Quote Originally Posted by MikkoAkure View Post
If au ra can breed with hyur, then they’re not reptiles or close to reptiles. In our world at least, mammals close to reptiles still have cloaca and lay eggs. They can’t be related to the first brood either since dragons didn’t come to Hydaelyn until after the worlds split, yet au ra show up on the First.

They just happen to be their own (weird) thing.
On being able to reproduce with Hyur: *cough cough* Weird fantasy shit *cough*

I also didn't say they were reptiles; just "partly reptilian", i.e. having traits in between mammals and reptiles in a similar manner to therapsids, albeit with a lot more mammalian traits.

I do agree Auri are just weird though; just more in the "wtf taxonomic class are lizard people?"

Didn't know about Middy coming to Hydaelyn only post-world shattering, but who's to say we don't have dragon-like critters running about that were the ancestors to Au Ra? Now I'm curious if there are any legends concerning dragons on the First, even as pure mythical creatures. I'm pretty sure the name "Drahn" isn't a coincidence, but I'm going yo have to get through Stormblood before I can crack that myself.

Guess that depends on whether or not Shinryu actually existed as a being. Minion description mentions the actual Shinryu of legend was described as being more like a serpent than a dragon, so it's possible if he was ever real, there could be dragon-like beings serving as the source of legends in the Far East. Hard to say without confirmation though so it's purely a wild guess. I still maintain Au-Ra are descended from reptiles. Granted, all mammals are, but Auri could be from a branch on the cladogram that still maintains various reptilian traits like not only the obvious scales and tail, but also the hearing style (which from lore, is perceived via vibration through bone, albeit with horns extending off to enhance the vibrations before it reaches the skull).

Just imagine if instead of losing all reptilian features, mammals retained a few defining bits and you get Au Ra.

Ending on a random nerd fact: Did you know hair/fur are actually modified scales just like feathers are for birds? Heck, some mammals even retain their scales while have sparser hair (e.g. armadillos and pangolins). I'm not arguing that Auri aren't mammals, but they have some very unmammalian traits that make me think "BS fantasy classification".

Man, I honestly would love for there to be even a short writing piece about Eorzean biology.