I felt like posting a bit of lore for the setting I’m working on:
Since well before the reformation scholars have grouped the animate beings of the world into four different categories. The exact bounds of the categories have shifted with time, but the debate on their general nature reached a consensus centuries ago.
Immortals
Old gods, the Dragon, spirits, fey beings, daemons, and others creatures with an ageless nature are considered to be immortals. Immortals are capable of conscious thought, although the nature of their minds may appear strange to us. Some scholars have listed The Lord Gnos as an Immortal in the past, but this was deemed heretical at the council of Vlycea in 356, where it was established that Gnos exists outside of human-made categories.
Animals
Animals are mortal beings that are beheld to the mundane necessities of nature but do not posses conscious thought. For animals to exist they must breathe, eat, sleep, breed, and eventually die. Animals exist within the hierarchy of nature and have a proper place within it’s web.
Humans
Scholars agree that our own existence is unique among those of the Animate Beings. To put it simply, humans are a sort of Animal that is capable of conscious thought like an Immortal. Even the ageless Elves are now grouped among humanity.
Monsters
Monsters are not born, they are created. Most monsters are beings that belonged to one category, but shifted to another. Many monsters are capable of conscious thought, and not all are evil.
Dire Animals - Animals who consumed human flesh and forgot their place in the web of life.
Goblins - Cursed humans with a bent stature and child-like minds.
Basilisks, Manticores, Cockatrices, and Chimeras - Animals created with no pre-determined place in the web of life.
The exact positioning of specific beings in the categories is a constant debate among scholars. For example, many have grouped Elves as Monsters, or even a type of Fey! Regardless of this, it is good to understand the categories as they help us understand our place in the world.