Ivalician Moogles As A Playable Race - A Mogifesto

[Corue]

NOTE: This was written before the release of Ridorana Lighthouse and a long time before Viera, so this is a bit outdated.

Quite often I find myself scrolling through discussions of what playable races could be implemented into Final Fantasy XIV, I even started a thread myself since I enjoy reading all the responses.
A race that pops a lot in discussions is the Moogles from Final Fantasy XII, Tactics Advance, and Tactics Advance 2. A lot of people say they'd like them as a race, but I don't think anyone has discussed how they would be implemented.

Here I shall attempt to explain how they could potentially be implemented and how they could fit into the world of Hydaelyn.

[Corue]

(Foreword: I am not a SE dev, nor do I clam to be. Please correct me if any of my statements concerning development are incorrect. Any customisation options are presented are not the final design, they are merely examples of what they could look like. Also I apologise in advance for the sloppy image editing. I didn't have the best images to work with.)

Introduction

Many people want or wonder why the FFXIV developers haven't implemented a beast-like race as a playable race. Some players do want non-human based races, so why haven't SE implemented one yet?

You'll see that many beastly races have very different proportions to the humanoid races. Amalj'aa have craned necks and small heads, Qiqirn have long snouts and bloated bellies, Kojin have less fingers and toes... Lupin may be close in anatomy to a human but they have a very different head shape. If you've looked at the concept art for Au Ra you'd have seen how they initially started off as a large lizard-like race, before being toned down a demonic/succubus-like race with large horns and then finally being turned into what we have now.
I believe the reasoning for this was merely designing and modelling gear. The devs have to design three unique models for every piece of gear that gets released. One for Roegadyns, one for Hyurs (which is then contorted to suit Elezen, Miqo'tes and Au Ra) and one for Lalafell. If a race with a different body shaped were implemented they'd have to model another set of gear with a completely different design on top of that, which would severely increase the workload for gear design.

Therefore if a playable beast-like race is ever considered, I'd propose Ivalician Moogles.

Why Moogles?

Ivalician Moogles are one of the few beast-like races with anatomy similar to the current humanoid races. They have a rather subdued muzzle, they have the same amount of fingers as the humanoid races and their face structures are very similar. The differences being their shorter thighs, longer arms and, of course, the large ears on the top of their heads.

If you take a look at the racial statistics on XIVCensus, you'll see that out of the active players, the most popular races go: Miqo'te, Au Ra, Hyur, Lalafell, Elezen then Roegadyn. Out of the top four of these race, Female Miqo'te and Au Ra characters are the most popular, then Male Hyurs, then Lalafell which have almost equal gender reputation. From this data I believe this means most active users typically tend to gravitate towards races that are perceived as cute with animal-like features, but ultimately aren't too far removed from humans.

While I can't find a single source for this, but rather posts scattered around the internet, there are many players who wish for a "beast-like" race, as in a race designed differently from the human-like races we have now.

I believe that Ivalician Moogles would fill this design niche as they are a "cute"-styled race with animal features and are also a beast-like race. Not only that, since they are so close in anatomy to a human, the majority of gear wouldn't have to be redesigned to accommodate them. The only design issues I could see are having to adjust helmets to accommodate for large ears sticking out, or having to adjust hair to avoid clipping with the ears. Though the devs could go the same way as Au Ra and just let their ears clip through everything.

I also believe that, since XIV is a love letter to the Final Fantasy series a whole, it would only be fitting for the most iconic species in the series to feature as a race.

Going back to my comment on their similarity to a human, more specifically they are similar in size and stature to a Lalafell. This could mean that Lalafellin clothing models could be used to save time on modelling equipment, as well as using the Lalafellin model skeleton to save time on having to re-rig models. Due to the recent release of Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age a lot of models from the original game were updated and retextured. This could potentially mean that a Moogle base could be extracted from Zodiac Age and modified to suit XIV instead of having to develop new models from scratch.

