As a rule, where my cultural influences are concerned, if a resource was conceivable in the medieval or pre Medieval period, or if it's reasonably easy to replicate with the right socio-political and geographical motivations to do so, then it's fair game. Another rule is never to shackle myself to one aesthetic or cultural pool of influences: because I don't want to make ancient Britain and call it Britane, or some other horseshit. My prerogative is to make a medieval world that's personalized to its diverse environment and their histories.
Dara is an island comparable in size to California but weather-wise is more like Japan; mountainous, volcanic, constantly raining, humid, withpine forests, and prone to earthquakes; with the northern-most kingdoms, Carn and Sona, segregated by a range of dormant volcanic mountains called The Giant's Spine. While fundamentally Celtic in history, the chariot-based warfare of classic Ireland, and Europe, simply isn't possible in Dorna, due to its uneven terrain, year-round rain, not to mention its occasional and unpredictable earthquakes; the north-western kingdom of Carn experiencing periodic lava flow. The Meath, the fifth Kingdom, itself, is a colossal swamp, too; so horses and riders dipped ass to eyeballs in plate have no chance in its vast peat bogs; which can only be traveled through by horses wearing fanned shoes, a technique developed by the Ghillie centuries ago, based on a Scandinavian tradition. For this and many reasons, Meath remains the only Kingdom never to have been conquered by force.
Armor is mostly ring mail, scale mail, studded leather, as well as jointed, splinted, or lobstered plating on hands and over the upper thighs; lamellar armor is also popular, often using any grade of iron or steel, reinforced against arrows by a gambeson. The combat is mostly shield walls with archery and light cavalry.
To give a visual, a serf wouldn't be out of place wearing this:
So lamellar armor they could easily make using thick leather toughened by salt water and padded with a gambeson, with mmmaybe
light mail around the arm pits. A well-to-do Lord would wear an apron of lobstered, inter-linked, or lamellar plates over the upper legs.
To describe Dara's general cultural aesthetic it's like if Ireland was invaded by Scandinavians who married into its gentry, bringing their trials by jury, long ships and horse-borne archery with them, so there are Eurasian influences in their aesthetics, even if the underlying bedrock of their culture is Celtic.
The only Kingdom that remains lightly armored would be Meath. They wear dyed kaftans-- robes --with braies ---baggy pants ---like most of Dara's Kingdoms, but they wear breathable linens inlaid with silk, for the wealthy, or straw silk for merchants, and broad silk or linen sashes. For example, imagine a broad, waist-shaping sash or belt that's ornate like this:
Like Virginia in the colonial era, the Ghillie cultivate their own breed of silk worms, so, while silk is accessible to the gentry, there's not so much it can be needlessly ruined; as a result, like the Indonesians, their nobility developed martial arts that block slashing and stabbing through take-downs, throws, putting the opponent off balance, and locks; so think escrima and pencak silat. Escrima informs their sword fighting, preferring swords with quality peat-bog iron that's folded and tempered into spring steel, or, ulfberht steel as it was known during the Viking Age. The Ghillie don't fight with shields or heavy armor, emphasizing hand-to-hand combat, dual knives, compound bows, and spears. Their compound bows are based on medieval bows similar to those developed by the Penobscot indians.
Their champions are professional warriors and look like this:
Her mask is based on La Tene Celtic art:
www.pinterest.com/pin/38632447…
A little about the current affairs among the 5 Kingdoms:
After the second Red-Handed war, High King Hullin MacCormack legalized patents for serfs-- similar to what the Confederacy actually had in the antebellum South, as it so happens, even slaves having the right to their intellectual property --the result has been a boom in innovation. Improved by the private establishment of a transnational highway system developed by Lord Donaugh Shieldborne, who I based on James J. Hill and the history of the Great Northern Railroad. The highway system is developing rapidly, because the workers were allowed to sell or trade the trees, brambles and bushes they cleared privately, and offered positions as traveling lamp lighters and toll keepers shortly after. Their toll houses instantly became trading posts, the inns and mead halls cropping up to accommodate travelers attracting bards, merchants, etc.
