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[Girlinhat]

So I've got an idea.  I'm going to embark on a good/evil border.  Ethics will be modded to allow sentient butchering, goblins will be modded to appear only during winter, and unicorns will be modded to be [UBIQUITOUS] or else I'll keep re-embarking until I get them, and make them [PET_EXOTIC].  Mega and Semi-megabeasts will be max population, history of 2 years.  The megaproject will be a toaster and the theme will be exotic animal control.

I'd like an interesting social structure though.  Normally I have no structure.  Everyone sleeps in communal rooms, common booze piles, clumps of workshops, etc.  This time, I'm thinking a strict hierarchy based on... something.  Commoners get into the common dorms, or the dirt, living in near-squalor.  Certain others will get put into specialized areas, mainly places of work like the armorsmith's temple or the clothier's pit.  These will be strictly separate from each other.  The only movement between them will be when the producer places an item into a cubbyhole, and a spacial "hauler caste" of worker takes it out of the cubby and takes it down to the commoner's pit, where it's placed into another cubbyhole and transferred to the common chambers.  Special use of burrows and "take from" stockpiles will dictate how this occurs.

In order to keep the masses occupied, I'm likely to mod how farming works by increasing the growth time and having intermediate steps to produce edible items.  For instance, plump helmets will be inedible, but there will be an automatic reaction that takes 5 plump helmets and produces 1 prepared mushroom and 2-4 seeds.  These will be edible, effectively cutting food production by 1/10th.  If it takes 2x longer to grow, and 5x more to produce edible numbers...  Well, this type of trickery should keep the peasants busy farming instead of just loitering around in the pits.  Similar trickery will be done for threadmaking and milling, which should make cloth production more difficult and thus make the economic model just a bit more challenging.

In any case, I'm ultimately faced with one important issue.  How do I decide who's privileged nobility and who's peasant scum?  Based on their skills?  That's way too logical.  Based on the color of their hair perhaps?  Their stature, with the larger of the species being peasants and the very largest taking on the downtrodden task of military service?  Perhaps further divide them according to their deities?

What would make an interesting social construct, and what would be the most dwarven way to implement it?

[KodKod]

One word: Matriarchy!

Preferably with hints of Nineteen Eighty-Four. Two minutes hate, anyone?

[Girlinhat]

Matriarchy it is!  And yet, there are a large number of women, generally over half the population it seems.  They can't ALL be nobles.  Maybe... just the women with red hair?  I dunno, but some other criteria would be needed.

[Loud Whispers]

Make the society based around how many cabochons each person owns.

[kenpoaj]

Women who are undamaged and don't detest flies or rats.

[Girlinhat]

I believe that would be "zero for everyone" since no one arrives with cabochons.

[Loud Whispers]

Ah but then you could randomly give out cabochons to everyone!

[BigFatStupidHead]

How about a military matriarchy? We all secretly love our legendary murdersmiths, after all.

[KodKod]

Matriarchy it is!  And yet, there are a large number of women, generally over half the population it seems.  They can't ALL be nobles.  Maybe... just the women with red hair?  I dunno, but some other criteria would be needed.

Red hair, hmm? I can't say I disagree with that one. =3

You could always throw together an Inner Party composed of the elite red haired women who have absolute power and stunning living space, an Outer Party composed of the rest of the women who get the luxury of personal living quarters and moderate comfort.

And the men? Well the men can be the Proles.

[Loud Whispers]

What about a society where the youngest are elevated to the highest societal levels!

[kenpoaj]

Based on the number of socks they own? granted everyone starts about the same, but as socks wear out, they get demoted!

[Teneb]

Add kill count to the mix. Remember: dwarf kills are worth more.

[NecroRebel]

My thought would be to go by a preference. Yes, metal preference! Those whose preferred metal is most valuable are highest-ranked, with usefulness as a weapon further increasing the rank of the metal. So candy-lovers get to be nobles, followed by those who are enamored with platinum, the allies of aluminum, the soldiers of steel, and so on. Those who like zinc can just go straight to Hell. I'm pretty sure every dwarf has a preference for some metal, too, so you'd actually be able to rank every one.

You might need to roll several such castes into one in order to keep the numbers reasonable. Like, value 2-8 in one caste, value 10-20 in another, value 23+ in a third, and then separate castes for each of the weapons-grade metals. One caste for each value multiplier would give 14 castes, more if you made the weapons metals have their own.

Bonus points if you make those who like a weapons-grade material into soldiers, and equip them exclusively with items made from their preferred metal.

[KodKod]

The problem with some of these suggestions is the idea that someone could earn their place in the upper echelons of society.

How can you leave a people despondent and repressed if you give them hope? It's contrary to the very nature of a social hierarchy which ought to be based on immutable accidents of birth.

[Loud Whispers]

Add kill count to the mix. Remember: dwarf kills are worth more.

Better yet - Killing Dwarfs ABSORBS their kill counts.