Dark Haired Altmer and Pale Imperials

BlackWormDisciple

Hello everyone. *smiles*


So, I recently purchased TESOTU for the PC, and I believe I know what race to go with - an Imperial, as light as I possibly can make him at that - yet I have a question I'd like to ask and, hopefully, get a good answer on to help me out.

I also have a couple questions related to dark haired Altmer and pale Imperials/Cyrods, as the title suggests.

My first question, I'll go ahead and get out of the way, would the top left or top right skin tone be the best option to use for a light skinned Imperial (Nibenese)?

And now, as I'm sure many have asked before about this question, what is the exact reason for Altmer not having darker hair color options while Altmer NPCs demonstrate the ability to have them? Personally, from my understanding I'm guessing darker hair colors are rare for Altmer as a whole, not just pure-blooded Altmer, and yet... TESO clearly has a number of dark haired, pure-blooded Altmer (from only Altmeri bloodlines, no mixed blood anywhere).

Here are some of these dark-haired Altmer in question. Have a look at their hair (some you need to zoom in on, and you'll see they aren't light like many of the Altmer.

Isiraamo from Craglorn, who although is in High Rock might be pure-blooded considering the Direnni and Altmer who once called High Rock home before the rise of the Bretons. uesp.net/wiki/Online:Isiraamo
Ealare, a bard in Firsthold. If you look under her hood, you'll find what many Altmer players are wanting for their own Altmer. uesp.net/wiki/Online:Ealare_(Firsthold)
Eambar, an Altmer in Dune. He may be in a darkened area according to the image, yet if you look carefully and zoom in, you'll see he has dark brown hair - another color that many would want for an Altmer as well. uesp.net/wiki/Online:Eambar_(Dune)
Commander Parmion, a deceased Direnni commander and pure-blooded Altmer. Look at his brows and you'll see they're dark brown too, as is his hair more than likely. elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Commander_Parmion
Ondendil, although I can't say with any true certainty, has dark brown hair as well from the look of it. uesp.net/wiki/Online:Ondendil
Nenaronald, a hostile Altmer on the Summerset Isles, has black hair. Zoom in and look at his facial hair, you can tell it's black even with the little light in the area he's found at. uesp.net/wiki/Online:Nenaronald
Canonreeve Valano. One of the most obvious NPCs one will refer to regarding dark haired Altmer. uesp.net/wiki/Online:Canonreeve_Valano
Palomir, a black haired Altmer in Auridon. uesp.net/wiki/Online:Palomir
Varustante, another black haired Altmer in Auridon. uesp.net/wiki/Online:Varustante

And my last question, obvious as it should be by now, why do Imperials not have the option for lighter skin tones like the Bretons have, when clearly NPCs exist with those fairer complexions? I ask this because the Imperials are a very diverse people - the Colovians and Nibenese both. They can have two Cyrods from one of these two cultural groups of the Imperials stand next to one another and they can look completely different. Paler, darker, fairer haired or darker haired, light eyes or dark eyes, button nose or beak-like nose, the list goes on...

I'll just post the links of those pale to fair skinned Imperials in ESO, since I'm sure some of them are already known - *hint-hint* two of them are Tharns (Nibenese, as they are proud to say).



uesp.net/wiki/Online:Abnur_Tharn , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Empress_Regent_Clivia_Tharn , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Captain_Regilus , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Chief_Archivist_Sergianus , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Justicus , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Medallus , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Ravo_Peltrasius , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Salanius_Campano , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Sylvian_Herius , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Tractus_Salutio , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Candria_Rullus , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Lucretia_Fortunatus , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Pelona_the_Marksman , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Thorasa_Scipiouesp.net/wiki/Online:Quatrius_Scipio

If you managed to get through this possible descent into madness, then I thank you for your time - I look forward to hearing your responses and, again, any answer on the best option to choose for a pale Imperial, I'm all ears, er... eyes, I guess.

