Attire

Rodinians don't generally wear armour like most other species, as the durability of their bodies far exceeds that of any material they could wear. There's nothing that'd enhance their durability or survivability in the face of something capable of wounding them, and against such a threat anything on their bodies would be instantly obliterated.   What they do wear tends to be made from Mycomatter, which allows it to survive some of the extreme physical movements Rodinians can perform. If a Rodinian wore normal clothing or armour, it would melt, disintegrate, or be torn free during their extreme movements.   It also needs to be said that Rodinians have an aversion to clothing and armour, physiologically and culturally. The physiological basis is rooted in their enormously heightened senses, particularly hearing and touch. The sound of clothing brushing, crinkling and rubbing annoys them to no end – and you can be sure those ears of theirs are picking up every twang of thread fibre catching and springing free from the trappings of another surface.   Their skin likewise feels every thread scraping across it. The resolution of their touch receptors makes it feel like someone dragging rough sandpaper across their flesh. It annoys them even worse than the sound it makes. They can create a Second Skin over their bodies using psikinetic force, and this does help immensely, but it's something requiring effort and it doesn't deal with the sound the clothes make.   Culturally, it's well known how vain and narcissistic even the average Rodinian is about their perceived physical attractiveness. They're overarching culture carries an unspoken and universally accepted belief in the total superiority of their abilities, bodies and minds, and a type of vanity that professes the Rodinian form to be perfect and "complete"; as in, they believe themselves to be a perfect combination of total power and total aesthetic beauty, sacrificing none of either. Combined with a lascivious, hedonistic culture of sexual openness, promiscuity and over-indulgence, it's a common refrain in Rodinian culture to disavow clothing entirely.   Some believe clothing to be a symptom of insecurity in one's abilities, a sign of weakness, a sign of bodily shame, or shame in one's expression of themselves. Other Rodinians, being so comfortable with casual nudity or near nudity for so long, actually regard the concept as alien and are absent-minded and unaware of the concept as anything relevant to them. It's a cultural act of other species in their mind, and not something Rodinians do. Rodinians who don't leave Rodinia may never wear clothing at all, and when they travelled the universe during the height of the Rodinian empire, many didn't even think to obscure themselves.   Rodinian clothing hence tends to be very loose and light, and very minimalist. It's common to see robes, gowns, hoods, overalls, loincloths and cloaks. Tight or restrictive clothing with high surface contact with their skin is very uncommon.   This mindset is more or less present in their military endeavours, but they still seek to display rank or social status of their aristocracy. The equivalent of a uniform is their golden etched robes, which all Rodinians are given as a symbol of their citizenship.    

Rodinian Robes

 

