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[Glloyd]

It's going okay so far...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I've been focusing on playing mostly, I spent too much time writing last time. I'm close to wrapping up my adventure though, so I plan on posting the first part later today.

[Luckyowl]

I recreated one of the forms from the Empire of Peeks. It's a fairly simple form and is meant to worship Idla, the god of healing. When you hear it you should imagine a bunch of monks praying in silence while someone plays the pastro( which is just a triangle.)

https://soundcloud.com/fireblade-264/the-honesty-of-heaven/s-1rJq1d7bAcH

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Honesty of Heaven is a devotional form of music directed toward the worship of Idla originating in The Empire of Peeks. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. The music is played on a pastro. The entire performance is consistently slowing, and it is to be in whispered undertones. Only one pitch is ever played at a time. It is performed without preference for a scale and in the ani rhythm. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to alternate tension and repose.
The pastro always provides the rhythm and should feel tender.
The Honesty of Heaven has a well-defined multi-passage structure: one to two lengthy passages and an additional passage and a finale.
The ani rhythm is a single line with four beats divided into two bars in a 2-2 pattern. The beats are named shato (spoken sha) and almef (al). The beat is stressed as follows:
| x x | x - |
where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

Idla is a fairly popular god and there is still songs being written about him. This form grew in popularity around 153 and ever since then it fell to obscurity and then back to popularity throughout the centuries.

[Yarlig]

Well' this is an interesting choice. The Empire of Peeks seems like a pretty unremarkable kingdom' as far as the humans go' and I think the only one not to be the birthplace of any adventurer as of yet; but they have the oldest ruling dynasty' going back to the 3rd century' and pretty solid scientific output despite lacking any libraries in their lands. Interesting that they also left an artistic mark on the world.
Good job on the music' though! The melody itself actually makes me think of church bells' and perhaps slightly of the 'Hymn of YALORT' from the old Mardek flash games. Definitely something one'd meditate to.
The first museum did have quite a bit of supplementary lore/artistic material outside the main adventurer logs' perhaps we could collect the more interesting bits and pieces of this world's history together with some artwork in one place' too?

[Imic]

Perhaps this might be used for some kind of spell, the prayers used to request aid and for the subject to be healed, held in rythm by the quiet, simple sound of the Pastro. I imagine a monk outside their tiny hut on a windy mountainside whispering a prayer and playing a Pastro in one hand, the only two sounds besides the wind in a silent world, requesting Idla to help the wounded child lying asleep on their bed inside the hut survive.

[Luckyowl]

https://soundcloud.com/fireblade-264/luxuxrious-adoration/s-QimHx5bBl3a

This one is from the Empire of Peeks a form meant for entertainment.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Luxurious Adoration is a form of music used for entertainment originating in The Empire of Peeks. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. The music is played on one to four izrol, one to three pastro, a tunem and a ac. The musical voices join in melody and counterpoint, harmony and rhythm. The entire performance should bring a sense of motion. The melody has short phrases, while the counterpoint has long phrases throughout the form. It is performed using the thad scale and in the idla rhythm. Throughout, when possible, performers are to glide from note to note, alternate tension and repose, play staccato and play legato.
Each pastro always provides the rhythm.
The tunem always provides the rhythm.
The Luxurious Adoration has a well-defined multi-passage structure: three lengthy unrelated passages, a lengthy finale and a coda.
Each of the simple passages is voiced by the melody of the ac, the counterpoint of the izrol, the rhythm of the pastro and the rhythm of the tunem. Each passage is at a free tempo, and it is to become louder and louder. Each of the izrol is confined to the nasal top register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals.
The finale is voiced by the melody of the ac, the counterpoint of the izrol, the rhythm of the pastro and the rhythm of the tunem. The passage is consistently slowing, and it is to fade into silence. Each of the izrol ranges from the middle register to the high register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals.
The coda is voiced by the melody of the izrol, the harmony of the ac, the rhythm of the pastro and the rhythm of the tunem. The passage is slow, and it is to be loud. Each of the izrol is confined to the brittle middle register. This passage typically has some sparse chords.
Scales are constructed from sixteen notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1x-xxx-x-x-x-xxxxx-x-x-xO, where 1 is the tonic, O marks the octave and x marks other notes. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance.
The thad pentatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 5th, the 7th, the 11th and the 12th.
The idla rhythm is a single line with four beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
| x x X x |
where X marks an accented beat, x is a beat and | indicates a bar.