BlackWormDisciple

Anyone care to chime in?

Rosveen

BlackWormDisciple wrote: »

Anyone care to chime in?

@Abeille might. She's been complaining about lack of Altmer dark hair for two years now.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

Don't have the Imperial Edition so no idea about the skin tones, sorry.

I believe the Barbershop is coming out later this year though, so if you go with one and don't like it, there will be an option to change it eventually.

NovaShadow

I agree about the Altmer dark hair though, I've wanted a nice black for 2 years and a pretty braid.

Hoping the barber shop has such options.

Volkodav

BlackWormDisciple wrote: »

Hello everyone. *smiles*


So, I recently purchased TESOTU for the PC, and I believe I know what race to go with - an Imperial, as light as I possibly can make him at that - yet I have a question I'd like to ask and, hopefully, get a good answer on to help me out.

I also have a couple questions related to dark haired Altmer and pale Imperials/Cyrods, as the title suggests.

My first question, I'll go ahead and get out of the way, would the top left or top right skin tone be the best option to use for a light skinned Imperial (Nibenese)?

And now, as I'm sure many have asked before about this question, what is the exact reason for Altmer not having darker hair color options while Altmer NPCs demonstrate the ability to have them? Personally, from my understanding I'm guessing darker hair colors are rare for Altmer as a whole, not just pure-blooded Altmer, and yet... TESO clearly has a number of dark haired, pure-blooded Altmer (from only Altmeri bloodlines, no mixed blood anywhere).

Here are some of these dark-haired Altmer in question. Have a look at their hair (some you need to zoom in on, and you'll see they aren't light like many of the Altmer.

Isiraamo from Craglorn, who although is in High Rock might be pure-blooded considering the Direnni and Altmer who once called High Rock home before the rise of the Bretons. uesp.net/wiki/Online:Isiraamo
Ealare, a bard in Firsthold. If you look under her hood, you'll find what many Altmer players are wanting for their own Altmer. uesp.net/wiki/Online:Ealare_(Firsthold)
Eambar, an Altmer in Dune. He may be in a darkened area according to the image, yet if you look carefully and zoom in, you'll see he has dark brown hair - another color that many would want for an Altmer as well. uesp.net/wiki/Online:Eambar_(Dune)
Commander Parmion, a deceased Direnni commander and pure-blooded Altmer. Look at his brows and you'll see they're dark brown too, as is his hair more than likely. elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Commander_Parmion
Ondendil, although I can't say with any true certainty, has dark brown hair as well from the look of it. uesp.net/wiki/Online:Ondendil
Nenaronald, a hostile Altmer on the Summerset Isles, has black hair. Zoom in and look at his facial hair, you can tell it's black even with the little light in the area he's found at. uesp.net/wiki/Online:Nenaronald
Canonreeve Valano. One of the most obvious NPCs one will refer to regarding dark haired Altmer. uesp.net/wiki/Online:Canonreeve_Valano
Palomir, a black haired Altmer in Auridon. uesp.net/wiki/Online:Palomir
Varustante, another black haired Altmer in Auridon. uesp.net/wiki/Online:Varustante

And my last question, obvious as it should be by now, why do Imperials not have the option for lighter skin tones like the Bretons have, when clearly NPCs exist with those fairer complexions? I ask this because the Imperials are a very diverse people - the Colovians and Nibenese both. They can have two Cyrods from one of these two cultural groups of the Imperials stand next to one another and they can look completely different. Paler, darker, fairer haired or darker haired, light eyes or dark eyes, button nose or beak-like nose, the list goes on...

