Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Kipi]

The Holy Fortress of Armok
A.K.A. The Abbey of Ancients

Welcome to The Abbey of Ancients, fortress dedicated on worshiping Armok! This is your new home now, just stay clear of the temples and altars if you are not priest, the rituals may be dangerous to your health!

This community fortress uses my Dwarf Fortress Advanced -mod, version 0.2.0. Lots of new creatures, entities, buildings, plants and other things has been introduced by the mod, for full list check the mod thread. Claim your dwarf and affect the story. We have normal dwarves, simpleton dwarves and holy dwarves available!

The embark location is 4*4 area, and the location has both volcano as well as brook. There are soil, clay and lots of metals available.

Claimed dwarves
Zuglar Steelfloor, holy dwarf, expedition leader - Kipi, not named
CraftlordDark Roarsrough, mason & mechanic - CraftlordDark
Supercharazad Bronzeknives, priest - Supercharazad

[Kipi]

The early spring of year 101

Zuglar Steelfloor gave the order to halt. For a moment he studied the map in his hands, then rolled it and put it in his pocket.

"This is the place. Here we shall build our grand fortress dedicated to Armok."

The other dwarves jumped off the wagon, stretching their limbs to remove the dumbness caused by the long journey and countless hours of sitting in wagon.

The farmer was first to speak, rubbing his legs. "This is it? Where is the volcano we were promised?"

Steelfloor took the map once more, rolled it open and showed it to Galleyscalds. "This is where we are." He pointed a location in the map. "And here, just south and east of us, on the other side of this tall mountain, is the volcano The Stormy Ash." Steelfloor moved his finger to point near their location. "It's not far away, but for safety reasons I chose this location. It's not healthy to establish fortress right next to the crater, we don't know what's living down there."

"That's clear to us. But could you please explain why we are here in the first place? I know my family was paid well but the reason was never given to me."

Steelfloor studied the dwarf who had spoken, Lorbam Swordlaw, the second mason of the group. "Our task here is to build a grand fortress where the cult of Armok, which I'm part of, can practice their religion without the pressure of common folk. You know pretty well that our kingdom has denied any religion to be practiced in mountain home, so if we want to keep worshiping Armok and the lesser gods, we have to find our own place to do so."

"But I'm no member of any cult!"

"None of you are, our cult had no resources to send any other members to this journey so we were forced to hire all of you to make this possible."

Swordlaw pointed the woodworker,  Grandcrystal. "Why did you hire him then? He is simpleton! We don't want simpletons here, they are just a burden to everybody else!"

There was a hint of anger in Steelfloor's voice when he replied. "Do you want to spend your time on cutting all the trees we need? No? I didn't think so. Besides, he voluntered. And that meant more money to spend on the supplies can bring with us. And more supplies means better chance of survival. I also heard that he is rather good carpenter, which is good to us. Barrels and bins are always needed, and so we need a carpenter. Unless you want to take that job as well."

Nobody made any more comments, so it was time to start the project.


Days came and went, and after nearly three weeks since the arrival the project of establishing the entrance was nearly complete. The two miners had removed all the ramps leading to the higher of the mountain near the wagon, and Grandcrystal had begun cutting the trees. He was also assigned to construct a temporal wall around the wagon to shield the wagon and entrance for any aggressive wildlife, though it had took quite long from Steelfloor to explain him how he should do that and especially why. Steelfloor tried to hasten the project as they had spotted a large group of wild dogs near their location. So far the dogs had not came too close, but there was never a sure way of knowing how those would react to the presence of dwarves and their war dogs.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

"I like dogs. They are cute. Can I take one as pet?"

Steelfloor stared upwards in frustration before answering to Grandcrystal. "For Armok's sake, those dogs are wild dogs! They are dangerous! And no, you can not have one of them as pet, none of us knows how to tame wild animals."

"But but, I want a dog!"

"Believe me, you don't want to have wild dog as pet."

"But they have not been aggressive! Why must I build this wall? I want a pet!"

"Here is a deal. When possible I will buy a dog for you from traders. You can have as many dogs as you want, just not one of those wild dogs out there. But before that you must finish this wall. Is that okay to you?"

"I think so. But I remember. You won't lie to me?"

