Create a Zekiran

Selecting an Appearance

SELECTING an APPEARANCE
Zekirans come in a full rainbow of skintones, hair shades and eye colors. Far from being simply melanin-driven, their skin contains color cells rather like those found in Earthly squid and octopods, which can change color, expand and overlap in some cases. Certain colors are slightly more dominant than others, reds and oranges, browns and yellow-white do dominate other shades, but as long as there are people with preferences and Breeders with the ability, there will always be a full compliment of blues, greens, periwinkles and ebony. In many cases, colors of offspring are either a mix of their parents' tones, or tempered by one or the other.

An example: Mirage has strongly toned white skin, rich black hair, and pale violet eyes; Aern has strong blue skin, two-toned blue and white hair, and striking blue eyes. Their daughter Shatter has pale blue skin, two-toned deep blue and silver-grey hair, and pale blue-violet eyes.. Go ahead and check out the front and disclaimer pages of the site. Mirage is there at the top... Shatter's daughter (with Vanya, go figure) Scandal on the left has darker green skin, two-toned dark blue and charcoal hair, and brilliant blue-violet eyes. On the back, her son Scam has blue-green skin, dark blue-green and black hair...

Patterns on skin and hair carry for a time, usually about three generations, before they revert to either a mixed color scheme or have slowly transformed to another pattern.

An example: someone with green skin marked with yellow spots has a child with light green skin, their fingers and "soft parts" might be colored yellow, or their spots may be of their other parent's coloration. That child's offspring might still have patterned skin, but only in faint ways resembling their grandparents.

All colors mix similarly to a color wheel of paint, but with an added depth of color value which can also be both tempered and inherited. Common patterns include the mentioned "soft parts" contrast, spots resembling beads of water over the skin, siamese patterning on hands, feet and ears/face; more exotic and Bred features include stripes, animal-style spots (with rings or open interior to the base color), or other more complex patterns.

Colors are likely to remain within certain families (reds with oranges and violets, blues with greens and whites) but there are many which contrast openly (BeastMistress Jherita's green skin, orange hair and blue eyes for instance).
Breeders are able to either select for a color or pattern or produce it if they are of high enough Degree (6th), so if the character is highly Bred, they may also have highly-bred-looking skin and hair colors (or even eyes!). As has been mentioned before, "tanning" or slight color shifts in conditions saves many field workers from overheating and burning, but there are people whose colors can shift with their thoughts or even with their moods.

As is indicated in some of the Mutation descriptions, there can be variety to the texture and look of skin, hair and eyes, including everything from fur, gross hair, lumpy growths, open wounds, armor plates, etc. Sometimes it's best to decide actual appearance last, after any Mutations or Powers are rolled, because of their strong effects on appearance. Perhaps the keen eyesight of a character is aided with the reflective retina, so their eyes seem to "glow" in the dark? If they have a tail perhaps it's poorly cared for, or so lotioned up it shines? The Paveh line carries the mutation of body or facial hair, and that hair is always in the same color as the head hair, and is always kept perfectly trimmed and styled: they pay special attention to it so that others don't become offended by it.

Hair is an artform, on Zekira, so the complexity of a style is very important to certain folks. Others don't seem to care if they have a brush handy, or if they've been to a salon in the past decade. Some lines carry distinct hair styles (Kshau and their stiff-topped/fluffy bottomed style, Sengihr with extremely thick straight dark and widow's peaked hairline, the Raanatani "Big" hairdo...) so if the character is part of an established clan, they may take their hair style or even all their colorations directly from there. Dyes and cuts can seriously alter the way a character looks, it's always a matter of personal taste if they are going to extremes on their style. "None" is a perfectly valid hair style, but it's probably good to still roll for the color anyway. (Baldness is not rare, but is considered an "old person's" trait, unless it's obviously shaved in origin.)

Zekiran eyes are noticeably different from Humans. Though they have the same function, with the pupil expanding and contracting to let in or shut out light, surrounded by an iris with color. Very often the "whites" of a Zekiran's eyes are a lighter shade of color as the iris, or even of their skin tone, or a completely different color. When two eye colors are rolled, optionally, this may be the case.

An example: Ksai and Amaranth's daughter Shadow has bright green irises over a pale violet background, mixing her parents' colors.

Eyes are the most commonly changeable feature of Zekiran coloration, other than tanning. The shape of a Zekiran's eyes are usually narrow to almond-shaped, but there are numbers of those with huge, round eyes (think anime...). With certain Breeding, slit-pupils, horizontal or vertical, can be found.

Follow the chart information for randomization. See below for the other levels of style and appearance - hair style and clothing!

Hair can be as simple as "none" or as complex as the aforementioned Magnetic Stunt Hair. A pretty simple roll of 1d8 will do:

Clothing is a little more suited to choosing per Status: how much can you afford? Do you actually care what the latest texture is or how many layers of silk go into that new Dramo Desert wear?

Note well that mutations and powers may change your idea of the appearance of a character! Ever try decorating a tail? How about polishing those horns, buster! Keeping up ones appearance is hard enough for those normal folk, but for anyone of even slightly different physiology it can be a nightmare. Some mutants show off their differences, many try to hid them, most likely factor in your Courage or Aggression score to emulate this.

Fashion and hair are also great story hooks: your new stylist is a talkative Lord with way too much time on his hands, and with your hair in them too it seems you get in on all the best dirt before anyone else... Did you know that BeastMistress what's-her-name was actually hiding a second set of arms under that big old dress she had on at that last party?

Only a few Zekirans choose to use makeup, but the industry is growing. It comes and goes like all things, two hundred years ago it was barely acceptable to put lip gloss on, now it's 'choose your complimentary eyeshade'. Bangles and glittery hair doodads as well as rings, earrings, nose and eyebrow rings, and even tattoos are popular at all times.

Appearance Chart
Roll first Roll for the intensity of color, next for the color group, then individual shade within it. If Mixed or Changeable is indicated, start from the beginning - and continue again if another Mix or Change is indicated! It is rare, and unlikely to roll, but it happens. Mixes are frequently patterned, that's up to the player to decide. When going from Skin to Hair to Eyes - you might want to just roll one d8 for the color group, and merely change the shade for hair and eyes, most Zekirans have hair and eyes that reflects their skin. However, many have contrasting colorations, it's up to you!

An example: the first d8 roll gives a 6, pale; second d8 shows 2, yellow group, and d4 is a 2 - cream. Skin of Pale Cream! I'll keep the group, and then roll another d8 and d4 for intensity and color, getting a 7 and 3, mixed Canary (I roll again, 2d8 and d4, getting 2, 4 and 1) and dark Lavender hair. I'll go for the Violets shade this time, and roll only a d8 and d4 for Eyes, getting a 4 and 4 - Medium Violet. So this character has pale cream skin, mixed canary and dark lavender hair, and eyes of medium violet.

Skin markings are common enough on many Tuned mutants, but also on a good portion of the population itself. If you choose to, or have rolled two colors for skin, check this chart for what kind of pattern it might have, or just choose whatever look you like.