Greywater Reach — Hazelstead Starting Packet

Status: GM_APPROVED PLAYER PACKET — not delivered

Early spring, Year 1

Cold rain lies over the Westwood. Snow survives under the thickest trees, while every open path is water and black leaf mold. Hazel catkins have opened. The ground is too wet for broad digging, but the springs run clear.

You are Hazelstead's Hearthspeaker. One hundred forty-nine people live in a large woodland clearing and smaller spring-side clusters. They accepted you after you ended a winter fuel dispute through equal household hearing and a witnessed rotation.

You remember modern life but not your former identity.

Opening scene

Nessa cuts the binding from a lower seed basket and presses two fingers into the grain.

The kernels beneath are warm. A sweet, wrong smell rises from them.

“This basket does not leave the house,” she says.

Beren leans against the door frame, rain on his shoulders. “Then open new dry ground and stop pretending the old plots will feed us.”

Ilya answers from behind him. “You cannot clear water. Drain what we have and stop wasting straight growth.”

Outside, Corren is asking for six hunters. His younger brother has not returned from the western trap line.

What you can see

People and authority

Nessa, seed keeper, controls the seed house with two witnesses. She has quarantined the worst basket.
Beren, senior cutting foreman, commands experienced woodcutters and favors rapid clearing.
Ilya, basket maker, manages a small regrowth plot and advocates drainage, hurdles, and coppice.
Tamm, healer and water watcher, is concerned about six persistently damp homes.
Corren, hunter, wants a search for his younger brother Lio, overdue by four days.
Wen, roof carpenter, says the seed-house seam can be repaired during two dry days.

Your office is respected, but cutting crews, garden households, spring keepers, and craftspeople expect to be heard.

Food and seed

Mixed grain, nuts, smoked pork, and roots cover roughly ten to twelve careful weeks.
The seed reserve may be partly damaged, but no basket-by-basket test has been completed.
Pigs are lean but can forage when the ground firms.
Garden plots are wet and the planting window will not wait indefinitely.

Water, shelter, and tools

Three protected springs remain clear.
Standing water surrounds several low homes.
Timber buildings are generally sound, but the seed-house roof leaked.
Hazelstead has excellent axes, adzes, baskets, drying racks, and plant knowledge.
Open dry field is scarce; woodland is abundant but not inexhaustible.

Local map

        upland-edge path toward Juniper Fold
                         ^
                         |
      deep Westwood -- Hazelstead -- wet east trail
                         |
                  springs and gardens

Juniper Fold lies beyond the northern path. Its goat keepers and honey gatherers use marked trees and old seasonal routes near the woodland edge.

An eastern trail is said to reach a river crossing after a long wet journey. You do not know the people there.

Customs you know

Seed keepers may quarantine doubtful stores but must show witnesses why.
Some groves protect bee trees, spring windbreak, and customary path markers.
Cutting foremen traditionally mark new work, but permanent clearing requires household recognition.
A missing hunter receives a reasonable search; the size and risk are matters for leadership.
Clean springs are never used as drainage outlets.

Immediate pressures

You must protect viable seed, repair storage, and prepare wet ground. At the same time, Lio may be injured, delayed, or simply sheltering beyond flooded paths.

Opportunities and warnings

Smell, sorting, drying, and germination trials may distinguish sound seed from loss.
Drainage and managed regrowth could improve existing ground without a major clearing.
A new clearing could provide dry field but consume labor and create a boundary dispute.
Juniper Fold may know the western path and storm-felled area.
Search effort, seed work, drainage, roof repair, and cutting compete for skilled people and dry weather.
The six dampest homes may become a health problem if ignored.

Your Turn 1 submission

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

Maximum: 1,500 words.