campaign four character designs and their historical time periods/inspirations!!
by someone who doesn't know what they're talking about
julien is wearing pieces of armor that look like they're supposed to be part of a full plate set, which is in line with the wiki calling him "unbalanced" looking really, and fits with his style of not following convention and cutting corners. I really wanted to connect him to italian baroque or gothic armor, but to me it looks a lot more like the gauntlet/pauldrons/etc from something like this late german/viennese gothic armor set. and I'm really reaching here but possibly the davinoses got their armor from the einfasen?
murray has a lot of elements of medieval court jesters (shoes, diamond pattern, tassels and flowing robe), which I honestly love for her as someone who's criticizing people in power but no one takes seriously. and this thing says that blue and yellow are meant to evoke "a sense of playful irreverence".
bolaire and hal both have kind of shakespeare/elizabethan era doublets or jerkins-- bolaire's looks a lot like a colored, thinner version of something like this. it makes sense that bolaire's is more elaborate because he's performing constantly, whereas hal's more casual, simple jerkin makes me think of an actor who's off duty (and reminded me of the costumes from the rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead movie). the mask/wig combo traces back to the comedy/tragedy masks of a greek chorus, with bolaire probably supposed to represent the comedy one, because the wiki says his last name lothalia is probably a reference to the comedy muse thalia
azune's lack of pauldrons makes me think of him as a 16th/17th century curiasser, which is also fitting as it was a sort of transitionary period in terms of style/technology/social stuff. also the strewn-together nature of his random armor pieces would make sense as a common foot-soldier with mass-produced munition armor.
occtis's regency outfit could conceivably line up with mary shelley's exact lifetime, and also the setting of bridgerton. which is hilarious.
thimble is not wearing very much, but the bloomers at least are pretty close to victorian ones. it makes sense that she's not decked out in something fully historically accurate because a) fairies don't perfectly line up with any historical thing because fairies are not real, b) the doll clothes scene makes it seem like she's typically wearing kind of random discarded people clothes, and c) that would be a lot of fabric to fly in. also the time period fits because her name is apparently a reference to the victorian tradition of giving your fiancee a thimble as a wedding gift (so they could sew their wedding outfit and then cut off the top to use as a ring).
tyranny is supposed to be "maid cafe meets nun", which definitely fits, because she has a nun's guimpe and coif with the frills and shoulders of an actual maid uniform from la belle époque, in halovar blue of course. overanalyzing this means it associates her with a servant of a rich family, dressing and acting superfluously in a time of social unrest.
thaisia and wick are both just wearing vaguely defined fantasy robes. for wick, I'm guessing tyranny got a design first and wick's is just meant to kind of match but be simpler and more masculine. thaisia's could be something from a non-european culture, which I know even less about and can't even identify something to research further. maybe aabria will reveal something more later on, or maybe it's meant to not perfectly match a strictly defined european era because druids are kind of outsiders.
kattigan is just kind of in generic fantasy leather, which could be explained like thaisia where he's kind of an outcast so he doesn't really have like a traditional style. I tried to analyze the specifics of how the shirt and boots are composed and stuff, but I can't find any documented instances of medieval travellers with their full biceps and titties out.
teor is wearing the thickest plate mail I've ever seen, but his arms are almost fully exposed. the center of the breastplate and the hanging circle thing appear to have celtic knotwork inlaid, but celts usually wore knockoff roman stuff, chainmail, or fought nude, and I can't find a single instance of putting knotwork on armor. he uses a flail, is wrapped in purple, and has a flowy white cape. I have literally no idea what the inspiration is.
vaelus is a "nun assassin" and i guessss could be associated with a traditional catholic nun because she does have a guimpe and coif, but that's about it. I can't find any instances of chainmail veils, and the "black leatherclad assassin" does not really seem to match anything well documented before the soviet union. so vaelus does have some elements of some historical things, but they're all sporadic-- which again fits with her being an outlander from a different culture
