Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Durandal 05-26-05, 01:08 AM	I was wondering if there was any ethnic variety in the humans of Eberron, specifically along the lines of skin color. I ask this because, in trying to think about what actor could believably play my character (for ease of description), I came across a guy who would be perfect, but from what I see in most of the Eberron art, most humans appear to be Caucasian. I have no knowledge of the causes of different skin colors and other ethnic varieties in real life, and so I was wondering if there was any variety in coloration for humans in Eberron. Presumably, with races like elves, dwarves, and dino-riding halflings, the cultures of Eberron would be sufficiently enlightened so as to overlook skin color and other variations in human appearance - or at least I could make that assumption in my own game. :)
grimfaery 05-26-05, 07:49 AM	Don’t worry about whether or not it’s addressed in the Eberron setting book. If you want Thanians to have almonds shaped eyes or the Aundurians to have dark skin and curly black hair, then just do it. This will add some flavor to your game. But also make it a point to not allow stereotypes from our world make it into your fantasy setting. Not only is this morally questionable but it will also kill the fantasy mood of the setting. I think a well know director did this in the first movie of his new trilogy but I can’t seem to remember his name or the movie name right now. :P
polt 05-26-05, 09:03 AM	It will probably be covered in the Five Nation book, but look in the ECS on the section regarding humans. There's a picture of five humans, from the five nations.
CzarGarrett 05-26-05, 09:33 AM	I'd use vaguely similiar stats to RL. Around the equator- darker skin colors, darker hair Far north/far south- paler skin colors, paler hair But outside of that, styles of facial hair, hair colors, etc is more of a DM discretion.
DarkWarriorKarg 05-26-05, 09:34 AM	Unless there's variations among the Sarlonans, where humanity comes from... no. Although, from the ECS, there seems to be a mixed bag, from lilly-white to dusky brown.
polt 05-26-05, 09:35 AM	Well, it's been thousand of years since the humans came from Sarlona, so they could've changed.
Kinger 05-26-05, 09:39 AM	I have exceedingly limited knowledge of anthropology and whatnot, but I believe, at its core, skin tone is related to one's genetic ancestors' exposal to the sun's rays. At least, on Earth. Essentially, those with very dark skin tones are descendants of people who lived in equatorial regions, since the rays of the sun have the greatest intensity in those areas. Lighter skin tones are from areas where sunlight is less intense (ie: farther north or south). However, this theory is thrown completely out the window for Eberron if the world isn't round and orbiting a sun. If not, then you can make up whatever reasons you want, and it's perfectly alright. Maybe people of Karrnath are typically very pale with blond hair, Zilargo gnomes are red-skinned with brown, curly hair, and Aerenal elves are black with straight locks the colour of midnight. As far as I know, nothing has been spelled out anywhere, so make it up as you like. Essentially, until we're actually told otherwise, whatever you say isn't wrong. Heck, even if we ARE told otherwise, it doesn't mean we have to listen.
Mula 05-26-05, 10:05 AM	In my Eberron campaign, humans of Khorvaire are of all colors, no matter where they live. This is sort of like in modern day America - the people are immigrants, and there's no reason to place darker people closer to the equator and vice versa. I think Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time world has a somewhat similar situation: the Seanchan empire is a continent-spanning nation, and the people of this kingdom are of every human ethnicity available in our world. Elves in my campaign tend to be darker than the average DnD high elf. They originate from a tropical climate, and the pictures indicate a darker color, too. They're not all alike, though: some are darker, and some a bit lighter. Gnomes are like described in PHB: darker complexion, but blond hair. Also, don't forget that people can dye their hair for fun/to follow trends (especially richer folk), and the richest can afford illusion magic to create all kinds of skin/hair/eye/whatever tones (blue skin and golden eyes?)
Gishsarath 05-26-05, 10:23 AM	The way I see it, the humans of Khorvaire share a grab bag of genetic traits that allow their appearance to vary widely. The "taboo" against interethnic unions probably wouldn't exist, since humans have seperate species to be racist against. Perhaps the human "races" are more diverse in Sarlona, but in Eberron I see folks being more mixed and generally "multiracial". Add in diluted orc and elf blood, and you have a genetic diversity that can lead to any "look" you want. As for elves, I see the Aereni and the Valenar as having mocha/caramel coloured skin, light "exotic" eye hues (violet, gold, green, blue) and thick black hair. The Khorvaire elves are of a lighter complexion, due to the time that they have spent in places like the Eldeen Reaches where they have undoubtedly mixed their blood with faeries from Thelanis.
