My Rant on Makeup use on Female and Male NPC's

[FalmerBane]

My Rant on Makeup on Female and Male NPC's not being "Lore Friendly"

 

There are a lot of people playing this game that think the use of makeup is not lore friendly and so they are hesitant about using character mods like mine that use makeup or beautification mods. I would ask you to consider these following historical tidbits in relation to being lore friendly. Makeup is documented to have been used by the Ancient Egyptians over 10,000 years ago by paleontologists. Makeup was also documented to be in use by the Greeks, Romans and other ancient societies, including tribal body and face painting by Ancient Briton and Germanic tribes. To me it is completely plausible for makeup to be used in Skyrim given Bethesda supplied it and used it in the game on its own NPC's. Inescapably Skyrim's lore is tied to our history in some way shape or form. The latest "trend" of having NPC's look more natural is more likely a current trend in modern use of makeup and not a direct reflection on the lore of this game or any game that that bases its lore partially on human medieval and ancient history. It is inarguable that Skyrim spans the times from early man to the late 16th century with the various in-game elements it provides us. Note the use of mammoths and saber tooth cats and then fast forward to some of the more modern items in the game such as steel bear traps (which were recorded to be first in use in the late 16th century). It is perfectly fine and period to this game to have your characters kicking ass in black eyeliner, eye shadow and red lipstick. Don't let someone tell you it isn't lore friendly because it really is. Given the choices of races we have in Skyrim it may not only be lore friendly but very plausible on some characters depending on their status and rank within their society. In the end it is completely your choice on how you want your NPC's and PC's to look. I personally am not interested in having androgyny rule my game so I opted to creating and sharing my own female characters that cannot be mistaken for anything else.

 

Thanks for reading,

 

FalmerBane

Edited April 12, 2012 by FalmerBane

[Thoreai]

I can't say i know about how these makeups were in such old times, but logically humans knew about making colors, mixing them from different plants, they used them for many things, especially in battles or to protect their skin from insects, but i think also to make them look attractive, however, the way colors were applied to the face and what they found attractive was a lot different from today's beauty standard's i think.

 

I dont have problems with that though, im not really that of a lore fanatic, since i have character's who have makeup.

Edited April 12, 2012 by pavy

[NoobusExtremus]

Nice wall of text. :tongue:

 

Who cares what other people think? If they like, they use it. If they don't, they don't have to use it. All these whines about "lore-friendly" versus "lore-unfriendly" are ridiculous. Use a mod or don't use a mod; nobody is forcing anything upon anyone - except Bethesda and their patches through Steam.

[ElricOfGrans]

I have a degree in Egyptology; I will ignore the minor errors there ;)

 

Make-up is nothing new, definitely. Especially eye make-up, which has been popular with both men and women in many, many cultures. That is the key word, however: culture. The `rules' around make-up are 100% defined by the culture. If I went around with thick eye-liner today, people would immediately assume I were a goth, or emo, or some other sub-culture; in other cultures, that has been a sign of aristocracy or power. `Lore friendly' is an irrelevant argument when we are talking about fictitious cultures. If Bethesda included the option (yup, seems they did) then it is lore friendly. If they did not (eg Morrowind), that still does not mean it is not lore friendly, only that they did not add it to the game.

 

What does matter 100% is the players' personal tastes. Personally, I hate the beauty mods in Skyrim (loved them in Morrowind and Oblivion, oddly). Hair that looks like it belongs on a Parisian catwalk, carefully plucked eyebrows for the *blacksmiths*, heavy make-up on the *beggars*. Old women with DDDDDDDD breasts and jiggly-bums? Bleh. In Skyrim, I prefer a grittier look, and so far none of the beauty mods (hair, faces, bodies, etc) I have seen suit my aesthetic. Strangely, I have preferred vanilla hair/faces/etc to everything I have seen, which just seems `wrong' considering I modded the heck out of Morrowind and Oblivion.

[FalmerBane]

I have a degree in Egyptology; I will ignore the minor errors there ;)

 

Make-up is nothing new, definitely. Especially eye make-up, which has been popular with both men and women in many, many cultures. That is the key word, however: culture. The `rules' around make-up are 100% defined by the culture. If I went around with thick eye-liner today, people would immediately assume I were a goth, or emo, or some other sub-culture; in other cultures, that has been a sign of aristocracy or power. `Lore friendly' is an irrelevant argument when we are talking about fictitious cultures. If Bethesda included the option (yup, seems they did) then it is lore friendly. If they did not (eg Morrowind), that still does not mean it is not lore friendly, only that they did not add it to the game.

 

What does matter 100% is the players' personal tastes. Personally, I hate the beauty mods in Skyrim (loved them in Morrowind and Oblivion, oddly). Hair that looks like it belongs on a Parisian catwalk, carefully plucked eyebrows for the *blacksmiths*, heavy make-up on the *beggars*. Old women with DDDDDDDD breasts and jiggly-bums? Bleh. In Skyrim, I prefer a grittier look, and so far none of the beauty mods (hair, faces, bodies, etc) I have seen suit my aesthetic. Strangely, I have preferred vanilla hair/faces/etc to everything I have seen, which just seems `wrong' considering I modded the heck out of Morrowind and Oblivion.

 

 

True on the eye makeup being primary and fortunately I am no lore espousing git. There are many many other mods on here that absolutely destroy the original feel of the game and are better suited to Tokyo disco's. What gets me a little hot is when a person goes on about how lore-unfriendly a person's mod is (hasn't happened to me yet) but I see it all the time when I am checking out mods. I'm like no s**t, yes that purple cat suit with moth wings covered in Kajit fur is prolly not lore friendly lol.

Edited April 13, 2012 by FalmerBane

[Brandy1123]

I agree about make-up and tattoos being used in most ancient societies.It was a sign of station and a depiction of deeds and accomplishments. Acient tools for permanent make-up... ie tattoos, have been recovered dating to some 2000 years ago. Many depictions in artwork and on figurines display the beauty of men and women with make-up and "tats".

 

I do disagree about the 10,000 years. its more closer to 3500- 5000 years.

[alsoran]

Using Bella's no makeup just textures here. Love the face and body tattoos and theres plenty to choose from. Is'nt it really a matter of choice as to how you want your installed game to look? You can download the Death Star and use Light Sabres if you want, doesn't appeal to me but it ticks a box for someone. If you like lorefriendly you can go hard core or any other stop along the way. Its what I do, this is fantasy you know. Edited April 13, 2012 by alsoran

[shotgun188]

The Egyptians used make-up, fair enough. But did the Vikings?

[worldofscotty]

The Egyptians used make-up, fair enough. But did the Vikings?

 

If as stated Egypt had makeup 10000 years ago it's highly likely that the Vikings had access to some system 9000 years later

[shotgun188]

The Egyptians used make-up, fair enough. But did the Vikings?

 

If as stated Egypt had makeup 10000 years ago it's highly likely that the Vikings had access to some system 9000 years later

It mightn't have been in their culture to wear it though. Also, I heard that in a lot of cultures, make-up was the "uniform" of a prostitute.