"No, I won't lie to you. You shall have as many dogs as you want from traders. Now please return to the wall."

"Okey dokey! I build a nice wall and earn lots of dogs!"

Steelfloor was relieved. It required a lot of skills to handle simpleton and get him to work. But while he felt a bit frustrated to the situation Steelfloor couldn't but feel sympathy towards the poor dwarf. After all, it was not his fault that he had been born as simpleton.


The location of the new fortress had turned out to be very rich in minerals. Besides of large amount of obsidian everywhere, mostly because of the close proximity of volcano, the mining of the entrance had revealed several veins of gold and numerous clusters of gems. The discovery of gold was not new thing for dwarves as there were few veins even visible in the mountain, as well as at least one vein of iron. Unfortunately there had been no sight of flux stone yet, though Steelfloor decided to worry that later. After all, it was too early to worry about such things as their main concern right now was to secure their location as well as get basic industries to work.

[Kipi]

The late spring of year 101

Even though obsidian was quite valuable type of stone the miners of had grown to hate it already, even though only two months had passed since the arrival. The hate was caused by the difficulty of digging through, as obsidian was quite durable and the skills of miners were not good enough to mine through it without much effort. Due to this problem the establishing of farm took much longer than anticipated, but finally the plot was ready and the first seeds could be planted. Steelfloor considered it to be a good thing that he had placed the farming area in higher priority, as if it had been delayed much more there would probably be a shortage of food. Right now it seemed that they had avoided that problem.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

"Which plants should we grow?"

Steelfloor turned to Galleyscalds, looking at him in confusion. "What do you mean, which plants should we grow? We have only plump helmet spawns with us."

Galleyscalds stared at him in shock. "Are you saying that you didn't buy any other seeds? What about pig tail seeds? Or cave wheat? You surely don't think we shall survive with plump helmet alone?"

"I didn't have enough money to buy any more seeds than what we have. My plan was to trade for the rest, unless you brought your own seeds with you."

"I didn't, but I already regret that. There is nothing glorious in eating only plump helmet! What about the diversity in food? Or did you forget about that?"

"No, I did not forget that. We have more than enough food of different types, and meat should be easily produced as soon as we get hunter here. You have to remember that I paid for this expedition, only small portion of the funds came from the cult, so there were limits on what I could and couldn't get. We have no other seeds and there is nothing I can do to that now, so plump helmets it is and will be for some time. You just should get used to that."

Galleyscalds left to gather the seeds, muttering something about how his skills get wasted in growing plump helmets.


While the miners were working hard inside Steelfloor decided that some of the industries should already be running, masonry and carpentry especially. As there was no place to work inside the workshops were build outside, near the wagon. At least everybody would stay busy, which shouldn't be a bad thing at the moment, as Steelfloor had sensed a small tension rising among the dwarves. Nothing serious yet, everybody was just a bit stressed by the situation.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

One evening, while the dwarves gathered around the wagon for a meal, the miner Furnacetrails turned her attention to Steelfloor.

"I don't think it was good idea to bring a cat with us."

Steelfloor stared at her, not responding.

"Like I said, I don't think it was a good idea. In fact, I think it was a terrible idea. Look around." She waved her hand. "There are vermin corpses everywhere! And that stupid cat gathers them around the wagon! And the remains stink!" She picked up one remain, holding it with her fingers as far from her face as she could while showing it to other. "You see this rat? I don't even want to know where the cat caught this." She threw the rat in the darkness.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Bearpages, one of the two masons, threw small piece of plump helmet towards Furnacetrails. "You won't call my cat stupid. Would you prefer that the rats and other vermins living here would eat our food instead? Better this way I think."

"Your cat? Then it's your responsibility to either teach the cat to haul the remains away or clean those up yourself. Either way is fine, just get rid of the remains."

Bearpages shrugged, making no comment. Steelfloor was almost able to touch the tension lingering around them, so thick it was. The beginning of the fortress hadn't go as smoothed as he had hoped.

