Post originally by Ian Sturrock at 2003-05-31 13:01:34
Converted from Phorums BB System

Oh, and one more thing -- though the naked fighting is indeed not a feature of the Irish sagas, which tend to go into almost modern-action-movie detail with their clunk-click scenes as heroes strap on layers of cloth padding, mail armour, leather war-girdles and even enormous millstones to protect them, along with an array of weapons, said naked fighting *is* mentioned in the historical accounts. The statue _The Dying Gaul_ is a good visual example and could almost be Sláine himself (and indeed my two-year-old son always says it's a picture of Sláine when he sees it in my reference book).

Likewise, there are extensive accounts of a tribe or mercenary band, the Gaesatae, facing the might of the Roman army while naked. In the Tir Nan Og supplement, the Gaesatae are named as the naked-fighting mercenaries mentioned occasionally mentioned in the comics.

So, there are good reasons for including it in a game so generically 'Celtic' as Sláine is -- and I know that very genericism may mean it covers too broad a historical, geographical and even cultural period for certain gamers, but hopefully even you can draw on some aspects of it for your games -- and it's also in the comics, though if you take a look at the art it's only really one tribe, the Sessair, along with the occasional mercenary band, who are really into fighting naked. The other Tuatha de Danaan, along with the Fir Bolg and southern tribes, are usually depicted in various quantities of armour, and the game supports that too. I tried to include armour that was reasonably historically accurate as well as appropriate to the comic, so most of it can be found in the excellent Osprey book on 'Gallic and Celtic Warriors' or whatever it's called.