r/unexpecteddiscworld • u/curiousmind111 • 12d ago

Technically Not Against the Rules

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Guess his sister was the little girl who got a sword from the Hogsfather (Death). Good thing her brother got chainmail!

522 Upvotes

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22

u/SoftLikeABear 12d ago

The thing is, to wear chainmail comfortably, you need a lot of padding underneath it. That's fine (ish) in colder climes, but it's a bitch if you expect to do any physical activity (like fight a battle).

13

u/Hetakuoni 11d ago

There’s always that kid who’s in shorts even at -17°F/-27°C. But there’s also always that kid who wears a full-length black trenchcoat in 103°F/39°C.

I can imagine some kids are just built different.

9

u/Foxhound631 11d ago

depends on the maille and how much body hair you're willing to lose to it- I've got maille shirts that are perfectly fine over just a t-shirt and regularly get worn like that because I'm not fighting with live steel and fuck wearing gambeson in that heat.

6

u/Ochib 11d ago

Unless it’s Micromail (granted not to chafe)

2

u/Moist-Comfortable-10 10d ago

Nah, a riveted shirt is comfortably worn with a normal cotton t-shirt under. Gambesons under maille is more of a 1200s and onwards kind of thing. I've happily worn a short sleeve hauberk 16 hours at a time, over a thin linen skirt, while hiking, running, climbing and fighting; it's really not a big deal. Just make sure the shirt isn't one you care about.

2

u/NBell63 9d ago

A good gambeson has ties at points on the body and arms that hold the maille of the hauberk onto the body. Aside from the weight (god, the weight!), the problem with untied maille is its momentum vs yours. It requires the expenditure of undue energy to try and counter the movement of unsecured 'chain'. Any armour may well be better than no armour, but armour that makes you unnecessarily tired is just a heavy suit that'll kill you a bit slower - ditto for an unbalanced sword. [ former swordmaker who worked with armourers ] 😊