The information below is intended to be used to get a feel for the atmosphere of the nation and provide inspiration about what kinds of clothes, weapons and armour are common. Costume is aspirational, and attendees are not expected to have perfect kit from the start – instead we encourage everyone to put effort into improving their kit over time, starting with basics and adding to it bit by bit, and not criticise others costume. Advice should only be given when asked for.

The “Key Costume” for each nation is intended to be elements of national dress that help to identify the difference between nations, with pieces of clothing or themes which highlight that difference. A basic LARP shirt or tunic and trousers or skirt is all that is needed as base layers for every nation, plus some element of the Key Costume for the nation chosen as where that character is from. Everything else is a bonus – but it improves the look of the whole setting when everyone buys in to the world being played out and endeavour to look on brief for their own nation.

More information on the minimum costume standards and items which should be avoided in all nations is available here.

Nation Overview

The Republic of Portavas is stubborn and as changeable as the sea it sails on. As a nation it was born of the determination to forge its own path, and its citizens have kept this sprit ever since.

Portavas – a land that is quite literally at sea. Portavas is inspired by early-era Elizabethan explorers, the beginnings of the Age of Sail and swashbucklers across media.

Basic costume favours white shirts and chemises with sleeves as baggy as possible, tight doublets and bodices, strings of pearls and wide belts that can accommodate everything a Portavian might need if they were blown overboard. The 1560s-1700 is the range of historical influences we’ve included, before the ‘Age of Piracy’ and the looks it has inspired. This means no powdered wigs, no long waistcoats or frock coats, no tricorn hats.

Instead, more fantasy-based layers mix and match with the historical: hip or thigh length jerkins, sleeveless doublets, lace-up bodices with attached skirts that can layer over leggings or breeches. Underlayers consist of simple plain coloured tunics with large billowing sleeves. Utility belts or harnesses that can hold several pouches are key.

Portavians favour the colours of the sea, from deep petrol-grey to lush greens and corals, in as decadent a fabric as possible – brocades, silks, velvets, patterned cottons and jacquard, with pearls used extensively as jewellery and beading. Portavians are a luxurious people who quite literally wear their wealth on their sleeve!

Colour Palette

Plush, luxurious, decadent, sea colours , pearls and coral.

Brocades, silks, velvets, cottons and lace.

Themes And Key Words

“Seafaring Travellers”, “Explorers”, “Stargazers”, “Early Age of Sail”, “Renaissance City-state”

The clothing of the Republic of Portavas is a mixture of practicality and decadence. When your home city moves throughout the known world, being able to take everything you may need on your person is a useful skill, but there’s no need to look dull while you’re at it. Belts and harnesses with pouches and containers for every possible item are popular – if you fall off a ship, it’s best to always be prepared for anything!

Colours tend to reflect the sea – blue is never out of fashion in Portavas, alongside an array of corals, greens, golds, purples and creams. Pearls are widely worn, alongside cameos and scrimshaws carved into seashells and coral¹. White shirts and chemises, with wide, voluminous sleeves are the basis of most Portavan outfits, usually followed by a mixture of doublets, layered skirts, long coats and narrow trousers or leggings.

Even in battle, armour is worn to show off, show personality and personal flair, and intimidate foes. Plate armour is often worn over fancy clothes, or along with fantastical nautical scalemail and leather lighter armour. Chainmail is rare because of its propensity to trap its wearer and lead them to a watery grave, but ground troops find it useful, alongside their more practical layers.

Fantasy Inspiration

Fantasy swashbucklers, explorers and elemental mages, and the colour schemes of water-based cultures they exist in.

Pseudo-renaissance fantasy clothing, with layers of white linens and embellished outer robes.

Historical Inspiration

Portavas is largely inspired by Elizabethan fashions with all the brocade, lace and frills, but also leans into swashbuckling tropes from other eras with baggy white shirts and chemises and tight bodices and doublets.

• Elizabethan explorers and Shakespearean travellers.
• Swashbucklers from literature – Cyrano de Bergerac, the Scarlet Pimpernel, the Three Musketeers and Milady de Winter, Casanova etc.
• A general range of 1560s-1700 for historical inspiration, ending before the start of the “Golden Age of Piracy” and the pantomimed costuming that involves – no powdered wigs, no frock-coats and waistcoats or tricorns.
• Some inspiration taken from outside Europe, particularly Asian pirates with the mixed silhouette of large baggy sleeves, sleeveless doublets and bodices, and belts that carry a citizen’s “effects”.
• a key part of this nation’s more Elizabethan styling are short doublets as opposed to the later “age of sail” waistcoats. These do up at the front, have plenty of decoration and can be waist length or longer.

Headwear In Portavas

Headwear in Portavas is quite varied but leans into the practical need to keep the sun and rain off the face.

Straw hats of all kinds are popular, often made from water reeds harvested around the port of Ravesso. Felt hats with wide brims are also worn, although are never pinned up by more than one side – tricorns are an inherently Hammerstadt item of clothing not worn by Portavans.

Bag hats, floppy cloth hats that can be made of fabric or knitted, are popular for their ability to be used multi-functionally as a bag if needed, by tucking the brim through a belt. Other simple cloth hats are also worn to keep the ears warm at sea.

Key Costume Items for Portavas

Key Costume Items are elements of the Look and Feel of each nation that are a cultural part of what makes up that nation, informed by their history and societal norms. Ideally, an outfit for any nation should aim to incorporate at least one of the Key Costume Items to ensure that characters are recognisably from their nation at a distance!

Key Costume Item – Utility Belts

Portavans agree on one thing – you never know when you might be blown overboard and will need to find your way home.

