant Race and, of course, Proud Warrior Race.

Compare Space Elves, Space Amish, and Perfect Pacifist People.

No Real Life Examples, Please!

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Examples

Anime and Manga

• Dragon Ball Z: The Tsufurians/Tuffles are a very science-driven race, and lived on the same planet as (and were ultimately overthrown by) the Saiyans, the very epitome of a Proud Warrior Race.
• Heroic Age: The Silver Tribe is pretty much a textbook example of this. Space Elves: check. Unmatched Psychic: check. Aloof and Detached: check. Detests humans: check. Crystal Spires: check. Precursors bond: check.
• Tales of Wedding Rings: The elves dedicate themselves to the pursuit of knowledge, conducting research on whatever topics strike their fancy throughout their lives. When an elf dies, their writings are stored in the Romca library with as much reverence as a corpse being interred in a mausoleum; indeed, this library is their equivalent of a graveyard.

Comic Books

• The DCU:
  • Green Lantern: The Guardians of the Universe. Traditionally portrayed as one of the Big Goods of the DC Universe, although they've undergone some Character Derailment into arrogance and stupidity lately. The Controllers are an offshoot of the Guardians, and have always been more prone to arrogant, jerkass behavior than the Guardians themselves.
  • Legion of Super-Heroes: The Coluans. Depending on the version, the Coluans themselves are usually well-intentioned enough, but the rebellious computers who conquered their planet (and gave rise to Brainiac) were jerks.
  • Omega Men: The Psions are essentially an entire race of Dr. Mengele expies IN SPACE. They are the unfortunate result of an early experiment in Animal Uplifting by the Guardians of the Universe (of all people).
  • Superman: Krypton worshiped Science, in some versions. Most 'good' Kryptonians who were raised there (such as Superman and Supergirl's parents) were portrayed as learned scientists. A lot of the evil Kryptonians were Mad Scientists.
  • Wonder Woman Vol 1: Prior to being rebooted as a society stuck in the Bronze Age Post-Crisis the Amazons of Paradise Island often came off this way. They had developed a range of impressive tech including having their own space worthy fleet before any other nation on earth had made it into orbit, invisible aircraft and medical advances which combined magic with lasers but generally didn't share any of these advances with their supposed allied nations like the United States. The Phil Jiminez and second Greg Rucka runs restored many of these elements to the Amazons.

Fan Works

• Foxfire: The Knowledge Seekers literally live to find any new knowledge on behalf of the Wan Shi Tong. Li even goes out of his way to experience new things to not deprive Zenko of new things to learn.
• Mines of Dragon Mountain: This is what the ponies are, according to Zeitgeist. Each pony is a genius in their chosen path and fairly competent in many other areas. One pony is able to equal the output of an entire team of diamond dog scientists in regards to discovery and application if properly channeled. The Doctor agrees.
• The Next Frontier portrays the Kerbals as equal parts this trope and Bold Explorers, although they are most assuredly not Perfect Pacifist People.

Literature

• Adventure Hunters has gargoyles who are famous for being grade A historians. Living for an extraordinarily long time is helpful in this regard.
• Agent of Vega: The Daya-Bals are a a human-descended race of metaphysicists and artists.
• Andre Norton: The Zacathans, who are experts in knowledge in general and history/archeology in particular.
• Animorphs: The Andalites mostly fall under the Proud Warrior Race Guy, but surprisingly fit this trope too—while males are supposed to be warriors, females are generally either scientists or artists, and the Andalites seem to be the dominant species in Earth's section of the galaxy as a result. It's actually shown that the conflict with the Yeerks is what drove them to put their warrior culture on a pedestal. Before that, they were far more interested in art and science overall, and even after the war started they believe that a warrior should be intelligent and educated as well.
• Childe Cycle: The Exotics are mystics and philosophers with a knack for making these scholarly endeavors profitable. Their relationship with the Warrior Race of Dorsai is quite amiable and the latter often act as their bodyguards and enforcers.
• The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Every member of the Insequent race is apparently a wizard who acquired his/her powers through millennia of specialized study. From the same series, the ur-viles are a rare evil version, though they end up switching sides.
• The Daevabad Trilogy: The bird-like peris are quite knowledgeable about most subjects, but their smug aloofness means getting them to act is an exercise in frustration.
• The Damned Trilogy:
  • Nearly all Hivistahm seem to work in some scientific field, with the O'o'yan acting as their assistants.
  • Most of the Wais are either scholars or translators.

