This update covers a smattering of related topics: Artisan skills, Tailoring, and Body Markings. Artisan skills are the primary "design" skills, such as Tailoring, and this update will give you an idea of how they work and how we continually aspire to make crafting more interesting.
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"Fear not gentlemen, I am wearing my lucky pants."
-- Herban WuntslonThe effect of magic’s saturation of the world of Lithmeria can be felt in even the most unlikely areas of life. The art of tailoring is one craft that has been more heavily influenced than most by the arcane and elemental magics. Through a long process of experimentation and after many amusingly horrific failures, stitching fabrics were discovered that could warp the fates slightly around their wearers in several distinct ways.
The most common forms of magical stitching grant an otherwise mundane garment the properties of a minor lucky charm. One correctly stitched magical garment may bestow good fortune in the acquisition of gold while another may cause the wearer to grow in wisdom more quickly, being fortunate enough to have each experience teach them more than it normally would. Other stitching types exist and all are jealously guarded by tailors who draw much of their revenue from the sale of such endowed garments.
Magical stitching aside, fashion in Lithmeria tends to flow along its own trends and lines, incomprehensible to all but the high society mavens and the fashion aficionados. With that said, some common themes have emerged that delineate clothing styles between the factions and the cities therein. These are not rules in the conventional sense and serve only as guides to dressing in a stylish and socially acceptable manner.
In the Aspalarian capital of New Caldera, the public/private divide is central to the fashion guidelines. In public, New Calderans favour simple, functional clothing designed to slightly accentuate the form without drawing overt attention to it. They prefer grey, black, white and dark blue clothing. Around the anniversary of the destruction of Caldera, it is customary to wear ash black clothing with a flame red fringe, commemorating the fall of that city. In private, the New Calderans favour far more extravagant, almost scandalous attire that serves as a release from the stuffy formalism and seriousness of New Caldera public life. Private fashion is defined by the daring and the bold design, the scandalous cut or the creative use of accessory.
Within the restored Ephemeral city, fashion tends to reflect the mysteriousness and slightly mystical nature of the Ephemerals themselves. Silk is the predominant material with swirl, star and curve motifs being prevalent in most items. Bright colours are common, with some level of sharp contrast generally in vogue both in public and in private. Public events and balls are a riot of colour and symbol, with every outfit contending to draw the eye and captivate the gaze.
Rhylium, a recent construction in the wake of the formation of the Teladir Accord sees the most diverse fashion upon Lithmeria. The tribes, long having been largely insular and only recently united each brought their own unique sense of style to the new city. Upon the streets of Rhylium the full body robes of desert dwellers mix with the trousers and loose shirts of seafarers and the green tones of those that make their home in Teladiri forests. Almost every conceivable form of garb is worn by members of at least one tribe, creating an entirely laissez-faire attitude toward clothing.
Finally, Tathraci, the Tinker city located primarily below the earth is probably the least exciting for students of finer clothing. Living underground and a fascination with the mechanical has combined to give the Tathraci a preference for darker, earthy tones and clothing that can resist burns, tears and ideally, cave-ins. When dressing up for social occasions, citizens of Tathraci tend to favour clothing that’s bright and metallic in colouring, with gold, silver and bronze most predominant.
"So, what you’re saying is that between the time yesterday when you commissioned this outfit and me delivering it to you today, fashion trends changed twice and this dress is now a cultural abomination? Allow me to direct you to our no refunds policy."
-- A clerk in the Rhylium Fine Garb Boutique, yearly mortality rate: 54%.------------------------------
Merchantry & ArtisansMerchantry makes the world go 'round. The common skill of Merchantry contains the basic abilities for selling goods, running a shop, and making simple goods such as personal stationary.
Merchantry, and indeed all common skills, once mastered branch into a trio of second tier skills in a fashion similar to the class skills (though lacking a third tier). Merchantry's second tier skills are Brewing and Smithing, which we have already seen in previous updates, but also the skill of Shipbuilding used to design and build those varied trading vessels and warships which ply the oceans.
Within Merchantry, near the pinnacle, is the ability of Artisanry which lets you learn Artisan skills. Artisan skills have only 3 ranks: Apprentice, Journeyman, and Master. Each rank gives you access to new items to be made, or new enhancements for existing item types. Apprentice Tailoring for example lets you make any normal clothing item, Journeyman lets you stitch certain magical symbols, and Master lets you create magical clothing items.
In total there are five available Artisan skills:
- Tailoring
- Jeweling
- Construction
- Artistry
- Cooking.
Tailoring DesignsDesigning a clothing item starts with a blank pattern which you can then make into a pattern for any clothing item with TAILORING PATTERN <blank> <type>.
