Visual & Tonal Guidelines
Visual Identity
Colour Palette
Primary: Warm golds, deep browns, aged bronze. The colour of teak and brass and monsoon light.
Secondary: Deep reds (court and authority), sea blues (maritime and mystery), jungle greens (hinterland and danger).
Accent: Portuguese white and cross-red used sparingly for foreign threat.
Design Tokens
- Primary gold:
#C9A84C- Background:
#0D0D0D- Accent crimson:
#8B1A1A
Architecture
Malay traditional architecture with multi-tiered roofs, raised timber construction, and intricate carved panels. Chinese, Indian, and Arab quarters each have distinct architectural signatures.
Costume & Textile
Historical Malay court dress, merchant attire, and warrior equipment. Batik, songket, and imported textiles serve as visual indicators of status, ethnicity, and allegiance.
Tonal Guidelines
Tone: Serious, Grounded, Human
Not camp, not pulp, not ironic. Humour exists — marketplace banter, gallows wit, bureaucratic absurdity — but the register is dramatic.
Violence: Consequential, Not Gratuitous
Combat is fast, lethal, and depicted with weight. Kills have consequences. The franchise emphasises the cost of violence.
The Supernatural: Believed, Never Confirmed
Characters believe in spirits, curses, and mystical blades. The franchise never breaks frame to confirm or deny. The ambiguity is the point.
Music & Sound
Traditional Malay, Javanese, Chinese, Indian, and Arab musical traditions. The gamelan, the rebab, the serunai, and the tabla coexist with environmental sound design.