Worldbuilding 5c: Hamlet

To reassure the reader, this is not the second in a series to be followed by "village," "town" and "city."  Like the thorp, the hamlet has no significant sub-facilities, so I'm treating it as a single amenity.  Be advised, this post won't be discussing a specific prince of Denmark.

Whether or not the reader chooses to employ the hammer-coin-food symbols I've been using for my maps, designating specific hexes as "kinds" can help in establishing where the players are or what they see.  My take simply lays out these hexes as a sort of flowing pattern, from scarcely populated regions to those that are densely populated.  I think this is better than determining which hexes are what by fiat, but it's better to do the latter than to make no designations at all.

Let's start with a typical type-7 hex.  If the designation "type-7" has rankled the reader and they'd prefer something more esoteric, let's call it "subsistence farmland."  Most of the hex is actually hinterland, with a small cluster of farms gathered around a stream bottom or artesian wells.  Each hex of subsistence farmland would as I said yesterday contain at least one thorp.  There wouldn't be any other services and as shown on the map by the lack of hammers, these particular thorps don't have a mill of any kind.

Chances are the residents wouldn't owe fealty to any lord.  My education tells me that the difference between a "villein" and a "cotter" is that the former is a serf tied to the land, while the latter is a squatter, who does not own the land being farmed (and is therefore not a "freeman") but yet successful survives as a farmer.  For reference, wikipedia makes no distinction whatsoever between villein and cotter, and seems to have no word for "person not under the heel of a lord who isn't in fact entitled to own land."  This is a case of someone thinking every human being fits into a box of some kind.  I assure the reader that millions of people through history have been too difficult to tax, because they chose to exist in obscure places.  I also assure the reader that many amateur historians are bound to think otherwise.

As such, I'm going to call these people living in subsistence farmland "cotters."  It doesn't matter if we call them "fleebsobs," as long as we understand their status.

Each season, these farmlands harvest a certain amount of food, store it in garners, from whence it's taken to a village of some kind and poured into the world's food supply.  The people are isolated, mostly friendly, no more concerned over bandits than the poor people of the American south were worried about Dillinger or Bonnie & Clyde, and probably willing to feed players out of hospitality or in exchange for a quite minor tool of some kind.

Let's look at a different sort of subsistence farmland.  As shown, there are two subsistence farm hexes (type-7) located along the big river that possess an extra hammer; while one type-7, located on a smaller blue line, doesn't have one.  The thin line is no more than a stream; it doesn't appear on a 20-mile map, so it doesn't get a bonus hammer.  Incidentally, any type hex on a river that appears on the 20-mile map gets a bonus hammer.

These examples of subsistence farmland also possess a thorp, but because they have sufficient water power, these thorps include a watermill used to grind grain.  Potentially, the mill could be applied to other manufactures, but it's not here, because these are only type-7 hexes.  The means is here, but the expertise is lacking.  The hexes are just too backward.  Still, it makes for a different kind of mindset than more backward places; and the mill is likely taxed, even if these cotters are not.

The reader might note that the type-6 hex shown has precisely the same hammer & food that these two type-7 hexes have.  What's up with that?  Well, hold your horses.  We'll get there.

This brings us to a different kind of type-7 hex, one that isn't a farm at all.  Where the inhabited hex occurs in mountains or stony land, we have a mining hex.  Here, the type-7 hex isn't awarded two food, it's awarded two hammers.  This designates a thorp with an ox tether, a mine and a waterwheel-sluice.  Potentially, the thorp might be at the end of a cart track or trail (or larger route), which would mean meagre services for carts and wagons (tools for fixing, probably not anything like an extra axle).

A similar type-6 hex, like the one shown, is awarded two hammers and a coin — the latter resulting from an obviously more important hex and therefore providing greater wealth than a mere type-7 mine.  The type-6 hex shown has a third hammer because it's located on the Rotilesti river, giving it a bonus hammer from waterpower.

So, this last image shows two possible type-6 hexes.  The mine-version includes a resident assayer (in a single-person "office," or hovel) to oversee the quality of ore, or it might possibly mean there's an open pit quarry here.  The ore is crushed by a mill, rather than merely sluiced as in a type-7 hex; there's a mule-skinner to manage work animals, a headsman to manage the operation, hauliers, several bunkhouses to keep them and a permanent stone kitchen to feed them.  This collection of buildings and yards is no longer called a "thorp."  It's called a "hamlet."

