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[Vactor]

"Steelfang" of the Everseeing Spear
(fortress mode starts in post 5)

In the early days of history a fleet of stone ships came to this land from across the sea.  Ships so large and magnificent, they could only be carved from whole mountains.  Infact, the ships themselves bore the form of mountains, great spires and pinnacles reaching out from solid bases.  For many days they surveyed the land from afar, having the look of an entire mountain range floating on the water.

They called themselves The Oceanic Arrow.

At the head of this fleet was a great dwarf named Ral Tradeportal, who looked upon the land and frowned.  A worshiper of Iklist, deity of twilight, dusk, blight, and death, he was repulsed to see Satyrs frolicking and unicorns dancing upon the shore. Dwarves and Goblins sharing worship of fire deities.  Elves...being elves.

The order was raised throughout the fleet to approach the shore at ramming speed...

1000 years have passed..

The Oceanic Arrow continues to wage war against the Goblins and Dwarves of the land, however long forgotten the origins of the wars are.  The teachings of Iklist have faded with time, and many new deities have found places among the Dwarves:

 Doren the Murky Deeps, deity: earth, mountains, caverns
 Urdim, deity: fortresses, wealth
 Atir Rockdiamonds, deity: jewels
 Iklist, deity: twilight, dusk, blight, death
 Eshon, deity: truth
 Fenglel the Demon of Poisons, deity: murder

The Aristocracy has grown soft in the lap of comfort, most of them worshipers of Atir Rockdiamonds and Urdim.

The Vangaurds of the Oceanic Arrow, "The Everseeing Spears" however, remain vigilant.  The descendants of the Dwarves who built the Mountainships, their skills of construction have continued to be honed, delving into metallurgy and glassmaking to create weapons and monuments to display the might of the Oceanic Arrow.  

While a new campaign against the Dwarves of "The Lean Wires" has been mounted by the King, The Everseeing Spears have been entrusted with a task of utmost secrecy.  They have been promised a steady supply of slave labor as the favors of war permit, and informed of only the initial stages of the project

The Council of Elders of The Everseeing Spears has chosen 7 dwarves to begin preparations at the site:

Delershis - "Steelfang"

Vactor Castlemerchant (Trader) (M) Atir
(Deceased) Strife Laborwealth (Mechanic/Architect)  (M) Atir
Dwarfaholic Authorroad (Farmer/Brewer) (M) Atir <----lovers
Pingles Jeweltin (Glassmaker)  (F) Urdim <------------'
Silu Threecanyons (Metalsmith)  (M) Atir
Elfchopper Pantpaints (Woodworker/Carpenter) (F) Fengel
Ricemastah Wheeledfinder (Miner/Mason) (M) Eshon

[ May 06, 2008: Message edited by: Vactor ]

[Vactor]

Maplist:

Year 1
Year 2

[ April 21, 2008: Message edited by: Vactor ]

[ricemastah]

Can I be the miner?

[Vactor]

So here's the story, the fortress is situated on a magma vent, in scorching shrubland, with no water or known aquifer, in joyous wilds.

I haven't used regional prospector, or reveal, so the map may have surprises for me as well, I'll accept dwarves as either slaves or overseers, however the slaves will likely be far more numerous.

The slave/overseer mechanic with work thusly: each of the 7 original dwarves are overseers, and with each immigration i will choose one or more of the migrants to be overseers who are bringing a batch of slaves captured from faraway lands. The choices will be made mostly on a profession basis. (an armed marksdwarf immigrant will likely be an overseer rather than a slave)  

Overseers will be considered much more important when it comes to having needs met, and in regards to happiness.  The Everseeing Spears are interested only in their construction, not the wellbeing of inferior dwarves.  Rioting of course would hamper their construction efforts, so a certain amount of brinkmanship will hopefully be employed to give the slave labor the bare minimum of amenities, while keeping a boiling pot of unrest always on hand for the story.

[Vactor]

The Steelfang Project Annals
-Entry by: Vactor Castlemerchant, Expedition Leader
1st Granite, 1051
Wealth: 9
Drinks: 200?

We have arrived at our destination, a harsh landscape that we will surely learn to call home or hell in the coming years...

