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NORTHMAN SOCIETY
1. The Nobles: there are three levels of Northman nobility: King, Jarl and Chieftain. Among the Asclings the King is a temporary magistrate elected by the folk to lead the nation for the duration of a war or other crisis. The Stahlings, on the other hand, have a powerful hereditary king who sets the laws, levies tribute raises the armies and appoints all of the lesser to their positions. Among the Shefings there was once a strong central monarchy, but now three different regional leaders all claim the title of King (although none claims to rule the entire nation). In all three northern nations a Jarl (or Earl) is a powerful noble who controls several subordinate Chieftains. Among the Asclings, the Jarls hold the real power in the realm and are very jealous of their rights and privileges; their positions are defined by hereditary right going back many centuries. Among the Stahlings the Jarls are appointed by the king and serve at his pleasure. Stahling Jarls are usually the King’s greatest battle captains, leading the frontier armies under his orders. Among the Shefings, the Earls are rulers of independent districts and are equal in power and function to the various kings, only they do not claim the kingly title. There are two sorts of chieftains. First there are the Gothar, who are charged with operating a temple and with that responsibility gain wealth and influence. The second type of chieftain are the Hersir who are strictly secular leaders. Among the Asclings, there are roughly equal numbers of strictly hereditary Hersir and Gothar. It is surmised that they were once religious and war leaders of their various folk, although their functions today largely overlap. Among the Stahlings, there are no Gothar; all the chieftains are military leaders appointed by the king himself to muster and protect each folk. Among the Shefings, there is a mixture of Gothar and Hersir. The Gothar are usually hereditary in nature, but the Hersir are either elected by the folk from eligible members of a noble clan or are appointed by a King or Jarl (if his position is strong enough to override local pride).
2. The Hirth All the nobles have one thing in common: they are the war leaders of their folk and maintain a band of warriors and craftsmen called the Hirth at their own expense. The Hirth is expected to take the forefront in battle and act vigorously in defense of the folk. Any Gothar, Hersir, Jarl or King without a strong, well-equipped Hirth will find himself dismissed, deposed or destroyed in short order. Anyone who has a Hirth is called a Lord and the members of the Hirth are called Huscarles (or sometimes Housecarls, Cnichts, or Thanes). There is a strong code of ethics governing the Hirth and its Lord. The Huscarl must swear an oath to become the Lord’s man and to obey his orders. The Huscarl counts it the greatest of shame to survive a battle in which his Lord is slain or to flee from a battle in which his Lord yet stands. Booty from victory is handed over to the Lord and it is a great evil to cheat or defraud one’s Lord for personal gain. A Lord on the other hand is bound to feed and clothe all his Huscarles without fail. He is furthermore expected to reward his followers generously. Although all booty is handed over to the Lord, he is expected to distribute it generously. A stingy Lord soon has no new men, no friends and surly and resistant followers. The oath between Huscarl and Lord is not easily broken. Both parties must agree to the releasing of the oath publicly for it to be honorably broken. This happens infrequently, since a good Lord inspires the loyalty of his men, and a bad Lord will not let them go if he can avoid it. The oath lasts only as long as both parties live and is not hereditary. A Lord can allow a Huscarl to leave his burg to conduct personal business and private feud without releasing his oath of loyalty, but most Huscarls below the age of 35 are generally expected to stay with their Lord for the large bulk of the year. Older Huscarls are often granted a plot of land by their Lords and are allowed to live away from the burg, both as a reward and as a means of having friendly eyes out in the countryside.
3. The Freemen: The bulk of the population are neither nobles nor housecarls, but make up the various “Folks”. The folk is made up extended families of farmers with those with more land are considered of more import than those with less. The gradations among free folk are as follows:
4. The Outcasts: there are two groups who are considered outside the bounds of decent society: The Thralls and Outlaws. Thralls are foreign captives or men of servile birth. They must wear an iron collar marking their unfree status. Legally, thralls are property and have the same legal protections as animals do. Masters may, buy, beat, sell or kill their thralls, but may also set them free, which is relatively common. The Noble at his court or the Thing may declare a man an outlaw for the crimes of murder or sacrilege. The term of outlawry can be for a period of years or can be permanent. Any man outlawed can be killed on sight by any person without fear of legal retribution or wergild.
5. The Folk: A folk is a subdivision of the Kingdom and is made up of between 700 (the smallest folks ruled by a minor hersir or gothar) and 15,000 people (the largest folk ruled by a mighty king). Each folk is led by a Hersir, Gothi, Jarl or King who musters the folk’s forces, dispenses justice and runs the meetings of the assembly or Thing.
