Give Highlanders eyebrows already

[MikkoAkure]

I found the reference on a wiki and I guess it was from a lore panel, but it sounds more like an excuse made up on the spot for a technical issue. I wouldn't be surprised if it were intended as a joke.

But still, in a pluralistic society where a lot of the population are disconnected from their ancestral homes and cultures, it is incredibly unlikely that a portion wouldn't disregard certain traditions, especially those that aren't religious based. It doesn't "break lore" when a person moves to another country and decides to stop practicing certain traditions they grew up with.

From a lore standpoint, all highlanders are refugees. There’s a difference in attitudes between someone who moves countries in times of peace and someone who is forced to flee their country as their culture is eroded away back home by a foreign power.

From a gameplay standpoint, all races only have a certain amount of facial features values and for some reason or another it seems that adding more values taxes the system more and would lead to cutting down the amount of characters we can see on our screen at once. Unless something changes, it’s likely the old spaghetti code will never be fixed.

[MsQi]

From a lore standpoint, all highlanders are refugees. There’s a difference in attitudes between someone who moves countries in times of peace and someone who is forced to flee their country as their culture is eroded away back home by a foreign power.

Not all, and many have integrated into Ul'dahn society. This tradition is tied to being Highlander, not Ala Mhigan. it probably pre-dates Ala Mhigo.

Your character shows up wearing an outfit that is somehow common to both clans yet currently worn by neither, suggesting that you have ties to a society that is somehow separate from the two clans, perhaps a very old society. As an adventurer you are likely an independent thinker and have less of an interest in tradition. Treating lore as if it's a natural law, that predetermines your every move, breaks it more than anything. That's not what lore is.

Technical issues are real issues but citing lore for something like this shows disrespect for lore.

[MikkoAkure]

Not all, and many have integrated into Ul'dahn society. This tradition is tied to being Highlander, not Ala Mhigan. it probably pre-dates Ala Mhigo.

Your character shows up wearing an outfit that is somehow common to both clans yet currently worn by neither, suggesting that you have ties to a society that is somehow separate from the two clans, perhaps a very old society. As an adventurer you are likely an independent thinker and have less of an interest in tradition. Treating lore as if it's a natural law, that predetermines your every move, breaks it more than anything. That's not what lore is.

Technical issues are real issues but citing lore for something like this shows disrespect for lore.

In this case, the lore set up 10 years ago has already determined what highlanders look like. Players can headcanon all they want about their WoL but the devs already had made the decision that they won't have eyebrows bc lore so that's how it is and that's how it's reflected in the world. Not sure how lore being reflected by gameplay being reflected by lore means there's any disrespect.

The lorebook calls out highlanders in Eorzea being refugees of Ala Mhigo. Other than Godbert and his son who are kind of their own thing, I can't think of any NPCs who are completely culturally integrated into Ul'dah. All the major highlander NPCs in the MSQ constantly bring conversation back to Ala Mhigo so it's clear that they're not over it. There are a few who lament that Little Ala Mhigo is a pitiful display of people holding onto past glory, but well they probably don't have eyebrows either because gameplay reasons but I'm sure if someone asked Koji he would make something up.

And I don't think adventurer starting gear being the same for highlanders and midlanders hints at anything more than "this is what hyur player characters get when they start". The book says they wear cotton reinforced with leather because it's simple but useful and long boots reminiscent of the race's time in Ilsabard. I don't think it's supposed to provide deeper meaning than that and doesn't mean that your character is some special society between cultures. That's a bit of a reach.