Au Ra physiology and other lore.

[Xanthe]

This is an excellent idea. I'm chatting with Bayohne now about how we might consolidate the other naming stickies into one. The Au Ra thread would remain separate until we thought that everyone had enough time to check it out.

Thanks for the feedback!

Perhaps it's time for the lore compendium to move from a sticky to a wiki? Given the vast amount of information there is to navigate the wiki format may be more accessible.

[DracotheDragon]

Perhaps it's time for the lore compendium to move from a sticky to a wiki? Given the vast amount of information there is to navigate the wiki format may be more accessible.

i like this idea a wiki written by the devs to give us all the lore possible (also make it available in game >:O ) please <3

[Hachi-Roku]

Dear S-E,

Give us some options for putting plating/coating on Au Ra horns. Brass, gold, bronze, silver. All about the horns. Shiny horns for days. Glittering scales that make all the fleshy races jealous.

Fancy us up, yo.

Brass.

Think about it.

[Reinhart]

The clarification about Au Ra -> Auri certainly brings to light one tidbit in the Minion Guide for the Wind-Up Odin minion.

Many have pondered why a dark divinity with roots in northern mythology would wield a blade with a decidedly Far Eastern name. A popular theory is that Odin acquired the blade upon slaying an Auri warrior who was the first ever to notch his theretofore unsullied plate.

Which reinforces that the Au Ra are from Othard... and quite debunks the 'descendants of Shiva' wild theory that's running around, since that would have taken place at least 4 millennium and 3 ages before the Dragonsong War even started.

...Though unrelated to the above, I'm also wondering if earrings are going to hang from the horns or such.

[Sove92]

I'm still not allowed to reveal a lot (under punishment of defenestration...and we're on the 18th floor)

No need to worry about that, Ahrimans can float.

[Dynza]

Here, just in case you guys missed it...

Earrings on horns. Issue solved.

Now it's time for wild speculation on what the names will be! We have zero evidence, but we do have some bits of info that might help. Let's see how wrong or right we are.

Here's what we know:
1. Auri names are historical names, meaning popular names dating back several hundred years or so.
2. Auri last names have some special rules.
3. Auri hail from Othard a continent in the east.
4. Doma, a fallen kingdom in the east, draped in Far Eastern elements.

Initially, some would speculate that the Auri would adopt Doman naming elements and while this sounds plausible (we managed to eek out some ideas about how Doman names are created), I disagree with this. Partially because Doma may not be the only kingdom on Othard. Lore from Yoshimitsu's relic reborn questline points to ninjutsu - and other Far Eastern elements - came from an island east of Othard. Finally, auri as a race may predate the founding of Doma, given that we know that legends speak of them dating as far back as four thousand years ago. As an aside, I'm sure the other mortal races are at least that old as well.

So let's take a brief look at Doman naming schemes. Thanks to a few players we know that Doman names are tri-syllabic (Yu-Gi-Ri, O-Bo-Ro, Tsu-Ba-Me) or three Japanese characters long. We also know that their last names are based on meanings from their first names, Yugiri's name relates towards swamps, and moisture leading credence to the last name, Mistwalker. Knowing this, it does seem like Auri names could follow Doman naming schemes - at the very least, the last names follow special rules that Fern hinted at. But based on some of the evidence above, I'm going to disagree with the idea that Auri names are based on Doman names. I'm no Japanese scholar, but I don't think historical Japanese names went out of style, and if they did, I believe the more ancient ones were substantially longer than three characters or three syllables. I'm probably completely wrong, though, so feel free to correct me if you know better.


The other possibility that I can think of for Auri names is that they're based on current dragon names that we know of (Midgardsormr, Nidhogg, Isgebind, Cuco Feda, etc). These names tend to veer toward Slavic and Nordic names. And there are some historical names from this period that I'm aware of (Beowulf, Sigurd, Brynhildr, Helga). The problem with these names is that they can veer very close with Roegadyn Sea Wolf names due to their historical proximity with each other. Though, I can't think of how the last names might be structured.

So with that said, let's hear your speculations on what the names might be. Or if you want to continue speculating on their origins, feel free. I don't have any additional information or speculation to work on right now, and I'll have to wait until SE releases HQ videos of the Au Ra video presentation or the character creation benchmark to further my study into the Auri. Plus, I have some other work to do.

So with that said, speculate (wildly) away!

[Edellis]

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to pop in and give a tiny update on the Au Ra. I'm still not allowed to reveal a lot (under punishment of defenestration...and we're on the 18th floor), but here are three things I can tell you:

100% unrelated -- can you finally put to rest how to officially pronounce "Miqo'te"?!

[Anonymoose]

100% unrelated -- can you finally put to rest how to officially pronounce "Miqo'te"?!

Miko-Tay

[ミ] Mee [コ] Ko [ッテ] Tay

[Edellis]

Deep down, i've always figured that. I just much prefer ignoring the apostrophe and saying "Mee-Kote" in my head.

[Ametrine]

Wow, I've been pronouncing both Miqo'te and Au Ra correctly this whole time.

Dynza, your naming theory actually pushes toward many of the traits that Highlanders use for their names, so I don't think that will be the method used for Au Ra.

I'm curious to know if Au Ra males and females will follow the same patterns, and how the black scaled tribe varies to the white scaled.