And my second year. In which we finally find Iron as well as plenty of !fun! uses for it, and Freecrypt threatens to fall back to the old ways
6th Granite, 750Praise the miners! Our efforts on the prospecting layer bear fruit. Yesterday, StringLordInt hit a vein of hematite. And more have been uncovered since. Looks like we will no longer have to rely on smelting what little iron the caravan can give us
16th Granite, 750In addition to the hematite layers, work on the aboveground fortress has yielded some limonite and even native platinum. We moved from having no iron whatsover, to having plenty of it. I hardly find the time to write these entries, between all the work at the forge.
I have ordered most of the now useless copper weaponry to be made into traps, one of which has already been (involuntarely) tested by a Kea, trying to steal some of our books
It narrowly evaded the swinging giant axeblade, just to be torn apart midflight by a bunch of rotating copper pickaxes
Speaking of books; work has begun on a library on the ground level, to hold our growing collection, as well as this Journal, eventually. My hope is that future generations will come here to read of our ascent to one of the great Mountainhomes - and not adventurers inquiring about our fall
3rd Slate, 750A few days ago Kadol Ushirstakut, our Gemcutter, has been struck by a fey mood. He has locked himself into his workshop, and emerged today with a most curious item
It is an artifact throne cut entirely out of red pyrope, giving it an eery shine. Also, while we tend to call everything a dwarf sits on "throne", this one really does the name justice. Already, I hear whispers of "blood throne!" in the hallways. I hope this doesn't give anybody the wrong ideas. A democracy has little use for artifacts such as this...
14th Slade, 750Work continues as usual, i'd like to say, if it wasn't for a strange shift in the fortresses atmosphere I can't quite put my finger on. I noticed people whispering behind my back when they think I can't hear. Talk is the fortress is cursed. That dee-moe-crazy is an experiment doomed to fail, and the creation of Bothonolon was a sign from Äkim, god of War and Death. They say our fortress needs a "strong hand" if it is to survive in these lands, and not "some random citizen" and a "bunch of incompetent, corrupt ministers"
So far I have dismissed this as the talk of a few who can't quite let go of the old ways. Most dwarves still seem to go about their daily lives as normal, and the fortress is doing fine on food and other stocks. I will have to talk to the mayor about this
18th Slade, 750The talk with the mayor did little to ease my concerns. On the contrary. She smiled a winning smile as she dismissed most of them, but took the opportunity to request a larger office for herself, and a grand bedroom as well as a private dining area to go along with it. Not to put herself above the others, as in olden times, she claimed, but to encourage others to strive for public office.
I've heard it all before. Merit, divine mandate, offers of protection...the pretenses tyrants have used to mask their greed for generations. Things were meant to be different in Freecrypt!
As I told her this, her smile vanished, momentarily, just to be replaced by a smile of a very different kind.
"Skurkanas", she said. "As we both know, unlike you, I was elected mayor of this fortress not by a small academic circle of ministers, but by the people. They want my rule. And they shall have it. I leave you with two choices: accept the natural order of things, and I might even let you continue your little democratic charade, or oppose me and find yourself 'lost' in the caverns come morning"
At that point I knew she was right. I had been too focussed on my smithy to notice the writings on the wall. The chants of Äkims faithful, who make up more than half of the fortress. Even if I would win here and now, we would have a civil war on our hands that would destroy all we have built. We would become a crypt in more than just name.
After a few endless seconds, I nodded. She would have this victory, but I vow that I will try to restore the peoples rule as soon as I am able. As I made my way out of her office, she threw out a final insult:
"Oh and while you're on your way: Forge me a nice crown, will ya?"
And so, Freecrypt got its second tyrant. Of the most dangerous kind: a popular one.
