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Author Topic: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress  (Read 281699 times)

MDFification

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #420 on: January 26, 2014, 07:07:15 pm »

...you could just try again, making sure it's one-tile deep...

You could try generated more blood by rigging up some low-quality wooden spears to a lever and pulling it repeatedly. Sacrifice one vampire to paint the reservoir red. Alternatively, you'll need a much bigger drop and a willingness to see a loyal citizen explode...
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fractalman

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #421 on: January 26, 2014, 07:25:10 pm »

sole vampire is already dead, apparently.
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This is a masterwork ledger.  It contains 3719356 pages on the topic of the precise number and location of stones in Spindlybrooks.  In the text, the dwarves are hauling.
"And here is where we get the undead unicorns. Stop looking at me that way, you should have seen the zombie deer running around last week!"

Gnorm

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #422 on: January 26, 2014, 08:40:03 pm »

This is a well-crafted goat leather scroll.

"The Government of Steelhold"

To the aristocracy of The Gloves of Admiring,

I assume that you have all been quite concerned about the health of the queen ever since she decided to take a visit to Steelhold.  In order to answer whatever questions you might have about this colony, I have drafted this scroll -- the first of several.  You must be wondering who I am exactly, and how I can be trusted.  All that must be known about me is that I am the second son of a minor noble of a small fortress a few miles from the capital.  Desiring adventure, I sought out this penal colony and took an almost fatal trek through a great desert, sneaking in with the latest caravan.  I have been watching over this place in secret for quite a while now, and all that I have discovered I have written down in full accordance to the facts.  Take great care to preserve this scroll; goat leather is hard to come by in this fortress.

The first topic we must deal with are the different political factions that have grown within this penal colony.  I must say that this is the most diverse fortress I have ever seen regarding beliefs.  The fortress is officially a Barony of the kingdom, though its aristocratic power fluctuates and the fortress actually has an official charter -- albeit one that has become essentially defunct in this new year.  I am happy to report that the Elf-Party is has been long-since defunct upon its brief operation in Steelhold.  In addition, the socialist-advocate known as Jovus has become far-less outspoken since his arrival in this colony.  Aside from these, the main political parties are the Marble Faction and the Rhakenist Party.

Following the death of the Jackal, the old warden, this fortress was held under the control of the late Baron Lenehan, who managed to achieve the rank of nobility in late 254.  The rank of Baron was then inherited by Corley, his son, who exercised his authority over the denizens throughout 259.  Before the new year began he mysteriously disappeared, and is rumored by many to have been consumed by Hellfire (which will be covered in a later scroll on the fortress' histroy).  Eight-year-old Kadol Rodimerush now serves as the de iure baroness, though she is too young to exercise any authority whatsoever.

In the year of 258, the Marble Faction achieved supremacy through an impressive bloodless revolution, lead by a willful dwarf named Emdief.  She promoted herself to the esteemed position of Overseer and established the "Steelhold Council."  Although the party seemed to fancy itself a representative government, it was in practice more of an oligarchy, as the denizens of the fort no actual say in the matters of the Council.  The party lost a lot of its support and influence when Baron Corley convinced the Council to adopt his charter, allowing him to appoint himself as Overseer and effectively tear the party apart from the inside.  Since the beginning of 259, no Council meetings have been held.

The Rhakenist Party -- which does not actually call itself by this name -- has an entirely different approach in the matters of government.  The rhakenists are a fascist group formerly controlled by Rhaken, the esteemed criminal.  It rose to power and stressed an immense feeling of independence amongst the dwarves of Steelhold, as well as a focus on militaristic power.  It is notable for being the only political faction to have been in active, continuous control for over a single year.

Dwarves who do not fall into any of the aforementioned categories follow either small, nondescript factions or are simple anarchists.  Currently, the overseer of the fortress is one (purported) Dr. Asmoth, who seems to fall under the category of the latter.

I again assure you of the validity of this document, and I remind you that our queen does indeed wander these dangerous halls.  Handle Steelhold with a firm, careful grip.

Sincerely,
James Joyce, Esq.
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MDFification

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #423 on: January 26, 2014, 08:52:18 pm »

Meanwhile, in a nondescript corner of Steelhold...

