Do Au Ra lay eggs?

I'm 100% serious. I want to know if the female Au ra actually lay eggs, because a lot of lizards do in real life.

I recall this being a discussion in another thread, though I can't remember its name off the top of my head. Ultimately, Au Ra do not lay eggs. They may have scales, tails, and horns, but given that female Au Ra have breasts, this would imply that they are mammals and as such have live births.

It's been asked before; as far as we know the Au Ra are placental mammals like every other playable race, so the answer is no.

They aren't lizards. There's conflicting information on whether they are or not related to dragons, but that's about it. I'm 100% serious.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

It's been asked before; as far as we know the Au Ra are placental mammals like every other playable race, so the answer is no.

They aren't lizards. There's conflicting information on whether they are or not related to dragons, but that's about it. I'm 100% serious.

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But aren't lizards different than dragons too?

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Originally Posted by Mysteltain

I recall this being a discussion in another thread, though I can't remember its name off the top of my head. Ultimately, Au Ra do not lay eggs. They may have scales, tails, and horns, but given that female Au Ra have breasts, this would imply that they are mammals and as such have live births.

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That makes perfect sense. Thank you for answering my question.

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Originally Posted by DamianFatale

But aren't lizards different than dragons too?

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Yes?

The point is that there are conflicting accounts tying them to draconic ancestry - and even that is mostly myth and speculation, but nothing suggesting scalekin ancestry.

Dragons lay eggs in XIV, no?
(But Auri don't.)

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Originally Posted by Mysteltain

I recall this being a discussion in another thread, though I can't remember its name off the top of my head. Ultimately, Au Ra do not lay eggs. They may have scales, tails, and horns, but given that female Au Ra have breasts, this would imply that they are mammals and as such have live births.

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Although I am liable to agree that au ra are mammals, it must be said in the real world there is exceptions to that, specifically the mammal offshoot in the animal kingdom the monotremes, which are animals that lay eggs like a bird or reptile which the young hatch from, and yet have mammary glands (i.e. breasts) and thus suckle their young, are warm blooded and have fur. Not surprisingly the two remaining species of this order of animals in the real world are only found in Australia, the echidna (no, not that Echidna, or the monster from Greek myth ;)), also known as the spiny anteater, and the platypus, internet meme extraordinaire. ;)

Again I don't think au ra are monotremes, as what information that has been stated on the subject by the development team suggest live births, I had to mention just because an animal lays eggs does not mean it's not 'a mammal' (because after all, the very word mammal means 'mammary glands'. And as as has been noted au ra women have breasts, which conclusively proves they're mammals. But I'm rambling again. ;)

It should be noted that everyone's answers in this thread are just speculation. To my knowledge, there's been NO official word regarding how Au Ra reproduce.

Folks' replies seem reasonable, though; whether they have lizard in them or demon or just a skin condition, Au Ra are clearly predominantly human, so it's not unreasonable to assume that children are born in the human way.

Eggs would make a lot of sense actually. How would you like to give birth to something with massive horns on its head? lol

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Originally Posted by zemogFC

Eggs would make a lot of sense actually. How would you like to give birth to something with massive horns on its head? lol

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Easy, have the horns not be there.

Baby dragons in other media, don't feel like checking in game right now, usually have cute nubs where massive horns will eventually develop. See Mikhail from Drag on Dragoon and how his Level 1 is his child like stage.

http://drakengard.wikia.com/wiki/Mikhail

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Originally Posted by Clethoria

Easy, have the horns not be there.

Baby dragons in other media, don't feel like checking in game right now, usually have cute nubs where massive horns will eventually develop. See Mikhail from Drag on Dragoon and how his Level 1 is his child like stage.

http://drakengard.wikia.com/wiki/Mikhail

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I'll have to look for it, but I believe this is in fact the case for Au Ra and was answered in a Live Letter. Not 100% on it and I'm not where I can easily or quickly check, but I seem to remember hearing this answered.

i recall reading somewhere that thay arent related to dragons but actully voidsent. hyur and voidsent i think it was

hihiih i can see this small baby Au Ra hatchlings pop out making this ugly cute sounds how nasty these pretty devils are screaming for their first bloods!!!!!

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Originally Posted by dalta

i recall reading somewhere that thay arent related to dragons but actully voidsent. hyur and voidsent i think it was

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No, that was in reference to old concept art where they described an earlier design style as being like a Voidsent, not that they were actually Voidsent. It didn't help that they said that you could make Xaela, specifically due to their darker horns, scale, and purple skin look like a succubus. As with most things on the internet, people just ran with this and started taking the comparison as truth.

