"The creation of dyes to feed the burgeoning fashions of the courts of the Old World is a vibrant industry indeed."
- —Description of Dyemaker building in Total War: Warhammer.[1]
A dyer is one of those Human or Dwarf labourers and craftsmen of the Old World who work with the chemicals known as dye, seeking to alter the colours of textiles and clothing manufactured by weavers. Dyers rarely live to a good old age, for they deal in acrid liquids and other foul brews to create colours for garments.[1c]
This is done in order to keep up with the rapacious fashions of clashing colours that dominate the various courts of the Empire, Bretonnia, and especially Tilea. It is not for nothing that Tilean merchant princes are known as "peacocks."[1c]
Dyers in the Empire[]
The mining shafts for the mercury-rich mineral called cinnabar or "blood rock" that are not controlled by the Dwarf Dyers' Guild are almost always owned by the Gold College, whose wizards need a constant supply of mercury for their acolytes' many experiments in alchemy. However, the Dyers' Guild also needs blood rock to refine a very distinctive shade of crimson for use in garments, and thus cinnabar is in high demand.[1a]
When the Dyers' Guild discovered that the Gold College had effectively monopolised the Known World's supply of blood rock, these two disparate organisations effectively went to war. Free Companies of guild apprentices laid siege to the cinnabar mines in Wissenland, the stockade only falling when a coterie of Gold Wizards appeared and turned the besiegers into metallic statues.[1b]
Dyers in Sylvania[]
"Best not choose the dark green powder, though, it certainly isn't snuff!"
- —Description of the Pigment Grinder's Shop from Total War: Warhammer.[1f]
Deep in the red pits of Sylvania can be found mercury in the raw form of cinnabar or "blood rock." Mercury is in demand throughout the Empire. In its raw form, it can be refined as pigment and dyes for clothing and writing or printing inks, but it is also a material often used in magic rituals.[1d]
The wizards of the Gold College will go to extensive lengths to obtain it -- including striking secret deals with dark forces like the Vampire Counts. Of course, Sylvania's residents have other uses for mercury, as it works well as a material ingredient for many spells of Dark Magic.[1d]
The Blood Mines of Sylvania are so called for the cinnabar found in the region. That is not to say that the mines are never awash with literal blood. Should a Varghulf take up residence then there will be half-eaten corpses and streams of bloody gore. Yet the unrefined mercury within is a powerful resource, both domestically and commercially, providing the right sort of factors and intermediaries are used.[1e]
Red dye is always in demand in Sylvania, for it is the colour of blood, of war and is used by the von Carstein bloodline of Vampires on their banners. For pigment grinders, red is more ubiquitous than noble purple but more difficult to formulate than brown or green. Sylvanian red is known as "blood red" in the Old World for obvious reasons.[1f]