See Part 1 here, Overview and Geography

See part 2 here, Culture and Clothes

Context: This is a world gazette article for a videogame in production by my studio called FromLight. I also intend to package up this lore and setting as a TTRPG setting.

Leisure

There are a number of leisure time activities enjoyed by the Rhentairi populace, which at the merchant and gentry classes begins to be segregated by gender, but among the lower class and the frontier areas is often simplified and shared. 

Wealthy women typically meet to gossip and create elaborate knitting pieces designed to depict various affiliations (guildhalls are typically festooned with these). An up-and-coming activity for wealthy Rhentiari women is knife throwing, oftentimes using small knives weighted and fashioned after their Lady Pins. 

Another pastime of the wealthy is gambling, where as women will gamble on parlor games for beads, baubles, and other trinkets, and men will gamble on the success or failure of the women. This practice also plays into courting rituals, as a woman considered more lucky is considered more desirable but suitors will also bet on a particular woman regardless of her luck to show their commitment. 

Amongst the middle and lower class the knife throwing games have caught on, but the prominent game that is enjoyed are tavern board games. Ranging from throwing dice (bones) to a type of drinking game where long, squared off sticks are balanced on a jug of alcohol with a fairly wide mouth, if a player makes a stick fall in, they must drink the entire jug (usually 1/4 full of cider or mead). If a player makes all the balanced sticks fall down, they must buy a round for the table. A player may slap the table, but only if their stick is the last one placed. 

Cuisine

Food in Rhentair, like most places differs greatly in proximity to civilization. In the major cities and established hearthlands, food is generally what would be expected  in a high agrarian culture. Sheep, pigs, and cows make up the primary meat options, with fish from the Dhaellerinn and its tributaries being a secondary option. Various types of waterfowl, including chickens, are often the fare for the less well-to-do.

Breads are a mainstay for meals, including the Travelers breads or Flottebrot that Rhentair has become known for. Flottebrot is a type of flatbread that can be "armed" any which way, commonly known as arming for war, meaning it is topped with spicy ingredients, including a common spicy spicy trout relish, arming for work, which is topped with seeds and diced vegetables, and sometimes cheeses, and arming for "the ball", which is often times the most intricate and decorative bread, but also heavily focused on fruits and confections, essentially transforming it to a desert bread. 

Cured meats are a staple of the middle and lower class, and are often combined with the Flottebrot meals, as well as some cheeses. 

The very upper classes often focus on meals that either take an extreme amount of time to cook, such as slow roasted pork, or intricate servings with water fowl (owing to the idea that the delicate curve of a swan's neck is an homage to the moon). 

Street food is common all around, and often takes the form of spiced sausages, diced and stacked on skewers, then grilled. 

In terms of drinks, oftentimes juices will be made from abundant berries found in the hearthlands, or a form of appelranner, or Apple Water is made and commonly available. Apple Water is when cider brandy is made, mixed with water filtered with several layers of cloth (preferably mountain spring water), and then the alcohol is boiled off, leaving a water that tastes very apple infused. Additionally, ciders and meads are preferred in Rhentair over beers, ales, or stronger, distilled drinks. This is in part cultural, due to the believe that strong drink makes for a weak family/town/nation, but also simply to the demand for grain being focused on the Flottebrot. 

As one travels further from civilization, harder to keep livestock (cows, pigs etc) tend to fall away and are replaced by deer and mountain goats. In other words, hunting replaces livestock keeping. Areas that have access to caves may forage a number of edible mushrooms in the surface areas of caves (the mushrooms of the Faenwaidth often carry numerous different properties, edibility being low on that list). 

Some areas with more geological disturbances, such as the areas around the Sorfeit and Sottirn, also have access to what are known as Mountain Crabs. Only existing around hot springs, these small crustaceans have a buttery, spicy meat that is enhanced by adding cream to the contents of a small poison gland they have with their stingers. This poison is not harmful to humans if ingested (its primarily used by them to disable their prey which are often birds or other animals that bask in the hot springs, thus essentially cooking them alive) but adds to the spicy/buttery flavor of their chicken like meat. These crabs are a delicacy in the major cities, but are difficult to transport because their meat begins to take on a very unpleasant flavor if brought under a certain level of heat for too long. 

In these remote areas, cider is again the primary drink of choice, but it is more common to find cider brandy, as there is simply more danger in the frontier areas and it makes both a good libation and disinfectant in a pinch. Berries are also used for juices and food but with the added danger of the wild areas, foraging distances are much smaller and berries, including berry wines are considered a specialty. 

Lastly, wheat, oats and barley are grown in the hearthsteads, but these are shared as breads and animal feeds.

In the coastal regions, the primary desired food becomes fish, with multiple varieties of preparation. In these manners, whole fish is considered the privilege of the wealthy, as are a variety of crustaceans and molluscs harvested by the Divers Guild (who also coincidently have a monopoly on the pearl and precious coral trade in those regions). 

The Mountain Crabs, if transported to the coasts, are an extreme delicacy and only make their way to wealthiest, and only then in closed dinners because it appears as a snub to the powerful Divers guild. 

The coastal regions are tend to divert away from cider as a mainstay, and produce their own anise flavored wines. This drink is considered a novelty in other areas of Rhentair, but its popularity is limited to the coastal areas. 

Lastly, bread is less desired in the coastal areas, as Rhentair grows an odd sort of saltwater rice. This rice may be dried down into salty and savory cakes, and is sometimes drizzled with confections during festivals or celebrations. While the coastal areas do still have bread and grow wheat, that wheat is then used for ales, beers, and whiskies, especially if that coastal city or village has strong trade and sees foreign sailors in its port. 

Travel

Travel in Rhentair is typically done in larger fortified caravans, although with a little luck single or small groups of travelers can move unmolested depending on the area. Typically, as one moves further from the heartlands, the potential for danger increases until they are in the truly wild, frontier areas and then travelers are wise to move mounted, armed, and together. 

Caravans, moving goods to isolated hearthsteads, will often employ mercenaries as caravan guards, with many companies forming and dissolving to meet the need to merchants and other travelers. This spawned the formation of the Venturer's Guild, which somewhat became mistaken and romanticized as the "Adventurers Guild", something they haven't pushed back on because for the most part, it ensured a willing supply of recruits. 

Typical threats to travelers include bandits, natural  occurrences (rock slides, floods etc), monsters both living and dead. One of the primary threats to travelers, especially given that travelers often move along roads that existence in the Forlorn times, are the Barrow Ghasts. Sometimes, when the conditions are right, travelers will notice something odd, such as a weird reflection of moonlight, or an additional shadow walking along their shadow during the way. Over time, this apparition may disappear or it may solidify. No one knows exactly what causes it to become hostile, but occasionally these apparitions can rend travelers from their horses, leaving them bloody and eviscerated, dead before they hit the ground. There is a high degree of superstition around these occurrences, and they mostly result in extreme fear whenever travelers must pass near Rhentair's known Forlorn ruins and barrowlands.