Are you ready to build a tower of epic proportions?
Are you tired of managing miners?
Well, kids, have I ever got the fortress for you.
I generated a world with 100 Z-levels above the sky, to year 56.
The catch?
We're not digging below ground. We're not building with stone- only clay. We can craft with stone, but for construction we can only use clay, and we’re building a tower to the heavens. You want gems? Import 'em. You want iron? Import it. You want mechanisms, rock pots, anything of the sort? Import the stone.
Actually, there is one legitimate reason for digging- a magma pump stack to bring magma up to any forges you might have, or for defense. But the stone generated in the process must be utterly destroyed, and once the magma pump stack is set up you may not set foot below the earth again, ever.
Of course, we have to embark with a bit of a different skill set and supplies. Two woodcutters/carpenters will be supplying our beds and barrels. An herbalist/brewer/grower and a butcher/tanner/cook keep us supplied with booze and meals.
That's where we're embarking. Flat, access to all four races, has a river, has clay.
Here's the people we embarked with:
Äs and Dumed, both competent in woodcutting and carpentry;
Thîkut, a competent stonecrafter;
Solon, skilled in herbalism, and competent in brewing and growing;
Cerol, a competent butcher/tanner and skilled cook;
and a couple of ne'er-do-wells named Tobul and Mörul, who'll do whatever grunt work needs doing. Mörul is a combined broker, bookkeeper and manager; and Tobul is a competent diagnostician.
We embarked, in addition, with:
-two copper battle axes;
-70 booze;
-15 plump helmets;
-5 bags;
-3 ropes;
-45 meat of other sorts;
-two breeding pairs (actually a male and two females) of dogs, cats, sheep and turkeys;
-no anvil; we won't be doing any forging our first year. We'll probably get one from the dwarven caravan...
The name of our encampment? "Burialarmor." Doesn't bode well...
The Diary of Mörul Cryptbalanced, Expedition Leader
1st GraniteI really, really wish I hadn't had that extra glass of sewer brew. I wish I hadn't proceeded to become drunk enough to insult the Mountainhomes' Secretary of Outpost Relations, Bomrek Weaselfriendly. And I really,
really wish I hadn't told him that I was in an intense 3-week summer program at the University of Koganusân which trained ambitious but chronically underemployed dwarves (such as myself) out of the introductory classes in a major in Fortress Management Studies. I was hoping to land myself a cushy desk job on a remote tropical island fortress, where I could work short hours, pour myself long drafts of ale with umbrellas floating in them, and raise a family of dwarflings with my unrequited crush Doren Paddleabbeys. But...it is not to be, for as soon as I revealed that I was in the program...
"Oh, are you?" he said, with an evil glint in his eye.
"THAT'S RIGHT, BITCH."
Two weeks after the completion of the program, I received a note signed, not by the queen, but by the Secretary of Outpost Relations, informing me that I was, immediately, to report to his office, where the son-of-a-bitch told me that an opportunity lay ahead for me!
"Mr. Weaselfriendly, I presume."
"Hey there, buddy, come on in. You struck me as an ambitious young lad when we talked in the Gear and Windmill a few weeks ago," he said, revealing a toothy and malicious grin. "It's a good thing you got to know me, buddy."
Buddy. What was this idiot up to?
"Have I ever got the post for you, guy. You're going to be the expedition leader at a new fortress that's departing in a week. It's going to be called Burialarmor..."
Burialarmor. Doesn't sound promising. I hope to Armok this son-of-a-bitch doesn't put me out in a wilderness with skeletal polar bears.
"...and believe me, fella, a lotta dwarves would pay to have this job. It's in a calm forest, not too hot, never freezing. You run a tight ship for a few years, you come home, you'll have experience, you'll have credentials, you can go land yourself a job as a bookkeeper wherever you like. But, y'know, they don't give those jobs to newbies. So I thought to myself, "Man, this kid's gotta lot of potential, I tell ya." So I petitioned with the queen and jump-started your field experience. You can come back here after a few years, you can marry the girl of your dreams and you can live out the rest of your little dwarf life in a cushy island fortress in the tropics. Whaddya say, buddy?"
"Gosh...you really shouldn't, Mr. Weaselfriendly," I said. And I wasn't lying; he shouldn't have been doing this to me.
"Ah, think nothing of it, dear boy, anything to help out a promising young man. You accept, then?"
