World premise
A playable world seed with consequences.
Spring 900. Hook Head Village lies at the wind-scraped end of the peninsula, between Waterford city to the west and Wexford Port Town to the east, where thin fields of barley and oats run down to shingle and salt marsh. The sea gives the village its food and its fear: currachs go out at dawn for pollock, cod, and herring, and every eye watches the northern horizon for a sail that does not belong to the usual traders. Stories from the north have grown with the winter—burnt churches, carried-off cattle, ships moving by moonlight—and the headman has begun to speak of watches, tribute, and hiding places. A few ambassadors, traders, and foreigners have been passing through a place that is normally out of the way, asking questions and measuring what the village can offer. You live here, in a house held by custom and labor, with your work, your debts, and your reputation already known to every neighbor. The coming weeks will decide whether you can keep your household safe, your place intact, and your name out of the whispers that spread faster than news.
Spring work cannot pause: fields must be sown, boats must be put right, and the gathering of shellfish and seaweed must continue.
The headman has called a meeting to assign night watches; every household must send someone or explain why not.
A trader is expected in the cove within the week with iron and salt; whether he comes, and who tells the headman first, matters.
The priest has begun encouraging prayers and penance against the northern threat, while the fishing families argue for keeping up business as usual.