Tibid, being very poor, has four hours of gaslight, followed by eleven hours of dark. The bodies of residents adapt slowly to their city's gaslight hours, and merchant travelers often experience harsh effects from the anatomical confusion. The horror of all this is that each city keeps track of passage of time with their own gaslights, so conversion charts have to be used. A Fafington week is about 1.5 times longer than a Catsic week. A very cheap form of armor.
Leather is rubbed with gob oil, which is scraped out of the gaslamps.
It causes the leather to form almost into a shell, so the armor is worn during the application of the gob oil to create a perfect fit. Crack armor is called this because, if hit hard enough, it is more likely to crack into pieces and fall off then to rip or give way. However, Habstad is a member of the digger guild. His use of this expression suggests he is putting on airs. A more fitting expletive for a member of a low guild.