Clothing of the Lassaran - A Study of Transitional Culture

Overview

Upon discovery of a Lassaran encampment of sylvankind in Whistler's Pass, scholar Lisano Torrenzia of Ta'Illistim immediately asked if he could record some of the details he would learn while taking advantage of common sylvan hospitality during his three-day visit. The following lore was revealed by storyteller Morrin Cairwyn and gives great insight into the influence that other cultures have had upon Lassaran clothing. The author would like to reinforce that while the Lassaran sylvans still retain many of their traditions and customs from the days in Yuriqen, their particular style is influenced by their travel and contact with various other races and cities. It is important that we not confuse it with traditional sylvan clothing customs, but instead take focus on the mixing of the two.

Lassaran clothing styles have evolved into a more versatile style with the introductions of new means of crafting cloth, discovering dyes, creating adornments, and finding/trading new materials. Traditional sylvan clothing tends to be crafted from hides, furs, and airy fabrics such as chainsil, cotton gauze, linen, and nubby raw silks. Today, they keep primarily to the same trends, but have added twists from the influence of their exposure to other races.

Barks, reeds, grasses, and flowers, as well as a variety of wooden beads, small bones, or other trinkets have long been used in sylvan clothing as adornments. In addition to these adornments, Lassaran styles have added pieces of metal such as mithril, ora, rolaren, and silver, as well as lesser metals such as copper and bronze. They can be used in the form of wire, beading, or braided into lengths such as wristlets or chains, even occasionally seen in the form of crude shards or ovals. Though dyes could be applied to the metals, they tend to be left in their natural hue and instead are applied to wood and fabrics.

Colorations

Dyes were limited previously to the flora found in the Yuriqen forest, but as Lassaran traveled and became acquainted with new flora and foods, their dyes expanded. Dyes commonly used by the Lassaran include both traditional and modern concoctions made from these items in nature:

Blacks and Blues

• iris roots, wild grapes, and sumac leaves create a black hue; Mournblooms and grumbleberries are perfect for a darker purple bordering on black
• mulberries and blueberries for a deep shade of blue, woad makes an excellent indigo blue, while larkspur flowers produce a delicate pale blue;

Browns

• wild plum roots for rust brown, oak bark for a light tan, acorns and walnuts for darker shades of brown, wolifrew lichen creates an ochre hue and red leaf buds from maple trees are for a red-hued brown;

Purples, Reds, and Pinks

• foxglove, heliotrope, and elderberries for a lavender hue, cherry roots and blackberries for a strong purple;
• the cochineal bug, when ground into a fine powder, can produce a range of colors from dark burgundy to bright red to soft lilac and pink;
• strawberries, cherries, winterberries, teaberry fruit, and raspberries for shades of pink and red, roses and lavender with mint and some lemon to create a vivid pink hue; thornberries for a pale pink and tkaro root for a darker hue of pink;
• dandelion roots, red cabbage, and beets produce red hues, most red leaves and red lichen as well;
• hibiscus flowers, beets, and old blooms of daylilies produce a red-purple tint;

Red-Oranges

• madder root and annato seeds produce a range of hues running the gamut from dark red to deep orange; dragonstalk, flamestalk, monkeyflower, and sirenflower produce more basic shades of red-orange hues;

Oranges and Yellow-Golds

• onion skin, goldenrod, and lichen for yellow-gold hues, and pomegranates for brighter orange; for a more true orange they used carrots;
• the roots of plum trees are used for a peach or salmon dye;

Greens and Yellows

• spinach, artichokes, algae, Imaera's lace, and grasses create shades of green;
• coreopsis flowers, marigold blossoms, daffodil flower heads, and celery leaves after they have dried produce shades of yellow;
• goldenrod produces a medium hue of yellow, while angelica is used for a paler hue almost the color of yellow-green; ginkgo leaves in the autumn also produce yellow hues.