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[Footkerchief]

Something like that.  I wouldn't say strictly physical for skills.  The main goal is to split out things that a creature shouldn't just be able to stumble upon with a little tinkering.  It perhaps falls in line with "technology" and would probably be stored at both the individual and civilization level.  It should also be able to capture notions like misinformation, so each of the most finely-grained concepts could say, have 32 bits worth of unspecified "facts" and a book could carry both information and misinformation for each bit, if things need to be kept concise.  I haven't sorted it out yet, but those are some of the things that need to be captured.  The more I think about what I need for the system to model what's needed, the less likely we'll see it for this release I think.

Apologies for delving even further off topic, but: would the notion of knowledge be tied in with events?  That seems like an even more compelling use of a knowledge system, with huge implications for military stuff, diplomacy, trade, and lots of small flavorful possibilities like meaningful conversation (link to old Suggestions thread), quests to acquire/convey information, etc.  Misinformation is an amazingly cool facet, but tracking it only as a property of a real fact wouldn't be enough to allow some of the more amusing types of misinformation like creative slander -- I'm envisioning something here like an adventurer spreading rumors in a town about the mayor's predilection for insert deviancy here, maybe with a Madlibs-ish interface for constructing a "fake event."

On the other hand, given the sheer potential number of events (compared to a small, fixed set of technologies), it seems likely that storing the knowledge of those events could get expensive even if it's done at the civ level. 

[SirHoneyBadger]

Surely if dwarves have access to waterwheels, gearworks, wagons, and other such applied simple machines, they figure out how to make a chair with wheels that the dwarf sitting in it can propel.  It's not a difficult concept.

Now, keeping them from self-propelling their wheelchairs up and down staircases is another matter.  Maybe they strap the chair on their backs and walk up stairs on their hands or something.  They are dwarves.

Maybe giant wheels, with bars that extend out from the rims, for stairclimbing, with sharkskin pads, cletes, hobnails, or whatever, on the edges for traction, and insider grips on the spokes so that they can keep the wheels moving with their hands.

They could strap themselves to the seats and be set for all weather, all terrain "driving".

Just, for the love of Armok, get out of their way when you see them coming!

Hell, attach the proper kind of pulley system to the chair (wouldn't need to be very sophisticated), and I don't see why they couldn't climb a rope.

[Tormy]

etymonline.com (which I don't know well, so won't vouch for) says "chirurgeon" is a "failed Renaissance attempt to restore Gk. spelling to the word that had got into Eng. as surgeon; now, thank the gods, archaic", while a few dictionaries say "chirurgeon" was alongside "surgeon" in middle english.  I try not to use words with modern origins (let's ignore items for now...), but "surgeon" isn't modern.  If a word is still in use, it doesn't bother me.  "Doctor" is also an old word, which supposedly gained its medical meaning ~1377 (though this wasn't common until the 1500s) (etymonline again).

You can set all unit names in the raws now, so you can change the words I use (aside from any practioners that aren't linked to an entity, which shouldn't happen here except possibly in adventure mode).

Ah yeah, I completely forgot that we can change the unit names in the upcoming version. Excellent. 

[Ampersand]

I'm wondering. If we created a race that somehow considered it's skin layer 'cosmetic' and would periodically skin itself, would another race that was subjugated by this one then begin skinning themselves with hilarious effect?

[Tormy]

I'm wondering. If we created a race that somehow considered it's skin layer 'cosmetic' and would periodically skin itself, would another race that was subjugated by this one then begin skinning themselves with hilarious effect?

You are reffering to:
"There's an entity component in the raws and a creature component, so as long as a creature has a group of tissues tagged in a way that is recognized by a civilization, it can interact with that society's style definitions. For example, if dwarves were administering some conquered humans, human children born there would adopt beards if they identify with the dwarven civilization as their primary group (something which will probably be a little too strict now, as there's currently no notion of tribute or conquering that isn't fairly total). Dwarven children kidnapped and incorporated into goblin society might sh... shave."

Well...I think that you should be able to mod that in, if I understand Toady's words correctly.

[Pruvan]

I'm wondering. If we created a race that somehow considered it's skin layer 'cosmetic' and would periodically skin itself, would another race that was subjugated by this one then begin skinning themselves with hilarious effect?

... I want.

[Larington]

This kind of leaves me wondering if it should be possible for one skilled Dwarf to train another one, so you'd get a noble equivalent chief doctor who can provide tutoring to anyone marked as being some form of Medwarf.
That and as I think I just read somewhere here, knowledge/skill gained from books and possibly also through practice on training tools, just as first aiders of the modern world have training dummies perhaps Dwarves should have Dwarvish equivalent practice tools for medicine.

[Zironic]

The chief surgeon has to be a dwarf equivalent of a drunk, he doesn't drink!
After that terrible accident

[Greiger]

Somebody way back mentioned scurvy.  Made me think, will it be possible to make a creature immune to certain diseses? 

For that example I remember hearing somewhere(don't remember the source, take it with a gain of salt) that most animals produce their own vitamin C, making it impossible for them to get scurvy.  So they would be immune to it, while humans, dwarves and such would be able to get it. 

[Hectonkhyres]

SirHoneyBadger: Wait... the simple explanation would be that you would have to install wheelchair ramps into every level of your fortress that you want your crippled veterans to be able to go. Of course the simple way is rarely the most dwarfy way... but wheelchair ramps would allow you to invent 'cripple traps' to provide orderly euthanasia to those who would be a drain on society.

[SmileyMan]

What's all this nonsense about wheelchairs for dwarves?  Surely any self-respecting dwarf who lost the use of his legs would prefer to be handed an axe and placed upon a catapult for one last glorious flight into battle?

[LegacyCWAL]

The wheelchair would let him get to the catapult faster

[SirHoneyBadger]

What's all this nonsense about wheelchairs for dwarves?  Surely any self-respecting dwarf who lost the use of his legs would prefer to be handed an axe and placed upon a catapult for one last glorious flight into battle?

Not all of them, although that would ofcourse always remain an option.

And it wouldn't be a wheelchair if it wasn't weaponized.

[Pruvan]

And it wouldn't be a wheelchair if it wasn't weaponized.

And magma-fueled.

[SirHoneyBadger]

And it wouldn't be a wheelchair if it wasn't weaponized.

And magma-fueled.

I'm not sure how that would work, but somehow it really should.