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

Parvacake · **10-22-2016, 02:43 PM**

(10-22-2016, 02:41 PM)Oli! Wrote:
(10-22-2016, 02:38 PM)Lililove Wrote: He's just referring to the title of dawn wyrm at the endÂ Â which is where the Dawn Wyrm=Dawn Father theory comes in.

That's an extremely flimsy connection, not gonna lie.

Not saying it's wrong, because anything can be right in the realm of things we don't know, but I wouldn't consider a shared title to be befitting of the position of "major evidence." At best, it's supplementary.

H'yup. There's a lot of holes in the theory. I have my own speculations about it coupled with what lore we have, but it's been interesting to mull over!

Domri Blackblade · **10-22-2016, 02:49 PM**

Yes, dear.

Alright, my two cents is I think in original concept, you're completely right. I don't think they were meant to be demonic in nature until they continued to develop it more and were like, "OOOOOPS!" So that's where I praise you.

However, they did move away from that in implementation. I believe the original blurb said that Eorzeans mistakenly view them as dragon spawn. I think it was a crappy attempt at making them relevant to Isghard and the HW expansion in general. Personally, I would have saved them for whenever our Othardian expansion is dropping so we could actually delve into some interesting.

Right now, they're p much a half finished race with a mixed sense of direction from those who wrote them, in my honest opinion.

Nodem · **10-22-2016, 03:18 PM**

It is an interesting theory on the creation of Au Ra's and their origins. Thank you for sharing it with us.

I was hoping the lorebook would give a more DEFINED answer then scouring the pages in hopes to find the truth, which I'll do myself once mine comes in, but atlas... It's forever open to interpretation of the players it seems until we get a definite yes or no.

Quote:Of course, when you get the reptilian or draconian design, and you have the story of Heavensward focusing on Ishgard and the Dragonsong War, if you bring in something that is a dragon, you have to wonder how that player fits into the story. We didnâ€™t want there to be that mess or alienate the players that choose that. Once we knew where the story was going to go, we were able to meld it all together and fix the design for what we have now.

This quote is a good example of how multiple people will perceive something written. On one hand it looks like it's saying, "NOT DRAGONS!" But if you read it again and look at the other meaning it looks more like they were saying. "We couldn't have them looking like full out dragons and had to humanize them more so it made sense a PC could visit Ishgard."

Also note the part I bolded. This gives credence to it being about design, and including draconian lineage. While the former part will always be taken as, "NOT DRAGONS!"

Parvacake · **10-22-2016, 03:33 PM**

(10-22-2016, 02:49 PM)Domri Blackblade Wrote: Right now, they're p much a half finished race with a mixed sense of direction from those who wrote them, in my honest opinion.

Kind of the way I feel about them too, at this point. While it's nice that the book, creation screen, and other tidbits give good pieces to work with? All of the other races have something more concrete to grasp onto. Miqo'te and their migration, elezen and their extended histories, even the lalafell have a rich but solidÂ history.

Au Ra get a really cool legend about their creation and how one group stayed in the Azim Steppes and the other went to Doma and surrounding areas...and that's it.

***Nero*** · **10-22-2016, 03:34 PM**

In light of this thread, discussing lore and how it affects our characters is and always will be a major part of the RPC. However, it's the responsibility of each individual poster to decide what is best for them to reply to and what is not.

When anyone makes a post on these forums with an idea they are then opening up that idea and theory to scrutiny against what we currently know to exist about the world of Eorzea. The purpose of this forum is to provide for civil discourse, which can mean disagreements.

Whether it is supportive or contradictory, we all have a responsibility to make an effort to try and co-exist with how others choose to roleplay, and to keep the environment civil whenever possible. Please keep that in mind as this thread moves forward.

With that said, the origins of Au Ra is something that I believe was always meant to be deliberately ambiguous, a la "Is Rick Deckard a Replicant", "Is Leo still in a dream in Inception", and so on. It's meant to be an in-universe source of contention, and I think largely deserves to be kept that way.

***Teadrinker*** · **10-22-2016, 03:41 PM**

I feel like a lot of their origin going to be expanded upon further when we learn more about Zodiark and Hydaelyen and get the inevitable Othard xpac.

