Au Ra physiology and other lore.

[Kytrin]

Actually I'm basing them on cuteified version of the Tuskarr from Warcraft, a race of... walrus men with an Inuit-like culture.

I remember those! I spent many, many, many, weeks trying to up my rep with them before I said eff it and wandered off to do other things before Cataclysm came out. :P

On a more thread related note, and apologies if this came up before and I missed it, since I THINK Othard is located in that misty vaguely labled Garlean Empire portion of the map...what do you guys think the odds of Au Ra having come into contact with Ala Mhigo before it fell, or even Gridania, before they became refugees?

For that matter, why go to Vesper Bay of all places? That's all the way down in the southern tip of the continent. I can understand avoiding Garlean patrols and the like, but doesn't Limsa have certified pirates preying on those? Just seems like they went way out of their way in that regard.

[Cilia]

On a more thread related note, and apologies if this came up before and I missed it, since I THINK Othard is located in that misty vaguely labled Garlean Empire portion of the map...what do you guys think the odds of Au Ra having come into contact with Ala Mhigo before it fell, or even Gridania, before they became refugees?

For that matter, why go to Vesper Bay of all places? That's all the way down in the southern tip of the continent. I can understand avoiding Garlean patrols and the like, but doesn't Limsa have certified pirates preying on those? Just seems like they went way out of their way in that regard.

I do not think any Au Ra came into contact with anyone prior to Yugiri leading her band of Doman refugees into Vesper Bay. The Raen are stated to be part of Doman society (with them being rather conservative, and not frequently venturing outside their own borders), while the Xaela are nomads who probably do not have the technological know-how to develop ships capable of carrying them across the sea to Eorzea. Either way, let's look at the currently charted territory of Hydaelyn (with some annotations made by YT):

Considering this, here's how I think the Doman refugees got to Eorzea (with the red line being a naval blockade by the Garleans, and the blue a possible route the refugees took):

So if the Garleans are blockading Gridania's naval ports and Ul'dah has no port cities before Vesper Bay, it's probable Vesper Bay was the safest place to land.

[Kytrin]

Okay, I'll buy that explanation. I always envisioned Othard as further north, but the map isn't really labeled so that works too.

[jomoru]

I don't even know what is happening in this thread anymore.

People are just antsy waiting for lore to drop and are thus chatting.

[zuzu-bq]

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I would love to discuss this all, after they actually release more lore.
I understand the hype, but this is too much for me to speculate.
I'm dying to know how Raen and Xaela interact with each other, how the nomads will see the opportunity of exploring a whole new continent that is Eorzea, starting with the vast fields of La Noscea! And how this whole new race will interact with all things that Eorzea have that they may not have seen before in Othard.

Plus, my english is not that good to write long text walls. I feel left out.

[Samcaesar]

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Whenever you're as small as the Auri women are, it doesn't matter how fast you are on horseback if you can't properly defend yourself or attack (Even archers have very muscular arms). There were plenty of counters to horseback archers, such as the ability for infantry to properly defend themselves with large shields. Besides if you killed the horse, the Auri rider would be practically defenseless considering how frail they look (And probably are. Considering they were designed to look like they needed to be protected).


Again, lack of balance and proper strategy is the issue here, the Au Ra would need far better tactics than just "Women on horseback because they'd be fast. Men on defense because they're strong" because we'd get to a "Unstoppable force vs Immovable object" situation. Now, say if we mixed Auri men into offense (Possibly by breeding horses to be bigger, considering in FFXIV the same is done with Chocobo) they might have enough strength to pierce through the defenses. And while I can't think of a reason to have the much less stronger Auri women on defense, the point is, if you're going to be fighting war, you're going to need to be the best. Best in speed, best in strength, best in defense, and best in tactics. With the physical structure of the Auri women being so weak looking currently, it doesn't add up for them to be in a society that focuses on battle.

Sedentary life =! larger more muscular bodies, otherwise the Domans wouldn't be midlanders, they'd be highlanders (Keep in mind the highlanders in Ala Mhigo probably have their body shape due to how militaristic their society is focused). Sure the more readily available food source would allow for a more healthier life, but due to the fact that Raen seem to be far more peaceful (Ie that "Embraces a life of tranquility" bit), there wouldn't be societal push to be as strong as you could, after all, who cares about being strong whenever you don't have to worry about life or death situations?

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As humorous as that'd be, I don't think it'd be too smart to breed your population for good looks :P

See the biggest issue with that is lack of balance, you either want to be the absolute best in all aspects or you want to have your forced diverse enough to function in many situations.

