A couple questions about Au Ra

[Bright-Flower]

Speaking of the hardness and flexibility of the scales they seem to be hard but not to the point where they would hamper the movement a ninja or a monk would make. If you look at the female Au Ra's rse you'll notice one heel is exposed to show a scale section. A lot of the the scales do seem to be covering important areas that other races would protect with the use of armor. Yet with the Xeala at least you have two whole tribes that leave a lot of areas exposed and if one were to actually accept that the armor one can get from the second dungeon is what those Raen use as armor then again there's a lot of areas that are exposed. I say those as there seems to be at least one Raen clan that isn't as secluded and doesn't live under the water since both Yuki and Akagi both wear armor/clothing that covers up most of them.

I would have a hard time seeing the Shisui gear as actual armor for any race.

[KageTokage]

Reptile scales in general tend to be surprisingly flexible for how outwardly rigid they can appear, so I assume Au Ra scales are similar. Outside of a few particularly durable species/families, they don't actually offer much protection either, as they still tend to get scuffed up really badly from their usual predators/each other.

I view the lack of protection on the Buduga and Dotharl as more of a design choice to emphasize their masculinity and their lacking fear of death respectively, not so much their scales affording any meaningful degree of protection.

[KaivaC]

Speaking of the hardness and flexibility of the scales they seem to be hard but not to the point where they would hamper the movement a ninja or a monk would make. If you look at the female Au Ra's rse you'll notice one heel is exposed to show a scale section. A lot of the the scales do seem to be covering important areas that other races would protect with the use of armor. Yet with the Xeala at least you have two whole tribes that leave a lot of areas exposed and if one were to actually accept that the armor one can get from the second dungeon is what those Raen use as armor then again there's a lot of areas that are exposed. I say those as there seems to be at least one Raen clan that isn't as secluded and doesn't live under the water since both Yuki and Akagi both wear armor/clothing that covers up most of them.

Exposed on the heel, or is that where their actual scales are at? I agree that it seems that their scales seem to function to cover particularly weak areas (Achilles' heel), though I can't explain the other areas on their bodies. I wonder if there is actual skin underneath their scales, though, or if the skin simply converts over to scales in those areas on their bodies.

[KageTokage]

The Orben tribe is noted as using their scales to reinforce their boats, so either the scales are an outer layer that can be harmlessly removed or that tribe is hardcore.

[SannaR]

Exposed on the heel, or is that where their actual scales are at? I agree that it seems that their scales seem to function to cover particularly weak areas (Achilles' heel), though I can't explain the other areas on their bodies. I wonder if there is actual skin underneath their scales, though, or if the skin simply converts over to scales in those areas on their bodies.

One shoe the heal is covered by fabric while the other isn't and it shows the scale as it will be black or white depending on which clan you chose. I didn't notice it until I looked at a female Xeala wearing the rse shoes as the heal was black and so they looked different enough so I tried them on and saw that part went white. The neck scales seem to help protect the arteries in the neck and the part of the brain that connects to the spine. On the men they seem to have a set that helps protect a collarbone. The ones on the legs seem to be where other important arteries are and maybe make it harder to hamstring one? I'm not sure about the ones on the torso.

There seem to be slight differences between the genders. It's been a while since I've been able to have a this is for science nude scale look over between the genders that don't count the extra face scales.

[SannaR]

I would have a hard time seeing the Shisui gear as actual armor for any race.

Well it could be ceremonial armor that's more so for show than actual function. Since many don't seem to know they're there and well you'd have to be able to either hold your breath really good, be an aquatic race like the Kojin or get that blessing. The tank set and some of the melee do have more padding on the tops and arms.

[Bright-Flower]

Well it could be ceremonial armor that's more so for show than actual function. Since many don't seem to know they're there and well you'd have to be able to either hold your breath really good, be an aquatic race like the Kojin or get that blessing. The tank set and some of the melee do have more padding on the tops and arms.

