[Low-Tech]Question about silk horse armor

[Donny Brook]

I'm looking at a padded cloth caparison for a horse.

The rules for silk armor (LT104) say it is +19CF for any type of cloth armor to be silk.

The rules for a horse caparison (LT117) say it is 500% the cost of human torso armor.

Is this the same as saying the cost for the silk caparison should be base torso cost ($50) +23CF (=$1150)? Or should it be $50 + 19CF = 1000 x 5 = $5000?

On a less crunchy level, isn't +19CF for silk kind of unrealistically high? I see 100% silk shirts advertised on LL Bean for about $80 bucks which is certainly not 20x the cost of other shirts.

[Anthony]

CF is only a vague approximation. The CF modifier should really depend on location, silk was amazingly expensive in ancient Europe because it needed to be imported from China.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Anthony

CF is only a vague approximation. The CF modifier should really depend on location, silk was amazingly expensive in ancient Europe because it needed to be imported from China.

So then what IS a good approximation? it's not going to cost as little as flax...

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by ericthered

So then what IS a good approximation? it's not going to cost as little as flax...

+19 is probably fine in this specific case, it's just that such things really shouldn't be constants, they're going to depend extensively on what you're modifying and stack inconsistently.

[Donny Brook]

Okay, so the size multiplier is separate from the CFs for materials. I can work with that.

As for the CF for silk, it seems pretty vague. The setting for this horse is the Near East in the 900s.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

Okay, so the size multiplier is separate from the CFs for materials. I can work with that.

As for the CF for silk, it seems pretty vague. The setting for this horse is the Near East in the 900s.

That might make silk cheaper, as it's part way along the silk road, but still pricey (instead of 20x cost, might only be 15x or 10x).

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

As for the CF for silk, it seems pretty vague. The setting for this horse is the Near East in the 900s.

Given that Byzantium/Constantinople was a silk weaving center from the 4th to 15th centuries, prices might be surprisingly reasonable. There would certainly be a mark-up in price, but not as crazy as it would be in Western Europe. As a guess, 5x to 10x normal cost seems fair depending on the quality of the silk and your haggling skills.

Just beware of "raw" silk, which isn't as finely woven and has a rougher texture. It's far cheaper than the good stuff so it usually wasn't exported. It makes comfortable garments, but isn't obviously shiny and smooth like fine silk. It probably doesn't have the same "arrow catching" properties, either.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Anthony

CF is only a vague approximation. The CF modifier should really depend on location, silk was amazingly expensive in ancient Europe because it needed to be imported from China.

I had a little bit of cross-time arbitrage in Infinite Cabal. A full bolt of grey silk (100 yards by 60") was not cheap in 1960s Rome, but in Rome of 258, used as a tool for influencing Senator's wives, it made a huge difference.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by johndallman

I had a little bit of cross-time arbitrage in Infinite Cabal. A full bolt of grey silk (100 yards by 60") was not cheap in 1960s Rome, but in Rome of 258, used as a tool for influencing Senator's wives, it made a huge difference.

Well, there's a ridiculous number of things that are routinely available in a modern society that would be hugely expensive in an ancient society, the trick is which ones you can move around without it being too obvious that something weird is afoot. Pepper is another good option.

[sir_pudding]

Stross's Merchant Princes books might be of interest in regards to trying to keep out-time smuggling operations off the modern international radar.