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Founders should have a fixed number of useable tiles to own!

5 (29.4%)

Founders should be awarded more tiles to build on by popular consensus!

6 (35.3%)

No hard limits, just be reasonable!

6 (35.3%)

Total Members Voted: 10

[WillowLuman]

The quarter is starting to wrap up for me as well, I've got final projects to work on. PA should probably take his turn.

[wierd]

If neither of you go, then I guess it is my turn. O.o

I will wait another 24hrs before taking the slot though.

[WillowLuman]

My dwarf sounds like a very easygoing type who just wants to eat, drink, and be happy without being bothered too much by laws or rules. The only major conflict I see in her personality is the desire to create art despite having only meager creativity, though it sounds like she's somewhat overcome her handicap through hard work. Perhaps she takes pride in, if not a creative design, at least an exceedingly well-executed one.

[pisskop]

My dwarf sounds like a very easygoing type who just wants to eat, drink, and be happy without being bothered too much by laws or rules. The only major conflict I see in her personality is the desire to create art despite having only meager creativity, though it sounds like she's somewhat overcome her handicap through hard work. Perhaps she takes pride in, if not a creative design, at least an exceedingly well-executed one.

She does it well.  Very, very well.

---

The elves of The Dimpled Jungle had need of us again.
  An indistinguishable servant from the princess met with us in the agreed upon location SyrupCherished, and informed us of our task.

  For the usual pay plus another family member each in a leadership role we were to do Covema's bidding.  A dwarven village, seeking autonomy from their former rulers, had agreed to travel across the continent and under our sanctuary if they would divulge the secrets of metalsmithing.  They were even given a rather liberal tree stipend in which to kickstart their village.  For whatever reason, they had forsaken the ways of their kind, living as humans did, but with much more rock.

  Our jobs were not to judge the dwarves for their actions nor their immoral dealings; we simply were to investigate rumors that their monarchy had laid its tendrils upon elven interests that lay within.  If there was a baron or duke present, we were to cleanse it.  Only new nobility was to be cleansed, so as to not instigate needless war.  Which was also why we were sent.

I am the elf Thali Nawaraicica, TwilightTwinkle to those who know me.  My companion is Laci Setheemene.  We went through our training together, so that we might serve Covema better.  We are to set off to the East, and if necessary, to report back on our way to the mountain holds of the Tamed Gear to the west.

Spoiler: Stats (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Hero's name (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Inventory (click to show/hide)

Being so agile, I tend not to need armor.  Thats for my slightly less graced brother Laci.  I am TwilightTwinkle, and we are the Branches of the Grove.

[Broseph Stalin]

Ning Truthlashes- Paladin of His Majesty's Tax Service

I've begun my investigation of Wierd. The information the mountainhomes already had on him was exceedingly limited. His history isn't a series of lies to explain other lies like Hawkblockades but his defiance of the Kingdom isn't as explosive. A glance at his records gives him the appearance of a typical slacker. His Classification of  Expertise in Labor score is 5 for herbalism and 5 for pottery meaning he was capable enough to make a career of either.

   He took up Herbalism as a young dwarf in the hillock PaintedCastle in the Maroon Murk, likely expecting it to be easy work, but is noted to have complained vigorously about the weather and other such things inherent to working outside. Later in this career tract he took to leaving work early, coming in late, or simply not showing up instead electing to go to parties apparently not concerned with the consequences. It is at this point he moved north to Tribecloistered and abandoned herbalism to learn potter, again probably expecting much reward for little work. He complained frequently about the heat and periodic burns from working with the kiln as well as occasional muscle cramps. He again reached a CEL score of 5 in the trade before his work orders stopped being filled in a timely fashion and his paperwork became sloppy. He incurred a rather impressive sum of back-taxes, unpaid fees, and fines for unpaid fees. Notes from several meetings with the mayor indicate that he was increasingly convinced that the MTS was responsible for his failure and this likely pushed him to take part in this damned expedition.

   I am concerned ,however, that this model doesn't quite fit. The MTS has frequent trouble with slackers but it's generally in the form of failure to pay promptly or being unfamiliar with regulatory laws. This Nevertaxed is one of the most ambitious and brazen tax cheats I've ever seen. This is not a place for a dwarf simply pursuing the easy way out.

   I began my personal investigation by wearing the disguise I traded from Glazesubtles, picking up a barrel, stashing my sword inside, and posing as one of Wierd's workers hauling empty barrels to his still and liqour to the tavern. Nobody paid me any special attention, I imagine they can't keep track of all the recent migrants.

