Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

You'd think that being a historian and archaeologist would be safe, just digging up bits of pottery.
But this is Dwarf Fortress. Even the dead middle-aged roman skull fragment is out to get you.

[varnish]

As it turns out, my computer had only that last gasp before it keeled over for good. I still have a copy of the fort, but there's no way it'll run on the computer I'm using now (an ancient laptop). It can run Dwarf Fortress decently, but it can't handle Greatbridge.

Not sure what I can do about this. Might start a new community fort of some sort.

[varnish]

So, I was digging around in an old zip drive (or whatever you kids these days call
them), when I found my copy of this here fort. Now, honestly, this fort was the most
fun I ever had playing dwarf fortress. It was an endless chain of disasters, helped
along by my own incompetence, sure, but I loved it. I came thiiiis close to actually
getting one arm of the bridge to the opposite shore. Knowing what I know now, I
think that I could do even more.

So, basically, what I'm asking is this. Is there anyone here interested in seeing the
revival of an ordinary, not particularly legendary 40d fort? I'd like to make a go at
finishing this thing, but a community fort isn't much without a, well, community to
support it. So, thoughts, anyone?

[gumball135]

It'd probably attract a more immediate interest if you just started up a new fort; I doubt too many people remember the thread at this stage. That said, I never actually asked for a dorf when I read through this the first time for some reason, so please name one "Gumbar" if you're planning to continue (if there're any free). Thankee, and good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[Remalle]

Oh wow, I almost forgot about this fortress so many times, but then I would go "hey, you know what, that Greatbridge fort was great".  It was written well, and I would love to see it finished.

[varnish]

I totally didn't realize that my last post here was in 2009. Was it really that long ago? Yeesh!

Still, I've decided that I'm going to try to finish this thing, if for no other reason than my own satisfaction. I will dwarf you, gumball135, and I may even post some updates, because I think that sort of thing is fun. And thanks for the kind words, Remalle. Maybe your dwarf will not have died in vain, after all.

Opening up the old fort... now.

[thegoatgod_pan]

Dwarf me too-call me--any gender any name, profession "Assassin" marksdwarf/bonecarver when not training, and give him the dwarf leather armor from the fell mood, if possible

[bowie]

Could I please have a dwarf?
Thaco the male swordsdwarf and if you have a nice scimitar around could I please have it?

[varnish]

(been messing about for a while, so here is a very short re-introduction to the fort, of a sort. There may be more later.)


Greatbridge of Oceans in Winter: This is not a poem.

the caught fish rot in the halls
is there no one to clean them?
no
the fish cleaner is stuck in the ceiling


From the Journals of Solon Wardbridges, 20th of Moonstone, 208

Today I woke up feeling odd. Feeling an emotion that I hadn't felt in years. Determination. I'm determined to finish building this idiotic bridge. Determined to finish it,  live to tell the tale, and at long last, go home. And I...



Oh, for the love of Anriz! If nothing else, I'm determined to finally get all those rotting fish guts cleared off the floor. My office smells like a beach in high summer. I've ordered the miners to dig a new refuse pit near the catacombs, and aesthetics be damned.

Geshud Meets the New Recruits, Winter, 208:

Geshud, who by reason of not being dead or crippled was the head of Greatbridge's military, looked over the newest recruits. The one fellow seemed all right, even if he was demanding a scimitar (he'd get the first sword that came to hand, and like it, too.)



The other, though, the one who wanted to join Jim's team of marksdwarfs... she might need some watching. She'd been asking about... that armor, or at least, that's what Geshud had heard. Poor old Aban...



Well, at any rate. “Welcome to the army of Greatbridge of Oceans! It's a dangerous world out there. Don't get killed, and I'm sure you'll, y'know, still be alive. Or something like that. You know what I mean.”

(Coming soon! Violence. Also, playing a fortress that you haven't touched in a very long time is an interesting experience. Why is there only one craftsdwarfs workshop? What the hell are all these orders to make rock blocks about? Why is the floor covered in rotting fish? What the hell was wrong with me?!)

[varnish]

(so, I suppose restarting this thing was silly. A mistake. But I wanted to give this story a conclusion, and now I have. It's not the greatest, but... Well, here's the first part.)


A Short, Sharp Fish Bone Battle

The mass clean up of dead and rotting fish had provided an unexpected windfall: dozens upon dozens of bones, ready to be turned into crossbow bolts.

“Let's see, we've got salmon bone bolts, orc bone bolts, anchovy bone bolts...”

“The hell? Anchovy bone?”

“Come and see!”

Renna walked over to where Edzul was rummaging through one of the ammo bins, and leaned over to look.

“Huh. Those are... the tiniest bolts that I've ever seen.”

Fortunately, they were still quite useful when it came to killing orcs.



From the Journals of Solon Wardbridges, 13th of Opal, 209

I don't believe it. The orcs actually fled! I guess old Teach's “Shoot them til' you can't shoot any more” still has something going for it, especially when you never reach that point where you can't shoot anymore. Ha! That leaves the rest of the winter for building. And, I can't believe that I'm actually writing this, but I think we might make the opposite shore by spring. I plan to lay the last sheets of iron, to be the first to walk down there. And after that? ... After that...

