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[Larix]

The single mother challenge is well underway. It's a single mother fending for herself and her offspring.

How to? Well, i checked the first-year's migrant waves for a married couple. The lucky woman was pastured burrowed outside with nothing but a copper axe, then the people underground pulled the lever (which raised the drawbridge between inside and outside. To make this viable, i switched invaders (and eventually artefacts) off and disabled the dwarven active season after a few years. Allowing trade would make this too easy. Rith Cudgelroughness (?) immigrated with two children and gave birth to a baby girl in the second year. Physical isolation from Thob Chapelrazor may have prevented further pregnancies.

First order of business was getting some food. This proved harder than expected, the success rating of herbalism seemed to be far below 10% and Rith and both her children were already hungry when she finally scored some berries. Fortunately, there's a brook on the site, or this would have been a very short adventure. In the three years since her immigration, Rith has set up a little farm and built a small house containing a bedroom (which also holds four tiles of food farm, and a screw pump as value booster), a communal dining room and personal office and dining room of Rith herself. Those extra rooms are required, because she's the sheriff. The four of them were content, occasionally dipping down into fine (from "same old booze") in the first year, but now are all up to "happy" and Rith is even "ecstatic".

Rith and her three children all wear nice self-made clothes and haven't been sober after the first half-year was over. One of the caravans that got onto the site before they were disabled attacked and killed a wild boar. Rith managed to butcher half the corpse and tan one hide, which opens the option of setting the oldest child up as hunter when she comes of age in four years.

The underground part of the fort is ticking along on semi-automatic. They all are clothed, fat and inebriated and permanently ecstatic. They also successfully flooded the first cavern to dislodge a troll who got stuck next to a door it wanted to demolish.

[Avis-Mergulus]

AFAIK, physical isolation does nothing to prevent pregnancies. As long as a male and female creature are on the same map and not caged, they will eventually reproduce.

[callisto8413]

Well, it seems my Fortress is finally starting to be seriously threatened. 

In the Spring of 134, I was attacked by two Forgotten Beasts, as well as a Monitaur, a Werelizard, and swarms of Ruthers, Blind Orges, and Manga Crabs.  I lost three warriors, had two wounded, and also had a few children, hunters, and half a dozen trained dogs killed.  Starting to seriously think about closing off the caverns, or the pulling up the surface drawbridges, or both. 

[kesperan]

Manga crabs sound awesome!

[WanderingKid]

Manga crabs sound awesome!

Fun part with magma crabs: IF, for some reason, you're able to trap them (think magma sea drain with bars into a container of some kind) they're a fun as hell pillbox full of firey death.  Just remember to install the closing bridges to the pillbox BEFORE you install the crabs!

[Larix]

Rith's oldest daughter is a year and a season away from growing up. To enable some expansion of operations, i made the downstairs half of the fort deliver some fireproof building material to her - five stone blocks and four boulders. With a wood furnace, a kiln and the material for a few mechanisms (and maybe a slab, although i wouldn't know why they should need that), soap, mead and statues (from fired clay) should become possible. Rith has the basic survival stuff well in hand - she's a legendary weaver, grand master clothes maker, accomplished grower, expert woodcutter, adept carpenter and proficient thresher. She's also an adequate brewer and cook, although those regularly go rusty: when one brewing job creates 20 booze, enough to keep the four of them supplied for about four months, the skill doesn't get exercised much. The skills she immigrated with were furnace operator and bone carver, the skills she's actually using were built from scratch.
With high-quality embroidered clothes, a regular-quality common dining room and a same-quality shared (because children sleep in parents' rooms) bedroom, everyone's ecstatic. Having the dining room capped off with a "fine" bridge seems to give regular admiration benefits.

[Mr Space Cat]

In the Spring of 134, I was attacked by two Forgotten Beasts, as well as a Monitaur, a Werelizard, and swarms of Ruthers, Blind Orges, and Manga Crabs.

Misread blind ogres as "blind orgies." Made for an odd mental picture, I can tell you that.

[kisame12794]

Blind Orgies: Now with 50% more groping!

[fortydayweekend]

In the Spring of 134, I was attacked by two Forgotten Beasts, as well as a Monitaur

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

.. Rutgers ..

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

... Blind Orgies ..

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Google this one yourself

... and Manga Crabs!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[lazygun]

Well, the first two years of Pinksalves have been nothing if not eventful. Starting with the 'single axe challenge' in an evil biome, the first task was to chip trees and build a bunker to protect against the red cursed mist that drifted across the landscape. The mist was discovered to be not all that harmful after a dead cockroach blocked open the doors to the bunker. Just blisters all over the skin and temporary blindness. And indirectly a whole lot of 'clean self' jobs to get rid of cursed dust and dwarf pus.

