Usually, when we set a villager to a task, like Researching, building, etc., he/she will stay at that (assuming he is trained and not TOO lazy) even if you quit the game and come back to it later... or if you switch from one Tribe to another.

One exception to that is the relatively short job of starting a fire. It seems that if a villager, let's say an adept scientist, is set to making a fire... any of the three tasks required for that... and then you switch to another tribe, the task you set him to do is not done and he/she is back to his ordinary duties, say researching.

Are there any other things that for sure the villagers will not continue with when you leave the village?

Jer

Incoming fire has the right of way.