Hello, DF forums! In lieu of a standard introduction, I thought it might be fun (having thoroughly enjoyed reading some legendary threads here) to run a community fortress. Though I'm new to the forums, I'm not new to the game, so I can concentrate on summary/storytelling without sacrificing the gameplay. I'll get everything off to a proper start tomorrow evening or the day after sometime.
A little background on the world, Kar Minbaz ("The Dimensions of Enchanting"), and the civilization, Thalineth ("The Imperial City"). The world has a history about 250 years long, which was enough for some civilizations to have wars, expand their territory, and so forth. In fact, they've been so busy fighting amongst themselves that the world has not progressed further than the Age of Myth (the world's very high savagery probably contributed as well).
Alas, the Imperial City seems to be very stagnant. Although their founding is the first event in the history of the world, they occupy a single mountain range; and nearly the entire history of the City, since before the first king retired to pursue a scholarly life raising the dead, has been uneventful. Almost every historical event is a declaration that some wild animal or other has become an enemy of the state. I know that it's not uncommon for civilizations to declare war on the local fauna one animal at a time, but given the lack of much other history, I've taken that as a sign that these dwarves are pretty deep in the dark ages, trying to save giant pigs from their innate criminality and whatnot. Other than the animals, the Imperial City seems to be at peace with the world...even the goblins. We'll see if that lasts.
There is one interesting thing about the City: its religion. They have a number of gods, but only one, Ushdish, has any notable worshippers in the Legends, and she is in the habit of turning dwarves into vampires and dwarrowcoatis (y'know, like werecoatis, but dwarves instead of humans). She's goddess of light, the sun, fire, volcanos and mountains, but given that she's created some evil creatures, it's doubtful whether she's benevolent. Her religion is known as the Yellow Cult, and appears to be the state religion; almost every ruler, though not the founder, has been a faithful worshipper of hers.
Why is this interesting? Evil(?) god, associated with yellow, of a civilization in arrested development whose worship is mandated by the descendents of a necromancer who abdicated his throne? The civilization in question is near enough the edge of the world that they could probably see it from the tops of their mountainhalls, and also overlooks an inland sea? Those of you conversant with the works of Robert W. Chamers or H.P. Lovecraft will already be thinking strange thoughts...about Hastur the Unspeakable, and Cassilda, and the Lake of Hali; about Lost Carcosa and the King in Yellow.
Given that most of the dwarves sent to found this new colony are generally open-minded, intelligent, or otherwise possessed of traits that would cause trouble in such Mountainhomes, and only one of them has fallen prey to the Yellow Cult, it seems likely that these aren't colonists but escapees, who wish to throw off the shackles of tradition and learn and grow live and love and so forth...which brings me to the theme. These dwarves wish to break with tradition: there will be no 3x3 stairs of efficiency, there will be no baby-murderin', there will be no danger rooms, there will be little trade (or seizure) aside from raw materials, and the dwarves will stir up trouble with the neighbors. Oh, and there may be some healthy paranoia as Hasturites immigrate from the Imperial City of Carcosa. Updates will be character-driven rather than from the omnicient narrator.
If this sounds like something you'd like to read, I suppose subscribe and you'll hear of updates in the next few days. If you want to be dwarfed, let me know. (And any dwarf in the fortress should feel free to chip in with crazy ideas!) If you just want to say "hello," that's cool too. If none of this applies, thanks for reading this far. Strike the earth!
Author
Topic: Abraskol, "Seerwheel": Dwarves united against stagnation and death (Read 950 times)