From the Journals of Solon Wardbridges, 24th of Opal, 209

I just found out that a baby has drowned in the cistern. Damn it all, you'd think a suicidal baby would have the courtesy to jump off the huge bridge sitting outside, rather than into our drinking water. Anyway, so far as I can make out, the baby had been left on its own ever since his mother was beat for some minor crime during the last siege. This fortress. Dear gods, this fortress. I honestly don't know how much more I can take. Still, construction is going well. Soon. That's all I keep telling myself. Soon.

A Short Conversation:

“Have you heard anything from old Solon lately?

“Well, Inaluct was out there on the bridge with her yesterday, and she said we've only got a few more lengths to go! In fact, she said you could jump off the edge right now and land on the beach, if you didn't mind breakin' every bone in your body.”

Geshud thought this over for a minute, then laughed. “I'm tempted, man. I am tempted.”

From the Journals of Solon Wardbridges, 1st of Granite, 209

Spring has arrived, and I'm writing this as I get ready to set out over the bridge. Just a few more days to go.

(Next: the short anti-climactic conclusion.)

[varnish]

9th of Granite, 209

Solon Wardbridges, sweat dripping from her face, slotted the last pin in place, and let the sheet of flat iron drop. It swung down on its rough hinge, and with a rather disappointing thud, struck the earth. Feeling utterly exhausted (the greatest challenge in the last few days had simply been hauling the iron over the immense length of the bridge), she walked carefully down the makeshift ramp. She stopped at the bottom. This was it.


Solon looked back.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

She took one step forward.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

She had walked over the ocean on a bridge made of iron.

Oh, it wasn't a full bridge. Not even close, really.  And looking back, the narrow causeway of iron didn't even seem that impressive. No great mechanisms here, no tremendous feats of engineering, not even simple pump stack. But there it lay: the result of seven years of back-breaking labor. Seven years of disaster, idiotic mistakes, murders, sacrifices, starvation, sobriety and death. Seven years of being alternately bored and terrified. Seven years hovering on the brink of catastrophe, never knowing whether the next day would bring a siege, or an ambush, or, y'know, an axedwarf shouting bad puns. Seven years.

And why? Because of the whims of a “Mad” king? Because they were dwarfs, and there was nothing dwarfier than hammering away at an impossible project without any thought to where it might lead? (Probably that one, she thought). In order to hand the orcs a path leading straight in to the mountainhomes, so they could frolic and caper and slaughter in a new continent? Yeah, probably that too.

The trees were thick and the canopy heavy here, and Solon realized that none of the others knew where she was. She'd been doing most of the final work herself, and maybe she hadn't been... completely honest about how close to the shore they actually were. No one knew she was here.

She could just leave. Walk in to the jungle and disappear. They likely wouldn't notice for a day or so, everyone knew how long it took to traverse the bridge. By then, the jungle would have swallowed her up. She could go home. It sounded like madness, and maybe it was, but hey, madness was what brought her here in the first place.

Solon took one step forward.


(and that's that! If you read this, thank you for reading, and if you didn't, that's ok too. I know that most won't care about this, but I'm glad that I finished it.)

[thegoatgod_pan]

Aww man, already?  Time makes no sense online, i feel like I just discovered this project and it's done .  Start an adventure mode and explore the forsaken orc lands exposed by the bridge?

[varnish]

Well, I'm glad that you were interested enough to post, at least. And I apologize.

I honestly did intend to at least try to keep this fort going, but every time I tried to do a write-up about what was going on, I found that it relied almost completely on characters that had been invented by people who no longer posted. This story thrived on conflict, but the people who helped fuel that conflict aren't here anymore. And that's fine, I ain't expecting people to stick around for me. But it left me feeling dissatisfied with everything I tried to write. I didn't want to write from the perspective of someone who wasn't around anymore, and that left me with very few perspectives, and very little history at all. That's why I decided to end it.

Gumball was right, if I want to tell a community story, I should probably just start a new one. I've just got to think of something appropriately crazy and fun enough to be worth writing about. Hmmm...

[Eagle]

Do a scour the earth project. Embark, tear down all trees and strip mine straight down to the bottom zlevel. Then make a single impenetrable tower in the center with all the raw material you gain.

I think i have something along the lines of that in my forts in my sig if you want to look.

[varnish]

Well, here's a fun fact: Greatbridge of Oceans is still my favorite fortress. Since the first "official" end of this fort, I've come up with several new plotlines to keep the story going.

I've finally got those plotlines ready. I've got an actual story ready and prepared. Things are going to get insane. Look for that. Look for excitement. Look for some good old fashioned violence as I attempt to give this fort the ending I think it truly deserves. Get ready for fun and or violence, and, as every good dwarf fortress player knows, those two are pretty much one and the same.

I'm going to finish this fucking bridge, and your interest is just a happy bonus. The only goal I have is one called Greatbridge of Oceans, and it's name is pretty much self explanatory. We gonna do this. Rock on, soul brother. Rock on.