21st GalenaNot much worth mentioning has happened over the past few days, except that, all of a sudden, we've got a spike in idleness. Out of the fortress' sixty inhabitants, sixteen of them are idle.
This will not stand. It's time to find something else for them to do. We've yet to strike metal, but there's got to be something for them to work on.
It doesn't help matters that we've had another one go insane from the isolation, either. Sodel Floorstokers, one of our original seven and the only miner here who can claim to be as good at it as I am, has started calling herself "Blue" and has demanded that we set up tree farms inside. She's saying that if it doesn't happen soon, she'll do it herself - she's even marked out the area for the digging - but for now, she's helping us to continue to search for iron out of acknowledgement that, without ore, we're all doomed.
Meaning that I'm not going to order the creation of a tree farm just yet. Not only do I not know how to make those, but ordering an excavation of the accessible areas of soil is kind of pointless when we have several farm plots that aren't being used yet. Beyond that, ordering more excavation would get all miners working on that, not just Blue; I don't know how to make it so that one specific miner would do the job, and we really do need metal. As soon as we strike some, though, I'll put you on that.
Oh, and sorry for making you female; there are no male Miners besides The Fool, my avatar. I did, however, give you a Legendary Miner to compensate.
Though, in taking that screenshot, I just noticed that you appear to be my girlfriend. I didn't even know I had one!
Beyond that, another one of our military dwarves has gone insane as well. I'm starting to worry that this might actually be some sort of infectious disease, but I'm no doctor, and our "chief doctorin' dwarf" spends most of his time cutting pretty pictures into the walls. Anyway, this new case is calling himself "Delioth", and he and "Nix" are calling themselves the "Brothers of Destruction" for some reason, damned if I know why. At least them working as a team will make it easy to put them both in quarantine if it does turn out to be infectious. They seem to be very fond of wrestling one another.
I've ordered yet another expansion of the main stockpile, as well as an expansion of the sleeping areas and mining operations.
We've got too few miners to do what needs to be done, but we don't have the metal to make any more picks. We are in desperate need of a trading caravan bearing metal and tools. Here's hoping the gods decide to stop torturing me for long enough to let one come soon.
22nd GalenaWell, at least he's moving quickly.
In other news, one of our Craftsdwarf's Workshops has sat almost entirely idle since I issued the order that it produce rock toys for trade indefinitely. It's a way of getting rid of all the stone that's lying around here useless, at least, and we can get a little bit of profit off the stuff. According to the records, it's our "mayor's" job to get those things built, but she's apparently been on break for several days at least. I've never actually seen her in there.
Our mad gem hoarder, Corvus (pictured at left), is at least doing some work around here. He seems happy to occupy himself with cutting bloodstones, since we've run out of sphaelerite for the time being. He likes them almost as much as he likes zinc. And he's getting to be a damn good jeweler, too; he was responsible for most of the trade value of our last batch of gems. This insanity might be a blessing in disguise after all, but I'm not going to stop watching these loons just yet.
27th GalenaAn animal trap. Possibly the most useless thing he could have made. Fantastic.
On another note, I did manage to find that damned weapon rack we had made earlier. It is pretty nice.
Unfortunately, our "mayor" has laid claim to it. I grow to hate her more and more each day.
28th GalenaGeshud Cresttongs has apparently decided to crash in the mayor's quarters.
I'm wondering if there's something going on between the two of them.
1st LimestoneHuh. It's been a surprisingly uneventful summer, all things considered. Not that I'm complaining. Now, if only we could find some damned ore. We still don't have even a single ingot of copper.
State of the fortress, as of dawn today:
Main level:
Sleeping quarters (one level above main):
Smelters and Nobles' Quarter:
About one-third of the interminable mining operations area: