The People Of The Village Official

THE PEOPLE OF THE VILLAGE

There are ten people standing about the village who will talk to you. They are not players and they never move: each one keeps to their own spot, and each one knows about their own corner of the game.

HOW TO TALK TO ONE
Look around you, or press the object tracking key, and any of them within about forty steps is listed by name, with the direction and the distance and a word about where they are standing. Walk until you are on their square, then press shift and enter. They greet you and offer you a handful of things to ask about. Choose one and they answer; then you may ask something else or take your leave.
They give nothing away but what they know. No points, no items, no favours. What they are for is the question you would otherwise have had to open a ticket about.

WHO IS WHO
Molly the market woman, at her folding table on Main Street. What to do first, buying and selling, stalls and the auction, and what the village life menu holds.
Constable Bell, at the south end of Main Street. The rules about fighting, what jail means, how to get a badge, and what to do about somebody who is cheating.
Argus the ferryman, by the north street. Crossing to other maps, travelling faster than walking, finding things on a map, and where you may leave a car.
Fred the pump boy, at the filling station. Driving, fuel and repairs, the traffic lights, and earning with a car.
Old Rubeus the hunter, outside the hunting store. What can kill you out there, hunting properly, broken bones, and taming an animal.
Tom the innkeeper, in the tavern doorway. Cooking, drinking, sleep and tiredness, and where people gather.
Nurse Poppy, at the hospital gate. Health, the death free card, being treated by another player, and what to carry.
Clerk Percy, on the steps of the mayor's office. Who runs the place, getting a post, the petition against a mayor, and the town treasury.
Grandmother Augusta, on a bench in the courtyard. Getting a home, what you can fit in it, growing things, and marriage.
Minerva the schoolteacher, outside the pharmacy. Finding your way, talking to people, the ticket system, and keeping up with what has changed.

A NOTE FOR NEW PLAYERS
If you have just arrived and do not know where to begin, walk up Main Street until you hear Molly, and then go and find Minerva. Between the two of them you will have the shape of the game in a few minutes. Everything they tell you is how the game actually works today, not how it worked a year ago.

THE NEWCOMER'S ROUND
Six of the ten have an errand for you, and they come in order. It is the nearest thing this game has to a beginning, and it is worth doing once.
Molly asks for five pieces of wood. Minerva asks for nothing but that you find her. Tom wants something cooked. Rubeus wants a hide, a skin or a fish that you took yourself. Percy wants to see your name written against a trade. Poppy wants to see you carrying cooked food and water at the same time, and she does not take them off you.
Each step pays you a few hundred points and finishing the whole round pays a thousand more, once in your life. In all it comes to about three thousand one hundred points, which is a good start and no more than that. Nobody gets rich doing it twice, because there is no twice.
If you lose your place, ask any of the ten what you are supposed to be doing and they will tell you the step you are on and who to see next.

YOU CAN HEAR THEM
Each of them makes a noise where they stand, so you do not have to go looking in silence. There is a short, frequent sound of somebody shifting about and looking around, and a longer stretch of talking that comes round every minute and a half or so. Walk towards it and you will walk straight into the person. The sound only carries as far as sound normally does, so it is a marker, not a nuisance.

SINCE AUGUST 2026 THE PEOPLE HAVE SPREAD OUT. Six more stand outside the village, one to a map, and each of them talks the same way (stand with them, shift and enter):
Shepherd Anna, in the open grass in the middle of the main map: animals, the danger radar, staying alive outdoors.
Vintner Mateo, by the vines in the vineyard at about 203 by 300: farming, what to plant, land deeds, and where the vineyard restroom is.
Forester Helka, at the north edge of the beautiful forest: foraging, hunting, bees.
Cook Baraz, at the fire by the south camp restroom: cooking meat, the kitchen, water for the desert.
Climber Yuri, at the foot of the hills on the mountain map, eastern side: mining, gems, how far you can fall.
Fisher Ingrid, outside the restroom hut on iceland: fishing, the cold, polar bears.