Au Ra physiology and other lore.

[Samcaesar]

True that, but imagine what happened to the first guy to fall for that trick. He probably didn't need plans later. lol

Thinking with one head as opposed to the other, eh? :P

[jomoru]

Unless if Auri women have a sudden hulk switch I doubt that sort of thing happens :P Plus, if all Xaela women used that technique, well I kinda would guess it wouldn't be so effective against their main enemies, other Xaela. Tricks like that only work on those who don't expect it!

They don't need to be. Females are better built for mounted nomads than males. Females would be able to ride longer and faster than any male out there with the vast differences in size.

[Samcaesar]

They don't need to be. Females are better built for mounted nomads than males. Females would be able to ride longer and faster than any male out there with the vast differences in size.

Not a bad suggestion, but then why would there not be a genetic push for the men to become smaller (IE women seeking out men who are smaller because it's desirable, or else men can't also ride said animal as well) so that they could also do something as desirable as riding some kind of animal just as long and just as fast as the women? If it's the more effective tactic in society (War or just transport), then it'll be seen as more desirable.

[jomoru]

Not a bad suggestion, but then why would there not be a genetic push for the men to become smaller (IE women seeking out men who are smaller because it's desirable, or else men can't also ride said animal as well) so that they could also do something as desirable as riding some kind of animal just as long and just as fast as the women? If it's the more effective tactic in society (War or just transport), then it'll be seen as more desirable.

Who knows why? I'm just pointing out its not the Females who are the odd ones out here. Its the Freakishly oversized males. A smaller rider means more effort can be put on speed and endurance on the mount. That's the simple end. There's a point where diminish returns happens. The larger animal have to put more effort into their own movement along with carrying thus they might end up having superiror strength but lacking on endurance and speed.

So now the question becomes why? Are Au'ra males able to run as fast as a horse? that seems profoundly unlikely. So lets look at the semi nomadic lifestyles of the steppes peoples. In the Americas they tended to be Hunters, on the Eurasian Steppes they mixed hunting with keeping herds of various animals(cows, sheep, goats etc). Both groups of people had regular camps where they would set up during the year rather than constantly being on the move.

Now that being the case if they have semiregular or full time villages the larger males can use their size for defense. So presumably the males would be protectors/holders of claimed land while the females would be more or less the offensive end of things. This is just a broad comparison.

But if Doma is Japan and Othard is vaguely Asia perhaps we can take this another step? If we compare them more directly to the Mongols and their armies, there were weaponsmiths, infantry and seige crafters among them. This would again give a some advantage to males defending their things that move slowly or cannot be moved vs the mobility of the females.

So with that out of the way and as clearly sedentary life is a push towards larger body forms, and the Au'ra have larger body forms as an option, why aren't Raen the size of Highlanders?

[Cilia]

Loud noises!

While mixed race relationships (marriages) aren't all that common and are still looked at askance by most people, they do exist. Regardless, it's not a matter of eugenics (or racial purity, if you want to go there) that drives people to refrain from them these days, but the social order that is instilled in people when they're young. People also tend to form groups that are similar to theyselves (based on any number of things, race included), so there's that.

In regards to Xaela tribal organization, if we're going to go on real-world examples, look at the American Indians. While they were generally pretty insular, they would take women and children from other tribes during war and "adopt" them into the tribe. It's a pretty brutal way to get more people in the tribe to be sure, but it helps to prevent genetic degradation through inbreeding... which sticking solely to one's own tribe would inevitably result in, leading to the death of the tribe.

Alternatively, a Xaela might be exiled from his or her tribe and go on to form a new tribe of similar outcasts, not unlike how wolves make new packs. This also supports genetic diversity and health.

Either way, eugenics are not present.

OK... it's really quite simple to explain the sexual dimorphism. For the sake of argument, let's say Au Ra have the same sex chromosomes as humans (XX / XY). If their sex chromosomes produce a female (XX), there is an inhibitor sequence on the X chromosomes that limits their growth when they hit puberty so they don't end up as tall or muscular as the males; this sequence only expresses if the Au Ra has two X chromosomes, so only the females are small. By extension, the males do not have this smaller stature, either because their Y chromosome changes their growth or the limiter is not expressed without two X chromosomes.

Bam! Sexual dimorphism. (Consequently this is what I meant when I said "genetics can be used to explain anything.") Why these are expressed among the Au Ra I do not know, but there you have it.

1. I'm not saying there is no real-world inspiration for the Xaela, but until I know what it is I can't make judgment calls on what their society is like. (For the record I do think they're similar to the Mongolians, since they sound an awful lot like the Mardu Horde from the most recent Magic expansion who were based on... you guessed it, the Mongolians.)

See above. Also, the "rules of magic" can be changed to suit the authors' needs, which is why it's the ultimate cop-out.

