Re: Cult Colours

From: David Weihe <blerg2_at_...>
Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2013 13:49:56 -0800 (PST)


"Mark"  <markmohrfield> wrote:

> > Oh, and Humakt's color is, of course, BLACK. As if it could be anything else.
>
> Many Asian cultures associate white with death.

Furthermore, I always assumed that the Dead Men would be gray (like a bled-out corpse, or like ashes) or rust (like recently-dried blood).  This would not apply to the "foppish" Humakti of the Holy Country, of course, who would probably wear black just because it was so stylish.

In any case, since Glorantha lacks analine (aka coal-tar) dyes, everything but woad blue and possibly one or two other colors (like the purple from some mollusk in our world) would appear rather pastel to our eyes, as any bright or saturated dyes would be too expensive for general use.  As a result, I expect that only temple priests and would-be heroes of their respective gods would bother using the "correct" cultic colors (i.e., the priests at the Old Wind Temple would have their regalia in the right colors, but not the local god-talker or clan priest).  As any society got richer, getting the "right" colors would be comparatively cheaper, so Yelmic priests and old regalia from the great days of Sartar to Tarkalor would seem very special because they were all of the same cultic color(s), rather than whatever the local sheep or linen produced that year.            

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