Iirc that book was about elven equipment. The stuff the Thalmor wear for example. Though glass in Skyrim does use the same material, and is of similar design.

I really dislike how they made Orcish armor out to be nothing more than an armor made from a certain kind of ore. I always thought that the Orcs were superb craftsmen and that they had their own unique smithing techniques that allowed them to make high quality armor. The forge mothers in the strongholds say that they train their children to forge armor as soon as they can hold a hammer. But now they just made it into a special ore, and any old guy can make the armor as long as he has enough orchalium ingots.

Well, enough Orichalcum Ingots and a decent Smithing skill.

Woah. Eye opener. I guess I've been playing fool all this time.

I thought Malachite was named after Malacath bc I saw orcs mining them. Train of thought: Oh, well then, this must be the light-version of Orcish Armor. To me it just made sense that all lava was God'sblood, with the largest and purest veins near Red Mountain (lol aorta). Orcs being the strong elves of yesteryear, of course they know how to make glass armor. They probably invented it; and then dunmer pioneered Ebony at Vvardenfell.

I feel enlightened. Silly enlightened. Didn't realize Malachite was a mineral

I don't think that's even glass armor. It looks nothing like it.

An in-game book on heavy armor forging specifies that working Orichalcum is incredibly difficult and requires a much higher degree of attention during forging than common steel or iron would. If you heat it wrong or try to hammer it at the wrong time then you'll just end up with a useless lump of metal. You also need a fairly high smithing skill to make it. As for people complaining about malachite: it is in fact possible for one thing to have multiple names. Over in Vvardenfell they simply call it raw glass. In Skyrim they call the ore malachite. I do wonder about gamesas's decision to make everything into ingots, though. Wouldn't sheets be more suitable for what is essentially a glass with some metallic properties?



Equipment made in the style of Alinor looks different from that made in Vvardenfell? STOP THE PRESSES.

Greasaurus, http://images.uesp.net/c/c5/Tx_RawGlass.png http://images.uesp.net/f/f0/MW_Rock_Glass.jpg and malachite ore simply can't be the same thing, regardless of name. They're clearly different substances.

Interestingly enough, even though glass is called, glass, look at those crystals. Those are very well formed quartz-like crystals. As physically presented in Morrowind, glass is not a volcanic glass at all. It's something else entirely.

Good point. Ebony looks much the same, though not quite as regular and crystalline. Damned baffling materials. :brokencomputer:

beth really needs to hire someone who took a college course in geology.

I'm not sure I understand what the problem is. It could either be a retcon or simply a different word for the same thing. That's about it.

And let's be honest, "Glass" as a name for an armor that looks kinda like glass was lazy as [censored].

I'd just assume Skyrim Quicksilver was just Chromium or some other alloy metal.
Although what about Corundum? Combine aluminium oxide with iron and you get steel? I would think you would need charcoal or something to get the carbon.

It seems odd to name an armor material glass when glass is already a material known to the games as something that fills windows. Why not name the armor something like Baseballs if they're going to completely change everything we'd know about the material? Can anyone here even consider that glass would be light? Glass is heavier than concrete in our world, and considering the armor rating it gives in the elder scrolls, it should be the heaviest of the heavy armors by a longshot.

I think I agree with what this guy is saying. Too tired to be sure.

But maybe we're naming the materials whatever we want. Why not have armor made out of gum and [censored]? It would be stronger than real world gum and [censored], and be totally fantasy based! We can have fantasy armor made out of Jr. Whoppers from Burger Prince in the games, and have them be stronger than steel!

Odd, but the Glass made for weapons in the TES /=/ real world glass. Sure, they use glass in buildings just like us, but than theres a different type of mateiral made for weaponry and such. I'd only assume its given that name since it must (or at least did) looks somewhat like it was made out of glass. Its design overall though tells me thats it seems more Merrish in design, and we know how conventional the Mer are.

Then, why don't they call it hamburgers? If it's a completely hilarious name for an armor of that material, why isn't the armor called Chicken Nuggets? Turkey Sandwich armor, which blocks the bolts of Salami Onion destruction!

I actually thought at the time that it was an intriguing allusion to the alien nature of this world. Taking a familiar thing and changing it to a wholly foreign object of interest, with strange properties and a fascinating origin.
Guess it is just laziness though.
Netch leather and bonemold were fantasy armors done right. But of course, the ones that survive into subsequent games are glass and ebony instead.

DarthRavanger, funnily enough I just failed my college geology course :spotted owl:

Ra'Khajiin, that bugged me too. Corundum is what rubies and sapphires are made of! It's ludicrous.

Gameplay mechanics.
After all, lore-wise Orcish armour is just steel prepared the Orcish way, which I believe is the samurai thing of folding really thin sheets.

I'd assume their iron has already a lot of carbon in it.
But yeah, corundum+ iron gives nothing useful.
But, hell, maybe in their world phase diagrams are different and aluminium and iron create some usefull alloy. Or there's some magical process involved.




Actually glass is 3 times lighter than iron/ steel. (2.5 gr/cm^3 vs 8)

One thing to consider, is that "glass as an exotic Elven material" is actually a leftover from Tolkien (It's mentioned in The Song of E?rendil, in The Fellowship of the Ring).

And I don't remember exactly where I read it, but there's a crackpot theory out there that Tolkien intended for Elven Glass to be Plexiglass (and Mithril to be Aluminium). I don't know exactly how strong it is, but it could potentially make sense as an armour material. And given the right, non-Earth conditions, I don't see why it couldn't be naturally occuring in a fantasy world.

So as far as I'm concerned, Malachite-as-Glass is Boring And Therefore Wrong, and Plexiglass is in.

There's the line in question, but I saw another interesting one. :blink:

Reading that song reminded me of how absolutely brilliant Tolkien was. Give it a read: http://tolkien.cro.net/talesong/earendil.html

Well glass armor in Morrrowind is just elven armor reinforced with glass. From the old official website:
The Dunmer are the masters of light armor design, and the glass armor is the pinnacle of that design. Inspired by traditional High Elven ornate armors, this very expensive armor is studded with native volcanic glass. Remarkably light and flexible, glass armor absorbs and distributes shock better than steel.

And there is it being called volcanic glass OOC. Yet it isn't glass, and it isn't malachite, yet it is called both names.

Yes, but the steel or iron is worn in plates that are a thirtysecond of an inch thick, and can be fluted. Glass is looking like it's a half inch thick or more.