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[Case Study] Seeking the Seekers - Sounsyy - 03-15-2014
Case Study: Seeker of the Sun Miqo'teÂ
Tribal Population, Distribution, and Projected Location Within Eorzea
~Foreword~
I've had this project in the back of my mind for a while. We don't have a lot of lore on the Miqo'te or their tribes. About all we know is that they crossed over into Eorzea during the Age of Endless Frost in the Fifth Umbral Era, they account for a minuscule percentage of Eorzea's total population, and the 26 Tribes make their home primarily in Vylebrand and Thanalan. To me, this is all very vague considering I main a Seeker character.Â
So naturally the question came up when I was working on the Tribal aspect of my Seeker of the Raptor Tribe, where do the Raptors make their home? Do they live in Limsa or do they live in the Sagolii? The only Tribal Seekers we have evidence of in the game are the Drake (U) Tribe out in Forgotten Springs. So I did a little looking in game. Turns out, you can only find Raptors in the La Noscea region. This got me thinking... where do the rest of the tribes make their home?
~Purpose~
- To find and, if possible, isolate each of the 26 Tribes to a single region.
- To get a vague idea of the population of each Tribe. How prevalent are they in comparison to other Tribes?
- To discover if members of the same Tribe have similar features such as tribal tattoos.Â
- To create a resource for RPers looking to play a particular Tribe.
~Hypothesis~
Hypothesis #1: By collecting an on-foot census of all Seeker of the Sun NPCs, a pattern will arise that isolates a particular Tribe to a particular region of La Noscea or Thanalan. (Such as multiple Coeurl ( C ) Tribe Seekers being found near Oakwood might indicate traditional Tribal Coeurl Seekers make/made their home there.)
Hypothesis #2: A similarity in appearance will appear between members of the same Tribe. Once a particular Tribe's features are confirmed, they can then be used to identify un-named NPCs as a particular Seeker Tribe. This data could then be used to base one's character appearance to match that of its Tribe.
~Methodology~
I covered every square ilm of Eorzea on foot/mount looking for Miqo'te NPCs. The data collected does not include Seeker Miqo'te found in Quest Cutscenes or FATEs. The data below was collected solely from NPCs in the Open World.Â
Miqo'te characters were then identified as either Seeker or Keeper based upon pupil shape. Verticle slit pupils denoted Seekers and large, round pupils denoted Keepers.
For appearance similarities, a basic summary of facial features was taken of the more populous Tribes.Â
Example: N: Brown hair, Face type 1, Light/Yellow eyes, Pale skin.
~Data~
Named Seekers of the Sun
Antelope (A) Tribe [Total: 3]
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 3 (Upper Decks | Candlekeep Quay | Bronze Lake)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 0
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 2 (Moraby Drydocks | Costa Del Sol)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 1 (Aleport)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 2 (Highbridge)
- Limsa - 0
- Gridania - 1 (New Gridania)
- Ul'dah - 1 (Black Brush)
- Limsa - 3 (Lower Decks | Costa Del Sol | Overlook)
- Mor Dhona - 1* ** (The Rising Stone)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 1 (Upper Decks)
- Mor Dhona - 2* (Revenant's Toll, St. Coinach)
- Gridania - 1** (Tranquil)
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 5 (Upper Decks | Upper Decks | Wineport | Bronze Lake | Aleport)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 1 (Upper Decks)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 2 (Lower Decks | Wineport)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 1 (Cedarwood)
- Mor Dhona - 1* (St. Coinach)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 2 (Upper Decks | Airship Landing)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 0
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 3 (Lower Decks | Lower Decks | Lower Decks)
- Gridania - 1 (Old Gridania)
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 2 (Upper Decks | Candlekeep Quay)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 2 (Lower Decks | Costa Del Sol)
- Gridania - 1 (Treespeak)
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 2 (Aleport | Swiftperch)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 6 (Lower Decks | Upper Decks | Upper Decks | Moraby Drydocks | Aleport | Cedarwood)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 2 (Upper Decks | Aleport)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 1 (Upper Decks)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 13 (Forgotten Springs)
- Limsa - 1 (Skull Valley)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 1 (Lower Decks)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 1 (Nym River Skylift)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 1 (Red Rooster Stead)
- Gridania - 2* (Old Gridania | Old Gridania)
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 1 (Upper Decks)
- Mor Dhona - 1* (The Rising Stone)
- Gridania - 0
- Ul'dah - 0
- Limsa - 1 (Upper Decks)
**Denotes a-typical Seeker of the Sun. See "Outliers/Oddballs" section below.
Total Named Seekers of the Sun: 72
Un-named Seekers of the Sun
Gridania: 9 - (6 of the 9 reside within the city of Gridania. Only 1 is male.)
Ul'dah: 46 - (29 of the 46 are part of the U Tribe. Only 3 are male.)
Limsa: 93 - (31 of the 91 reside within the city of Limsa. Only 1 is male.)
Ishgard: 0
Mor Dhona: 2 - (Found at St. Coinach's Find. 0 are male.)
Total Un-named Seekers of the Sun: 150
Total In-game Seekers of the Sun Population: 222
Tribe Appearance Data
H1: Dark/Brown hair, Face type 1, Unknown eyes, Pale skin.
H2: Dark/Brown hair, Face type 3, Dark/Green eyes, Pale skin.
H3: Light/Pink hair, Face type 3, Light/Yellow eyes, Tanned skin.
H4: Dark/Black hair, Face type 4, Light/White eyes, Tanned skin.
N1: Light/Pink hair, Face type 1, Light/Yellow eyes, Pale skin.
N2: Light/Pink hair, Face type 1, Light/Yellow eyes, Pale skin.
N3: Light/White hair, Face type 1, Light/White eyes, Pale skin.
