Do Au Ra lay eggs?

[Yasuhiro]

One look at their anatomy tells you that the answer is no since they have belly buttons.
Even if its a game in a fantasy realm there would be no need for a navel if they came out of eggs.

[Warr_of_Lint]

I think of Au Ra as giant Pangolins. Their tails bear a striking resemble some styles of Au Ra tails, in my opinion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangolin

Pangolins are mammals that give live birth. The fact that they have scales doesn't make them a reptile hybrid, or really even closely related to reptiles. Nature sometimes results in things that are similar in appearance, but are really quite distinct by all other measures. Of course, this is a fantasy game so the designers could make up their own rules as to why things are.

[Berethos]

I do hope they'll have some Au Ra children in Stormblood.

The Miqu'ittens have had their time to shine.

With us going to the Azim Steppes, the home area of the Xaela nomadic tribes, I'd be incredibly surprised if we didn't see Au Ra children.

[LineageRazor]

With us going to the Azim Steppes, the home area of the Xaela nomadic tribes, I'd be incredibly surprised if we didn't see Au Ra children.

I wouldn't. ARR release saw VERY few child NPCs - and most of the ones that did exist were "fake" children: fully grown character models being passed off as teenagers (i.e., without dialog you'd have no idea they were children at all). Coming from FFXI, which had numerous children of all races in each city, it was quite disappointing. And we STILL have no Lalafell or Rogadyn child models, anywhere.

I will not be remotely surprised if there are no Au Ra children on the steppes.

[Berethos]

I wouldn't. ARR release saw VERY few child NPCs - and most of the ones that did exist were "fake" children: fully grown character models being passed off as teenagers

Why would the ARR release be more relevant than the numerous examples of child NPCs added more recently?

If anything, the Heavensward launch is a better indicator of whether we are likely to see children of a particular race that is important to that area...or have you forgotten that day one of Heavensward featured numerous Elezen children in appropriate (to the lore/setting) areas?

Judging whether we will see children Au Ra based on the status of the game almost 4 years ago is frankly kind of silly.

Back on the original topic...

Found what I thought I had heard about the Au Ra (lore panel from the Las Vegas Fan Fest where Koji read Oda-san's answers to a variety of submitted questions) - they do grow their horns out over time until it reaches a particular size, and then it stops growing (and it can grow back if damaged/broken, albeit slowly). Doesn't mention the size the horns start at but it does clearly show that they start smaller than what is seen on our character models.

As for the whole egg laying thing, I believe the following is the closest indicator we have regarding how Au Ra are born...

From the description of the Himaa tribe: "For reasons unknown, one out of every three pregnancies amongst the Himaa result in twins." This, along with numerous mentions of breeding or birth and zero mentions of hatching (the EE tends to mention aspects that might make a group stand out, and giving birth through laying eggs definitely fits that bill), to me, strongly indicate the nature of Au Ra birth, namely that it is not through laying of eggs.

[Zojha]

One look at their anatomy tells you that the answer is no since they have belly buttons.
Even if its a game in a fantasy realm there would be no need for a navel if they came out of eggs.

One look at a male's crotch when wearing underwear or tight swimwear reveals that none of them have a bulge.

What this means for our poor men and Eorzean reproduction methods would probably derail the thread. But it's fun to think about :P

[Warr_of_Lint]

One look at a male's crotch when wearing underwear or tight swimwear reveals that none of them have a bulge.

I know yours is a tongue in cheek post, but let me say that just as some pregnancies show more than others, some men's Yadababas show more than others. I have seen many many European tourists at the beach and unless Europe had a high proportion of eunuchs, many men pack very light (I do not claim to know what they look like unpacked; I'm commenting on the book's cover, not content).

It seems that Square has selected the smallest phenotype possible as a basis of their models. Understandable, but color me slightly disappointed.

[LuckyFish]

One look at their anatomy tells you that the answer is no since they have belly buttons.
Even if its a game in a fantasy realm there would be no need for a navel if they came out of eggs.

Looking closer at the anatomy makes me wonder some other things...like, males have a significantly lower W/H ratio than females.

[Blonde_Huntress]

Slightly off topic, but I really hope the Au Ra get some background in Stormblood. They are a fascinating race indeed.

On a side note, I suppose SE could make them lay eggs if they so choose. However, it's been implied they share no relation to dragons and they do have core mammalian characteristics (hair, breasts, etc).

[Gumbercules]

lol this thread made me remember the egg laying scene with papi from monster musume >.>