Au Ra physiology and other lore.

[Asheilin]

Ah, you beat me to it. As far as we can determine only her face is unscaled. And as usual for asians she has long silky black hair. I likes it
.


Nobody said anything about this being the unmasking. Maybe she gets unmasked earlier and stays that way for the rest of the story. She looks like she is at a meeeting. Maybe some diplomatic stuff.

I doubt they would pointedly mark her face under BtFp2 if we see it in BtFp1.

[Balipu]

I doubt they would pointedly mark her face under BtFp2 if we see it in BtFp1.

Unless they want a big surprise. We know the unmasking is comming, we know that she is an Au Ra so we have a general idea of what she looks like, so only thing left is to make the exact time a surprise.

[StarDrake]

EDIT: Asheiling correctly points out that this was from the second part of the trailer. So a good 2 months before we see her then.

This is likely due in part to the art team giving themselves up until the very last minute to make any changes they feel are necessary to the Au Ra model. They got unveiled at Tokyo Fanfest, but you can bet your butt that there are at least small adjustments being made to them even now, and probably will be made all the way up to the March in-game reveal.

Of course, it's possible Au Ra will appear in the game a little earlier;

for various reasons, it is extremely likely that the main body of the Dravanian Horde is composed in significant part of Au Ra, and that the dark-scaled Au Ra are in fact going to be the "Dravanian" clan. So it's very possible we'll see at least one during 2.5 part 1, and definitely during 2.5 part 2 with the siege of Ishgard.

But yeah, there's a good reason Yugiri won't be unmasked until March - as much as her concept "art" has been done for a while, it's very, very likely small tweaks are still being made to the Au Ra model and animation skeleton, and the art team wants as much lead time as humanly possible before releasing Yugiri and her brethren into the wild, as it were.

[Alice_89th]

[QUOTE=StarDrake;2708284]Of course, it's possible Au Ra will appear in the game a little earlier;

for various reasons, it is extremely likely that the main body of the Dravanian Horde is composed in significant part of Au Ra, and that the dark-scaled Au Ra are in fact going to be the "Dravanian" clan. So it's very possible we'll see at least one during 2.5 part 1, and definitely during 2.5 part 2 with the siege of Ishgard.

I would love to know these 'various reasons', because I (personally) fully expect said horde to be actual dragons only.

[PArcher]

Well, the hoard will be composed of Dravanians, not necessarily Dragons. I don't think Dragonflies Boast and Aevis are "true" dragons, like Safat, Moracco, Svara, etc are. And there are all the heretics who will also be fighting for Dravania. For the black-scaled Au-Ra to also be part of the hoard as footsoldiers or the like isn't any sort of impossibility at all

Dragons are likely the top of Dravanian society, with their lesser kin and slaves below them.

[StarDrake]

I would love to know these 'various reasons', because I (personally) fully expect said horde to be actual dragons only.

There are three immediate ones, one of which is a bit meta.

The first is that it simply makes no sense to add the Au Ra to the game if they are not part of the Horde and are not going to make a substantial appearance in Heavensward outside of player models. The other elements that have been previewed all match Heavensward thematically - Dark Knights who will be of either Ishgardian or Dravanian origin (and given that they love to show off DK with this burly Au Ra, I lean toward the latter), Astrologians of seemingly a combined Ishgardian-Sharlayan origin, Machinists because we'll be dealing with airships and cannon and whatnot a lot in Ishgard, bird beastmen who live on the Sea of Clouds, etc. Adding the Au Ra purely for player use and one major NPC makes no sense - we're going to be seeing a lot of them. And the most obvious place for Au Ra to be is in the Horde, in some capacity.

Secondly, and somewhat relatedly and on a half-meta level: the story has been pushing the idea that at least some Au Ra are Dravanian for a while. Yugiri, first of all, seems concerned about her appearance and how Eorzeans will react to it - and yet, despite how easily Alph lets it slide when he brings it up, by itself this makes no sense in context. Ul'dah is a little hostile to the "beast tribes" and Gridania as a city is a bit wary of outsiders in general, but significant parts of Eorzea, especially Limsa, are places where Goblins and Mamool Ja walk the streets alongside Hyurans and Lalafells. Yugiri has a very "normal"-looking body shape and voice (and, on a meta level, we know thanks to the Au Ra reveal and the 2.5 trailer that ultimately she looks far more "human" than the aforementioned Gobbos or Mamools or whatnot and that she's very pretty) so it seems very strange that she'd think the reaction to her appearance would be one of fear, "disquiet" and hostility...