Uristador sighed as the last hooded dwarf left. The council had no real power any more. The most prominent members of the Faction still met, but the so-called "Shadow Council" wasn't very effective. As it was, only he an Jovus still held any real power.
These murders really were disturbing. Uristador, in his extremely limited experience, hadn't seen anything like it. Children found, drained entirely of blood. Uristador had never believed in vampires, no matter what Asmoth said. Now, he wasn't so certain. Ignorance was bliss, it had once been said by someone he couldn't quite recall, and that certainly seemed true. The more you know, the more you fear, at least when it comes to Steelhold.
The faction would survive. Manifestos had been smuggled into every caravan possible since Emdief died. Proclamations of the rights of dwarves would be read soon everywhere someone knew the runes, as would Emdief's description of what a proper government structure should look like. Uristador had been a tad suspicious of that, but why would Jovus lie? Emdief knew what he/she was doing, or the ghost would have intervened. Unless it had really left the fortress.
Uristador trudged back to the barracks, pausing only a moment to glare at a few errant cultists. He had a militia to train. A militia that was quite sensible about political affiliation, all said and done.
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Deus Asmoth

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold
« Reply #424 on: January 26, 2014, 10:01:39 pm »

Asmoth's Log, 1st Moonstone.

At last, my magnum opus is complete. There are no mortals left in Steelhold, one way or the other. All told, seventy dwarfs died over the last three months, which is well within acceptable losses. Dwarfkind shall look back on this year and know that it was the beginning of their evolution.

My observations of the childred hasn't yielded much fruit thus far, though they seem to have little to no empathy now for those who haven't ascended. Even my final daughter, who previously fled whenever I tried to involve her in my experiments, now seems most eager to be my lab assistant. Hopefully this means I have stamped out magic in Steelhold once and for all, and proven science superior.

On to less important matters. The militia is up to 33 members spread across four squads. It would be 35, but a newly ascended dwarf punched a mortal in the face and killed him, and Urist McDead went stark raving mad soon after being conscripted. I look forward to observing him, as normally a dwarf would starve or die of thirst in his situation. Perhaps he'll snap out of it after a few years.

Queen Kivish was set free after I successfully got her to ascend, for reasons of politics. I don't pretend to understand how there things work, but I imagine the capital is less likely to be suspicious if they know the queen is alive and well.

Also for reasons of politics, I plan to relinquish my control over the fortress soon. Now that Steelhold has been stabilized again, the factions are clamouring for power, and frankly, I don't want to deal with it. I have more than enough to keep me occupied, not least of which is making a proper record of Project Immortality. There are also plenty of patients I need to treat, as there were some unfortunate inefficiencies in my execution of the project. It will be better next time.

Finally, Queen Kivish has been convicted of seventy three murders in the span of three months. She used her royal influence to wriggle out of the death sentence, but I found it amusing nonetheless.
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MDFification

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #425 on: January 26, 2014, 10:15:00 pm »

"Over 70 Dwarves have been killed over the past 3 months."
"now that the fortress has been stabilized"

Only in Steelhold would this be considered stable. Of course, only Steelhold would still be alive.
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Gnorm

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #426 on: January 26, 2014, 10:19:34 pm »

A true vampire fortress has emerged.  Could you please post a list of all the living, named dwarves?
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fractalman

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #427 on: January 26, 2014, 10:43:32 pm »

A bit late on posting this...
IC:

Of all the things to happen...
When i went to confront the masked entity...

The mask disconnected from the dwarf. (ooc: maskwolf requested an un-dorfing.)
Yeah. It just...fell off, leaving a slightly bewildered dwarf behind.  said dwarf...seemed not to even see the mask.  I think he suppressed all non-essential memories of the time he spent fused with the mask.

I contacted the demons through the mask. After realizing who I was...they hung up.

I have quarantined the mask itself in another dimension.  For me it is merely a telephone.  Nothing more, nothing less. For other dwarves...it is a disaster waiting to happen. A stable fusion is less likely than the elves accepting wooden barrels. 

