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Gah! Three weekends in a row running the shop at my day job. Bleah. Let's take a nice little excursion to Andur for a moment.
In my last post I commented about the 8,000+ refugees who followed Chen We to Andur and now call it home. Actually there are more than that but many have traveled south to help with the colonies that Andur is establishing down the coast, or since Chen We is now serving the Sultan as the Admiral of the Sultan's navy they are serving aboard ships in the Indian Ocean.
Here here we see four fellows enjoying some break time between duties. Now Andur is primarily a Muslim city but it is not an entirely dry city. However public drunkenness is not tolerated. Something that the Valhaullan Vikings have to watch out for sometimes http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4653240 .
Still our feline friend seems to be to be enjoying the fruits of the vine and is either unaware, or doesn't care, about his rat friend miming his movements from on top of his head. The red panda has that look of someone who has heard this story a dozen times but still finds it funny. The marine tiger look like he's waiting for the punchline.
I would like to take a moment to talk about the marine's armor. If you were to pass him on the docks you might assume that the material under the black lacquer finish of his armor was metal or maybe hardened leather. However his scales are made from bamboo with woven rattan underneath. Padding is worn under that.
While this does not give it the same degree of protection as metal it can be surprisingly effective. Plus unlike metal it'll float so if the marine falls overboard he won't immediately sink like a rock! The only metal he has is his bowl of his helmet, and the horizontal reinforcing plate on his chest where the shoulder straps connect. Missing from his usually gear is his bow case and his quiver of arrows. Although some of the marines use repeating crossbows instead. His splinted leg and arm armor is also made from the same lacquer/ rattan construction.
In my last post I commented about the 8,000+ refugees who followed Chen We to Andur and now call it home. Actually there are more than that but many have traveled south to help with the colonies that Andur is establishing down the coast, or since Chen We is now serving the Sultan as the Admiral of the Sultan's navy they are serving aboard ships in the Indian Ocean.
Here here we see four fellows enjoying some break time between duties. Now Andur is primarily a Muslim city but it is not an entirely dry city. However public drunkenness is not tolerated. Something that the Valhaullan Vikings have to watch out for sometimes http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4653240 .
Still our feline friend seems to be to be enjoying the fruits of the vine and is either unaware, or doesn't care, about his rat friend miming his movements from on top of his head. The red panda has that look of someone who has heard this story a dozen times but still finds it funny. The marine tiger look like he's waiting for the punchline.
I would like to take a moment to talk about the marine's armor. If you were to pass him on the docks you might assume that the material under the black lacquer finish of his armor was metal or maybe hardened leather. However his scales are made from bamboo with woven rattan underneath. Padding is worn under that.
While this does not give it the same degree of protection as metal it can be surprisingly effective. Plus unlike metal it'll float so if the marine falls overboard he won't immediately sink like a rock! The only metal he has is his bowl of his helmet, and the horizontal reinforcing plate on his chest where the shoulder straps connect. Missing from his usually gear is his bow case and his quiver of arrows. Although some of the marines use repeating crossbows instead. His splinted leg and arm armor is also made from the same lacquer/ rattan construction.
Category All / All
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Size 1003 x 662px
File Size 264.6 kB
... Aaaaaaaaand now I've got mental images of a Panda mad scientist that takes that to the extremes.
"... Wait. The plumbing in here..."
'Is Bamboo!'
"And these high-pressure steam lines-"
'They're BAMBOO!'
"Your Aetheric Torsion Device-"
'IT'S MADE OF BAMBOO!'
"... Wait, the wiring-"
'BAMBOO IS AWESOME FOR EVERYTHING!!!'
"... Wait. The plumbing in here..."
'Is Bamboo!'
"And these high-pressure steam lines-"
'They're BAMBOO!'
"Your Aetheric Torsion Device-"
'IT'S MADE OF BAMBOO!'
"... Wait, the wiring-"
'BAMBOO IS AWESOME FOR EVERYTHING!!!'
The only problem with bamboo is that it's bulkier than many other materials, and used directly as armor, it can split under impact, opening gaps. But used like that, the bulk isn't much of an issue, and made as scales it prevents cracks from spreading past the limits of the single scale. Also, there are sufficient examples of lamination for other purposes that the splint armor and even the scales could be made from laminated bamboo, which eliminates the problem of splitting almost completely, as well as reducing the bulk for the same protection. It's an elegant tradeoff of protection for survivability in a seagoing environment (and doesn't require the constant cleaning and oiling that iron or steel armor exposed to salt air needs, another bonus).
There are a lot of 'modern' techniques that the Chinese had long before they appeared in the Western world. And in some uses it has advantages that our technology can't match; you can see lashed-together bamboo scaffolding up the sides of buildings far higher than you'd ever see steel scaffolding here.
There are a lot of 'modern' techniques that the Chinese had long before they appeared in the Western world. And in some uses it has advantages that our technology can't match; you can see lashed-together bamboo scaffolding up the sides of buildings far higher than you'd ever see steel scaffolding here.
Very cool! And well done with the rattan armor. The Nanman -- the Vietnamese -- used it to excellent effect against the Han Chinese in the Three Kingdoms era. It as so buoyant that chroniclers of the time noted that the Nanman would take off their armor and use them as small rafts. And they were *extremely* effective against arrows.
Yeah bamboo is amazing stuff. One of the gifts that the Empire of the East gives to other nations is bamboo shoots. There are now groves of it growing just down the coast that now provide Andur with material. This is no small thing since Andur has had to carefully marshal its supply of trees. Now they have access to a useful, adaptable, and renewable source.
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