Lore-ish thoughts about Auri descendance/lineage

[Astralia]

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?

Yeah, the final design resulted in them looking more like dragons than voidsent, but them coming from the steppes or Thavnair does not solve the issue of them descending or not of the dragons.

It's just said somewhere that they befriended the green Kojin that blessed them so they could live under the sea, I guess those one are good in swimming or diving since they mostly live from fishing around and business via Tamamizu, concerning the other raens that spread throughout Ilsabard and elsewhere I wouldn't know

[MikkoAkure]

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?

I've always thought that it was a bit weird that a dragon-like race is introduced in an expansion that is all about dragons. But besides Koji saying in interviews that they're 100% not related to dragons, Shadowbringers put the final nail in the coffin of that theory because there are au ra on the First (though named something suspiciously similar to "dragon"), and we now know that dragons came to the Source from a different planet after the Shattering had already separated the First from the Source.

Raen, like hyur, seem to be adaptive and far-spreading. But I would be inclined to argue that Doma or Hingashi could count as sort of a homeland for them. Though they make up a minority in both countries, the governor of Kugane is a raen and we meet a raen princess from Hingashi in the ninja storyline. I don't believe we know the race of the emperor or the shogun, but at least that tells us that there are raen clans that are powerful in the government of Hingashi despite fully assimilating to the culture of the native hyur to that region.

I think there were a few Xaela tribes mentioned that were based around swimming and diving and one that can hold their breath for a long time. Then there's the raen clan that live in Sui-no-Sato who live underwater and naturally would have to swim a lot. Going back to when I first played Stormblood I was wondering if au ra actually were originally aquatic since I thought that having horns for ears would help with being underwater. Even though the underwater au ra can breath water, that doesn't help with water pressure as far as I know and going deep down would make your ears hurt, so not having ear drums at all would help.

[Caitlyn]

I was wondering if their horns may work even better underwater. Especially for those living in Sui No Sato. Their tail could also help to swim faster.

[Astralia]

I've always thought that it was a bit weird that a dragon-like race is introduced in an expansion that is all about dragons. But besides Koji saying in interviews that they're 100% not related to dragons, Shadowbringers put the final nail in the coffin of that theory because there are au ra on the First (though named something suspiciously similar to "dragon"), and we now know that dragons came to the Source from a different planet after the Shattering had already separated the First from the Source.

Raen, like hyur, seem to be adaptive and far-spreading. But I would be inclined to argue that Doma or Hingashi could count as sort of a homeland for them. Though they make up a minority in both countries, the governor of Kugane is a raen and we meet a raen princess from Hingashi in the ninja storyline. I don't believe we know the race of the emperor or the shogun, but at least that tells us that there are raen clans that are powerful in the government of Hingashi despite fully assimilating to the culture of the native hyur to that region.

I think there were a few Xaela tribes mentioned that were based around swimming and diving and one that can hold their breath for a long time. Then there's the raen clan that live in Sui-no-Sato who live underwater and naturally would have to swim a lot. Going back to when I first played Stormblood I was wondering if au ra actually were originally aquatic since I thought that having horns for ears would help with being underwater. Even though the underwater au ra can breath water, that doesn't help with water pressure as far as I know and going deep down would make your ears hurt, so not having ear drums at all would help.

Yeah, well, I was nitpicking a bit with their relation to dragons but well, let's put this aside.
Concerning their homeland I'd be tempted to say they mostly come from hingashi/doma as well, but as Mikko said, they're fast spreading and adapting to the local culture. The lore say that they even spread to the west and north-west of Ilsabard besides, since a few weeks we know they founded Radz-at-Han in Thavnair with the Matanga. Concerning the Raen from Sui-no-Sato, they only represent about 10% of the total Raen that exist and their ability to breath underwater comes from the Green Koji spell/blessing and, as far as this goes, the spell may give them the possibility to sustain the pressure underwater.

[Iscah]

What do you mean by the OP?

OP = original poster. The person who started the thread.

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

It's not something we have to reckon with in reality because there's only one species that has "human-style intelligence", but in a fantasy setting where there are multiple intelligent species then you're inevitably going to have some people who fall in love with someone who isn't biologically compatible with them.

[Recon1o6]

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.

Actually no, it does have an official source, koji at the first fanfest for ARR.

[MikkoAkure]

Actually no, it does have an official source, koji at the first fanfest for ARR.

Can you provide the actual quote that supports that claim?

I looked up the interview with Koji from the first fanfest and it's not mentioned there. All I can find on this being a thing is fanon that keep getting repeated as if it's canon.

[Caitlyn]

Concerning the Raen from Sui-no-Sato, they only represent about 10% of the total Raen that exist and their ability to breath underwater comes from the Green Koji spell/blessing and, as far as this goes, the spell may give them the possibility to sustain the pressure underwater.

10% underwater, 40% spread over the world, 50% dead xD

Nah, I m just kidding.

But concerning about the Au Ra in the First: Those where called "Drahn", which is very similiar for the dragon speak word "dra[n]" (which means dragon). I mean, they got horns, a tail, scales. And in their folklore/history/origin they believe they are the descendants of Nhaama and Azim (or better: Tiamat and Bahamut, both dragons).

I believe its more likely that one part is more dominant than the other part. In a Au Ra x Miqo'te couple, it may be more possible to have a pure Au Ra or Miqo'te child than a hybrid of both. With some rare exceptions of course.

I still wonder, why Yugiri have a more unique design than most other Au Ra.

[Gothicshark]

cringe, @caitlyn explains this well.

the physical features of the children

Although we don't see a lot of Au ra children, we do have enough knowledge to make a few guesses. First the Side Horns are actually Ears, and apearantly grow large as a child, but the inference is that the Horns are small buds when born. Also most of the player races count as Human for the sake of species classification. It's mentioned a few times in side quests that Elezen, Hyur, and Roegadyn can and do mix their blood at times. Garlean as well. It's not clear if Viera, Hrothgar, Lalafell, and Miqo’te can mix with others, and in some ways it's implied Miqo’te can't due to spoilers with bloodlines in Shadowbringer. However, there is a mention of an Au Ra/Hyur Child so... yeah. Au Ra might be closer to Humans than Miqo’te.

As to tails, our only clue are the Miqo'te children who are born with stubby tails that eventually grow out to long beautiful tails. SO I kind of think that Au Ra kids will look fairly human until they start to grow and then their horns and tails would become the glorious dragonlike features they have as adults.


**Note- Use of Human in my reply is intentional as I am talking Earth Humans and not Hyur of Hydaelyn.