Hey, remember that Miqo'te "child" in Idylshire?

[Marisa]

The one we were debating over whether or not she was possibly half lalafell?

 

Did y'all notice she doesn't have a tail? 

 

 

There's a slot for a tail. But no tail. Illuminati cheesemake?

[Faye]

She does have a tail; it's a little bob-tail!

[Marisa]

She does have a tail; it's a little bob-tail!

Nah I got down there and looked, that's just an empty hole on the coat

 

was gonna go back and get a picture, but now she's disappeared again >: (

[Roda]

She's still a Miqit'ten

And like real life kittens, their ears are oversized and tails stubbier compared to their adult counterparts' proportions.

[Faye]

You can see where the tail protrudes over the belt, and if you look at how it's textured, it's made to look furry.

[Merri]

They most definitely have little stub tails. Probably just a childhood thing. They grow into their ears, and their tails grow out as they get older~

 

[Duplicitous Dame]

Where can I find this adorable little munchkin!? She's so kyoot I can't stand it! -flails-

 

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I read the title, LOL! But she is adorable .

[Marisa]

She's still a Miqit'ten

And like real life kittens, their ears are oversized and tails stubbier compared to their adult counterparts' proportions.

 

 

I see the point about the other girl also having a little stub for a tail, but in my defense, I want to point out that what you circled is part of the coat. It may have a tail under it, but all that's visible in that picture is the cover for the tail-hole.

[Shoshopu]

As a lalafell with a eye-to-butt level view, I can assure you it is a little bob tail.

 

[Marisa]

As a lalafell with a eye-to-butt level view, I can assure you it is a little bob tail.

 

Wow, it is just a whole different world down there, huh? But yeah, I certainly can't argue with that. So many pieces of gear have that weird tail-cover, I guess I just mentally wrote it off upon seeing it.  

 

It looks like a hamster tail :<

[ShoggMommy]

 

x3 Bobtail kittens have cute fluff tails too.

[Merri]

Since we are on the subject of Miqo'te things, I realized something the other day that kinda blew my mind. Didn't feel it worth making a thread over, though.

 

 

Male Miqo'te's facial markings are based off Cheetahs. : o

Only took me like two years to come to that conclusion.

[ShoggMommy]

Since we are on the subject of Miqo'te things, I realized something the other day that kinda blew my mind. Didn't feel it worth making a thread over, though.

Male Miqo'te's facial markings are based off Cheetahs. : o

Only took me like two years to come to that conclusion.

 

If you would like some even more cool information about cheetahs and the marks...

 

"Those black lines down their face are called "tear marks" and they are also to prevent glare from the hot overhead Sun."

http://www.lions.org/cheetah.html

 

Which means the marks could be because of the heat Miqo'te often deal with. I'm not sure what their homelands were like however.

[Sounsyy]

Which means the marks could be because of the heat Miqo'te often deal with. I'm not sure what their homelands were like however.

 

Meracydia's (the Miqo'te home continent) northern region is a desert. So it actually makes good sense.

[ShoggMommy]

Meracydia's (the Miqo'te home continent) northern region is a desert. So it actually makes good sense.

 

Oh that's very interesting! I vaguely recalled the name but I couldn't remember what it's region was like. Thank you very much Sounsyy.

[Naunet]

"Those black lines down their face are called "tear marks" and they are also to prevent glare from the hot overhead Sun."

http://www.lions.org/cheetah.html

 

Which means the marks could be because of the heat Miqo'te often deal with. I'm not sure what their homelands were like however.

 

I guess the ladies don't deserve to be protected from the glare.

[Roda]

"Those black lines down their face are called "tear marks" and they are also to prevent glare from the hot overhead Sun."

http://www.lions.org/cheetah.html

 

Which means the marks could be because of the heat Miqo'te often deal with. I'm not sure what their homelands were like however.

 

I guess the ladies don't deserve to be protected from the glare.