I tried my best to recreate it but it's hard to get Musescore to replicate a glide on the Izrol(Lute). It sort of remind me of a dance especially that accent on the third beat...and to my surprise this form has a dance form....

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 The Musics of Pantomiming is a participation dance originating in The Empire of Peeks. The form guides dancers during improvised performances. The dance is accompanied by The Luxurious Adoration. The dancers perform in several lines, moving to the music's idla rhythm. The entire dance has a basic movement called the kes. There is a series of two relaxed steps in a triangle pattern with an undulating raised right arm, independent body movement and a fluid forward bend.
The dance begins with the passages of the music. This section is twisting.
The dance enters a new section with the finale of the music. The dancers perform slower and slower with the music. This section is joyous.

A pretty neat dance.

Honestly I would like to see the art of Orid Xem come to life. I was having a look at Walled Dye music form and they have some pretty complicated forms.

TARGET OF MIGHTNESS

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Targets of Mightiness is a devotional form of music directed toward the worship of Kezat originating in The Walled Dye. The rules of the form are applied by composers to produce individual pieces of music which can be performed. A singer recites any composition of The Dented Canyon. The entire performance is at a hurried pace. The melody has phrases of varied length throughout the form. Only one pitch is ever played at a time. The music repeats for as long as necessary. It is performed using the kulet scale. Throughout, when possible, composers and performers are to use grace notes, alternate tension and repose and play staccato.
The singer always does the main melody and should feel agitated.
The Targets of Mightiness has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a lengthy theme, a bridge-passage and a series of variations on the theme possibly all repeated.
The theme is to be in whispered undertones. The singer's voice ranges from the low register to the middle register. The passage is performed in the robek rhythm.
The bridge-passage is to become louder and louder. The singer's voice stays in the low register. The passage is performed in the ustos rhythm.
The series of variations is to be very soft. The singer's voice ranges from the low register to the middle register. The passage is performed in the uvel rhythm.
Scales are constructed from twenty notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1x-xxxxx-xx-xxxxxx-xxxxxO, where 1 is the tonic, O marks the octave and x marks other notes. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance.
The kulet hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 3rd, the 7th, the 8th, the 13th and the 18th.
The robek rhythm is a single line with two beats. The beats are named olmul (spoken ol) and nokzam (no). The beat is stressed as follows:
| x - |
where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
The ustos rhythm is a single line with four beats. The beats are named em„r (spoken em), izeg (iz), bem•ng (be) and gost (go). The beat is stressed as follows:
| x x - x |
where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
The uvel rhythm is made from two patterns: the roder and the sedil. The patterns are to be played in the same beat, allowing one to repeat before the other is concluded.
The roder rhythm is a single line with eight beats divided into four bars in a 2-2-2-2 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
| x x | - x | - x | x x |
where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
The sedil rhythm is a single line with three beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
| x x - |
where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.

