• PM To Join • [The Unnamed] Onward to Armor! [Profession]

[Kaladis Anar]

[The Unnamed] Onward to Armor! [Profession]

The Unnamed Smithy

9th of Ashan
Unnamed Smithy, Hewnan Street, Nashaki.
The Scrolls of Anar Verse One, Nashaki, #14 Protecting the body.

A

slightly warmer day, the forge was still cool, even with both of the furnaces working. Ashan had brought much needed natural light back to the unnamed smithy, Kaladis still had relatively few customers that came for his work.

Today was a big step, because Kaladis had graduated from forge operation, from knife making, and now on to something which truly interested him, finishing the armor designs of Alinan. There was something about metal which fascinated the Eidisi, but something about forming suits of metal, their uniformity and purpose which drove him that bit further.

“We use thin metal, and rivet each ring.”

“Can plate be worn over the top?” Always wanting to know more about how to work the metal, but even more than that its application, Kaladis stood beside the smith learning keenly. The contrast to Ralari teaching him was, he didn't challenge Alinan, here he felt there was so much undiscovered at his fingertips, it was a whole new world. One day it'd be like that for arcane studies, but as yet he seemed to always be hiding or running for his life when magic was involved.

“Yes if you use lighter metal. The rivets mean the metal can be half as thick, but take twice as long to make. In the north they wear a gambeson, as well as mail underneath and plate over the top, here that same layered armor will cook you alive come the spring or summer.” Alinan had certainly been around, or so it seemed, Kaladis knew better than to push him for specifics of his background by now.

The Edisi could see how long riveting each ring on a shirt of mail was going to take, a very long time indeed. If he was “using cobalt, is it the same?” Kaladis asked hopefully, which would half the weight again, he wanted his armor as light as possible for the desert conditions he was going to be living in, thinking ahead.

“The method doesn’t matter to the metal, if you don’t rivet or weld each ring, you only need pull one apart with strength and you have a rupture in the mail for a sword or arrow.” Alinan didn’t do as much armor, there wasn’t the same call for it in high temperatures. Instead he went down to the storeroom to get an example. Coming back he showed Kaladis a steel hauberk, pulling a ring apart and undoing a small amount of them, then he showed him a riveted piece, flattened and sealed on each ring. “The smaller the circle the better, but the harder it is to put together.” Continuing to talk him through the basics, showing Kaladis a few different designs. It’d be “all part of you choosing your signature and style.” Looking back at the chainmail, Alinan decided to add, “the four in one design is the most common,” where all rings were linked to four others.

While Kaladis was keen, intellectually he knew he wasn’t ready for the finer armors, but linking steel or cobalt rings together, that he could do, and take pride in. Alinan readied a dowel, which was a cylinder of metal and a flat piece of iron with several small holes in it, ready to pull some thin hot steel through until it was the right thickness to be like a wire. Kaladis double checked the bloom forge for the steel, folding it over, and beginning to hammer it, until it had the consistency he wanted.

They even had a customer come in and buy a knife. Things were not exactly flying off the shelf, but it was progress.

~

[Kaladis Anar]

H

eating up the thin strip of steel, it was pulled and squashed through one hole, then a smaller hole until it became a wiry shape and size, letting it cool slightly, more strips were done in the same way. Then they were coiled around the dowel, and left to cool fully, ready to be cut. After Kaladis had done several wires this way, and the dowel was full, a second was readied and the process repeated, so the first set could be given time to cool. Alinan explained there would be thousands of individual rings on one piece of armor. Kaladis wasn’t a mathematical genius, but he could tell just how long that was going to take, from a business management perspective making chainmail was less profitable, even given the obvious demand in the desert for armor which allowed for airflow.

Going back to folding more steel, and keeping the bloom furnace going, Alinan was as usual working or slaving on his own contract with their ‘friends’. One day this place would be free of any constricting third party, Kaladis wasn't blind to the debt he owed Alinan, and swore to Vhalar under his breath he would do right by his teacher.

G

etting a cutting tool, Alinan demonstrated very simply what Kaladis would be doing for a few breaks, snipping each piece of wire in roughly a ring size. Going with a safe size for his first suit of armor, the rings were about five inches in diameter, even so he didn’t make them all uniform, making a few mistakes here and there. Cutting this way took about a break or two, there were other methods such as stamping out the rings Alinan explained, and it would be down to Kaladis to pick his preferred method.

Putting the rings together, in a simple pattern of four connecting rings to each ring, took a LOT longer than a break. Riveting each individual ring by heating it, banging it flat, piercing it and then hammering through a small piece of cut wire, would take the rest of the trial and then some. Time Kaladis had to give, and patience when learning a craft he loved was also not hard to come by.

“Keep going until you match this size,” Alinan produced a piece of cloth and laid it flat on the table, about the size of a man’s chest Kaladis noted, that seemed a sensible measuring device for a novice.

Maybe today would be free of interruptions or people trying to kill him?

