Grim Views

Ok! Year one has gone, so it's all yours Araun. Let me know how you want me to send the file to you.

~Quiz

Dwarves: 17
Done: plump helmet farm, kitchen, stills, lumber stockpiles, refuse, pasture, bedrooms, meeting hall, bookkeeper + office.

Needs doing: more rock pots for booze, more stone crafts for caravans, access to volcano/forges, cabinets and coffers for bedrooms, more tables and chairs for meeting hall, wall around pasture. (pray another mason/stonecrafter comes in a migrant wave), mining copper, tetra, obsidian.

Requested from next caravan: iron, flux

Quiz’s Log, 1 Granite 126
We arrived today at the site ordered to us by Her Majesty Queen Agebell, wise ruler of Urvad Tirist under the mountain. I had never left the mountainhome before, and was unsure of what to expect. From what our leader, Zulban, tells us, we are simply expanding the queen’s territory. We are not far from the mountainhome at all, simply establishing a trading post on the western edge of the Point of Orders, though more commonly known as the World’s Spine. The one mountain range spanned the entire known world, from the deserts to the south to the glaciers to the north, the mountains stood above it all. Our orders were to claim the great western volcano, The Loyal Rage. We hoped that the name proved to not be an irony. As we cleared the final peak on our journey west, an incredible sight beheld us.
The volcano itself was a cliff face! We saw the open chamber of magma, staring with its red eye up towards the sky. Only a few steps to the north of the crater the mountainside dropped away to a perfectly flat grassland. It was lightly wooded, and had a few pools to offer water, as if we’d let things get so bad.
Zulban seemed to approve of the lowlands, and ordered the wagon down the cliff side. It was rough going, as the horses didn’t wish to fall to their doom, and to be honest, neither did I. I was a dwarf of the earth, tilling fields, brewing beer; hanging from the side of a cliff was not something I wished to experience. Yet the order was given, and down we went.
Upon reaching the sandy ground, the wagon was laid to rest and the horses released. The other animals we brought on our journey were happy to be free again, and set about exploring the grasses for food and game. Zulban hefted her pick, smiling at the face of the cliffs, “A whole pillar of magma stands just to the south of this rock, a blessing from Armok, certainly. Yet we cannot forget what dangers await us here, as we are the first of Urvad Tirist to breach the west.” A look of concentration passed over her face, and as she tends to do when thinking, Zulban began to tug at one of the folds of fat that hung from her… generous frame, her tongue passing over her lips (likely thinking of a tasty snack), “I name this Fortress after what we expect from it: Vusharoth Rash, or the Hotmagic of Death in the ould tongue. STRIKE THE EARTH!” And with those words, her pick rose, swiftly and efficiently striking into the mountainside.
We had arrived.

Head on over to the Dwarf Fortress File Depot:

http://dffd.wimbli.com/index.php

Registration is quick, and then you can upload the save directory as a .zip.

Not getting the verification email to upload the map. Sent a help request to the site admin (yes I spelled my email addy correctly).

Actually, I don't seem to be getting the verification email from them either. Hrmph. I'll just PM you my email address while we work out whatever is wrong with DFFD.

Testing to see if I can post here properly again.

EDIT: I can!

{ Excerpts from the Journal of Araun Rigothkegeth, Forgemaster. }

1st Granite, 127:

Vusharoth Rash! You can see the volcano that towers over this place for miles - even in the mountainhomes, this place is well-known. And now, finally, the Queen has seen fit to claim it - seven dwarves were sent last year to start a colony, and with little more than some picks and good old dwarven ingenuity, they managed to survive long enough to send stonecrafts home with the trade caravan.

So the Queen sent me, her finest Forgemaster - at least, that's what my official letter of introduction says, though in truth I suspect I am the smith she would most like to see caught in a cataclysmic eruption. Something about minting a few coins with her bust on the reverse. And I'm not talking about one of those pretty profiles of her face.

My job is to tap the volcano for sweet, precious magma, and start the forges roaring for the greater glory of Queen Agebell. It's risky - for the miners, anyway, I intend to be sitting in the manager's office with my feet up for the dangerous parts - but the rewards can be great. Especially since I'm told these lands are likely to be rich in gold.

After a long trip, I am finally here, with a group of others (including a soapmaker; I'm not sure what he expects to be doing out here, I hope he likes hauling gold ore around). And - is that a pile of bones out front?

Yes. Yes it is a pile of bones. Goat bones. And walking in the front door takes you directly into a storeroom. Well, they told me Overseer Yellglazed was a straightforward sort, I guess they weren't kidding. Still, I'll have to give some thought to a more fortified entrance. The goblins will be coming for our gold, and I don't intend to make it easy on them.

The rest of the fortress is laid out in a blessedly organized pattern of squares; it doesn't take me long to get familiar.

I'll hand my papers to the manager. I've got one year to get the forges running. This should be an easy assignment.

{ An addition, scrawled in the margin years later: "Nice work tempting fate there, genius." }

(( Starting my turn, hopefully I'll be able to get through it tonight. It's kind of eerie that Aquizit lays out his fortress in roughly the same pattern I do. ))

12th Granite,

The primary products of this area seem to be goats, and things made out of goats. The one they call Quiz keeps producing culinary masterpieces out of whatever goat-chunks he can find.



