Masked Ai-Naidar at the Winter Tryst
Masks are worn by the Ai-Naidar for entertainments and the Winter Tryst. They are fashioned by mask-makers and painted and may include jewels.
Mask-Makers[]
Mask-makers sometimes behave as though they are of the Public Servant caste instead of the Merchant caste, even speaking before their caste-betters while using grammar that indicates they are transgressing in this manner.
To make masks for entertainments is nothing. To make masks for the one event a year when all Ai-Naidar mingle in disguise, ignorant of caste and rank... that is a mask-maker's life.
Their work requires a calling like that of being a public servant artist, but they are reduced to Merchant status by association with the most unseemly of Ai-Naidari needs. The Ai-Naidar cherish the children born of the Tryst's anonymous unions, but look askance at the artisans who made them possible.
Tools[]
Both calligraphers and mask-makers may make their own paints, but in times of necessity, they will purchase from merchants or each other.
The pigment of choice for black is carbon, but for more expensive masks ground onyx or hematite gives a more subtle effect.