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[fractalman]

oh, yeah, definitely the fabric of reality becoming frayed. 

The menu to actually select a baron never came up for me, so....:shrugs:

Still gonna promote someone new to mayor, since I spent much time hunting down a good candidate via therapist.


-well, we unsealed rhaken's tomb.  well, techincally, a random child went and tried to steel the silver floor material.

rhakens gang...
As best as I can tell, they're partying in rhaken's "tomb".  Hopefully they're also training, but you never know.


..

journal entry: mid-spring.

Roast situation stabalized.  We've got enough rock pots with prepared meals to trade with the elves-I learned my lesson long ago; never trade anything else to the elves, or sawdust WILL get into the goods.
Digging out the new workshop and stockpile space has begun.  magma furnace area is ready, just need to decide how many to make.
mass-engraving begun. 

[Rhaken]

I forgot to mention I designated the armor stand as a barracks so our dear former overseer could train while in isolation. Also, the dump zone is down in his tomb too. It was the quickest way to get the dwarves to haul food and booze down there. I forgot to remove it. And to unforbid the barrels. Glarbl.

As for the textures, I think I figured out how to fix them. Just download vanilla dwarf fortress, and replace the raws folder inside the save with the raws folder from the vanilla game. At least it turned the goblins in the gaol back into g's.

...What? Long dramatic narrative entry? Can't it wait until I sleep?

[Gnorm]

Still gonna promote someone new to mayor, since I spent much time hunting down a good candidate via therapist.

May I direct you to rule number five in the original post for this thread, stating that such implements are prohibited?

[MDFification]

Still gonna promote someone new to mayor, since I spent much time hunting down a good candidate via therapist.

May I direct you to rule number five in the original post for this thread, stating that such implements are prohibited?

Yep. We're saddled with the original UI, as annoying as that may seem. Anyway, fairly sure you can't choose who your mayor is, they get elected by the dwarves.

I'm considering sitting down and figuring out how to assemble a PDF so people can read the entirety of the fort's history after my turn, in case anyone's interested in that. It'll be grammar and canon-corrected. So, in case anyone's planning to take screencaps bigger than conveniently displayable in a PDF, please don't.

[4maskwolf]

That sounds good. Don't forget original Steelhold.

[Gnorm]

I'm considering sitting down and figuring out how to assemble a PDF so people can read the entirety of the fort's history after my turn, in case anyone's interested in that. It'll be grammar and canon-corrected. So, in case anyone's planning to take screencaps bigger than conveniently displayable in a PDF, please don't.

That would be quite a task, as in order to properly enjoy this fort, one needs to read the overseer logs and all the posts in between; the character prologues are also important. Nevertheless, if done correctly it would be an easy way to read the histories of such a fort as this.

[fractalman]

:blinks:
I could have sworn I'd checked those rules and not seen anything of the sort...
Just as well I didn't turn child-labor on.

As for mayor...the player *Can*choose a mayor. It just doesn't negate any mandates from the previous mayor. The dwarves may also, eventually, elect a mayor of their own.

[MDFification]

That sounds good. Don't forget original Steelhold.

Don't worry, that's where I started. Also man, this is going to be a huge project. I've only just started Sarrak's turn, and we're at 12 pages/7000 words!

I'll do a very brief summary of each dwarf's backstory at some point, and what happened to them if it's recorded. It'll probably take forever, but it'll be a lot easier to read than just putting in everyone's backstory post and letting the reader figure out when they die.

@Gnorm: I'm putting the journals players have been posting in. If they don't interlock with a overseer's turn (like what we've been doing) they're placed inbetween turns. Otherwise, they're placed where it makes the most sense for them to be placed, with little dividers so you can tell you're switching authors for a bit.

EDIT: Partway through Gnorm's turn. 29 pages/17,000 words. That's enough for one night.

[fractalman]

summary: 3-5 ambushes. Just as I thought  I'd got them all, another one was sprung.  couldn't tell if elves survived or not.  should've seized somethign from them just to get them on the road...
The scattered thoughts, as they occured, may be found below.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Mistem bubnusonol: killed by snatcher before anyone could react.
tosid mengalis: stolen.

