It was the year 5 in the young world "Onra Mudung, The World of Portents", when a group of dwarves decided they wanted to expand without the hassle of dealing with other civilized creatures in their path. They looked to the seas, and after some studying of the world's geography, they figured that they would find a large island to the southwest.
Thus a party of 7 was formed with a grand plan, and they found a beach by a desert. They started their work, determined to build the world's first sea-worthy boat. About as large as a keep, maybe even bigger, completely made of wood. (I didn't get pictures of the embark as it was when we arrived, sorry)
The dwarves initially dug out a dwelling for the group, with a small farm plot and the workshops needed to produce the goods they'd need in their daily lives, as well as something to trade with caravans and a filtration system to get drinkable water out of the salty sea.
Finally, when life in the fort was secure, they started making the drydock. A large rectangular hole near the ocean, but protected from the water for now.
The winters in this region are long, which was very lucky. This allowed the dwarves plenty of time to dig out the ice and the earth, making a thin wall between the drydock and the ocean.
Finally, the work on the ship itself started:
We will build it from the lower-deck upwards, and in what probably feels like an odd inversion to our dwarves, the scaffolding is made of stone blocks, while the main construction is made of wood!
The water floods in as the sea thaws:
Here's some progress:
(note that I used the opposite angle in this stonesense image, in relation to the previous one)
And for now, here's the lower deck finished:
(I intended to build it out of only Highwood at first, but I soon ran out, and they take very long to grow, so I'm ordering all types of wood from the caravans each year, and I'm also allowing myself to use Saguaro which is the other type of tree in the embark site)