Tarasceen Cultural Guide

Climate

The general climate of Terrasquestone is temperate/subtropical, roughly equating with the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Tennessee Valley. Summers tend to run long and hot, autumns likewise tend to be more sweltering than colorful; winters are brief and relatively mild. Spring tends to be dramatic. This long growing season, moderate to high temperatures, and humidity moves the general Tarasceen Overton well away from the typical Norman/Celtic/Nordic genre and into the Mediterranean/Iberian/Greek climate. Why does this matter? In the aforementioned genre fantasy, most things are built to endure dour weather and long sieges. The most constant threats in Terrasquestone aren't long winters, endless rains, or constant wars across the kingdom, it's the subtropical environment. Homes and castles are built to accommodate normal daytime temperatures in the 80s and low 90s, and for winters to rarely see significant snowfall. 

The Tarasceen fashion is a mixture of loose and breathable fabrics and decorations, with the largest influences being Minoan, Cretan, and other ancient Mediterranean cultures predating Greece and Rome.

Available Materials and Resources

This is a two-edged answer, because Terrasquestone has two massive sources of materials and resources. The first is the most obvious, its a massive city-state with a large populace and has been in place for over a thousand years. The farms, mines, and industry around the city are generations old, and the region is completely self-sufficient in terms of basic raw materials, food goods, livestock, and manpower. The other side of the blade is the Gygaxian Gyre which is an absolutely massive source of dungeon metals, precious stones, crafting components, spell components, and luxury goods. The only cost is blood and lives to acquire and bring back these vast treasures. 

Cress is Tarasceen silk and is sourced from giant spiders and spiderling monsters found in the Gyre. Adventurers of a textile mindset can carry portable spinning tools and gather spidersilk found there and spin it into cloth, while others have an aptitude for finding loot drops of bolts (fabric sheets sold at craft stores) of cress. These are highly valuable, but countered by their size and bulkiness.

Lospa is Tarasceen linen and is made from grain harvest waste. Tarasceen millet and amaranth are the main grain crops, and lospa is made from the processed fibers of the plant. 

Thill or shagrin is processed reptile skin and is the Gyre's predominant source of leather. Normal leather is gained on the surface from cattle, other beasts of burder, and from a wide variety of dungeon and wandering monsters.

Silhouette

The general fashion of Terrasquestone is the chiton, a single rectangular piece of fabric that is folded and wrapped around the body, then clasped with fasteners, broaches, and belts. This is a sort of high fashion, as the cloth used, patterns and dyes employed, and accessories denoting the wealth and importance of the wearer. Men and women wear the chiton in different manners. Commoners ape the general appearance of the chiton in the form of the utilitarian tunic. This isn't the genre fantasy tunic, but the pre-Roman version. These garments are light and allow for the body to breath. This is important considering that Terrasquestone is subtropical and doesn't have access to modern amenities like central air and heat. They have magical work-arounds, of course, but these are specialized, and not universal.

Soldiers wear bracers and greaves, and leather armor in the hoplite fashion. Dungeon adventurers wear much the same, but have metal, magical, and exotic armors.

What is missing from the Tarasceen fashion palette - ornate formal attire, this isn't Bridgerton or another Anglo-Normal costume drama. Its a hot humid climate and three layers of petticoats over a corset and a bra would leave a woman sweating like a sow at the slaughterhouse, and a man in a high collar coat and breeches would strangle on his own sweat, if he didin't dehydrate first. Same goes for armor, there are mounted tournaments and such, but this isn't the Anglo-Norman genre fantasy, so its exotic monsters and wild beasts rather than the same horses and lances at the list. Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and The Wheel of Time have already been done. 

This is a lesser footnote - Terrasquestone tends towards a more outspoken feminine approach to fashion. Agnes Sorrel, mistress of King Charles VII was infamous for going with one tit out. This is rather how Tarasceen fashion runs. Women tend to have more visible leadership roles, and to use brusque language, are tits out. A completely covered woman tends to be regarded as secretive or deceitful. (See Modesties for women or magic pasties who aren't willing to go tits out for power)

Gender Differentiation

Male and female fashion tends to be similar in Terrasquestone, tunics and chitons being differentiated in quality, color, and patterns. Male fashion tends towards more colorful displays of patterns and dyes, while women's tend towards single colors but greater emphasis on accessories and on how thin and sheer the wearer is willing to go. This isn't so much a Hollywood/fashion show demonstration of excess, but more a cultural element. Concealing clothing can be seen as being dishonest or modest, depending on the circumstances. This also generally applies to men. A stranger in the corner wearing an all-concealing cloak where you can only see their chin and hand as they smoke a pipe is basically screaming they are untrustworthy and a criminal. 

Use of Color

The colors of Terrasquestone are orange and green.

If you start looking up all the precious stones listed in the descriptions of Heaven, almost none of them are white. A large number of them are orange, brown, and green. The reflexive imagination of Heaven is a reflection of the austere white columns and pillars of the Greek and Roman ruins. Terrasquestone is made predominantly of orange and brown-hued stone. Green and other colored materials are less common and used more as accents. Accordingly, women tend to wear variations of orange, tan, brown, and other neutral colors, while men peacock about in brighter colors.

For accent materials, the most common metals in the city are dragonbrass, wightpewter, and Tarasceen steel. Men tend to be more flashy in their use of metal accents in belts, clasps, and other accessories that are specifically not jewelry. Women will use more wightpewter and Tarasceen steel in their decoration, but will use beast cores and similar highly precious materials as centerpieces in their jewelry. 

Why? Because in the Tarasceen style, men put on the show much as birds do in their dimorphism. The women of the city are already strutting about with their tits on display, and in thin garments. The men are the ones who have to put on the display, as women are already showing what god gave them.

