From the personal log of Dresdor MoralMishak, Prison Manager, Ardessazir:
We have been cast out of the jails of our mountain home and thrown into the wilds. With the bare minimum of supplies, seven of us have been given the task of setting up a prison camp in these wind-swept mountains. While I am a mere political prisoner, and the other six are guilty of only minor crimes against nobility, we must prepare a complex for more and more dangerous criminals. Shortly after the axedwarves and marksdwarves that escorted us here left, I surveyed our position, and found it better than I could have hoped.
As any dwarf would, I wanted to get underground as fast as I could, and dove into the rock with my pick flying. I barely had time to shout to the others to make themselves useful. One grabbed the other pick, while the others started tearing apart the local vegetation for food and wood. We had a year to prepare for the first wave of prisoners, mostly minor offenders like us.
We soon had assembled a entryway that, once smoothed, would impress even the richest merchants, and nobles. My companion began opening up an area for the trade depot, while I had larger plans. The pinnacle of most dwarven halls is not their workshops, but their statuaries. Though we are a prison, we are still dwarves. This would be an epic garden, one worthy of our capital.
After several months, it is the end of summer, and we are well established. We've opened up a farm one level above our main entryway, and it should be large enough to support us for many years, provided we have the labor to plant it all. Our main hallway is completed, and Grand Garden of Ardessazir is completely mined. It will have to be smoothed and the statues will have to be placed. I've ordered our mason to carve seven statues, one in each of our likeness, and mine will, of course, be in the center. Although, other statues of our great heroes may grace the garden later.
At the beginning of fall, our workshops and stockpiles are still outside. So much of my time has been spent designing the Grand Garden, that I have neglected my duties as Prison Manager. We have plenty of stone and wood, and enough food and booze to survive, but we need to be underground before winter hits. We should also take this time to dig out our rooms. While the rest of the prisoners will be in cells, we, as the originators of this place, will live like kings among them.
The caravan arrives, as promised, in the fall, but with the statues needed for the Grand Garden, and with half of our workforce gathering food for survival, there has been no time to spare making trinkets to trade with the caravan. I tell our broker to send them away with a piece of wood as tribute to our King. To an elf that would be enough to start a war, to a dwarf it is still an insult to be sent something so worthless.
Our stockpile rooms, dining room, and workshops rooms are finished and ready to start production. With winter almost on us, I work twice as hard to dig out our quarters. Iton, our other miner, promptly disappears when the hard work starts, and I can find nobody else even in the fortress. They all seem to be out in the wilds gathering plants like elves. Since I'm the one doing all the work, I decide to start on my bedroom first. While I haven't built this fortress single-handedly, I've done most of the work, and so, I decide to build the greatest bedroom for myself.
As winter starts, our food is low, as is our alcohol. Then the new criminals start showing up. 9 Additional prisoners, most without a single useful trade, show up. I designate most of them to start smoothing and cleaning up the Grand Garden, as well as my bedroom. I begin work on the other bedrooms.
As the year comes to a close, there is grumbling from the new arrivals, as well as the old hands at the prison. It seems that my appropriations of sixteen statues for my private quarters, as well as placing my statue in the center of the Grand Garden, not to mention the fact that my quarters are the only ones smoothed, and much larger than everyone else, has made people grumble at my leadership. We survived the first year, thanks to me, and we are underground were we belong. This job isn't worth getting killed over, so I will gladly let someone else take the mantel of leadership. I will enjoy the benefits of my year in command, though. The world will know that the Grand Garden of Ardessazir was the dream and reality of one Dresdor MoralMishak, first Prison Manager of Ardessazir prison camp.
Next up is Jack AT
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My Wonder of the Workcamp:
Grand Garden of Ardessazir
[ April 25, 2008: Message edited by: dresdor ]
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Topic: Prison Work Camp (Succession Game) (Read 6407 times)