The Au Ra and what it means for future playable races

[Megad00mer]

It seems that the addition of the Au Ra as a playable race was meant to feel as if they have always been known to Eorzea. No one seems put off by your appearance and treats you as they would a Hyur, Elezen, etc. Now this is understandable given how the main story is structured but will this have to be the template for any further playable races? Are we to assume that any added race has just always "been there"? Known to the peoples of Eorzea but new to us as the player?

For instance, if they add a race that's a new discovery to Eorzea, then having a new player start as that race at the beginning of ARR wouldn't make sense as no one would know what you are. It seems like SE kind of wrote themselves into a corner in regards to any additional races down the line.

Or, is this one of those situations where we shouldn't think too hard about things. Kind of like a Fantasia. No one seems to notice or care that the WoL is suddenly a female Roegadyn.

Thoughts?

[Anova]

It's one of those game things.

There is a lot of scripted dialogue, and while I would be very pleased if they customized the story for the individual race and with branching actions (like certain Bioware games); this being SE and a JRPG, I would actually be very surprised if they didn't railroad you more often than not.

[Cilia]

It's one of those things you shouldn't think too hard about.

Yugiri, for instance, will still show up in her mask during 2.2 even if you're playing an Au Ra. Due to the lengthy script and numerous variables, the devs simply don't have the time to account for any and every eventuality, so the script is (almost) entirely the same no matter your race and gender. (A nod from Yugiri would be a nice show of solidarity if you're an Au Ra, but, well...)

Naturally, a similar issue will probably crop up if they introduce a new race during a patch cycle that they then make playable in the next expansion. Seeing as I've been told 4.0 will have no pre-required content (e.g. you can jump into it without doing 2.0 - 3.x) though, well, who knows.

[RyuRoots]

I've grown fond of the Au Ra over time, and even have one as an alt on another server as a way of killing time before 3.1, but I feel like playing from the beginning is wonky given everything that happens in the 2.x patches. Yugiri being masked is clearly a measure to minimize negative reaction to a race that most Eorzeans would be unfamiliar with. By playing as an Au Ra you sort of weirdly negate entirely that plot point and it just feels...strange that (as far as I know) there's not any real change or acknowledgement to that aspect of the story if you play as an Au Ra from the start. Now, Yugiri was always meant to be one enormous tease for the Au Ra in general, and they no longer need to be teased, so from a development angle I can perfectly understand it. But from a purely lore standpoint, I don't like it much. As for future playable races, I imagine they'll be mostly the same; a race from some far-off land (to explain why ARR vanilla didn't have any of them) that you can fantasia or start with as you please once they're implemented.

[CyberGoblin]

Well, even before the Au Ra, there are cases where your race is completely ignored such as one of the archer quest people (can't remember his name) who rants about how you should be in the guild because you aren't a Wildwood even if you are one. Au Ra are even worse though. The entire Ninja quests basically make it out to be that you are a complete novice when it comes to Doman culture even as an Au Ra

[Belhi]

The Archer quest treats you as an outsider rather than a non Elezen. Simply put the WoL isn't from any of the city states originally so is an outsider regardless of race.

[PogueX]

thats one thing i loved about SWTOR if you played an alien race and played on the imperial side they would say in a dialogue that it's strange that alien would fight for the imperial which believes in human supremacy

I think for the most part NPC's ignore what race you are and it doesn't come into play. I believe Au Ru was always there though, lady yugiri being an example. It's just only recently they have become more nomadic. Maybe they were an isolated society sort of like the Ishgardians who rarely left their territory

[Cilia]

The entire Ninja quests basically make it out to be that you are a complete novice when it comes to Doman culture even as an Au Ra

Not all Au Ra are Doman, though. Not even the Raen.

It's that kind of complexity that makes it difficult to write the story and program for every race / clan / sex combination, which is why it has to be neutral towards the Warrior of Light.

EDIT

I believe Au Ru was always there though, lady yugiri being an example. It's just only recently they have become more nomadic. Maybe they were an isolated society sort of like the Ishgardians who rarely left their territory

We have no evidence to suggest the Au Ra are any "younger" than other spoken races. They simply aren't native to Eorzea.

Going by their nations' real-world inspirations, it's no surprise they only recently began to move about. Doma is more or less feudal Japan, which was well-known for being highly insular and isolationist. Garlemald's conquest of the nation / region could be seen as a less... benign version of Commodore Perry forcing Japan to open its doors to international trade. Since imperial rule kind of... sucks, lots of Domans (to include Raen Au Ra) are now refugees, and while player character origins can be made up by each individual player it's safe to say most (if not all) Raen encountered in-game are Doman refugees.

The Xaela are a bit more iffy. Their real-world inspiration was apparently the Mongol hordes of the same time period, who aside from periodic raids did not venture far outside their territory. Seeing as Garlemald has conquered all of Othard, though, and Sidurgu speaks as if he also fled Garlean rule, it's a safe bet to assume that the Xaela are also refugees fleeing imperial rule.