How Would Viera Fit In XIVs lore?

[Hitsuzen]

Whatever new race is probably going to be linked lorewise to that "new world" continent west or eorzea, because if there were more races I'd assume we'd see them by now unless they are more local region locked like the beast tribes, but if that were the case then they likely couldn't be adventurers/warriors of light and going through the 2.0 questline would be pretty weird.

[Kaedan]

Stop arguing about whether Viera should be added or not in my thread. This is not for you. This is for ideas concerning how they'd fit in. It is supposed to be constructive ideas ONLY.

And I don't think they would fit in at all.

[Kyuuen]

Excusing my last post of severe annoyance.

There's two ways they could be incorporated, the first being that they're native to our planet. Another boring introduction in a similar vein that the Au'Ra were brought in (joy... <-- sarcasm <-- obvious).

The second being through the Return to Ivalice raid (24 man) that is coming. Where-in; I would hope, they get introduced slowly through out the entire course of said raid. And as said raid progresses we see more and more of them showing up around the cities and what have you until the culmination of the raid and the end of 4.0 and them becoming playable in 5.0.

[Ametrine]

I got one!

There is an offshoot of the Viera know as the Feol. Going into too much detail on their background would be spoilers to Revenant Wings, so I'll keep it minimal; they were violently ostracized as a people, and thus, they built their warren within a volcanic region to deter anyone from harming them again.

The map of Othard shows an area called "The Burn." It's a grey area west of Yanxia and southwest of the Azim Steppe. The corner the Dotharl have settled is the right spot to act as the border of the regions, so "The Burn" appears to be that desert as a whole.

The Feol-expy I imagine that they were one of the races of Yanxia, but fled to The Burn as the Garleans rolled through, or that they fled the Azim Steppe as the Xeala's violent culture forced them out.

Or both. The tribes of Yanxia ran to the Burn to find safety with their Viera siblings that had left Azim in a time before.

That's how I'd add them at least.

[Ametrine]

Yoshi-P stepped out to talk about it due to concept art being shown that he didn't want shown. Said concept art being that of the Au'Ra being drawn as Viera.

No, this is false.

The Stone and Steel artbook (which I own) has pages dedicated to Viera concept art and entirely seperate pages dedicated to Au Ra art. There are even unique Viera concepts to FFXIV within the pitch, including the possibility of having their alt tribe being similar to Lalafell in proportions to give us another "cute" racial option.

There was never a shift from Viera to Au Ra. They were both seperate races pitched from the get-go, but the devs choose to proceed with the one that became Au Ra for Heavensward, the reason being originality first.

In fact, the Au Ra were referred to as "demon" in the concepts. The proper name came much later.

[dark494]

4.1, Ivalice. Enough said.

[Kyuuen]

No, this is false.

The Stone and Steel artbook (which I own) has pages dedicated to Viera concept art and entirely seperate pages dedicated to Au Ra art. There are even unique Viera concepts to FFXIV within the pitch, including the possibility of having their alt tribe being similar to Lalafell in proportions to give us another "cute" racial option.

There was never a shift from Viera to Au Ra. They were both seperate races pitched from the get-go, but the devs choose to proceed with the one that became Au Ra for Heavensward, the reason being originality first.

In fact, the Au Ra were referred to as "demon" in the concepts. The proper name came much later.

As do I. Page 283, top of the page labeled "Au Ra Concepts - The Viera". Concepts which were revealed on one of the Live Letters if I'm not mistaken, if I am mistaken then it was one of the Fan Fests.

Also on that page you'll find Au Ra concepts that also included the Viangaa and the Lupin on 284 as the beastly concept.

EDIT: Seems I was wrong on both accounts. Was neither Fan Fest or a traditional live letter, but a Live Letter hosted from F.A.T.E. in Tokyo.

[DreadRabbit]

They added bunny ears to the gold saucer for a reason.

If you want to be a bunny girl so much, just wear the ears.

I will never understand this comment coming from a Miqo'te or Au Ra player. Never. Let's add cat ears to the Gold Saucer and delete Miqo'tes from the game entirely. We have head gear with horns, so no need for Au Ra. Forget their unique emotes, lore, and just overall aesthetic. People only care about 'dem ears, so just get rid of them and let us all be Hyur that wears specific ear gear. Same with Elezens given the recent thread: delete Elezens and just give Hyurs and Roes ear extension glamour.

I apologize for the sarcasm, but this really is the worst argument against any new race. And coming from a player of a cat girl or lizard girl, it just screams hypocrite.

Anyway, on topic: I admit I'm not very familiar with Viera (haven't really played the games with them in there). Given all the images I've seen, I definitely feel like their builds (if they went with Fran) would definitely lean towards a more warrior race. Perhaps from a region in the mountains as their legs would be ideal for traversing the heights and crevices. Story wise though what if they actually sympathized with the Empire? Like perhaps their tribes were actually nearing extinction and so the Empire offered protection and help in exchange for something? So like when we meet the first tribe they're actually quite hostile, but there's a few key NPCs that would help you or help you earn their trust. For those that want the cute Viera, you could have the more warrior clan be the taller, elegant version while the smaller ones are the domesticated citizens that went to live within the Empire itself.

Or it could be possible that one clan of Viera (tall warriors) despises the Empire for splitting their already scarce race apart and considers the other clan traitors for willingly assimilating and throwing away their heritage. While the smaller/cute clan that's from the empire would look to the warrior clan as dumb savages that are doomed to die.

That said, I haven't finished HW yet, so I'm going off an incomplete understanding of lore (so I apologize if this clashes with what we have).

[Shiro--Tsubasa]

Viera could be introduced as a sub-race of Miqote. I think instead of making completely new races we should develop more on the races we have like adding in sub-races/tribes and stuff like that. For example the hyur have the padaji or however they are spelled.

[savageink]

I will never understand this comment coming from a Miqo'te or Au Ra player.

That's because you assume everybody who plays one of them chose them because of ears or horns instead of in spite of them. Personally I chose the Miq because of body type and facial structure. I didn't pay alot of attention to the lore or ears. I actually kind of cringe when he does that surprise paws motion in cut scenes. But ignoring the ears I like the character's appearance.