Spring/Summer 251

Diary of Risen Idenadas, Leader of the Crazy Ships.

I think I can sum up this expedition with five words:  somebody had to do it.  We had gotten into the habit of meeting every fortnight to moan about how the days of adventure were dead, and it had become a running joke that complaint-hearer was my part time job.  And then...things got out of hand.  Now I'll have to stay on top of this mud slide and keep these crazy loons (I'm including myself) alive, Inod preserve us.   Zaneg works(ed) with the queen, you see, and she came to our meeting all excited that our expedition was approved!  Oh gods.  It's been a while since any of us was "brave" enough to found a new city, so we were given a wagon, two yaks, and keys to the larder.

We arrived safely in the middle of nowhere.   Haha!  Our elven neighbors were "kind" enough to give us an armed escort across their territory, which, on the plus side, got us where we are going.  Er, apparently.  None of us have ever been above-ground, so it blurs together a bit.  What can I say about our new home?  There are...trees, grass, two incredibly pathetic hills, and a brook.  So...standard above-ground stuff?  Maybe?

The first problem was, well, the first thing you do is dig into a mountain, right?  That was out, so we argued back and forth about building a human-type walled city while the rain came down over and over on our heads from that awful yawning void called the sky.  We found that we could build a wall of approximately dwarf height, but any higher than that tended to end up on our heads.  Obok suggested we could just all crouch down if the goblins arrived, but then Ustuth pointed out that there were walls everywhere--we just had to remove some dirt to reveal them.  So it was decided.  We would dig a big square hole straight down to bedrock, then branch out from there.

I quickly made up a list for everyone to start working.  Obok was to gather wood, Zasit would train the hounds for war, Zaneg and Ustuth was start tunneling, and I would start making gears and cogs.  Asmel and Edzul were assigned to guard the wagon.  Now that everyone had a job, we set to it, and immediately everything went haywire.

First of all, "mistakes were made," and we tunneled into a small pool.  The miners persevered, however, despite the damp conditions.  I only hope that we will not have drainage problems later.  Obok, determined to make up for the unfortuante wooden wall situation, started murdering trees with a vengence.  Logs were spewing everywhere.  Zasit quickly finished training the dogs and has asked if he can comb the local plant life for edible parts.  I'm skeptical that anything edible can grow on the sun-scorched surface, but he is determined to try.  I okayed it.  He has also somehow found time to fish.

UPDATE:  More "mistakes were made."  Our dear miners carved out a staircase alright, and then proceeded to mine out from under it.  We constructed some emergency stairs to excavate them and will have to rethink our entrance plans.  (A scrawled note:  this proved not too difficult.  We now have a nice ramp down to the bottom of our muddy hole.  We only hope that the partial staircase in one wall with not facillitate enemy entry into the fort should such things come to it.)  We are now fairly exhausted, but Obok found time to make us all beds, and Ustuth scraped together a few tables, so at least we can say we are officially underground.  Obok has also ringed our hole with a hazelwood fence as tall as we can safely make it.  Asmel and Edzul have constructed a plump helmet plot in the soft dirt to the side of our hole and are investigating planting some of the "items" that Zasit has brought back for inspection.

In other news, the dogs have killed a veritable army of badgers that marched towards us.  I am infinitely glad we have them.  We have been told to expect a resupply caravan in the fall.  Our next task is scrambling together something to trade.

The Jack-of-All Trades

Copyright:  Me

Finally, we have Zasit Zongeb, the only thin dwarf in the fortress.  He has brown skin and chestnut hair, with double-braided beard, mustache, and sideburns, but I have to say his distinguishing characteristic is that he is "absolutely without empathy."  So, I gave him all the creepy jobs, such as Fish Dissector, but after a moment of sympathy I gave him the Animal Training job.  Perhaps he gets along better with animals than people.  He does, after all, "like red pandas for their large striped tails," hopefully not worn as a scarf.

The Cook

Copyright:  Me

Asmel Sather is our other farmer and, more importantly, the Cook.  According to her description, she never forgives or forgets and she likes to present an extravagant and magnificent appearance to the world.  Like all the other dwarves, she is fat with slate blue eyes and chestnut hair, but she has ecru skin.  Ecru?!  (That was weird to draw.)  She also has extraordinarily large irises.  Okay...I'm thinking she's probably a shape-shifter or a pod person.  That's why she has to "present an appearance to the world" at all.  Yep.

I'm almost out of dwarves to draw, which means that, alas, I'll actually have to start playing the game.

The Brewer

Copyright:  Me

Edzul Astenshal is one of our dual-duty farmers.  Her real passion, of course, is Brewing.  She dreams of creating a work of art and occasionally overindulges, making her the stereotypical home brewer.  Like every other female in the fort, she is fat.  She has burnt umber skin and dark chestnut hair.  She has the characteristic slate blue eyes of her civ.  I wasn't quite sure how to interpret this trait--her hair and eyebrows are both "extremely dense."  I guess this means her hair is so thick it stands up on its own if you cut it off.  I can relate.  She has "very long" hair that is braided.

