discussion Unconventional Skin Color?

[Moetron 9000]

Hello, everyone.

 

My character, Xau Dolabnha, is a Keeper of the Moon. I originally designed her long before I had any concern or knowledge of FFXIV lore, and so I had given her dark brown skin, black and white heterochromia'd eyes, and black and white two-tone hair. Over time, as I developed her character more and began to integrate my vision of her into the FFXIV world, I fantasia'd her eyes into two normal, brown ones, and I dyed her hair to a more dirty blonde-ish color.

 

While I've made her significantly more lore-friendly than she was at first, there are still parts of her that I don't really want to change - for example, I really like how she looks with dark brown skin, and I'd like to keep that, even though, lore-wise, most Keepers have grey-scale skin of various shades.

 

The question I have for the community, then, is what would you consider a valid, lore-friendly reason as to why a certain character of a certain clan of a certain race has an unconventional skin color compared to other characters of the same clan and race?

[Unnamed Mercenary]

My take on it is that if SE allowed you to do it in the character creator, it must have been possibly physically in the world. Take the Ala Mhigan Highlanders as an example. They come in a variety of different skintones.

[Kilieit]

My opinion is:

 

If the character creator lets you do it, it's lore-friendly.

 

So the character creator lets you have dark brown-skinned Keepers of the Moon.

 

That's lore-friendly. If the developers didn't think characters like that existed in the lore, they'd restrict those skintones away. They've done similar for some of the other sub-races (au ra spring to mind - xaela can't have bright red skin, and raen can't have pure white skin).

[Sounsyy]

Echoing those before. If the skin tone is available via the character creator, it is within the boundaries of "lore." What the lore states regarding Keepers is what is most common or what is considered traditional for whatever race or clan.

 

Traditionally...

They are distinguishable from their diurnal cousins by their darker fur' date=' larger ears, rounder eyes, more pronounced canines, and longer, skinnier tails. The ritual application of war paint to the face is still regularly practiced, as it is believed the vivid colors grant lunar powers. The Keepers are known for their reticent and brooding personalities, but are also respected and sometimes feared for their tenacity.[/quote']

 

...but these characteristics are not true of every Keeper Miqo'te, obviously. Many Keepers do not live traditional lifestyles within the boundary of the Twelveswood. Some are from the city. Some take mates from other clans or tribes.

 

If you wish to have a story behind why your character's skin is a certain color though, by all means!

[Literal-Ghost]

There are several Keeper NPCs in canon (Leih from the Archer quests comes immediately to mind, she's super fair skinned) that don't have dark black or grey skin tones and instead have a more peach or brown palette swatch.

 

If you have the option in character creation, it's canon. Most people probably wouldn't heckle you for your skin tone choice, anyway.

[Aziraya]

My only gripe with Keeper Miqos using non-dusky skin tones and non black hair color is that I don't know whether to go all "MOON BUDDY!!" when I meet them IC.