Seriously, lovelies: if you want to make a brown or dark skinned elf, gnome, hobbit, dwarf, human, whatever character in a fantasy setting, you do NOT have to justify them not being white with scientific theories or anthropological reasoning.
Diversity does not have to be justified. It can just BE.
As a GM who likes good worldbuilding, I would appreciate it if your dark-skinned character at least had ancestors from the tropics. Black-skinned underground-dwelling elves still stick in my craw–though at least the Realms Timeline conceded that Illythiri (drow ancestors) were from the sub-tropical forests.
I am pretty sure you can accept fire breathing dragons that can shapeshift, walking skeleton warriors with the strength to cleave a man in half, and items of ethereal power that allow time travel without much justification beyond “it’s magic.”
So you should be able to just accept dark skinned characters without some “From the tropics or they have to be drow” bullshit.
You can worldbuild the anthropological and cultural facets of your world and its people, if you want to but you do not HAVE to.
I’ll say it again:
Non-white fantasy characters do not HAVE to be justified.
Notice how everyone who wants black or dark-skinned characters to be justified never asks the same of white characters. White is not a goddamn default, and black people don’t need a reason to be black like goddamn. If elves, dwarves, gnomes, etc etc can be white without question then why the hell do they need a special reason to be black?
building worlds, even if it is high fantasy, needs consistency to be acceptable, skin color is one of these consistencies, it is the location that the master decides DMing is cold in the far north, or south, in places with similar climate england, then yes is the default light skin, if in temperate climates so the default is dark-skinned, I demand justification in any of the situations.
Do not try to transform this into racism, if you do not care does not mean that others should not care for an explanation. growv up
THEN WHY ARE THESE NON-PALE SKINNED PEOPLE FROM POLAR AND TEMPERATE (which I do not think you know the definition of) CLIMATES????
OMG WHAT IS THIS?!
AND WHY DO PEOPLE MAKE THIS COMMENT LIKE YOUR FANTASY WORLD IS TAKING PLACE AT LIKE YEAR ZERO AND NO ONE HAS EVOLVED OR MIGRATED OR WHY IS YOUR FANTASY ON EARTH OR SO HEAVILY EARTH BASED EARTH DON’T HAVE DRAGONS BITCH
HOLY SHIT PEOPLE FROM MILDER REGIONS THAT ARE BROWN WTFFFFF
AND HOW ARE JAPANESE PEOPLE, WHO LIVE IN A TROPICAL CLASSIFIED REGION, SO PALE?! AND HOW DO WHITE PASSING LATINX PEOPLE IN TROPICAL REGIONS HAPPEN?! AND WHY IS PALE THE DEFAULT WHEN EARLY MAN WAS NOT PALE SKINNED?!
Because science. Real science, asshole. Learn it and stop being a racist. Because you are one. You grow up.
Again for those that missed the intro class:
Non-white fantasy characters do not HAVE to be justified.
white people are racist by default (in the united states as well as other countries). are you white? congrats, you’re racist, and here’s the explanation:
you grew up in a racist society -> you were socialized to be racist thanks to racism being a dominant ideology -> you benefit from racism -> you’re racist no matter how much u think you’re not.
unlearning it is going to be a constant battle and u will never unlearn it fully. accept this. it is ingrained in you as a result of your upbringing and the media you’ve consumed. the sooner you come to terms with your own racism, the sooner u can better yourself. recognize the problem in yourself instead of setting yourself apart from those “other” white people.
Cool relationship idea: actually be supportive of your partner and be respectful about their personal space. Stay your own person.
literally what i have and i promise you there is nothing wrong with wanting privacy and space. two introverts have figured that shit is actually essential to the fabric of our relationship…artists, introverts…we need our space. find somebody who feels the same, you won’t regret it.
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The head researcher for this survey is looking for more lesbian and bisexual women respondents. Please fill this out if you have the time and emotional ability, and share with friends or community groups who might be interested. This is a really important project and it would be great to have more queer survivors represented!
