I can’t decide what kind of armor to give dark elves

[Lynea]

I've sort of brought this up before, but I'm having trouble designing armor for an infantry of dark elf soldiers.

There are some dark elves in my story setting that have leather cuirasses and wrist guards etc. But, I keep picturing the soldiers with hard plate mail and pauldrons. And this consequently is making some combat scenes difficult to write because I keep going back and forth between the two 'elven' types of armor.

My goal is to design elven armor that is slightly penetrable for the sake of story, but not crafted from leather.

Any suggestions?

 

[Finchbearer]

Chain mail? That is penetrable and made from metal.

 

[Mad Swede]

Well, what technology level does your setting have? Does plate mail exist? If it does, can the dark elves afford to give all their soldiers plate mail and pauldrons? Mail of that sort isn't cheap (and neither is chain mail), so it might be that only some soldiers (perhaps some elite guards unit) have that sort of mail and everyone else has leather cuirasses.

 

[Rexenm]

You should get a cyberdeck and design it on that, seriously, they are neat - you can wear a custom one on your wrist, they are really cool, and one hundred percent you could split those dark elves in half, and make pretty with your design, or result in some pretty cool hobby in your spare time.

 

[pmmg]

How about a type of resin armor. If they are woodland types. They make it with some mix of tree sap.

 

[Lynea]

Well, what technology level does your setting have? Does plate mail exist? If it does, can the dark elves afford to give all their soldiers plate mail and pauldrons? Mail of that sort isn't cheap (and neither is chain mail), so it might be that only some soldiers (perhaps some elite guards unit) have that sort of mail and everyone else has leather cuirasses.

It's pretty much a late medieval world that's just beginning to work with electricity and engines--quasi steampunk I guess. And, I've made it so my dark elves are the furthest behind on modern resources. Their agriculture and trade are low, so it makes sense that they can't afford to deck everyone in plate mail. I guess I will just have to force myself to think of it like that. Thanks.

 

[skip.knox]

What key aspects, in your opinion, makes elf armor different from human armor? Or dwarf or orc armor, for that matter?

 

[Pegzy]

And what magical abilities do elves possess and if they do how can these abilities inform and impact on their armour? You say they are backward in economic terms. But what about any non-natural powers they have? They do have some I presume.

 

[Lynea]

What key aspects, in your opinion, makes elf armor different from human armor? Or dwarf or orc armor, for that matter?

Online research says elven armor is a lot more complex and elegant than basic human armor. The pauldrons are multi-layered, the plating and wrist guards are engraved, the skirt(?) thing at the waist is longer. I also imagine there are capes involved.

 

[Lynea]

And what magical abilities do elves possess and if they do how can these abilities inform and impact on their armour? You say they are backward in economic terms. But what about any non-natural powers they have? They do have some I presume.

In my setting, dark elves don't have innate magic abilities. They can, however, manipulate blood and dark magic to some degree. So I imagine they would need more durable equipment to give them a better chance against powerful magic casters.

 

[ThinkerX]

Go for the exotic - dark elf armor is made from the scales of dragons or wyverns - at least that of the champions and higher ranking elves. The rest get studded leather and a chance to upgrade via bloody contests.

 

[Karlin]

Their armor is made of fish scales, from the rare giant Armageon Carp, sewn on to their leather jackets.

I thought this was common knowledge.

 

[skip.knox]

The internet returns a plethora of answers. I was wondering what you wanted. If the differences are merely decorative, then just go with human infantry armor and gussy it up.

 

[JBCrowson]

Other factors that might influence your choice:
the proportions of your dark elves. Are they tall and skinny? Short and wiry?
How strong are they. How far will they have to march wearing it - full plate is damn heavy - a helm alone can be 20 pounds, You need a neck like a bull to wear it all day long while being physically active. The heavier the armour the longer any characters will need to train in it before they could believably fight wearing it.
What materials do they have access to - if they are underground dwellers they will have more access to metal ores and coal for smelting, whereas for surface dwellers these would be rare items they would need to trade for - so what could they offer in exchange?

 

[Demesnedenoir]

If iron and the ability to smelt it is common, then plate armor is going to be common. it's just a matter of time and not having some other factor that limits its use. or some special/magic armor or defense system taking its place. Maille is way less penetrable than most people think. Even the idiots on one history show tested butted mail... morons. Leather armor (or for that matter, textiles) can also be extremely effective but they get damned near as heavy and maybe more bulky than plate and maille and have long-term damage issues. Plate will rule unless there's a rust monster invasion, heh heh. Or, if the enemy has a weapon that makes its protection obsolete.

 

[skip.knox]

Well, now I'm interested in exploring the notion there might be differences between elves, dwarves, humans, etc.

For example, dwarves live underground (for the most part). They mostly encounter various creatures, but for much of their history they didn't encounter hostile armies. I'm picturing shorter weapons, suitable for work in small spaces. Not much for armor, but some--the sort of thing you could wear for hours, which lets out heavy armor.

Elves, otoh, might go with little to no armor but for quite different reasons. In Altearth they encountered organized resistance almost from the first, and they had some ancient enemies as well. So they developed small-group tactics, lots of guerilla work. I don't see fancy at all, but rather what emphasizes camouflage. Orcs are similar to humans in many ways, so I picture them in derivative wear; their sun worship provides the motif.

Anyway, I think there's lots of room here to go down paths other than just dropping human armor (and weapons) on non-humans, then skinning it. This is no critique on the latter practice; tons of really cool stuff has been developed in that way. Happily, I don't have to paint, I only need to describe.

 

[pmmg]

I think the original question is about the material, not the shape.

It would be useful to know a little about the elves. Where do they live, and what types of resources would be available to them? As Dems said, if they had access to iron, they would probably have iron armor.

 

[BearBear]

I'm picturing dark, elvish (Dunmer) type armor. Look at Skyrim mods.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

In the Sister Continents I don't necessarily have dwarves, but people who mine a lot encounter critters. The real premise for me is that the enemy is going to determine how you deal with them. For instance, a troll. Let's define that. A 12' tall, 1 ton beast with a reach as long or longer than your greatsword and they can benchpress your humvee. If you're fighting this critter, plate armor might not mean shit. The impact from a fist or the crush of a bearhug, let alone a 12' shaft of tree, bronze, or iron/steel is going to be brutal in the hands of something this powerful, and throw in even dimwit human intelligence and you have something wicked. A gorilla will tear the biggest human apart, a troll? Yikes. If underground, you want one of two basic situations I can think of... a hole they can't fit through or a "straight pinch" of 12-15' length to use a boar spear or similar weapon to keep them the hell off of you. Preferably augmented by ranged weapons. What armor do you need for this? None. That said, they do wear armor because something is better than nothing, but the best defense is always not to get hit.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

If looking for reality with plate, you simply have to avoid full articulated plate armor. Maximillian plate makes a man damned hard to kill. Honestly, a draw cut kill against any decent armor... the type seen in LoTR for instance, where Aragorn slices an armored orc gut for a quick hoorah!... isn't going to happen against a good cuir bouilli, let alone Roman linothorax, let alone maille, let alone plate. Not even good Michelin Man armor. Weak points in the panoply are what you need.

And, of course, the most obvious spot is the head, as proved by the NFL where millions in safety studies can't prevent injury. The best skullcap in the world isn't going to stop the brain from sloshing when hit with a mace, heh heh.