Teth Hold is comprised of a small amount of surface hunting and pasturage area, and several caves that lead from it to a central cavern into the wall of which is built the homes of the Tethians.

Teth Hold is a valuable piece of real estate, because it's one of the few places in the world where good coal and good iron ore are available in relatively close proximity. This means that making good steel is cheaper here than just about anywhere else in Emer. Unfortunately, its remoteness means that getting the steel out to use for trade is hideously expensive.

Teth Hold is governed by a council of eleven elders, titled "squires". Three of them head families that own the three small valleys of pasturage on the surface, six head families that own major mineshafts, and one owns the huge central cavern where most of Teth Hold's workshops are located. The eleventh is a hereditary semi-religious position, said to own "the unplumbed depths and the untrodden sky", who functions as a neutral mediator for the council of squires. It is important to note that the squires do not own the land themselves; it is owned communally by the family. Each family has a different way of choosing its squire, but generally speaking it is a consensus decision, made by the preeminent members of the family. The families cannot sell or otherwise transfer the land, either -- it is more of a hereditary stewardship than actual title to the land.

Membership in a family is not a permanent thing, at least not as much as it is in other cultures. Changing families, by means of marriage or adoption, is more common here than most places. A Tethian who has useful skills or talents, and is willing to leave his present family will often get invitations to be adopted and/or married into another family.

Teth Hold is a remarkably egalitarian society. The wealthiest squire doesn't have all that much more than the poorest peasant, compared to the disparities in, say, Kaitaine. There really isn't any such thing as a "leisure class" in Teth Hold. Even the wealthy are expected to work. Politically speaking, while government is firmly in the hands of the squires, it's a fairly easy matter for a commoner to leave the holdings of one squire for another, so they tend to compete amongst each other to retain the largest workforce they can. A squire who mistreats his people will rapidly find that he has nothing to govern.

One example of this shows up in one of the marriage customs of Teth. At the beginning of the marriage ceremony, all of the posessions of the bride and groom are gathered up into carts and brought to the temple. When the ceremony is over, the bride and groom stand before the attendees, and announce which family the couple will be joining, that is, whether the bride will be joining the groom's family or vice versa. Whether this announcement causes a cheer or a brawl is generally considered an accurate barometer of how healthy the marriage will be. The posessions are then moved to the holdings of the "winning" family. It is not uncommon for families to bid on the happy couple, giving gifts and making promises in order to get their labor, if they have valuable skills or talents.

Much of the food in Teth Hold is animal-based. While there isn't any good soil, to speak of, for growing more than a bare minimum of crops, the slopes of the nearby mountains have grasses where sheep and other herd animals can be raised. Most folks get their protein from eggs and cheese, but meat arrives on the table two or three times a week, even for the lower classes. The luxury food in Teth is fish, which is caught in very limited amounts from an underground river that flows through the hold. Fruits and vegetables are limited to what can be gathered wild from the mountainsides, and a few edible fungi that are grown in the middens.

Likewise, clothing is more often made of leather or wool than softer fabrics, which need to be imported. For the wealthy, clothing that incorporates steel into its construction, even if it's not designed as armor per se, is very common. Also, most folks would rather carry a decorative weapon around for personal adornment, than something like a ring or necklace that only serves a decorative purpose.

In battle, Tethians generally wear leather armor liberally reinforced with steel, though officers and veterans can often get their hands on a breastplate and full helm. Their favorite weapons tend to be long polearms that can keep an attacking enemy at arm's reach, with a short, heavy sword and small (3' dia.) round shield for backup. Missile weapons are rare among Tethians, as they are more often fighting at close quarters.

Jet (called Black Amber or Witch's Amber elsewhere) is commonly used for decoration, as well as diamond, amber, pyrite and hematite. Having little in the way of precious metal to use in making coins, beads of amber, pyrite and hematite are often used as a medium of exchange, with amber carrying the greatest value. Rather than being kept in a purse, a proud Tethian warrior will often string the beads on a wire, and wrap the wire on the haft of his weapon, symbolically staking his personal wealth on his martial prowess. Among wealthier Tethians, this has become a fashion for inlaying these materials in the weapon itself.

Tethians have an unusual nudity taboo. Dry skin is not erotic in the least, but wet skin, especially from sweat, is a powerful signal. The most romantic thing a couple can do together, is work or fight side by side... they start to smell each other's sweat, and the feel of sweat-soaked, warm skin is considered highly erotic.

For this reason, single Tethians never work in mixed-gender groups. A workplace can have either men or women, but not both. The exception is a married couple... they can have their own joint workplace, but that's considered more of a private thing, not something you would see in public, kind of like the difference between a hot tub and an olympic swimming pool. In general, you can't go wrong equating hard, sweaty work among Tethians with swimming naked among, say, Americans in 1940. To have a group of clothed men and women working hard in the same room would be considered perverse and distracting, but someone calmly changing clothes in a public thoroughfare would hardly be noticed. Tethians who leave the Hold will, of course, gradually become acclimated to foreign standards of behavior, but even for longtime expatriates, sweaty skin often retains its power.

For fighting, the taboo is slightly different. Since armor generally covers the entire body, it is not generally considered a problem for men and women to fight and train alongside each other, as long as they are armored. This creates a situation where men and women can get into armor together, and train together, but changing back into normal clothes after working up a sweat is taboo.

Gender roles are strong in Teth Hold, but not ironclad. While fighting and forging are considered work for men, the need for able warriors is too dire to turn down a woman who wants to lend her arm to the effort. For example, a woman who wants to work with metal could join the Nun-Smiths of Tethior. Likewise, a man who prefers work relating to sheep will be able to find a place.

Characters using this Keyword:Okhfels

Races: Laan, Shay, Rhiani, Mix of These

Occupations: Any

Native Abilities:

• Scorpion Ridge Geography
• Scorpion Ridge Customs
• Speak Tethian
• Underground Survival
• Know Myths of Tethian Pantheon

Native Flaws:

• Distrust Powerful Magic

Personality:

• Slow to Anger
• Practical
• Deliberate
• Gentle with Friends
• Harsh with Enemies

Relationships:

• To Family
• To Hold
• To Temple

Common Names: Okhfels

Common Religions

Specialized Religion

• Tethian Pantheon
• A very small minority (<50) of Tethians worship Kuor.

Reasons to Have Left Home

Teth is under seige from goblins - some intrepid folks have left the hold to either find their destinies out from under opression, or to find a way to rid the hold of the opressors.

Homelands