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[Seriphyn]

No other nation is as welcoming to immigrants as the Gallente  Federation. Between the huge demand for labor, the libertarian culture, and social policies of the government, hard-working immigrants of every race, creed, and color can build a dream life in the Federation, the land of opportunity.

From the immigrants bloodline...there's been a slow consensus that I and a few others have advocated that the ethnic Gallente population of the Federation is around 40%, considering Matar is "almost a third" (30%) and the Intaki being "one of the largest" ethnicities (20%).

However, it sounds like a good chunk of the ethnic Gallente are perhaps only half-so. I imagine playing an ethnic Gallente immigrant means that, in actuality, you are playing a half-Gallente, with the other half being anything from Amarr, Caldari or Minmatar. Indeed, it is possible to have very pale skin as a Gallente, or relatively dark skin.

This is rather interesting. It further boosts the Federation as the most diverse nation in EVE, but also sets up precedents for other RP. On one hand, Gallente racial supremacists complaining that the Luminairie bloodline is dying, being subsumed by damn foreigners. It also means that it's happening with other Federal bloodlines too, such as the Mannar, Jin-Mei, Intaki. After all, if they have a culture to protect, then losing it via mixed race marriages is worrysome...

[Mithfindel]

The ingame bloodlines/ancestries might not be representative. Sure, there's a lot of immigrants, but the most - such as the Minmatar - are already included in the demographics. For another minority appearing in the ancestries, I'd assume that not many True Amarr are descendants of Holders, let alone Liberal Holders.

[Isobel Mitar]

I have always had the feeling Federation prides itself on the fact that many immigrants move in, and yet after a couple of generations the immigrants' original culture has become something that adds diversity, vigour and richness into the mainstream culture. ("Mainstream" being an uniquely wide concept in the Federation)

Although, in a place as large and diverse as Federation there would certainly be room for racial purists, too.

[Seriphyn]

Reviving this with another thought, take a look at the various chron pictures, and the "white" characters...they don't really look that much apart...

Gallente, Intaki, Civire, Deteis, Amarr, Ni-Kunni, Sebiestor etc. are all the "white" bloodlines, and if transferred to IRL, they would probably not look that much different. Consider that, IRL, white ethnicities are really not that different one another, and that they only have subtle differences...such as nose shape and slight variations in pigmentation.

Likewise, Gallenteans may follow the American way of doing things...ie. Polish-American, Italian-American, Cuban-American...ergo...

Civire-Gallentean, Amarr-Gallentean, Sebiestor-Gallentean etc.

[Shae Tiann]

Shae's ethnic Gallente with the Immigrants background. I figured a while ago that she'd be 1/8 Deteis from her father's grandmother, and a little more recently 1/4 Sebiestor from her mother's mother. It's given me a LOT to work with to build a character background.

I rather think that the Gallente, in an effort to demonstrate that they're all-inclusive, probably wouldn't differentiate based on someone's ethnic past. You came to the Federation in the spirit of all that it stands for (not necessarily what it IS -- we all know how nations tend to be viewed differently depending on whether you're inside or outside their sphere), you want to contribute to society; congratulations! You're as Gallente as any native! Undoubtably there would be individuals whose opinions would differ in that regard -- who says there can't be racist Gallente? -- but on the whole I think the government would push for at least the appearance of equality. The better to spread the Federal way of life to all, eh?

[Benjamin Shepherd]

I don't look at race in this game physically.

I don't in real life, I don't in this game. If you're ethnic, you're ethnic. You can't just say that someone doesn't look "ethnic" enough based on an unknown formula.

[Silver Night]

A couple things.

First, 'ethnic' is, anthropologically speaking, to do with culture. Not skin color.

People of different skin colors often belong to the same culture, and people of the same skin color often belong to different cultures.

Second, 'races' in Eve, in many cases, refer to people who all come from the same planet. They've been on these planets for thousands and thousands of years without outside contact. That's long enough for skin color to change based on environment. So, for example, there's a pretty decent chance that 'Intaki' covers a range of skin colors that would be considered different 'races' in a current-earth sense.