Mula 05-26-05, 10:28 AM	The Khorvaire elves are of a lighter complexion, due to the time that they have spent in places like the Eldeen Reaches where they have undoubtedly mixed their blood with faeries from Thelanis. And why would the fey from Thelanis be white? :P
Gishsarath 05-26-05, 10:33 AM	And why would the fey from Thelanis be white? :P Well, I was thinking more along the lines of the "fey" Eladrin lords, like the Ghaele, Bralani and the ones mentioned in the Book of Exalted Deeds. While I wouldn't consider them "white" (in the european sense) they would undoubtly glow all ethereally and stuff. Aasimar (humanoids who have lineage from celestials) tend to be fair and glowy, and if the Khorvaire elves share a distant lineage, this may translate to a fairer complexion than your standard elf. Then again, I'm just trying to justify that out of place elf with the eye patch in the ECS.
qwykee 05-26-05, 10:40 AM	Keith Baker, the setting designer specifically avoids answering questions like this, he wants to leave it open to your interpretation. That said, Five Nations may contain ethnic information as he's not the one writing it. But basically what people have said here is correct skin tones tend darken closer to the equator The picture of the Elves in the ECS show this the best. Arenal Elves are darkest living right at the Equator. Valenar elves are tan but living farther north now they are somewhat lighter. Finally, Khorvaire elves having migrated the farthest north are the lightest of their race. Now Drow, well their magic and in Eberron they are considered a race unto them selves so they don't have to follow the rules.
Mula 05-26-05, 10:44 AM	Actually, my Khorvairian elves have somewhat lighter complexions and hair color, too - but I don't think it has anything to do with the fey of Thelanis (wouldn't the elves be different, then, like planetouched?). Maybe it's just a coincidence. However, they're not 'white' like humans can be; the picture of Khorvaire elves in RoE is what I'm talking about. http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/roe_gallery/88229.jpg
Gishsarath 05-26-05, 11:04 AM	EDIT: Double post
Gishsarath 05-26-05, 11:06 AM	I don't buy the whole "equatorial skin tones" things for the elves. There has not been significant amount of time, generationally, for elves to develop different skin tones. Humans on Earth evolved the way they have after hundreds of thousands of generations living and growing in a certain region. The elves have been on Khorvaire for 100 geneations, max. That is not enough time to diverge cosmetically (unless there is some sort of magic involved) from the Aerenal elves. The only true "white" lookin' fantasy race in my Eberron campaign are the dwarves. Well, them and the Khoravar. This may be because I am not white, nor are my players. One of things that I really liked about the ECS is that it didn't automatically assume that the "normal" skin tone of folks was white. The picture of the humans of khorvaire at the beginning of the Races chapter helped set the mood, in my head at least, that the humans of the Five Nations were more ethnically diverse than the standard "D&D setting".
Kinger 05-26-05, 11:44 AM	I think it helps that Eberron is not your standard "Western Europe, but with MAGIC!!" type of setting. No longer is everybody you meet caucasian, unless they happen to come from the Japan- or Arabia-equivalent area of the world. As it stands for me, I've a similar view as Gishsarath, in that the only true "white" race are the dwarves. Living underground tends to make on pasty in complexion, after all. The rest of the races are essentially recent immigrants to Khorvaire, however. As a result, there'd not really be much more ethnic diversity (genetics wise) than there was pre-immigration. Humans originated in Sarlona, which is a pretty big place in itself, so there's no real problem (I don't think) with having very different-looking races of humanity. Same goes for Elves, and then by extension Half-Elves. Orcs are another species indiginous (sp?) to Khorvaire, and they're very wide-spread as well. Don't see why they couldn't be as ethnically diverse as anyone else, which leads to great variety in Half-Orc appearances, too. All in all, I'd think you could have any appearance you like, especially if you factor magic in.
