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[Mount]

I got a little bored with my "carve a castle out of a mountain" fort, so I'm thinking of another embark to try something stupid and crazy..  I came up with the "capsule colony."  The goal is to create two colonies which are in symbiosis, each requiring the other to function properly.

Rules:
1) The starting Seven must dig in, and are thereafter NEVER allowed on the surface.  Every tile these dwarfs can walk on must be flagged as [DARK] [INDOORS]. These "underdwarfs" are not allowed contact with surface races, and are allowed no animals but those found in the caverns. 
2) Any Migrants must live on the surface, and are not allowed to dig interior caverns.  Every tile these dwarfs can walk on must be flagged as [LIGHT].  This DOES allow digging via d->r or d->h, as long as any excavation they do is open to the sky.
3) Through use of the dump command and holes, it IS allowed to have the underdwarfs trade items with the overdwarfs, and vice versa.  So it's allowed to have the dug-in dwarfs dump rocks out a hole for the surfacers to build with, and for the surfacers to drop plant matter (logs, fruit) into the capsule colony. 
4) All crafting is to be done by the underdwarfs.  This includes cooking and brewing! Overdwarfs are allowed to build workshops for preparation, like a Fishery or a Smelter, and are allowed to build temporary workshops to suit a moody dwarf, but temp workshops are to be deconstructed when the mood is finished.
5) All trade is to be conducted by the overdwarfs.

At your discretion, an airlock may be constructed to allow overdwarfs who have achieved Legendary status to join the capsule colony. Otherwise all underdwarf growth must come by breeding. 

[dwarfhoplite]

you drop things down. Smart! but how do you  bring underdorf items to aboveground?

[Alchemical Engineer]

You could have the surface dwarfs dig out a rock overhang such that the underdwarfs could drop items to the surface.

I think the ground under the overhang will be [DARK], but I would assume such a setup is still within the spirit of the challenge.

[Crustypeanut]

Sounds interesting.. I like the idea of the 'outside give us food, we give them booze' kind of idea.  Though just in case, I'd make my Colony also have their own farms.. never know what disaster (*Cough* Goblinite Storm *Cough*) might befall them.

[HorridOwn4ge]

Sounds interesting.. I like the idea of the 'outside give us food, we give them booze' kind of idea.  Though just in case, I'd make my Colony also have their own farms.. never know what disaster (*Cough* Goblinite Storm *Cough*) might befall them.

Or keep all the workshops who train military things outside and have the outside colony be your army. Then give one of your dwarfs the name God-Emperor.

[Mount]

You could have the surface dwarfs dig out a rock overhang such that the underdwarfs could drop items to the surface.

I think the ground under the overhang will be [DARK], but I would assume such a setup is still within the spirit of the challenge.

The hole from overdwarf to underdwarf, in a line: Single staircase up, to single channeled tile (open to sky), to single "dug" tile (dug by the underdwarfs as they burrowed in.  The "dug" tile is an open hole marked as a garbage dump. Remember, the letter of the challenge is "Every tile the dwarfs can walk on" -- so the hole is a [DARK] location, but the overdwarfs can't walk there because it's a hole (no stairs or ramp).  The dump hole being dark means that the landing site under it is also dark, and fair game for the underdwarfs to walk.  I use a tileset, so I'm not sure what the actual characters would be, but:
Z +2:       Z +1:       Z =0:
..##     ####     ####
...#     ./_.     _/#_
..##     ####     ####
where # is natural stone, . is open space, _ is a walkable tile, and / is a stairway or ramp.  Assume left is "outside" and right is "inside."  I *think* you could also do this after the split, by digging an up-ramp where your landing spot will be under the mountain, then removing the ramp before digging the stone out above it from outside.  The overdwarf digger would be standing on a [LIGHT] tile, but with the hole already there under it, any stone that gets produced from connecting the two paths would automatically fall into the undertown and still leave the necessary tiles [DARK].

The hole from under to over is a tunneled staircase, to a single tunneled tile which breaks through a sheer wall.  A constructed wall and floor (built by the overdwarfs) attach to the sheer wall, leaving a hole through with the underdwarfs can drop goods -- because it's constructed, the tiles it overhangs are [LIGHT] but the underdwarfs can't actually walk on those spaces. 

Z +2:       Z +1:       Z =0:
OO##     OO##     ####
OO##     O._\     __#\
OO##     OO##     ####

where # is natural stone, O is constructed wall or floor, . is open space, _ is walkable ground, and \ is a stairway.  Left is still outside, right is still underground. 

And yeah, the overdwarfs have a standing military, but all of their arms and armor fall out of the mountain.