new player planning on starting soon

hello, my name is Darrell and I've known about KR for quite a few years now, but only recently decided that i am going to start playing.
I have a basic idea of what i want to make my character (mage w/ warlock/fire schools of magic) and i had a few questions

1. I'm still trying to decide what race to make my mage, i want to play a race that has a bit more complexity than a standard human but i don't want a race that requires a lot of make up/prosthetics
2. what type of clothing would you suggest for a mage? (robe and the like)
3. and what armor should a mage use? (i know that in most RPGs (and all of fantasy books/movies etc) mages only wear cloth robes and pretty much nothing else in terms of armor) which i could deal with, but would put me at a huge disadvantage since that would leave my body points open.

any help at all would be greatly appreciated, please suggest links to sites that sell things for larping and fantasy related items

thanks,
Darrell

High Elf is the best race imo for a mage.  You start off with a bunch of needed skills for the mage list.  It only requires ear tips which are inexpensive and low maintenance.

There is no requirement per profession for costuming but robes make the most sense.  You could also go with a very simple outfit within period limitations.

Armor can be used provided you have the phys-reps for them.  Cloth does generate minimal armor but you can easily get away with light leather and a small shield to help in combat.  Or you can stand in the back lines like most mages that don't have any advanced combat skills.

The link under 'resources">sponsored links will have a great selection of everything you need as well as a lot of the player make costuming and armor in their spare time and usually give pretty good prices.  You can put an inquiry here.    www.knightrealms.com/forums/index.php?board=7.0

As far as Armor goes, you can always go with a simple pair of leather bracers.  That few extra AP would do wonders for a mage.

i was thinking about a chainmaille shirt/hauberk (since i know how to make chainmaille myself and have done it before) but would that be too uncharacteristically out of place for a mage?

No it would not be.  Trust me, Travance has seen much weirder things than a mage wearing chainmail

Just spend one event here, and you'll see Mahoney's point.  Chainmail is fine.