While I can see why Lolorito might want Raubahn alive, the reality is he had his arm cut off and was engaging in vigorous physical activity. He already lost a lot of blood with that arm (even if the cutscene / FMV doesn't show it, if you want to apply real-world logic it happened), and with that large open wound and accelerated heart rate he'd be losing more every second he went medically unattended to. The body can only sustain itself on endorphins and adrenaline for so long; after a few minutes, at best, he would collapse simply from the lack of oxygen. At best; this does not include engaging Ilberd in heated combat. There's a reason they use tourniquets to cut off blood flow before amputating limbs.

Bladed and pointed weapons (most nonmagical weapons available to PCs) are designed to puncture or rend flesh, not break rock. While using such a thing on a rock monster might wear it down eventually, you're more likely to end up ruining the weapon before you accomplish this. A properly trained MNK has the best chance of really winning against rock monsters due to their fists bludgeoning things, followed in a very distant second by WAR thanks to their weapons relying more on force than finesse. Ergo, fighting rock monsters with daggers (or most available weapons) does not make sense. (Of course, MNKs could crack said rock monster and the people with bladed weapons could exploit those cracks... but we don't always have a MNK and that's a very restrictive way to fight.)

3. I do not pretend to know what genetic hybrids among the "races of man" would be like, and there is no way at all to know. Genetic hybridization can produce expressions not seen in either parent (ligers, bred for their skills in magic, are more massive than either of their parents, f'ex), so it's not wise to dwell on that question.

5. See above about sexual dimorphism.

Yes, making Xaela women more robust would make some people happy and some people not. I don't know why they chose to make them just as waifish as the Raen women, but I'm not going to say it's stupid until I get an explicit answer for that specific question. The most likely answer is they didn't have the time or didn't want to put the time into making two different models, and while I don't think that's the best reason, it's not my place to judge that as stupid (or "bunk"). In terms of lore, see above point about sexual dimorphism.

Only time will tell if making the Auri women (and men, y'know!) the way they are was a mistake. If they deem it was and redo the models, and consider giving everyone a free Fantasia their way of accepting responsibility for it, OK. Until then, stop trying to say it was a mistake; that's just your opinion.

Using the same model for both clans is, incidentally, the norm; the Hyur are the exception. I do not expect any new race to have different models depending on their clan, and I do not think anyone else should either.

Again, personal gripes aside, there is no way to know if introducing a new "tough" female model would interest people. Leaving it as does not help, but adding one might not help either... it's a risky proposition, and not doing so errs on the side of caution.

Leave the doughy walrus midget men alone! They're peaceful fishermen who make jewelry! The world can't be populated by bishounen like Alphinaud... you can't complain about Auri ladies being too cutesy and then demand my fictional walrus men be similarly built or they'll face genocide! Boo double standard!

[Isklexi]

Maybe they're matriarchal, and they bred their men as eye-candy. Conversely, the women could be mounted outriders that hunt and patrol the tribe's land while the men remain behind to guard established villages. That would at least give some kind of minor explanation for the size difference.

[jomoru]

5. See above about sexual dimorphism.

Yes, making Xaela women more robust would make some people happy and some people not. I don't know why they chose to make them just as waifish as the Raen women, but I'm not going to say it's stupid until I get an explicit answer for that specific question. The most likely answer is they didn't have the time or didn't want to put the time into making two different models, and while I don't think that's the best reason, it's not my place to judge that as stupid (or "bunk"). In terms of lore, see above point about sexual dimorphism.

Only time will tell if making the Auri women (and men, y'know!) the way they are was a mistake. If they deem it was and redo the models, and consider giving everyone a free Fantasia their way of accepting responsibility for it, OK. Until then, stop trying to say it was a mistake; that's just your opinion.

I'd rather Xaela males be made smaller and Raen Females made larger it would make more sense based on real world populations, however they aren't likely do that. So better to come up with some interesting justification for such. IF they ever do decide to invert the setup(big females, small males) likely it will be by adding a third clan.

[Mahri]

I haven't got much science to contribute here, but all I can say is that Olympic-level gymnasts, male and female, tend to be pretty freakin' tiny. Given that anime rules are in full effect so the fancier your moves the better, then this is why female Au Ra rock in a fight.

[Dualblade]

Being some of the things implied about the Allagans, them tampering with the Au Ra is more likely then outright eugenics on their part in my mind.

Either that, or it's a Nemesis plot.

[Samcaesar]

Horrifying. Eeek!

Pretty reasonable, but if one chooses to not have children with others because of specific traits, isn't that eugenics (Specifically "negative eugenics") as well? That social order instilled into children has to come from somewhere, chances are it's alienation and a "Us versus them" mentality. Ultimately if society tells these people to not do things such as "reproduce with those different than you" then that's eugenics.

