Which City-State (or simply Class) do you think will make the most sense for Au Ra?

[LystAP]

I guess I go back and forth. I mean, in a PERFECT world, you could start in an Au Ra refugee-camp, somewhere near either Revenant's Toll, or on the outskirts of Ishgard, as a level 1 Dark Knight. Seeing as that isn't the case, though, I can't decide.

I doubt the Au Ra would start off anywhere close to Ishgard, given their outright paranoia of anything dragon-like. I can see them growing to tolerate Au Ra after working with the race for awhile, but as of now, I don't think they even know what Yugiri actually looks like, much less of the race in general.

The ideal is there, but there's just too much corruption in Ul'Dah for me to take them seriously. Although, there is an appeal going from PLD to DRK

The corruption could actually be a plus, given that it means that you'll have some faction willing to 'accept' refugees for work, especially exotic refugees.

[Enkidoh]

I'll have to disagree regarding MRD vs GLD. From what I've seen of the MRD guild they value honor, duty and protecting the weak/innocent. Alot of them are Yellowjackets and serve as a military/police for for Limsa Lominsa. The questline for WAR is also about controlling your inner beast lest it'll consume you....sounds exactly what a potential dark knight must overcome, except in this case it'll be darkness.

The ideal is there, but there's just too much corruption in Ul'Dah for me to take them seriously. Although, there is an appeal going from PLD to DRK.

Now they are, but the class actually has it's roots in piracy - 1.0 showed this all too clearly, with the MRD's Guild itself being literally based in a pirate ship (the Astalica). Merlywb though wanted to expunge it of it's pirate roots and thus forced the guild to relocate to the Coral Tower and 'cleaned up their reputation'. But you still see most antagonistic pirate groups in Limsa as MRDs, showing the origins of the class are not easily covered up.

GLAs on the other hand, are prize fighters who seek combat on the 'Bloodsands' - Ul'dah's Colosseum - although for some reason (probably due to the manpower shortages in Ul'dah's miltary) are often utilized as an ad hoc security force outside the city's walls (the GLA quests showed this repeatedly), which does seem a might odd.

1.0 again did things differently and literally had the player tracking down new potential fighters and fighting themselves in the Colosseum (which was a lot of fun - especially as you had to 'put on a good show' - you had to often stop mid battle and do emotes to the crowd to woo them ). I guess though their use as guardsmen does help explain the link into PLD a lot more effectively though - as you're already acting as a pseudo cop around town, why not make that official?

[Risvertasashi]

Perhaps she's one of those cop-out "I was adopted by *insert race here* which explains my name!" that I see some people pull in whilst roleplaying sometimes.

I don't think it's quite fair to call this a cop out. This happens all the time IRL.

That is, say a family emigrates to America. They just might name their son "John" instead of "Hyeongseok". Ditto for adoptions and all that.

The only difference in fantasy is that, instead of skin color, we have cat ears/lizard tails/etc.

But, in any case, here's to hoping we actually get some details filled in, in 2.55. I do think Au Ra will be associated with the Domans one way or another because... well, I don't think the writers have left themselves any other openings that wouldn't seem out of the blue. Meanwhile Yugiri's been teasing it for a while.

[Terin]

Well, does anybody else want to chime in with their thoughts or opinions? I actually love reading this stuff, even the more subtle reasons, because it helps me figure out which I think will make the most sense for my own character

[Asheilin]

the problem with this is it requires lore we dont have yet. I'm betting we wont know how they'd fall city/start class wise until the benchmark in april (was it?) that has a new char creation in it including Au Ra. When we can see the lore for each clan and its stats to start as level 1s since that gives alot of information about what they'd lean towards. As I'm likely not starting a new character but name/race changing an alt, I've not thought alot about this.

War and Pld each have their own particulars that make a good candidate to lead into drk though. While traditionally, DRK are fallen/corrupted paladins... there is something to be said about a class that already wields a 2hander and fits the drk archetype closer.

