Greywater Reach — Claybank Starting Packet

Status: GM_APPROVED PLAYER PACKET — not delivered

Early spring, Year 1

Snowmelt has turned the Greywater broad and opaque below the clay terrace. Cold rain comes every second day. Low fields hold standing water, and the riverbank path sheds fresh pieces into the current.

You are Claybank's Kiln-Keeper. One hundred fifty-three people live on the terrace and nearby fields. They accepted you after you organized a public winter grain count and stopped potter and field households from taking one another's stores.

You remember modern life but not your former identity.

Opening scene

The winter kiln is a low hill of cracked clay and black timber.

Daia sits beside one injured worker while his family lifts him onto a board. Another worker, pale and furious, sorts unbroken vessels with one arm.

Rusk strikes a fallen wall with a wooden handle. “Bad clay. We rebuild upstream and fire before planting steals everyone.”

Hobb crouches beside a soot-black vent fragment. “Clay did not close this.”

From the field path, Alin calls down, “Neither of you is taking the carts until I have a planting schedule.”

What you can see

People and authority

Rusk, master potter, directs the kiln households and controls the best vessel molds.
Alin, field reeve, coordinates planting, draft animals, and drainage labor.
Hobb, clay digger foreman, has closed the old path beneath the slumping bank.
Daia, healer and injury witness, says one worker may do seated work; the other cannot bear weight.
Venn, boat worker, maintains two river punts and has traveled to the lower narrows.
Miri, a young measure keeper, wants public comparison of basket and jar sizes.

Potters consider their work essential to stores and status. Field households consider the next three weeks essential to food. Diggers refuse to be blamed for a collapse they did not design.

Food and fields

Grain and legumes cover roughly thirteen disciplined weeks.
Seed is sound.
Two low fields need drainage before planting.
Draft animals and carts are limited.
Heavy kiln work, drainage, and planting draw on the same labor and ration pool.

Shelter, tools, and fuel

Most homes are adequate clay and timber.
The kiln quarter is blocked and unsafe.
Claybank has excellent pottery, digging tools, measures, baskets, and basic wood tools.
Nearby dry fuel is scarce.
Unbroken winter vessels cover immediate needs, but replacement and growth will require production.

River and clay

The former clay path passes below a fresh slump.
Hobb believes another clay exposure exists upstream but expects slower access and testing.
River water is turbid during runoff.
Two punts can travel locally once floating debris decreases.
Venn has heard of Ferryend at the lower narrows, where households carry people and goods across the river.

Local map

             upstream river path
                     ^
      fields --- Claybank terrace --- old clay path (closed)
                     |
              Greywater bends southeast
                     v
            lower narrows / Ferryend

You do not know what lies beyond Ferryend or possess a reliable map of the upper river.

Customs you know

Skilled households control their molds and teaching but not all community fuel.
Field carts answer to the planting assembly during the spring window.
Dangerous faces are closed by the digger foreman until inspected.
Injured workers' limits are stated before family witnesses.
Ferry service creates per-crossing obligations, not permanent passage rights.

Immediate pressure

Claybank must deal with the collapsed kiln, injured people, unsafe clay access, and a planting/drainage window. Restoring everything at once would overcommit fuel, carts, and skilled labor.

Opportunities and warnings

A witnessed collapse inspection may identify what failed.
Cold debris can yield usable vessels, brick, and information before rebuilding.
An upstream clay test could reduce bank risk but take longer.
Standard vessel measures, drainage pieces, or storage practice could matter even before a full kiln returns.
Ferryend may offer route knowledge or exchange, but its terms are unknown.
Ignoring the field window creates food risk; ignoring skilled status creates political risk.

Your Turn 1 submission

Describe what you lead Claybank to do during Early spring. You may use any format and attempt anything supported by the situation.

Maximum: 1,500 words.