Stormblood page updated with new lore.

[Rosenoire]

I was disappointed that no one in 3.0 had any reaction to my being an Au Ra. I wasn't expecting the Ishgardians to freak out, though it would have been cool for one of the kids in the Brume to do a double-take. What I really wanted was a line from the Au Ra NPC's acknowledging that they weren't the first Au Ra I'd ever seen before.

I'm very much hoping we'll get at least a little of that acknowledgement in 4.0.

[LineageRazor]

I'm very much hoping we'll get at least a little of that acknowledgement in 4.0.

I'd recommend very highly against getting your hopes up. Ask any Duskwight player - but they're not the only race whom the NPCs completely fail to acknowledge. Player characters - ALL player characters - have one shared race: Adventurer. NPCs never address a player as a Seeker of the Sun, or as a Plainsfolk, or as a Duskwight. Only as an adventurer. SE hasn't acknowledged race up to this point, and I doubt they'll start now.

I consider ourselves fortunate that they at least give a nod to our gender! (Not that that really stopped Haurchefant, but you get my point :3 )

[WhiteArchmage]

(Not that that really stopped Haurchefant, but you get my point :3 )

I decidedly consider Haurchefant WoLsexual!

[KageTokage]

Player characters - ALL player characters - have one shared race: Adventurer. NPCs never address a player as a Seeker of the Sun, or as a Plainsfolk, or as a Duskwight. Only as an adventurer. SE hasn't acknowledged race up to this point, and I doubt they'll start now.

There's actually a NPC who remarks about hearing that Lalafells aren't trustworthy if you talk to him at a particular point in the HW storyline.

If you're playing as a Lalafell, he'll instead remark about Tataru's popularity at the Forgotten Knight, before mentioning he's heard rumors that they aren't trustworthy and unconvincingly claiming he doesn't believe any of it when he remembers he's talking to one.

So it is present to some degree, just very rarely. They mentioned wanting to have more class-specific dialogue/options in Stormblood, so I can only hope race will be included, too.

[Vexander]

Honestly, that may have been difficult consider what we learned in AST Job Storyline being that Sharlayan is extremely against sharing their magic with outsiders. Unless we go through another storyline with Red Mage involving another person from Sharlayan sharing magic from Sharlayan and being hunted down again because he or she broke this law it better that we the group that created Red Magic is not tied to Sharlayan.

For all we know so far Sharlayan may still be created by survivors of Mhach and Amdapor but they were a separate group of survivors that took a different path in handling their new Magic knowledge being their Isolation policy and Strongly against sharing their Magic and Knowledge of their new Magic as shown in the AST Job storyline with how they will assassinate anyone who tries to share Sharlayan's Magic.

Red Mage Order acts currently as a counter part of Sharlayan being they are open to the outside world and seek to share their magic to the world but most likely their reputation as survivors of Mhach and Amdapor has made it difficult for them to achieve this.

If both Sharlayan and Red Mage Order are created by survivors of Mhach and Amdapor then it would also explain their similar style in outfit design since it is not uncommon for people that originate from the same culture to create similar fashion design despite being separated from each other.

Thing is, we've seen a lot of evidence that, although the ruling echelons of Sharlayan are isolationist, and that there is a -group- of individuals known as the Bibliothecs who are so strongly against the sharing of Sharlayan knowledge that they'd go so far as to kill (and remember, if there had been any solid evidence to link the death of Levava's father to the Bibliothecs, she could've pursued legal action against them, meaning this extremist group does not represent the total nation), there are still a number of Sharlayan groups that are perfectly willing to share their knowledge. The Scions of the Seventh Dawn make ample use of it in the defense of Eorzea. The Sons of Saint Coinach actively teach the art of summoning to others, rather than hoarding that knowledge, taking it home, and reviving it there. Even the Students of Baldesion seemed to be more in that camp, being a group to freely support the scions.

I think a compelling narrative could've been the defection of the Red Mage Order from Sharlayan as a gesture of revolt against the archaic and often damning isolationist policy. Such a thing would've paved the way for some interesting internal conflict in the nation that would've led brilliantly towards an expansion in which we go to Old Sharlayan as well. Heck, the cinematic for that expansion would've probably featured Derplander as a Red Mage, similar to how they've been a Dragoon for Heavenwards, and a Monk for Stormblood.

Instead, we're seeing Red Mage as some kind of hidden society that has existed since the Flood, doing... something? Red Magic isn't even known about by most Eorzeans (or really, any), nor has there been any mention or hint of it from Sharlayans (outside of various speculation linking it to Sharlayan, falsely). It hardly seems that Red Mages are really the opposite side of the coin here, if anything, they'd have to be more isolationist and against sharing their magic than Sharlayan has been in order to remain hidden for so long.