Comparison of Moogles and Lalafell

General


As can be seen in this image;

• Moogles and Lalafell share a similar cranial structure, but their mouth is far more exaggerated and their eyes are positioned higher.
• Moogles and Lalafell possess four fingers and a thumb on each hand.
• Moogles and Lalafell have small feet in comparison to their bodies.

Similiar to Lalafell, Moogles are a non-dimorphic race, meaning males and females have no difference in anatomy.


Facial proportions


Aside from the muzzle and the enlarged nose, Lalafells and Moogles share similar facial proportions. This means that the majority of existing helmets won't need to be adjusted. Existing armoured helmets are rather bulky already so they can cover the muzzle. The only issue would be with helmets that cover the face with a visor that fits the shape of a human face. (i.e. Alexandrian Visor of Fending). Adjustments would obviously have to be made for these.

Body proportions


While being close in structure to a human, Moogles do have proportion differences;

• Lalafells are designed to be four and a quarter "heads" tall, while Moogles are about three "heads" tall.
• Moogles have longer arms but shorter legs.
• Lalafell arms and hands go down their hips, while Moogle arms and hands stop at their thighs.

Moogles also have small tails, the "pom-pom" attached to their heads and wings. Lalafells obviously lack these.

The biggest design hurdle would obviously be adjusting animations to account for the body structure. Although motion capture would be more difficult a lot of preexisting animations exist for Moogles within Final Fantasy XII, so animations can be taken and adjusted accordingly to fit the XIV engine.

In XIV

Here's my personal theory on how they could fit into the XIV universe and what their customisation options would be.

Racial lore

A spoken race with a penchant for technology and engineering, unique to the near-Eastern region of Ivalice.

The origins of this race completely baffle even the most knowledgeable of naturalists. While they possess a pair of wings and a pom like the moogles of Eorzea, these Moogles cannot fly and instead walk on two feet. They, like Eorzena Moogles, are a non-dimorphic race. Meaning it's hard to tell one's gender from a glance.
The fur of a Moogle grows dull and darker as they age. This inadvertently causes many arguments between Citymogs and Outpoms, since Outpoms have naturally duller fur.

Before the Garlean annexation they were a very populous race, but now they have completely disappeared. Some locals even believing that they have gone extinct.
In truth, most were enslaved by the Garlean forces in order to design and mass-produce magitek armour and weaponry. The rest took refuge in other countries or went into hiding.

With news of rebellious forces fighting back the legions occupying Doma and Ala Mhigo, they have started to crop up around Hydaelyn. Some pursuimg the life of an adventurer, others becoming sellswords. Many believe the recent revolutions have spurred them to action and to fight for themselves, hoping that one day Ivalice - and their kind - will once again be free from the Garleans.

Story lore

To put aside the inevitable arguments of Moogles already existing, I propose that Ivalician Moogles wouldn't be "real" moogles. They could potentially share an ancient ancestor, but they came from very different places and ended up as completely distinguishable races, because of this they share a species name and not much else. This can be evidenced by their behaviour. The moogles of Eorzea prefer to laze about and only work under promise of kupo nuts. The Moogles of Ivalice, however, work because they want to. Moogles are responsible for inventing the majority of technology in Ivalice, from weaponry to airships to even an entire city made solely of machinery, kupo nuts be damned. They aren't entirely work-centric though and do enjoy recreational activities such as playing music. Before the fall of Rabanastre, Moogle musicians would be at the forefront of royal parades.

They do bear similarities to the Goblins of Eorzea, Moogles are a race with a keen interest of tinkering and creating machinery and have closer relations to the Hyur-like races than other beastmen. Though unlike Goblins, Moogles aren't particularly known for being merchants, have absolutely no belief in any kind of Primal and have completely different styles of technology. Many a time has there been a heated debate between Goblin and Moogle engineers over whose technology is superior..

It wouldn't be easy to just stick Moogles in and have everything work out straight away. Having a beast-like race as a playable race would cause some complications, but I believe these can be addressed. Some of these would require conditional dialogue changes so I'm not entirely sure if they would be possible to implement.

