Skins/Leather Armor: The first was of course killing animals, and using their skins. [This was of course rather unfair to the animals, but being dead, they had little use for their skins anymore.] Animal skins offered some moderate protections against cutting and stabbing weapons, but did little to protect against blunt instruments, which are to be found in great supply most of the time. As such, they were better suited to keeping out the weather, than stopping any weapons trying to get through. Further developments in the field of leathercraft included studded and hardened leather armors. Studded leather is made by riveting metal studs into leather, while leather is hardened by either soaking formed leather in water, or infusing it with hot wax.

Cloth Armor: Once cloth was invented, armor was made from it. It wasn’t very good armor, but it was armor none the less. Two types of cloth based armor were Padded and Quilted. Padded armor consisted of several layers of thick cloth sewn together. Quilted armor consists of two layers of thick, heavy cloth, with a thick layer of batting sewn in between.

Bronze Armor: After a while, once people had advanced for a bit and developed the whole killing each other thing to an entirely new level, it was discovered that the hard brown stuff that was found in certain areas could be shaped into armor. Thus the Copper age came into being… but soon after it was discovered that Copper doesn’t make very good armor, so the Copper age was quickly superceded by the Bronze age. Bronze armor was first discovered in use by the ancient Greeks, who developed sophisticated armor, helmets, and shin greaves.

Iron Armor: Following the Bronze age by a few thousand years, the Iron age brought Iron armor, which as armor goes, was a big improvement on bronze armor. [Well, except for the whole rusting thing…] Chain Mail in particular was one of the great revolutions in armor at the time. Thought to have been developed by the Celts during the Fifth Century, Chain Mail [not to be confused with ring mail], consists of thousands of tiny interconnected metal rings. While heavy, it is flexible enough not to constrict movement too much, while strong enough to offer good protection against attack. As stated before, ring mail is often confused with chain mail, but it is very different. Ring mail consists of large metal rings, affixed to a leather or heavy cloth jacket in a close knit pattern. Another type of flexible armor was Brigandine, or Scale Mail. Brigandine armor consisted of two layers of soft leather, with overlapping rows of metal plates riveted between them. While Scale mail consists of small overlapping metal plates sewn or riveted to the outside of leather. For a while, these armors were adequate for defending against most weapons of the times, but with the advent of armor piercing arrows and crossbow bolts; a new type of armor was needed. This was of course the Plate Mail [or Field Plate] you see knights riding around in, in all those movies with knights riding around… It consists of large interlocking plates, formed to deflect blows away from the joints. VERY heavy, VERY restricting, and VERY expensive, these suits were generally reserved for the nobility and their knights.

Modern Armor: Nowadays, body armor bears little resemblance to its predecessors. Starting in the late 19th century, the US started to develop body armor made from silk. Unfortunately, the high cost, and ineffectiveness against modern weapons, forced them to drop the project. The next armor to be introduced, was the WWII Flak Jacket, made of ballistic nylon, and provided some protection from munitions fragments, but did little to stop a bullet. The newest and most widely used body armor is popularly known as the "Bullet Proof Vest". The vest contains a main "Ballistic Panel" made from balistic resistant fabric or material, such as Kevlar, or TWARON. This panel is then inserted into a carrier, or the garment to be worn.