Mmm, good, stick-to-your-ribs dwarven food.

14th Granite,

Officially, there is no manager - I'm not filling out all this bloody paperwork myself! I've told the bookkeeper he's pulling double-duty, and if there's any lip, the magma ducts will mysteriously route right through his bedroom.

27th Granite,

Arel's earthy beard! At first I thought we were being invaded, but no, it's just a group of 21 settlers. Who told these people about this place? Where am I going to fit them all? Time to expand the dormitory level, I suppose. Someone had better get cracking on bed-creating-related paperwork. At least the previous overseer left me a lot of wood to work with.

I won't let this distract from digging out the simple ductwork for the magma forges, though. The new guys can sleep on the floor until that is done. With the lumps of rock.

29 Granite,

Doctors, carpenters, weavers - I'm surprised at the competency of these new arrivals. This may not be such a bad thing after all. I've asked Quiz to start raising a crop of pig tails; we've got the dwarves to start making cloth, we might as well make use of their talents.

14th Slate,

There's a pasture. It's full of birds and things. This is honestly so far outside my expertise I don't know what to do with it. There's a wall around it now. I'm sure someone else is handling everything else.

Don't go in there, the walls just make the clucking and squeaking and whatever echo and - and it's a little bit what I think Hell must be like.

Oh look, goat for dinner. Again.

21st Slate,

Tekkud Paintsilver started babbling about boggart shoes and ran off to the jeweler's workshop. He grabbed a pile of rose quartzes and is now doing... something. I have no idea what he's making in there but I know one thing: it's gonna be pink.

26th Slate,

Oh look, I was right:



There's something about it that just seems a little ... lewd. I can't put my finger on it. Oh well, Tekkud seems to have learned something from it.

(( More later, dinner now. ))

21st Felsite,

Cabinets are done! At last, a place to put my socks. Placing these in the bedrooms should give the fortress inhabitants something more constructive to do than stand around, drink wine, and watch the mules they brought wither and die.

One of them brought a pair of reindeer calves. Why? Why would you do that? Why would you bring a reindeer all the way to a volcano, and then leave it in a corner of an underground room, in the darkness, while you guzzle down all of my goddamn wine?

I originally ordered them slaughtered, as a kindness, but then I decided - no. No, these reindeer will live. They will thrive. I shall raise a majestic herd of reindeer, in the shadow of a flaming mountain, and you little bastards will spend the rest of your days shoveling noble reindeer crap and maybe, just maybe, you will learn the important lesson: YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST GOT A DOG.

Speaking of the wine, I had the farms split up and got Quiz to plant some different brewable plants, so we can have a bit of variety in our drinks. If we ever get another farmer, I think some above-ground plants are in order; it's not very dwarven, but I developed a taste for strawberry wine during my time with -

- and I've just been told the elves are here. Glorious. Because I need little wooden flutes today. They complained that they couldn't get to the trade depot because there was a tree in the way, so I cut it down. I wonder if they appreciate the irony.

22nd Felsite

I traded almost all our rock crafts for an elephant. I couldn't help it, there was something... terrifying about it. Awe-inspiring.

Also, it's made of meat and isn't a goat.

25th Hematite

Magma is flowing into the ducts, we should have the forges up and running soon, assuming I can get the clutter cleared out of the area. The miners are a bit distracted with digging out the morg-- uh, "hospital".

More migrants. A pair of fishermen came this time. You're welcome to try your luck in the tiny ponds outside, gentlemen, just don't be surprised when you get locked outside during the first goblin attack.

11th Galena

The first smelter is online! I can smell hot gold already. My forge is taking a little longer since people keep insisting on carrying chunks of rock through it and I can't get anything done. Still, soon! Soon my work will be complete! And then I can turn my attention to other things. Like digging out some of this obsidian so we can have some fine glossy obsidian furnishings.

15th Galena

GET OUT OF MY DAMN WORKSHOP. Next task: get doors put on this thing. There is a perfectly good hallway right outside! I built it so you could use it! I -

- damn, the humans are here. I'd hoped to have some gold to trade them by now. Oh well, hopefully they like masterfully minced goat brains.

1st Limestone

And the forge is complete. My first creation was a rather nice gold ring - good to see my skills haven't completely atrophied. My next was a golden sarcophagus. Why? Because I know damn well Queen Agebell isn't going to let me return to the mountainhomes even after my tour of duty is finished here. I know how it will go. "Your skills are invaluable in the field," the letter will say, "the kingdom is best served by you staying where you are."

So I'm going to dig in deep here and make sure I can retire and, someday, be buried in style.

2nd Limestone

While looking through the statues to pick out some nice ones for my tomb, I found this:



Going to have a bit of a chat with Tulon, I think. It's going down in the tomb level, of course, because it's horrible to behold and that's what I want in a necropolis, but something is wrong with that boy.

