Au Ra Origins: The Dawn & Dusk Theory [Spoilers]

[Alberel]

Wasn't it confirmed by Yoshi or Koji shortly after 3.0 released that the Au Ra are of voidsent origin, and not draconic? I was all for the theories that the Au Ra were of draconic heritage but I thought this entire line of speculation was categorically shut down last year. Am I wrong?

[Sinistral]

Wasn't it confirmed by Yoshi or Koji shortly after 3.0 released that the Au Ra are of voidsent origin, and not draconic? I was all for the theories that the Au Ra were of draconic heritage but I thought this entire line of speculation was categorically shut down last year. Am I wrong?

They said the Au Ra have a demon "motif", motif being a term used to describe a particular aesthetic style, not origin.

[LineageRazor]

Wasn't it confirmed by Yoshi or Koji shortly after 3.0 released that the Au Ra are of voidsent origin, and not draconic? I was all for the theories that the Au Ra were of draconic heritage but I thought this entire line of speculation was categorically shut down last year. Am I wrong?

As Sinistral noted, at no point was it explicitly stated that Au Ra are descended from Voidsent, only that the art team switched gears during development to give them a voidsent-ish look rather than the dragon-ish look they'd originally been conceptualized with.

It's also worth noting that, Voidsent or Dragon, Ishgard STILL persecuted the Au Ra canonically in-game. At least two Au Ra NPCs (Sidurgu, the DRK trainer after Frey, and Alaqa, who is involved in the White Mage job quests) both allude to atrocities committed against Au Ra by Ishgard before Ishgard grudgingly conceded that they were NOT heretical dragon/human blends.

So, honestly, the whole "we can't have dragon-people because Ishgard would go berserk" thing was a moot point; Ishgard went berserk anyway. :P

[Alberel]

As Sinistral noted, at no point was it explicitly stated that Au Ra are descended from Voidsent, only that the art team switched gears during development to give them a voidsent-ish look rather than the dragon-ish look they'd originally been conceptualized with.

It's also worth noting that, Voidsent or Dragon, Ishgard STILL persecuted the Au Ra canonically in-game. At least two Au Ra NPCs (Sidurgu, the DRK trainer after Frey, and Alaqa, who is involved in the White Mage job quests) both allude to atrocities committed against Au Ra by Ishgard before Ishgard grudgingly conceded that they were NOT heretical dragon/human blends.

So, honestly, the whole "we can't have dragon-people because Ishgard would go berserk" thing was a moot point; Ishgard went berserk anyway. :P

Interesting. I must have misunderstood that then. I would argue that the intention of a demonic look over draconic heavily implies that they are intending to imply a demonic origin, but indeed it would seem there is still the possibility of a draconic one.

[princefruit]

Despite the Voidsent inspiration, the Au Ra have always been moreso compared to dragons. Aside from the Ishgard persecution mentioned before, even the character creation screen mentions that there is ongoing debate about how Dragon-like the Au Ra actually are.

"The curved horns and beautifully patterned scales that characterize the Au Ra oft give rise to speculation that this Hyur-like race native to the Far Eastern continent of Othard are, in fact, the progeny of dragons. This, however, has long been disputed, with scholars citing several distinct differences in the two races as evidence of decidedly dissimilar roots—the first and foremost being the enhanced hearing and spatial recognition granted by an Au Ra's cranial projections (traits not attributed to draconian horns), and the second being the gross disproportion of body mass between Auri males and females (again, a trait widely unseen in dragons)"

And while scholars seem to shy away from the idea, we do know that gender disproportion IS a thing with several dragon species in game. Another thing to note is that the barbed tail option for Au Ra characters straight up matches the tails of some dragon enemies. (Then again another tail option is more similar to the Amaljaa).

Dragons are pretty powerful beings, I wouldn't put it in the impossible realm for some dragons, to be able to give birth to a new species or even to have other races conceive for them. It certainly wouldn't work in the traditional way we thing of conception though. It's probably much more abstract (for example Padjal, or irl The Virgin Mary or conception of Siddhartha). I'm not sure what would cause any sort of offense.

[Annana]

And while scholars seem to shy away from the idea, we do know that gender disproportion IS a thing with several dragon species in game..

Every dragon, male or female, is the same size. There are different "subspecies" of dragons, depending on how far removed from the first brood they are, but there are zero gender differences other than the way they refer to themselves.