Orange cloth and dye
Bright orange cloth is roughly as hard to acquire or make as royal blue or bright green. But blue associated with the goddess Mera and green is associated Korus. Orange has no direct association with the divine. Orange is one of the eight colors used in heraldry, and it supposedly represents 'worthwhile ambition', but for whatever reason, orange is the least commonly used color in Scarterran heraldry. So orange cloth is a fancy thing that fancy folk don't want to buy."-Eknok, tengku merchantTengku #5 by Zeta Gardner"Orange cloth is sort of the unloved middle child of the fashion world. Orange dye is fairly hard to produce, but it's the least commonly seen clothing color, at least in Scarterra's northern hemisphere. Natural sources of orange dye are more common down south and I heard at least one of the southern nation likes to drape their royals in orange. But up north, you are more likely to see more purple cloth than you are to see orange. Purple is a lot more expensive but every status conscious person wants it, so people will pay through the nose for it with a smile on their face.
-Tanoa, gnome tailor's wifeby me with Hero Forge"My parents taught me that an important aspect of sales is spin your products weaknesses as strengths. Orange is fairly and has little cultural meaning attached to it, but you can spin this as a good thing. Orange cloth is ideal for a commoner of exceptional means to quietly establish status without looking pretentious. Bright orange cloths show you are not some lowly peasant since you can afford high quality dyes, but at the same time you are not challenging the local powers that be by directly emulating their colors."
Properties
Geology & Geography
In the medieval era of Earth, orange clothing was hard to come by in Europe and Africa, but it was a fair bit easier to come by in East Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
Scarterra's northern hemisphere is loosely based on Europe and Africa (West Colassia and East Colassia respectively) and the southern hemisphere is loosely based based on Asia with Umera and Penarchia loosely representing East Asia and the Indian subcontinent respectively).
Orange dye is more readily available in Umera and Penarchia and the best orange cloth in Scarterra's northern hemisphere is imported from these places.
History & Usage
Cultural Significance and Usage
Some mages wear loud and bright outfits that obviously broadcast their magical colors while others view the idea of showcasing their magical capabilities with their clothes to be prideful and foolish. Others wear mostly normal clothes wear one article of clothing of their associated color—and this often means hats. Conjuration magic is flashy and obvious, to the average peasant, if you ask people to 'tell me what a mage is like", they will probably describe a Conjurer. Conjuration magic has an orange aura, and the more public and obvious Conjurer mages like to wear orange clothes. This has cemented in the minds of commoners that orange is the standard color of all mages everywhere.-Henio the hat makerby me with Midjourney"My best friend growing up at the orphanage went on to become a folk wizard, and thanks to his good word of the mouth, I am the unofficial hatter of the Sabbatzarod Coven, and I get invites to a monthly poker game with mostly mages. So I know more about mages than the average commoner. There are six branches or 'schools' of arcane magic, and each school of magic has an associated color. Most mages only study one or two schools exclusively, and sometimes, mages like to wear their magic on their sleeves, pun intended.Since I have completed my apprenticeship I have made and sold seven orange 'wizard hats'. Only one of them was for an actual mage. Four of them were to an acting troupe for wizard characters and two of them were for a noble's costume party where they were pretending to be wizards. Many Conjurers are so annoyed by the stereotype of wizards wearing orange that they now refuse to wear orange altogether. Also, we are war now, and Conjurers don't like to make themselves a big bright target."by me with Midjourney
"None of the Nine or their servants manifest an orange aura, but that doesn't mean you never see clergy or holy warriors wearing orange. Orange commonly represents fire and Nami represents the fires of inspiration and the fires of chaos, Mera represents the gentle warming hearth fire, Hallisan represents the fire of a forge. Zarthus often uses torches and lanterns to symbolize the moon creating light in the darkness though they often prefer putting a silver filter on these lights, but you sometimes see orange flames.Orange represents worthwhile ambition in the language of heraldry, and Phidas commonly represents worthwhile ambition. The Keepers of Khemra use the dawn to represent the discovery and transmission of knowledge and they use the color orange to represent the dawn. All of these associated priesthoods are likely to feature a splash of orange in their raiment even if you never see full on orange clothes."
Refinement
The most common source of orange clothing dye in Scarterra's northern hemisphere is from alchemists' labs. Not everyone likes using alchemical created dyes, but it is the cheapest alternative. Some alchemists that specialize in making various dyes wear orange clothes as a form of informal uniform when manning shop stalls.-Bevan, Swynfaredian Alchemistby Eron12 with Hero ForgeSome orange dyes are available in Scarterra's southern lands, but importing them here is quite expensive. It's also possible to artificially manufacture orange dye by mixing yellow and red dye. You cannot directly mix red and yellow dye and get the orange the way you can with red and yellow paint, but red dye can be carefully applied to a yellow garment or visa versa
Ranking approximately ranked from most prestigious to least prestigious colors
(with some regional variation) royal purple imperial purple viceroy purple bright orange vibrant green white royal blue light orange bright yellow crimson red black gray pale green deep brown rusty red pale yellow soft brown beige (the color of most undyed fabrics)
Cover image:
by
me with Midjourney
Huh. 1. Why did this show up on my feed? = It has something to do with what I normally read. 2. Why did you make an article on an entire color? = IDK but it's really cool. "Bahamut Great gods that was Bahamut !!" WHAT R U DOING - STOP COMING IN HERE I NEED TO BE LEFT ALONE!!! Ugh sry. My lil' sister came in with music on full blast.