Next day Steelfloor designated a small area outside the walls as a place where all refuses should be taken. All refuses that had no further use that is, bones and such should be saved for crafting use. Unfortunate to him everybody else were quite busy with their tasks, so it fell to him to haul all the remains scattered around the wagon to the new refuse pile. And here he had hoped for avoiding any dirty tasks as the leader of this expedition. But as he was the only dwarf without anything better to do the task fell to him.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Kipi]

The summer of year 101

The summer came and the storage for food had been completed. Unfortunately the room was cluttered by stones left by the miners, and there was no place to store those. Still the dwarves were happy to have a safe place to store their precious food and alcohol, a place where no wild creature could get.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

By the end of month Hematite the masons had finished the construction of trading depot. Few dwarves questioned the decision of building it at this point as there was nothing to trade yet, and nobody had any skills of producing crafts for that purpose. Steelfloor told everybody that was better to have the depot ready before any caravan arrives than start the building after and that the problem of lacking crafts should not be worried right now. After all there should be group of migrants coming before the first caravan, and hopefully among those there would be somebody with crafting skills.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

After the miners had completed the food storage and every food and alcohol barrel had been hauled to there it was time to dig out a place to eat. A place for workshops and other storages could wait a bit longer, as it was necessary for keeping the morale up to have a proper place to eat and hang out. While the masons disagreed the decision nobody openly complained about it, and so the miners begun the project of making dining hall bellow the farm and food storage.

In the mean while Steelfloor had ordered the carpenter to produce several wooden cage to be used in traps. He was surprised about how quickly Grandcrystal understood the order and begun to work. The traps would be required to keep any hostile creature out, as the furniture made from obsidian would raise the wealth of the fortress greatly, drawing unwanted attention from hostile creatures. And as nobody knew how to fight, which made it in fact a small miracle that they had survive thus far, the only option was to build traps. And the more traps the better. Weapon traps were out of question at the moment so the only reasonable thing was to use cages.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Half of the summer was behind when the long waited migrant group arrived. Four dwarves with their pets came, led by Atis Bronzeknives, fisherdwarf and member of the cult. With him there was three other dwarves; cook, clothier and soap maker. Steelfloor was waiting them outside the wall. He shook Bronzeknives' hand.

"Welcome brother! We have been waiting for you and your group. How was your journey?"

"No problems during the journey, though the situation in mountain home has gotten worse. While officially we don't exists and thus there is no official hostility towards us there has been unorganized mobs hunting our fellow brothers. It has been difficult times for us, so I expect more migrants coming here sooner or later."

"That's not good. How does the queen react to it?"

"Nothing has been official, so she has cleaner her royal hands from the problem. While the guards are officially trying to keep the peace they usually don't take part in the fight to defend us, they are just observing the situation and protecting the civilians and public property."

"So, we are alone in this fight?"

"Officially no, in reality yes. It's not safe to live in mountain home and belong to the cult anymore."

"That's bad. Now, any crafters among you?"

"Well, one clothier, but I take it that's no use here."

"How about the soap maker? Could he be made to crafter?"

"Perhaps, though he has no skills. But I take it you need a crafter badly, right? Well, I'm sure he will learn while working."

And so the soap maker, Whiptools, was made to stonecrafter. At least he was able to produce something for trading, which was enough for Steelfloor. After all, it was no use to be picky in current situation.


After over two months of work the dining hall was finally ready. It still lacked the doors but otherwise it enough furniture to serve the purpose of meeting place. The miners had already moved to work with the working area, focusing on basic storages and rooms for masons and carpenter.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

By the ending of summer the wealth of The Abbey of Ancients had grown to over 37000 bucks. Most of the wealth was caused by the obsidian furniture and crafts, which could be both blessing and the curse. Blessing in the sense that wealthier fortress would cause other civilizations to send bigger caravans, but wealthier fortress would also bring the attention of evil creatures.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

On the other hand the dwarves felt more secure now, thanks to the traps installed in the entrance of front yard. Three cage traps would not be enough to hold bigger groups out, but at least any thief trying to infiltrate the fortress would be caught immediately.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Kipi]

The autumn of year 101

During the autumn all running industries had been moved to inside. The only storage left outside the entrance was the cage stockpile, as it was considered good idea to have the empty cages close to the traps in case something gets caught. Or at least so Steelfloor thought, it is uncertain if everybody else agreed with him.

