So... Au Ra really don't "fit" into the story well, as playable characters

What I mean is... well, they just really "appear out of nowhere". It almost feels like they ought to have a separate story-line, where they become a "Warrior of Light" completely independently of the original 2.0 storyline. To be honest, I still think they should create a new starter-area for the new Jobs (not sure where; outskirts of Coerthas or Mor Dhona?), but the Au Ra are really just tricky.

I mean, they don't make sense as level 1 character, but they ALSO don't make sense as race-changed level 50's, because the story constantly references your many accomplishments -- most of which occur before the Au Ra even could have appeared. Not to mention the whole "Why does Yugiri need to cover her face if you're an Au Ra standing in front of her?" thing.

As cool as they look (not perfect, by any means, but I like them), it's just really hard to "get into" playing as one, because you basically have to create an entirely separate canon in your head, to justify them being playable.

Thanks to the ambiguity of where the Warrior of Light actually comes from, it is very much plausible and canon for Auri to be and "fit" into the story as a playable character. It has never been canonically summarized that the player is actually from Eorzea, on the contrary, it is many times hinted at you hail from lands unknown, and many NPC's will address you as a foreigner to any of the nations.

Just because it doesn't fit your "specific head canon" doesn't make it not plausible as a whole for the entire game and story.

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Originally Posted by Yamimarik

Thanks to the ambiguity of where the Warrior of Light actually comes from, it is very much plausible and canon for Auri to be and "fit" into the story as a playable character. It has never been canonically summarized that the player is actually from Eorzea, on the contrary, it is many times hinted at you hail from lands unknown, and many NPC's will address you as a foreigner to any of the nations.

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I agree with this guy.

Yes, it might be a little strange in your head if you race-changed at level 50 into one, but race-changing at all is going to do that. For someone starting a new character, there's nothing wrong with it at all. At the beginning of the game, they reference you as "not being from around here", and generally you are treated as a foreigner... although they're generally polite and use the term "adventurer" instead.

And Yugiri is a ninja after all... they are known for hiding their faces.

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Originally Posted by Yamimarik

it is many times hinted at you hail from lands unknown, and many NPC's will address you as a foreigner to any of the nations.

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I seem to remember the opening cutscene for brand-new characters saying outright that you come from "a distant land".

As far as race changing, I just sort of tend to shrug and handwave that one. Race changing is a gameplay mechanic that exists for the convenience and happiness of players on a level outside that of the game's storyline. It's easier for me to assume that either 1) Fantasia has no real canon effects and exists only as such a mechanic or 2) if Fantasia IS canon, it adjusts how people see you in both the past and the present. I race changed from a female Miqo'te to a male Au Ra, which should be a jarring change for NPC's but of course they don't notice a thing. It seems like as far as they are concerned I was always eight feet tall and covered in scales rather than a five foot nothing catgirl (or even the catboy I started as).

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Originally Posted by Ashkendor

I seem to remember the opening cutscene for brand-new characters saying outright that you come from "a distant land".

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You're probably right lol, it's just been so long since I've seen (or payed attention) to that cut-scene haha!

What everyone else is saying.

your not coming from eorzea, your coming from somewhere else entirely. some of us coming from orthard, or one of the farther out xaela tribes is hardly suprising.

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Originally Posted by Terin

I mean, they don't make sense as level 1 character, but they ALSO don't make sense as race-changed level 50's, because the story constantly references your many accomplishments -- most of which occur before the Au Ra even could have appeared. Not to mention the whole "Why does Yugiri need to cover her face if you're an Au Ra standing in front of her?" thing.

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Basically its explained as you drank a magic potion and turned into one. It is why you still have your legacy tattoo as an Au Ra. So all your accomplishments are stuff you actually did.

Yeah, our PCs race doesn't matter too much in this game and we're all "not from Eorzea"

If anything, the Au Ra have always been known to the Eorzeans, but have never been seen too much outside of Othard.

