At some point, an unlikeable person may come to inquire about what adamantine is.
omgg!!11!!!!! y does nobody tel me what "canndy" or "circus" is!!!! MY DADY IS A LAW YER and he will SUE ALL OF U if u DONT TELL ME ABOUT CANDY
This thread exists so we can link it to those people. We all concoct ridiculous fibs about adamantine, hell, demonic fortresses, slade, and whathaveyou so that we can weaponize these lies into a Noob-Vaporizing Cannon (please remember the difference between newbs and noobs - we are going to be nice to the newbs). Remember, keep it consistent. "This is a legit source!"
Once we have built up enough lies, I remove this little disclaimer up here and the thread is locked (not really locked, mind you) and loaded. Now we can safely doom anyone who really makes themselves hateable on these forums - but use it sparingly and don't link to people who are really learning. Please also avoid saying "This is a bunch of lies! Look it up on the wiki!" because this is for people who really need a free trip to the circus badly.
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Dwarf Fortress has many secrets in it, some more dangerous than others. You may notice that, at the metalsmith's forge, you can see "adamantine" as a metal option. What
is this mystery metal? What
is the "circus" some people may mention? This thread has all the answers in one convenient place.
Adamantine/CandyRaw adamantine is a rock that occurs in tubes found deep underground, rarely penetrating the lowest caverns. It can be refined into adamantine strands by Strand Extractors at a Craftsdwarf's Workshop, then the strands can be converted into wafers at a smelter or woven into glittering, pure adamantine cloth at a loom. However, it also carries a curse... adamantine is so valuable, even refining it will drive your Created Wealth through the roof, which can attract multiple goblin sieges at once (the "circus"). Fortunately, your army should have adamantine weapons to deal with them. Adamantine is odd stuff - while it forms a terrible edge, it is so dense that adamantine warhammers can send a goblin flying 100 meters even in the hands of a novice. Since it's so dull, it makes a great material to make spikes out of for use in "Danger Rooms" - training near such valuable objects will make your dwarves happy while they dodge the harmless dull sticks pointing out of the ground.
Demons/ClownsWhat's all this about demons, then? Well, demons exist as randomly-generated worldgen figures. They will "escape from the underworld" and proceed to kill things and create havoc, usually settling down as false gods or goblin leaders. Yes, goblin leaders... the same goblins that are sieging you because of all your wealth! A few demons
will arrive with these sieges, and they have terrifying powers so concentrate your defenses on the surface. This is why adamantine is considered a "cursed" metal: many newly-established forts attract much more military force than they can handle from the goblins.
Raw Adamantine Tubes: The DangerThose tubes are actually hollow inside... and they drip infinite magma from the top as soon as you open them! They slowly fill up before magma perpetually floods out of the opening you've made in them, flooding everything below with magma. For this reason, it is essential to breach these tubes from the lowest point possible, so that the least amount of raw adamantine is flooded and inaccessible. Successful players typically start at the bottom and work their way up so they mine all the adamantine: once the tube is totally gone, the magma flow will stop.
Demonic Fortresses/Circus TentsDeep underground, you may find a mysterious room with a single, perfect adamantine weapon in the center. This is even more dangerous than refining normal adamantine, because that weapon will be artifact quality and picking it up will raise your wealth by at least half a million dwarf-bucks. And what's worse, undead will crawl out of the hole you pulled the weapon out of! They're slow and rotten, but there are a lot of them so send everyone you can down there to head them off - even civilians will typically kill them, but the more fighters the less danger there is. Send your forces down before the weapon is pulled, or else they will wander up the stairs and destroy your buildings! Even worse, these zombies, if they happen to touch a corpse, will pass on their undeadness to it, raising more zombies against you. You must fight them off before they reach your boneyards.