Conventions, meet beings with the same interest,, spend time together ,have fun buy merchandise, -- She Who Knits
There was a time, long lost, when every building was a work of art. When clothing was made to make the body look good no matter what shape it was. There was a time when romance meant something. There was a time when everything looked so pretty in the paintings.
People love to try recapturing those romantic times.
...though without all the messy bits like the speciesism, the wars, the lack of proper medicine, and the numerous misunderstandings about the world around them. Those things weren't as pretty as the aesthetic appeal of a long-lost historical era.
There's just something about sweeping gowns and being allowed to walk around with a sword at one's hip. There's also something about people riding around on horseback, but the horse poop is not what they're looking for.
In this field of tents and campfires, food carts, and performers, there's all kinds of fashion choices from entire eras of time and space. From the last centuries of the Ormani Empire, through various centuries of Teutonn rule, and even into the fashions spanning the earliest years of Pax Infernus[1].
One will also find at least three dozen people dressed like Wraithvine, regardless of their actual species. Though every Hellkin in the costume had a unique solution to wearing the trademark patchwork hat.
There's Kobold tumblers, Gobelliin jugglers, Elven chefs, D'varuh demonstrating weaponry, an extensive array of drinking establishments, and fusion cuisine from times and places that never, ever met each other in reality.
And, because of Pax Humanis, at least four different caravans selling pastry fish.
Through all the chaos and dozens of Wraithvines, the actual Wraithvine wanders. Time has worked its usual tricks on everything else, but the patchwork hat remains. Wizards are never without their hat, though the shape of it has changed through the eons. Because ze wears it everywhere, it's a lot more... mundane. Less ostentatious than those cosplaying Wraithvine.
In deference to the occasion, ze's wearing a battered old coat that one of the Kormwinds gave hir[2], and a kirtle from a couple of centuries prior, worn over some very modern denim pants. So far, nobody had called it out.
Ze remembered everything these people were mimicking. Historical accuracy wasn't the point. The point was to enjoy the aesthetics of history without looking too hard at the gritty bits. To the rest of these people, ze was just a very poor Wraithvine cosplayer who'd made everything hirself. They might have had a few things to say about the haircut, but they didn't.
All in all, the 'experts' were relatively quiet today.
Some D'varuh and Elves nodded hir way in respect. They knew who ze was. Or at least had a very accurate guess. Wraithvine nodded back, and inspected their wares.
After all, this was one of the very few places ze could get a pouch, pack, or boots to last hir a decent number of centuries.
[1] For context, this is like visiting a renfaire and finding folks dressed in togas, actual medieval clothing from varied centuries, renaissance wear, and fashions up to the Victorian Era.
[2] Queen Kormwind XII, if you must know.
[Photo by rupixen on Unsplash]
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