• Emerald Prince: The Thyreia, who are also a Perfect Pacifist People. They are shown positively and have a range of personality traits, since the story takes place there.
• Foundation Series:
  • The Encyclopedists: The Encyclopedia Foundation is obsessed with their Encyclopedia Galactica, a comprehensive book about everything that the Galactic Empire had learned about science and technology. So obsessed that they missed out on the fact that most of the population on Terminus don't actually have anything to do with the Encyclopedia. They're devastated when Hari Seldon appears on their fiftieth anniversary to say that the Encyclopedia was a fraud all along and he didn't care if it was ever published.
  • Foundation's Edge: The Second Foundation, having been established as hiding themselves on Trantor by becoming librarians, are known as "scowlers" amoung the planetary population. It is a corruption of the word "scholar". They are proud of their knowledge, especially of the way their focus on the social sciences has helped them develop the ability to calculate the future and Psychic Powers. One of the Hamish women, Novi, tries to convince Stor Gendibal to let her become a "scowler", too (she thinks it means reading books and doing housework for him).
  • "The Originist": Part of Deet Forska's role is to help make the librarians of the Imperial Library feel like they are part of a community. She tries experiments that will result in the employees of the library feeling like the library is something special that they are proud to belong to. She shares some stories about her successes with Leyel Forska, such as the way a librarian expresses pride at belonging to this intellectual sub-culture of Trantor when interacting with visitors.
• Inside The Space Ships: The ETs like learning, travel, science, and the arts, and they have a lot of respect for their spiritual masters.
• Kushiel's Legacy: The Siovalese have a reputation for being great scholars and engineers.

• In The Saga Of The Bordenlands, by the Argentine Liliana Bodoc, the Zitzahay are an example, or at least their leaders are, the Supreme Astronomers, magicians and scholars. They have an army, but they have not participated in wars for many generations.
• The Shadow Out of Time: Yithian civilization is predicated entirely on knowledge and study for their own sake.
• The Silmarillion: The Noldorin elves started off as this, before being partially corrupted by their desire for revenge against Morgoth and becoming a Proud Warrior Race. Later, in The Lord of the Rings, Faramir laments that his people, the Gondorians, are a Proud Scholar Race who are becoming a Proud Warrior Race.

• The Stormlight Archive: The Alethi manage to be both a Proud Scholar Race and a Proud Warrior Race, due to their society's incredibly strict gender roles — Alethi men are Proud Warrior Race Guys, and Alethi women are Proud Scholar Race Girls (the divisions are so sharp that it's considered sinful for women to fight, or for men to even learn to read).
• Tara Duncan: The vampire are portrayed as very scholar guys, mostly working on science and philosophy. However, Tara mostly sees them at the "cold" side of this trope, noting their diplomats are polite but not nice, and their elected president, not as easygoing as most kings. Elves in this verse, on the other hand, are hot-blooded.
• The Wheel of Time: The Ogier. Very big on history, arts, craftmanship, public speaking, and gardening. However, while they don't much like fighting, they're very good at it if sufficiently motivated.
• Xanth: The Centaurs. Culturally, they are academics and scholars, though many of the adult males portrayed are Genius Bruisers who enjoy a good scrap. The Winged Centaur subspecies shows signs of this but are too busy trying to establish a stable population to embrace that particular hat at the moment.

