Au Ra, what are they?

[Anonymoose]

I was going to hold back on this thread, but it's getting a little ... weird. Let's talk big pictures.

What are they?
A quick look back to the options given in the early Players' Polls suggests that Au Ra were internally built on the concept Reptilian Demi-beastmen. This is similar to how the Miqo'te are Mammalian (Feline) Demi-beastmen, or how a Viera-like race would have been Mammalian (Leporine) Demi-beastmen.

So, the dev. team goes through a few stages, bringing in demon-like concepts, and dragon-like concepts, and, what the hells, some of the wolf-like concepts from the mammalian considerations. Taking the aspects that are (seen internally as) best from each, the Au Ra takes shape, and it's quite scaly. What's the first thing that pops into your head? Most likely? Scalekin! Drakes and and the like! And the dragons descended from the Celestials! So they started fleshing out these early Reptilian (Draconic) Demi-beastmen.

However, as development on the story came along, they ran into a small problem. Isn't this the Ishgard expansion? Isn't Ishgard embroiled in a dragon war and don't they hate everything even vaguely related to dragons? And - oh, great - now people are running with Ishgard's accusation that Hraesvelgr and Shiva's spiritual bond can be reduced to a carnal and heretical sin, and that these "Au Ra" are their offspring.

"How can we fit this race into the story without alienating them right off the bat?" Time to walk back the emphasis on Draconic and highlight the Demonic undertones a bit more, for starters. But let's keep enough of it to highlight the tension they would have in Ishgard. Let's leave this debate to "the scholars", but overall weight the scales (pun intended) on "not dragon" pretty hard.

Or did Hypothetical Othardian Celestials have something to do with this? Speculate, speculate, speculate! <foot still on the scale, though>


"They're too Hyuran"
Ironically, the reason we didn't get bunny people is that they were too Hyuran. Take away ears and tails and the Viera and Miqo'te are essentially Hyur. Yoshida especially thought the males were not beastly enough - too cute. This seems to have been heavily exacerbated by the fact that "how can we cram as many gearsets as possible into this game" has clearly skyrocketed into the dunklesphere on SE's list of priorities, so races got simplified into very slightly modified Hyur wherever possible (this is why you're probably never getting your Miqo'te butts back). Thus did SE go with an option that they could make slightly less Hyuran and slightly more beastly, but without extending their gear development time by 33%+.

Maybe one day we'll get a definitely-not-all-that-Hyuran race...
But I'd assume you'd have an easier time convincing them to make bunny boys, at this point.

[Theodric]

I've always found the excuse that Viera were 'not beastly enough' to be rather odd and flimsy, personally. Especially when the developers backtracked on their initial vision for Au Ra. The original concept art looked a lot more fearsome and it notably looks more demonic rather than draconic even back then. My guess is that they changed how the race looked because they wanted something that would be very 'fanservicey' and if I'm not mistaken they even used that as the reasoning behind the jarring height difference between the men and women.

The men, at least, have the potential to be designed in a rather fearsome and imposing manner. The women? Not so much. Don't get me wrong, I can understand why they did it. But if we're not getting any playable races that are vastly different then I'd rather they focus on expanding the customisation options and lore for those we have already. Didn't they mention somewhere that they wanted to add additional 'clans' for each race?

[Anonymoose]

Didn't they mention somewhere that they wanted to add additional 'clans' for each race?

We can't stay in Eorzea forever. Makes you wonder how the five races adapted to Othard or Thavnair...

[LineageRazor]

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?

Their horns are likely sturdy enough to be slept on, and even if that still seems too uncomfortable to imagine, I don't think the tails are a big enough issue to stop them from sleeping on their backs.

As for losing a horn during battle, it's probably just the same as losing an ear during battle would be: your hearing is impaired on that side. If we assume that Au Ra hearing works by sound causing the horn to vibrate, then a partial horn (even just the nub if the whole horn is removed) may still be able to catch some sound.

