Could someone give me a summary of why Ironblood is awesome?
Nist akath is (IMO) to DF storytelling what flarechannel and undergrotto are to over-the-top fort design.
If it were me writing the blurb, I'd spin it thusly:
Nist akath began as a clenched arsehole bored into an evil tundra, a community fort whose chances of survival were grim at best. After scrabbling in the dirt fighting off skelks and the implacable cold, "Captain" Ironblood is elected mayor, and the settlement begins a turn for the better. Military stability leads to prosperity, prosperity leads to political intrigue, which in turn leads to the enlarged, fortified city becoming a new mountainhome. Towards the end, Captain (the player, not Ironblood) started making alterations to the game data to set up dream sequences to further the story (mention flexibility of the game raws in the cracked article here, perhaps?). In the end, Ironblood and his brother end up foiling a plot by a dark priestess to overthrow the fort and turn it into a demonic portal. After (25? 30? 50?) years, the fort is elevated to primary training ground of the dwarven civilization, and left standing guard over the sealed demonic portal. Ironblood releases a dragon from the menagerie and rides off into demigodhood, purging the world of Titans and megabeasts.
Highlights:
Ironblood beats a hydra to death with an artifact stone cabinet.
Ironblood meets with fortress advisers, while defending against a goblin siege.
Babies drowned in the communal baths. (Ok, maybe leave this out, too dwarfy for the uninitiated)
Political intrigue written from both sides, incompetent, oblivious nobles and the ascended common man.
"Fetch me object for my bedroom. I have no idea what. SURPRISE ME!"
The final battle took place at the top of the Hammer Tower, 15 stories of Armok's will. A Marksdwarf (if memory serves, the same one that, earlier in the story, fell out of a tower during a siege, then limped up to the goblin commander and stabbed him in the neck with an arrow.) dodges around for a few days, bonking the demonic priestess with his wooden crossbow.
Ironblood's tomb was 15 stories tall. If breached, the entire platform would break through into a cistern, encasing the entire tomb in water. Then it released skeletal elk. Then the ceiling collapsed, entombing the whole thing in ice.
Over 4,000 dead skelk!
If memory serves, the story went off and on for almost 3 years, from late 2007 to mid-2010.