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[Khegit]

I've been thinking about Armok, the Blood God himself, and how he ties in with the Dwarf Fortress universe (Unrelated to the actual game, of course, since he doesn't actually appear in-game.).

First off, what exactly is Armok? His title "God Of Blood" makes him sound like a savage war-god, that craves battle and death. Or, perhaps his title also has a double meaning. In ancient creation myths, all living things would usually be created out of inanimate objects, such as the earth, clay, stone, mud, only to be brought to life by some sort of life giving substance provided by the divine. Perhaps Armok filled the lifeless creations with the precious life fluid, and thus, his title, "God Of Blood". This would also fit in with the in-game mythos of Armok being a god of creation, in addition to his, strongly implied, position as a god of battle and/or protection.

Secondly, if Armok truly is just a, one-dimensional, cruel and savage war god, then why would he be the patron god of the Dwarves, of all races? The Dwarves are known for military might through the construction of fortifications (Because no other race can seem to figure out how to carve a slit through a solid stone block) death traps (usually involving magma), and forging tools of war with steel and the legendary adamantine, but these are usually measures taken for defense against the constant goblin assaults, and horrible beasts attracted by their wealth, instead of being used for conquering the innocent.  Also take into consideration the general lifestyle of the Dwarven people. They are a race that takes pride in their great industries and artistry, often including a immense,and incredibly diverse number of different industries operating out of each fortress, often decorating the halls of said fortress with statues and engravings.

They're also noticeably more advanced than every other race. They build complex mechanical infrastructures, utilizing levers, pressure plates, and mechanisms to control a series of drawbridges and floodgates, allowing them to directly control the flow of liquids, and construct security systems able to keep entire sieges and raging megabeasts at bay. They use windmills and water-wheels to generate mechanical power. They're also able to both, construct mechanical water pumps to transport liquid, and use said technology to purify flesh-dissolving demon toxin, into perfectly safe, drinkable water. All of these things, no other race in is able to even come close to doing.

 Overall, Dwarves are pretty much the exact opposite of what you'd expect from a race based on war and conquest. The race that fits the "War and conquest" thing, pretty much perfectly, are the goblins, so honestly, it sounds like Armok would be a more fitting patron god to the goblins than the Dwarves (If Armok is, indeed, nothing but a cruel and savage god of war, anger, and death.) I would've thought the Dwarves would have a patron god of industry, or fire and forge, stone and ore, trade and wealth. Pretty much any god is a better fit for the Dwarves than Armok.

[Grim Portent]

I've been toying with the idea that each rave envisions Armok differently.

To the humans he is a bloody winged angel of war who smites all who oppose his will.

To the elves he is a great tree festooned with garlands of flesh taken from those who deny the power of the natural world he has created.

To the goblins he is a great warlord who commands them to slay and conquer.

To the kobolds and animal-men he is an unseen predator, the swift shadow before your life is snuffed out.

To the dwarves he is Armok, lord of the lifeblood of the earth, creator and destroyer of worlds, whose inscrutable mind only deigns to bestow attention upon those who labour in his name.

Each race subtly understands that Armok must be kept amused lest he grow bored and unmake them. Armok can only be sated by conflict and devotion, by grand works and bloody battles. Should the world grow stale and stable then he forsakes it to forge anew on the anvil of time. Foremost among the methods to appease this bloody handed tyrant are brutal and ingenious weapons of war, the infamous magma-cannons, goblin grinders and baby-smashers, and the construction of great and glorious works in the name of a callous god, towers of glass, halls carved out above magma, ice forts besieged by the dead. All venerate Armok, for if he is not venerated and glorified then he is wont to end all.

[BoredVirulence]

I go with a philosophy that Armok is not a god, and is greater than that. Armok is a universal power does not exist in any universe, but instead rules all multiverse's. Gods known in game are lesser, they are creations of Armok and simply powerful beings, which may or may not exist in the corporeal form. As such, Armok isn't so much as the patron god of the dwarves, but is instead a being only the player can fathom, much like a dwarf cannot fathom that he is simply a being in a single universe in which there are many, many others. The gods dwarves worship are in the same singular universe they inhabit.

