Hygiene

[Tulana]

I remember reading that in some of the poorest third-world countries people who never wash their face with water, develop facial deformities and ailments.

Would something like that hold true for Zalanthians?

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Possibly, though I am uninclined to think that most people never wash their face with water. I would be much more inclined to believe that it does not happen often, and that most cleansing occurs using sand and pumise stones, or even dirt-grabbing fat. But somebody using a damp cloth to clean the blood off of them does not seem that far-fetched, nor does somebody actually spending five sid to dampen a cloth once a month and wipe their face.

Water is not rare, it is simply not as easy to obtain as waiting for rain.

[Is Friday]

I always assumed cleaning happened with that special kind of sand, in the south at least. You know, the kind that works like "TP" in the byn latrines.

[Shiroi Tsuki]

It's possible to get pretty clean with sand.  It doesn't seem to do away with the smells as much as good ol' soap and water, though.

As for the facial deformities and ailments, I would think if they were disfiguring enough, people with the sorts of complexions that would be prone to getting those deformities and ailments would sort have been bred out of the system by not making desirable mates.  Zalanthan skin is one of those things I could picture being a lot tougher than typical.

[number13]

I think -- Those of a high social standing should have decent to good skin. Those of a lower social standing should have completely messed up skin, by modern first-world standards.  Pretty rinthi scum and flawless sand grebbers shouldn't exist.

That said, it's a game, and for whatever people tend to prefer playing pretty people.  That's fine with me, because it makes my messed up characters stand out of the crowd a little better.

[Marauder Moe]

I write my characters from a Zalanthan perspective.  If my description describes someone of average attractiveness, in "reality" I mean it's average by Zalanthan standards, not 21st century Western standards.

My reasoning is that most players read from a modern Western perspective.  If I wrote in all those pock marks, bad yellowed teeth, body odor, ragged finger and toenails, and general rough skin condition that most Zalanthans would have, I suspect many if not most players would react to said character as though they were ugly.

[FantasyWriter]

IF you want to get REALLY clean, you could always take a swim in the Sea of Eternal Dust.

[Salt Merchant]

A cup of water and a sliver of soap can go a long away. Although I've always wondered about commoner women with the shining, long, flowing, waist-length hair. Seeing that is a little hard on suspension of disbelief.

[jmordetsky]

yea. It makes you think just how dirty and stinky mud sex on Zalanthas really is.

When was the last time your Zalanthan changed their clothes? 1 day is a week. You know you bad your nuts would stink after 1 week without a shower in a pair of gurth shell and leather pants? Zalanthas is a planet of people that smell like elephant nuts.

Ew.

[AJM]

I'm pretty sure people would soak rags, with their own sweat, and use that to wipe their faces. Or another strategy is to take a sip of water to wet your mouth then spit it on to a rag to wipe your face. then put the damp rag back on your head to cool it/absorb more sweat

[Jingo]

A cup of water and a sliver of soap can go a long away. Although I've always wondered about commoner women with the shining, long, flowing, waist-length hair. Seeing that is a little hard on suspension of disbelief.

I always assumed that there were some perfumed oils you could use to get that effect. But I doubt most commoners would have the time to comb their hair every day.

[fourTwenty]

A cup of water and a sliver of soap can go a long away. Although I've always wondered about commoner women with the shining, long, flowing, waist-length hair. Seeing that is a little hard on suspension of disbelief.

I always assumed that there were some perfumed oils you could use to get that effect. But I doubt most commoners would have the time to comb their hair every day.

I know a PC with very pretty hair. And they quite often spend time brushing it with a coded brush.

[SMuz]

I know that some medieval middle eastern hygenics used to rely heavily on sand and 'dirt'. It was considered acceptable, even encouraged, to clean yourself with sand if there was no water available.

With the general dryness of the place, I think people wouldn't really stink that much without a bath, or they'd be used to the stench of sweat and dust. Also, with natural selection and stuff, I'd bet that most Zalanthans are highly resistant to the diseases that strike people with not enough water or poor hygiene. If you take a poor guy and dump him on the streets, he's likely to get sick, but put a primitive guy whose ancestors survived under the poor hygienic conditions and it's as natural as animals surviving on raw meat

I've also met a lot of good looking people with poor hygenic behavior. I know a few girls whose idea of hygiene is spraying themselves with perfume and chewing gum every morning (skipping showers and teeth brushing, or so their roomates claim) and they have model-like looks. It doesn't really matter whether a person showers once a week or thrice a day, I know many people who skip showers and still look better than the people who show up on the bus with wet hair every morning. No scaly skin or yellow teeth on them either.

[Clearsighted]

What harms my suspension of disbelief is all the smooth-shaven men.

9 out of 10 guys should have bearded in their sdesc. Unless they're a boy, a noble or a prostitute.

/mild sarcasm

EDIT: Unless you've all got that Native American gene.

[NoteworthyFellow]

Shaving with an obsidian blade is actually easier than with a metal blade, as obsidian can hold a sharper edge.  I'm not too sure how difficult it would be to do without a lot of water and some sort of lubricant, having never tried it myself.

Most of my characters have perma-stubble if they're not straight-up bearded, anyway.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Animal fat can serve as lubricant for the razor blade.

[staggerlee]

Animal fat can serve as lubricant for the razor blade.

I'm sure most city dwellers would have enough water to shave, it doesn't take much, nor does it have to be clean.   

[Thunkkin]

Animal fat can serve as lubricant for the razor blade.

I'm sure most city dwellers would have enough water to shave, it doesn't take much, nor does it have to be clean.   

I just use ale.  Much cheaper and doubles as aftershave, too!

[Riev]

Most of my characters have perma-stubble if they're not straight-up bearded, anyway.

