Armor

right|300pxMen have always sought to protect themselves, from monsters and from each other. The first types of armor was probably made of leather. The leather is boiled in oil to harden it. A suit of armor easier to produce, but heavier to handle, is the stuffed leather. Here the leather is lined by whatever textiles is at hand. In the First Empire bronze was common, and bronze metal was used to enforce the leather, as the bronze was to soft to be worn alone. The present-day equal to this armor type is the studded leather. In the Second Empire the knowledge of tempering bronze was advanced to the point to they could manufacture mail shirts made by interlaced bronze rings on top of leather. When battle started, these mail shirt offered good protection, but they were often unreliable in prolonged melee. Somewhat more expensive, but much better was the so-called scaled armor shirt consisting of overlapping metal plates on top of leather. Not before the Third Empire did humans master iron sufficiently to use it for weapons and armor. This was a breakthrough, as tempered iron had a much greater resistance to blows. The ring mail was developed, which was similar to the ring mail shirt but covered most of the body. Bronze rings could only keep from breaking if the weight was evenly distributed, but iron rings could hold together under much more weight and they could withstand repeated bending and unbending in certain places such as at the knee. Bronze, being much cheaper, was still used for breastplates and greaves. This could provide adequate protection for a soldier in a formation. A bronze plate mail was developed. This plate mail had leather inside, then a ring mail shirt and on top bronze plates for extra protection of the breast, the back and the legs. The manufacture of bronze plate mail was very time-consuming and the armor became a status symbol among the wealthy. In the final years of the Third Empire steel was developed, but it was used for armor in a few instances only. According to the legend of Hinu  the Golden Man told him, that if the Sun Lands wanted to defeat the orcs, they should forget bronze and stick to steel, even though the latter was much more expensive. Regardless of the truth of the story, the Sun Lands improved the scaled armor shirt in two versions, the scale mail and the banded mail. The latter was a bit lighter and more flexible than the scale mail, but also more expensive to make. When the Sun Lands relieved Hardor in 53, the Dacrians were very impressed by the Pellans, and their armor. They copied them, and as the aristocracy needed more impressive suits of armor, they, and the Pandesans with them, developed the plate mails we know today. These plate mail suit played a major role in the demise of the Island Concord. The last developments in the history of armor must be attributed the dwarves. When the Nomad Invasions were drawing to a close, Penboyn sent diplomats to Thulcandor hoping to sign an alliance against future threats from the Iluvar. To their surprise, the dwarves seemed interested, and gave the emissaries three suits of plate armor to bring back home. After many years of trying, the smiths in Latislav finally produced a suit of plate armor of their own, and Latislav has been the leading city within the field of armor ever since. Finally the elves merit some mention, as they are unsurpassed with regards to light and supple armor. The most famous item is the elfin chain mail, reputedly no heavier to wear than a woolen sweater. Elven wizard can perform magic while wearing such wonders, and all thieves long for them.