I never really got on the Fantasia train in FFXIV, outside of using them to make a few minor changes to Alahra’s customization options before I finally arrived on the version I have today. The only one of any real consequence was the very first from the Veteran Rewards system, which I used to change more or less all of her facial features and her voice (sadly I never got any good screenshots of that original one, so I can’t share her here!). I also used one to fix her birthday some time ago…

But, there was a very brief period (of about an hour) when Alahra was an au ra during Heavensward. Just about every miqo’te player I knew back then switched to Au Ra, and I suppose part of me was curious: could I make an Au Ra version of Alahra? As it turned out back then, I couldn’t really, as she had yet to switch to the Minfillia hair, which meant that there was no good hairstyle option for her, and it all just looked wrong. That little experiment put me in a good place for this first ever Fantasia Spotlight, though, as the site’s Patrons voted to see a female au ra glamour, and I already had an appearance saved!

Once the votes were in, I was pretty sure I’d be doing a tank glamour, as one thing I’ve noticed over the last couple of years is that larger tank coats tend to fit much better on au ra than they do on miqo’te. The crucial difference is that they have a much closer “fit” for any skirts—because of the way gear maps to character models in FFXIV, skirts and the like often “float” away from miqo’te legs, and it always looks really awkward. The problem is far less prominent for au ra women, though, which opened up a lot of pieces that never looked right on Alahra as a miqo’te.

Glamour Components (Required Level: DRK/PLD/WAR 70)
Weapon: Doman Steel Greatsword
Head: (none)
Body: Ala Mhigan Coat of Fending
Hands: Ala Mhigan Fingerless Gloves of Fending
Legs: Hempen Pantalettes (Jet Black)
Feet: Bronze Sabatons (Jet Black)

I had a few options in mind but ultimately decided to work around the Ala Mhigan Coat from early Stormblood. I’ve always liked it, but it was never a good fit for Alahra because of the wide-on-miqo’te skirt, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to work with it. While it doesn’t dye especially well (at least in Pure White), it has a lovely default color scheme, so I decided to use it as is. After some exploring, I decided there weren’t really any solid gloves to use alongside it outside of the corresponding Ala Mhigan ones (which look great anyway, so I’m glad I picked them up), which mainly left finding a pair of greaves or boots to go along with the Coat.

I’m not really a fan of the Ala Mhigan Calligae of Fending, so I needed to find something different (and besides, I try to avoid using three pieces from the same set together anyway). None of my staples (like the Expeditioner’s Thighboots or the Heavy Allagan Flanchard) really worked, as the Ala Mhigan Coat is honestly fairly unique in style, and most options that tanks have for the Feet slot tend to dye in an all or nothing fashion, which didn’t play well with the wide variety of colors on the Coat. That didn’t leave me with many choices, but thankfully, the very low level Bronze Sabatons actually match some of the leather on the coat to fit in with the primary black and brown of the Coat.

For the Legs slot, I got the opportunity to use the au ra model of the Hempen Pantalettes, which are far more usable than the miqo’te one. While they’re not a perfect thematic fit for the look, they’re plain enough that they serve a lot better than something like the Light Steel Subligar here for Alahra’s long-standing (absolutely canonical) hatred of pants, which is honestly far too small to really work for most tank glamours (not that this has stopped me in the past, but still). Some day, maybe we’ll see all the various Hempen models available for everyone, but in the mean time, I intend to use Fantasia Spotlights as opportunities to experiment with them where I can!

Normally for a look like this, I’d probably employ glasses of some kind, but I found pretty quickly that I didn’t care for them on this version of au ra Alahra. I think that largely comes down to the horns, which make her face look a lot less plain (and avoiding plainness is a big part of why I use the glasses to begin with). So, for this one, I decided to leave the Head slot toggled off. I’m actually not a huge fan of the horns now that I’ve seen them with the Minfillia hairstyle, though, and the next time au ra female gets enough votes for a Fantasia spotlight I’ll probably be making some changes.

But that’s all for now! This proved to be pretty fun, and I look forward to seeing what I can do with other races in the future (even if I’m not-so-secretly dreading the day when male miqo’te wins the monthly poll)! I am, of course, back to miqo’te already, but I do have to say that proper Alahra doesn’t look anywhere near as good in this look as she did while an au ra.

The Fantasia necessary for this Spotlight were purchased with the support of Fashion Ninjutsu’s Patrons. Your support on Patreon can, among other things (like keeping the site advertisement free), allow for more Fantasia Spotlights, and you’ll be able to vote for the featured race and gender each month!