Our glare is intense enough that the sun is afraid to glare back.:bomb:

[Sounsyy]

"Those black lines down their face are called "tear marks" and they are also to prevent glare from the hot overhead Sun."

http://www.lions.org/cheetah.html

 

Which means the marks could be because of the heat Miqo'te often deal with. I'm not sure what their homelands were like however.

 

I guess the ladies don't deserve to be protected from the glare.

 

If we wanted to look way too deeply into it...

 

Male Miqo'te have tear marks. Female Miqo'te do not. Tear marks help prevent glare from the sun while a cat is hunting.

 

Which suggests that at some point in the Miqo'tes' history, males were the predominant hunters, while females may have tended to the tribal camps. Then somewhere along the way, the roles switched, and the dwindling male population began ensuring the continuation of the population. Such a drastic change in the gender roles may have been caused by a near extinction event, of which the world has had seven to date. Namely, the Age of Endless Frost (Fifth Umbral Era), which we know from Sightseeing Lore was a time period marked by famine, pestilence, and plague.

 

So here's how my headcanon goes: On Meracydia, male Miqo'te were the predominant hunters while females covered domestic aspects of the Tribe. For thousands of years this tradition persists until the last few years of the 4th Astral Era. The world becomes colder, food sources become scarce, and the male population of Miqo'te begins dwindling from plague-ridden game.

 

Meracydia's land is still recovering from the devastation of the Allagan Wars only 2,000 years before. And with colder weather settling in on a normally hot desert, the herds begin to migrate north across the ice towards Hydaelyn's equator in search of warmer climates. Now almost completely without food, their homelands ravaged by famine, plague, and war, 26 Tribes decide to follow their Totems north into Eorzea (while other Tribes remain in their homeland or follow their Totems to other continents). Now, in a strange land with a sick and dwindling male population the women are forced to take over hunting while the men's focus becomes repopulating their kind. Over time, those reversed gender roles became the norm, as the population never truly recovered. (Miqo'te per lore are the scarcest race in Eorzea.) So the Miqo'te tribal culture warped into what we see today.

[ShoggMommy]

So here's how my headcanon goes:

 

I just want to say how much I loved this head canon. Awesome job Sounsyy!! very plausible and interesting.

[Dat Oni]

*Snip*

 

Or, Miss Sounsy, they added them just to drive home the big cat analogue.

 

Male Seekers are based on Cheetahs and Lions, whereas the females are most definitely Lionesses.

 

Keepers have spots around the eyes to showcase a link to Jungle cats like the Jaguar, while the females are more along the lines of Lynxes or Tigers.

[Shizuka]

*Snip*

 

Or, Miss Sounsy, they added them just to drive home the big cat analogue.

 

Male Seekers are based on Cheetahs and Lions, whereas the females are most definitely Lionesses.

 

Keepers have spots around the eyes to showcase a link to Jungle cats like the Jaguar, while the females are more along the lines of Lynxes or Tigers.

 

I love the idea of lady lynxes among the Keepers. I wish they'd give me little tufted lynx ears. Of course, I also wish that absurdly long snow leopard tails were an option too. None of them are quite long enough! And why no bobtails?!

[Sylentmana]

Now I hope they show us child Au Ra next. I bet they are super cute as well.

[Manari]

 

 

If we wanted to look way too deeply into it...

 

Male Miqo'te have tear marks. Female Miqo'te do not. Tear marks help prevent glare from the sun while a cat is hunting.

 

Which suggests that at some point in the Miqo'tes' history, males were the predominant hunters, while females may have tended to the tribal camps. Then somewhere along the way, the roles switched, and the dwindling male population began ensuring the continuation of the population. Such a drastic change in the gender roles may have been caused by a near extinction event, of which the world has had seven to date. Namely, the Age of Endless Frost (Fifth Umbral Era), which we know from Sightseeing Lore was a time period marked by famine, pestilence, and plague.

 

So here's how my headcanon goes: On Meracydia, male Miqo'te were the predominant hunters while females covered domestic aspects of the Tribe. For thousands of years this tradition persists until the last few years of the 4th Astral Era. The world becomes colder, food sources become scarce, and the male population of Miqo'te begins dwindling from plague-ridden game.

