Hello everyone! I decided to dive back into Dwarf Fortress a few weeks ago after trying it a few years ago and getting confused and giving up. After running through the newbie tutorial, I jumped right in and was struck by how gentle an introduction my first fortress has been.
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Ah, the first fortress of an untrained controller; most often, such a combination would create a swift, if comical, destruction. Imagine such a fellow, exuberant if dimwitted, deciding to travel to the first spot suggested to him and traveling with a group without looking at their credentials, choosing instead to start immediately. This sounds like a set up for comedic high jinx, doesn't it? But lady luck (and the RNG) was smiling upon this erstwhile dwarven constructor that day. The dwarves he didn't so much as take a glimpse at before trekking across untold wilderness to strike the earth in what might be an evil hellhole... turned out to be remarkably suitable. Not a soap-maker to be found. And the place, offhandedly mentioned to him as called Mirrorbars, ended up being a pretty forested pocket of gently rolling hills. This already pleasant fortress turned into an exciting opportunity at the finding of quiet pools suitable for fishing, jewels glimmering on erroded hillsides, and a remarkably fine platinum vein found in only the second layer of the hill. The winter was mild, and the farms bountiful. There was even game to be had deeper in the hills.
True, it wasn't the prettiest of forts, but that was to be expected for a first attempt. Bedrooms tended to be much larger than necessary, but that only made it more pleasant for the founding seven. Straight tunnels suddenly meandered once they found veins of ore and pockets of jewels, but that produced a more organic feel to the place; it was a breathing, changing thing growing into the living rock. It was only a matter of time until this prosperous little community attracted merchants, and only a little more time until it caught the imaginations of immigrants, hungering for a piece of the action. The new group brought many welcome skills and creatures into the fold: metalworking, engineering specialities, as well as breeding pairs of horses and dogs. It wouldn't be long until the place would be bustling. There were four who came without any inherent skills, so I was happy to conscript them and let them train one-another to help protect the others.
There was one in the new group, Onul Ustuthinen, whose job didn't seem to fit with the fledgling fortress. She was a thresher. You can imagine how a new dwarven fortbuilder might be confused as to how such a skill might help in the first few years. She enjoyed animals, however, and had a pup of her own, so a new opportunity presented itself. She should be able to train the coming dogs to help the soldiers with defense and perhaps train a few hunting dogs. She'd be able to hunt with them in the downtime between litters. The new metalurgist was assigned to craft a crossbow for her to help hunt, and she trained her own dog to help ambush unsuspecting prey. It seemed that everyone had their place in the fortress, and everything was running smoothly. Luck truly had blessed the little community.
Now you can forgive a amateur fortress designer for overlooking the little details. Deforesting the closest groves make carpentry more difficult in the future. The painstaking process to create a metal chain for a well when one is stocked high with ropes. These anyone can forgive. Perhaps it was a little much to overlook,though, that two dwarves that immigrated together were, in fact, married. One of the peasants, Rakust in fact, was married with the ex-thresher Onul. By the time this was realized, some time had passed. The Rakust had turned into a skilled wrestler, and Onul was officially a ranger with three hunting dogs for companions. It took an announcement to make things obvious; she had given birth!
Such spectacular news! The first birth in the fortress! Obviously she should be taken off hunting duties. It was difficult to find her, though. The young fortress master expected to find her in the normal hunting grounds that contained macaques and hedgehogs. Rather, Onul was in the farthest corner of the map, and she was locked in battle with a wolf. A surprisingly bloody battle.
She had lost the baby.
Between her hammering the brute with the butt of her crossbow and her trusted dogs, the thing was brought low, but at terrible cost. The thing had taken her child as well has her left leg and arm. On top of everything else, her head was wounded badly and she passed out from the pain and blood loss. In a panic, the other dwarves brought her to rest in the bed in the corner of the barracks. Her dogs would not leave her side, and her husband slept next to her whenever he wasn't sparring. The others brought her food and water whenever they thought her parched or hungry, but she would not wake.
Slowly, Onul started healing. The terrible head wounds started getting better. Over several years, her wounds healed and scarred over. Her dogs never left her side, living off the scraps of her dinner. Her husband Rakust was considered a true champion of fortress, getting the title "the Rope of Smoke" for his amazing dexterity, and trained several crack teams of champions throughout his career. Onul was finally deemed fully healed... and yet she did not wake.
She remains there to this day. The fortress of Mirrorbars is flourishing and is well into its 12th year. She has never woken, but she has constant companionship. The rest of the fortress shows every kindness to her, and she is reasured by her husband and pets every day. In honor of her sacrifice, she was committed to the Royal Guard, and given the makeshift title "The Everdreaming."
I like to imagine that her dreams have created a whole new fortress populated with happy dwarves, and that she chooses not to wake in order to protect the dream. This was the first time I felt I had failed my citizens through lack of knowledge, and I swore it would be the last.
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Topic: Tales from Mirrorbars: The Luck of the First Fortress (Read 1265 times)