   

My attempts at record keeping have yielded a much less precise measurement since leaving the mountainholmes, as the dwarves in my company feel fit to take as they please.  I have tried to count our stock of drinks remaining, but in the time it takes me to count them, many will disappear, I am certain the number is around 200

   

-Flat-
The sheer flatness of this landscape is incredibly disorienting, i found myself suffering from horizigo whenever i looked up from my paperwork during the journey here.  The numbing repetition of brush and sparse trees had just begun to blur in my mind when we came across a small dry ditch.  According to my maps we were supposed to have come across a small stream, which had apparently run dry since the map was drawn.  

Our miner, who goes by the name of Ricemastah Wheeledfinder has torn a wheel off the wagon, calling it his "dowsing wheel." To his credit however, he was able to locate the magma vent in the vicinity.  It is here that we have been instructed to begin preparations.  Quite fortuanate, as our animals refuse to pull a wheel-less wagon.

Without the running water we were expecting, I have ordered a rationing of drinks until a new solution is found.  The morning will certainly find many irritable dwarves.  Hopefully Ricemastah's "dowsing wheel" is able to dowse for more than just magma...

-Heat-
The heat is unbearable here, and yet, we have been instructed to "under pain of death, disturb not the earth of this site for unindustrious use."  I am certain that any judge of intent would rule that the creation and preservation of booze is the most industrial use of earth possible, and have ordered the construction of a small farm, still and food storage area underneath our camp.

Perhaps it is the heat, perhaps it is my acute horizigo, but there seemed to be something hiding behind a distant tree far to the northwest today... Surely it is my imagination, but i get the eerie feeling we are being watched...

 

[ April 15, 2008: Message edited by: Vactor ]

[Strife26]

Ill Take The mechanic

[Vactor]

The Steelfang Project Annals
-Entry by: Vactor Castlemerchant, Expedition Leader
18th Granite, 1051
Wealth: 632
Drinks: 200?

While digging the farm and food storage areas Ricemastah struck sand, I have ordered the construction of a glass furnace to be constructed near the magma vent to make use of his find.  He of course had his "dowsing wheel" with him at the time.  Some of the more superstitious dwarves are starting to believe his mumbo jumbo, not bothering to realize that I was the one who told him to dig there.  It seems increasingly unlikely that I will ever get the wheel back on the wagon, so there it sits.

I tried to talk to Ricemastah about it, but somehow found myself sidetracked into a very onesided conversation about how a wheel is like many mining picks all forged into one or somesuch.  He claimed his dowsing skills were derived from his worship of some obscure deity named Eshon.  Ricemastah says that Eshon is a diety of truth, but none of the other dwarves seem to have heard of him, I'm thinking foolishness is much more likely. I also think i'll try to avoid conversations with Ricemastah on the topic of wheels or picks in the future.

Regardless, our food and drink are now safely underground

The rest of us dwarves spent the first few days sorting out our campsite, laying out stockpiles and setting up workshops

I had a chance to meet with our Mechanic, Strife Laborwealth, who assured me the traders coming in the fall would pay a pretty penny for his mechanisms.  I found it hard to argue the point with a dwarf named Laborwealth.  His Mechanic's Shop is completed and I have allowed him to focus purely on production, and a Trade depot has been constructed.

Our Metalsmith was moaning to me about having nothing to do, even as i was busy trying to take inventory, he seemed disinterested in helping me to I handed him the pick I had just inventoried and sent him off to help Ricemastah site our quarry.

When i went to check on the progress of the quarry i was impressed to learn that they had already struck Galena and Hematite, allowing us to create Lead, Silver, and Iron.  They had found some limestone and a large amount of basalt.

The basalt seemed rather worthless and I have decided that a proper barracks will be constructed with it at our campsite.

This evening found much celebration among the Dwarves as the first barrel rolled out of our newly constructed Still.

[Vactor]

The Steelfang Project Annals
-Entry by: Vactor Castlemerchant, Expedition Leader
10th Slate, 1051
Wealth: 4480
Drinks: 300?

I awoke this morning to shouting from the quarry. Ricemastah has struck native aluminum, he thinks he can recover about 3/4 of it.  An exciting find, our quarry has been very fruitful already.  I'm beginning to  feel it is inevitable that whatever he comes across while mining will be attributed to his "powers" and have ceased debating the topic.  

