A thought on race and RPGs

[benlehman]

Since there is so much discussion of it recently.

So, my people in Polaris are explicitly (rather than implicitly) white.

"The people that live in the memory of Polaris are tall, thin, and beautiful. Their hair is silver and gold and all the colors of the sky at night and their skin is so thin that you can see their pale blue veins beneath it."

Now, anyone who is white and reading this, please do me a favor and turn over your arm. Note that you can very clearly see the blue blood in your veins through your skin. It's a pretty standard trait of white people.

Nonetheless, almost everyone who has talked about these people with me makes the assumption that they are, you know, albino, or translucent, or in some other way super-white, or that they are magical elves (they are neither), or in some other way different in appearance from, you know, skinny northern Europeans.

I wonder if this is because whiteness is so much the assumed default that, if the writer takes the time to describe the skin of a character, that character must be divergent from the norm somehow.

Or it could just be that I'm an unclear writer.

Comments

[redcrosse.livejournal.com]

I will admit that in perusing Polaris, I did pick up a very heavy Aryan-supremacy vibe. Also in Bliss Stage. Not to mention my pancake syrup this morning.

[emergent.livejournal.com]

If I read that passage in any work, I would get a mental image of individuals paler than (almost all of) my white peers. First, the slightly-unnatural hair description sets them up as looking somewhat ethereal. Second, there's a vast difference between pale enough to see veins on underside of arm where one does not spot them in normal conversation/interaction, and seeing them on places that would be immediately apparent- e.g. face. The latter is uncommon, though certainly not impossible, among standard issue New England whiteys.

[l-the-fangirl.livejournal.com]

I'm *fairly* sure that it's just us being stupid, yeah.

I'll admit to examining the veins in my wrist as soon as I read that and going "...whaddaya know."

Oh yeah... did you ever get around to playtesting That Thing I sent you?

[apollinax.livejournal.com]

Reading that description, I imagine a skin hue in which veins are visible all over the body, not just in particular places which receive little sun. For example, while yes, many people can see blue veins in their arms, only in very pale people is the skin so translucent that you see blue veins in a face.

[evilmagnus]

It was the use of the word 'thin' to describe the skin that changed the image for me. I say this as a genuine pasty North Euro with blue veins that elicit cries of joy from phlebotomists. Change that last bit to "their skin is so pale that you can see their blue veins beneath it" and I get, well, North Euro stock.

But I didn't go as far as albino space pixies.

[sirogit.livejournal.com]

The things that made me think that the people of polaris were unusual were that A) Stating that you can see pale blue viens beneath their skin implies that you can see blue viens -all around their body-, in the same way to say that someone is wrinkly implies that they are wrinkly -all around their body- rather than in one paticular place as most men tend to be from time to time.

B) From that sentence alone about hair, I would assume that the character's hair could be both shades of dark blue and silver regardless of age, for the same reasons stated above.

Note that that's reading within the context of making crazy ice world fantasy make sense, as opposed to reading it in the context of a discussion about RPGs and race, which my response would probably be "HAR! He's talkin' about us whiteys!"

[l-the-fangirl.livejournal.com]

In the interest of Science, let's see if this actually does make it clearer...

"The people that live in the memory of Polaris are tall, thin, and beautiful. Their hair is silver, or gold, or any of the colors of the sky at night; and their skin is so pale that you can sometimes see their pale blue veins beneath it."

[psychotropek.livejournal.com]

I don't consider myself white, and I can see some veins on the underside of my arm. Two of 'em.

[joepub.livejournal.com]

Ben, your writing makes them feel more than white.
In the same way that your writing makes Polaris seem like more than an opulent city. In the same way that your writing makes the Mistake seem like more than a demon invasion brought on by sin.

The people of Polaris read as being hyper-white. I imagine them looking similar to the elves in the LotR movies.

Which isn't to say I don't see them as white, or human. I do. Just a hyper-embellished version thereof.

[tigerbunny-db.livejournal.com]

Yah. They're mythically white. The ur-Aryans of Ultima Thule.

[xiombarg.livejournal.com]

I think seeing them as albinos or elves fits very well with the general ethereal feeling of the work.

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

I wonder if this is because whiteness is so much the assumed default that, if the writer takes the time to describe the skin of a character, that character must be divergent from the norm somehow.

Based on the replies so far, I'd say yeah.