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[StrawberryBunny]

I've embarked on a Terrifying map and within five minutes of setting up, a nefarious ash wafted across the land and turned a bunch of Giant Badgers into thralls. I was prepared, and bunkered up immediately. No casualties and I am preparing my metal industry to churn out nothing but cages so that I can harness the power of these beasts.

I've already read a thread about husks being tested similarly. There probably won't be much difference, but this is for science!

Whatever questions you have about thralls, here is where I'll try to figure out the answer.

Data so far:

Thrall-ism is not contagious. It is only induced by the ash cloud.

Thralls don't have trapavoid. Use cage traps liberally.

Thralls are not invincible. Giant badger boar thralls fighting kitten thralls have ripped the kittens heads off and killed them. Thralls die when their upper body is separated from their lower body. Adamantine battleaxe, if you have one. Does this make a repeating serrated disc trap a potential thrall control device?

Thralls are completely immune to magma. They will burn and burn and accumulate damage, but will not succumb to pain or fall unconscious or really be bothered by it in any way.

Thralls are immune to drowning. I've had a yak and a water buffalo sitting at the bottom of a drowning chamber for a while now and they haven't even complained.

If you wish to truly dispose of a thrall, dump its cage into the magma sea. You should get a notification about it dying in its cage. If not, it's at the bottom of the magma sea and won't bother anyone anymore.

[Thrombo]

Is the Ash lingering about or has it moved on? Do the badger thralls enrage still?

[arzzult]

How contagious are these thralls if at all?
How tough are they? Do they bleed? Will any thing short of decapitation, bisection, cave in, atom smashing or complete incineration kill them?
How aggressive are they? Will they storm your fort if you open it up at all? Do they fight each other?
How deadly are they? Are they fast? Are they strong?

[StrawberryBunny]

Is the Ash lingering about or has it moved on? Do the badger thralls enrage still?

The ash rolls across the map and dissipates without a trace. Thrall murder victims do not become thralls themselves. Only those exposed to the ash cloud. The thralls are enraged, on and off; they're locked in an eternal melee with each other.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

147 pages of one thrall attacking another. They're opposed to anything that moves.

[StrawberryBunny]

How contagious are these thralls if at all?

Not contagious. Anything they kill stays dead. Any living thing that interacts with the ash becomes a thrall.

How tough are they? Do they bleed? Will any thing short of decapitation, bisection, cave in, atom smashing or complete incineration kill them?

They seem more or less invincible.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

How aggressive are they? Will they storm your fort if you open it up at all? Do they fight each other?

They chase anything within 20 or 30 tiles of them, otherwise they just stand around ripping each other apart.
I have not opened my fort yet, but once I have my metal production ready to produce enough cages to catch the thralls, I will. I'm afraid I may have to try baiting them in to my traps.
Yes.

How deadly are they? Are they fast? Are they strong?

Lethal. I've only had fresh migrants to go up against them, but as you can see from the combat reports and scar lists I've posted, you can see they're more or less indestructible.

[Sting_Auer]

I wonder if they become stronger as they become more damaged...

It would explain why they try to kill each other.

[Anathema]

Lethal. I've only had fresh migrants to go up against them, but as you can see from the combat reports and scar lists I've posted, you can see they're more or less indestructible.

Well, that's not really saying much - normal giant badgers are already godless avatars of death that slaughter fresh migrants by the dozen, as I discovered once to my dismay. To see how much the thralling is actually helping them, you'll have to give them more of a challenge - I'm looking forward to seeing how they fare against well trained and equipped military dwarves.

[StrawberryBunny]

Well, that's not really saying much - normal giant badgers are already godless avatars of death that slaughter fresh migrants by the dozen, as I discovered once to my dismay. To see how much the thralling is actually helping them, you'll have to give them more of a challenge - I'm looking forward to seeing how they fare against well trained and equipped military dwarves.

I'm lucky. The thralls were too slow or uninterested in chasing my massive 30 migrant wave and the vast majority got inside. No thralls chased them down the stairwell into my series of cage traps. No test subjects yet, but now I have plenty of bait to work with.

Edit: Unfortunately, I only have copper to work with. Didn't want to abandon the fort given the thralls. I'll do what I can.

Double Edit: Update! A Giant Badger thrall just ripped a thrall cat's head off and it died. Decapitation seems like a way to kill them. I also captured a cat thrall in my cage trap, and it will be magma, water, and spike trap tested.