[jomoru]

As far as "what I envision my character being"... Well, I intend for him to be a Dark Knight. We don't know much about the Au Ra's culture, but I figure, just by looking at them, they'll be a proud race of warriors, sort of the "honorable savages" ?

I think we have enough "proud warrior savage races" out there and am going to suggest that they are something different. The Doman refugees talk about the great sacrifices Yugiri's people have made for them, secondly there is no issue among them about following her, so I am going to go out on a limb and assume the Au Ra were a noble caste, the Leaders and protectors of Doma and thus why they get hit hard by the Garleans as each potentially represents a rebellion in minature against the status quo.

So rather than being a retread of the Miquote and Hellsguard I think the Au Ra might hit the fallen noble trope, the Knights who have lost their kingdom but fight on, that try to reclaim their past glories rather than being a savage people.

of the New jobs the two that are magical(Dark Knight, Astrologian) are represented by an Auri character this is even more of a stretch than my other theory but this may represent the Au Ra as an innately magical race

[Edellis]

We don't really know enough about Au Ra yet to know. But i'm really eager to know if we'll ever get an expansion down the road that travels us out of Eorzea, maybe to the continent that Garlemald is on, or that races like Miqo'te or Au Ra came from.

[Risvertasashi]

I think we have enough "proud warrior savage races" out there and am going to suggest that they are something different. The Doman refugees talk about the great sacrifices Yugiri's people have made for them, secondly there is no issue among them about following her, so I am going to go out on a limb and assume the Au Ra were a noble caste, the Leaders and protectors of Doma and thus why they get hit hard by the Garleans as each potentially represents a rebellion in minature against the status quo.

So rather than being a retread of the Miquote and Hellsguard I think the Au Ra might hit the fallen noble trope, the Knights who have lost their kingdom but fight on, that try to reclaim their past glories rather than being a savage people.

of the New jobs the two that are magical(Dark Knight, Astrologian) are represented by an Auri character this is even more of a stretch than my other theory but this may represent the Au Ra as an innately magical race

This would be a pretty neat take on it. On the other hand, SE did say the reason for the Au Ra dimorphism is so extreme is due to current tendencies/preferences of the playerbase, so I do have a bit less faith in them not retreading ground here. But we can hope and see!

[Terin]

I don't know that I would consider any of the existing races to be "proud warriors", with the exception of Highlanders, and a fraction of female Miqo'te (since the males are, in terms of Lore, the "stay-at-home wife" of Eorzea). Roegadyn are generally depicted as "jolly pirates", save for a couple of scholars and monetarists. I would figure Au Ra to be closer to the warring nations of Feudal Japan, with a few more defiant rebels in the mix. I figure my own Au Ra will be more aggressive, but... Well, we just don't know much about their culture.

Either way, though, I'm still stuggling to decide which route to go.

[jomoru]

I don't know that I would consider any of the existing races to be "proud warriors", with the exception of Highlanders, and a fraction of female Miqo'te (since the males are, in terms of Lore, the "stay-at-home wife" of Eorzea).

That's slightly closer to the little we have on the Moonkitties but the Sun kitties determine mating rights via combat. The whole U tribe setup is built around being proud warriors all of them.

Roegadyn are generally depicted as "jolly pirates", save for a couple of scholars and monetarists.

You should do the warrior Quests. Really Hellsguard are savage warrior race, that's their cultural basis.

I would figure Au Ra to be closer to the warring nations of Feudal Japan, with a few more defiant rebels in the mix. I figure my own Au Ra will be more aggressive, but... Well, we just don't know much about their culture.

Either way, though, I'm still stuggling to decide which route to go.

That's different than "proud warrior savage" I am not playing down the possibility of them being violence oriented but rather I'm questioning whether they are "savages" I am suggesting they are more Knights and Samurai than tribal types if that makes sense?

As for your city state I'd suggest waiting til after the next patch since there's going to be a major shake up in Uldah.