Bedsheets

It’s without a doubt that bedsheets are an Ayleid invention.

#A History of Bedsheets

The vast majority of nedic peoples used either heavy wool blankets or animals skins to cover themselves while they slept. Merish peoples, on the other hand, prefered fabrics derived from the down of several southern birds, believed to have been brought over from Aldmeris and bred exclusively for this purpose. In fact, once heartland traders brought cotton sheets of sufficiently high thread-counts, mer of all varieties switched over so quickly that these “blanket-birds” were driven to extinction.

But more on that later. Sheets were initially made of cotton, although bamboo fibers were also used, particularly in what is now Nibenay. They were prized for their versatility, ease of washing and the many colors they could be tinted. Tinting often occurred before weaving, although the odd styles and patterns created when they were dyed afterwards came into vogue shortly before the Alessian rebellion.

Although bedsheets were associated with Ayleid culture for many years, the switch to silk/cotton blends for bedsheets and similar textiles made bed finery a distinctly Nebenese

###Sidebar: Ensouled Bedsheets

It was the Alessians who took bedsheets to their logical conclusion. They began manufacturing, with much apprehension, sheets made of ensouled ancestor moth silk. These were extraordinarily durable, with unprecedented moisture-wicking and an apparent immunity to any sort of wear and tear from conventional use.

Of course, then the dreams began, the details of which rest only within the bones of those unlucky enough to experiment with sleeping under the ensouled sheets. No element within these dreams ever changed, except for their shifting and ever-changing nature. Insomnia became a fact of life for these people, and trade agreements solidified within the silk producers of Niben.

Only unsouled silks were to be exported, and under no circumstances were people allowed to rest beneath the souls of their ancestors, “for no father should have to bury his child.” Of course, such tales are often dismissed as mere rumor, serving as memetic tariff. Even today, textile merchants often trade tales of hurried courtiers and servants sent by a certain lord of noble to find an ensouled

#Color Culture

Color is of extraordinary importance. The Ayleids were a colorful people, tinting their personal clothing a variety of hues to match their personalities or moods on a particular day. It was only natural that these customs extend to bedsheets.

Purple was considered the heretical color, of course. Those wishing for insight would often sleep beneath purple sheets. The associations of the colors red, blue and green are well-known to all, but less storied is the the nature of the color yellow, which the Ayleids swore was connected to a “fourth way of doing battle”. The details of that one were consigned to extinction.

W was as prized a color back then as it is now, such that even during the Alessian Rebellion were efforts to extract it from the depths halted (or at least, they’re believed to have been halted at that time). But of all the colors, none were as prized as magenta. The Ayleids refused to consider it a color at all, in fact. Rather, they claimed it was a variety of light. Bedsheets of this color, and the dyes necessary for them, were produced exclusively in Delodiil.