Playing through the mod over the past few days (with the added inclusion of standard Dwarf Fortress races and creatures, as well as a few creatures from another mod), first as the toads, then as the Shyguys. Quite the show I must say, and to recant my story in brief:
The Tale of Sunbright; the Ill fated Hamlet
The toads and their settlement of Sunbright were nothing interesting, at first. Spent the first few years painstakingly erecting mushroom-shaped houses built of wood and clay, followed by apartments of brick and stone and finally a town hall. Gathering the vim for a pipe to the merchant was an arduous task; reckless oversight led to the death of a poor toadette who had overworked herself filling the jars with the vile yet essential fluid, and a graveyard was hastily constructed in response. Beyond this, after a year of work, the town eventually reached a state of balance, where everybody had a room, the Yoshis were fed, and the well brought clean water, with the fishing industry soon providing plenty of seafood to appease the populace. Petty requests were undertaken for small amounts of coin on occasion, but this was a comparatively unusual occurrence in proportion to the amount of effort made to access the market in the first place, with subsistence and trade with foreign civilizations and the local caravan being the primary source of commerce. The town was indeed little out of the ordinary,
This all came to an end when a hopper (a mechanical creature modded in by yours truly; essentially a living industrial crane, like the type commonly seen in automotive factories) wandered in and started gruesomely disassembling things. Its first victim was a horse, no doubt simply minding its own business in the woods when the steel fiend decided to hunt it in a mockery of a predator devouring its prey. Of the citizenry, the first fatality was a field maid in the midst of simply gathering the fish lazily left behind by the anglers; her infant child was soon to follow. The local hero and the six yoshis as well as a couple buzzy beedles gleaned from trade were all called in to attempt to combat the mechanical threat, but they could do little as it proceed to pull the hero's steel spear from his hand and started to jab the party to death. The hero fell, as did four of the yoshis and both beetles, the remaining fleeing in fear. This devastated the local community, and little could be done as the seemingly invulnerable creature meandered near the riverside, waiting for more to fell in its illustrious quest.
Migrants came, unknowing of the foe that loomed before them. Steelcarnage the Hopper struck down five of them in its lust for murder, a sole toad managing to evade its wrath. By this point, things were looking grim as the morgue was overburdened (while some still had yet to find rest) and the townsfolk terrified. Expansion had been stymied in response to the threat and soon the streets were overcrowded with toads as the next group of migrant arrived; indeed, the hero was also a rather important carpenter, and without his guidance, the production of wooden planks and furniture had slowed tenfold. Without exceptional strength in numbers or material, the beast of steel remained untouchable; drastic measures would have to be taken in order to best it.
A clever trap was conducted by the local recorder whom mechanics was a secondary hobby: a brave individual, chosen to be the succeeding hero, was to lead the creature into a trap consisting of several cages operated to spring shut the moment the dreaded claw hopped into their position. It was a long shot, but imprisoning, and hopefully later carefully destroying the creature, for both revenge (something that the mushroom folk scarcely took pleasure dealing in) and access to its value in scrap, was well worth it in the minds of the toads, as well as to ensure that it brought tragedy to no other individuals.
Yet as the saying goes, plans, as clever as they might be, rarely went true to accordance, and the designated hero found himself crippled as the hopper leaped into his position and mangled his legs with the bash of a weapon once brandished by his predecessor. Yet another unfortunate occurrence looked to be in the making, when a yoshi, one of the survivors from the initial defense, decided she could not bear to see another one of her friends lose his life. Mustering up her courage, the white creature threw an egg, which had once before proved to be ineffective against Steelcarnage's industrial grade frame. But indeed, she did not intend for the egg itself to harm the creature; it was the response, the hopper's clumsy attempt at evading the blow, that finally caused the iron monster to fall into the riverbed.
Heavy and inadept at aquatic living, Steelcarnage floundered in vain, soon finding itself washed downstream as it could not fight against the waves as fiercely as it fought against the toad settlement. The beast vanquished or, at very least out of sight, for a moment, it appeared that the region would, if not return to normal, at least find itself at peace once more. But Armok is a fickle god, and those under his domain could not wish to hope for such a reality without severely boring him, and the local koopas decided to launch their attack in a bout of insight. The crude militia composed in response proved unsatisfactory, the original hero having been the intended leader and teacher in the case such an event were to happen, and Sunbright fell after much vim had been spilled. The Mushroom King frowned upon hearing this story, his crumbling kingdom ever losing territory to the vile turtle men. He hoped the beanish, or the mole men, or the forces of nature, be they elf, fey, or bulbulb, would eventually push the aggressive adversary back before they got a larger foothold on the realm, but the latter tale would eventually go untold as the God of Blood's focus shifted on a new, much different world.
