The Village Today

The Upper Village is hard to reach, the only access being via a steep path with many switchbacks, making it nearly inaccessible to beasts of burden. The huts of the villagers cluster near the banks of the Lac on the west side. The villagers of the upper village are either fishers in the lake, or shepherds and goatherds, letting the flocks and herds mingle communally in the upper valley.

The Lower Village is far easier to reach, although the trail down the valley to the Veneon river is by no means easy. The villagers here are farmers or craftsmen and their families.

The fields in Lauvitel are coteaux, which is to say small fields cleared, usually by burning, from the bracken or forest on the hillsides. After four years or so, the soil is exhausted, and the field is left to go fallow for four years or so and a new field is cleared to replace it. The crops are usually rye (sown in autumn) and barley (sown in spring), in alternation in a given field.

The livestock in the lower village tends to donkeys, for plowing and carrying, and pigs, which run loose in the wooded lower valley down to the river.

Étienne lives in a hut in the upper valley, past the upper village. Alain lives in a small cottage in the lower village.

In the winter of 1207, a small church was constructed a mile or so north of the Lac, on the way toward the river. Antoine oversaw the construction which was performed by the local villagers, aided by Lemain who used his magic to 'quarry' and shape the stone which makes up most of the structure. Lemain also sculpted the gargoyles and such which decorate the edges of the roof. They are of unexceptional quality. (A total roll of 8.)

There is a single guest house in the village, which used to be occupied most of the time by Brother Antoine. When the church was built Antoine moved into the attached lodging.

The first cemetary

The Interred

• 13 year old village girl, d. 1205
• Charles, Conrad's father, d. 1206
• Elsabetta, daughter of Paolo and Katerina, d. 1206 (her grave is marked with simple stone with some simple friezework made by Lemain)
• A young village man of 22 years, d. 1206
• A village wife of 46 years, d. 1206
• A male villager of 51 years, d. 1207

The second cemetary

The Interred

History

By 1200, there were three families living by the lake in the upper village and another four below in the lower village. For a total population of not quite forty.

All the families raised sheep and goats and had small gardens, but those in the upper village either fished or focused on their flocks, while those in the lower village farmed on terraced fields on the valley slopes.

There was one craftsman at the time, Philippe, the carpenter, who lived in the lower village. The village had two wagons which held in common and used for transport to Venosc or further as need be. Likewise, they shared three oxen for any heavy work which needed to be done; hauling wagons, plowing and so on. The magi rented an ox and wagon when they need to send for supplies.

Village (including NPC grogs/servants) Population by Season/Year