Conception Lore

[LineageRazor]

The difficulty with Lalafel, as I stated above, is that they don't seem to have breasts with mammary glands, and so might be too evolutionarily different from the other races for offspring to be viable.

I'd say that the fact Lalafel women don't have breasts is a very poor indicator of whether they lactate or not. Many (in fact, almost all) mammals lactate from nipples that are pretty much flush with their torsos. The way that human breasts protrude from the torso the way that they do is actually a very unusual evolutionary development, and there's been a fair amount of scientific study on the topic of why they developed that way. (My favorite theory is that humans developed to be a semi-aquatic species, which helps to explain our lack of body hair, as well; ancient humans would spend a lot of time in rivers and shallow lakes to avoid predators, and the fatty breasts located high on the torso helped mothers to nurse their young while mostly submerged. But I digress.) Lack of visible breasts is not a good measure for whether a species has mammary glands, and I think it's fairly certain that Lalafel are as mammalian as any of the other races.

Other biological factors, size especially, could make Lalafel cross-breeds unlikely, though, this is certainly true!

As for Mi'qote and Au Ra, I take the fact that they are counted among the "spoken" races (e.g., not Beastmen) to indicate that there's a deeper commonality among them than simple outward appearance. I think that they are all the same species, and simply show a great deal of genetic diversity, similar to how chihuahuas and timber wolves are both Canis Lupis, and cabbage and broccoli are both Brassica Oleracea. Basically, they may have tails and horns/ears, but they're still humans with bits that resemble parts from other animals, rather than non-humans that happen to look predominantly human. I'd say that all aspects of Mi'qote and Au Ra should be considered "human unless directly stated otherwise" - so unless the game specifically says that Au Ra lay eggs, I think it's pretty unlikely to be true! (Not to mention the can of worms you open by referring to Au Ra as reptiles in the first place, when there seems to be a raging debate as to whether they are dragons or demons - do demons lay eggs???)

Also, I imagine Miqo'te courtesans and dancers are more common because, well, they are sexy cat people.

This is more of a meta explanation - choosing a "less human" race because it's less controversial to objectify a clearly-fantastical race (and, on the other end of the spectrum, also because they appeal to a significantly large demographic due to being more exotic than ordinary human women) explains why the producers of the game did it, but does not really contribute to in-game lore: What Eorzean reasons do Mi'qote have for gravitating to that profession?

And, to be fair, it may not even be the case that this is true. Aside from the all-Mi'qote dancers on the Ruby Road Exchange in Ul'dah, there seems to be a pretty even mixture of races. All kinds of women are in the employ of Gegeruju - even a Lalafel is among the dancers on the docks near Hidden Falls. In the Gold Saucer, while the scantily-clad hosteses may not, strictly speaking, be courtesans, they're certainly there to be eye candy - and also include a mix of all races.