The main issue I could see is starting in Ul'dah, as Ul'dah purposely evicts all beastmen due to fear of Primals. I believe that since Moogles live in such proximity to the Hyurs of Ivalice, lack any kind of belief in a Primal and have a strong work ethic, Ul'Dah would allow them as temporary visitors for work-related purposes. Though they would inevitably draw some ire from the locals.
Interactions with regular Moogles could be seen as a problem, but I doubt this. Ivalician Moogles bear an incredibly faint resemblance to the Moogles of Eorzea. At most they'd call them fat imposters and wouldn't give it a second thought. Adding onto this- due to the disparity of their appearance, there's no chance that a dragon would think of an Ivalician Moogle as a moogle of the Churning Mists. They would detest them due to how close they are with the Hyur-like races.
Beastmen can posses the Echo, as is evidenced by a certain scene during the Leviathan quests, so it wouldn't be impossible for a Moogle to possess the Echo. The Scions of the Seventh Dawn are incredibly wary of the beast tribes, but they would most likely make an exception for a Moogle with the power of the Echo. After all, they do allow for a Sylph to become a member later on so they aren't that averse to allowing beastmen to join them.

The Clans

Citymogs

Lore:

While the beast-like races of Eorzea stay far away from cities and settlements, the races of Ivalice flourish and thrive with the Hyur population. Unlike the Moogles of the Twelveswood or Moghome, Citymogs are productive members of their society. Before the annex, many worked with jobs that concerned engineering or technology, or simply worked as chocobokeeps or managed the local aetherytes. They may not look the part, many innovations and breakthroughs in technology have been wrought forth by their small hands. While not exclusive to this race, it is common for Moogles to push the boundaries of engineering knowledge. These Moogles will receive the title of "Etoria", meaning "master engineer".

Moogles typically work in fields involving engineering like goldsmiths, airshipwights, machinists and so on. It's not rare to come across minstrel or culinarian Moogles either. Although some prefer a life of excitement and opt to become sellswords or adventurers instead.

They can easily be told apart from their reclusive relatives by their brighter fur, the darkened tips of their ears and their thinner whiskers.

Stats:
STR - 19
DEX - 23
VIT - 18
INT - 20
MND - 18

Citymogs have a natural affinity towards skills that require dexterity, such as playing instruments or fiddling with mechanical creations, so they will have a high DEX stat. Due to their small stature and physique they will have low VIT and STR stats.

Appearance:



Skin tones:


Colours taken from here.
Tattoos/Features:


I'm a bit stuck for tattoos and facial features for this clan, as Moogles don't really have many.
Perhaps lines down their eyes, as a reference to the Juggler class from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance?

Concept art from Fortress, a cancelled Final Fantasy XII spinoff, showed a Moogle with a moustache. Perhaps that could be an option?

Outpoms

Lore:

Most Moogles prefer the noise and activity of large cities. The Outpoms, however, prefer to live in the less-traveled parts of Ivalice. They're not picky about their choice of living standards and can be found anywhere from deserts to treetops. They may be a secluded bunch but they are not unwelcoming to travelers or adverse to traveling, some even pursue the life of an adventurer themselves. Occasionally a few can be spotted at trading posts and markets. While they do possess the engineering skill to construct rudimentary machinery, these Moogles instead prefer to practice and wield all sorts of magicks.

They can easily be identified from their city counterparts by their duller fur, the darkened eyes and ears and their bushy whiskers.

Stats:
STR - 18
DEX - 19
VIT - 18
INT - 23
MND - 20

Outpoms are proficient with the arcane and so will possess high INT and MND stats. Because of their attitude to technology they will have less DEX than Citymogs. STR and VIT also suffer due to their physique.

Appearance:

Skin tones:

[Corue]

Outpoms continued:

Colours taken from here.
Tattoos/Features:

Since these Moogles are more magic-focused, I feel like it would be fitting them to have "arcane" styled tattoos as an option. These would differ for each face type.

