Give Highlanders eyebrows already

[IsaacMerquise]

What lore?

Part of me wants to respond to this with "exactly" because of how dumb it is, but it's "canon" in the lore that apparently every single Highlander male shaves their eyebrows off to look "intimidating," even the healers, the old men and the scholars, even the warrior of light if he were a Highlander.

[MsQi]

Part of me wants to respond to this with "exactly" because of how dumb it is, but it's "canon" in the lore that apparently every single Highlander male shaves their eyebrows off to look "intimidating," even the healers, the old men and the scholars, even the warrior of light if he were a Highlander.

I found the reference on a wiki and I guess it was from a lore panel, but it sounds more like an excuse made up on the spot for a technical issue. I wouldn't be surprised if it were intended as a joke.

But still, in a pluralistic society where a lot of the population are disconnected from their ancestral homes and cultures, it is incredibly unlikely that a portion wouldn't disregard certain traditions, especially those that aren't religious based. It doesn't "break lore" when a person moves to another country and decides to stop practicing certain traditions they grew up with.

[MikkoAkure]

I found the reference on a wiki and I guess it was from a lore panel, but it sounds more like an excuse made up on the spot for a technical issue. I wouldn't be surprised if it were intended as a joke.

But still, in a pluralistic society where a lot of the population are disconnected from their ancestral homes and cultures, it is incredibly unlikely that a portion wouldn't disregard certain traditions, especially those that aren't religious based. It doesn't "break lore" when a person moves to another country and decides to stop practicing certain traditions they grew up with.

From a lore standpoint, all highlanders are refugees. There’s a difference in attitudes between someone who moves countries in times of peace and someone who is forced to flee their country as their culture is eroded away back home by a foreign power.

From a gameplay standpoint, all races only have a certain amount of facial features values and for some reason or another it seems that adding more values taxes the system more and would lead to cutting down the amount of characters we can see on our screen at once. Unless something changes, it’s likely the old spaghetti code will never be fixed.

[Aldora]

If you are curious about the lore side of it, you can read about in this thread (it's fun to read anyway):

One of the things that always seemed to be implied by Version 1.0, but rarely explicitly supported, was that some clans branched directly from others, and rather recently. For example, the Hellsguard all but surely branch from the Sea Wolves and recently adapted to the volcanic Farreach. Highlanders seemed to be Midlanders that stayed in the harsh mountain regions after the Sixth Umbral Calamity's floods receded, becoming stronger and bulkier where the air in thin and life is hard (ignoring that when this happens IRL, people tend to get shorter, too). This was contradicted in ARR, though; it is said that Highlanders domesticated the common sheep during the Age of Endless Frost - over a thousand years before.

So let's stick to confirmed facts!

The Highlander tribes of Gyr Abania have long been a violent lot. This, and the influence of northern dialects a la the Roegadyn, gave rise to their present naming conventions (see sticky). Remnants of ancient spiritual traditions remain the form of wooden talismans (often woven into their underclothes) and tattoos (sacred as they are intimidating). The brute, tribal aesthetic can also be seen their food; simple (but impressive) dishes such as large aldgoat steaks, well-seared but never overcooked. There were also some mentions tooth-filing and eyebrow-shaving as means of seeming more intimidating in combat, though these have gone unmentioned for a while.

They arrived in Gyr Abania following the floods of the Sixth Umbral Calamity (following a comet that many believed to be a sign from Rhalgr), putting the Highlanders in a prime position for history to record them as the first peoples to re-enter Eorzea after the waters receded. (This also being why they're called high-landers; the builders of mountain strongholds.) For over a thousand years, these mountain tribes warred over what little arable land existed. It was Anshelm Cotter, a tactical genius, who finally united what tribes didn't scatter before his advance (1100).

Ala Mhigan history, if relevant to your highlander:

Thus united, Ala Mhigo was raised mainly by Highlanders. Seeing as it was right on the land bridge leading into Ilsabard, they made sure that Ala Mhigo was a mighty bastion capable of repelling foreign invasion. Their military might being one of the few things they could export led to Ala Mhigan sellsword companies springing up in nearly every city-state to be used in their conflicts against one another. Unfortunately, Ul'dah's trade empire (with many ships) considerably undermined their ability to charge tolls on traders coming through the secure land bridge (1190).

Hoping to claim fertile land by conquest, King Manfred attempted to conquest the Black Shroud (1468), almost crushing the Gridanian forces before being driven back by a fledgling alliance of Eorzean city-states rallied by Ishgard, knowing that should Gridania fall the Ala Mhigans would be at their gates (and the already had the Dragonsong War to contend with). This would come to be known as the Autumn War (1469).

In the austerity that came after the wars, dissatisfaction with the crown swelled. The Fists of Rhalgr - the monks - gained considerable political influence. To forestall the erosion of the monarchy, the Fists were declared the state religion and given great influence. For at time this enmeshing of religion and state indeed led to stability, but King Theodoric would try to sever their influence (1546). He would declare himself above Rhalgr, ordained by the Destroyer's master, Nymeia. But this was simple pretense; when they Fists of Rhalgr protested, he brutally crushed them; all in temple, be they priest or refugee, burned (1552).

Growing paranoid, Theodoric's rule became more and more tyrannic. The executions began with rival claimants to the throne and moved ever downwards towards even smallfolk of any noteworthy wealth. His fears were only confirmed when even the queen turned against him, a conspiracy betrayed by a single noble. The brutality spurred the people to action, overthrowing their leader in a "popular revolution" defied not even by the king's own guard, the Corpse Brigade.