Hellcow 05-26-05, 12:09 PM	Keith Baker, the setting designer specifically avoids answering questions like this, he wants to leave it open to your interpretation. That said, Five Nations may contain ethnic information as he's not the one writing it. Nope, it won't. As has been suggested earlier, you should be able to find all manner of people in the Five Nations, as they are cosmopolitan in nature. While humans have a common ancestry in Sarlona, Sarlona itself is vast and varied in its environments, and people traveled to Khorvaire from different points on it. In addition, you have the humans taken from Sarlona many thousands of years ago to settle the Seren Islands, and humans who settled in the Lhazaar region thousands of years before the full colonization of the region.
Siran Dunmorgan 05-26-05, 01:10 PM	Living underground tends to make one pasty in complexion, after all. A common misconception. Actually, living underground means that it doesn't matter what color you are, because nothing can see it. When an albino or pale offspring is born to something living underground that wasn't pale or albino, there's no sun around to burn it, and there aren't any predators who can see well enough to pick it out from the surrounding terrain, so it survives instead of being killed off in infancy the way it would be if it were on the surface. When two such creatures mate, their line is guaranteed to breed true, since albinism or 'paleness' is generally a recessive trait. With nothing singling them out for destruction, and a slight survival advantage due to not putting resources into the development of now-useless pigments, the albinos and pale ones gradually come to dominate the underground community. At least, that's how it works in places that don't have predators with darkvision. Given the array of predators in Khyber that can actually see in the dark, this is unlikely to have been the case for the ancestors of the dwarves: I suspect that most dwarves are best described as 'rock colored', with a note to the effect that rocks come in even more colors than people do. —Siran Dunmorgan P.S. On topic: we would construe most of Khorvaire as 'racially diverse', i.e., you're pretty likely to find an array of skin tones for all of the humans, khoravar, kalashtar, natural-form changelings, and 'khorvaire' elves in any given municipal area. The open question is whether or not any given human, khoravar or elf is more or less likely to seek—or is indifferent about seeking—a mate from among those whose features and complexion differ from his or her own: if the answer is 'more' or 'indifferent, then after a few more thousand years we can expect most humans on Khorvaire to have settled down to a light 'mocha'[1] tone, and dark brown or black hair, with other coloration being associated with relatively isolated areas or 'the back country'. If the answer is 'less', then most of the existing features and complexions will tend to be preserved. Note that the kalashtar will tend to do whatever the humans do: they see the spirit, not the flesh, and that changelings are—almost by definition—indifferent, so these races will go whichever direction humans go. Elves—I'm not sure about the elves, or the khoravar, for that matter. [1] Is there chocolate on Eberron? Is it one of those rare spices brought back from Xen'drik, and reserved for the upper classes of Khorvaire, or are there chocolate plantations throughout Zilargo, laboring to produce enough to meet continent-wide demand? I can easily see the gnomes being the premier chocolatiéres of Khorvaire. Mmm... chocolate.
lukelightning 05-26-05, 01:31 PM	Another factor to consider is that racial variation in Eberron do not have to correspond to sets of real-world racial traits; whereas real-world Africans tend to have curly hair, perhaps in your campaign there are people with dark skin but straight hair; there is no reason "Asian" eyes (the epicanthic fold) have to go along with straight black hair or any specific skin color.