 

Meracydia's land is still recovering from the devastation of the Allagan Wars only 2,000 years before. And with colder weather settling in on a normally hot desert, the herds begin to migrate north across the ice towards Hydaelyn's equator in search of warmer climates. Now almost completely without food, their homelands ravaged by famine, plague, and war, 26 Tribes decide to follow their Totems north into Eorzea (while other Tribes remain in their homeland or follow their Totems to other continents). Now, in a strange land with a sick and dwindling male population the women are forced to take over hunting while the men's focus becomes repopulating their kind. Over time, those reversed gender roles became the norm, as the population never truly recovered. (Miqo'te per lore are the scarcest race in Eorzea.) So the Miqo'te tribal culture warped into what we see today.

 

 

That is an excellent and very plausible case to make for the Miqo'te migration over the frozen water and for the lower male population. However, mentioning the 26 tribes and their totems implies that your theory only applies to Seekers.

 

I suppose my question is whether or not the lore about Miqo'te states if the Keepers and Seekers migrated together, or did they split into different clans after migrating as one race? I'm just curious about how exactly the Keepers came to originally setting in the Shroud. It seems that Seekers settled anywhere and everywhere, but Keepers only settled in the Shroud.

[Sounsyy]

I suppose my question is whether or not the lore about Miqo'te states if the Keepers and Seekers migrated together, or did they split into different clans after migrating as one race?

 

Well, Miqo'te Naming Conventions says that Keepers of the Moon have existed since the First Astral Era roughly 8-10,000 years ago. If their names and traditions have survived that long, it's unlikely that there was some great "Clan division event" like Duskwight and Wildwood Elezen. Unless, of course, Keeper Miqo'te were the first and Seekers divided from the Keepers?

 

But yes, the theory I mentioned above is focused towards Seekers, not so much Keepers. We know now that Miqo'te originally came from Meracydia, the Southern Continent, and only large landmass we know in Hydaelyn's southern hemisphere. What little we know of its geography is that there's a desert in Meracydia's northern region and we can assume that (because all dragon-kin we've seen live in/near mountains) that there was a mountainous region elsewhere in the continent - possibly to the far south in Meracydia's colder regions.

 

This makes sense geographically if we look at Allag's assault on Meracydia. The war had raged on for years before the Dragons summoned Bahamut. Yet, we know the Miqo'te lands were ravaged. By that point in history, Allag had probably razed most of the northern, desert regions of Meracydia while the war still raged on to occupy the southern mountains where dragons lived. This would also account for how the Allagans brought Miqo'te (who were enemies of Allag) into the Allagan Empire.

 

Rambling aside, it's possible that, because of Keepers nocturnal inclination, the Clan lived separately in another region of Meracydia, either in the southern mountains with the dragons or in some deep dark forest or jungle elsewhere on the continent. When the Age of Endless Frost came and some of the Keeper families chose to abandon their homelands for the north they might have sought to live in an area most similar to those their people had lived in for thousands of years. Considering Eorzea only has two large, dark, temperate expanses of forest region (The Black Shroud and The Orn Wild) Keeper Miqo'te isolated themselves to these two places - or, as Fernehalwes mentioned, migrated to places other than Eorzea, while Seekers found the Eorzean regions of Thanalan and Vylbrand to be suitable.

 

There are many Keeper of the Moon family names that have been passed down through the generations.

 

The ones you see in-game represent some of the more prominent families that once crossed the frozen seas into Eorzea in search for prey. That does not mean that these are all the names available. There are some families who have chosen to live more secluded lives, and simply have not made an appearance in-game yet. There are also the families who remained in their homeland, or emigrated to lands other than Eorzea.

 

 

Another possible explanation as to why Keeper Males also have tear marks... Keeper males are nomadic wanderers who rarely stay with their family and prefer to move from location to location. While they may prefer to travel at night, maybe the tear marks are there for when diurnal travel/hunting becomes a necessity? The sun can still glare through a forest sometimes.

 

IDK. As I said before, not much lore to support any of this, just theorycrafting based on what we've got.