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Hm, good enough reasoning, but wouldn't that result in a situation where the men are suffering due to the lack of those beneficial traits? I mean, assuming height isn't strictly set up on the sex chromosomes, then I'd figure a push for a more balanced body would be still there, except making the men in general smaller as opposed to larger.

There is the issue of genes being there just remaining not expressed, which would explain why it pops up. Basically everyone having the "Gay gene" but only under certain circumstances would the gene actually come into effect. Alternatively, and I'm not sure in the case of other animals, bisexual people might be partially responsible for the gene continuing.

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While I can see where you're heading with this, my main issue is that evolutionary advantage is one that exists through society and non necessarily through genes. Like, "Oh well they don't want to have kids, guess we could use them to help mothers with childcare."

I dunno! Social responsibilities?

Considering (And it's such an annoying thing on the internet but it works so well in this conversation) the Nazis actively advocated eugenics in terms of ethnic purity, I'd say yes choosing a mate based on their ethnicity is eugenics. If society or customs dictate "You marry the strongest woman possible" is that eugenics? As that was what I was talking about earlier. It's no different than choosing a mate based on physical strength. While people will break from social boundaries, which is true in FFXIV's universe as well, there is still societal pressures that most people will conform too.

Love and attraction choosing their mates is perfectly reasonable reason, but people do definitely narrow their decisions based on those societal pressures, if one of those pressures is "Pick a strong woman" then I'm sure that'd color their decision to a degree.

I doubt they would too! It'd probably be crazy difficult to do that. They might not be human, but they are a "Race of man" which would mean they're similar enough to Hydaelyn's human equivalent to be able to reproduce.

1. Given that SE doesn't just leave it at "Magic" and actually spends a lot of time talking about Aether and its properties it's hardly not "Studied". While they could change the rules on a whim Magic works as a reason whenever the rules and limitations of magic are explained, in FFXIV, I would say the game spends a good bit talking about Aether, therefore it can be contested. Magic must have limitations and rules, SE spends time talking about Aether in the game and one can draw plenty of conclusions from it. While SE can add rules to it whenever they want, if they use it in a scenario which previously wasn't the case, then they're retconning, which is generally avoided in stories to keep the quality high.

He collapsed immediately after he lost his arm, the rest of everyone rather quickly clears out, considering that Lolorito probably planned everything and had healers on hand, it'd hardly be "Hours without medical care". Plus it's been several weeks after the incident in Ul'dah occurring by the time we see Raubahn in the jail cell, note his facial hair has grown well past his normal 5'o clock shadow so I doubt the jail cell shot was days after the occurrence. He could've recovered just fine, as Lolorito probably wanted to keep him alive for some reason.

That's my point though, by using the daggers as a pick, it wouldn't be very effective, but it's still chisel away. My point with the axes is that they were designed to use the weight of the head to hit something far harder, bark on wood for example. Hammers and axes function similarly enough. Perhaps aether infused metal is used in weapon productions to make them actually useful against aetheric beings, the soul bound (See aether) relic weapons function on a similar basis after all.

5. I suppose, but I'm not saying "Remove the Auri female model entirely" I'm saying change one of the clans so that people actually have a bit more variety with their options, it might actually attract some people to the game. I really doubt people would care that much over having to change to the Raen to keep their waifish characters as waifish as they are. Why shouldn't SE just sate both parties her and make the change?

My bad, I think the Auri women's design is a mistake, however I feel saying "The Auri woman's design is fine and makes perfect sense"

It's less about the content, more about the fact they changed things in the game. Your reasoning to why they might not want to make tougher models is that the artists might want appreciation and not see their work go to waste, so I brought up changes in the game as examples of SE having to change things in general. I mean, after all, why change a dungeon, wouldn't those responsible for designing the mechanics in it not like it if players said "Change it! It's too hard!".

I might be setting myself up for disappointment, but I see it more as putting SE up to the challenge! If they did it once, they can do it again and I don't see why they shouldn't.

That's what lalafell are for, silly! They're basically teddy bears that are also plotting bastards in most cases (Fufulupa being a good exception, that little nerd would probably be totally down for cuddles for cuddles sake). They bishounen I suppose, but they lack the exact feminine charms that Alphinaud has! We need some hella effeminate men!

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Sadly, it probably is too late. That dev post just seems awkward though, like who honestly looks at or cares about the size of their character's canines? :P

Perhaps I might get lucky in the future and additional clans or something get added, but I doubt that’d be the case as well.



Anyways, I'm gonna do as Zuzu will and tap out with this post. All this speculation is getting a bit too much even for me. Let's just hope the Lore Devs give us a lore drop soon ; ; It's been fun discussing with you all <3

[Isklexi]

Male homosexuality actually HAS been proven to have distinct evolutionary advantages

Proven is a very strong word in science. I am aware of a few hypotheses put forward on the subject. However, constructing a workable experiment to support them would be quite difficult given the subject matter both for ethical reasons as well as the time scales involved with human evolutionary selection. The two hypotheses I'm aware of are as follows:

1. Gay family members act as caregivers, increasing the fitness of their family's offspring. Their genetic lineage is then passed on vicariously via their siblings.

