Au Ra physiology and other lore.

[Mahri]

Unbelievable! Video games, let alone this very series, have set absolutely no precedence for petite girly-girls to be absolute hellraiser wrecking balls. No way, no how. Immersion ruined!

Though actually my Au Ra MNK inspiration is more Cammy from Street Fighter but hell you get the idea watch that video

I may post my Au Ri designs later if you guys want to see more.

POST THEM

[Balipu]

I'd have a hard time taking a male Au Ra seriously as a ninja

Ahh yess. I was still torn between male and feamle Au Ra, but you convinced me with this arguement since I main ninja. Female Xaela it is.

Unbelievable! Video games, let alone this very series, have set absolutely no precedence for petite girly-girls to be absolute hellraiser wrecking balls. No way, no how. Immersion ruined!

Though actually my Au Ra MNK inspiration is more Cammy from Street Fighter but hell you get the idea watch that video

Aerith? Bahh. I have Yuffie buffed to riddiculous level with materia. I only gave him stat boosting materia and now she has double strike, counter, defend and her ultimate weapon. She doesn't hit like a truck. She hits like daily highway traffic.

[Samcaesar]

Snip

If you're going to be in a warrior culture, you're going to want to be as fit as possible, which generally requires being bigger and brawnier, you'll either be fighting/training, hunting/gathering, or doing a plethora of activities within the current settlement they set up, all of which would require physical strength. The bit of lore we've got for the Raen seems to indicate they've been with the Domans for some while, yet neither the Domans or Raen are that indicative of being too physically orientated. Besides, that's irrelevant, as no one seems to be arguing for the Raen women to be buff and stronger. Having the Xaela eat relatively poorly would be a horrid idea considering they're also warring with each other, lack of nutrients means a less healthy body, a less healthy body on the battle field means you'll be the one losing your life. Plus, saying "Carrying capacity is limited therefore no food" is silly, for example in Native American cultures Tipis weighed over 400 pounds from their poles alone. If the Xaela can manage to carry their temporary homes, then they probably could carry their food supplies too.

No society works like that though (Though you could be joking in which case, sorry! >.> ) If the lore in this game is to make any sense or be immersive, it ought to make sense. Societies can't just exist on silly rules like that.

Snip

Petite-girly girls can be "hellraiser wrecking balls" but that's not my point, my point is, in a society in which has the definition of "Warring tribal nomads" petite girly-girls would be in the minority. While Final Fantasy might have good examples of "petite girly-girls" kicking ass, it doesn't make sense for an entire society to be filled with them. Strength and presence in battle is probably emphasized, as this is a culture that's "Warring". Do you honestly think someone petite and small will be more threatening than someone with more size and muscle? Compare Lalafell to Roegadyn, which would you prefer fight in the field?

[Raminax]

(Though you could be joking in which case, sorry! >.> )

Well, half and half. It's just that I regularly see Xaela being touted as the ones who should be the 'brawnier' clan because of their warrior nomad, and I feel that isn't strictly true. Or not true, but not as one-sided as some people would think. Saw those discussions happen regularly in another thread on the general forums claiming that Xaela should be closer to the concept artwork, while Raen could stay as they are.

And indeed, there's a lot of assumptions on my side. Gods know, maybe the Xaela are wandering really bountiful lands. Or perhaps it's as bad as I imagine? And maybe they enjoy a bit of deceit and trickery on the side of combat (which could compensate for less impressive muscles), or are they silly berserkers who charge naked into combat? Maybe they even sleep beneath the stars without silly huts.

Naturally, the Church of Moe is just a joke.

Or is it? ConspiracyAu'raFemalesAreActuallyBehindTheAscians

[Samcaesar]

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It's ambiguous currently. Concept art that says Race_Dragon for the design that's closest to the in game model and the staff during the European press conference claimed them to be reptilian. On the other hand, there's been repeated "There motif is demons" sort of stuff, but people aren't sure if that was just their initial design theme, them going too far with the "Succubus like look" comment, or something else. Early in the thread someone posed the idea of them being based off the creation myth of the Vietnamese children, being born of dragon and Voidsent/Aetheric being in FFXIV's universe, which might actually have some credibility. Currently in game their exact nature is debated among scholars.

Personally I'm going with (and hoping) a draconic nature simply because I like dragons over demons >.>

Snip

Harley Quinn isn't a bad example, however the character herself has also been written rather terribly at times imho >.> Plus she's fictional, therefore certain characteristics like muscular strength can be thrown out of the window for artist interpretation and wants with how they wish the character to look. That's still no excuse due to the fact that if we are to expect things to be a bit believable and immersive then they should function in a similar way, ie physically tough people have a body that shows muscle growth and density.

Honestly a better example would be Samantha Wright, a professional weight lifter, the issue is Au Ra girls clearly don't have her body shape at all.

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Psycho =! Tough though. Sure they could be /scary/ but the question is why aren't the girl Xaela as imposing and tough looking as the men? It's less of a "petite/cute girls can act tough!" issue and more of a "Why aren't the warring nomads tough looking?" issue.

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That's a reasonable answer on why the Raen and Xaela don't look very different actually, however it doesn't answer the question of why are the Au Ra so different structurally/anatomy wise between their men and women. Segregating your armed forces like that isn't the smartest ideas tactics wise, it means entirely separate training camps for people who should be learning the same skills to be as effective as possible.

Plus, cavalry still need to go through intense training in other forms of combat anyways, otherwise if you're without your horse or bow you're a sitting duck. Bringing it back to the mongols' cavalry troops, while their main weapon was the bow, it was generally the idea that they'd also have a sword or hatchet to also use to also use in the field or as backup. Arrows will have a limited supply, but a dull sword still has a sharp point and all.

Snip

Well, look at the Hyurs, the Highlanders growing up in a much more tougher environment therefore had to develop to be larger in appearance, while the Midlanders grew in more moderate environments and therefore had less of a sociological/biological reason to bulk up. Why shoulder the Xaela, growing in a tougher environment, be tougher anatomy wise?

I really don't get why people want that >.> The other concept art for the Au Ra (specifically the girls) isn't too different, just weird arms/feet, massive horns, actual ears, it's not too different that what we've got.

Heck, because I'm enjoying learning about Mongolians, everyone in the thread might be interested to read up on a Mongolian warrior by the name of Khutulun! She was immensily strong in combat and also pretty darn beautiful from what I'm been reading, while her story is a little bit mythological-like, it's still kinda interesting.

Do you all expect any difference on character creation from Benchmark to the actual expansion?

No, I'm saying it makes little sense from most perspectives that the Xaela girls are so petite and waifish. I don't expect them to change it ever, but it sure as hell would be nice if they did.

[Raminax]

Rawr!

I'm thinking you've misinterpreted me. My original intent was simply to find possible reasons that Raen and Xaela could have similar builds, despite the obvious difference in culture. I wasn't endorsing the current Au'ra female. If I had to choose, female Au'ra wouldn't look like they belonged to an entirely different species. We've already got lots of cute females everywhere, I feel we didn't really need more. So at least with current Auri females, I agree with you. I've never been a fan of excessive dimorphism, especially when fantastic females tend to just look like really beautiful humans for the sake of pandering.

Rawr!

W-Well... Xaela look like Hyur that have necrosis then! D:

#StrongIndependentRaenWhoNeedsNoWoman

(Incidentally, don't google necrosis if you're squeamish. Fair warning.)