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+--- Thread: Au Ra - How will your character react? (/showthread.php?tid=11858)
Au Ra - How will your character react? - Lilia Lia - 06-01-2015
This is something I have been giving a lot of thought lately. I chatted a bit with my FC about this and was wondering how you all felt.
Au Ra are a new race that's going to be popping up in Eorzea. Their origins are somewhat of a mystery. From an RP point of view, a lot of people will be transforming into them and/or revealing that they were secretly Au Ra and had been for a long time.Â
This is kind of creepy, isn't it?Â
Racial diversity is pretty huge in Eorzea already, and part of the reason that racial tensions are generally low is that the culture is so heavily integrated. But I don't think Au Ra really get the benefit of the doubt here. Kids in Eorzea didn't grow up surrounded by Au Ra so they can't be expected to view them as civilized beings.
There's also the issue of beastmen tribes with which the city-states are at war. So even though the player character races are generally open to one another, we have examples to the contrary that raise the question of whether an entire race should be considered friendly or hostile.Â
The RP reality is that my character is going to be expected to just accept that there is a new race popping up all over Eorzea. But I don't know how realistic this is. Realistically I think there would be a lot of suspicion due to Au Ra's sudden appearance, uncertain origins, and apparent tendency to be hidden and secretive.Â
I haven't seen a lot of race-based RP in general (in terms of stereotypes or prejudices) and for the most part this makes sense to me due to the high cultural integration of Eorzea, but I should think that the Au Ra would be met with a lot of suspicion and skepticism. I am really tempted to play it like this, too, at the potential cost of alienating a lot of Au Ra players, but this might create a lot of conflict and I'm not sure whether people are willing to accept that.
Just some thoughts. What do you all think?
RE: Au Ra - How will your character react? - Mountie - 06-01-2015
Holy water. To the face. BE GONE FOUL DEMON!
Don't judge me.
RE: Au Ra - How will your character react? - CrimsonMars - 06-01-2015
Chiyo had already met one personality, but doesn't really know too much about the race itself, but just sees them as the scaly miqo'te. She's not prejudice. She actually finds them very intriguing.
RE: Au Ra - How will your character react? - Hyrist - 06-01-2015
Well, I have one 'transforming', but one of my characters is fairly adverse to anything Voidsent. Thankfully he has experience with Domans so it won't be a huge problem for him, just awkward.
I've got a total of 6 active Player level Characters so the reactions are going to be highly varied, but outright racism against them won't really happen - because there's really no grounds for it. They're just strangers, and interesting ones at that.
RE: Au Ra - How will your character react? - Cato - 06-01-2015
It's not really in Graeham's nature to be judgemental about someone's race so he'll mostly be approaching the Au Ra with curiosity and keen interest. Since he has Garlean blood in his veins he's familiar with the cruelty some Eorzeans show towards the unknown or perceived enemies and so he'll likely do his best to intervene if he sees that an Au Ra is being given a hard time.
RE: Au Ra - How will your character react? - Spethah - 06-01-2015
I can't say how my character will react upon meeting one since she's changing into one, but I expect to see racism. This is a realm that was previous, and still is, being invaded so to see a new race suddenly showing up and plonking their butts on Eorzea should caused it's residents to be uneasy and wary. Are they hostile? Are they friendly? Why are they even here? Coupled with already existing racism, I expect Au Ra to be a major target for distrust and abuse.
RE: Au Ra - How will your character react? - Gegenji - 06-01-2015
Chachan and Gogon are Domans, so they have no issues with the Au Ra. In fact, Chachan was surprised he didn't notice any around when one had their true form revealed. And then he gave them a hug.
But yeah, on the whole, it seems most PCs are relatively open to things... so I see the Au Ra assimilation being (perhaps disappointingly) painless. There will likely be spots of conflict here and there - but likely from characters who would naturally react that way... or planned interactions with an Au Ra that wants to RP that sort of difficulty.
How NPCs in general will react? We'll have to wait and see, I suppose. I have an odd feeling Au Ra WoLs will find everyone just as accepting as any other WoL, though.