I'll just post the links of those pale to fair skinned Imperials in ESO, since I'm sure some of them are already known - *hint-hint* two of them are Tharns (Nibenese, as they are proud to say).



uesp.net/wiki/Online:Abnur_Tharn , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Empress_Regent_Clivia_Tharn , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Captain_Regilus , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Chief_Archivist_Sergianus , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Justicus , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Medallus , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Ravo_Peltrasius , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Salanius_Campano , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Sylvian_Herius , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Tractus_Salutio , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Candria_Rullus , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Lucretia_Fortunatus , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Pelona_the_Marksman , uesp.net/wiki/Online:Thorasa_Scipiouesp.net/wiki/Online:Quatrius_Scipio

If you managed to get through this possible descent into madness, then I thank you for your time - I look forward to hearing your responses and, again, any answer on the best option to choose for a pale Imperial, I'm all ears, er... eyes, I guess.

Imperials are kinda based on Romans,who dont usually have real pale skin.

Abeille

Rosveen wrote: »

BlackWormDisciple wrote: »

Anyone care to chime in?

@Abeille might. She's been complaining about lack of Altmer dark hair for two years now.

Hello there! Thank you for calling me here




My collection of black-haired Altmer. Most in Auridon, three of them members of the Veiled Heritance (which suggests that pure-blood Altmer can have black hair). One of them is a disguise we use in a quest in Skywatch to infiltrate the Veiled Heritance.

The first one is referred to as a Bosmer in your journal (and is actually neither) but she clearly uses an Altmer model.

I swear I will never complain about anything ever again if ZOS let my Altmer have black hair.

TheShadowScout

It may be that black hair is not part of original "pureblooded" altmer appereance options, back when they first established their dominion over the sumerset isles. But clearly that had shifted over the centuries... be it by interbreeding with other elven subraces (there are several elven races which are since vanished - Direnni, Sinistrals, Ayleids... some of which may commonly have had darker hair, and whose survivors may have found refugee in altmer lands, mixing their bloodline into the altmer pool while loosing their own culture in favor of the altmers... these things are known to happen when it comes to fallen cultures...), or whatever, even if it is a indiucation of some non-altmer blood in a characters ancestry, it certainly ought to be an viable option.

Imperials -are- based on greco-roman culture, and their homeland of Cyrodil IS in a region of tamriel where they get as much sunlight as the Alik'r desert, so bronzed skin is quite logical for them. But again, people of imperial ancestry could have moved to skyrim a few generations ago, interbreed with pale-skinned nords to end up with a pale-skinned imperial character, so... again, it ought to be a viable option.

And yes, I am hoping very much that they will add appearance option unlocks to buy to the crown store that will allow such player characters!

Volkodav

TheShadowScout wrote: »

It may be that black hair is not part of original "pureblooded" altmer appereance options, back when they first established their dominion over the sumerset isles. But clearly that had shifted over the centuries... be it by interbreeding with other elven subraces (there are several elven races which are since vanished - Direnni, Sinistrals, Ayleids... some of which may commonly have had darker hair, and whose survivors may have found refugee in altmer lands, mixing their bloodline into the altmer pool while loosing their own culture in favor of the altmers... these things are known to happen when it comes to fallen cultures...), or whatever, even if it is a indiucation of some non-altmer blood in a characters ancestry, it certainly ought to be an viable option.

Imperials -are- based on greco-roman culture, and their homeland of Cyrodil IS in a region of tamriel where they get as much sunlight as the Alik'r desert, so bronzed skin is quite logical for them. But again, people of imperial ancestry could have moved to skyrim a few generations ago, interbreed with pale-skinned nords to end up with a pale-skinned imperial character, so... again, it ought to be a viable option.

And yes, I am hoping very much that they will add appearance option unlocks to buy to the crown store that will allow such player characters!

You can make your Imperial light skinned or dark.Any character.The many choices of skin color are there for you to use.

TheShadowScout

Volkodav wrote: »

You can make your Imperial light skinned or dark.Any character.The many choices of skin color are there for you to use.

Not all choices. Just the racial range. And we are talking of customization options -beyond- the usual racial range here...

Gidorick

Yet another thread in which my concept for ESO Hybrid Race Character Offspring is relevant.

