Alright, dwarves. All of the Mountainhome’s ore veins have run dry. The king needs metal, and he needs it now. There’s no time for mining expeditions. We need to get metal from those that have it in abundance, the Orcs. They’ve got enough steel to last the King forever, and what we need to do is trick them into supplying it. We need to set up an outpost close to their forts and lure them into attacking us. Once they’re defeated, we melt their weapons and armor and ship it back to the king. The bad news is that the best location for luring Orcs isn’t the best for Dwarven living.
That aquifier means we won’t have any stone for a while. All available picks and axes have already been melted down so we’ll have to make our own when we get there. The only ore available was silver, and it took an edict from the king himself to get it. In the meantime, we’ll have to make do with what we can bring with us.
This may well be a hopeless mission, but by Armok, the king needs us and we’ll get the Mountainhome a supply of steel or die trying. Now who’s with me?
You guys know the drill, name and skills. I’ve reserved enough points for each dwarf to be proficient in two skills or you can spread it out among multiple skills. Where I hope to make this a little different than other community forts is that if you have a dwarf in the fortress, you have full control over what that dwarf does. If you want to allow me to assign your dwarves jobs, that’s fine. But if you think that you know what the fort needs better than I do, say so, and I’ll assign your dwarf to whatever task you want. Or you can have your dwarf be selfish and make himself a private royal bedroom, dining room and office while everyone else struggles with defence and food production. Or you can just have him cut raw green glass for his entire life. However, for the starting 6, at least for the first few seasons, PLEASE let me handle your dwarves so I can set up defences.
No one (except nobles) gets private rooms unless they make the rooms themselves. Except for the mayor (seeing as I can’t really control who gets elected), nobles are off limits for being claimed by forum members. You can claim soldiers/fortress guards/royal guards if you want, but I think it would be more interesting for you guys to claim worker dwarves and give them tasks and such. I’ll be keeping a list in the 2nd post of each dwarf and what he’s doing. I won't be keeping an immigrant waiting list. Instead, once immigrants arrive, they'll be in the 2nd post as well. The first person to request a specific dwarf gets him.
If you want a masterpiece bed you’ll have just keep making beds yourself until you get one, or you can try to trade with another claimed dwarf: “If you make me a masterpiece bed, I’ll give you my next metal bar (see below)”
Finally, one of the fort rules is that I will trade 80% of the metal I acquire to the dwarven merchants in the form of whatever goods they happen to request. For the remaining metal, the will be an additional waiting list. When your name comes up, you get one bar. You can use it however you see fit. Decorating your bed with spikes of steel while I struggle to save a supply to make armor for my soldiers is encouraged. When (if) I have access to metal other than steel, there will be separate waiting lists for each type. You can only be on one waiting list at a time. Other than steel, the waiting lists will be for ores rather than bars, so if you want bronze you have to put yourself on the waiting list for copper, set the bar aside, then put yourself on the waiting list for tin to make your bronze. On the upside, you’ll then have both of the bronze bars to use as you like.
This is my first community fort, so suggestions on writing style or whatever are encouraged.
The other fort rules:
-Orc mod, obviously
-I don’t think there’s magma in this location, but if there is I won’t use it
-I will make sure that the Orcs are always able to find a path into the fort. Otherwise I won’t be able to get their gear
-Previously mentioned metal usage rules
-Non-metal goods may not be traded with dwarves. The fact that I can request metal stuff from them will be conveniently ignored.
-Human merchants will be drowned so I can melt their metal gear and provoke human sieges, getting me yet more metal
-Elves will be ignored for a long time, I can’t give them metal and stone will be in short supply. When (if) I get through that aquifier and I’m able to make stone trading goods, I MIGHT trade with them if they bring anything that interests me. However, with all the wood I’ll be needing for fuel, I anticipate eventual war with the elves.
-Booze cooking is forbidden. Syrup/flour/whatever else cooking is permitted but will be avoided as much as possible. You guys can request that your dwarf make a specific meal, if you want.
-I will not intentionally kill/cripple any dwarf, including the hammerer
-No plump helmets will ever be allowed in my fort. Just because.