RE: Au Ra - How will your character react? - Nadine Marteau - 06-01-2015
Nadine is Ishgardian and therefore isn't terribly fond of anything even resembling a dragon, though at the same time she's not inherently close-minded when it comes to dealing with outsiders. She will probably regard them with a level of mistrust and want to keep her dealings with them short,
RE: Au Ra - How will your character react? - Martiallais - 06-01-2015
(06-01-2015, 12:33 PM)Nadine Marteau Wrote: Nadine is Ishgardian and therefore isn't terribly fond of anything even resembling a dragon, though at the same time she's not inherently close-minded when it comes to dealing with outsiders. She will probably regard them with a level of mistrust and want to keep her dealings with them short,
This is probably about the same response Martiallais will display honestly. Couldn't have said it better myself.
Zarek, however, will likely be fairly open with them given that I RP him as being the sort that knows somebody that knows somebody that knows somebody so I imagine somewhere along the line he's probably seen one or two before. Having them pop up in droves will be surprising but he'll likely shrug it off given that their gil spends as good as everybody else's.
RE: Au Ra - How will your character react? - Mercurias - 06-01-2015
Sato honestly won't care. He hates all people equally.
Solomon would wonder how they have sex...And then probably want to try it out.
Soren might KNOW. H's very well-traveled.
RE: Au Ra - How will your character react? - Lilia Lia - 06-01-2015
(06-01-2015, 12:31 PM)Gegenji Wrote: But yeah, on the whole, it seems most PCs are relatively open to things... so I see the Au Ra assimilation being (perhaps disappointingly) painless. There will likely be spots of conflict here and there - but likely from characters who would naturally react that way... or planned interactions with an Au Ra that wants to RP that sort of difficulty.
This is the feeling I'm getting in general. It seems like a minority of player characters will give this more than a shrug of the shoulders.
It's a shame because the sudden appearance of the Au Ra seems to have a lot of RP potential in terms of racial tensions and attitudes.
The NPC lore might address a lot of this, though, by giving an overall sense of the world's attitude towards Au Ra. That is, if any of the NPC dialogue addresses it. I hope (and expect) that the story missions will shed some light on the cultural context of Au Ra in Eorzea. So even if we have a majority of player characters accepting Au Ra with open arms, they won't necessarily be a majority from an overall population perspective.
RE: Au Ra - How will your character react? - Flickering Ember - 06-01-2015
Since I've already RPed with a couple of Au Ra in game, it seems like Ember's going down the path of "Whoa! That is so weird but cool. Please tell me more about your people!" route.
RE: Au Ra - How will your character react? - Wymsical - 06-01-2015
"Racial diversity is pretty huge in Eorzea already, and part of the reason that racial tensions are generally low is that the culture is so heavily integrated."
Wait, what? I think there's a lot of tension between races and cultures, like Gridania against Keepers, all the hate for Highlanders and Duskwight, and ect. For that reason, I think it's very plausible in-lore for lots of people to be very suspicious and xenophobic of Au Ra. If I had a non-Au Ra character, they'd definitely be uneasy.
RE: Au Ra - How will your character react? - K'nahli - 06-01-2015
I think most of my characters will be wary to very wary of males and perhaps intense-looking females.... if I ever RP such a thing anyways!
RE: Au Ra - How will your character react? - Seriphyn - 06-01-2015
Need more votes for "Outright Hostile"!
Refugees (or outsiders, otherwise) coming to lay a strain on the already overburdened Eorzea, especially Ul'dah, who still deals with refugees of Ala Mhigo and the Calamity. Resemblance to dragons/demons spurring prejudiced ideas about humans sleeping with dragons/demons. Not to mention the freakish gender dimorphism, of which I'm quite pleased is acknowledged by people in-universe as an anomaly.Â
Just like in real life, there is every reason to react with hostility to an alien people coming and concocting mythical ideas of the way of life being under threat, especially that tensions are so high in Eorzea right now.
Not to mention, they're from a land which has been under occupation by the Garleans for far longer than Ala Mhigo! Rumours of spies abound!