On Sat, 17 Feb 2001 21:28:42 -0800 Mistral mistral@centurytel.net writes:

I'm having trouble maintaining any interest in Xena since Joxer died (Joxer being a bit of a cross between Vila and Jarriere).

Glad I'm not alone on this. Although I was also getting tired of some of the more weird storylines (Xena's daughter and the Twilight of the Gods is just . . . painful).

As for armor -

In civilizations where weapons haven't been invented that make armor obsolete, armor is a good thing to have in battle. Some Celts did wear armor but it was generally expensive and hard to come by. They did use protective runes that probably had some psychological benefit but, theological issues aside, that was it.

Greek armor came from a period when the moveable joints design had yet to be introduced. It protected major organs, but blood loss and beheading were still issues (skipping all those spears going through all those breatplates in the first bit of the Illiad). Leather skirts, particularly with some metal overlay, could help protect the lower body without overly hindering movement. Leather, in and of itself, offered more protection than cloth (point to remember in its practical, B7 application. The characters may not have like all the skinned knees they were getting following fearless leader over cliffs, quarries, etc).

Then, there are people who may or may not have limited metal resources but who didn't seem to have gotten to much into body armor before bullets were introduced. Enough said.

As for Xena, the question is why, if she wears armor at all, she wears armor that doesn't seem to protect much. Also, why do _men_ in her culture wear armor that does?

There are two competing theories. 1) Xena and other warrior women belong to a mutant strain of humanity who keep their major organs in rather odd, compact spaces and who have arteries and veins with shut off valves that make bleeding to death less of a concern. Note: this is a sex linked mutation. While Conan seems to have inherited it, few other males have.

Or, 2) They have found the distraction effect of dressing this way has on their (usually male) opponents gives them a significant edge in battle that outweighs the costs. This would also explain why few homely or even average looking women become warriors.

If it's 1, Mutoids may have a similar condition, explaining why more are female. Actually, the trait seems common in many people who decide to become rebels or such, given the bizarre frequency with which otherwise competent marksmen fail to injure them significantly, making yet another way Blake might have survived. If his organs are where Xena's are, it was only a flesh wound.

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