Viera culture and sexuality

[Conundrum]

Doesn't almost all of the Viera lore people reference actually come from a different FF game and may or may not have any relevance here whatsoever?

[MikkoAkure]

Doesn't almost all of the Viera lore people reference actually come from a different FF game and may or may not have any relevance here whatsoever?

One of the writers said on twitter that the "general settings" for the viera in Final Fantasy XIV are the same as in Final Fantasy XII/Tactics Advance

[Iscah]

If there is any romance between Viera it really has to be between the women, since the men just don't see anyone ever.

I suppose you could have childhood friends trying to keep up a relationship on the rare occasions they can see each other, or secret lovers meeting in the forest, but that's about the only opportunities for men and women to meet. (Or men and men for that matter.)

They may also just see sex as the practical thing you do when a man finally visits the village, whether you like him or not, and romantic pairings are a separate concept altogether.

[zeylos]

I was looking at Viera lore and it got me thinking. Wouldn't homosexuality be considered the norm with Heterosexuality being the very rare exception with their culture the way it is in regards to male and female interactions.

According to the lore, the males are never present except in the case of mating and picking up the young males and taking them away. The way it is described gives the sense that this practice is very dissociative with each other and the practice of mating unlike most other races is done as more of a duty to their tribe than an act of love. However we also know female Viera are not loveless beings. So isn't it possible that Viera women are more likely to develop romantic relationships with each other than they would males, with males develop relationships with other males to a lesser degree since males are solitary creatures by nature.

Viera as a race are most likely based on the amazons. In XII, seeign how males and females live completely separately its almost a given that any romance for the most part would be same sex since the ybasically only see ppl of the same sex all day, and if the yhave a sex drive they will likely go for that if they do live in their villages. In XIV, female viera, much like the amazons are likely sapphic for the most part, and probably form families or relationships between women as they onyl see women excpet for mating, that seems to be purely practical and it is, by what we know of lore, not something romantic or 'pretty', just a thing done purely for reproductive purpouses. As for the male viera, I would say that it wouldnt be too far fetched that if 2+ wood warders guard close areas they might develop a friendship or see each other often, and I thin kit isnt out of this world that they would likely have some romantic connections sometimes, but I find it hard to belive that outside very specific exceptions male viera would form sentimental relationships with female vieras if they do live in the woods and follow their culture. Also, in Eorzea as a whole we basically know that sexuality isn't really a thing in the sense that, nobody is 'heterosexual' or 'homosexual' or 'bisexual', from what we've seen people are just people (how 2 ppl of the same gender can get married, how a gay couple were outcasts for being interracial, liekly not for being 2 males, how theres various female miqote that seem really close to each other etc.) who fall in love with ppl, and I would be surprised if viera differ that much from that, but seeing how isolated they are they might. Wonder if Matsuno will say something.
Also, keep in mind Yoshi P pretty much said theyre gonna 'retcon' male viera lore to justify them being playable, so things may have changed in viera society or the minstrel is just not a 1000% reliable narrator or smth along those lines.

[Neoyoshi]

It's not like that race was fleshed out that much to begin with; heck- fans since Final Fantasy Tactics Advance have unofficially fleshed out that race more then SE ever did, so I think SE has some wiggle room to change things and take the opportunity to redefine how they live, breed, and die.

[xxmiamorecadenza]

That never stopped Galka Mayo, and it ain't gonna start any time soon!

Kids, don't google Galka Mayo.

After reading this post I looked it up and unabashedly read the entire thing.

[SniperCT]

I really love this thread, but I cheated and had my WoL spontaneously race change in character the first time she was summoned to the First (thanks exarch, good job there, right soul wrong body and all) but I do sometimes regret I don't get to really explore where she might have come from unless I did some IC retcons.

Regardless, she would have instantly fallen for my wife's lady miqo'te (now au'ra thanks to the same circumstances lol) anyway. I kind of view the Viera a lot like Night Elves in WoW. A society of (mostly) women spending super long lives together generally without men around? Being strictly het as a society is unlikely, and they probably don't really care for any distinction, a bit like how some ancient cultures on earth no one really batted an eye.

Gender is actually an interesting question in general, cuz honestly the way they're effectively genderless before puberty could lead to some interesting gender questioning for some of them. Body developing one way but they see themselves as the other (or neither or both) which also works great for me considering my own gender issues.

(I suppose I could have her explore who she is now still. Is there any good resource on Viera lore?)

[MikkoAkure]

I really love this thread, but I cheated and had my WoL spontaneously race change in character the first time she was summoned to the First (thanks exarch, good job there, right soul wrong body and all) but I do sometimes regret I don't get to really explore where she might have come from unless I did some IC retcons.

Regardless, she would have instantly fallen for my wife's lady miqo'te (now au'ra thanks to the same circumstances lol) anyway. I kind of view the Viera a lot like Night Elves in WoW. A society of (mostly) women spending super long lives together generally without men around? Being strictly het as a society is unlikely, and they probably don't really care for any distinction, a bit like how some ancient cultures on earth no one really batted an eye.

Gender is actually an interesting question in general, cuz honestly the way they're effectively genderless before puberty could lead to some interesting gender questioning for some of them. Body developing one way but they see themselves as the other (or neither or both) which also works great for me considering my own gender issues.

(I suppose I could have her explore who she is now still. Is there any good resource on Viera lore?)

The Wandering Dramaturge on the airship in Kugane is a start. They live ~360 years, etc. Matsuno also said that pretty much everything we know about viera previously still applies here too. He also did a Q&A on male viera on twitter that someone translated and posted to reddit awhile back. Someone did ask him about how viera feel about gender if they feel like they should be one way or another and apparently they don't have conflicts and their society is just too different from ours in how they treat that.

[SniperCT]

The Wandering Dramaturge on the airship in Kugane is a start. They live ~360 years, etc. Matsuno also said that pretty much everything we know about viera previously still applies here too. He also did a Q&A on male viera on twitter that someone translated and posted to reddit awhile back. Someone did ask him about how viera feel about gender if they feel like they should be one way or another and apparently they don't have conflicts and their society is just too different from ours in how they treat that.

okay ty, that helps

[Fenral]

Considering the most official artwork we have on male Viera shows four of them on a homosocial roadtrip a la FFXV, complete with Coleman camping stove, I'm going to maybe posit that the Dramaturge has no idea what he's talking about and everything we thought we knew about male Viera was a lie.

"You heading to the village?"

"Yeah. You should come, too. Petra always asks about you, and I think she's stopped buying that our patrol routes never line up."

"Oh, her. *shudders* Here, give her this, then. From me."

"A token of your affection?"

"A memento. Tell her I died."

"Training accident?"

"It's a cold, cruel world we live in."

"Yeah, sure it is..."