Live-Action TV

• Babylon 5: The Minbari fit this trope very well, especially the religious caste. At least as much psi potential as any other race, one of the "elder" races, on relatively good terms with the Precursors, Crystal Spires and Togas, Ape Shall Never Kill Ape (very common in Space Elves if they're not straight-up Perfect Pacifist People), and loads of Cultural Posturing and Can't Argue with Elves.
• Doctor Who: The Time Lords as originally portrayed. A Retcon subsequently made them wear the "decadent and self-involved" rather than "scholarly" hat. Subsequently, it varied from story to story. Fanfic tends to emphasize the more alien, aloof, scholastic side of Gallifreyan culture. Regardless, the names of the Doctor and the Master deliberately evoked higher learning. but only those two characters are really active outside Gallifrey. Then the Time War happened...
• Invasion: Earth: The Echos are implied to be this in dialog, most especially by Terrell, who lived with them for decades, but also by background material. The series and background material give the impression that they are a peaceful species of scientists and explorers, and their abhorrence of violence is demonstrated by their mass suicide to prevent themselves from being harvested by the nDs as part of their interdimensional war-machine.
• The Orville: Surprisingly, the Xelayans, despite their Heavy Worlder race being famous for their Super-Strength. Alara is constantly berated by her parents for choosing to become an officer in the Planetary Union rather than get a "proper" higher education. When Alara points out that other cultures, like humans, see the military as an honorable profession, they express their view of humans as the "hillbillies of the galaxy".
• Stargate SG-1:
  • The Ancients may have been this at various points in their history. In the various Stargate series, we end up seeing things the Ancients did at vastly separated parts of their history, so their characterization changed accordingly.
  • Both the Asgard and the Nox. The Asgard are an odd example as they are named after (or, in-universe, inspired the legends of) Norse Mythology, generally much less scholarly than most.
• Star Trek:
  • Vulcans are almost the Ur-Example of the stoic, detached scholar race, including mild Psychic Powers in the form of the mind meld. Vulcans are an example of both subsets of this trope. While they are usually presented as the scientific side sometimes they show a mystical aspect too. Occasionally as well they show some remainders of rather dark primeval traditions in their culture as in the episode "Amok Time" when Spock's betrothed bride manipulates Kirk and Spock into fighting a Duel to the Death for her favor. That episode is probably a remainder of the time when Vulcans were a Proud Warrior Race.
  • Vulcans were once a Proud Warrior Race that had a Heel–Race Turn and became a Proud Scholar Race. The Romulans were Vulcans who became disgusted at what they considered to be their kin's dishonorable rejection of their badass heritage. Thus Romulans are a Proud Warrior Race that are cousins to a Proud Scholar Race. However, they're also not entirely un-Vulcan. The ones we've seen who were not enemies are more emotional than Vulcans but more restrained and in control all the time than most other races.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Angosians from "The Hunted" consider themselves scholars, to the point where they had to create Super Soldiers to fight their wars for them. It worked until they lost control of their soldiers.
  • Star Trek: Voyager: The Vidiians used to be this until they were struck by the Phage, driving them to do increasingly terrible things to other species (mostly involving organ harvesting) in order to survive.
• Wonder Woman (1975): In this incarnation, Paradise Island's Amazons are Perfect Pacifist People. In contrast with the Proud Warrior Race Girls from the comics, the Amazons are overpowered by the Nazis in "The Feminum Mystique". However, they easily overpower the Nazis once Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl come back to liberate the Isle.

