I decided to start a fortress on an island in the north, far away from land, with the starting civilization that only has one stronghold to it's name. The island itself is only 1 region big, and full of aquifers.
With such a setup, it's destined for failure. So like any sane person, I attribute more to the personalities of these dwarves, set them on their way of trying to survive and hopefully break into the underground. So lets look into what these dwarves attempt and revel in the eventual misery they will succumb to, the misery of the almighty Aquifer.
Using version 0.31.08 with my own tileset.
Onul Eddud "The Mirror of Obeying" wasn't a glorious civilization, but one of proud and adventure seeking dwarves. With only one mountain stronghold to their name, they wanted, or rather needed to send out many expeditions across the lands to grow their might.
Almoshcatten was a fine settlement, with plenty room to expand in the small mountain range it inhabits. For that reason, the royals decided to send out dwarves far across the world for the sake of fortune, or legend.
Up in the northern seas lay a lone island, peaceful yet cold. There is no apparent value on the isle itself, but that is in the past. The planning committee decided to set out, making a stronghold on the island not for the sake of physical treasure, but the sake of stories and legends. If successful, it would eventually lead to monetary gain in the far future, and dwarves have all the time in the world to wait.
This is the tale of PlungedPlanks, founded by The Lantern of Merging on island of The Notched Plains
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Once they have landed after months at sea, the expedition went straight for the center of the island and started to go to work, miners digging into the soft soil for a temporary home.
The group consisted of:
Dusty, an avid and professional miner, she prefers to be underground working at expanding settlement.
Edward, a military leader, teacher, who helps out with the initial mining to keep his strength up during the downtime. He is rather unfit for his position due to being easily discouraged and cracking easily under pressure.
Bunjon, the traditional Woodcutter and carpenter. Prefers the boring life of chopping and shaping wood.
Stoney, an average Mason and Stonecrafter. Seems to be calmed by her work, as long as it isn't bound by tradition or changing routines.
Crestorn, a worrying farmer. He has concerns about surviving out in the wild, away from the stable farms of Almoshcatten.
Olaf, the apprentice noble. He is the expedition leader, broker, bookkeeper, and appraiser. This is reflected in his appreciation for art and natural beauty, and his admiration of tradition. Couldn't get more typical of a noble class than him.
Doc, the shaky doctor. His nervousness may be at his knowledge he lacks skill in his field, and probbaly eats more than he should to calm his nerves, but his appreciation for organization should at least prevent medical mix-ups.
After a month, the expedition has finally completed it's initial digging of a temporary underground structure, as they start digging down into the earth.
But tragedy has struck! Upon digging down, Dusty found that deep in the soil was in fact an Aquifer! This could delay construction by months trying to find a way around it, or digging through it!
Normally it could be bypassed by pure brute force, with dwarves powering pumps to pump the water away while the soil is walled off, preventing it from flooding the hole, but without any stone above the aquifer, the expedition may have to end short, or live the filthy lives of a surface/soil dwarf, which isn't a very legendary end at all.
Olaf would have nothing of it, and tried to think of a way through the earth.
After months of planning, Olaf finally figured out a way to get through into raw stone. A brilliant idea only he could have though of, of course. Instead of gradually walling up the edges of a perpetually filling hole, they could wall up the entire hole at once! By creating a reverse pyramid out of the soil, they could drop the soil into a large hole, instantly plugging up the aquifer!
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Topic: PlungedPlanks - Aquifers abound. (Read 1812 times)