Opinions wanted: hair color genetics in Southeast Asia

[lisefrac]

I recently had one of the pals I made through Pitch Wars (@VlosAri, another writer of adult fantasy) reading Gods and Fathers. She had things to say about something I'd never thought too much about before--Serevic's hair color

Comments

[sovay]

What would be a rare-ish genetic variation you might find in Southeast Asians (or Central Asians, possibly?) that would make someone stand out?

I was going to suggest red hair, but that only works if your protagonist is Central Asian. Could you do something with hair texture-he's still dark-haired, but it's wildly curly or kinky where nearly everyone around him is straight-haired?

[lisefrac]

That's an option I'm considering. He's sometimes described as having a "halo" of hair, which certainly suggests a curlier or more unruly hair than the very straight black hair I'm thinking of.

[sovay]

He's sometimes described as having a "halo" of hair, which certainly suggests a curlier or more unruly hair than the very straight black hair I'm thinking of.

It would distinguish him visually and it would avoid the problem of accidentally coding his "unusual" looks as white default.

What kind of god has he got riding him?

[lisefrac]

What kind of god has he got riding him?

That's rather the crux of the book! Ruksha, the god in Serevic's head, is revered in his province as the god of language, poetry, and beasts. The other provinces see him... less positively, calling him a demon. They're both right, and wrong. Gods are complex, and contain multiples.

[lisefrac]

Hmm, eye color might a good choice. I'd have to think about how to use eye color in similar ways to how I've used blondness, which requires some adjustment.

[akiko]

Yeah, for point A, your critic has got it partly wrong. For a recessive trait to show up, he needs to have 1 copy of the recessive gene from each parent, which means that they both have to have the Bb genotype and they both have to pass the b on. It's a thing that can happen. It's statistically improbable (each of them had to inherit a B and a b from their parents, who in turn had to each possess a B and a b, who in turn...) but possible. If there have been other blond(e)s on either side more recently (great-grands, say), that boosts the probability.

My dad has black hair and light blue eyes, and I think most of his side of the family also has light eyes. My mom's side mostly has green or green-brown eyes; one of my cousins had cats-eye green eyes for a long time.

[breakinglight11]

Tumblr has alerted me to the fact that occasionally there ARE Asian blonds, including in the Southeast. A quick google search of "Southeast Asian Blond" shows several examples, such as the Hmong blond people here: http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?44223-Blond-Hmongs-of-Southern-China-SouthEast-Asia So somebody could conceivably have a recessive gene for blondness. It's not unheard of.

That said, I do understand your concern of giving him so-called Western traits. Not that that's terribly helpful.

[lisefrac]

Huh, that's really interesting. Maybe if he were blond but not blue-eyed it would be less of an issue? But it might still be coded in the same way. Dunno. Something to consider. In any case, now I know about blond Hmong!

[ext_1212111]

So if verisimilitude is at issue, a rare genetic variation occasionally found in Central Asia is gray eyes in an otherwise brown-skinned black-haired appearance. This is said, and I have no idea if it is true, to be a genetic remnant of the occupation by Alexander's army for a while. Super exotic looking, but in no way unheard of even all those generations after. Just sort of crops up. -Vik

[lisefrac]

I figured you could be counted on to comment on Central Asia :) I think of the Venimari as Central Asian in some ways; they take some inspiration from the Mongols.

I'm not necessarily tied to verisimilitude, but believability is nice. Grey eyes could be interesting! The picture you linked on FB is good because facially, he looks a lot like how I imagine Serevic.