Uller999 05-26-05, 02:33 PM	to be honest In Eberron I wouldn't hold too much importance to skin color. I think alot of people assume Serens are black or something like that and that elves would be darkers skinned since they come from topical climes. But to be honest elves would be the least likely of all races to show genetic adaptation and variances since they have much much fewer generations than other races. I don't know why alot of art and people hold Serens to be black I don't suppose it matters really but for my game if you want your chracter to be X looking than he or she surely could wiht neary a strange look in direction. I just don't think that in Eberron its that big of a deal more over in my game I don't want it to be a big deal. When there are so many other things to be held in contention like nationaility and race, things like skin color (unless it makes you an actual different spcies like Blue goblins) would matter as much
Siran Dunmorgan 05-26-05, 02:48 PM	... I think alot of people assume Serens are black or something like that and that elves would be darkers skinned since they come from topical climes... Odd... the Dragonshard on the Seren explicitly states that they are racially diverse, since the dragons 'recruited' the Seren from all over Eberron. Some tribes of the Seren are black: some are pale, others are olive-skinned, golden, copper, or even reddish in color, not entirely unlike the dragons themselves, although the coloration of any given Seren doesn't necessarily match that of his or her dragon patron. And the elves are a more genetically distinct line on account of their engineering by the giants: they tend to have similar features and coloring for the same reasons as the white mice developed by House Vadalis. Different strains of elves, bred for different purposes, have different coloring, e.g., the drow. —Siran Dunmorgan
Kinger 05-26-05, 04:00 PM	A common misconception. Say what you like, but once winter's nearly over I know I could lay on a snowbank and just disappear without much trouble. I'm serious. Direct my back at the sun and you can signal planes. It may not be a genetic thing, but I'd expect dwarves fresh from the Holds would be reddish from sunburn, rather than skin tone, when first on the surface. :)
ESP 05-26-05, 05:13 PM	If I remember correctly it actualy takes only about 20,000 years for genetic mutations to occur do to enviromental factors. That's about 2000 human generations. Considering the elves longer lifespan it would arguably take them about 200,000 years to develope these mutations. And in case anybody cares our RL picture of what science believes we most likely looked like "originaly" is the Australian Aboriginea, i.e. dark skin and straight brown/ black hair. Skin color is indirectly related to geography. It has more to do with sunlight exposure. We get vitamin D from sunlight. In colder climates with less sunlight we need lighter skin to allow greater amounts of vitamin D to be absorbed by the body and in warmer climes we have darker skin to reflect most of it. I love the Discovery Channel :D
Sarlax 05-26-05, 05:57 PM	Differences in skin color are a product of light exposure over generations. As others have noted, it's somewhat correlated to a population's distance from the equator, but certainly not to a precise degree. The most important factor in diversity is isolation. Sarlona is the human home continent. Since humans are only recent arrivals on Khorvaire, any diversity in human races would have had to have first appeared on Sarlona - 3000 years just isn't enough time for such genetic drift. There were basically two major patterns of human migration to Khorvaire. The first was from the Lhazaar Expedition of -3000 YK which was west to East. Given the geography (and the legacy names of geographic features) the most likely path was from the northern corner of Sarlona, and we know they landed in the north eastern area of Khorvaire. The second wave was in -1500 YK when the Inspired began to take over Sarlona, which drover humans from east to west. The Demon Wastes make for an extremely dangerous landing point, so the migrants probably landed mostly in the Shadow Marches, with some in Droaam and Breland. By this time, however, the Lhazaar colonists would have already exploded across Khorvaire with a 15 century head start. This would lead us to expect that the dominant racial makeup of Khorvaire humans is that of the original Lhazaar colonists, with more diversity occurring as one heads west. If the Lhazaar path actually was the shortest and most logical path (north Sarlona to the north east islands of Khorvaire), the original colonists were probably fair-skinned. Why? The embarkation point in Sarlona is far to the north, which normally means fair skin, and the most likely colonists of the first wave would have come from that geographic region. Of course, it's possible that the original colonists were racially diverse, but this is unlikely: Sarlona of -3000 YK had many human nations. Building the Lhazaar expedition with colonists from across an entire continent of un-unified states would have been incredibly difficult. But even if they were diverse, the small population that colonized eastern Khorvaire should have rapidly hybridized when they landed, unless there were strong racial tensions - but that points against having a racially diverse colony, anyway. The second wave of migrants would likely have represented a broader spectrum of human races. Since this was triggered by the Inspired revolution, these people would have been refugees from all across the continent. Although the ECS glosses over it, the second wave would probably have occurred over a very long time – the period of civil war caused by the quori fifteen hundred years ago lasted four centuries until the Inspired has locked control over Sarlona, which is plenty of time for people of all kinds to arrive in Khorvaire. But again, since the Lhazaar colonists had already been reproducing and building states for centuries, they wouldn’t have expanded very easily. The expectation, then, is that most humans on Khorvaire are white. Of course, all of this discussion presupposes that there was any diversity on Sarlona to begin with. Again, diversity requires isolation. Since humans were all on Sarlona until 3000 years ago (the Seren population would be insignificant because of the negligible effect they could have on Khorvaire’s racial composition), all diversity would have had to have begun there. On Earth, when you look at an isolated landmass, it’s made up a relatively homogenous racial group unless it’s been disrupted by genetically recent migration. Since Sarlona has a really long axis that runs north-south for a distance, it’s safe to assume there is genetic isolation. But if Sarlona is easily traveled along that north-south axis, there should be relative homogeneity among all humans.
