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Much of Eron is a cold and wet climate, with brief periods of warmness in the summer. The staples are bread made from wheat and barley, or porridge of barley with honey, and ale. Other majors are beef, goat, salt pork, butter, cheese, potatoes and other root vegetables, and cabbage, with apples, plums and cherries also popular. Fish is very common, and is had pickled in the winter.
Each Reeve, ðegn and eolderman collects taxes. The taxes which are in the form of food products are generally returned at regular feasts, during which any may come and eat, and bear away gifts. In this way a pauper family may acquire a live sow or calf, and survive through the winter. These regular feasts are the way the lord shows their wealth, and keeps up their Status.
The most common drink is ale, which is flat and weak. Most-favoured is mead, made from fermented honey.
Meals are served by having a common table and pot. Each person receives a trencher of bread, and uses a common spoon to heap stew, meat and such on it; when that is finished, they eat their "plate", the trencher. Porridge and such are served in individual bowls.
Tobacco is known, but rare and expensive, costing its weight in silver.
Clothing is of linen, wool and leather. For men, the Kothic peoples in general favour long trews of wool down to mid-calf, bound by leathern or cloth straps, with shoes of deerskin. A linen short-sleeved tunic goes over this, and a woolen long-sleeved tunic down to mid-thigh or knees over this again; both are without collars. A broad leather belt wraps around it all, and carries the seax.
Women wear long linen shifts, long woolen dresses with long sleeves, leather shoes, and married women wear scarves on their heads to roughly conceal their hair; the hair of a maiden is left uncovered. Women's belts are narrower, and of course they carry a scramseax of lesser size unless they be warriors.
In general, each linen garment is plain, perhaps bleached white; each woolen garment is brightly-coloured where possible; the import of dyes can make any merchant wealthy. The Brondings in particular can be marked by their use of a trim of different colour on all their woolen garments. Those of any rank will possess a cloak, bound by a brooch.
Children wear long woolen shifts, with no trews or shoes. When a boy reaches seven, he is given his first pair of trews and shoes; a girl receives her first shoes. At fourteen each receives a seax or scramseax appropriate to their Status and Wealth, and perhaps a cloak and brooch.
"Scram" means "food" and "seax" means "blade," thus, "food blade."
There are two kinds of seax generally recognised. Those smaller in overall length than the span of the bearer's hand are called a scramseax, to specify that it is useful only for food and lighter tasks, and only minimally as a weapon; those larger are called a seax, since they are of general use.
The seax is used for fighting, and as a general tool for skinning, gutting, eating, cutting ropes, and so on.
Carrying any seax at all is the mark of adulthood. Children before adolescence carry no such blade. Customarily, the uncle or aunt who fostered them from seven to fourteen will give them a seax or scramseax as a gift to mark their adulthood. A ðeow or woman without lands may carry a scramseax, but not a seax; in general these will be about two-thirds the size of the span of their hand, so that the Reeve and his men are not constantly checking it for the proper size.
In general, iron is worth about one-quarter to one-half its weight in silver, and so for this reason seaxes like other iron implements and weapons are passed down and gifted, sharpened until they are mere slivers of metal, their remains then melted down to contribute to new tools. A fine-looking and lasting seax is thus much prized, and a sign of wealth. Indeed, if the person is poor, the seax may be the single most expensive portable item they possess.
Homes are according to the wealth of their dweller. The grubenhaus is the simplest kind, built half into the earth, a triangular roof, woven reeds on top, and usually covered in a clay-manure mix. While warm is winter, the dwelling tends to be damp and smoky.
Beyond that is a basic cottage, built by wooden frame, planking, floorboards, clad in plaster (chalk, lime and clay), and thatched thoroughly with straw.
A few larger buildings have foundations or even walls of stone, but this is very unusual for a home.
Grubenhaus have a single room, with all bundled into it. Cottage homes consist of two rooms, a sleeping room and living room.
Within the living room will be a hearth and chimney, and furniture is typically a stout table and chairs. A tub for bathing will be here; Kothic peoples bathe once a week on a Saturday night, for that is the beginning of their week. The living room may also contain a spindle and wheel, or other small tools of industry.
Within the sleeping room will be beds, of course, usually woven straw mats with woolen blankets and often furs. Spare blankets and clothing will be found here also. Pillows are blankets or furs rolled to two-thirds the span of a man's hand, supporting the neck.
Outside the home on the sunward side will be a lean-to with wood stored for fuel, a ditch for soil, a cellar for preserved food, and shed for animals.
Each house is attended by a tomte, the Elf of the household. He may be appeased or offended by the treatment of the farm; families leave him porridge with butter outside each Yule.
Currency consists of pounds (£), shillings (s.) and pence (d.). Each £1 represents one pound of silver. There are 12d. in 1s., 20s. or 240d. in £1.
Length is measured in inches (in., about the size of a man's upper thumb), feet (ft, about the size of an adult man's foot, 12 in.), yards (yd, 3 feet, about one pace), and miles (1,728 yards).
Area is measured in acres – the area a man with oxen may plough in a day, an area of 40 yards by 120 yards, or 4,800 square yards. Area is also measured in hides, the area considered to suffice for one family's entire needs of growing vegetables, grain, cattle, sheep and wood; in Tiwesdæg this will be 40 acres, but it varies from place to place according to the conditions of the land and weather.
