Where are the Au Ra?

Going back to poor Yugiri not having her model ready yet, the cutscene still remains as her covering herself because she thinks Eorzeans wouldn't like her lizard tail and horns. When cat people are just fine. This in turn makes no sense if the WoL is an Au Ra, and even moreso (less so?) with that one Raen in Wolves Den cowering at the pier.

But now that the routes to the East and West have been connected once more- where are the Au Ra? Xaela stick to the Steppes for the most part (except the tribes that just dont) and we know not all Raen are confined to Sui no Sato. Plus the small well of them as Confederates. Is it out of the question to plop a few of them around city states?

My guess in going back to pre-HW expac Yugiri -- when she first dropped Au Ra were not available to be played, so there is no coding for her reacting to the WoL being an Au Ra. I doubt they'll ever go back and add that.

As for the Raen in Wolves Pier I have no idea when he appeared, but it can be safe to assume it's after HW dropped and he happened to be another refugee.

Now that we're post-SB, however, the lack of Au Ra is still a little odd. Xaela are still more plentiful, and the only Raen I've seen are the Sui no Sato, the pirates (which you wonder if they're from Sui originally), the NIN NPC, a WVR NPC, and the girl from the Ivalice questline. I don't recall any 'wild' Raen in Kugane or even in the rebel forces/Namai, and there's even a random Xaela in Kugane at Pier 1.

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Originally Posted by Kidria

I don't recall any 'wild' Raen in Kugane or even in the rebel forces/Namai, and there's even a random Xaela in Kugane at Pier 1.

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I think there's at least one Raen lady in Kugane somewhere between the Ruby Bazaar and the market?

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Originally Posted by Jaywalker

I think there's at least one Raen lady in Kugane somewhere between the Ruby Bazaar and the market?

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Welp I'm gonna go on a Raen hunt and see if I can't find em all now.

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Originally Posted by Kidria

Welp I'm gonna go on a Raen hunt and see if I can't find em all now.

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Lolol good luck! Honestly I'm curious how it goes for you haha. If it helps I think the Raen lady might have been tied to a quest (something about trying to pay an unpleasant merchant lady I think and she sends you instead), but I'm not positive.

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Originally Posted by Jaywalker

Lolol good luck! Honestly I'm curious how it goes for you haha. If it helps I think the Raen lady might have been tied to a quest (something about trying to pay an unpleasant merchant lady I think and she sends you instead), but I'm not positive.

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I ran all over Kugane and these are all the Au Ra in general that I could find. If there are any quest-related ones I can't say I've seen them/remember them, as I did a few Kugane quests, but for the most part I actually haven't done too many yet. Outside the WVR girl, I think the rest are "always" there and are the "wild" NPCs.


First up are these... either farmers or maybe geomancers? Outside the Holstelry.
https://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acc...cec48b7096.jpg


This is the WVR girl NPC. I dunno if she's ALWAYS there or only when you're doing/done with the WVR line.
https://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acc...7d2d89caa4.jpg


This is also a WVR-related NPC but he's always there.
https://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acc...33d24e7ae1.jpg


This is apparently a questgiver! I haven't done his quest yet tho so there may be other Au Ra that come in with it? He's at the ship near Pier 1 aetheryte.
https://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acc...0ae5d86262.jpg


This one is new; he trade you the Kirin Osode from Eureka, near the Eureka entrance in Kugane.
https://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acc...7b3ed97d80.jpg


This random Xaela also at Pier 1, where the BSM quest takes you.
https://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acc...505a91e72b.jpg


Also this geomancer guy, who has maybe 3 lines in the AST storyline.
https://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acc...11098ab9e6.jpg


So far I haven't found a single Au Ra in Namai, the House of the Fierce, OR the Doman Enclave (Enclave was at night tho so idk if those Xaela guys are in the rice field during the day or no.) So much for being the "prominent" race of Hingashi, Koji!! There are more Roes here than there are in Eorzea, I swear.

Wow dude thanks for all the scouting. And yes, there are surprisingly tons of male Roe around. So much so you'd think they outnumber midlanders. Since NPCs can appear as per the quest your on, like the Crystal Braves, I think a great addition could be the race of the expansion having more prominence just around. There are literally empty spots in every city state that would not immediately crash the game if a pair of Au Ra or soon to be Viera were poofed in... maybe. I question this game's spaghetti code every day.

