Is there absolutely ANY indication on where a Xaela might start, or what class?

[Atoli]

I personally think Ul'dah would be the place to be. It's the city most friendly to refugees.

*bursts out laughing*
Ul'dah's view of refugees is a mixture of absolute hate and "Great, we can abuse and exploit them as much as we want until they die because they have nowhere else to go!"
Eorzean refugees came mostly to Ul'dah because it is the richest city and they gullibly believed that richest meant "has the most to share with those who lost everything", but were greeted with "we are rich because we don't give anything, now hand over what you have left, too".

I doubt such detailed information is available to tribes randomly travelling the Azim Steppe on a different continent, but even if it were, the starting city should logically be the town in which they arrived at first when they entered Eorzea.
That's why it's important to figure out how your character came to Eorzea in the first place - if he came by ship, Limsa is the most likely. Lots of players seem to treat Limsa as just a bunch of pirates, but most people in Limsa are normal citizens; even the pirates are mostly under the Maelstrom's rule and specifically only attack Garlean ships. But yeah, if you look around Vylbrand, most people are either farmers, keep livestock, and/or are fishers or crafters. Not necessarily nautical or pirate-y in any way. Actually, herding is something we specifically only see on Vylbrand (the Limsa island) and nowhere else, if I remember right. I don't think I need to mention how herding is probably a big part of the Xaela lifestyle aside from all the infighting between the tribes

If the OP's character somehow sneaked through Ilsabard though, Gridania would make the most sense (and the possible starting classes there being archer, lancer and a nature-y mage fit surprisingly well as both weapons are mentioned in the Xaela lore post, and as the early Mongolians had nature-related shamans, conjurer is probably the closest in terms of magic the Xaela have as well). They don't like outsiders, yes, and especially Au Ra who look quite a bit like the voidsent the Gridanians had to deal with before would probably be treated with some suspicion, but lore-wise, that would actually fit quite well, as the catch with Gridania is that they DO EXACTLY THAT. They treat you like a suspicious, unwelcome outsider, so playing through that starting scenario would probably feel very natural.

For Ul'dah, the only way one could arrive is per airship (if we are talking about arriving from outside of Aldenard), as it is located right in the center between the other two and its port is not meant for oversea ships. That seems more fitting to Raen nobility and merchants than a single Xaela refugee, but then again, that entirely depends on how you want to play your Xaela in the first place.

[MaikoRaines]

I wouldn't be surprised if he has "Til Sea Swallows All!" tattooed on his back IRL :P

Lower back, right? XD

I believe that the Au Ra come from the eastern regions. As Garlean reign began trying to attack other nations on that end, the Au Ra ended up fleeing to other continents such as Eorzea. I'd say Limsa makes the most sense as they are on the water and a lot of the refugees from Doma came on boat - this would just be my general assumption. The 2nd assumption is due to the 50-60 Ninja quest when the Au Ra Ninja princess is on her mission. Then you have Lady Yugiri.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

-snip-

I feel like I should note that the sea is PROBABLY the only realistic way that a character could go from Othard to Aldenard; airships are a rare commodity in Eorzea simply because of a dormant Garlean presence, and getting an airship out of Othard - which has an active, dominant Garlean presence - would presumably be much more difficult. Scarcity lends to conspicuity, after all, and it'd be much easier (and safer!) to get out on a boat. As for going across Ilsabard (!!), I imagine that would be just as if not even more difficult, especially considering that would require traversing the land bridge guarded by Ala Mhigo.

I don't see the need to restrict oneself to Limsa, though, even if the sea is the most realistic (and Limsa makes the most sense overall). After all, the WoL arrives in Ul'Dah and Gridania by carriage, and not by air or foot or anything, so I think the idea would be that your character arrived by sea and then traveled inland to their town of choice. Yeah, you'd have to have a purpose for going to that place specifically, but the game itself states what makes Ul'Dah attractive to immigrants and refugees even before the Domans appear (economic capital, so even if those in power are exploitive at best and hostile at worst, there seems to be a real chance to make a new life there) and writing a reason to seek out Gridania would take a fair less bit of effort than the mental gymnastics involved in arriving there across the land bridge (I mean, one could certainly do that, but it would be more than a little bit at odds with how the game presents things). Xaela arrives, seeks employment in areas s/he is skilled in, gets directed there - done.

[Terin]

Off-topic; Ryuji, what hair color is that? Your character looks awesome, it must be the lighting, but I can't seem to get my own hair color to hit quite the same shade as yours. Seems like it jumps from Brown, to black, to red, whereas there, it's almost a brownish burgundy?

Anyways... I think I'm leaning towards Limsa now. Never know if I'll change my mind later, but you guys make a pretty compelling case for it, and generally seem to be in agreement for it being the most logical choice for a Xaela. Thinking I may use Haragin as my tribe, simply because it's the only one that seems to mention having any sort of contact with the outside world, and it sounds like Ishgard specifically.