"interrupted by human lasher"...um....

...there was an ambush while I was looking over what few records of the adamant mining had survived.

and...ingish is...heading out of the fort. the IDIOT!

...the military never seems to understand the difference between ATTACK NOW
and GET OUT.
...
We have lost a LOT of dwarves today. 


bees...

mr bees has...committed suicide by goblin.
we don'tknow why. he had NO job, but went out among the ambushes against all orders.
best guess is he went insane and actually thought he WAS a bee.


This...has NOT been a good month.
summary

____________________________
"This...has been a tragic month.  But we...are the dwarves of steelhold.  We will continue.  we will prosper.  I have heard the whispers; that the goblins were a sign from Armok that we must leave lenehan's tomb as it is; bloody with the blood of trolls.  On the off chance this is so, we shall delay repairs another season while the more spiritually inclined attempt to contact Armok directly.
 
"...in other news, all but the following hauling tasks will cease untill further notice: stone hauling, food hauling, refuse hauling, metal hauling.  Thank you. "


_________

After the speech, I looked over my prize: something one of the dead dwarves had been carrying.  I think it was bees.  no matter...
At first glance, it was a blank book.  but as I rubbed some graphite over the pages, something became clear...

year 254:spring: adamant mined. adamant mined...
year 254:summer: adamant mined. adamant mined...
Counted them up.  115 or so? something like that.
Gazed at maskdwarf's stash of adamant [strange, that he [if the masked dwarf even had a gender at all] had not done anything other than recast his illusions over the adamant, to keep the casual worker out]
9...by 10..no, wait, 9...by 11...

99. less, there were a few stone in the pile.

...
The book fell from my hands.  Had someone else been stealing or mining adamant?  If what Emdief had muttered was true, maskdwarf merely wanted to study the adamant.  Allegedly, the demons did not even want to break through the adamant!

This...was disturbing on more than one level.  The possibility that the clown car was never an invasion force, but a defense force...

If it were true...then the maskeddwarf would be the first-perhaps only-chance of bringing about some sort of truce between the demons and the dwarves.
AND if true...AND if someone else were mining adamant...

I couldn't bring myself to finish the thought, though.  As terrible as the release of demons into the fort would be, my portal took priority.  I had delayed dangerously long...


My vision swam.  doubling.  tripling. I couldn't tell if that was obsidian or elf I was looking at...
My vision snapped back into place, even as dwarves began chattering about adamant.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 if I must spell it out for you: I just tore up maskdwarf's illusion. Again.  That's what stabalized me.

OOC: once the portal is built, I'll switch back to the vanilla texture pack for my screenies. i'll upload those after I finish my turn. 

"dwarves...if you see iden ablelken the soap maker...back away....slowly...he is throwing a tantrum. while practicing archery.  so back away slowly but be ready to dodge at any moment. "

____________________________
"hello, Emdief."
He frowned.
"What happened? I thought I was..."
"Dead? You were. except that time rearranged itself so you never actually died.  It's a side effect of being the next chosen overseer."
"..."
"...I advise against thinking about it too much. even I get a headache when thinking about temporal mechanics.  ...HEY! get back here! I still need your thaumometer!"
Somewhat later:
"FINE! you can use it!" (mutter grumble mutter)
-This is what happens when I forget that a named player is the only member in a squad.

[4maskwolf]

"I really wish you'd stop breaking my wards."
Fractaldwarf jumped.  He'd been so busy counting the adamantine he had collected that he hadn't noticed the masked dwarf's approach.
"It's getting to be a real pain to put them back up again every time you feel like poking around."
"I was just looking for the adamant"
"You mean the missing adamant?"
The Fractaldwarf froze.  This was not something he had taken into account.
"What do you know of it?"
The masked dwarf slowly raised (his?) hand, and something beneath the skin began to glow.  A soft, light blue radiance.  The masked dwarf smiled, and with a flash, was gone.

[fractalman]

So many things going down.  I guess I shouldn't have counted on fate so much, given that fate wasn't as strong in this world...