   Wierd woke up fairly early and went to work picking plums, barreling those plums, and carrying them back to the still. Then he spent some time working the still with little expertise but a noticeable degree of trepidation. He acted disinterested but he carried himself like a trespasser. He had likely done this every day for months but seemed uncertain that what he was doing was necessary or appropriate. I also noticed that during the day he alternated periodically to enthusiastic focus to appearing to be completely uninvested in the work he was doing.

   He worked for quite  a long time and while I was just carrying the same barrel back and forth I was quite tired by the time he finally went to the Pickled Plum inn for a drink and a meal. I waited until he'd had a great deal to drink and adopted the name of a recent migrant that I'd come across earlier before I approached him. My questions were simple and not at all suspicious. I complained about the cold and he sympathized, I mentioned the recent fighting with Goblins and he commented as much as he knew. In all matters he seemed to be fairly pessimistic and not at all enthusiastic about day to day life in Nevertaxed.

    I eventually led him to the subject of Hawkblockades who he is not particularly fond of and does not claim to know very much about. I thought it was possible he was simply an old friend of Koreg's and was manipulated into this venture but it seems he came in spite of the dwarf not because of him. This would suggest that he is not simply lazy.

   I conducted surreptitious interviews with a few other dwarves and it seems that Wierd simply isn't the type of dwarf one gets to know. Several people know him, some consider him a friend, but his relationships are all fairly superficial. They complain that he does not work well with others and takes acts of kindness for granted but I observed earlier that he doesn't seem to be a very confident or independent spirit.

   Wierds drive to work effectively is tempered by his lack of confidence and self-esteem. I believe at this stage that he took up both herbalism and pottery with the intent of becoming skilled at them and earning the success and respect that proficiency in those fields would entail. This same objective has led him here to find his fortune as a brewer. His fluctuating attitude and bleak outlook probably make it impossible to work at anything for a long time and are likely responsible for the shoddy state of his still. Despite the fact he continues to work towards his goal intently he considers it impossible on some level and is often discouraged. He considers the problems with his attitude unfixable and has instead projected the cause for his failure onto the MTS and attempts to hide his fears by behaving as though it doesn't bother him.

Wierd is precisely the type of chronic loser with lofty aspirations and no clear plan that flock to “easy” paths to success like this. It my suggestion as head Paladin of the Nevertaxed inquisition that it is imperative to the correction of Wierd that he be forced to settle all accounts with the MTS, to be detained at Tribecloistered to work as a potter, and barred from leaving or changing professions to redeem him from his corruption of character. There is no outstanding evidence at this time to suggest that Wierd is part of any conspiracy involving the Order of Tombs should such a conspiracy exist.

[pisskop]

Spoiler: decription of TwilightTwinkle (click to show/hide)

What does a 'deeply recessed chin' look like? ewww.

I took a hero because I have no intention of not using wooden weapons, and they are terribad.

---


Setting off in high hopes, food and water became our primary needs.  Water was present in the snow around us, but food was harder to obtain in the frigid spring.

On the second day of travel; our second day of fasting, an alligator was heard tailing us.  When we turned about to face the threat it charged us with almost no hesitance.  Winter was hard on mer, beast and man.

In our shock, we weren't prepared to kill the beast and sought only to defend ourselves.  Our mistake was to ignore its ferocity.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The beast crushed the hand of Laci, and then ripped the flesh from his leg as I had seen human nobles do to a drumstick.  I attempted, in vain, to force it to relent by bleeding the neck, but my own strength was no match for the beast.  . . . Laci . . . my longtime companion and confidant Laci died before my eyes, and I was unable to do much to comfort him for the beast came after me next.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Battle continued for a while.  I don't know how long, but I was more than fast enough to block or dodge from its maw.  Eventually I was able to tire it and smash its foot, and gouge out its unforgiving eyes.  The beast's last image was of elven fury before I allowed it to succumb to unconsciousness.

The monster's meat should sustain me for my journey, and Laci's wooden armor should keep me safe, although the leggings were shredded.  After placing his body into a tree, I sang a hymn for his soul, and prayed my strength would help guide him unto Covema's private forests.

- - -

Spending the second night in a tree and by a river for safety, I woke in the dawn undisturbed.  There were . . . living shadows that haunted the night, made of the darkness from which they spawn.  Though they have almost no body to keep, they have the agility that outmatches my own, and the cruelty of a goblin.  The river would have protecte me should they have come.

Drinking from the river, I travelled northwards, for my destination was a scant two days flat travel away.  When I stopped for my noontide meal, a second alligator approached, no doubt drawn by the sweet smell of gator meat.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Not in the mood for the gator's nonsense, TwilightTwinkle Deftly beat upon the monster until it fled and, stabbing at its hind quarters as it ran back towards its shallow pool, caused it to collapse.  Monster.