The dragon theory at least had some merit (and by some I mean racist) as the DRK job master even mentions how Ishgardians killed his people due to their scales and horns and believed them to be Dravanians. But the jury is still out on their draconic/reptilian origins, overall. Much like Mi'qotes, because those stupid researchers are wrong and we are not related to your damn house cats!

https://i.gyazo.com/57939c7688fc7187...6fda8c2d6b.gif

I could have sworn this was answered when Koji-Fox was talking about horn growth.

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Originally Posted by zemogFC

Eggs would make a lot of sense actually. How would you like to give birth to something with massive horns on its head? lol

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Originally Posted by Clethoria

Easy, have the horns not be there.

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Exactly. In real life there are TONS of mammals with gigantic horns that are live-born. How do they do it? When they're born, their horns are just nubs, if even that.

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Originally Posted by Mysteltain

No, that was in reference to old concept art where they described an earlier design style as being like a Voidsent,

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It's not an old concept art and the fact that you mention that Xaela thing is proof enough they did take that concept into account for the current design.

But design motif and lore are two different things so yeah people have been misinterpreting that quote, lore wise they are not related to voidsent despite the design motif, and the same could be said about lizard, even if they have a lizard-like tail that's just design and not lore.

I do hope they'll have some Au Ra children in Stormblood.

The Miqu'ittens have had their time to shine.

One look at their anatomy tells you that the answer is no since they have belly buttons.
Even if its a game in a fantasy realm there would be no need for a navel if they came out of eggs.

I think of Au Ra as giant Pangolins. Their tails bear a striking resemble some styles of Au Ra tails, in my opinion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangolin

Pangolins are mammals that give live birth. The fact that they have scales doesn't make them a reptile hybrid, or really even closely related to reptiles. Nature sometimes results in things that are similar in appearance, but are really quite distinct by all other measures. Of course, this is a fantasy game so the designers could make up their own rules as to why things are.

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Originally Posted by KageTokage

I do hope they'll have some Au Ra children in Stormblood.

The Miqu'ittens have had their time to shine.

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With us going to the Azim Steppes, the home area of the Xaela nomadic tribes, I'd be incredibly surprised if we didn't see Au Ra children.

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Originally Posted by Berethos

With us going to the Azim Steppes, the home area of the Xaela nomadic tribes, I'd be incredibly surprised if we didn't see Au Ra children.

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I wouldn't. ARR release saw VERY few child NPCs - and most of the ones that did exist were "fake" children: fully grown character models being passed off as teenagers (i.e., without dialog you'd have no idea they were children at all). Coming from FFXI, which had numerous children of all races in each city, it was quite disappointing. And we STILL have no Lalafell or Rogadyn child models, anywhere.

I will not be remotely surprised if there are no Au Ra children on the steppes.

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Originally Posted by LineageRazor

I wouldn't. ARR release saw VERY few child NPCs - and most of the ones that did exist were "fake" children: fully grown character models being passed off as teenagers

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Why would the ARR release be more relevant than the numerous examples of child NPCs added more recently?

If anything, the Heavensward launch is a better indicator of whether we are likely to see children of a particular race that is important to that area...or have you forgotten that day one of Heavensward featured numerous Elezen children in appropriate (to the lore/setting) areas?

Judging whether we will see children Au Ra based on the status of the game almost 4 years ago is frankly kind of silly.

Back on the original topic...

Found what I thought I had heard about the Au Ra (lore panel from the Las Vegas Fan Fest where Koji read Oda-san's answers to a variety of submitted questions) - they do grow their horns out over time until it reaches a particular size, and then it stops growing (and it can grow back if damaged/broken, albeit slowly). Doesn't mention the size the horns start at but it does clearly show that they start smaller than what is seen on our character models.

As for the whole egg laying thing, I believe the following is the closest indicator we have regarding how Au Ra are born...

From the description of the Himaa tribe: "For reasons unknown, one out of every three pregnancies amongst the Himaa result in twins." This, along with numerous mentions of breeding or birth and zero mentions of hatching (the EE tends to mention aspects that might make a group stand out, and giving birth through laying eggs definitely fits that bill), to me, strongly indicate the nature of Au Ra birth, namely that it is not through laying of eggs.

