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Total Members Voted: 32

[Iituem]

Ozo's Note Slate
3rd Granite, 71

Mining continues, but the master had ordered a halt on the water project so the miners can hollow out the various ore veins they've stumbled upon.  Work on the pillars continues apace - a rather slow pace, at that, but it continues.  I've been spared some of the slaves we're otherwise not using for heavy labour.  It's better than nothing.


Goxa's Journal
1st Slate, 71

We had a birth today, to one of the slaves; a gem cutter.  As per goblin tradition, the child will belong to the state once she comes of age.  We are all slaves - it is only through worth that our freedom may be earned.


19th Felsite, 71

Oh hells, Yilmug's just gone weird and started dragging rocks into the crafting station.  I swear, this firepit does something to your head.  If it weren't for the fact that I was there when Sheget crawled out of her hole in the ground, I would swear this was the very pit she spawned from.

Thankfully, not.  Even so, this place makes me nervy at times.  And I really wish that bloody raider captain wouldn't pop by every few months, refuse to trade on principal, and laugh at our sorry state through politeness.  Ergh.


1st Haematite

It's a crown.  Presented, of course, in that she-demon's glory.  I mean, I won't deny it's a fancy crown.  Brilliant work, even if it is made out of common rock.  Just seems a bit of a shame, really.


7th Haematite

Kobold raids again, but this time one of them took a few slashes at the new slave baby.  That one got away - the others didn't.  It only took off the baby's finger, but it was enough to end the sorry creature's life.  As it had failed to attain worth through service in life, it will be deposited in the troll cave for them to feast upon.

Its mother will be punished accordingly for failing to protect state property, but the boldness of the kobolds necessitates a more direct strategy.  I've given commands to Uzulek to take anyone from the raiding squad he thinks is strong enough and form a patrol party on the surface.  Just in case.

The whole incident left me thinking about my own end - a glum thought at the best of times, even when you're being suspended in a pit of living flame and tortured by a bipedal llama of death and destruction.  There is a real chance I could die here.  Me, after centuries of life, even if most of them were filled with excruciating pain.

Or I might not.  I might live forever.  I've lived longer than humans, maybe I'll live longer than dwarves.  The priests say our kind don't die as they do - we certainly fail to age.  And even though I know the truth - that there is no place waiting for me beyond this realm - I can't help but feel... concerned.

So just to be safe, I think I'll order some tombs set aside for us frees.



--------

I didn't really solve the well problem so much as avoided it entirely - I left the water just as an exposed hole they could drink from, since the buckets froze on the way up.  I'm going to try and go around the problem by creating a second well system, but how well this will work is anyone's guess.  More details on that as they happen, but it'll involve creative use of magma.

Gosh, I picked a Fun map.  No trees, no flora, no stable water source and aside from the imported trolls no wildlife until I get deep enough.  The trolls are a real lifesaver, though - we'd have resorted to vermin hunting months ago without them.

Also new voting options are up - the previous vote suggested Yes to keeping trade turned on (though I'm going to leave it at its current setting so we need a larger pop before it really happens).  The current question is how we should deal with funerary arrangements in the fortress.

[Spectre]

This is totaly awesome. Posting to mark the thread.

[darkflagrance]

What use are slaves if they're not building great monuments for the free to enjoy? They should take pride in participating in the creation of something that'll last longer than their sorry lives.

[Dbuhos]

I voted the last option, it sounds epic.

[Iituem]

Separate mausoleums seems to be the theme here.  Having trouble with a major bug at the moment - one of my squads crashes my game whenever I try and select it in the military 'squad selection' screen (where you can assign new soldiers).  Grr.  Can't figure out how to stop it, so all I can do right now is work around it and save frequently.

[Mephansteras]

One of your guys probably has a Dagger. The dagger skill crashes it for some reason.

Best fix is to go in and mod the raws. Go into item_weapon.txt and change the skill to something like this: [SKILL:MELEE_COMBAT]

[Iituem]

Nah, didn't help.  I'll just have to workaround for now.  Changed the dagger thing anyway as a pre-emptive measure.

