If there's a race of non-human, non-spiritual, non-monster sapient beings in your fiction, you're most likely looking at either Science Fiction or Fantasy. Further, the race probably has characteristics drawn from a common set of tropes. These are some of those tropes.
Races defined by their sheer unintelligent monstrosity generally don't fall under this set of tropes. Mythical creatures and other non-sapients are covered in Our Monsters Are Different. Contrast Humans Are Indexed.
Tropes
Categories:
- Abstract Eater
- Abusive Alien Parents
- Alien Fair Folk
- Alien Hair
- Alien Non-Interference Clause
- All Genes Are Codominant
- All Trolls Are Different
- Always Chaotic Evil
- Always Lawful Good
- Amusing Alien (and other unusual beings)
- Anthropomorphic Food
- Being Human Sucks
- Big Creepy-Crawlies
- Bizarre Alien Biology
- Bizarre Alien Locomotion
- Bizarre Alien Psychology
- Bizarre Alien Reproduction
- Blue-and-Orange Morality
- Brown Note Being
- Cactus Person
- Call a Human a "Meatbag"
- Captured Super-Entity
- Civilized Animal
- Clown Species
- Death Means Humanity
- Descriptively-Named Species
- Draconic Humanoid
- Dragon Ancestry
- The Dragons Come Back
- Dying Race
- Egg Folk
- Emotion Eater
- Evil Counterpart Race
- Exotic Extended Marriage
- Faeries Don't Believe in Humans, Either
- Fantastic Ableism
- Fantastic Angst
- Fantastic Arousal
- Fantastic Ghetto
- Fantastic Medicinal Bodily Product
- Fantastic Race Weapon Affinity
- Fantastic Racism
- Fantastic Religious Weirdness
- Fantastic Slurs
- Fantastic Underclass
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture
- Funny Animal
- Furry Reminder
- Half-Human Hybrid
- Have I Mentioned I Am a Dwarf Today?
- Heel–Race Turn
- Heinz Hybrid
- Henchmen Race
- Higher-Tech Species
- Hive Mind
- Hobbits
- Humanoid Female Animal
- Hybrid All Along
- Immortal Procreation Clause
- Inhumanable Alien Rights
- Inhumanly Beautiful Race
- Interspecies Adoption
- Interspecies Friendship
- Interspecies Romance
- Klingon Scientists Get No Respect
- Lilliputian Warriors
- Lilliputians
- Little Bit Beastly
- Little People
- Living Dream
- Living Polyhedron
- Loads and Loads of Races
- Mage Species
- Massive Race Selection
- Mind Hive
- Mobile Fishbowl
- Monster Knight
- Monster Town
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much
- Non-Human Head
- Non-Human Humanoid Hybrid
- Not Quite Human
- One-Gender Race
- Our Dwarves Are All the Same
- Our Gnolls Are Different
- Our Gnomes Are Weirder
- Our Goblins Are Different
- Our Imps Are Different
- Our Kobolds Are Different
- Our Ogres Are Hungrier
- Our Orcs Are Different
- Our Pixies Are Different
- Our Sirens Are Different
- Pantsless Males, Fully-Dressed Females
- Pawprint Stamping
- Peeve Goblins
- Planet of Copyhats
- Planet of Hats (when applied to an entire species)
- Plant Person
- Prefers Raw Meat
- Random Species Offspring
- Rock Monster
- Sapient Eat Sapient
- Sapient Fur Trade
- Sapient Pet
- Sapient Steed
- Servant Race
- Silicon-Based Life
- Single-Species Nations
- Slave Race
- Slime Girl
- Society of Immortals
- Son of an Ape
- Species Loyalty
- Square Race, Round Class
- Standard Fantasy Races
- Starfish Language
- Superhuman Trafficking
- Superior Species
- The Taming of the Grue
- Token Aquatic Race
- Tools of Sapience
- Treants
- Tribe of Priests
- True-Breeding Hybrid
- Ultraterrestrials
- Uneven Hybrid
- Unusual Ears
- Uplifted Animal
- Waddling Head
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?
- Wise Tree
- Zombie Advocate
- Statler: I wonder why they keep mentioning life on other planets.
Waldorf: Why should they care? They don't have lives on this one!
Both: Dohohohoho!