Naming conventions

(Note: While I tried my best to come up with a naming system that emulated the names of the Ivalician Moogles, I had to take some creative liberties for them. There aren't many Moogles with set names and the majority of playable Moogles in the Tactics series have randomised names shared with other races. None of them have any surnames either. I can't really use the classic Moogle naming system either because the Moghome and Twelveswood Moogles use them already. Since the Ivalician Moogles have a drastically different design to traditional Moogles, it's fitting for them to have a drastically different naming system too.)

Citymogs

(Note: This system was based on the majority of non-randomised Moogle names I could find. I formulated what I believe is a logical naming convention based on the names. The only exceptions to this seem to be Zupp and Montblanc. The list of names can be found here. )

Zupp
Peshe
Padi
Nware
Pane
Nutsy
Ingu
Lini
Sorbet
Horne
Hurdy
Gurdy
Montblanc
Nono
Reaker

First names are typically two syllables. Each syllable is between two or three letters long, although there can be exceptions.
By pure coincidence these names can resemble words you'd find in an Eorzean dictionary. Although they do not mean anything, some Moogles treat them like indicators of their future vocation.
Female names have been known to end with; -i, -a or -y.
Male names normally end with; -o, -u, -e or -y.
Sometimes names can end with consonants. In which case they are preceded by a vowel associated with the gender.

Surnames are merely a Moogle's current vocation, or their future aspirations. If a Moogle is practicing magic they'll use the name of the type of magic they study.
This comes from the days before documentation where Moogles would write their vocations by their name to advertise themselves and over time the names stuck. Surnames are only used when a Moogle is referring to themselves and very rarely are they brought up in casual conversation.

Full names aren't said in one breath. There is a slight pause before the surname, like how someone would introduce themselves in a roll call.

Examples of names:

Arque Machinist
Picco Freelancer
Kupo Knight
Parfait Culinarian
Hurdy Minstrel
Poma Black

Outpoms

(Note: This one since there were only three Moogles I could find who used three syllable names (Pillika, Popocho and Pirillo). I originally intended male names to start with Po- and female names to start with Pi- but I felt this would make coming up with names far too limited. Instead I opted for something that would continue the three syllable pattern but would provide some variety and also a way to tell the genders apart.)

Outpom names are short but are a little more complicated than Citymog names. First names are three syllables, while surnames differ depending on circumstance.

Outpom names are divided into three sections. For example:

Ri|pocho | Germinas

The first syllable, in this case "Ri-", denotes the family. All Moogles in a family will have names that start with this syllable. The syllable is inherited from the second syllable of the father's name and everyone in the immediate family will use this. (i.e. If Kahponron started a family he'd become Ponponron and his spouse and children's names would start with Pon-) While often the name comes from the father it isn't unheard of for the name to come from the mother.

The next two syllables, "-pocho" here, will be the name unique to the Moogle. All syllables are either two or three letters long, start with a consonant and end with either a vowel or a consonant depending on gender. Male names end with consonants while female names end with vowels. Female syllables can end with a "-h" since it's not pronounced.

The surname is drawn from the location a Moogle currently lives in. The Moogle in the example would hail from Mt. Germinas. Locations can be as specific as regions or as broad as countries. If a location name contains two or more words it will either be reduced to its key name (La Noscea -> Noscea) or, if that isn't possible, the first and last syllables are combined (Central Highlands -> Celands).

Moogles are formally referred to by their full first name but are otherwise referred to as the latter two syllables in more casual discussions. (i.e. Kupoto's friends will refer to her as Poto.)
Outpoms never refer to each other by their full name-- the surname is merely used to adhere to the standards of the outside world. Should they have to use their surname it's usually in writing.

Some examples of names:

Rabrabbon Ruby
Tadrenkot Salikawood
Kupochi Giza
Kuharret Giza
Mumuji Nelveska
Mogtaba Noscea
Rohseti Soshroud

Customisation options

(Note: Ear size was a considered variable, but I believe having a model that would scale both horizontally and vertically on top of having to show up through models would cause far too many clipping issues.)

