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Lan Darklyn · **10-16-2013, 07:35 PM**

Posting this from my phone since I am still at work. *grumbles*

The main thing I am wondering about is how much a Miqo'te is driven by instinct.
Are Seeker males driven by a sort of primal urge to be the "top cat" so to speak?
Would a male Seeker feel a strong urge to have a tribe even if he was raised by another race like a Hyur?
And are Seeker males driven to have multiple mates so as to have as many offspring as possible?

Fates Skein · **10-16-2013, 08:03 PM**

Unfortunately, these are all questions that aren't really covered in the lore we currently have access to. Â There is only one 'working' tribe in game (the U' tribe)- from whom we see that the Tias have a hierarchy and are in competition with one another to be 'top cat' and that the highest ranked Tia is the one most likely to challenge the Nunh. Â In the U tribe, the Nunh actually goes against what the official lore indicates- he leads the tribe politically.

The other questions really depend on whether you see Miqo's as more feline/canine vs more 'human'.

Human tribes are social constructs but humanity as a whole does typically have a drive towards being social creatures, so the urge to have a tribe would be supported by instinct no matter which aspect is stronger (human or animal). Â Similarly, the competition to be at the top of the social hierarchy is something that we see a lot in both humanity and social animals.

The last bit, about having multiple mates, is very much a your mileage may vary scenario. Â I think it would depend a lot on how said Miqo was raised- he may have the urge to have a lot of girls but that urge may be a shameful thing if he was raised by monogamous people in a monogamous society. Â That's one of those things where the whole nature vs. nurture thing comes in, I think.

Of course, these answers are my point of view, other than the stuff about the U' tribe which is from my experience in game.

Ildur · **10-16-2013, 08:25 PM**

Miqo'te aren't animals, they are people. You can tell they aren't animals because animals do not reason and do not have culture, two things Miqo'te have.
Considering that Miqo'te are more animal than human would be akin to finding a real world culture and comparing them with monkeys because, hey, we humans kinda look like apes, right?

As such, any feelings an individual could have towards being the 'top cat' or having multiple mates or multiple offsprings are cultural in nature. A person can go against his instincts depending on how he thinks about them, how his culture defines them and on personal history. The reason Miqo'te society has polygamy isn't because of natural instinct (though I guess we could argue that any man would like having a lot of women), but because males are rare. And because males are rare, their society has formed around them having many mates/wives so that their numbers don't dwindle.

So, basically? Miqo're are driven by instinct just as much as humans are.

Faye · **10-16-2013, 08:27 PM**

As Fates said, unfortunately there's no concrete answers in the lore for these questions. But! I will give my input on the last one that I would assume that the Nunh's would always have multiple mates. In a tribal system where only a few select men are allowed to breed, monogamy seems impossible and likely a foreign concept to Seekers. I suppose Tia's could settle down with one person, but I'm not sure what stipulations there may be against Tia's breeding. But if a Miqo'te was raised in another setting by another race, monogamy may be his mindset. It just depends whether you think nature or nurture would be stronger in this scenario.

FreelanceWizard · **10-16-2013, 08:39 PM**

I think everyone else here has just about covered it. We do know that nunh certainly can have multiple mates in their territories, as in tribal Seeker culture, only the nunh can breed, and he has 20-50 females of breeding age in his territory on average. The cultural objective of tribal Seeker society seems to ensure the strongest breed in order to produce the strongest children possible.

Personally, my read of the lore (especially how we see it in game, where most miqo'te don't seem to be tribal, but instead have adopted city-state cultures) is that miqo'te tribal culture is just that -- cultural, and a function of upbringing. However, since the lore's not very detailed on this point, you have the freedom to do what you like so long as you have an explanation for it in your character's story.

K'dath · **10-16-2013, 08:50 PM**

The difference between a Nuhn in a Tia is strictly the title. Nuhn means breeding male of a tribe, and a Tia is everyone else. The Nuhn is singled out as having superior breeding stock because reasons.

Anything saying the Nuhn is the only sexually active male is speculation. There isn't a definitive rule explicitly stating that there isn't any copulation outside of Nuhn's and their mates. Even if there was, it'd impossible to say beyond a shadow of a doubt that every member of the entire species always respects this one rule.

It's simply an indicator of 'ladies, this guy is going to have the best babies.' They are culturally desirable because they'll produce strong offspring that will survive the harsh conditions in which the tribal society functions.Â

And even then, what we know of Miqo'te culture is limited to what Square has said explicitly, which often doesn't hold up with in game examples on many other fronts. The single observable, complete tribe you can interact with flys completely in the face of Square's own rules.

So it's safe to make an assumption that all tribes are different, have different rules, and different values. There's not a singular, default 'top cat' definition for a whole race of people. It's all conditioning that'll vary from tribe to tribe and even branch to branch, maybe even from individual to individual in the group. A Miqo'te that has never experienced any of this conditioning will most likely lack the same motivation to adhere to it, much less even be aware of a distant culture's expectations of him.

Lan Darklyn · **10-17-2013, 10:43 AM**

Thank you very much to everyone that provided your insight.

A few questions about Seeker lore

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes