ar'atouldian and the empire are very far from what most people would call safe zones with giant piles of mobs all around.

Personally I think the village is one of the least safe places to be after thirsting but thats just a result of my decade plus experience playing dozens of villagers. Thirst is just too easy to exploit by enemies to kill you (the villager) to justify using it most of the time. Anyone who can use thirst a lot and do so without dieing half the time deserves a big thumbs up in my book.