While everything else had been going on-the new workshop space, emdief's office, emdief's reincarnation (I, uh, may have renamed one of our already named characters?), the goblin ambushes...
The vampire had been running around, unchecked. 
As it is, dwarves are tantrumming left and right in some parts of the fort.  we are easily one dwarf away from a true tantrum spiral. 
It wasn't ME who let the vampire out.


"RHAKEN!"
It was rhaken's turn to jump now.

"I thought you said you'd locked up the vampire back up after the trading was over! I had to trick him into joining the elf squad, and then trick him into stationing himself in an unused workshop space!"
Rhaken blinked.
"...I thought I did lock him up!"
We stared at eachother for a while.
"...er...the vampire was the broker, right?"
Rhaken shifted uneasily.
"erm..."
I sighed. "I was hoping to keep a vampiric lever puller around, but at this rate, we'll just have to execute any we find once the tantrums die down...IF the tantrums die down.  "

[Gnorm]

While everything else had been going on-the new workshop space, emdief's office, emdief's reincarnation (I, uh, may have renamed one of our already named characters?), the goblin ambushes...

I didn't really think that I needed to make a rule against this. Congratulations Fractalman, you have helped make this thread a better place by providing more order. I thank you!

[MDFification]

Ahahaha what. Magic
I'll do a writeup about how I'm plotting your death(s) later.
EDIT: From now on can I just have an innate magic resistance due to spending time outside this mortal plane?


So. I live.
I'm not sure whose body it is I now inhabit. Armok, it's frightening. I knew I wasn't the most emotional dwarf before, but this body seems barely in control of itself all the time. Is this how your average dwarf experiences emotions? Was I an atypical specimen?
One of the things this body feels is rage. Thankfully I've kept my intelligence, else I fear I'd be trying to kill both of these magic users with my bare hands. This is a disturbing development. I must learn to control this new body, or I'll end up doing something I regret. Probably briefly.

Fractaldwarf has my thaumometer. What he doesn't need to know is that I don't need it anymore. I can scarcely remember my time in the other place. But I'm sure I was given a gift there. I can sense the thaumic energy without technological assistance now. I can see it even now. The energy seems to move away whenever I approach it. Do I now repel it? I can only hope so.
Sometimes, they talk to me. The dead, that is. So far most of what I've heard appears to be Lenehan cursing while he cleans Armok's halls.

I'm not entirely sure what's been done to me. What I do know is that I've been given another chance. The magic users got me killed once; they can't be allowed to get me killed again. They made me into something I'd never have wanted. I'll avenge myself, one day.
Until that day, let them suspect nothing. Let them marvel at my impassiveness and my resistance to their spells. I'll be ready to take this fort back from them soon. Already, discontent is rising. I just need a plan...


EDIT: Guess who finished compiling a PDF of the last thread! It doesn't list the dwarves and their backstories, but that can be added in a later version. I'll post it sometime today.
This fort is so complicated and its characters so detailed we could have a armok-be-damned wiki.

[Gnorm]

Corley's Log:
Rhaken's Requiem
--
My formula took command of Rhaken's systems today; his distraught wife and soldiers found him cold, unmoving in his bed. A makeshift requiem service was quickly put together in his mausoleum, and almost the entire population of the fortress attended. In the fascist, militaristic style of his regime, they saw him interred in his officer's uniform, along with his morning star. A twenty-one crossbow salute was performed as soon as the body was placed in the sarcophagus, an honor usually reserved for the reigning monarch himself; to the dwarves of Steelhold, he was more than a king. I could see pain and fear in the eyes of the congregation, I recognized the tentative voices of those delivering improvised eulogies; with Rhaken, the fortress seemed to have a future, but now the morale is gone. There were tears in my eyes, not out of mourning, but merely because there was sorrow in the room, and sorrow has the tendency to spread.

After the requiem, I retired to my cell. I smoked one of my valley herb cigarettes -- a personal favorite of mine. I began to fear that, in such an elder dwarf as Rhaken, my drug actually would kill him, and I began to fear for my future project. Quickly, though, relief came to me, for I knew that a dwarf such as Rhaken would die so easily; it would take a much more potent poison to rid this fortress of him forever. I relaxed, and took a sip from my flask -- my problems can wait for another day.

