Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Kishmond]

I was scrolling through the history dump of a new world I genned and noticed one goblin civ had a particularly long list of law-givers. In fact, from 137 to 648 the Ticks of Idleness had a new lawgiver every single year. Determined to find out the reason for this, I went to the legends screen.

Starting in 137 they are at war with two elf civs, The Tressed Intricacy and the Young Trees. For this entire period, each of the armies were led by a single elf. Enure Valefilled and Nisa Focusskunk, respectively. In that year and every year thereafter the elf campaigns would start in the summer and last until winter, attacking and sacking the same 5 goblin fortresses. In 480 the Young Trees stopped attacking for some reason and it was only the one civ, but it was still enough to defeat the goblin capitol Mostdungeons and kill the newly-appointed law-giver each year. Some point in the middle of the attacks one of the 5 forts is destroyed, but the others remain.

In 649, the goblin Amxu Clawhell was appointed law-giver. Here was a goblin who had refined killing elves to an art. Over the 216 years of his life before his ascension he killed 2,000 elves, 500 grizzly bears, and dozens of leopards, jaguars, and other elf nasties. The customary invasion came in the first year of his reign and he personally killed 36 attackers (including two titled elves) in the battle of Mostdungeons. During this battle, one of the attackers slashed out his left cheek and he was known as Amxu Clawhell the Snarling Skull from that day onward. This year, the elves did not take the fortress. There was a truce called.

I would love to say that Amxu continued ruling the fortress unchallenged or even launched a counterattack on the elves, but that didn't happen. There was 11 years of peace when Enure Valefilled began her campaigns again. In the first battle in Mostdungeons of the renewed war, 649, Amxu was killed and eaten by an elf named Bilao Foldedleaf the Mahogany Dye of Glittering. After one year of fighting there was no more war until the present year, 1050.

What I want to know is why does this civ still exist? If it's weak enough to get conquered every year for 500+ years, why did it not get destroyed? One of their fortresses did, why not the others?

I guess the elves just didn't want to give up their tradition.

PS- Enure Valefilled's oldest son was abducted and transformed by a bleak horror in 38. His unholy descendants still live.

[klefenz]

The elves were keeping them as cattle.

[Loud Whispers]

The elves were keeping them as cattle.

This is probably the sad truth. Daily reminder that if you trade with elves you support goblin poaching.

[Greiger]

But don't we poach goblins for the goblinite?  I guess the difference is that we make them come to us with promises of artifact bone floodgates and socks, but using traps for poaching is still poaching isn't it?

[Eric Blank]

From what I can tell, elves never really conquer or occupy sites, just raid them. If after each raid there were still survivors in the dark fortresses, the fortress could not be considered "destroyed" and thus the elves would come back next year in the hopes of finishing the job, which they would fail to do yet again. The one fortress that was lost must have had some very unlucky inhabitants.

In the Museum adventure succession game, two elven civs destroyed all but one hamlet belonging to a human civ along the coast of the inland sea, but occupied none of the sites.

[Loud Whispers]

But don't we poach goblins for the goblinite?  I guess the difference is that we make them come to us with promises of artifact bone floodgates and socks, but using traps for poaching is still poaching isn't it?

Nah, at best we're mining goblinite and at worse we're using free range goblins to give us goblinite. For us it's a sustainable resource, they never send more than they can and we help make sure they do not succumb to overpopulation due to their immortality.  Elves eat them like they're nothing, not even using the goblinite the unethical bastards.

[TheFlame52]

Goblins seem to get the short end of the stick. They are usually at war with everyone. Sometimes they get wiped out, and sometimes a diamond-hard core of goblin weapon lords forms and the goblins end up surviving. Look at the goblins involved in each fight with Legends Viewer, most of them will probably have titles and at least 20 kills each.

[Broken]

Now i want to now the skill levels of everybody involved, goblins and elves alike.

I also think that the goblins were cattle. Note that the elves only eat peple they defeat in battle. Their yearly expeditions are
a yearly picnic for them.

[Kishmond]

The important goblins involved are dead, but the elf princess with a grudge is still alive. Maybe I'll go visit her. How can I see her skills in adventure mode?

[BoredVirulence]

The important goblins involved are dead, but the elf princess with a grudge is still alive. Maybe I'll go visit her. How can I see her skills in adventure mode?

At the end of a pointy stick? Wait, no that's not what you meant...

[Eric Blank]

You can use dfhack's "adv-bodyswap force" to possess her body temporarily, or permanent if you add "permanent" after the rest of the string. Then just view her skills through the same menu as you would for your adventurer.