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[Travis Bickle]

Nephilim glares at Fatcat and lets out an exasperated sigh. "It's easy to talk about peace and leniency when you can still walk," he says forcefully. "With how much Maximum Spin and plenty of other dwarves, dwarves who aren't even present here and instead have spend their time bound in restraints at the top of the tower or rotting away in coffins, have suffered, I'm surprised that I'm the only one who feels this way."

Having allowed himself this outburst, Nephilim takes a moment to gather himself. Taking a deep breath, he begins anew: "Yet I cannot expect to win if my proposal is truly as unpopular as it seems to be. Some show of leniency seems to be the common desire of the electorate and I shall endeavor to meet this desire. I, however, cannot go as far as my opponent would seem to desire. What we have heard from the S.A.C. amounts to a desire to undo this past year, to pretend it simply did not happen and return to the relative golden years of 251–252. "Make Goldsilver okay again." A nice sentiment, but you cannot untoll a bell. Tremendous harm has happened this year, harm that requires a response of some sort instead of just hanging our heads and trying to forget.

"I will show leniency, much more than I feel is deserved. That said, the accused must still stand trial, and if found guilty, will be dealt some sort of punishment. Hammerstrikes and other forms of painful capital punishment will be off the table, but the possibility of exile from the fortress—hardly a cruel punishment given the several nearby hillocks wherein the guilty party could live out the rest of his life—or banishment to some locked section of the fortress to be constructed during my term as overseer will be carefully considered. I'm sure even my opposition would agree that this would not lead us down a path of anarchy and revenge.

"As for the rest of my year if elected, I pledge to complete the pyramid—and I am not averse to re-authorizing the use of dolomite blocks. In order to combat the issue of declining morale, I furthermore pledge to have this pyramid be the site of a festival where the dwarves of this fortress can relax and make merry. I will also try to give both infected dwarves comfortable living conditions, although I am skeptical that they can ever truly be re-integrated into Goldsilver society. I desire that they may be able to be as happy as possible, but we cannot jeopardize the safety of the rest of the fortress."

Nephilim leans back in his seat and glances at the dwarves around him, eager to hear their responses.

[Eniteris]

"Tremendous harm? And what, you'd let serial killers like the Mayor roam free among the halls, killing at their hearts' content, while dwarves run and hide, fearing for their lives? A fortress without justice is no fortress at all, it is merely a rabble of dwarves, each out only for oneself, trying to survive. Not a path to anarchy and revenge indeed.

I too have walked the halls, and all I hear is praise and relief from those that have received justice, that they no longer have to fear going to the dining room without being attacked by some insurrection-crazed dwarf. Should these criminals be rehabilitated? Absolutely. But they must first serve out their sentence. None of us are above the law. Not even you, Nephilim.

I will accept a trial, if you deign it necessary. I will accept your punishment, because I am not above the law. But I have committed no crime. And the bell that has been tolled is one of progress, of security. My improvements are essential to the functioning of the fort, and mark my words, they will be invaluable to Goldsilver's survival. But if you are so shortsighted to be unable to see this, then fine, reseal the caverns, abandon the forges, disband the military. Go back to your wooden weapons. Have our brewers walk four kilometres for every barrel of drink they brew. Go back to walking among fields of the dead. Tell me again with a straight face that this is harm.

I have dealt with the problems left to me by the previous leaders to the best of my ability. Who is it that armed our military with wooden weapons, which lead to Tulon's untimely demise? Who is it that refused to armor our dwarves, which left them undefended during the werelizard attack? Who is it that removed the roof to our cliffside home, to be open to the rain and the mocking of flying foes, while arming our ranged militia with nothing but their fists? Who refused to make soap and instead leave our dwarves with festering wounds? These are problems that were left to me, which have been fomenting rebellion within the fortress for years, so there is no wonder that there is justice to be done!

I have solved these problems, so that they will never occur again! Ignoring problems do not make them disappear. And you find it fit to charge me for the crimes of my predecessors, whose poisonous fruit has only just become ripe. Mark my words, the worst of the harvest is yet to come. And we need to look forward to solving those problems, not trying to assign blame, especially to the only one who tried to fix them.

So sure, go back to enslaving the citizenry to build your fancy pyramids. I'm sure the rain will do wonders for their morale. And a giant dolomite pyramid will surely help with the problems on the horizon when they come marching on Goldsilver.

