Forged by a newbie Hero[crafting][solo]

[Maximus]

Maximus sat down at an old and creaky oaken table as he stared at a set of plans that had been drawn and redrawn a few dozen times already. When he started out, he believed it would be quite easy to make a design that he would be happy with. He truly believed that he would be able to get to work right away. Unfortunately reality isn't as kind as he would have hoped and his lacking artistic talents did not help in the least in his endeavor.

Designing an iconic suit for a super hero was not something he had ever thought could be so difficult. Oh how he underestimated all of the artists over the decades. However, his efforts were starting to come to a close. Rather than make something intricate and detailed, he would go for a more simple model and simply upgrade it later. It is unlikely that Maximus's low blacksmithing skill would allow for very much more anyway. At least he decided that it would be red in color.

The final design was a thin and close fitting plate mail. It would wrap rather tightly around his arms and legs for the gauntlets, vambraces and greaves. The helmet would be a 3/4 helmet on the sides and back with a half visor covering the eyes and nose. The visor could not be moved because of his lack of skill and the need to keep his identity a secret. The breastplate would be more like a vest, but would be fairly protective.

It will have a couple of layers like shingles on the front with a straight form on the back. These plate parts will all be of a red color, and underneath will be a black layer of chain mail to protect the joints and other areas not covered by the plate. They would not be fancy in the least, however it was a start. Their distinctive red hue should be enough to garner recognition at least.

?CREDIT: By Requiem of Remoor!

[Maximus]

As Maximus made the finishing touches to his simple design he thought about what it would represent. Even if it were to be a low quality piece of work, he would have to pour his heart and soul into making it the best armor that he possibly could. He cut some patterns out of a cheap fabric that he obtained at the marketplace as the forge was fired up to a temperature hot enough to be able to shape the iron that he had stacked in a pile on a nearby table.

The trip that he had made to the market earlier unfortunately had not been very good in terms of a learning experience. As a novice, Max had no way of telling what ore and metals were good and which ones he should be offended were even being sold. He had no real way of knowing which kind it was he had brought and placed on the table, but he had a feeling that his materials were of fairly low quality. With the heating of the first chunk complete, he began to hammer out his first ingots.

Having no real clue as to how blacksmithing actually functioned, he had to start from what he knew of the games he had played in the past. In those games, all kind of metalworking stemmed from the use of metal bars or ingots which were then hammered and shaped into the equipment they were intended to be.

The heating of the ingots was more difficult. The flames licked out as Maximus as he attempted to get them to heat more evenly and allow the core of the ingot to be malleable. As he turned the ingot through the fire, he began to rotate it in attempt to heat it more evenly. Like how a microwave turns a plate in order to more equally distribute the heat being applied. This eventually caused the piece to begin to turn orange from the increased temperature. He was certain there was a better way to do this, but he didn’t know how he could accomplish that just yet.

?CREDIT: By Requiem of Remoor!

[Maximus]

The greaves and vambraces proved to be the easiest part of the entire process. The wooden forms that Maximus had prepared earlier allowed for the thinner metal to be shaped around it rather easily before it cooled. This had seemed like a great idea at the time, but the pieces had partially fused to the wood as they cooled. It took a good half hour to get them to separate and there were still signs that they had been attached to wood, although thankfully only on the inside.

The breastplate proceeded smoothly as well as a result of the just attained experience of using multiple thin pieces to make the vambraces. Max layered a few of the thing sheets like shingles to make the front for visual flair, and kept the back as a thicker and more solid single piece. It still looked like something a novice made and had more than a few dents on it, but they should hopefully not be as visible once the paint was applied.

The so called crowning moment of the armor was the completion of the helmet. It was the soul of a hero, that which would resonate the most with all those who saw him. He chose to go with a more simple ornament to the helmet. Adding in some slight curves and grooves to the top and side of the helmet. It left his cheeks and mouth exposed and visible. It still did not look nearly as good as he had imagined when he was designing the helmet, but it was still not bad for a first attempt on a suit of armor. At the very least it would be capable of hiding his true identity when the time came.

Maximus opened the can of cheap, red enamel that he had obtained in the marketplace and began to apply it to his new suit or armor. It was thin, watery and took a couple of coats of the low quality paint in order to fully change dirty iron color into the ruby shade that it was intended to be. It scratched and came off fairly easily due to the multitude of poor materials involved, but at least it was close to the right color. Max assembled all of his newly crafted armor and placed it in his inventory. After assigning it all to a quick slot, he was finally ready. With his armor, a hero was about to descend on Londinium.

I am really terrible at this crafting thing

?CREDIT: By Requiem of Remoor!