"Well...
of course, Mr. Weaselfriendly," I said, putting on my most sycophantic voice.
"Oh, call me Bomrek, fella. There's just one catch, though."
"Oh, I'm sure I can handle it...Bomrek."
"I'm sure you can, Mörul. See, it was commissioned by the potters' guild...so the rule is that you can't dig. You're overseeing the construction of a tower built entirely out of clay."
WHAT?!
I mean, don't get me wrong, I've never touched a pick in my life, except that one time when the Miner's Guild held "Take your kid to work day" and my childless uncle Zas took me out to dig some malachite. I dug out one plot of malachite, and they didn't get any useable ore out of that, so I decided that mining was not for me, a position I've stuck to since. But we're dwarves, dammit, not pansy elves! We live in vast, expansive, amazingly big holes in the ground because we like to. A fortress that isn't dug isn't a fortress at all. Sure, a tower-fortress of pure clay is cool. But I wouldn't want to live there.
"Well...I'm sure I can handle it, Bomrek."
"Excellent, excellent. Meet the rest of the pack at the wood stockpile at 9 on Monday morning with your stuff ready to go."
"Can't I take anyone with me?" I said, thinking of my dear Doren.
"'Fraid not, kid, we've hand-selected the right dwarves for the job."
"And Doren Paddleabbeys isn't one of them?"
"She's a wonderful girl, Mörul, but we only have space for seven and I'm afraid gem cutting isn't important enough in this case to warrant bringing her along."
Shit.
"Thanks, Bomrek."
"Hey, kid, you take care, you hear me? And good luck."
Shit, shit, shit.
Well, nothing to it but to attach a sketch of the surroundings.
It's not that terrible, actually. He wasn't lying- we've got clay and a river, and the weather's pretty nice, as opposed to back home where you're still wearing ≡Polar Bear Fur Parkas≡ at this time of year.
Anyway, nothing to do but build a kiln and have the others start collecting clay. I'll design the kiln- I've always wanted to learn a little architecture on the side, so why not now? They seem to be a pretty decent bunch, actually- skilled and talented dwarves who got on the wrong side of somebody in authority. Actually, I'll make seven kilns, so there can be seven clay-collecting jobs available.
10th GraniteWe just started work on the tower. Actually, we just started work on the main staircase, which is different. It isn't that interesting- just a 3 by 3 column of stairs which can be extended indefinitely.
I'm really glad we packed some cinnabar. It's not going to be impossible for Thîkut to make rock pots to keep our booze in storage, at least. We're not allowed to build with it, though (though I cheated and used it to build the kilns).
30th GraniteEnd of the first month. It hasn't actually been horrible: nice weather, good food and booze and I've made a few friends.
The first four levels above the ground are reserved for the clandestine purposes of future overseers- I for one don't plan to be running this place for over a year- but on the fifth level, I'm placing the food stockpile. It's got both food and food-related workshops on it...when it's finished I'll draw a sketch of it.
24th SlateThat's the food stockpile as it stands now. It isn't even done yet, and I'm almost a sixth of the way done with my term as overseer. I'll try and get it done by the end of the year, definitely. However, I've designated it as a food stockpile anyways, so the lads are already bringing delicious booze up.
4th FelsiteProgress on the stockpile has slowed a little bit, but that's not at all surprising- I had Äs build a carpenter's workshop. I don't want to sleep in the rain again if I can help it. And Solon will get some farming started soon...
1st HematiteWork continues apace.
All will become obvious to the others in due course.
It'll be nice when we get some migrants...Mr. Weaselfriendly promised me that at least two groups of "helpers" would arrive, and more if we were successful.
1st MalachitePraise Armok!
We got Ingish Cloudyattics, who's a fish dissector by nature but also a better appraiser than I am, so he may take over my broker job. Not that we'll have anything to trade; I plan to deconstruct the trade depot on the caravan. A nasty trick, but a necessary one. Kadôl Tuskbasement is a fantastic grower who can also do a bit of metalsmithing. Zon Lashscales is a bone carver with a spot of brewing; Stâkud Dyefair is a spinner; Mosus Tickgolds is a leatherworker; and Lokum Hushwound can do beekeeping and also makes potash and cheese. Useless idiot. They're all assigned to masonry. Kumil Abbeyflash, on the other hand, is a gemsetter who can do brewing. But if they had to send a female jeweler...why not Doren? That brings the population up to 14. Solon Hallidol is off masonry duty; he has farming and plant gathering to do to feed them all. I built more kilns so we can gather more clay. That Zon idiot was taken off masonry duty, too, for a bit to make some stone pots- our other stonecrafter was busy.