Now, "hamlet" is a loose term in the real world.  Like thorps, hamlets begin as little places (or evolve from thorps into little places) that refuse to give up the name as they transform into mighty cities.  Thus, we have Birmingham, Faversham, Burnham, Hamburg and so on.  Other names for "hamlet" include wick, catun, buurtschap, weiler, mezra, clachan and many, many others ... and all of these may be variously identified as villages, towns or cities, depending on how long the place has been around and the transformative nature of language being applied to multiple things.  As I wrote with the thorp post, I need a standardised word for a specific kind of habitation, to differentiate it from other habitations.  Hamlet is my chosen word for small not-quite-village sized habitations that occur in type-6 and type-5 hexes (the latter of which will be discussed another day).

Hamlets occur everywhere that's remotely civilised, even in densely infrastructured type-1 hexes.  For simplicity sake, let's call an agricultural-version type-6 hex just "farmland."  I trust that's not too confusing.  Farmland may or may not have access to waterpower — but whether it does not not, the hamlet in farmland will always have some kind of mill.  Where water power is unavailable, a windmill is substituted.  This is one important difference between farmland and "subsistence farmland."  The former may have a windmill.  The latter never will.

Historically, hamlets may emerge from thorps that grow as their usefulness increases.  Hamlets may also be founded at a stroke, as a group of pilgrims or settlers seeking independence.  They may also exist as the remnants of a village or town, where the hamlet is surrounded by the ruined remains of a larger, former habitation.  This can be found commonly in classical parts of the world like Anatolia, Greece, Italy or North Africa.  A hamlet might also cluster around a squire's house, a freeman who is less than a noble (and therefore not a manor lord), and yet act as a beneficiary or wealthy master.

Hamlets can form along roads, in bottom lands below mountains, upon a lake or coast ... in my game, anywhere that a type-6 hex occurs randomly.  Sometimes, this will mean a collection of farmland hexes such as the example above, or a single farmland hex apparently in the middle of nowhere.

Hamlets are not political entities.  They don't represent royal lands or manors, the residents aren't serfs, there's no single dominant individual who rules the place.  Even the example of a local squire doesn't provide for legal authority over the hamlet's residents.

At the same time, the hamlet isn't strictly an economic entity, like the thorp.  A larger number of persons dwell here, who are gathered together because they possess a similar tradition and outlook.  These are people who have bonded together, who share their harvest with one another in lean times, who trade with the outside as a single body ... and whose religious affiliations lack formal spiritual guidance.  Hamlets do not possess a church.  By definition, the presence of a church redefines a hamlet as a "village" ... but only player characters would take it upon themselves to build a church in a hamlet that has no expectation of developing the other qualities of being a village.  In the game world I'm building, the designation of "type-6" means no church, no priest and no deacon.  No religious hierarchy at all.  However, this doesn't prohibit the presence of informal spiritual guidance.  The hamlet may possess a shaman or a friar or nun acting on his or her own initiative.

Hamlets act somewhat as collectivised peoples.  By working together, they produce more free time among themselves; this allows homes that are better built than mere hovels, the development of simple masonry, carpentry, pottery and thatching.  Occasionally, some handicraft-making, such as baskets, farm tools, baked goods, quilt-making and such are collected and transported to small village markets.  The local mill may be used for fulling cloth and pressing wine and oil as well as for grinding flour.  None of these would reach meaningful proportions ... but players could expect to barter their town goods for rations, a serviceable pair of soft shoes or a hat.  Naturally the hamlet would also have a garner, several wells, a sawpit and so on as we've seen with the thorp.  In different parts of the world, this could be extended to polished spices, extracts like camphor and aloe, resins, local wine and spirits, embroidery and much more ... though it's understood none of these things would be available in large quantity; they'd only be enough for more than a few persons.

Farmlands are no more xenophobic than subsistence folk.  They might be attacked and robbed, but it's unlikely in large part, particularly with those surrounded by civilised hexes.  The last example of the isolated farmland hex might be a bit more xenophobic than others — but they would probably welcome outsiders for the sake of the news they bring.  They would protest the permanent settlement of outsiders who failed to share substantially with the community, or who wore out their welcome by appearing too often while acting selfishly.  Players would need to make friends, not merely treat the hamlet as utilitarian ... keeping in mind that working a string of hamlets, each being isolated, could allow for much greater latitude for a party that didn't wish to commit.

Thus, for resupplying base goods, such as food and clothing, falling back to a hamlet might prove more convenient than retreating all the way to a town.  It also serves as a possible location in which the party migh, after building relationships, actively work to expand the actual infrastructure of the hex, promoting it to a type-5 and thence to an actual village ... with lots of possible base locations to choose from that would serve the party's needs.

For everyone out there, I appreciate your support of my patreon or for your input in the comments.  I have more things to write about worldbuilding and I just want you to know that I'll continue to make the material the best I can.