Also, may I say how useful the vein-digging tool from DFHack is?  I try to avoid using cheating utils completely, but when you only want to dig out a single vein it saves a ton of time compared to trying to guess the direction of the vein or painstakingly doing it a tile at a time.

[Iituem]

1st Malachite, 71

Xuspgas chiselled, tapping inexpertly away at the lump of rock.  After a particularly noisome row amongst the masters, Uzulek had been confirmed as a whipmaster and awarded an office.  Now she was carving out chairs because Odo was too busy working on the designs for the tombs the frees wanted.

Her hand shook as she thought about tombs.  No, not again, please not again.  Before she could stop herself, she looked down to where her daughter was - would have been, were she alive.

Xuspgas let out a deep, wretched wail.  Not a sob, not a scream, just one long note to express the abgony that wrenched her heart.  She wailed until she had no more breath and her green-skinned cheeks had gone red and stained with tears, and unable to bear the sadness she turned it to rage.  She picked up the chisel and launched it against the wall, where it chipped the ice.  With a livid scream she brought her arm back against a huddle of stone figurines, shattering them against the floor.  She lifted the chair she was working on with both hands and with a baleful yell cast it at the doorway, where it crumbled into shards against Yilmug's hammer.

The scarlet drained from Xuspgas' face with the dreaded realisation of what she had done.  She fell upon the ground prostrate, begging for forgiveness.  Yilmug kicked her lightly in the head and bade her to sit.  Trying to bite back her sobs, she hunched herself into a sitting position and looked at Yilmug's chest in deference.

"Now what are you going about messing up the workspace for, girl?" Yilmug asked, sitting down herself on a large boulder waiting to be processed.

"I beg forgiveness, mistress," said Xuspgas.  "It will not happen again."

"Not my workshop," said Yilmug, "but that's not what I asked."

"It was..." Xuspgas began, swallowing thickly.  "It was my daughter."

"The dead one?"

"What other one?" hissed Xuspgas sharply, then lowered her head even further.  "Forgive me, mistress, I forgot my place."

"Yes, you did," said Yilmug, with a hint of caution to her voice, "but I will ignore it.  But she was not your daughter."

"She was, mistress."

"She was not."

"I birthed her, mistress!  I nursed her and held her in my arms!"

"You had the honour of producing a new child for the goblin race," said Yilmug patiently, "and the duty to feed and care for it until it was of age to go to the brood pits.  We do not own children.  Society owns children."

"She is still dead, mistress," said Xuspgas.

"So?  She wasn't yours."

Xuspgas tried to bite back the bile rising in her throat.  She wondered if Yilmug enjoyed torturing her like this.  Perhaps; she could not see her face to find out.

"They threw her in a pit, mistress," Xuspgas said, her voice trembling.  "She lies there even now, rotting amongst the trolls."

"Have you seen her?" Yilmus asked.

"I dare not."

"Then do not trouble yourself with it.  You can have further children.  You are not barren, are you?"

"No, mistress," said Xuspgas, whose fists were clenching all by themselves.  She was sure the freed slave took pleasure in this.  Were it not for the doom that awaited a disobedient slave...

"Then have more.  The girl received the pits because she was without worth."

"Forgive me, mistress, but who defines worth?  You?"

"Society," said Yilmug harshly.  "All goblinkind.  Worth is the only standard by which we can live, slave.  We have no gods to coddle or forgive us, no Force to bask in and forget our responsibilities.  There is only worth.  From the moment we are born, we are a drain upon our race.  Others must strive that we may live.  Is that fair?  No.  We live our lives on credit, and if it is the case that only a few prosper sufficiently to repay their debt, that is not their fault but the fault of the many who do not."

"You were lucky," growled Xuspgas.

"I was," Yilmug admitted, standing.  "I was struck by inspiration and bought my freedom with a crown.  But others have won it through hard work and suffering.  Most frees do.  Skrunge serves as a fine example.  Perhaps, with endeavour, you too shall rise."

