Crab Lands - Swirling Pool Village

[Vutall]

Swirling Pool Village
The Crab Clan depends upon its many fishing villages along the shores of Earthquake Fish Bay to keep its larders stocked. The vast quantity of dried fish that these small communities produce supply the soldiers stationed on the Wall, as the desolate region abutting the Shadowlands produces no food fit for human consumption. Swirling Pool is one such village. It is located at a junction where four small streams feed from the hills of Sunda Mizu Province into the bay and is under the authority of the Yasuki family.

The village’s homes are built at the very edge of the shore, standing upon piles sunk into the land and seabed. Each home has its own dock at water level, along with a working area where families can maintain their nets and clean and dry their catch. The tide draws the waste back out to sea. The pungent aroma of drying fish wafts throughout the village. The homes’ living areas are roughly ten feet above high tide so that the residences remain secure even during rough storms.

The community maintains the Shrine of the Four Gifts to celebrate the kami of each of the streams that join at the inlet where the village was founded. The interior of the shrine has a statue to one of those kami on each of the four walls. Traditionally, residents must make equal offerings to all of the spirits, lest one become jealous of the others. It is believed that the village is most prosperous when all four are content and willing to work together in harmony

Everyone who lives in the village is dependent upon the village’s fishing success, because they either fish or support the success of the fishing fleet. In fact, the village uses dried fish to pay its taxes. Not surprisingly, visitors to the village often remark upon the quality and flavor of their fish, especially the fresh catches. While the majority of the village’s fleet plies the waters of the bay directly, using gillnets to make their catch, some utilize cormorants to collect fish

Murata Hisao
The priest who oversees the Shrine of the Four Gifts is youthful and enthusiastic. He sees the influence of the kami in every aspect of life and is always willing to offer his insights as well as his latest anecdotes. Unfortunately, he is very poor at keeping a secret, and he is also not particularly adept at achieving insights. Consequently, he often comes across as boorish and has accidentally revealed truths told to him in confidence by both visitors and locals. The community has begun to reach the limits of its patience for its young priest.

Fishy Stories
The town’s daily catches have been consistently bountiful ever since a fisherman at Swirling Pool recovered an unusual statue in his nets last season. The town has begun work on a new shrine to celebrate the statue.

A colony of goblins has begun to establish a settlement on the shore a day’s travel to the south. No one is safe traveling along the shoreline