If you want actionable suggestions, let me list them here:

1. A bedroom for every dwarf. None of our previous leaders had even considered expanding up or down, where there is much more space. Enough for a spacious bedroom for every dwarf. Our citizens deserve better than a communal dormitory and sleeping in the dirt.
2. Roof the outside. Our dwarves are rained upon and must bear the insults of the yearly migration of keapeople. Although our marksdwarves may be able to deal with some, the keas can fly out of range of bolts. If we roof the outdoor area of our fortress, we can improve both morale and efficiency.
3. An agnostic temple for worship. I built three temples for more popular gods, but an outdoor shrine for the remaining dwarves is no longer going to suffice. It's too far from the main fortress, and it's open to the terrifying sky. Move it inside so that our dwarves have an actual place to worship.
4. A military training post. I currently have our military training in the half-completed pyramid, as it was the only available location that was both outdoors and roofed, so that our military would not fall ill from the sun. I would have preferred the guild hall outside, but I did not have the authority to commandeer the building. Constructing a military training post at the current location of the outdoor shrine will ensure a faster response to sudden attack, whether it be from elves or werebeasts.

I have also been reading up on recent research on enlisting stressed dwarves into the military for "Enforced Self-Care", which may allow us to reeducate potential insurrectionists.

If any of you have better solutions to our problems, I'd definitely like to hear your proposals."

[Luckyowl]

Overcame with the  guilt of all  the death that had occurred under Eniteris's adminstration, I stood up, closed my eyes, and sigh," We were so blinded by our own selfish desires that we fail to see what really mattered. I say we stop the construction of the pyramid. It has only brought more blood shed...instead we need law and order and rooms for all of us dwarves and for the sake of our dwarven people, we need to shelter our fort from the rain and birds.This is no time for great projects, those can wait. Our main focus should be and foremost to make Goldsilver a safe and stress-free home. only then shall we move forward with our projects." I turned my gaze to Fatcat,"If you are running as overseer this year, then most likely you will  get voted in. Please, for the sake of our dwarves, drop your grand plan and focus on making goldsilver a relaxing place for us. We can expose the fort to the sun later. But right now it is imperative for us to shelter our home. Until maybe we can replace our stone shelter with glass windows."

[fatcat__25]

Fatcat nods, and without getting up replies,
"Haven't I just said that my focus would be on livability? You are not alone in your wish turn this from a place to work into a place to live. The only construction I wish for is a home for those accursed, and also a penitentiary for the many accused of crimes among us."
She then turns to Nephilim, and adds,
"I am grateful that my pleas for peace have awakened some form of decency in you, but now I must ask, what will you actually do for our fortress? All you seem to think of is punishment and fake semblances of merriment, without any vision to make this place more livable in the long term. You certainly do not have a great history. Your first term left your own friends dead, simply because of your incaution, and the rooms were cramped and dreary. My term was spent attempting to provide us some sort of protection, and giving us an open place to build a real city worthy of our race. Time failed me, but unlike you, I actually tried. The only losses of life during my tenure were those who gave their life to protect the rest of us from invaders while the defenses were built. I am eager to hear what you will say, and I believe others are also curious."

[Maximum Spin]

Maximum Spin looks abstracted for a moment, counting mentally, then pipes up, "I think we have enough gems already, actually."

[Travis Bickle]

Nephilim's eyes narrow. "I had expected this sort of slander from Eniteris, but I had hoped that my opponent was above such tactics. It's easy to criticize my leadership in the first year of Goldsilver and to talk up your own record when you didn't have to carve out a living space out of the untouched, virgin mountainside. Need I remind you that it was my fortress design that you built off of when you embarked on your grand project to carve open the side of the mountain? Your term was "term was spent attempting to provide us some sort of protection"? Don't make me laugh. I find myself agreeing with Eniteris here, your project has left the population of Goldsilver exposed to rain and to harassment from aggressive birds. We are all lucky that we have not been subject to any attacks from rocs, or we would have all certainly been killed. Furthermore, the rooms that were constructed during my term as the temporary accommodations of a young colony have been "cramped and dreary, yet neither leader of the S.A.C. saw fit to offer any sort of living arrangements to any dwarf except themselves. It may have escaped some dwarves' notice that the small dormitory had no more beds under your leadership or under Maximum Spin's than it had under mine, despite the fact that you didn't have to brave the caverns in search of wood and didn't have only as many dwarves as you could count on your hands to perform the work. After all that, you have the guts to look me in the eye and denounce my desires to improve the morale of the fortress as "fake"? Disgraceful!

