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. It's biggest advantage is that it's excellent at defeating slashing sword attacks. Due to the interlocked nature of the rings a slashing blow has it's 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, in the west this is called a "gambeson". Against thrusts such as Spears or arrows it will protect decently, better then nothing at all, against the attack which of course depends on what type of mail you are wearing, and what kind of weapon your opponent is wielding, of course. Further mail advantages are that it's flexible for great mobility, and due to it's nature it spread's it's wight across the body evenly so it's less tiring. 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.

Mails major downside however is that it's worthless against blunt trauma. If hit directly with a weapon with heavy trauma, 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 will will render the Gambeson meaningless. Further more against some thrusting attacks the force would be so concentrated that only a few link would have force applied to them, removing the benefit of interlocking rings, breaking them and punching through the armor. Mail is also very good at trapping heat, so it can be very hard to wear in hot climates .

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