Mail

A Recreation of Roman Chainmail armor

Mail (also known as Maille, chainmail, ringmail or chain armor in modern times to distingish it form the postal services) is a variety of armor composed of a series of small interlocking metal (usually wrought iron or steel) rings. Though who invented it is not yet known in full, first instances of mail armor came up in Europe around 300BCE, used by both the Etruscans and the Celts. Either by learning of it from others, or by developing it on their own independently, chainmail would become one of the most common types of armor across Europe, the Middle East, India, Asia and the more developed parts of Africa.

Information about mail

Mail is a labor-intensive form of armor to make. Even a mail vest will have thousands of individual rings, each of which need to be hand made one at a time. This is offset by several points. First of all, mail was a form of metallic armor which was made of iron, which is far more common than the alternative of bronze, which involved getting both copper and tin. Secondly, despite the fact that it took a fuckload of work to do so, making individual rings (or links) was not a particularly difficult thing to do. Though eventually you did see specialized linkmakers, the job could be done by your average generalized village smith if he had some appropriate gear and a little practice, and large amounts of labor could be put on the smith's apprentices, as the most difficult part of making mail is following patterns properly. Third, a suit of mail can easily be patched if damaged.

In terms of defense, mail has some advantages and disadvantages. Its biggest advantage is that it's excellent at defeating slashing sword attacks. Due to the interlocked nature of the rings a slashing blow has its energy spread out among the links, imparting limited energy to the wearer while keeping the sharp blade away from the body. This is double effective since mail is always paired with an undergarment to further protect against blunt attacks (known as a gambeson, an aketon, an arming doublet or simply padded armour). Against thrusts such as spears or arrows it will protect decently, against the attack which of course depends on what type of mail you are wearing, and what kind of weapon your opponent is wielding. A longbow shot or a piercing blow from a sharp sword might still break through. Further mail advantages are that its flexible for great mobility, and due to its nature, a well-fitted mail hauberk spreads its weight across the body evenly so it's less tiring (tightening a belt around your waist helps even more by transferring some of the mail's weight from your shoulders and upper body to your legs) and is actually quite comfortable. In a fantasy context chain mail is one of the only types of armor we know for a fact will work against a monster since a Shark suit is pretty much just chain mail.

Mail's major downside, however, is that it's worthless against blunt trauma. If hit directly by a high-impact weapon, like a hammer, axe, or a falchion, the mail, rather then compressing, transfers that energy to the body under it for full damage, which is why it's paired with a gambeson, but a hard enough hit still won't be stopped by its padding. Furthermore, against some thrusting attacks the force would be so concentrated that only a few links would have force applied to them, removing the benefit of interlocking rings, breaking them apart and punching through the armor. Also, iron is a very good heat conductor, so mail can heat up or cool very rapidly depending on weather and even burn your skin if you do not put something under it to protect yourself, or over it to shield it from direct sunlight, which is why the crusaders wore their signature tabards and skirts.

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