Unfortunately for the people, the rising tensions and violence had been encouraged from the shadows; gentle manipulations by spies of the Garlean Empire loyal to Gaius van Baelsar. As soon as Theodoric had been slain, the Imperial army sprung their trap, taking the city without a great battle or siege. Any who did not surrender or join the Resistance fled.

You can learn the nitty-gritty about Autumn War, the Fists of Rhalgr, and the fall of Ala Mhigo from Erik at the Pugilists' Guild.

The fall of Ala Mhigo caused a massive flood of Highlander refugees into the Black Shroud and Thanalan; moreso the latter, as the Elementals can be rather picky about who is allowed to stay, and where. Version 1.0 lampshaded the lack of female Highlanders (this being why Yda and Minfilia look like Midlanders) by saying that many of the daughters of Ala Mhigo stayed behind to fight in the Resistance, being no less skilled at arms.

As has ever been the case, many make their way as sellswords (and now adventurers), but thanks to the recent and radical distribution caused by the fall of Ala Mhigo, you can find a few Highlanders doing just about anything, just about anywhere to get by.

Anonymoose did an excellent job of summarizing Highlander (and Ala Mhigan history) lore above. I figured I'd drop in to provide source text for Moose's summary. Lore specific to the Highlanders from the lore book and in game can be found below. If you're wanting your Highlander to be from Ala Mhigo and are curious to know more about Ala Mhigo's history and how the refugees have come to be treated in Eorzea, I have a similarly structured Ala Mhigan Lore Compilation that I'm currently in the process of adding to/editing with lore book information. Still, should give you a good idea of things.

At the very beginning, the Male Highlanders didn't have any eyebrows what so ever. From what we heard back in the day, it wasn't due to a Technical Issue that the Highlanders don't have real eyebrows, but a design choice they made when they were creating the characters and races we know today. This was then later added to the Lore.

It was through the 2.0 Character creator that they implemented a "Tattoo" version of the eyebrows, so that players could get at least something.

[MsQi]

From a lore standpoint, all highlanders are refugees. There’s a difference in attitudes between someone who moves countries in times of peace and someone who is forced to flee their country as their culture is eroded away back home by a foreign power.

Not all, and many have integrated into Ul'dahn society. This tradition is tied to being Highlander, not Ala Mhigan. it probably pre-dates Ala Mhigo.

Your character shows up wearing an outfit that is somehow common to both clans yet currently worn by neither, suggesting that you have ties to a society that is somehow separate from the two clans, perhaps a very old society. As an adventurer you are likely an independent thinker and have less of an interest in tradition. Treating lore as if it's a natural law, that predetermines your every move, breaks it more than anything. That's not what lore is.

Technical issues are real issues but citing lore for something like this shows disrespect for lore.

[myahele]

I wonder why the "Highlanders" of the 1st shave their eyebrows too?

[Allegor]

To scare off sin eaters, obviously. The ridiculous line of thought transcends realities ...except for Ran'jit, because reasons

[MikkoAkure]

Not all, and many have integrated into Ul'dahn society. This tradition is tied to being Highlander, not Ala Mhigan. it probably pre-dates Ala Mhigo.

Your character shows up wearing an outfit that is somehow common to both clans yet currently worn by neither, suggesting that you have ties to a society that is somehow separate from the two clans, perhaps a very old society. As an adventurer you are likely an independent thinker and have less of an interest in tradition. Treating lore as if it's a natural law, that predetermines your every move, breaks it more than anything. That's not what lore is.

Technical issues are real issues but citing lore for something like this shows disrespect for lore.

In this case, the lore set up 10 years ago has already determined what highlanders look like. Players can headcanon all they want about their WoL but the devs already had made the decision that they won't have eyebrows bc lore so that's how it is and that's how it's reflected in the world. Not sure how lore being reflected by gameplay being reflected by lore means there's any disrespect.

The lorebook calls out highlanders in Eorzea being refugees of Ala Mhigo. Other than Godbert and his son who are kind of their own thing, I can't think of any NPCs who are completely culturally integrated into Ul'dah. All the major highlander NPCs in the MSQ constantly bring conversation back to Ala Mhigo so it's clear that they're not over it. There are a few who lament that Little Ala Mhigo is a pitiful display of people holding onto past glory, but well they probably don't have eyebrows either because gameplay reasons but I'm sure if someone asked Koji he would make something up.

And I don't think adventurer starting gear being the same for highlanders and midlanders hints at anything more than "this is what hyur player characters get when they start". The book says they wear cotton reinforced with leather because it's simple but useful and long boots reminiscent of the race's time in Ilsabard. I don't think it's supposed to provide deeper meaning than that and doesn't mean that your character is some special society between cultures. That's a bit of a reach.

[Esmoire]

Lore should enhance customization, not limit it.

Lore should let you remove your highlander's eyebrows if you want to give them a story related to why their eyebrows are missing, such as shaving it in solidarity for their lost homeland, but people should have the creative freedom to decide if that makes sense for their character.

[HeyMcFly]

How can anyone argue "the lore" when lore-wise, Miqo'te are meant to be in lower numbers & mostly female, yet everyone and their mother is a miqote & alot are males.
Same goes for Roe.

The lore changes all the time & SE isn't some small indie company- they just choose to ignore requests like this, such as "give better customization options/ highlander eyebrows/viera hats & shared hairstyles/ give Au-Ra horn choices/ Give players NPC hairstyles" it's always "if enough people ask" or "it's a technicaly difficulty" Well, Enough people ask daily & we're not buying the technical difficulty excuse.