"You want to know what my plans for this fortress are? Very well. With a workforce to mobilize under my command which I did not have access to in 250, I will dig out a much more expansive fortress in the levels beneath the current fortress. The top level was never intended to be a permanent living space, yet it has formed the framework of what little expansion has been done since the first year. We have enough space and resources to dig out rooms for every dwarf, a real tavern to replace the old dining hall, temples for every god, and a real dungeon for rightfully-convicted criminals. The hospital will also be outfitted with a nearby reservoir so that cleaning patients will no longer require a trek to the brook. If Lucky truly rejects the offer to finish the pyramid, then this makes it all the easier to accomplish all of these tasks within one year.

"That is my proposal. I ask you all to carefully consider it and not believe the attempted character assassination against me."

[fatcat__25]

Fatcat chuckles to herself.
"Now you are the one trying character assassination. You forget that I am the one who started and designed the curtain wall, capable of excluding every invader except birds. You also forget that your paltry attempts at a wall weren't even secure to the outside world. I had to patch them up over my tenure.
Maximum Spin and I also had designs drawn up for a full living quarters in the artificial cliff, although only the bedroom we have occupied was ever completed. That, as I have stated three times now, is my first concern for this year. I believe that you all have heard the saying, 'The mountainhome wasn't built in a day.' Neither will any grand plan for Goldsilver be. The only reason that more domestic structures were not completed in my term was because of the demand for workers for the Ape of Mists, our one complete hall, and for the wall, which even you cannot deny is of inestimable value. You cannot say that the mountainside removal took all of our workers, because over the entirety of my year as overseer, there was never even a tenth of our working population assigned to that task.
My greatest fear is that you do not have any plan for the future. Certainly you might build a brand new fortress under the old one, but where would be the beauty and glory befitting a dwarven fortress? It would simply be another organized hole in the ground, filled with groveling beasts, retching at the sight of day. Perhaps I misjudge you, but what I have said about your past incompetence is not based purely on my, perhaps faulty, memory. I have a scrap from QD's journal that I found lying around from shortly after the first deaths in the fortress. I returned it to her, but copied down a few choice quotes for my own benefit. Here is one that I particularly noticed."
She pulls out a well folded scrap of parchment, and reads,

Journal of Quantum Drop, Opal 250.
Three of our number lie cold in the caverns, slain by the beasts that dwell in the depths and the ambitions of our Overseer. Astounding, that he would send Dwarves so poorly equipped against those Gods-forsaken creatures - perhaps something lies down there, something vital to whatever political ambitions or plans he has. Perhaps it is incompetence on the level of the Jester-King of the Mountainhomes.

"So you see, I am not the only one who feels this way about you. Despite your years close to each other, QD stated not long ago that she could not in good conscience support you in this election without some proof that you were not going to bungle things up again."
She falls silent for a minute, and then asks Lucky,
"Is Nephilim healthy enough to support a heated debate like this? I don't want to risk the chance that his healing is set back by over excitement. Particularly with him running for the most important office in the fortress. It would spell disaster if our overseer was unable to carry out his duties due to fever or some other ailment."

[Luckyowl]

I didn't want to upset Nephilim, but I had no choice but to speak Frankly of his injury "If I could write a doctor's note, I would write that he is to be excuse from overseeing duty. Of course I lack such power to do so. Even if Nephilim is elected It's not like Nephilim will be able to give his orders as he will be bedridden for a month or so. So no, I don't think he's fit for overseer and I would really recommend him to just relax and heal his wound. Another day will surface. Nephilim."

[Travis Bickle]

"You only show the depths of your corruption the longer you speak. Admitting to copying down the private writings of another dwarf in the hopes that they could later help you advance some sort of political career shows what kind of dwarf you really are. Mark my words, you can brag all you want about how well your beloved wall will protect you from outside threats, but under the leadership of dwarves like you Goldsilver with rot away from the inside."

Nephilim turns his gaze away from both Fatcat and Lucky, gazing slightly upwards. To no-one in particular he says, "I no longer wish to dignify my opponent by addressing her directly. If there is nothing more to discuss the election may proceed."
I'll probably send out the ballots sometime tomorrow. If there are any last minute bids for election, now is the time to make them.

[Eniteris]

Eniteris shuffles his feet.

"Um, just a few points of fact. We've actually imported way too much wood from the traders; I didn't actually have to go into the caverns to gather more wood. I've put some of it to work making more barrels for our brewers, but I haven't gotten around to much of the more demanding ash/potash/pearlash production yet. We should definitely have enough for more beds. And eventually we will need to cut them from the caverns. But not yet.

And, um, we're actually out of cut gems. The last of them were used for gem windows for our nobles. Still have a lot of rough jelly opal, though."

