Too Few Padjal - Source?

[Nahara]

Whenever the topic of new races comes up, I always see someone post the suggestion of introducing Padjal as a playable race.

I've read on the Final Fantasy Wiki and have told people that Padjal as a playable race can't happen because there's not enough of them in existence to justify them being a playable race.

However, the FF wiki doesn't cite a source for their claim. Is there a dev post about this that I haven't found yet or quest text somewhere in the game that I missed that talks about this?

[Anonymoose]

Well, for starters, Padjal aren't a race per se. They're Hyuran when they're born, except they remain children and grow horns as part of the forest's blessing. Padjali are kind of a secondary race. This transformation from Hyur to Padjal is what is extremely rare. The elementals of the Twelveswood choose people to be Padjal. Rarely. And only from among those in the forest. And [usually?] only Hyurs. And only when they're children. They say never say never, but Padjal in the character creator? I'm sayin' never.

In Gridania, there are those blessed by the forest. They are known as the Padjal. the touch of the elementals causes horns to sprout from their heads. They are ageless children, fluent in the tongue of the forest.

Ages passed, until five centuries ago, the elementals at long last welcomed people back into the forest. So the nation of Gridania was founded, and my people─the Padjal─came into being, to serve as mediators between elementals and those who would reside in their forest home. It is from the elementals themselves that we inherited white magic.

[myahele]

They are too rare, but I wouldn't be surprised that in a new expansion they can make a bs excuse of the elementals being so happy they they blessed many people and became less strict.

[Saikou]

Moose has it, though the jury is out on whether the original owner of Thyrus is an Elf or not. If she is, then it seem to be further evidence that The Padjal are not a race - they are chosen.

I'm left to remember the case of the Archer quest line. It is implied that the Wildwood tend to be the strictest on tradition in Gridania. This would fit with the fact that the timeline seems to indicate that the Elezen were always on Eorzea. The Hyur migrated in several waves sometime around the 4th or 5th astral era (someone check me on this). The Miqo's are the most recent arrivals, migrating during the ice age that was the 6th umbral era (again, correct me if I'm wrong). That Padjal would be exclusively seems unlikely given the Elezen's long history in the region. Though there is the one Padjal that seems like he could be a Duskwight Elezen, odd since the majority of Duskwight are outcasts that spurn living in an above-ground city, there are certainly none that show any hint of being Miqo'te.

Isn't Gridania ruled by The Padjal, of which Kan-e-Senna is the most senior? This would seem to indicate that children born Padjal are extremely rare.

[jomoru]

Because it would make the WHM questline as hilarious as the Archer.

Also Lalas or Roe are the most recent arrivals both having come with the advent of naval trade.. well Naval trade for one.. piracy for the other.

[Enkidoh]

Well, this thread in the old 1.0 forum went into some detail on the subject, particularly some info given by none other than Ferne (it was about how padjal are named, but he also revealed exactly how padjal come to be). Unfortunately I can't directly quote Ferne's informative post from it directly, due to the old 1.0 forum being archived, but I'll try and copy and paste it here.

EDIT: here is Ferne's post from the above thread - http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...l=1#post983986 :

Hello all,

Allow me take a few moments to shed a little light on the naming conventions used for Padjals.

First off, the language that the names are based off of is that of the Ainu peoples, indigenous to northern Japan.

Here are a few real-world examples of that language:

sir e-tok : the edge of the world
nupe : tears
pon : small
wakka : clear water

We aren't using that language as-is, but have tried to create something unique based off the spellings, sounds, syllable count, and overall feel of the words.

Here are the rules for the names:

1. All are comprised of three words.

2. The first two are the forename, and the final word is the surname.

3. The first name is constructed of simple vowel-based word (E, Ae, Uo, I, Ea, etc.) combined with a longer companion word. In the case of males, the vowel-based word comes first. In the case of females, it comes second.

Male:
E-Sumi-Yan
O-App-Pesi

Female:
Kan-E-Senna
Raya-O-Senna

4. Words in the Padjal language are normally separated by spaces. However, when a group of words forms a single concept (such as a proper noun, or a compound word), they are connected with hyphens.

---

In addition to NPC names, the ancient language can be seen used in names of sacred locations around the Twelveswood. If a name is Padjali, you can assume that the location has been there for a long time.

Place names:
The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak (a beast from Padjali mythology)
Tam-Tara Deepcroft

Enemy names:
Ak-Inik varlet -> servant of the Inik house
Ak-Mena varlet -> servant of the Mena house (Ak being the honorific prefix attached to a deceased member of a house)

---

There was also a question about how a Padjal gets their name (considering they start off as Hyur).

There are several old Hyur families in Gridania which consistently (albeit rarely) produce Padjals. Those include the Senna, the Yan, and the Pesi families. (Note the family names still possess the Padjali linguistic roots).

When a baby is born to one of these families, he or she is given a "normal" Hyur name, as is the custom (i.e. Bryce Senna).

When it is learned that the child is a Padjal, they are given a new first name based off the ancient Padjali tongue, and accepted into Stillglade Fane for their indoctrination.

---

Hope that clears things up a bit!

So basically, this seems to suggest that even though any hyur could potentially become a padjal, certain families seem to be more predestined towards such a fate - it definitely gives credit to the idea that padjal are indeed rare if only a few specific families seem to produce them consistently. Or maybe I'm just flapping my gums here.

[UlricCraft]

Moose has it, though the jury is out on whether the original owner of Thyrus is an Elf or not.

It was A-Towa-Cant, right?
I thought ATC was odd looking when I played through, thinking he was a strange skin colour but never considered race. Now looking back I think human:


The ears look like that of Padjal E-Sumi-Yan from the CNJ guild. The resemblance isn't too far off if you ask me!

[Enkidoh]

I don't think A-towa's skin colour is really representative of his race though, or

even accurate for how he is really meant to be, given the fact he has actually been dead for centuries, and is now just a spirit inhabiting the WHM Soul Crystal.

I presume the more pointy ears are just another change that occurs to them when they become padjal though (as horns also grow from their heads it's not too big a stretch to think that their ears could become more pointy too for that matter. ). Remember that Ferne himself stated that only hyur become padjal and not elezen, so yeah, the pointy ears are not proof of elezen ancestry.

[Tlamila]

I really don't think he's elezen either, all his "elfish" features are really the padjali ones + as Enkidoh said being "a little" dead doesn't help.

But returning to the OP, if they made them a playable race I'd probably throws tomatoes at them. The lore already makes you feel wrong and incredibly unique for being a white mage without being a padjal, and you see a load of white mage players around you, in game...can you imagine the same with the race?

[tymora]

Can't remember which quest but the Padjal are also predominantly from a few bloodlines. "Senna" is one of them.