Ok, you know how I mentioned that my family’s Native? Remember those black-haired little cousins I drew when I was hanging out on the reserve as a kid? Yeah. I don’t look like that, so much…
Oh, I’ve got the Official Native Cheekbones, and the mystical walk-through-the-mists racial bonus, but skin-wise? Nada. Nothing. Not a trace of melanin.Ā I don’t walk through the mists so much as I just kinda get lost in them. I’m pale. Uncooked bannock. Flour, even.
That’d be my biological dad’s contribution to my genes.Ā Some rather Skandanavian genes, I might add. I’m pasty. But, on the plus side, I am not lactose intolerant, like most of my family. Hooray! Milk! It’ll do a body good!
Unless that body is, say, trying to get a tan… Grr.
sheridan101 Says:
yeah i know the feeling all too well. my grandfather on my mother’s side was Seminole. there some cherokee on Dad’s side…. somewere. and he tans so well most people think he’s hispanic, yet *I* ignite if left out in the sun too long.
though on a funny genetic twist type of note to this story. C.J. (my son’s mother) is of VERY irish stock (red hair pale skin freckles everywhere) and is more sun sesitive than me. when our son (a blond haired blue eyed dollwho was so pale when he was born the nurses were afraid he was anemic) was a few weeks old we took hi out to the beach kept him covered and sunscreened as best we could but when we got home we knoticed he was a little pink. “oh dear the poor thing’s going to be miserable tommorrow” we thought. the next morning C.J. woke me up and draged me into his room. “look!” she said pointing into his crib. “the little sh*t TANS!” and lo in deed he was a nice brown like coffie with too mutch cream.
the boy will be 12 in oct… yes he still tans.
little twerp.
Jazhara7 Says:
I hate to break it to you but…technically your lactose intolerant family members can train to become tolerant…it just takes time. That’s how it started out in Europe at one point too.
But if it’s any consolation, I don’t tan very well either. Blond and grey eyes, and just a bit more melamin than any red haired friends of mine.
– š š š š š š š
Ash Says:
I’m right there with you… My father is Choctaw, my mother is Irish/Cherokee. I have the bone structure, premature gray and easy weight gain of Native Americans, but the sun poisoning of Whites. Strangers ask me, “Are you alright? You look pale.” ARGGG!!! I feel your pain.
Jen Says:
I suppose you could “train” lactose intolerance out of a population if you were willing to wait a few thousand years. Unfortunately it’s a genetic thing and we are stuck with the genes we get. So Alina feel free to rub it in!
-Your friendly local genetics teacher
Yamu Says:
Ahaha– I’m pretty much your inverse there, Alina. NONE of my Cherokee genes are on display anywhere in my gestalt crackerdom (though I can’t say I’m lucky enough to claim a half, or even a fourth), but a little sun browns me up so thoroughly I’ve been mistaken for Mexican.
Greg Says:
Gene are crazy things, I mean look at Carrie and Mike saganace, brother and sister and totaly different skin tones. Or me, every member of my family needs glasses for one reason or another, Amanda finally got me to see an optoitrist.. optomitist… and Eye doctor and I still have 20/20 vision.
Melvar Says:
Why would you want to tan? I’ve seen the GeekCast, you’re a perfect color. Darker would just look wrong. I’m so pale myself that I show the origin of the term “blue-blooded” without being it, and I like it that way. I dislike the sun, for it not only burns me, but blinds me as well. My eyes serve me better in darkness.
Pursue not the pigment, for fleeting it is, and evanescent its embrace. A denizen of darkness become, and …
…
****, I can’t think of an alliterative way to demand you let darkness whiten you that you haven’t used.
WtC Says:
hmm, I too can relate. I’m a Scandinavian and I’ve got it worse with the sun than most. I’m pale, I’ve got blue/green/greyish eyes, I’ve got freckles and although I don’t have red hair my beard is actually reddish XS
Long story short. I’ve gotten 2nd degree burns from the sun from being exposed for a couple of hours in the afternoon on a French beach and yeah I was wearing a factor 30 sunscreen :S
So darkness here I come… Melvar said it all XD
Melvar Says:
I have some ideas for DnD Feats and Flaws based on this. Prerequisite for some is the “Official Native Cheekbones” feat, which precludes most other heritage feats and is human racial. Sadly, I’ve never actually played DnD and therefore have insufficient knowledge to balance them.
Mistwalker: Feat. Requires Official Native Cheekbones. Grants +(What? I didn’t get it) in fog.
Pallor: Flaw. Requires at least half of a light-skinned heritage. facilitates sunburn and damage from light and fire.
Mist Meld: Automatically granted by combination of Mistwalker and Pallor. Grants invisibility in fog.
Photosensitive: (what?). Facilitates damage from light. Blinds on transition from dark to light and always in very bright light. Grants low-light vision. Applies low-light modification to fog if Mistwalker is taken.
Just some ideas, most likely bad, but I can’t keep quiet.
Tizrak Says:
Last time I was up in Victoria was for the wedding of two friends. Before the ceremony I got to chatting with another of the attendees, who looked very like the bride, so I asked her how she was related. “Sister,” she replied, startled, “but how did you know?” “Oh, the family resemblance.” She got really upset and stalked away in a huff, glaring at me through most of the wedding and ceremony. I later asked my friends what had happened and they broke down laughing. It turns out that the sister was under the delusion that she is much better looking than anyone else in the family and that there is no family resemblance at all … The new couple apparently would have been willing to pay money to have been present when I accidentally burst her bubble! š
Artemis Says:
I love your work and have started web-stalking. Thanks for a look into your life.
Sometimes I swear the sun bleachs my skins like cheap curtins.
BTY: Where did you find the cool picture of the white moose?
Peter Says:
Woo! Go Scandinavians!
Back on topic :
I’m really *really* pale, but that is only because I mostly stay indoors when the sun shines (when it doesn’t rain, in spring and summer times, when it doesn’t snow in winter etc). I once spent a week outdoors with my family on vacation and got a really nice tan. No sunburn or anything, and I didn’t even use a sunscreen š
Melvar: Sounds like you have played some World of darkness? Because dnd doesn’t use flaws or merits (unless thats a new or outside core rules thing I haven’t heard of).
Melvar Says:
@Peter: Feats are core, though I might be mistaken about the nature of their workings. Flaws are a variant rule.
Like I said, I’ve not sufficient knowledge.
I knew I shouldn’t have spoken up. I should alter my person to eliminate this weakness of seeking audience for any idea.
_ĀÆ/;\-)āi’iā ā(-/;|,’|,’|-|ii!
Melvar Says:
Ah, now I thought of *something*:
Pursue not the pigment, for fleeting it is, and evanescent its embrace. A denizen of darkness become, and let the blackness bleach you.
Meh, but at least complete.