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Concept art of the Qu clan.
The Qu (ク族, Ku-zoku?) are a genderless race from the world of Final Fantasy IX. Quina, Quale, and Quan are Qu. This rare species desires to discover and eat new foods, materializing in a study called the "Way of the Gourmand". Quina sees this as his/her mission. All known Qu have "Qu" as the first two letters of their names, this possibly being a cause of, or a reason for, their species name.
Qu speak in a crude form of broken English. For example, when Quina sees a frog, s/he thinks, "I eat frog?" In the Spanish version qu speak perfect Spanish. In the German translation, most of the Qu's s-sounds come out as a mushy "sh" and their way of speaking is described by others to sound as though they are speaking with their mouths full. The Qu's Spanish and German sentences end on the exclamation ñam and mampf, respectively, translating to "munch" or "chomp". Similarly, the Qu's French sentences often end with the word miam, which translates to "yum". In the Italian version, qu speak with a heavy Roman accent.
This odd-looking species permanently let their long tongues hang from their mouths and often dress like chefs. They have a longer life span than humans, as seen that Quina is 89 years old, yet still considered young by his/her species' standards.
The playable character Quina Quen is a Qu. Quina can use Blue Magic and to learn spells s/he must consume enemies when their HP is more than three-quarters removed. Eating enemies destroys them, and Quina has the opportunity to learn a Blue Magic spell from them. It's unknown if this is a common trait among the qu, though as Quina's master, Quale, also knows many Blue Magic spells, it is assumed to be the case.
The majority of the Qu live in swamp areas, called Qu's Marshes, which also house Mogster and his brother, seen in Active Time Events. There are several marshes across the world map. In every Qu's Marsh, Quina can take part in a frog catching minigame, in which s/he must catch frogs to yield item rewards, in addition to powering up Quina's Frog Drop ability.
Etymology
Usually when saying "eat" in Japanese, it's 食べる (taberu), but 食う, kuu (or quu) is another way to say it. The word is more informal, and just saying "qu" with no context makes it sound a name of a race.
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