The Small-on-sea community

Small-on-sea is a small community on the opposite side of Searbay island from Carlyle. It is a wildly different place to Carlyle in a number of respects.

The community here is not built of mice that all share the commune-vision of mousedom. The mice of Small-on-sea are those that find they can't fit into a tight knit community. They include both mice invited to the island but who disposition can't cope with too many mice, and those born on the island who find it difficult to fit in.

The buildings of Small-on-sea are smaller, with many dug into the soil and widely spread with wide gaps between them. Few mice live within the notional borders of the town, instead they tend to live in more natural family groups spread throughout the nearby woods.

The mice that opt to live in or near Small-on-sea tend to be more solitary and self reliant, gruff to strangers and even occasionally aggressive towards strangers. There are families too of rugged mice that prefer the less crowded life. The fact that the town exists shows that as a group they see the benefits of some level of community cooperation but just prefer to spend most of their time away from crowds.

The town does have a contingent of Carlyle Cops that are regularly changed. All of the Cops are given strict hands-off instructions before setting out for Small-on-sea. For new recruits this can sometimes be a challenge as the social norms and attitudes in the town differ so widely from those they are used to in Carlyle.

There are warehouses and stores within the town and the surrounding families often contribute to the community so that in times of need they will have something to fall back on. To most though the town is a place that's necessary, just get goods now and then, but a place they'd rather avoid.

The town is on one of the standard patrol routes of the Mecha Corp and they tend to pass through the town or along the beach in front of it every couple of days. The local Cop contingent are expected to alert the patrol if there are any problems they need to deal with. By tradition, this has become a formal report-process that is mostly carried out for the sake of form and honour. On a number of occasions this has led to real problems when the Cops decided they could handle a problem better suited to the Corp.

Grey-bear and the Weaving Guild

Grey-bear is the head of the weavers guild of Carlyle. She has lead the weaving lessons and allocated mice to weaving duties for the last two years. The "Great Weaving House" in Carlyle produces all of the woven materials used by the Searbay mice.

Everything from the great tents and canopies used for celebration days  right down to the hard wearing sandals used by the miners are produced in the weaving house. The tents themselves are kept on one of the house’s attached storehouses. Other nearby storehouses hold the other woven products until they are needed.

One of the most sought after cloths produced by the Weaving house are the rarely produced silken blankets. These wonderfully warm and soft blankets are given to new mothers to swaddle their pinkies and traditionally they are handed onto the eldest as it comes of age. The reason these are in such short supply is that it is rarely that the silk producing worms appear on the island. Sometimes the Mecha Corp return with a worm or two that they discover while on their patrols, but this is very rare as they have more pressing duties.

As well as producing tents, and clothing, the woven materials of The Great Weaving House are used for other purposes. For instance they produce mats in various sizes. These are used to line tunnels, and for creating the roof of the covered way to the black-stone mine. Also as a platforms for crossing mud, which are used by the down-collectors who work among the water reeds. Surprisingly some of the boatmen use the mats to form the body of their coracles (subsequently sealed).

Inside the weaving house mice work in specific areas each mouse having a specific skill and working on a production line to create one type of item. There are similarities in the way weaving workers are organised to that of the Mecha Corp. They use the term “Paw” to describe a team of product specialists.

C'luin from the outland

C'luin is what is known as an "outland" mouse. That's a mouse not born on Searbay island but born on the mainland. He was discovered by a Mecha Corp patrol wandering the grasslands, injured and starving.

He was carried to island and nursed back to health. His story was all too familiar. His home destroyed, and his family killed by a predator that he didn't even clearly see. His only memory of the attack was of his family screaming as giant paws scraped away the roof to his home, and a giant betoothed maw reaching for him. He does not choose to speak of it.

C'luin fitted into the Carlyle community quickly and without trouble and soon became a trusted and reliable community member. Without prompting he took to leading the collection and processing of wood and grass for the meeting-hall fires. He it often seen out in the wilds of the island collecting bundles for drying and storage.

He has few close friends and uses few words but everyone knows and respects him. He has often paused from his own duties to help another before moving on, without waiting for signs of gratitude. During one winter feast, the community got together to shower him with gifts and other signs of honour and gratitude. He was deeply moved as everyone present could tell, but he he could not speak. In the days that followed, it was noted that he was handing out the gifts he had received but always to those who had a need. Once again proving his grace and wisdom to the community.

