Conventions about clothing and nudity

The weather in Howaru is extremely hot. As a result, humans never covered themselves in animal skins, and didn’t develop a strong sense of modesty towards their bodies. Clothing is very scarce, and varies between social classes.

Free peoples (both patricians and plebeians) always wear two items of clothing: sandals to protect their feet and loincloths to conceal their genitals. These are small pieces or cloth that resemble a Japanese fundoshi, and are tied around the waste and the perineum, normally leaving both glutes exposed.

Patricians, in addition to that, sometimes wear capes, crowns or jewels, which are forbidden to plebeians.

Slaves are not allowed to wear any item of clothing, including sandals. They are permanently barefoot and with their genitalia exposed.

Social conventions regarding nudity might seem curious from our perspective, but make sense within their cultural ecosystem. At first sight, there seems to be no conception of modesty among the people of Howaru, with everybody being nearly naked all the time. However, both patricians and plebeians have a sense of decency: while thighs, buttocks or breasts are always exposed in a totally nonchalant way, the genitalia and anus are considered private parts and most people would be embarrassed to display them in public.

Slaves are not allowed to wear loincloths precisely because having their genitals exposed is degrading and illustrates their status, since being naked from head to toe is considered an animalistic feature. This might be surprising from our perspective (since everybody else is going around wearing basically a thong and sandals), but is considered a very important element in Howaru’s civilization.