We saw a lot of people wearing chainmail this event. A reminder from our rulebook about armor:
“Costume Armor: All costume armor must be approved. It should not have sharp edges, sharp corners, or rigid spikes. Leather armor, lamellar, or similar are setting-appropriate. Scale and chain mail are not. Wearing plate armor requires the Chest Armor skill.”
Thanks,
Brian Misamore
Game Director, Port Katherine
Personally, this has always bugged me because there is a lot precedence to wear chain under leather and other pieces of armor in order to protect gaps from slashing blows, and the (admittedly only 2) players I saw wearing it did indeed wear it under waistcoats and braces so it was subtle. It’s also not entirely true that it’s out of period;
To do a bad thing and reference knowledge pulled exclusively from wikipedia…
“By the 14th century, plate armour was commonly used to supplement mail. Eventually mail was supplanted by plate for the most part, as it provided greater protection against windlass crossbows, bludgeoning weapons, and lance charges. However, mail was still widely used by many soldiers as well as brigandines and padded jacks. These three types of armour made up the bulk of the equipment used by soldiers, with mail being the most expensive. It was sometimes more expensive than plate armour.[24] Mail typically persisted longer in less technologically advanced areas such as Eastern Europe but was in use everywhere into the 16th century.”
Sikh warriors and Polish cavalrymen in the 17th century still wore mail, as well as Samurai in the Edo period. (17th & 18th centuries)
I know cultures in Kithira don’t mirror the real world accurately, but I thought that while arcanum-powered technology was 17th century-ish, that mundane sciences were way behind that, so I don’t feel it would be weird for parts of Kithira to be technologically behind other parts like how eastern europe and Asia used chain longer than the west.
honestly, it feels weird prefer only leather armor and never chain when plate isn’t an option since chain still protects better against basic swordplay, which makes up the bulk of the combat we face. There’s also the accessibility issue, where good looking armor pieces can be very expensive, but a lot of LARPers already made the investment of chain because it is less of a pain to wear and take off, and can be handmade for a tiny cost and skill investment compared to leather pieces.
If we allow decorated waistcoats to serve as breastplates because actual breastplates would make the skill inaccessible to some players, why is wearing mail under a waistcoat an issue?
I’d like @Hey_A_Tay to weigh in, but most of that was gone by the 18th century (when PK is loosely based off of). I looked up Kusari (Edo era chain armor) and it was always stitched to leather, cloth, or another type of backing.
Either way, this is a costuming choice made by the creators of the game and I’d really like to hear Adrian’s opinion. 
This is an announcement, not a discussion, and staff will not be weighing in any further. If you have questions about why certain things are and are not setting-appropriate, I recommend using the Research skill.
Ok, fair enough. If I wanted to do an ottoman empire type style for a future warrior can I still wear the chain under my armor and robe as a garment? (not counting it for coverage as far as costume armor goes) Or is there an IG reason chain just, never really was a thing? I could conceive of metal perhaps being too expensive in a world without much landmass?..
So I guess, a “No don’t wear chain, even under stuff… FOIG why” is a totally valid answer if that’s the call.
Chainmail is not setting-appropriate, even under stuff. FOIG why.