3rd Limestone,

Girl. Tulon is a girl's name. The name of a chubby, nervous, shy girl who apparently worships The Sufferer and felt the statue a fitting tribute to the god of death. Well, at least she's not some kind of mad cultist. Or not obviously one, anyway.

5th Sandstone,

All of a sudden, Reg Idgeb made an artifact scepter, decorated with werewolves and a scene of a goblin killing a dwarf. I'm starting to worry something is going on here. I'm stepping up booze production and hoping it just handles itself.

The last two products of our sculptors were a statue of a hydra, and one of a forgotten beast. Maybe I can put them over the gate to scare off bad spirits or something.

13th Sandstone,

The elephant I bought starved to death. I probably should've remembered to have it killed. This probably cancels out whatever good luck I earned from saving those reindeer. Oh well.

2nd Timber,

More creepy statues from Tulon - another one of the god of death, and then one of the manager, Ushrir ... "embracing a sand fiend". I had to ask about this one, and when pressed Ushrir admitted that she did have a thing for sand fiends. She claimed she'd never met one, and just liked the stories. Well, it takes all kinds, I guess.

I'm locking my door at night now, though. I'm starting to think this fortress is less about forging gold as it is about the Queen purging the mountainhome of certain undesirables.

Also I put the statue in Ushrir's office, just to cheer her up.

4th Timber,

Some more immigrants - nobody interesting, but not an overwhelming number. I've put them on the job of gathering up all the bones from outside and bringing them inside. This should mean fewer trips outdoors for everyone.

Also, that pile of goat skulls is seriously creepy.

2nd Moonstone,

Tulon gave birth to a girl! Guess she wasn't chubby, just pregnant. Now I feel embarassed. I didn't even know she was married (to one of the farmers, no less - how come a death-worshipping sculptor can find love but I, one of the greatest minds of my generation, am still single?).

Also, our traders from the capital are here. I intend to offload as many gold rings on them as I can, just so the Queen knows I succeeded at her little suicide mission. Exile me to die on the slopes of a volcano, will you? How about I make myself a solid gold desk and then kick back to smoke a cigar and drink a mug of beer as big as my head? Here, have some more goddamn gold rings, I don't need them, there's enough gold in this mountain to make a thousand more!

Humourless bitch. Those coins were hilarious, and anyway I made your tits look fabulous.

20th Moonstone,

Well, the liaison from the capital is here, and guess what? I may have succeeded, but my time is up at the end of this year; the Queen has appointed someone else to take over - I haven't been told who, yet. And I'm instructed to stay behind to "oversee the forges" because of my "invaluable skills" and blah blah blah nobletalk. Apparently nobody is to have control of this place for any longer than a year. I find that suspicious, but it doesn't matter; I'm dug in, the food is good and the booze flows freely. The dwarves are happy, if ... unusual ... and I've got more craft material to work with than I can use up in a lifetime. Vusharoth Rash is my home now, and that suits me just fine.

15th Opal,

Hunting and fishing seasons are over, so I've sealed the entrance to the fortress for the winter, just to be safe. Been doing some mining above and below the fortress, looking for more gold. Found some aluminum - not sure what we'll do with it. Rare stuff, very valuable, but not much to look at.

I'm being told that Tulon's farmer husband just got up in the middle of a party and marched off to the machine shop. He's grabbing rocks, leather, blocks, all sorts of things. Tulon says that he's "walking wrong" and that's not her husband. I wonder what kind of spirit's got him.

10th Obsidian,

Looks like the god of fire gently stroked his brain for a bit:



I saw it, and I have to admit it's a pretty badass mechanism. I don't know what we're going to do with it, but it should involve swords.

1st Granite, 128

Well, my time is done. I'm sitting here in my quarters, waiting to hear from the expedition leader about who has been selected to oversee us for the next year. I've got rum, a cigar, and a solid gold goddamn chair. Life is good in Hotmagic.

(( We need a military next; I didn't get any steel or iron until the dwarf caravan showed up, and even then not much. The obsidian could make some nice swords, though, and I bought a steel helm. Front gate is sealed with a drawbridge, so nothing can get in or out at the moment.

DFFD is still not working and I can't seem to attach the file to the thread... Yemana, do you have a preferred way of receiving the file? ))

In theory the file is now (or will shortly be available) here:

https://spideroak.com/browse/share/Arau ... en_agebell

Good stuff. Downloaded it and took a look, looks great!

Araun, congratulations - your guy got a mood and created Ozonleshal Gosmerdal ("Depressedmourned the Umbral Greed", in the common tongue), a gold toy boat.

"It is encrusted with pyrite and dacite and encircled with bands of maple. This object is adorned with hanging rings of groundhog leather and menaces with spikes of gold. On the item is an image of a mangrove in groundhog leather." Retail value: 79,200 monies.

Great, I'm a Santa Elf. And I'm already a legendary metalcrafter, so that was a total waste of an artifact.

Oh well, at least Tulon's daughter gets to be totally spoiled, what with her childhood toys being worth more than a mountain of gold coins.

Hey, Pincus McSlowass, what's the holdup?

Screaming kid, work deadlines, and an asston of business travel with no laptop.

Someone take over my year. I got halfway through then DF decided to eat the save game.