---

Arriving at the last Forest Retreat before NeverTaxed, TwilightTwinkle would rest and ask about the alligators.  He made sure to bring the teeth from both of the beasts . . . to attack an elf . . .

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[wierd]

I am kind of starting to dig on the "Jeckel and hyde" possibility here.  My character's weak mental constitution is PERFECT for making him "The fall guy" for offing our new "Baron," and thus fully entering the NeverTaxed conspiracy. If Pencil_Art does not take his turn, then that means it will be during my tenure that our bloodsucking Baron von Vampyre the 1st has his mysterious disappearance.

It would also make a poignant, and frightening point of focus to make him depart from his self-depricating cycle of self-debasement--- The prospect of being drug back to work off his debts and have what little he has worked to achieve here in NeverTaxed pulled out from under him, just to satisfy some fat fuck on the throne--- !!!! 

Yes... I think it would work nicely.  He could become quite the rabid supporter of NeverTaxed in this fashion, and the physical embodiment of his boogeyman (the barony), and relentless pressure from the MTS to bring NeverTaxed down, would provide him the inspiration and focus to actually succeed in his dreams. 

I like it.  It's so dark, and beautiful at the same time.


*****

In other news, I am downloading the save to have a look around, just to get a feel for what needs to be done when my turn does roll around.  News updates are great and all, but lacks the fine details. Nothing serious mind. Just looking around.

Looks like the first Z level down is peat. Meh.  Second level down is sandy clay, then red sand, THEN clay.  Must be an embark with "deep soil."  Looks like wierd's little ceramics experiment (only place left to put the shop is on the roof!) will have to have the clay collection zone inside the mine.  That's the only place that fits the other rules for constructions that has easy access to clay. It's a bit of a fair walk from his house, but that's fine.

Digging through the seeds section in the stocks menu, we have seeds for the following crops:

Ratweed
Fisher Berry
Dimple cup
hide root
alfalfa
cellery
lettuce
plump helmet
cave wheat
rope reed
spelt
rye
foxtail millet
carrot
parsnip
potato
quinoa
grape
cranberry
(bayberry)
(apple)
(cherry)
(persimmon)
(plum)

In addition to those, I see active wild instances of the following crop plants on the surface that havent produced seeds yet:

Peas
Red spinach
Raspberry

There are many saplings for walnuts. Not sure if nut collection is allowed yet, but it could be a useful product if collectable. Suggest leaving some walnut trees intact.

So far it seems we have only the rope reeds for cloth, and only hide roots for dye. Our dwarves are all going to be wearing red and white at this rate.

Strongly suggest appropriating seeds for other dyestuffs and at least one other surface cloth staple crop.  This will allow multiple embellishments per cloth article without having to resort to wool.

Speaking of wool-- let's look at our options for husbandry.

a pair of dogs  (Yay, dwarven delicacy since .40d!)
a pair of sheep (Ram and ewe)
A pair of cattle (Bull and cow)
a pair of chickens (Rooster and hen)
a pair of pigs (Boar and sow)
MULTIPLE PAIRS OF CATS!! (DANGER!)

and mismatched animals:
A female guinea hen (pet)
a male blue peafowl
a male goose
a female goat (pet)
a female duck
a female rabbit (pet)

(list not exhaustive)


This means cat leather in the near future, potentially lots of wool, milk, cheese and eggs.



Reviewing available clothing items in the stocks screen, it looks like at least one dwarf is experiencing clothing wear, but it is still in the early stages. Still, suggest getting the farm and cloth industries running before we have naked dwarves running around.  I see that wool cloth has been made previously. (its brown, and not white in parentheses, indicating local manufacture) We should focus on getting sheep going for cheese and wool production, getting those chickens going for meat and eggs, and getting those dogs trained for basic police action type war animals. 

We DO have a migrant animal trainer: Rimtar Oddomiseth. Getting her up to snuff on training war or hunting dogs would let us make her into a notable, given that there are giant creature variants in the area. She needs to be at least proficient before we set him the task of trying to tame giant animals to keep the MTS away. Currently her animal trainer skill is "rusty."

[pisskop]

My apologies.  Im not used to such considerations.  Well, the animal pairs I did plan.

Are you going to reform the plant industries and establish a proper kiln?  Given the nature of the fort its not a bad idea.


---

there should also be a pair of horses.