Tabletop Games

• City of 7 Seraphs: Zeians are a curious people with a culture firmly rooted in seemingly endless exploration. Whether it's interacting with new cultures on recently found worlds or researching to find out about the people who used to thrive on dead ones, Zeians live to seek knowledge. It is specifically knowledge that has been lost, forgotten, or hidden that truly lights a spark in their eyes.
• Dungeons & Dragons tends to have a few scholarly peoples in its racial lineup; the elven subraces tend to lean toward the mystical end of the spectrum. The 4th edition Eladrin, in particular, embody the scholarly side of the elven archetype. Gnomes also tend to be portrayed in this fashion, whether they're illusionists and wizards, or tinkers and inventors. (The word "gnome", by the way, comes from the Greek word for "to know", and their stereotypical pointed hats may share the symbolic origin of the Wizard Hat — that is, the knowledgeable few at the top, above the uneducated masses on the bottom.)
  • Eberron: Exaggerated and deconstructed. The gnomes of the nation of Zilargo are known for their intellects. In their land is the largest library (which doubles as the most respected university in the world), as well as the most respected newspaper which is distributed across the continent. Their prowess in elemental binding has made gnomes a match of the various Mega Corporations that deal in Magitek. But the Gnomes' value and thirst of knowledge is so great it has taken a dark side — spying on one's neighbors and family for secrets and blackmail is not only common, but expected. Their entire society is held together by blackmail, and because of their affinity for knowledge, Zilargo is a police state run an intelligence organization that rivals the two Mega Corporations that specialize in spying. Criminals in Zilargo are not tried or arrested, they have "accidents" or simply vanish. Similarly, it is a common saying that the gnomes do not go to war in the traditional sense — they wage their battles through information warfare and intelligence warfare.
  • Gnomes were portrayed this way in the setting-generic, late-3rd Edition sourcebook Races of Stone. Using their racial affinity for illusion magic as a springboard, the writers portrayed gnomes as having a culture based around the concept of truth and the philosophical pursuit of uncovering or obscuring it.
• Magic: The Gathering:
  • Most Blue-aligned races, as well as blue-aligned humans civilizations, fall under one of these tropes. The Vedalken are probably the most blatant example, because they don't exist outside of the Magic storyline and have no other role to fulfill other than being the people obsessed with knowledge, magic and technology.
  • Same with some of the White-aligned races, which tend towards the mystic scholar archetype, like Alara Aven.
• Pathfinder: If the Garundi humans have a hat, it's this. Their various nations are typically ruled, or at least heavily influenced, by mages, scholars, and alchemists.
• The Splinter: The Tzaetzi and Mnemonics are primarily interested in discovering and studying the history and technology of The Realm, respectively.

• Twilight Imperium: The Hylar are ruled by a government that is called the Universities of Jol-Nar. They also fulfill the "stuffed-up jerks" part of this trope, an attitude which bit them in the ass big time at least once, when it didn't occur to them they need the other races as much as these needed their science.
• Vampire: The Masquerade:
  • The Tremere carry around "proud" by the wheelbarrow-full, having set themselves up as the Camarilla's greatest (and often sole) authority on the mystical arts. Mind you, being vampires, their manner is less "detached, reserved, and philosophical" and more "we're the only ones with the potential to know this, and if you try to know this, we will end you."
  • Clan Brujah was known during the dark ages as the Learned Clan, and were proficient in the scholary arts primarily as well as physical prowess, creating a clan of passionate Warrior Poets. Sadly, this degenerated over the centuries, and in the final nights they are more of a Proud Warrior Race with only the older members dedicating themselves to the more intellectual side of things.
  • The Nosferatu are legendary for their abilities to gather information. While many take on a Knowledge Broker role, dealing information in exchange for favors and coin, the clan has a number of pure scholars and researchers among them.
• Warhammer 40,000:
  • The Eldar, being Space Elves, naturally believe themselves to be this and in fact the only hope the galaxy has against Chaos. Note that this only applies to Craftworld Eldar who survived the birth of Slaanesh, the Dark Eldar (descendants of the Eldar who caused said birth) are a Proud Sadist Race, and the Exodite Eldar are those who pulled a Screw This, I'm Out of Here! before the inevitable happened.
  • The Ethereal caste of the Tau project this image (the Fire Caste and Water Caste being Proud Warrior Race and Proud Merchant/Diplomat Caste), though it's a little more sinister than the usual trope (it's implied they exercise some form of mind control over other Tau and some of the species of the Tau'va).

Toys

• BIONICLE: Ko-Matoran are not very social, preferring silent studies — they are the ice tribe after all. Doesn't mean ice Matoran are not nice: it's very hard to anger them.