I hope to get the food stockpile done by the end of summer. Then we can get to work on defenses.
23rd GalenaIt's been busy but uneventful, and today we got the food stockpile finished, just ahead of schedule.
The design is pretty simple- workshops go inside, not outside, the food stockpile. It's a fairly simple design to expand.
It's really bizarre, I realized. Most projects are made of stone, and so their problem is a shortage of labor. We have that too, but that translates not only into a shortage of construction labor, but also of raw materials. It irks me, actually.
Now, I could build the tower up more. But...I don't actually have any plans to. I mean, yes, obviously future overseers will do so, but I want to get the skeleton of our defenses out. A fortress without a pretty, carved-out space for clothier's workshops is one thing, but a fortress without defenses is another thing.
1st LimestoneAh, autumn!
But no gazing at pretty trees today. We have defenses to construct:
(They're starting the labyrinth around the fortress.)
I'm also building a 5 by 5 square of floor to put a trade depot on on the third floor, which right now is just a staircase. I'm sure future overseers will destroy it to put their own projects there, and I'm fine with that, but right now I just want a place to put a trade depot...
27th LimestoneOur defenses are up-and-coming. Because of the limited amount of space, I'm going to make any would-be invaders...or caravans...come around the settlement, then climb some stairs into a maze on the next Z-level. That'll work...
20th SandstoneSome migrants have arrived!
Kûbuk Woodeninked is a proficient weaponsmith, Rakust Entrancepapers is an adequate animal trainer, and Mosus Archtemples is an adequate plant gatherer. That's it. In other news, I'm trying to figure out how to make space for a drowning chamber on the second level...I wish I'd signed up for that elective in high school with Mr. Alewhispers about fluid mechanics, dammit! Instead I joined my friend Zuntîr and took Introduction to Fish Cleaning at the community college. It was so boring I don't remember anything from it. I think my brain's destroyed all those memories...Oh, right, I flunked out of it.
15th TimberPoor bastards. We're going to steal all their stuff! Ah well, at least we need it, and over the long time I'm sure we'll be profitable. And about time too...we're running low on food. I'll get in capacities to make more soon...
11th MoonstoneSorry, guys. I didn't mean to deconstruct the depot on you- well, I did- but it had to be done. I'm horribly sorry, and I'm glad we could make a trade agreement anyways. AND you were kind enough to take a letter to Doren.
I asked for some stone, of all sorts- not for construction, mind you, just for crafting and mechanisms- as well as some jewels, some extra booze, metal bars and a bit of wood (can't ever have enough). Also asked for some extra animals and plump helmets.
And work on the second level of defense continues as planned:
13th OpalI thought this was a warm climate...
...oh well, it's probably just a cold snap. Should let up in a few days.
I'm already starting to make adjustments to relenquish control of the fortress. Yes, I'll still be expedition leader, but someone else can do the defenses...I'll probably give up power when spring rolls around.
18th OpalYep. Called it. The cold snap let up today and everything thawed. I wonder if that happens every winter here...?
21st ObsidianWinter really has been uneventful.
Here's the labyrinth on the second floor as it stands now:
That big block of floor that isn't connected to anything will be a drowning chamber; it will be a good idea to fill it up and drain it using pumps from the river one level above. You'll notice there's an unexplained hole in the wall-that's simply for ease of access so we don't have to take the long way around like the goblins will. I'm sure my successor will patch it up.
I didn't get as much done as I would like. We're still without any real pasture space, and above the food stockpile there isn't anything...I wanted to put a butcher/tanner/refuse floor right above that and we didn't have time. And we don't have any real industries set up. Probably we'll have to export prepared meals for a while...
28th ObsidianAnd, I'm spent. I had myself renamed so that my successors would know of my deeds. I hope history casts me in a favorable light...
You wanted a successful fortress, Mr. Weaselfriendly? You damn well gonna get it.
1st Granite
Armokspeed.
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Topic: Burialarmor, a clay tower of epic proportions [need players!] (Read 2094 times)