Habits

Habits were worn by religious orders in the medieval times, and were copied from the Roman styles of clothing.  Nuns wore habits, as well as monks.  The style and color of the habit could often be used to identify the wearer's order.  Cistercians wore undyed wool or white, for instance, and Benedictines wore black.

Abbeybeasts wear habits as well.  The typical Redwall habit is forest-green, though novices wear white, and is belted at the waist by a rope belt.  It would make sense for different abbeys to wear different colored habits, so when making an RPG centered in an abbey besides Redwall, you may want to include the color habit they wear.

The habit was really an entire outfit rather than just one piece of clothing.  It consisted of a long tunic belted at the waist; a scapular (which was originally a work apron) as wide as the shoulders that reached between the knees and the tunic's hem; a hood for men; and a wimple or veil for women.  A cowl (also called a cuculla) was worn at ceremonial times over the entire outfit.  The cowl was a huge cloak with a hood that could be thrown back over the shoulders.  The Benedictines were not allowed to wear a cowl that reached below the tunic's hem.

For more information:

	The Habit of the Benedictines
	Catholic Encyclopedia: Cowl