[WhiteArchmage]

Ironically, the reason we didn't get bunny people is that they were too Hyuran. Take away ears and tails and the Viera and Miqo'te are essentially Hyur. Yoshida especially thought the males were not beastly enough - too cute.

Wait. waitwaitwait WAIT. You're saying Yoshi-P didn't put in the Viera for the same reason I want them?! Gah! It's the whole Vagrant Story gear thing all over again, I WANT to have a pretty bunny boy ; ;

[LineageRazor]

Wait. waitwaitwait WAIT. You're saying Yoshi-P didn't put in the Viera for the same reason I want them?! Gah! It's the whole Vagrant Story gear thing all over again, I WANT to have a pretty bunny boy ; ;

Meh, this doesn't surprise me. While a LOT better than many examples, FFXIV devs still seem to labor under the impression that the game should be tailored for heterosexual male tastes regardless of the fact that the game has a substantial female playerbase. Manly men are fine. Even bishonen are fine. But cutesy Uke-type boys? No way - that might trigger a precious male subscriber! Ditto for no girly outfits for men (plenty of manly clothes for women, of course - no bruising of delicate male sensibilities there!).

I switched to Au Ra in part because I desperately wanted to get away from the "recycled" FFXI races, and this was the first opportunity to do so. (I was previously a Roegadyn female, the closest I could manage at the time.) Nonetheless, I was disappointed that SE felt it necessary to take the females the "moe" direction while taking the males so absurdly far in the opposite direction.

Hopefully, the next race they add they will rethink this policy. And, if they do, you may want to count your blessings that it was the Au Ra that got the "pandering to the base" treatment instead of the Viera - you may get your bunny boys yet!

[Theodric]

Eh, I disagree. If anything there's already a lot of 'girly' looking male characters and gear that men can equip that is generally more suited to being worn by a female rather than a male. The game also shies away from stuff like body hair and characters such as Aymeric feel like they're deliberately made to appeal to women first and foremost.

A new race shouldn't be added as far as I'm concerned. Not until they expand on the options available for the existing races. Adding some classically handsome facial options for Highlander men (and proper eyebrows) would do wonders. I'd happily play one then. I don't mind the ruggedly handsome look they have going for them and their physique is wonderful - but something similar to the face used for the Warrior of Darkness in the CGI cutscenes would be incredible.

[Lauront]

...there's plenty of options as it is for people who want to play femboys, especially with some of the options open to catboys, midlanders and elezen, and to an extent, au ra and highlanders. More so than in any other MMO.

Then again, I am a big fan of auri males and much less so auri females. This is precisely because of the exaggerated masculinity and handsome faces available to the former, without falling into the boxiness of Roegadyn or the lack of facial refinement of highlanders. They remind me a lot of felbloods from Warcraft in this respect.

Their concept designs of Viera men, though, don't look suggestive of uke type men. When two of the existing races can be customised this way as it is, why should they fall exclusively into this category?

I second Theodric on the lore issue. I would rather they focused on the existing races and expanded their loreset and available subraces (and variety), rather than going for another race this coming expansion. Maybe leave it for the one after it. They're already going to be stretched if they're working on 3 new jobs.

[Theodric]

If they do add Viera then I'd like to the men to be rather muscular (ranging from athletic to beefy) with classically handsome, masculine faces as the default. Perhaps a few androgynous options to appease certain portions of the community but certainly not as an overall design decision. Personally I've always found the attempts by many members of this community to 'feminise' male characters to be both very jarring and off-putting but that's a subject better suited to a different thread, I suppose. Or best left unsaid to prevent potential arguments.

[Lauront]

A weight/muscularity slider (ranging from athletic to muscular) for all races, plus an expanded option of faces (between 6 - 8) would be much welcome. I'd rather they added that first, before other races. I do want to see Viera, as you describe them, and then perhaps after that a beast race of some manner or other, however I'm more eager for expanded options at this point in time. If Garleans happen to be the third playable hyuran race, so much the better.