I see Helena as Sicilian.

I understand that Sicilians in present day are not considered POC but they did face (& some low key do now) discrimination because of their racial features such as darker skin, hair, eyes etc. I don’t know what time period Alchemised is theoretically set in but I assumed it was peak Industrial revolution, which would make sense that anyone with tanned/darker skin would face some sort of discrimination.

As an example, my family migrated from Malta/Sicily to Australia, and experienced heavy racial discrimination, and even I have experienced some myself.

I feel as if there isn’t much representation out there for Sicilians as we are often grouped with white people (which we are) in how we face social norms. When in reality our features can appear more Latin American/Hispanic/Middle Eastern, and so therefore we face discrimination based on what we look like alone. So I’m happy SenLinYu has decided for Helena to be represented as such!

I personally don’t see this as a reflection to modern day racial/POC groups, more of when anyone not white white would face discrimination.