2. The suite of genes involved provide great benefits when they appear in limited number and only manifest as homosexuality when all are present simultaneously. Thus they are a net benefit the majority of the time.

but wouldn't that result in a situation where the men are suffering due to the lack of those beneficial traits?

It may still provide benefits to a lesser degree, and even if it doesn't, it matters much less for men. From a purely biological standpoint, you only need a handful of males in each generation to reach breeding maturity to ensure the next generation; it's much more important for females to survive to breed multiple times. Some species on Earth take this to some impressive extremes (male Bees almost literally explode after sex).

[WyrahFhurrst]

I do not think any Au Ra came into contact with anyone prior to Yugiri leading her band of Doman refugees into Vesper Bay. The Raen are stated to be part of Doman society (with them being rather conservative, and not frequently venturing outside their own borders), while the Xaela are nomads who probably do not have the technological know-how to develop ships capable of carrying them across the sea to Eorzea.

Proof against this idea would be the Odin Minion, where it states "A popular theory is that Odin acquired the blade upon slaying an Auri warrior..." which goes to show that we did know of the race, but not necessarily the specifics of them.

[lilirulu]

Adding in more models is much much more difficult then the changes done to Steps of Faith. SoF only had some numbers tweaked and nothing else. While adding new models would involve designing, Creating the Model(s) (and to further break that down: Sculpting, Making Normal Maps & Textures, Producing the game-ready and LoD models), Making w/ Mocap new animations, adding in or altering all ready existing armour models to fit. It's not comparable at all.

[jomoru]

Whenever you're as small as the Auri women are, it doesn't matter how fast you are on horseback if you can't properly defend yourself or attack (Even archers have very muscular arms). There were plenty of counters to horseback archers, such as the ability for infantry to properly defend themselves with large shields. Besides if you killed the horse, the Auri rider would be practically defenseless considering how frail they look (And probably are. Considering they were designed to look like they needed to be protected).

Au'ri Females ARE NOT FRAIL. They are the right muscular proportion for someone who would live on the steppes. The Males are unnatural. The males have nothing in common with any Steppe people in human history. The females are the same proportions as Attilla "Scourge of God" the Hun. They are the same proportions as the people who made up the Golden Horde. The males are the ones who have no basis in biology. The Males are the ones who require magic to be justified. Not the females.

And you really don't seem to understand at all how the Mongols fought. They made use of Hit and run tactics. It doesn't matter how armored your infantry is if they get hit by arrows out of nowhere. Yes if your infantry is ready to fight they have defenses.. That's not generally how the mongols hit infantry they would keep harrying them and moving back.

Again, lack of balance and proper strategy is the issue here, the Au Ra would need far better tactics than just "Women on horseback because they'd be fast. Men on defense because they're strong" because we'd get to a "Unstoppable force vs Immovable object" situation. Now, say if we mixed Auri men into offense (Possibly by breeding horses to be bigger, considering in FFXIV the same is done with Chocobo) they might have enough strength to pierce through the defenses. And while I can't think of a reason to have the much less stronger Auri women on defense, the point is, if you're going to be fighting war, you're going to need to be the best. Best in speed, best in strength, best in defense, and best in tactics. With the physical structure of the Auri women being so weak looking currently, it doesn't add up for them to be in a society that focuses on battle

Again you keep trying to bring in genetics when you have no knowledge of history, physiology or physics A larger horse cannot have the endurance or speed of a smaller horse. That's not possible outside pure magical fiat. The sweetspot of speed and endurance is something that would be perfect for females. You can't just make an animal bigger without it having to move greater mass, and while it might be stronger it will have less endurance.

Sedentary life =! larger more muscular bodies, otherwise the Domans wouldn't be midlanders, they'd be highlanders (Keep in mind the highlanders in Ala Mhigo probably have their body shape due to how militaristic their society is focused). Sure the more readily available food source would allow for a more healthier life, but due to the fact that Raen seem to be far more peaceful (Ie that "Embraces a life of tranquility" bit), there wouldn't be societal push to be as strong as you could, after all, who cares about being strong whenever you don't have to worry about life or death situations?

Sedentary life style DOES mean that. That's what the real world shows. Nutrition is a really big part in why people get taller and stronger. If you'd like to try and argue purely from in game stuff go right ahead but stop using genetics in the case as you're clearly ignoring most real world stuff already.