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What materials in the environment could merpeople use to make armor? The merpeople live in the mediterranean sea and have contact and trade with humans who could provide resources and craft the armor for them if necessary. The humans are around classical antiquity in terms of technology.

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I'd perhaps look to inspiration from real life, specifically the ancient world. Armor as we often think of it, medieval plate armor, really only existed for a brief period of time. Most of history however, armor was made by layering different materials together, often things like fibers.

This video from How to make everything goes over some stuff about the practice. You might look at what underwater plants might work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcWu8a9F9Js

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  • $\begingroup$ Plate also involved layering together different materials. At a bare minimum, there was chain under the plate to cover joints and such where plate couldn’t work, and then there was heavy padding (which easily could—and did—serve as armor in its own right) below the chain, to prevent chafing. $\endgroup$
    – KRyan
    Commented Nov 1, 2021 at 17:38
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Maybe shells? They could be drilled and linked together, maybe into something resembling scale-mail. There is a large variety of different kinds of shells, which could lead to different armour types.
I think a problem with aquatic armour would be the degradation of the materials of time - a lot of things break down easier in water than while dry. Certain tough aquatic plants may work as a binding fibre, or they could be replaced every now and again.
Bone and teeth could also be used, especially to adorn the amour or make it harder to attack. Some seaweeds are pretty strong, too.

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  • $\begingroup$ Clam or oyster shells in particular are abundant and are already shaped like scales, conveniently. Also, if they could produce a padded under layer that could float, that would offset some of the bouyancy issues caused by the extra weight. $\endgroup$
    – Redbud201
    Commented Nov 3, 2021 at 22:46
  • $\begingroup$ @Redbud201 -That's what I was thinking. $\endgroup$
    – sprout
    Commented Nov 3, 2021 at 23:03
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    $\begingroup$ Ive considered my merfolk wearing shirts made of woven kelp as padding under their armor. $\endgroup$
    – BoaHancocklover
    Commented Dec 26, 2021 at 1:02
  • $\begingroup$ @BoaHancocklover That’s a pretty neat idea :) $\endgroup$
    – sprout
    Commented Dec 27, 2021 at 22:04
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Chitin would be abundant

Merfolk would have learned to farm coral and kelp, and also be skilled in "crustacean husbandry" and have pastures of crabs and similar aquatic animals. Chitin can be fairly tough and can be used or combined together to make composite armor plates. Especially combined with hides of sharks and adorned with fish-scales and pearls. I'd imagine they'd grow giant shells in "moulds" that would eventually become pieces of armor. They'd likely have far better segmented armor than their contemporaries, since they could study the movement of shrimps and crayfish in action.

Other than that there would probably be hydrothermal vents along the tectonic fault lines that could produce native elements and basalt and the temperatures necessary to shape them. Again, connecting a "mould" to a vent would presumably create a shaped fit of a piece of armor over time.

The sea is far less explored than the surface, likely the imagination is less spectacular than reality as for the opportunities of the great below.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks! I find your comment useful, although as for hides of sharks, tanning things underwater would be pretty hard, although the merfolk could get help from humans with it. $\endgroup$
    – BoaHancocklover
    Commented Nov 28, 2021 at 21:56
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  1. Blubber is a natural armor If given how many sea creatures use blubber I could easily it being a source of armor.
  2. Bone weapons and armor are Is common in cultures that don't have access to metal.
  3. scales
  4. Coral.
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Tanned hides of big merpeople.

These hides are tanned so that they are tough and resilient, and slits made to articulate at the joints. They are then put on as armor by small merpeople. This way they still look like merpeople but large and unexpressive ones with skin that is not shiny. Armored merpeople seem impervious to harm. Their enemies suspect they are zombies.

The large live merpeople cannot fit into this kind of armor, but you do not generally hear them complaining too loudly about that to the small merpeople.

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  • $\begingroup$ How would they get the hides though? Just curious. $\endgroup$
    – sprout
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 5:05
  • $\begingroup$ @sprout -From their own aged ancestors! The merpeople grow throughout their lives. The huge hide of your dead great great grandfather is good armor and a powerful totem because his spirit resides there still. $\endgroup$
    – Willk
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 15:27
  • $\begingroup$ -Ohhhhh. I had ... other ideas in mind. $\endgroup$
    – sprout
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 20:41
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Whatever the armour is made of, it should not be too heavy or constrain the movements. Preference should go to fast swimming and agility, since in water it is easier to dodge a blow that should be the primary defence.

The idea of Stian Yttervik of using shark hides on top is good because they reduce resistance to the water flow. Underneath I would use one or more layers of a a textile made of Byssus.

For the heads wooden helmets would be the best solution. Humans should sell a substance that is a mix of lacquer and resins, that would be used to impregnate the wood and make it more resistant to rot and a little bit heavier in order to have neutral buoyancy.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks! Although I think making shark leather would be a challenge, as tanning under water/seawater would pose quite a few difficulties. $\endgroup$
    – BoaHancocklover
    Commented Nov 28, 2021 at 21:59
  • $\begingroup$ They don't have to tan them underwater. They could just skin the sharks to the humans and ask them to tan the skin for them $\endgroup$
    – FluidCode
    Commented Nov 29, 2021 at 16:04
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Metal

While metal wouldn't be available to merfolk alone, if there are land dwelling species then there will be lots of metal flowing into the merfolk's lands

The armours can't be purely metal, though: They will need some sort of waterproof covering to avoid rust or other damage, but this should be achieveable, regardless of the technological level

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