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[FearfulJesuit]

About a year ago, I was finalizing my fortress's defenses, which included a series of drawbridges. During the testing phase, they accidentally carried away my carpenter. I felt kind of bad about that, since it was an entirely preventable death but for my overzealous designation of lever-pulling, and I felt even worse about it a couple weeks later when his wife gave birth to their only son, who will now grow up without a dad. I felt bad enough about it to designate a platinum sarcophagus for him.

I checked just now, and although he has a tomb, his ghost is hanging out where he was killed, which is weird, because he has a tomb...did I atom-smash his corpse into oblivion and, in doing so, create an unmemorializable ghost?

[MonkeyHead]

Engraved slabs are your pal.

[Sphalerite]

Creatures killed by being smashed in bridges don't leave corpses.  With no corpse, the body can't be buried (even though a coffin will be claimed anyway) and you can eventually get a ghost.   Make a rock slab, engrave his name on it, and build it somewhere.

[Broseph Stalin]

Depending on where he is and what type of ghost he is you can turn this bug into a feature. As a professional ghostologist when a ghost stands right where they were killed they aren't usually a problem for anyone. Build a temple around him and fill that temple with the blood of the earth, make that ghost your channel to the spirit world.

[wierd]

But earth blood is particularly caustic to mortal flesh.   Won't this serve to prevent access to the shrieking specteral oracle? I realize that knowledge from beyond can be unsettling to mortal minds, so completely unrestricted flow is a serious hazard, but is magma really the *best* solution? (Yes, I am well aware of its divine properties.)

If only there were a way to contain the hungry and vengeful spirits that return to us.. they would be the ultimate defense force. Sealed in the killing jar, and unable to be destroyed. The fortresses enemies would fall by the thousands!

(Makes notes about research...)

[Reudh]

Have a lot of very angry dwarves die, then memorialise them without burying them.

Have a building destroyer caged there. As a self destruct it would be awesome. Link a lever to the cage. When you want to self destruct, pull the lever. Watch as the building destroyer rampages amongst the slabs.

Watch as angry ghosts come and murder everything.

[ledgekindred]

This thread has got me thinking.  Can ghosts detect ambushes?

If so I might have to start causing some Unfortunate Accidents in key approach areas to my fort.

[Reudh]

I don't think ghosts detect ambushes, but I don't think anyone's done the !!Science!!.

Get someone killed, preferably someone happy.
Forbid their corpse.
Let the ghost appear... and hopefully the ghost will detect an ambush. If not, then we can say that's still !!Science!!.

[FearfulJesuit]

Next version, we'll learn if ghosts can detect crimes...

[krenshala]

Next version, we'll learn if ghosts can detect crimes...

The more important test is whether or not a ghost will report a crime.

[wierd]

Personally, I am rather curious if homocidal ghosts like clowns.......

Imagine... you wall in a small micropopulation in a safety chamber, expose the rest of the fort to a reasonably controlled clown invasion after initiating a tantrum spiral.

Ghosts form in the depths where the clowns are.

Do the ghosts eat the clowns?

[Reudh]

I'm not sure, but ghosts don't function completely as part of your civ. They're not listed as 'friendly', they're attackable but no one obeys orders to attack and they attack your dwarves sometimes.

Homicidal ghosts only go for other dwarves... I think.