Lore questions about Miqo'te

[reiichi]

The in-game graphics are a very poor indicator of body hair, seeing as how every single person, all races, all sexes, are shown 100% hairless below the neck. This is a (disappointing) graphical shortcut.

Yes, people in Eorzea have body hair. This includes the cats.

If you disagree, look at people IRL with thick eyebrows, and then look at my eyebrows here. What do they tell you? Exactly.

I believe the question OP had was more in tune with "are Miqo'te covered in so much hair so as to resemble having cat fur?" Much like the Mithra in FFXI.

That doesn't appear to be the case here in FFXIV. It's not a complete lack of body hair that is being argued for. Just that you know, we see people's skin/skin color, not a blanket of hair/fur covering their bodies. Why else give Miqo'te a skin tone option if they were so hairy?

[Mahri]

Yeah, but I was more replying to the person that appeared to be implying (perhaps unintentionally) that the improbably, even off-puttingly hairless bodies of characters in-game ought to be taken as exact depictions.

[Noxifer]

According to the Las Vegas Lore Panel, all Eorzean races have a similar lifespan to real world humans, with the exception of Elezen living a little bit longer and having a slightly prolonged development stage.

...I'd like to contrast this with in-game conversations that state a certain Lalafell has been studying for centuries, and has been locked up in jail for about 200 years. Said lalafell still looks "adult" and not "ancient". And there's no apparent expectation that the PC should react with shock to that statement alone, which leads me to believe that the mentioned time periods would be within reasonable for a lalafell.

[The_NPC]

If fantasy has taught us many idea's its that "Magic" can extend u'r lifespan... at a cost (the BLM in prision for the BLM quests is the 1 I think u'r mentioning... & he did have a "demon" held within himself so there is that) I think by Eorzea's city style & tech level, if u didn't go out of the city or get invaded/rob/kidnapped, the average Eorzea would live at max 50ish years baring medical problems or "things" done to extent it (maybe longer in Ul'dah if u'r a sucessful & parinod buisness person with conections to the Alchemist guild)

as for Miqo'te I'd imagine the more "Feral" they are the more beast/cat like they act, only shown in-game by the few that are act more that way (wonder what 1 raised like Tarzan would act like?... okay now I got weird thoughts stuck in my head)

[Sounsyy]

...I'd like to contrast this with in-game conversations that state a certain Lalafell has been studying for centuries, and has been locked up in jail for about 200 years. Said lalafell still looks "adult" and not "ancient". And there's no apparent expectation that the PC should react with shock to that statement alone, which leads me to believe that the mentioned time periods would be within reasonable for a lalafell.

Sorry, I had truncated Fernehalwes statement down to the bits that were relevant to the OP. The full statement does actually mention said Lalafell, named Ququruka, who lived in Ul'dah's Oubliette/Marasaja Pit for 100 years. Ququruka entered a deep state of meditation and whether by shear force of will, plot armor, or just really good genes, was able to survive his self imposed gaol sentence. In the full quote, which I'll throw up below, Fernehalwes specifically mentions that Ququruka is an exception, not the rule.

Q: What are the age scales of every race? How long do they live and how long does it take them to become an adult?

Fernehalwes: Okay, yeah I asked about this and I was told that age-scale wise the five races biologically have the same lifespan as we do here on earth. They can live one hundred, one hundred and twenty biologically. The thing is, here we have modern medicine, we have jobs that don't take us on to the battlefield, we have food in refrigerators not sitting in a barrel. And so we can live that long, whereas, in Eorzea its a much harsher realm. I mean you've got raptors roaming the jungle. "I need to go out and pick an ogre pumpkin!" "Oh sorry, daddy got eaten by a raptor as he was picking our dinner pumpkin so it looks like we're having nothing for dinner tonight." And so daddy dies of raptor and children die of starvation because they couldn't get the pumpkin.

On top of that you have wars and people are fighting Ishgard, I wouldn't expect most people would live longer than like thirty years. That's the thing, so you get an average lifespan that is a lot shorter, y'know in the forties, fifties. I mean there was the one quest about, back in 1.0... there was the Lalafell that was put in the Oubliette in Ul'dah, and he was in there praying and because he did this zen thing and he focused and he slowed his breathing and he lived for hundreds of years or whatever. Other than that people aren't going to live that long.

That said, Elezen actually do have a longer lifespan than the other four races. And this also appears when they go from child to puberty to adulthood. So which is why you'll see in 1.0 there was a bunch of Elezen children that appeared in some of the quests and they appear again in 2.0, and they're still children. And you think well it's been five years why are they still children? It's because again that childhood for Elezen can last much longer. And they end up living longer as well. Um, but for the most part it's pretty much just the same as us, but with more... fatality.

For reference, here's some of the quest text which talks about Ququruka. He claims to be hearing the voice of Nald'thal, and most of the Order believe he's finally gone senile after spending so much time in the gaol. But to be 100% fair, he only spent 100 years in prison, and was only 30-50 years old prior to his self-inflicted incarceration. So 130-150 years old when he was released (and subsequently died like almost immediately after he got out of prison), which is still only 10-30 years longer than normal biological 100-120 years old statement from Fernehalwes.

