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.
Mail is excellent at defeating slashing attacks, and decent enough at protecting against thrusts (depending on what type of mail you are wearing, and what kind of weapon your opponent is wielding, of course).
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