In my concept you would have an Altmer Mother, and a dark haired father (Redguard perhaps) to create a dark haired Altmer.

Anyway... here's my concept:

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/153977/eso-character-offspring-hybrid-races-concept/p1

Oh, and welcome to the forums @BlackWormDisciple !

Killa4hire89

........... Really?????

Of all the issues this game has atm this is your biggest issue???

Sad thing is they'll probably see this and release in the next major update several new appearance modifications through the crown store while actually fixing nothing.

Oh well.......

AmakarGranaen

I agree!

Character creation is too restricted,
i'm actually hoping they will just give all hair and beards and to all races.
It's not lorebreaking in any way (Argonians might be).

It's good that at least some people see more than just the numbers in the screen.

Faasnu

Killa4hire89 wrote: »

........... Really?????

Of all the issues this game has atm this is your biggest issue???

Sad thing is they'll probably see this and release in the next major update several new appearance modifications through the crown store while actually fixing nothing.

Oh well.......

Noticing a problem which is not a problem with the balance of classes/races/skills/latency/crashes/whatever is nothing wrong. Complain about what the developers will do with it, not about the players who dared to notice it.

I'd like to be able to create altmers with darker hair, too, since obviously there are NPCs with black hair.

BlackWormDisciple

Abeille wrote: »

Rosveen wrote: »

BlackWormDisciple wrote: »

Anyone care to chime in?

@Abeille might. She's been complaining about lack of Altmer dark hair for two years now.

Hello there! Thank you for calling me here




My collection of black-haired Altmer. Most in Auridon, three of them members of the Veiled Heritance (which suggests that pure-blood Altmer can have black hair). One of them is a disguise we use in a quest in Skywatch to infiltrate the Veiled Heritance.

The first one is referred to as a Bosmer in your journal (and is actually neither) but she clearly uses an Altmer model.

I swear I will never complain about anything ever again if ZOS let my Altmer have black hair.

Ahh yes, I've heard about you and your desire for dark haired Altmer in this game. We finally meet! XD

But yes, there are quite a few dark haired Altmer in the game as NPCs - not just black hair, but dark brown (a color I would want for a Altmer personally as a nice contrast with their pale gold skin) and black-gray. And funny you should mention the Veiled Heritance - you and I have the same idea that they prove pure-blooded Altmer can have dark hair in general (black, black-gray, dark brown - a color I'd prefer for Altmer hair personally)!

BlackWormDisciple

TheShadowScout wrote: »

It may be that black hair is not part of original "pureblooded" altmer appereance options, back when they first established their dominion over the sumerset isles. But clearly that had shifted over the centuries... be it by interbreeding with other elven subraces (there are several elven races which are since vanished - Direnni, Sinistrals, Ayleids... some of which may commonly have had darker hair, and whose survivors may have found refugee in altmer lands, mixing their bloodline into the altmer pool while loosing their own culture in favor of the altmers... these things are known to happen when it comes to fallen cultures...), or whatever, even if it is a indiucation of some non-altmer blood in a characters ancestry, it certainly ought to be an viable option.

Imperials -are- based on greco-roman culture, and their homeland of Cyrodil IS in a region of tamriel where they get as much sunlight as the Alik'r desert, so bronzed skin is quite logical for them. But again, people of imperial ancestry could have moved to skyrim a few generations ago, interbreed with pale-skinned nords to end up with a pale-skinned imperial character, so... again, it ought to be a viable option.

And yes, I am hoping very much that they will add appearance option unlocks to buy to the crown store that will allow such player characters!

I can understand the idea of darker hair colors (not just black but dark browns, dark reds, etc.) being considered a sign of an Altmer having non-Altmeri blood in their veins somewhere, but at the same time I have to mention that there are NPCs in the game who could be considered 'pure-bloods' among Altmer that have dark hair. The Veiled Heritance, who are nationalist and loathe the thought of working alongside Khajiit and Bosmer, let alone having them on the Isles at all, are easily considered 'pure' yet a number of them have dark hair as Abeille mentioned.