Another huge contributing factor to this industrial revolution are the druidic groves, the monks of Dara's dominant and oldest faith. The priestesses are self-sustained societies, each shrine comparable to any abbey, their domestic education in goods and services-- such as agriculture, paper-production, illuminations, archiving, archaeology, the liberal arts, mathematics, science --used commonly to educate layman. The priestesses dispense their secrets conditionally, requiring any layman to be converted to the groves, observing all their teachings and rituals while under their tutelage. Then, afterwards, the layman can take what information they have and make of it what they will; so you'll have your serfs who specialize exclusively in martial arts, some in bone-setting, some in herbalism, some in waxworks or tanning, and some in making nails and shoeing horses. The whole point being Dara's anointed servants to impart her knowledge to all her Children. The groves aren't the only means of tutelage in a trade, they're just (they would argue) more consistent and reliable, because their knowledge is well-documented by their own sisterhood. That said, any layman, if they want, can transcribe their knowledge. The sisterhood are generous with their scholarship.
Some theology:
The druidic population is sustained through a coming-of-age ritual. It's customary for a teenaged boy of age, meaning 17* or older, to be ritualistically de-flowered. A supplicant male goes to a shrine, fasting and meditating as any priestess would; meanwhile an acolyte, uninitiated into the oldest sisterhood, those women who have practiced "the art of life", assesses the supplicant. The supplicant wears a mask as he fasts and prays, breaking his fast every night. The acolyte, when she has determined the supplicant's piety, she kneels beside him, wearing a mask herself, to fast and pray with him. By week's end, if the acolyte has no withdrawn her presence, she will break fast with the supplicant, washes his body, and leads him to her bed, and there reveals herself and perform with the supplicant "the art of life". This ritual is essential for young women, because they have to experience the three phases of womanhood, the maiden, mother and crone, to be a fully fledged druidess. She has to be impregnated, and perform the sacred "art of life"; if she's barren she can never advance. Typically, the longer an acolyte fasts with her supplicant, the more status that supplicant has; because it means he exhibited excellent discipline and manners right off the bat. A supplicant that gets rejected is mocked and scorned, he is an embarrassment to himself and his house until he is consecrated. Most women won't have anything to do with a man who isn't consecrated when he comes off age.
The male supplicant, when he has been consecrated, proven holy by the acolyte's favor, is given a pendant, which he then gives to his bride on his hand-fasting day, just as she gives him a torc woven from her maiden braid. An unflowered girl wears her hair short, but after she has her first moon, she wears it long with a braid from left to right. Afterwards she wears her hair how she wishes, usually long. The point of long hair is to signal youth, fertility, health, discipline, commitment, and status. www.rooshv.com/long-hair-in-wo…
cultural overview:
As in just about every Western society, Dara's cultures are k-selected; boys make themselves worthy to ask, and girls prepare themselves to be asked. Women are considered the greatest of the earth goddess, Dara's creations, naturally gifted and burdened with the sacred "art of life"; so men, her second children, are charged to protect, provide and comfort women. It's a gynocentric society with, like Scandinavian cultures that feature vulga "the wand wed", has a matriarchal priesthood that heavily classifies the sexes. The High King is a theocratic monarch, known traditionally as "the sword-groom", Dara's mortal consort, guardian and mouth piece. To clarify, the High King is the King of King of kings, the other three of the five kingdoms being his subjects traditionally; with Meath being a sister kingdom, equal in sovereignty to Sona, the High King's ancestral domain. A source of chronic resent and suspicion by the other kingdoms, Mor Stydah, Long Tair, and Carn.
www.nationalgeographic.com.au/…
fee.org/articles/how-medieval-…
*That's the traditional age of adulthood in Celtic cultures, British law still retaining the tradition to this day.