20th Felsite, 750I've spent most of the last month in my forge, working on weapons for the militia. The mayor held a celebrated speech about "national security", and how our dwarven heroes who defended the fortress once already, needed all the equipment we could provide to defend it once again. The crowd cheered, as did most of the militarydwarves, understandably. I might be running out of allies soon. Damn the Mayor and her silver tongue
23rd Felsite, 750Today we got a chance to test our new weaponry, as the lookouts spotted a werecameleon outside.
Cunningly avoiding the fortress walls, it rushed to the river and decapitated two fisherdwarves, before the militia could catch up with it. Even then, it proved a formbidable foe, as strong as it was quick
To our luck, the beast suddenly paused in its onslaught and turned back into a human, begging for mercy. The hammerdwarves, seeing what it had just done to Astesh, showed none
4th Hematite, 750Summer has arrived, and with it, an army
It has only been a few days since the werebeast attack and already, our militia is needed once more. It's a host of goblins, accompanied by.....an elf? What foul alliance is this? There were no elves in these lands as far as I'm aware. Or at least they weren't sending any caravans. And now they are sending soliders.
I've not yet been able to fully equip everyone with iron and steel, so I argue that we raise the gate and let the enemy to come to us. Our foodstocks are huge and we can easily survive a siege. However the mayor will have none of it. "Äkim doesn't look kindly on cowards. It's just a bunch of goblins!" she says, and orders the militia to charge. It's a small consolation that they give me a sideways glance at least, instead of obeying immediately, so salvaging what little authority I have left, I nod and order the civilians inside.
As the militia crosses the drawbridge to face the invaders, the mayor adresses the civilians inside.
In a passionate speech she highlights the strides we have made during her tenure and how now, in the face of the enemy, she needs our support once more. While some of the dwarves in the back grumble at her claims (after all it was me and the ministry who actually ran the fortress), and some even leave the room, the majority ends up cheering and reelecting her
Sensing that emotions are on her side, she lets an adjutante hand her a small ornate box, containing the crown:
Introducing it as a sign of "elected leadership" and vowing to pass it on to a "worthy sucessor", she puts it on her head. More dwarves walk out now, but at least half the room is cheering. Bloody fools.
I am still wondering how to salvage the situation, when word reaches me that the fighting has begun. And that some civilians didn't make it inside!
The fighting is short and bloody. Some of the goblins are well trained, and all of them are equipped with iron. They strike down 3 of our recruits, who just joined the military in spring, as well as a Hammerdwarf, before being cut down themselves. This is when we spot a different fight in the distance
FakerFangirl(2) is engaged in combat with the elf on the edge of the map. She's unarmed and he is beating her with a shiny object that I cannot quite make out. An artifact weapon? We need to act fast. I don't want to loose FakerFangirl again
leaving the last goblin, who has a cut spine and can hardly move, behind, the militia rushes towards the far off duel, and I rush there with them
The marksdwarves drop to their knees halfway and take aim
The elf is shot straight in the heart and collapses
The rest of us rushes to FakerFangirl(2). I reach her first, telling her that everything will be alright and we will get her to the infirmary as soon as possible, but she just smiles and reveals the bloody mess that used to be her chest. "I'm not gonna make it, Skurkanas. I saw what the mayor did inside and tried to run and get help, but that blasted treehugger caught up to me. Do me this last favor and don't let Freecrypt fall to tyranny again"
15th Hematite, 750And with that, she died in my arms. I quickly concealed her face, telling the others that it was too bloodied. Somebody else will have to carry on the FFG name, but I will carry on her wish.
Over the next days, we were busy cleaning up the aftermath. A second hammerdwarf and our militia leader, StringlordInt were badly wounded during the fighting. And while the wounds of the Hammerdwarf proved too deep, I could at least save StringLord, with the help of a bone setter that had arrived last winter and will settle in as our new resident medical dwarf after me. I am too busy in the forge these days, and if recent events have shown us anything, it is that we need more equipment
Among the corpses we find an assortment of iron armor and weapons that I order to be made into goblinite. The elf, it turns out, was not carrying an artifact weapon after all, but a large, gem encrusted tome. He had battered FFG the old fashioned way but finished her off with it after she had made him drop his original weapon. It's pretty valuable and will be moved to the new library as a reminder of this battle
He was also carrying another book that I add to my private collection for personal reasons
Autumn, 750 3rd Limestone, 750A shearer has been struck by a secretive mood. He rushed up the stairwell, mumbling incoherently and claimed a craftsdwarf workshop. He's been in there for days now. I suppose we should bring him some food?
