Toadskin

“Who needs plate armor aboard a ship? Haven’t you heard the tale of Hetman Guslafsson? He wore plate armor, and he sank like a stone when his ship foundered. I suggest you wear toadskin. At least you can swim in it.”
— Erlgard Swerfildsdottir, warrior of the Fortress of Prem, 1037 FB

Toadskin gets its name from the characteristic metal studs that dot its surface like the warts on a toad. This light version of leather armor provides good mobility and good protection, though while its studs sometimes turn weapons, it offers about the same protection as regular leather armor. Thorwalers love this armor because they can swim in it if they get washed overboard.

Many Thorwalian sagas tell of toadskin or at least a comparable type of armor that was worn by a heroine named Jurga shortly after the first Thorwalers arrived in Aventuria. Whether toadskin originated in Gyldenland, or if it was used by the Hjaldings (the Thorwalers’ ancestors), is not known.

Toadskin armor is particularly common among Thorwalers, marines, and naval mercenaries, as well as in the colonial cities of the south.

“Erlgard is right, by Swafnir.”

— Tjalva Garheltsdottir, Hetja of Prem

“Thanks to years of Thorwaler raids, toadskin is popular with merchant crews all along the west coast of Aventuria, in Albernia, and in the colonial cities of the south.”

— Geron Bladebreaker, mercenary

“Toadskin! Reminds me of toadspawn! Who would ever wear such a disgusting sounding thing?”

— Arbosh son of Angrax, forge dwarf master smith

“Me, for one! That’s why I didn’t drown when I got knocked into the ocean by that krakennnewt.”

— Tjalva Garheltsdottir, Hetja of Prem

“Well, I may drown in my mail (if you ever get me in a boat again, that is), but I prefer to survive the next time someone hits me with an axe.”

— Arbosh son of Angrax, forge dwarf master smith

“My fellow mages usually shun armor, but I know mages from the Hall of Winds in Olport who wear toadskin beneath their thick winter clothes. Then again, Olport mages don’t belong to any of the guilds and no longer seem interested in obeying the Codex Albyricus.”

— Mirhiban al’Orhima, Tulamydian fire mage