What lore do you ignore?

[Cleretic]

Elpis is only one tiny part of the Ancient world. Hell, so is Amaurot for that matter.

If your claim is that the Ancient world beyond the parts we've been to doesn't have the exact same restrictions as the places we've been, then I'd like to see the proof.

I'd be an interesting way to look at things, because Elpis actually does seem to be written as if it's free-spirited and expressive as far as the Ancients go: it's full of creatives trying to follow both aesthetic and functional flair, it's got a number of people written as bucking the trends of the society--Hythlodaeus, Venat and even Athena in their own, very different ways--and they even have a rule that visitors have to remove the masks that are otherwise customary.

And yet every single one wears the exact same thing.

The rest of your post isn't you addressing my stance: it's you explaining yours. That's nice, but I'm not you.

Words

You proved my first sentence so perfectly and directly, I'm actually impressed.