[Mythos] Colors and the Kalry'tahn

While the shepherding tribes of the Kalry'tahn have never practiced agriculture in the strictest sense, they have long used local plants as sources of natural dyes for their woolen crafts. As Kalry aesthetics developed over time, they even began to manage the plants they found on their migration paths, preferentially planting seeds of particularly high-quality dye plants in the spring and harvesting the results in the fall. With dyed woolen crafts being one of the primary art forms among the Kalry'tahn, their culture has developed complex symbolism surrounding the colors they use.

The chief dye plants selectively grown by Kalry herders are woad and weld, yielding blue and yellow dyes respectively. Actually, the Kalry words for blue (sungon) and yellow (serpah) are the same words used for these plants. Given this, an entire system of thought and meaning is attached to these colors and the contrasting-yet-complementary relationship between them.

Sungon is broadly seen as a "cool" or "temperate" color, signifying stable emotions and a calm, reserved demeanor. It is also associated with logic, order, well-reasoned authority, and hierarchy. The shepherd is represented by sungon, for he asserts man's mastery over the world's lesser creatures.

Serpah, on the other hand, is a warm and energetic color associated with strong feelings, an outgoing personality, flexibility or adaptability, and intuition. By representing openness, it also symbolizes equality among men. The hunter is represented by serpah, for he does not dominate nature but contends with it, knowing not whether he will win or lose.

With blue and yellow being the only colors that are highly available to Kalry dye-makers, the two were soon to be thought of as representing the full spectrum of the nature and humanity. This idea is even used to explain the fact that plant life is mostly green: as the Kalry'tahn say, Gen'ai ren sungon ahl serpah.--"Earth is blue and yellow". On the other hand, many assert that Zathyr (the sky or the god of the sky) is usually blue.

These two colors are also frequently compared and contrasted with red, a color that is only available for use in Kalry art from clays and minerals. Nonetheless, people who slaughter animals on a regular basis and sometimes fight each other over prime pasturelands simply can't avoid attaching meaning to this color as well.

While blue is characterized as calm and yellow as energetic, dmahr (red) is a manic in-between, conveying unpredictable moods and feelings. While blue is orderly and yellow is adaptable, dmahr is downright chaotic; the "reddest" man cannot control his emotions or even predict his own course of action. Whereas blue represents authority and yellow equality, dmahr pursues power instead, ignoring the balance between these two. Blue is the color of winter and yellow is the color of summer, but red represents fall and sometimes spring--the transitional seasons. Red is even associated with both ends of any spectrum and nothing in-between; it is even associated with both excess heat and excess cold, for one's skin can become red due to burning or frostbite. While "red" personalities are considered to be automatically dangerous, their unpredictability is what unsettles others. The raider, the thief, and the manipulator are red, taking what they want neither by recognized authority nor by fair competition.