The Descendents of Humankind
As a result of a combination of extended isolation and adaption on different planets in the stellar colonial era, the Homo sapiens species developed several subspecies over the course of several millennia. In the fantasy era, they are often called ‘races’.
Humans (Homo sapiens sapiens)
Humans are essentially the same as the original Earth progenitor species. As many colonies were designed to favour conditions suitable for this species, relatively temperate and Earth-like planets tend to be bastions of the old human race, and it is the most commonly found of all the subspecies.
Elves (Homo sapiens aeons)
Elves are descended from a line of genetically engineered colonists of the Zenith project. An ELPH or ELF was originally an Elongated Life Phenotype. ELV's were Elongated Life Variants. The names stuck. They are disproportionately from lower gravity or even zero gravity environments. As the ultimate culmination of that goal, they do not age and thus can only die of either disease, or trauma. As such they are often known as the “elder” race. Because of this, they are known to be reclusive and cautious. There are a wide variety of genetically engineered variants.
Dwarves / Day Gliesians (Homo sapiens gravitus)
Dwarves in their various forms are descended from a number of colonies that were forced to adapt to high pressure, high gravity environments (such as Gliese 581 d). As such their physical stature is much lower and stockier, but also stronger. The worlds they inhabited were disproportionately mining colonies (as otherwise there would not have been sufficient cause to settle in the first place) and their strength and stature lend themselves well to such occupations. Otherwise, they are not too dissimilar from normal humans.
Trolls / Night Gliesians (Homo sapiens nocturne)
Trolls are a peculiar subspecies mutation created on the world of Nocturne, which was known for being devoid of visible sunlight on one side due to its tidally locked orbit around a red dwarf. Trolls therefore are not adapted to high levels of sunlight, and will often suffer sensory paralysis when exposed to earth-like levels for the first time. They are however, able to function quite well in lowlight and infrared conditions. They also are known for a unique mutation that allows rapid regeneration of tissue and even limbs.
Draconians (Homo sapiens draco)
Draconians evolved to survive high ultraviolet radiation from their blue star in the Draconis constellation. The subspecies has a shorter life span, but a high birth rate, to compensate for the higher incidence of mutation and cancer. As such they have evolved more than most other subspecies.
Orcs / Superior Gruians (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis)
Orcs are a unique breed that developed from a genetically engineered forerunner that was created from Neanderthal DNA to be a type of supersoldier grunt. The subspecies is less intelligent and has a shorter life span, but a high birth rate. They are also naturally carnivorous, and stronger than normal humans. Due to the shorter life span, they have adapted culturally to be aggressive risk takers.
A particular peculiarity of Orcs is that their genetic engineering combined a mishmash of militarily useful genes from a wide variety of non-human species. As such, they possess the rather uncanny ability to not only regenerate entire limbs, but to even reproduce asexually through fragmentation. They also can photosynthesize through their green skin, which allows them to need to consume less food than would be expected.
Goblins / Inferior Gruians (Homo floresiensis)
Goblins are a particularly degenerate variant of hominid that was recovered from DNA reconstruction, such that they are often mistaken for some alien species when first encountered. Created as slaves and forced to live in underground conditions due to the high radiation levels of their blue sun, Goblins have become smaller, thick-skinned, and adapted to lowlight conditions. As such they tend to make very good miners.
Giants (Homo sapiens gargantuan)
Undead (Homo sapiens necromantis)
There are a wide variety of “undead” human variants, which do not involve any sort of major changes to the genome itself, but rather rely on the use of nano-machines or Elementai to create a state of undeath and immortality.
Vampires (Homo sapiens necromantis sanguis)
Vampires are a peculiar human aberration. Rather than relying on the Elder genetic engineering to render them immortal, Vampires are suffused with nano-machines that can rapidly regenerate tissue and act as a superior immune system, granting Vampires a particularly effective means of immortality, and making them especially difficult to kill. However, as a cost, Vampires must be fed a steady supply of blood, due to the nano-machine infusion process destroying a subject’s bone marrow to deactivate the natural immune system. Various other bodily processes also change over time, as they naturally die off with time, while the nano-machines only perpetuate certain essential functions. Thus, Vampires suffer from long-term deficiency of melanin and whitening of hair. Over time, this can have the appearance of a patient undergoing chemotherapy.
Due to the advantages spelled out in the following articles, many vampires prefer the blood of young humans as they allow the vampire to partially reverse the aging process.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23511-young-blood-reverses-heart-decline-in-old-mice.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/05/science/young-blood-may-hold-key-to-reversing-aging.html?_r=1
As the nano-machines are capable of replication, it is possible for a vampire to turn a normal human into a vampire through sharing of blood.
Zombies/Ghouls/etc. (Homo sapiens necromantis parasitis)
Unlike with Vampires who retain normal cognitive function, there are a wide variety of nano-machine-based forms of undeath that are much more destructive to the free agency of the subject. The most well known of these is the typical zombie, whose mind and body have both been taken over by the nano-machines and their “necromancer” controller.
The parasitic nature of the nano-machines of this form means that the undeath state can be transferred to any species with organic components. This “disease” of undeath thus can be spread in a manner similar to any other microorganism. Upon direct fluid transmission, the nano-machines invade the host subject, who undergoes very serious, disease-like symptoms in the process. As the nano-machines are exceedingly potent, the only “cure” is generally highly advanced medical technology (white or holy magic), or the destruction of the “necromancer” controller, who usually uses some form of Elementai (A.I. “Spirit” that interfaces with the nano-machines). In some cases however, rather than disabling the undead, the destruction of their controller, “releases” them from being bound and they become “wild” or “feral”, which can actually be quite dangerous.
Saints (Homo sapiens sanctus)
The Synthetic All Intelligence Neural Transplant (SAINT) process allows a human mind to be transferred into a synthetic body, not unlike that of an Angel.