Heh.
So... my preparations (which are probably a wee bit excessive) are nearly complete. I whipped up a short background for the character whose viewpoint I will be using for the next four seasons, and as it is at least semi-readable, albeit lengthy, here it be:
Characters:
Kogan Fikodavuz and Goden Adilthum, twin sisters, born in 766
Shem Egenasob, their mother
Kubuk Onoldarud, their father
Kosoth Rigothvir, current mayor and record keeper of Deathgate
Mafol, female marksdwarf
The Ducks, heroes of Deathgate
Kogan had spent her entire life in this hell fortress. Her mother was killed by a demon when she and her twin sister were only four years old. Her twin was a prodigy when it came to wood crafting, and Kogan was jealous of the attention their father gave her.
Over time her rivalry with her sister changed, and they became the closest of friends. They were inseparable. Inseperable, at least, until that day. The fortress in chaos. Screams echoing down the halls. Tears. Blood. Smoke. So much smoke. The smell of burning meat choked the halls.
Looking back on it now, she could remember nothing clearly. Nothing except the burning. And the feeling of loss. As if a great tear had opened within, and a sense that nothing would be right, ever again.
Days, weeks later, when the adults finally stopped running around frantically or drinking themselves into a stupor, she learned the truth. Demons had entered the hell bunker. A massive slaughter had taken place. Some thought the hell-bunker lost, others talked of organizing a warband to drive the demons out, just like they had done in the good old days. Except that half the soldiers had been killed in the initial attack.
As she learned even later, the only reason *anyone* survived was due to the intervention of the Ducks. For years, mad overseer after mad overser had left them to breed. And breed they had. During the chaos of that day, the ducks and geese somehow managed to escape their pens and enter the hellbunker. Presented with fresh morsels, the demons left off pursuing the dwarves into the fortress proper, and the "valiant" defenders were able to block off the passageway.
When Kogan learned that her sister had been in the bunker that day, she begged the adults to save her, but was met only with blank stares and incredulity. Desperate, she found a way into the duck pens, and tried to follow them out of the fortress. And there she stopped. Fire. Flame. Ash. Bones. Tearing. Rending. Ducks wailing. Howling demons. Blackness.
She woke later drenched in sweat, with no memory of the nightmare that held her captive save the fear. The fear that drove her back, through the nests, through the grime and filth, through the halls, through the dimly lit corridors, back to her room. The fear that kept her there until at last hunger and thirst broke its terrible hold.
And so, bereft of her mother and sister, the child Kogan Fikodavuz wandered the halls of Deathgate. Her father still lived, but he grew distant after the loss of her sister.
It took years, but eventually the bunker was reclaimed. The bodies recovered were little more than skeletons by then, but the small, half-sized skeleton could have been no one else. Goden was well and truly dead.
Kogan's father volunteered to join the newly formed AxeCARP squad, while Kogan herself began spending time with the new Mayor, Kosoth, a young and intelligent woman who took the young girl under her wing and taught her to read and write. Gradually she overcame her demons and looked forward to the day when she could participate in the fortress proper, meet dwarves from the mountainhome, perhaps join the militia or craft mighty demonslaying artifacts. Her father began to speak to her again, and they would share the occasional a drink when he came off duty. He had, apparently, become quite enamored with a certain markswarf, by the name of Mafol, coincidentally the same marksdwarf who killed the demon responsible for Goden's death. Kogan wasn't too fond of her, but it was pleasant to see light return to her father's eyes. It reminded her of the old days, before...
But this is Deathgate, not some Elvish Fairy Palace filled with gumdrops and candy icicles. Mafol was killed during a goblin siege later that year. Rather than returning to his previous isolation, Kogan's father to spend even more time with her.
But alas. Alas, for those who dwell on the doorstep of hell.
The goblins came again. Kubuk took up his adamantine battle axe and went forth to meet them. He did not return. No one did. The mayor commanded all entrances to the fort be permanently sealed. No more goblins, no more caravans, no more migrants from the homeland--if any even still lived. Deathgate would survive on its own.
Kogan cried, but not for long. She was almost a dwarf full grown. She had known death and she would know it again. For she was also a dwarf of Deathgate, the Doom-fortress.
She now stood before a small group of her elders, as Mayor Kosoth Rigothvir officially claimed her as her apprentice and adopted sister. For the time being, she would manage the fort's records, and mingle with the populace. Give the mayor someone to discuss decisions with. It was the greatest moment of her life. Being young and full of self-importance, she never thought to ask why.
At the end of the ceremony, the mayor bestowed on her a new name, that of an old leader of Deathgate.
Author
Topic: Deathgate - And We Must Scream (Finished Succession Game) (Read 867013 times)