But before i quarantined it, I scraped off a piece and placed it into the OTHER artifact mask in the fortress-to study its properties, of course.  Whether it is able to convert a dwarven artifact given prolonged contact-say, 200 years or more-remains to be seen.
___________________

There is talk of moving the entire fortress to get away from the "troubles".

But wherever you are, there you will be. Most of this fortress's troubles are not magical in nature, and will go with the dwarves no matter where they move.

I just hope that whoever is trying to transform the fort into a vampiric fort does it properly, and gets everyone converted at once. 
_______________________
2nd of moonstone: well this is inconvenient. I seem to be in a superposition of dead and alive.  irritatingly, only the entity known as "dues asmoth" can collapse my wave function properly.

OOC: am I still alive?
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This is a masterwork ledger.  It contains 3719356 pages on the topic of the precise number and location of stones in Spindlybrooks.  In the text, the dwarves are hauling.
"And here is where we get the undead unicorns. Stop looking at me that way, you should have seen the zombie deer running around last week!"

MDFification

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #428 on: January 26, 2014, 10:59:07 pm »

A true vampire fortress has emerged.  Could you please post a list of all the living, named dwarves?

Don't you mean... unliving named dwarves?

Also, I've given it a bit of thought, and is it utterly stupid to try and make a wiki for this fort if we do a sequel? We have the complexity.
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4maskwolf

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #429 on: January 26, 2014, 11:30:59 pm »

Since we're making a sequel (I've already started modding, no going back now), we might as well make one. It'll simplify the catching up process tremendously.

Gnorm

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #430 on: January 26, 2014, 11:52:12 pm »

Also, I've given it a bit of thought, and is it utterly stupid to try and make a wiki for this fort if we do a sequel? We have the complexity.
Only if, under the sections regarding the sequel are marked with a disclaimer stating something to the effect of: "Certain plot points not considered canon."

But on a less jesting note, I think that discussion of a sequel should wait until this fort officially falls.
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Deus Asmoth

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold
« Reply #431 on: January 27, 2014, 06:32:59 am »

FireCrazy (missing left foot and right arm), Asmoth, the guy who used to be Maskdwarf, James Joyce, FractalEntity, Urist McDead (insane), Derroth, Jovus (all limbs except right arm broken), Shining (broken toe), Uristador (covered in scars) and Shank are all still alive, as are the king and queen. One of the royal guard got drained of blood, which was unfortunate. Aside from getting rid of Emdief's ghost, I think all the named dead were like that when I got here.

Oh, it also turns out Kivish didn't get off scott free. She's been sentenced to 15201 days in prison, which was my plan all along. Of course.

Fort should be uploaded tomorrow, barring shenanigans.
« Last Edit: January 27, 2014, 06:48:24 am by Deus Asmoth »
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MDFification

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #432 on: January 27, 2014, 06:38:40 am »

Also, I've given it a bit of thought, and is it utterly stupid to try and make a wiki for this fort if we do a sequel? We have the complexity.
Only if, under the sections regarding the sequel are marked with a disclaimer stating something to the effect of: "Certain plot points not considered canon."

But on a less jesting note, I think that discussion of a sequel should wait until this fort officially falls.

Only discussing the planning points that require time to complete, my good man.

EDIT: Wiki up.

Also Fractal, pretty sure your post contradicts 4maskwolf's account of what happened to Maskdwarf, so probably non-canon.
« Last Edit: January 27, 2014, 08:09:45 am by MDFification »
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Deus Asmoth

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold
« Reply #433 on: January 27, 2014, 08:05:06 am »

Steelhold has obtained a vampire baby. A vampire baby who, I suspect, drained his mother of blood when he was a month old. I think he should become our mascot.

There's a web spitting skinless kangaroo in the caves as well, so I don't think we'll be going in there any time soon. On the bright side, we currently have a weaponsmith making an artifact adamantine something or other.
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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold
« Reply #434 on: January 27, 2014, 08:11:18 am »

Steelhold has obtained a vampire baby. A vampire baby who, I suspect, drained his mother of blood when he was a month old. I think he should become our mascot.

Nominated for featured quotes.
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