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There are several previous questions on this group regarding blue skin but none of them fit the needs of my world.

I need to allow a group of very pale skinned aliens (albeit with typical mammalian physiology) to become blue reasonably quickly. They are identical in all respects, except the blue skin, to another group of aliens in whom blue skin evolved. The non-blue have to be able to pass as blue when they want to.

Turning blue could be by ingesting something, or by dyeing the skin. The method used should be something that is considered to be relatively non-toxic. I'd like to avoid the idea of a paint.

I vaguely recall reading the the ingestion of methylene-blue causes the skin to look blue but I have been unable to locate any source to verify the idea or to give any indication of its feasibility. Any ideas? Note: if it wouldn't be possible for an ordinary human in the real world to use the method, then it's probably not going to fit my world.

CrimsonDark
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  • Does this answer your question? How to evolve blue skin? – sphennings Feb 28 '23 at 10:39
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    It doesn't matter. It's your world, you set the rules. The how and why of things happening is entirely secondary to the characters involved. Stop concentrating on the irrelevant minutiae of the world, and concentrate on its people. – Ian Kemp Feb 28 '23 at 10:45
  • @sphennings No. I'm not interested in "evolving" a blue skin. As I asked, something perhaps involving a dye or ingestion that makes the blue skin inherently temporary and non-transmissible. – CrimsonDark Feb 28 '23 at 10:46
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    The ancient Picts used tp dye their skin blue using a vegetable paint extracted (we think) from woad, Isatis tinctoria. (Them painting their skin blue is why the Romans calledf them Picti, meaning painted ones in Latin. We don't know how they called themselves in their own language.) – AlexP Feb 28 '23 at 11:41
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    @IanKemp it could matter. He seems to indicate that the characters might use the techniques to infiltrate something or use it in some way when impersonating the other race. Tying it to realism can add a bit to the story over just ramming something in randomly. – Demigan Feb 28 '23 at 11:43
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    If it's OK for your aliens to take years to develop blue skin, then check out Argyria. This would involve ingesting colloidal silver for some time. Once they do though, it won't be easy going back to their natural skin color. If you want them to blue and unblue themselves on demand, then paint seems to be the best option. – GiantSpaceHamster Feb 28 '23 at 13:59
  • @AlexP Thanks. If you write it as an answer, I could upvote it for reputation! Then I'll remove this comment. – CrimsonDark Feb 28 '23 at 23:03
  • @GiantSpaceHamster Doesn't quite fit m,y needs but very interesting. If you write it as a brief answer, I could upvote it, then delete this comment. – CrimsonDark Feb 28 '23 at 23:04
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    @IanKemp --- I think this is perhaps not the most helpful approach. Yes, technically speaking, "it doesn't matter", it's her world, etc. But is that what we're about here? Just telling people that their questions don't matter? That our work and creativity in responding just doesn't matter? Just gonna say this straight out: this is not what our mission here is. If a querent wants to know how to get blue skin, then it becomes our job to help them get blue skin. End of story. If you don't want to help, then perhaps keep quiet so others can and so that new folks won't feel unwelcome here? – elemtilas Feb 28 '23 at 23:57
  • @IanKemp As you say: it's my world. And in my world, it absolutely *does* matter how the skin gets blue. I'm a "panster" writer. If the solution for blue that I find is unstable, and supply might run out, that will influence how the story develops. If the blue works only briefly, that will influence the story. If it fades quickly, that will influence the story. If it's easily detectable, that too will affect things. I don't yet know the story. I'm a panster! – CrimsonDark Mar 01 '23 at 00:45
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    @elemtilas Thank you. As a newbie, it was distressing to find two down-votes inside 5 minutes, especially as it seemed (maybe a wrong impression!) I wasn't allowed to ask how my people might get blue. Nice to find some folks think it's OK to ask, and have some nice ideas. – CrimsonDark Mar 01 '23 at 00:47
  • Crimson, I am so sorry that you were made to feel that way. In fairness to Ian, and just to perhaps describe the situation, we do have a very large community here, and as you might suspect, opinions can vary greatly on how a community should operate! As I see it, your question is bog standard basic worldbuilding. I have this issue, how can I resolve it. It's bread and butter here. We do have various factions hereabouts, schools of worldbuilding if you will, that prefer one kind of question over another. For example, the current trend seems to be to prefer a kind of hyper-realism (cont) – elemtilas Mar 01 '23 at 03:31
  • (cont) in asking and answering questions that seems to deprecate the fantastic, the magical, the wonderful. If it doesn't fit with current science, then it ought to have no place here. We also have a strong current of preferring more complex questions. I don't know if Ian falls under this school or not, but the quip "it's your world, do whatever you want" seems to indicate that perspective. The reason I apologise to you is simply for the fact that our forum literally exists to help people rise above "it's your world, do what you want"! You want help with that "whatever", and (cont) – elemtilas Mar 01 '23 at 03:34
  • (cont) you actually have the right to avail yourself of our services here. There's simply no other reason for me and all our other respondents to be here other than to answer questions like what you're asking! – elemtilas Mar 01 '23 at 03:36

2 Answers2

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INDIGO

Indigo is a dye very close to primary blue, derived from several species of shrub. Your people culd have access to a similar shrub or other source of dye.

Indigo has been used for body ornamentation for millennia. This is considered safe, though full-body or facial use isn't recommended, though mainly for lack of knowledge of ill effects. I can't find any mention of how waterproof it is, but given that indigo is used for dyeing textiles, I Imagine that it isn't easily washed off. You problably need solvent or have to wear it off, like henna.

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Klaus Æ. Mogensen
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The orange pigment in carrots can be concentrated in human skin cells. This means that if enough of a human's diet is carrots, their skin will begin to appear orange, similar to how a flamingo's diet makes it pink.

this effect is temporary. While the individual skin cells will always be orange, humans go through skin cells so quickly that any change in diet will cause the skin to rapidly return to normal.

An effect like this could work. It would only require a food with a pigment that the race can concentrate in their skin. It might even change faster if the race has skin that's suitably different from ours. Like, the layer of our skin that gives us our color is technically dead, so the method would need a lot of prep time for a human, but if your race has thinner skin like a frog, they might get a much more dynamic effect.