UMBER OF SILKINESS

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 The Umber Silkiness is a form of music used for entertainment originating in The Walled Dye. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. A singer recites nonsensical words and sounds while the music is played on a amur and a nobgost. The musical voices join in melody and counterpoint, harmony and rhythm. The melody and counterpoint both have short phrases throughout the form. Throughout, when possible, performers are to alternate tension and repose.
The singer always plays rapid runs.
The nobgost always plays rapid runs.
The Umber Silkiness has a well-defined multi-passage structure: an introduction, a brief first theme, a lengthy exposition of the first theme, a bridge-passage, a second theme, an exposition of the second theme and a synthesis of previous passages.
The introduction is voiced by the melody of the amur and the melody of the nobgost. The passage should evoke tears and is at a hurried pace, and it is to start loud then be immediately soft. The amur covers its entire range from the heavy low register to the strident high register and the nobgost stays in the sparkling high register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals. The passage is performed using the mabdug scale and in the berim rhythm.
The first theme is voiced by the melody of the amur and the rhythm of the nobgost. The passage should feel tender and is very slow, and it is to fade into silence. The amur covers its entire range from the heavy low register to the strident high register and the nobgost covers its entire range from the rippling low register to the sparkling high register. This passage typically has some sparse chords. The passage is performed using the bidok scale and in the dolush rhythm.
The first exposition is voiced by the melody of the singer reciting nonsensical words and sounds, the melody of the amur and the melody of the nobgost. The passage should feel mysterious and is very slow, and it is to become louder and louder. The singer's voice ranges from the low register to the middle register, the amur stays in the strident high register and the nobgost covers its entire range from the rippling low register to the sparkling high register. Only one pitch is ever played at a time in this passage. The passage is performed using the gatal scale and in the ”ntak rhythm.
The bridge-passage is voiced by the melody of the singer reciting nonsensical words and sounds and the harmony of the nobgost. The passage should feel agitated and moves more quickly than the last passage, and it is to be loud. The singer's voice covers its entire range and the nobgost covers its entire range from the rippling low register to the sparkling high register. This passage typically has some sparse chords. The passage is performed using the nicol scale and in the ustos rhythm.
The second theme is voiced by the melody of the amur and the rhythm of the nobgost. The passage should feel tender and resumes the previous tempo, and it is to be in whispered undertones. The amur covers its entire range from the heavy low register to the strident high register and the nobgost covers its entire range from the rippling low register to the sparkling high register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals. The passage is performed using the alak scale and in the fer rhythm.
The second exposition is voiced by the melody of the amur, the counterpoint of the nobgost and the harmony of the singer reciting nonsensical words and sounds. The passage should be broad and slows and broadens, and it is to be very loud. The amur stays in the heavy low register, the nobgost stays in the sparkling high register and the singer's voice covers its entire range. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage. The passage is performed using the zustash scale and in the agˆk rhythm.
The synthesis is voiced by the melody of the amur, the harmony of the singer reciting nonsensical words and sounds and the harmony of the nobgost. The passage should be delicate and is at a walking pace, and it is to fade into silence. The amur covers its entire range from the heavy low register to the strident high register, the singer's voice stays in the middle register and the nobgost covers its entire range from the rippling low register to the sparkling high register. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage. The passage is performed using the anam scale and in the emuth rhythm.
Scales are constructed from twenty notes dividing the octave. In quartertones, their spacing is roughly 1x-xxxxx-xx-xxxxxx-xxxxxO, where 1 is the tonic, O marks the octave and x marks other notes. The tonic note is fixed only at the time of performance.
The mabdug hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 4th, the 9th, the 10th, the 13th and the 15th.
The bidok heptatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 4th, the 6th, the 9th, the 14th, the 16th and the 19th.
The gatal pentatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 6th, the 8th, the 13th and the 18th.
The nicol heptatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 4th, the 7th, the 10th, the 14th, the 18th and the 19th.
The alak heptatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 5th, the 6th, the 8th, the 13th, the 18th and the 19th.
The zustash hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 6th, the 7th, the 11th, the 13th and the 14th.
The anam hexatonic scale is constructed by selection of degrees from the fundamental scale. The degrees selected are the 1st, the 6th, the 7th, the 11th, the 13th and the 19th.
The berim rhythm is a single line with thirty-two beats divided into four bars in a 8-8-8-8 pattern. The beats are named ibruk (spoken ib), ermis (erm), thoth (tho), thatthil (tha), g•stang (g•), libash (li), lakish (la) and asdos (as). The beat is stressed as follows:
| - x x - - x - x | x x - x - - x x | x - x x - x x - | x - - x - - - - |
where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
The dolush rhythm is made from two patterns: the ”ntak (considered the primary) and the robek.
The ”ntak rhythm is a single line with two beats. The beats are named tosid (spoken to) and feb (fe). The beat is stressed as follows:
| x - |
where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
The robek rhythm is a single line with two beats. The beats are named olmul (spoken ol) and nokzam (no). The beat is stressed as follows:
| x - |
where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
The ustos rhythm is a single line with four beats. The beats are named em„r (spoken em), izeg (iz), bem•ng (be) and gost (go). The beat is stressed as follows:
| x x - x |
where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
The fer rhythm is made from two patterns: the nel and the roder. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.
The nel rhythm is a single line with three beats. The beats are named biban (spoken bi), ugog (ug) and ish (ish). The beat is stressed as follows:
| x x x |
where x is a beat and | indicates a bar.
The roder rhythm is a single line with eight beats divided into four bars in a 2-2-2-2 pattern. The beat is stressed as follows:
| x x | - x | - x | x x |
where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
The agˆk rhythm is made from two patterns: the sedil (considered the primary) and the nel.
The sedil rhythm is a single line with three beats. The beat is stressed as follows:
| x x - |
where x is a beat, - is silent and | indicates a bar.
The emuth rhythm is made from two patterns: the ustos and the robek. The patterns are to be played over the same period of time, concluding together regardless of beat number.

