#proto-tartan

[vintagesimstress]

Proto-tartan Patterns

Once my new colour palettes were ready, I could finally move to the thing which prompted their remake in the first place: meaning, a total overhaul of the tartan(-esque?) swatches I use for recolouring stuff.

Remember my old set of tartan patterns? I've been gradually getting less and less happy with them. Sure, they were pretty, no doubt - a little bit too pretty. Kind of complex. Kind of time-consuming to make. Kind of... not screaming 'iron age'. And not at all consistent with the colour palette I was using at the time. So I decided to remake them.

Completely. From scratch.

This time I wanted to be smarter. This time I had a vision. And a plan.

Hear me out.

(or just DOWNLOAD them from my Patreon - as always all free from day one - if you don't feel like reading this dissertation; why does it always get so long ffs...)

So the thing is - we don't know much about how pre-Roman Britons dressed. They left no written records and, as their textiles were, obviously, organic, they decomposed long ago, so archaeology is of little help as well. However, there's one thing we do know, as all ancient writers agree on it: namely, that their clothing was strikingly 'colourful'. Considering Romans themselves had better access to vibrant dyes and textiles, that probably wasn't it; and so it's a truth universally acknowledged (or at least believed) that said 'colourfulness' was a result of insular Celts using multi-coloured patterns, as opposed to Roman monochrome style. How exactly those patterns looked, we have no way of knowing. Some interpret it simply as stripes; others as some chequered patterns; and others dare to call it proto-tartan. I went with the last one.

Trying to come up with swatches which would make sense for those times was a tricky task - you know? Because on the one hand, I didn't want them to be obviously anachronistic; and imagining a life of a Brittonic commoner woman, I could see that she'd have no time and energy left to make literally any of my old tartan swatches. What would a farmer's wife wear? She'd be making her clothes herself, of course - so what would she go for? Something simple, not that time-consuming, not requiring too much concentration. Maybe two shades of natural wool; maybe dyeing some skeins of white wool some easily accessible colour; maaaybe two dyed colours, if she liked to dress up. But dyeing her wool ten different colours and then weaving them into beautiful, perfectly symmetrical patterns, like the ones from my old set? I think not.

Then again, we have that ugly tendency of assuming people in the past were somehow 'lower' then us, especially when it's about illiterate societies. Yet every now and then archaeologists find old textiles which miraculously survived millennia, and time and time again we're flabbergasted by how intricate they are, how well-made, how fine, how... Damn expensive. I have no reason to believe it was any different in case of ancient Britons. Whatever a Celtic chieftess wore, she surely wasn't running around in a potato sack; and considering Roman officials would probably interact mostly with the richer members of the society, it makes sense that their 'wooooow, so colourful' comments were inspired mostly by those upper-class garments.

And so I decided to invent and implement a kind of class-stratification system, i.e. different pattern rules for different social classes. Totally arbitrary, totally made up, totally not backed by any sources - just a simple product of the time I spent wondering 'what would've made sense'. Oh, and this time all the colours come from my new palette(s), so it's all consistent. I found an online tartan maker and got to work.

See? I told you I had a plan.

The free version of the tartan maker let me mix maximum of 5 colours and I happily agreed to this limit, basing the bulk of my rigid social classes' system exactly on this: the number of colours used. Their provenience also played a role. And of course I went for the holy number of 85 swatches - divided into five groups:

Group I - lower class casual dress. Five patterns only in undyed wool, 20 patterns in one shade of undyed wool + one dyed colour. Altogether 25 swatches;

Group II - lower class fancy dress & middle class casual dress. Two dyed colours, only from the northern palette. 20 swatches;

Group III - middle class fancy dress & upper class casual dress. Three colours, whichever, including the imported ones, with the exception of Roman luxury dyes (kermes, turmeric, saffron, Tyrian purple). Again 20 swatches;

Group IV - upper class fancy dress. Four colours, whichever, even the luxury ones. I guess not too many sims could land so high on top, so it's only 10 swatches;

Group V - aka 'when you're the chief of the most powerful tribe on the isle and you've conquered anything of value so you're basically a king'. Five colours, whichever, most swatches with heavy emphasis on the luxury dyes. Another 10 swatches.

