Baraka_Guru

Eden, I just wanted to pop in here to give you my blessing on this project.

I myself wouldn't be worried about authenticity or whatever, just make what you want to make with whatever means you see fit.

It's funny to think of the combat-readiness. You were talking about the arrow stoppage. I'm currently reading the Iliad, which takes place during the Bronze Age. When the towering Telamonian Aias of the Argives faces Prince Hector of Troy in single combat, Homer describes his shield as a tower itself. It's a layer of bronze backed by eight layers of ox leather. This nine-layered shield managed to stop a spear cast by one of Troy's greatest and most feared heroes, and there were still two layers to spare.

Now, I'm not offering this as a technical fact or anything, merely just an inspiration. Have you considered using leather or other materials for multiple layering in specific areas in your designs? You know, to provide extra protection to certain vitals or sensitive areas?

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot