Sex between the Races Lore?

[MikkoAkure]

Well Au Ra are basically humans who got voidsent DNA in their past somewhere. Makes sense that they'd be able to have children with hyur.

I don’t think they’ve been confirmed to be voidsent. Considering they exist on the First as well as the Source, they’re probably their own thing.

On topic, it was mentioned in 1.0 that some NPCs insult highlander hyur by implying they’re part roegadyn. Looking at their facial structure, I can see how that’s possible. I don’t see hyur being able to mate with miqo’te or viera though. There’s too much difference going on. Our only knowledge of au ra x hyur is a myth so that might be up in the air as well.

[kujoestars]

-snip-

Black and White scales can be explained through the trait being codominant, and in the Miqo case if the teeth trait and iris trait are independant then is posible too. Now im puzzled if hyur skin color is considered an ethnia or highlanders are.

Interesting! I really hope the mixing and matching clan traits option becomes a thing soon (is this from the live letter or somewhere else?) in this case.

I have yet to see any Au Ra NPCs with both black and white scales, but it would be nice to see any indication of a canon mixed-clan Au Ra.i’m

Well Au Ra are basically humans who got voidsent DNA in their past somewhere. Makes sense that they'd be able to have children with hyur.

That’s a misconception born from internet telephone about Yoshi-P saying they used demonic motifs in addition to draconic ones when drafting Au Ra (and you can see that in the titles of the concept arts of you look them up; some say “dragon race” while others say “demonic”. Ultimately though, there’s literally no reference to possible voidsent relation in-game (which is the be all end all canon source); they’re only speculated (key word is “speculated”) to possibly be descended from dragons and even had experienced persecution from Ishgardians for looking draconic, but the real answer is “It Is A Mystery”. And as Mikko pointed out, the fact they exist on the First (and are called “Drahn”, no less like the game isn’t already throwing references they look like dragons everywhere, lol) makes it highly unlikely they have any relation at all to voidsent. They most likely are an Au Naturale (no pun intended) race.

Personally, I think it’s possible for them to be descended from offspring of any of the First Brood since they’ve been everywhere including Othard and they simply became more and more diluted over time. Or alternately they evolved from reptilian beings similar to Amal’jaa and whether through natural selection or crossbreeding with Hyur. they ended up the way they did.

All I can say is, they definitely are partly reptilian at least.

[MikkoAkure]

All I can say is, they definitely are partly reptilian at least.

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.

[kujoestars]

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.

[Rongway]

The game occasionally uses the word "humans" to refer to all of the player races collectively (and presumably Garleans, as well), which leads me to believe that the racial variants are similar to breeds of dogs - sometimes dramatically different in appearance, but all the same species and all technically interfertile. (I say technically because, while genetically compatible, sheer physical differences may make some pairings incompatible.)

This, though.

An even more extreme example of intraspecies morphological differences in the real world...the following vegetables are all the same species, Brassica oleracea, but have wildly differing forms.

• Kale
• Collard greens
• Gai-lan
• Cabbage
• Savoy
• Brussels sprouts
• Kohlrabi
• Broccoli
• Broccolini
• Broccoflower
• Broccoli romanesco
• Cauliflower
• Wild broccoli

[TheMightyMollusk]

Personally, I think it’s possible for them to be descended from offspring of any of the First Brood since they’ve been everywhere including Othard and they simply became more and more diluted over time.

Dragons don't exist on the first, yet the Drahn are there.

[Iscah]

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?"

As I've said in a couple of discussions, having scales doesn't make them reptilian, and horns are a mammalian trait.

Armadilloes or pangolins seem like a better reference for how Auri 'scales' might actually work in reality.

[kujoestars]

As I've said in a couple of discussions, having scales doesn't make them reptilian, and horns are a mammalian trait.

Armadilloes or pangolins seem like a better reference for how Auri 'scales' might actually work in reality.

There are a lot of irl reptiles both extant and extinct that have horns???? And even so, no mammal has horns that work anything like Au Ra horns. Technically no irl animal uses horns for hearing that I know of, but the whole hearing via bone vibrations is a distinctly reptilian trait.

