Skeet

Describe a commonly used vehicle in your world and who its used by.

Made of a light wooden or wicker frame and covered with Dromhair the sheet is a common sight in the Harren Marshes and the canals of the lower Harren-var. It is a most ungainly watercraft and even in the hands of a skilled user it tends to move like a drunken water beetle. In the hands of a novice it tends to spin in circles. Though it’s vices are many it is easy to build (taking a only a few hours to cut and weave the frame and cover it with a piece of dromhair cloth or felt (other coverings may be used but will tend to need some degree of waterproofing). You then have a light and surprisingly robust boat that can easily be carried along with toots, equipment or produce. In short it is a near perfect conveyance for one needing to travel along (or cross) waterways, small lakes or canals as they go about their daily business.

Propulsion

Propelled by a single paddle, worked in a figure of eight motion, the skeet can be propelled at a slow to middling walking pace.

Skeet Racing

Racing a vehicle that is hard presssed to travel at walking pace may seem a strange notion but it happens. In the Vale of Arabour villages on the slower stretches of the Harren-var race across the river - even on the slower stretches the slow speed of the sleet makes the current a significant factor and the races are a combined event - cross the river in your sweet, then pick up up and carry it to the finish point opposite the start. Similar combined events happen in the Harren Marshes where the race is point to point with the competitors having choice of route and mixing boating with portage to minimise the time taken.
Where the main use is on canals then the focus tends to be purely boat based with carrying the sleet disallowed, though in these areas combined racing still happens, but is less popular.

The Skeet in Shadier Use

Given that one can be made from such readily obtained material and in a short time there is potential for sleets to be used where a normal boat would be suspicious or incriminating. In practice this usually means poaching as it would be a desparate move to try to use one at sea, but moving getting to quarantined vessels in a port is quite possible and a disassembled sweet can readily be rebuilt as a piece of fencing or a similar for deniability.

Use by the Marsh Folk

It seems a near certainty that the sleet was developed in the Harren Marshes for this is where it is most ubiquitous and most embedded in day to day life. The animal herders of the marshes have some slight modifications to the basis design which allows them to use their sheets as pack frames and so carry their boat and gear long distances where necessary (for they will often take their herds into the dryer areas surrounding the marshes) with the whole carried on a sling supported across the forehead. This leaves their hands free and, once the technique has been learned and the muscles of the neck strengthened, it serves them well.

Price

They are seldom traded for in the lower Harren-var those who use them see making their own as an important part of their cultural heritage.

Rarity

In the lower Harren-var they are common, nearing on ubiquitous. Elsewhere they are uncommon but will be found across the former lands of the Marivan Empire

Speed

It appears to move at around walking pace

Complement / Crew

One

Cargo & Passenger Capacity

Generally they carry just the boatman and about as much as he can carry, or a child. An adult passenger can be carried but only if neither passenger or boatman are too large and the water is calm and still.

Building your Skeet

Building a skeet needs few materials or skills. Copiced wood in lengths up to a little more than the users height to weave the frame and enough cloth to cover the frame is all it needs. The frame is made in the manner of a large basket, typically as a rounded square, with the sticks around a hand’s width apart, a curved bottom rising near vertical at the waterline and then curving back in for rigidity, with a cross member to act as a seat running across the width of the boat.
Cover this frame with the cloth, apply waterproofing if necessary and you are ready to go. A large traveller’s cloak can be used as the cover so long as it is free from holes and adequately waterproof.