Is Dynaheir a Rashemaar

Hadar

So accordingly to Forgotten Realms Wiki people from Rashemen are called Rashemaar and have following characteristics:

• dusky skin
• black hair
• dark eyes
• short, stout, muscular build
• and I assume that also having a Slavic accent while speaking Common (because Rasallesian language is Slavic inspired language)

While Minsc may be exception among Rashemaar in the height department and his accent is not a typical thick Slavic accent (at least in my Slavic/Polish taste, I would say he sound a little bit Romanian, so close enough xD Especially when for Americans everything east of Germany sounds and looks the same), but more less he meets the description.

But Dynaheir? Black skin, Sub-Saharan face features, (East??) African accent. Is she really a Rashemaar? Or is she is some immigrant from Chult or other southern regions of Faerun I don't know much about?

jmerry

Yes, she is. Here's a (voiced) line from Siege of Dragonspear, during a conversation with another Rashemi pair:

Hast we been introduced? I am Dynaheir, wychlaran of Rashemen. This is my bodyguard, Minsc, of the Ice Dragon Berserker Lodge.

Looks pretty cut-and-dry to me.

Hadar

"Wychlaran of Rashemen" means just "old wise woman from Rashemen" it does not have to imply she is ethnically Rashemeni. By even if we assume that she is a Rashemaar then why she looks and sounds the way she looks and sounds

jmerry

Dynaheir has dark brown skin. Minsc has light skin. Julann and Rigah (that pair in SoD) are somewhere between the two.

My read on that is that Rashemen isn't homogenous in the skin color of its humans, and there's considerable variation. Which is a perfectly normal thing; people move around. Especially given that "dajemma" tradition - how often does someone on that journey find a romantic partner and bring them back home? Maybe some of Dynaheir's recent ancestors - or Minsc's - come from other lands. Whether true or not, that's nowhere near as important to the characters as the culture they come from, and that culture is definitely of Rashemen.

Zaxares

jmerry wrote: »

My read on that is that Rashemen isn't homogenous in the skin color of its humans, and there's considerable variation. Which is a perfectly normal thing; people move around. Especially given that "dajemma" tradition - how often does someone on that journey find a romantic partner and bring them back home? Maybe some of Dynaheir's recent ancestors - or Minsc's - come from other lands. Whether true or not, that's nowhere near as important to the characters as the culture they come from, and that culture is definitely of Rashemen.

This, I'd say. It's kind of like how northern Indians tend to be lighter skinned while southern Indians tend to be much darker, despite both of them being ethnically Indian.

BardsSuck_

jmerry wrote: »

Yes, she is. Here's a (voiced) line from Siege of Dragonspear, during a conversation with another Rashemi pair:

Hast we been introduced? I am Dynaheir, wychlaran of Rashemen. This is my bodyguard, Minsc, of the Ice Dragon Berserker Lodge.

Looks pretty cut-and-dry to me.

SoD is borderline bad fanfic, i personally wouldnt take it too serious.

_Connacht_

This, I'd say. It's kind of like how northern Indians tend to be lighter skinned while southern Indians tend to be much darker, despite both of them being ethnically Indian.

India is home to a vast heterogenity of cultures and different ethnicities, probably there is more diversity than in the whole Europe despite being smaller and geographically more confined. Even languages are very diverse, with both Indo-Europaean languages such as Hindi and other families such as the Dravidan or Bengali languages. It's common in western countries to to think of India (both the sub-continent and the state) to be homogeneous and monolithic, it is actually very rich.

SixOfSpades

As long as we're discussing darker-skinned folks hanging around in the fantasy equivalent of western Europe, I'd like to toss Valygar & Sarevok into the mix as well. Granted, Sarevok's dad was more than a little bit of a bounder, but Valygar, at least, should know his own lineage to be able to indicate a general region of the globe.

Hadar

@SixOfSpades Amn was trading empire and Valygar looks mixed. I could totally buy that he has ancestors from some foreign wealthy merchant family that maid business in Amn. Sarevok was a stolen baby by Bhall cultist, he may have been found somewhere far away before he ended in temple in Forest of Wyrms.

But I have bigger problem with Dynaheir, she does not look mixed, she has thick accent, it kinda suggest that ended up in Rashemen as a teenager perhaps? And this is never addressed.

Dharius

For all we know Minsc could have been born in Thay but migrated to Rashemen later. All things are possible.

Anstalis

While not entirely canon, Heroes of Baldur's Gate does say:

"All Children in Rashemen are evaluated for magical potential at a young age, This includes even children not native to Rashemen. Dynaheir was one such child as she was the daughter of a Mulhorandi slave freed from Thay."

Aerakar

Insightful @Anstalis