Hi!
It is strange. Actually, the planter who regularly ran out on people 'does enjoy being in crowds'. I suppose he went to a meeting place, waited there alone, and just as he decided to check, someone else finally entered.
Well, no lovers yet, but the party of the miner was a successs in at least having the female hunter finally get to meet everyone in the fortress (remember, after 10 years, she still didn't know a single soul in the fortress (^_^;; ).
I noticed an odd thing, though. My trader liked to "check chest" - however, not her own chest in her room, but rather the chest in the room of the late miner (^_^;; (the other dwarves regularly visit that room to admire the billon cabinet he had owned in life).
Numerobis: I am glad to hear that things worked out for you. I am really grateful for Toady fixing the healthcare system to what we have now. And, of course, your story gives me hope.
Martin: Well, as long as you have what they are asking for in materials. But this is really interesting.
War-camel? Well, I heard that the real life animals had a temperament, but I never expected them to be that nasty. Single-hoovedly killing an entire ambush group is not an easy deed - did you notice the name of the camel? After all, you can probably look forward to some interesting engravings in the future :) :) :)
BloodBeard: Currently, I have the following meeting areas:
* A simple dining room with maybe 7 or so sets of chairs and tables (the original meeting area created right on arrival in the sand)
* The active well has also been declared a meeting zone.
* A platinum statue sitting on top of the first forge's hut declared a statue garden
* A decorated gold statue surrounded by tin statues as an open-air statue garden (this was the location of this winter's party, and I built this just this year).
I have to admit that letting the dwarves take free time is really a challenge. There are so many things I want to build, so many projects I want to continue. As the party ended and the elves arrived, I decided to at least do the digging for future tombs, so that I have some more granite at my disposal (I need it for my plans to expand my fortress to take over more of the map), but I am trying to be gentle and give my dwarves a break. My stores of metal crafts should still be sufficient to buy all the interesting things from the dwarven caravan.
So, all I can do is try to free up my dwarves and hope.
Maybe I can attract some noble for breeding ... I have to check the requirements for the economy (in 2D, I think it was minting coins...).
So, still no marriages, but I am happy with the fortress. Okay, the well is one tile too close to the burial areas, hampering my design a bit, but I think I found a solution looking not too awkward (this time, I had the well go to the bottom of the map to away any accidents :) :) ).
But at this pace, I don't think I will be able to stick with my original plan of writing a small story about the place - there are simply too many small events.
Originally, I wanted to write about this fortress as a place basically created by dissidents/outcasts. The expedition leader, who dislikes authority, felt smothered back in the mountain home by the strong presence of the hierarchy. Hearing rumors of a beautiful mountain in the Elven realms far to the north, she was able to garner royal support for an expedition there (those directly above her in the hierarchy probably also supported this scheme just to get rid of her). Together with her best (female) friend (my bookkeeper) and five other dwarves, she set out, following first general directions given by Elven traders, crossing a lot of land (the Dwarven civ is in the Southern part of a medium map, more towards the West, while the mountain is in the Northern part more to the East) and then finding their goal with the help of the local Elves (the encounters with the Elves teaching them to respect their skill with the bow and the wilderness).
Actually, the immigrants also fit in nicely with this idea as one of them was also anti-authority.
Oh well, next time maybe.
Deathworks