Ul'dahn Highlanders may have been so for centuries

[Seriphyn]

Every Highlander character and their dog (including my own) feels somewhat compelled to have a connection to Ala Mhigo, as the lore implies virtually all Highlanders come from there. Even for me, playing the Ul'dahn patriot, had my character's mother as an Ala Mhigan who came to Ul'dah before the Garlean invasion. That way my character can be born-and-raised Ul'dahn while still being lore-compliant in terms of descending from Ala Mhigo.

 

From the lorebook, however, there may be information to suggest that not all Highlanders in Ul'dah are refugees. Under racial distribution, it is 30% Midlander Hyur, 40% Dunesfolk Lalaafell (sic), 10% Highlander Hyur, 10% Hellsguard Roegadyn, and 10% Other. Then, it has Note: The race of refugees are not reflected in these numbers.

 

In the Sixth Astral Era timeline in the lorebook, around the year 1000, Ul'dah began hiring Highlander and Roegadyn mercenaries in the war against Sil'dih. It is more than likely, then, that the various Highlander NPCs we see in-game (soldiers, merchants, etc.) are not necessarily successful refugees, but have been part of Ul'dah for centuries. This is most telling with Gisilbehrt, where if you speak to him after 3.4, he calls himself a "man of Thanalan" and how he sympathizes with the Ala Mhigans, but makes no allusions to him being one himself. Of course, in twenty years, you likely have children of Ala Mhigan refugees who have grown up to be encultured by Ul'dah.

 

It's an interesting extrapolation, if I'm right. As such, I changed Kale's background to "said to have been descended from a long line of Highlander mercenaries who have served Ul'dah since the War of the Sisters". Adds to his character mythos of being a patriot.

[Shas]

And you can expect there to be a lot more once we get closer to the release of the expansion . But it would make sense that not all of the Highlanders from Ul'dah would be directly from Ala Mhigo. What you had Kale as before makes sense to me as far as being lore-compliant and even changing his background makes sense as well.

[Koen]

It makes you wonder if Highlanders born and raised in Ul'dah get treated the same as refugees simply by also being tall and ripped, or if the other races can tell the difference. I suppose there would be a few things different between an Ala Mhigan expat and a Highlander descending from an Ala Mhigan migrant, which could help differentiate. Their accent would be Ul'dahn, or at least a warped mix, and I imagine they would all keep their eyebrows, teeth etc. intact, since that simply wouldn't be part of their culture. I guess it would depend on the person.

 

I think it'll be interesting to see how the Ala Mhigo expansion works out with how scattered and changed most of the people who escaped are, really. Some will have moved on and found good lives for themselves in other places. There's also people born to refugees who probably don't have an emotional connection to Ala Mhigo unless it's via their parents, and might like the idea of retaking it in theory, but when it comes to throwing themselves at Garlemald's forces, are maybe not so eager.

 

It seems the people who can actually remember Ala Mhigo would be the main bulk of the refugees willing to fight to take it back, and I imagine most of those people would be at least 30, with a few probably getting closer to 40 or 50 for them to remember before the King of Ruin started lopping off heads. They don't have many people in their prime.

 

Good to see the lorebook is helping someone change their character's background to something the player prefers rather than something negative, though. Especially amongst all the unlucky dragoons.

[John Spiegel]

Godbert is a highlander. He's in the Syndicate. Rhaubro is a highlander. Syndicate.

 

It's more of a "earn your way into money" though maybe Godbert was of the line of highlanders already living in Ul'dah.