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[S4rab]

I'm not sure if there has been a thread like this before but I liked the idea of it, A thread with what different backgrounds people have created for their forts.

I'll Start mine is just simple and pretty bland but others can be creative,

My group of people are exiles from a clan for trying to uproot the king and have decided to make their own home far away so they can live in peace, and raise their own army to enact their revenge in the years to come.



Lets be creative with these ones

[Kogut]

I see DF world (and I sometimes think like this about other fantasy world) as "The Truman Show"^2 - reality show covering entire planet, directed by  Sufficiently Advanced Aliens (sorry for TVtrope).

EDIT: As result of this post I watched TTS again. Thanks for topic!

[Kestrel]

I see my dwarfs as self-imposed exiles, setting out to create a new Dwarven society, driven by the disgust they felt at the old, decadent Dwarven society.  This also explains their disgust for nobles.

[IcarusOne]

In the middle of a dry rocky wasteland plagued by giant desert scorpions and angry camels, there is a dark gray tower surrounded by an aquifer fed moat. This is saltblock, home of the messianic hammer dwarfs. Surrounding this pretty small rocky wasteland there are two goblin settlements, so military draft is not uncommon, though there is one squad of 10 who exceed above all; they stop sieges without casualties on their own pretty fine. All dwarfs of saltblock have a pure hatred for trolls and goblins, thus we throw them off the same tower they live in the first place.

That is, the military and medical personnel live in the tower, the rest, including nobles, live in the dark caverns below the aquifer, well protected from any outside threat, as long as the traps and military will hold, that is.

(Right when i was typing this another siege has started... and they brough a fire breathing demon, OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY.)

[Urist is dead tome]

For me, its almost always trying to make a fort to gain an upper hand on the goblins or elves.

[Marklar]

I happened to gen a world with dwarf civ dead so I have imagined my current forts background to be something like this:

"In the Age of Myths there was four powerful creatures that tried to dominate the world. One by one the lesser races submitted to slavery, all but one race. The dwarves stood up to the four powers, managed to slay one of them but at a heavy price... The dwarven race was extinct, but their sacrifice was not in vain. The other races were inspired by the dwarven bravery, breaking free from slavery and fighting the now remaining three creatures, ending the Age of Myths.

After this incident began a new age called the Age of Three Powers. Two hundred years passed and the other races forgot the dwarfs, but they didnt know that the dwarves had survived.
This is the legend of the last dwarven mountainhome, Woundtongs of the Towers of Autumn."

I love that random name generator and yes i usually play small or smaller worlds

[Musashi]

At the dawn of civilization, one fort was founded as a haven for the dwarfs seeking to make history, and most importantly, those seeking to put it in pictures. Gorgeous crowns to cry for were made for the royalty by the finest crafters, with materials only ingenious minds could rediscover. Its ambition drove it to be one of the most important trading place to date, with incredibly delicate but filling dishes, clothes marked by important figures (several made by none other than the duke himself), and relics from misunderstood invaders. Those successfully braving the dangers of the badgerkind, greenskins, and random thawing are guaranteed the protection of the most motivated warriors and the sharpest traps.

tl;dr: Mindflag the Eye of Focus is a goddamned tourist traps where we sell you incredibly fattening meals, several brands of tattered socks and mittens, and loot. Seeing how we're at the start of history and we've always been victorious by default, our collective memory is dwarvocentric and short-sighted. I am tired of my 4 artifact crowns. Too many damn idlers. Marksdorfs are doomed, as well as half the military at any given time. Well, at least the traps are working well.

[slink]

In the world that I am currently using, the total Dwarven population is 107.  This is versus 48,466 Elves, 3,452 Goblins, and 41,847 Humans.  The only remaining Dwarven city is in a frozen biome.  Obviously the mission of my party is to found a new center for Dwarven civilization, in a more hospitable environment.   

[Xerillum]

These dwarves convicts criminally insane dwarves were sent to this volcano for one purpose, and one purpose only: Invade the circus, and attempt to build an outpost. Or die trying. In fact, dying in the process would be much preferable.

[bumblepuppy]

I made a post with a similar idea last year: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=66500.0.

My current fort could only have been founded by mad, stark raving mad dwarves -- nearly three quarters of the world is swathed in evil, and they go start up an outpost on a badlands site in its heart. Undead camels invade daily, and as a result the mausoleum is full of bodies of hapless migrants.

[Lytha]

I like to imagine scenarios like "these 7 astronauts are trying to settle on the moon" (frozen wasteland worlds) or "this time, we're a few billion years into the future. The sun is expanding and wiping out all life." (madly scorching worlds). "Crashlanded on an inhospitable island with nothing but an anvil and a metal ore" is another one.

Of course, then the immigrant waves and diplomats and caravans ruin all of the immersion.

[Indricotherium]

My dwarves are actually fulfilling a construction contract for a pair of human adventurers/warlords, building an underground fortress to spec while fending off the nearby goblin kingdom who covets the same site. Unknown to the humans, however, the dwarves will be creating a fortress below the fortress once finished, to ensure the humans, or goblins, will never threaten the mountainhome from here.

In other words, I'm creating an exact replica of the dungeon from D&D module B1: In Search of the Unknown where each 10 foot square is 3x3. As much as possible I'm using the layout as described in the module (the beds where the beds were, the kitchens where the kitchen was, etc...) This fortress is unbelievably non-optimal for pathing and workflow. I'm nearly done with the second, cavern, level. When I'm done I'm going to upload it to the Map Archive. Then I shall strike downwards, evacuating the complex for the 'tenants' to move into.

[Necro910]

I like to imagine scenarios like "these 7 astronauts are trying to settle on the moon" (frozen wasteland worlds) or "this time, we're a few billion years into the future. The sun is expanding and wiping out all life." (madly scorching worlds). "Crashlanded on an inhospitable island with nothing but an anvil and a metal ore" is another one.

Of course, then the immigrant waves and diplomats and caravans ruin all of the immersion.

Space Traders? Post-Apoc Merchants? Traders from another group on the island?

[Mickey Blue]

Depends greatly on where I make my fort:

-Just simple settlers out to make a great kingdom from scratch,

-An invasion force trying to make a safe oases in a haunted forest,

-The last defense holding back the tides of evil (again usually an evil/savage biome near an enemy stronghold),

-Explorers/Scientists out to discover things in a dangerous place (glaciers, desert, etc).


Then sometimes small specific things, like setting up a fishing village next to the sea, or a town entirely within the caverns*, etc. 

The thing I like about DF (Which I've mentioned before) is the immersion.  Really DF is an above average fantasy kingdom simulator with nearly zero graphics and a below average interface.. But what it's managed to do (and I credit its lake of true 'graphics' by any measure really) is force you to picture what everything looks like and is doing and that (for me) creates a grand immersive experience unlike most other games I've played.  A side effect of this is coming up with a (perhaps basic) storyline for them to be living in.

-MB

*Since I discovered how to manipulate the worldgen stuff to create caverns that are large open caves rather then the default tiny little passageways I have thought about making a civilization that lives in the caverns and only allow digging for building materials (basically a rock/metal/gem mine above the caverns), no actual remodeling of the caverns themselves.

[Psieye]

If you look in the community stories subforum, you'll find hundreds of community/succession game threads which have lots of in-depth backstory to roleplay the forts.

As for my forts, I go by "some architect or scholar convinced the king to send some dwarves to build an outpost. They would build up wealth to attract goblins and then create interesting stories out of the invaders to record in the history engravings."