I think it'd be nice if CCP would include a larger range of possible skin colors in character creation, along with a number of other things that could use more variety, though. I think that it isn't evidence that there aren't a variety of skin colors in the 'actual' world of Eve. I think it is an oversight on the part of CCP because back when they came up with the skin colors, pretty much all the devs were in and from Iceland, where they have about 0 experience of people with other skin colors.  Pretty much the same reason that the original plans to have the Caldari look sort of Asian were scrapped - they couldn't get the hang of the models, from what I understand. (And if you look at some of the 'asian' bloodlines, you can see they are still working on it.  )

[Gottii]

It will be interesting to see how the new portrait creation system coming out in the Winter expansion (right? right?  CCP wouldnt lie to me and say it is coming out when its not...right???) will change a lot of perceived notions regarding bloodlines and "race".  Im betting the skin tone will be quite a bit more varied.

[Seriphyn]

I think it'd be nice if CCP would include a larger range of possible skin colors in character creation, along with a number of other things that could use more variety, though. I think that it isn't evidence that there aren't a variety of skin colors in the 'actual' world of Eve. I think it is an oversight on the part of CCP because back when they came up with the skin colors, pretty much all the devs were in and from Iceland, where they have about 0 experience of people with other skin colors.  Pretty much the same reason that the original plans to have the Caldari look sort of Asian were scrapped - they couldn't get the hang of the models, from what I understand. (And if you look at some of the 'asian' bloodlines, you can see they are still working on it.  )

Yes...the overwhelming 'whiteness' of EVE is a little bleh...

http://cdn1.eveonline.com/www/chronicle/img/Jita4-4.jpg

Guy on the right is Brutor which made me go..."wut"...anyway, if you look at the new "Gallente Gallente" portrait, they look more closer to mediterrenean, at least on skin colour alone (again, like Gottii, expecting a broader palette)

Anyway, in THIS context, the term "Ethnic Gallente" is used to distinguish between "Gallentean". In the Federation, anyone can be "Gallentean", including Minmatar, but PF uses the word 'ethnic'.

However, if you can pick the Gallente Gallente (or ethnic Gallente) bloodline with an 'Immigrants' ancestry, sounds like that a good portion of those you would consider Gallente Gallente are actually descended from other bloodlines.

Given that Amarr and Gallente are both white bloodlines, you wouldn't really be able to tell the difference in reality anyway.

[Silver Night]

I'm not sure I would define Amarrians as 'white', at least, not in the sense of being 'anglo-saxon'. I kind of see a lot more of a middle eastern or south-west Asian influence. (Western European seems like a good bet for at least a large portion of the people who were the original settlers on Gallente Prime, ofc. At least, if you still use the retconned French ancestry.)

Regardless I would be very wary of categorizing at all, whatever the influences might appear to be.

Particularly using what you see in character creation.

The options for character portraits are very, very limited. Virtually any portrait for a given gender and bloodline could be, at most, a close relative of nearly any other that comes out of them. All Deteis could be descended from the Patterson family of northern Ohio. The character creation options simply aren't very wide, so I don't believe they give us a really good overview of what you might expect people from any given bloodline to look like. Just a very small subset of people.

I hope very much that CCP keeps in mind being able to make characters look genuinely different with the new process.

[Wanoah]

Second, 'races' in Eve, in many cases, refer to people who all come from the same planet. They've been on these planets for thousands and thousands of years without outside contact. That's long enough for skin color to change based on environment. So, for example, there's a pretty decent chance that 'Intaki' covers a range of skin colors that would be considered different 'races' in a current-earth sense.

Yeah, there's a massive tendency in space opera to over-simplify and have planets that have single climates. Maybe we can blame Lucas and his desert planets, ice planets and forest moons? Realistically, any planet that is successfully inhabited by people is going to have a wide range of climates, flora and fauna. Similarly, its people will be equally varied in appearance and culture.

On the other hand, centuries of easy travel, mass communication and cultural imperialism may well have resulted in planets that exhibit all the signs of being monocultural.