Greeting, all.
I have recently desired to share with you a short overview of a curse that has been placed upon a dynasty of dwarves that runs throughout all of my fortresses.
At the start of each embark, my first miner is always named "Neil Patrick Harris," ye know, after the actor. And, despite my best efforts, he/she ALWAYS ends up meeting some horrid fate (painful death).
In my early forts, it would usually be to my ignorance--designating multiple z-level channeling operations all at once (wherein poor NPH would plummet many z-levels and break upon the lower ones, sometimes dying instantly, others dying later to infection due to lack of hospitals), causing collapses to fling him from ledges, or trying to channel multiple z-level moats (despite trees being present) all at once.
Later it would be due to general mismanagement (dwarves stuck outside during a siege or some such, NPH always being among their numbers).
Now, it seems that the gods themselves are after poor old Neil Patrick Harris' blood. Recently his deaths include tantruming dwarves pulling JUST the right lever to kill him, a dwarven child (gone berserk after the recent deaths of her parents and two sisters) stoving his head in, miracle shots by goblin archers through walls, thieves appearing and stabbing his head in instantly, and starving domestic animals making him dive into crevasses or fort-defenses.
I seem to have no trouble ever keeping my second starting miner (or any other dwarves that I care to keep around) alive, but NPH is the victim of circumstance at EVERY circumstance. It's as if Murphy's law actually worked--but only when applied to murdering Neil Patrick Harris.
Please, fellow overseers, I beseech you, assign the name "Neil Patrick Harris" to your first miner and see if the curse is merely a phantom lurking amongst my computer's hard drive or if it truly is the e-Reaper himself aiming to claim the soul of every NPH ever to walk upon these procedurally-generated earths!