Public Work Crews—Serving is a Genuine Honor

In Nenmaran society, being called into public service is a genuine honor. All Nenmaran adult men and women, regardless of social rank, are on a roster in their village or city to serve on what are known as "citizen work crews." From a human perspective this would appear to be an extreme communal arrangement—it could be properly called "communal," but it's in no way communistic in the sense of forced servitude.

Nenmarans are an enterprising people, most operating their own business or plying a skilled craft from their homes. They all instinctively realize that their streets, utilities, and fimmen industry all require labor—and they provide that labor directly themselves, thus cleverly obviating any need for a large government or tax structure.

Management tasks, all of which could be done by one person or each done by a different person, are as follows:

• Keep a roster of when it's time for each person to serve on a work crew (much like a human first sergeant would, but not in a military context).
• Supervise the labor and logistics of paved street construction and maintenance.
• Supervise the labor and logistics of water and sewer line construction and maintenance.
• Supervise the labor and logistics of obtaining the type of stones needed from the quarry, and transporting them to where they will be used.
• Supervise the labor and logistics of operating the fimmen press, primarily ensuring there are enough people in the top container at all times mashing the fimmen bark with their feet. The fimmen press supervisor usually is the person skilled in manufacturing the products made from fimmen sap, and sometimes also the manufacture of moccasins from the squeezed out bark.

No one's social status is threatened by serving on the work crews—from the Nenmaran perspective, it actually enhances one's status and respect.