Dwarf Fortress story part 4: Death and nobility
The human caravan arrived. At least they can bring something useful, unlike those pitiful elves. In their footsteps we got once again a new group if migrants. We have stopped counting already, there are over 50 of us already. We don't have enough beds and room, neither do we have food. We'll have to trade for some food and seeds with the humans.. however their seeds are for plants which grow on the ground. We don't have any experience on those! Should our farmers be under the big blue sky, with no protection from beasts and goblins?
Bah.
We are in a hopeless position.
èzum managed to trade for few bins of leather and a load of food. Our dwarves need to be protected even one some level when we are attacked the next time. Cilob promised we'd be prepared for almost anything and now we are planning and underground water storage with a well, hospital improvements, use of guard dogs.. some say Cilob is going overboard. However I truly believe she doesn't want to let anyone die, not under her watch.
Ast, not the wounded Ast though, gave birth to a baby! What a happy day to our fortress. We all celebrated, we didn't feel shadowed by the wound the other Ast had suffered. He was doing fine, his wound was healing and we was participating in combat drills.
Training does good to your body and your mind. It will keep you alive.
Ustuth the farmer started acting strange too. He marched in leatherworks we were producing leather armors in and started gathering leather. As far as his wife knew, he had no experience in leathercrafts but there he was, cutting and sewing some leather together to create... something.
It was raining.
He came back from the workshop, covered in sweat and tears.. and held up Taremconngim, a elephant seal leather helm. It was beautiful.
We had been preparing our underground water reserve and at one point we noticed.. that one of the miners, Ast (once again a new Ast) had been missing for a week. Cilob sent a squad to look for Ast to know what had happened and we all feared for the worst. It's rare for a dwarf to be found after such a long time.
And that's where we found Ast... died up in thirst. Nobody knows what had happened. Nothing had prepared us for this, as we had just found joy from life of Ast, who survived getting stabbed in the leg! Now this.. dying in thirst?
That's no way to die.
Dwarvish caravan arrived. No news from the world, goods were fine as ever. We asked for more steel and they promised to bring it to us.
We had finished the pathway for the water from a nearby lake to our underwater reservoir. The water, however, started to carry along with remains of the Ast who had gone missing. We weren't able to get them back from the cave and now water was carrying the things and.. some kind of miasma around the cave.
As horrid it was, we picked the rotting corpse and carried Ast to the grave. Now Ast rests in the eternal sleep in the depths of our Fortress.
The Mayor
As the next wave of migrants arrived we had finally reached the point we could feel like a real, bustling community. We had a vote to choose a mayor for us and Cilob was sure of her victory. However the new mayor was a ranger called Dîshmab Shorastbufut. It was a surprise for us, but however it was.. not a surprise. We had been here for as long as the fortress had existed. We had waves and waves of newcomers joining us and we had been in the power for as long as we can remember.
However the others wanted to change this. This is no kingdom of ours, we can't stay in the power forever.
On the bottom, you can see the small hospital area. On the top right, you can see the mayors rooms, filled with fancy engravings
Here you can see two descriptions of some of the engravings on the floors of the mayors room.
The new mayor started to require things for her. An office, decent quarters and a dining room. Chests, cabinets and such. We were already missing the time when Cilob lead us, as she settled for less. Yes she loved to stay in power, yes she made bad decisions but now we feel like all that is in past. Our new mayor will keep on making more and more decisions, more and more requirements and tire us all out in the hopes of a better fortress and a better life for her.
As her first command, Dîshmab commanded us to build a wall. Not the greatest wall world has ever seen, but a wall to keep the goblins out. She placed a dog in front of stairs down in our fortress to sniff out all the thieves who may enter.
Now the wall rises. Keeping us alive, saving us from the evils of the world. Walls are stronger than dwarves and we can hide from the world, dig into the ground and find our fortunes from there. We don't need anyone else as much as others want all what we own.
This is the start of our age. As a fortress and a dwarven people, we will leave our mark in the world.
Dwarf Fortress Story part 3: Silver and bones
Dwarf Fortress story - Part 2: Winter is coming
Dwarf Fortress story: The Defects of the Flesh
Would be cool if they had an image converter. Like if you took screen shot and dropped it in, it would change the symbols into "what they are".
To be honest.. they have different applications to do that, I just prefer not to use them. could take some "eye opening screenshots" of them if they still run on the current version. :)
Let's try on next post!