The autumn also brought second group of migrants to The Abbey of Ancients, as seven dwarves reached the fortress. Among the dwarves there were no members of the cult, which surprised Steelfloor a bit. Still all dwarves were welcome, even though they did not officially belong to the cult. Most of such dwarves were unofficial supporters, people who had offered shelter or donations for the cult. But due the hard times these supporters were also hunted by angry mobs, and thus were forced to leave their homes.

Most notable dwarves among the migrants were the mason, fisher, fish cleaner and jeweler. All of them were more than welcome to the fortress, as there was always need for skilled dwarves who could contribute to the wealth and happiness of the fortress. From the remaining three dwarves two were ordered to help Galleyscalds in farming, as more dwarves meant that more food would be required. The last remaining dwarf, Wardlash, became the bookkeeper of the fortress as he was the one with most skills in counting.


Next morning after the arrival of migrants Steelfloor summoned the miners to a meeting.

"I have new task for you. You must make two offices on the same level as the dining hall."

Riddlegems scratched her head. "Two? Where do you need two offices?"

"You stupid oaf! I need two offices for me and Wardlash. Or have you forgotten that I promoted him as our bookkeeper?"

"Huh? You did? Never heard of that. Must be because I wasn't present when you did that. Now, what are the requirements?"

"Nothing big, I need you to work other things soon. Two smallish rooms should be enough. Square rooms, mind you, and big enough so that we can fit some furniture in those."

The two dwarves looked each other and departed, leaving Steelfloor alone.


Before the winter the long waited caravan came, accompanied by liaison. Steelfloor traded all the alunite and obsidian crafts for alcohol, cloth and iron anvil. That was all he was able to afford, as there weren't many crafts produced yet and even those were low in quality. After the trade was completed it was time to meet the liaison.

"Steelfloor, I'm happy to see that you have been able to settle here. I bring greetings from the queen, she wishes you luck."

Steelfloor studied the dwarf in front of him carefully before replying. "Wished us luck? You don't want to know where I wish she puts her wishes. All this could have been avoided if she took more active role in the matter of safety in mountain home!"

The liaison looked away ashamed. "I know, but there is not much she can do. Officially the guards are not taking part of the hunt, but that only means they don't act along with the mobs. What they do is let the mob do whatever they want to the cult, turning the blind eye to what's happening."

"So you admit that the queen can't control her subjects?"

"Yes, that's true. But you have to remember, all the soldiers and guards are against the cult, and this is the only way she can ensure that the civil war is not coming."

"But aren't we in civil war already? The mobs are killing our supporters! What else is required before the situation has turned to war?"

"It's true that some of the cultist have been killed during the raids. But officially those raids do not happen, no reports are filed. Everybody acts like nothing had happened. So we are not in civil war yet."

"What's your opinion then? After all, you are dangering your own life when dealing with us."

"My opinion doesn't matter, I do as the queen commands me to do. But you should know that I do not have anything against your religion, so I'm not revealing your location to anybody. So, shall we get to business then?"

It was relief for Steelfloor to know that at least somebody was helping them. The knowing that there would be more caravans gave the hope for survival, perhaps even news from mountain home. But in the mean time the way the queen was dealing the situation worried him, as it never promised good if the ruler looses control of his or her subjects.

[Kipi]

What would be a holy fortress without any temples and altars? Nothing, at least in Steelfloor's opinion. And if The Abbey of Ancients was going to become the sanctuary of the Cult of Armok there must be altars and temples.

"We must have the altars soon. We have neglected the ceremonies too long now."

Bronzeknives regarded the huge chamber the miners had finished earlier that day bellow the dining hall.

"How long has it been since you took part of any ceremony last time?"

Steelfloor shrugged, taking some time before answering.

"The winter just begun, so I have been here around nine months. The journey took two months, so that makes it eleven months. Too long if you ask me. I have already ordered the masons to begin the construction of two altars."

"Altars? Why not temples?"

"We need some sacred stones for the construction. And only way we can get some is by sanctifying. And for that we need altars."

"Ah, alright then. When should the construction begin?"

"Later today, the masons are having break or something, but at least they promised to get on with it today. Usually those breaks last days, perhaps weeks. Fortunately I was able to convince them that this project has high priority."

