Idlewood residents and civic council

Record type: settlement population and situational civic process; not a standing unified political organization.

Record

• Origins: Idlewood is a village around a mill stream, stone chapel, meeting hall, and inn. Its founding history is not supplied.
• Population / scale: The campaign gazetteer says 200 people live in the village. Separately, the settlement simulation's initial ledger says 42. These are two source values with different contexts; neither source explains the difference. Keep both intact and do not treat the ledger value as an erratum or an additional population group.
• Alignment: No collective alignment. Residents have varied interests and views. The story says most distrust the Crown but fear being named rebels.
• Leaders: No permanent council leadership roster is established. A reeve organizes watches in danger; Chapter 1 names reeve Alis Fen. Mara Vale can organize people, and Brother Pell can authenticate records, but neither is a standing faction leader.
• Goals: Protect neighbors and livelihoods, avoid Crown reprisal, assess the inheritance and evidence, and decide whether the farm merits support. In the hearing, public trust may shift toward the heirs; later, villagers may volunteer to defend the farm.
• Territory: The village and its immediate surroundings, including the mill stream, meeting hall, chapel, and inn. The campaign does not establish a wider polity.
• Resources: Meeting hall and public record chest, chapel records, local knowledge, temporary watches, testimony, shelter, and potential defense volunteers. The settlement ledger separately models gold, timber, stone, food, and projects as campaign house rules; it is not a complete inventory of village wealth.
• Relationships: Residents are wary of Crown power and may be divided over the heirs. The reeve can recognize lawful inheritance after sufficient trust; testimony and protection affect civic support. The Office of Gates seeks to turn the town against the heirs.

Use in play

Treat “Idlewood” as the people and place, not as a single voice or a fixed government. The final council is a decision forum for the heirs, not an existing faction: invited representatives ask questions, but none has veto power over the heirs' unanimous choice.

Source distinction: content/idlewood-campaign-book.md (Idlewood Gazetteer; chapters 1, 7, 11, 12; final council) gives 200 residents. lib/data/idlewood-settlement.json gives initial population 42 and calls the costs/yields campaign house rules. No reconciliation is present in either source.