After action report on the tantrum event of 371.
I have been very lucky.
In the first minute after the old ones' passing, Gemlogs the woodcutter goes stark raving mad, an artefact mechanism is created, depicting the creation of some masterful silk pants, and the first marriage in my fort takes place between two dwarves that have been born and raised there. They decide to throw a party, inviting every single unhappy dwarf to leave the comfort of my mist generator to join them.
The next 5 minutes see some more action, as Dart, my current elected mayor (also a member of the fortress guard) tantrums, and strikes a punch at the captain of the guard. Both have some dodging skills, and no damage is done.
At the same time, Crusher, one of my miners, tantrums, in the middle of the party room, and through sheer luck he decides to swing a fist instead of a steel pick at Tanny the Tanner. He calms down quite fast after that one punch. That could have been a bloodbath, had he used his pick.
Herb, the resident useless herbalist, and excess siege engineer, decides it's too much, and she starts stripping, drooling and babbling incomprehensibly. At the same time.
Around the corner, Bookwurm, the bookkeeper throws a fit, and swings a fist at a random gem setter, who easily dodges the fat magistrate's punch, and runs of to report the crime to the sherrif.
A few minutes pass with the tantrumers calming down, and then the wedding party ends, sending dwarves back to the mist generator. It was a really short party. I notice I'm almost down to no unhappies.
But it isn't fully over yet.
Gemlogs, who went stark raving mad earlier, dies of thirst, and about a minute later, Herb succumbs to thirst as well, in the middle of the meeting area. This gives most dwarves, who didn't have it already, the 'has witnessed death' thought. Three dwarves insta-tantrum, and from almost none I go back up to around 30 unhappies. Again Crusher, the miner, tantrums. Again, he forgets about his pick and starts pummeling a siege operator with his fists.
Arrow, another member of the fortress guard tantrums. But before he can find a target for his rage, he himself becomes victimized by the fists of Shear, local sheep girl.
Simultaneously, Sherrif, husband of the hammerer, and actually not a member of the police, tantrums, and tries to place a chokehold on Clothcleave, the fort's main clothier, who mysteriously arrived to the fortress without a nose. I suspect that missing nose to have something to do with him going on a pilgrimage to worship Belal, the deity of Sun and Day, 20 years before immigrating to my fort. Despite his bright appearance, Belal is known to have created at least one vampire and one werewolf in his glory days. It is ill advised to go on a pilgrimage to worship deities known for meddling with dark curses. I imagine Clothcleave's nose is sniffing about, animated by dark magics somewhere.
Perhaps it is the lack of a nose that causes Sherrif's wrestling escapade to fail. It enrages him further, and he grabs Blocks, mason, by the ankle. They struggle for a while, and once Blocks regains hold of her ankle, Sherrif has calmed down.
The next 10 minutes the red down arrows die out slowly, but steadily. One dwarf remains miserable for quite a while; Blocks. She got really unhappy because 'she was upset to be forced to talk to a pillar of society lately'. But her being miserable passed. All my dwarves are happy again.
Total damage: 3 dwarves dead, old age. 2 dwarves dead, unhappiness.
Odd note: Of all crimes reported to the authorities, none led to punishment. I guess the bookkeeper is a noble, and immune. But at least two of the assailants are neither nobility, nor fortress guard. Is punching someone not a crime? Is it only a crime when somebody is hurt beyond bruising?
Or did the dead of my previous captain of the guard (he died of old age a few years back) break the justice system? At least I know that the punishments for violating export bans still work.