Height:

From these screenshots, we can see that the height of a Moogle ranges between going below Vaan's knees, or going up to a quarter of his thigh (excluding the ears). My character is at the shortest height for a male Lalafell and I stand just above my helpful assistant's knee.
Vaan is 170cm and my friend's character is 170cm. Therefore I would say the height range of Moogles would be between 84cm and 98m (excluding ears). So at their tallest they'd be slightly bigger than the average Lalafell, but at their shortest they'd be just below the smallest Lalafell.

Alternatively, since they are stated to range anywhere between 80-120cm, Moogle height could be between 100cm to 110cm, so they could retain their identity of being small but not infringe on the Lalafell identity of being the shortest race.

Race-exclusive hairstyles:


There weren't very Moogles with visible hairstyles, so there wasn't very much to choose from.
However I'd suggest- from left to right; Gurdy's hair and headband (minus the floral accessories), Montblanc's hair, and Hurdy's hair. There would of course be a bald hairstyle, but that exists already.

Faces:

• Top left: The default face. Large beady eyes and a large triangular nose.
• Top right: A traditional Moogle face with closed eyes.
• Bottom left: A "youthful" face, with a smaller nose and rounder eyes.
• Bottom right: Another youthful face but with a dot-like nose and without a divided upper-lip.

Wing types:

From left to right;

• The default membranous bat-like wings.
• Gurdy's wings.
• The larger and less detailed bat wings of the Moogle siblings.
• The wings the Moogles of Hydaelyn have.

Wing size:



The wings of Moogles would be able to be resized, using the same slider as ear size and tail size. Here's what the maximum and minimum value could look like.

Wing colour:



The wings of Moogles would be able to be recoloured using the colour palette of eyes and tattoos. This what they could look like.

Pom colour:


Since Moogles have no lips, the lip colour slot could instead be used to colour their pom. I'm not sure if the lip colour palette can be replaced with the tattoo or eye colour palette due to how character data is saved, but for simplicity's sake I shall use the tattoo colour palette as an example.

Fur markings:


Both clans have tattoos that change the colour of the ears, wrists and, for the Outpoms, eyes. These use the tattoo colour palette and can be dyed independently of the fur colour. All fur markings will be the same colour.

Racial clothing:

The current races have light clothing with small pieces of armour attached. However the default Moogle appearance in Final Fantasy XII has them wearing almost all armour. So I'd suggest that the racial clothing would be based on either their default appearance or the Mog Knight artwork from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, as these clothing designs are more in line with the current races.

Clothing differences

Moogles have fur that stick out at the wrists, giving the impression of large forearms. If a Moogle wears long-sleeved clothing or armlets the cuffs wouldn't stick out and would be flattened against the arm instead.

You'll see that helmets on every race with extended ears usually have little extensions to accommodate for the ears. Seeing as how Moogle ears are so large, extensions to accommodate them would look silly, so I'd propose for helmets to have holes for their ears to stick out of.
So you'll see something like this:



Ideally the "pom" would be anchored to the end of certain hats like this to avoid the antenna freely moving around the model and clipping.

For how certain types of hats would work for Moogles, please see here.

Earrings would hang from the bottom of the back earlobe. Example.

Animation examples

(I had more but they seemed to have vanished off the internet when I tried to find them. If anyone has any ideas please feel free to link some images.)

Idle stance 1:

Idle stance 2:

/sit pose 1:

/sit pose 2:

/deny:

/fume:

/happy:

/laugh:

/wave:

Conclusion

So to conclude, I'd like to sum up my key points.

1. Ivalician Moogles could be a good choice for a beast-like race. They are one of the most iconic species of the series, wth Ivalician Moogles being one of the more popular incarnations.
2. Because their anatomy is similar to a human. Lalafells can be used as a base to model off. Lalafell gear can be reused to save time on modelling new armour.
3. Lore wise, Ivalician Moogles could simply be a beast tribe that just happens to have features that resemble the Moogles we know, but they cannot fly and instead function in society rather than play tricks and laze about.
4. There is a lot of existing material to base emotes and designs on. Animations and designs can be drawn from XII and the Tactics series and due to recent release of Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age and the updated models that were made for it, Moogle models could potentially be taken and adapted for the XIV engine.
5. They'd provide character design diversity. Something that isn't based on a human for once.