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Originally Posted by Gula

Wow dude thanks for all the scouting. And yes, there are surprisingly tons of male Roe around. So much so you'd think they outnumber midlanders. Since NPCs can appear as per the quest your on, like the Crystal Braves, I think a great addition could be the race of the expansion having more prominence just around. There are literally empty spots in every city state that would not immediately crash the game if a pair of Au Ra or soon to be Viera were poofed in... maybe. I question this game's spaghetti code every day.

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It'd def be nice. Au Ra just kinda feel shoehorned in now that SB's been out, especially Raen. Xaela have an entire zone dedicated to them, but the Raen have one small village and a dungeon. I get the Raen are scattered but when I asked my question for FanFest, it got so glossed over it was pretty unsatisfying lol The Ruby Sea is so big and the way the Raen talk in Sui-no-Sato you'd think there'd be more than just one village given all the time they've been down there, but we don't know that. And they say there's lots of Raen in Hingashi and they're mostly mid to high class, but you should still see em walking around. Not every Raen is gonna be a rich folk. It's kinda sad cause Viera look like they're gonna have an entire zone for themselves, and a LOT of lore to borrow and bend for FF14. I know Au Ra are an original race so they have to make it all from scratch but... yeah. the Raen are a lot like Duskwrights in how we're represented. We at least get a few key NPCs (Yuigiri, the girl from the Ivalice quests, etc) I guess.

The issue is that the Raen are culturally based on Tokugawa era Japan - they're very isolationist, so we don't see them often. Other than Hingashi (which itself has a very similar policy), they have only one very well-hidden and out of the way settlement that can be visited. As a result of this, the only Raen seen outside of Othard are refugees or vagrants - which would naturally be rather low in number.

The Xaela, on the other hand, have the Azim Steppe to themselves. Being culturally modeled on pre-modern Mongolians, they don't spurn contact with the outside world like the Raen but don't seek it out either. As a result the Xaela seen outside the Steppe are also either refugees or vagrants.

... it's not that they aren't including NPCs of the race, it just doesn't make sense for them to be populous outside of their home territories.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

The issue is that the Raen are culturally based on Tokugawa era Japan - they're very isolationist, so we don't see them often. Other than Hingashi (which itself has a very similar policy), they have only one very well-hidden and out of the way settlement that can be visited. As a result of this, the only Raen seen outside of Othard are refugees or vagrants - which would naturally be rather low in number.

The Xaela, on the other hand, have the Azim Steppe to themselves. Being culturally modeled on pre-modern Mongolians, they don't spurn contact with the outside world like the Raen but don't seek it out either. As a result the Xaela seen outside the Steppe are also either refugees or vagrants.

... it's not that they aren't including NPCs of the race, it just doesn't make sense for them to be populous outside of their home territories.

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Xaela is understandable as that's in-game easily. As for the Tokugawa culture, I thought that was just for the names? My thing tho is that even in the Othard and Hingashi we can get to, they're still very low in number, and the recent FanFest Q&A when it was asked to the lore team made it out like they were populous and in very high regard. It just feels contradictory.

Koji also said they can't put everyone who is living there in the area we have access and that yes it doesn't reflect the numbers that are said to be in certain places. There's like two gray skined Raen watchmen/guards in the Ruby Sea if you exit into it from Kugane.

If you look in the lore book, it goes into who runs Kugane and most of them are Raen. However, they never show up in game because they are all in the Kugane palace where we can't go. Raen are the people who came up with the culture in the East post-Allag, but they are not the most numerous race there. In the cutscene in the Thousand Year Pine in the HoH storyline. We see both a Hyur and a Raen during the time right after Allag mention Princess Salina (probably another Hyur) and Desch (a mito'te). So we potentially have at least three races in Othard and the East right after Allag fell.

Raen are ten percent of the Eastern population. That's the same percentage of a population that Duskwights and Moonkeepers are supposed to be in Gridana. So we should see about as many Raen as we do Duskwights and Moonkeepers. Which... I kinda think we do? At least the Duskwights and Moonkeepers which are relevant in plots/quests anyway. As much as I wish we could see more Raen, I think that we see enough of them compared to other low-population races.