And then, quite suddenly, Yilmug's foot was against Xuspgas' cheek, pressing her face into the ground.

"But you have not risen yet," Yilmus hissed, grinding with her foot until Xuspgas' cheekbones screamed with pain.  "You are still a slave; worthless, alone, a thankless drain on the society that took you in from the cold.  You will remember your place.  You will not raise your voice at me, you will not take undue tones with me, you will not so much as even think of upsetting me in any way or I shall personally see to it that you join your daughter in that cave to rot for the rest of time."  Yilmug gave Xuspgas' face a final shove with her foot before stepping off.  "And I may not even kill you before I seal you in there.  Understood?"

"Yes, mistress," mumbled Xuspgas.  Yilmug gave a satisfied snort and left the workshop.

Xuspgas remained on the floor, her tears frosting into the ice.

[Mephansteras]

I really like your take on goblin society. It's an interesting concept, and helps explain much of their culture.

[darkflagrance]

I too am loving your development of goblin society, especially Goxa's latest journal entries.

[Iituem]

I've adjusted the raws, so hopefully we will get trade now, because the problem is that my pop won't go over 20 without exports... and it needs a higher pop before traders will visit.  Catch-22.  The lack of migrants is a bit of an issue.

[Iituem]

1st Limestone, 71

Ogini focused on his breathing, stepping reflexively into the forms.  First, to third, to first again.  Back steps, consider the target, aim and-  His blade snagged as a whip wrapped around it.  Ogini crossed his feet and stepped into a turn to face his commander, twisting the blade so it slipped free from the whip's grasp.

"I thought you were training to kill, not to dance, boy," said Kiku, rolling up his whip lazily.  "Because it's not too late to put on a dress and change profession."

"Movement is critical to survival," said Ogini, lowering himself carefully so that his centre of gravity rested evenly between his knees.  He put his sword up in a gesture of civility.

"So is hitting things.  Can you hit something that moves, boy, or are you too used to stone soldiers?"

"I could hit you, master," said Ogini evenly.

"The hell you could," snarled Kiku.  "I've been slaying whelps like you since before you crawled out of whatever hole you were spawned in."

"Nevertheless, I could."

"Prove it," Kiku hissed, and lunged with the whip.  The whip cracked sharply against the air where Ogini had been.  The swordsman had moved three steps back in a curious crab-like motion, faster than the whip could crack.  As Kiku drew back the whip to strike again, Ogini surged forward with unnerving speed for his frail body.  He crossed his feet and lunged at Kiku, knocking the whip from his grasp, then continued until he was behind the lasher.  With a deft swing, he smacked Kiku behind the knee with the flat of his sword and stepped around and over his fallen form, holding the blade to Kiku's throat.

The normally loquacious soldier clammed up and swallowed dryly.

"Offer me money," said Ogini in a quiet, almost inaudible voice.

"Yes!" Kiku cried.  He began to inch his hand toward the fallen whip.

"Power, too, promise me that."

"All that I have and more!  Please-"

"Offer me anything I ask for."

"Anything you want..." Kiku said, managing to grasp the whip's handle.  He started to bring it up, but Ogini stamped hard on his hand.

"I want my father back, you son of a bitch!" Ogini yelled, raising the sword for a death strike.  A green-skinned hand caught him by the wrist.

"Not really in my power to grant," said a dry voice to his left, "but how about your freedom?  Completely worth getting Kiku to shut up for once."

Ogini stared wrathfully down at the lasher beneath him.  The sword trembled as he fought the urge to kill.

"I'd really rather you didn't kill one of my commanders, too," said the voice.  Ogini felt the slight pressure between his ribs and looked down to where Goxa's dagger was pressed against them.  He exhaled and stepped off Kiku, putting up his sword.  Goxa removed the dagger and the swordsman glared down at the lasher.

He spat, once, into Kiku's eye.  Then he left.



