Axunemi clothing
From Almeopedia
Fabric: The finest fabric is cotton; hemp makes a serviceable cloth, and redcane a coarser one. Leather, wool, and hides are also used.
Contents |
The three sexes
The Axunemi believed that there were not two sexes but three: males, females, and ewemi, identified by interests, body type, and behavior. Males were warriors, rulers, and fathers; females were mothers; ewemi were essentially those of either biological sex unsuited for these roles. They generally became the intellectual class. As they were not supposed to reproduce, any ewez could marry any other regardless of biological sex.
The basic division of types of clothing and hairstyle followed this division: women wore trousers and short hair with no hats; ewemi wore robes and long hair with soft caps; men wore short skirts and long hair with helmets. The Ax. term minurax ‘outfit’ could be used for all three types of clothing.
Under any of these outfits one might wear a nibo— a cotton loincloth.
Nobles
The woman wears tight cotton trousers (rabo kuriš, lit. ‘leg cloth’) and a closely fitted cotton blouse (moulus). Both are finely decorated and patterned to show her high status. The moulus highlights the shoulders or breasts and may leave one or the other area bare. She wears sandals (riji kenke, lit. ‘open shoe’).
The man is an ewez and wears a minus, a wrapped cotton robe. (Linen or silk might also be imported from Eretald for this.) A female ewez would wear an identical robe; in both cases the ideal form hid the sexual characteristics. Robes were often spectacularly decorated; this one features a night sky with Almea’s moons. He wears a nevus or soft cap as well as a soft leather shoe (kenke).
Peasants
The woman’s outfit is a rough imitation of the noblewoman’s, with rougher fabric (hemp or redcane), drab colors, and less ornamentation.
The man’s outfit is however an imitation of the soldier’s. He wears a fringed leather skirt (rabo renkiei ‘thigh cloth’). His shirt is a šuvus ‘underthing’, and his leather vest (pešikus 'small overthing') imitates the soldier’s armor. His boots (kenkeï) are of hide.
Poor ewemi would of course wear simple wrapped minuvi. There were few ewemi among the lower classes; the incidence rose with wealth and power.
Soldier
The soldier wears a steel helmet (xus), helm, breastplate, and codpiece. He’s from an elite imperial unit; lesser units might make do with ringed armor or chainmail. Parts of the armor are covered with cloth.
He wears a long hempen shirt, the ševus, and sometimes a coat (pešus) for warmth. Finally he wears fine leather boots.
Again, other men in authority— rulers, officials, judges, priests, nobles— dressed much like this, though for convenience the armor might be leather rather than metal.
See also
- More on the sexes, with another picture
- Rúmeš, a female Endajué teacher, shown in ewemi robes