Before I'd finish, I'd like to preemptively answer questions that are sure to come up.

Q: Viera are already a humanoid race that are also from Ivalice! Why can't they just use those instead?

A: While that is true and seeing how popular they are they may be they could very well next race, there's no clear answer as to why Viera haven't been confirmed or denied yet. Here's my take on why:

Yoshi has gone on record saying that one of the main problems of having to add Viera is having to redesign shoes to accommodate for their foot structure. So not only would they have to update every single one of the current foot models (which if the Lodestone database is accurate, that's about 1168 different models!) they would would also have to design an additional shoe appearance for every piece of armour that will be released in the future.
Ignoring the shoes though, Viera and Elezen are very similar in both appearance and lore. If you take away the feet and the ears of a Viera they're hardly distinguishable- not to mention that they're both races who live in the woods, speak to the spirits of the wood and have a hatred for outsiders. Changes would have to be made for them to both fit into the XIV universe and make them stand out as a race which, if handled poorly, could potentially lead to some fan backlash.

It would be a lot of work, suffice to say.

Q: Can beast tribes even use the Echo?

A: Beast tribes can indeed use the Echo. It happened very quickly, but before Leviathan was summoned there was a Sahagin priest who possessed the Echo.

Q: Wouldn't being a beast tribe put them at odds with the city-state locals?

A: This is true. However, I think the locals wouldn't care less about what species an adventurer is if they're fetching pointless rubbish in their stead.

Q: We already have a short race! Why another?

A: That's a bit like asking "we already have a normal-sized race! Why three more?" To provide more character variety, really. Moogles would provide their own customisation niches (i.e. for those who want an animal-like character but are dissatisfied with the look of Miqo'te or Au Ra.)

Q: Just wear the Moogle costume?

A: That's not really a fair equivalent. XIV Moogles and Ivalician Moogles are completely different in design and anatomy. One is more cat-like while the other is more rabbit-like. The suit also has digitigrade feet while Ivalician Moogles are plantigrade.

Thank you for reading! Would you like to see Moogles in XIV? Why wouldn't you like to see them? Please make sure to voice your opinion! If you liked this post please make sure to leave a like!

[IttyBitty]

Yes please. I love Ivalician Moogles. Though moreso the FFTA/2 style.

[Riko_Futatabi]

Ivalician Moogle based off of the Lalafell character model and animations. Viera based off of the Elezen character model and animations. Easy-peasy, let's do it! (Seriously, no sarcasm)

[Shouko]

Devs aren't big on doing beastial type races outside of the basic humanoid frame. As for Viera there's a massive want for them to be the next playable, whether the devs listen or not is the question. I would love more beastial races but I don't see it happening.

[ApprenticeSmithy]

First of all, nice job on explaining how they could be implemented! A lot of thought went into this. Well done. I'd like to see this happen, and I think it'd be really cool (and cute).

I can see it now. Visions of the constant kupo-ing at the market board lol XD!

[Mahri]

Playable Viera will happen.

Probably not this, though.

[BobLoblaw]

Well written! Personally I'd prefer something like this over Viera for sure. Ivalician Moogles are the best and hey SE just put in a raid pertaining to Ivalice as well acknowledging that is part of FFXIV lore as it is.

Maybe a controversial statement, but I like these over Viera as well just cause the Viera always seemed so hyper-sexualized to me. A full beast tribe of Moogles would give the game more variety then more scantily clad humanoid characters running around.

[killstein]

you have my vote! xii is my favourite ff Ever and i absolutely adore what you did with the ivalician moogles ;__; very nicely written and going the extra mile by creating your own images is what also sold me to this. gj!