Armor: Part Feower: Gold and Silver

Le suilon.

While trying to collect sources on gold armor, I discovered that I hate Runescape, due to it being one of apparently a few computer games that allow gold armor.

As such, I have limited sources to work with, save my basic knowledge of armor and my basic knowledge of the properties of gold.

Gold is decent to work with and useful for many things. It is the most non-reactive of metals and does not rust or corrode in the weather.

It is used in electronics, too, as the third most conductive metal.

It is highly malleable and ductile, which allows it to be beaten thin and drawn into threads without breaking.

However, it is a soft metal. Here's a mild exercise in logic: does soft metal sound like it makes decent armor?

Steel is not known for being malleable, yet it was popular in later armored eras. In fact, a common goal in smithing was to make metals harder. Again - gold is a soft metal. You be the judge in that.

Gold is also dense, having a relatively heavy weight. In fact, very few metals are heavier than gold. The only one I can think of is lead.

Sport/ceremonial armors - as in, armor for things like ceremonial jousting matches, could be heavier and clunkier, because speed wasn't a concern. It was only there to be absolutely certain no one was grievously injured in the match. (Of course, here, gold is still unwise because of it's softness.)

However, in combat, defense had to be balanced with endurance and agility. Some highly crafted plate was even as light as twenty pound for full plate. As I mentioned previously, a man in a full suit could, in well made plate, perform somersaults.

Heavy armor wears out the wearer faster. It also impedes faster movement. While armor does protect from injuries, it is not impenetrable. There are quite a few good tactics for getting in-between the seams for plate, getting under chain, and so on.

Mobility combined with reasonable defenses is sometimes better than some ideal of impenetrable armor. And in long battles, the less weight on your sword arm the better. If the other man can outmatch you in stamina, it may not matter how impenetrable your armor is.

While I love chain, let's be clear on one thing: one of the biggest benefits with plate armor, aside from the blunt weapon protection, is that it is of lighter weight with far better weight distribution.

If you make armor out of something significantly heavier than other metals, you've ruined that benefit. In addition, by using a heavy and SOFT metal, you've reduced the benefits of wearing a rigid armor, in the first place.

Rigid armor needs to keep its shape. While it could be argued that gold is easier to shape, that only means it's not as capable of holding its shape.

If I complain less about silver, it's because silver could arguably have benefits in a fantasy setting due to the folklore around it as a pure and holy metal. However, I will point out that this argument is somewhat invalid as an armor instead of as a charm or a weapon.

Silver is still on the heavier end of metals. It also tarnishes easily (that nasty kind of blackened look silver sometimes gets is the tarnish). It isn't as soft as gold, but it still isn't a hard metal.

Namárië.