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[Duke 2.0]

I don't understand this desire to justify your existence in universe. You are The Player - why do you need more?

 Then we know what to call ourselves when we do stuff to the dwarves.

 "Haha, take that you little lazy bastards! Face the terror of your God, er, King! Er, ruler? Spirit? Overmind?"

[catpaw]

I don't understand this desire to justify your existence in universe. You are The Player - why do you need more?

its IMHO an important question the justify or invalidate on what some said to this suggestion http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=25248.0 Some said that "possessing" a dwarf would be against the "feeling of what the player is in the DF world".... and I think so far this discussion just proofed that possessing a dwarf fits extremly well in the DF Fortress mode... considering what most players here consider what the playeris.

[Charlemagne]

I always assumed I was their king. I know they have a king, but that king is just a decoy. A puppet king designed to attract assassins or somesuch. Because although you have near-omnipotent control over their lives, they still don't have to obey your orders as mindlessly as in an RTS. They have a will of their own.

"Marksdwarves to the watchtower!"
"Alright Boss. Hey I feel like a drink. EVERYONE: TO THE BOOZE STOCKPILE! This goblin mess with sort itself out. The whole watchtower thing was really more of a suggestion as I see it."

[Narushima]

I agree with people saying : "who cares ? We're playing a game here, that's all !".

[LordBucket]

"Dune" was AFAIK the first real RTS game.

Herzog Zwei was released in Europe in 1989, preceeding Dune by three years.

[JustinKace]

And it was a damn cool game.

[EverybodylovesTJ]

I like to think that I'm "The will of the Mountain." In such, I tell the dwarves I want them inside of me.

But, in the story I'm writing, that's what the player is represented as.

[Neoskel]

Will of the community sounds good, or you could say "overmind."

Awaken my child and embrace the glory that is your birthright. Know that i am the Overmind; the eternal will of the Swarm and that you have been created to serve me.

Sorry, had to. 

I like the 'will of the community' one and the 'more ambitious artifact spirit' explanations. Who's to say it can't be a touch of both? The will of the community possessing the dwarves directly.

[John Johnston]

"Companions the Creator seeks, not corpses, herds or believers; fellow creators..."

The player(s) is(are) the sole spark(s) of creative intelligence in each DF world. 

(edited to allow the possibility of community fortresses)

[Massam]

I'm going to have to go for benevolent parasitic spirit. Mostly because will of the dwarves and overmind makes me think "OMG! TYRANID DWARVES!RUN!"

[Weev]

As been mentioned before, my vote and thought is to a "Spirit" of the community, or if you were to think abstractly, you are the fort itself.  Personally, I always envisioned myself playing the part, not as a provider or shelter for the dwarves, but as a ethreal force (like one of those elvish gods)  that simply guides dwarves along the path of greatness.  Putting it down in words, I am not the mountain, I am every footstep in the deep, the walls that are engraved with your history.  I am the table you eat at, the clothes you wear.
(I...AM...BATMAN. J/K. )  It's that point of view that I take, and it helps me realise that, no, I don't want a bunch of naked dwarves. I don't want to slaughter nobles.  I want the best for those under my watchful eye.

[G-Flex]

its IMHO an important question the justify or invalidate on what some said to this suggestion http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=25248.0 Some said that "possessing" a dwarf would be against the "feeling of what the player is in the DF world".... and I think so far this discussion just proofed that possessing a dwarf fits extremly well in the DF Fortress mode... considering what most players here consider what the playeris.

Way to evangelize your suggestion, but seriously, the player being the communal will of the fort is an extremely far-flung thing from controlling the singular will of an occupant of the fortress.

[Guy Montag]

The limitations posed by what you can do in the game, and what dwarves will do make me think that your some sort of abstracted leader.

With making orders in the job manager, I feel like I'm just playing as the mayor. Kinda like Sim City. Your the mayor, but you can also summon earthquakes and tornados. In dwarf fortress, your mayor might be digging in the mines, but can still lock a door telepathically on the otherside of the fort.

[Wolfius]

Just look at the game's title - we are, each of us, the faces of Armok, and the Dwarves our willing slaves.

The Dwarves do what we tell them because we are that greatest, wisest of beings, if a little fickle and unpredictable(but then, what is a God if not beyond mortal understanding?), bringing not just great risk, but also the promise of phenominal reward.

And as with all religons, you have those even amoungst the most faithful who grow, at times, disinterested, missinterpretritive, or whom in their ignorance start to resent their master, maybe even think they know better, who start disobeying, or even issuing mandates to their fellows, be damned the Master's plans, maybe even claiming their own selfish wants to be His Will - afterall, Armok has almost no direct influence in the world, doesn't he?

Ignorant fools.

Ignorant, burning fools. MuhahaHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!


(How can the DF forums not have an Evil smilie?!)

[Forumsdwarf]

I see myself as the poltergeist that makes the doors mysteriously lock, the image of her own rising hand burned into the terrified eyes of the Baroness Consort as the rushing of water, the last sound she will ever hear, is set upon her by the unseen force that drove her hand to pull the lever ... after she demanded the flogging of an innocent stone mason for the crime of not bringing her the green glass scepter she wanted in a place without sand ... her hand on that lever, the hand of real Dwarven Justice, that's me.

Seriously, Dwarves should be absolutely terrified of us.  We should scare the crap out of them.  The fortress is haunted.

Can't you picture it?  A new immigrant is elected Mayor and starts throwing his weight around.  When the Mayor orders up a flogging all the other Dwarves get really quiet and start exchanging glances.  They're all afraid, not for the hapless Planter chained to the wall, but for the clueless Mayor.
He angers the spirits!
The proverbial "Volcano God" is real.  That would totally freak people out.  Dwarves too, I reckon.
If the last words ever spoken by your King were, "Ghosts!?  I don't believe in Ghosts!  Now I want my crystal window and I want it NOW!  *hurp*  *gurgle*"
You'd wet yourself with terror.  Even if the King deserved it.