It took over a month but finally the altars were ready. Steelfloor and Bronzeknives studied the result and finishing the construction by sanctifying the altars, as only priests of Armok could do that. In the end everything was ready.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

"I think we need to have warning sign outside this chamber."

Steelfloor turned to Bronzeknives. It was clear that he had not understood the meaning of what Bronzeknives had said.

"Why? There is no need to hide our ceremonies from others, we are all together in this."

"Have you forgotten what it meant to become the priest of Armok? The blood sacrifice we had to give? That's what made us immune to the side effect of the ceremonies. And not everybody survive the sacrifice, only those who Armok see worthy of his attention. So at this point there is no point of forcing anybody to make the sacrifice, and I think there is nobody who are willing to risk their lives just to become priest."

"Yes, you are right, I totally forgot the blood sacrifice. So, warning sign outside the chamber, stating that while ceremonies are being held it's dangerous to enter this chamber for everybody but the priests?"

"That's what I had in mind, yes."

[davros]

 
This. Looks. Awesome.
The English could use a bit of work, but having a plot as awesome as this renders that kind of objection moot. Also, what are the altars made out of? Are they custom buildings?

[Kipi]

Heh, thanks.

English isn't native language for me, but third (second language I started at school) while Finnish is my native language and Swedish is my first foreign. So I'm full aware of the grammar mistakes and poor phrasing, and that's one reason I'm writing these stories, to make my written English better. 

Altars (and temples) are custom workshops. Altars require two building materials while temples require in addition two sacred stones. Sacred stones are gems which can be produced only in temples and altars, and require one rough gem. All reactions (there are several, like making holy water or blessing iron and steel) produces one piece of cursed stone as well, which will evaporate immediately, resulting poisonous gas which affects everybody else but holy dwarves. Holy dwarves are two special castes, one for male and one for female, to simulate the chosen followers of Armok.

There are also several new noble positions, representing the religious hierarchy.

You could check the mod thread for specific details, but I will answer to any questions you have about the features. The link is in the first post.

[Kipi]

*CLANG*

Steelfloor stared the roof of his bedroom. What was that noise?

*CLANG*

The sound was familiar to him, but he was too dozy to think straight.

*CLANG*

Wait, wasn't that the alarm bell Bearpages had installed few days ago?

*CLANG CLANG CLANG*

The time between the clangs was getting shorter, and finally Steelfloor was sure that he had recognized it as the alarm bell. But who was using it? And more importantly, why? He jumped of from the bed and rushed towards the entrance. Fortunately he had been too tired last night to remove his clothing, so he didn't have to waste time on dressing.

When Steelfloor reached the entrance he saw the reason behind the alarm; several unfamiliar dwarves were standing near the trading depot while more were waiting outside. Bronzeknives was eying them, small hint of suspicion in his face. Before Steelfloor was able to speak one dwarf step forward.

"You are the leader of this fortress, right? My name is Boatsmagics and I'm the leader of this group. We request the permission to join your community."

Steelfloor studied the male dwarf in front of him. Something in the silver eyes made him believe that this dwarf did get what he wanted, the only question was how long it would take.

"Why were you chosen to lead this group?"

Boatsmagics scratched his beard for a moment, considering his words before replying.

"One of the primates in mountain home made me the leader, mostly because my children survived from the blood sacrifice. They belong to Armok now, and as their father I represent the cult in this group. And I think my ability to handle stress didn't make the decision any more difficult."

Steelfloor was staring the man now. Bronzeknives had also ceased moving, clearly focusing on the conversation going on between the two dwarves.

"Your children went through the blood sacrifice? Since when were children allowed to join the cult?"

"For several months before we left, I think the first children joined half a month ago. The primates figured out that the children had better chance of surviving the sacrifice, and the cult really needs more followers."

"Show me the children. I want to see them before making any decisions."

Boatsmagics shouted few words to the dwarves waiting outside, and few moments later there was young boy and girl standing between him and Steelfloor. The girls was a bit over six years old while the boy had barely passed the age of two. So young to make the blood sacrifice. Both of them were clearly frightened, which didn't surprise him at all.

