Lore-ish thoughts about Auri descendance/lineage

[Tsiron]

I thought it had a basis in actual genetics and etc.?

[MikkoAkure]

I thought it had a basis in actual genetics and etc.?

Biology 101
You take half your DNA from your mom and half from your dad. You do not take everything from your mom with just a little bit of tweaks from your dad. That's not how genetics work. You, as a (presumably) human have 23 pairs of chromosomes. One of each of the pairs comes from mom and the other part of the pair comes from dad. The only weird part of it is if you're biologically male because then one of your sex chromosomes is a Y and is smaller than the other sex chromosome. But you still have 22 other pairs of identically sized chromosomes.

Granted, this is a fantasy game, but "developers not wanting to make a unique character model for a side character" makes more sense to me than "the writers decided to have weird genetics in the game and not tell us about it".

This could also tie in with the OP's original ask for horn inheritance. But granting that this is an MMO with a limited character creator, I'd assume that there would be more than just 4 horn designs if this were a real world.

[Bright-Flower]

Before Severa existed, both Arenvald and Cid said that half-Garleans don't have third eyes. Ramza and Alma also don't have third eyes. At this point I think it's probably an evolution of the lore over time and we might see more half-Garleans in Endwalker that have black third eyes. Arenvald and Cid's explanation might either be retconned or forgotten.



This is fanon that often gets repeated here and on RP forums, but there's no actual source for it in interviews or in the game. Neither does it make any sort of sense genetically. The reason why Hilda looks the way she does is because it's easier to plop a unique head on a midlander body than it is to create a whole new hybrid body. The reason why the fanon that hybrids look like their mom is because RPers want to RP as people who are half-X, despite there not being and half-anything character options.

Yeah I hear people mention the mother thing a lot, but haven't seen an actual source for this claim to confirm it.

[Astralia]

Biology 101
This could also tie in with the OP's original ask for horn inheritance. But granting that this is an MMO with a limited character creator, I'd assume that there would be more than just 4 horn designs if this were a real world.

What do you mean by the OP?

[Terin]

I personally kind of maintain this idea that they're ALL essentially "human", but that each "race" is essentially its own set of dominant genes. Hyur are kind of the middle man, or "set of recessive genes". So if an Au Ra and a Miqo'te had a child, that child would EITHER be Miqo'te or Au Ra, not necessarily a "hybrid". The exception being Hyur, whose children would probably be less-pronounced versions of the other parent's heritage (ie. Hilda).

To me, it's the only thing that really makes sense. Especially given we've seen all races, but ESPECIALLY Roegadyn's have a thing for Miqo'te girls, it seems likely that all the races are... shall we say, "compatible", but the kids are likely to only take after one parent's race or the other.

Lord only knows how Hrothgar factor into things, though. Especially since Runas is clearly in love with Y'shtola, it... raises some questions...

[MikkoAkure]

What do you mean by the OP?

As in the shape of the horns would be similar to one of the parents.

I personally kind of maintain this idea that they're ALL essentially "human", but that each "race" is essentially its own set of dominant genes. Hyur are kind of the middle man, or "set of recessive genes". So if an Au Ra and a Miqo'te had a child, that child would EITHER be Miqo'te or Au Ra, not necessarily a "hybrid". The exception being Hyur, whose children would probably be less-pronounced versions of the other parent's heritage (ie. Hilda).

To me, it's the only thing that really makes sense. Especially given we've seen all races, but ESPECIALLY Roegadyn's have a thing for Miqo'te girls, it seems likely that all the races are... shall we say, "compatible", but the kids are likely to only take after one parent's race or the other.

Lord only knows how Hrothgar factor into things, though. Especially since Runas is clearly in love with Y'shtola, it... raises some questions...

That still doesn't make sense from a biology point of view. You can't have all of your genes be dominant. Unless you are cloned or bud off of another living being, you're going to have a blended mix of your parents' DNA. For example, if a corgi and a golden retriever have puppies together, they're usually going to come out looking like a blend of both of them, not like cartoons where the girls look like the mom and the boys look like the dad or the other way around.

Koji Fox has already said that all of the races are compatible, but hybrids are rare. The reason why everyone's not mixed already is because there is a very powerful social taboo against mating and serious relationships between races. 3 of the 4 pairings that led to 100% confirmed half-race children were non-consensual or at the very least, implied to be. There's also a couple chased out of their village for being a hyur and a miqo'te.

The only hybrids we've seen so far are hyur/elezen and hyur/garlean and those 3 races seem to be the closest related anyway. He did say that the five Eorzean races at least have the possibility to intermingle and produce a baby, but I don't think we'd probably see any other hybrids in the game. There is no mention made of beastmen or hrothgar, who seem to be closer to beastmen than the original 5 races. Then there's viera who already have strange biology, different from the others.

That all said, I'm still of the mind that highlander hyur are part roegadyn. Besides the fact they have similar nose shapes to roegadyn and are much more built than midlanders, there's even an NPC or two that have brought up that possibility, though as a joke/insult, in background dialogue.

[Terin]

As in the shape of the horns would be similar to one of the parents.