Video Games

• Civilization has a few civs well-suited for a Science Victory:
  • In V, Babylon gets a free Great Scientist upon researching Writing, and develops subsequent Great Scientists more quickly, allowing them to build lots of science-producing terrain improvements or just rush individual techs.
  • Korea produces more science from city specialists and gets a research boost every time a science-themed Wonder is finished in its capital in Civ V, while in Civ VI it enjoys a flat boost to science output and can build the seowon, an improved campus district that makes any adjacent mines produce science points as well. The two leaders available, interestingly, have different attitudes towards other civilizations' relative scientific advancement compared to themselves: Queen Seondeok will respect fellow advanced rulers while look down upon backward rivals, while King Sejong is the opposite in disliking those ahead of him in science and culture (his quotes suggest he considers himself to be the leader of scholarship and that others are going down the wrong path).
  • The Maya are a scientific/religious hybrid civ thanks to their stepped Pyramid buildings, which unlike normal Temples produce both science and faith. They can also get an early boost to research with a free Great Scientist if they so choose, since their Long Count calendar mechanic means that they're guaranteed a Great Person once every bak'tun.
  • Assyria is both a scientific and militaristic civ due to their Treasures of Ninevah ability, which lets them outright steal a technology each time they conquer a rival's city. They're also encouraged to build research infrastructure, since their Royal Library grants bonus experience to any units trained in the same city, so long as said library contains a Great Work of writing.
• Distant Worlds:
  • The Kiadians are peaceful humanoids with enlarged craniums and intellect to match, along with a culture that favors careful diplomacy and honesty. Their victory conditions include performing the most research in the galaxy, maintaining the longest-lasting free trade agreement and defensive pact in the galaxy, and breaking the fewest treaties.
  • The Quameno are a Frog Men race with abnormally high intelligence, described as enjoying difficult mental challenges for recreation's sake. They enjoy a +40% bonus to all research and a 60% higher chance to spawn new scientists, and their native victory conditions include not only completing the most research trees in the galaxy, but simply performing the most active research, period. However, they're also isolationist, as their other victory conditions include starting the fewest wars, and being involved in the fewest diplomatic treaties.
  • The Zenox are a race of Cat Folk obsessed with the study of galactic history. Their racial victory conditions include controlling the most ancient ruins, exploring every star and planet in the galaxy, and building the Galactic Archives wonder. They also start the game knowing the locations of two major historical sites, giving them an early leg up in the Archaeological Arms Race. Their other victory conditions are to lose the fewest ships, bases and troops in the galaxy, encouraging a defensive playstyle.
• The Elder Scrolls
  • Among the extant races of Mer (Elves), the Altmer (High Elves) best embody the "mystical" aspect of the trope. They are the naturally magically inclined race in Tamriel, and also one of the oldest, being the most direct descendants of the Aldmer (First or Old Elves). Though non-Altmer scholars are loathe to admit, Tamriel owes much of its art, science, philosophy, language, and religion to the Altmer. The Psijic Order, a monastic magical society made up primarily of Altmer (though they do take in worthy members of other races), takes this even further. The have Omniscient Council of Vagueness and Mysterious Backer traits, are a Renowned Selective Mentor that many magically inclined students would kill to join, and generally try to protect the rest of the world from threats it is not ready to deal with on its own. They have so Sufficiently Analyzed Magic that they are capable of performing feats no other group in Tamriel can match, including Telepathy, time-freezing, Astral Projection, and significant Weather Manipulation.
  • While the Altmer are the most advanced extant race, they still pale in comparison to what the extinct Dwemer were capable of on the "scientific" side of this trope. They were an industrious, highly intelligent, and extremely technologically advanced people. They combined their mastery of enchanting with their Steampunk technology and were known to bend the laws of physics to make their creations last. Essentially, they were a fantasy version of Sufficiently Advanced Aliens. While attempting to do something with the heart of a dead god, they managed to make their entire race blink out of all known planes of existence in a single instant. No one knows for sure what happened to them, but the Lost Technology the left behind is still far more advanced than anything the extant races have been able to create even in the thousands of years since their disappearance.
  • While not to the same extent as the Altmer or Dwemer, the Bretons are this for the races of Men. Bretons generally enjoy intellectual and scholarly pursuits of all sorts. The study of magic, history, and technology (particularly that of the extinct Dwemer) are all common pursuits of the Bretons. They also make up a large portion of membership in the Mages Guild, which doubles as a guild for scholars.
• Endless Space:
  • The Sophon are a race of incredibly curious tinkerers and scientists with a generally peaceful demeanor, considering war to be a wasteful undertaking pushed on them by warlike aliens; they have a massive science boost and great engines and sensors, but build slowly and can't fight worth a damn. The Pilgrims, a breakaway nation of human scientists and mystics dedicated to studying the Endless have no innate science boosts, but are adept at gaining knowledge from salvaging enemy ships after battle. There's also the Automatons, a race of clockwork robots that dislike combat and prefer to silently tinker away on planetary ecosystems; like the Pilgrims, they receive no innate science bonus, but their vast industrial capacity allows them to pump out science from their extremely well developed solar systems.
  • Endless Legend has the Drakken, a race of dragon-like creatures which are amazing diplomats and receive huge science and influence bonuses from analyzing Endless ruins, as they are the creations of the Endless.
• Fall from Heaven: The Amurites are a civilization built on widespread magical knowledge and study. The Kuriotates and Grigori are also both advanced civilizations led by philosopher-kings. The Ljosalfar traditionally fit this (although they were more artistic than magical or scientific), but only Arendel Phaedra still represents this aspect of their civilization. Finally, the Luchuirp fit The Engineer variant of this race, being a civilization of enchanters, mechanists and golem-crafters.
