Au Ra physiology and other lore.

[Cilia]

Well the problem isn't height alone; the females are incredibly dainty compared to the males, who are rather burly. There's a great difference in bulk that makes it almost seem like they're a separate race... but as I and others have pointed out, there are more bizarre cases of sexual dimorphism in nature, though it tends to be the female who is significantly larger. Still, while it's a bit jarring, once you get used to it... ehh.

Of course, real-world people do have such differences in height and body mass, so that's also another reason it's not implausible. Another possibility brought up is that the males and females evolved differently for their social roles - the males as fighters, and the females as homemakers. I don't think that's the case, though; the Xaela Au Ra continue to wander and war as their ancestors did, and though the Raen have settled down they show mostly superficial differences from the Xaela (different skintones, horn / scale colors, and horn shapes). If that theory were true the female Xaela Au Ra would probably be as burly as the men, since in a warrior tribe your main value is how good you are at killing enemies (in fantasy settings, at least). But since the Raen and Xaela Au Ra share a common ancestor, and yet the females show no significant differences besides the same ones present in male specimens...

... yeah.

On the subject of that, there's nothing saying the males' equipment is too big, or that the females are unable to accommodate them (if you know what I'm talkin' about). In fact for the continued existence of the species they have to be compatible. The thing is that people are assuming the males' larger frames will make said equipment too big for the females, who they assume will be unable to accommodate due to their smaller frames. Don't say it's because you're scared the males will hurt the females - for all you know they're very gentle lovers.

Stop assuming, and get your minds out of the gutter besides!

EDIT: Hey hey, race naming conventions compressed into one topic! The gears are moving! Are we getting those naming conventions soon™?