I'm sure there'll be more lore-related quests (moogle?) shedding light to the Au Ra and their life in Eorzea. At the very least the job npc for Dark Knight is an Xaela Au Ra.

Can't really say I'm too surprised though. There were lore reason why there weren't female roegadyns, highlanders and male Miqo'te in 1.0. In 2.0 the female highlanders/roes npcs are everywhere; whereas the male miqo'te npcs hold true to their lore.

Still, it's kinda disappointing that Yugiri and her fellow Domans made a big deal about her race, only to have the rest of the world not comment

I think it has more to do with the writing done in the FFXIV:ARR 2.0 storyline. The Yugiri kept her face covered and said her appearance may disturb others, suggesting that her race is so rare as to be mistaken as some kind of monster or demon in Eorzea. I have no idea where she came to that conclusion, but I'm willing to bet they didn't have the complete look for the race down at that time. As a result they needed some excuse to hide the face and so introduced the problematic dialogue into the game.

As others have stated, there is no reason that other, more informed au ra managed to make the trip to Eorzea prior to Yugiri, who is a displaced freedom fighter and had to learn about Eorzea on the fly. Most of the information from the Empire would characterize Eorzeans as barbarians. I doubt Yugiri would believe those claims given the Empire's views of her people, but it isn't unreasonable to expect that it colored her impressions somewhat.

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Originally Posted by myahele

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He actually does shed some light on the xaela.

To prove a point, he talks about the hostility ishgard showed them when they initially came to coerthas. when they were first attacked, they showed mercy to them and let the ishgardians go, only to be attacked again with a fury that only halone would know. To ishgard, Au ri were no better than dravinians.

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Originally Posted by saber_alter

He actually does shed some light on the xaela.

To prove a point, he talks about the hostility ishgard showed them when they initially came to coerthas. when they were first attacked, they showed mercy to them and let the ishgardians go, only to be attacked again with a fury that only halone would know. To ishgard, Au ri were no better than dravinians.

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Yeah I had kinda wondered about that.

It does also seem really odd that NPC's etc seem to not take note of the large among of horned individuals running about out of nowhere. I had sorta assumed their migration was a recent thing like the Domans but I haven't seen anything concrete to back that up. Instead it seems more like its going to be glossed over as if they are an everyday occurrence.

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Originally Posted by BroodingFicus

Yeah I had kinda wondered about that.

It does also seem really odd that NPC's etc seem to not take note of the large among of horned individuals running about out of nowhere. I had sorta assumed their migration was a recent thing like the Domans but I haven't seen anything concrete to back that up. Instead it seems more like its going to be glossed over as if they are an everyday occurrence.

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i would just assume that the "world" simply altered so that they have always existed.

instead of "oh these horned fellows showed up out of no where," it's that they were already there.

One thing to note as well: Even if every player was, say, a catboy, lore wise there would not be that many running around. Yes YOU are (or a female Roe, or an Au Ra.), but as far as the story is concerned other players race choices don't affect anything.

As for the Au Ra and fantasia: Yes generally you are considered from a faraway land regardless of race, though it is still possible to have your headcannon put you somewhere in paticular if you really wish. As it is there aren't actually a ton of Au Ra adventurers running around lore wise. For Fantasia, you either A.) Take it as a seperation of gameplay and story (like again how there aren't actually that many Au Ra running around Eorzea despite all the players playing them.), or B.) Its a magical potion that literally warps reality and you wonder who the devil made it and wether they could help you fight the Ascians with their reality warping powers.

True, there are fewer male Miqo'te in lore than in-game, but as far as I can tell, there are virtually *zero* Au Ra, with the exception of Lady Yugiri. A male Miqo'te that chooses the life of an adventurer would be rare, but not world-shattering news.

It would be like... Imagine there was an alien running around the world, clearly not human, but aliens don't actually *land* for another five years. And even when they did, to retroactively been responsible for all these larger-than-life deeds, which happen before their landing.

I honestly feel like a new starting-area could have made a huge difference. As it stands, it's just kind of hard to grasp where, exactly, the Au Ra are supposed to fit into the story.

