Miqo'te nature vs nurture

[Sukisukes]

I've read all about the difference in culture and appearance between Seekers of the sun and Keepers of the moon. But has it ever been explained why?

If I choose to be a seeker who was adopted and raised by a keeper, or vise versa, would she be just a tanned keeper, or are there biological reasons why they behave more one way vs another?

[Skae]

I think it is safe to assume that the cultural and behavioral differences between ALL the spoken races and subdvisions thereof are to 99% simply down to culture, i.e. "nurture."

This is no different than humans in the real world who have a lot of differences in culture and appearance despite having very little genetical variance.

 

[Sukisukes]

So no harm in being an independent progressive modern Seeker. Thank you!

[Valence]

Seeker and Keeper societies are mostly described at the tribe or clan level. You see plenty of them living in cities or in civlization, mingling with others, and living lives that are completely dissociated with their cultural roots, starting with monogamous families and hyur like based behaviors and habits.

 

Keepers also got their round eyes from living in very shadowy, unlit areas, like forests. They probably lost their slit eyes in the process, exchanging the depth and visual focus specialized to hunt in wide, open steppes and plains for more light sensitivity (and probably more situation awareness since  their field of vision would therefore extend back to normal levels). But that's mostly my take on it, eye physiology seems rather complicated.

Edited July 30, 2019 by Valence

[Sukisukes]

So even with all the back story and lore in the game, 90% of the population in the world are just living in a modern day melting pot and anyone who judges your character is racist?

 

Makes sense, hard to be a lone adventure in the main story if you NEED a clan to survive.

[Silmanos]

That is not exactly true. While there are plenty of miqo'te living in the cities and adapting to a different life style there are massive amounts of racial tension in Eorzea. This is seen in countless places in the game, especially in the Archer quest line where the Elezen constantly degrades the Miqo'te. Also there is a gay couple at Bronze Lake that is constantly being subjected to ridicule because they are of different races. So while you do not need a clan or a tribe to survive and many miqo'te are living as the hyur do, this does not mean that they are not subjected to ridicule both from the other races as well as the tribal members of their own race.

[Skae]

While there is racism in Eorzea - in particular in Gridania - we have seen no evidence of any miqo'te getting ridiculed due to their choice of tribal or city living.

 

Also, while that couple from the Wanderer's Palace questline is often brought up around here, that is also just about the only time in the game where a mixed-race couple are being shown as controversial.   On the other hand we have plenty of cases of romances or courting in the game where the people involved are of different races, and nobody objecting to the romance based on their races - although in several cases there are objections on other grounds.

 

 

 

 

[Gerel Kha]

There is actually one other, in Heavensward: the case of Hilda. While it's complimented by the "noble and commoner" duality, she's also looked down upon due to her being of mixed heritage. While it isn't always necessarily explored? Race is a big component of why people may disregard one another in Eorzea. You can also look entirely to the Beastman/Spoken divide that was created entirely by Ul'dah elite to exploit racial tension and expand profits. 

[Valence]

KojiF explained explicitly that racism is isually rampant in Eorzea and races mostly live with each other because they just have to, since nations are rarely tied to a single race and closed to anybody else. 

 

And you will have anything really, racial relationships being quite taboo (his words), while it being perfectly normal in more open places like for adventurers. In short people have no problems living together but they have limits to what is acceptable.

 

The various examples we see ingame are exactly there to explore taboos, forbidden or badly accepted things.

 

There is also one example of miqote being ridiculed for living with Gridanians: Leih Aliapoh in the archer questline. I seem to recall that she gets mocked by the leader poacher for the side she chose instead of sticking to her roots, or what "true and free keepers" do. This is also a recurring theme with the Coeurlclaws.

Edited August 1, 2019 by Valence