... unless, of course, she had specific reason to think her appearance would cause some upset. Like the fact that her Dravanian cousins have been participating in a war against one of the nations of Eorzea for literally an era, and that being recognized for what she "is" might lead some to suspect her cause is some form of strange Dravanian plot more than anything else. Never mind running into an Ishgardian by accident, as they may well try to kill her on the spot.

Either way, Yugiri's appearance has been deliberately played up as "dangerous", and I don't think that's just the developers being coy about showing the new race. If nothing else, FFXIV's plotting, especially in the patches, has been too tight for that.

Moreover, in 2.4 they very deliberately introduced this idea of Saint Shiva "laying with a dragon", and the flight of fancy this would inevitably lead to. While I don't actually think this will be the origin of the Au Ra, I do think it's part of Ishgardian folklore regarding the origins of the Dravanian Au Ra. And either way, on a meta level the writers wished for us to make this association with Dravania and half-dragons before introducing the Au Ra publicly at all. I really can't see that as coincidence.

On a more general level, as noted, even what we've seen of the Horde to date has been very varied. In addition to "normal" quadrupedal dragons (of several sizes), there are dragonflies, drakes/biasts, aevis-style ground-walking flightless-winged dragons (who seem to serve as the Horde's general infantry), wyverns, two-legged "dragon giants"... with such company, it is not remotely out of question that Au Ra could be part of the Horde. So long as you have an axe to grind with the hominids, you're welcome to help out, seemingly.

Finally, there's one other thing that is purely in the story.

The Akh Afah Amphitheater.

Specifcally, the Akh Afah Amphitheater. It's named in dragon-tongue, and it seems fairly clearly to be a Dravanian structure (it never showed up anywhere on the old Coerthas map), but it's a properly-made amphitheater, with seating, entrances, and a stage, all scaled for human-sized sentient bipeds. What possible use would dragons have for such a structure? (Cue an image of Svara and Maracco doing a comedy routine? :V) What possible use... unless there is a significant element of permanent Dravanian society who are "human"-scale?

Like, say, some Au Ra?

Ultimately it's largely still conjecture, but that's basically all we have at this point. There is, however, a mountain of evidence pointing to the idea that the Au Ra will be part of the Dravanian Horde in Heavensward - probably a significant part.

[Alice_89th]

Excellent arguments

This was a very interesting read.

I am a bit of a sceptic when it comes to linking the dravanians and the Au ra, but you do make some compelling arguments. Thank you for taking the time to write them down

[Grayve]

This was a very interesting read.

I am a bit of a sceptic when it comes to linking the dravanians and the Au ra, but you do make some compelling arguments. Thank you for taking the time to write them down

Well thought out arguments, but I am skeptical as well. I expect most of them to be from Doma, even if the are Shiva's descendants.

[treuhavik]

Well thought out arguments, but I am skeptical as well.

As am I. I still suspect Au Ra originate from Othard.

The reason the Au Ra are shown as the new jobs is because they're the new race and, right now, can't get enough air-time. They're just showing off their newest products.

The amphitheater could just as well have been created by humans for humans. Ishgardian heretics have existed for a long, long time now considering St. Shiva's lore and I imagine humans allying (and sleeping) with dragons would speak the language.

As much as I may dislike it, most everything the devs do isn't given any forethought regarding lore, they then rely on the lore team to explain additions or changes after the fact. (ala Dalamund)


EDIT: And, uhh.. By "humans" I mean Elezen.

[Dynza]

Hey guys, been meaning to post some speculation-style lore on the au ra. As a quick note, I have not played through the new MSQs as of this posting. So I don't know if anything I post here is wrong or way off. Anyway enjoy!


So I wanted to talk about the recent preview of Yugiri's face. As I assumed earlier, it's possible Yugiri may have a unique face and/or hairstyle that player au ra may not have, but with the recent preview, I think that Yugiri may, at least, have a generic model and here's why:


Yugiri's hair bears remarkable similarity to another piece of au ra art found earlier on this page:


Our astrologian promotional artwork and Yugiri herself both have the same hairstyle! This is pretty good evidence to suggest that au ran (Auri? Au rese? Au rinian?) females will have the option for the same hairstyle. Given this is a very long, tied hairstyle, I wonder if there will be long looser hairstyles available to female au ra.