[WonderPsycho]

PTW, also, is this succession world/"adventure mode succession game"'s turn list still open for a few more people? i am kind of interested in joining in this succession game

[Bralbaard]

The museum has opened a new wing where works of art about the world of Orid Xem can be admired.
It can be found in the post with the museum items.

Great work Luckyowl, for me those descriptions on musical forms look like they are written in chinese, so I very much appreciate someone diving in and bringing them to life.
With the game currently getting graphics and music, there's some hope that someday the musical instruments will be brought to live in the game itself..

PTW, also, is this succession world/"adventure mode succession game"'s turn list still open for a few more people? i am kind of interested in joining in this succession game

Yes it is still open, I've added you to the list.

[WonderPsycho]

Yes it is still open, I've added you to the list.

thanks

[Glloyd]

Those are amazing luckyowl! Also, I'm sorry I haven't posted yet, it's been a very busy few days. I actually died before making it to the museum, after 300 something kills, so let that be a reminder that no matter how overly powerleveled you are, DF is unforgiving. It was a bit of an unexpected death, considering how overleveled Iden was by the time I died, so no new museum submissions.
 I'm working on a post right now, trying to do something a little different with it using my previous adventurer to tell the story of my current one. Will post it later today, along with the save, I don't think I'll be doing a fort.

[tonnot98]

Oh darn, I got too caught up in life to remember my favorite succession game. Oh well, just put me back in the cycle and I'll play when it's my turn.

[Glloyd]

Because I haven't gotten around to posting any of my entries yet, and all of my companions died along the way, I want to do something different with my write-ups. So, if someone can find my corpse before my next turn, I will post the true story of my adventurer. Otherwise, I'll integrate it into my next turn. However, I don't want to leave my turn without any entries (and I didn't want to not share any pics of Emeraldcrown, Nogoodnames really outdid themself) so I put something together below as a hook for any future adventurers (or, if noone finds it, my next turn). Enjoy, and good luck Eric! Save is here: https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=15320


The Journal of Glloyd Ancientborn the Round

Galena 12th, 749.

It has been a long time since I've written anything down in my journal. In fact, it's been just over 22 years since I settled down in the Shelter of Adventurers, down the hill from the great museum of Boltspumpkin. 22 years... And yet it has seemed to vanish into the air. The bitter truth of being immortal is that I stay the same age, forced to watch my close companions age towards the grave. Amsir, once a great warrior, is now 74 years old, and spends his days sitting alongside the stream that flows through our home. His wife, Slenshi, is now 65. It's been 43 years since their companion Donas Silenttowers was struck down and they decided to get married. And yet, life in Orid Xem goes on. Things have been darker as of late. Ever since that wretched monkey Raki passed through Boltspumpkin, it seems as if there's been a shadow over the land, and we haven't seen a single adventurer pass through in the years since. At least I still share the company of Ishes, my erstwhile Soldier of Night companion. At 248 years old herself, she is well aware of the curse of agelessness.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

On one fine summer day a few weeks ago, Ishes and I set out to Divedact. I wanted to examine some books at the library there, and we needed to pick up some supplies for the Shelter. Although Ishes and I don't eat, and we haven't seen any adventurers in a while, Amsir and Slenshi still need to eat, and it'd be cruel to ask them to hunt. After a short trip, Ishes and I found ourselves in the bustling marketplace of Divedact.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Divedact is one of the few actual living cities in this part of the world. Although it lacks any central leadership, its streets are still home to a wide array of active shops, and it is an important trading hub for the region. Because of this, a lot of traders from across the northern area of Orid Xem pass through there. While haggling with one of the goblin merchants there, he asked if I was heading north. "No, I'll be returning south to Boltspumpkin" I responded. "Smart man," he replied, "it's just not safe there anymore." Ever interested in the goings on of Orid Xem, I pressed him for more information. "Have you not heard any of the news from the Nations of Honoring?" he replied incredulously. "We don't get many visitors at Boltspumpkin these days," I said. He stared at me aghast "Well, surely you've heard of Iden Bloodinked the Mire of Cities, the bandit king of the north? Over the last two months he conquered his way through the northern towns, leaving hundreds of bodies in his wake.”

