Like many of its contemporaries, Final Fantasy XIV offers a variety of fantasy races for players to choose from when creating a character. While some races are exactly what they seem to be—Hyur are humans, Elezen are elves, we get it—the other species are unique to the Final Fantasy franchise and have lore specific to the FFXIV universe.

With such a wide variety of species to choose from, new players can feel a little intimidated by the prospect of creating a lore compliant character. So without further ado, here’s our guide to creating a Miqo’te character following in-universe rules!

Overview

Miqo’te aren’t very common in Eorzea, but you wouldn’t be able to guess it by running around the overworld. Miqo’te are easily one of the most popular races among players, and developers have introduced many loveable Miqo’te NPCs after noting the player base’s interest.

Like all other FFXIV races, Miqo’te have two distinct subspecies, each with its own naming conventions and racial traits. The first subspecies are the Seekers of the Sun, diurnal Miqo’te who typically live in patriarchal tribal communities and favor warm, sunny environments and desert-like conditions. The second are the Keepers of the Moon, a matriarchal society of nocturnal Miqo’te who favor deep forests and tend to live in small communities made up of two or three Keeper families.

While Miqo’te can live as long as Hyur do (about under a century) their life expectancy is much shorter due to their rough lifestyles and in the case of Seeker males, violent clashes to become tribe nunh.

Seeker Culture

While there are a handful of Seeker tribes in Eorzea—mostly concentrated in the Sagoli Desert and Ala Mhigo—Limsa Lominsa boasts the largest concentration of Seekers living outside of Miqo’te tribes. Seekers are considered livelier and more energetic than their solitary Keeper counterparts. It is considered good luck for a Seeker to have mismatched eyes, and being born with odd eyes is fairly common within Seeker tribes.

Seeker tribes are very patriarchal. There are two positions available to male Seekers within a traditional Seeker tribe: tia and nunh. The nunh is a tribe’s breeding male, and tias can only assume the nunh’s position by defeating him in battle. All male Seekers are born tias, but most tribes only have one nunh, although larger tribes have been known to have multiple nunh. Although Seeker lore claims that being a nunh does not necessarily equate to leadership within the tribe, all nunh NPCs encountered thus far in FFXIV have been acting leaders of their tribe.

Two notable Seeker tribes in Eorzea are the U tribe in the Sagolii Desert in Thanalan and the M and J tribes in Ala Mhigo. Limsa Lominsa and Ul’dah also boast a fairly sizeable Seeker population due to their warm climates, although many of Ul’dah’s Miqo’te work as “dancing girls”.

Seeker Naming Conventions

After a great disaster caused a mass exodus from the Miqo’te homeland, 26 Seeker tribes found their way to Eorzea and each adopted a letter of the Eorzean alphabet to represent their tribe. Each tribe’s name is related to a different Final Fantasy creature, which is believed to protect the community.

  • A: Antelope B: Boar C: Coeurl D: Dodo E: Eft F: Bear G: Gryphon H: Gigantoad I: Buffalo J: Jackal K: Hipparion L: Viper M: Marmot N: Aldgoat O: Mole P: Basilisk Q: Puk R: Raptor S: Zu T: Condor U: Drake V: Vulture W: Wolf X: Lynx Y: Jaguar Z: Ziz

A Seeker’s name will always begin with the letter of their tribe, followed by an apostrophe, and then their actual given name. Family, friends, and other close companions may drop the tribe letter but generally speaking, most Seekers are referred to by their full name. Y’shtola, for example, would be called Shtola by her family.

Male Seekers’ given names tend to be short, two-syllable names. They will follow the proper Seeker naming conventions and then take either Tia or Nunh as their surnames; for example, G’raha Tia or U’ohd Nunh. Female Seekers will use their father’s given names as a surname. To demonstrate: Y’shtola Rhul would be Shtola of the Jaguars, sired by Y’Rhul.

Keepers of the Moon

Unlike Seekers, Keepers do not live in tribes but instead gather in very small, insular communities of two or three Keeper families. Most Keepers are found in the Black Shroud and have either assimilated into Gridanian society or live in small communities in the depths of the Shroud.

Keepers who live in the wild are often in conflict with Gridania, as these communities sometimes turn to poaching and in extreme cases, banditry, to support themselves. The Coerlclaws in the Black Shroud is one such example.

Unlike the livelier Seekers, Keepers are considered to be reticent and sullen but are widely admired for their tenacity. Due to low exposure to sunlight, Keepers have rounded pupils and tend to have a blue or greyish tinge to their skin, as well as very noticeable fangs.

Keeper Naming Conventions

Keepers are very matriarchal, so family names are passed down the maternal line. Some surnames are so old that they date back to the First Astral Era. Female Keepers’ given names resemble male Seekers’ and are typically very short, with only one or two syllables in their name.

Male Keepers take on their mother’s forename and also attach a suffix depending on the order they were born. For example, the firstborn son of a Keeper family might bear the name Okhi’a, with Okhi being his mother’s forename and the ‘a suffix indicating that he is the first son. However, most families don’t have more than three sons as Miqo’te tend to produce more female children.

First sons use the suffix ‘a, second sons use ’to, third sons use ’li, and so on to the tenth: ‘sae, ‘ra, ‘ir, ‘wo, ‘ya, ‘zi, and ’tan.