Again, I'm not saying Auri are actually reptiles; I'm just saying they seem more like being a transition point of sorts between reptiles and mammals. The scales are also implicitly described as resembling dragon scales on the character creation screen. Of course, that most likely is a result of convergent evolution from whatever species their ancestors were, but I doubt they're anything like what exists irl. This is the part I waggle my fingers and say "weeaboo fantasy bullshit". What the heck would we even call reptile kemonomimis? I just don't think full on mammal correctly identifies Au Ra. Sure, they hit almost everything on the mammal checklist, but so does every distinctly not mammalian Beast Tribe like Sahagin, Amal'jaa, and Gnath.

But short of getting a full on anatomical dissection (which is alas never gonna happen), it's hard to gauge what exact traits Auri have. especially what's under their pants, lol. Being able to reproduce with Hyur unfortunately doesn't mean much in a fantasy setting and irl taxonomy REALLY falls apart when classifying certain fantasy creatures (what would a griffin even be classified as? to say nothing of the evolutionary improbability if we were to apply irl evolution on them.

I love trying to piece together fantasy biology exactly because it's never simple when it comes to human-like species with bestial traits. I honestly doubt the taxonomies would even work the same at all. Heck, we have actual mobs based on prehistoric animals but many look nothing like them *sideeyes raptors and gastornis, the latter of which is hilariously what Chocobos are based on but in the game they're literally colorful dodos*

[Dakuryon]

There are a lot of irl reptiles both extant and extinct that have horns???? And even so, no mammal has horns that work anything like Au Ra horns. Technically no irl animal uses horns for hearing that I know of, but the whole hearing via bone vibrations is a distinctly reptilian trait.

Again, I'm not saying Auri are actually reptiles; I'm just saying they seem more like being a transition point of sorts between reptiles and mammals. The scales are also implicitly described as resembling dragon scales on the character creation screen. Of course, that most likely is a result of convergent evolution from whatever species their ancestors were, but I doubt they're anything like what exists irl. This is the part I waggle my fingers and say "weeaboo fantasy bullshit". What the heck would we even call reptile kemonomimis? I just don't think full on mammal correctly identifies Au Ra. Sure, they hit almost everything on the mammal checklist, but so does every distinctly not mammalian Beast Tribe like Sahagin, Amal'jaa, and Gnath.

But short of getting a full on anatomical dissection (which is alas never gonna happen), it's hard to gauge what exact traits Auri have. especially what's under their pants, lol. Being able to reproduce with Hyur unfortunately doesn't mean much in a fantasy setting and irl taxonomy REALLY falls apart when classifying certain fantasy creatures (what would a griffin even be classified as? to say nothing of the evolutionary improbability if we were to apply irl evolution on them.

I love trying to piece together fantasy biology exactly because it's never simple when it comes to human-like species with bestial traits. I honestly doubt the taxonomies would even work the same at all. Heck, we have actual mobs based on prehistoric animals but many look nothing like them *sideeyes raptors and gastornis, the latter of which is hilariously what Chocobos are based on but in the game they're literally colorful dodos*

^ All of this. Especially the transition part, it actually makes sense! ㅇㅅㅇ
Auri biology has always been a subject of interest to me, but I honestly never could fully understand it until now. You the best~

[LineageRazor]

Again, I'm not saying Auri are actually reptiles; I'm just saying they seem more like being a transition point of sorts between reptiles and mammals.

Spoiler tags, just in case:

Bear in mind, the world as we know it is only twelve thousand years old. It's highly unlikely that ANY of the animals or intelligent races on the planet "evolved" to become what they are now. 12,000 years is simply too short a timespan for that.

The life on the planet is mostly or entirely descended from the "new life" Zodiark created at the behest of the Convocation in order to heal the damaged planet. He likely created all of the races and species as they are now, and they likely have not changed a great deal since then.

In the world of FFXIV, Creationism is the reality, and Evolution the myth! (Unless, I suppose, you consider the evolution that lead up to the Ancients and the plants and animals that co-existed with them prior to Zodiark's creation.) There are actual gods (even if they're really Primals, they're still pretty darned godlike); we know one personally, and Emet-Selch recently gave us the lowdown on the other.

Long story short: The Au Ra did not descend from dragons or voidsent, but were created to be exactly what they are, just as everyone else was. WHY did Zodiark create so many races? Only he knows for certain...