And in regards to the Imperials, you're right. Regions in Cyrodiil are bound to get as much sun as Hammerfell, however, it and its people are quite diverse. Olive/tanned skin would be typical, but there are also many who are as light or even pale as Bretons and Nords (the Imperial people being the offspring of the various Nedic tribes of old as well as Nords, considering they're sometimes called Cyro-Nords), like the previously mentioned Abnur and Clivia Tharn, and others which I avoided listed for the sake of keeping the list a bit on the small side. Plus, not all Imperials are bound to go about walking around in the sun - nobles, mages, and the like would be more likely to stay indoors and have a paler complexion - just like any individual among the races of Man or Mer.

But that's just my two cents on the matter - but you have some good points, friend.

Abeille

BlackWormDisciple wrote: »

Abeille wrote: »

Rosveen wrote: »

BlackWormDisciple wrote: »

Anyone care to chime in?

@Abeille might. She's been complaining about lack of Altmer dark hair for two years now.

Hello there! Thank you for calling me here




My collection of black-haired Altmer. Most in Auridon, three of them members of the Veiled Heritance (which suggests that pure-blood Altmer can have black hair). One of them is a disguise we use in a quest in Skywatch to infiltrate the Veiled Heritance.

The first one is referred to as a Bosmer in your journal (and is actually neither) but she clearly uses an Altmer model.

I swear I will never complain about anything ever again if ZOS let my Altmer have black hair.

Ahh yes, I've heard about you and your desire for dark haired Altmer in this game. We finally meet! XD

But yes, there are quite a few dark haired Altmer in the game as NPCs - not just black hair, but dark brown (a color I would want for a Altmer personally as a nice contrast with their pale gold skin) and black-gray. And funny you should mention the Veiled Heritance - you and I have the same idea that they prove pure-blooded Altmer can have dark hair in general (black, black-gray, dark brown - a color I'd prefer for Altmer hair personally)!

I leave that in my signature and mention it every time someone makes a thread about hair or a barber shop. I don't create threads regarding it because I don't want to be too annoying, but still, it is important to me xD

And for the same reason, too. I think cold colors for hair and eyes create a great contrast with their golden skin. In Oblivion and Skyrim, I use black hair and blue eyes for my Altmer, though I admit that I modded Skyrim so much that I don't even remember which colors were available in the vanilla game and which were not, although I'm sure there was a dark color available for hair (maybe dark brown and not black, though) but no blue eyes.

Just for the record, the Bosmer in ESO do not have access to white hair, and the Khajiit and Imperials can't have red hair. The Nords have a very dark brown available, but not a true black hair. There are npcs of these races with the hair colors I mentioned in the game. I do not complain about these nearly as much because I don't want these hair colors for any of my characters of these races, but I really wanted my Altmer to have black hair. She doesn't wear anything without a hood because her hair is of the wrong color.

I understand that a lot of people do not care that much about how their characters look like, but this is something that actually affects my overall enjoyment of the game. It won't make me stop playing, of course (though it does make me pass on the costumes that do not have hats). And sure, as I said, I just wear a hood all the time, so it is not like I am demanding that they just drop everything they are doing and give me my black hair. It is just something that will make me very happy if it is ever added.

BlackWormDisciple

Abeille wrote: »

BlackWormDisciple wrote: »

Abeille wrote: »

Rosveen wrote: »

BlackWormDisciple wrote: »

Anyone care to chime in?

@Abeille might. She's been complaining about lack of Altmer dark hair for two years now.

Hello there! Thank you for calling me here




My collection of black-haired Altmer. Most in Auridon, three of them members of the Veiled Heritance (which suggests that pure-blood Altmer can have black hair). One of them is a disguise we use in a quest in Skywatch to infiltrate the Veiled Heritance.

