Sorry I haven't replied earlier, but this weekend kinda hard for me. I had a bad case of man flu, slept through the entire Saturday afternoon, then spent the sunday struggling with a mild yet persistent headache. I'm perfectly fine now, and it seems we have a starting 7, so we can begin.
I'm intrigued, might join this should I resolve my current project. What version of DF is it running on? Just wanna know in case I'll be able to use Dwarf Therapist etc while I work
Amostubal's modified Masterwork v1.28, it does have Therapist.
Sign me up? Do I need DFhack or does this work normally.
DFhack is included in Masterwork, don't worry about it.
Just a warning, I've never done much with masterwork, and I've never once embarked in anything colder than temperate
The only problem with cold biomes is freezing water, but someone will probably have to deal with that before your turn comes.
The journal of SQ Graveguilds, the Chief Tamer of the Dabbling Rags
The Dune of Fishes, such an ironic name. Hardly a dune, and I doubt there are many fishes around here. We won't run out of sand out there, and with some luck we might find some clay. According to geological studies there's possibility finding metal, possibly iron. Not too much plantlife, in fact there may not be a single tree in the area. Other than the howling winds and snow storms, it's a pretty quiet place.
Oh right, we will have some neighbors. The Dune of Fishes is a territory of not one but two jotunar kingdoms. Hopefully they will ignore us for the time being, after all why bother wiping out a tiny dwarven settlement?
To the north there are orcish and goblin tribes. I doubt the orcs will be willing to negotiate with the seven of us. Goblins may be interested in our queen's goblin upbringing, but at the end what difference does it make? Goblins hate each other anyway.
Putrid Blendecs live (or do they?) beyond Jotnar fortresses. I'd like to believe the giants won't let those monsters through their land, but the very fact the Blendecs may find a way around makes me shudder. Dead or alive Blendecs, choose your side!
I'm not sure where Ruthertaurs live, but fortunately it's probably further away than giants and orcs.
Roving packs of beak dogs and stranglers have been seen around here. Nasty beasts, while most animals aren't either good nor evil, those monsters take joy is killing, they toy with their prey, and cooperate only with those without a trace of mercy in their hearts.
Elves are the nicest neighbors we'll have. I've worked with them on the damn show that got me into this trouble, they would sell animals and share their knowledge, but they are extremely protective of trees, not like it's a problem for us.
Anyway, I'll say something about myself in case anybody will ever read this:
I've been working as an animal trainer since I first arrived in the mountainhomes. There has been a wild horse captured some time before my arrival. It was an amazing mighty beast, but no one could tame it enough to saddle it. I had no experience with animals other than cleaning filthy tuskox pens. It took many tries, several months, but finally the stallion let me ride itself. The nobles were impressed by that, so they gave me a stable job training war dogs, looking for useful wild animals, making deals with elves, and so on. If I had kept in line instead of seeking fame and fortune, I would still live that happy life.
Sanctume... I don't know too much about her. She was a last minute addition to the team, but I'm glad I kicked out that Fath kid in favor of her. Sanctume has went through basic legionnaire training, so while she isn't Her Majesty's best just yet, she's much more skilled and in much better form than most veteran militia commanders in hillock villages.
The big guy here is Bear, he's been helping me with the great performance, without him I don't know if I would be able to handle that many animals. Some say Bear was found in the woods naked, biting into a moose carcass. There are also people, and there's more of them, who claim they knew Bear since he was a child, and they say he rarely ever left the safety of his home fortress. I'm not gonna ask me, but I know which story I'm sticking to.
This woman calls herself "Alpha Loves You". There's something creepy about that name. Yet, she's an official member of the carpenter's guild, so she'll make a great... wait a moment... ARRGH!
CaptainArchmage is neither a captain nor an archmage. In fact he's a guild certified farmer, brewer, cook, or all of the above. I'm not sure, I was never curious what was going on in the farmer's guild's quarter, all I cared about was what was coming out of there, and It was good enough.
Nix is a miner, not associated with the guild because he doesn't like the idea of sharing the fruits of his work with others. I can't say I approve of this attitude, but if he's here with us right now, that means he'll at least help us dig until we're safe and comfortable.
Scourge is a craftsman's guild member, but she apparently regrets not joining the mason's guild. She's told me she'd rather have her two arms aching than have her ten fingers constantly hurting. I can respect that, but if we need skilled craftsman, she may need to sacrifice herself for the cause.
I think we're well prepared for our arrival. Just before leaving the Mountainhomes Bear reminded me that our reindeer may not find enough grass to graze in the dunes. I quickly took them back to the marketplace and traded them for dewbeetles. Eggs, chitin, mead, what's not to like about these buggers.
We're almost here. I hear howling, but not the howling of wolves. Worgs in the area, saber worgs maybe, gotta be careful.
This is the place. I expected some more snow or hardy tundra grass. Hey, at least we've got rocks. I wonder what kinds of amazing animals we can find here.
Oh my, domestic grazers! I'm so damn happy I could strangle a camel! What wonders will we encounter next? Reindeer, llamas?
I need a rest. I'll get back to writing when we're all safe inside.
For some reason everyone wants something from me today, so as much as I wanted to really get it started today, I'll have to leave you with the embark log for now. Free mondays my ass.
I really expected the tundra part to be more tundra-like, but maybe we'll get some tundra animals anyway, it can't be all camels. Right?
Oh, and don't worry if your dwarf is an antisocial psychopath. It's because I've enabled tantrums in MW menu. Don't write your characters around their in-game description or we'll end up with a fort full of grumpy assholes.