That's why they didn't show her. The design of the Au Ra wasn't finished and they didn't want to set something that could be changed later. Aside from her tail, Yugiri was actually just a modified Miqo'te model at the time.

Edit: This was in response to someone asking why Yugiri was always covered in 2.0

Each player basically exists in their own "bubble" where they are the Warrior of Light, and they alone are responsible for resolving a lot of issues in the game world (despite gameplay-wise it requiring a party or raid). This is just the nature of MMO's. Just because you see a lot of Au Ra running around, does not mean there actually are a lot. Since, lore-wise, each of you are the only one. Other players don't exist in your bubble, only NPC's do.

Just curious, are there *ANY* Au Ra NPC's in the game, besides Yugiri? Specifically, any Xaela? I would just be curious to know, what sort of "vibe" they give off. How do they talk? What kind of clothing do they where? Do they talk about their past at all?

Heck if you start in Limsa then your opening scene is on a ship that came from who knows where.

There's Sigurdu or whatever his name is in the Forgotten Knight and he doesn't say much.. And there's a Xaela in the white mage post 50 questline. She literally stinks. She smells rotten.

It is made purposefully ambiguous where your character comes from, that way you can further elaborate your backstory with more freedom.

Au Ra were made with this in mind. Since your starting experience is on a carriage to (insert city-state here), you could make up all kinds of places you came from. So, as far as the narrative is concerned, you are a solo traveling Au Ra who wanted to broaden their horizons beyond Doma or Othard.

They pulled a Marvel comics on us and retconned it.

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Originally Posted by Terin

Just curious, are there *ANY* Au Ra NPC's in the game, besides Yugiri? Specifically, any Xaela? I would just be curious to know, what sort of "vibe" they give off. How do they talk? What kind of clothing do they where? Do they talk about their past at all?

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Spoiler tags for the sensitive! The Au Ra I've seen so far, besides Yugiri, are:

Sidurgu - Xaela. Your Dark Knight trainer after you hit Lvl.50. Mentions that the Xaela fled from the Garlean invasion and were greeted to the kiss of steel by the Ishgardians mistaking them as Dravanians. That said, ambiguous wording on his part - he only mentions Au Ra in general, and not any particular tribe or clan.
Alaqa - Xaela. Primary antagonist for the White Mage questline after Lvl.50. Attempts to take revenge against Eorzea because of racism against her people, going as far as using physical violence and doing 'unspeakable' things to the Au Ra. Again, ambiguous wording on Alaqa's part - she only says her 'people', rather than a particular tribe or clan.
Yuki - Raen. A character during the Ninja questline after Lvl.50. A silent and determined girl intent on taking back her clan's treasure (full name being Yatsurugi no Yuki). Distrusts you and Oboro greatly due to the part that shinobi played in Doma's downfall. Can't say more, I haven't levelled my Ninja to 60 yet. :p
Akagi - Raen. Ally during the Ninja questline after Lvl.50. He's Yuki's retainer and his mission is to keep her safe. Naturally, knowing how willfull his princess is, he requests your help multiple times when Yuki gets going on her shenanigans.

Overall, I'd say the Xaela are a very cynical and brutal folk. Sidurgu just outright murders a knight you spared (and is the resident edgy Dark Knight to boot, so you can guess how much love he has for old-fashioned justice), while Alaqa decides that murder killing Eorzea is far preferable turning the other cheek and working out the kinks of racial tensions through peaceful means. They both also wear black armour/clothes, further giving them an overall mean vibe.

The few Raen we meet don't give much of an impression, sadly. Yugiri seems married to the job more than anything and Yuki would prefer that you remain out of her sight. Akagi seems to be a bit of a simpleton; he skips flowery language, omits letters from words and is an overall very straightforward and grounded dude. Yugiri and Yuki run around with daggers and fairly standard Doman garb I'd say, though Akagi uses recoloured Foestriker's and an axe. I suppose it's one way to show that Akagi seems to fit into Eorzea just fine, unlike the other two Raen. :p

Regarding one mentioned by Raminax:

When it comes to Akagi, he actually mentions several times that he's not really a fighter, and the axe is more for show than anything else. It may be him being more comfortable with using things from other cultures, even if he's no good at it, or it may be part of his attempt to appear like a worldly wise bodyguard of sorts.