Huh, really interesting thing you brought up about the capture of women and children with Native American tribes, I did not know that! Pretty interesting method to preventing inbreeding, as harsh as it is.

But, I still would wonder why would they not wish the look for the best mate when either exiled, surely they wouldn't go "Whelp, first girl I've found, time to make babies and start a new tribe." It's a wonder though, why wouldn't the Auri choose the best of the fellow outcasts to mate with? If he doesn't his new tribe doesn't have much of a leg to stand on, alternatively why would Auri women be outcasted? In either case would I feel a Auri man would still go for the best mate possible, if he's got options, he's got reasons to pick one of them over the rest.

Reasonable explanation of genetics and sexual dimorphism, but I feel that it's ignoring that height is controlled by genes that are also present on the other chromosomes, as prepubescent growth stems has to from something along the presence of the a variety of heights with men and women that cause average height differences to only difference of about 5 inches in the US in the united states (Showing that sex chromosomes aren't the sole factor in humans at least). One has so wonder why these variations aren't a thing in the Au Ra, like, is puberty not a thing for Au Ra? As a side note, I'm a bit curious on what the genetics of Lalafell and the various beastmen would look like, considering they're on the opposite end of the spectrum of having incredibly little amount of sexual dimorphism.


1. Reasonable, I'm just making my claims based off what my knowledge of nomadic cultures in steppes general gives me. I'd actually really appreciate it if one could find an example pointing in the opposite direction of my claims, it'd be great for discussion! (Mmn, Mardu <3 Alesha is the best.)

They could change the rules, but whenever an incredibly obvious retcon occurs, it certainly cheapens the world, doesn't it? It's why authors need to stick to rules whenever developing things like magic. In either situations, I don't think we should, as consumers, settle for cop-outs :P

I'd figure Raubahn would quickly go into shock considering the sudden trauma, then Lolorito could have healers on standby prevent Raubahn from dying. Like I said though, people have an amazing body in terms to survival, the shock in this case would cause Raubahn's heart to suddenly slow down, along with causing him to likely pass out rather quickly. It's not like they left his body to rot only for him to remain alive, he was captured and we do see Raubahn with a nursed wound, it implies the moment they could they gave Raubahn medical attention then tossed him into prison.

And yet the axe was developed to chop wood and the pickaxe functions in the repeated hitting of a sharp point, as opposed to a dull one. But, as I said, perhaps it's not a situation of just destroying the rock that makes up of it, but instead of disrupting the aether that keeps it alive, repeated damages from any weapon somehow causing that. It would make sense considering spells are also effective against rock monsters that you wouldn't figure be too useful against rocks, such as the various fire spells or Bio/Miasma being more of an Aether based contamination as opposed to an actual one.

3. Very good point! And I agree, I think we can reach the agreement that we don't know what a mixed race would look like, it could even give us something that looks vastly different. Maybe once Heavensward is out and the dev team gets a break we can bug the lore team for info?

5. To condense posts, let's talk about possibilities for that cause of there. as opposed to down here at 5.

Would people really get that upset over Xaela women becoming more tougher looking? It's not like they lack the option as the Raen would remain as waifish as they are. If the answer is "We didn't have enough time" then why shouldn't they dedicate time afterwards to solving that issue? Honestly I feel several additions to the character customization screen is something every player would support. (Also forgive me for the various terms >_> I'm not really sure how I was exposed to slang words such as bunk but I have!

If no one says it was a mistake, then SE won't know at least some people thought it was a mistake. Money shouldn't be the only reason SE decides to change things in this game after all (And it isn't if you look at some of their justifications and some of their changes, in particular the nerfing of dungeons and the like). If they decide to change the men, I won't be complaining honestly! But there's much less people complaining about how they look possessing a more unique identity (Like, while their torsos are similar to elezen. Auri's men go to comparison, damn Auri men have some waspish waists and a much more noticeable difference in facial structure)

It is, but why should it be the case? If the Hyurs differences proved something is that SE is willing to make differences for sensible lore, the Highlanders coming from a very harsh mountainous region, while the Midlanders come from a much more placid one. Considering the separation and different environments the two clans live in, I at least expected them to look different besides scale color and minor skin tone choices.

What have they got to lose? Fantasia junkies already jump around between the races constantly. heck I'd actually pay for a fantasia (Or just use the two free ones I will have >_>) to change my Xaela into a tough Xaela lady, but I can't! If it's the artists feeling they wasted time, well tell that to the poor devs who designed the original Steps of Faith :P They're gonna make things people won't use, why not try to hit the mark and appeal to all sorts of people? (Bringing it back to the Steps of Faith, instead of nerfing it to heck and back, they make a storymode version and an actual version!)

Hardly! We've got cutesy ladies out the butt in the game, we need some cutesy dudes somewhere! Perhaps.. Some clan differences with doughy walrus mini men in one, bishounen men in the other would suffice :P