Hydaelyn Role-Players
Miqo'te physiology - Printable Version

+- Hydaelyn Role-Players (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18)
+-- Forum: Community (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18/forumdisplay.php?fid=8)
+--- Forum: Lore Discussion (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18/forumdisplay.php?fid=49)
+--- Thread: Miqo'te physiology (/showthread.php?tid=17701)

Pages: 1 2

Miqo'te physiology - insertWINhere - 11-10-2016

So I've been looking around, and either I suck at searching (A very real possiblity) or it just hasn't been looked at recently.

Anyhow.. Miqo'te physiology! They're obviously cat people, and kudos to the devs for making their socity kinda cat like. But I'm more interrested in how much they are physically like cats. They have fangs, ears, and tails, but how much else are they like the adorable little furballs we know?

Sooo..

Balances, reflexes, and stamina seems to be well established but how much more?

Sleep? Do they need to sleep 16 hours per day?
Purring is that something that's a possiblity.
Pheromones? Do males, well and females, feel a need to spread their scent perhaps with rubbing or maybe even urine?
Increased ability to smell?
Hissing?
Tail movement based on mood?

Basically what things are established in lore, or do you do personally if you play one? I'm always looking for ways to make rp more fun, and something like an irresistible urge to rubs ones face on new things could be a way to do that. Or a trader that simply doesn't do as well as the others because he has to sleep twice as much as his competition.

RE: Miqo'te physiology - Gegenji - 11-10-2016

I don't think there's any real lore on any of that sort of stuff - so it's left up a lot to fanon. Though, I do believe there is an NPC Miqo'te who purrs when talking about... Raubahn or something? Being generally feisty. Though whether it's actual Miqo'te purring or a simulated thing is left open to debate. Hissing I don't know much about either, so that's also an up in the air thing.

... And I think some of the races have been noted to having better senses than the others. I think Miqo'te do have a better sense of smell - but don't quote me on that - and the race with the best hearing, oddly enough, are the Lalafell.

Tail motions I do see a lot of folks doing, as well as ear positions, which both make sense in the most basic form. They're part of the body for Miqo'te, so obviously they'll be part of their body language. However, the extra sleeping time and the pheromones thing might be going a bit to far in the cat direction. That said, there's normal people that like a lot of sleep... so your character could just like sleep as a person rather than attributing it to race.

I think that about covers that. I'm sure someone with actual quotes and references will swoop in here at some point with more solidified information at some point. Likely Sounsyy, who plays a Miqo'te and is our resident Loremaster.

RE: Miqo'te physiology - Virella - 11-10-2016

Sounsyy has a nice summary of that Miqo'te (or well the races) are known for! Not sure if they updated it with the lorebook info yet, but I'm sure it could help you out.

http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=12378&pid=196441#pid196441

RE: Miqo'te physiology - Mia Moui - 11-10-2016

(11-10-2016, 12:32 PM)insertWINhere Wrote: So I've been looking around, and either I suck at searching (A very real possiblity) or it just hasn't been looked at recently.

Anyhow.. Miqo'te physiology! They're obviously cat people, and kudos to the devs for making their socity kinda cat like. But I'm more interrested in how much they are physically like cats. They have fangs, ears, and tails, but how much else are they like the adorable little furballs we know?

Sooo..

Balances, reflexes, and stamina seems to be well established but how much more?

Sleep? Do they need to sleep 16 hours per day?
Purring is that something that's a possiblity.
Pheromones? Do males, well and females, feel a need to spread their scent perhaps with rubbing or maybe even urine?
Increased ability to smell?
Hissing?
Tail movement based on mood?

Basically what things are established in lore, or do you do personally if you play one? I'm always looking for ways to make rp more fun, and something like an irresistible urge to rubs ones face on new things could be a way to do that. Or a trader that simply doesn't do as well as the others because he has to sleep twice as much as his competition.

My Miqo'te headcanon always leans towards the cat-like side of things.  They aren't like beast tribes but they are closer than midlanders, for example.

From what I understand, Miqo'te are deceptively strong for their size, especially in the legs.  While they don't jump or run any faster than any other race in-game, that's how I role play them.  In a 1.0 cut scene, the Miqo'te character F'lhaminn climbed 25 to 30 feet in a couple of leaps.

Some Miqo'te are diurnal and nocturnal but I don't know how much of the time they sleep.  I'm sure it varies but I doubt it's anything like 16 hours.  Hard to be an adventurer like that.

My Miqo'te can purr but I'm sure that's something they only do with intimate partners.

There's nothing in the game to support pheromones that I know of.  I think that scent marking makes them too animalistic.

My Miqo'te can see and hear better than Hyur, especially in the dark.  And they have a stronger sense of smell.  My Miqo'te react in various ways to things like catnip and other strong smells.  For example, my character claims that Au Ra always smell unpleasantly like dirt.  I don't know if that's true but that's what she claims.

