Kiern Vale Handbook

Chapter 3: Life in Kiern Vale

Clothing and Attire in Kiern Vale

Peasant attire

Peasant and other villagers typically wear traditional work clothing, usually consisting of coarse trousers and a long shirt made of simple mountain linen. During the cold seasons, they add a thick, furry shawl. Women wear a simple linen dress with a pinafore and a coarse headscarf for hair coverage. The dress is made from mountain linen, or wool – if the family can afford it.

Azgul belt: a common garment among men of Farilic descent is the azgul belt: a crude, woven belt with tassels, usually with at least one piece of fur sewn onto it, sometimes adorned with a decoration made from a carved animal bone – a reminder of the ancient Far’lil connection to nature. Often, the Azgul belt also includes a number of small pouches attached to it, storing crushed herbs blessed by a local Zaglit or elder, or a piece of blessed earth, symbolizing the connection to respected ancestors whose soul was fortunate to unite with the sacred soil of the great antlered father.

Simple town folk attire

Townsmen (excluding the lowest classes), typically wear a short tunic that ends above the knees. The majority of simple or even mid-class townsmen cannot afford to dye their whole tunic. However, according to the En’mirian tradition, they usually adorn it with two vertical stripes in a color which represents the Celestial Reflection which their family is most associated with: gold (or yellow), red, blue or grey.

Finer and more expensive tunics, as well as robes or cloaks worn by wealthier townsmen, will also include delicate woven patterns around the neck area or collar, with a color matching to the color of the stripes. The woven shapes in the pattern will frequently hint at the profession or some house tradition, if such exists in the family.

Nobles and upper-class attire

Nobles and other upper-class persons, are usually wearing longer tunics, made from delicate fabrics (unlike the coarser wool or linen). Such tunics are crafted by artisan weavers, using precious fabrics imported from other regions which were once parts of the En’mirian empire. The most common fabrics for this purpose are either Ramjirian cotton from the south, or Roseblood which was traditionally produced on the central regions of Melestra, though some of it is still harvested in certain regions in the Kingdom of Orm’theril, and in Irgorsil to its east. Other fabrics, rarer and highly magical, are the Mist velvet (also called “Bellflower weave”), mostly imported from the now ruined Mistweavers kingdom in the western continent, and two types of magical silk known as “Sun silk” and “Night silk” (or “Shadoweave”), respectively.

Those magical fabrics were rarely used even by the richest, and were usually kept for the exclusive attire of the En’mirian priestesses: The En’silnea – a magical dress made of three pieces, which only priestesses were allowed to wear.

The wealthiest nobles or artisans in the En’mirian empire did wear some extravagant tunics which featured ornate shawl and collar, and frequently also a rectangular embroidered part covering the middle of the chest, resembling the En’gliril part of the priestesses En’silnea. Those fancy tunics usually also include delicately woven patterns on their edges, as well as gem pieces from the kinds that were allowed to be embedded in the attire of non-clergy men and women.

Impoverished attire: Swamp weave and “Gurgil Gown”

For most of the lower-classes engaged in hard physical labor, residing in the En’milor slums, even cheap linen worn by the Kiern Vale peasants is too expansive and almost unattainable.

Instead, most of this fate-stricken populace utilizes a type of cloth called “Swamp Weave”. This fabric, originating primarily from the Gurg, is sewn from a combination of fibers extracted from the common “Rockling Wart” and other marsh plants. The resulting string like textured fabric is sometimes supplemented by torn pieces of regular mountain linen – usually taken from irreparable garments which cannot be used anymore in other cloths.

The outcome is called “Gurgit fabric” (and sometimes, mockingly “Toad cotton” or even “The seven divine toads’ cotton”) – an extremely crude fabric, its color ranges from shades of greenish-brown to dull greyish-green, with an unpleasant texture resembling a rope, emitting a faint scent reminiscent of sour moss. On the other hand, this fabric is sturdy, and highly resistant to moisture.