So things were looking up. The bolt hole was expanded to make space for workshops, and the next project was a covered surface farm. The two scripted waves of migrants included about 13 useless dwarf kids so reliably expanding the food and booze production was a priority. Of course with such little space indoors the dwarflets were socialising like mad and skilling up their social skills.

And then the kea men arrived.

With such a little fort and nothing really dug out, frame rate is high, and those kea men move FAST. By the time I noticed the job cancellations they were already in mah base stealin mah +prickle berry seed roast[12]+s and just incidentally killing one of the dwarflets. Well you can see where this is going can't you. All those dwarves friends with everyone in a miserable fort without private bedrooms or even any tables and chairs, let alone a grand dining room. And I still had to mob the keas whenever possible to stop them causing even more job cancellations, creating bad throughts for being drafted. During the tantrum spiral my expedition leader's skull was caved in by a thrown coat while he was talking to the dwarven liaison. Tantrumming dwarves destroyed all the doors, some beds, the kitchen, the still, most of the caskets as I frantically tried to get all the corpses interred. I bought a pick from the caravan, trading clothing that used to be worn by the corpses. Started to dig out a fort underground where I could put a dining room, bedrooms, storerooms and a much larger meeting space. Then the miner went stark raving mad so that wasn't going to go any further until he died and relinquished his pick. Luckily most of the criminals became victims before justice became an issue. Except for one unsolved crime that I pinned on a dead dwarf. Things stabilised somewhat and my new expedition leader was spending basically all his time 'conducting meeting', pacifying and consoling dwarves, but the fort was limping along. And then the mad dwarves started dying setting off another round of tantrums. And somwhere in there were giant keas. And ordinary keas. Which are not butcherable.

It was all surprisingly good fun.

By the time the dust settled I was down to 4 adults and 5 children. Who made it through the year, and unsurprisingly there were no migrants to the fortress. The farm was still unroofed, I had no trade goods except second hand clothing. I did manage to trade with the elves and dwarves (no humans apparently).

And then migrants came. Including a metalsmith who went into a fey mood almost as soon as he arrived in the meeting area. And I still haven't got around to purchasing an anvil from the caravan.

[doublestrafe]

In the process of building a goblinwaste disposal pit over the volcano, the dwarven child Libash Zokunshorast caused a cave-in that splashed magma onto a small area of grass. She was unharmed and walked blithely away, but the resulting flames consumed my Legendary +5 Glassmaker, Etur Rimtariseth, the first death in the three years since Bodicetongue was founded.

I entered a fell mood, and had a plank built out a door and over the volcano. I made two burrows, one marked "Death" and the other marked "Not Death", and assigned my dwarves appropriately. Guess which one she got. Then I designated the last floor tile of the plank to be removed, and waited.

Soon the carefree child skipped out onto the plank and began pulling up the stone. I locked the door behind her. No one would witness or mourn her death; she would burn alone and unwanted.

That finally got me feeling a little bad. She was only a child. Was this too harsh? Could I really justify offing this little one merely for following orders, albeit in the most stupid way possible?

And then, Armok sent His blessing.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The vengeance of Armok is swift and sure. And saved me two good rock blocks that would otherwise have been lost. Praise be to Armok!

Edit:

As finally it's happened that a victim has been found--
(A Zivilinic twist! I borrowed from your list!)
A society offender will no more be seen around,
And never will be missed! She never will be missed!
She's that diabolic child who takes apart constructions wrong,
And really she's the only one I mention in this song,
For she's been cast to whence she can explore the magma sea,
And if she finds some candy, well, it's all the same to me,
And all thanks to the magma crab whose help I did enlist!
Because of Armok's Fist, she never will be missed.

Because of Armok's Fist, she never will be missed,
And I've crossed her off the list! I've crossed her off the list.

[Larix]

Rith, the Renaissance Single Mother, is no longer single-handedly responsible for the well-being of her tiny sub-fort. Her eldest daughter has come of age. She's apprenticed herself in Bowmaking (competent), Woodcrafting (competent - used to make bolts) and hunting (competent ambusher, talented marksdwarf). She's bagged seven wild animals. I only rarely activate her hunting, so she doesn't flood the stockpiles with meat. She's also tried her hand at woodburning, lye- and soapmaking, beekeeping, pressing and waxcrafting as well as pottery and building with clay. As "payment" for the four stones and four blocks, the underground fort receives one bar of soap and two barrels of mead per year (neither would have been possible without those gifts).

To test Rith's mettle, and to make things more interesting in the long run, i sent two of the underground-fort's children upside - in good dwarven (or at least Bay12) fashion, the mushroom-hugging bastards aren't going to share their hard-earned wealth (they have enough food, drink and clothes for fifteen years or so, royal rooms and absolutely nothing to do) with useless children if they can help it. Actually, i wanted to send three children outside, but they're practically impossible to get into a burrow, even if they have personal beds there and no parental bedroom.
Rith had absolutely no trouble handling three own and two foster children, and everyone quickly became friends with everybody, apart from the two boys who have assertive personalities but the opposite thrill-seeking soul attributes.

