(no subject)

[beccastareyes]

You know, it occurs to me that whenever mages look diferent from the average Joe in fantasy, it's always in a good way. Mercedes Lackey (yes, I read Lackey, for about the same reason most normal people watch soap operas -- they have about as much merit, but they are a good way to waste a car trip by putting the brain on autopilot) basically has all of the pigment being bleached out of her mages' skin, hair, and eyes -- something usually described as attractive or making the mages look a bit more distinguished (whiohc is true enough when white hair is uncommon and a sign of age, but if you know every mage no matter how twitty gets white hair by the time he's in his 20s, you think perceptions would change). Most Mary Sue authors use their color-changing eyes or raven hair, or something else pretty and twee as a sign of their magical/divine heritage. Most other magical chnages are described as at most startling -- you very rarly see magic that makes people look ugly, unless it is dark, evil stuff that corrupts your very soul.

Of course it's telling that I'm brainstorming ideas for a fantasy world and ,looking up articles on radiation sickness and chemotherapy to get ideas of ways to mark my mages. How does chronic baldness (for both genders), terminally underweight (not in a pretty way, in a ohmygod, FEED this person sort of way), and a risk of stunted growth if trained before puberty sound?