Au Ra, what are they?

[The_Last_Dragoon]

I would think that they are the children of Hraesvelgr and Shiva, but I believe there was a whole "they're not really dragons" thing in the lore. So I'm pretty sure that means that Au'ra are scaled lizards with echolocation.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

My lady-friend joked I was a goat-man when I first showed her a picture of Ryuji, so. Goat-reptile-people?

I'm not sure their genetic origins matter all that much. We know about as much about their genetic origins as we do about, say, the Miqo'te's - that is, they're a humanoid race with vaguely animal features that originate from a different region of the planet. None of the other races have any sort of emphasis placed on "what" they are, which is why attitudes like this perplex me so much:

A mistake. Instead of a real Draconian or even Voidsent race they resort to this. Absolutely pathetic. So much potential in those concepts only to be tossed away in favor of Hyur/Elezen rejects with horns for ears.

I don't think that's entirely fair, for starters; there's quite a lot of potential for customization in the Au Ri that makes for very dynamic displays, limited as the character creation screen can be at times. It's more noticeable in the males than females, I suppose, though that's mostly due to their size. That nobody takes advantage of the options isn't really the fault of the devs (note: I am entirely guilty of that, as Ryuji is not an especially dynamic Au Ra).

But also, why is it so disappointing to people that a massive departure from every other playable race wasn't taken? As cool as it would have been, Velox has the right of it - the spoken races are just races of different humans, with the Au Ra being the vaguely reptilian answer to the other feline/elven/giant-like variations. While that certainly gives less variation in player appearance than if a chunk of the player base were hulking monsters, it's a legitimate world-building decision, especially given the place of dragon-men and voidsent in the established lore.

That said, I do think they could have been introduced better. I've long thought that this game could use racial quest lines (and city-state questlines, but that's something else entirely), but nowhere moreso than the Au Ra, who are an entirely immigrant race to Eorzea. Hell, a racial questline isn't even necessary; an immigrant community of them somewhere along our adventure would have been enough to give us SOME idea of their place in society. Instead, they just sort of appear, with a handwave and vague suggestion that they've been around this entire time, in small numbers. They're not integrated into Eorzea all that well, and I think maybe they would have been better received if more attention had been paid to this.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

They're not integrated into Eorzea all that well, and I think maybe they would have been better received if more attention had been paid to this.

I disagree to an extent. If the devs made it where the Au Ra were given more attention just because they're a new race, it would make it seem like the lore is favoring them because they're new and cheapens the effect. However, if you notice carefully, there aren't a lot of Au Ra NPCs around and some job quests (mostly DRK and WHM) explain why it is the case; Au Ra were treated badly by Ishgard and the race is probably weary of the rest of Eorzea, which is probably why you don't see any in the 2.0 areas (yet). Who knows? Maybe in 4.0 we'll get to see a settlement where Au Ra live.

[Theodric]

The original concept art makes them look much more unique and fearsome. The current male model, at least, has a lot of room to look demonic/draconic but I loathe the female model since it so blatantly looks like a Hyur with horns, a few scales and a tail. I can't help but find the size difference between the genders very dubious as well. The females just look like little shrimp in my eyes.

Not to go off on a rant but I do hope that we don't get any additional playable races in the future and instead there's greater focus on expanding the options and lore for the existing races. Some - such as Duskwight Elezen and Roegadyn - are woefully without much in-game representation. Au Ra are much the same - making their inclusion feel very 'off' to me.

[Ashkendor]

A mistake. Instead of a real Draconian or even Voidsent race they resort to this. Absolutely pathetic. So much potential in those concepts only to be tossed away in favor of Hyur/Elezen rejects with horns for ears.

Roe are just oversized Hyur with weird dog nose markings. By your logic, they're pretty pathetic too.

[MagiusNecros]

Roe are just oversized Hyur with weird dog nose markings. By your logic, they're pretty pathetic too.

Too bad the Roegadyn actually are pulled from their concept art. Unlike the Au Ra which ultimately got shafted. It's not the Au Ra themselves that are pathetic. It's their implementation that is. So much potential for a bestial yet humanoid race. And they threw it away.

[Ashkendor]

Too bad the Roegadyn actually are pulled from their concept art. Unlike the Au Ra which ultimately got shafted. It's not the Au Ra themselves that are pathetic. It's their implementation that is. So much potential for a bestial yet humanoid race. And they threw it away.

I guess? I don't feel that Au Ra "got shafted" any more than Roegadyn did when the devs chopped the tails off XI's Galka and shoved them into Eorzea. Plenty of things change between the drawing board and actual implementation. It's just kind of a fact of designing anything. Sometimes things change and that's okay. All you have to do is look at the numbers of what races are played to see what will be popular with the playerbase and what won't be looked at twice. With the amount of work that undoubtedly went into implementing it, I can't blame them at all for wanting their new race to be popular instead of another barely-seen rarity.

[Vergill]

As far as i'm aware, most Au Ri come from Doma, the land of Yugiri and her shinobi (Let's think as ancient Mongolia and Japan). I don't know when or how they came to Eorzea, but as far as i'm aware, they came together with Yugiri as refugees by the end of A Realm Reborn. But we only get to see that Yugiri is actually an Au Ra in the beginning of Heavensward. Surely enough, when we go to Doma liberate it from the Garleans, we will get not only more lore about the Au Ri -- but at least one new job as well! The Samurai will come. And i really woulda want to see how the Samurai would blend in in Hydaelyn's lore.

[Riardon]

They came from the Far Est as refuges. They are new to Eorzea (or it has been really long since Eorzea saw another AuRa in the past). They already mentioned there might more than 2 tribes of AuRa but here in Eorzea only those 2 tribes appeared.
Their physical appearance baffles me though. They are not very well designed. How they sleep (or they simply "meditate" and not rly sleep), what happens if they lose their horns during battle?
We still don't know anything about them. I still believe they do not blend really well in the game.
They also need to stop making races based on humans with different tails and ears every time.

[Februs]

If I remember correctly, Yoshi-P answered this in an interview. He explicitly stated that the Au Ra were not related to dragons, but were often shunned by superstitious Ishgardians who were under the mistaken belief that they were (as per their appearance). He also said that they were modeled after a "demon motif;" however, I don't think he elaborated on that to explain any specific lore about their origins. Just because they were modeled after demons does not mean that they are demons, per se. They could be, but they also could just as easily not be. The only thing we know about them with certainty is that they are of an eastern descent, and that they have a different faith system than most of Eorzea (something about a Dawn Mother and Dusk Father ... or Dusk Mother and Dawn Father... One or the other).