R1: Dark/Black hair, Face type 1, Dark/Grey eyes, Pale skin.
R2: Dark/Black hair, Face type 2, Dark/Brown eyes, Pale skin.
R3: Dark/Black hair, Face type 1, Light/Green eyes, Pale skin.
R4: Dark/Black hair, Face type 1, Light/Green & Blue eyes, Pale skin.
R5: Dark/Black hair, Face type 3, Dark/Grey eyes, Pale skin.
Y1: Light/White hair, Face type 3, Light/White eyes, Tanned skin.
Y2: Light/White hair, Face type 3, Light/Blue eyes, Tanned skin.
Y3: Dark/Black hair, Face type 3, Light/Yellow eyes, Pale skin.
~Outliers / Oddballs~
- F'lhaminn in The Rising Stone is a Keeper Miqo'te, yet has a Seeker name.
- H'amneko in Camp Tranquil is a Keeper Miqo'te, yet has a Seeker name.
- Rubh Epocan in Melvaan's Gate is a Seeker Miqo'te, yet has a traditional Keeper Family name.
~Conclusions~
>Inconclusive<
Ultimately, kind of a flop. There just isn't enough raw data to substantiate any claims that a particular Tribe of Seekers lives in a specific region of La Noscea. We just don't see enough Named Seekers from each Tribe to make that call.Â
Two(2) of the Twenty-six(26) Tribes aren't even represented in the game.Â
When I came up with the theory that members of the same Tribe would have similar characteristics, I was really hoping that it would pan out so that another survey could be made of the 150 un-named Seekers of the Sun. If we could narrow down which Tribe those Miqo'te belonged to, we would have a much better shot at figuring out if each Tribe has a focal point in their population spread.
Or did SE just randomly distribute Miqo'te across La Noscea at whim. Who knows. For now, I'll have to concede that without more data or lore, Seeker Tribes are just randomly placed within La Noscea and give no indication of a particular Tribe's original hunting grounds.
Despite that setback, the data collected does give us a pretty good idea of which Tribes inhabit which nations of Eorzea!
A - La Noscea
B - unknown
C - La Noscea
D - La Noscea
E - Thanalan
F - fairly distributed across all of Eorzea
G - not enough data
H - La Noscea
I - La Noscea
J - La Noscea
K - not enough data
L - La Noscea
M - unknown
N - La Noscea
O - not enough data
P - La Noscea
Q - not enough data
R - La Noscea
S - La Noscea
T - not enough data
U - Thanalan
V - La Noscea
W - La Noscea
X - La Noscea
Y - Sharlayan
Z - La Noscea
~Summary~
The data wasn't conclusive enough for me, but you all are more than welcome to use the Tribe distribution I've mapped out or even the physical features I've collected for the few more populous Tribes. In my opinion, there were not enough similarities between all members of the same tribe for me to justify going back to all 150 un-named Miqo'te to try to divide them up into what I thought their Tribes might be. I'll leave that judgement up to you though.Â
I had a lot of fun doing this, and by the time I finished, I had made more questions for myself than I had answered really.
But anyways, I hope this helps my fellow Seekers out there, as well as those of you who are wanting to delve deeper into your Tribe's background.
RE: [Case Study] Seeking the Seekers - Knight Kat - 03-16-2014
I may main a Keeper, but I love all Miqo'te lore. I was wondering about the distribution of Seeker tribes; I guess I wasn't the only one
Regardless of the lack of data, you did an awesome job here.
RE: [Case Study] Seeking the Seekers - TheWizard - 03-17-2014
This is really good despite it being inconclusive.
I was curious about all this and I applaud your efforts.
I was actually looking for Miqo'te in Ishgard the other day and found only one unnamed Keeper in Camp Dragonhead who I believe to be an adventurer.
RE: [Case Study] Seeking the Seekers - Magellan - 03-17-2014
"they account for a miniscule percentage of Eorzea's population..."
In lore, yes. In practice, they make up about 75% of Eorzea's population on Balmung :p (I blame improper spaying/neutering practices)
RE: [Case Study] Seeking the Seekers - Maril - 03-17-2014
This must have taken a while to do! Very interesting read, so even if it didn't give many conclusive results, many kudos to you for carrying it out
RE: [Case Study] Seeking the Seekers - Knight Kat - 03-19-2014
(03-17-2014, 04:17 PM)Magellan Wrote: "they account for a miniscule percentage of Eorzea's population..."
In lore, yes. In practice, they make up about 75% of Eorzea's population on Balmung :p (I blame improper spaying/neutering practices)
*hides*
RE: [Case Study] Seeking the Seekers - Aysun - 03-19-2014
I found this a very interesting read, which surprises me because I usually cringe when I see Miqo'te topics around here. >>;
Something I take away from this? SE is keeping to their own lore. Kudos. Seekers of the Sun are to be found on Vylbrand, where they are "accepted into everyday life" and so the vast majority of them are. We have one functional tribe shown in game. The Seekers of La Noscea don't appear to live tribally like those in the Sagolii do. Cool beans.
So yea, very interesting stuff here, even if you couldn't really draw any of the conclusions you wanted from it!
RE: [Case Study] Seeking the Seekers - TheWizard - 03-20-2014
Hmm are you by chance going to do one of these for Keepers of the Moon as well?
RE: [Case Study] Seeking the Seekers - Sounsyy - 03-20-2014
I just wanted to quickly drop by and give my thanks for your responses to this! So in the end it wasn't a total flop haha.
(03-20-2014, 03:16 AM)TheWizard Wrote: Hmm are you by chance going to do one of these for Keepers of the Moon as well?
Yes, actually! I've already begun working on the Keeper equivalent to this post. I just haven't had a lot of time to be in game this week.