I hadn’t heard of him at all, so I asked around among the goblins in the marketplace, and they had plenty of wild tales to tell: “I heard he slaughtered the entire population of Steamdemon just for the fun of it.” “I heard he murdered the leader of the Nations of Honoring and his entire court and bathed in their blood.” “I heard he was behind the recent insurrections and deaths at Incenseorder.” “I heard he looted all sorts of treasure from the north and stashed it in a hideout near here.” “He stole the great crown of Galleyhazy from the fortress of Emeraldcrown and declared himself king of the northern lands.”

A litany of deeds, but was there actually any truth to these tales? Emeraldcrown is only a short journey from Divedact, and with Boltspumpkin as quiet as it has been, Ishes and I decided it would be good to get out on the road again, if only for a short trip.

--

A couple days of light travel later, we made it to Emeraldcrown. I had never been there before, so the sight of the fortress was certainly impressive. The entrance sported a golden brick road, interspersed with green glass tiling, and flanked on either side by green glass statues.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Passing the entrance, you enter a tunnel that winds its way upwards through the mountain, bringing you up to the main area of the fortress. A towering structure of green glass dangling over a volcano, Emeraldcrown is certainly a sight to behold.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

On my earlier journey, I had mocked the current state of dwarven civilization, but this young fortress is nothing to mock.

After asking around about the titular crown of Emeraldcrown, one of the dwarves led me up one of the towers into a showroom of sorts. The room contained a number of pedestals holding various artifacts, including one prominent one that was conspicuously empty.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The dwarf confirmed the goblin’s story: Iden had snuck in during the night, knocking one of the guards unconscious and taking the crown, before vanishing into the night. A surprisingly bloodless tale, compared to those spun by the goblins at the market. This only intrigued me further, and Ishes and I decided to head northwards into the Nations of Honoring. Being back out on the road together was a stimulating experience. I'd forgotten how much I had enjoyed travelling, and the story of Iden has proven to be an interesting one indeed. Before we left, the dwarf handed me a poster with some information on Emeraldcrown, and told me to bring it to Boltspumpkin. He also asked that we do our best to find the missing crown and return it if possible.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

After crossing the great dwarven construction of Razorbridge, we passed into the lands of the Nations of Honoring.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Once a great kingdom, the Nations of Honoring is scarcely a shadow of its former self. Destroyed by the massive necromancer armies of the 300s, the massive cities are now ghost towns full of abandoned and ruined buildings, a chilling reminder of the past conflicts.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The many villages and hamlets that dot the countryside suffered a similar fate, although unlike the dead cities, some survived relatively unscathed, and remain populated by humans. Elsewhere, goblins from the empire of the Most Sin to the south have settled among the ruins. All, however, face the ongoing threat of the remnants of the necromancers’ armies that still linger throughout the region.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Ishes and I stumbled across a few on our journey. Although alone they pose little threat, the old stories tell of armies numbering in the millions, and locals will swear that those legions remain, shuffling around between the dead villages of the north.

--

Necromancers’ experiments aside, we found the Nations of Honoring to be relatively peaceful, if eerie. However, people here were certainly aware of Iden. In the great dead city of Atticmuffins, a resident told us that Iden had passed through there, and robbed the Labryinthine Abbey of its legendary artifacts. He also informed us that Iden had indeed murdered the entire leadership of the Nations of Honoring at a hamlet called Drillshine, just to the southwest of Atticmuffins. It seems that the leadership of the Nations of Honoring had been taken over by goblins in recent years, and if the tales we’d heard of Iden slaughtering entire villages of goblin settlers were anything to go by, it was likely that the two were related...


OOC: I will post the rest in the morning. Sorry for the delay on my posts. I hope you like the approach I took with this, trying to uncover the story of my adventurer. I've left a few hints throughout this entry and the next about where to find my corpse, but like I mentioned, if noone finds it, I'll incorporate the "journal" of my actual adventurer into my next turn. (That's also my way of asking to be signed up for another turn)

[Yarlig]

The artistic section is a great idea; might contribute a piece of dwarven poetry at some point.

I'm enjoying the update yet' Glloyd! some slice-of-necromancer's-life is a good framing story' and political upheaval is always desirable.

But alas' the world seems broke now.

