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[KtosoX]

Hello! I just bought the Steam version of DF after over 3 years of not playing, so I'm not in the loop and would appreciate some advice.

Shortly after defeating my first siege (20 goblins died) a surprise guest showed up:

Somehow the were-elk necromancer was too busy with a human bard who just left my tavern, and only a handful of hands (haha) joined the fight.
Before my soldiers reached the scene the bard got: bitten, killed and the re-animated as a were-elk corpse.
I was ready to sit back and embrace the incoming death spiral, when the most unusual thing happened:

The undead were-elk bard went full "frankenstein's monster" on the necromancer. Those two were fighting for a while before my soldiers joined the brawl.
The undead were-elk bard was an unstoppable killing machine. He killed the necromancer, my 5 soldiers and the other human guests in my tavern.
And then - it all stopped. The full moon must have ended. The monster reverted to an undead human. And they are now a citizen, because reasons?

Right now I'm a bit confused and not sure how to move forward from here.
Did I just experience some-kind of rare event, or was all of it just a typical day in 2023 Dwarf Fortress?
I was going to re-start on a different save after a death spiral, since I forgot to change some of the world-gen settings.
But if having an undead as a citizen is unique then I'll probably try to make this save work.

Edit: quick correction - the citizen part is not unusual. I'm digging though legends and turns out I accidentally accepted their petition for residency at some point.

[Criperum]

I had similar experience. I had necromancer as a citizen. The werebull attacked and killed some of my dwarfes. The necromancer raised them as sentient undead and they became my fortress citizens. But they were bitten by said werebull so every month they go on rampage over the fortress. So intelligent undead + werebeast curse = extra fun

[YashaAstora]

Seems the the necro revived the bard as an intelligent undead, which means the latter retained their pre-death loyalties. So, they immediately attacked the necro. Intelligent undead can also be citizens since they are functionally identical to living beings besides being undead.

[KtosoX]

Intelligent undead are now a thing, and they retain their alignment. Good to know.
Hopefully I'll get to play around with this concept in my next fort.

[EmperorCoolidge]

This combines nicely with a resident necromancer. I have a resurrection chamber where the recently deceased, a caged goblin, and a necromancer are all taken as soon as possible. You have to be prepared to put down the dwarf if he is raised as a regular zombie but otherwise (most often in my experience) you get a citizen who feels no pain, fear, or stress, needs no sleep, never tires in combat and can only be killed with great difficulty. With the new patch they are also no longer afflicted by their refusal to fulfill needs (does anyone know if they drink now?).

Incidentally, this is another reason to keep necros out of combat, as they may raise enemies as even more powerful enemies.

[Saiko Kila]

you get a citizen who feels no pain, fear, or stress, needs no sleep, never tires in combat and can only be killed with great difficulty. With the new patch they are also no longer afflicted by their refusal to fulfill needs

Do they interact with their former spouses, children of friends, and if so, do they have happy thoughts about it? Curious, I haven't got a necro (or a vampire) in Premium edition yet.

[Thisfox]

With the new patch they are also no longer afflicted by their refusal to fulfill needs (does anyone know if they drink now?).

In the past them not drinking was because it took longer than a month to get thirsty, and when they transformed and went back again, their thirstiness had been met and it took another more-than-a-month to get thirsty. I believe that their needs have now been reset so they still don't get thirsty enough to drink, but don't care. I could be wrong about that.