No, Armok is not a god, he is more. Armok is not the patron of any race, he is higher than that. Armok is probably not even known by most creatures in game, as they likely cannot fathom an infinite* series of universe's as they only inhabit one. Armok is simply the ulimate power behind everything in dwarf fortress. Each world may be independent of him, but it only exists by and under his will. In otherwords, Armok is Toady. We are the travellers of multiple worlds, the likes mortals cannot even imagine, and only we can dare to contemplate and imagine Armok. He is nothing, and yet everything. Just as the laws of physics constrain anything in our world (and likely every universe that exists parallel to our own), Armok constrains and expands the limits of dwarf fortress. He is the power of the impulse ramp, and the destructive power of draw bridges. He is the reason that drawbridges condense when raised vertically. He is the reason a giant can fall hundreds of feet, land on a cat, and suffer no damage. He is the reason for all.

/rant

[Khegit]

I go with a philosophy that Armok is not a god, and is greater than that. Armok is a universal power does not exist in any universe, but instead rules all multiverse's. Gods known in game are lesser, they are creations of Armok and simply powerful beings, which may or may not exist in the corporeal form. As such, Armok isn't so much as the patron god of the dwarves, but is instead a being only the player can fathom, much like a dwarf cannot fathom that he is simply a being in a single universe in which there are many, many others. The gods dwarves worship are in the same singular universe they inhabit.

No, Armok is not a god, he is more. Armok is not the patron of any race, he is higher than that. Armok is probably not even known by most creatures in game, as they likely cannot fathom an infinite* series of universe's as they only inhabit one. Armok is simply the ulimate power behind everything in dwarf fortress. Each world may be independent of him, but it only exists by and under his will. In otherwords, Armok is Toady. We are the travellers of multiple worlds, the likes mortals cannot even imagine, and only we can dare to contemplate and imagine Armok. He is nothing, and yet everything. Just as the laws of physics constrain anything in our world (and likely every universe that exists parallel to our own), Armok constrains and expands the limits of dwarf fortress. He is the power of the impulse ramp, and the destructive power of draw bridges. He is the reason that drawbridges condense when raised vertically. He is the reason a giant can fall hundreds of feet, land on a cat, and suffer no damage. He is the reason for all.

/rant

Ehhh, his title is "The 'God' of Blood"....sorry, but that kind of destroys the idea that he's not a god.

[Urist McVoyager]

He is we.  Between modders and other programmers, a lot of people could have made this game if they had the faith and determination to do it. Toady's awesome for having those traits, but he's not the only one who could do it.

Armok is the players. Especially those of us who play with the raws and create new races.

[Khegit]

I'm talking specifically in the context of the Dwarf Fortress universe. No fourth wall breaking.

[misko27]

I believe that he is the Overdeity, the one that shapes everything. Sometimes I imagine that the gods that made the original world failed so badly that they gave a portion of their power to one being, and that being created Armok. Armok, though tainted by their hatred of each other, still delivers their wish to alter. Armok reforges the world, improving, with blood yes, but glory as well. The gods, having portioned some of their power onto him, are forced to shift and change along with the worlds; Armok trying to right the wrongs of their original failures. Over time the world shifts fundamentally, (Mountains originally being the holders of unstoppable clowns, which moved into circus tents, which changed into the HFS we know today) as Armok rewrote the origin story for the world, rewrote the laws they followed, gave them more free will and more to kill and be killed.

The Forger of worlds, though with a eye to slaughter, despite my conjecture. Indeed, it does explain all the points, although it opens up the question of the phrase "slaves to Armok". What is he making with them? Perhaps referring to some grand plan?

[BoredVirulence]

Ehhh, his title is "The 'God' of Blood"....sorry, but that kind of destroys the idea that he's not a god.

Is the god of gods, not a god himself?
Its simple. We call him a god. Of course, we also call the gods in a a single universe gods. As someone else said, you could call him an "over-deity." He's above the gods that mortals worship, far above them.

