Miqo'te naming conventions for different Seeker tribes

[Iscah]

This is a tricky question with no answer given in the lore, because any child born to parents from two different tribes is inherently breaking Seeker cultural rules.

By traditional Seeker culture, a woman shouldn't be having children with anyone but the nunh of her tribe - and while they haven't explored it within the story, it sounds like anything else would be viewed as the equivalent of a married person having an affair.

So if your two characters are married (or just together) and keeping their original tribe prefixes, you're already well outside any naming conventions that are available for us to follow. Within the story they're probably having to make it up as they go along just as much as you are.

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Overall it's something I've already put thought into since I was playing with it for characters of my own - or rather I was playing with the naming conventions and the character idea sort of spun out of that, but in any case...

Between the naming conventions page and an old forum thread that gave some additional canon lore information (here and further down the page, or collated here), we know there are three ways a male Seeker can become nunh of a tribe, in order of social acceptability:

1. Take over an existing tribe by defeating the current nunh in battle

2. Claim new territory for his tribe and become nunh of the new area (also implying that there isn't necessarily a single "___ tribe" but that they may fragment over an area)

3. Declare independence and make up their own tribe with a new two-letter prefix.


In my case, I made them a fully independent tribe, so Z'aba Tia declared himself Zi'aba Nunh and then I'djalani "joined the tribe" and is now Zi'djalani. It's all within the rules (I think) and they're just a very small tribe that isn't accepting additional members. (The new prefix can be anything but joining the individual names seemed like a cute idea.)

Alternately I possibly could have gone the "claiming new territory" route and have Aba formally claim his apartment in Limsa as Z tribe territory... For all we know, that might be how less-traditional Seekers already get around the rules, though anyone from another tribe would still presumably have to transfer to the nunh's tribe. In any case I prefer the idea of them being a fully separate tribe, particularly when the rules aren't clear enough on how the two sub-tribes might interact.

[ItMe]

Pretty sure it would depend on the dad.
If he's a 'tia vs a Nunh.
If he's a 'tia I imagine he takes the mothers name.
If he's a Nunh I'd bet he takes after the big shot Nunh at the center of the tribe.
Though, I have the Eorzea Encyclopedia and looking through it... it doesn't seem to have a hard answer for you.
It acts like each tribe and each race stays oddly segregated (like how there are no "half-elves" on Eorzea, or half dunesfolk).
Just go with whatever is most fun for you.

[Iscah]

Pretty sure it would depend on the dad.
If he's a 'tia vs a Nunh.
If he's a 'tia I imagine he takes the mothers name.
If he's a Nunh I'd bet he takes after the big shot Nunh at the center of the tribe.

You say that like it's no big deal.

Remember: a tia (no apostrophe) is by definition a non-breeding male. By their tribal rules they should inherently not be having kids - that much is clear.

What we don't know and can only speculate about are the cultural implications of breaking that taboo. It's inevitable that it happens sometimes - though clearly not that often or the whole tribe structure is going to fall apart pretty quickly. Most likely there's some kind of consequence if they get found out - the only question is how dark you want to get about it. Death? Exile? An expectation that they're now honour-bound to form their own tribe now? Do the couple elope before anyone can find out? Does the mother quietly pretend it's the nunh's child and hope nobody notes the resemblance to the real father?

Whatever the naming conventions are going to be in a situation, it's not just "take the mother's name" - we have that much from the link I posted earlier.

While not impossible (people can do what they want with their names), a Seeker of the Sun choosing his mother's name to be his last, would amount to shunning his culture and adopting the rules of the Keepers of the Moon. There will be some Seekers of the Sun who will respect this, but others who frown upon it.

[LathyrusLoon]

...Most likely there's some kind of consequence if they get found out - the only question is how dark you want to get about it. Death? Exile? An expectation that they're now honour-bound to form their own tribe now? Do the couple elope before anyone can find out? Does the mother quietly pretend it's the nunh's child and hope nobody notes the resemblance to the real father?

Oooh I'm getting all sorts of ideas for characters now with "taboo" backgrounds. haha.
The exhausted and nearly incompetent nunh that it trying to establish a new tribe because he got shit faced at a festival.
The overly traditional mother who broke tribal law and is desperately trying to make sure no one notices how little her child resembles the Nunh. Time to play with Character creator again!

It does make me once again wonder how they keep track of Tia and Nunh though. I really wish we had a better idea of how the tribes were laid out and how big they're supposed to be. (Just how much inbreeding are we dealing with here?!)

I super want to visit a Normal tribe. with little miqittens running around, and a Nunh that is raising kids not leading.

[Alleluia]

This is a tricky question with no answer given in the lore, because any child born to parents from two different tribes is inherently breaking Seeker cultural rules.

By traditional Seeker culture, a woman shouldn't be having children with anyone but the nunh of her tribe - and while they haven't explored it within the story, it sounds like anything else would be viewed as the equivalent of a married person having an affair.

So if your two characters are married (or just together) and keeping their original tribe prefixes, you're already well outside any naming conventions that are available for us to follow. Within the story they're probably having to make it up as they go along just as much as you are.

---

Overall it's something I've already put thought into since I was playing with it for characters of my own - or rather I was playing with the naming conventions and the character idea sort of spun out of that, but in any case...

Between the naming conventions page and an old forum thread that gave some additional canon lore information (here and further down the page, or collated here), we know there are three ways a male Seeker can become nunh of a tribe, in order of social acceptability:

1. Take over an existing tribe by defeating the current nunh in battle

2. Claim new territory for his tribe and become nunh of the new area (also implying that there isn't necessarily a single "___ tribe" but that they may fragment over an area)

3. Declare independence and make up their own tribe with a new two-letter prefix.


In my case, I made them a fully independent tribe, so Z'aba Tia declared himself Zi'aba Nunh and then I'djalani "joined the tribe" and is now Zi'djalani. It's all within the rules (I think) and they're just a very small tribe that isn't accepting additional members. (The new prefix can be anything but joining the individual names seemed like a cute idea.)

Alternately I possibly could have gone the "claiming new territory" route and have Aba formally claim his apartment in Limsa as Z tribe territory... For all we know, that might be how less-traditional Seekers already get around the rules, though anyone from another tribe would still presumably have to transfer to the nunh's tribe. In any case I prefer the idea of them being a fully separate tribe, particularly when the rules aren't clear enough on how the two sub-tribes might interact.

I just have to say, the idea of a Tia declaring independence and making his own small tribe with just one female and "not accepting new members" is basically monogamous marriage and I find the idea of it very cute. And its perfectly within the rules for the clan, as you showed. Well done.