BLUF: A thorp is a very small settlement that develops automatically in various parts of the kingdom rules.

A thorp is a tiny settlement that supports 10-15 people (average 12). Most thorps are made up of a few huts surrounded by a light fence. The residents are generally small holders, who keep a few chickens and cultivate vegetables, by hand, in small fields. This provides a subsistence level of farming – with just enough food to keep people going. However, most thorps add a hunter/gatherer element to their lifestyle. In most area they will collect mushrooms, nuts, berries and wild fruits, and hunt for small game, such as ducks, rabbits or other such creatures that can be taken with very simple weapons. If they are close to a river they will have nets and small boats (coracles, canoes or skiffs) and fish to supplement their diet. They make the best use of any natural resources in the hex. Which is why some hexes give a -1 Consumption without any development. If Fangberries grow well, or there are minerals in the hex, the thorp residents will know about it and exploit it.

Thorp residents do other work as well. If they are close enough, they might walk into a town or city looking for casual work, or get work as casual labourers at the local farm, mine, logging camp, fishery etc. During winter months they put slack-time to good use by making minor items for sale – it might be making baskets and reed mats, whittling clothes pegs, small wooden toys or simple instruments, charcoal burning or making simple pots out of local clay. When the time comes they will have a few coins to buy material for clothes and other needs. Most taxes and rents are paid by labour – maintaining roads, rivers, canals, bridges etc. Thorp dwellers are nearly always Commoners, who might have a few Silver Pieces to their name, but mainly live in te subsistence/barter economy. If they are armed they will carry very basic weapons that cost 1gp at most (Club, Staff, Sling, Dart, Short Spear etc)

Thorps grow up in Rural and Hinterland hexes as background settlements in the Kingdom Rules. A couple of thorps spring up as soon as you put a road through a hex (someone has to build and maintain the road), a few more develop as so as you put a watchtower or other defensive building in a hex - they are the background commoner/peasants of the rural landscape.

BLUF: A hamlet is small settlement that develops as part of a 'Rural Development' under the Kingdom Rules. It is only useful to PCs who wish to develop strongholds that cover a large area.

A Hamlet is a rural community of 20-60 people (Average 40) generally based around a farm, Fishery or some other type of rural development (even logging camps, although the hamlet picks up and moves to a new area every so often.) The hamlet will consist of a set of central buildings (or resources) and an Expert who knows how to make best use of them.

A farm might have a farm house, a couple of workers cottages, barns, a plough, more livestock and crop fields. A fishery will have a shed for processing fish, facilities to repair boats and smoking sheds, as well as accommodation for a skilled manager. A mine has storage sheds for tools and ore, and the facility to manufacture mine supports, as well as accommodation for the skilled minor who knows how to get the best out of the mine. A logging camp is a bit different, in that everything is semi portable. There will be saw pits, draft animals (for pulling felled trees) and other similar paraphernalia. However, instead of houses, huts and cottages – the accommodation consists of heavy duty tents although they are generally well insulated and have an internal stove for heating and simple cookery. The hamlet serves as a sources of employment for the surrounding thorps, and many of the local small holders come to the hamlet for casual work. Farm labourers, fish gutters and tree-fellers (etc) can all earn a bit of coin to help pay for necessities. The hamlet also becomes a mini social and economic centre, where smallholders get to know each other, trade between themselves and possibly get together for the End of Harvest barn-dance. Many of the people associated with the development are Thorp dwellers coming to find casual or part time work. However, there will be some sightly better off commoners who live in the hamlet, and even a few experts with more money and better equipment.

Hamlets appear as background developments in hexes that contain towns or cities, after all someone has provide food for all those urban dwellers. However, in rural hexes you need to spend BPs on a Rural Development before Hamlets develop. The BP go towards building barns, clearing fields, getting seed and stock etc etc. However, they do not earn you BP, but they provide Consumption Modifiers instead. This makes them particularly useful to people who are building strongholds that cover more than one hex, rather than business-people who are looking for conventional economic gains.

BLUF: A village is the first stage of economic development under the Kingdom Rules. It is restricted to 4 developments (including the defensive building) and size:6. It can be used as a seed for developing a city, or stay as a village either as a stand-alone holding or to add to the rural lands of a large-area stronghold.

A Village is the first step towards a service and craft based settlement, rather than somewhere that produces food and un-worked resources. Most villages focus on the people of the local thorps and hamlets, and provide a central location at the heart of a rural hex. All village will have a Defensive Building and up to three other developments, however they are restricted to size:6 maximum. To grown any larger, you must pay the costs to turn the village into a town, however, this will automatically lose the benefits of ant Rural Developments in the hex. A traditional village will have a watchtower (or other defensive point) to offer protection across the hex, a religious building, and (perhaps) a tavern, market, smith or serai. The rest of the village is made up of a cottages and huts that are home to the village employees and their families.

While the majority of villagers will be commoners the guards are likely to be Warriors and each business will have at least one expert working there. The Religious building may be managed by a Divine PC class (Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Inquisitor) or an Adept. While much of the villages business is carried out via local trade and barter, some of the residents will have a few GP to spend. Villages must balance their Economy, Loyalty and Security in the same way as any other economic settlement.