(art by
Blue Viking Hog)
Ahab Thimshurmuthkat was tired of the same old dwarfen engineering projects. How many double-slit aquifer breachings? How many pump stacks? How many drowning-chamber entryways must he construct? When your whole life is spent in a hole in the ground, your only escape is books. After reading every book in the mountainhome's library (e.g., "101 Uses for Microcline", "I Dream of Magma", "Render Your Fat in 7 Minutes a Day", etc.) he started picking up books from elvish and human caravans. Most of the elfish stuff was pretentious poetry or left-wing trash, but the humans had some interesting stories. In particular, one book described a life of industry on the ocean (imagine that!) and the hunt for a giant sperm whale (who knew they came in giant size???). Ahab had two burning questions:
"Are there more of those out there?"
and
"Why go into the ocean when you can
bring the ocean to you?"
Here was a project he could get excited about. Here was a challenge that a million dwarfs hadn't already met. The giant sperm whale was the rarest and largest creature in the world... how could he capture it? What could he do with the sheer hydraulic power potential in the vast and wild ocean?
SaltbuckleSaltbuckle is a succession fortress based on the idea of a dwarven whaling station. Instead of building ships, we will use all manner of dwarf ingenuity to find better ways to capture mighty sea creatures and turn them into exportable products. (Partly inspired by
this thread.) The goal is ultimately to capture (and eat) the mightiest creature in the game: the giant sperm whale. I describe the emark location in
this comment. The challenge will be to use our imaginations to find as many ways as possible to capture and harvest the bounty of the sea.
Some rules:
1. Vanilla DF 0.34.11
2. Dwarfs must live on biscuits (preferably made of flour and fish) and beer or rum. Other foods may be gathered from the land or bought by traders (i.e. you can pick berries to ward off scurvy) but may not be produced (you can eat the animals migrants bring, of course). No plump helmets! Make up happiness in other ways.
3. For trade, we may only export the products of the land and sea: crab meat roasts (if you can prevent the dwarfs from eating them), whale bone weapons and crafts, baby seal leather, orca tallow soap, etc. etc. All the standard dwarf arts may be used for internal enjoyment but not trade.
4. Turns last a week, and frequent updates would be nice.
5. It is against the rules to destroy the ocean.
6. The prize is a solid gold bedroom for whichever dwarf slays the giant sperm whale.
Comment if you'd like to be dwarfed or take a turn at the helm.
Author
Topic: Saltbuckle: in search of the Giant Sperm Whale [new succession game] (Read 8856 times)