[Belhi]

There's actually a NPC who remarks about hearing that Lalafells aren't trustworthy if you talk to him at a particular point in the HW storyline.

If you're playing as a Lalafell, he'll instead remark about Tataru's popularity at the Forgotten Knight, before mentioning he's heard rumors that they aren't trustworthy and unconvincingly claiming he doesn't believe any of it when he remembers he's talking to one.

So it is present to some degree, just very rarely. They mentioned wanting to have more class-specific dialogue/options in Stormblood, so I can only hope race will be included, too.

I can see the Au Ra favoratism complaint threads already:P

Thing is, we've seen a lot of evidence that, although the ruling echelons of Sharlayan are isolationist, and that there is a -group- of individuals known as the Bibliothecs who are so strongly against the sharing of Sharlayan knowledge that they'd go so far as to kill (and remember, if there had been any solid evidence to link the death of Levava's father to the Bibliothecs, she could've pursued legal action against them, meaning this extremist group does not represent the total nation), there are still a number of Sharlayan groups that are perfectly willing to share their knowledge. The Scions of the Seventh Dawn make ample use of it in the defense of Eorzea. The Sons of Saint Coinach actively teach the art of summoning to others, rather than hoarding that knowledge, taking it home, and reviving it there. Even the Students of Baldesion seemed to be more in that camp, being a group to freely support the scions.

I think a compelling narrative could've been the defection of the Red Mage Order from Sharlayan as a gesture of revolt against the archaic and often damning isolationist policy. Such a thing would've paved the way for some interesting internal conflict in the nation that would've led brilliantly towards an expansion in which we go to Old Sharlayan as well. Heck, the cinematic for that expansion would've probably featured Derplander as a Red Mage, similar to how they've been a Dragoon for Heavenwards, and a Monk for Stormblood.

Instead, we're seeing Red Mage as some kind of hidden society that has existed since the Flood, doing... something? Red Magic isn't even known about by most Eorzeans (or really, any), nor has there been any mention or hint of it from Sharlayans (outside of various speculation linking it to Sharlayan, falsely). It hardly seems that Red Mages are really the opposite side of the coin here, if anything, they'd have to be more isolationist and against sharing their magic than Sharlayan has been in order to remain hidden for so long.

I am going to have to disagree on that one. The background for Red mages makes perfect sense since Red Magic as always been described as a combination of White and Black. We know from the Lore book that Ala Mhigo was settled by refugees from Mhachi and Amdipor that fled the floods. It would make sense that their magicial arts would have developed since then.

As to why the seclusion? It might just be they aren't a large order or that they have historically never travelled far out of Ala Mhigo. Just cause we don't know about them doesn't mean others don't. Further, both White and Black Magic are forbidden in most of Eorzea. Only a select few are taught White in Gridania and the Black Mage 50-60 quest deals with a magistrate who finds out that the WoL is actively practicing BLM. Its possible the Red Mages didn't want to draw too much attention to themselves and the origins of their art.

More to the point really since this expansion has a focus on Ala Mhigo it makes sense to have one of the new Jobs come from there. It would be odd to have an expansion focused on a country and yet have more Jobs from a country not even visitable in the game than the land we are working in for half the expansion.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

While I've got no beef with the Mhachi origins, I definitely see where the Sharlayan thing comes from - a synthetic fusing of two schools of magic seems like just the sort of thing a Sharlayan would experiment with, although I suppose actually using it for combat isn't an especially Sharlayan approach. Then there's the Artefact Gear, which you can't deny has a certain Sharlayan flair about it.

[Theodric]

I'd definitely like to see more love for Au Ra, particularly the Xaela. I'm just a little wary that that 'rougher' tribes such as the Dotharl will be forced to reform or be made into antagonists. Given that large portions of Othard are not explicitly clinging to Eorzean values I'm hoping the Warrior of Light and his allies from Eorzea get told to play ball or leave if they start trying to meddle too deeply in the affairs of the Xaela and other prominent factions.

[KageTokage]

I'm curious as to what exactly is going to bring us to the Azim Steppe as far as the MSQ goes.

It doesn't seem to have a primal threat to deal with like the Ruby Sea nor does it appear to be under any imperial occupation like Yangxia. I also have a hard time imagining us going there to get support in the Doma liberation effort, considering that the Xaela are constantly at each other's throats with territorial disputes.

[Caitlyn]

Ananta

I'm not sure what to make of them aside from the fact that I believe they were created by the Allagans. Besides that I've got no theories as of yet.

The Ananta were NOT created by the Allagans. But the Allagans created Nagas and Lamias based on the Ananta race. You can say, that the Ananta are the origin race of Lamias and Nagas.