Puddlet

Many Eneb Tireloica families roam through the Lonely Marshes in search of valuables that they can trade in Mo or Abeko. However, performing these tasks without any living arrangements would be near impossible. Therefore, the families take their homes with them and become a moving settlement.

Our ancestors always wandered these swamps together as a family, and thus we always stick together as a family. Our puddlet is our home.

— Head of the Muckraker Tribe

Portable Village

Having a village that can easily be set up and moved is essential to support the nomadic lifestyle of the Eneb Tireloica tribes. A puddlet has to provide shelter for up to seven generations of swamp elves or swamp gnome. Aside from that, a puddlet always has a separate tent for storaging additional food reserves and clothing and a community center to provide a space to come together for a hot meal.

Sturdy Tents

The tribes use sturdy tents to provide a place to sleep comfortably for everyone in the puddlet. It is the easiest and most portable home to build in the swamp. With a few extra materials, the tribe can adjust the size of their tents, in case the family grows larger or smaller.
To build a marsh tent, a group of tribesmen look for a good patch of land. Ideally it is completely dry, but if that isn't possible they look for a piece where the flow of water will never reach above their ankles. Once found, they drill holes in the ground until they dug a sizable hole in the clay subsoil. They put a pole in each of the holes and hammer it further down. With the poles in this firmer subsoil, chances of the tents sinking are very low.
On top of the poles, they put in the flooring made of wooden planks tied together with silkweed. In the middle is a contraption that holds another beam. With that in place, all that's left is draping a large cloth made of animal hides over the flooring and the mast. They secure the tent cloth to the base. With that, the home is finished.

Community Center

The homes of a puddlet do not provide for an easy way to get any cooking done. Furthermore, it is a fairly small and cramped tent compared to the number of people. Because it is mostly used for sleeping, the community center serves as the place to come together as a family to have a meal, to talk, and to play games.
The center is a much larger tent compared to the rest, with its actual size depending on the size of the tribe itself. Building this center uses the same process as the normal tents. Tribesmen dig holes for the poles first, then lay on the flooring. Because the center is larger, the floor usually has at least two up to four contraptions for holding the beams. Then, multiple pieces of large animal hide cloths are draped over the beams, as one large cloth would be difficult to transport. On site, the women overlap the animal hides and sew them together.
In the middle of the tent cloth, there is a large gaping hole that is covered with a fine mesh. On the floor underneath that hole, is a large steel bowl clearly stained with ash and blackened by a fire. These two features mark the purpose of the community center as the place to cook and come together. There is enough space for at least half the tribe to sit around the fire. During the day, the women are often here, busy with cooking and hanging laundry to dry.

Moving

Packing up all the tents and setting them up in a different place is no easy feat. Especially transporting everything from one village to another with the entire family in tow has always proven to be quite the challenge. However, the tribes of Eneb Tireloica have a smart way of dealing with the transportation.
Many of the tribes have multiple swamp floaters. They usually use them to get across the swamp with a small group of people. However, during the trek of the puddlet, these floaters are used to move all the belongings of the tribe including their homes and community center. The people of the tribe put the tent cloths and the floorings in the floaters. The rest of the fleet contain the other belongings and carry mostly the elderly and the children.
Going over the rivers and deeper ponds is easiest; going over land is more difficult. However, for that, the tribe uses the resources for their home. The large round poles that prevent the tents from sinking into the swampbed, also prevents the floaters from sinking when put underneat them. Because they are round, the floaters roll easily over the logs. While it is still labour intensive to get the beam from the back and putting it in front, it is still much less work than having to carry everything over the swamp themselves.

Table of Contents

Type

Camp, Temporary

Population

Average: 52

Location under

Lonely Marshes

Tribes
Muckraker
Muddings
Grillford
Ratusi
Boggins
Swales

When talking about specific puddlets, the people of Eneb Tireloica always use the word 'puddlet' and append the name of the tribe to it. For example, they will say "Puddlet Muckracker is currently a bit further east, near the ruins of Juniper's Damned Alehouse".

Tribe Differences

While the setup of these puddlets is generally the same across all tribes, everyone puts their unique spin on some of these aspects.
The Muckraker tribe is one of the larger tribes and therefore has one of the larger puddlets. They stay in one place relatively longer, and therefore have dedicated tents for a few small services such as turning silkweed into fibers. It is also the only tribe that has a dedicated tent for educating their children.
The Muddings tribe members are good climbers and therefore like to put their puddlets in the trees. Being up there, they do not have to worry about predators wandering through the swamp and trying to steal their food.
The Grillford gnomes travel with much smaller tents for simple storage and use their community center as a sleeping accomodation. Having a relatively smaller village, makes the trek a lot easier for them.
The Ratusi gnomes always stay close to the Rataufusi. This clan is specialised in keeping these frogs in prime season for breeding. Their puddlet is more permanent than the others, moving only once a year along with the animals.
The Boggins tribe travels the most of all the known tribes. They skip out on the middle beam keeping the tent cloth up, using it instead as a large blanket for a dry sleep. The cloth has been adjusted with multiple mesh holes to prevent suffocation. They also don't have a community center and cook in the outdoors, always with the risk of the fire burning out due to rain.
The Swales have adjusted their swamp floaters and put wheels on them that they can lower once they have to go on land. Because it makes transportation a lot easier for them, the other tribes often ask the Swales to send their goods to the markets.