As aside, I also found another picture detailing the heights and total height each of the current races can reach with the character creator:




This gives us a slightly more accurate look (using the current in game numbers) on the relative heights of each of the races and we can still posit that the au ra males sit somewhere inbetween elezen and roegadyn heights and may be able to stretch as tall or taller than roegadyns. Female au ra, may not be able to get as tall as the shortest highlanders. Those of you who were concerned about their heights will at least be happy to know that they can at least be taller than the average hyur midlander, though.


Now that's out of the way, let's talk a bit more about Yugiri and why she hides her face.

First, there's no real indication that speculation regarding Shiva's union with a dragon led to the creation of the au ra. The event has simply occurred too soon in the general timeline of Eorzea that a race of dragon-bred people could've populated into a function society and emigrated out of Eorzea and into Othard. Secondly, I don't think we'll really, truly, know the origins of the au ra at this time. Simply put, we know little about the origins of the current five races. Only that they arrived on Eorzea centuries ago in the distant past. There may be mythical elements in the ancient past that led to the creation of the five races on the other continents as well as those of the au ra. But any origin story on those five races will likely be brought up at the same time as those of the au ra I believe.

Now regarding the dragons on Eorzea. It's important to note that the dragons fighting Ishgard are collectively called the Dravanian Horde. They are a mix of different species of dragons from wyverns, aevis, quadrupedal (four-legged) dragons, monstrous dragons like Giruveganaus, and even 'lesser' beasts like dragonflies and drakes. Hence the name "Horde". We all know about Nidhogg, but there's likely to be a number of different dragon leaders within the Horde that all converse, plan, and strategize their attacks on Ishgard and its territories. In the end 2.5 trailer we've seen a black-ish dragon land on the Steps of Destiny, preparing his attack on the city and we've seen a brief look at a white dragon seen in the Heavensward teaser (pic below)


Dragons, and the dravanian horde are shown to be quite malicious on Eorzea.

But what if they're not the only dragons on the planet?

We know that a continent to the south known as Meracydia was inhabited by dragons thanks to the Coil of Bahamut lore. We know in the ancient past that the Allagan empire invaded and enslaved the dragons there and even took down Bahamut and imprisoned him in the artificial moon of Dalamud. It stands to reason that there may be other dragons located on other continents and it stands to reason that the other dragons, hordes or otherwise, may also be as malevolent as the dravanians are on Eorzea. Thus, a race like the au ra, who bear draconic features would likely be just as feared or hated on their home continent as they would be on Eorzea.

Recall that Yugiri once said that she had encountered people who took to fear when the once saw her and that experience taught her to keep her face hidden from those who aren't used to seeing her kind. Know that also, Yugiri had never been to Eorzea before, recall that she did not know what a primal was. She had heard of gods like those found on Othard, but never encountered ones like those in Eorzea. It stands to reason then, that Yugiri has no knowledge of the history of the dragonsong war between Ishgard and the Horde. Thus, Yugiri's experiences regarding her appearance likely stem from her homeland either in Doma, or among the other civilizations that exist on Othard. We can then assume that the au ra, who originate from Othard are an incredibly rarely seen people. And that they themselves do not venture much beyond their borders. In fact, I suspect that Yugiri may have been an orphan au ra who wound up in Doma and was adopted by one its families before the country fell. She trained in their fighting styles and took a name from their culture. It may be that Yugiri was accepted by the people that adopted her, but others among the continent and perhaps even in the country do not share similar sentiments.

Which then brings us to the question why the PC au ra decided to show up in Eorzea come Heavensward. Perhaps it has something to do with the ending line uttered by the dragon at the end of 2.5 trailer, "My brood have heard the song. Ishgard shall burn!" Perhaps the au ra come because they too can hear the song? Though I don't think they descend from dragons (perhaps they were cursed by one powerful dragon akin to Nidhogg, Bahamut or Midgardsormr?), their draconic features and horns may give them a special type of hearing or understanding of dragons that the other five races lack. Perhaps the coming exodus of au ra from Othard to Eorzea is due to another event. Maybe the Garleans uncover their hidden homeland and its residents are forced to flee westward? Maybe a large portion of au ra develop a sense of wanderlust and decide to leave their homes in search of adventure. I imagine that this aspect of why player au ra leave for Eorzea will be kept open ended for players to develop and role-play their own reasons.

And that's all I have to talk about today. I have some more speculation and lore stuff I'd like to get into in the near future regarding the dragons. I'm not certain if it'll be entirely related to the au ra, but maybe as I rummage the ideas in my head I might be able to make a connection. Until then!