What Somna said. Your looking at an arab guy standing next to a african guy, the arab guy is pale, but if you put the arab fellow next to me, he's dark. Regardless of what "most" definitions are, the POV and surroundings are important. Everything is relative, especially when talking about skin tone. Native American to Brazillian, the NA is pale or whiteish, but compared to some Canadian guy, he's dark.
Some definitions of pale also include feeble and unimpressive.... Context...
The reason some definitions include feeble and unimpressive is because becoming pale refers to capillary action associated with blood loss. It's a term like blush - you don't often notice such differences with darker skin.
Also, Malowebi is talking about the Kian Grandees as a group, not comparatively.
You could be right. I tend to go with what the word actually means and what the author wrote.
I believe Arabs in general are far more numerous and contain much more diversity amongst the tribes and ethnic mixture of the middle east the the Kian. All of the other civilizations of the western side of the three seas are Ketyai (black hair, light skin). The groups that are described with darker (middling) skin tones come from the east.
But just because Fanim culture seems analogous to medieval Muslims such as the Saracen - I don't really understand the reasoning behind extending that to skin-tone.
For example, Zeum itself seems a lot closer to imperial China in the cultural hints we have received so far as to it's cultural stucture and policy.
Beyond those generalizations, I guess that I will concede that perhaps Meppa's nut-brown skin might just be the darkest extreme of the Kianese skin rainbow.
I feel like the terms nut-brown and pale were perhaps deliberately used so close together to obfuscate Meppa's identity or thoughts that of who he might be.
@mg; that's already been guessed as well, man. I will get that list of guessers & guesses compiled before TUC is released, in case Meppa's identity is revealed therein.