Legends Viewer wouldn't load at all because of an arithmetic overflow error. Remember we had ~40 milion HoPs a few turns ago?
Now it's more like this:
Planegifts - 335 109 hands of Planegifts
Truthfulriddled - 330 435 175 hands of Planegifts
Hummedraces - wait for it! - 2 054 319 171 hands of Planegifts
(all data according to the sites-and-pops file)

Let me reiterate: we're approaching two and a half billion of those creatures. All of them are currently concentrated in a few hamlets in the Nations of Honoring' and their population seems to rise whenever someone travels nearby' without even loading their area (which at this point seems actually impossible). Reminds me of the exponentially increasing animal populations bug' but seems more severe' at least for me.
I vote we nuke them to oblivion at the first opportunity; it's ill-advised to take any chances at this point. Of course LV is not an essential part of the game' but it severely limits the freedom of exploration in the afflicted area' and the order of magnitute itself is concerning. We could also always try to weave a good story around the sudden disappearance. Leaving this up for discussion here.

[Quantum Drop]

Yeah, I tried to defend them earlier, but I agree that we need to DFhack them all away now for the reasons outlined above.

That said, how would we wipe them out? AFAIK, DFHack's exterminate only targets units on the map, rather than in the world, and getting into those hamlets would be practically impossible.

Spoiler: Story suggestions (click to show/hide)

These are mostly just me shotgunning out ideas, which may or may not be good:

• Laziest explanation would be that the gods of Orid Xem never intended them to become this numerous, and they just decided to smite the lot of them rather than have mortal agents (Necromancers, adventurers, etc) deal with them indirectly. Plain, simple, but not exactly very deep.
• The HoPs there were affected by a disease of some kind (perhaps a mutated strain of the Silver Plague, which somehow made its way to the far north), which proved highly lethal to them due to their altered physiology. Most of them died from the effects of the disease, and the remainder turned on one another for what little uninfected land and shelter remained, effectively dooming themselves due to the massive casualties from plague and violence alike. Perhaps a few survive long enough to be encountered by adventurers and explain what happened, or perhaps rumours start spreading of cities full of inhuman corpses, left to rot in the streets where they died.
• Considering that they're all packed into the mead hall(s) of the sites in question? Reality ensues, and the vast majority of them are either crushed to death or suffocated due to how tightly they're packed in. [joke]Alternatively, they begin undergoing nuclear fusion due to how tight they are  packed, and explode/burn the hamlet to the ground.[/joke]
• The HoPs there were a catspaw for one of the many death-aligned deities of Orid Xem, with the HoPs there being mass-created to wipe out all life on the planet and feed the death god a massive amount of souls. The other deities and powers figure out the DG's plan, decide having a few billion omnicidal maniacs running around in the mortal world isn't a good idea for any of them or their followers, and smite the lot of them while erasing the souls of the vast majority of the HoPs from existence to prevent the death deity getting a major power boost.
• The HoPs there started out as a catspaw, but one of them eventually figured out they were going to get used either way - either they die fighting and feed the power of the deity that created them, or they kill everything and feed the power of the deity creating them anyway. The HoP that figures this out starts planning the DF equivalent of Ragnarok, intending to quite literally storm the heavens and take revenge on the deity behind this. Of course, deicide is against the Rules, and so they get smote by the gods for their antics.

[Yarlig]

First things first' I know absolutely nothing about dfhack or coding in general; but it seems off-site killings have been done before:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=163602.0
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=176846.0
Although of course' there is no certainty it would work in this case. Perhaps someone more competent than me could appraise the chances.

Story-wise' it's easy to build on proposal no 1:
The overpopulated territories all lie within the Nations of Honoring (not counting Cog's tower at the edge of the tundras - we should not overlook this one); one of the most prominent gods of the kingdom in question is Ala' who is associated with blight' death and balance.
Perhaps the HoPs were created by necromancers using his power' and now without them acting as funnels for magicka' and with the world being increasingly destabilized by our 'heroes' attaining forbidden knowledge' it got out of control' leading to proliferation of hoppers. Acting on the 'balance' aspect' Ala decides to even out the populations and withdraws his power' which was the only thing keeping the malformed experiments alive' leading to them dying in droves.
I personally like 3 and 5 more' though I'm not sure how it would fit in the world as-is.

[nogoodnames]

Looking forward to reading the rest, Glloyd!

Spoiler: Your adventurer certainly seems to have had some interesting effects on the world... (click to show/hide)

Regarding the hands of planegifts, if my theory about their populations growing until they overflow and get set to zero holds out, Hummedraces should pop soon. It's right at the upper edge of 32-bit signed integers now. In any case, I'm fully in support of nuking the bugged pops if we can find a way to.

You can fix Legends Viewer by opening up the world_sites_and_pops.txt file and deleting a digit or two off of the HoP population in Hummedraces.