Edited in case some of this is spoilers.

I have two Raen in my adventurer squadron and know you can have more, as well as Xaela. You can pretty much come up with any story you like for the reasons they're there (beyond the generic standard given). There's a Raen involved with mining quests in Idyllshire. Kurenai's Custom Deliveries will open some information on Sui-no-Sato, but I won't spoil further in case some of you haven't done that yet. Suffice it to say, I would expect more Raen to emerge over time.

There is a Raen based in Namai for a carpentry commission in CRP 60-70.

There are Xaela involved in another set of Custom Deliveries, and some are indeed involved in the Doman Restoration. Xaela will also be part of the Namazu beast tribe quests, but as they take place on the Azim Steppe, that's an obvious one. And I'm sure no one's forgotten Sidurgu, lurking in Ishgard (unless he moves after you do DRK stuff. I haven't really done DRK stuff).

According to the second lore book, the Raen population in Hingashi should be 10%, while Roegadyn are 15% and Hyur 50%. We see a lot more Roegadyn in Kugane though.
Maybe the Raen are all in other regions of Hingashi. The Kugane Magistrate seems to be a Raen, and there is Yuki from the Ninja questline, who is a princess of her clan (which isn't from Kugane though, but from some other Hingan region). So maybe some of the Raen are rich and don't just walk around in a port town? There seem to be some with the Geomancers, Onishishu, and so on.
Also, in the benchmark there are almost as many Raen in Kugane as there are Hyur.

What I find weird is that Doma should have 10% Raen too but you see almost none in Yanxia and not a single one in the Enclave. Yugiri isn't even Doman herself. There is one Raen in Namai, then a few in the fox fate chain (the fox girl, the two children where you activate the FATE and some of the enemies I think), and I found one at the House of the Fierce.

So the Raen of Doma seem to be 99% isolated from the rest. I wonder what happened to them that all of the Domans that fled together with Yugiri to Eorzea were Hyur. No Raen, no Roegadyn, no Lupin. Granted, the Lupin didn't exist in the game back then and Yugiri was the only Au Ra. But what of the Roegadyn? Too big for the boats...? But whatever, this is about Au Ra.
Even if the Raen are very seclusive, it just seems so strange that there are almost none in Doma. Especially in a time like this there would be some of them around. If some of them went to the Ruby Sea (some of them are probably originally from Hingashi and Doma, not only from Sui-no-Sato), you would think that there would be some in Doma as well.

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Originally Posted by Limonia

Even if the Raen are very seclusive, it just seems so strange that there are almost none in Doma. Especially in a time like this there would be some of them around. If some of them went to the Ruby Sea (some of them are probably originally from Hingashi and Doma, not only from Sui-no-Sato), you would think that there would be some in Doma as well.

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I do remember there being some Raen in the Confederacy I think? Still beyond weird there's so few in Doma.

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Originally Posted by Jaywalker

I do remember there being some Raen in the Confederacy I think? Still beyond weird there's so few in Doma.

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Yes, there are even more there than in Kugane I think. Or at least about the same.
That is why I find it so weird that there are almost none in Doma. So if they leave their home they rather go to the Ruby Sea and become part of the Confederacy than live somewhere in Doma?
I don't think all Raen confederates are from Hingashi and Sui-no-Sato, because there are many Domans among the Confederates.

I was really surprised by the lack of Raen in Yanxi/Doma. I don't think there were any Raen that Garleans conscripted; I didn't see a single Raen in the prisoner exchange, nor did we fight conscripted Raen.

There was only one Raen ninja in Asahi's flashback when he was surrounded by the Doman liberation.

Sometime in ARR, I remember Higiri saying that Yugiri's people have suffered greatly in Garlemald's occupation. Assuming she meant the Raen, then I guess I can see why after 20+ years there won't be that many Raen left in Yanxia since they they either fled to safer areas like Hingashi, the Confederacy or isolated settlements in Yanxia. The few that remained died in the rebellion.

