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[UltraMagnus]

I - In the Beginning...

Fortress History Part 1: The Waters of Conquerors
The original seven of the first expedition seemed very eager to set up new life. The vast valley seemed promising enough, with tiger iron available for industry early, and a waterfall revealing several minerals available to the brave dwarves.
Without wasting much time, these seven (and the first wave of immigrants) were able to be content with their workloads. By their isolation and carefully placed traps and sentries, the fortress was able to be safe for a long period of time with a rag-tag military.
However, like most good countries, the immigrants came and ruined everything.
The workload seemed to be too much for the starting fort. The only vital positions were mining and masonry, with all of the picks being on duty and all of the masonry being used in construction. A military was shortly formed as a means of population control, but when the soldiers were inactive, the strange desires started to settle in. After all, how was a fort supposed to pull leather out of sand?
While many of these were fulfilled, fortress progression shut down so as to establish, leading to the moat around the mountain to fill without a bridge being constructed.
For a brief period, all was good in Arel Sog, until the Elves did what they do best (dying) and ruined everything.
An elvish caravan had wondered into the moat, resulting in the drowning of one of the wagons. The goods, still not quite drenched in 7/7 water yet, had inspired Cerol Cerolétol to rush into the waters for wealth.

Cerol's body was discovered by a miner, designated to discover her missing corpse via careful digging. However, once the miner had decided to try to recover the body, a wave of dedicated haulers, mostly made of recent immigrants, rushed into the narrow cavern to try to plunder the goodies. Our brave miner, unable to move through the crowds, was trampled under the water as several other dwarves rushed in to partake in the drowning. The event was catastrophic, with many casualties dropping their own bodies into the river for wealth, letting their greed literally lead to their demise. Mothers dropped babies in the chilling death, even. Many dwarves lost loved ones into the dreaded moat designed to protect the fortress. Worst, however, was the dropping of several pick axes into the river. With the local caravans proving how well they fare against stretches of water, production of bridges in a halt, and an aquifier in the main base, all further progress seemed naught.

This, along with the high possibility of an elvish seige during a high frequency of goblin raids at the time, prompted the withdrawal from Arel Sog before the already miserable dwarves were to tantrum.

...So says the gods as they whisper amongst each other.

Fortress History Part 2: Reunion of The Pregnancy
The second expedition, dubbed 'The Pregnancy' was greeted with the depressing image of a barren wasteland, littered about with dwarven clothing, toad remains, and several corpses (both animal and dwarven). The goblins, albeit "Friendly", were to be watched carefully.
It was easy to guess what had happened to the remnants of the previous group who never returned to the Mountainhome. A bed was placed in the field. Clothing was scattered about, including all sorts of dresses and shoes. The lost dwarves tried their hardest to survive alone, without guidance of the Overseer who had forsaken them. The dogs were killed along the edges of the wilderness. Perhaps they died scavenging, having spent most of their lives in a cave? Perhaps the "Friendly" goblins nearby unclothed and violated the female dwarves before snuffing out the last few lives of the former Arel Sog members.

Before abandonment, Arel Sog was equipped with a tomb for the dead dwarves, rarely used until this point. The bodies were rounded up and placed, with the stone industry turning quickly to creating slabs.
Cerol's body was found, and carefully extracted from the moat before being placed in the back of the tomb, isolated from the rest of the bodies.

All non-vital fortress activities were to be halted until the slab construction operation was set up. Ghosts had already started to appear, quickly sent to the afterlife by the memorial slabs being placed outside of a doorway to a room where their bodies were haphazardly thrown.
One ghost, however, seemed to behave differently from the rest.
The ghost of a child, scheduled to be last engraved didn't bother to haunt the dwarves. The child followed the Masons around, watching them engrave the other slabs, standing patiently outside as he watched slab after slab be processed.
His was the most satisfying slabs to place, sending the child to be sent to the afterlife. The Pregnancy had officially brought a child to (the after) life.
I'd like to think that he wasn't one of the children who was brutally thrown into the river during the Cerol incident.

