This is true. What little I had he trashed while lying in wait for me to come back from fishing. And lying in wait to see if I made a toon inherit the claim (which I foolishly did

). I'm thinking I may just start over completely from scratch and give up on that claim since I'd only been playing a week. (Not solely based on tonight's events; I'd seen him coming by the claim several times before, but I always got scared and ran inside to log out since he had looked considerably more powerful. I think he'll keep coming around.)
Anyway I was at -103, -51. He killed me inside the house.
For starting over do you recommend looking for going hermit again or looking for a village? I was playing solo mainly to learn the ropes of the game, assuming that villages would want players who know what they're doing. However I'm feeling a little bit soured on the idea of hermiting now.
Lastly, will that claim go away ever if I create an entirely new character and don't choose to inherit the claim? I think he might have had a claim abutting mine and if it'll annoy him I'd like it to stay right where it is.