The first one is referred to as a Bosmer in your journal (and is actually neither) but she clearly uses an Altmer model.

I swear I will never complain about anything ever again if ZOS let my Altmer have black hair.

Ahh yes, I've heard about you and your desire for dark haired Altmer in this game. We finally meet! XD

But yes, there are quite a few dark haired Altmer in the game as NPCs - not just black hair, but dark brown (a color I would want for a Altmer personally as a nice contrast with their pale gold skin) and black-gray. And funny you should mention the Veiled Heritance - you and I have the same idea that they prove pure-blooded Altmer can have dark hair in general (black, black-gray, dark brown - a color I'd prefer for Altmer hair personally)!

I leave that in my signature and mention it every time someone makes a thread about hair or a barber shop. I don't create threads regarding it because I don't want to be too annoying, but still, it is important to me xD

And for the same reason, too. I think cold colors for hair and eyes create a great contrast with their golden skin. In Oblivion and Skyrim, I use black hair and blue eyes for my Altmer, though I admit that I modded Skyrim so much that I don't even remember which colors were available in the vanilla game and which were not, although I'm sure there was a dark color available for hair (maybe dark brown and not black, though) but no blue eyes.

Just for the record, the Bosmer in ESO do not have access to white hair, and the Khajiit and Imperials can't have red hair. The Nords have a very dark brown available, but not a true black hair. There are npcs of these races with the hair colors I mentioned in the game. I do not complain about these nearly as much because I don't want these hair colors for any of my characters of these races, but I really wanted my Altmer to have black hair. She doesn't wear anything without a hood because her hair is of the wrong color.

I understand that a lot of people do not care that much about how their characters look like, but this is something that actually affects my overall enjoyment of the game. It won't make me stop playing, of course (though it does make me pass on the costumes that do not have hats). And sure, as I said, I just wear a hood all the time, so it is not like I am demanding that they just drop everything they are doing and give me my black hair. It is just something that will make me very happy if it is ever added.

Perfectly understandable.*smiles*

It's not something that will stop anyone from playing, but the appearance of one's character should be something they take pride in - make them look how YOU want them to look. If there's something about them you want for their appearance yet you can't give them said feature (skin tone, hair color, eye color) yet an NPC of their race has it, what would be the point of excluding it for players?

But I can understand your reasons for wearing a hood with your character at all times, as well as how it's not going to make you stop since, clearly, it would petty of a reason to stop playing because of customization - but it's still an annoyance of an issue to whoever is playing and wants those features for their own character.

TheShadowScout

BlackWormDisciple wrote: »

I can understand the idea of darker hair colors (not just black but dark browns, dark reds, etc.) being considered a sign of an Altmer having non-Altmeri blood in their veins somewhere, but at the same time I have to mention that there are NPCs in the game who could be considered 'pure-bloods' among Altmer that have dark hair. The Veiled Heritance, who are nationalist and loathe the thought of working alongside Khajiit and Bosmer, let alone having them on the Isles at all, are easily considered 'pure' yet a number of them have dark hair as Abeille mentioned.

True, which is why I am assuming that "non-altmeri blood" might be of a different elven subrace, which the elvish-supremacists would still consider "pure", instead of a sign of non-mer bloodlines intermixing.

Like I mentioned... Direnni, Aylieds, Sinistrals... we know next to nothing about those, but it -would- make sense for survivors from those fallen cultures to flee to sumerset, and over the centurioes, intermix with the altmer to some degree... yet still be considered "purebloods" due to tracing their lineage back to the people of aldmeris... (and possibly being haughty about it instead of "barbaric" like the bosmer...)

