Just wanna be loved...

[Tom H]

There's a village that's a quick walk away from the little lake where I built my cabin. I always keep good relations with villages, never murder Companions, rob their fields. Yet, for some reason, this village considers me a 'nuisance'. The only thing I can think of that might have affected their opinion is the time I entered the village and shortly thereafter a Njerp and his dog attacked the villagers. (He's the reason I went in- to see if he'd attack there)

So, I looted the Njerp, against whom I did nothing in the fighting, and I skinned/butchered his dog. (I'm assuming it was the Njerp's dog because the villagers were fighting it, not one of their own that got hit by them and turned on them) All the fighting and my looting were actually outside the village commons, a few steps into the surrounding woods.

So, I guess my question is, is there some taboo I might have committed that I don't know about? And, Will I be able to change their nasty attitudes with gifts?

[PALU]

Note that the village's domain extends to surrounding tiles that are "cultivated", i.e. fields and grazing grounds (I think there may be additional categories), in which case they may have objections to you looting "their" kills there (while they know about it, which they obviously did in this case).

If it actually was in the woods I don't know, but you did loot their kills (although hunters are supposed to not care if you take the leftovers in the latest additions to the game)...

I'd expect their attitude to improve over time if you do nothing, and faster if you trade with them and perform quests for them (provided they're willing to give you quests, of course). I'd also expect gifts to help, but I've never engaged my characters in gift giving (but usually don't bother to cash in "monetary" quest rewards either).

I know of one way to become an undesirable in the eyes of a single villager: perform a certain quest and then inform a particular individual of your involvement (description intentionally vague, of course), and I never turned that individual around, while the rest of the village was or good terms with that character.

[Tom H]

I've made a first attempt at gifting various villagers with small amounts of smoked meat.

There is one anomaly. There's a single villager, an adventurer, who does NOT have any animosity towards me. It's as though he doesn't really belong there. Do villages get visits from wanderers? Do adventurers count as villagers?

[PALU]

The only "visitors" I've seen are wounded adventurers (which may have healed up beyond giving you a quest: I haven't seen that, but I believe that's the result of a bug fix to an issue where the adventurer was gone when people returned with the item), and "lost in the forest cover" travelers that may hang around for a little while.

In addition to that you have spawned characters such as quest targets, and I don't know if they pick up the general mood or start at neutral.

As far as I've seen village adventurers are just like any other villagers (as opposed to the adventurers you encounter in the wilderness).

[Tom H]

Wow! Now they're telling me they hoped they'd never have to see me again! Wish there was a way to lead bears and Njerps to that village. They're really pissing me off...

[PALU]

Wow! Now they're telling me they hoped they'd never have to see me again! Wish there was a way to lead bears and Njerps to that village. They're really pissing me off...

You can do that, but I don't see why you'd want to donate their meat/gear to them. Just get them to chase your character, but since they'd be breathless by the time they enter the village the only real danger to the villagers are their reckless firing of missiles (and your character can get some of that too: that's happened to my characters when trying to help out [without first leading the Njerp to the village])

[Dungeon Smash]

Maybe they just get the wrong vibe from you?

[Tom H]

Just an update on the local village's hate campaign.

While on a trek recently, I was badly mauled by a bear and almost died from bloodloss. When I finally got back to my settlement, still badly injured, I checked the villages close to me for a Shaman. Wouldn't you know that the only one of the three closest villages to have a Shaman was the place where they hate me.

Nevertheless, I found the guy and when I greeted him I got the usual "unwelcome nuisance" reply. When I asked him to heal me, he told me he didn't want to help me. Man, I really hate this village.

[JEB Davis]

... So, I looted the Njerp, against whom I did nothing in the fighting, and I skinned/butchered his dog. (I'm assuming it was the Njerp's dog because the villagers were fighting it, not one of their own that got hit by them and turned on them) ...

Maybe the key to this is in your assumption. Is it possible the dog was a village dog?
Otherwise, it's still within the realm of what could happen in real life, it seems.

[Dr.Hossa]

This is another example of the intransparent game mechanics.

Thats NOT to meant to be a criticism – in my opinion it is, i'm not kidding, actually displaying the realistic character of the game.

Even if the mechanic in that case was not intended to work out that way, could be some kind of bad luck...
Its hard to decide where a player should immediately get information and feedback from his action. In this game, consequences of player's actions can often be completely unnoticed, just because you are doing a lot of stuff. i mean, like IRL...

Of course, players have to get some kind of feedback, to make wise decisions.
I think there is still some finetuning to do, to see if some random actions produce irrational or even unrealistic("wrong") results ingame. I think that is work on a micro-scale, that can only be done by the devs. And it only pays out if the problem is big enough, because obviously  the bigger problems should have the highest priority.

I can try to deliver some explanation for your particular situation...

1. If there is no evidence for another thing, I really would join JEB Davis in his assumption that the dog had been from the village.

2. Did u skin the dog in front the people or near the village?

3. Could the njerp have looted a dead villager in the fight(e.g. picking up a better weapon), or did he carry arrows that had been shot on him?
To summarize, could there be any items proprietary to the villagers in your posession, perhaps you traded or discarded, or have eaten?

[Tom H]

It was not possible for me to determine the dog's owner because the action all occurred out of my sight, so, there was no detailed account given, just the sounds of fighting. I did say I considered it a possibility that the dog belonged to the village and may have been hit by a friendly arrow.

Yep, I skinned it in front of the gathered survivors of the battle.

 I would not at all be surprised to find that he'd picked up a weapon or arrow belonging to the villagers. I've seen them pick up arrows and javelins that I hit them with, many times in the past. It never occurred to me to wonder about this.

Otoh, typically if one has a possession the villagers consider theirs, they will demand payment before you leave with it. Overall, the village's reaction to me doesn't quite fit with any of the most obvious affronts they might accuse me of. 

[Dr.Hossa]

The last you said, of course is true, but only as long as your "village session" lasts. When you leave the village with unpaid goods, and coming back later, they no longer want the payment, they are just annoyed.

[Galgana]

I don't think the dog should factor at all in your rep.

I saw some wolves enter a village to attack a couple of sheep in the sheepfold. The sheep didn't survive but I killed one wolf, the villagers killed another, and after the fight I skinned and butchered all the dead animals on the spot without incurring bad rep (but my character got frostbitten toes for doing it outside in the middle of winter). One guy died and I left alone the corpse and all his belongings.

[Tom H]

Just followed another Njerp into the Village of Hate...heh. He left a villager badly injured and I got to strip the body again. lol They still hate me but I traded some of the Njerp's items for a net, just to see if it will turn around their attitude.

[Tom H]

Apparently the various gifts had little or no effect but the trade tipped their attitudes. Now they act like normal villagers again. Good thing, too, because a Njerp cut me up and having a nearby Sage might be helpful.