Oli! · **10-22-2016, 03:44 PM**

(10-22-2016, 03:34 PM)Nero Wrote: With that said, the origins of Au Ra is something that I believe was always meant to be deliberately ambiguous, a la "Is Rick Deckard a Replicant"

Literally false

In the one true version of the movie he is definitely a Replicant

I love Harrison Ford with all my heart but he is freakin' wrongÂ on this one

Kyren · **10-22-2016, 03:49 PM**

Yep! Definitely agree with all the above. I don't think we'll ever get a definitive, substantial answer on where the Au Ra come from, at least not for a good long while. Because just from a production standpoint, if the Au Ra were 100% draconian you'd have to cover things like how Ishgardians react to them during the HW storyline, how the dragons react to them, unique dialogue specifically for Au Ra based on that. And considering how stretched the dev team was leading up to Heavensward? There's no way. Better to leave their origins vague and unanswered and not have to worry about any of that.

At best, I think Koji and Oda might be hinting at how the Au Ra are/were meant to be in the lore book if they had all the time in the world and an unlimited budget. But I don't think it will ever be "canon" or really anything beyond just an interesting theory.

Hyrist · **10-22-2016, 03:57 PM**

I do very much like this theory, but where I come with the disconnect with is the underlining premise in which I always have to make a separation in lore.

What is said in game, by characters, can never truly be taken as absolute - as it's being thrown in as a lends of perception.Â

What is being said by developers and story staff, however - is being told to you by the creators of that game, which holds the weight of 'Word of God'. Even in free-form roleplaying, which pools the majority of my roleplay experience, "House Rule" is typically respected. In which case, it's Koji and Oda-san who's word succeeds anything short of Yoshida who can say "Recompose".Â

That said, that does not mean that the Au Ra themselves could not have made the mistake on their origins and based their creation story on Bahamut and Tiamat, much in the way that it's speculated that some of the Eorzean gods are based off the Triad and fables of old.

This theory may very well be the legend upon which the Au Ra have created the their faith base. The fact that it does not line up to the origins Koji and Oda say they come from is irrelevant in this case. Faith and Facts do not have to necessarily coincide.

Either way, it's a fun parallel to draw I see where it could be lined up and even if it is or isn't true, there's been a lot of thought and investment into it and I like concept.

PhantasticPanda · **10-22-2016, 04:29 PM**

I thought the theory is pretty strong. I only hope that they'll dive into more. But I understand why the lorebook simply cannot contain every single detail of lore. Other than it possibly becoming a 2000 page book instead, it is quite possible that a lot of lore is being "reserved" for future content. Imagine the impact of say, Au Ra were really dragonspawn, then in an Othard-based expansion, we would have a slow build up to discover, gasp, draconian artifacts. The impact would be greater when we, the players, are left in the dark, rather than have it stated in the lorebook, ruining the surprise in the future. In the Live Q&A, it was said that Stormblood could have its own lorebook, with additional content outside of the stuff we have. I look at this first lorebook as a foundations to more lore discoveries.

Shofie · **10-27-2016, 08:47 PM**

I don't think they're descended from dragons, anymore than miqo'te are descended from cats. They're just a humanoid race with some non-humanoid features. Due to some confusion from the devs and the community leads, we have mixed sources on whether or not they were "dragon-inspired" or "demon-inspired", and it sounds like they intentionally did not want them to be draconic because it wouldn't make any sense for a literal dragon war to be going on and have these draconic characters running around involved in it. So they can't really be draconic, it doesn't make sense.

But really, neither does them being void-inspired either, considering how a lot of people in the world think and feel about Voidsent. So they aren't really either, but the obvious behind-the-scenes motivation for their design is both (for example, that early obviously succubus-inspired design that has obvious elements incorporated into the Au Ra, but they aren't succubi). I just don't think in terms of the game itself, that they are dragon-like, or demon-like. They are simply "Au Ra", beings with scales and horns and tails, and fanciful stories of their creation. It's really no different than any other race's creation myth. We tend to have creationism stories that insist our creator made us in his image, but we can't validate that one way or another. I feel like the same applies here.

They can say one thing, but that doesn't make it an actual fact. It's just a belief system. That said, I think Au Ra players are free to make as much or as little out of that as they want! I just don't personally think they're related to or otherwise descended from dragons in the slightest anymore than a Miqo'te is related to a coeurl.

« Next Oldest \| Next Newest »
Pages (2): « Previous 1 2

Au Ra Origins: The Dawn & Dusk Theory [Spoilers]

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