Goxa's Journal
11th Limestone, 71

This is the third time it's happened now - one of the raiders went berserk and keeps asking for 'body parts'.  I don't like arguing with a man with a spear, so I gave him freedom to use anything from the slaughterhouse, but he doesn't seem interested.  I don't somehow think this one's going to get resolved.

7th Timber, 71

Well, it took two months, but that weak-minded spearman finally cracked.  He just flipped out and started trying to kill people.  Let's see how good our raiders are at 'clean-up'.

----

Mato reached Snodub first.  Mato, usually a hammerer, had been practising with the knife that day.  She lunged at him, slashing at his shoulderblades.  His cloak caught the brunt of it, leaving him with little more than a bruise.  Without his weapon, Snodub's ineffectual fists swung past where Mato had been, leaving an opening for her to strike again.  Snodub narrowly avoided a gut strike and leapt back to consider his options again. 

By this time, Ago, Damsto and Snang were already moving into position around him.  Ago struck first, slashing with his scimitar at Snodub's chest, where it clanged ineffectually against the breastplate the mad goblin wore.  Damsto stabbed from behind with his spear, but Snodub ducked to the side to deflect it - only to provide Ago another opening.  The scimitar aimed true, the point smacking hard into the upper arm and fracturing the bone.  Shards of red-streaked grey bone jutted out of the rogue's shirt.  The blade itself stuck in the shards, and Ago had to wrench it out.

Damsto took another opportunity to stab, shattering the forearm of Snodub's other arm with his spear and lodging the weapon in the wound.  Following Ago's lead, Damsto twisted the spear in the wound and wrenched it out.  Ago slashed at the rogue's thigh as Snodub madly battered at Mato with his fists, blind to the pain in his rage.  Ago slashed again and again, only to be frustrated by the rogue's iron breastplate.  He let out a ferocious cry and charged at Snodub, crashing into him and driving the scimitar's blade deep into his foe's leg, cutting open an artery.  The pair of them tangled together, the icy floor made slippery by Snodub's spraying crimson life.

Ago was the first to reach his feet.  Snodub tried to stand, but slipped on his own blood, giving Damsto the opportunity to ram his spear through the goblin's hand.  Snang, who had been experimenting with a shiyn new pickaxe, drove the mining implement into the hand as well, effectively pinning Snodub to the floor while Damsto twisted the spear for more pain.  Even as Snodub cried out in impotent, incoherent rage, the sheer amount of blood that had sprayed onto the floor already was making him faint.  Ago slashed at his other thigh, helping more of that crucial lifeforce spill away.  The other goblins continued bashing and stabbing at Snodub's limbs, impenetrable as his chest may have been, until at last the goblin grew more and more sluggish and moved no more.



-----------

Hopefully 31.07 will be an SDL version, as those run a lot faster for me than legacy.  If it fixes the military screen bug, I can finally 'disengage' some of these damned soldiers...

[Neyvn]

KIKU!!!!
You have failed me you sniveling whimp...

Also if you haven't changed it yet. The name is wrong when Kiku first speaks...

[Iituem]

Whoops!  Fixed.

Part of the reason Kiku failed so badly is his stubborn refusal to train.  I don't know why, Yilmug won't either.  Weirdly, he still does civilian tasks, though.  This is a pain for me, as I decided on a whim to set Zom to do some combat training - but because of the military bug I cannot demob her.  She now refuses to do any civilian duties.  >_<

Gods-damnit, I hope a fix comes out for this next version.


Edit:  Version 31.07 does indeed have a fix for this!  Hooray for the Toady One!

[Iituem]

Oh, this is frustrating.  Looks like we're going to enjoy a tradeless, migrant-less fort here.  Been informed I can't change the entity defs once worldgen's happened, at least as far as visitation rights are concerned.  So we can either keep going like this, or I can do the unthinkable and re-start the entire fort from scratch.  I do at least still have the raws and worldgen info.

I'm putting this one to a vote.