Garlean Third Eye Customization option

[Ameela]

And male Miqo'te are loners who rarely leave the tribe.

And male Viera are solitary forest wardens who seldom interact with anyone except to raise other young male Viera, or to breed.

Player characters break the rules all the time.

To be fair, all of these are lore tidbits which aren't really made a big deal out of in the game itself, like no one ever questions why Erenville or G'raha Tia would be in Sharlayan.
By contrast every time a supporting character turns out to be a Garlean like Cid or Lucia it's always presented as a big reveal and they're treated differently for it by the game's writing as well as in their interactions with the Empire so the transition might not be as seamless for player characters. After all there's more than a handful of voiced lines where you're referred to as an Eorzean by imperials.

[Absimiliard]

To be fair, all of these are lore tidbits which aren't really made a big deal out of in the game itself, like no one ever questions why Erenville or G'raha Tia would be in Sharlayan.
By contrast every time a supporting character turns out to be a Garlean like Cid or Lucia it's always presented as a big reveal and they're treated differently for it by the game's writing as well as in their interactions with the Empire so the transition might not be as seamless for player characters. After all there's more than a handful of voiced lines where you're referred to as an Eorzean by imperials.

There are other Garlean expatriates in Eorzea. Take Kan-E-Senna's personal guard, for example. One of them is Garlean pureblood. His heritage does not change the fact his current nationality is Gridanian, which makes him an Eorzean. Regardless of race, fighting on behalf of Eorzea is more than enough reason for imperialists or just about anyone else to refer to you as an Eorzean.

[Lelila38]

It is fascinating every time how some people are just against adding options to the game.
Seriously, if you don't want to play as a Garlean in case they add it, don't. Personally, I wouldn't either, but let others have their fun.

On topic, I think the EE screenshot Aveyond provided would give enough justification to add Garleans as a playable race or, as an easy to implement solution, a glamor item. The PC is already more than special, why not be a magic wielding Garlean?

[RukoBoshi]

Regula van Hydrus was shown to be capable of teleportation during the quest line he was involved in back in Azys Lla in Heavensward.

He also summoned/conjured a Tiger like familiar during combat. They are resourceful enough to compensate their lack of aether with many tricks. Like Zenos aether infused weapons.

[Ameela]

There are other Garlean expatriates in Eorzea. Take Kan-E-Senna's personal guard, for example. One of them is Garlean pureblood. His heritage does not change the fact his current nationality is Gridanian, which makes him an Eorzean.

Yes, but he's not a pureblood so no easily distinguishable third eye that might get him ostracized or even pursued by the empire for defecting.
I assume his identity as a former Garlean conscript is also kept a secret from regular civilliains, since they wouldn't have any reason to mingle in the personal life of the tree president's bodyguards.

[Absimiliard]

Yes, but he's not a pureblood so no easily distinguishable third eye that might get him ostracized or even pursued by the empire for defecting.
I assume his identity as a former Garlean conscript is also kept a secret from regular civilliains, since they wouldn't have any reason to mingle in the personal life of the tree president's bodyguards.

Let's assume for a moment you are correct in your assertion that he is not a pureblood. What about the Garleans known to have infiltrated the Eorzean population? Is their ability to roll up in there, complete whatever espionage mission they were sent on, and roll on out to be disregarded? It's as simple as hiding their third eye.

But returning to the topic at hand; if that man's original nationality was so readily hidden, what's to prevent the same for the WoL? After all, you do enter Eorzea riding in the back of a wagon if you're not a legacy player. Who knows where that character came from? Maybe they're of those rare Garleans capable of manipulating aether and happened to disagree with the direction of the Empire? We did after all learn from Drusilla and others that a not insignificant portion of the Garlean population strongly disliked the path the Empire found itself on prior to its destruction in Endwalker.

For that matter, who cares if it clashes? Au Ra had to be retconned in to make sense, and half of them are more supposed to be more bloodthirsty than most of the enemies we deal with over the course of the game. If SE is willing to throw down retcons left, right, and center, then why would it be considered wildly inappropriate for players to have access to a handful of Garlean customizations options on matching body types?

[kaynide]

You might want to check what Reapers actually do again. And that entry is still not specific examples. Still waiting

It doesn't need anything specific though; it says point blank "Garleans have little inborn ability to manipulate their body's aether, however, and thius the arcane arts have ever eluded all but a few". All but a few by definition means there are some, however far and few between, that can use aether.

There is no reason why the PC couldn't be one of those rare few.

That said, the only reason it wouldn't make sense in the story is because when friendly Garleans are revealed (eg Cid) it is something of a thing. I wouldn't even call it a big thing.... but it IS a thing. Most of these people make a point to hide their eye when in Allied areas.

