You must be new here. Those are the mistress' little ducklings. Anytime she is outside the villa they all follow her around. The only time you won't see all of them around is when she sends them down to the floodplain. She used to go with them, but these days she just tells them all it's time, and off they go.
In the Farxina Villa and Plainskimmer's Respite there is a group of men who have come to b e collectively known as Mistress Farxina's Ducklings. The group is comprised of all the men in the Farxina family over the age of 18, who have passed their plainskimmer trials. The duckling title started as a joke about how the plainskimmer men would follow the family head, Mylzael, around wherever she went as part of their training to pass the trials. After some time the men heard the name being used and loved it. Leaning into the title they began to truly follow Mylzael everywhere. Any task she tried to complete would immediately be taken from her by at least two of the 'ducklings', to be done for her instead. While amusing, this quickly became a problem around the villa and Mylzael was forced to treat even the oldest of them like disobedient ducklings, and direct them all on where to help and where to get out of her way.
Plainskimmers
At the based of the Sinking Canyon is a wide floodplain, known locally as the Mourner's Floodplain. In the early years of settling the canyon humans tried to live in the floodplain, without knowing its flooding cycle. The flooding cycles for the area are very predictable but come on very fast. These early settlers did not know enough about predicting the floods or how high to move to a void the dangerous waters. The floodplain gained its name from the countless settlers who lost their lives to the flooding cycle before the humans moved into the canyon shelves they now call home.
While most of the water during the flood period does not move fast enough to be a danger to a strong adult, the water itself is not the only danger. The water level of the flooded valley is high enough that subterranean oceanic caverns become connected to the surface water. During this period of connection several oceanic species move into the flooded area. One such species is a giant crab with long pincers that can reach up to the surface of the water and grab anything moving, which it might see as food.
Plainskimmers are trained to navigate the floodplain during this period of connection, to hunt the crabs and other sea life for food. They are also taught to swim, which is a skill most humans on Oabos never develop due to how dangerous large bodies of water tend to be. While not all of the aquatic beasts of Oabos are violent by nature, humans are still relatively new to the world and are easily killed by accident. Plainskimmers swim and train in the much lower water levels in the dry cycles, and are not allowed to hunt in the flood cycles until they have reached the age of 18 and passed their trails.
They hunt on large flat platforms, designed to look more like natural shadows from below the water. The skimmers will occasionally have sails to help gain speed, but the near smooth bottom of the vessel makes steering with these sails impossible without an outside force. The skimmers are instead guided with long poles which are pushed against the bottom. These poles are also used to grab the attention of the crabs. Once a crab has grabbed into a pole the controlling plainskimmer will pull the crab up and out of the water, usually onto another nearby skimmer. The plainskimmers on that vessel will then bind the crab and shuttle it back to the docks for collection. Binding involves tying the long front pincers together along the whole length of the limbs, and tying the remaining legs into folded positions. These crabs are a staple food of the Plainskimmer's Respite, and considered a delacacy in other human regions.
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