Meanwhile, the power structure of the fortress hangs in a delicate balance. The mayor and her supporters have been quiet lately, apparently content to let me do my job for once. Likewise, I have hesitated to make a move against her, knowing of her widespread support. For now, I will focus on improving the security of the fortress. We have yet to strike magma, even though the stairwell extends far over a hundred levels deep...
13th Limestone, 750Another Caravan has arrived. This time from Shukardatan, a mountainhome further to the south. It is a massive trek, over 10 weagons, probably owing to the large amount of orders we made last year
As they make their way through the southern jungle, I order our finished goods and weapon bins to be brought forth. With the discovery of ample hematite, we can afford to get rid of the old copper and bronze weaponry. Erin makes an early showing this time, eager to do better than she did last year
15th Limestone, 750The Caravan has finished unloading their goods, and Erin has met with the outpost liaison. We ask for metal bars still, but not as desperately, as well as leather, seeds and animals. I was never fond of animal husbandry and have neglected that part of the economy, but at least I can make sure that my successor will have enough breeding pairs to work with.
The dwarves of Shukardatan show a fine sense of irony as they request Crowns in the export agreement. Good. We have no use for those here!
Seeing as dwarves seem to be the only caravan we get, we trade the entirety of our crafts for their steel and iron, a lot of animal breeding pairs and a large supply of leather, cloth and seeds, the latter of which had been running out. Sadly, Erins skill is still less than stellar, and probably due to the size of the caravan we have to trade for a huge loss, to make it worth their while. No matter. With our abundance of legendary stonecrafters and the yet mostly untapped wealth of gold in the depths, we should be able to refill our goods stockpile in no time
26th Sandstone, 750Not much has happened since the Caravan left. Work has begun on a presidential tomb, to hold myself and hopefully many sucessors
In general, construction on the aboveground gatehouse - which is starting to become sort of a dwarven skyscraper - is continuing at a slow pace. We have to wall around, and floor over most of the top levels and have been running out of nearby stone to do so
The Shearer is still locked in his workshop, scratching pictures of skeletons, leather and gems, all of which we have in abundance. I ordered the boneyard to be expanded, hoping that some corpse somewhere holds what he needs
I've also had an atom smasher installed down there, to dispose of excess items
8th Timber, 750Over the past weeks i had become sure that the shearer would go mad, and had stationed some guards outside the door to cut the sad fool down to avoid civilian casualties. However, today, months after he withdrew from society, they reported that they heard crafting-noises from inside
Apparently the new bonepile did the trick
10th Timber, 750He emerged after two days clutching an artifact shalerite figurine of our minister of war. Apparently Senshuken has a fan..?
Aboveground, work on the library has been mostly finished. We have plenty of microline bookcases as well as reading places for the intellectually inclined, and the center holds the artifact book we acquired from the invasion
But we still lack lava, and - if armok wills it - adamantine. I will devote the rest of my turn to dig even deeper!
18th Timber, 750By Armok! Finally! As autumn comes to a close, we have breached the ceiling of the second cavern - and with it, the lava sea!
But more importantly...
Our staircase clings spectacularly to a narrow stone wall separating the caverns from a huge natural dome above the magma sea. The adamantine lies to the east, and while we can see it from here, the ground level from where we can reach it is still some ways below us. It is a fantastic deposit though. Rather large, and with lava nowhere near to be seen. We should be able to dig several levels into it without any problems
Further north, there is an underground lake, curiously on the same level as the magma. It should be easy to set up an obsidian factory if we are so inclined. This terrain is truly fortuitous. But first things first: The Magma Forge!
