FMP - Architecture, Clothing, and Religion

In today's session I looked at the individual aspects of empires that I found to be interesting in more detail so that I could accurately recreate them for my fictional empire, which started with my studies on propaganda and racism. The first subject that I looked at toady was architecture which I studied in a broad sense to get more inspiration and inspire potential features that I might desire in my new empirical structures. I mainly looked at eastern architecture then western architecture because that is the sort of area I want my fictional empire to be based on and I really don't want to walk into a generic steampunk setting which I would probably do if I looked at western culture. I found that a lot of eastern architecture, especially Turkish, love to put intricate and layered patterns into their structures as well as a affinity for stone rather then wooden structures. The aim for my architectural design is not to be realistic but to but tell the story of the empire through symbolism and other types of imagery.

The second subject I researched toady was clothing worn by various cultures such as armor, citizen clothing, police/guard clothing, and garbs worn by monarchs/leaders. What I found interesting about the eastern style of clothing is their affinity for long flowing fabrics like silks and their assortment of headgear which could vary from turbans, fezzes, and even skullcaps with floral decoration. The clothing was also quite colourful, no doubt from the assortment of dyes available to them and the motivation to impress onlookers. I want my clothing to be just as extravagant but I also want some poorer looking clothes for the assortment of peasants. The last thing I researched today was religion and the impacts it has had over certain empires. ~What I found interesting is that some empires are motivated by religion and the cause to spread it to "uncivilized" countries and nations. Also religious imagery is everywhere in their art and architecture so I should keep a close eye to incorporate such symbols in my architecture.