Thank you. I am rather reassured with the Daemon, because the dual emphasis is on politics/empire building and magic, as well as a political denial of any humble origins. Not to mention that when dealing with a complete race, there's going to be plenty of scope for differences not only on an individual but a cultural level.

You're also right in that some of the races I'm creating are going to fall into the "Six races" category simply because they have engineered traits that match the stereotypes. Like a small long-fingered engineering type, damn it all. (At least I can console myself that nomads with the chlorophyll skin are slightly original).

And animal features will definitely be something that's present, though even there I'm trying to think of something besides ninja catgirls. Some foolish progenitor culture uplifiting raccoons or baboons, say. Definitely there will be aquatic races; at least two, using different approaches that mirror the two major ways mammals adapt to oceanic existence.

And as for Ringworld, I'm very fortunate to actually have a copy of the game, which has even more hominid types than the books. It's been inspirational in trying to come up with a balance between functional and cool.