• FreeSpace: The Vasudans consider themselves as such and play up this perception of their culture to the Terrans. In reality, though, they're really not much more advanced than the Terrans in any respect.
• Final Fantasy XIV has Sharlayan, an island nation that is home to the best and brightest minds in all of Hydaelyn, and the homeland of some of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, including Y'shtola, Urianger, Alphinaud, and Alisaie. In spite of the nation's academic prowess, it also holds fast to a tradition of political neutrality and non-interference in international matters, up to and including a potential world-ending apocalypse — a policy that has resulted in no small amount of friction between the Scions and Sharlayan's leaders.
• Gems of War: Adana is distinguished from its neighbours by its dedication to scholarship and technology. (Not necessarily peaceful technology, though — it includes muskets.)
• Guild Wars 2: The Asura; their intro cinematic sums up things nicely and quickly: "I am Asura. I personify genius." Ironically, the only other race that matches them for technology are the Charr, the Proud Warrior Race guys.
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gives the Sheikah this characterization; they'd spent most of the prior games as the Hufflepuff House of Hyrule. Here, it's revealed that the Sheikah developed unmatched technologies including teleportation, explosives made out of Hard Light, the ability to freeze time, an army of robots called Guardians, and four Humongous Mecha shaped like animals. Even the individual parts of these devices are leaps and bounds beyond anything else in the kingdom—for example, they have screws that somehow never wear out despite being over ten thousand years old. Though incredibly impressive, the Royal Family of Hyrule eventually became fearful of the Sheikah's mechanical prowess and banished them all. The majority of the Sheikah then struck a deal with the Royal Family to be allowed back into society in return for forsaking their tech and becoming the Royal Family's protectors, which in turn led them to become a more agrarian society, though they're still renowned as researchers and experts on their own creations. The branch that resented the Hylians' prejudice and refused to the terms of the bargain instead pulled a Face–Heel Turn to become the villainous Yiga, although interestingly, even the Yiga rely more on stealth and trickery than technology.
• Mass Effect:
  • The asari fit the "mystic" description to a T, having superior talents at biotics. They are also the most advanced of the Citadel races. In the third game, it's shown that they are hogging a Prothean beacon that they used to achieve their technological superiority, although Javik claims that this was intentional.
  • The salarians have a reputation as good scientists, albeit one overshadowed by their other reputation as spies. These are often the same people.
• Master of Orion: The Psilons (scientists) and the Elerians from the second and third games (mystics, not found in MoO 1).
• Metroid: The Chozo. They're not humanoid, but they have great powers, are possibly magical, are wise and knowedgeable, Closer to Earth (or, more accurately, Tallon IV), and are generally mystical. They also fit the Scientific side of the trope: the thing is that they grew so scientifically advanced that they hit a dead end. Since science offered no more answers, they turned to mysticism to complement it. In fact, one game shows that they tried to advise the Bryyonians to strike a balance of science and magic in their society. The Bryyonians failed, which lead to a world-ending Magic vs Technology War. For added fun, the backstory also establishes that the Chozo were once a Proud Warrior Race before giving it up in favor of becoming this — hence Samus' power suit and the numerous upgrades for it scattered around the galaxy.
• Myst: The D'ni race lived in a large cavern Beneath the Earth and spent most of their time developing mining and stoneworking technologies. But moreover, they had the ability to write Portal Books to any world they could imagine, and while many of these were used for resource gathering, they were used mostly for exploration and study of various scientific principles. The cornerstone of their society was the guild system and its corresponding set of advanced schools, but they were also deeply religious, being the descendants of a simplistic sect that rejected the unscrupulous practices of an older society which was happy to exploit its worlds, and the people within, to the point of ruin. Unfortunately, the D'ni still had a major superiority complex, which led to xenophobia, slavery, and a series of interracial conflicts that undermined and eventually led to the destruction of their civilization.
• No Man's Sky: The Korvax are a near-immortal sentient machine species that appear to value science and exploration. Korvax worship and venerate the Atlas machines, making their priests a considerable boon for players searching for Atlas-related phenomena, from Atlas technology, to Atlas Stations, to even black holes that will eventually bring one closer to the center of the galaxy. Korvax commonly share their memories and discoveries with one another by uploading them onto special platinum cubes that are slotted into each other's brains to copy their contents.
• Outer Wilds: The nomai fit this trope to a t. Their philosophy centers around identifying and explaining the natural world, and their scientific endeavors range from gravitational manipulation to teleportation to time travel. At the same time, their technology tends towards Crystal Spires and Togas, and their cities prominently feature shrines and temples. Other nomai clans are implied to stick more towards the scientific side of this trope, but still play it fairly straight.
• Stellaris:
  • Scientific Race: the "Erudite Explorer" AI personality, the Lokken Mechanists and the Voor Technocracy preset empires, and the Keepers of Knowledge fallen empires. Also, any player-race that embraces the materialist ethic. (Especially the Science Directorate government in which the only leaders eligible for presidency are scientists.)
  • Mystic Race: the "Spiritual Seeker" AI personality, the Scyldari Confederacy preset empire, and the Holy Guardians fallen empires. Player races that embrace spiritualist ethic — especially those that actually choose the spiritualist ascension path - are also this trope.
• Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: The University of Planet are a collection of scientists whose primary goal is the expansion of human knowledge. Admittedly, that process involves a loose interpretaion of ethics and human rights, but....