...and THAT said, the elegant solution has been presented: make a glamour and call it something like "Garlean 3rd Eye Disguise". This makes it a non-story thing that RPers can use and enjoy without impact on the plot. The main character actually being a Garlean in-story creates a lot of potential subplots and questions that become too specific... like why wouldn't a significant group rally around an extremely powerful Garlean to try to put them on the throne as the new ruler, post EW? They clearly need a leader, and the Eikon-Slayer is absolutely on a power level of other world leaders.

[Ameela]

Let's assume for a moment you are correct in your assertion that he is not a pureblood. What about the Garleans known to have infiltrated the Eorzean population? Is their ability to roll up in there, complete whatever espionage mission they were sent on, and roll on out to be disregarded? It's as simple as hiding their third eye.

But returning to the topic at hand; if that man's original nationality was so hidden, what's to prevent the same for the WoL? After all, you do enter Eorzea riding in the back of a wagon if you're not a legacy player.

For that matter, who cares if it clashes? Au Ra had to be retconned in to make sense, and half of them are more supposed to be more bloodthirsty than most of the enemies we deal with over the course of the game. If SE is willing to throw down retcons left, right, and center, then why would it be considered wildly inappropriate for players to have access to a handful of Garlean customizations options on matching body types?

I mean, he doesn't have a third eye, it's not like he's trying very hard to hide it even if he did have one considering those pathetic bangs. Maybe there's some obscure piece of lore that says some pureblooded Garleans don't have the third eye or maybe he pulled it out with a knife? But at that point you're making far bigger assumptions than just "he's a Garlean but most people don't know about it which is why it's not a big deal".
The lack of the third eye is kind of imperative to the argument here. He was hidden because he doesn't have one, an hypothetical Garlean WoL would need to have one otherwise what's even the point of adding Garleans as a race? But then do you really think it'd make sense for people like Gaius to look at your character and dismiss it and even go as far as to call you a common Eorzean adventurer when it should be obvious to him that's clearly not the case?
And I did bring up the Au Ra in this thread, which I do think the way they were handled was a mistake if the intent was always to have them become a playable race. While it's true that it's a thing that happened and it's now forever a part of the game I don't believe that kind of short-sighted thinking from early in the game's lifespan should be used to justify repeating the same mistake again.
A glamour piece would be good enough I feel.

[Absimiliard]

I mean, he doesn't have a third eye, it's not like he's trying very hard to hide it even if he did have one considering those pathetic bangs. Maybe there's some obscure piece of lore that says some pureblooded Garleans don't have the third eye or maybe he pulled it out with a knife? But at that point you're making far bigger assumptions than just "he's a Garlean but most people don't know about it which is why it's not a big deal".
The lack of the third eye is kind of imperative to the argument here. He was hidden because he doesn't have one, an hypothetical Garlean WoL would need to have one otherwise what's even the point of adding Garleans as a race? But then do you really think it'd make sense for people like Gaius to look at your character and dismiss it and even go as far as to call you a common Eorzean adventurer when it should be obvious to him that's clearly not the case?
And I did bring up the Au Ra in this thread, which I do think the way they were handled was a mistake if the intent was always to have them become a playable race. While it's true that it's a thing that happened and it's now forever a part of the game I don't believe that kind of short-sighted thinking from early in the game's lifespan should be used to justify repeating the same mistake again.
A glamour piece would be good enough I feel.

There is indeed a piece of lore noting Kan-E-Senna's guard to be a pureblood. I do, however, concede that his pureblood status creates several conflicts with other things from around that time, not the least of which being his ability to remain largely unmolested by the Gridanians even when viewed without a helmet or mask. Definitely some jank there.

The above aside, and more to the point; Garleans as of current lore are largely indistinguishable from other Hyurans unless their third eye is exposed. Gaius and most others would have no way of knowing the difference unless someone decided to just parade around with their extra organ on display for the world.

I'm not denying there would be a few issues. I am merely observing that, in light of how poorly most playable races have been handled, the addition of a handful of Garlean customization options wouldn't exactly come as any kind of major shock. Nor would it necessitate the addition of any text, given the player character (glamour notwithstanding) would have access to a helmet or other head covering at nearly any given time anyway. About the only thing it would really accomplish is making a not insignificant portion of the player-base quite happy. SE could even toss them on the Mogstation if they wanted to make some serious cash with very little investment.

The glamour route is a thought, but it would require more than one type. We've seen a few different styles of Garlean third eye. We've also observed that some Garleans have a body structure more akin to that of Elezen, necessitating the addition of rounded ears if the objective is to cover one's bases properly.

[Ameela]

There is indeed a piece of lore noting Kan-E-Senna's guard to be a pureblood.

Is there? It's kinda hard to look for since he doesn't even have a name, but the short story where it seems like this piece of lore originated from makes no mention of the sort.