RIP Eniteris and Dan. What happened to our military that was so expertly trained?
I would like to be dwarfed as the most useless dwarf possible, Eniteris II. If possible, assign me as a scholar in the library.
First of all, here is Eniteris II:
He literally knows nothing about work or war, and is only minorly skilled at poetry and music. I think he is indeed the most useless dwarf, and I did assign him as a scholar.
Second, the military was waiting for the goblins like the well trained soldiers they are at a station on top of the mountain. I was trying to fight the goblins entirely on my own terms, but the ambitious civilians like Eniteris were impatient to attack. From my (limited) experience, rushing out at invaders is a generally bad idea. Instead, my plan was to have the militia wait near the pyramid for the goblins to come to them, kill as many as possible, and then retreat inside to regroup if things turned sour. The problems were simply because I didn't count on dwarves not in the military being that individually aggressive. One of my side projects was to attempt to seal some ways dwarves could get out, so this wouldn't happen again.
Third, here is the save:
https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=15297Fourth, the story update:
Journal of Fatcat, overseer of GoldsilverGranite 1st, 245
I have not had time to write here in nearly half a year. Now it is the end of my tenure. Today, I will turn my authority over to whoever wins the election. The last five and a half months have been a constant struggle to move Goldsilver forward rather than back. Our home is a mess, but I hope I can say that I left it in a more livable state than it was at the start of the year.
The first order of business after the goblins left in Limestone was to satisfy the traders that came despite the invaders. They gave us a few bars of metal, barrels of drink, and other minor items in exchange for a barrel of food. They also had some requests for what we trade them next year. I took down a list of what they requested and offered to pay.
While they were here, a dead troll somehow ended up on the old inner gate, and began decomposing in a most revolting manner.
I ordered the gate closed, launching the offending heap in the direction of the main gate, as well as spreading small chunks everywhere nearby. It was revolting, but better than the clouds of miasma that the corpse was giving off.
I was curious about why the traders would pay so much for simple food, so I went over to one of the kitchens, to see what was being made. When I poked my head in, a cook was just taking something off of a fire. Whatever it was smelled amazing, and, curious about it, I asked if I could come in. The cook, apparently happy to have a spectator, motioned me to take a taste.
Whatever it was was indeed impressive, despite looking like it was made entirely of capers and caper berries. The cook also introduced himself as Noagga. He told me that he had made a few meals like this one before, but they were rare, and he hoped to get better. He is a treasure for the fortress.
One of the medical team withdrew from society right at the end of the siege, and once there was some beak dog bone to work with, started work on his masterpiece. What he produced was a wonderful crown.
I would have preferred that he kept with his original profession at that particular time, but it is an impressive work.
We received one strange report in the middle of fall.
I have no idea where he went, but I have been looking all over since then for the body.
There have been multiple cases of crimes in recent months. The criminals have mainly been Dumed the mayor, Mistim, a legendary bone carver, and Zan, a farmer. None of them have had all of the cases against them prosecuted, but all of them have served jail time and received beatings over the last several months. Zan has been the most consistently troublesome. She is the dwarf that gave birth to a baby in prison early this year, and I hope she doesn't go completely crazy before the child can care for herself. Zan is most regularly charged with randomly punching people as they walk by.
Misitm has a massive criminal record reaching back almost as far as records go. Many of the cases have not been prosecuted, because he has been regularly producing masterwork carvings and other crafts. Recently, though, he landed in prison, after punching a minor offender to death, as well as attacking several other dwarves. Even he admitted to being horrified by his actions.
Dumed, the mayor, has been mostly calm over the last several months, but one day in Opal, I received reports that he had rushed through the center of the fortress, punched several people, and knocked over a series of workshops.
He also received prison time, despite his high position and importance to proper function of the fortress.
Nephilim and Lucky have both been regularly depressed. Neither of them has deteriorated any, mentally, but they haven't improved, either. Nephilim told me he wanted to learn to fight better, so I gave him the position of Captain of the Guard. Since then, he has been practicing with the militia, when he can drag himself out of his depression. He has been armed with the first adamantine sword, and cuts an impressive figure. The adamantine deposit has been explored slightly further, and I have requested several more swords made for the military.
Most of the population has been working on some construction projects. The first was to line the lower end of the curtain wall with fortifications.
I also ordered a new temple for Rakust Necrodies.
I would have liked to build more, but I simply did not have time to design them. Guild halls are easier to build than temples, and I have been able to get three new structures built for various guilds.
The ranger guildhall:
The craftsdwarf guildhall:
The metalsmith's guildhall:
The last major project was one I initiated shortly before the year ended. It is a project to build a new massive enclosure north of the curtain wall, and dig a great pit to supply all the construction materials Goldsilver needs for years to come. The first section of the enclosure wall was started, but the dwarves hauling stone to build it complained of the distance that they had to carry materials. Because of this, I ordered a small portion of the pit dug immediately, to provide the stone they need directly at the site.
Finally, the housing project continued to slowly move on, with over half of the rooms smoothed, and perhaps a third of them furnished. I hope it is a lasting help to our fortress.
Now, I will hope that the next overseer will continue to serve the needs of the fortress above all else. I must now lay down my pen, and go to the election.
Sorry about the wall of text. That is what comes of not writing anything for half the year.