So, Seiryu is a snake...

[ChaoticCrimson]

But are we going to get a throne chair that allows us to recline against his chest like Byakko's furry ab chair?

So a seat that's held up by the two serpents? Uhh... Hmmm... Best not to complete that thought...

Anyway, that form of Seiryu seems cool enough. I don't have too much issue with the snake theme since dragons and serpents can be pretty synonymous with each other in a lot of mythology. Seiryu isn't the same as the Dravanian dragons whose origins are tied to the Dragonstar. While Shinryu does seem reminiscent of many traditional Eastern dragon designs, it's also important to note that Shinryu's form was inspired by memories of Bahamut and legends that were likely drawn from Midgardsormr. We also don't know what Seiryu's non-humanoid form looks like yet. It's possible that could have an appearance that more closely resembles the usual dragon-like depictions.

[AmemeAmeklin]

South America has snake-dragons in its mythology in the form of 'feathered serpents' (see: Quetzalcoatl), associated with authority and acting as a force of nature. Probably has nothing to do with Seiryu, though.

In Hindu mythology there is the Naga, a great serpent that spits poison and fireballs, or a race of divine/semi-divine beings that seem to be based somewhat on cobras. One in particular, Vasuki, was blessed by Shiva and worn as an ornament (you can see lots of statues of this all over south/southeast Asia). Notably, Vasuki is also known in Japan as one of the eight dragon kings. In Thailand, a many-headed naga is shown sheltering Buddha fairly often. They DO take the form of half-snake half-human...but not sure it's quite like what's shown.

I think we'll have to wait to see Seiryu's backstory to figure out if he's really just a snake with a lot of heads.

[Vidu]

Seiryu in this looks more like a snake than a dragon, notice the diamond shaped head and forked tongue, and lack of limbs?

Actually, if you look at the full render, that was linked earlier in the thread you'll notice that Seiryu does have limbs - four of them, in a very traditional, chinese dragon style:

[ObsidianFire]

It looks like Seiryu is a three headed snake and one of the heads can turn into a human form. He's definetly modeled after the more eastern-style dragons then the western ones.

Given that "dragons" in FFXIV is a specific race, this is a pretty good way to compromise.

[SannaR]

The snake like heads are still creepy as all heck though. It is interesting that their humanoid form is that of an Elezen. Can't wait to hear their story.

[Iscah]

Given that auspices start as normal animals and then 'ascend' to auspice form, I think it's likely that Seiryu was a snake who became a dragon, like Suzaku was a bird who became a phoenix.

Shinryu is an eastern/chinese style dragon. Long serpentine tail with ARMS+LEGS, bearded.

Shinryu looks more like a wyvern to me. With some Eastern influence perhaps, but it has two legs and large wings, which Eastern dragons don't normally have.

Actually, if you look at the full render, that was linked earlier in the thread you'll notice that Seiryu does have limbs - four of them, in a very traditional, chinese dragon style:

That does look a lot more dragonish! And the dragon's mane has become his skirt.

Also more noticable on the render than the screenshot: his crown has a dragon's-head design, which I think would be likely to be the same design as his actual dragon form.

It seems odd that his "lower body" (snake tail / dragon neck) doesn't have the same scale texture as the rest of his body and the two snakes.

It looks like Seiryu is a three headed snake and one of the heads can turn into a human form.

I wouldn't be certain that his 'normal' form has three heads. Byakko turns from a normal tiger form (single head) to the weird humanoid-with-attached-tiger (two heads), so Seiryu could be similar. Or it could be a plot point.

It is interesting that their humanoid form is that of an Elezen.

Yay, Duskwight auspice!

Ramuh also looks very much like a Duskwight, though given the way that primals may form from a conflated memory of an actual person, it's possible he is actually based on one.

There does seem to be an Elezen race somewhere in western Othard / eastern Ilsabard - going by that resistance camp Alphinaud and Shadowhunter visited at the end of 4.4. There were quite a few noticable 'Duskwights' there, although I'd assume they're not the actual Gridanian race but just using that model, in the same way Ishgardians are not Wildwood and Far Eastern Hyur are not Midlanders.

[AmemeAmeklin]

Ear shape doesn't look the same, though. Suzaku also had pointy ears with a fringed sort of bottom to them so I'm a bit dubious of the idea that Seiryu is meant to be Elezen-like...

[Theodric]

Well, that's not at all what I was expecting. I dig it, though!

[Mansion]

What will be the mini game after ball avoiding Byakko and dance generation Suzaku? I hope he swipes his snakes around and you have to do jumping rope with them.

[Enkidoh]

Yes, but so far in all of the fights they have kept some part of what they really look like when not in their partial humanoid form. That and in a lot of stories snakes are not to be trusted. I can only think of one story where a snake wasn't evil and it's a Pacific Northwest Native tribe story that partly explains why the sun is in the sky and how some animals came to look the way they do. In that story the snake which has fur tries to carry the hot glowing ball to wherever it needed to go inside it's coils but the ball was too hot and it burned off all the fur. For me there's going to be some disconnect as historically you can't trust a snake and yet we're going to have to because the story so far tells us this has to be true.

Going on a tangent slightly here but the idea of snakes being 'evil' is more a Western/Judeo-Christian concept (due to a confusion of the Biblical story of the Fall of Man being caused by a snake tricking Adam and Eve into eating the Forbidden Fruit with the seperate idea of Satan as an enemy of God), as there are a number of cultures where serpents are not evil, but benevolent (Australian Aboriginal belief for example, the Rainbow Serpent is a creator deity responsible for creating the entire universe - read: the Australian landscape). Snakes being evil beings has probably come about simply due to their cold-blooded nature as reptiles and how many snakes (serpents included), are not only highly venomous but downright aggressive - it's not hard to then take that further as making them into an evil flying menance tormenting the 'just and good'.

Seiryu being based on Chinese/Japanese mythological ideas thus makes sense - dragons in many Asian cultures naturally being regarded as divine entities and Seiryu as a serpent Auspice in an Asian-counterpart culture fits the bill nicely.