If I am not mistaken Silver equipment is steel lined with silver, but I might be wron. Think I read that in a in-game book in Morrowind or Oblivion.

Chitin is confirmed lootable from Mudcrabs, so well see the Chitin armor again.

So glass armour is a pretty good idea right?

Silver Armor existed in Morrowind. Considering Silver is a very basic material in terms of smithing (Requiring little refinement, unlike Steel or Orcish), it may be an armor (And there will obviously be silver weapons, how couldn't there?) that is made with just a higher Skill level, since no perk exists for Silversmithing techniques. There is also no perk for Ironworking, so that theory holds up a bit. It seems like Perks for Smithing only focus on the special types of materials. Steel for example, is Iron refined with carbon. Orcish is likely the Elder Scrolls version of fabled Damascus Steel, The Elven smithing techniques of Elven (Aylied or Altmer?) Glass (Altmer or Dunmer), Ebony (Dunmer) and Dwarven (Dwemer) follow a similar suit of being basic materials refined and forged using advanced techniques that a prospective smith must focus intently on. The stand-out here, even more so than Daedric, is Dragon Armor. Only one true example of Dragon Armor has existed before Skyrim, that being the Dragonbone cuirass enchanted by Zurin Arctus himself. That's about as advanced as crafting could ever get.

So my personal thoughts? Based on Daggerfall's Material list, confirmed perk list for Smithing, and the knowledge that there is "Thirteen Ores", under the assumption that Bethesda wouldn't consider things like "Animal Hides" an ore.

-Basic (Requires no Perk)
Various Leather/hides
Iron
Silver
Mithril
Adamantium

-Advanced (Requires perks)
Steel
Dwemer
Elven
Orcish
Glass
Ebony
Daedric
Dragon

:wub: :wub: :wub:

Do I sense a Witch King reference?

Maybe Mithral armor that is a kind of magical silver, but as I am sure this has already been brought up. Silver, and gold are very mailable metals, and as a result can not really be made in to practical weapons, or armor. Also gold is one of the heaviest metals.

Rune armour

lol tell that to Bethesda

anyway he was not evil the Nords gave him a hero's funeral after the battle was over.

and yes criminal scum is quite right, and i THINK we will see a silver armor (finally)

Well if there are were-creatures in skyrim, there will be silver weapons.

In MW it gave you an attack bonus vs werewolves.

Horker Armour.

Fictional Mithril armour is the closest to silver we've seen recently.

I think Gold is far too valuable, far too heavy, and far too soft to be made into Armor or weapons. That doesn't mean Gold wouldn't be an ore to add to certain types of weapons and armor as a bit of flair. But don't expect to see a solid Gold Cuirass or Battleaxe.

Silver on the Other hand, is unique for it's ability to harm and protect against the corporeal and ethereal. I'd expect Silver to offer less protection against physical attacks than steel, but perhaps hold more powerful enchantments and even grant some magic defense.

I hope there's Bronze though. Bronze is something that I am fairly sure was never in any Elder Scrolls game, which was always kind of odd. Maybe Nirn is copper or Zinc-poor. Bronze has a unique place though, being an Alloy of Copper and Zinc, it'd put it in the "Advanced" Category, the same as Steel. But most bronze was an "Accident" in that it was never understood to be an alloy of Zinc and Copper. This is why bronze weapons (Usually guns) had to be proof-marked, to test their durability after production, as there was no process to assure quality in manufacture.

There was the duke's guard silver cuirass in morrowind, but it wasn't a full set
As for practicality of using silver... it's a fantasy game, real world durability doesn't have to apply.

Silver, at least, was a material for armor and weapons in Daggerfall, don't remember ever seeing gold though.

how do we know it is even the same ore? the "silver" in TES could be nothing like the silver in the real world

Look at Ebony!
In the real world its like wood!
wait....

Adamantium Armor is much better

Im still scared of [censored] Alma..

That's just a name though. Ebony is TES is actually Volcanic Glass, though somehow made malleable (So the properties aren't actually the same).

The Aztecs were known to make crude Obsidian weapons by flintnapping the material, which flakes off naturally to razor edges worthy of Masamune or Yatsasune. Assuming one could overcome the weight issue, the Ablative properties of Volcanic glass would make great impact-resistant armor as well, As chunks of the material ablate away, redirecting energy away from the wearer.