The Draydem Scouts

The Draydem scouts is a goup for young mice who find learning of lists difficult and thus are not suited to learning a trade that requires such education. The members of this group instead focus on self-improvement, with speed and agility being foremost. They carry messages as rapidly as possible across Searbay for all manner of reasons.

In the early days of their training to are sent into the wild parts of Searbay island to seek for berries, nuts and other wild foods which are brought back to the store houses. This is not especially  dangerous work, although the squirrels can be a danger if they think some mouse is stealing their horde of nuts. The hawks and eagles that fly over present the main danger to a mouse in the wilds, but that danger is a part of training. It’s during this training that they say the scouts develop their third eye.

“One for the grass, one for the trees, and one for the sky.”

When times are difficult and food hard to come by, the scouts venture to mainland in search of food. This tends to only happen in the very worst of years as the commune works very hard to remain self-sufficient. Such expeditions are strictly carried out in small working parties each with a member of the Mecha Corp along to offer protection. This is extremely dangerous work and members of the Draydem scouts are honored for taking part.

Many young mice that have passed through the scouts have gone on to join the Mecha Corp or Carlyle police when they come of age. Those that don’t take that route often go onto the other more physical careers such as farming, mining and boating.

Black-face Wire Works

Black-stone

The Black-face wire works in Carlyle is one of the larger manufactory buildings in the city. The output of the enterprise is a vital constituent in many of the electronic devices produced in the city. However it's primary reason for existing is to provide the delicate wiring needed for the construction of the Power Suits for the Mech Core.

The building runs from the top of a hill to its base in an odd long thin building. The red-dirt and the black-stone go into the building at the top. Wire comes out of the doors at the bottom.  Thirty mice work inside the building  as many again work outside constantly shifting the red-dirt and black-stone from the docks up to the top of the hill.

Those inside always emerge from a work shift with faces blackened by dust and sometimes burned, and a season never passes without some poor mouse being lost to accident within the walls.

The pounding of hammers during the working times acts as signal to the nearby school mice that they must learn hard and fast and that they can only rest when the hammers stop.

The beginning of the Carlyle Cops

The cops in Carlyle were formed before the Mecha Corp was ever even conceived, they are the senior service. Their origin is remembered in oral lore and is always tied to the name of Sandy-hole. Sandy-hole was one of the original enlightened ones, those that brought the first communes into being, and it was his decree that formed the first police force.

The communes early days were filled with strife, both that caused by the thousand enemies and that wrought by mice used to self sufficiency and going-it-alone. The adjustment to communal life was hard. For in all of mousekind's history no family had ever helped another, the words of the enlightened were difficult to believe, and so Sandy-hole formed a sacred brotherhood of mice to settle disputes for the betterment of the commune.

The brotherhood's members had to give up their family and act as mediators and yes, even pacifiers when mouse could not agree with mouse. If a mouse could not accept the commune's agreement the brotherhood had the duty of finding them a new homestead and escorting them from the island.

In time, as the generations passed and communal life on Searbay came naturally to its inhabitants, the brotherhood's role changed to that of watch-keeper. Now they are known as the police (or sometimes cops) and they patrol the streets keeping trouble to a minimum, helping those in need, and standing ever ready to protect the city.

Technology on Searbay

With the development of the Mecha, mousekind has reached a peak of technology. However their grasp and usage of technology is very different to that of human kind. When describing the technology of mousedom you can't use easy to use human terms. describing their technology level as "1980s" would be wrong on so many counts as to be highly misleading.
Although the scientists of Searbay have captured and harnessed electricity they uses to which they have put it are varied and do not parallel those of humans. For instance, they have not invented wireless or television, or any form of the distance communication. they've had no need, no drive to do so. With the vast population living within the boundaries of Carlyle there has simply been no need.

They also have never invented the internal combustion engine. The majority of cargo and mouse transportation is still by mouse drawn cart. Although some of the more modern carts do have electrical motors these are generally only used as needed by older mice who struggle to draw their carts.

Electrical powered foundries exist and powered tools and pumps. All of these uses however are relatively new skills and professions. There is no overriding commercial wish to replace traditional mouse work and roles with machines. Such things have been proposed but is always answered with:

"But what would the mouse do when he has no role?"

Although goods are bartered, the mouse mentality is not of the capitalist brand. Always they think of what they need, or the community needs, rather then what they want on a whim.

All in all, the invention of means to harness electricity has been a boon to the lives of all mice but its implementation has been small compared to that of humans.