Miqo'te gender balance on the First

[pedromvilar]

In 1.0 you could only play as a female Miqo'te.
What do you mean by this was "already true" so it can't reference the original state of the game.
Either way, does that quote exist outside of the Encyclopedia? Because that came out in 2016.

For some reason I had the vivid memory that the first Encyclopædia had come out before 1.0 was released but I am completely wrong!

That aside, no, I don't think there is any other source to that quote. However, in general there is a dearth of male miqo'te NPCs in the game. In particular, we have four more things that make me think this is genetic rather than just young men dying a lot:

• Their cultures make a lot more sense that way. Each Seeker tribe has a single nunh that is the only male who gets to breed at all, and the Keepers have matriarchs and don't keep males around, with the males wandering and visiting Keeper clans every now and then to mate.
• The U tribe has dozens of women and exactly three men: the nunh and two tias. Furthermore, the two are explicitly mentioned to be the only ones in the running for next nunh.
• The M tribe has again a bunch of women and only two men: the nunh and the one tia, who also specifically wants to become the next nunh.
• There is one Keeper NPC, don't remember who, who says that Keeper men are better enjoyed very rarely and in small doses.

I think it is very strange for those things to all be the case if it isn't the case that on the Source male miqo'te are way less common from birth.

[Cilia]

The thing is that while there are few male Miqo'te seen, they do exist beyond that - we just don't see them because most live nomadic lifestyles, and the game world we can explore is only representative of the true size and scope of what exists.

For the Seekers, it's meant to reflect a facet of real-life lion societies - upon reaching maturity males set out to establish their own prides or (more likely) oust a weaker male and take over his. (It's mentioned that larger Seeker clans do have more than one nunh - again, like lions.) I don't know what inspiration went into the Keeper social structure, but it sounds like typical feline behavior (lions are actually pretty much the only felines that form societies; the rest live solitary lives, meeting only to mate).

... and yes, part of the Doylist answer is that only female miqo'te were playable in 1.0 (and probably still outnumber male miqo'te PCs).

[pedromvilar]

For the Seekers, though, they say that tias who go out to form their own tribes are extremely rare and the successful ones are even rarer. Ousting a male in a different tribe is also never mentioned anywhere in lore that I've ever seen? And it remains the case that we have two distinct lore sources that explicitly state that they have fewer males, biologically, plus the other less explicit cues.

Also 1.0 had fewer than 5 male miqo'te NPCs in total, and one Ul'dahn NPC back then used to remark that he'd never seen a male miqo'te in his life and he wasn't sure there were any in the city at all.

So it seems overwhelmingly likely with the evidence we're presented that they are in fact rarer, and the hypothesis that it's purely cultural/selection effects with no biological ones whatsoever seems to have no particular evidence in its favour other than "that's how it seems to work on the First".

[Veloran]

Given it really seems to be a genetic difference, we'd have to assume their genes were changed at some point on the Source. So, who do we know who were masters of genetic manipulation, were in conflict with the Miqo'te and had a vested interest in surpressing their population, did not exist on the First, and in fact have canonically shown the ability to alter their genes on an intrinsic level, which is the core reason why travel to the First was made possible to begin with?

[Vyrerus]

Because on The Source, the way Miqotes live leads to inbreeding eventually, depending on how long the Nunh stays Nunh, and whether or not he's willing to, you know, pork some of his daughters. Was probably more common in elder times with smaller tribes and was carried through to today. Of course, even without that sort of vile thing, when a male is born to the tribe, and he grows up strong and takes over... I mean, he's just gonna be getting it on with his half-sisters more often than not. So yeah, the answer is inbreeding, imho.

Whereas on The First, Mystels have never had that sort of society, so never developed such a mutation through being inbred.

[Alleluia]

Given it really seems to be a genetic difference, we'd have to assume their genes were changed at some point on the Source. So, who do we know who were masters of genetic manipulation, were in conflict with the Miqo'te and had a vested interest in surpressing their population, did not exist on the First, and in fact have canonically shown the ability to alter their genes on an intrinsic level, which is the core reason why travel to the First was made possible to begin with?

The Allagan Empire was in conflict with miqo'te as a species?

[Vyrerus]

The Allagan Empire was in conflict with miqo'te as a species?

In the 3rd Astral Era, according to some wikis I think. Not sure where the line is at in game.

[pedromvilar]

On the one hand, the inbreeding explanation seems more parsimonious and likely.

On the other hand, miqo'te culture being the way it is seems more likely to be a result of too few males rather than its cause. And also I am here for more Allagan conspiracies, keep 'em coming!!!

Edit: also I found the Ul'dahn NPC from 1.0, it was a lalafell called Vavaki.

[Fenral]

Also 1.0 had fewer than 5 male miqo'te NPCs in total, and one Ul'dahn NPC back then used to remark that he'd never seen a male miqo'te in his life and he wasn't sure there were any in the city at all.

Wait, 1.0 had male Miqo'te NPCs? Why don't I remember that? I thought Merlwyb was the only non-playable race option, and she was only added after work on ARR started. (Never mind Minfilia, the female Higlander with a Midlander model.)

2.0 for sure only had 5. Three in the U, the (official) Arcanist guildmaster, and a certain FATE boss in the South Shroud. G'raha Tia was patched in at 2.1, and Nhaza'a Jaab appears only in cutscenes in 2.5.

[Cilia]

12,500 years (approximately) have passed since the Sundering. While that may not be enough time to produce major physiological differences, I'd argue it's enough for genetic drift enough for Miqo'te to produce more females than males compared to Mystel.

That said I'm still sold more on the idea of Seekers / Keepers being based on lions / every other feline. Aside from the squick involved, the incest implied in Seeker societies would eventually lead to them all becoming sterile and the species dying out (not to mention ugly as sin). Just look at the Hapsburg dynasty to see what generations of inbreeding produces.

(Again, "miqo'te have more girls than boys" is probably just a Doylist excuse as for why there were no male miqo'te in 1.x, just like "Hrothgar produce almost no females, so the ones that are born are always secreted away and kept safe" and "Male Viera exclusively live reclusive lives as forest protectors." Lore tends to take a backseat to mechanics, not the other way around.)