The Tale of the Fortress of Chewing; An Unlikely AllianceIt was the year five-hundred twenty in
Shimmyspittle the Square of Dance, so named for the fact that the world was shaped as a large square, a small ocean bordering its corners as well as a smaller sea within its left corner the only things to break up the geometric pangea, as well as a larger crater near the centre which housed the majority of its mountain ranges as well as the bulk of volcanic activity. Many races withered and succumbed in the prior ages, either to the rampaging great beasts which roamed the earth in terriflying numbers, or through the warring tendencies of the so called renegade races, the ruthless goblins being at the helm, followed by the slimy goomba, the mystical koopa, the volatile bob-ombs, and the wretched biokuri, a race of slithering monsters which had entered the world through another dimension. Civilized society had been brought to its knees; the forces of nature were all but extinct, the last surviving beaninsh had turned on the peoples that were unable to defend their kind and took up residence in ominous towers, while the mole people and pianta hid in caves, as well as the ruins of the long since defeated dwarven race. Humanity and toad were left to fend for themselves against the barbarian hordes, under their folds the last few forest retreats containing yoshi that had yet to be scourged.
The races of the shadow too found this period a rough time to live by, but the harsh conditions from which they lived had tempered them such that they would not fall as easily. The squeaks, a seemingly diminutive race of rodent men, held the forefront, for it was their small size and craftiness in number that made them the most successful thieves of them all. Alongside them worked the mysterious shyguys, whose strange yet elaborate methods allowed them refuge against the forces of evil as they slowly worked to bide time in for decision of a proper response to the eventual situation. The bandits, humanoid offshoots of the shy, preferred to use simpler brute methods to get their way; said methods worked well enough against the civilized peoples, yet led to their ruin when the hordes counter attacked; but a single hillock remained of these curious specimens, ever worried that their enemies would find the time to finish what they had set to accomplished.
Joining them was the last of the fey, a race from a land far away, having figured out that civilized society would only lead them to the same fate as the elves and bulbs whom they once called kin, shifted allegiance to these shady beings, thieving off both their former allies as well as the vile foes which tempted this dire course of action in the first place. The kobolds, once recognized as the craftiest of all the thieving races, had long since been driven mad after continued residence in foul fortresses left abandoned by the hordes of darkness, having broken the sacred rules from which all the thieving peoples operated by and stealing from their former allies as well as the other factions. For this, they were excommunicated, and left to the mercy of the horde as it slowly began reclaiming what had once escaped from its grasp.
The year of 520 was a special time indeed, for it was at this time that the shy had finally come to an agreement on how to deal with the situation. Once denizens of an alien world which was rumored to exist only in subconscious dreams,
The Renowned Strategy, the largest of the remaining shyguy "clans" (a term used loosely), would attempt to settle a fortress in order to access this mythical land. Through what exact means it was unknown, but the shy had promises of safety and endless food, of which they were sure to obtain in the case they managed their seemingly illogical task, so long as they managed to find the proper place to settle down. Though desperate, the other thieving races were understandingly skeptical, and all of them, even the withering bandits who doubled as their kin and knew of the sacred realm as well, refused to take such a risk as huge as to venture into the open, especially when they heard the decided area was to be situated near the range of not one, but three of the hordes' races as well as the remains of civilized society. Disheartened, but seven shyguys decided to risk their lives in order to make the initial trip, taking with them potato seeds as well as a few machines gleaned from the ruins of a biokuri factory, they being those which doubted the plan the least.
Halfway across the trip,
The Greater March, the name eventually decided by the shyguy pioneers for their fellowship, came across a vicious frog man, like a civilized race spoke of in passing legend. But this frog man was not a scholar like the legends fortold; it was a primitive, brutish creature of little intelligence and a truly animalistic drive. The frightened shyguys were sure that their game was over as the frogog closed in on them, sickly secretions dripping from its shiny, gooey body. Yet before it creature attacked, the individual first took notice of the wagon the group had hastily abandoned in their attempt to flee the area. Rummaging through. inside the creature found robes, shoes, and masks; the shyguys' clothing, the outfit which defined both their appearance as well as identity. The frogog halted. It glanced at the strange outfit in curiosity, taking moments to look first at the clothes it held within its arms, then back at the shyguys who nervously gazed before it. After half an hour of observing, the frogog did something completely unexpected;
it attempted to wear the mask. At first, the creature tried placing the back of the mask in front of its head, the bronze object repeatedly falling to the floor as it failed to fasten it onto its head properly. The shyguys, now thoroughly confused by their situation, silently contemplated on what to do. Though they spoke no words with each other, subtle gestures, unnoticed by any other race, were all they needed to properly communicate, and the shy guys started to move, three of the shyguys demonstrating how to properly apply a mask on one's self, grabbing attention of the curious frog.
