I wasn't coming into this discussion to offer an elucidation, but I didn't think the opening question would be what it was; but to help, I do get it.
Your general query is to ask (generally) if others think there are different
levels, no, that's not it - ah,
genres of human-type sentience. Of popular SF, RPG and VG references, as outlined above, but also to include stuff such as: (but not limited to)
mole-men, shape-shifters, mermaids, leprechauns, etc., et. al.
To allow reference to another television programme(s), I believe you are asking if there ever once was, or possibly could be, a plane of existence grounded in reality, whereby the ridiculous characters written into
True Blood (or
Supernatural) could feasibly co-exist with regular forum-hopping folks like us (with or without knowledge of the rarer's true existence).
personal note:
I'd have to think about it, (read as:
research!) but I'm pretty sure every culture older than 800 years has, in some form, "evidence" and histories pertaining to the
preternatural. Some people believe Bigfoot is real. Not really wanting to debate that one. I, however, am offering the supposition that
zombies (Caribbean isles) are a real, I don't know how to term it, occurrence - affliction - misunderstood physical / mental state run amok by Hollywood?
Offering up some more free-wheeling 'may-bes', how would you classify a ghost? Is this a close-enough human-like
class (not unlike an archer, mage, or a paladin in certain RPGs) to fit within your initial terms, Zeraph? A heck of a whole lot of the population are wholly skeptical of the presence of spirits, but then again, I'm pretty sure I can round up dozens of strangers myself that swear upon their very lineage that they've encountered, and were perhaps harassed, by the deceased. The Discovery Channel sure likes to make it seem so. Disregarding animal spirits for the moment, would a ghost have enough of our physical / mental capabilities to be deemed of like-intelligence, do you think?
Maybe I'm not defining well enough what a true 'ghost' is, because to some, a spirit of a person now deceased could very well be similar to memory, or a scar, attached to a particular person, place, or thing. Perhaps it doesn't have a mind of its own, but it just houses the overwhelming feelings and occupying thoughts of the individualized dead? To move back to the notion of animal spirits, would these be as capable as their real-life counterparts, or would they be smarter, more primal, possibly even self-aware, of its nature?
THis post turned out a lot longer than the initial four sentences I had in mind. I just wanted to tie in some
Final Fantasy references, and somehow got to over-emotional tv dramas, and the existentialism present in the
New Jersey Devil.
I will leave you with this: one of the best posit-scenarios I ever received was actually seen on tv some 5-7 years back. It was a Science/History Channel, Nat'Geo-type show, and despite its inital documentary-style nature on such phenomena as the Chupacabra and USOs, it offered an illustrated hyopethetical of a gigantic apartment building with elevators. In this metaphor, the human existence in which we perceive as normal and mundane, this plane of existence is one floor, or level. On another floor, there are nothing but bigfoots. On yet another, there are 'Grays', Chupacabras occupy a different level, and so on. At varying (seemingly random) times, and through various hotspots, ("the elevators") the different and innumerous planes of existence cross paths, if only for a minute, and through this, we get these unbelievable reports of cop circles and floating orbs of light telling me to vacate their house.
I'm not sure if I've totally thread-jacked your discussion, but maybe, just possibly, I actually would like this wholly unsubstantiate TV thesis to be correct. It' be just like that episode where that one-unpronounce-able midget was harassing Superman with all his cool, law-defying (re: dick) powers. You know what I'm saying - which one was that? I'm most probably crazy and
mixed up.