White?

>From: "Andrew Solovay" <asolovay_at_rubberducky.com>

>The Greg wrote:
>> The idea that Persians and even ancient Greeks
>were white guys is a
>> modern misconception that I, for one, do not hold
>to.
>
>I suppose it all depends what you mean by "white".

I meant nordic, pink, so-called "aryan."

>IIRC, there was a
>tradition that Alexander was red-haired (though, to
>be sure, he was
>Macedonian, not Greek).

I´d be curious to know when that tradition was compiled.

>There certainly is an old
>Jewish tradition
>(going back at least to the Talmud)

Hey NICK, when was the Talmud compiled?

>that King David
>had red
>hair--whether or not the tradition is true, it at
>least shows that
>Talmudic Jews were of an ethnicity where red hair
>was not unknown.

I´ve seen a lot of pictures that have Jesus as a blond, with blue eyes. I´ve seen nearly as many with him looking African. Hence, I´m curious again about when that particular tradition began.

For the record, I have read several accounts about the mother of the Virgin Mary, Ann, having come from Brittany, hence the red/blond hair of her grandson. I recount this only to back up my scepticism about using traditions as a source for facts.

>So if by "not white guys" you mean "swarthy,
>semitic, olive-skinned",
>then we could still have occasional natural
>redheads (like Vinga) and
>blondes.

I am happily willing to have blond haired, green-eyed Heortlings. AND red-haired Pamaltelans, white-haired Kralori, people with two colors of hair as a matter of course, and to know that the Damali and/or Pralori people all have white spots in their hair as children, then grow out of it as adults. I know that some of the Darjiinites have black hair with two white stripes, like a skunk. The Heortlings, thanks to their storm heritage, often have orange/blond hair and orange irises. The Helerings usually have blue eyes, and some of them have blue hair. I know for a fact hat an orange-skinned people are a minority ethnic group in parts of Western Seshnela. Some Kralori look Chinese, but others have actually yellow skin with blue eyes.

Am I making myself clear yet?

What color hair do the blue-skinned people have? How much body hair do we suppose the Rathori have? Are those really scales instead of hair that some of the triolini-descended races have? We know that elves have NO hair, but plant fibers intead. Do you suppose that some humans, descendants form the aldryami, have tendrils?

Where does this end? Do descendants of elephant people have prehensile noses and big ears? Do descendants of ungulates have tiny hooves on each toe? How many breasts should a woman of Mraloti descent have? How many Rinliddi have feathers instead of hair, or three-toed feet?

I, myself, have seen these characteristics OFTEN. Is it so for ALL the members of an ethnic group. Not necessarily. Do the memers of particular ethnic groups consider these to be admirable? SOMETIMES.

Oh no! Now there are all those possible variables!! How can any player or narrator know the truth?

Yep, that´s right: YGWV.
Enjoy yourselves!

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