• StarCraft: The two Khalai caste Protoss, in contrast to the Templar and Judicators who make up most of the Protoss cast in the wargames, are proud and enthusiastic scientists for sure.
• Tales of Vesperia: The Krityans would like to believe that they're this. The problem, however, is that most of them are A-Grade Cloudcuckoolanders who like to prattle on about magic vegetables that probably don't even exist when they're not designing new pieces of technology. The fact that their token "rebellious" representative who ends up in your party is a constantly-sedated Blood Knight who may or may not also be Ax-Crazy and is considered similar to the main race speaks volumes. All in all, they're not exactly the best safeguards of the knowledge that a giant space octopus made from global warming is going to utterly rape the planet.
• Touhou Project: The Lunarians see themselves as more spiritually pure than absolutely anyone else who are not Lunarians... scratch that, they believe that they are simply better, period. It's strongly hinted that Lunarians were humans who attained great spiritual height. They have expendable servitors, the Moon Rabbits. And just in case anyone is up to challenge their claim: in the past, they thwarted a Youkai invasion from Gensokyo led by Yukari Yakumo. Yukari Yakumo is a Reality Warper. Though it's speculated that Yukari intended to lose just to teach the Youkai a lesson.
• Warcraft: The setting has blood elves for the magic sort and gnomes (the descendants of ancient machines) and arguably goblins for tech. The draenei are somewhere in between, as they've always been magically-oriented and are implied to have picked up some degree of magitek knowledge as well. And the tauren are both a Proud Scholar Race (of the mystic variety) and a Proud Warrior Race.
• War Wind: The Shama'Li live in harmony with Yavaun's ecosystem, have natural magic abilities, and genuinely strive for peace and harmony among all races on the planet (including humans in the second installment). All this doesn't mean they cannot be a dangerous foe in combat, especially when it goes about the weak and oppressed.

Western Animation

• Amphibia sees the newts of Newtopia hold what is easily the most advanced setting in the amphibian world.
• Buzz Lightyear of Star Command has the blue-skinned Tangerians, the people of Princess Mira Nova.
• Invader Zim: Most of what we learn about the Vorts implies this trope — most of the Irkens' advanced technology came from them, both before and after their planet was conquered.

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