A second wheel has gone missing from the wagon, my only guess is the Metalsmith has been spending too much time mining with Ricemastah.

I have all but given up keeping an inventory, without a proper office I am unable to keep track of my papers.  The craftsdwarf workshop has gone untouched since being constructed, so I have taken up stonecrafting in my spare time.

Glass production is online, and our woodworker has just completed construction of beds for each of us.  I have asked her to plan out some sort of roofing for the barracks.

The stone walls for the barracks have been helping my horizigo, giving me something vertical to look at helps keep the dizziness to a minimum.  I long for the mountains, this flatness is enough to drive a dwarf berzerk...

***************************************
more updates tommorow, feedback on the story/writing is welcome, i hope to begin incorporating the secret project once the barracks are done.

[ricemastah]

This is pretty good, I like the explanation of how the wagon never moves.

[Strife26]

This Is Looking To Be Very Interesting. To Serve As A Foil, Can Strife Be Against 'superstitious Mumbo-jumbo?'

[Silu]

I'll claim the Metalsmith. Name him after me.

[Dwarfaholic]

I shall be the Farmer/Brewer.

[Jusal]

I'll take Pantpaints. Elfchopper Pantpaints! Not only has she a hilarious name but also is the lone worshipper the deity of murder.

[ April 16, 2008: Message edited by: Jusal ]

[Vactor]

The gang:

[Vactor]

The Steelfang Project Annals
-Entry by: Vactor Castlemerchant, Expedition Leader
22nd Felsite, 1051
Wealth: 8430
Drinks: 300?

-Rain-
We thought it a blessing when rainclouds appeared on the horizon, but our hopes of relief from the blistering heat were quickly dashed as the raindrops turned into steam the instant they touched earth.  If this is late spring in this place, I fear what summer shall bring.

I met with our Woodworker today, she introduced herself as Elfchoppper Pantpaints.  She didn't appear to have any head injuries, so I'm unsure of what to make of this.

"Our supply of trees are quite limited," I noted, "we should make all eff-"

"Elves you mean..." she cut in.

"What?" I was confused

"Our supply of ELVES are quite limited..."

".....right... Well anyway, we should make all efforts to conserve our resources, after clearing the campsite of tree-"

"Elves.."

"uh... after that, try to only cut one down if it is growing near another one, to ensure that we encourage proper regrowth."

A frown spread across her face at the word of regrowth, it seemed she would much prefer to cut them all down..for good.  With the Elfchopper part of her name now explained, i am left to wonder the origins of the Pantpaints part.  I suspect i would rather not know.

The dwarves are supposedly the best and brightest of the Everseeing Spear, it seems that eccentric behavior is a side effect of their talents.

As Elfchopper left the half built walls of what would soon be my office, Strife the mechanic entered with a puzzled look on his face.

"I've been thinking," he said to me "when we came here there were 7 of us, but I can only think of 5 dwarves besides myself that I've seen around camp since we got here."

I quickly ran through my memory of the dwarves of the group, myself and Strife Laborwealth, Ricemastah Wheeledfinder the miner and his metalsmith apprentice, The glassmaker who spent all of her time forging glass near the magma vent, and Elfchopper Pantpaints who just left my soon-to-be-office.

6 Dwarves.

I pulled out my papers and found the roster, noticing a name that was completely unfamiliar to me, Dwarfaholic Authorroad, Attached was a form for listing of his skills and qualifications, upon which BOOZE had been scrawled.  Looking up from this Strife and I knew immediately where to look.

We met Dwarfaholic in the Alcohol storage room, or rather, we met his feet sticking up out of a Dwarven Rum barrel.  It would seem we have located the source of the trouble I've had keeping track of our booze stocks.  We pulled him, still sleeping, out of the now empty barrel, roused him with a few swift kicks in the ribs and sent him to task at the still.  I'm amazed that it took us this long to notice him.

   
Myself, Ricemastah, and Strife in the newly finished quarry

I have found myself to be quite adept at working with stone.  With our preliminary quarry cleared, I have lent a hand with the masonry required to finish the barracks.

[ April 16, 2008: Message edited by: Vactor ]