Discussion of Uzdumalian attitudes about color are necessarily fraught, with the symbolism of individual colors varying dramatically from place to place and year to year depending on the noble houses and political factions in power at a given place and time. Certain attitudes about color remain relatively constant, however. The Uzdumalian creation stories held that the Great God's daughter Jipa the Impetuous first introduced time and decay into the world in order to see the colors of a sunset; throughout Uzdumalian history, bright colors were been viewed with suspicion. (While the Uzdumalians wholeheartedly embraced cheese, creating dozens of varieties praised by visitors to the Empire, most of Jipa's inventions, including not just color but also beer, fire, and sex, were taken as mixed blessings.)

Dark, somber colors were generally considered more suitable for those of the Premier Estate, although often these were supplemented with brightly colored buttons or hair silks. These frequently used colors taken from regimental uniforms or noble arms and were used to provide identification of loyalties; the "color language" used was frequently difficult to parse, and extant copies of such publications as Jandak's Guide to Arms and The Thousand Families include hundreds of pages of descriptions and colored illustrations designed to help farflung residents of the Empire decipher references to ideological or political factions of whom they might never have heard. To pick one example, in one fifteen-year period of Later Empire, chartreuse was associated with Baroness Hejwin's personal colors within greater Grabz, Bishop Lojnan's "Contemplation of Imperfection" movement within the Solta Valley (a wholly political movement, despite the name), and the famed Twelfth Division (the "Sky Devils") throughout much of the southwest of the empire. (These are only attested examples; in every state, city, or village of the empire, other implications might have held.) A few years later, any or all of these implications might have held, but chartreuse was most likely to denote Imperial allegiance or favor; the colors of the arms of the Ighidarian house led to derogatory references to the "chartreuse throne" and unflattering comparisons between the behavior of Lagador II's daughter, youngest Princess Aunula, and outright borritry.

Religious figures generally wore white (the color of law-giving, justice, and vengeance), grey (the color of mourning), or black (the color of scholarship; often also associated with forgiveness and death). Most of those of the fifth estate generally wore plain linen or olive drab or, in the case of soldiers, sailors, and airmen, their field or dress uniforms. Unlike dueling pistols, gold jewelry, or the various items such as mirrors and bells restrictied by the sumptuary laws, colored clothing was not formally withheld from the fifth estate, but wearing ideologically or politically incorrect colors could result in a beating from their social superiors, so most erred on the side of caution.) Those of the civic estate generally wore black or white along with colored hats indicating their rank, role, and political patronage.

Most notably to historians of the rise of the Targhands, crimson became universally associated with the Targhandist movement. The color was frequently symbolically associated with blood and decay; the idea that "fate was written in blood" was a major theme of the Targhandist mysteries and even its proselytizing works such as The Ziggurat. Similarly, since the Targhands felt that life was a punishment for accumulated sins, there was little concern with associating themselves with a color more commonly used for shrouds. During the rise of Targhandism, the Imperial censors gradually began cracking down on references to the color red in plays, novels, and movies; the playright Jivind Tumulak was imprisoned on the basis of a single line in his comedy The Beggar Weds: "Let us then dance to the music played by this incarnadine clown". The "Gutter Knights" led by Buan of Uzda almost universally wore crimson balaclavas, earning them the disgusted nickname of "bloodclots" from their opponents during the raging street fights that decimated much of the Old Quarter of Uzda. It is perhaps surprising that a religious movement so overtly concerned with individual identity would produce such conformity of dress, but this spiritual individualism combined with temporal uniformity was a feature of the Targhandist faith.

See also:

Buan of Uzda

sumptuary lawsThe Ziggurat