Since Lore Suddenly Matters

[LineageRazor]

If they introduced male Hrothgar and female Viera now and then in 6.0 added in female Hrothgar and male Viera it would require the same amount of work as adding in Hrothgar male + female now and Viera male and female in 6.0.

It is for precisely this reason that I think folks who are holding out hope for the other genders to be added later are dreaming. M!Hrothgar and F!Viera ARE the final race that will ever be added, because adding future races (including F!Hrothgar and M!Viera) will be too resource-intense. In fact, the fact that we'd be adding "leftovers" is another strike against the possibility of it ever happening - adding a new race is an amazing source of hype for an expansion. Expanding an existing race tends to evoke more of a, "Well, it's about time." kind of reaction, rather than froth-mouthed enthusiasm.

If the devs change their mind and decide to add a new race in the future, I doubt it'll be the leftovers from these races. They would add a new race, instead. Or maybe two, once again genderlocked, because hey, the precedent has been established!

They did more or less confirm in the lore panel at JP Fanfest though that the typology of 'beastman' is completely constructed, so I dunno that it fazes the lore much. I'd like to learn what the story on Hrothgar is, since the feeling I get is they might mainly just be very elusive; starting as one in ARR would be really interesting to try to roleplay out, imo. A Hrothgar WoL really might have a lot to disentangle about the Spoken/'beastman' distinction.

In discussions about adding "bestial" races, I'd occasionally point out the Amal'ja, who are basically humans with black fur and panther heads. What makes them Beastmen, then, and not humans? Arbitrary designation? That would be the implication by that Fanfest quote - but I think there's more to it than that...

Basically, the player races are essentially different "breeds" of the SAME RACE. Society may frown on it, and actual successful births may be rare, but the player races CAN interbreed. An Elvaan or a Lalafell are not going to successfully produce offspring with a Sahagin or Sylph, no matter how they try, but an Elvaan WITH a Lalafell is not out of the question. That's really all that's needed to differentiate Hrothgar from the Beastmen; they may have unusual faces, but they're still humans; still the same race as Garleans, Au Ra, Hyur, and so on - just a different breed.

[Kalise]

It is for precisely this reason that I think folks who are holding out hope for the other genders to be added later are dreaming. M!Hrothgar and F!Viera ARE the final race that will ever be added, because adding future races (including F!Hrothgar and M!Viera) will be too resource-intense. In fact, the fact that we'd be adding "leftovers" is another strike against the possibility of it ever happening - adding a new race is an amazing source of hype for an expansion. Expanding an existing race tends to evoke more of a, "Well, it's about time." kind of reaction, rather than froth-mouthed enthusiasm.

If the devs change their mind and decide to add a new race in the future, I doubt it'll be the leftovers from these races. They would add a new race, instead. Or maybe two, once again genderlocked, because hey, the precedent has been established!

Well, they said that they wouldn't be adding any more races to the game, due to the amount of work they require. (But then again, they also said they wouldn't do genderlock again )

However, they DID say that there was a possibility that if they had the resources that they might include the other genders of these two races.

As far as the hype goes... Unveiling the canon appearance for Male Viera would cause an Calamity level surge of hype.

If judging by the reaction that NOT doing so seems to have caused.

Up until the actual reveal of Hrothgar, I've been arguing that we couldn't possibly get an actually beastlike playable race, because it would go against this game's established lore in ARR of the conflict between men and beastmen.

Well, it's possible that "Beastmen" notion pertains more to do with how a particular society lives more so than its appearance. Much in the same way that Imperials consider all other societies as "Savages" despite many of them being literally the same races and potentially even have originated from some of the regions they refer to as Savages (Such as parents being conscripted from there or some such)

As such, it may be that Hrothgar, despite beastly in appearance, follow a similar societal construct as the likes of Hyur, Roe, Elezen, Miqo'te and Lalafell. Wherein they seek to speak to new races they encounter and set up trade routes and cohabitate within cities, as opposed to "Beastmen" whom are typically territorial and will attack other species on sight (Outside of course the Beast Tribes we help whom are more concerned with survival and well... Not summoning Primals all the damn time)

This could also be reflected in their architecture too, building cities out of stone (Or other convenient materials) as opposed to using natural caves, makeshift huts or uhh... *Looks at the Gnath*... Yeah... (Though, not necessarily defined by their architecture, Xaela are an example of a more primitive standard of living in a species that isn't considered "Beastmen")

Since honestly, I think there might be a bit more to the whole "Beastmen" war than just "They look fugly, lets kill them!". Especially since, well, we literally do make contact with Beast Tribes and become allies (Though it kind of sucks that this never actually gets expanded on outside a single quest per expac to get the "Allied" status with all 3 tribes per expac)

[Jyera]

In discussions about adding "bestial" races, I'd occasionally point out the Amal'ja, who are basically humans with black fur and panther heads. What makes them Beastmen, then, and not humans? Arbitrary designation? That would be the implication by that Fanfest quote - but I think there's more to it than that...

Basically, the player races are essentially different "breeds" of the SAME RACE. Society may frown on it, and actual successful births may be rare, but the player races CAN interbreed. An Elvaan or a Lalafell are not going to successfully produce offspring with a Sahagin or Sylph, no matter how they try, but an Elvaan WITH a Lalafell is not out of the question. That's really all that's needed to differentiate Hrothgar from the Beastmen; they may have unusual faces, but they're still humans; still the same race as Garleans, Au Ra, Hyur, and so on - just a different breed.

That's what I mean by 'constructed'. There's a little ambiguity in how divergent 'beastmen' are from 'Spoken', but the beast moniker is something that's largely been socially imposed on these people. That's kind of why I think it would be a cool experience to roleplay that out in the player's head as they go through ARR on Hrothgar--they might IC find themselves in a disquieting grey area as they go around Eorzea with that arbitrary division being thrown around, about people who don't look that much more different from most other Spoken than Hrothgar do.