#i'm being regular about bog bodies right now

[bisexualmaedhros]

old croghan man was in his early twenties... he should have been at the club...

[connorsnothereeither]

Hi! this is a mainly DnD based question that sorta runs into Fable-

So I'm currently running an entirely underwater campaign! The species I've included is basically every aquatic DnD species (some with a few twists) along with some homebrewed underwater dragonborn, etc-

However, I'm having trouble with choosing a clothing type to put on the sea elves? My version has them more telchin-ish- aka, maybe funky colored human base with longer legs, a tail, and I've given them webbed, frog-like feet and fins in a variety of places.

Logically, they honestly really wouldn't wear clothes- but I'm not doing that because that'd make certain scenes very hard to draw-

so what do you generally imagine the telchin wearing? normal clothes, edited versions of those, etc? Right now I have the two sea elves my party interact with on a regular basis in sort of tank-top-esque wear and edited shorts of a kind.

:]

Ooooh okay that’s a really fun question my worldbuilding gears are turning lmao-

I have a post somewhere here on my blog about Telchin clothing and specifically my development of Ulysses design and the cultural influences, which basically boils down to “Telchins at the start of war = Ancient Greek clothes (chitons, togas, cloaks, etc). Telchins during the projects = WW2 fashion (pants, jumpsuits, jackets, etc)”

If you wanted my thoughts on how I would maybe clothe them in a broader sense/outside the context of Fable, I have some ideas! ✨

I think tank tops and shorts definitely fit the vibe. More-modern style clothing just underwater is always a super fun route to take, even for the visual of just clothing underwater being funky and something that’s a little different and new!

Typically in my mind, when it comes to clothing in world building it usually boils down to resources and purpose.

Resources is more the boring side of things. What kinds of materials do they have access to, how do they manufacture the clothing, blah blah blah. Not really something you need to worry about in fantasy worlds cause usually the answer is “cause magic” and “because it’s cool so I said so” which is the more fun kind of fantasy imo, and getting too bogged down in the granular details as a DM/storyteller just ain’t very productive.

Purpose on the other hand is where you can really have fun with underwater clothing! Is it designed to be functional, or stylistic? If its purpose is to be functional, maybe their clothing develops like swimsuits, almost? Like you said: shorts, crop tops, swim-shirts, etc! Something that covers enough or the body while still not being too cumbersome in the water, prioritizing movement when swimming! Or maybe you want to take that to the extreme; maybe their clothing developed like wetsuits! Skintight, smooth, shiny, and insulating! Designed to move with them, just a layer of covering for their bodies to make them more hydrodynamic! Or, if the purpose of the clothing is to be attractive and fashionable and flashy, maybe they do go in a more Greco-Roman route! Maybe it’s all about togas and dresses and cloaks and veils! Layers of long, flowing fabrics which shimmer and billow out in the water and draw attention to the person wearing them! These huge billowing clothes which make a statement, rather than help with movement or anything!

And it doesn’t have to be one or the other, either. You can mix and match both! Maybe the skintight wetsuit-like clothes are designed with patterns that ripple and shift as the wearer moves and they become beautiful and hypnotic! Maybe the large billowing cloaks are useful when avoiding predators underwater, making the wearer seem bigger, scarier and more imposing to any underwater monsters! The telchin’s clothing in my eyes follows a direct path almost: the fashionable pre-war clothing in billowing fabrics which allow freedom of movement and expression, that slowly transition into cleaner, more tailored clothing as they need to conserve fabric, and avoid being grabbed by drowned, losing that expression in the process. There’s so much room to play around with elements of either or both when it comes to it!

I know this was very rambling but I hope it was somewhat helpful!! Your campaign sounds really cool, an underwater campaign is such an interesting concept!! I hope you have fun running it!