Centauri women and hair

[migutse]

I just got a copy of the Centauri factbook and was surprised to read from there that Centauri women are unable to grow hair. This contradicts what we have seen in the series, where many Centauri ladies have "ponytails" hanging from their heads. Here are a few thoughts:
- Maybe the "ponytails" are actually just decorations and the Centauri women are really bald.
- There is only a small portion of the skull where the hair grows from on Centauri women.
- The Centauri factbook is wrong and the women really do grow hair, they just choose to shave most of it off.

Any comments?

 

[emperorpenguin]

Emperor Turhan says that Centauri women "shave their hair" in "Coming of Shadows"

the factbook says those women are a mutation.

personally I prefer the shaving their heads explanation for all Centauri women, fits with their status in society and the ponytail.

hate to say it but August Hahn boobed big time there

 

[Dr Goth]

Does it really say that they're unable to grow hair?!! :shock:

I don't remember reading that, but then I might have filtered it out... IIRC the show clearly states that the women shave off their hair to symbolise their stature in Centauri society. The bigger the hair, the bigger the... eer... unmentionables (plural).

Cheers
Dr Goth

 

[Kizarvexis]

Does it really say that they're unable to grow hair?!! :shock:

I don't remember reading that, but then I might have filtered it out... IIRC the show clearly states that the women shave off their hair to symbolise their stature in Centauri society. The bigger the hair, the bigger the... eer... unmentionables (plural).

Cheers
Dr Goth

Page 8, second column, 1st and 2nd paragraphs, Centauri Hair section (bolding added)

Let us now move on to the finest thing in the universe - the Centauri Female. It is amusing that other races are entirely confused on the subject of their baldness in contrast with the fine head of hair we as men posses as a birthright. Many of the lesser races that posses hair have it equally distributed between their sexes, more or less. They assume that our females must spend their lives shaving as some form of slavery to our vanity.

This is not true, as our females simply do not have the genetic information or biological structures in their scalps to grow hair. Given their lack of true rank, it is not like they actually need hair after all, and since our scalps retain heat far better than the thin skin of other races, why would they have it in first place. The attitudes of the lesser races of the galaxy are honestly beyond me, but I suspect that is why I am not in the foreign office of the Psycholinguistics Ministry.

This is contradicted by the show and novels in many ways. The Centauri women who have pony tails. The aforementioned comments by Emporer Turhan. The little Centauri girl in the movie "In the Beginning", who has a full head of hair under her headress. The Centauri Trilogy written by Peter David, who wrote the ep "Soul Mates", where it is explicitely stated that Centauri women shave their heads.

Personnally, I change that part of the book to reflect the show. I pretty much like the rest.

Kizarvexis

 

[migutse]

Personnally, I change that part of the book to reflect the show. I pretty much like the rest.
Kizarvexis

Yeah, Im going to do the same. Although I like the books Mongoose is publishing I have noticed that there are always some little things that just don't seem to be right or fit the B5 universe. Maybe a little bit more playtesting and editing would be in order.

 

[Dr Goth]

Personnally, I change that part of the book to reflect the show. I pretty much like the rest.
Kizarvexis

Yeah, Im going to do the same. Although I like the books Mongoose is publishing I have noticed that there are always some little things that just don't seem to be right or fit the B5 universe. Maybe a little bit more playtesting and editing would be in order.

Or maybe they just choose to disregard certain aspects of the series in order for the universe to fit better with their vision - much as we do with their work in those cases. Remember kids, truth is a three-edged sword.

Cheers
Dr Goth

 

[B_Steele]

Or maybe they just choose to disregard certain aspects of the series in order for the universe to fit better with their vision - much as we do with their work in those cases. Remember kids, truth is a three-edged sword.

While I personally try to stick to staying in line with what I consider canon (which I won't discuss here, it is a personal opinion), I must openly applaud that statement.

It was extremely open-minded and refreshing in an industry where the game company is almost always viewed immediately as "wrong."

Thank you...on many levels.

-Bry

 

[Kizarvexis]

It was extremely open-minded and refreshing in an industry where the game company is almost always viewed immediately as "wrong."
-Bry

I think it is because of the expectations of the buyer that this happens. Game X is made based on whatever book, movie, TV show, etc, and rightly or wrongly the buyer expects it to conform to exactly to the show. Of course, the show doesn't conform to the show, but we usually overlook that part. In my case, I try to rationalize it out and so for the ones I noticed, I was able to put together an explanation to cover the oops.

I love the job that Mongoose has done with B5. If something doesn't conform to my view of B5, I just change or modify (rationalize) it or for myself. Someone else may love it and wants to have it. That's cool. Nobody ever thinks the same or views something the same. I have done that with CEE, AoG and Mongoose. I still support Mongoose and will continue to do so in the future, even though some aspects of a book or module won't match my view of B5.

Kizarvexis

 

[Dr Goth]

Thank you...on many levels.

-Bry

You're quite welcome. Just continue making great games.

Cheers
Dr Goth

 

[Mouth of Sauron]

It was extremely open-minded and refreshing in an industry where the game company is almost always viewed immediately as "wrong."

Actually, that's not quite correct. It's the author of the sourcebook that's almost always viewed immediately as "wrong." :wink: :lol:

 

[migutse]

Or maybe they just choose to disregard certain aspects of the series in order for the universe to fit better with their vision - much as we do with their work in those cases. Remember kids, truth is a three-edged sword.

While I generally agree that the publisher and writer can and should change details from the show to fit the gameworld, I disagree in this particular case. You shouldn't contradict the show unless you have a clear reason to do so and I can't see any reason to make Centauri women bald. Having them shave their heads fits much better in the image we have of the Centauri society as a whole, with traditions and showing your status with the hairstyle.

But of course it doesn't make a lot of difference in the actual gameplay, because all good players take the bits they like about the show, novels and published RPG:s and create their unique version of the Babylon 5 universe.

 

[Traveller-61]

I love the job that Mongoose has done with B5. If something doesn't conform to my view of B5, I just change or modify (rationalize) it or for myself. Someone else may love it and wants to have it. That's cool. Nobody ever thinks the same or views something the same. I have done that with CEE, AoG and Mongoose. I still support Mongoose and will continue to do so in the future, even though some aspects of a book or module won't match my view of B5.

Kizarvexis

I could not have put it better myself, so I won't try! :lol:

For the record I go for the "shaved head" explanation but that does not stop me enjoying an excellent book and wanting more (like the Centarum Campaign book that Matt mentioned a long while ago).

DW