Wow, it's nice that the Au Ra have some background when it comes to job quests and that they really are discriminated against, especially in Ishgard

Though I really would've preferred if they at least have one Au Ra with a side quest chain.

As many have said, your character is from a far away land. And again, as stated by others, the sight of an Au Ra isn't a shock due to the fact that they have been seen and they have been documented and so on. Think of Eorzea as THE place for all races to be mingled or at least have passed through, so it's safe to say the Au Ra have passed through Eorzea at one point in time and as a result documentation has been made of the race and so on and so forth. I'm sure SE will keep this type of thing going for all new races that come, it's the safe route. So ultimately unless SE makes a playable race that was literally created during the msq in a lab/whatever there is no real reason for a reaction to be given.

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Originally Posted by Ashkendor

I seem to remember the opening cutscene for brand-new characters saying outright that you come from "a distant land".

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Here's the kicker. You have to look at one of the V1.0 openings.

V2.0 is simply "you wake up after the calamity." period. How you got there, who knows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU5N24_5VIk

In V1.0 you're just ... randomly on your way to Limsa, Gridania or Ul'dah. Of which I prefer the Limsa opening, but prefer the Ul'dah starter quests.

The Gridania opening is the funniest however. You're just walking throuh the woods and "Yda and Papalymo" come crashing out of the sky followed by "I do belive we're dead Papalymo!"

After narrowly avoiding getting killed by a Dryad-type of monster, time stops, and a band of moogles go by. E-Sumi-Yan goes "The elementals fortold us you were coming"

Incidentally, if you want to see half of the V1 Limsa Opening, you can still run it with the V1.0 Benchmark.

Limsa's opening is just "You wake up on a ship, you hear voices, you go above deck, and you nearly get twacked by an explosion", nothing nearly as funny as the Gridania opening, but it's the most exciting because you get to see Leviathan.

Ul'dah's opening can be summarized as, "we really shouldn't parade giant monsters", and "Follow the flower girl." Though the reason I like Ul'dah's beginner quests the best is because of this scene:
first part , second part (It's the "learn to emote" tutorial type of quest in the Miner's guild with F'lhaminn, but the reason for it is far more fun)

The V1.0 opening cutscenes and tutorials were a lot longer, it's a shame they were cut down, because I enjoyed pieces like above. Though V2.0's has "bombs are always funny." Which lightens up some otherwise boring talking-head segments.


The Auri, don't really need a justification to appear, after all the initial playable races don't have one either. (Like as far as I remember, there was no male Miqo'te -at all- in V1.0, and there is only one in the CT storyline in V2.x)

If you want to stretch things without a retcon everything, nobody said the Doma were a race. Just like the Aha Migo's are not a race. It just ever-so-conveniently gives a reason to mix certain race distributions up. Ul'dah would otherwise be nothing but Lalafells, Gridanaia would be nothing but Elezen, and Limsa would likely be nothing but Hyur.

Your presence in Eorzea is also very naive as Eorzea is only ONE part of the world. At least with the V1.0 Limsa opening, it was vague enough to suggest you're a refugee or a ferry passenger from "?", the other two openings just plop you down on the road to nowhere.

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Originally Posted by Eisen-Zorn

That's why they didn't show her. The design of the Au Ra wasn't finished and they didn't want to set something that could be changed later. Aside from her tail, Yugiri was actually just a modified Miqo'te model at the time.

Edit: This was in response to someone asking why Yugiri was always covered in 2.0

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Actually, it's more that the model of the Au Ra wasn't finished. The design had been finalized by 2.2 this was

It doesn't change the awkward and horrid story telling with regards to her. Why the heck does she hide her face whenever Tataru's first response to her is "She's pretty!"