Non-humans
Races inhabiting the NationStates world other than humans are often referred to as non-human.
If non-humans are close to humans (as in the case of Elves and Dwarves especially as well as practically all posthumans) or if they are humanoid they are sometimes called metahuman or demihuman. Basically, Metahumans are of any species directly related or otherwise very similar to 'baseline humans'. Often, but not always, the name has a negative connotation. For example, Nekomimi in One Infinite Loop tend to take severe offense at the term and have been known to scratch or bite people for refering to them as Metahuman, although this is hardly universal. The Reich, which persecutes non-humans, constantly refers to 'the Metahuman scourge'. There are some variations on this usage. For example, in the Resurgent Dream, the term metahuman refers only to post-humans whereas the term demihuman is used for any humanoid sentient not born human.
Varieties
Most predominant (apparently, although actual numbers are hard to come by) amongst these are the Elves but other races such as Orcs, Clangers, Dwarves, Catpeople and Lizardmen are also common. Shoobans are an offshoot of humans, created when the conquerors of Shoobooshaaba bred the natives in an effort to reduce their intelligence and make them more suitable for various forms of slavery and exploitation. Other races, typically extraterrestrial in origin, are only found in one or two nations, such as the Sakkra, Kaeneians of The Serene^Union of Kaenei, ZhuQaiya, Necrontyr of C'tan, Kzin, Dincotians, or the myriad anthropomorphs. There are also truly unusual species or subspecies limited to singular nations, like the Repoloids, the Hell Bovines, of the homonim country, Pagnaan Sapiens of Biotopia, the Goombas of Ness Snorlaxia, the Roanians of The Divine Imperium, the panNorm of S-14, or the Owlpeople of ----Kenny----. Many species or, at least, modes of life are artificial in nature, such as Mechanoids like those in Zero-One, AI Constructs, Malych or, again, Repoloids. The Fae, consisting entirely of creative energies rather than bio-matter, are also a different form of life, although very few of them remain on Earth following the Shattering. Another, somewhat touchy category, is that of the undead or extra-planar beings.
It is difficult to define the various non-human species of the NationStates multiverse because there are many overlapping names. For example, there are several different forms of Catpeople; Noldorin Elves are different from Sindarin Elves which are further different from Dark Elves which are different from metahuman homo sapiens nobilis Elves although all share a same basic external similarity and thus all share the name of "Elves".
Cultural Effects
Non-humans are sometimes discriminated against in predominantly human societies, which occasionally results in persecution ranging from day-to-day racism to organized, doctrinal genocide such as in The Reich. In response to this, some non-human nations tend to unite in organizations such as the Non-Human Union in an attempt to make a stand in the international community to defend their rights while others join multicultural alliances such as the United Alliance of Progressive States or the Triumvirate of Yut in an attempt to engender better understanding. The Imperial Corporate Nautocracy of Arizona Nova passed the Sentient Civil Rights Act, which guarantees rights to "sentient" beings, non-humans included. Within the Commonwealth of Peoples, non-humans are generally respected as citizens although among the Commonwealth Member States, only the Resurgent Dream and Hipolis make sentient species a protected class comparable to race, gender or religion.
Again, it is difficult to accurately define the cultural effects of non-human populations as the cultural effect of non-humans varies from society to society. Some primarily human societies have no qualms concerning non-humans. Some react with fear and hatred. Other countries, such as Candelaria And Marquez, stubbornly decline to acknowledge their existence at all. Other societies are primarily non-human to begin with, but may be of only one particular kind of non-human and are undeniably racist against other forms of humanity or non-humanity (this is depressingly common).
