I'm still playing DF2038. (I respect you techie types, but the Faith system is where it's fucking at and I'm glad DF 2052 is bringing that shit back with an upgrade.)
So I've got this citizen, you know the type. Former cheesemaker turned weaver. Lost his family to a weremongoose attack about a month before this story. He was suffering and none of the local Gods could really make it go away. Doesn't help that most Gods ironically DON'T bless cheesemakers for some odd reason. I'd call it a bug, but Toady II was all in with us drafting them for the military and sending them to do something useful besides curdling purring maggot milk. So I get this message: Urist McHeartbroken is praying to the unknown. Of course, we all know that Armok was the unknown at that point. (2052 is going to make it explicit that he's us, but that's two years away.) So I popped open the unit screen, entered his thoughts screen and tabbed over to the prayer interface to hear him.
He was still in mourning, which is acceptable, seeing as it was only a month. So I heard his prayer. “Dear Lord, make yourself known to me and I will be Your faithful servant. Just give me a sign.” The standard “I need a purpose!” plea. Thank the gods who smited EA that Toady was blurring the lines between the three modes at that point and added Testing Arena features into Fortress mode. I had saved up minor prayer points up til now from small miracles like getting those last few extra plump helmets out of the ground to save the Fort from starvation. Little things like that.
So I traded about half my points and dropped a silver sword in the middle of his room. If it was a were who killed his family, there was a good chance there would be more of them. Boy was I fucking right. That night was the full moon, and as my new hunter stalked the halls, seven other victims showed themselves. I expected he'd go down fighting for his family's memory, but overnight he went from a broken cheesemaker to a bulwark of stability for his fortress. The Fortress guard were all out on patrol keeping kobolds and goblins out (There had been a nasty civil war in the local Gobold union and it had broken down into ravaging armies traveling the countryside. Thank Armok I had the foresight to stash several weaponlords in each hillock to train up the locals.) and the militia were all sleeping off benders from one of the local festivals. None of them worship me, so it's not like I actually give a damn about those festivals.
I wondered why the sword cost so much faith, but apparently it had an enchantment that made it glow in the direction of the nearest were, so one by one Urist Werehunter tracked them down and slew them. It was a sight to behold, with him sneaking up and cutting their heads off. He went from no-skills to proficient in ambusher, observer, and swordsdwarf. It's not much, but a start. And now he's a devout worshiper of Armok (I didn't get creative with the name. We've always suspected he's a stand-in for us, so why not roll with it?)
Why did nobody else get involved? Everyone remembered the last attack. A quarter of the fort fell to it, and when the alarm sounded, all hid but the hunter.
I'm going to see just how far I can take this guy. His immense faith in me for letting him avenge his family has spiked my faith points by 1000% and I'm sure I can do a great deal more.