Rechan 05-26-05, 06:22 PM	[1] Is there chocolate on Eberron? Is it one of those rare spices brought back from Xen'drik, and reserved for the upper classes of Khorvaire, or are there chocolate plantations throughout Zilargo, laboring to produce enough to meet continent-wide demand? I can easily see the gnomes being the premier chocolatiéres of Khorvaire. Mmm... chocolate. I thought it elves made chocolate? ;)
motorfirebox 05-26-05, 06:29 PM	why it's gotta be elven chocolate? why you gotta be stereotyping like that? an elf wanna produce some vanilla, an' everybody's all "whoah, that dude must be a changeling, he can't be no real elf!"
Kinger 05-26-05, 06:30 PM	No no, elves make toys. The Easter Bunny makes chocolate. EDIT: Damn. motorfirebox beat with both timing and humour content.
Mula 05-26-05, 07:21 PM	Sarlax, your theory assumes a lot, including that humans in the northern parts of Sarlona are white. Also, did the first colonists come from the northern parts of Sarlona? Hellcow?
Sarlax 05-26-05, 08:24 PM	Sarlax, your theory assumes a lot, including that humans in the northern parts of Sarlona are white. Of course, I granted that. It seems reasonable since that's how things more or less worked out on Earth. Light-skinned people are prone to cancer but are better at producing Vitamin D, which is why it varies on the north-south axis. Take a look at Wikipedia: Human Skin Colour (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_color) for more information. Also, did the first colonists come from the northern parts of Sarlona? Probably. Northern Sarlona is the closest part of the continent to Khorvaire. And the ocean between those two points is named as the "Lhazaar Sea."
Hellcow 05-26-05, 08:33 PM	Probably. Northern Sarlona is the closest part of the continent to Khorvaire. And the ocean between those two points is named as the "Lhazaar Sea." Indeed. Although the humans who came to the Shadow Marches and the Demon Wastes would have likely come from southern and eastern Sarlona, respectively - and especially in the case of the harsh Demon Wastes (and the magic influences that could be present in those regions) you've got a strong case for seeing a different appearance from those regions than you'd find from the northerners who settled the northern Lhazaar region. At this point, we're saying they're fairly mingled, as opposed to spelling out "Lhazaars are Caucasian; the people of the Carrion Tribes have bronze skin..." - but that's a way to get that sense of where different appearances might have originated from. Though even in the Demon Wastes, since the Carrion Tribes are descended primarily from shipwreck victims, it's possible that different tribes came from radically different regions of Sarlona.
Streamweaver 05-26-05, 09:07 PM	For what it's worth I don't think the issue of Ethnicity needs to be a big one in Eberron itself. I think it's fair to say humans can be ethnically varied in Khorvair as that Sarlona has a varied human population. In a world of Goblins, Orcs, and Lizard Folk I don't see minor Ethnic differences really becoming a big issue. There is an additional difficulty in applying Ethnicity in Eberron in that we don't really just have Ethnic diversity on earth, we primarily have cultural differences. Those cultural differences aren't as clear in Eberron so acknowleging ethnic differences unfortunatly doesn't make it as clear what that would mean. This is the reason I think the conversation is difficult to put into perspective. Saying someone has white skin doesn't automatically make them European or Dark Skinned doesn't make the African or central Asian. So to sum up I think it's fair and interesting to give humans an Ethnic diversity, but that doesn't nessisarily imply a specific culture in the context of Eberron.
Hellcow 05-26-05, 09:13 PM	So to sum up I think it's fair and interesting to give humans an Ethnic diversity, but that doesn't nessisarily imply a specific culture in the context of Eberron. Which is actually more or less what I said last August, if you check page 2 of the Ask Keith FAQ... Due to travel and cultural integration, physical appearance alone is not much of an indicator of anything. What is a factor is culture -- dress, accent, mannerisms. Whether they are black, white, or green, you'll see some differences between someone from Texas, someone from New York, and someone from New Zealand. Your appearance is thus up to you; the question is whether you're from Breland or Argonnessen.
