Cultist Robes

I've nearly caught up with all my back catalog of creations (that are able to be posted anyway), but I still have a couple left. Here is one from a couple of years ago. It is part of the Rogue Cthulhu project. If you are new to this blog, Rogue Cthulhu is my gaming group that, since 1999, presents Call of Cthulhu role playing events at the Origins Gaming Convention. It is the reason for many of my creations, including the Necronomicon Pages, and the BSP.

I decided our gaming group needed some distinctive apparel that both identified our Game Masters and set the mood for our Call of Cthulhu games. Other gaming clubs wear printed t-shirts or custom embroidered polo shirts. I thought we needed something more; full flowing black cultist robes with cowls and stoles!

They were hand made from heavy black cotton cloth using a Tau Robe pattern taken from a book about creating magickal tools as used by the Golden Dawn hermetic lodge. The robes pull over the head (which makes them a little inconvenient) and are really too hot to be worn with clothes underneath during summer (though they are actually quite comfortable if you go commando). These two points are largely why they did not see a lot of use after the first year or two.

The cowl hood is a separate piece. basically a loose cloth tube that can be worn around the neck and pulled up over the head. The stole is made from purple cotton cloth and tapers to a point at the back. It has an iron on backing that gives it stiffness and weight. The symbols running down the stole are hand painted with black fabric paint, and are edged with a glow-in-the-dark dimensional fabric paint (puffy paint). At first glance they look like a cryptic cypher, but they are actually just a highly stylized font I created. They read, "Rogue Rules". The stoles are usually safety pinned to the robe at the shoulder, as they tend to migrate as they are worn.

The ensemble is finished off with a belt made from thick white nylon rope, sometimes with wooden prayer beads hanging from them. We were quite the spectacle. Unfortunately, they are all but retired now. I pull one out for use at Halloween from time to time.