TL:DR - orange, tan, etc are feminine colors, while blue, green, and similar are masculine colors.

Signature Decorative Elements

AKA motifs and symbols. Reptilian motifs are the most common, considering the entire city's motif is built around the Terrasque. Dragons, wyverns, wyrms, drakes, serpents, and the like are all overrepresented. The Terrasque itself is reserved for those 'deemed worthy'. There are no noble houses or guilds that sport that terrible tawny terror. That said, it is part of the heraldry of the High Lords of Terrasquestone, and multiple businesses have used it. 

The Gyre is well aware of who and that try to use the image of its ultimate weapon as part of their decoration. The core won't tolerate this from any noble house, guild, or even group of adventurers. Those that try to do this invariably call down the worst luck on their heads, mostly because they're pissed off a sentient glowing rock a mile underneath them. There are a number of institutions that have maintained the beast in their iconography. The Terrasque's Head is a seven century old tavern in the old city that has long held that honor. It has maintained this status by regularly telling the high guilds to piss off. 

Headware and Accessories

Tarasceen women have a great love of large and ornate hats. Like baroque Kentucky Derby hats. The same applies to personal fans, parasols, and other accessories associated with 'fuck its hot'. Belts are also prominent in fashion, especially for men. These belts can become large and ornate, more WWE title belts and less cowboy belt buckles. This makes them showy, amply spaced for decoration, and lots of territory for the application of magic charms, enchantment, and jewels. Women also like belts, chatelaines, and have a preponderance of pins and broaches for their chitons, tunics, dresses, and robes.

The wealth of Terrasquestone is such that many noble ladies will wear jewelry made from beast cores, nodes of dungeon cores, and similar powered precious and sometimes even sentient stones.

Marriage is demonstrated through the wearing of matching jewelry. Rings are the most common, but there is also a historic and traditional mock-elfin tradition of married women wearing ferronnieres, chains that hold a jewel against a woman's forehead. These are almost always enchanted. Men will not wear such a jewel, but it is common for them to work their wive's iconography into their woven garments. 

Membership in a great guild is displayed with either a broach or pin denoting the guild, or with certain guilds, a certain and specific garment of clothing. Members of the Civil Watch have distinct 'pickle coats' that are light armor, while guild prostitutes have their specific guild's emblem on a broach, or a generic ornate flower broach. For newcomers to the city, the preponderance of bared breasts can be highly distracting, and many do not intuitively know that the women flirting with them, with the large flower pins, are whores.

Modesty and Social Norms

As mentioned above, there are no prohibitions about women being required to be covered above the waist. Children tend to be dressed in a modest unisex chiton or tunic, and a girl generally has a coming out party or debut where she announces herself as no longer being a child. This mimics the southern tradition of cotillion, or the Hispanic quinceañera. These young women have functionally announced their entry into the dating market. Young boys do not have a similar tradition, and instead are expected to come of age by joining the military, one of the guilds, taking up their family profession, becoming an adventurer, or, for many, leaving the city. Terrasquestone coddles its daughters, and sends its sons away to prove themselves. 

The crotch area is expected to be covered.

Those who are infirm, crippled, extremely aged, or otherwise not the image of health are given a pass to cover themselves without being thought negatively of. There is also little shame for those same people to not shroud themselves. An aged grandmother is free to cover herself, or let it all hang out. Her daughters might be considered dishonest if they were hale and excessively modest.

Bodily functions are private.

Reproductive acts are private. Things like prima noctis are not a thing, and would be offensive. Marriage is common; polygamy is uncommon but not illegal. Polyandry is rare, but not illegal. Polyamory and other alternate lifestyles are also uncommon, but not illegal. There is the general consideration that the residents of the city do need to produce children for the continuation of social structures and organizations, so same-sex and mixed-race couples are fully expected to have and rear children. For female-female couples, there are magic spells or donors. For male-male couples, fostering and taking wards is expected. 

Interracial couples of non-viable species can split the difference, fostering or accepting outside donor material. There are spells that can create hybrid offspring, but this is generally frowned upon as being a crime against nature and magic.

Encumbrance and Gear

The Tarasceen fashion of chitons and tunics leaves a certain paucity of pockets, and they do not have anything so droll as backpacks or book bags. They do have purses, shoulder bags, and similar small bags. There is also regular use of shouldered baskets, and regular and heavy use of porters, beasts of burden, and wheeled vehicles. 

Items of Holding and Inventory Magics are very common in the city. Lesser bags of holding are the most common, though there are merchants with shoulder-strapped traveling trunks that act as traveling stores. Likewise, there are rings and bracelets that can hold multiple changes of clothing, necklaces that conceal armor outfits, and the like. A Tarasceen noble walking down the road might very well have a dozen sets of clothing stored in a magic bracer, and multiple spells concealing weapons, armor, and magical servants. Inventory magics are less common, but a highly lucrative trade. Dungeon Butlers and Dungeon Vendors are able to move vast amounts of material or maintain near-instant access to said equipment. Given the size and wealth of the city, this is limited to the general imagination of the reader.

Special and Specific Garb

Lordly Robes are worn by nobles and the lords or high lords of the city. This is an outer robe over a fine chiton with accoutrements of state.

Merchant's Robes are worn by the wealthy and demonstrate the wealth of the person wearing them. These tend towards flamboyance against the often deeply traditional and conservative robes of the lords.

Soldier's Garb consists of leather or metal bracers, greeves, cuirasse, and helmet worn over a stout tunic. Colors indicate their organization and rank. 

Heroe's Garb is a wild and eclectic mix of armor, clothing, and accessories gained from heroics, dungeon delving, and looting monsters.