David Weihe wrote:
> 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.
I have seen Viking era dies which did a good job dyeing wool in various shades of autumn leaf colors (using leaves and a few salts in addition). Urban medieval cities used died clothing to distinguish (among others) the whores (who had to wear yellow).
If you look at the un-uniform mercenaries of the 30-years war which looked a bit like a swarm of escaped parrots, or the uniforms of the 18th century and the napoleonic wars, you will find lots of different colors, all without the aid of synthetic dyes. How well such dyes lasted can be seen with the Bayeux tapestry.
>From what we read in Roman reports, already the Gauls had such colorful clothes. It was mainly a mediaeval caste dictate that forbade peasants to own or wear colorful clothes.
> 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).
The correct shade for storm worshippers is a dirty orange brown, something that can be achieved already by mild bleaching of brown wool (and any society knowing leatherwork will know about such bleaches).
> 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.
The richer and more organized a priesthood gets, the richer the base material, the embroidery and the ornamental material. Yelmic priests will wear cloth interwoven with actual gold. Rich Lunars wear Kralori silk transported by the Redhead Tribe or via the seas and Dragon Pass.
Purple dye (the royal variety of bromated indigo) was speculated to originate on the shores of the Mournsea. Indigo probably is grown in Teshnos, Teleos or on some of the East Isles, and possibly in coastal Pamaltela.
Madder lake (alizarin) and woad are plant-based dyes for Pelorian and Manirian climates and cover the basic colors. By adding rather simple salts or acids during the dyeing process these colors can be altered. Using a combination of differently died wool in weaving or in spinning the thread can also change the overall impression of the colors of textiles.
While I am aware (as a chemist) that the chemical industry provides an entire range of synthetic dyes since the first successful aniline based dye ("mauveine"), our ancestors used a great variety of dyes long before that.
Real indigo (hardly ever seen nowadays) consists of a mixture of similar dye chemicals which not only give the denim-blue color (achieved by synthetic indigo) but also a special sheen which is usually not achieved in synthetic indigo, and certainly not in woad. It (and the chemically almost identical purple) can be applied in a dye density that surpasses standard dyes because in the end the dye cakes the textile fibres rather than just being adsorbed. That's why such dyes used to cost as much as exotic spices.
I suppose that the Jrusteli and Umathelans had huge plantations for such special dyeing plants while the seas still allowed transportation of this comparatively lightweight but precious material. (Think of the Caribbean colonies and their plantations.) Some of that may have survived on Melib, too (then the Duchy of Eest).
Peloria will have regions where madder is produced in vast quantities for either yellow or deep red cloth.
The dye hardest to achieve (on textiles) will be black. (Leather may use ground charcoal mixed with fat.) Another color hard to maintain is white. Anything between will be possible, and only wear and exposure determine how quickly dyes will fade. (Indigo-based colors easily rub off, for instance.)
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