Magical aura based fashion

Each of the six schools of arcane magic has a distinct and brightly colored magical aura. These auras can be seen with the naked eye, but usually it's a blink and you'll miss it thing. Relatively common spells let mages or theurgists read magic aura colors, so these aura colors are common knowledge. A majority of Scarterran mages specialize in one or two schools of magic rather than trying to learn all six. Mages frequently like to show off in social settings and one means of doing so is to prominently wear the colors of their favorite magic.

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History

Mages have been wearing their aura colors as a status flex for pretty much the entirety of the Third Age but the popularity of this cultural practice has waxed and waned several times over the centuries. Also, whatever wizards are doing fashionwise, sorcerers are usually doing the opposite. The kingdom of Swynfaredia has an aristocracy of sorcerers and sorceresses, so ALL the lords and ladies are mages. Swynfaredia has existed for over eight hundred years and in every generation, some Swynfaredian Dragonbloods favor the practice of wearing their magical aptitudes on their sleeves and some do not.

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The current queen of Swynfaredia, Gwendolyn ap Numaness, is capable of casting fifth circle Transmutation spells and fourth circle Enchantment spells. Gwendolyn is very proud of her magical ability, and she flaunts it at every opportunity. She also wears a lot of predominantly red outfits with yellow accents even though this does not represent her family or royal colors. She usually only uses relatively modest accessories to display her family and royal status. (purple and argent)

Without the queen issuing a direct command, most of her courtiers have chose to follow the Queen's informal lead and they prominently wear the colors of their magical specialties rather than accentuating their personal heraldry. Considering Queen Gwendolyn is trying to smooth over inter-house rivalries, it might not be pure vanity for the reason why she dresses the way she does. In a lot of cases, the queen's critics and courtly rivals can make a political statement by choosing clothes that highlights their house colors and deemphasizes their magical prowess. Now that the Kingdom of Swynfaredia and Kingdom of Fumaya are now at war, most of the magical societies in Fumaya have quietly phased out wearing clothes to accentuate their magical prowess with a couple holdouts.olitical rivals to Swynfaredia, the Sabbatzarod Coven still favor aura color coordinated clothing, at least with regards to their hats. This still differentiates themselves from Swynfaredi because no dragonblood noble would be caught dead in "a peasant wizard's hat".

Execution

Every apprentice mage quickly learns the aura color early in his or her training.

Conjuration magic has an orange aura. Abjuration magic has a blue aura. Necromancy has a green aura. Transmutation has a red aura. Enchantment has a yellow aura Illusion magic has a purple aura That means a mage doesn't have to think very hard if she wants to dress the part for her favorite magic. Purple dye and cloth is very expensive, but illusionists can and often do use illusion magic to change the color of their clothes. Mages can command hefty salaries, so it's not infeasible for them to buy actual purple garments.

Carcelli, Parchment Background by Zeta Gardner

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Many mages in Scarterra focus heavily on two schools, so dual color motiffs is common. A mage who is a powerful abjurer and enchanter might wear blue and yellow clothes. In theory, a mage who has learned several schools of magic could wear every associated color, but this is uncommon. "Rainbow dabblers" are not often well respected because it's considered more respectable to be very good at one type of magic than it is to be moderately competant in four or five schools. The few mages who choose to walk path of the generalist are more concerned with utility than status, so they are likely to dress modestly and practically and not bother flexing their status.

Components and tools

Some mages like to pick their entire outfits around their primary associated color or colors. Other times mages will buy a fancy and brightly colored hat and just wear normal clothes on the rest of their body. Wearing a "wizard hats" or the equivalent is popular among court wizards or military wizards because they can wear their magical aura color while simultaneously still wearing the normal uniform of thier political affilation.

Participants

Many mages love to peacock their status, and color coordinating their wardrobes to their magical abilities is one such way to peacock Many other mages view peacocking as frivolous or foolish. "Never let your enemies know what you can do". Plenty of mages choose to wear inconspicuous clothes for just this reason. Proponents of wearing aura-coordinated clothing say that hiding one's magic is even more pointless. Once even a single spell is cast, it's obvious who and what they are, so why bother hiding thier light under a bowl?

Dallas the friendly necromancer by Eron12 with Hero Forge
-Dallas the Necromancer
"The least likely mages to wear their magic on their sleeves in necromancers. Necromancer face unfair legal and social discrimination, so they are not eager to broadcast their capabilities. Though in cases, necromancers will dress the part to communicate 'Here I am! I have nothing to hide!' Other necromancers dress as flamboyantly as possible, to say 'fear my power!' though in a lot of cases they are going to use skull and death imagery rather than the color green A lot of necromancers that go the scary route favor black and dark gray clothes.
In the Barony of Eternity necromancers are honored not reviled, but since nine out of the ten mages in the Barony are necromancers, dressing in green isn't really necessary., and quality green dye is expensive in the Borderlands.

Scarterra doesn't have the internet or even newspaper want ads. Scarterrans often wear the uniform of their trade all the time, so potential clients can find them. This applies to mages as well as ordinary craftsmen. So a mage "in between jobs" might go out of their way to dress the part of their role to attract an employer. Mages can dress fancy without wearing the colors of their magical aptitude. Many mages are highborn, and highborn people often wear their heraldry colors whether they are mages or not. Mages that are retainers or vassals of nobles will often wear their liege's colors. Mages that are part of religious orders are likely to wear the colors of their order. There is nothing stopping a mage from wearing colors to imply they have different abilities than they actually have. When this is used in warfare or espionage, it can be considered clever or dishonorable depending on where one is standing.

Observance

While there are some penniless mages, most mages can afford to have larger wardrobes than the average Scarterran farmer. Nothing is stopping a mage from having clothing coordinated to her magical aura to wear at formal events and wearing normal clothes the rest of the time.

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