Here you can see the difference visualised on a dress I'm currently working on (don't pay too close attention to alignment and such, it's still a wip). For example, a progression of different purple & yellow combos:

See the difference? We went all the way from birch mixed with elderberry to Tyrian purple mixed with saffron. (Which, btw... Can you get any posher than that???)

Or the progression of reds and yellows. The last swatch looks almost like the first one from the old set (yup, I took lots of inspiration from it when I was struggling to design those 4 or 5 colour combos):

And here another swatch from group V, just because I love it. Perfect for a sim who's rich and not afraid to show it:

That's woad, kermes, saffron and turmeric you're seeing here. In your face peasants.

So. That was a very long post about a very niche thing that probably not many people care about 😅 But if you, dear gentle reader, do care and think you might find those patterns useful, grab that 7z package and enjoy! (download link, in case you missed it, HERE).

PS. They're all 64x64, so you should be able to safely use them as swatches' thumbnails too!

PS2. And of course they're seamless. That felt too obvious to need mentioning ;)

[doctorslippery]

d200 Single Word Starship Names

Completed List

Intrepid

Longarm

Midsommer

Protos

Worship

Calador

Philosopher

Santera

Castillo

Dragoon

Horizon

Windswept

Aurelian

Resolute

Corinth

Trimaran

Titan

Olympia

Watcher

Matador

Sleuth

Herald

Halcyon

Buccaneer

Flagstone

Respite

Monarch

Sumere

Zemnoi

Polaris

Angkor

Halogen

Pathfinder

Wildfire

Altair

Lamplight

Falchion

Vega

Archimedes

Copernicus

Helios

Hypatia

Cypress

Northumbria

Celeste

Calliope

Carpathia

Vengeance

Remembrance

Nightingale

Sidewinder

Saphrax

Terminus

Deadlock

Tuscan

Vitalis

Cascade

Acolyte

Lockstone

Malkuth

Ætheris

Kaiser

Ascent

Parallax

Saudade

Stargazer

Hephaestus

Proteus

Columbia

Silence

Panama

Harmony

Conqueror

Cromwell

Chimera

Nemesis

Emissary

Syracuse

Lancaster

Nautilus

Dauntless

Reliant

Tranquility

Remus

Romulus

Vanguard

Artemis

Firebrand

Defiance

Renault

Observer

Providence

Stalwart

Tortoise

Leviathan

Covenant

Inquisitor

Claymore

Pursuit

Facade

Bonus Names:

how would you roll Midway

Tenacity

Halacion

Trimaran

Spitfire

Magus

Ravenous

Idalia

Rutledge

Stockton

Errant

Hylacomylus

Mercator

Meridian

Cartographer

Azimuth

Vohlonen

Tyrolian

Vizier

Sahara

Alexandria

Eddystone

Aperture

Fresnel

Ambrose

Rodionov

Iikon

Roanoke

Croatoan

Terracotta

Mercurial

Thermopylae

Odessa

Sunrise

Agamemnon

Atreus

Mastiff

Demeter

Corsican

Tarascan

Gibraltar

Genoa

Ironclad

Ulysses

Malachai

Tortuga

Nexus

Requiem

Solstice

Paragon

Empyrean

Relic

Tempest

Oracle

Mirage

Nomad

Onyx

Valkyrie

Ascendant

Endeavor

Reverie

Calypso

Epoch

Apogee

Odyssey

Rasmussen

Aerostar

Convair

Clarion

Sevastopol

Aralsk

Mentor

Nautilus

Sanctity

Autumn

Primavera

Inquieto

Myrrddin

Tartan

Pendragon

Mezzanine

Troubadour

Pelican

Matador

Armstrong

Chesapeake

Strider

Eloquence

Bastille

Bastion

Algernon

Kingfisher

Evergreen

Avalanche

Sovereign

Solitude

Maktoub

Charrería

Vaquero

Sublime

[vincitveritas]

Hello, @Witch-is-in

@witch-is-in

An unfamiliar voice, not one they created.

