First Hamlet Established!

So, I had free time. Instead of trying to do something productive, I instead went ahead and, prepared with little more than a lot of wood, sought out my first building site. If you go to the world map (http://shawntc.x10hosting.com/world-5.png) and look just east of prospective Yusaria, you will notice that there's an inland circled because it looks strikingly similar to Japan. That was where I went. I cleared off all the trees with some flint and steel, leveled out the north end a bit and built the mayor's small, puny house. Then I made a wee little farm. A small step in a big project. I named it Nippon Hamlet ("Nippon" is one of the names the Japanese use for their country). Here, I even made some kind of role-play background information:

Nippon Hamlet, located on the eastern border of Yusaria, is located on Nippon Island, and is the only Yusarian hamlet that exists only on an island. There are five households including the Mayor's home, with a total population of 32. Although they are informally referred to as Nipponnites, the inhabitants were born and raised on mainland Yusaria. The small economy of Nippon revolves around fishing and farming and most of what they have is imported from nearby hamlets and villages. The Mayor is Fushiara Naruto (which, of course, references the anime/manga Naruto).


The island of Nippon is 147 meters (482.28 feet, which is a little longer than an American football field with the end zones) by 61 meters (200.13 feet)  at its widest. The northern half is relatively flat. It tapers until the middle which has a bulge, then stays relatively thin. The southern half is elevated and hilly with a peninsula that extends to the west and nearly touches mainland Yusaria. That is the location of the small Nippon Bridge. In the middle of the island there is a natural opening to an underground tunnel complex that is not heavily used because they lead to a dungeon.


Nippon is rather precariously located. It lies between mainland Yusaria to the west and the nation of Inuizhmo (a comination of "Inuit" and "Eskimo"), making the relatively unarmed hamlet prone to attack. The nearby mainland is tall and hilly which makes protecting it difficult. Fortunately, the relatively small population and the presence of a dungeon makes the hamlet an uninteresting target.