Fuck it, lemme just index the previous updates.
Update 1Update 2Update 3Angelcrux is now pushing a close second to Anvillizard in terms of being my favorite fort. A lot has happened since the last update. Most notably, I made a huge mistake, in that I didn't realize necromancer experiments were building destroyers. The cavern heart of the fortress was overrun (along with the closest thing the fort has to a main staircase) because all that kept us from the outside was a simple hatch, but fortunately, the dwarves of Angelcrux were able to safely wall off and maintain control over most of the important sections of the fort thanks to excessive doors and quick thinking. Our only casualty was Zulgar Towerhame, a founder and weaponsmith. She will be missed, but she will also be avenged. The life in the fortress goes on, although a bit less efficiently because I was forced to route the main thoroughfare through a maintenance tunnel.
I've made a second blunder as well. In hoping to decrease the number of the fortress's foes, I unleashed the vault's angels upon the necromancer siege, which just ended in a bunch of zombie angels that won't leave, unlike the necromancers. I'm not quite sure what I was thinking there. This blunder did have one advantage, though. A singular angel soldier went partway down the passageway to the fortress. While it was not killed before its retreat, nor did it kill very many of the necromancer's army, it did lose an arm and a foot in combat. What's so notable about that, you ask? The soldier was, of course, wearing divine metal armor: its missing limbs have enough armor on them to make an ingot of divine metal. And from one ingot can flow many others, thanks to the lost smithing techniques* of the dwarves.
Next, several forgotten beasts in the caverns layer have rendered them lost to the undead. There exist three hulking zombie forgotten beasts and one of green glass, all of which are relatively uninjured. The caverns were successfully split in two several years back, but two zombie fbs now reside in the formerly safe section, meaning I'll have to coast on my fortunately large wood reserves for a long while. Your sacrifice during the wood gathering mission was not in vain, Rimtar Silveryweb.
In addition, a military has finally been founded. Four soldiers have been drafted, all garbed in full iron armor and wielding iron warhammers. They will take a while to train up to reasonable skill, but should be sufficient in fighting off any undead pets and also taking out those two crundles that I trapped (and had little reason to fight) a long while back. The first pet died of old age last spring, so their services will be important in the coming years, even if it means I'm down a few useful dwarves.
Since some important sections of the fort have been lost, I have dug a few new parts to somewhat replace the missing compartments. Most notably is the new barracks near the forges (which I ultimately intend to be the civilian barracks, but seeing as both of the others are lost to the undead, is currently being used by our new military. This barracks was dug off of a new connection near the carpenter's circle, which leads directly to the finished section of the forge district, which would otherwise have been lost to the zombies.
The forges and carpentry before undead invasion:
The new honeymoon suites (unfurnished), new barracks, and passageway connecting the forges to the reclaimed parts of the fort. Note the destruction of the old craftsdwarf's workshops.
And, most recently, another disturbing development: the mountainhome has fallen. Angelcrux is now the last dwarven fortress in the world. Lolor Packedpainted, the fortress engraver, has claimed the title of queen of the dwarves. I can't say this pleases me: Lolor is a bit of a sadist, and also we don't have any rooms for nobility. That was the next thing on the to-do list before the whole necromancers destroying half of the fortress thing happened. She is an important mother for the fortress's next generation however (Angelcrux has three married couples), and is likely to be having the most children: both she and her husband (who is a mechanic) are jobs that have been receiving quite a bit of down time during the undead crisis, unlike the other two couples who both have a farmhand (misc grouping of all the unskilled farming labors I need) in the pair. There is significant extra food, so I've been giving downtime where possible, but food production is obviously something that can't just be ignored.
The fort stands at 23 population and growing.
*Also known as the melt glitch.