Our Carpenter

Copyright:  Me

Obok Sazirkordam is our carpenter and woodcutter.  She is muscular but fat, has long dark chestnut hair in a pony tail and has copper skin.  She dreams of starting a family and would fight to guarantee her independence.  This is probably why she came on this crazy trip.  She's not very good with socializing, so we'll see if she is able to find a spouse to start a family with.  She likes bronze, sapphire, and rambutan wine.  She hates jumping spiders.  (Who doesn't?)

Ustuth

Copyright:  Me

Next we have Ustuth Cattenumer, Proficient Miner and Skilled Mason.  Ustuth hates socializing, work, sacrifice, the opinions of others, and romance.  Those things pretty much sum up the life of a dwarf, so I like to think she probably has a bit of an eye twitch.  She is fat and bald with a long convex nose, bulbous eyes,  and light brown skin.

Location, Two Dwarves

Our parent Civilization is located here:

Source:  Legends Viewer

We are in red.  To the left is a blue Dark Human/Goblin civilization.  To the south is a Human Civilization, to the East an Elvish civilization, and to the north the outskirts of another dwarven civ.  We are embarking to the north on the far side of the elves.  Hopefully they will provide a buffer zone between us and the goblins.

Source:  Dwarf Fortress with Spacefox_16x16 tileset

We name our outpost "Amithsarvesh," AKA Delightfurnace.  Our little expedition party is Dibeshzuglar, AKA The Crazy Ships.  We set off with two picks, an axe, an anvil, a small packet of each kind of seed known to our kind, 120 quarts of diverse spirits, and a barrel apiece of many different meats.  I choose the meats with the criteria:  A.  cheapness and B.  weirdness.  So we have kingsnake, wolverine, naked mole dog, aardvark, two-humped camel, and many other weird meats.  I also bought 24 citron logs to found our outpost.  We brought seven dwarves, three dogs, three cats, and five peacocks.  Our parent civilization saw us off with a sturdy wagon and two oxen to pull it.

We are led by Risen Idenadas, a "short, sturdy creature" with "a very good feel for social relationships," "an ability to read emotions fairly well," and "a way with words."  He values tranquility and quiet and respects the law.  Likes:  Conglomerate, Sterling Silver, Diamond, Aye-Aye Leather, Llama Wool, Flax, Spears, Shields, Quivers, Weapon Racks, and Badger Men (for their underground communities).  Favorite Beer:  Foxtail Millet.  Favorite Food:  Pomelos.  Hates:  Brown Recluse Spiders.

Copyright:  Me

Risen is a Competent Mechanic and a Novice in various Administrative and Social Skills.  He has an "angular chin" with a "medium-length" beard in double braids.  He has "dark tan" skin and "chestnut" hair (but none on his head).

One of our miners is Zaneg Tulonabir.  She is also a Skilled Stone Crafter.

Copyright:  Me

 Zaneg was chosen for her dream of mastering a skill and "a feel for the surrounding space."  She will quickly become a legendarily-fast miner, and her stone crafting skills will also soon be mastered.  She is described as "fat," and her "very long hair is braided."  She has "low cheekbones" and a "short head."  I think she manages to pull it off well.  She has "light brown" skin and "dark chestnut" hair.

We'll look at a few other dwarves next time.

Our Parent Civilization

So I start up Dwarf Fortress and generate a new world.  It is only 250 years old but already thousands have lived and died there.  I take a quick glance at the statistics and find that battle deaths outnumber deaths from old age.  Sounds like Dwarf Fortress.

(Picture generated by LegendsViewer, a stand-alone Dwarf Fortress utility, abbreviated hereafter as LV.)

Using the Legends Viewer, I consider each of the eight dwarf civilizations on the world.  I like the sound of the Mechanical Banners.  They are a thriving civilization in the temperate zone.  Unlike the other civilizations, they have never been conquered by the goblins, although I must admit that their history has gone a bit stagnant.  They haven't built a new town in over 100 years.

Source:  LV

Their young Queen is a stonecrafter who dreams of creating a masterwork.  I hope to found a new thriving dwarven metropolis that will eventually attract her and allow her to work in peace.  But the critical piece of information decided me on this civilization is their deity list:

Source:  LV

Our mountain deity is a bobcat, and our liminal moon deity is a bumblebee.  (The bobcat is male, but the bumblebee is unspecified).  Also we have the Rouge Deity of Satin "The Father" in charge of family and marriage.  "The Father" is female as are the other deities, except for Ral, God of Jewels and Wealth.  Interesting...

Next time we'll look at siting our new fortress.