[wierd]

Play rules require that wierd establish more notoriety before he can get a bigger house/yard in which to construct a proper industry for claygoods.  That means becoming a legendary craftsman. The only skill he has assigned that can produce a masterwork article is ceramics. (Legendary brewers, planters, and herbalists just get big boosts in efficiency in those industries. He dreams of producing a masterwork. His dream will never be realized in those industries.) He already has a basement with a still in it. The only place he has left to construct a kiln is on his roof.  There are 2 other potters that are migrants. If he is to gain control of the pottery industry to have notable status, he needs to act quickly!

I will look into getting the farming system in order. There are migrant farmers which I can roleplay into managing (after a good and lengthly discussion with them, of course) a properly implemented farm infrastructure, with delegated responsibilities. (plant processing, etc.)

I see we do not have any weaver migrants. Just spinners, shearers, etc. 

I will try to get farming and cloth fabric industries rolling properly. This means I will keep a sharp eye out for blade weed seeds and the like from the human and elven caravans.  If I can get another surface fabric crop, like flax or hemp (Especially hemp, I DESPERATELY want hemp for the roleplay value!) then we can make embellished cloth "crafts" in excess of 1200 urists each. (No, seriously. We can stack multiple embellishments onto the item because they will have dissimilar materials-- means having hanging rings/spikes AND images on the same article!)

It is bad sport for wierd to try to manage *ALL* farming related industries-- I want him to stay mostly in charge of just the growing, basic processing (farmer's workshop), and distribution of raw plantstuffs, to feed other migrant industry owners. 

Again, I want to murderize the baron.

[wierd]

Since wierd owns the brewing industry, how's this for a list of routinely available booze crops?

Potato
Rye
Spelt
Fisher berry
Raspberry
!Ropereed (A good high value liquor, but also an industrial output crop)
*Plump helmet (if subterranean crops are allowed)

And this list of "Industrial output" crops:

Ropereed
hide root
*pigtails (if subterranean crops are allowed)
*Dimple Cups (if subterranean crops are allowed)
$Blade Weed (If obtainable)
$Hemp/Flax (If obtainable)

and of course, simple "For eating" crops

Prickle berries
cranberries
$strawberries (Need to order/obtain, if possible)
carrots
peas
spinach
cellery
lettuce
quinoa
foxtail millet

That would keep "Unholy gross" booze out of our stockpiles, while keeping a suitable variety in conjunction with the fruit tree based ones, and keep a reasonably good selection of edibles on hand. Would give us access to red, blue, and green dyes (hopefully-- Red and blue for certain if underground crops permitted) and all that fun stuff.

Rye "beer" should probably be read in-story as "Whiskey" even though US whiskey is often made from corn. (There *IS* such a thing as [ur=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rye_whiskey]rye whiskey.[/url]) Spelt is a kind of wheat, (sorta), and is useful as a low grade bread flour and for making beer. (actual beer.)  Potatoes are well known for making vodka.
 
I want to avoid seeing carrot wine, and other horrors in our stockpiles.

 

[Broseph Stalin]

You can make wine out of pretty much anything and desperate foraging has been 90% of our food and drink, I don't think it's odd to see a bunch of dwarves in a strange place experimenting to try and keep a healthy supply of booze but as chief farmy guy I see no reason why you shouldn't call the shots there. 

As far as I know you don't have an estate yet, you can build on 50 urists just by being a founder. You could build an estate with a clay industry and pass farming off to some other notable or keep farming and entrust someone else with managing the kiln you use. Koreg is a mason but Pencil_Art owns that industry.

Weaving and clothesmaking are separate from farming, only things immediately related to plants are covered by farming.

Really like the character direction you're taking.

[wierd]

Exactly.  Thats the tact I want to take. The only workshop under farming is "Farmer's workshop", which does "Process to barrel", "Process to bag", and "Process plants".

Sadly, "Process plants" overlaps with clothing industry, but does NOT add a quality modifier to the product.  It just means that our weavers dont need to process the flax they use. 

The clothing industry will of course have its own farmer's workshop that does Spinning and Shearing jobs, but none of the plant processing jobs.

The milling industry will have querns/millstones.

Dying industry will have dyer's workshop, etc.

[Beneviento]

Actually, speaking of the clothing industry, I think I'd like to change my dwarfing request from a farmer to a clothier/weaver. Is there anyone else dwarfed in that industry? I don't think anyone is, but I could have missed someone.

[Pencil_Art]

Is there any particular goal for this fortre village? Or do you just have to expand and take care of it until the next turn rolls around?

I just had a vision of goblins attacking. It was terrifying.

[Broseph Stalin]

Just keep it from collapsing. Goblins will be a serious problem. It looks like embarking woke up the Goblins somehow and they've decided to start kicking ass. If they come to Nevertaxed it will be a serious problem.