Cremisi

Ex umbra in lucem

A gothic, arcane colour scheme in two variants, Obsidian and Ivory, for editors, shells and the web. Every colour is born from an object: blood, bone, stone, amber, verdigris.

vari-sh.github.io/cremisi

For VS Code: Cremisi on the Visual Studio Marketplace

For Sublime Text: Cremisi Color Scheme on Package Control

Cremisi Obsidian in the editor preview Cremisi Ivory in the editor preview

Concept

Cremisi is a cabinet of materials: every hue comes from a real substance, desaturated, earthy and mineral. Blood is the protagonist, bone is the text, stone is the ground; everything else revolves around them.

Crypt stone. The dark ground is cold slate, the stone of a crypt; Ivory is the same stone read from its lightest end.
Crimson rules. Keywords, control flow, booleans, null and accents all speak with the voice of blood. Crimson #c42740 is the only colour shared by both variants.
Two cold notes. Lapis blue for functions and keys, verdigris for properties. Every other hue is warm or mineral.
Legible by rule. Every code token clears WCAG AA (4.5:1) against its own background. Only comments, the smoke of incense, may fall below.

Palette

The same sixteen names in both variants: only the values change. Contrast is measured against each variant's ground; * marks comments, exempt from the rule.

Material	Key	Obsidian	Ivory	Role	Contrast O / I
Crypt stone	`ground`	`#17171c`	`#f4eee2`	Background
Bone / ink	`ink`	`#e9e1d1`	`#2b2733`	Text, variables	13.74 / 12.61
Wrought iron	`iron`	`#9a948c`	`#64606c`	Punctuation	5.94 / 5.30
Incense	`incense`	`#9e8d99`	`#8a7f8c`	Comments, docstrings	5.72 / 3.31 *
Crimson	`crimson`	`#c42740`	`#c42740`	Accent, caret, selection
Crimson deep	`crimson_deep`	`#7e1023`	`#7e1023`	Selection border
Blood	`blood`	`#e2586a`	`#bb1f39`	Keywords, control flow, booleans and null, tags, exceptions	4.97 / 5.40
Lapis	`lapis`	`#6886bb`	`#2d5c9c`	Functions, JSON and YAML keys	4.86 / 5.82
Tallow	`tallow`	`#dccb9a`	`#7e6410`	Types, classes, namespaces, attributes	11.10 / 4.89
Amber	`amber`	`#cf9142`	`#9f5c12`	Numbers, constants	6.62 / 4.53
Sealing wax	`sealwax`	`#c6784c`	`#a24d20`	Decorators, annotations, escapes, placeholders, regex	5.27 / 5.02
Malachite	`malachite`	`#44a078`	`#2f7a4e`	Strings	5.57 / 4.53
Verdigris	`verdigris`	`#6bb3b0`	`#1a706d`	Properties, members	7.40 / 5.07
Amethyst	`amethyst`	`#9c7bb0`	`#7e3a9e`	Builtins, self, YAML anchors	5.00 / 6.09
Wine	`wine`	`#b27a90`	`#8a3f64`	Operators, imports, key-value colons	5.17 / 6.11
Withered petal	`petal`	`#c58f96`	`#a8465f`	Parameters	6.59 / 4.90

Interface variables: border #302f35 / #e9e1d1, gutter_fg #4e4a50 / #b3aa9a.

Four voices

The shape of the letter tells you the role before the colour does.

Style	Roles
Italic	comments, keywords and declarations, imports, functions, types and classes, parameters, attributes, builtins and `self`, JSON and YAML values, exceptions
Bold	control flow: `if`, `for`, `while`, `return`
Bold italic	booleans and null
Regular	strings, numbers, operators, punctuation, variables, keys, properties

Ports

Every port lives in its own folder under ports/, with a README that explains how to install it and what it can and cannot reproduce. Start from there.

Two scales

Eleven steps of stone and eleven of blood, interpolated in OKLCH, for building interfaces on top of Cremisi. Structure and identity, and nothing else, on purpose: syntax highlighting stays with the materials. They ship as custom properties in ports/css/cremisi-scales.css (--cremisi-stone-*, --cremisi-blood-*).

Step	Stone		Blood
50	`#f4eee2`	= Ivory ground	`#feeff0`
100	`#e9e1d1`	= Obsidian ink, Ivory border	`#ffddde`
200	`#cfc6b8`		`#febec1`
300	`#b3aa9a`	= Ivory gutter	`#fa969f`
400	`#9a948c`	= Obsidian iron	`#ef6f80`
500	`#827a76`		`#e2586a`	= blood
600	`#696164`		`#c42740`	= crimson
700	`#4e4a50`	= Obsidian gutter	`#a11730`
800	`#302f35`	= Obsidian border	`#7e1023`	= crimson deep
900	`#17171c`	= Obsidian ground	`#52151f`
950	`#0c0c10`		`#301419`

Stone is not a neutral grey: its hue slides from warm bone (about 85°) to the violet stone of the crypt (about 285°), crossing a faintly rosy grey on the way. Blood 400–800 are the reds of the theme; 50–300 open toward the petal, for badges and alerts on Ivory, 900–950 thicken into clotted blood, for error and diff grounds on Obsidian. scale_ui in palette.yaml is a role-by-role recipe for an interface built only from the scales.

Repository

palette.yaml   the palette: materials, interface variables, Sublime globals and rules, scales
ports/         one folder per port, each with its own README
assets/        previews

Every port draws its colours from palette.yaml; the live page at vari-sh.github.io/cremisi is built from the same data.