Fishing Hamlet

Fishing hamlets are clusters of rustic houses and shacks for cleaning fish, located on the coasts of seas or lakes. Typically, the rugged landscape resists cultivation beyond small garden plots. Fish caught on lines or nets serve as the chief diet, with surplus catches sustaining the hamlet's population.

Such hamlets are always situated adjacent to a large body of water, whether salt or freshwater. Farming tends to be impractical due to a combination of factors: the may be too inundated, either from frequent flooding or high water tables.

Exposure to salt-laden winds, poor soil quality and coastal erosion also contribute against ploughing. Nearly all inhabitants — both artisans and labourers — are engaged in some aspect of fishing, whether building and repairing boats, drying fish or, less commonly in places of this size, preparing fish oil.

Life in these hamlets is shaped by the sea, and their culture reflects the demands and uncertainties of their lives. Relations are tightly knit and fiercely interdependent, with each household contributing to the collective survival of the village. Much time is spent at sea, either fishing in shallow waters or venturing farther when necessary, while those at home mend nets, process the catch and maintain the boats. Religious belief is often strong, with local traditions incorporating elements of folk superstition alongside formal doctrine. Many hamlets have small shrines or chapels dedicated to saints or deities associated with the sea, and offerings of fish or oil may be left before a voyage. Protective charms, prayers and rituals are common, as the dangers of drowning and storms are ever-present. Those lost to the sea are mourned with solemn rites, and their absence lingers in the rhythms of daily life.

Facilities

Fishing hamlets on freshwater lakes may retain a saw pit but most likely not a stable, due to the lack of feed. Coastal regions, due to salt spray and strong winds, along with poor soil quality, produce twisted, gnarled trees not suitable for a saw pit. Such placed depend for their wood upon driftwood and logs brought from elsewhere.

Buildings	Population	Hovels	Presence
communal holding	5d6+20	8-10	always
garner	2d4-1	1	always
ox tether & hovel	2-4	1	no road better than a cart path exists
shearing station	2d4+1	1	sheep reference
windmill	d4+d6	1	located sea-side

Water wells are replaced with cisterns, gong pits are unnecessary as waste is dumped into the water body. Garners are specially designed as drying sheds or smokehouses, for fish. There are ox tethers, shearing stations to service sheep eating tough grass.

Added to this is a special facility, a tidal weir, built with carefully arranged stones to create a lasting means of catching fish. It consists of a crescent-shaped wall of stacked stones, gradually sloping inward toward a narrow opening, positioned in the intertidal zone where the rise and fall of the sea dictate its function. This serves also as a dock, allowing boats to pull up alongside it in calm conditions or providing a stable structure to unload catches and supplies.

Pulling boats ashore was a common practice in smaller fishing communities, especially where tides, storms or a lack of deepwater access made mooring at a fixed dock. This beaching area can't be considered a facility; and in any case, both the weir and the beach don't count towards the hamlet's population.

Windmills are used for drainage, where flooding or saltwater intrusion is a problem. Seawater might also be pumped into salt pans, where it could be left to evaporate, producing salt for preserving fish.

Population

This accounts for between 9-11 hovels with a minimum of 26-57 people. Additional persons are added by other facilities existing, as indicated by the table shown. Note that there are differences in the table shown from that appearing on the thorp table.

Charter & Governance

Denizens of a coastal hamlet possessed a benefit denied to other hamlets: a charter, which grants specific rights tied to the trade and wealth generated by such places. The charter protected the locals right to ownership of their homes and boats, salvage rights and legal protections that allowed the inhabitants a measure of independence from local lords or outside authorities. Fishing hamlets and villages have a right to plunder wrecked ships when they occur, infusing the community with wealth and temporary prosperity, enabling them to trade upon the sea with visiting coastal vessels. This also freed the resident from living as tenants under a feudal lord, in part because fishing folk had to go abroad in any case as part of their trade. This makes even the rudest of fishing hamlets a different place from an ordinary feudal habitation.

Fishing hamlets function as a self-regulating, communal society, shaped by the simple fact that everyone shares the same trade, the same risks and the same rewards. Governance, in the formal sense, is unnecessary because there are no competing interests to negotiate, no shifting policies to implement and no outside authority enforcing decisions. The rhythms of life are dictated by the sea, and the rules that matter are understood rather than written. Disputes within the community are rare, as there is little to fight over. Everyone fishes, repairs boats and processes the catch; there is no division between labourers and landowners, no merchant class to contend with and no fluctuating economy to create wealth disparities.

Salvage is the only real event that stirs the village from its routine, but even here, no governance is required. By long-held custom, everything recovered from a wreck belongs to the person who claimed it — no centralised tallying, no equal distribution, no overseer assigning shares. If a crate washes ashore and a man hauls it in, it is his. If a barrel is too heavy for one person to move, whoever helps shift it gets their fair portion. Greed has no place, not because of any enforced law, but because survival depends on mutual respect and understanding.

See also,
Bread (symbol)
Coin (symbol)
Hammer (symbol)
The Adventure