[Spoilers] Lore of the Steppes

[KageTokage]

Does the lorebook have a list of tribe names in it, as well?

Because I recall someone mentioning a tribe that was described as being mostly wiped out by Garlean slavers, which runs a bit contrary to the statement that the steppe was left untouched by them. However, said tribe isn't in the list here.

I'm curious though: how do other Au Ra players incorporate current canon into your personal canon for your characters? Do you even bother, or am I just incredibly OCD?

As someone who read into the tribe lore after naming my character, I ended up just imagining she was a Tumet who failed her coming of age rite, and was thus never granted a name or accepted into their tribe. Her Midlander-style forename is from the adventurer couple who spared her an untimely demise tied to a tree and took her into their care, and surname simply a nickname given to her by a friend she met in a new home outside the steppe, feeling unwilling to bear the surname of another family when she knows her true origin, yet unwilling to bear one that she didn't properly earn through tribal tradition.

As the Tumet seem to dictate the worth of their members based heavily on whether or not they can pass that trial in their youth, having one of their nameless failures become the khagan would be deliciously ironic.

...I think I should write a full, detailed backstory someday.

[Miyha]

Does the lorebook have a list of tribe names in it, as well?

Because I recall someone mentioning a tribe that was described as being mostly wiped out by Garlean slavers, which runs a bit contrary to the statement that the steppe was left untouched by them. However, said tribe isn't in the list here.

Popping in here because I'm actually curious about this: where was this stated? Or rather, who said it? :P I would genuinely be interested in working this into one of my characters' backstories. That said, I don't remember any tribe like this being mentioned in the lore book. I can double check when I get home, but if I remember right, it's the same list of 51 that we have elsewhere available to us.

I'm curious though: how do other Au Ra players incorporate current canon into your personal canon for your characters? Do you even bother, or am I just incredibly OCD?

Also because I just can't resist responding to this. <3

I do attempt to incorporate canon into my personal story for my character. I bend it just a little, partly to fill in for things we don't really have a definitive canon answer for yet (such as her original tribe being one we haven't met yet) and partly because I didn't even start as an Au Ra and had to be a liiiiittle bit creative. ;;;; Basically my character was the child of members from the Kagon tribe who were captured (by which tribe I have not decided yet) after venturing out of their desert lands and into the Steppe one night. To spare her a life of servitude and a likely early death in tribal warfare, they entrusted her at a young age to the care of a traveling merchant who was ultimately bound for the colony of Sharlayan just a few years before it dissolved, where she was adopted by a family of Keepers of the Moon (thus explaining her Keeper-inspired name, which I actually have because I started out as a Miqo'te and couldn't afford to change it before I became known by my friends on this server with my current name ;;;; ). Her adeptness with sensing and manipulating aether made the Forum take an interest in her, and rather than keeping her and taking her back to the actual nation of Sharlayan and put her at risk of being the Forum's test subject, her adoptive family sent her to Ishgard when the colony dissolved, where she was entrusted to/hidden by an affluent family before escaping the constant scrutiny and suspicion to Gridania in the wake of the Calamity.

That's essentially the gist of her pre-ARR background. I do have some variances too depending on if it's just my character's story playing out in my head along with the game and not RPing or anything (interactions with and relationships to NPCs and whatnot), or if I'm RPing with others (which I haven't yet because too shy to approach anyone/too lazy to actually write out my whole back story ;;;; ). Still likely some bugs to work out but I'll figure it out as things develop with the Auri tribes/if and when I eventually have a lore expert look over all of my ideas. ;;;;

[Harz]

Especially since the writers set up the "Au Ra are misunderstood and persecuted in the West" thing with my favorite edgelord Sid, and what's her name from the WHM 50-60 quest, it felt wrong that my Au Ra WoL finally gets to be around his own people who don't look at him like a freak, and there's no recognition of that.

Hien acknowledges it around Bardam's Mettle doesn't he? Says something about honouring your ancestors to Au Ra characters.

[LineageRazor]

I understand gameplay and story segregation, I really do. And I realize that putting in even a few lines of separate dialogue for the handful of Xaela WoLs could lead to all kinds of development nightmares. But wow, it was weird being in the homeland of my people after spending years among the hornless, (mostly) tail-less spoken races of the West, and having NO ONE acknowledge that.

Are you sure about that? I noticed at least two places where NPCs seemed to acknowledge that I was a Xaela. While I don't have the exact quotes, when talking to the Buuz dealer in Reunion, she mentioned something along the lines of "Surely your parents must have treated you to these as a child?" Also, when about to embark on Bardam's Mettle, Hien remarks something along the lines of "Even if you do not hail from these lands, your ancestors may well have walked this path."

There may be others, as well, but these are the two examples I remember. Do other races get dialog of this kind?

[Miyha]

Are you sure about that? I noticed at least two places where NPCs seemed to acknowledge that I was a Xaela. While I don't have the exact quotes, when talking to the Buuz dealer in Reunion, she mentioned something along the lines of "Surely your parents must have treated you to these as a child?" Also, when about to embark on Bardam's Mettle, Hien remarks something along the lines of "Even if you do not hail from these lands, your ancestors may well have walked this path."

There may be others, as well, but these are the two examples I remember. Do other races get dialog of this kind?

Actually, I'd like to add a possible one, but I'm not sure if other races get this dialogue as well or not. Haven't tested it yet, and most of my friends don't give two shites about lore/NPCs and stuff (welcome to the endgame raiding community, for the most part) or are Xaela themselves, looool. Maybe when I get home tonight, if I don't just pass out before touching the game. :P

When you go speak to Temulun Khatun at the Mol camp after the MSQ, she says "welcome home". I feel like this is probably something that is the same for other races and it's simply one of those "our home is your home" kind of things, but if it's not and it IS Xaela/Au Ra specific, then I love it. <3

EDIT: Raen friend just talked to her, she says the same thing. :x Currently trying to get him to recruit a non-Auri character to do my dirty work.

EDIT 2: Noooooo, it is not race-specific! D: He made a catte check it. This is not race-specific dialogue, ignore me while I go cry in a corner.

[Cilia]

I'm curious though: how do other Au Ra players incorporate current canon into your personal canon for your characters?

My personal take on it is that since my character set out searching for the mythical land described in Haragin legend, she just happened to show up in time for the Naadam. Fought for her own clan, won, appointed Cirina acting khagan in her absence since the Haragin don't have a presence on the Steppe.

[Rosenoire]

As the Tumet seem to dictate the worth of their members based heavily on whether or not they can pass that trial in their youth, having one of their nameless failures become the khagan would be deliciously ironic.

...I think I should write a full, detailed backstory someday.

I would totally read that. I love the idea of a Tumet kid not passing the trial and growing up to be the khagan.

[Rosenoire]

I wrote that comment just after getting to Reunion and possibly being tired and grumpy. I was wrong: there's a little acknowledgement, which I have to say felt good, especially Hien's comment. After playing more, I'm also in love with the entire Steppes area: zone, quests, and NPC's. Mea maxima culpa.

[Rosenoire]

My personal take on it is that since my character set out searching for the mythical land described in Haragin legend, she just happened to show up in time for the Naadam. Fought for her own clan, won, appointed Cirina acting khagan in her absence since the Haragin don't have a presence on the Steppe.

I chose Haragin because of that legend; it seemed like a good starting point for a character who's curious about the world outside of the steppes. My headcanon is similar to yours: Mol and Haragin form a temporary alliance and then Cirina becomes acting khagan.

[Rosenoire]

Very cool. I love hearing what other folks are doing. (Also, though I may have said this before, the dancing elezen gif always makes me smile.)