(11-19-2013, 12:19 PM)Mysth Wrote:usually each tribe will have a single Nunh, while there are a few Tia around.
I think it's been pretty well established that a Seeker tribe is made up of numerous breeding groups. A single Nunh per tribe would imply that there were, at most, only a few thousand Seekers in Eorzea.
As far as the Seeker/Keeper mix goes, you could also argue that Kipih Jakkya's presence supports the idea of this pairing being rare (and possibly troublesome) for tribal Miqo'te. Kipah, after all, is an "urbanized" (as opposed to tribal) Miqo'te.
I've been thinking about a couple of things with regard to Seeker breeding. We know that a Tia can become a Nunh by challenging an existing Nunh, proving himself fitter, and taking that Nunh's place. It's assumed that combat plays a part of this challenge, but is it there anything else? This depends really on what a tribe would consider to be proof of fitness. And how much does female choice come into play? Is an ability to convince the females of a breeding group that you're a better choice part of the challenge? I don't like to compare Miqo'te to lions (ears and tails aside, they're obviously very close to the other sophonts of Eorzea. Much closer than to any sort of cat), but there have been recorded instances of the females of prides killing a dominant male who proves to be a liability. This shows that there's at least some need for a dominant lion to convince the females that he's the correct man for the job, so to speak.
Another thing I've been wondering about is something that biologists sometimes call the "sneaky fucker" theory. A decent number of the children produced by "dominant male" breeding groups of animals, where only the dominant male is supposed to breed, aren't actually children of the dominant male. Instead, while the dominant male is off defending his claim, other males will sneak in and mate with females (often with the enthusiastic cooperation of the females). I'd be surprised if quite a bit of this didn't happen among Seekers. Even if all the Tias are driven out of a breeding group, roaming female Seekers would have ample opportunities to come into contact with Tias while they're away from hearth and home.