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Originally Posted by myahele

Sometime in ARR, I remember Higiri saying that Yugiri's people have suffered greatly in Garlemald's occupation. Assuming she meant the Raen, then I guess I can see why after 20+ years there won't be that many Raen left in Yanxia since they they either fled to safer areas like Hingashi, the Confederacy or isolated settlements in Yanxia. The few that remained died in the rebellion.

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I just thought that back then the writers didn't know they would make Yugiri come from a little underwater village outside of Doma. It seems like it wasn't planned like that from the beginning. Because in the end, Yugiri didn't even have anything to do with any Raen from Doma, and Sui-no-Sato never got attacked by the Garleans.

But maybe she meant the Raen in general.
Why would the Raen suffer more from the Garlean occupation than the Hyur, Roegadyn and Lupin though? The Doman Raen usually live in various secluded mountain villages or so and have the Doman traditions. It would make more sense if the other races of Doma suffered more from the Garleans.

Yugiri's people would be the people of Doma. As in... the people she left her home town to live with. And they did suffer greatly in the Garlean invasion. The Doman ninjas were betrayed from within. Many of the Domans (including Gosetsu and most of the Lupin) were conscripted into the Garlean Legions. And the ones that were left in Doma were basically a the theme-park version of their culture for tourists. And then Yotsuyu came along... We see at least one empty manor house (the one the Namazu are in) on the shore of the One River and I kinda wonder if that was where there were a lot of Raen before the invasion.

The other thing to consider is that we don't see that much of Doma either. We see their capital and the delta of the One River surrounding it. We see very, very, little of the mountainous regions of it. So who knows what villages just decided there wasn't any reason to making contact when the Garleans were there and tried staying out of their way.

Something else I just thought of is that Doma has been ruled by a hyur as long as there has been a Doma. And he gained power by conquering the land on one side of the One River. Given how his decedents are described as ruling though, I can see them leaving villages and communities that didn't bother them alone. If the Rean wanted to be left alone in Yanxia, I can see the Hyur and Roegadyn doing so. Over the course of the game, both of those cultures have been presented as not being isolationist.

I've always just assumed that the Raen are all hiding in their mountain villages, like how Duskwight Elezen are mostly living in caves and whatnot which is why we rarely see them.

As others have also said, we don't see the entirety of the regions we visit - we see the immediate Doma area of Yanxia but there could be miles and miles of mountainous regions that we can't access. It's likely that many Raen have just been avoiding certain areas due to the Garlean presence.

we need the other tribes in steps are at least the Kagons and boorlaaq

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Originally Posted by MorbolvampireQueen6

we need the other tribes in steps are at least the Kagons and boorlaaq

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The Steppe is massive - the area we visit is only a tiny piece of it. Consequently, since we only visit a little bit of the Steppe and are barred access to the Nhaama Desert and the coast, we don't see a whole lot out of the tribes that dwell in those regions.

A little disappointing to be sure, but there are limits to what the developers can do.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

The Steppe is massive - the area we visit is only a tiny piece of it. Consequently, since we only visit a little bit of the Steppe and are barred access to the Nhaama Desert and the coast, we don't see a whole lot out of the tribes that dwell in those regions.

A little disappointing to be sure, but there are limits to what the developers can do.

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they could add 2 the map .. as a side story with all tribes

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Originally Posted by MorbolvampireQueen6

they could add 2 the map .. as a side story with all tribes

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Would you be willing to delay Shadowbringers for that?

There's a cost to everything...

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Originally Posted by Cilia

Would you be willing to delay Shadowbringers for that?

There's a cost to everything...

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tbh yes i would to fill it holes ya id delay it 6 months or so

also about the time thing

they got the time for it lol if they had time for the lame monster hunter junk and ff15 event nxt month

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Originally Posted by MorbolvampireQueen6

also about the time thing

they got the time for it lol if they had time for the lame monster hunter junk and ff15 event nxt month

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Your opinion.
The Monster Hunter Fight was amazing, 4 man content that can kill you - its amazing imo. Also, 4 man ex. {Yes, please}
People enjoy different things in games, I dont give a damn about Story and lore for example.
But tbh I'd rather have them spend time on fights, you stay subbed for fights.
You can only enjoy a Story once.
Atleast in my opinion

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Originally Posted by Nekohauscat