Gurgil gown: Since the low quality of this weave severely limits the kind of cloths made from it, its main product is the “Gurgile gown”: a sort of large loincloth (somewhat resembling what many slaves wore in the southern lands), to which an upper part is added, appearing as two broad and usually uneven strips that descend diagonally from the shoulders to the pelvis, crossing each other. This attire has become extremely common in the En’mirlor slums, for those who cannot obtain any “real” work cloth, or who are required to work in the scorching, water flooded mines beyond the “Red Gate”, or spend many hours gathering in the marshlands south of the district city.

The strange, worn-down appearance of this garment, along with the odor emanating from its wearers (often a combination of sweat and unwashed swamp filth), greatly contribute to the disrepture of the slum dwellers.

En’mirian priestesses’ attire

En’silnea

En’silnea is the traditional, fancy garment used by the En’mirian priestesses. It is a long and narrow dress that descends to cover the feet almost entirely. It is made from three parts.

Lesser priestesses wear a simplified version of the attire, made from Ramjirian cotton or similar weave. In contrast, the original, full En’silnea worn by the higher-ranking priestess was crafted from exquisite fabrics like mist velvet, often woven with shards of magical gemstones in matching colors – using weaving techniques known only to the master artisan weavers of Selentir and a handful of similar places.

The En’silnea is typically dyed in a single color that suits the Celestial Reflection to which the priestess is affiliated with. Lesser versions, worn by lesser priestess or initiates, were only partially dyed, with the rest of the cloth remaining white or in its natural color. The most exquisite versions, on the other hands, featured a thoughtfully crafted blend of multiple shades of the same color (Golden, Red, Blue or Grey), harmoniously intertwined to showcase intricate and delicate patterns, weaved by the most talented artisans in the empire.

The three parts of the En’silnea

The En’silnea is made from three parts: the dress itself, the En’gliril and the En’litea

En’gliril: A kind of subtly shaped shoulder shawl, slightly protruding to the sides above both shoulders. The shawl is integrated with a rectangular chest plate adorned with precious gemstone patterns. In the combat version of the dress, the En’gliril was replaced by a similar model made of lightweight and exquisite metal.

En’litea: A flat and long scarf, combined beneath the collar of the En’gliril and descending straight down in both of its sides, covering both sides of the chest until slightly below the waist. The En’litea was often adorned with intricate runic symbols, designed to provide the priestess with protection from spells or a boost to her own magic, especially those who stem from the magical ‘living’ gem encrusted into her En’mirel tiara (see below). The magical defense was deemed equally necessary both in the battlefield and in temples and other places, in which waring armored battle robes was not customary, but the danger posed by assassins was greater than anyone was willing to acknowledge.

Combat En’silnea

This version of the priestess garment, is designed for dangerous zones and battles. It combines both weaving and a metal breastplate. The dress of the combat En’silnea is open on the sides in the lower leg area, to allow more freedom of movement. The long Stocking usually worn underneath the dress, are replaced by partial leg armor.

The En’gliril covering the shoulders, and especially the part covering the chest, is replaced with lightweight metal breastplate, often magical, in a similar shape. This armor is adorned and studded with precious stones in patterns similar of those of the regular En’silnea.

The En’mirel tiara

Considered even more precious and significant than the En’silnea, and the most valuable possession of the priestess. The En’mirel is an enchanted tiara (rarely replaced by a throat-covering collar-like necklace). The En’mirel was the item to which the precious ‘living’ sacred gem of the priestess, the connection between her and the powers of the En’mayri, was embedded. According the En’mirian belief, the ‘living’ gem and the en’mirel are not truly external to the priestess, but truly a part of her entity, emanating her holy powers.

In practice, at least over the last century of the Empire’s existence, a considerable, growing number of priestesses wore inactive, ‘darkened’ gemstones, simply inherited from previous generations. Such priestesses often relied on a simple cantrip known by the gem crafting artisans, which caused the gem to glow faintly in order to misrepresent it as still possessing celestial power.

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Created and edited by Gideon Orbach (2017) © All rights reserved. Commercial use and/or any profit-making purpose is strictly prohibited without explicit permission from the creator, in writing and in advance. Noncommercial/personal use with no profit aim is allowed (and even recommended!)