Chume'taly Clothing

The styles of dress vary drastically from cat to cat. Each type has different ideas on what is proper in dress and what colors should be used and what is good for personal adornment.

Lions
They dress in a style reminiscent of traditional African garb. They love bright colors and geometric patterns. This bleeds over into their house hold decorating as well. No space in the home goes undecorated by even a simple pattern. Clothing consists largely of hip wraps (nari), vests (so’tam), loose pants (a’dlet), and loin cloths (t’lunak). Earrings (jeken) are the jewelry of choice, though only one ear is pierced. Typically, a male will have the right ear pierced while the females will do the left. A status symbol among the wealthier women is the wearing of rings at the base of the tuft on their tail (called tlufen). Usually only three are worn as otherwise it can get quite heavy. They operate on a quality rather than quantity frame of mind.

Tigers
As they already have a pattern to their fur, they dislike patterns in their clothing. Colors tend to be quite pale, like whites, greys, and lighter colors. Dark colors aren’t used often as they are highly symbolic in tiger culture. Black, for example, is the color of battle and is only worn when one has a grudge or feud they are engaged in. Black can also be used to mourn the death of a leader. Dark red is the color worn by mourners for a friend, while a more Crimson color is used when mourning a close relative. Deep blue is indicative of an assassin, so it’s not a color that is prevalent in society. Dark green is only worn by those who have abandoned society and choose to live on their own in the forests. This color can also be worn to indicate status as a Dragonrider. Dark purple is worn exclusively by scholars. Deep grey has become associated with the nobility, especially if it has a slight purple hue to it. These symbolic colors and others are used in plays to indicate who is who. Tiger plays are quite complex and these devices are relied on quite heavily as a result. They don’t hold their white cousins to these devices, or anyone else for that matter.

They dress in a very Indian style with a sarong-like wrapped skirt they call a gi’ri, loose pants (dal’en), long vests (mnalit), and baggy shirts (fe’zuun). Some wealthier women choose to wear layer veils (daluren) which cover either the whole face (ka’daluren) or just the lower half (se’daluren). Se’daluren are not to be confused with the single veil worn by dancers which are called jaken’luren. Likewise, ka’daluren are not to be confused with bridal veils (jalfa‘luren), which consist of three layers, each one longer than the one above it. Necklaces in varying types are the jewelry of choice. Most common is the hak’menar, a single chain, sometimes with a small pendant (jelupp). Without the pendant, the term hak’me is applied. With the pendant, hak’menar is used. Wealthy males often sport Ijihad‘menar, which are complex layered chains with many pendants and ornaments.

White Tigers
They are quite similar to the other tigers, though they like the darker colors to contrast with their paler fur. They don’t follow the color codes of the other tigers, though, so if one wasn’t aware of that and saw a white tiger, they might get the wrong idea.

Panthers

They have a very basic mode of dress, making their clothing entirely from the skins of animals in a very Native American style. They don’t use a lot of dyes as they prefer the natural skin tones of the hides. When they do dye, it’s largely to make clothing for a special function, such as funerary shrouds and wedding cloaks. Jewelry is mostly beads and feathers in combination with each other, though some have been known to decorate their clothes by using the fur of the animals.

Uteran – pants

Pferital – vests that have buttons made of animal teeth or claws.

Earrings are called jeken’pel if made with feathers, jeken’telun if made with beads, and jeken’pelun if made with a combination of beads and feathers. Powerful individuals and leaders have furred mantles made with the animal heads still attached to the hide (atel’paloref). Necklaces are named similarly. Hak’me’pel are chains decorated with feathers, hak’me’telun for beaded decorations, and hak’me’pelun for combinations of beads and feathers. Chains made entirely of beads are called Telun’me. Animal teeth and bones aren’t used in any personal decoration, but sold to those who would care to use them.

White Panthers
Their clothing is more reminiscent of Egyptian garb than the Native American style favored by their cousins. They use a cotton-like cloth (fejular) by preference and like to dye or embroider patterns onto the hems of the made clothing. They have a peculiar fondness for wrapping strands of cloth (fejular), leather (et’jul), or ribbon (un’jel) in a crisscross fashion around the tops of their feet in a style called vrot’pel. Jewelry is not widely used, even among the wealthy. Colors lean towards earth tones and occasionally pastels.

Leopard
These cats dress in a very Asiatic style. Their clothing resembles the traditional Hui, Gin, and Han costumes.

Jelon (Han style men’s shirt), Jeleen (Han style woman’s shirt), Ka’pol (Gin style shirt), Ver’tuk (loose pants, ankle length), Yal’tuk (loose pants bound just above the knee), (Hui style woman’s shirt), Zorel (woman’s Hui style long vest), and Bal’rai (man’s Hui style short vest) make up their wardrobes.

They are fond of vibrant colors and glossy fabrics. Those who can afford to have clothing made from imported Ryuutenshi silks do so. They mostly use the same kind of cloth (fejular) as the white panthers do. Purples, deep reds, and gem tones are highly favored and, due to the cost of acquiring those dyes, quite pricy. Lavender tones, blues, and greens make up the bulk of the common spectrum. Bracelets (an’tel), anklets (firr’tel), and arm bands (veon’tel) are standard jewelry items.

Snow Leopard
Leathers and hides are prevalent in this society. They look somewhat Inuit in design. They wear thick leather leggings with lace up sides that hug they legs (ko’vaan) that sometimes have fur on the cuffs (ko’vaan’lok), hooded coats (ja’neal), gloves (leit), sleeveless under tunics (huun), and fur hats (rei’shun). Jewelry is highly uncommon so they exercise their creativity by making decorative weapons and weave intricate rugs for their homes.

Cheetah
To accommodate their speed, they wear as little as possible. Shorts (kel), crop tops (minal), and even loin cloths (t’lunak) are the norm. They like clothes that are multi colored. A luxury item is a vest woven from several different colors of ribbon. These can be made from complimenting colors or from different shades of a single color that are called arpali’maj. These have no fewer than three colors or shades. The more colors in a vest indicates a high price and speaks to the great skill of the weaver. They have a great love of arm bands (veon’tel), leg bands (akla’tel), and bracers for the arms (veon’kedun) and the lower legs (akla’kedun).