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[Mel_Vixen]

If not already suggest i like to offer quicksiverlakes an veins underground maybe even with one or another Quicksilver monster.

[Pixelfish]

Actually on the topic of gremlins, I had another cavern/cave type monster idea. This one is, admitedly, a new creature.

The Deep Gnome.

Deep gnomes would travel in clusters, and always remain stealthed untill discovered. They would move to steal booze and food stuffs from stockpiles, as well as gems or metal bars.

They would also unlock AND Lock doors. Of course this wouldn't be that big a problem, but your entire production line could be messed up as your dwarves mill listlessly at a door, a dwarf could miss a meeting because his room was locked, a dangerous animal could be let out of a locked area(so much for giant cave silk spider harvesting..)

I would like it as well if leechmen and grimelings(whom tend to be around underground rivers in swamps) would suck blood then disengage and move into hiding. It could lead to a single one tormenting fishermen/lumber workers etc being plagued by needing to rest while the elusive leechman remained hidden.

I liked the idea of a living creature being discovered you can 'build into', but I think it might be a little far for DF. What would be neat though are 'bone stratas'..possibly even tarpits!

(Fixed a spelling error)

[SirHoneyBadger]

I have cinnabar in my mod, with some reactions, but as far as actual refined mercury goes, I don't think I'd do anything with it atleast until we get a good poison system.

Mercury poisoning is a really horrific thing, from my understanding.

As far as a creature you can "build into", I wasn't really suggesting that you'd actually be able to build inside of it, or do much with it, I would just make it a mystery cavern, more thematic than anything, with the addition that, if you *did* try to build into it, you could very well set off a cataclysmic earthquake. Possibly (for the Farscape fans out there), it could be a bit like a Budong, possibly containing rare and valuable-even magical-gems--which would have to be pried from the walls really, REALLY, carefully, or you'd risk annihilating a large section of your fortress. So you might need not only a good miner, but the miner in question might need an additional skill, like lots of gemcutting, in order to have a good chance of safely extracting such a gem.

Even *entering* such a cavern could be dangerous, which means not only would your dwarfs have to be careful, you might have to guard it somehow, just to prevent other critters from entering.

Or, it might just be a big, unexplained, flesh-cavern. What's wrong with that?

If you're considering something that locks/unlocks doors mischieviously, it's a good idea, but I do worry about the kind of stress/frustration that kind of thing might inflict on us players, and I think it would have to be handled carefully.

I know I'd personally be adverse to having any being in the game that directly countermanded an order I took the time to implement. Maybe such a being could instead hassel your dwarfs in a more abstract way? Like, it could lock a door, requiring a dwarf to waste time unlocking it, but it would just delay *that dwarf*--whichever dwarf were to attempt to open that particular door, next. It wouldn't change the status of that door, as far as player orders were concerned.

Which also means that the door's status would be affected, until corrected, irregardless of what the player did. Which is actually a good thing in that it adds potency to the creature's ability, rather than simply adding directly to micromanagement.

[Duke 2.0]

steel booze

 The most dwarves of drinks.

 But anyway, more havoc-inspiring things! Death must come from the very rocks beneath you, and digging(Not even too deep, at all) shall become a risk.

[Silverionmox]

If you're considering something that locks/unlocks doors mischieviously, it's a good idea, but I do worry about the kind of stress/frustration that kind of thing might inflict on us players, and I think it would have to be handled carefully.

I know I'd personally be adverse to having any being in the game that directly countermanded an order I took the time to implement. Maybe such a being could instead hassel your dwarfs in a more abstract way? Like, it could lock a door, requiring a dwarf to waste time unlocking it, but it would just delay *that dwarf*--whichever dwarf were to attempt to open that particular door, next. It wouldn't change the status of that door, as far as player orders were concerned.

Which also means that the door's status would be affected, until corrected, irregardless of what the player did. Which is actually a good thing in that it adds potency to the creature's ability, rather than simply adding directly to micromanagement.

That's a good distinction: if the player locks a door, it's an order to keep the door locked; if a gremlin locks a door, he's just tampering with the lock.
(It's either "regardless", or a sentence with "irrelevant". We'll assume a gremlin mixed those up.)

[SirHoneyBadger]

But I like my irregardless! I know it's not a real word, but it sounds so much more debonair...

[Pixelfish]

Your right, I hadn't considered the frustration that would come from your dwarves getting stuck in hallways.

As for -unlocking- doors I'm still for that..because if a locked door is all that stands between you and trouble..

Anyoo, I do like the idea more of 'tampering' with the door causing it to need repair. This could potentially be something for the 'cleaning' skill to do as well, fixing gremlin(gnome?) related mischief with doors.

Since we're on that topic, I had another idea but it'd be more annoying: Gremlins linking things and opening up cages.

And I misunderstood, I thought you where doing like that turtle discussion.

I like that idea better. Dwarfy hundereds of miles into the earth, and come out in the chamber of a hill sized mass of flesh that seems to breath, but remains asleep no matter what they do. Could be worshiped like mega beasts? Only with DF naming conventions our poor little dwarf cultists would be yelling "I'a I'a Brideanus!"

[crazycarlt]

Underpants Gnomes, anybody?

