26 réponses à ce sujet

[Feybrad]

What does that Information add to a Story?

[Evamitchelle]

One of the books described Anderson as looking like he has some Native ancestry: "His features, like most citizens in the multicultural society of the late twenty-second century, were a mix of several different racial characteristics. Predominantly African, but Grissom thought he could see lingering traces of Central European and Native American ancestry as well."

 

This would indicate that Native Americans aren't extinct in the ME timeline. 

[Grieving Natashina]

From what I've been able to gather, no one has said that NA tribes are extinct by the time that ME1 starts.  However, after asking about this for myself, in one of the novels they said that any one of direct descent is a rarity by then.  For example, Anderson is part black, part NA, and part white.  Ashley is part Hispanic; Kaidan has a lot of Indian blood; Samantha is of Indian/British descent.

 

I said in the NA preset thread that genetics due to tend to favor some characteristics.  For instance, Emily Wong has what is usually considered Asian features.  So I can see a squadmate or NPC that has more of the features associated with the NA (and other aboriginal) tribes.  They aren't extinct, just rare.

 

Oh and brace yourself.  This is going to likely get heated quick.

[Grieving Natashina]

Thank you for that information. So not extinct, but rare like blondes, which are still in the MEU. 

Please bare in mind that natural blondes like Kahlee Sanders are extremely rare, and they do mention this in the EU.  A natural blonde is more rare in the MEU than it even is now in our world.  In the thread where I'm talking about a blonde LI, the blonde hair could come from a bottle (I would imagine that hair dye still exists in 2400 AD or whenever ME:A is going to take place) or genetic engineering.  Well, without getting into the levels that happened to Miranda that is.  

[shodiswe]

Can I have a racialy pure character, seems to be the question.

[Evamitchelle]

From what I've been able to gather, no one has said that NA tribes are extinct by the time that ME1 starts.  However, after asking about this for myself, in one of the novels they said that any one of direct descent is a rarity by then.  For example, Anderson is part black, part NA, and part white.  Ashley is part Hispanic; Kaidan has a lot of Indian blood; Samantha is of Indian/British descent.

 

I said in the NA preset thread that genetics due to tend to favor some characteristics.  For instance, Emily Wong has what is usually considered Asian features.  So I can see a squadmate or NPC that has more of the features associated with the NA (and other aboriginal) tribes.  They aren't extinct, just rare.

 

Oh and brace yourself.  This is going to likely get heated quick.

 

Is that mentioned anywhere ? Since Singapore has a majority population of Chinese I've been assuming that Kaidan is Chinese/Ukrainian. 

[Grieving Natashina]

Is that mentioned anywhere ? Since Singapore has a majority population of Chinese I've been assuming that Kaidan is Chinese/Ukrainian. 

After some digging, apparently it's just BSN/tumblr rumor that has floated around before.  I thought there was a source, and I looked but I was dead wrong.  For now, I can't find WoG on this one way or the other.  I apologize for that assumption on my part.  

 

From what did see, the general consensus on other sites (IGN, Reddit, ect) agrees with you.     

[9TailsFox]

[Feybrad]

What does requesting a blonde?

 

Fit body on a hot dude?

 

A woman with long legs?

 

A woman with large breasts?

 

Or a hot chick/hot alien on the crew?

 

More pleasing facial aesthetics?

 

More face presets for races of humans?

 

or Certain species being in the crew?

 

....add to the plot or story. 

 

My question was pretty easy to answer, why are you asking this?

 

I will separate these in two Categories: Aesthetical Things and Species.

 

Aesthetical Things do not add to the Story if the Story is not about these Aesthetics (which it's not, this is a Science-Fiction Story about the Andromeda-galaxy in the broadest Sense). It is silly to ask for them in a Story Context. And you asked in a Story Context.

 

Species, however, can absolutely be important to that Story and you should know why. Perspectives and Stuff. The Perspective of a blonde Human over a brunette Human is uninteresting. The Perspective of a specific Alien Race over a Human, however, might absolutely be interesting for the Story. They may even play a Part in the Story that a Human couldn't play. So it is totally legitimate to ask for specific Alien Races in a Story Context.

 

And thus I did ask - what does the Ethnicity of a Human matter to the Story? What does it matter to the Story, if native Americans are extinct or not?

[daveliam]

So, to summarize, there's no in-game evidence that native Americans or blonds are extinct by the time of the original trilogy.  Both are rare, but both have been referenced as existing.  /thread?

[Feybrad]

Humanity's history in the MEU interests me. Why did this one race go extinct in the MEU interests me? The idea that certain groups of humans went extinct interests me? Could this happen to an extreme given only a handful of colonists from the human population are going to Andromeda? What limitations will be in effect; no blondes, red heads, everone is tan skinned, everyone has dark hair because the majority that went to Andromeda had darker skin, eyes and hair? Will that effect customization?

 

See, and thus you answered my Question. I am satisfied. Thank you, good Sir. You explained, why it matters (for you) in a Story Context. Good Work.

[shodiswe]

Understood. But blondes will not be extinct. For example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearing_blonde_gene.
 
What do you mean racially "pure"? I never said this? Sounds like a Nazi philosophy? Do I sound like a Nazi for asking about my race possibly being extinct in the MEU?
 
If I do then my apologize to anyone who feels this way, but I still hope Native Americans aren't being written off as extinct.

Seeing as they have interbreed and mixed with others they can't be totaly extinct unless most or a very huge chunk of humanity took a hit. Unless extinct means the extinction of a racialy pure non-interbreed native american line.
I'm sorry, I have no idea where you personaly draw the line but I Heard there are tribes that are very strict on such matters(who belong and who doesn't).
Maybe they went extinct because they all discovered that they had a few genes in their genepool that wasn't 100% native american once people started researching their genetic material rather than hearsay. (extinct by their own traditional definition)

If all you're asking for is looks, it might be possible. I can't say I was 100% happy with the options given, but in the end I managed to create a few charaters I could stand and which I prefered over having the official Shepard. I like customising characters.

[snackrat]

Loreside, I think the whole point of humans in Mass Effect's universe is that none of the 'races' really exist anymore. Globalisation for so many years has erased the 'line' between most ethnicities since effectively everyone is multicultural and mixed race at this point.

 

It's why the face model for Shepard is Dutch - which is about as adventurous as marketing will ever get with their Brown-Haired White Guys.

 

So they may have died out in the sense that there aren't any 'pure bloodline' anymore (which is already kind of a weird thing to say since ethnic variety already comes from genetic variation so there isn't a pure anything) - because will also be the case for literally every race.

Or (again, like every other race) they are forever immortalised as a significant portion of the population could trace themselves back to any one modern-day ethnicity you care to name.

 

As for presets, yeah, they may as well add one. Specific ethnicities may no longer technically exist in-universe but self-representation is still a very important thing, especially for gamers that like to play as themselves. Native Americans and west asians (inc Indians) never seem to get presets in anything.

[BatarianBob]

You do understand that there's a distinction between what douchebags on the forum say and what the series lore says, right?

I could say that Garrus secretly wants to be a ballerina, dresses in a pink tutu and wears a bow around his head spike things. Doesn't make it so.

[N7Jamaican]

One can assume, in the future, there are more "mixed" individuals.  I doubt BioWare would do away with any race.

[maia0407]

I completely support having more presets representing more races. It's a fabulous idea.

[FKA_Servo]

So, to summarize, there's no in-game evidence that native Americans or blonds are extinct by the time of the original trilogy.  Both are rare, but both have been referenced as existing.  /thread?

 

Pulling the plug on this one early does seem like the most productive course of action, doesn't it?