Au Ra children height questions

[Limonia]

Hello! I have some questions about the height of Au Ra. Not really about the size difference between males and females, more about when male Au Ra start getting so tall.

We see some children in Sui no Sato and the Azim Steppe and I wonder how old they may be. Not all are the same size. All the girls are of course smaller as my character, who is almost the smallest female Au Ra (147 cm or ~4.8"). Most boys are too, but I've seen some that were about the same height as my character. But maybe it only looked like that because they weren't standing up straight and it was hard to compare.

Now with Elezen it is so that they stay small very long (like Alphinaud who is already 16 but is a lot smaller than my character) and then start growing tall. Haurchefant is 28 and Emmanellain probably younger (I read 26 somewhere?), but they are fully grown. Maybe the latter is not yet fully grown, he seems smaller and younger than his brothers, but I don't know.

I couldn't find much about male Au Ra ages, only that Sidurgu from the DRK quests is 26. Also, we can find some male NPCs that are called "youth", like in "Oroniri Youth" or "Uyagiri Youth", which use the normal male Au Ra models. So it seems like they are fully grown when they are still young (I wouldn't call someone who is like 20+ or so "youth" but rather "young man").

So at about 10-12 or whatever age they are they are still small and then they suddenly start growing very tall in just a few years?

[KageTokage]

They never actually mentioned if Au Ra lifespans are any different from Hyur, but if they aren't, I'd assume they just hit a growth spurt in their early teens or whenever it is they reach puberty. That's how most animals with significant size dimorphism are.

It's also noted that Elezen live longer then Hyur and take longer to reach puberty as a side effect, but once they do, they rapidly outgrow them. I reckon I'd probably have to look up to see Alphinaud and Alisaie's faces in a few years time (Though the story will probably end before that becomes an issue).

[LineageRazor]

Just want to leave this here: http://ojiyaff.tumblr.com/image/161318489476

(From 51 Scales, an art series predating Stormblood that features a piece for each Xaela tribe.)

[Iscah]

From what I've noticed, there only seems to be one base model for child characters (including Alphinaud, Alisaie and the Padjals) - there isn't a visible range of ages, just the one 'child' age or a full-grown adult.

The problem, as you say, is working out when that shift is supposed to happen.

With no clear answer, the best guess might be that because they haven't pointed it out as an unusual timing like the Elezen, we can assume their growth is "like humans unless otherwise noted" and that they do grow quite rapidly around the age that a human would.

And/or, recognising the rigid limits of character models in this game, assume that in a more flexible design the "youths" might have a less full-grown appearance, although closer to adult than child.

Haurchefant is 28 and Emmanellain probably younger (I read 26 somewhere?), but they are fully grown. Maybe the latter is not yet fully grown, he seems smaller and younger than his brothers, but I don't know.

Those ages are correct and yes, Emmanellain is short. (Height set to zero, while Haurchefant and Artoirel are both height 75.)

The lorebook says that Elezen have their growth spurt around age 20, and the youngest adult character we've met is Francel, who is 22. He's medium height but all his elder siblings are maximum height so he could still be growing. Or might just be that height. Not all NPCs are up the tall end of the scale.

[Iscah]

Just want to leave this here: http://ojiyaff.tumblr.com/image/161318489476

(From 51 Scales, an art series predating Stormblood that features a piece for each Xaela tribe.)

Lovely artworks! And well worth reading alongside the list of Xaela tribes in the Naming Conventions page (scroll to the end) or the lorebook.


Edit to add: It also reminds me of something that's been bothering me for a while: the fact that neither of the Au Ra clans wear anything like the starter gear, despite it being described in the lorebook as having particular "Auri traditional dress" features: scale-patterned belts and deliberately ragged hems. The absorbed-into-Hingan-culture Raen make sense, but none of the prominent Xaela tribes have anything like it either.

[Cilia]

I think I tried to answer this back when the race was first revealed...

Erm. It does make sense from a biological perspective that Auri children of both sexes would be roughly the same size. Children can be rather androgynous and it's not until puberty that sexual dimorphism really comes into play. So an Auri boy maturing into a man will probably just go through one hell of a growth spurt, while the girls get a smaller one as they mature into women.

Not complicated.

[Limonia]

Thank you for your replies! So we can just assume they somehow are like normal humans only that the boys just start growing extremely fast about when they reach puberty? It must be stressful for them having to get new clothes like every other month or so. ;D

Just want to leave this here: http://ojiyaff.tumblr.com/image/161318489476

Aww, I remember those pictures, they are great and this one is so cute. ♥

The lorebook says that Elezen have their growth spurt around age 20, and the youngest adult character we've met is Francel, who is 22. He's medium height but all his elder siblings are maximum height so he could still be growing. Or might just be that height. Not all NPCs are up the tall end of the scale.