Your opinion.
The Monster Hunter Fight was amazing, 4 man content that can kill you - its amazing imo. Also, 4 man ex. {Yes, please}
People enjoy different things in games, I dont give a damn about Story and lore for example.
But tbh I'd rather have them spend time on fights, you stay subbed for fights.
You can only enjoy a Story once.
Atleast in my opinion

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be amazing or not monster hunter has no right to be in ff this damn crossovers need 2 stop.. plus it was pathic a cross over with a non se game but didn't do a kh event in jan

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Originally Posted by MorbolvampireQueen6

be amazing or not monster hunter has no right to be in ff this damn crossovers need 2 stop.. plus it was pathic a cross over with a non se game but didn't do a kh event in jan

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A crossover with KH would require Disney's permission to include characters and other elements they own (including Sora himself) in this game. They may not approve of having their property appear in a [not for children]-rated game.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

A crossover with KH would require Disney's permission to include characters and other elements they own (including Sora himself) in this game. They may not approve of having their property appear in a [not for children]-rated game.

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or they could use the non Disney chars in it lol

plus once upon time proves Disney doesn't care lol

Sora is owned by Disney, so SE can't do a crossover without characters owned by Disney, even if they stayed away from actual "Disney characters". And they would probably still need permission.


And let me adjust that thought on the ratings - maybe they don't want their [appropriate-for-kids]-rated game appearing in a [not-for-kids]-rated game.

Was it not enough that we ground the Stormblood MSQ to a halt for a third of its leveling arc to get Xaela exposition? That central characters had important and relevant information clumsily dumped at once or offset to patches for the sake of stories that should have been sidequests?

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Originally Posted by Nekohauscat

You can only enjoy a Story once.
Atleast in my opinion

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Respectfully disagree on this one, especially for FFXIV. I've noticed on lodestone a lot of people seriously underestimate how much narrative detail the devs put in, to the anti-intellectual tune of "it's not that deep".

(Not saying you are btw! Got no beef with you, just chatting.)

I've seen plenty of works that are purely literal, face-value stuff. FFXIV is not in that number. Anyone who looks at the Sephirot fight and comes away thinking it's just an edgy monster is missing a ton.

Besides attachment to the cast/world and speculating, analyzing stuff through revisiting the story can add a lot of value. Makes going back a lot of fun for people who are into that.

I get you have a different approach and that's fine, but the replay value for FFXIV is high for fans who do prioritize storytelling. Takes all types, you know? The fact that SE manages to engage so many different game styles means they get a bigger audience and more resources, allowing for stronger expansions.

Personally I'd be fine with more Xaela but not before other stuff's been hit first. We're lucky, they made a really rich world and are basically free to move around it at will arc to arc. What they don't hit at one point they can delve into more at another.

After finding out so much lore for the Xaela I finally decided to become one recently; I used to be a Duskwight as I really liked their lore but as they seem to be forgotten now it kinda made me lose interest. I'm all up for more Xaela lore (and Raen too!) but I think clans that haven't had much focus need to be addressed first; such as Duskwights and Moon Cats.

Though I am surprised there's not more Raen NPCs about.

Seika, who upgrades Shire gear to its Augmented versions, is an Au Ra. She's based in Idyllshire.

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Originally Posted by MorbolvampireQueen6

or they could use the non Disney chars in it lol

plus once upon time proves Disney doesn't care lol

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Disney (though not a single entity) always cares. A lot. So much so that one of the reasons KH3 took so long was because Disney animators were very, very specific on how Elsa's hair worked and the tiniest details on character interaction. Specific properties just get different treatment from time to time. But no, you will never have something with Disney's name on it where they don't care unless it's actually a Chinese bootleg.

Plus they kinda just mostly removed all the FF from KH3 anyway, so what's to cross over?

Very off topic but the reason there was no FF in KH3 (besides moogles, cactuar and references in the Gummi sections), is because the OC characters took their place. Nomura found no need for them when he had all his OCs to focus on and are essentially FF characters themselves- since they are Nomura's own.

Back on topic though, I'm glad so many people have pointed out the locations of all these sprinkled out Au Ra. Since some of them are locked behind quest relevancy it does make their population seem more sparse, but the reasoning of nobility does make sense.