BlackWormDisciple wrote: »

And in regards to the Imperials, you're right. Regions in Cyrodiil are bound to get as much sun as Hammerfell, however, it and its people are quite diverse. Olive/tanned skin would be typical, but there are also many who are as light or even pale as Bretons and Nords (the Imperial people being the offspring of the various Nedic tribes of old as well as Nords, considering they're sometimes called Cyro-Nords), like the previously mentioned Abnur and Clivia Tharn, and others which I avoided listed for the sake of keeping the list a bit on the small side. Plus, not all Imperials are bound to go about walking around in the sun - nobles, mages, and the like would be more likely to stay indoors and have a paler complexion - just like any individual among the races of Man or Mer.

Indeed. And it would be likely that a pale complexion would enbd up being considered a symbol of status among imperials, just like it was during much of the middle ages... in an "this person needs not toil in the fields under the sun, but spends all their time indoors doung scholar/mage/ruler things... 'like a boss' wise..." kind of way. But the legionaries in the field would likely be a swarthy as your typical roman empire farmer or clichee-ish californan surfer dude...

MornaBaine

Killa4hire89 wrote: »

........... Really?????

Of all the issues this game has atm this is your biggest issue???

Sad thing is they'll probably see this and release in the next major update several new appearance modifications through the crown store while actually fixing nothing.

Oh well.......

You must be new here. Crown Shop is incredibly thin on content, ESPECIALLY of the character customization type of things of which there are...oh yeah...NONE. And yes, players have been telling ZOS they WANT the kind of thing the OP describes SINCE LAUNCH. Yes, I know, because I've been an active poster on these forums since then. We keep telling them all the different ways we'd LOVE to give them our money and they keep on ignoring us. So no, cosmetic issues aren't getting all the love while your beloved performance issues are being ignored.

BlackWormDisciple

TheShadowScout wrote: »

BlackWormDisciple wrote: »

I can understand the idea of darker hair colors (not just black but dark browns, dark reds, etc.) being considered a sign of an Altmer having non-Altmeri blood in their veins somewhere, but at the same time I have to mention that there are NPCs in the game who could be considered 'pure-bloods' among Altmer that have dark hair. The Veiled Heritance, who are nationalist and loathe the thought of working alongside Khajiit and Bosmer, let alone having them on the Isles at all, are easily considered 'pure' yet a number of them have dark hair as Abeille mentioned.

True, which is why I am assuming that "non-altmeri blood" might be of a different elven subrace, which the elvish-supremacists would still consider "pure", instead of a sign of non-mer bloodlines intermixing.

Like I mentioned... Direnni, Aylieds, Sinistrals... we know next to nothing about those, but it -would- make sense for survivors from those fallen cultures to flee to sumerset, and over the centurioes, intermix with the altmer to some degree... yet still be considered "purebloods" due to tracing their lineage back to the people of aldmeris... (and possibly being haughty about it instead of "barbaric" like the bosmer...)

BlackWormDisciple wrote: »

And in regards to the Imperials, you're right. Regions in Cyrodiil are bound to get as much sun as Hammerfell, however, it and its people are quite diverse. Olive/tanned skin would be typical, but there are also many who are as light or even pale as Bretons and Nords (the Imperial people being the offspring of the various Nedic tribes of old as well as Nords, considering they're sometimes called Cyro-Nords), like the previously mentioned Abnur and Clivia Tharn, and others which I avoided listed for the sake of keeping the list a bit on the small side. Plus, not all Imperials are bound to go about walking around in the sun - nobles, mages, and the like would be more likely to stay indoors and have a paler complexion - just like any individual among the races of Man or Mer.

Indeed. And it would be likely that a pale complexion would enbd up being considered a symbol of status among imperials, just like it was during much of the middle ages... in an "this person needs not toil in the fields under the sun, but spends all their time indoors doung scholar/mage/ruler things... 'like a boss' wise..." kind of way. But the legionaries in the field would likely be a swarthy as your typical roman empire farmer or clichee-ish californan surfer dude...

Well said about the Imperials, friend.