Hissing, growling, roaring, and meowing are all things I've seen in flavor text for Miqo'te.  But that's all dependent on the kind of culture they grew up in.  It's possible that tribal Miqo'te have more of these features as part of their culture whereas city Miqo'te do not.

The lore book mentions how some Miqo'te can communicate by making clicking sounds much like how house cats can chitter.  It's part of the lore that the Miqo'te have verbal sounds that Hyur aren't able to recreate.

Most Miqo'te that I've RP'd with tend to add content about tail and ear movement.  I certainly do. A cats tail and ears are very expressive and I don't doubt that's the same for Miqo'te.  This is supported by some of their emotes.

In my headcanon, Miqo'te are notoriously bad or notoriously great poker players because they either cannot consciously control their ears and tails OR they can do so, making them excellent at bluffing.

But if you search enough - there's gargantuan levels of information here.  Here's a forum post I think you might really enjoy - it goes on for years.

Miqo'te Mating Strategies Explored - A Biologists Point of View

RE: Miqo'te physiology - Cecily Jisi - 11-10-2016

But can I grab things with my tail like a monkey?

RE: Miqo'te physiology - Jana - 11-10-2016

A cat's tail isn't prehensile, so I doubt a miqo'te would be able to use it like a monkey either.

RE: Miqo'te physiology - Kilieit - 11-10-2016

(11-10-2016, 02:05 PM)Cecily Jisi Wrote: But can I grab things with my tail like a monkey?

Probably not. I bet you could knock things off surfaces with it, though. Or use it for entertainment.

[Image: tumblr_m5t2knghVt1qbxi45o1_500.gif]

...sorry I'll get on with my actual post now

Here are the excerpts from the lore book pages on Miqo'te I could find that relate to Miqo'te biology.

Show Content


RE: Miqo'te physiology - Thunderbolt300 - 11-10-2016

Think there's a wealth of speculation and lore sources here already, buuuuut...

When it comes right down to a particular Miqo'te character, it's really a matter of character quirks at that point and having a bit of a more open and unique playing field when it comes to the variety of options available. You don't have to roleplay around with your tail and ears, for example, but that's an option. Same for purring, or even wanting to mark territory. There is the opportunity here to be diverse with how you envision your character being, after all! 

I've roleplayed with a whole lot of Miqo'te here in the last month and a half, and they are an incredibly varied lot. I've seen some that focus pretty heavily on their ears and tails to be expressive, while others have incredibly keen senses. I've even seen a few purr, and some where their tails are incredibly sensitive to being yanked. 

You can have a whole lot of fun with the options!

RE: Miqo'te physiology - Sounsyy - 11-10-2016

Strong leg muscles, stamina, climbing, running, and swimming are established.

Vavaki Wrote:The Seekers of the Sun are a true miracle of evolution at work. Though lean and flexible, they possess immense strength and stamina, and excel at near any physical act─be it bounding amongst the treetops or swimming in rough waters.

Miqo'te also have heightened olfactory senses, claiming the most sensitive noses of the Five Races. While this could support pheromones, it's still headcanon at this point and I doubt there are Miqo'te dropping their pants to spray their territory...

1.0 Character Creation Wrote:The ancestors of the Miqo'te made their way to Eorzea during the Age of Endless Frost, traversing the frozen seas in pursuit of the wildlife upon which they subsisted. Adaptation to a hunting lifestyle has fashioned them with a keen sense of smell, powerful legs, and a tail which provides them with exceptional balance.
Miqo'te are known to be very territorial, and many individuals tend to lead solitary lifestyles, particularly males. The few Miqo'te who have made the transition to life in Eorzean society are predominantly female.

Hissing and purring is canon. As well as new lore on the ancestral Miqo'te language, "Huntspeak," which uses a series of clicks, chirps, and hisses to communicate.

Encyclopedia Eorzea Wrote:Despite their inherently solitary nature, the Miqo'te adopted the common tongue early on, born of a need to barter with other races to procure materials with which to craft their hunting tools and weapons. Remnants of the old tongue can be observed in the distinctive Miqo'te "huntspeak" - a system of tongue-clicks and whistles used to communicate with companions while in pursuit of quarry.

Beyond that, most Miqo'te roleplayers I know (myself included) utilize common tail and ear motions for emotion and expression. As for the other things, head booping, gaze aversion, and sleeping 20 hours a day... things that aren't in the lore, but would make funny character quirks.

More lore on Miqo'te has been compiled in the Racial Lore Background thread.

RE: Miqo'te physiology - Koen - 11-10-2016

One thing that could be expanded upon is their stamina and how their muscles work. It's touched upon that the Seekers of the Sun can run for long distances without tiring, and it makes sense when considering they have a lot of open space to run after their prey in. Early humans used to do this, it's called "endurance hunting", and is basically just using tracking skills and superior long distance stamina to follow a prey until it's worn out, making for an easy kill.

