1st Granite, 301, Early Spring:Well, first the good news: our dowsers insisted there's an underground river here somewhere, and that exposed chasm will serve as a great water outlet for our megaprojects. Second, the magma pipe's location is pretty obvious with that glaring obsidian cap next to our wagon. Third, looking around, there don't seem to be any skeletal giant eagles flying around in this evil-infested hinterland. Yet. Fourth, while the overall terrain is pretty flat, there's a good hill to the north that's just tall enough to permit siege operator training without bothering sleepers on the two deepest levels we can dig here - I've made a note of the location.
Now the bad: we have zero trees anywhere in the area. Unfortunate, but manageable - in my perfect foresight I brought a bazillion barrels and logs, and we can trade for more. The biggest problem will be setting up a working farm - we have no soil anywhere I can see. Fortunately,
I've read up on how to get water out of glacier ice, and I'll try to get our miners working immediately and put that to good use. This glacier may be harsh and barren, but it's no match for the power of
books.
1st Granite, 301, Early Spring:Some hippy elf once said:
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. I think I feel the same way about fortress design. After taking a good, hard look at the surroundings, I think I have a decent idea of where the fortress's central staircase should go, which in turn tells me what patch of the glacier I should try to collapse for water for farming. That will be our first project, and I've dispatched both our miners. The rest of the settlement team will start hauling our belongings out of the cold.
17th Granite, 301, Early Spring:Unfortunately one of the local troglodytes came a bit too close to one of our dogs and attacked. The nearby miners couldn't be mobilized in time and the poor thing died. Fortunately it ended up being one of our two male dogs - it won't interfere with our long-term breeding plans.
Meanwhile, our single cat has developed a penchant for wandering through hordes of ratmen and moledogs to the southwest, near the chasm, unmolested. I suppose evil beings ignore their own kind.
Work on collapsing the glacier continues apace. We're in a race to complete this major external project before serious predators show up, but so far, so good.
15th Felsite, 301, Late Spring:Today, work completed on the third level (of four) of the pit required for the glacier collapse. The non-miners among us have, by now, moved our entire stock "inside," as well, although the "fortress" excavation is really just a staircase at the moment. All of our effort has gone into completing the pit as quickly as possible. No undead yet, but I still fear the arrival of aggressive monsters before we can hole up properly.
27th Hematite, 301, Early Summer:The efforts to extract water from the glacier reached a very satisfying conclusion today, and we didn't even lose the miners! All that remains is to remove stairs lining the external, now-water-containing pit to prevent enemies from climbing down to our water access, and start a bucket brigade irrigating an interior cavern floor. Just in time, too - this excavation has seen us go through most of our booze. That, and the ratmen outside have been steadily encroaching our excavation. I wouldn't have wanted to finish a month later.
25th Malachite, 301, Mid-Summer:Strangely, the melted water from the glacial collapse has developed a new top covering of ice - one that immediately reforms whenever we channel through it. Access via buckets would be impossible. Instead, we're digging out the entire farm cave and will drain the cistern into it to muddy the soil. I expect work to complete before summer's end, although we'll take extra time to expand the lowest level of our fortress, the bedrooms, to guarantee evaporation if we need to spread the water further.
19th Limestone, 301, Early Autumn:The ratmen finally got tired of our cat meandering around their ankles. One corpse later, we now have no cats to keep the vermin under control. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I hope our first immigrant wave brings a cat or two.
The trade liaison and caravan arrived today, but needless to say we're in no position to trade. I'll probably offer a handful of mechanisms for some food and booze to keep us going until the farms are operational.
The cistern has been drained successfully and, so far, we have 27 5x5 muddy plots safe in the depths of our fortress. At this point I'm digging out additional plots merely to spread out the water and expedite the evaporation.
15th Sandstone, 301, Mid-Autumn:Some migrants arrived today. Why they opted for a military outpost in the middle of a frozen wasteland instead of a tropical beach is beyond me, but here they are. Seven total, doubling our fort's population: a metalcrafter, furnace operator, general metalsmith, stonecrafter, general fisheryworker, potash maker, and peasant. I immediately put them to work hauling in the dozens of corpses littering the countryside after the dwarven caravan's guards had their way with the local fauna.
Good work, dwarfs.
I've dug out all the potential farmland I really care to and am now waiting for the water to equilibrate and evaporate before digging below our farming level. In the meanwhile, our fort finally - finally, after two and a half seasons of constant work to secure a source of food and booze in this frigid environment - has some time to take stock of our rooms and start making this look like a proper fortress. No bedrooms still, but I've had a common barracks dug out on the military level and we're now excavating a handful of lockable armories for our (eventual) military's inventory.
I traded away a few dozen mechanisms for food, booze, and a few bars' worth of metal.
Next year, I'm sure, will be different. Oh yes...
15th Moonstone, 301, Early Winter:Nelasilral is finally starting to resemble something civilized instead of a hole in the ground. The mason just finished all the furnishings for my very own office. And bedroom, and dining room, and tomb, yes, but an office! With records! Records that need updating!
Pardon the short journal entry today - urgent business that needs attending to. Urgent records business.
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Topic: Nelasilral, "Flickertreaty" - UPDATE: badass clerk has 1 kill and counting (Read 11988 times)