Scented letters

578 years after the fall of the Seleucarian Empire, Merentesh who ran the Shop of Wonders in Delos offered two styles of bottles which were used to scent letters; a perfume bottle and a cologne bottle.

Like stationery kits, these bottles went through a number of revisions, each update of the shop phasing out the old styles and offering new ones.

The initial 578 AF offering of the aromas for scenting letters were a tear-shaped perfume bottle and an agate cologne bottle.

The tear-shaped perfume bottle was made of a bright crystal and was rounded into the shape of a teardrop. The perfume within was a pale blue and was dribbled out through the narrow neck, around which was tied a silver cord. The stopper was shaped like a cluster of aquamarine forget-me-nots, which indicated the scent within.

The agate cologne bottle, on the other hand, was an emerald green crystal, oval in shape, with striated ridges along its length. Around the middle of the bottle, a clearer quartz band displayed the inner liquid inside, an amber-coloured fluid. A black cord was tied around the lip of the bottle and a squared stopper held its contents inside.

In 597 AF, the first two bottles were discontinued and replaced by two new varieties: The blooming rose perfume bottle was actually made of soft-pink rose quartz, which bloomed outward from the neck. Decorating these petals were small topaz beads which were meant to mimic droplets of moisture. The perfume itself was a silvery colour, and rose gold leaves hid the stopper which was connected to the bottle by a rosebud charm-laden chain.

The aquamarine cologne bottle, like its name, was a blueish colour and was extremely geometric; flat facets making up the entire container. The neck of the bottle was positioned at a funny angle and a small dropper was used to get the liquid inside out. The liquid, a similar blue colour, appeared to glow and illuminate the bottle from the inside out. Like the previous offering of the cologne bottle, a leather cord was wrapped around it for convenient carrying.

In 692 AF, the scent bottle offers were once again renewed: ruby bottles for perfume and golden ones for cologne. Ruby bottles were blown from rubied glass, round, and stoppered with carved gemstone and the golden bottles were of frosted, gold-flecked glass. The perfume was a fragrance of vanilla musk, jacaranda, and jasmine whilst the cologne exuded citrus, bergamot, sandalwood, and other exotic spices.