They look at the newcomer with curious caution, closing the book they’ve been nursing in their hands for a little too long now but staying a wary distance away, then scuttling behind a bookshelf.

That’s right, they aren’t in their proto-reality right now, coming down and crossing over to a new dimension to mingle with the mortals and rest from their studies.

The young God looks down, they’ve taken the form of a male this time. He rushes to whatever reflective surface he can find to look at his new form. Not much of a change, his hair is just much shorter - almost reaching his shoulders, and ink black. He’s dressed in casual attire - white dress shirt, pressed grey pants, black oxford shoes and a gray and blue tartan pattern coat that reaches down to his knees.

The pair of seeing-glasses resting on his nose is a new and unfamiliar addition.

He realizes he’s been quiet for too long and clears his throat, producing a quiet ‘Hello.’ back at the other, then sticking his nose into the book once again, watching them warily from the pages.

[tipsycad147]

The Old Woman Cailleach

By shirleytwofeathers

Who is this Old Woman?

This Neolithic goddess, known variously as the “blue hag”, the “Bear goddess” and “Boar goddess”, “owl faced”, and “ancient woman”, has survived through the ages. Coming from the continent, Her worship spread to the British Isles early after the recession of the glaciers. The proto-Celtic peoples honoured Cailleach and blended Her varying aspects, creating images invoking both love and terror. The various names (see below) that Cailleach has been worshipped in lend a clue to Her wide spread worship:

Names: Beare, Béarra, Béirre, Bhéara, Bheare, Bhéirre, Bhérri, Boi, Bui, Cailliaech, Cailliach, Cailleach Beara, Caillech Bherri, Calliagh Birra, Cally Berry, Carline, Digde, Dige, Dirra, Dirri, Duineach, Hag of Beara, Hag of Beare, Mag-Moullach, Mala Liath, Nicnevin, and  Scotia,

Titles: Ancient Woman, Bear goddess, Blue Hag, Boar Goddess, Creator of Storms, Crone, Duineach, Goddess of Sovereignty, Many Followers, Old Woman, Owl Faced, and  The Popular

The Cailleach Beara is one of the oldest living mythological beings associated with Ireland. According to the ancient stories, she has a conversation with Fintan the Wise and the Hawk of Achill and both agree that she has outlived them, saying ‘Are you the one, the grandmother who ate the apples in the beginning?’ (apples are associated with immortality and are considered the food of the gods)

The Cailleach Beara is ever-renewing and passes through many lifetimes going from old age to youth in a cyclic fashion. She is reputed to have had at least fifty foster children during her ‘lives’. She usually appears as an old woman who asks a hero to sleep with her, if the hero agrees to sleep with the old hag she then transforms into a beautiful woman.

In Scotland, where she is also known as Beira, Queen of Winter, she is credited with making numerous mountains and large hills, which are said to have been formed when she was striding across the land and accidentally dropped rocks from her apron. In other cases she is said to have built the mountains intentionally, to serve as her stepping stones. She carries a hammer for shaping the hills and valleys, and is said to be the mother of all the goddesses and gods.

She is considered to be the daughter of Grainne, or the Winter Sun. She is affectionately known as ‘Grandmother of the Clanns’ and ‘the Ancestress of the Caledonii Tribe’. The legends of the Caledonii tribe speak of the “Bringer of the Ice Mountains”, the great blue Old Woman of the highlands. Called Cailleach, Cailleach Bheur, Scotia, Carline or Mag-Moullach by the people, She was the Beloved Mountain Giantess who protected the early tribe from harm and nurtured them in Her sacred mountains.

The Cailleach Beara is usually associated with Munster in particular Kerry and Cork. Her grandchildren and great-grandchildren formed the tribes of Kerry and it’s surroundings. And she is considered a goddess of sovereignty giving the kings the right to rule their lands.