Mula 05-27-05, 09:31 AM	I use the 'all-colors-in-all-nations' approach. First of all, it doesn't tie skin/hair/eye color to a certain country or part of the continent, and it gives the players and me, the DM, more options when describing the appearance of different characters. There's obviously a lot more in-the-middle shades of tones (brown and whatnot) and less extremes (very dark or very light). I don't know about facial features, though; it's probably just a big mix of everything.
JohnnyONeal 05-27-05, 10:22 AM	I use the 'all-colors-in-all-nations' approach. First of all, it doesn't tie skin/hair/eye color to a certain country or part of the continent, and it gives the players and me, the DM, more options when describing the appearance of different characters. There's obviously a lot more in-the-middle shades of tones (brown and whatnot) and less extremes (very dark or very light). I don't know about facial features, though; it's probably just a big mix of everything. I concur. Though unofficially, I still picture kalashtar as looking like particularly pale-skinned Indians, and (at least one of the largest tribes of) Serens as looking like native Australians.
Streamweaver 05-27-05, 10:32 AM	I think many people are showing similar approaches and probably the hurdle is habit and thinking. The issue isn't expressly defined in most settings and many people automatically assume this generic European culture. Sometimes that is implied in the writing but I don't think it's so in Eberron. The take away message of the setting with this issue is there is definitly a place for Ethnic diversity in the setting. In many ways I think that is the strength of Eberron itself, it provides this very rich and interesting backdrop without excluding many other things the DM may want to include. There is an elegance to that I don't think is acknowleged enough in this setting.
Damien_Hiro 05-27-05, 02:56 PM	I play as if everyone in Eberron is filipino looking. We may look a little different and have a slightly different dialect, but all of us are from the islands. It never has come up in our group becasue we are a multicultural group. Thanks to Affirmitive Action, I found a D&D group in no time, here in south central pennsylbama...pennsylvania.
Sarlax 05-27-05, 05:31 PM	The issue isn't expressly defined in most settings and many people automatically assume this generic European culture. Sometimes that is implied in the writing but I don't think it's so in Eberron. You're right that the writing implies it. That's probably unavoidable, though. Every member of the government is a king, queen, lord, or member of parliament. All European terms. That makes sense, since titles like "Knight" and "Samurai," although they refer to basically the same job in a feudal society, carry different weights. "Knight" is more generalized to most of the ECS's likely readers, but "samurai" will, for most, instantly cause many readers to think that the culture is a duplication of Japan. So it makes sense to use generalized European terms. Additionally, many of the human names sound European. That further encourages the idea that Eberron's a European analog. Finally, pretty much every illustration of humans shows fair-skinned Euro-types. That's probably the biggest contributor to the idea that Khorvaire is white. Coincidentally, it happens to fit the expectation of how people should look if they descended from people who originated in a cold northern climate.
Damien_Hiro 05-27-05, 08:19 PM	Coincidentally, it happens to fit the expectation of how people should look if they descended from people who originated in a cold northern climate. See I did not get that from the writing. I thought that many of the Lhazar pricipalities were like eskimos. Seriously, The elves remind me of the Mongol Horde. I really pictured most of the Humans as being Native american looking because they mostly come from tropical areas and migrated to the cold regions of the North. I do not know how dumb that sounds, but that is how I pictured a lot of them.
