Beast Tribes and Kugane

[Luin]

Are there any beast tribes doing business in Kugane? Was there something I missed during the MSQ? I thought Kugane was a sort of free-trade port, even the Garleans are there, why couldn't the blue-shell Kojin work there? Can they just not afford the taxes?

[ObsidianFire]

It's complicated... Let's start with the taxes and go backwards...

Kugane definetly taxes people. Enough so that when Eureka is discovered in the Glass Ocean, the East Aldenard Trading Company and Rowena decide to work together to make sure they get claim to the island first. Why? Well in Hancock and Rowena's words...

Hancock
It all began when a vessel of the East Aldenard Trading Company happened upon an island in the Glass Ocean. A deserted island which was not recorded on our charts and, quite frankly, had no business being there.
Suffice it to say, we were surprised. Pleasantly so, in fact. An unclaimed, undeveloped island in such a location would be a boon to our trading concerns in this corner of the world.

Rowena
Kugane's bleedin' us both dry with its tariffs. Dependin' on the goods, we're paying more than ten times what we'd owe in Limsa or Ul'dah─which is already too damn much, believe you me.

Hancock
What my dear Rowena is trying to say is that having an additional port of call in this region─one more amenable to free trade─would be in the best interests of a great many parties.

So yeah, Kugane taxes are a real thing.

More then that though, is the fact that the Kojin are from the Ruby Sea and Kugane doesn't have jurisdiction over that are, the Confederacy does. So Kugane isn't necessarily the Kojin's first choice of ports to do business in. In addition, the Confederacy has not been welcome to do business in Kugane ever since the Garleans took over Doma. In fact, the main side-quest chain in the Ruby Sea involves the Confederacy getting around the trade embargo Kugane has against them by going into business with the East Aldenard Trading Company. The Trading Company is pretty happy about this as goods from the Ruby Sea are hard to come by in Kugane (so they sell well in Kugane) and because they don't have to pay the Kugane taxes to do business with the Confederacy. So I can see Kugane merchants associated the Kojin with the Confederacy and the Ruby Sea and thinking it's illegal for the Kojin to be trading in Kugane even if it isn't really.

Then there's the Kojin themselves... and they really aren't barred from doing business in Kugane at all from what we've seen. In fact, they aren't even considered Beast Tribes in Kugane. One of the big differences between Othard and Aldenard is that culturally, there are no "beast tribes". "Beast Tribes" is actually a term the Eorzeans kind of borrowed from the Garleans to talk about any race they consider "uncivilized" or "savages" (and yes, the Garleans refer to all Eorzeans, including the WoL, as Savages quite often). In Othard though, the Beast Tribes aren't considered "savages" or "uncivilized", they're just considered to be another race like Roegadyns and Au Ra are another race. In fact, the way the WoL and Co. find out about the Kojin is because Soroban was in Kugane doing business and he literally blundered into the WoL while they were running from the Sekisegumi. The Kojin Beast Tribes quests revolves around the Kojin establishing trading partners in several different places and one of those places is in Kugane. So lore-wise, they're diffidently there.

[Hazmick]

^ Likewise a Namazu can be found in Kugane, seemingly allowed to roam around and engage in trade.

There is however a little bit in the Hildibrand quests (I think) where a Qiqirn is under threat of being sold and eaten. Perhaps due to Qiqirn being foreign beasts, rather than ordinary local tortoise people, they are viewed differently.

[Naria]

I kinda got the impression that was due to complete ignorance and arrogance. They had never seen or heard of the Qiqirn before so the buyers actually thought he was an animal and not a member of an intelligent species.

[KageTokage]

You also find out that the head chef of the Bokairo Inn is a Kojin in the 60-70 CUL quests, so I don't think they have any issue with the beast tribes conducting their business there, they're just not a common sight, is all.