Where are villages usually placed?

Question

Do villages always live next to or near mountains? I live in a country where villages are still around, however the only ones I know off are placed near mountains. My intention is to:

1. Write a village that would be set ablaze only for one survivor to come into the story and try to find another place safe to live in.
2. A village that is cursed; I thought of making it in a remote island since it would make sense to make the village cursed and isolated.

However the second idea made me a little not sure, since if I'm placing it on a cursed island, how would outside forces come in and help remove the curse of the village.

Answer 1

If we take a look from history....

1. Settlements are usually placed near a river or any other viable water sources.
2. If the place has natural resources, its inhabitants would be the one that exploit them.
3. The place can be a good point for trade. Perhaps a rest place along a trade route, a nice area to port into, or a meeting way between two or more trade routes.

If we look through you question, you want the place to be:

1.) Abandoned through a raid.

2.) Cursed and isolated.

1. For the first question :

• We need to answer the question of why your village was/is being raided. It could be that there is an invading army doing the raiding, or some barbarians from another land raiding, or even a combination or middle ground between the two.
• Make your village near a sea or river coastway if the raider's mainly use water to move (this was the case in the viking raid scenario) or place them in a mountainside near a plain, like in china and the balkans where the raiders are often horse riding nomads.
• If your village was raided because of an invading army, place them through the pathway of the army itself. Perhaps the village was in the way to a needed city or town to conquer, or perhaps the village in itself contains a thing or resource the invaders wanted.

2. For the second question :

• Firstly, for the place to be cursed, we need to determine why it was cursed. Perhaps it was said to be so. Maybe it was cursed because a tragedy happened to the area. Or maybe because the area near the village was cursed

• The first : It was said so; maybe the curse was a hearsay did by the people around because of its isolated-ness. Maybe a rival village caused the curse. Or maybe it's because of other reasons.

• The second : Because a tragedy; this can happen if something terrible happened to the village. Maybe a plague hit them hard, or because... it was raided pretty hard.

• The third : Because of the area; if perhaps the area around the village was dangerous, the rumors can spread that the village was cursed. Maybe it is hard to pass a forest or the sea or a river on the way of village. Or because there is a toxin around the area of the village.

• Secondly, why the village was isolated. I give you many reasons here : because it wasn't before, because it is on an island, because it was tribal, because of religious reason, because of a resources, because they were refugees, or because... it was just there.

• First, it wasn't before. It could be because of a natural disaster. It could be because the village isn't as easily reachable as it was before, making them isolated.

• Second, because it was in an island. More often than not, fishing villages or sea nomads reside on islands, then become isolated because of distance.

• Third, because it was tribal. The tribe may be was hostile, leading to its isolation. Or it may be that their forekinds travelled deep into the land.

• Fourth, because of religion. Many cults around the world led their followers deep into isolation.

• Fifth, because of resources. If the isolated area has a resource like gold, silver, or another valuable ore, it could encourage the settlement of the area.

• Sixth, because of refugees. The inhabitants of your village could consist mostly of refugees fleeing for some reason, and they stay isolated to keep themselves safe from what they're running away from.

• Seventh, because... they're just there. Honestly, in this one you could get a lot of freedom. A lot of isolated villages exist in the world, many without a reason for why they are there. I can't honestly say much on this one.

Because of your two premises, I have to draw an interpretation based on that:

Your village was established by a group of refugees during a war on an isolated island. After the war, trade was established and then continued. Because of the island good geography, the inhabitants were able to prosper from trade and business. Unfortunately, because of their richness, they became the target of a raid from a foreign, viking-like people. The raid was terrible, as it left only one survivor alive. Afterwards, the island was said to be ghosted and cursed by the Spirits of the dead islanders.

That's all I can say. Peace.

Answer 2

Coastal Towns

In Ireland, we have loads of towns far from the mountains. Many are on the coast. Each modern town was originally a village or a bunch of villages that joined together. For example start at Dublin and go North you will find:

There are loads more if you keep going North. See for yourself!