[img]/gallery/image ... ge_id=7260[/img]

~

[Kaladis Anar]

M

ercifully the smithy did seem to be the one place free of unknown hazards, he knew about all the ones he’d face here. A burn, a bruise or black clad strangers with knives dropping in to clear out the stock. Something they’d talked about was giving Kaladis his own shelf and clearly marked area, so their friends knew to leave his stock well enough alone when they made a house call.

One problem at a time.

Hammering the rings flat, linking them, then riveting them, he continued this for breaks. Kaladis would cut many ready each time, so he had a hundred or so to work with, linking then riveting them to keep to the general shape of the cloth template. Because this was his first time making chainmail, he messed up links and connections several times, having to cut them free and start again, wasting steel and only adding to how long it took him. While he was learning, there was no distraction, no break for conversation, just pure disciplined focus on his task. Metal was all consuming to him, it rivaled the study of the arcane surely enough. He was finding creating something from nothing fascinated him in all its forms.

One technique he did pick up, was to hit several small rings at the same time to flatten them, it only helped speed up the process slightly, as he still had to cut the rings individually, connect and then rivet them individually. When Alinan came across to teach Kaladis, the Eidisi was also beginning to pay attention to his teaching method, in instructing an apprentice, as Kaladis would one day do himself at his own forge. Alinan encouraged Kaladis, but his style was to directly correct and then show him visually, whereas when he was taught the horn at Bombasts music shop, the teacher there had preferred to tell him and let him work it out himself. Different teaching styles to remember for the future, perhaps to cater to different students' strengths.

Reaching the end of the cloth, he had a hauberk sized link of chain with a gap for a neck, but how to do the arms? This seemed more technical, the blacksmith could see Kaladis looking over the sleeve area, and holding the mail up to his chest.

“If you want long sleeves, turn the pattern, else the sleeves will hang downward.” Alinan instructed, showing him exactly how to link the chain to keep the pattern facing upward, something which again would require practice to get right, the armpits being the most technical bit of it all. Kaladis noted that long sleeves and armpits added more time to working the chainmail, more so than you'd think at a glance.

[img]/gallery/image ... ge_id=7260[/img]

~

[Kaladis Anar]

T

hen after almost all of the day, there it was, his first shoddy suit of chainmail. Alinan came over and looked it over back and front, Kaladis was already overly critical of his own work, and the Master smith only compounded this when he showed him where the links weren’t quite connected the right way, or the weaker points on the hauberk. Still it was his first armor creation, and so Kaladis took pride in that.

It was almost time to break for the evening, and he’d only got one hauberk done. Stoking the bloom forge before he went, Kaladis decided to work late, Alinan just grinned. “Remember to pace yourself,” Kaladis didn’t say anything, giving him a nod instead, brushing some ash off his face and resolving to continue. Whatever this city was, however many people had tried to play him, or even slip a knife in his back, it was becoming his home.

On to the second suit! All of the work that had gone into the first suit, went into the second one, taking more care to make sure the four in one pattern was maintained, and more care to try and rivet each ring securely, concentrating on so much at once, Kaladis caught his finger with the hammer's edge. That was part of it, the hands becoming firmer and rougher on the outside. The knocks and cuts didn’t hurt as much as they had at first, building his skins’s natural resistance to heat and bruising.

His links were still fumbled here and there, rivets were still misaligned at times, and rings came away, but he was improving bit by bit, if only because of how long each suit took to make. Somewhere at the twelfth thousandth ring, his fingers felt numb, his eyes tired, trying to find his focus into the late hours of the night.

Not knowing when it had happened, he’d rested his chin on the metal and fell into a slumber at the desk. When Alinan opened up the next morning he found Kaladis working, but the telltale sign of a red mark where he’d rested his cheek on the chainmail, told the whole story. Alinan didn’t say anything, just smirked and got straight back to it as if they'd never stopped.

When he was finally done, the chain hauberk wasn’t perfect, it was better however and lighter than the first as he’d used less metal, by his count that meant one for Ralari and one for himself. Alinan congratulated him, and brought out more ore for them both to work on. If anything it was to show Kaladis that if he was going to work through the night, his apprentice would still be working tomorrow, pacing yourself and your work in this trade was important.

[img]/gallery/image ... ge_id=7260[/img]

~

[Kaladis Anar]

“What are you working on next?” For the first time in his employment here, Alinan gave him a choice. Kaladis took a good two bits thinking before committing.

“Head pieces” Kaladis stated, that would be most needed, it was a tough call between that and hand protection. Alinan clapped his hands together to shake off ash, brought out a chainmail coif, and three pieces. He laid the full coif over a small sized helmet to demonstrate what it would look like over a head, open faced, it protected the back of the head, neck, top of the head and chin.

Three individual pieces were laid out for Kaladis as examples, following three templates. Alinan enjoyed his usual method of teaching, instructing by visual cues. He explained “the skull cap was the hardest part to make,” it was several triangles attached together by links, until Alinan had a hexagon shape. Being the most complicated design yet, the mail was still in the four in one pattern, only linked together on the outer edges by an additional row on each triangle. “For a bigger head, add more rows around the circumference,” to adjust to a bigger and bigger shape once the hexagon had been made, making a more rounded edge.