The Imperial Standard

  The most ubiquitous and recognizable attire of the Rodinians are the red and gold cloaks known as the Imperial Standard. Every Rodinian at birth is issued with the Imperial Standard, custom tailored for their respective species.   The set's composed of Mycomatter grown from a mycelium specializing in the creation of the Imperial Standard, and this living nature of the clothing set allows it to grow with the Rodinian as both age and mature.   The Imperial Standard is a symbol of Rodinian multi-species unity, and of a shared cause and kinship under one home – Earth. The red of the hyphal material symbolizes the Blood of the Earth – a representation of all that binds the different clades of Rodinian together. The gold accents are in reference to their civilization's might and greatness. The basic Imperial Standard is emblazoned with the Rodinian National Emblem, usually on two shoulder pauldrons, on the back, and on the front of any waist wear.   As all Rodinians partake in military service when coming of age, the basic Imperial Standard is also synonymous with the first entry-level enlisted rank in their armed forces. Higher ranks in their military will have additional rank insignias on their Imperial Standard.   Imperial Standard sets, and their variants below, have a few special properties. Firstly, being made of Mycomatter, they're as invulnerable as the Rodinians wearing it. This means that their clothing survives whatever the Rodinian survives – hypersonic atmospheric re-entry, relativistic motion, nuclear ordinance, stellar interiors and the surfaces of neutron stars. Their Imperial Standard clothing will survive it all. Any damage it does receive it can heal on its own, so no need to break out the sowing kit after every battle with Nadrakians or rogue Rodinians.   The set also includes several "power-reducing" functions designed to help Rodinians be less lethal when around non-Rodinians. As is well known, Rodinians can accidently kill scores of people from simply moving too fast, or letting too much of their spiritual aura leak out, or from even making eye-contact due to telepathic flux tubes forming. The Imperial Standard restrains much of their power.   All sets include a pair of Flux Glasses that block the formation of telepathic flux tubes, thereby making eye-contact with a Rodinian a less lobotomizing affair. The cloak's also capable of restraining and absorbing the spiritual aura of the wearing Rodinian, meaning no accidental releases of lethal amounts of spiritual dyne into the environment that blows away non-Rodinian Souls.   The boots, gloves, waist wear and hood are also linked together by a form of Psikinetics called Inertial Confinement. The hyphal tissue in these areas exchange energy, momentum and force with each other to resist the movements of the wearer if they move too fast. If a Rodinian tries to move their hands apart at unsafe velocities, the gloves will proportionally counteract them. If they lift their foot too fast, it'll push against the hood to stop it rising. It also has built in twitch resistance in case of a sneeze or other involuntary reflex, where a minimum force is required to overcome the Inertial Confinement. Anything below this won't be sufficient to move any part of the Imperial standard (to move apart a pair of linked gloves would require hundreds of Saturn V rockets, for example). This helps to slow down the Rodinian's movements and dampen the force they exert.    

Variants of the Imperial Standard

  Specific professions and positions in Rodinian society are issued with (or reserve for themselves) position-dependent variants as an indicator of their status. Rodinians can wear whatever they want in a personal capacity, but it's generally frowned upon to wear the exact robes of a position in society they don't belong to (including the golden etchings that often contain the symbology, crests and code of that position). If you want to wear black robes with golden patterns, one better make sure it doesn't have the golden crest, imperial symbology, and imperial motto on it too (unless they're a court system arbiter).  

• Healer's Robes: Rodinians fully qualified by the Imperial Medical College to practice healing are issued with green and gold cloaks. This is considered a respected position in Rodinian society due to their importance in battles against Nadrakians and other Rodinians, where they can save lives and return warriors to fighting status quickly. They've been known to turn battles based on their skills. They also cure the small handful of diseases still occasionally afflicting Rodinians that're otherwise lethal, and have placed within them a great deal of trust and expectation of care. They're equivalent to doctors in human parlance.
 
• Kozar's Marks: The white cloaks of the Vaalbaran faith are issued to qualified members of the Vaalbaran clergy. Bone white and trimmed with the usual gold of the Imperial Standard, they also have the red Eye of Kozar emblazoned on them. Clergy members of the Vaalbaran church are often considered to be trusted members of local Rodinian communities, and offer spiritual guidance and healing in line with their understanding of the soul and nature of the Earth.
 
• Bluecloaks: The Emperor's Imperial Service wear blue variants of the Imperial Standard. Filled with veterans of many campaigns with a minimum age of 100'000 years, these Rodinian warriors are worth several put together, and can singlehandedly subdue interstellar civilizations. They counterbalance the armies of the Great Houses, keeping peace throughout the Rodinian Weave of Worlds.
 
• Zaquroum Robes: Senior civil servants within the Imperial Government, as well as elected positions in the Polupat and appointed positions within the Telochat, were issued with dark yellow robes for the duration they hold the position. Such individuals are supposed to be identifiable to the public for accountability reasons, hence their different colored robes.
 
• Judicial Robes: Rodinians serving as arbiters in the Imperial Court system wear black robes with the standard Imperial gold decorations. The color black in this case symbolizes how justice is supposed to be blind to the social status of those standing before the law.
 
• Aristocratic Robes: The Great Houses reserved the color purple for their collective usage, with each Great Houses sigil emblazoned on the back of the robes. They still have the standard gold decorations.