Fortress History Part 3: Dam Busters
Operations quickly shifted towards the above-ground, in order to establish more passive defenses while the militia trained (only involving them being placed in danger when needed). Construction of the flood chamber was a high priority, especially with the existence of a were-zebra being discovered as one of the "Friendly" goblins. Constructing the drowning chamber during a siege would allow for the capturing of several goblins and stall until the Werezebra revealed, either slaughtering the entire platoon and letting the soldiers harness its weakened state to turn, or allow for the immediate drowning of all non-zebra goblins. If left unchecked, however, this easily could have been a time bomb for the fortress, for the goblins were not wondering into the cage traps placed in the wilderness.

With a high demand for masonry, Arel Sog also incorporated pumps for the usage of draining the aquifiers. Fortress progression had to rely on this vital defense being set up, involving all architects, masons, carpenters, and mechanics and pump operators to be on near-constant duty. This meant that the oh-so vital Adequate Miller, Novice Fishery Dissector, and whatever other non-essential migrants that were forced to be cannon fodder were practically useless, as the cluttered construction site led to many dwarves standing on planned construction areas, suspending construction indefinitely.
The final straw before the tantrum spiral was the drowning of a novice fisher/fishery cleaner/fish dissector.

A New Day: The Cinders

When 'Stupid' Likotalis snapped, he caused a tantrum spiral that killed about 100 dwarves, reducing the population greatly. Stupid was convicted early in the spiral, and had the pleasure of watching his madness erupt into the slaughtering of many children, sabotage of the bridges that crossed the moats, and destruction of the farms by a now deceased dwarf who shall have a flooded tomb.
After the fortress regained its sanity, The remnants of the fortress formed a new military. 'Curious' Nomavuz, both of whose children were among the casualties, arrived first of the army to bash Stupid's left leg off (with a hammer, I might add) to let the dwarf suffer before mutilating his corpse.


"She has a great sense of empathy, a way with words and a sum of patience, but she has a meager ability with social relationships and a large deficit of willpower." The angry mother bear is always dangerous.

The tantrum spiral has ended.
Curious sleeps well after this. The rebuilding can begin.

II - Can We Salvage This Mess?

A slow fortress: Nowhere Fast
Apparently the picks were lost during the tantrum spiral, probably by the same terrorists that destroyed the farm plots.
Sarvesh Erushestun, Militia Captain, is a vegetable now, standing beside a drain, not bothering to dig, eat, drink, or do anything besides "attend meeting" that has not been resolved(?)


He does not even move when a friendly goblin is in front of him.

He decided to move, but not before nearly starving to death and surviving by eating rats. Turns out the militia captain was afraid of trekking 1/7 water. He has been demoted. The fortress now faces a shortage of militia forces thanks to only having 16 working dwarves.

[Meatshield]

Good story.
And there are no such things as "friendly goblins", only dwarf wannabes...
...the greatest gift that you can give them is an axe in the face.

[Senshuken]

Well... I've seen Fortresses in worse situations recover. Headshoots comes to mind. They suffered a spiral so bad that they had to wall off the fortress to try and save about 16 or so dwarfs who were still relatively sane and wait for all the insane dwarfs to die before rebuilding.

[UltraMagnus]

Wow, people are actually somewhat interested? I suppose I should update more regularly.