[Maximum Spin]

And, um, we're actually out of cut gems. The last of them were used for gem windows for our nobles. Still have a lot of rough jelly opal, though."

"Yes, I was counting the rough ones. Do we have a skilled cutter yet? I was waiting to cut any until we had a sufficient supply of glass for training. As for making barrels, I strongly recommend making copper or perhaps even billon pots with our tetrahedrite supplies. Unfortunately, we do not have natural fire clay, so our clay is unsuitable for efficiently producing liquid containers, but we should be on the lookout to get some from trade as well. Even though we have an abundance of imported wood we shouldn't waste it needlessly."

[Travis Bickle]

Whoever voted for "other," please DM me and let me know who your vote is for.

[Travis Bickle]

After the fierce debate had ended, every dwarf was given a ballot. Once each ballot had been deposited in the pot in the center of the room, Dan was called to read out the votes and to sort the ballots as she took them them. Taking each ballot one after the other, Dan began to read the votes aloud.

"Fatcat. Nephilim. Abstention. Fatcat. Abstention. Nephilim. Abstention."

Seven out of the eight votes cast had been read out. After setting the seventh vote on the table in the center where all the votes could be scrutinized by any dwarf who wished to do so, she reached her hand into the pot to withdraw the last vote which would break the tie one way or the other. Everyone in the room watched as Dan folded the ballot and ran her eyes across it. Without announcing the contents of the final vote, she placed in on the table, cleared her throat, and began to speak once again.

"The final vote is three for Fatcat and two for Nephilim; three abstaining. Fatcat is the winner."

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Note: The "other" vote was unassigned to any dwarf and was counted as an abstention. The proper percentages are 60% of the vote for Fatcat and 40% of the vote for Nephilim.

As an aside, I want to remind anyone who may happen to be lurking or who stumbles upon this thread that you can always request to be dorfed even if you do not want to actually run in any election and have a turn as overseer. I send ballots to everyone who has a living named dwarf in the game, and the more votes there are the more fun the game is.

[fatcat__25]

Wow, was that a nasty election. I'll try to pick the game up today, and write something in character. Hopefully trying to fix our fortress doesn't take too much of my sanity.

Also, I second the statement that we always need more voters.

[fatcat__25]

Fatcat stands and bows.
"It is my honor to serve as overseer this year. I hope I can improve the conditions here somewhat, and fulfill the trust that a few of you placed in me. Now, I think it would be best to leave this election behind. It will not go down as the proudest moment in the history of Goldsilver. Nephilim, it was an honor to campaign against you. I hope there is never a reason for another election as acrimonious as this one. Now, I would request that you return to the hospital, so you can recover quickly, and return to normal life."
She again bows to the assembly, and motions to Max Spin to help lay down designs for living quarters.



EDIT: First update.

Journal of Fatcat, overseer of Goldslver
Slate 1st, 254


Today marks one month since I was elected to my second term as overseer. I am beginning to see why normally level-headed dwarves like Maximum Spin are complaining of the stresses of daily life. Almost my first action as overseer was to hear complaints against one of the frustrated citizens.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

One of the monster hunters had taken a swing at a butcher down in the caves. He hadn't caused any damage, except to other's trust in him, but I figured that he would be best put in jail for a month to cool off. Eniteris filled me in on all of the current convictions and known cases, and pointed out that several had no witnesses accusing anyone. I told him I would figure out what to do about that. I also ordered the immediate construction of several proper prison cells to house criminals in some semblance of comfort. My goal is to decrease recidivism among the troublemakers, by attempting to improve their living conditions.
The mayor, currently imprisoned at the top of the tower, is close to snapping, and sunk into a deep depression shortly after my election. Eniteris followed him soon after.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

With the captain of the guard not fit to fulfill his duties, I asked Lucky to take over the position for the time being. We also received word that another hillocks has been founded near us.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I guess not all the news is bad.
I also have had the miners working on a large new excavation project in the artificial cliff. It is a new housing complex. I have designed... 28 rooms so far. Only a drop in the bucket compared to our population, but there is a lot of space still to be built up. Eniteris had actually begun a decent series of rooms underneath the library, but they cannot be sealed from the rest of the fortress, and have no direct access to food supplies. Hopefully this new construction will be secure and comfortable, in case the curtain wall ever fails us.
A few days ago, Lucky interrogated Eniteris about one of the cold disorderly conduct cases, and he admitted to being the perpetrator.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This was a major surprise, but nonetheless I ordered that he be given a month in prison, whenever the new jailhouse is completed. Now, I will lay down my pen, and continue my struggle to bring some semblance of order to this place.