Traits and Abilities:

She herds deer. She fights Spring. Her staff freezes the ground.

She is sometimes depicted as an old hag with the teeth of a wild bear and boar’s tusks or else is depicted as a one-eyed giantess who leaps from peak to peak, wielding Her magical white rod and blasting the vegetation with frost. Cailleach’s white rod, or slachdan, made of birch, bramble, willow or broom, is a Druidic rod which gives Her power over the weather and the elements.

Cailleach is also a goddess who governs dreams and inner realities. She is the goddess of the sacred hill, the Sidhe, and the place where we enter into the hidden realm of the Fey and spirit beings. Sacred stones, the bones of the earth, are Her special haunts. Cailleach is connected to the ‘bean sidhe’ or banshee (which means ‘supernatural woman’) who are the wild women of the Fey.

In Scotland, the Cailleachan (‘old women’) were also known as The Storm Hags, and seen as personifications of the elemental powers of nature, especially in a destructive aspect. They were said to be particularly active in raising the windstorms of spring, during the period known as A’ Chailleach.

Là Fhèill Brìghde is the day the Cailleach gathers her firewood for the rest of the winter. Legend has it that if she intends to make the winter last a good while longer, she will make sure the weather on February 1 is bright and sunny, so she can gather plenty of firewood to keep herself warm in the coming months. As a result, people are generally relieved if February 1 is a day of foul weather, as it means the Cailleach is asleep, will soon run out of firewood, and therefore winter is almost over.

On the Isle of Man, where She is known as Caillagh ny Groamagh, the Cailleach is said to have been seen on St. Bride’s day in the form of a gigantic bird, carrying sticks in her beak

On the west coast of Scotland, the Cailleach ushers in winter by washing her great plaid (tartan) in the Whirlpool of Coire Bhreacain (cauldron of the plaid). . This process is said to take three days, during which the roar of the coming tempest is heard as far away as twenty miles inland. When she is finished, her plaid is pure white and snow covers the land.

Cailleach is also the guardian spirit of a number of animals. She is associated with the ancient tradition of herding reindeer. This means that the reindeer (and all deer) are Her cattle; She herds and milks them and often gives them protection from hunters. Swine, wild goats, wild cattle, and wolves are also Her creatures. Cailleach is also a fishing goddess, as well as the guardian of wells and streams.

Related Content:

Widdershins – Cailleach

shirleytwofeathers.com/The_Blog/powers-that-be/tag/winter/

[vintagesimstress]

I know it may look like I'm doing nothing but the truth is behind the scenes I'm actually doing something

[vintagesimstress]

A little update on the progress of the wips I shared some time ago:

The first two things - the colour palette and proto-tartan swatches - are done. The next thing in line has been the dress and... oh boy.

This is supposed to be The Dress To End All Dresses, The Ultimate Modular Dress, The Only Dress Your Iron Age Britons And Not Only Will Ever Need. Which means I've planned for it a bazillion of versions and add-ons.

The bad news is, the progress is slow; the good news is, it's also steady. I'm tinkering with it almost every day and after every Blender session I get the feeling that I'm another step closer to finishing it.

None of this exists outside of Blender yet, but I'm kinda done with the main dress and two types of fringes (the fancy one even has all the swatches baked, yay!). Now I've moved to belts, starting with woven ones (which will also be repurposed as optional dress trims once I'm done with them). I've learned how to use the curve modifier. And a bunch of other modifiers. Actually, one of the reasons why this whole project takes so long might be because I've been in the mood to challenge myself and learn new things instead of just doing it the usual way. Which means I'll probably up my skills and be able to easily do more stuff in the long run, but for now... I'm slower than I would've been otherwise 😅

I've decided that I'd lose my mind if I tried to release it all at once, and so the belts (yup, of course that won't be the only one) will be shared first, as a standalone accessory collection. Once I'm done with them, that is. Anyone recognises the pattern on the one in screenshots? 😎

I know it may look like I'm doing nothing but the truth is behind the scenes I'm actually doing something