The Cast:
Before I begin, I'd like to introduce our surviving members (with pairing numbers referring to married couples) listed as they appear at the end of the next update (to be posted tomorrow). Worth noting is that I will not add accents to these listings.
Posted in spoilers because the descriptions are based on future information.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 1. Ablel Cilobtobul - Miner - For how much the profile claims him to be weak and clumsy, Ablel has kept a good, healthy figure despite all of the near drowning and cave-in accidents that the fortress has put him through.
 1. 'Curious' Nomavuz - Militia Captain (Engineer/Pump Operator) - A figure during the last tantrum spiral, Curious is listed as a dwarf woman who has a calm demeanor, yet is quick to anger and has a sense of duty. She also does not mind being outdoors, enjoys fine coffins, and so on... basically the best candidate of my dwarves personality-wise to lead my militia. Her main flaw is having a baby factory inside of her, but 2 of her 3 children are dead, so that problem sorted itself out.
 2. Sarvesh Erushestun - Mayor (Miner) - Recently appointed Mayor in order to view how this potential poetic justice plays out. He has almost no relatives listed in the fortress, and has dabbled in swimming ever since the incident in the previous update (much to his distress).
 2. Thob Logemgigin - Dyer - Thob would have changed jobs if it weren't for the fact that she has one hand, basically making her into an indoors member of production. Currently, she is training in Gem Cutting and Gem Setting, but the current state of the fortress demands that she employ her hand elsewhere.
 3. Ezum Inodtosid - Woodcutter - Ezum is a pleasant dwarf who seems to have forgotten that the world is a cruel enough place to slaughter her family because of one stupid fisherdwarf. That's what I would say about her upbeat demeanor, if it wasn't for the fact that her spouse has perished recently, and she perfectly fine with this because her bedroom looks nice. The world could use more dwarves like Ezum.
 3. Bomrek ingizoddom - Hunter (Deceased) - A very laid back dwarf who spent most of his time outside of the fortress. This would ultimately be his demise when he walked outside of the fortress on break (through a forbidden traffic area, mind you), and walked straight into a goblin ambush.
 4. Imush Olinosust - Mason - A vital part for fortress expansion, Imush would be a shut-in if work didn't require him to build outside, inside, or in the future location of fortress walls. He does his job, however, and he does it well.
 4. Fikod Sebsurcilob - Broker - When the numbers were shrunk, the luxury-job dwarves such as a lowly cheese maker/cook were the first to be re-purposed. Fikod is the symbor of dwarven beauty, a very fat she-dwarf with a hooked nose and missing teeth is in charge of finding the best deals for the fortress. The unforgettable aroma of whatever body-cheddar she produces help her negotiate relations with the neighboring peoples, translating her easily into a new life at Arol Sog.
 5. 'Watchme' Ralasrer - Hammerer - At one point I had suspected him of being a vampire, which is why the nickname was given. Watchme avoids others, and sees them as selfish and conniving. He finds rules confining. In other words, Watchme is a likely suspect for starting anarchy, yet his sentinel-like presence makes him perfect for the job of a cold-hearted executioner.
 5. Atis Togumkulet - Planter - Standard dedicated planner to avoid another sabotage event. Whereas her husband has a neutral demeanor because the overseerer didn't want an accident to occur involving the disembodied heads of several dwarves, Atis is very passive by nature.
 6. Tobul Kobelzasit - bookkeeper (Stonecrafter) - A legendary Stone Crafter thanks to both the demand for stone products created after the spiral and for the lack of competition from other dwarves. During the spiral, he gained several kills, forgiven simply because one of them was a dwarf caught destroying the farm plots. His little patience caused him to tantrum several times throughout the recovering periods of the fortress, slowing down construction of several slabs and delaying the time when the routine ghosts would be sent to the afterlife. He isn't a bad dwarf, though, and his new life as a noble/hauler has kept him busy and happy. He may return to stonecrafting when the time comes.
 6. Stinthad Stinthadzim - Woodcrafter - His wife, on the other hand, I don't know what to think of. During the early period of recovery, Curious, thanks to keeping a calm attitude throughout, was promoted to the position of mayor. Once this had happened, Curious was too busy with the effort to finish the graveyard to order any mandates. Stinthad(x2)zim, however, had other plans. Either she hijacked the role because she wanted power or because she wanted to help a friend elevate some pressure. What the end result was were several mandates that were left unfulfilled and a ban on certain exported goods, causing a miner by the name of Sarvesh Erushestun to be convicted. Sarvesh, being a legendary miner who was only doing what the overseer had commanded the fortress to do, attempted to flee punishment by running outside the fortress walls with his daughter. However, the death of Bomrek ingizoddom would provide other plans. Stinthad was promptly demoted.
 7. Dishmab Nishegen - Militia Commander (Brewer) - When he's drinking booze, he's swinging a training sword around. When he's not drinking booze, he's making more booze to drink.
 8. Doren Shuthrazurist - Dipshit (Pump Operator/Mechanic/Miner/Siege Operator...) - Doren is a dipshit. Doren would jump into a pond while on a fishing trip and conclude that there we no fish. I tried to place her in the construction industry, but she would stand on the building site and delay construction indefinitely. I placed her on Mining duty, and she would dig about literally 5 blocks before going on break or take a drink to leave the rest to the legendary miners, even if they were sleeping. I finally, hoping that Curious would form some sort of maternity with her and help Doren reach her potential by placing her in the militia.
 There's also 8 children, and 2 babies.