Mission: Empress Sela NPC issue

captainhunter1

Dear Dev Team,

It have an issue with the cosmetics of one of the NPCs in the mission "Empress Sela".

It involves the Romulan Ambassador Khnera (https://sto.gamepedia.com/Khnera). It should be obvious what the problem is from the picture in the link.

The ambassador is blond, just like Sela.

The entire reason Sela is blond is to make her stand out among a people who are ALL brunettes. It's to emphasize her mother was NOT Romulan and that she is unique. By having an NPC being blond too (in the very mission named after Sela) really strips away a lot of the impact of this idea and cheapens Denise Crosby's character.

And yes, Khnera's parentage could be mixed, or she could be wearing a wig to 'honor' the Empress - but again, this really pulls away the uniqueness that Sela has, as the ONLY Romulan with blond hair. I remember watching the Next Generation episode where Sela was introduced and remember just how shocking it was to see a Romulan with blond hair and how it truly set her apart from all other Romulans - an effect I'm sure the show runners used to underscore her character.

So, please, change Khnera's hair back to normal Romulan color and let Sela stand out in her uniqueness. It's an easy fix that does honor to both Sela and Denise Crosby.

Thanks!

starswordc

Because, of course, genetic diversity is something only humans have. /sarcasm

There had also been no dark-skinned Vulcans until Tim Russ was cast as an extra in TUC and then as Tuvok in VGR. Never mind the fact the first female Romulan we ever saw had medium-brown hair, not raven black.



Besides, Sela is a terrible character. Not just a terrible person, a badly written character: she's the poster child for Joker Immunity in this game. She doesn't deserve any special consideration.

phoenixc

There have been blonde Vulcans in backgrounds before, and in ENT T'Pau was blonde (while her hair color was a dark blonde it does show that the gene for blonde does exist in Vulcans). Since Romulans are in essence Vulcan colonists it follows that they would have blondes too, though they probably do not have many of them, especially platinum blondes like Sela.

It is also possible that Khnera is an albino with only her hair involved, or she may have gone prematurely gray (TAS has a Vulcan on the Elysian council who has a completely unlined face but white hair who could be either one for instance) since it is known that Vulcans go gray just like humans do.

captainhunter1

starswordc wrote: »

Because, of course, genetic diversity is something only humans have. /sarcasm

There had also been no dark-skinned Vulcans until Tim Russ was cast as an extra in TUC and then as Tuvok in VGR. Never mind the fact the first female Romulan we ever saw had medium-brown hair, not raven black.

Besides, Sela is a terrible character. Not just a terrible person, a badly written character: she's the poster child for Joker Immunity in this game. She doesn't deserve any special consideration.

phoenixc#0738 wrote: »

There have been blonde Vulcans in backgrounds before, and in ENT T'Pau was blonde (while her hair color was a dark blonde it does show that the gene for blonde does exist in Vulcans). Since Romulans are in essence Vulcan colonists it follows that they would have blondes too, though they probably do not have many of them, especially platinum blondes like Sela.

It is also possible that Khnera is an albino with only her hair involved, or she may have gone prematurely gray (TAS has a Vulcan on the Elysian council who has a completely unlined face but white hair who could be either one for instance) since it is known that Vulcans go gray just like humans do.

Well, all of that is fine (but I tend to think the showrunners, at least early in Star Trek history, were basing a lot of 'exotic' (alien) races on Asia - whose peoples are very homogeneous (all dark hair, etc.)), however to put a very rare 'albino' Romulan etc. in the SAME mission as another rare Romulan 'blonde' is a bit much - and again, really takes away part of Sela's uniqueness in the episode. Put one in another mission that Sela isn't in to spread the diversity around a bit.