Hat maker
"Why Vampires hate hats? Because whenever they see one, someone who was prior believed untouchable and immortal, very soon afterwards, become very much touched and very much less immortal." -Victor Vanhal
Career
Qualifications
To become a crafter of fancy hats, one must first know the way of the thread and needle. To know the way of the thread and needle, one must first learn patience, dedication and peace of mind.
To craft hats is no easy work, it’s a most fine art that sets pieces of great fortune and quality on heads, and sometimes, the headdress is even more glorious than a crown.
To qualify as a hat maker, a journey of spirit must first be made. One needs to seek the balance between brim and band before they can start their training. The lessons are first taught in universities, on how to use basic machines that aid the crafting. When an individual finishes their course, they are by law allowed to call themselves an artisan.
But, to become a true hat maker, the journey has just truly begun. What lies next is to find a master in the arts, that can teach the true meaning of a good hat, and how to create it.
Career Progression
Once an apprentice has found a master, their real career starts. It’s humble beginnings usually starts in a workshop. There, the apprentice makes hats for farmers, traders, villagers and other people of lower class.
It’s an imperative step on their path, to learn that the value of coin, does not overshadow the value of the person. It doesn’t matter who they are, the quality always requires to be the best it can. It just so happens that poorer people have lower standards, and therefore they are more accepting towards mistakes that are obligatorily made on the road to wisdom and perfection.
Once the apprentice have made some good quality hats and earned a little coin, they rise to become novice hat makers. which isn’t all too different from what they’ve already done. Yet they are allowed to accept request themselves, instead of having the master designate them one.
A novice whom have proven their dedication, quality and serious demeanour towards the craft, often rise quite fast from a novice to an artisan. True artisans meet an important crossroad in life. They can either stay where they are, and join their masters company. Or they can make enough money to move out of town and start their own business. The reason they move away from their prior teachers grounds are not due to despite however, but an act of respect to their kindness and patience.
Only if a hat maker takes the second walk of their artisan lives, can they become a true master. It doesn’t really change much from artisan life, but it makes the master entitled to take up apprentices on their own. More influential and powerful individuals are also most prone to seeking out masters. If not due to title discrimination, it can even be an act of respect to only get the best and most expensive pieces, from the ones that have dedicated most of their life to the craft.
Payment & Reimbursement
The average payment for a hat maker depends very much on the location and the skill of an individual. A person who simply makes hats with no deeper spiritual meaning and average quality have hard times making a living, unless they live in a larger city.
Meanwhile, masters are sought even across borders for their skill, and it’s not uncommon for them to make enough money like lower nobility, sometimes even middle and a few rare cases of high. So, to answer the question of how much they earn, it depends on these two factors.
Other Benefits
When someone thinks hat maker, respect and virtue might not be the first thing that comes into mind. Yet, even high nobility bow their heads and speak in solemn and respectful ways towards the makers. Almost as if they’d be some form of cloister monks.
Outlawed
While highly regarded in the Common lands, there is one brooding group of sadistic fools who do hate them. The vampires. This hatred towards the creators and the items, are very much based in recent happenings of attempted kidnappings. Vampires seen as above mortals and with the right to own lower beings, often find themselves having issues to sneak in and steal humans from their cities. This is due to a group of killjoy mongrels that almost always interrupt their noble causes. Due to the horrors of being pinned by silver bolts, silenced by a garlic and drenched with temple water, all while some hat wearing freak break every bone in your body with a wooden mallet. The vampire queen was given good reasons to outlaw anyone who wears, makes or likes hats with death penalties.
Alternative Names
Craftsman, weaver and for vampires, messagers of the abyss.
Type
Artisan
Demand
A hat maker requires a lot of inner peace and dedication, as it takes long and is hard to get far in the craft.
Related Locations
Comments