[KingBacon]

Armok is literally "The God of Blood."

Meaning Armok is made of Blood. All those blood men on the third cavern layer, they are just the wandering Avatars of Armok who were split from the God when the world first formed. The reason dorfs die in horrible ways? The blood they covet is the property of Armok and death is the only way it can return to their God.

Vampires, just thieving Kobolds stealing the blood which rightfully belongs to Armok.

Elves with blood barrels are unholy merchants, who seek to pilfer the God's body for profit.

So can you see why Armok might be a tad violent?

[PainRack]

Blood in our mythology represents lifeforce/vitalism. Since Dwarf Fortress has multiple worlds constantly creating life, the God of Armok, as the Eru from LOTR is similar to that with the lesser Gods being the same Valiar/Maia from that series.

Going with Grim Portent view, the God of Armok won't have worship. He would rather have....... symbols of his presence. And each race/civilisation inch their way towards knowing his presence, like the 3 blind men feeling an elephant.

So, the Elves realise his vitalism with their trees and prohibit all others from cutting down trees without the proper(i.e Elven) reverence of it. They outright state it in their refusing wood speech.

The Goblins realise that life is cruel and in the end, blood is all that matters. They steal the "blood" of others to revitalise their own civilisation and wage war and murder all in this form of Armok avatar.

The Kobolds realise the "life" in creating objects and artifacts, that each object is an investment of a person time and hence, his life. So, they too like the goblins steal, but instead of the direct force, blood, they steal indirect representations of it, objects.

The Humans realise that life is civilisation. It is change, and then, it dies. Hence, their focus on 'change' by creating vast towns and plains, and their fixation on creating tombs.


The Dwarves realise that all other civilisations have a blinkered view of Armok. Only they can know his full greatness. They know his vitalism in the form of magma, a power greater than life for it contains the essence of the very ground and stones. Creation brought forth! And the dwarves create. From the physical, to artifacts, to the abstract, such as orbital magma cannons, the dwarves create!
They too know that life is in the blood, and that it dies. Hence, the huge death towers, the orbituraries of Boatmurdered and Hellcannon.

And lastly. They know that the blood of Armok flows in the magma seas, enshrining the holy metal.........adamantium. Now, if only they realise what Armok sacrificed to prevent demons from overrunning the world..........

[k33n]

I'm talking specifically in the context of the Dwarf Fortress universe. No fourth wall breaking.

Armok is the player. Their is no Dwarf Fortress universe, as the worlds are in a constant state of birth and death.

[Proudnerd]

He is we.  Between modders and other programmers, a lot of people could have made this game if they had the faith and determination to do it. Toady's awesome for having those traits, but he's not the only one who could do it.

Armok is the players. Especially those of us who play with the raws and create new races.

This is true. The way that he is described as being appeased by a state of conflict. thats df players all over. and that worlds are only kept around while they amuse armok before being replaced on the anvil of creation to be reforged. Worldgen. People talk about worlds/forts becoming boring all the time. of course to be "reforged" refers to modding and what chaos we/armok will dream up next to inflct upon the world.


I may be an atheist, but I will always work to appease armok. He is the only god i need. His presence is always felt whenever I play df as calamity and humor permeate every action. Every time I get kicked in the head by a farmer girl, killing me instantly or see all my companions drown, I know armok is watching.

[Joemit]

We all know Armok is Khorne.

[Urist MacNoob]

We all know Armok is Khorne.

HERESY!

There is no god but the God-Empress of Dorfkind.

Also, I haven't actually seen any of the races mention Armok.

At all. Nobody mentions him. Nobody has temples dedicated to him in my world, and he doesn't exist in the lore.

This leads me to the old theory that the player is Armok, a particularly shifty entity that cares not for the ignorance of mortals, guiding them into shaping the world to it's liking.

[Urist McVoyager]

It's a pathetic deity who uses hand puppets to toot its own horn.  So of course Armok's not going to show up in the game. We are it. Especially if you get the mod that makes you into an avatar of Armok yourself.