A Question I've Always Had On The Races...

[TheVigilant]

(I'll start with I know that this is a game so there are for this some impractical reasons but let's assume there are reasons thought of and put in place for the sake of an agreeable lore)

So I've always wondered, seeing the world of Eorzea, the races are always socializing, interacting and mingling with each other.

Shouldn't it then be an often occurrence that two from a different race and opposite genders would procreate?

So then what has caused characters of a mixed race appearance to be so rare to the point of a handful one in the game?

So far I only know of Hilda Ware, whom according the FFXIV wiki, "Her father refused to acknowledge her existence to the day he died" (Wiki's Source: Encyclopedia Eorzea).

Is it that they simply refuse to procreate with another race or is it that they do but the child turns out to only have the racial appearance of one of the parents or the other?

Has this subject been clarified by SE before?
Your thoughts?

[zcrash970]

Probably because that would take work to make a cross species race. That takes work and time which I doubt the dev will put effort into it

[Caurcas]

In lore its a social taboo.

[OranKells]

Generally speaking in the real world interspecies breeding is rare.

There are a lot of biological reason why it doesn't work very well and while some species can intermingle the resulting children are often infertile.

I would suspect the case is the same in the game.

[TheVigilant]

Generally speaking in the real world interspecies breeding is rare.

There are a lot of biological reason why it doesn't work very well and while some species can intermingle the resulting children are often infertile.

I would suspect the case is the same in the game.

Excuse me, while I understand the point you're trying to make, I disagree that a Hyur and a Miqo'te are like a Human and a Cat.
The only difference between the two is the ear and tail, that's it.
They are even both called "people", "person" and even "Humans" several times in the story.
Hell, they even are attracted to each other, seeing the Miqo'te female dancers in Ul'dah and Costa del Sol, attended by other races there.

[Iscah]

Excuse me, while I understand the point you're trying to make, I disagree that a Hyur and a Miqo'te are like a Human and a Cat.

They didn't say that, though.

Even in the real world, closely-related species (like the various big cats) can interbreed but the offspring are often infertile.

And as Tsumdere pointed out, there are real physical differences between the races that may not neatly combine if their bodies have different shapes, particularly ear placement (and necessary difference in the underlying skull shape) and tails.

[OranKells]

Even in the real world, closely-related species (like the various big cats) can interbreed but the offspring are often infertile.

basically

lions + tiger = ligers
horses + donkey = mule/hinny
wolf + dog = wolfdog

most of these hybrids are pretty viable but also incapable of further reproducing. While any two races might be able to have a child, there could be some genetic health issues that come up. This along with whatever racial strife exists in the lore is why you generally wouldn't want to intermingle.

[TroySoFab]

I shudder at the though of a lala-ronso.

[TheVigilant]

basically

lions + tiger = ligers
horses + donkey = mule/hinny
wolf + dog = wolfdog

most of these hybrids are pretty viable but also incapable of further reproducing. While any two races might be able to have a child, there could be some genetic health issues that come up. This along with whatever racial strife exists in the lore is why you generally wouldn't want to intermingle.

An interesting way of thinking but unless we have proof from the game, this is merely a conjecture.
We're applying real life biology to a fantasy world without evidence from the game itself.

[Tsumdere]

They seem to be rare because of taboo as stated in game, but I also wouldn't doubt there is some physical/cultural challenges with some of the races as well.

We know that Elezen and Hyur can procreate from Hilda, as well as Hyur and Au Ra (from the story in Sui no Sato of an Au Ra with no scales). Hyur and Garleans can as well as Arenvald is mixed race. Meaning that reasonably Elezen, Au Ra, Garleans, and Hyurs can all intermingle.

The other races I have a hard time imagining either because of their extreme statures, isolationist cultures, and some of their certain attributes being too different from Hyurs. Would a Miqo'te/Hyur hybrid have human ears on top of their head? Or cat ears on the side? Or Gods forbid a pair of both?

As an aside, I simply have the headcannon that Miqo/Viera + Hyur/Elezen/Garlean hybrids having hearing issues.