This means that Seekers of the Sun must naturally have a larger ratio of slow-twitch muscle fibers to fast-twitch, meaning their muscles don't tire out as fast, but aren't good at quick bursts of speed. Keepers of the Moon, however, live in the Shroud (unless my memory is failing me) and so obviously don't need to run a long distance, they need to be able to kill their prey before it can disappear back in to the bushes/trees, so they'd need a larger proportion of fast-twitch fibers, which means Keepers of the Moon's muscles wear faster, but they're better at quick bursts of speed.

Without going in to the biology too much, mainly because I don't remember most of it, people generally lean to being either a sprinter (fast-twitch) or a long-distance runner (slow-twitch), not including type 2b which I won't talk about. The reason I assume Miqo'te don't have this kind of even distribution is because of the kind of society they live in. If you naturally can't keep up on a hunt, you probably won't live very long, or if you do, won't get chance to breed because the women won't want crappy hunters for kids.

Something to note is that this can be changed depending on your training and lifestyle though, so while Keepers would generally beat Seekers in a 100m or 200m sprint or the opposite for a marathon, don't assume this would always be the case.

Also, on a personal level, I want to slap anyone who ends their sentences with "nyan", or uses "meow" in regular conversation, Miqo'te or not. Not sorry.

RE: Miqo'te physiology - Valence - 11-10-2016

Lore is pretty explicit on what has already been stated, and what is mere speculation.
As a mostly realistic player I tend to downplay a bit the racial traits described by the lore, but I certainly keep them here as a more subtle way to picture a society where all the races are Mankind, all with their quirks and differences sure, but they are all humans before anything (as opposed to beast tribes).

So it will always end up to player interpretations for the degree of mannerisms you want to depict. It will also always end up to player willingness to thread or not into what isn't stated as true or false in lore as well. I know I don't, but a lot of people do.

RE: Miqo'te physiology - insertWINhere - 11-10-2016

Great stuff all around! Thanks a bunch! I must have missed the racial lore thread some how..

It's just nice to know the extremes and what's available to use and not. I wouldn't ever go all the way down the road with scent marking and crazy sleep, but perhaps more than average or to be expected could be some fun quirks to play around with. Unless you want to play something along the lines of the feral cats that is..

With the increased sense of smell there'll probably be more of a focus on individuals smell, without having the need to spread their own. I was just merely wondering if that was something that had been in the lore, you never know!

The differences in muscles is partricular awesome, I hadn't evne thought of that. How Keeper's might be more the abush predators who know, and seekers more the lines of early humans.

I have one extra question tho! We know from our own pets that cats can't resist moving stuff, basically the urge to hunt and the natural instinct to do it. Does the lore put an emphasis on Miqo'te being hunters rather than perhaps traders? Or is that just a difference depending on how "civilized" they are so to speak.

RE: Miqo'te physiology - Valence - 11-10-2016

I don't think Keepers are running especially faster than Seekers. Better reflexes? Maybe, very possible. But in thick woods like the Shroud, speed means absolutely nothing.

In any case, what lore states is really the emphasis on their incredible sense of intuition, able to spot marks and preys even when perfectly concealed. That, in those woods, makes a lot of sense, added to their drug addict, nocturnal eyes (oversized pupils).

On hunter vs trader, they sure started as hunters, and in tribes, their activities still revolved a lot around that. However, we have some NPC examples of trading miqo'te, like the Liszeh family (embodied by Mauh Liszeh, selling her traditional stuff in the post moogle quests).

RE: Miqo'te physiology - Thunderbolt300 - 11-10-2016

(11-10-2016, 06:06 PM)insertWINhere Wrote: I have one extra question tho! We know from our own pets that cats can't resist moving stuff, basically the urge to hunt and the natural instinct to do it. Does the lore put an emphasis on Miqo'te being hunters rather than perhaps traders? Or is that just a difference depending on how "civilized" they are so to speak.

Tribal lifestyle and hunters are a pretty big thing for Miqo'te overall- the South Shroud Miqo'te have a TON of poachers, for example. There's more than a few class storylines that involve that too (Archer especially), plus even a quest hub for a Seeker tribe. Wilderness survivalists seem to be a central theme. Ultimately though, while Miqo'te seem to have a predisposition for it, it isn't a requirement. You can honestly be about as civilized as you like. Some Keepers have adapted to city life within Gridania, for example, and others take strongly to the adventurer / mercenary life, too. Still, you have to take into account how your Miqo'te will make a living (off the land or otherwise).

RE: Miqo'te physiology - Cecily Jisi - 11-10-2016

(11-10-2016, 02:10 PM)Jana Wrote: A cat's tail isn't prehensile, so I doubt a miqo'te would be able to use it like a monkey either.

THEN WHAT'S THE POINT OF HAVING A TAIL?!