Gender locked race?

[Gwenorai]

yeah the line "searching for them will find disappointment or even death" is a big omen

Yeah, it's all about how it's interpreted it really.

All I know is that the Imperials surely know they're there - especially those multiple of legions who went into the forest only to be brutalized and I imagine they were brutalized way before they came into contact with the village - otherwise, why let survivors go with that knowledge? While there are female wood-wardens they tend to stick to the village with the males being the outside guard.

I don't know why but the whole imagery of a one-man army just brutalising a whole legion is amazing to me - or even a few of them working together just picking them off one by one Rambo style. And those that left to go join them; were they female wood wardens? Did some of the females hear about these outsiders and decide they wanted to leave? What did the Imperials have to offer that made them want to leave?

I'm hoping to see some Imperial Viera. I'd love to see a Viera male who has reached a high rank in the Imperial army - not because he likes the Empire but right now he believes it's the only way his people and the wood can survive. Heck, i'd settle on a female doing this.

This just spins back to my original point for male viera that I don't understand how we can go into there homeland during wartime and not come across a male Viera who by nature are already aggressive and vicious to outsiders. What would be the lore that would have them be complete 'out of the picture' other than a mass genocide?

The lore we got has the males be described in a lot more detail and has them painted far from 'cute' - I think this was done with intention.

[Alesone]

"But the lore," I say as I create an Au Ra character at the start of ARR.

The lore isn't there as an excuse to exclude male Viera, it's there as an explanation as why we won't see any. There's a nuance there people can't seem to grasp. If male viera aren't happening, their decisions for doing such are certainly not just the "lore" even if they try to say that, there's certainly a different reason behind the decision. If it happens, we'll see what they have to say about why they went that direction (if they do).

[MrKimper]

Have you all ever heard of, lion rabbits?

[JamiaHaab]

No, never. Please talk about these lion rabbits in extreme detail.

[Gwenorai]

Have you all ever heard of, lion rabbits?

Aye, was brought up before in the thread that male Viera may look like lionhead rabbits, but then that was kind of frowned at due to the whole 'Hrothgar' information. If male Viera were 'Hrothgar' then they would be a subrace - or a different race entirely that breeds with Viera for reproduction and they branch off at maturity.

Shrugs, I suppose if Viera and Hrothgar were like 'Pokemon' then shrug, lol maybe

[wereotter]

yeah the line "searching for them will find disappointment or even death" is a big omen

Eh..... not necessarily

It's one thing to say "if you go traipsing through the jungle trying to find one, they'll find you first and kill you on sight" but that doesn't account for male Viera who choose to live a different lifestyle from the path laid out for them. Consider that literally every female Viera we will meet is doing exactly that, leaving a life in nature for one in the city, and it's not impossible to consider there may be males doing the same, especially if we come to learn that there's a hierarchy among male Viera similar to the Miquotes. A male Viera who is further down the pecking order, a beta Viera if you will, might decide that he will have a better chance at a more fulfilling life if he abandons life in the jungle for life in the city.

I still believe that there's a good argument for seeing them in the game.

[Alesone]

The same dialogue from the Dramaturge nips that in the bud a bit though. It heavily implies that no male ventures outside of the woods. He says he's never seen, nor known anyone who has, seen a male Viera in the largest city hub nearest to their territory. We know females who venture out wind up there enough to make up a percentage of the population, but he states none of them are males.

Anything is possible but they're definitely laying groundwork to explain why we probably won't see any male Viera. No NPC's or anything. There's little reason for them to paint the absence of male viera in such adamant language that states they are never seen outside of the woods, and even if you go looking for them in the woods you won't find them either. They're that rare/elusive.

[MrKimper]

I just thought they looked cute

[Gwenorai]

snip

Aye; the issue I have with this chap is that he's certainly not the authority on Viera - sure he knows the information but that's that. It's weird because it paints different tales. You go into the wood, you won't see them. You go outside of the wood, you won't see them. Yet we know they exist and are the heavily populated within that woodland area. To the point that we know that when we set foot into the wood during the 24 man that Fran mentioned that they were watching us. She can see them, she knows what to look for. They exist to the females because the females know what the males look like and finally can sense/know where they are.

If they exist to female Viera then why can't a female Viera WoL/WoD not see them when they're in the homeland? Either it's going to be bad writing, the males are 'gone entirely' or they exist.

The Dramaturge is a hyur who is going off his own experiences and those of other races; and the players experience in previous games. If if it was another Viera who said 'they do not exist here' then there you go, that would solidify it.

Now it certainly could be possible that we won't see the males. But the fact they're still on par with rarity with male miqo'te in regards to birthrates that's kinda moot. If they use this for an argument then that's stupidity at its finest as people will just demand the males just like they did with the male kitty bois.

From a story standpoint, it could be explained away that the fact you haven't seen a male is because they don't want to be seen, and those who have seen them - like those imperial units who ended up being slaughtered by them can't return to tell the tale.

It's like Tuskan Raiders in Star Wars; we never see what they look like behind the masks, only their 'clan' has seen their true faces - but we know there's something behind the mask, but heck, you're not going to see that unless you kill one and rip the mask off. And no one has yet to come across a 'dead' male Viera.

As for the woods they inhabit. The dramaturge talks about if you walk into the woods that 'searching for them will find disappointment or even death' - this doesn't make any sense because those woods are a literal death trap. You're not going to walk into those woods in hopes of searching for a male viera because it's extremely likely you're going to end up dead or chased off by something; mostly dead. I remember that forest in FF12 being a no mans land, apart from the Viera, the beasties and some Imperials - I need to go through FF12 again to be sure about this.

In the end, if they weren't going to add male Viera then I'd ask why they even bothered to add in the lore regarding it. Why now? They could have easily just have talked about the females and just the females and left out the large piece of information regarding the genders. Honestly; it would have made more sense for the information to come from Fran - not the dramaturge.

Adding in lore about the males just adds to hype; why hype something if you're going to turn around and go 'nah'? But that's just my thoughts on it all of course.

Actually; can anyone confirm regarding the lore of the male Viera and if there's more lore on the male compared to other races that exist right now?

[Duskane]

Aye, was brought up before in the thread that male Viera may look like lionhead rabbits, but then that was kind of frowned at due to the whole 'Hrothgar' information. If male Viera were 'Hrothgar' then they would be a subrace - or a different race entirely that breeds with Viera for reproduction and they branch off at maturity.

Shrugs, I suppose if Viera and Hrothgar were like 'Pokemon' then shrug, lol maybe

i did have the thought that Hrothgar was the male clan for viera

all we know from the localization mess up is about the Majestic mane which sure does add to the favor of lions
but its also pretty broad term