You can see what items of clothing you can make with the TAILORING LIST command, like so:
Code:
Tailorable items: Shirt, Pants, Dress, Longdress, Robe, Backpack, Scarf, Panties, Boxers, Thong, Bra, Skirt, Longskirt, Miniskirt, Belt, Cloak, Corset, Hat, Tunic, Stockings, Leggings, Garter, Jacket, Boots, Heels, Slippers, Shoes, Sandals, Thighboot, Kneeboot, Socks, Slip, Nightgown, Kilt, Shorts, Blouse, Vest, Chemise, Bodice, Doublet, Gloves, Coat, Shawl, Bandana, Surcoat, Loincloth, Eyepatch, Cape, Veil, Sari, Sash, Bandolier, Fedora.
Once you have a pattern for a specific clothing item you can then VIEW the pattern and use EDIT to change the various properties. If using a client that supports MXP you can click on a property to change it more easily.
Code:
Item #5135 Type: scarf UNAPPROVED
Ref1: Ref2: Ref3:
Short Desc: a rough wool scarf
Room Desc: A rough wool scarf lies on the ground here.
Long Desc: A rough wool scarf is made from undyed, roughspun grey wool.
Style: head
Worn Desc:
Worn Short Desc Add-On:
Style: neck
Worn Desc:
Worn Short Desc Add-On:
Style: belt
Worn Desc:
Worn Short Desc Add-On: looped about $p waist
As you can see, the following information is displayed:
- Item Number
- Item Type
- The approval status
- Three references for the item, these are words with which players will be able to refer to this item. Scarf, Redscarf and Neckwarmer for example.
- Short Description
- Room Description
- Long Description
- The three styles
- A worn description and a worn description add-on for each style.
The styles refer to locations on the body where the item can be worn or alternatively, modes in which it is worn. In the example above, the scarf can be worn around the head, the neck or the waist. Another example might be a shirt which you could set to be wearable buttoned or unbuttoned. The worn description for each style describes exactly how that item looks when worn in that specific way. The worn description add-on is a special line that is added to the description of a player when they are wearing an item in that style. For example here is my description. In it you can see the scarf I have wrapped around my waist by the worn-add-on description I set above.
Quote:
You look at Selkrener.
A plain, average human. A tattoo of a fierce dragon is on his chest, done in red ink and breathing flames upward as it spreads its wings in full glory. He is wearing a simple silk scarf looped about his waist.
Visibility & Wear StylesLithmeria has an intricate system of visibility, taking into account what part of the body a certain type of clothing covers, not just in what "slot" it is worn. This is why you will notice we have skirts and dresses of various lengths, to determine how much of the leg is covered.
The different styles within which a clothing item can be worn will also determine what parts of the body they cover. An open cloak would reveal more than a closed cloak and a hiked up skirt would show more leg than one allowed to rest naturally. There are many other articles with multiple styles, and I'm sure crafters will suggest many wonderful ideas as time goes on.
Tattoos, Scars, and MarkingsAnother exciting benefit of the visibility system is Body Markings. This system is usable for everything from tattoos to scars to adding extra detail to certain body parts. For every body part you are able to set a unique Body Mark that will only be visible when that part of the body is uncovered by clothing. For example, facial scars will not show in your description when wearing a mask, a tattoo on your calf will be invisible when wearing pants or a long skirt or dress and so on and so forth. This allows you to have more dynamic character descriptions without having to constantly change your full description.
Luck StitchingJourneyman Tailors learn the ability to stitch patterns of good luck into the seams of the clothes they make, bringing their blessings upon those who wear their goods. There are currently three known magical stitching types: Circles, Hearts, and Knots.
- The circles pattern symbolizes coins and will bring enhanced wealth to the wearer, increasing the amount of gold they will find in their adventures.
- The hearts pattern enhances the life of the blessed, increasing the amount of experience they will gain from all their activies.
-The knots pattern calls to magic and will increase the wearer's odds of finding rare materials when hunting.
Stitching can only be performed on those garments worn on the torso and the legs and will have their bonus increased beyond their sum if the stitching on both articles of clothing match. A dress worn without anything on the legs under it will count as both torso and legs for purposes of bonus.
Magical ClothesA Master Tailor can make a variety of magical clothing items. In addition to the cloth required to make it each one will also use a specific magic item, the same type used to fold into weapons and armor by smiths. Magical clothing will range from simple utility items, such as slightly quicker movement to more combat applicable bonuses like minor resistant buffs.
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Next week's update will cover the weather system of Lithermia. A detailed and complex system that semi-accurately models real world weather behavior and effects many facets of the game from troop movements to ships.
