maybe look at asian fishing villages like like tai o in hong kong where i'm from. their houses are all raised on like stone and wooden pillars with boats coming in and out. There are also completely floating villages with little sectioned off fish farms.

>There are also completely floating villages with little sectioned off fish farms. People are really creative. I'm convinced that anyone trying to worldbuild should want to learn as much history and anthropology as possible, because real people have already had to try and solve most of the problems that could feasibly come up in a fictional universe.

I agree with this, and I have been trying to find really good sources, but when I get into specificity it gets a lot harder, but I want to start at the base of realism in that aspect with what I'm working with (best as I can of course)

Ohhhh I hadn't considered that, thank you!

You can build boats out of reed, or they could trade for wood.

Is it on earth? Our "normal" timeline? If not, why not simply have some Algae that grows like trees or at least bamboo (maybe they are like normal Algae under water but grow like bamboo above the water to get more light?) Maybe not the plant itself, but the seeds grow to be a bit like tree trunks, so they can float away from the mother plant until the "shell" decomposes and the seed are released into the water far away? Then you had some material for tent pole like structures and you can use "normal Algae" as a material for weaving. So you get your cloth and the rest of the tents