Thread: Highlander Eyebrows - 7.0 Graphics

Originally Posted by Risough

Can you provide a citation for the claim that highlander WoLs are Ala Mhigan and follow their cultural practices?

Firstly the shaving eyebrows and scaring pre dates Ala Mhigo, it's been their their culture the entire time along side scarification and removal of teeth etc, go to the official lore about the clan and you will see that. It also states on the character creator that highlanders have become increasingly rare and almost exclusively come from Ala Mhigo. So while you could make the argument it says "almost" giving the idea your highland could theoretically come from someplace else. The initial homeland and culture of highlanders predates the founding of Ala Mhigo. This is why the facial features are scarificaiton. Now granted I agree that if on the creator it allows us to choose to scar the face or not, it implies these cultural things are optional therefor you should give the option of having eyebrows. But it is indeed the culture of all highlanders over 99% being from Ala Mhigo,

Originally Posted by Malthir

Firstly the shaving eyebrows and scaring pre dates Ala Mhigo, it's been their their culture the entire time along side scarification and removal of teeth etc, go to the official lore about the clan and you will see that. It also states on the character creator that highlanders have become increasingly rare and almost exclusively come from Ala Mhigo. So while you could make the argument it says "almost" giving the idea your highland could theoretically come from someplace else. The initial homeland and culture of highlanders predates the founding of Ala Mhigo. This is why the facial features are scarificaiton. Now granted I agree that if on the creator it allows us to choose to scar the face or not, it implies these cultural things are optional therefor you should give the option of having eyebrows. But it is indeed the culture of all highlanders over 99% being from Ala Mhigo,

You stated that it's canon for the WoL to be Ala Mighan, which isn't the case. There's a difference between the general lore and history of Highlanders and applying it to a single character. I don't even think the shaved eyebrows is explained within the game itself. We just have a statement from a Q&A that was asked once upon a time to give a reason for it. Additionally, while it may be a cultural behavior, it's not a racial trait or genetic quality. It's a choice.

Umm.. if I may add something else, aside from eyebrows, would kindly please make our shoulders a tad wider?

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...ecd574ad0d397a

I guess we will see on June 3. There's no mention of facepaint changes or adjustments aside from lip gloss. There's basically a 0% chance of actual eyebrows, but I really hope the placement of the facepaint was at least fixed.

Thank you for providing some additional context, Malthir. I've seen both of the sources you mentioned and I actually linked the highlander lore thread earlier in this one. I'll provide the text of the blurb from the character creator for convenience here:

Character Creator:

Originally Posted by Character Creator

The Highlanders were the first of the Hyur to reach Eorzea. Their name derives from their long tradition of building strongholds in the mountains. Compared to their Midland brethren, the Highlanders are noticeably larger in build.

Of late, Highlanders have become an increasingly rare sight in Eorzea, their number represented almost exclusively by those who fled Ala Mhigo after its fall and now work in the desert city-state of Ul'dah as mercenaries and sellswords.

I quoted the excerpt on eyebrows from the highlander lore thread in this post.

The blurbs in the character creator hold information to help you come up with your own background for your character and understand how others might see them in the world, but nothing in that last sentence is forced on your character. I interpret that "almost" qualifier is added to the blurb for that reason.

I also dug up the quote from Deep Canyon that Luluya mentioned:

Originally Posted by Deep Canyon

I must say, you're not what I was expectin'. I was sure Adalberta's newest protégé would be an Ala Mhigan—like every other miner this place produces these days. But I'll wager you're from even farther afield... an' that you're an adventurer. Hmph.

You'll get this same text even if you play as a Highlander, so Highlander WoLs are not canonically Ala Mhigan.

Hopefully we’ll see something as a surprise on June 3rd (:

Originally Posted by Shookbeast

Hopefully we’ll see something as a surprise on June 3rd (:

Eyebrows would be a massive surprise, but I feel like there's a .01% chance of that.

I'll be really disappointed of the face paint still looks as bad as the first benchmark, though. Fingers crossed.

You mentioned you were responding to someone stating the WoL could be from a different culture of Highlanders. Were you, perhaps, responding to this part of my first post in this thread?

Originally Posted by Risough

We've also seen highlanders from a huge variety of cultures and I simply find it hard to believe a practice like shaving eyebrows would be followed ubiquitously across all of them.

If this is what you were responding to, I wasn't referring to the WoL or any other Highlander culture within Eorzea. We've met Highlanders in Thavnair, Old Sharlayan, The First, and Dalmasca if you count the Company Muscle aboard the Prima Vista. All of them have shaved eyebrows despite having no apparent connection to the Highlander clan in Gyr Abania. I find that unrealistic, especially on The First given that a prominent NPC from Shadowbringers does have them.

That said, I don't think the clans are meant to be a 1:1 correspondence to any Eorzean city-state. Just as in real life, each city state has a diverse make-up of people even if one group is more strongly represented. If the population of Limsa Lominsa is, for example, only 1% Highlander then those Highlanders would still be of Lominsan culture and reflect those values.

I don't think we have enough information to say where or when the practice of shaving eyebrows, filing teeth, and so on originated. We know Highlanders lived in places other than Gyr Abania prior to the 6th astral era because we see statues of Highlanders in Mhach and Dun Scaith. It wasn't just Highlanders that fled to the mountains of Gyr Abania in the floods of the 6th umbral calamity (the 4th calamity was the calamity of earth), it was pretty much everyone Nym and Amdapor could get to evacuate.

We know some Highlanders left Gyr Abania due to the Hildibrand questline of all places. The Gentleman Zombie was a soldier in Sil'Dih when it felll. According to Encyclopaedia Eorzea, Sil'Dih was formed in 969, Ala Mhigo in 1135, and Sil'Dih fell in 1181. While it's possible the Gentleman Zombie immigrated to Sil'Dih in the 46 years the civilizations overlapped, I think it more likely he was a descendant of Mhachi diaspora who returned to Yafaem after the waters receded. After all, if you had survived a catastrophic flood wouldn't you want to return and see what became of the place you called home?

The Gentleman Zombie has shaved eyebrows. If his lineage had no connection to the clans in Gyr Abania after they left, does this mean the practice pre-dates the flood? It's hard to say because we aren't given enough information to discern what is due to technological limitations and what is a deliberate design choice. Bert, for example, was obviously intended to have eyebrows but that was not reflected in game.

I'm a bit concerned we've taken this thread too far off the rails debating the history of Highlanders. Ruin, this is your thread so if you feel we've gone too far off topic just say so and I'll drop the subject.