From the Journal of Kadol Ezumadek, Dwarven Paladin
1st of Hematite, 222Time passes quickly when one fills his day with honest, hard work like a good dwarf should. Our little fortress is prospering; we are now ready for migrants. Hopefully they will be sent from the Mountainhome soon enough.
I haven't written much since Granite; the work has taken up nearly all of my time. Fifteen feet bellow the ground we have carved out a home. Here, in the rich soil layer, we've begun farming plump helmets. This humble mushroom, while bland, is very resilient and can be grown year round. Further, it can be eaten raw, cooked, or brewed for alcohol. Eventually, we will plant other crops as well; for now, we're sticking with mushrooms.
Above ground, our fort isn't very impressive. A small stone structure is all that can be seen by prying eyes, which is just the way we want it. We aren't ready for war yet, so our best bet is obscurity. Here in the depth of the jungle, a rough stone structure could take years to find without prior knowledge. Or at least, so we hope.
I've decided to build this fortress from the top down. So we're starting with the industries closest to the surface. For us, that means food production. We dug out an extensive farm level, big enough to feed a few hundred dwarves. This is because I figure it will be easier to use only the area we need now, as opposed to scrambling to add room when we need it. On the same level as our farms I've set up the butcher's block. The meat industry center will be put behind closed doors for two reasons: First, the smell won't spread to the rest of the fortress. Second, if we come under attack by the Necromancers, the less dead things we have out in the open, the better. Of course, we don't actually have enough dwarves or animals to make use of our meatpacking site. But again, it will be easier to carve it out now than to figure out where to put it later.
On the same level I've placed the woodworks. Wood will be kept in a back room, which will allow carpenters easy access. Finished goods and furniture will be kept in a stockpile in the same room. Until the industrial center is ready to hammer out goods faster than we can use them, that should be sufficient. Later on, we may require a centralized store room.
The final part of this floor is the quarters. While every true-blooded dwarf likes to live in a magma-warmed stone room in the depths of the earth, its simply too long of a walk for those workers who must stay near the surface. So I have ordered the miners to dig out chambers for the peasants, which they will do as soon as they finish the butcher's block. Hopefully we will fill all of these empty rooms by Summer's end.
Our next step is going to be to dig the halls where masonry, gemcrafting, and metalworking will take place, deep down in the earth. Bedrooms for the dwarves involved in those industries will follow as well. Somewhere in the middle I plan to build a great magma-warmed dining hall where Overdwarves and Underdwarves can come together to feast and celebrate. The only thing left to dig then will be the tombs and Halls of Champions. I plan to put those in the layer of granite I found just above the Great Magma Sea. It is the greatest honor one of our kind can experience to be buried in the stone that named our empire.
I hope to finish the work on the underground by year's end. Then we will begin gathering stone to build a great tower, from which we can extend our influence in all directions and crush the forces of Evil. For that, however, we will need many more dwarves. I pray we will receive them soon.
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To Be Dwarfed:
Fath - Paladin/Swordsdwarf, Weaponsmith
Piranha - Paladin/Hammerdwarf, Armorsmith
Gavakis - Paladin/Axedwarf
Duthnur - Scientist/Medic
Sloth - Lazy, immoral Peasant
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