How to make a Satyr Costume
By Nathan Hook

This article discusses how to costume a Satyr along with some background material on how such creatures have appeared in various settings, both in mythology and modern RPGs.

Accounts of Satyr

- Satyr in Myth

Satyr, also called Fawns or Pans, are a race of creatures that look and act like little versions of the Greek God Pan. They are described as having furry goat legs and horns.  They appeared in classical Greek theatre as ‘country bumpkin’ characters.  The Celtic Mythos describes the god Cernunnos as also fitting the description.  The English mythological character of Robin Goodfellow (used by Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night’s dream) could also be interpreted as a Satyr.  Obviously the same image also turns up in Christian imagery as associated with the devil.

In myth Satyr are always male, and lust after nymphs and human women.  There is an obscure reference in welsh mythology to a female faerie with goat legs hidden by a green dress that seduces men and drinks their blood. That is the closest actual reference to a female Satyr.

- Satyr in history

One theory on the origin of the Satyr legend comes from a time when the Celtic peoples raided as far as Greece.  To the eyes the Greeks these barbarians appeared as wild hairy men and wore furry leggings (where as the Greeks themselves wore skirts) which may have given rise to some of their image.

- Satyr in Roleplay Games

Satyr are a standard monster race in the Dungeons & Dragons monster manual (later supplements included rules for them as PCs), and a standard kith (race) in White Wolf’s Changeling: The Dreaming.  Various Ars Magica source books include a write up for Satyr, some of the realm of magic and some of the realm of faerie. A female satyr (despite the notes above) appears on the cover of the 1^st edition of Ars Magica’s ‘Faerie’ sourcebook. 

The Cthulhu Mythos includes ‘the men of Leng’ who are evil horned goat legged creatures that resemble Satyr.  The Glorantha game world includes a race of goat-legged creatures who follow a Goddess of Rape.  The Warhammer world used by Games Workshop includes Beastmen (also in their Warhammer 40,000 setting), many of whom have goat legs, and an expansion for their talisman board game included a Satyr player piece.

Costume

As you can see from the above, a satyr costume is very usable in a great many settings.  To make a costume you will need legs, hooves, horns and hooves.  Going bare-chested for Satyr is appropriate if you feel confident enough.  If not, I would use€ a velvet shirt to represent faerie material.  Another option is to look at classical Greek or roman dress.  One of the benefits of Satyr is not needing to use make up, and if you follow the instructions here, not needing to use spirit gum or liquid latex either.

- horns

You can buy stick on ‘devil horns’ easily enough from a fancy dress shop.  For better quality I recommend Hightower crafts: http://www.hightowercrafts.com/page34.html. However, I find these can cause problems if used long term, since such sweat causing the glue holding them to run.  Another easy option is to attach to a hair-band.

The method I prefer however is to get a piece of fabric, wrap it round your head and wear it as a head scarf.  Tie it at the back with a reef knot.  Look in the mirror and mark two dots on the scarf where you want the horns to be.  You then remove it and make small holes here and push the horns through.  The base of the horns should hold them in place.  If need be, use liquid latex to glue the base of the horns onto a slightly larger piece of plastic faux-leather fabric, to make sure they can’t come through the hole completely.

When you replace the headscarf, you will now have your horns, rising from much higher on your head than if you had glued them to your forehead, and never need to glue them again.

- goat legs

For this you will need to buy a very thick fun-fur fabric.  I recommend trying to match your natural hair colour as close as possible.  What you are basically making is a pair of trousers to begin with.  I used martial art trousers as a pattern,  Basically cut four pieces, one for the front and back of each leg and sew them together.

You also want to cut a fifth diamond shaped piece.  Sew this into the crotch of the trousers where the four quarters meet.  This will give you extra material to make sure you can’t rip them if you are jumping around.

Take two short rectangles of fur and sew them back to back.  Put this part way in between the two quarters at the back and sew it in.  This will create a short stubby goat tail.  

Fold the inside of the trousers over and sew it down around a ribbon or an old shoelace.  Basically you put the trousers on and tie them with this to secure them using a shoelace knot (so it’s easy to undo), and tuck the ends inside)

I recommend wearing a very thin pair of normal trousers underneath your goat legs.  These help soak up any sweat, since you are wearing a lot of fur and thick fun-fur is awkward to wash.  Put a big belt in these under trousers.  When you tie the ribbon, make sure it’s tighter than this belt, and that will prevent your goat legs slipping down.

What have you made so far works, but lacks the basic ‘goat’ shape with an extra joint in.  What you need to do is sew padding on the inside of your legs.  Turn your goat legs inside out.  Take a spare piece of fun fur and sew in just above where your knee is on the front of the leg. Sew all around it, and stuff the pocket inside this piece with either foam or spare off-cuts of fun fur (which you probably have lying around by this point).  Do this again about halfway between your angle and knee on the back of each leg.  This padding will create the proper goat shape.

- Hooves

For this, you will need plastic faux-leather material which is fairly cheap to get. I recommend light brown, but other colours are possible.

Basically you are making boot covers.  Cut a hole in the fabric just big enough to get your foot through.  Slide your foot in and but your Larp boots on.  Let the fabric fall over it.  Now cut round it.

These work as simple hooves.  However, to give it that cloven effect, cut the down the front. The fold both ends of the cut inwards and stick them together. I used a conventional stapler for this then gaffa taped over the join on the side for each grip (and to cover any rough edges of the staples).

Satyr Costume Costs

Here is what the costume cost me to make.  All the fabric I brought from a local store.

Thick Funfabric – 4 metres (enough for me to make the legs and hairpiece, with enough spare to make a quiver out of it to go with the costume) at under £5 a metre

Plastic faux leather – 2 metres (enough to make your hoaves and a leather tabard to go with your costume) at under £3 a metre

Horns from Hightower crafts £7.50

Total £33.50 (approximately $50)

Useful Accessories

- a good flagon or bottle is a good Satyr prop

- remember your costume has no pockets.  A simple cloth shoulder bag may be a useful addition

- a waistcoat (or untied leather jack) often looks good if playing in a suitable setting for such garb (such as changeling).  Leather bracers can also be a good addition.

- Hunting weapons such as bows and spears look good, as to classical Greek weapons.  I recommend a shoulder mounted quiver rather than a hip mounted one for Satyr, given in the increased chance of catching it between your legs.

- Massage oil can be a useful prop to put across your Satyr’s ‘tactile’ nature, or to create an otherworldly faerie smell.  Aromatherapy oils can also be good for helping you get into the creature’s mindset.

- Since you are wearing a head scarf anyway, take two pieces of spare fun-fur in a long triangle shape.  Sew them back to back, then use odd bits of cloth to tie a few knots down it.  Put this under the back of your headscarf to create the effect of your satyr having long hair tied in a pony tail.

- ‘elf ears’ can be a useful addition if you want to stress your faerie nature