Au Ra physiology and other lore.

[Viridiana]

Ah, but the military makes sure no matter what branch boot camp still trains the body and introduces one to a lot of basic training, no way they'd ever focus just on one field from the get go, that breeds holes that are easy to exploit in the military. Specific branches further that specialization, but I'd be sure in saying no matter what branch you still know gun maintenance and usage. I would say likewise would go for Xaela war parties, everyone there receives training in handling swords, archery, et cetera. While the girls may excel in magic or archery, that's still no excuse for the horrid lack of physical strength that's they've got. Seriously, it looks like they could hardly hold up a shield, much less take an attack while defending themselves up close.

Eh, if we're discussing modern armies, there's going to be an extreme marksmanship difference between an infantryman and a cook. (As a whole. Of course it varies by individual.) Not intending to compare the female Au Ra to cooks, only to use that as an example. And figure that this is true in modern armies with rifles where physical strength is less central to marksmanship than skill and focus is. So, yeah, the guys who sit at a desk all day in the personnel section will be reasonably capable at basic battle tasks, but no commander is going to put them near the front lines if he has any better option.

I will concede that something like a muscle slider should be a thing for pretty much all the races and genders, though. Simply because even in the most warmongering tribes, I assume there will still be people back in the rear not participating in all-out combat, and having the option to reflect either scenario in the same race/gender would be nice.

Same thing could be said about so many hours in the day, though, one only has so long to become an expert archer. An archer who can kill at a hundred paces would be decimated up close, which all that would take is a big enough shield. Strict specializations are nice, however it's much better to have rounded training. A jack of all trades master of none will fair much much better in a battlefield than a one who has strict specialization. After all, what will the archer do once you're three paces away, as you can only retreat so far.

I suppose it's an issue of "Practicing one kick 1000 times vs 1000 kicks one time", which normally one favors the former in the idiom, but if one finds a way to not have to worry about the one kick practiced 1000 times, then the person's skill is useless. Aristotle's advocacy of well-roundedness in life really rings a bell in this situation.

In a one-on-one scenario, I agree. Someone with the focus and speed to snatch an arrow out of the air, for example, wouldn't worry much about a single archer. But, then, we're discussing armies and war, right? Yeah, your forces can hunker down behind shields when a volley of arrows is incoming, but the tighter your shield wall the closer you're huddled for the mages observing from the next hill over. And of course, the mages will need some sort of defence against a cavalry charge.

Basically, if we're talking militaries, it takes all kinds of fighters, so it makes sense to me that there would be some more lithe members among even the warring nomad types. Granted, there should be both lithe and bulky, but SE doesn't seem to want to give a fuller suite of options, sadly.