Pouches, compasses, magical tools, potions – all in cases and able to be accessed quickly, attached to belts that range from chunky hero-belts to slimmer ones, often layered together.

Others prefer to wear shoulder harnesses for the same purpose, so important items are kept close to the chest.

Bandoleers could work too and lean into the swashbuckler aesthetic for martial characters, or those who wish to have more space for all their belongings that they may need day to day.

Key Costume Item – Pearls

Freshwater and saltwater pearls, both wild and farmed are harvested and displayed like trophies. The people of the Portavas adorn themselves in pearls of all hues, and the pearl is considered a representation of the Nation itself; a treasure escaping the cage of the oyster.

Pearls of different colours adorn every citizen, and it is customary for children to be gifted a fine pearl on the day of their birth. Pearls are collected for major life events, gifted on holidays, and offered as tokens of favor. When asking someone for their hand in marriage, it is customary for the asker to free dive for a pearl. It is believed that the finer the quality of the pearl the more advantageous and lucky the pairing, should the one being asked accept. This has led to an industry of professional “pearl placers” who are pearl merchants you can hire to assist you in your dive. 

Armour For Portavas

Armour in the Republic of Portavas is inspired by “age of sail” armour, with an emphasis on looking dashing and having a lot of movement.

Light and Medium Armour

• Leather breastplates and vambraces and other arm and leg armour worn over clothes, so elaborate sleeves can still be shown off.
• Use of leather to look like fantastical materials – chitin, fish leather, scales of enormous sea beasts.
• Padded arming jacks worn in the same manner as doublets and bodices.

Heavy Armour

• A breastplate over dramatic clothing is most common – so that big, fancy sleeves can be shown off.
• Coats of plates and mail – but many Portavans are used to being on the water and prefer not to wear anything they can’t remove quickly if the need arises.
• Scale mail is highly prized as well, either made of metal to mimic fishscales, or made from fantastical sea creatures.
• Belts with attached tassets, which can be worn over skirts as well as trousers and breeches.

Helmets

• Morians and Conquistador helmets are the most iconic, and suit the swashbucklers of the nation.
• Simple round helms also work well, without being too elaborate and can be worn under other headwear.
• Burgonet helmets are similarly common, although some find face-coverings too much distraction aboard ship so tend to be worn by ground troops.

Weapons In Portavas

• Spears, billhooks, halberds and other long weapons as the most popular – with some more fantastical or maritime options like boathooks, harpoons and fishing spears
• Basket hilt swords and rapiers
• One-handed boarding axes, and two-handed woodcutting axes.
• Bucklers are the most common form of shield, which are not particularly practical aboard ship.

Archetypes In Portavas

Navigators

Navigators, who both study the seas and the skies via water and air magic, and divine the best routes for safe travel.

Navigator is the best paid role on a ship – they earn even more than the Captain and are often freelance magical operatives who spend contractual time on boats before moving on. Often knowledgeable in the academic side of navigation, they are capable of chart reading and map plotting, but their use of magic is their real strength.

Navigators are known for their long coats, which are sometimes painted or otherwise decorated with landmarks they have sailed to, notable locations and other memorable moments from their career.

Sand Scribes

Sand Scribes are a sort of travelling monk or maester who is the keeper of the books, both financial and historical on board a ship. They note down the exploits of the crew as well as the profits and pitfalls.

Acting as part bard, part lore keeper, they keep the crew from straying too far away from the light of the patron god of the ship. Sand Scribes bless a ship upon its first launch, dedicating it to a patron god. Some ships do not choose one God, and instead their Sand Scribe takes on a role as a moral compass. They perform ceremonies, such as funerals and weddings, and also report the ship’s stories to the House of Scribes.

An outfit for a Sand Scribe might be quite ecclesiastical with robes and stoles or other vestments, or might dress largely the same as other Portavans.

Swashbucklers

Most of the fighting population of Potavas are swashbucklers, lightly armoured, fast fighters who favour close quick combat and target specific fights. In reflection to the short and decisive battles that take place on ships, swashbucklers are often used to best effect when focusing on a specific goal.

Swashbucklers live by their ability to turn the tide in a fight, and many have built up their reputation by looking flash. Some don a token amount of armour on top of their clothes, others dress particularly flamboyantly.

Bodices with skirts attached only at the back have become a popular item of clothing for some swashbucklers, to give the most degree of movement with breeches or leggings underneath. Others use skirt hikes to hitch up their skirts when engaging in fights.

How To Put Together a Portavas Outfit

Portavan outfits are commonly made up of the following items:

• A white shirt or chemise with big baggy sleeves and preferably a lot of fabric in the body that can gather well around the wearer.
• A sleeveless doublet or bodice, as fancy as possible – either with an attached skirt or without.
• Chunky belts, harnesses and bandoleers, with all the utility pouches an explorer could need.
• Knee length britches, which can be baggy, tight legging/jodhpurs, or longer baggy trousers that can be tucked into boots.
• Gathered skirts, possibly with lots of white petticoats underneath, and skirt hikes used to hitch them up if preferred.
• Knee-high boots or buckled shoes, gaters can also be used to achieve this look.
• Pearls worn extensively as jewellery and decoration on the clothing.
• Long coats made from a simple shape, or short jerkins with sleeves.
• Long sleeveless layers such as cloaks and ecclesiastical vestments with hoods may also be appropriate for the character.
• Equally short capes and decorative half-capes also work, particular for those wishing to look dashing.

1. It is important to consider the ethical origins of animal-derived items such as pearls, coral and seashells. Synthetic alternatives are widely available. ↩︎