Winter, 75012th Moonstone In preparation for the magmaforge, I have ordered the construction of a workshop and stockpile layer specifically for magmasafe materials
Here we shall mine gabbro for the floodgates, mechanisms etc we will need for the magma moats and obsidian farms
15th Opal, 750I have made camp near the bottom of the stairwell, where it reaches the caverns, to oversee construction of the magmaforge directly and make sure it remains as the crowning achievement of my tenure. The fort above should be doing fine, as we were doing great in terms of stockpiles and had installed traps near the most obvious points of entry. Occasionally a runner will make the long trip down the stairwell to inform me of important events. For example, Iridium being struck by a mood and creating a rather questionable artifact
Worst artifact ever
20th Obsidian, 750It is done! After weeks of digging and channeling, we have finished the magmaforge!
It consists of a maintenance room, reached by a separate entrance, with 2 floodgates controlling the flood of the nearby magma. If both gates are open, it flows into a network of channels that feed the smelters and smithys above. At the far end, lie specialised adamantine stockpiles, feeding the strand extractors. Non adamantine goods are, for now, stored a level above, near the main stairwell
since we are 130z levels below ground, a small foodstock and separate dining room have also been built, as well as lodgings for the metalcrafters, potters and others who will be working down here, including myself
On the level above the magmaforge, we will break the cavern holding the adamantine, via a narrow trap corridor to keep whatever lives down here away from the forge and the stairwell. Sadly, the honor to dig it out and actually mine the adamantine will not fall to me. But I rest easy knowing that I layed the groundwork
I now gather the nearby miners and make my way back up the stairwell, to celebrate
26th Obsidian, 750We have reached the workshop levels, only to find them empty of dwarves. Where is everyone?
As we ready our weapons and inch further up the central stairwell, we hear....chanting?
31st Obsidian, 750I was a fool. As I spent most of winter in the depths, blinded by my desire to see the Magmaforge completed, Mayor Dakost Wordedkindled has not been idle. As we arrived on the ground level, we saw that most of the fortress had congregated in and around some large new hall. At the bottom level, it held what appeared to be a new temple, dedicated to Äkim, the god of war and death.
On the level above that, however, reached by twin stairs to the side, Dakost had built herself a Throne Room. And was now holding what appeared to be an audience for her....subjects
"Ah,
'President' Skurkanas? Back from your adventures below? How fortunate, for I believe your term in office is just about over. We must adhere to the constitution, mustn't we? Be so kind and hand your badge over to the nearest guardsman"
There is considerable grumbling amongst the dwarves in attendance, but no one dares to act. An unspoken threat of violence hangs in the air, and I loathe to make my last day in office a bloodbath. Hoping that faith in the dee-moe-cratic experiment hasn't eroded completely while I was away, I hope that I can salvage the situation at least somewhat, and make good on the promise i gave to FakerFanGirl(2)
"My term ends, indeed. And I am happy to have served this fortress as its president. We have made great strides in these last two years, and I bring news of a large vein of adamantine. It was the intention of our founders that this wealth would belong to all dwarves, so I believe it is time,
'mayor', to adhere to the constitution indeed, and elect my Successor."
A murmur goes through the crowd at the mention of the adamantine, and details of just how large and easy to mine the vein is. More importantly, though, the mention that this will go to ALL the dwarves, and not just become furniture for the nobles, seems to resonate. Emboldened by their response, I continue
"Fellow dwarves! Who among you is brave enough to lead Freecrypt into this new age? Who will create a dwarfhold the likes of which this old world has never seen before? Who will strike down the tyrants far and near? Step forth!"
Author
Topic: Dwarven Republic: A Discord Based Succession Game (with a side of Democracy) (Read 2995 times)