Under the Fyddish feudal system, society is a multi-tiered pyramid. At the top is the King, who rules from the Emerald Throne in Gollenfyde, and has historically had absolute control over policy. Advising and serving the king are the members of his court, who have varying degrees of power, and with the exception of the High Cleric, answer directly to the King. The king’s council includes:
The Majordomo: The trusted head of the household staff that speaks or makes arrangements for the king.
The High Cleric: Head the Faith of Agin, a figurehead who ostensibly controls the church, its doctrines, and its policies.
Lord General of the Royal Army: Chief of military matters and organization of the armed forces or Fyde and its tributaries.
The Royal Judge: Handles matters deemed to important for judges in lesser villages. When a case is potentially very crucial, it is placed before the Royal Judge.
The Spymaster, who uses a network of informants and other contacts to detect threats to the King or the realm, and to bring to his highness’s attention matters that would otherwise not reach his ears.
The Royal Historian: The principal of the Annalist’s Guild, a faction that receives pensions from the crown in return for their carefully and accurately written timelines, maps, and chronicles.
The Mayor of Gollenfyde: This position ensures that the King is not required to rule both the entire realm and his own city. The mayor handles much of the day to day of ruling Gollenfyde, including changes in policy, but is often directly vetoed by the King.
The Treasurer: The treasurer handles the crowns funds, keeps accounts of the receipts and expenditures from the royal treasury, supervises collection of taxes, borrows money if needed, and is the “Caretaker of the King’s Scales.”
Lords and Nobles
Below the King and his council are his Earls and Lords, who have been granted lands and titles in return for the promise of service to their king. Each lord is expected to provide a certain number of soldiers to fight for a certain number of days per year, proportional to the size and population of that lord’s holdings. All lords are required to swear an oath of loyalty to the king and become his vassal before his title becomes official. In return, lords have fairly autonomous rule over their individual territories. Each lord can have his own policies or laws so long as they do not conflict with the interests of the crown. Lords grant land to knights who then fight for their lord when need be.
The lords of the land live well. Often a wealthy man lives in one large hall with the rest of his household. He likely would have a private room for sleeping. It is common for rest of a lord’s household, such as his servants, to sleep on the floor of the main hall. The rich use chimneys, often more than one, which is a luxury out of reach of the peasantry. Many lords can afford glass in their window, but it is an expense even for them. More common in the West are thin strips of linen or horn, which are then soaked in resin or animal fat (tallow) to make it translucent. The rich have toilets with stone seats, often built into closets that hang out over the moat of a castle to dispose of waste. Disease and infection is common in lords’ households, due to unsanitary conditions of their living space.
The rich enjoy luxuries that peasants can only dream of. Meat is common and easy to acquire for them, as hunting from horseback is a main pastime of the wealthy. Beef pork, mutton, and venison are all staples of their diet, as are many types of birds. Those who didn’t live near a body of water often have man-made fishponds so they can fish.
Peasants and Serfs
At the bottom of the societal ladder is the peasantry. Most commoners are either serfs or villeins, whose lives are more or less the property of their lord. They are not free, and are not allowed to leave their land without their lord’s permission. In addition to working their own farmland, serfs usually are required to work the lord’s land a couple days out of the week, and even more during busy times such as harvest. Families that can afford it will sometimes hire farmhands in exchange for lodgings. When a serf dies his children is required to give the lord their best animal. Most peasants are forced to grain their flour in the lord’s mill, and his oven to bake the bread. They also must relinquish a portion of their grain each time.
The living conditions of peasants’ homes are usually simple, one or two room huts with wooden frames or occasionally stone, filled in with wattle and daub. There would no panes of glass in windows, just wooden shutters meant to protect against some wind. Floors are typically hard mud covered in straw for extra warmth. Homes usually have a hold dug in the middle of the room to make a fire. Chimneys are uncommon, not only because of the cost or difficulty of making one, but because the fire was meant to heat the home as well as cook food.
If there is any furniture in a commoner’s house it is very basic. Chairs are expensive and it would be very rare that someone living off peasant’s wages be able to afford one. Stools or benches are used instead, usually around an uncomplicated wooden table for eating. Tools and such are usually kept on hooks or shelves. Peasants sleep on straw and do not have pillows, instead using wooden logs covered with more straw. Candles are expensive so it is common for people to use rushes dipped in animal fat as an alternative. In some areas, particularly in the West near the Llangollen Forest, the poor build small shrines to the strange pagan deities that were worshipped in Arcaeden before the arrival Gwynn and his followers.
The poor have a monotonous, uninteresting diet. Meat is a luxury than can likely only be afforded when a family is slaughtering their livestock anyway. Pork is therefore the most common meat in the diet of Fyddish commoners, followed closely by rabbits, which are abundant in the region. They catch and eat some birds, but never rooks, which are sacred in the local pagan faith Stale bread and cheese are eaten daily. Vegetables are sometimes available, but only with proper conditions. Normally this is an adequate amount of sustenance but even a small-scale famine could cause them to starve.