Re: [TML] Worldbuilding/Culturebuilding Notes: Sumptuary Laws and Customs shadow@xxxxxx 01 Jun 2015 00:31 UTC
On 31 May 2015 at 12:15, Freelance Traveller wrote: > * Prohibitions on the wearing of articles of clothing that could suggest > military or police status. In the United States, enforcement of such > prohibitions is generally limited to wearing them with logos, patches, > embroidery, et cetera, that suggests official status in a context > where someone with that status and concomittant authority may be > misled. I know some folks in the "uniform" community. Mostly gaymen with a uniform fetish. Including the guy who runs the local group. One local guy managed to assemble a correct Portland Police uniform (with help from a few friends on the force. He doesn't wear it because he copuld get in trouble. The head guy of the local group has a very correct (right down to patches, etc) police uniform he won't get in trouble for. It's for the Gotham City PD. :-) BTW, he has a very "liberal" interpretation of "uniform". Which is why at get togethers you'll see a lot of cops and military types. But also folks in things like Catholic Schoolgirl outfts. :-) Bit disconcerting for some of the big tough "cops" to see those there. Then you have the folks at cons who wear uniforms for future militaries, etc. I daresay that there will be equivalent "groups" in the Traveller Universe. Heck, I could see a Patron sending the PCs on a trip to get authentic pieces for a uniform from some other planet. Maybe he's a collector, maybe its a fetish. Or maybe those are a cover and he needs the pieces for some sort of espionage thing (think Mission Improbable) and the PCs are a good deniable cover. The sumptuary stuff comes in when the PCs arrive at the planet to find a government that's about as humorless as the USSR or East Germany at their worst. Trying to get the uniform/insignia could earn them a long prison term... -- Leonard Erickson (aka shadow) shadow at shadowgard dot com