In prison, a man will do most anything to keep his mind occupied. Indeed, of late one of the inmates claims to hear the voice of Nald'thal. No doubt he has lost his mind after serving one hundred years of his life sentence. I've never seen anything quite like it. Of course, I make it for nothing more than the maniacal ravings of a cellcrazed, sweatytoothed madman. His name is Ququruka, and as if his story were not proof enough of his lunacy, he also styles himself a black mage. But such magic was lost to Eorzea centuries ago. Who does this senile charlatan think he will fool with such rubbish?

_______________________

And as far as the body hair goes, yes I'm pretty sure everyone has body hair that is not displayed. But Highlander models don't have eyebrows because culturally many shave them off. You can either extrapolate that Eorzean beauty standards include full body waxing/shaving or that it's just more likely that Miqo'te aren't actually covered in the same kind of hair that their tails are, meaning, no fur covered bodies, which was what the OP was asking more or less. Take from it what you will, but I've personally never seen a Miqo'te complaining about shedding underneath their clothes.

[Noxifer]

Sorry, I had truncated Fernehalwes statement down to the bits that were relevant to the OP. The full statement does actually mention said Lalafell, named Ququruka.

Right... But the very quest text you quoted, and especially this part:

No doubt he has lost his mind after serving one hundred years of his life sentence.

...It kind of indicates that "serving one hundred years of your life sentence" isn't something too out of the ordinary. I mean, sure, life sentence normally means "you will be in jail until you die, no ifs buts or maybes", but if it had been that unusual, I'd have expected Yayake to be a bit more... you know, shocked. As it is, it just seems to be an indicator that "yeah, Lalafellin lives can totally be up to twice that of a Hyur -- barring stuff like wars and accidental deaths, of course".
I mean, if someone would comment about some criminal in our world, they probably wouldn't say, "Well, he's probably gone insane after having been in jail for a hundred years." In such a case, it'd be more like, "You know, most people would be dead by now, why isn't this guy dead yet!?" Especially since Yayake in the same breath completely discounts any claims of black magic that would, you know, account for him having a longer lifespan.

[Sounsyy]

Right... But the very quest text you quoted, and especially this part:

...It kind of indicates that "serving one hundred years of your life sentence" isn't something too out of the ordinary.

Umm, if you say so?

I've never seen anything quite like it.

Seems kind of contradictory to "isn't something too out of the ordinary"? And that statement clearly isn't talking about his crazy talk, because she says prisoners in general will do/say anything to keep their minds occupied.

If you want to believe that Lalafell live a little bit longer than the average Hyur, by all means, but I've got a statement from Fernehalwes and quest text that implies this singular Lalafell, who was emboldened by magic and isolated from any danger for 100 years, is an exception to normal Lalafell. The five races biologically live 100-120, but most do not make it to that age. And Ququruka seems to be the one and only person who's reached that max life capacity. He also dies, mere days after being released from prison. But all of this is irrelevant anyways, since the thread was about Miqo'te?

[ExKage]

Snip

Word of God (Fernehalwes) just said that you were mistaken and made a poor assumption... His life span is an anomaly. You can even make the case that there was no surprise because a) Black magic is forbidden and unknown so that may just be how he expanded his life this is crazy!! and b) Dude's lived a long time...in solitary. No doubt that he lost his mind.

Well, man I almost quoted Yayake.

[Felis]

Do their entire bodies stiffen when angry/attempting to intimate and their hair stand on edge?

https://youtu.be/GLD56KOPyE8?t=46
https://youtu.be/uCB-xotk7bQ?t=156

[Noxifer]

And that statement clearly isn't talking about his crazy talk, because she says prisoners in general will do/say anything to keep their minds occupied.

Not quite so clearly, actually.

I've never seen anything quite like it. Of course, I make it for nothing more than the maniacal ravings of a cellcrazed, sweatytoothed madman.

Since she goes on, still using "it" as the subject, I doubt she's talking about his longevity as "the maniacal ravings of a [...] madman". Sure, it might just be poor grammar use, but... "Poor grammar" is not going to be my assumption when playing an official game.

Word of God (Fernehalwes) just said that you were mistaken and made a poor assumption... His life span is an anomaly.

Quite possibly, but I'd still argue that in-game information trumps out-of-game information. Like I said, it might be just poor wording. Gods know it's tricky to proofread your own texts because your brain tells you it's obvious what it means (because you know the intention), when an outsider can tell you it can be interpreted in several ways, and only one of those is the way you intended.

You can even make the case that there was no surprise because a) Black magic is forbidden and unknown so that may just be how he expanded his life this is crazy!!

Wait... You're saying that there'd be no surprise/shock because it's not supposed to be possible.


Aaaanyway, this is a complete aside from the thread topic in general.