Hmmm, somehow weird that Francel is only 22 but already that tall. I would have thought that Elezen would still be much smaller at 22 because Emmanellain seems more like an almost-adult-teenager at 26.

It also reminds me of something that's been bothering me for a while: the fact that neither of the Au Ra clans wear anything like the starter gear, despite it being described in the lorebook as having particular "Auri traditional dress" features: scale-patterned belts and deliberately ragged hems. The absorbed-into-Hingan-culture Raen make sense, but none of the prominent Xaela tribes have anything like it either.

I thought that too. The only Xaela clothing that got introduced in Stormblood was the Bardam's Mettle gear (which shares its design with the crafting/gathering lvl 65 gear). Everything else is just things that already existed like somehow tribal-looking PVP gear, recolored dungeon gear and so on. I thought it was also kind of weird that a lot of Xaela just wear the same coat just in "their" tribe color. It seems so extremely lazy. Their starter gear seems to be made more for Xaela than Raen, but still none of them wear similar clothes, not even parts of it.

[ObsidianFire]

We also only run into maybe 15 tribes in the game when in the lore there's at least 50. And the tribes aren't just in the Azim Steppe. They're in the Nhamma Desert, the Tail Mountains and probably the Arras Coastlands as well. So I just chalk it up to games always being horrible at showing realistic populations and distances.

[Bright-Flower]

We also only run into maybe 15 tribes in the game when in the lore there's at least 50. And the tribes aren't just in the Azim Steppe. They're in the Nhamma Desert, the Tail Mountains and probably the Arras Coastlands as well. So I just chalk it up to games always being horrible at showing realistic populations and distances.

The way I see it, what we see in game is always scaled down, same with WoW and other similar MMOs.

At least the Xaela seem to be better off than the Miqo'te, we only get to know a handful of tribes well in SB but it feels like more than we get to see of Miqo'te tribes.

[Iscah]

Thank you for your replies! So we can just assume they somehow are like normal humans only that the boys just start growing extremely fast about when they reach puberty? It must be stressful for them having to get new clothes like every other month or so. ;D

Maybe that's why the "traditional" Auri men's clothing (ie. starter gear) has a midriff-baring shirt and three-quarter pants....

Hmmm, somehow weird that Francel is only 22 but already that tall. I would have thought that Elezen would still be much smaller at 22 because Emmanellain seems more like an almost-adult-teenager at 26.

The exact quote from the lorebook (p83): "It is not uncommon for Wildwood children to look up to their Hyuran friends in their early teens, only to rapidly outstrip them around the age of twenty." (it's in the section specifically about Wildwoods which I assume is why they've written that instead of 'Elezen', but it probably applies to other clans as well.)

So, possibly starting to grow taller sometime before that point, but not guaranteed.

And I think Emmanellain is just really immature, so he seems younger than he is. (Though he's getting better by the end of Dragonsong.) And he's got the young-looking face which adds to that.

I'd put together a list of the Garland Tools character data for all the High House members I could find (and a few 'maybes'), so you can flick through that and see the different height settings they've used for the characters. 50-75 is common. All the Haillenarte siblings (but not their father) are height 100, and so are the two definite members of House Dzemael. At the other end is Jannequinard de Durendaire, who is height zero and... an uncertain age, but definitely over thirty, so full height.

(Let me know if that link doesn't work, by the way. I haven't tried sharing a list from that site before.)

I thought that too. The only Xaela clothing that got introduced in Stormblood was the Bardam's Mettle gear (which shares its design with the crafting/gathering lvl 65 gear). Everything else is just things that already existed like somehow tribal-looking PVP gear, recolored dungeon gear and so on. I thought it was also kind of weird that a lot of Xaela just wear the same coat just in "their" tribe color. It seems so extremely lazy. Their starter gear seems to be made more for Xaela than Raen, but still none of them wear similar clothes, not even parts of it.

I had a look around the different tribes last night (and also grabbed the chance to *finally* do the Dataqi Chronicles FATE chain). There's a lot of Thavnairian gear pieces and the Lv68 crafted gearsets, and even the ramie ponchos. Plus the Shisui gear that the Buduga tribe wear, which at least does come from an Au Ra palace, come to think of it...

I don't mind having multiple tribes in the "Nomad" gearsets since that's based on Mongolian cultural dress in the first place. Different colours seem like a 'game-design-friendly' version of each tribe having its own variation on the design.

On the other hand what does bug me is that the Mol tribe wear red, but Cirina has pink instead.