You mentioned you were responding to someone stating the WoL could be from a different culture of Highlanders. Were you, perhaps, responding to this part of my first post in this thread?

Quote Originally Posted by Risough
We've also seen highlanders from a huge variety of cultures and I simply find it hard to believe a practice like shaving eyebrows would be followed ubiquitously across all of them.
If this is what you were responding to, I wasn't referring to the WoL or any other Highlander culture within Eorzea. We've met Highlanders in Thavnair, Old Sharlayan, The First, and Dalmasca if you count the Company Muscle aboard the Prima Vista. All of them have shaved eyebrows despite having no apparent connection to the Highlander clan in Gyr Abania. I find that unrealistic, especially on The First given that a prominent NPC from Shadowbringers does have them.

That said, I don't think the clans are meant to be a 1:1 correspondence to any Eorzean city-state. Just as in real life, each city state has a diverse make-up of people even if one group is more strongly represented. If the population of Limsa Lominsa is, for example, only 1% Highlander then those Highlanders would still be of Lominsan culture and reflect those values.

I don't think we have enough information to say where or when the practice of shaving eyebrows, filing teeth, and so on originated. We know Highlanders lived in places other than Gyr Abania prior to the 6th astral era because we see statues of Highlanders in Mhach and Dun Scaith. It wasn't just Highlanders that fled to the mountains of Gyr Abania in the floods of the 6th umbral calamity (the 4th calamity was the calamity of earth), it was pretty much everyone Nym and Amdapor could get to evacuate.

We know some Highlanders left Gyr Abania due to the Hildibrand questline of all places. The Gentleman Zombie was a soldier in Sil'Dih when it felll. According to Encyclopaedia Eorzea, Sil'Dih was formed in 969, Ala Mhigo in 1135, and Sil'Dih fell in 1181. While it's possible the Gentleman Zombie immigrated to Sil'Dih in the 46 years the civilizations overlapped, I think it more likely he was a descendant of Mhachi diaspora who returned to Yafaem after the waters receded. After all, if you had survived a catastrophic flood wouldn't you want to return and see what became of the place you called home?

The Gentleman Zombie has shaved eyebrows. If his lineage had no connection to the clans in Gyr Abania after they left, does this mean the practice pre-dates the flood? It's hard to say because we aren't given enough information to discern what is due to technological limitations and what is a deliberate design choice. Bert, for example, was obviously intended to have eyebrows but that was not reflected in game.

I'm a bit concerned we've taken this thread too far off the rails debating the history of Highlanders. Ruin, this is your thread so if you feel we've gone too far off topic just say so and I'll drop the subject.