I would think the same thing - paler complexions being more common among nobles, mages, and scholars (just look back at Marius Caro - a Nibenese Count in Oblivion's Leyawiin (another example of a pale Nibenese Imperial), Adonato Leotelli in Skyrim - a writer who is the second lightest shade in the game for Imperials/Bretons/Nords, Sergius Turrianus at the College of Winterhold in Skyrim (palest shade for Bretons/Nords/Imperials), etc.) Although, there's also a good chance of pale/fair commoners, thieves, merchants, legionnaires, etc. existing as well among the Cyrods. Some of the Legion Guards in Oblivion show this, as well as some members of the Legion in Skyrim. Cicero, Vex, and Mallus Maccius in Skyrim are also good examples - pale yet not scholarly, noble, or mystical in any way, shape, or form. Even ESO has some examples: the previously mentioned Captain Regilus and Medallus, Sextus Denter uesp.net/w/images/8/83/ON-npc-Sextus_Denter.jpg , Maxilien uesp.net/w/images/8/8e/ON-npc-Maxilien.jpg just to name a few.

Anyways, well said nonetheless! Now if only I knew how the lightest skin tone for Imperials would look when in-game - just how light they would look.

sirrmattus

Awesome thread

baratron

Abeille wrote: »

My collection of black-haired Altmer.

Hrm. What I'm taking away from these pictures is that Altmer can only have black hair if they have scowly/frowny faces.

Have you tried setting the eyes/eyebrows and mouth in the character creation tool to give your Altmer a scowl? Maybe that unlocks the black hair!

BlackWormDisciple

baratron wrote: »

Abeille wrote: »

My collection of black-haired Altmer.

Hrm. What I'm taking away from these pictures is that Altmer can only have black hair if they have scowly/frowny faces.

Have you tried setting the eyes/eyebrows and mouth in the character creation tool to give your Altmer a scowl? Maybe that unlocks the black hair!

XD Not a bad idea there, friend.

BlackWormDisciple

sirrmattus wrote: »

Awesome thread

Well then, glad to see there are people who enjoy this thread.

I always enjoy reading people's opinions on these sort of subjects regarding the playable races of Tamriel - getting their opinions, insights, and what have you. Some things I don't agree with though - like some people saying there are physical differences between Colovian and Nibenese Imperials, but that's definitely not the case. Abnur Tharn, Clivia Tharn, Marius Caro, and others who are considered Nibenese are pale/fair like Bretons, yet some people insist that Colovians look like Nords while Nibenese are swarthier - which I see as ridiculous. The Colovians and Nibenese are cultural groups, so any physical difference (if there even is any among these two groups of an already diverse - culturally, physically, and religious - people) between the two wouldn't even be noticeable - though I don't believe there's any physical difference between the two groups of Cyrods...

*cough* Sorry, didn't mean to ramble.

BlackWormDisciple

So... is there anyone else who'd like to chime in?

Also, anyone know if I should go with the top left or bottom left skin tone for a more fair-looking Imperial? I'd appreciate some input on that, if anyone can tell me which would look more pale/fair for an Imperial.

BlackWormDisciple

So.. I just thought I'd add a bit to the case of dark-haired, pure-blooded Altmer.

One of the lore books first found in Morrowind, also found in Oblivion, Skyrim, and even Online mentions an Altmer on the Isle of Artaeum and describes her as, and I quote, a "young, dark haired Altmer lass". The book in question is 2920, Sun's Dawn - here's a link to see what I mean, first part of the book too. uesp.net/wiki/Lore:2920,_Sun%27s_Dawn_(v2)

The books even confirm that dark haired Altmer are a thing - pure-blooded Altmer included, be it dark brown, black, dark red, black-gray, whatever dark hair color there is. It can be a rare hair color for Altmer, sure, but it's clearly possible for them to have such darker shades. The Chimer can also be a prime example by the TES lore - they were basically the same as the Altmer aside from darker skin tones from Resdayn/modern-day Morrowind, the only real exception between the two Mer groups being that the Chimer worshiped Daedra rather than the Aedra.