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Visual depictions of Vilani from the first Imperium

Ezra

SOC-5
Hi, I'm not to these boards. :)

I recently began a GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars campaign, and I'm wondering if any resources exist that show visual depictions of the Vilani from the 1st Imperium. The source book is scant on images and details regarding their physical appearance/dress, etc.

Being able to see what they look like would help me create a more immersive experience for my players.
 
IIRC, Vilani have generally been depicted with darker hair colors and a brown/olive complexion (Vland has a bright F-type star), often with dark eyes, but with golden eyes also known. Their eyes tend to be deep-set. Since Vland has a high surface gravity, they probably tend to be slightly shorter and stockier that Terrans, on average.
 
Necro thread but my players may be looking at it so...anyway.

In the mainworlds of the 3I, human ethnic groups are so thoroughly mixed there IS NO WAY TO TELL RELIABLY, visually, someone's background. Even in most cases genetics aren't going to tell you much conclusively.

That doesn't mean there's no difference, however.

IMTU, the Vilani were light-to-medium skintone South Asians in appearance, meaning that in some circles that's seen as an implication of Vilani (high SS/high caste/old blood family) 1st Imperium bloodline.

The Solomani surge was driven by Earthlings long after Terra had largely de-balkanized and intermixed basically randomly (far moreso than today), so Solomani could be literally anything. There have been occasional (and continue to be) "purity" fringe movements for literally every single ethnic group generally seen by most societies to be umbrella'd as "Rule of Man Crazies". There are still occasional people you meet who appear a sole ethnic type - sino-Asian, south-Asian, Andaman-African, Nordic-caucasoid, etc forever - but they're *exceedingly* rare now. Humans like mixing. (shrug)

That said, there are certainly REGIONAL ethnic variations and concentrations, having to do with their origins and how cosmopolitan they are socio-historically.

A planet settled originally by colony vessels sponsored by the Azanian Union perhaps 1000 years ago was primarily dark-skinned but over 1000 years of interaction is going to be more or less mixed. If they were red-zoned and insular, they might still be fairly (a little shockingly to 'modern' sensibilities) ethnic.
OTOH, The starport governor maybe "militant pureblood Azanian, excessively proud of her heritage' named Motsuhiko Ling-Park and be fair-skinned redhead with freckles. People today truly don't see any connection between skin tone, politics, culture, etc.
 
As I've noted previously, quite a few people who claim to be of Solmani descent, aren't. When you're in a culture where your social standing is an innate, almost immutable characteristic, those with low status may well choose to escape it into one with seemingly more opportunity for class mobility.

Especially so in the aftermath of a war, where records may have been destroyed.
 
Culture, and a body of literature around which a culture can solidify is important. Such as I saw a documentary where British historians were examining the Saxons, and that much of the Saxon artifacts were of British manufacture. They don't know who those people were as they did not leave behind any literature. Looking at their genetics, lack of battle sites, and such they can only guess they were British that for some reason adopted Saxon culture.
 
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