So the dwarves (and otherwise) of Lensquakes were happily toiling along when one of my most feared catastrophes hit: an inheritance flood. Six new barons inherited positions. I've seen that happen before, and I always thought it meant my civilization was being wiped out by goblins. Fearing for my chances to have the monarch move in, I copied my save and took a look in Legends Viewer.
The civilization looked strong and healthy, but in the last few months of the log things started getting weird. The last entries were a full 50 promotions, including a duke, an outpost liaison, a general, and a minecartload of barons. Just before that, I found an entry that struck me with fear:
In 154, early winter, (11th of Moonstone) The Clasps of Exiting attacked The Influential Avalanche of The Clasps of Exiting at Theatergroup. Leader of the attack was the dwarf Vabok Fierycrafts, and the defenders were led by the dwarf Alath Yawnblockades during The Sieges of Murdering as part of The Assaulted Conflict.
Uh-oh. The Clasps of Exiting is my civ! Why is it attacking itself? I traced The Assaulted Conflict back to its first entry, and found this:
In 154, late autumn, (4th of Timber) The Clasps of Exiting attacked The Big Lancers of The Subtle Gloves at Hellshame. Leader of the attack was the dwarf Ingish Bulbchannel, and the defenders were led by the goblin Gashcoz Beguiledscorching during The Sieges of Murdering as part of The Assaulted Conflict.
And there it is. Hellshame is a dark dwarven pits that I conquered and added to my holdings in order to get to Count. It looks to me like my civ decided that goblins are goblins, and attacked it--which started the whole shebang. It hasn't affected my fort, aside from the inheritance flood; fix/loyaltycascade reports that there is no loyalty cascade. And yet, there is most definitely a civil war.
So now my path forward is muddy. Is this a known phenomenon? Can it be resolved, short of the civ wiping itself out? Will I get a hostile outpost liaison? Should I just go back in the autosaves to before it happened? I really want to get my castle built, and these guys are not. helping.