It glared, threatening to break its focus and return to hostility, until it started to become mesmerized by their repetitive action, their hypnotic movements slowly interfacing with the deep inner thoughts of its primal mind. The frogog first started wearing the mask, then the shoes, then the robes, until it had clothed itself much like the beings it was assaulting prior, now pacified and standing before the guys, outwardly appearing like an exceptionally tall, lanky shy guy. The creature, pacified, went off into the woods, leaving The Greater March to continue their journey, which they did in earnest, finally arriving to their destination in early spring, in near the end of winter within the region.
Having mostly lived their lives as thieves, the shy guys initially had little knowledge of how to run an effective settlement; that is, one they had not pilfered from previous owners whom had abandoned it. What food they had ran thin; the river was frozen, and there was little in the way of berries to forage. Digging into the hillside offered temporary shelter, but the shallow caves were both cold, dark and wet, and proved to be no place to store the supplies they had brought. Indeed, before they could settle a fortress, the shy guys had to see to it they simply survived the tail end of the winter. Chopping down trees and converting stone for building use in anticipation of building a crude stockade and keep, the shy were preoccupied with building a roof over their heads when a devious party of rhesus macaques descended on them; ironically intending to steal from the race of thieves themselves.
With little in the way to fend against them, the so called "
Fortress of Chewing" as had been proposed the name of their future palace, seemed to be as much a dream as the legend it was forged from, the macaques making a beeline towards their remaining food stocks. It was then, in the distance, that a familiar croaking noise was heard. A horde of bitter-scented figures in robes and masks appeared on the hills, running down at full speed and engaging the monkeys in combat with their fists. Fifty frogogs dressed as shyguys pummeled the mischievous animals into submission, leaving six carcases ready for a fledgling meat industry. One of these frogogs, no doubt the one the group had encountered earlier, stood in front of the shyguys, staring down at it and making noises in a mimicry of their language. While all their supposed allies had decided to abandon them, it would appear, at least for a time, that the diminutive masked men had new allies to depend on. They dubbed them the
Croaking Guys.
The latter story took much longer then expected to type out, so I had to cut it short for the moment, but in frank, I'm having quite the time with the Shy Guys. Here is a look at the current state of my fort, making use of their subconian architecture!
Issues found include:
-Toads will apply azoth to an already converted warp pipe section if its the nearest pipe available. Similar behavior occurs with shyguys and painting wood.
-Large ? Blocks have a chance of spewing absurd amounts of coins. One block revealed multiple stacks of 15000 coins at once, which when used in tandem with the slot machine, essentially obsoleted the shyguy's agricultural industry, as well as increased their wealth by an unreal degree.
-Pasta doesn't seem to work? I suppose that there is a specific type of milled grain that the recipe refers to, but none of the purchasable powders seem to fulfill the requirement.
-Keys gleaned from magical vases have quality modifiers and can even become masterworks. A shy guy will receive unhappy thoughts if the masterwork key they received disintegrates without being used.
-Dream furniture can be obtained without a subcon crystal, though its rarely beneficial to use in the first place other then to obtain a dream anvil.
-The intermissional shyguy squads available prior to village and later citydom will remain in existence despite becoming unavailable once the position obsoletes; the unit leader is kicked out, and any other shy-guys will remain in the unit until removed, after which said unit just uselessly floats in the squad screen, taking up a key bind.
-Bandits are replaced by shyguys in their entity file. Not sure if this was intentional, as the bandit creature still exists in the raws, but I changed them back in my version and slightly modified their sprites to make their eyes beadier, similar to their Yoshi's Story appearance.
-Frogogs are ridiculously cheap at one point a pop, allowing even an average starting embark to take up to 50 of the buggers at once. They make poor defenders against all but perhaps goomba sieges and wild animals, but their main theoretical use is in the meat industry, leaving about twenty units of meat a frog; far more then a plump helmet worth equivalent points.
-it appears that whatever biome giant mushrooms spawn in has absolutely zero Mario creatures naturally occurring within it during a cold climate. This makes initially generating coins difficult without butchering embarked creatures...like frogogs.
Other Notes:
In spite of what you say about mod specific humans refusing to take positions of power within toad civilizations, I've found that replacing them with standard Dwarf Fortress humans does the trick quite nicely; the toad civilization I played had a human king, while another had a human hero, who was a pump operator no less.
Interestingly, kobolds remain hostile to shyguys despite them by all acounts being in the same factional sphere. This is either hard-coded or might have to do with their utterances.
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Topic: Rise of the Mushroom Kingdom: No new update...yet (Read 270690 times)