Folk Table:
| Size | Free | Warriors | Family | Thralls | Huscarles | Surplus Lord’s Family/Servants/Thralls | War Ships |
| 1 | 150 | 350 | 100 | 50 | 150 sm | 20/20/50 | 2 |
| 2 | 225 | 525 | 150 | 50 | 220sm | 20/20/60 | 3 |
| 3 | 300 | 700 | 200 | 50 | 220sm | 20/20/70 | 4 |
| 4 | 375 | 875 | 250 | 75 | 300sm | 20/25/100 | 5 |
| 5 | 450 | 1050 | 300 | 75 | 330sm | 20/30/150 | 6 |
| 6 | 525 | 1225 | 350 | 75 | 400sm | 30/40/200 | 7 |
| 7 | 600 | 1400 | 400 | 100 | 500sm | 40/50/300 | 8 |
| 8 | 675 | 1575 | 450 | 175 | 550sm | 40/50/400 | 10 |
| 9 | 750 | 1750 | 500 | 200 | 600sm | 50/60/500 | 11 |
| 10 | 1500 | 3500 | 1500 | 300 | 1000sm | 60/70/750 | 20 |
| Royal | 3000 | 7000 | 3000 | 1000 | 2000sm | 120/140/1500 | 40 |
Size: the relative size of the folk. A jarl, earl or king always has a size 10 or Royal folk. A jarl or king has 2-5 subordinate folk besides his own.
Free Warriors: number of free adult males excluding Huscarles and lord.
Family: the number of free women, children and old folks.
Thralls: number of slaves.
Huscarles: number of full-time warriors in the Lord’s hirth.
Surplus: amount of money the Lord’s farm brings in after it supplies his household and Hirth with food measured in Silver Marks (1 sm= 2.5 gp).
Lord’s Family/Servants/Thralls: number of family members, paid servants and thralls the Lord maintains.
Warships: total number of fighting ships owned by everyone in the folk. Usually about ½ are owned by the Lord, the others by wealthy bondar.
Class and level: The Free Warriors will be Warrior NPC class of level 1-8 (although some may be experts) with a mixture of Barbarian class leaders. Huscarles: will be Warrior NPC class of level 4-10 with a good percentage of fighters, barbarians, berserkers, and rangers of level 1-10. Family and Thralls will be Commoners (and a few experts) of level 1-10.
THE ARMY
The army consists of all the free warriors and the huscarles. The free warriors mostly are dressed in padded or leather armor, large shields, half-spears, hand axes, battleaxes and short swords. The huscarles are armed in scalemail, chain shirt, or chainmail, and large shields with half spears, battleaxes, longswords, throwing axes, great axes and great swords. About 10% of any force will be armed with longbows.
6. Justice, Wergild and Feud
When a crime has been committed, the injured party must seek redress from either a Lord or the Thing. There are several courses of action possible. The Lords and thingmen usually prefer that compensation be paid and the matter settled. In the case of theft or fraud, double the value of the lost goods is the usual compensation. For killings or injuries, there is a fixed value called Wergild (man-gold). An offer of wergild is usually made, the lord or thingmen will strongly encourage the offending party to make the offer and the injured party to accept it. If the injured party refuses wergild, a blood feud results. The blood feud involves the entire Aet of the killer and victim and lasts until one or the other is wiped out or a lord forces a reconciliation. Willful murder or killing by treachery, poison or sorcery are generally not subject to wergild. These crimes, together with cowardice, sacrilege and sexual deviancy, are often punished by either death, or more often by outlawry. Someone sentenced to outlawry can be killed at will by anyone with impunity. Some chieftains, earls and kings will handle court cases themselves: hearing the evidence, making judgment and issuing sentence. But, in most cases the matter is handled by the Thing (assembly of freemen). The noble might still sit as judge, handling the procedures, but if he is not available, one of the bondar spokesmen will be chosen to judge. The jury is made up of as many freemen as have the desire to hear the case and determines guilt and issues sentence, all on majority vote.
WERGILD RATES
| Victim | Killing | Maiming |
| Unskilled thrall | 4 silver marks | 1 silver mark |
| Skilled thrall | 10 silver marks | 4 silver marks |
| Freeman | 40 silver marks | 10 silver marks |
| Huscarl | 80 silver marks | 30 silver marks |
| Bondar | 100 silver marks | 40 silver marks |
| Spokesman | 140 silver marks | 50 silver marks |
| Huscarl Officer | 180 silver marks | 60 silver marks |
| Chieftain | 1000 silver marks | 400 silver marks |
| Jarl | 4000 silver marks | 2000 silver marks |
| Prince | 5000 silver marks | 2500 silver marks |
| King | 20000 silver marks | 9000 silver marks |
7. THE AET
The Aet is the legal extended family. It consists of a man’s children, grandchildren, father, brothers, grandfather, uncles, nephews and cousins-germane. A man is expected to take up any feud fought by a member of his aet and to help pay the wergild of that a member of his aet cannot afford to pay. Likewise if an aet member is killed all the aetmen share the wergild payment. When a man dies his land passes to his eldest son and his moveable property is divided among his sons. If he has no son, the property passes to his father. If he has no father it is divided among his brothers. If he has no brothers it is divided evenly among his surviving aet.