Duil Art

Duilintinn is a land with a love of the arts, to the point that an entire Noble House of the kingdom (House Jameson) is almost entirely dedicated to those with a passion for creative work.

## Artisan Titles

“Artisan” is a general term for anyone who practices any of the arts in Duilintinn, but is rarely used as an occupational title. Rather, there are a variety of different titles for those who practice the arts in Duilintinn. These titles either denote the goals of the creator or their medium of choice. Some have more than one such title, indicating multiple artistic specialties.

* Bards are those who use their preferred medium(s) to spread the tales, legends, and information.
* Entertainers are those who use their preferred medium(s) to spread joy and entertainment.
* Authors are those who almost exclusively use a written art form.
* Artists are those who almost exclusively use a visual art form.
* Minstrels are those who almost exclusively use a musical art form.
* Performers are those who almost exclusively use a theatrical art form.

Whether or not a person chooses to go by any of these titles is entirely their choice. For example, multiple toymakers with the exact same career path could go by completely different titles, such as Craftsperson, Artist, Entertainer, or any combination of the three. The chosen title reflects the artisan’s perspective on their work, rather than an official designation.

## Popular Entertainment

The arts are by far the primary source of Duilintinn’s popular entertainment for its citizens, making it fairly easy for someone with an artistic career to find a niche and make a living.

Taverns often hire entertainers to perform music, tricks, and even (in more affluent areas) entire theater productions to engage their patrons and encourage business.

Street performers in major cities are also extremely common, particularly in the local amphitheaters, and can expect decent compensation by some of the passers-by. While some are able to make a solid living this way, most artisans use these public venues as a means to advertise their skills in search of more stable employment.

## Guilds

The artistic center of Duilitinn’s culture is located in Noefrach, House Jameson, with the city of Teannta to the west a close contender for the title. There are also a variety of guilds pertaining to the creation and preservation of the arts, including the Artisans’ Guild, Bards’ Guild, Grand Troupe, and Keepers of Memory.

These guilds help artisans to find learning opportunities and patrons to grow their artistic career. They also provide support to artisans who find themselves suddenly unemployed or otherwise down on their luck, due to the lack of stability inherent to many of these career paths.

## Visual Art

Very little has been specifically described of the visual arts popular to Duilintinn’s culture; only that the arts in general are widely encouraged, and that there is an entire guild for visual artists; the Artisan’s Guild.

Part of this is because the world of visual arts in Duilintinn often overlaps with that of craftspeople, not all of whom would consider themselves to be artisans. Many of Duilintinn’s most prominent forms of visual creativity come in the form of fashion, architecture, and practical fields such as candle making, textile work, smithing, and cartography.

As a result, most of the visual arts in Duilintinn have already been described in other posts, or have only been mentioned offhand as something to exist in the kingdom. This post is not meant to be an exhaustive list of the visual arts employed in Duilintinn, but rather some of the more unique or notable ones.

### Candles

Candlemaking is a lucrative career in House Jameson, especially in Noefrach and the surrounding area. In addition to beeswax, which is common throughout Duilintinn, animal fat (tallow) is sometimes used as wax for candlemaking. Since the smell of tallow is unpleasant in comparison to beeswax, herbs like lavender were added to the wax to make it smell nicer. This eventually became a trend, with aromatic beeswax candles becoming equally common. There are also special, magically infused candles for when you need to concentrate/sleep, made from either enchantments or magical ingredients.

For this reason, wax toys are also popular coming out of House Jameson. Kids peel away wax deposits leftover from the candles on the stone walls and shaping them into little creations or marbles or whatever. Beeswax toys being used for small children, young enough to be wanting to put everything in their mouths. However, wax toys are still kind of expensive because you’ll be wanting to mostly use beeswax for candles. It’d probably be more of a reuse thing, with spare wax that isn’t enough to make another candle out of. Unless some clever soul realized that there are entirely too many people making candles and found their niche making little wax shapes with the candles to set themselves apart.

### Depictions of the Missing Lords

A trend has recently begun where artists will create likenesses of their lords in their medium of choice. While this likely originated from a desire to remember and possibly find or prompt the return of these lords, what truly kindled this spark into a flame that swept the artistic world was the discovery that no two representations of a lord looked alike.

It has been decades since some of the lords have been seen, so discrepancies in local memory are not surprising, but the citizens of House Jameson and the kingdom at large became enamored with these diverse depictions of these legendary figures. It is a common practice for multiple artists or authors to pass time by creating multiple versions of a tale or figure and comparing them amongst themselves.

While this is hardly an internal conflict or struggle, the sudden public interest in the missing lords beyond members of The Watch is an interesting cultural development that might have unexpected results for The Watch and their future actions.

### Clockwork

The Artisans’ Guild often collaborates with House Marvin’s Inventors’ Guild. While the Inventor’s Guild is more focused on utility (what they can make something DO) and the Artisans’ Guild is more focused on aesthetics (how they can make something LOOK), members of both guilds often come together to create things with utility and beauty.

One of the most well-known collaborative efforts of these two guilds are their beautiful, intricate clockwork devices.

### Textiles

This has only been mentioned offhand in other contexts, but textiles are a common form of visual artistry in Duilintinn.

Detailed rugs originating from the mountain cultures of modern-day House Jameson are a very popular (and practical) form of textile art, with many featured in the library of Fort Conchúr.

Tapestries are also a popular form of textile art, with historical tradition from both Waldren and Feadhainn cultures influencing the art today. They are in especially high demand in regions with a large amount of Feadhainn Era architecture, due to the somewhat drafty nature of the ancient stonework.

Last but not least, textile art obviously plays a major role in Duil fashion and attire, which is covered in its own post. Duil attire is often very colorful, thanks to the variety of herbs that thrive in the region and provide easy access to dying materials for both the rich and poor. This offers textile artisans with a wide range of creative options.

### Other

I’m sure there are dozens of other sorts of visual arts I’ve overlooked that have been mentioned in lore posts in the past. However, the important thing to note here is that creativity is virtually limitless in Duilintinn. There is a wide range of career paths for artists, pigments are almost always available, and there will always be a need for color and creativity to lift the spirits of the kingdom, especially in the face of The Enemy threat.