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[TastyMints]

11/18/2014 I cleaned up some crashes today. One of them involved a night creature that had wandered into a shop and killed the owner... the creature then somehow got assigned as the owner. The crash happened when the night creature tried to come up with things to say to potential shoppers, since it didn't have a civilization as a frame of reference. I fixed that part, but I still have no idea why it thought it should change professions in the first place...

Upon seeing this my mind immediately turned to creatures in mythology that kill and take the place of individuals in society. For example the mythical twin-tailed cat demon of Japan. The legend goes that if a female cat lives long enough its tail will split and it will try to kill the woman of the household and take her place in the family. Spouse Snatchers exist already, sure, but Identity Snatchers not so much. I think it'd be a great way to add interesting storytelling if the reason for this behavior could be isolated and applied selectively. It could also help to facilitate spies within intelligent races as their function is relatively similar.

[dwarf_reform]

+1 for Dwarven Identity Theft

[darknessofthenight]

pretty great idea but there would need to be some way to identify shadyness if the night creature took the identity of someone

[falcc]

Eventually when they have more complicated mechanisms for detecting night creatures this would be a pretty cool mechanic. I think right now they could just do something like they do with vampires and have them be mentioned in quests and detected when called a night creature. Provided they can figure out why it happened, of course.

[MDFification]

pretty great idea but there would need to be some way to identify shadyness if the night creature took the identity of someone

They stop associating with dwarves they already have relationships with (since they'd recognize a change in personality), which leads to suspicion amongst those dwarves. The more dwarves who are suspicious, the more likely the night creature is to be spontaneously confronted (a la adventure mode) in fort mode. If this is done before witnesses, the identity becomes public knowledge and the night creature will attempt to flee the map. If done in private, the night creature will attempt to kill its accuser and hide the body, but the other dwarves who were already suspicious become even more supicious, prompting more frequent confrontation until the night creature moves on to a new victim's form.

Also, the bodies of the dwarves replaced should be stashed by the night creature in any storage-furniture they're assigned, or if not simply placed behind a door the creature locks. If a dwarf manages to see this body before the night creature takes a new victim's form, then the infiltrator is identified. Essentially, it'd be up to the overseer to spot miasma and track down the body, then influence dwarves to come looking for it.

[Adrian]

And sending the fortress guard after anyone who leaves rotting food in their rooms? Yes please.

Also, considering appearance is nothing more than a collection of integers, could face recognition become a workable gameplay mechanic? Or in adventure mode, anyways?

[darknessofthenight]

pretty great idea but there would need to be some way to identify shadyness if the night creature took the identity of someone

They stop associating with dwarves they already have relationships with (since they'd recognize a change in personality), which leads to suspicion amongst those dwarves. The more dwarves who are suspicious, the more likely the night creature is to be spontaneously confronted (a la adventure mode) in fort mode. If this is done before witnesses, the identity becomes public knowledge and the night creature will attempt to flee the map. If done in private, the night creature will attempt to kill its accuser and hide the body, but the other dwarves who were already suspicious become even more supicious, prompting more frequent confrontation until the night creature moves on to a new victim's form.

Also, the bodies of the dwarves replaced should be stashed by the night creature in any storage-furniture they're assigned, or if not simply placed behind a door the creature locks. If a dwarf manages to see this body before the night creature takes a new victim's form, then the infiltrator is identified. Essentially, it'd be up to the overseer to spot miasma and track down the body, then influence dwarves to come looking for it.

I really like this

[endlessblaze]

this idea has won you +20 respect

[Pencil_Art]

Great idea!
In really big fortresses, there may be so many infiltrators that eventually there would only be several dwarves that were "normal" and then you would get a very random "Your strength has broken" message. That would have to be a massively long running fortress, though.
And you would also begin to notice the gradual decline in population caused by confronatations gone wrong, so that would only happen to the most inattentive of overseers.
If you are normal, disregard everything I just said. You obviously pay attention to your fotresses.

[RanDomino]

As soon as I read this on the main page, I knew there would be a forum post saying how great of an idea this is.