See the Paladins!

I've always pictured them as sort of light-colored European. One of the reference images for Shahana was a Russian peasant girl.

Maybe you were getting carryover from Fiorenza, who is Italian?

>>Moon didn't really make a big deal about it, but many of the names fit, and there are several points that make it clear that almost none of them are white.<<

I've done stories where none of the characters were white. And from the freaked-out reaction I once got in a Carl Brandon Society party, it seems to be expected that such stories will be "about" race. Mine aren't; they just happen to be set in some places where there are few or no fair-skinned people. Everyone else was naming one or two stories off the top of their heads as the No Whites stuff they'd done. I had to run through my mental list of characters and stories, "looking" at all of them, because I hadn't used skin color as a sorting field in my mental database. Human Pass/Fail = Fail. But it was so worth it.

>> Also just realized that I don't have a single Icon with a non-white human in it. I should fix that.<<

So far, I have the Origami Mage (Asian-analog, golden skin) and Fiorenza (Italian, olive skin). Next time djinni does a Free Icon Day, I plan to request an icon of Maryam Smith, since that artist excels at steampunk. Then I'll have a black character too. Steamsmith, now -- that series is About Race. Nether-England is about to get a number of its prejudices stuffed into an alchemical furnace and cooked until done.

>>One of the stories I've got fragments of, almost none of the characters are white. I figure after 38,000 years of people (on the whole) loosening up about this sort of thing, that's pretty much how things are going to be.<<

Yes, populations tend to even out differences over time -- as long as they stay together. If they diverge, for instance across multiple planets, then new distinctions may emerge and stabilize within a given population.

>>Hmmm, need to start thinking about who I'd like as non-white people in my Icons. Most of the fandoms/worlds I'm into are overwhelmingly white, and I want it to be people who I'm genuinely down with. Adding someone just because I want an Icon of colour kind of misses the point.<<

Well, you're all over my Schrodinger's Heroes team. Out of the main characters: Bailey is mixed-race, Pat is black, Morgan is Hawai'ian-Japanese-American, and Kay is Hispanic. I may see about getting artwork of them eventually.

>>Maryam Smith would definitely be a contender, as would Thulsa Doom. Maybe branch out into music, see if I can find a picture of Derrick Green to make into an Icon.<<

When I get an icon of Maryam, I will gladly share her. More chromatic icons would be good for the Internet. I also like marina_bonomi's idea of using the steamsmith emblem as a symbol of chromatic steampunk!

>> I'm not sure how much of my love for the Schrodinger's Heroes group is just because I'm a total cat person, though <<

Well, so are they, really: people belonging to a cat, riding his luck, and functioning within the aura of his hero-light. There is much in the series that has a feline flavor, especially the humor. Some of it is LOLCATS type humor. Some is more like the sly, quiet smirk of a cat watching with slitted eyes as you insert your foot into a slipper that contains half of a mouse.

>>I should read some more of the fanfics, see how I like them as humans.<<

I think you would enjoy that. (*grin* You may also get a kick out of a practice project that I have almost done, which I plan to share.) So far I've done several stories and poems that are straight-up Schrodinger's Heroes. I've also done crossovers with Dr. Who, Anita Blake, and Space Odyssey; so if you like any of those series, it's a good piece of common ground to explore.

>>I would definitely love the use of a Maryam icon once you get one, though. Would probably end up replacing most of the times I use the pic of me with the goggles on.<<

Cool!