taski 05-27-05, 09:39 PM	In my group, coloration is diverse and mixed. By this I mean the default for humans has, over generations of mixing up the varied stock of Sarlona, become a medium 'mocha' from which a person can get paler or tanner depending on how much sun they got in the last few months. So, this makes humans residing in northern Khorvaire generally paler (particularly in Karrnath with its long winters) and humans who go outside often in southern Khorvaire generally tanner (particularly in Breland (where I am fond of making people vaguely Greek/Turkish)). Someone who travels widely would end up seeming from north Breland, south Aundair, south Thrane, or middle Cyre; however, their true nationality would still be easily identifiable by their accent, manners and so on. The same goes for Khoravar and Half-Orcs. Gnomes and Halflings have the same skin color range that humans do, though they may take longer to become darker or lighter. Hair color is particularly varied among Gnomes (because I like it that way), ranging from jet black to blonde to a rare purple-gray. Dwarves are mostly pale gray to slightly silvery to bronzey. When they blush, their cheeks don't turn red, but coppery. They mostly have thick, wiry hair that appears slightly metallic, such that blonde hair appears golden, and so on. Orcs have a fairly wide range of skin colors in the green, blueish green, yellowish green, and greyish green areas. Hobgoblins vary from a yellowy saffron to a rusty color, and are often slightly furry. Aerenai and Vaelnar are for the most part fairly dark-skinned, sometimes with slight reddish or golden undertones, and usually have black hair. However, many Aerenai treat their skin with alchemical substances to make themselves appear dead, leading to a lighter, grayer cast than they would naturally have. There are some paler elves who are descended from the elves who left southern Xen'drik, and Khorvaire elves aren't much different from those. Kalashtar all look oddly similar, as if they are somehow closely related. While they are often gorgious to view, their abnormal serenity is always off-putting, as is their just slightly translucent skin. Posesssing very smooth hair, Kalashtar also find it impossible to have a bad hair day. The Warforged 'skin' color is dependant not on their environment but which traceries are built into them -- the Adamantine Body feat makes for darker metal bits, Mythral Body for almost excessive shininess, and so on. The gray of Changelings can vary from gray to gray with varying undertones of gray. And the Shifters are well-described already.
Sarlax 05-27-05, 11:40 PM	While I've been arguing that genetics favors a mostly white Khorvaire (certainly not from personal preference, but just from what I know of biology), this completely excludes the influence of magic. Imagine a group of humans descended from half-dragons. They might all be blue skinned. Imagine how changelings affect the gene pool. Follow this brief lineage. 1. ChangelingA + hobgoblin = changelingB. 2. ChangelingB + human = human. This human has human, changeling, and hobgoblin genes. Who knows what they might look like?
ussie 05-28-05, 01:49 AM	at the end of the day its really up to u. I took some liberties with the stuff, for instance i wanted to give one of the kingdoms a more Ancient Near East so I changed some of the names of the cities , made everyone more live skinned (but even in the ancient near east there was a mix, so there is a mix here as well) and used some terminology used in those old days.
Glupinickname 05-28-05, 12:20 PM	It will probably be covered in the Five Nation book, but look in the ECS on the section regarding humans. There's a picture of five humans, from the five nations. They are? I didn't know that. Is that some official info from the creators of the setting? If it is, which of the humans represents what nation?
The_Fan 05-28-05, 06:20 PM	Really, just choose what you want your character to look like. It's a fantasy world, so the distinctions between humans are much less than the distinctions between, say, humans and elves. That being said, there are some examples of non-european looking humans in the books, especially the back cover of Shadows of the LAst War.
Joni-san 05-28-05, 08:01 PM	Here's the picture of Humans from the EBCS (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/eb_gallery/82083.jpg) and here's the one with the elves (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/eb_gallery/82086.jpg) :twocents:
Mula 05-28-05, 08:12 PM	That Aereni woman has obviously cast implant breast spell... :rolleyes:
The_Fan 05-28-05, 08:22 PM	Nah, her outfit is just cleverly designed to lift and separate.
Glupinickname 05-29-05, 12:08 PM	Here's the picture of Humans from the EBCS (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/eb_gallery/82083.jpg) and here's the one with the elves (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/eb_gallery/82086.jpg):twocents: I couldn't forget the Aernal elven chix even if I tried to. :embarrass
PsiRogue 05-29-05, 11:54 PM	That Aereni woman has obviously cast implant breast spell... :rolleyes: They don't look that large to me, and aren't elves supposed to be physically "superior" to humans (i.e. we need plastic surgery, they don’t) anyway?
Gishsarath 05-30-05, 12:01 AM	They don't look that large to me, and aren't elves supposed to be physically "superior" to humans (i.e. we need plastic surgery, they don’t) anyway? At a -2 Con, I would say that elves are far from being "physically superior" to humans. As for the Aereni girl's rack, you have to remember that elves are magical people. Perhaps that is a subtle use of alter self or some sorta illusion or something.
Mula 05-30-05, 12:57 PM	They don't look that large to meBut look at the rest of her body, all dry and skinny. :) But maybe she's a player character, with action points and PC class and all. She's heroic!
Calibim 05-30-05, 01:51 PM	:ahem: I knew it would not take too long for you guys to start talking about "breast". :rolleye2: Next thing you know you will be comparing the size of the other elf's "sword". :rimshot: