Chapter 4: Expansion
7th of Slate 502: I have finished preparations for the new migrants. The beds have been ordered, the bedrooms are being dug out, and their jobs have been examined. Very few changes had to be made other then assigning a few peasants to handle masonry as Christies is far to busy mining to handle that job.
The most welcome news from this migrant comes for us founders. All the excess duties that I assigned during the first year can now be removed, as well as all our hauling. That is a task for less skilled dwarves.
The final issue of the day was to start planning a military. We do not yet have the armor necessary for safe sparring but that will be taken care of soon. In the meantime I have met two potential recruits.
The first Shoruke was a lyemaker.
The second Rwane was a miller.
As any dwarf knows professions such as these, are ones dwarves go into when they secretly desire to enter the military, but for various reasons would not normally be allowed. They then travel to distant fortresses knowing there would be no normal usage for their skills. Shoruke and Rwane have both confirmed this, and are eager to be recruited as soon as possible.
21st of Slate 502: The remaining copper bars have been turned into platemail, and a couple of wooden shields have been carved. This is hardly the greatest armor in the world but it will do for now. Later when the magma forges are ready these can be replaced with far superior iron armor.
On the surface the sparring has begun. Joining Shoruke and Rwane, are a milker and Sir Eldritch. Eldritch will eventually be serving as a marksdwarf, but as the only dwarf in the entire fortress with the slightest bit of military experience I thought it would be wise for him to lead the training.
11 of Felsite 502: The final channel has been dug and magma is now flowing towards our forges. It will not be long before out metalworking operations can begin. This has also left me with considerable freedom in the expansion of the fort, as there are no more pressing issues to deal with.
As such I am designating several new projects. First we need more stockpiles to be moved underground. Second we need to expand the dining room. Thirdly the region is rife with exposed veins of hematite, and the time has come to collect them. Finally there’s a project I have in mind a big one, and it is time to take the first steps down that road.
19th of Felsite 502: It seems that some of the hematite is going to have to stay unprocessed as one particular vein has acquired a deadly guardian, a zombie giant eagle. I believe it may be the same one I saw nearly a year ago.
25th of Felsite 502: The official standards in the body of dwarven law really need to be revised. I apparently qualify as a legendary miner myself, and I can tell you that I am not legend yet.
Also of note I’ve been informed that one of the peasants, Talakin is acting particularly secretive today and has apparently been sighted heading towards one of the craftsdwarfs shops as if in some sort of trance. I have heard legends about such things but never dreamed that it would happen here. Yet if the stories are true Thollokum will soon be blessed by an item that surpasses all dwarven craftsmanship, an artifact.
26th of Felsite 502: I heard that Talakin has started his construction and I went down to get a peak at what grand inspiration he has had. I saw him working on a single stone like every stonecrafter in all the mountainhomes. So much for the legends.
1st of Hematite 502: Talakin the peasant, or at least the former peasant and now legendary stonecrafter has completed his work, Galecherished, a very ordinary looking crown. Yet simply because this former peasant decided to make a crown without being ordered to and gave it a fancy name, he can now be classified as legendary. I’m really starting to hate that word.
9th of Hematite 502: The humans have arrived with their caravan, and the first thing they asked was if I had any works by Talakin for trade because their suddenly in high demand. How they can be in high demand, when he never made a single item until 8 days ago, is beyond me, but demand is demand, so I’ll have him make some stone crafts.
The trades themselves were mundane. I got food barrels and wood, in exchange for assorted crafts. The same stuff that happens in every single other fortress on the planet. On a related note though the humans also requested that I trade them seeds the next time they come around. Why would any fortress trade away seeds when they are worth so little and help so much.
7th of Malachite 502: The magma forges are now operational, and I can at last reveal the design. This is hardly the most efficient possible design, but it is unmatched in it’s potential to impress visitors.
9th of Malachite 502: With all the mining that needs to be done, I’ve had less and less time for my administrative duties, so I’ve decided to pass on the record keeping and work ordering managing to someone else, like that peasant that just walked by. I better go tell him about his promotion.
6th of Limestone 502: Recordkeeping seems to be more beneficial then I though. Our new clerk after a mere two months on the job, seems to have had an idea. An idea from a dream specifically, given that we noticed he was acting strange when he woke in the middle of a dream, and dashed towards our mason’s workshop. He’s now racing around the fortress collecting assorted items.
8th of Limestone 502: Our clerk seems to have run into a problem. He’s insisting that he needs silk cloth for his masterpiece. At first glance we don’t have any, but I remembered buying a single spool of silk thread from the last dwarven caravan. Hopefully that will make enough cloth for the clerk to precede.
14th of Limestone 502: The clerk has begun his construction. He seems to be using two stones, a piece of silk cloth, and some turtle bones. At least this has potential unlike the last so called artifact we got.
17th of Limestone 502: The dwarven caravan made its second visit today. Once again I made the usual trades for assorted food, drink, metal, wood, cloth, and leather all the raw materials we could possibly need. Much to my disgust Talakin’s crafts were worth a lot. I also got all the seeds I had asked for. In a worrisome sign, this was also the third caravan in a row to request that I sell them seeds next year. I’m starting to wonder if the farmers back home are having some sort of crisis I haven’t heard of yet.
Today the clerk also finished his statue. While its name Mutebudded the Conflict of Sports is utterly nonsensical, it is a good piece of work. It has an image of Datan Tradetribe the last queen of the second dynasty of the swords of stability. She was always rebellious working as a common guard for a time, much to her father’s dismay, and when she inherited the throne, she never married leaving it ripe for Stukos Shovegates to seize upon her death. On a related note our clerk now rates as a legendary mason, and the meaning of the word continues to be diluted.
3rd of Sandstone 502: Although this notification comes slightly late, Christies is now our third legendary miner, and our fifth legendary dwarf in a fortress less then two years old. Pretty soon their going to tell me I have to call all dwarves legendary so I don’t hurt anyone’s feelings.
12th of Timber 502: My first project is complete a long tunnel spiraling into the depths of the earth to a room that will soon house the new trade depot. I’ve been telling the others that the goal is for the lengthy tunnel to give caravans the impression that the fortress is far larger then it is, but the truth is it is something that is far greater. It is the first step towards what I’m calling the Transformation, and when the Transformation is complete nothing will be the same again.
OOC: Since tunnels can't be shown very well through screenshots I've uploaded the map
here. If any part of the fortress design doesn't make sense, it's probably because there's a great amount of work left to do to reach my ultimate goal.
As always feel free to claim a dwarf, and or request that your dwarf enters the military. I'll be updating the original post shortly with a list of unclaimed dwarves.
EDIT: 13th of Timber 502: Apparently while I was distracted with finishing the tunnel six dwarves migrated here with out me noticing. I have no idea how I missed the announcement.
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Topic: Thollokum: Expedition to the middle of nowhere (Read 4216 times)