Kaladis tried to copy this, getting the basic triangles done, struggling a bit with linking and riveting them individually to each other, he learned as he went. Estimating the right size for his own head was the really hard part, and as this first attempt was likely to be handed off to Ralari, Kaladis had even more trouble picturing it.

Once the skull piece was finished Alinan explained the simpler chain strips. The skirt was a draping piece to protect the back of the neck, from the jawline down, and the chin piece then wrapped around the chin, attaching to each side of the skirt at the back.

These two new pieces were simpler replications of the basic pattern to a leather template beneath, and by now they were coming along easier, but his fingers were cramped, having to flex them. “That’s why you do multiple things at once, get some ore going on the forge, bring some dung up, it gives the body a change,” the smithy helped show him how to avoid the strains of overworking on a particular task.

So Kaladis did just that, happily got off his stool, his legs feeling cramped up too! Breaks and breaks in one position, he almost fell over, shaking them to get some life into them. Kaladis was young for an Eidisi, he didn’t suffer more than a single bit before he made his way downstairs. Dung shoveling again, his eyes rolled.

[img]/gallery/image ... ge_id=7260[/img]

~

[Kaladis Anar]

F

inishing up what he resolved would be one of the last dung shoveling exercises, he approached Alinan. “High time we got you a second apprentice.” Kaladis had come to a conclusion, and had an idea. “I cannot have an apprentice from inside the city,” Alinan remarked, “it was chance I found you before you settled here, and no one sane lives out in the wastes.” Showing his distaste for the tribals, raiders, and nomads outside the walls. If only he knew Kaladis was selling directly to the raiders now!

Kaladis simply smiled, he’d already thought this through, “they will be my apprentice.” The Eidisi played his hand here, hoping for the best. “Your apprentice? You are barely ready to make armor, let alone apprentice anyone!” Alinan chuckled, hammering away on a blade, always at work at the whims of his Master’s, while Kaladis suffered no such ill fortune of having a contract over his head.

“Exactly, they will learn as I do, from what I do.” It was a simple arrangement, meaning whoever they took on would be dealing with dung shoveling and some of the more mundane tasks, cleaning up, fetching and carrying, keeping both forges hot. It would let Kaladis get on with what he loved, metalworking, and importantly increasing how much coin he made.

Alinan’s situation had improved somewhat having Kaladis work for him, and taking seventy percent of what Kaladis made. Simple as the goods Kaladis made were, Alinan was eating good meals now, and had bought a new set of blacksmithing clothes, but this place still looked in a rundown state. Kaladis had far grander dreams than to simply exist or get by, though obstacles stood in his way, none were beyond his reach or so his pride told him.

Nashaki was simply his for the taking, but one problem at a time.

“No,” Alinan shook his head, “it’s too risky. Taking you on, that I had to do, I had to do something,” he rested his hammer down and gripped his desk. Kaladis took his time, letting Alinan vent and adjust to the idea, “I have brought you good fortune, that will not stop, the risk is mine to bear.” Trying to sound sincere in his persuasion, it only partially worked. The fact that Alinan was now eating well and not in worn out clothes helped sway the argument ultimately, “one apprentice, and I want to see him before I agree.”

The Eidisi nodded, containing his satisfaction, a deal well negotiated. Sitting back at his desk Kaladis got back to work. The movement of chain across leather and the hit of the riveting hammer, were almost a melodic sound to him, their two hammers working in unison, until he'd finished up not one but two steel head coifs of differing qualities.

A promising day that had delivered.

[img]/gallery/image ... ge_id=7260[/img]

~

[Niv]

Kaladis

Knowledge:

Business Management: Avoid debts if you can
Business Management: Employees need their own space
Business Management: do multiple things at once
Endurance: Tedious and exhausting work
Endurance: Work through the pain
Discipline: keeping on task
Discipline: Remember to pace yourself
Mathematics: estimating the time for a thousand Rivets
Persuasion: be persistent
Persuasion: be sincere
Smithing: Lighter metal is used to make less think armour
Smithing: Nearly at thousand Rivots to me
Smithing: how to make arms in chainmail.
Smithing: Type of metal doesn’t mater but you must rivet each ring
Smithing: make the skull cap bigger bu adding more rows to the curcumfrance
Strength: The hands of a craftsman
Tactics: how to get yourself out of dung shovelling duty
The Unnamed Smithy of Nashaki: Another home

Loot: 

4 bits of riveted chainmail armor there, 2 coifs and 2 hauberks of average quality

Injuries: 

N/A

Fame:

- 2 for breaking and entering, -5 for breaking and entering

Magic:

These points can NOT be used for Domain Magic

Devotion:

N/A

Story: 

5/5

Collaboration:

0/5

Structure:

5/5

Notes: It wasn’t too boring but this could have used a bit more narrative. Maybe add in a demanding customer or maybe stumble upon an affair between employees or something.
Otherwise it was written well and was informative on making armour.
Art credit to Yoshitaka Amano