The East PacificBoard

Apart from the clothes they wear, Zemedievans have a developed taste for fashion through jewelry, piercings, tattoos, and other forms of accessories and body modifications. Even when not quite permanent, as in the case of jewelry, these accessories and body modifications, for the most part, remain consistent on a day to day basis across the Directorate. Change is more common in youth, but Zemedievans tend to define their visual identities by their twenties.

Tattooing is a longstanding cultural tradition within the Directorate. In urban and suburban areas, this tradition is weaker, but rural towns, even exceptionally small ones, tend to have at least one tattoo parlor. A common coming of age custom is for new 18 year olds to get their first tattoo, typically something core to their identity, perhaps relating to family, religion, or their culture, if it’s not mainstream. By the time they’re thirty, the average Zemedievan might have 1-3 tattoos, but some go even further, whereas others still reject the tradition. Social pressure is fairly light, except on one’s eighteenth birthday, so the tradition’s strength lies mostly in people’s perceptions of it as trendy and fashionable.

The use of gold ink is prohibited within the Dievinist religion, unless the tattoos themselves have religious significance. Prayers, for example, or religious symbols, can be tattooed in gold, but nothing else. Given many tattooists are religious themselves, this means even atheist Zemedievans don’t often violate this tenet. A dull yellow is sometimes allowed, on the assumption that the bright gold is the taboo color, but this is not always the case. Other colors are used freely, and often, colored tattoos have black ink or empty space where yellow might have gone. This is perfectly normal for Zemedievans, although foreigners might find it strange.

Tattoos on the face or neck are largely avoided out of cultural stigma. The exception for this is in the Directorate military or police force, where they serve as a symbol of strength and experience. This is an easy way to recognize one who has served, or at least in wealthy, crime-free areas. In poorer, urban areas, gang members and career criminals have begun copying this trend as a form of defiance against the police. In either case, lower class citizens tend to avoid people with neck or face tattoos to stay out of trouble. Arms are the most common places for tattoos, though they can sometimes be found on one’s ankle, back, or stomach.

Ear piercings are incredibly common in people aged 15-30, regardless of gender. In most of Zemedievai, earrings of various designs are seen as extremely fashionable, and have been popular in one style or another for the past thirty or so years. Nose and lip piercings, too, are fairly prevalent, although other kinds, such as tongue piercings, tend to be seen as different and alternative. The younger generation – though children require parental permission – tend to indulge in piercings if they have the money to spare.

Those ages 30-50 may also be seen with a few piercings, but those with many can easily be looked down upon for trying to imitate youthfulness instead of maintaining maturity. Thus, anything more exotic than one or two earlobe piercings is seen as weird for older people to have. It’s unclear whether this is a result of piercings being seen as immature or the product of piercing culture only rising to prominence in the early 2000s.

Jewelry, unlike piercings, are something that nobody is expected to grow out of. Although the dominant hand’s ring finger is typically left empty until marriage, it’s not uncommon for every other finger to be adorned with rings. Among the youth, styles tend to be exaggerated and showy, but simplistic styles are seen as very mature. Plain bands, or those with one stone or a carved pattern, are extremely fashionable.

Apart from rings, necklaces and bracelets are common accessories. In many cases, even ones made of rope or beads are stylish. When metal is used, silver, brass, and iron are the most common materials, though gold is intermittently used itself. Jewelry tends to be handmade, but mass produced, cheaper jewelry is available for the lower class and for teenagers and young adults, who may not be trusted with expensive materials and handiwork. Professional handmade jewelry, which is largely produced in Anykliai, an industrial town, is considered a culturally significant product. Brooches and pins for formal and informal wear are fairly widespread.

Jewelry designs are often heavily geometric – unique combinations of shapes, especially circles, knots, triangles, and floral designs, form signature patterns and styles which serve as the basis of accessory fashion. Often, religious images, such as crude symbols or pictorials of gods, feature prominentyl. One common design in Milisteni culture is a pendant in the shape of a bear claw, raven skull, or other distinct animal part. In the Kamya culture, wooden pendants and rope necklaces are preferred over the metal kind, which is seen as a staple of the Senekara, and particularly un-Kamya. However, most cultural underpinnings are subtle, and personal aesthetics often prevail.

Unlike many Nonscion and Araseotic cultures, watches are not seen as gaudy signs of wealth or status. Simple bands and affordable materials are much preferred over the gold and silver products imported from western countries. As a technocratically minded people, Zemedievans see watches as a useful device first, and a fashion statement second. As such, many tend to prefer unassuming styles that let the eye slide off of the watch and onto whatever rings or bracelets the Zemedievan is wearing for fashion instead.

Since prescription glasses are something that people need to wear all the time, they tend to be customized. Square shapes are more common in Pryzova, whereas rounder shapes tend to be the norm among the southern and western cultures of Zemedievai. Black, rose, and gold are fairly common color variants, though it’s not unusual to see someone break from this norm. Sunglasses are not a very common sight in Zemedievai for obvious reasons, and even when they are seen, they tend to be cheap and simple.

In Zemedievan culture, shoulder bags are seen as more mature than backpacks and more convenient than briefcases, so are very common among people of all genders and backgrounds. The difference, mostly, lies in color and material. Brown or black leather, or a leather substitute, is the norm for people of wealth, and white collar workers, especially those who work in finance and management, are often expected to either wear one or find a passing fake. Cloth or fabric, on the other hand, is pretty standard for all kinds of people. Among adolescents, backpacks tend to be more colorful, and are often adorned with a number of pins to express one's personality.