I have begun to think about Melek, and whether or not the papers on her were truthful. Such a terrible crime against nature could not possibly be perpetrated by one from my family, not even from Asmoth. I think I must investigate this issue forthwith.
Corley's Log:
Fractalman's Leadership
--
I honestly have no idea what is going on these days. Ever since Rhaken had the wise idea to let the lunatic with the book have control of Steelhold, the entire prison has been out of control. We were honestly better off with the old fascist; under Fractal's leadership, this place is about as organized as it was immediately before Rhaken took command. In addition, I don't know what is going on with my vision, but the entire place -- including the colors, items, and creatures -- seems to be distorted in some way. I think someone needs to put a knife in the madman, and quickly. He seems to spend most of his time counting the "adamant;" what could he possibly be planning?

[MDFification]

Corley heard the door to his cell open. One of the inmates stepped into his office. The nerve! Did he really think he could just walk into his home and do whatever he pleases? He gave him his best haughty stare. "Do you have an appointment?" "Do I need one?" the newcommer growled. Corley's jaw, against the protestations of his dignity, dropped. He knew that voice. But it didn't belong to that face. "Emdief? But you died! At least that's what our overseer told us. Why do you look so different?"
Emdief grinned, which did nothing to decrease Corley's growing discomfort. That silent bastard never smiled. Or frowned, now that he thought about it. "The rumors of my death were... not exaggerated at all. You'll have to suspend your disbelief, young noble. I'll have one hell of a tale to tell you. Listen well, though - there's a proposition at the end I think you'll be most interested in."
Corley, no seeing any way to get this dwarf out of his cell quicker, nodded his assent.
"Firstly, I know you've never been a friend of Rhaken. An ally, maybe. A friend, no. Don't protest - I could see it in your eyes. You might have fooled the others, but you never fooled me. Don't get all flustered now - I'm not simply Rhaken's lackey myself. We were, shall I say, associates. He was the best dwarf available to run the fortress, and I ensured his plans were implemented as smoothly as possible.
You'll notice that Rhaken doesn't seem quiet the leader he used to be. It's not your drug that did that - it was one of our local mages. I tried to stop it, but I failed.
You see, they can influence people. Get them to do as they say. Make you loyal to them without good reason. They've apparently done it to Rhaken, but before they managed to get to him, they had to go through me. So they did it to me first. But apparently, that wasn't enough for them. The Fractaldwarf had to have me killed. I'd assume through incompetence, but with magic users it's safer to assume malice."
"This story's most fascinating," Corley began, "but I don't see why you waste my time with your fiction. If you died, you couldn't be here." He froze as anger flashed across Emdief's face. An emotional tinker was going to take a lot of getting used to.
"Use your head, your excellency. You remember how your father died, don't you? How Modi came back from the dead to get her vengeance? That was no rumor. You'll have access to Asmoth's papers - read them and see for yourself. There's things going on in this fort that should not be. Magic, mad science, and scheming. I never wanted to be part of this, but my hand is forced.
They decided to bring me back. They put me to work on some of their projects. They think me an obedient servant, content to sell my labour for another chance at life. They're mistaken - I won't sit idly by while all of our souls are put at risk, and our bodies too in the case of our Overseer."
"What is it you want?" Corley's voice rose louder than he'd intended as he struggled to maintain his demeanor. Emdief grinned.
"Their heads, your excellency. This fortress will be ready to rise up against the Fractaldwarf if his rule continues like this. If you work to accelerate this process, and turn the dwarves away from that damned cult of Maskdwarf's, I'll see to it that your family's noble status is respected. And in a single stroke, we'll rid this fort of magic for good, and return to stability and reason."

"Think about it, and get back to me. Your family's legacy is in your hands."


At this point, I should probably ask a question. We've seen a lot of murder of previous overseers in our scheming, although mostly this has just been accidents. How you feel if it was a little more deliberate?
Not that I want all former overseer's executed, it's just that I could write one hell of a violent takeover/assassination plot when the time comes.

EDIT: here is the PDF. It currently extends up to the death of Lenehand. To do: reach the current date + add all character bios.
If nobody minds, I'll use DFhack to show the causes of death for the various dead dorf'd persons in the fort for writeup purposes.