That still doesn't make sense from a biology point of view. You can't have all of your genes be dominant. Unless you are cloned or bud off of another living being, you're going to have a blended mix of your parents' DNA. For example, if a corgi and a golden retriever have puppies together, they're usually going to come out looking like a blend of both of them, not like cartoons where the girls look like the mom and the boys look like the dad or the other way around.

Koji Fox has already said that all of the races are compatible, but hybrids are rare. The reason why everyone's not mixed already is because there is a very powerful social taboo against mating and serious relationships between races. 3 of the 4 pairings that led to 100% confirmed half-race children were non-consensual or at the very least, implied to be. There's also a couple chased out of their village for being a hyur and a miqo'te.

The only hybrids we've seen so far are hyur/elezen and hyur/garlean and those 3 races seem to be the closest related anyway. He did say that the five Eorzean races at least have the possibility to intermingle and produce a baby, but I don't think we'd probably see any other hybrids in the game. There is no mention made of beastmen or hrothgar, who seem to be closer to beastmen than the original 5 races. Then there's viera who already have strange biology, different from the others.

That all said, I'm still of the mind that highlander hyur are part roegadyn. Besides the fact they have similar nose shapes to roegadyn and are much more built than midlanders, there's even an NPC or two that have brought up that possibility, though as a joke/insult, in background dialogue.

In actual biology, sure. I just chalk it up to one of many differences in the FFXIV universe. As you mention, hybrids are rare; TOO rare to simply be "social stigma" preventing them. I figure, at their core, all races probably originated from the same race (Hyur, or something else), and while they've become different races over time, there's still that core heritage.

And maybe the racial differences are more than simple "evolution". What if actual deities "blessed" these various tribes, causing their change? For example, maybe Rhalgr gave shape to the first Highlanders, maybe Halone played a part in shaping the Elezen (or at least Ishgardians). Or maybe when the beings of Amaurot were "shattered" into different reflections, they took on forms based loosely on what kind of people they were, leading to that "share heritage", but very few "hybrids"?

Really, Hrothgar continue to be kind of the big question-mark for me. They're definitely the most "exotic" race of the bunch, to the point I have a harder time imagining them sharing any sort of heritage with anyone else.

[Astralia]

Really, Hrothgar continue to be kind of the big question-mark for me. They're definitely the most "exotic" race of the bunch, to the point I have a harder time imagining them sharing any sort of heritage with anyone else.

I used to think Aura were the most exotic race before Hrothgar release. Mi'qote would be to like we could wonder how they got furry ears and tail, but in the case of Aura, they tried to make us believe they are not descendant of the dragons.. I still think there's a link between them tbh. Especially when you look at the first arts in the HW artbooks, Aura were supposed to be a dragon-looking race, even demonic one as they were drawn as succubus-looking as well, or may be they are linked to both as well. Unless I missed some interviews where Koji-Fox and Oda clearly stated this is purely a coincidence (a coincidence I would not be inclined to accept)

That still doesn't make sense from a biology point of view. You can't have all of your genes be dominant. Unless you are cloned or bud off of another living being, you're going to have a blended mix of your parents' DNA. For example, if a corgi and a golden retriever have puppies together, they're usually going to come out looking like a blend of both of them, not like cartoons where the girls look like the mom and the boys look like the dad or the other way around.

Therefore if we assume the DNA mix to apply in the game too, it's clear that an aura hybrid (from Hyur x Aura for example) will take after the Aura parent (whether it's the father or the mother), and will not purely be Hyur nor Aura, but blended like in the tale with similar horns (I also think there are more than 4 horn designs, like in Sui you see some children with the same horns as my Aura -> see my pfp, but with the horns horizontally tilted), and less scales, shorter tail or no tail maybe let's be crazy !

But after all, we can take whatever liberties we want ! I just wanted to have your thoughts about this as well and thanks

[Caitlyn]

I used to think Aura were the most exotic race before Hrothgar release. Mi'qote would be to like we could wonder how they got furry ears and tail, but in the case of Aura, they tried to make us believe they are not descendant of the dragons.. I still think there's a link between them tbh. Especially when you look at the first arts in the HW artbooks, Aura were supposed to be a dragon-looking race, even demonic one as they were drawn as succubus-looking as well, or may be they are linked to both as well. Unless I missed some interviews where Koji-Fox and Oda clearly stated this is purely a coincidence (a coincidence I would not be inclined to accept)

Its kinda funny that Au Ra (a dragon-like race) were intruduced with the expansion about dragons at the same time!
And with all those scales, the look more like dragons than voidsent.

The only issue I have is, that Raen doesnt have a real homeland (unlike Xaela).

Is somewhere stated, that Raen or Xaela are good in swimming or diving?

[KageTokage]

Raen are also from the steppe. They just collectively decided at some point that they were sick of all the bickering and warring between the tribes and moved away in search of greener pastures; some westward into Ilsabard, others east into Othard, where in both cases they largely adopted the culture of the peoples already living there.

There's apparently Au Ra in Thavnair as well as per its lore blurb on the Endwalker website, so I'd assume they too are Raen.