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Originally Posted by Yasuhiro

One look at their anatomy tells you that the answer is no since they have belly buttons.
Even if its a game in a fantasy realm there would be no need for a navel if they came out of eggs.

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One look at a male's crotch when wearing underwear or tight swimwear reveals that none of them have a bulge.

What this means for our poor men and Eorzean reproduction methods would probably derail the thread. But it's fun to think about :P

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Originally Posted by Zojha

One look at a male's crotch when wearing underwear or tight swimwear reveals that none of them have a bulge.

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I know yours is a tongue in cheek post, but let me say that just as some pregnancies show more than others, some men's Yadababas show more than others. I have seen many many European tourists at the beach and unless Europe had a high proportion of eunuchs, many men pack very light (I do not claim to know what they look like unpacked; I'm commenting on the book's cover, not content).

It seems that Square has selected the smallest phenotype possible as a basis of their models. Understandable, but color me slightly disappointed.

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Originally Posted by Yasuhiro

One look at their anatomy tells you that the answer is no since they have belly buttons.
Even if its a game in a fantasy realm there would be no need for a navel if they came out of eggs.

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Looking closer at the anatomy makes me wonder some other things...like, males have a significantly lower W/H ratio than females.

Slightly off topic, but I really hope the Au Ra get some background in Stormblood. They are a fascinating race indeed.

On a side note, I suppose SE could make them lay eggs if they so choose. However, it's been implied they share no relation to dragons and they do have core mammalian characteristics (hair, breasts, etc).

lol this thread made me remember the egg laying scene with papi from monster musume >.>

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Originally Posted by Zojha

What this means for our poor men and Eorzean reproduction methods would probably derail the thread. But it's fun to think about :P

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You're onto something, why do normally Hyur males typically Warriors always go on about "Big dick DPS!!! look at my fell cleave numbers!" Obviously trying to compensate for something lacking in other areas.

Whereas the Lalafell merely grin evilly when such comments come up

I thought Au'ra were half human half demons not lizards ? oO

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Originally Posted by Celef

I thought Au'ra were half human half demons not lizards ? oO

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Their design inspiration was mentioned as taking from both.

Lorewise, there's no concrete evidence connecting them to either.

I'm curious as to whether that might change in Stormblood, though, because it was off-handedly mentioned in a lore panel that there's a third Au Ra clan, and perhaps they could hold the secrets to their origins and ancestry.

I do recall hearing/reading somewhere official'ish that Au Ra are born in the same way humans are, but with very small horns/stubs. These grow throughout their lives and can actually regrow when snapped off apparently. Sorry I can't recall where I saw it or provide a source though. :(

Their horns/tails regrowing + the fact that they're sturdy and don't break off easily came from the NA fanfest lore panel. I don't remember if thats where the baby nubs info came from it too, but the first bit Im sure of.

Super stoked to learn more of their lore come 4.0 :o

I doubt they do, honestly. As mentioned before, they show characteristics quite typical of mammals (breasts, belly bottoms), and while it is possible for (VERY primitive) mammals to lay eggs, they appear too far evolved for me and too human-like for this to be the case for Au Ra. Not going into detail much because it was very well explained by others already, but I 100% agree with everyone here giving points for why it looks like they give life-birth.

Oh, and btw. There have been reptilian species birthing live young, too, for example, the ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs of the triassic and jurasic time period, as well as some recent snake species which I, sadly, cannot name right now. They basically incubate(d) their eggs inside their bodies.

common brown snakes give live birth so why not Au'Ra? but they definitely come off as more mammalian than reptile... as for the lack of children NPCs in ARR i think you could attribute it partly to the fact that its post calamity and having children NPCs being front and center in the wake of such a disaster would be a tad depressing at the very start of a game like this... tho there are children when you learn the harvest dance in Gridania which i suppose was to give a bit more realistic depth... and lets be honest as an adventurer wandering the land most of your dealing would be with adults... and a random strange adult walking up and talking to children everywhere would be a bit creepy to the locals... good luck getting help when people think you might be some pedophile.

On the other hands Lala too "show characteristics quite typical of mammals (breasts, belly bottoms)" but we all know the grow in the earth for males and in the trees for females

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Originally Posted by Celef

On the other hands Lala too "show characteristics quite typical of mammals (breasts, belly bottoms)" but we all know the grow in the earth for males and in the trees for females

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Nah, they reproduce more like fish