If I have a character whose desc mentions his beard at all (sometimes I am in a rush) I do this. Or, I say the beard is "splotchy" and, when called on it, say that I tried shaving with a sharp rock I found, but I just cut my face instead of the hair, so I stopped.



There is a certain level of disbelief that will have to go into this game. If someone is clean shaven... well.. call them on it. Make them come up with a good reason, if they aren't a noble. Demand to see their razor, or say you'll buy it off of them.


Fuck.

[Zoan]

Squinting suspiciously at the ruddly, dark-skinned dwarf, you say, in sirhish,
     "'Ere, mate, how'd you get so clean shaven? Lemme see that razor of yours."

[musashi]

Then accuse them of magick when they don't have a coded razor item!!!

[AmandaGreathouse]

Secretly, all my hairless pc's are mutants. 

[/sarcasm]

Seriously, though, I've seen some of the older blades and shit chipped from stone, especially with shit like obsidian.... they can get surprisingly sharp. And I loved the ale statement. I imagine it's not too random to come across an abandoned mug of it lying around somewhere.

[AmandaGreathouse]

Interesting stuff to be found if you look.

Prehistoric dental hygeine.

Interesting Excerpts from http://www.carnegiemnh.org/exhibits/egypt/guide.htm

Because of the intense heat, many Egyptians shaved their heads or cut their hair very short, although some kept their hair very long and elaborately coiffed.

Cosmetics were not only an important part of Egyptian dress but also a matter of personal hygiene and health. Many items related to cosmetics have been found in tombs and are illustrated in tomb paintings. Oils and creams were of vital importance against the hot Egyptian sun and dry winds. Eye paint, both green and black, is probably the most characteristic of the Egyptian cosmetics. The green pigment was malachite, an oxide of copper. The black paint, called kohl, was a sulfate of lead and, in the late Middle and New Kingdoms, was soot. Kohl was usually kept in a small pot that had a flat bottom, wide rim, tiny mouth, and a flat, disk-shaped lid. Many kohl pots have been found in Egyptian tombs. To color their cheeks, the Egyptians used red ocher mixed with a base of fat or gum resin; ocher may have also been used as lipstick. Henna, a reddish-brown dye, was certainly used to color hair and perhaps also the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, and nails.

Let's also not forget about the possibilities of using heated oils and a scraper like some ancient cultures, using a good-old sweatbath using a fire-pit with heated stone and closing off the area around it, or the scouring possibilities available with good old-fashioned sand.

[Thunkkin]

Also, for the most part, the Romans managed to shave just fine.  Yes, they had metal ... but Zalanthans seem fully capable of making sharp blades as has been noted. If it occurred to the Romans to shave, it could occur to Zalanthans.  

Edit: After reading AmandaG ... yeah, Egyptians are an even better example!

[Clearsighted]

Well. In all honesty, the Romans and Egyptians were a vastly more productive civilization (everything in Zalanthas is rather run down), and both had all the water they could possibly ever need. Bath houses, aqueducts, etc (Or the Nile in the case of the Egypt), giving rise to an entire industry revolving about personal hygiene. They wouldn't shave themselves either, they'd go to a professional.

So you can't really compare it with Hunter Amos squatting down in the dunes with a chipped obsidian shard and a handful of scrab fat. It would be such a painful process, (not to mention obsidian is only theoretically sharper than metal...not just any obsidian chunk will do) that one must wonder why they are going through such a tribulation. Is it ICly to look handsome? That seems a little iffy to me. Then there are other cultural reasons...Who wants to look more like a perpetually smooth skinned mul or dwarf? Otherwise it seems being smooth shaven would be associated with decadent nobility and catamites.

I think there are definitely alot of 20th century concepts of beauty imbued into people's descriptions, (not so much 21st, thankfully). Whereas a more accurate description of practical hygiene would be looking at someone like Afghans or Berbers.

[AmandaGreathouse]

Actually, for the most part Egypt was a highly arid region. Even the areas near the Nile went through periods of having substantially less water than during the wet season when the Niles would flood its banks and deposit rich silts and sediments on the flood plain. And shaving was very common anyhow. Not to mention, there are a lot of areas in Zalanthas that simply aren't run down. Lacking in technology and metal and water I'll give you, but, beyond that, it's mostly a matter of Zalanthas being very primitive. Yes, Allanak is dirt fucking poor, but I think in places like, for example, Tuluk, that it would be much more common for Amos to be squatting with his flint blade, scraping painfully at his chin to try and save face. And even more common for the various tribals. Simply because the lack of hair helped them to keep cool and kept the sand from having as much to stick in.

[Thunkkin]

Then there are other cultural reasons...Who wants to look more like a perpetually smooth skinned mul or dwarf?

This, actually, is really compelling.

What self-respecting human male would want to look like a stumpy? 

[SMuz]

I shave without shaving cream and I don't have scars all over my face

I think that shaving would be a bit of a skill after they spend enough time on it. It shouldn't be too tough to shave harmlessly with obsidian being as sharp as it is. It's certainly easier than picking a lock or a pocket. Also, beauty has always been about looking unique. If everyone's got a beard, a human without a beard is much more attractive. I'd bet all dwarves secretly have a fetish for long beards.

This game has always intrigued me about being a fantasy game, where most people are actually much uglier than in real life. Being fantasy, you'd expect beauty to be exaggerated a bit, not fussing about how ugly your character would look under the present technology. It's kinda like a futuristic game where everyone has flabby muscles.

[fourTwenty]

Crocodile Dundee

[My 2 sids]

Water is not rare, it is simply not as easy to obtain as waiting for rain.

use a cup of water to wash up every so often, it can then be used to water your kank

[Synthesis]

Water is not rare, it is simply not as easy to obtain as waiting for rain.

use a cup of water to wash up every so often, it can then be used to water your kank beetle.