Rith's been isolated from her husband for seven years now and hasn't had another child. While she has been busy most of the time, she had a few weeks of idling in the last years, so i suspect physical isolation _does_ reduce or prevent pregnancies for dwarfs. Of course, it could still be her full schedule, i'll wait and see.

[callisto8413]

I have been attacked by so many Forgotten Beasts that their meat and intestines outweigh all over forms of flesh from animals hunted, butchered from my herds, or cavern creatures killed.  I am sick of Forgotten Beasts.  Noseless horses, feathered butterflies, giant rattlesnakes...I have lost count...8...9 of them have been killed?  And my best Dwarfs end up either wounded or killed.  My favorite warrior Dwarf, one I gave the nickname of 'Minotaurslayer' because he was the first to get credit for a kill of a semi-legendary beast, got killed by the first truly dangerous FB (one of those web shooters).  On one hand it was exciting.  On the other hand it seems to me that the best warriors always die - very likely because they charge in and get in close.  I am filling in the empty spots with Hunters and people who seem to have some weapon skills but they really can't replace the vets. 

Oh...and the poor war and hunting dogs are also being cut down!  Oh the horror...

..oh..and some of the kids too because they seem too stupid to run...

Had a few fistfights as people lost loved ones and some jobs went undone, causing my FIRST breakout of miasma inside my Fortress, which I think upset me more than anything else.  At least I have two hospitals, fresh water, and a good medical staff. 

I am starting to see the caverns in a less friendly light.  Maybe I should WALL them off? 

[fortydayweekend]

Masterpiece +«☼Fortress☼»+ Inkystains has survived to the first winter

Embarking with 1 pick and 1 axe, the dwarves haven't used anything with quality less than masterful, gem-encrusted wherever possible (though the decorations don't have to be masterful; and I probably won't encrust ammo).

Making it slightly easy on myself there's plenty of trees and a brook, and nothing evil, just goblins and a tower. Also used lots of skill points on embark.

The carpenter has been churning out barrels, beds and buckets and at the start of winter is legendary and producing plenty of masterful items. There's enough barrels to hold lots of booze, and while still sleeping in a dormitory, they admire how nice their 5 jade-encursted beds are.

The mason has been making blocks and building a wall around the surface crops and stockpiles, including a section of brook for water and fish. Now he's working on chairs, tables and doors, but has yet to produce anything up to scratch. Only 1 mechanism so far so no working bridge, hopefully will get 2 more by the end of winter so we can hide through the first attacks.

Food has been fish, berries, and seeds. I can't afford the wastage of throwing out every non-masterful meal and I'm not even sure how to prevent dwarves from eating them without massive micromanagement, so cooking is off for now.

The dwarven caravan showed up just in time to sell an anvil for the weaponsmith's mood - unfortunately a possession - but he did make an iron mace, so at least the fort has one proper weapon. The traders also took a huge pile of useless beds, barrels, buckets, rock pots, and mechanisms in exchange for cloth, leather and wood. And a cat, which should make some dwarves happier.

Iron smelting has begun down in the magma sea, so weapon and armour production can begin shortly to try to get a couple of dwarves equipped and sparring so they're ready for the first siege. Hopefully we can also make enough ☼bolts☼ to get a dwarf or 2 practising.

Lots of dwarves are set to farming and weaving a big plot of rope reeds, with a single clothesmaker levelling up by making caps. No idea how big an industry will be needed to keep every dwarf in masterful, gem-encrusted clothes, or if it's even possible with 200 dwarves. Also might need to breed lots of leather-bearing animals, so I haven't butchered any so far.

19 dwarves are content, complaining about the same old booze, vermin, and lack of chairs, and 3 are ecstatic. So far so good, but disaster could strike if the mechanic can't get a raising bridge up soon.

[Larix]

Rith's surface village progresses steadily. Her eldest daughter, Mebzuth, has cleaned up the stacks of old rags and everyone's wearing shiny embroidered rope reed clothes now. Most rooms have an embroidered bag installed as container (if all work's exceptional, that comes out at about 300 per bag, more value than a masterwork marble coffer; if any jobs are masterwork, value goes up quite a bit more) and Rith has started making rope reed crafts to pass the time.

When Tholtig, Rith's son, comes of age, i'll stick him in a token squad so he can carry a crossbow and bolts (and shield and waterskin); i want to make him an engraver, and to do that without breaking the surface, he'll have to travel all over the map engraving the various rock faces. Mebzuth's also collected a bunch of lumps of clay so we can have a jeweller, too. Rith's probably going to become militia commander, (she currently holds all available offices apart from that and bookkeeper/manager) - as long as she doesn't get mobilised and has no opportunity to train, her woodcutting axe shouldn't clash with a military position.