Exotic Skin Colours

[Resarys]

Been some time since I was here, life has gotten well in the way of the hobby (as well as other hobbies - helloooooo Dark Future! ) but I've been drawn back in thanks to a little something called Chapter Master.

A random Chapter I stuck with and played, and honestly have had the most success and fun with, has really gotten under my skin and I'm considering dusting off the ol' dataslate and working up a proper IA for them. The only thing is.... they have purple skin. And are White Scars successors.

Now in the game, that's just a small minus to reputation, but in actual fluff I have a feeling being Slaanesh-coloured would, uh... not turn out well. It's not a challenge to write - the influences of their Death World homeworld, gene-seed reacts, yaddayaddayadda. Appearance is a pretty mutable thing amongst Chapters, so actually making it sound okay I'm not worried about. Throw in a little shame and a lot of helmet-wearing, and we're good to go. (Note: the gene-seed won't actually be mutated, it just reacts oddly with the natives of whatever world.)

But is purple skin too much for the Imperium to ignore? Sure the Salamanders look pretty demonic, but, well, they aren't purple.

This isn't a deal-breaker that will prevent me from working on the Chapter. I could tone things down and just say "a purplish, corpse-like pallor", or ignore it altogether (though I'd rather not), but I really am wondering if B&C thinks a Chapter could get away with purple skin.

[Olis]

First off, I cannot ignore this:

Been some time since I was here, life has gotten well in the way of the hobby (as well as other hobbies - helloooooo Dark Future! ) but I've been drawn back in thanks to a little something called Chapter Master.

This particular gem means something to me. I followed and participated in the threads on /tg/ (I even adopted a name, for shame) that generated the interest and spawned the first kernels of the game (by greentext, if I'm not mistaken). I did also briefly take part in the development, although my own skills lay in lore and that wasn't needed for a while, so my interest waned. I'm just, I dunno, proud that I had a hand in the genesis of something that people enjoy, even if I have no part in it now. As far as I know, it's mostly down to Duke these days.

That almost felt like a confession...

Anyhoo. Skin tone. I think purple is doable. Depends on the purple, I'd say. A more ruddy colour would probably be more aesthetically pleasing than a royal purple or a bluish one. At least we're only stepping one or two times over the line in terms of skintone, rather than parking a deckchair almost out of sight of it. Bearing in mind that natural human skin-tones vary a lot, from near-black to alabaster, from oranges and browns to greys or blues. Added to this Salamander charcoal-black skin and you have a reasonable range to judge things by or use as a yardstick. So, yeah, purple might fly.

(Just to qualify, the greys and blues are generally expected in non-breathing examples...)

[Resarys]

First off, I cannot ignore this:

Been some time since I was here, life has gotten well in the way of the hobby (as well as other hobbies - helloooooo Dark Future! ) but I've been drawn back in thanks to a little something called Chapter Master.

This particular gem means something to me. I followed and participated in the threads on /tg/ (I even adopted a name, for shame) that generated the interest and spawned the first kernels of the game (by greentext, if I'm not mistaken). I did also briefly take part in the development, although my own skills lay in lore and that wasn't needed for a while, so my interest waned. I'm just, I dunno, proud that I had a hand in the genesis of something that people enjoy, even if I have no part in it now. As far as I know, it's mostly down to Duke these days.

That almost felt like a confession...

While the game is in a very visible alpha state (about one game in ten works without bugs), it's a tremendous accomplishment, and very enjoyable. One thing I've found with Warhammer games over the years is, well, "Here's the game. That's it." The fluff nerd in me is never satisfied. I never feel like my Chapter or Sept means anything, or has their own story. Chapter Master, now, that's a very different case.

So thank you for contributing to it!

Anyhoo. Skin tone. I think purple is doable. Depends on the purple, I'd say. A more ruddy colour would probably be more aesthetically pleasing than a royal purple or a bluish one. At least we're only stepping one or two times over the line in terms of skintone, rather than parking a deckchair almost out of sight of it. Bearing in mind that natural human skin-tones vary a lot, from near-black to alabaster, from oranges and browns to greys or blues. Added to this Salamander charcoal-black skin and you have a reasonable range to judge things by or use as a yardstick. So, yeah, purple might fly.

(Just to qualify, the greys and blues are generally expected in non-breathing examples...)

So you suggest more this than this?

The purple is quite . . .

http://i.imgur.com/hXEweXD.jpg

. . . extreme, in Chapter Master, but I'd assume there's abHumans with purple skin, anyway. Surely in forty thousand years, purple-ish skin tone popped up on a planet or two.

Along with black hair and white eyes, it actually makes a very striking Marine. I may even try and paint one of these guys!

[Olis]

So you suggest more this than this?

 

Yep, that would be my suggestion. It takes a sunburn-look a step or two further. This particular colour could be, say, where the melanchrome has reacted weakly to UV light and the pigment of the skin is the space marine version of a sunburn. Or it's it's just the melanchrome playing silly buggers and this is the result, making the marine look like he's led on the beach a wee bit too long.

 

But it's just a suggestion. If you feel the other purple is what you want, then that's alright. 

[Machine God]

The Space Marines in my Chapter have light blue skin tones.

 

1) I hate painting flesh tones and.

 

2) They are a homage to Rogue Trooper.

[Resarys]

 

So you suggest more this than this?

 

Yep, that would be my suggestion. It takes a sunburn-look a step or two further. This particular colour could be, say, where the melanchrome has reacted weakly to UV light and the pigment of the skin is the space marine version of a sunburn. Or it's it's just the melanchrome playing silly buggers and this is the result, making the marine look like he's led on the beach a wee bit too long.

 

But it's just a suggestion. If you feel the other purple is what you want, then that's alright. 

 

 

I'm not glued to the insane purple, and I truly appreciate the input. Royal purple would require a little more...finessing, as opposed to Space Marine Sunburn©, anyway.

 

The Space Marines in my Chapter have light blue skin tones.

 

1) I hate painting flesh tones and.

 

2) They are a homage to Rogue Trooper.

 

This has been a big part of my thought process, lately. One of the things that attracted me to Dark Future was the simple fun of the setting. It's goofy and silly and nuts, and I think sometimes our more serious hobbies forget about fun.