The dome is empty.
The long avenues that wind through the fortress are unwalked except by the occasional crundle that finds its way through the labyrinth of mines beneath the fortress. At some point in the past, when prospects were brighter, statues were placed in the streets - statues of traveling dwaves, relating to the founding of Weatherwires in the early spring of 126. Now, in 223, the only dwarves who walk these streets are those of stone and metal, mute witnesses to the fall of the fortress whose founding they commemorate.
Workshops, once crowded with bustling dwarves hauling raw materials and finished goods to and fro, now stand empty. Scores of bedrooms, meant to house the beginnings of a utopian empire, are now frequented only by the ghosts of those who slept there in life. Personal belongings litter hallways and open areas alike, the only evidence that there were once dwarves who lived here at all.
Communal areas have been abandoned. The living still come to the wells under the citadel occasionally, to wipe their feet clean of whatever foul liquid they have stepped in - usually the blood or vomit of their fallen comrades. They know it is only a matter of time before they, too, are sent to join the others in the afterlife. Mafol Boulderchamber, a merchant, is the next to go; scared to death by Ilral Visioncloistered.
There are 15 dwarves left in the fortress. Of those, two-thirds were inducted into the fortress from caravans:
Goden Mawknife, bone carver.
Onol Plaitorbs, stonecrafter.
Alåth Oilycyclone, planter.
Litast Wiremansion, planter.
Dakost Paddlecreeds, planter.
Stâkud Duskbooks, merchant.
Tun Dyefight, merchant.
Mistêm Oilytaut, merchant and legendary engraver.
Solon Townclenched, merchant.
Reg Oiledsacks, merchant.
There are only three dwarves left who were either willing immigrants to the fortress, or descendants thereof.
Bembul Scouredpaints of clan Gearguild - last member of the original clans.
Nomal Biglabors the Lush Convent of Dwelling, legendary warrior.
Èzum Openeddoors the Robust Stoker of Lances, legendary warrior.
And then there are the two Quakedented children who have survived:
Såkzul Freerelics, daughter, age 9.
Atír Helmsseed, son, age 7.