Au Ra physiology and other lore.

[Kaiser-Ace]

The Horns on the males typically go to the side for some distance and then come forward or down based on art work and screen shots. Female horns go towards the back of their heads. So It'd actually not be a problem at all based on my estimates.

As for the hight diffrence, it seems to be the typical 6-ish foot male to 5-ish foot female ratio that exists IRL. I'm that much taller than just about all the women I know.

[Cilia]

Well if we're going to go there...

There's no telling what size equipment male Au Ra have or if the females are unable to accommodate them. If you know what I'm talkin' about.

Do you know what I'm talkin' about?

Crass humor aside, there are stranger cases of sexual dimorphism in nature, so once you get used to it it's not so bad. It's also a bit of the Auri racial identity, as the body mass difference between males and females is distinct and unlike any other race.

'sides, there are options for tough-looking females (female Highlander Hyur and Roegadyn), but statistically they're the lowest-played race/sex. So the designers went with an aesthetic more people are interested in. Pandering? Maybe... but the developers would rather have people play the race/sex combination than have them largely ignore it.

[myahele]

I heard the female Au Ra eats the male's life-force after mating...Au Ra's are related to demons after all

[MaethusXion]

Lol, I've already got my RP set to where I've been an Au Ra this whole time. I simply made up my "History" as a hyur and used an ancient magic ,not unlike a void sent's glamour, to make my self into a Hyur when in fact I am and always have been an Au Ra scout who's job it was to survey Eorzea on behalf of my race. Now that Garlemauld is on the move again we are prepairing to use the Dragonsong War to make our existence and allegiance known.

By my RP's story the Dragonsong War will fix the problem of "The Dragon People from Oethard" by clearly combating the Dravanians on behalf of Ishgaurd (As the PC Au Ra will be doing any way. lol). And why wouldn't Yugiri recognize my glamor? Well the Ishgaurdians, Primals, and and Ascians didn't so why would she since she's never met me.

I'm personally going with Aetherical Reconstruction. Essentially the Teleport/Return process involves you breaking down into aether, then reconstructing yourself at the destination. Who's to say that with a burst of aether energy(a la fantasia*...) you couldn't change your appearance?

*-personal theory to somewhat make the fantasia lore-appropriate to be effective, even if officially they don't really exist...

[KaijinRhada]

Well if we're going to go there...

There's no telling what size equipment male Au Ra have or if the females are unable to accommodate them. If you know what I'm talkin' about.

Do you know what I'm talkin' about?

Crass humor aside, there are stranger cases of sexual dimorphism in nature, so once you get used to it it's not so bad. It's also a bit of the Auri racial identity, as the body mass difference between males and females is distinct and unlike any other race.

There are cases of disproportionate sizing in terms of sexual dimorphism, but I'm more accustomed to seeing larger females and smaller males in extreme size differences (my friend and I just joked about it saying the Au Ra could mate like barnacles to circumvent that differece, 'cause dang!), to better accomodate... things... For cases where the male is bigger, it isn't by such a large margin. I'm trying to think of a case where males are so much bigger than the female, but I'm stumped. ._.

Would have been interesting if the Au Ra females were bigger than males, but alas.

[Kaiser-Ace]

Would have been interesting if the Au Ra females were bigger than males, but alas.

Again I point out that the Females are only around 12 inches shorter than the males which is not THAT great of a difference. In reptiles and insects usually the female is 2-3 times the size of the male which is a HUGE difference. (Pun intended.)

The same difference in height between males and females IRL is starting to become more and more common with Men reaching about 6 feet and women barely being taller than 5. I am 6 feet 2 inches tall while every woman in my blood line don't get more than around 5 feet 2 inches. It's genetic based but still. This is not an absurd difference in height.

[myahele]

Yeah the size difference it a bit too extreme.

I'm guessing that since they were (and xaela still are) nomadic and very violent I'm guessing the males "evolved" to be more of a front line fighter: more pronounce scales, larger physique. Females mostly stayed in the tribe's and acting as last line of defense (while caring for their young) Maybe something similar to Feudal Japanese samurai clans. But wasn't this also their reasoning for the lack of Roegadyn females back in 1.0?

Though I think we can only speculate for now and wait until a future moogle delivery quest will shine some light on more of their culture.

[KaijinRhada]

Again I point out that the Females are only around 12 inches shorter than the males which is not THAT great of a difference. In reptiles and insects usually the female is 2-3 times the size of the male which is a HUGE difference. (Pun intended.)

The same difference in height between males and females IRL is starting to become more and more common with Men reaching about 6 feet and women barely being taller than 5. I am 6 feet 2 inches tall while every woman in my blood line don't get more than around 5 feet 2 inches. It's genetic based but still. This is not an absurd difference in height.

Bolded for the point I had posted and what I am used to seeing in nature. As for the other points It's true for humans that it isn't too big of a stretch, but I'm looking at some of the Au Ra concepts, and I think there it more than a foot of diference between the two. The angles don't help any with making a clear distinction, but if Au Ra are about the size of an average Midlander female, in some of the concepts, it looks like Au Ra males taller than Elezen males and even encroaching on Roegadyn height. A foot and a bit isn't so bad, but more than that gets a few cocked heads from me and my imagination starts going places.

[Kaiser-Ace]

snip

That could be. Until we see the official renders side by side in game I guess it's hard to make a good guess. The two foot difference and greater getting into the "How the f*** does a LalaxRoe relationship work O_O" debate. So if the females are in that five foot range but the average male is in the 7 foot range THEN that gets difficult to explain.

[Lickintoad]

There's not really that big of an issue with the difference in size between males and females. Tall guys have short girlfriends all the time. I see it all the time. I'm just not seeing how this size difference is an issue with procreation at all.