[Cilia]

I think I'm leaning towards Limsa now. Never know if I'll change my mind later, but you guys make a pretty compelling case for it, and generally seem to be in agreement for it being the most logical choice for a Xaela. Thinking I may use Haragin as my tribe, simply because it's the only one that seems to mention having any sort of contact with the outside world, and it sounds like Ishgard specifically.

Can't really change your mind once it's done. Just pick one and get on with it!

Shoot... gonna steal my thunder... Err, there is another coastal tribe (Mankhad) and the Kha, a tribe that unlike nearly every other Xaela tribe actively seeks out non-Auri peoples to interact with. I'm of the mind that most tribes don't actively avoid non-Auri peoples, but steppes and deserts that the Xaela roam across are generally pretty barren lands, so there are likely few visitors to the region (or at least there were, until Garlemald went Conquest Mode on them), and, well... the Xaela are based on 15th(-ish) century Mongols, who were pretty warlike. Still, a coastal tribe is probably for the best since living on the coast makes you more likely to interact with visitors, and while it doesn't say where the Kha actually live, "on the fringes of Xaela lands" is pretty nebulous and could include coasts.

Still, if you are gonna be a Haragin, better get crackin'! You got a long way to go if you wanna catch up to my status as a Legendary Dork Dark Knight!

For my part, I had already completed 2.55 and just race/name changed. I chose Haragin because the description sounds like an adventure hook and gives a simple but good backstory - she's searching for the legendary land from the myth and got swept up in... all this. That's all.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

Off-topic; Ryuji, what hair color is that? Your character looks awesome, it must be the lighting, but I can't seem to get my own hair color to hit quite the same shade as yours. Seems like it jumps from Brown, to black, to red, whereas there, it's almost a brownish burgundy?

Anyways... I think I'm leaning towards Limsa now. Never know if I'll change my mind later, but you guys make a pretty compelling case for it, and generally seem to be in agreement for it being the most logical choice for a Xaela. Thinking I may use Haragin as my tribe, simply because it's the only one that seems to mention having any sort of contact with the outside world, and it sounds like Ishgard specifically.

Nice, glad to hear you're making progress towards a decision!

Off-topic answer:

Thanks! I'm pretty happy with him too. I'm not sure what the colour is, but I've included a screenshot that shows where you can find it at the Aesthetician. Of note, I also use black highlights, but I'm not sure how much or how little they contribute.

[Terin]

Thanks Ryuji!

Also, as far as "changing my mind later", I just mean that I've already leveled two characters up to about 30, so worse comes to worse, I can always just level up my Ul'dah/Immortal Flame character.

Anyways... I suppose we don't really know anything about Othard yet, either?

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

Thanks Ryuji!

Also, as far as "changing my mind later", I just mean that I've already leveled two characters up to about 30, so worse comes to worse, I can always just level up my Ul'dah/Immortal Flame character.

Anyways... I suppose we don't really know anything about Othard yet, either?

We don't know a lot, but we also don't know nothing! Here's what we know so far:

-Its (native) population is at least Auri and Hyuran.
-Geographically, it is mountainous in the East; this is where the Raen come from. The western reaches of the continent are a "vast steppe" (basically, a grassland or prairie); this is where the Xaela come from. There is also a small set of islands to the East that may be home to a third type of Au Ra.*
-It has been completely conquered and subjugated by the Garlean Empire, a process which began a couple decades or so before the Calamity. This was achieved at great loss to the Empire, since it was the first place that they encountered Primal summoning (and that, in turn, is the reason they're so hell-bent on strangling Eorzea's ability to summon before committing to another large offensive). The effect of this war and the current occupation on Othardian culture has yet to be detailed. You can read a little bit more about all that here.
-We know that it holds (or held) the cities** Doma, Rabanastre, and Dalmasca. Those last two have been name-dropped in the Japanese version only; their presence in Othard was confirmed in an interview with GamerEscape. Doma is (or was) in the east, likely in the same region as the Raen; nothing is known about the other two. Doma was "razed" when they took advantage of an Imperial war of succession to stage a rebellion; this means it may not actually exist at all anymore.

And...that's about it, really! I'm sure somebody will let me know if I missed something.
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*I could have sworn this was discussed in the Kagoshima lore thread, but couldn't find the details there, and haven't been able to find the actual source for the life of me. But I definitely recall this fact being brought to light recently.
**I don't think the exact nature of Doma has ever actually been stated, and there's a lot that implies it's a region (ala La Noscea or Thanalan) rather than a singular city or city-state. Most of that implication comes, once again, from the naming conventions post, which regularly refers to Raen conventions as being Doman, which to me makes "Doman" sound like it covers more than just a city. That's just a theory, though, and has no backing in-game one way or the other.

[Rosenoire]

Go Team Haragin!

[Rosenoire]

As other folks have said, you may be approaching this backwards. Maybe try deciding what your character is like, and then work the backstory out from that direction.

I fantasia'ed my WoL from his previous incarnation as a Duskwight Elezen. I prefer playing casters, so I wanted to keep his starting class of Arcanist. I thought about having him be from the tribe that uses chess to determine leadership, but I liked the idea of someone from a coastal, seafaring tribe ending up in Limsa. Start with what you want your character to be, and go from there.