Ceremonial maybe, but a bit of padding in the arms doesn't do much when your gut is exposed. Cloth armor can be effective like a gambison but these outfits don't look like that. I think the outfits are definitely more for show than function, even the tank one.

[Iscah]

Bit of a random question, but I'm a bit curious if an au ra tail could be used as a weapon of sorts. I have an au ra alt and it has the spiky tail option and I was wondering if it would be feasible to cut someone with it if they were close enough...but I'm not sure that their tails are flexible enough or strong enough for something like that, and they're not super long to give an idea like that much range.

As others have said, it'll depend on the exact structure of the spikes, but also on how hard they can swing it at someone. I'm not sure that just swinging the tail itself would be enough - they'd need to put some body movement into it as well.

Again trying to think of animal comparisons, and stegosaurus seems the obvious one for a spike-ended tail! (And apparently their tail spikes were even 'horizonally mounted' like the Au Ra ones, not sticking up as usually illustrated. Makes more sense for how they'd use it, really.)

The article suggests that to attack with their tail, they'd 'push off' with their front legs and pivot body-and-tail around their back legs. That's going to have more weight and momentum behind it than just swinging the tail itself. I'm not sure how well a human body could move in an equivalent way to give that extra force.

Though another intriguing detail in the section on "plate function": they were likely to have a keratin sheath over the bony plate, which would have "provided it with sharp cutting edges"! So there's potential for Au Ra tail spikes to have a similar structure and sharpness - or even to deliberately file it to a sharpened edge.

But it still all depends on whether it's worthwhile to use as a weapon in the first place - and whether they can safely carry about some sharp objects attached to their tail without injuring themselves far more often than they have cause to use it as a weapon.

Flexibility...now that's a good question. I'd like to think that the structure would allow them to curl their tails much like snakes and serpents are able to curl their bodies. Still would like to think there's some biological advantage that their tails might give them aside from intimidating.

It looks to me that their tail flexibility might be limited by their scales - they are quite large and visible, not lots of tiny scales like a reptile, and it would depend if (and how far) they can lift away from the underlying skin, or if each 'segement' of tail has a fairly limited range of movement. I think it would have to restrict their movement a fair bit.

I say those as there seems to be at least one Raen clan that isn't as secluded and doesn't live under the water since both Yuki and Akagi both wear armor/clothing that covers up most of them.

The Raen living underwater in Sui-no-Sato don't seem to be "typical" Raen, or at least certainly aren't the only culture.

It's mentioned in the lorebook (and was raised at the last Fanfest panel) that Raen are integrated into normal Hingan culture - although they do seem oddly under-represented in Kugane. There are some among the Heavensturn celebrants, and I think they said the Hingan emperor is also Raen?

I wonder if there is actual skin underneath their scales, though, or if the skin simply converts over to scales in those areas on their bodies.

There is definitely skin underneath. Scales grow out of the skin - they're not a separate covering that might or might not overlap.

[SannaR]

Ceremonial maybe, but a bit of padding in the arms doesn't do much when your gut is exposed. Cloth armor can be effective like a gambison but these outfits don't look like that. I think the outfits are definitely more for show than function, even the tank one.

Unless they're functional and not ceremonial in that they're made for any under water fighting. Look at blitzball players where many wear clothes that won't restrict movement or made from fabrics that would weigh them down. As until recently I want to say only the royal family wasn't allowed to leave the palace.

[Bright-Flower]

So Raen are integrated into Hingan culture, what about Doman? I don't recall any Doman Raen npcs in the game other than Yugiri, who herself is not FROM Doma herself. So I wonder if they're just not reresented in game or if Raen are more a Hingan thing and less a Doman thing.

As far as the underwater gear, maybe. But again it doesn't seem like something designed for protection. It covers very little, and doesn't look like it would be practical. That said, it 'could' be armor. Not all armor designs are or have to be practical in the real world I guess. I mean the female dragoon af1 has a 'stab me here' window in the belly and that's definitely supposed to be armor. But looking at it, even in the water I don't see it being any kind of practical for defense. Or particularly good for swim speed either.