1. Steal Underpants
2.
3. Profit!

[SirHoneyBadger]

Well, they wouldn't be able to awaken whatever *It* was, but they *might* trouble *It's* sleep, causing the aforementioned massive earthquakes.

Other than that-and I like your suggestion of them worshipping-and naming-the unnameable *Thing*, by the way-yeah, there wouldn't be anything they could do with *It*, including damaging *It*, save possibly harvesting some kind of biological "treasure" from *It*, perhaps once every several generations?

And, along with the C'thulhu thing you've started--maybe *It* can be the/a source of weird dreams and strange/fay moods? Not necessarily bad ones...I'm not saying *It* needs to be evil, or even as evil as the Lovecraftian monsters get, but alien and fascinating and disturbing to your dwarfs-very possibly, in an inspiring way-and maybe vaguely, subtlely psychic.

[Pixelfish]

Well, Possession, or more so: Fell moods, could stem from psychic energy of slumbering behemoths in-tombed in diamond prisons and such.

It'd be a neat eye buldging momment. Plus really..we're dwarf fortress players. We build 400 foot towers out of soap and create cat based explosives. I'd love to see players react to something like this.

I just think the idea of them taking it as a god, worshipping it..possibly even adopting it as a civilization symbol would all be really memorable things for a fortress's storyline, and the world history.

Urist Cancels Sleep: Worship the Thing.

Harvesting I like...prehapse make the 'harvesting' a difficult/deadly task, with a mis-doing causing it to shift in its sleep, creating massive earthquakes, to spit up magma or even creatures.

On the topic of creatures there: What if one of the cavern/chasm Learners found it before you? Tentacle demons crawling around on it like vermin? Lots of potential there.

As for what to harvest? Without creating an engame engine, prehapse the creature would make a 'pearl' every 10-20 years that could be taken to an alchemist and converted into any material, finally satisfying your noble's love of calcerous ooze, or getting a nice, safe hunk of adamantium without any HFS.

[CobaltKobold]

Harvesting I like...prehapse make the 'harvesting' a difficult/deadly task, with a mis-doing causing it to shift in its sleep, creating massive earthquakes, to spit up magma or even creatures.

Best part is, should this happen, many players will desire those "unfortunate side effects" and ...

Kivish McMagmaForger: "Hey Urist, my forge is too cool. Go poke the forgotten horror again."

[SirHoneyBadger]

"On the topic of creatures there: What if one of the cavern/chasm Learners found it before you? Tentacle demons crawling around on it like vermin? Lots of potential there."

I definitely like this. Suppose one of the (assumedly) primitive tribes of batmen/ratmen/antmen, what have you, ran into one of these things, and it started to *teach* them new things, in their sleep? Maybe not a whole lot, but maybe give them the CIV tag and show them how to forge copper. Or maybe *It* shows them how to use magic.

Suddenly, you've got a single brand-new antman civ down tunnel 55, and they're armed to the teeth with copper you were planning on turning into coin. Or they're flinging the weirder spells in the Necronomicon at you.

Or maybe the Forgotten Thing creates a psychic link between one of your dwarfs and batmen, and now she can befriend them, and-as long as she's alive-you've got dwarf/bat fortress going on. This might even lead to a more permanent alliance. Or maybe she starts *transforming* into a batman. A really smart, dangerous one, with the knowledge of how to forge steel, and the insane will to use that knowledge against her own former kind.

Or maybe your dwarfs start worshipping *It*, but they aren't the only ones? There's a tribe of leechmen who don't take kindly to the heretics. Or maybe you and the leechmen get along great, but the local human kingdom decides that leechmen and dwarfs living together in peace and harmony can only mean one thing--a really great excuse for genocide on the fugly midgets and their even fuglier friends. So now you've got to help defend the leechmen, since they're a part of your God's master plan.

As far as demons go, there might not be any connection at all between them and the *Thing*, or maybe it was the *Thing* that locked the demons away, in the first place.

Or maybe they need to kill the *Thing* to get back home, or end the world, or kill/replace all the gods. Or maybe *they* know how to really wake it up...which ofcourse might *also* end the world.

[Silverionmox]

Lava caves:

A lava flow acquires a crust by cooling. When the flow lessens, the lava level drops and gasses are captured in the cavity. Often the ceiling collapses, but now and then a usable cave, with stalactites and stalagmites of metamorphic stone etc. is formed. Happens more often in cool climates.

Example from Iceland:http://www.husafell.is/ensku_sidurnar/e_nagrenni/e_vidgelmir/e_vidgelmir.htm

[DarkCloud]

1)
I see we have "Rock Worms" in the list... but no "Sand Worms"? They're such a classic creature.

2)
What about radioactive rocks? Rocks that have high concentrations of uranium or radium and cause the dwarves to become sickened or poisoned if they spend too much time around the sources. Something of that sort.

Alternatively, the uranium (in a slightly fantastical sense) could cause strange mutant creatures and items, such as "warming rock" which gives off heat and keeps dwarves from freezing to death in the winter, or creates "good thoughts" in a cold, dank room.

[Random832]

That's a good distinction: if the player locks a door, it's an order to keep the door locked; if a gremlin locks a door, he's just tampering with the lock.

And gremlins can't issue orders?

DO NOT ENTER
    -- THE MGT.