I mean even local guards have armor. Alalean guards have armor like chainmail and leather. They are better equipped than the majority of the Magic council or even all. Because all I see is them wearing sando (I don’t know the English of that) and cloaks. When they have to engage bandits, it would be nice to have armor to lessen the damage.
In Arcane Adventures the guards at Alalea is better than standard soldiers in the Arcane Government in terms of equipment. And mostly I don’t see the Arcane government with magic to use as like shields so why don’t they supply it to them? I see them armed with guns which are much more expensive than leather armor so I know they have the budget for that.
And why not give the usual soldier in the Arcane government longer sleeves in their uniform? That also gives a sort of protection against scratches. And also the Magic Council. And the Grand Navy.
I don’t know if there was a similar topic like this nor do I know if it was answered, I was just curious or I was trying to point out why the government-like soldiers are not wearing any sort of armor. (Though reading this again, it seems I don’t sound curious. Well to me.)
Mostly for aesthetic reason and because it’s a video game, but I guess there can probably be some in-universe reasons as well;
You can enchant items in the game with the Hard enchant, which basically has the same effect as wearing armor. And heavy armor would probably weigh down the soldiers, which is really dangerous when you’re at risk of falling into the sea and would need to swim to the surface.
Uniforms just look nicer overall and carry a more “Navy” look than iron armor, which has a more “knights” vibe in my opinion.
to extend from this it also stems from the same reason why ppl moved away from knight armor to just regular clothing like in the 17th to 19th century. they became less practical and inconvenient.
paired w/ the second point being enchanting. why wear this huge plate of armor that can have common or rare materials and have a fair amount of maintenance. when i can just wear some regular clothes that give the same effect i’m trying to achieve, less maintenance, and more practical w/ less limitations than a full suit of armor does. saves everyone time and those resources such as iron and what not could be used to build more ships, weapons, etc.
plus these guys are practically surrounded by the sea and it can be really hard to get out of the water and onto a boat as is. imagine doing that in heavy armor w/ the cold waters that can range from being calm or being a straight up nightmare.