lalafell? Roegadyn? Elezen? .....highlander?

[Yuella]

Mhachi eventually became Belah'dia which became Sil'dih and Ul'dah which were/are lalafell's nations. And Shatotto was a lalafell so I assume Mhachi was a lalafell nation.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

I find it kind of strange that, in a game where so much attention is paid to the consistency of the world with its lore, so many are so willing to just chock up the Hyuran-proportioned mobs to a dev mistake, rather than a specific decision meant to expand our knowledge of these ancient societies' demographics. This is something even Ethys Asher, in his otherwise excellent lore videos, does constantly. "We know these societies were entirely Lalafell". Do we? Or was that a guess made based on previous observation, that current evidence now paints as incorrect?

I, for one, don't see any reason to assume that Hyur - or any other race, for that matter - weren't at some point part of Mhachi (or Amdapor, or Nymian) society. In fact, based on the presence of these enemies, I think it's very likely, if not outright fact, that they were, at least to some capacity.

In any case, it's a good question to ask if there's a lore panel at FanFest, I suppose.

[Enkidoh]

But that is part of game development, where an existing texture or model is used to represent something else to cut time and development costs - this has been proven in at least once instance in FFXIV: specifically, the Mercaydian Cathedral in Azys Lla, has the glyph of Azeyma on it, making it closely resemble the ruins found scattered throughout Thanalan, including the Sunken Temple of Qarn.

Naturally this then led to lots of wild speculation that the Mercaydians were on Eorzea at one time or something... only for the development team to admit that is not actually the case and there is no lore reasoning or explanation behind Azyema's glyph on the Cathedral, that they simply reused the textures from the Sunken Temple of Qarn/Thanalan ruins on it to save time - cue lots of disappointed sighs from lore buffs.

Like it or not, this happens in game development, they're under tight deadlines to have games or content out by a certain time and thus having to create new models or textures from scratch may take far longer than what they have available, trying to keep lore consistent sadly plays no part in that decision to do so.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

Yeah, I know. But that is just one instance, as opposed to all the other little teases and details placed throughout the world. It just seems like people are writing it off a bit quickly, is all.

(And even if it was just a rushjob mistake, it's still there, in the game. Barring a definitive lore team statement of "there were absolutely positively no Hyur anywhere at the time of the WotM", I think it makes more sense to adopt it and consider them part of those societies than to just dismiss it completely).

[Enkidoh]

The 'no Hyur in Mhach' thing though probably comes from what SE stated on the official website about how the hyur settled in Eorzea in the Sixth Astral Era through "three great migratory waves" over a thousand year period, thus stating that they came long after the Sixth Umbral Era:

Over the course of some one thousand years and three great migratory waves, the Hyur have come to be the most populous of the civilized races in Eorzea.

Considering the Sixth Astral Era lasted for.. a little over 1500 years... it seems the first Hyur set foot in Eorzea still centuries after Mhach was destroyed. So that is pretty conclusive that Mhach was not a hyur city.

[PArcher]

Do people remember this last Little Lady's Day, where the Prince and Princes dolls were...Hyur?

[Morningstar1337]

Didn't the Elezen (lankier, but still of similar proportions to Hyur) claim to be the original inhabitants of Eorzea? With Mhach's proximity to both Ishgard and Gridania ts seems likely that there were a Mix of both types of Elf ersatz. (Elezen and Lalafell), course it would also mean that Lalafell would be a Minority in Mhach, and wound up Migrating to Thanalan some time after.

As for the Statues. There IS precedence for a Statue that depicts an Elezen but for some reason, didn't (the one of Saint Shiva). Which is explain by the fact that a scultor was a Hyur, but if we assume that Lodestone post is still canon and didn't get reconnected, than it wouldn't fly here, or would it?

The Mhach was capable of very advanced technology, as was Allag, it would be possible that soem sort of Travel outside of eorzea was established and that the Statues were commissioned to Hyurs in another land then brought here using advanced airships similar to the Void Ark. Take the Statue of Liberty, an American Monument but it was a gift from France and sent there by ship. (IIRC)

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

The 'no Hyur in Mhach' thing though probably comes from what SE stated on the official website about how the hyur settled in Eorzea in the Sixth Astral Era through "three great migratory waves" over a thousand year period, thus stating that they came long after the Sixth Umbral Era:

Over the course of some one thousand years and three great migratory waves, the Hyur have come to be the most populous of the civilized races in Eorzea.

Considering the Sixth Astral Era lasted for.. a little over 1500 years... it seems the first Hyur set foot in Eorzea still centuries after Mhach was destroyed. So that is pretty conclusive that Mhach was not a hyur city.

Not necessarily - it says that the three great migratory waves resulted in them being one of the most populous, which doesn't necessarily preclude their existence there before that. Nor does their non-accidental presence in the Weeping City mean that it was a Hyur city; it could very well be that it was primarily Lalafell, but had a minority Hyuran population as well.

I mean, we now have both Amdapor AND Mhach with Hyuran models for its mobs. I think the idea that the race had some presence at some point in the 6th Astral Era warrants consideration.

[Rhodkr]

I'd also like to point out that it something akin to intercontinental travel didn't exist, and supposing that the hyur didn't live in Eorzea until the migration then how exactly did they know what a hyur looked like to make a hyurian statue in the first place? Why not make it in their own races image? What I'm saying is, those proportions are awfully strange to a lalafell. For example, people complain about the lankiness of an Elezan, but if you were born an Elezan and that's all you saw, then the proportions of Hyurs would be 'off' to you. So either those statues are done by a sculptor with no sense of proportion or its of a hyur for some reason.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

So either those statues are done by a sculptor with no sense of proportion or its of a hyur for some reason.

Or the statue is exaggerated in proportions to give a sense of power or other-worldliness (as can happen with statues of great leaders and deities), and it just happens to look like a Hyur.

I still think it's more likely that there was just a smaller Hyuran population kicking around before they immigrated en masse, but artistic exaggeration is a possibility as well, at least in terms of statuary.