"Alright, you may enter. How many of you are there?"

Boatsmagics begun scratching his beard again.

"Well, at the beginning there was nearly thirty of us. But then we got attacked by group of vampires, around ten dwarves were lost that day. Unfortunately our hunters, Glazeplans and Doorlance, were able to drive them away and the few wounded were healed by the bone doctor Tournourished. So, twenty of us survived, and here we all are."

Steelfloor waved towards Nornzeknives who was still standing at the side, listening the conversation.

"Bronzeknives will show you all the places around here. I also want the list of dwarves who arrived with you in my desk by tomorrow. I also want to discuss with Tournourished later today, I believe he wants to hear the offer I have in mind. Oh, and first thing you may want to do is to get something to eat. We have quite good stockpile of plump helmets and wine stored here. Bronzeknives will show you the way."

The new arrivals gathered around Bronzeknives, who begun leading them towards the food storage. Steelfloor was left alone standing where he was. Two and six, definately too young for the blood sacrifice. The situation had to be very bad back in the mountain home.

[darkflagrance]

I can't wait to see what the actual blood sacrifice requires. Being sealed in a room on top of a repeating spike trap?

Survive the thirteen Armokian Agonies, administered by the high priest in charge of the Blood-Encrusted Holy Lever!

[CraftlordDark]

I will join to this Holy crusade as faithfull a  proficient mason with crazy aspiration to be a mechanic D:

[davros]

Thanks for the explanation. I'll try the mod sometime.

[Supercharazad]

Could I claim Bronzeknife?

[Kipi]

I will join to this Holy crusade as faithfull a  proficient mason with crazy aspiration to be a mechanic D:

You got it!

Spoiler: CraftlordDark Roarsrough (click to show/hide)

Thanks for the explanation. I'll try the mod sometime.

No problems. The mod is still unfinished, and there might be some bugs I haven't discovered yet.

Could I claim Bronzeknife?

Sure!

Spoiler: Supercharazad Bronzeknives (click to show/hide)

[Kipi]

"I see we have finally harnessed the blood of Armok for use."

Bronzeknives, who had lately demanded to be called as Supercharazad, glanced at Steelfloor's way.

"Yes, the miners did a good work with the magma pipes bellow. They even managed to get away without being caught in the burning liquid."

"When should we have our first forges and furnaces running?"

"In weeks or so, though we are lacking workers."

"What about the latest migrants, there were twenty of them? Two children, so that leaves eighteen adults. From that remove two hunters, doctor and the guy I ordered to produce bone bolts, and we have sixteen adults without any work. Any smiths among them?"

Supercharazad shrugged.

"Only one, but she knows how to make both armors and furniture. Then we have one dabbling furnace operator."

"I see. Well, assign five dwarves to help with the smith. Perhaps they will learn thing or two from her. Rest of the unemployed migrants are furnace operators now. I want to have the forges and furnaces to be running before Malachite."

"But Steelfloor, that leaves only one month for us! And we have only one anvil!"

"You should start working immediately then. Like I said, I want the forges and furnaces to be running before the Malachite, and that's it."

The end of Hematite arrived and it was time for Steelfloor to check the situation of forges, after all he had given the deadline for the construction. When he arrived at the site he was met by Supercharazad.

"Greetings brother! You came just in time to see the finishing of the the project. Last forge is almost completed and we can begin the metal production right away."

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

"That's good as we need more weapons, armors and ammunition immediately. It seems that the goblins have taken interest of our fortress, and you know that when they decide to attack someone they will never stop. Either you fall or you destroy the goblins, there is no other way to end their assaults."

"Yes, I heard that few goblins have been spotted near the entrance. What happened to them anyway?"

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

"Our hunters were able to chase them away. But they will return, with friends. So, what's our ore situation?"

Supercharazad took a piece of paper from his pocket, reading it before answering.

"Well, unless you want to have equipment made from gold, the situation could be much better. We don't have much iron ore available, few dozens siderite ores. Then we have some aluminum and galena, from which we can get lead. That's all we have."

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

"Is there any way to get more iron ore? That's not even close to enough."

"I could order the miners to look out for iron veins down bellow, though I can't guarantee anything."

"Do it. We need to get more iron."