User:Aethirshero

Hermitprison

I'm going to be writing a series of journal entries following a human fortress I've started named Motheckathroc, "Hermitprison". The journals are going to be from the perspective of two characters: Arkur Isacañu the hermit, and Mater Energigol the guard officer. The entries will probably be once a game season unless something major happens. I apologize in advance for the infrequency of the updates, but the computer I'm using doesn't run Dwarf Fortress at full speed and it takes me a while to get anything written.

This Fortress is going to be played very similar to the Hermit challenge except that the other six dwarves are going to be left alive. However, the hermit and the others will have little contact and cannot actually meet once he's been locked away. Of the initial seven dwarves: one is the hermit who will be locked up as soon as possible, one is a servant to the guards who will do all the menial labor in the outer fortress, the other five are guards. The hermit will build his own little home inside a mountain while the other six and any migrants that come along will build a Keep outside. One fifth of any migrants will become another servant while the rest become guards. There is a magma pipe somewhere inside the mountain so should be fun, eh.

Introduction

For the past few years, the humans of Behal Thabi (The Kingdom of Courtesy) have prospered thanks in a large part to the genius inventor Arkur Isacañu. However, the nobles have begun to worry about his sanity. People have noticed him rambling on about "chariots of steel" and "metal flying machines". The aforementioned nobles decided that for the sake of public safety, something had to be done. Arkur was too useful to be killed so they sent him far enough away that they were safe, but he could still create helpful inventions. To ensure not only that he remained locked away but also that he stayed alive, the nobles assigned Officer Mater Energigol to accompany him into the wilderness. They were outfitted with some basic supplies and were sent away. Arkur was allowed to settle wherever he wished, so long as it was a good distance away from the nearest human settlement.

The First Spring

Officer Mater Energigol's Log, Spring 35:

We've been following that madman Arkur for weeks now but he's finally picked a spot. He could have picked a nice sunny little spot with some fields and trees but no! He's chosen to live in a bloody mountain which means that we, as his escort, have to live here too. The day we got here it started to pour down rain. Hopefully that servant will have our living quarters up soon so we can at least get out of the rain. I'm sure this assignment is punishment for what I was saying about the nobles in the pub that night... At least they gave me some decent soldiers. First we have Asthi Irumstruslot the swordsman. She's fairly modest and never seems to want to make decisions, preferring to let one of us make it instead. I find that a good quality in a soldier. Second we have Alho Quogubnoloc and Fanu Lebaarat both of whom prefer axes to swords. Both of them are excellent warriors and they follow directions well. Last is Obler Udongelu the marksman. Prior to this assignment, she had no military experience at all. She was a ranger and from what I've heard, a good one too. I'm glad we have her on the team. Otherwise, we would have run into some trouble with a pack of wolves before even arriving here. Oh yeah, I should probably mention Onaf. Onaf Atalralin was assigned to us as servant by the men who sent us on this mission. Apparently, she owed a lot of money and was told that she could accompany us or be sent to prison. She must have been a chef or something before 'cause she knows a lot about coooking and food preparation. Unfortunately she is absolutely horrible at anything else. I question how useful she'll be here.

Well, this is it. We've finally said goodbye to that horrible little man. From the day we left the city, Arkur and I have been butting heads over leadership of this expedition. He contradicted nearly everything I said and refused to follow orders. I sure was glad to see that wall go up between us and him. Of course, we didn't leave him completely alone. An airlock style gate was set up between the wall and the mountainside so that there can be communication between us and him as well as supplies, but he won't be getting much of that. We provided him with some food, drink and seeds and now he's on his own. Strange thing though, he seemed to enjoy being in the mountain. I personally can't stand it. It's too enclosed and dark. I prefer the outdoors with the blue sky overhead and green grass underneath. I guess we'll set up our camp outside the wall so we can make sure he doesn't try escaping.

It's the end of Spring and that blasted servant still hasn't finished our barracks yet. The squad's been grumbling about sleeping on the rocky ground and I'm not too happy about it either. She did get some beds set up though and part of a wall so at least something has been accomplished. I was watching our food supplies and am worried about our consumption rates. If we keep eating at this pace, we'll never last until the caravan. I had the servant build us a small farm for food and later, drink. Obler helped out with this. Apparently, her father owned a farm so she picked up a bit of farming from him. Lately, I've been noticing Obler a lot. She always seems to be near me, but every time I look at her she looks away. I think I'm falling in love...

Arkur Isacañu's journal: It seems the powers that be have finally decided to get rid of me. I'm not surprised. People keep coming to offer me their sympathies. Why don't they understand? I DON'T BELONG HERE! I've never been happy in this city. It's just not...comfortable to me. It's too open and there are too many rules. I've never been one for rules and I don't deal well with authority. They call it exile but I call it freedom. Freedom to continue my experiments and inventions in peace without any interference. I've been doing some research into possible locations and I've found a place that seems to have everything I would need. My sources tell me it contains vast amounts of minerals and valuable stones that I can use in my work as well as an underground water source. I've also heard rumors that there is a pipe of magma running through it which would be invaluable to my research. All that's left is to gather the supplies and meet with the team that will escort me to my new home.

I've finally arrived at what I will from this moment on call my home. The journey here was excruciating. That officer, what was his name... Mater, that's it. Mater and I don't exactly get along. As I said, I don't do well with authority and I feel that rules simply limit people's creativity. Mater feels otherwise and he didn't seem to appreciate the way I refused to obey his orders. He seems to think he's the one in charge of the expedition. If that's the case, why did I get to pick where we went? Anyways, I'm going to start digging my way into the mountain and excavating my living quarters.

I watched the wall go up today and I couldn't help but feel a little sad. These past few weeks I've gotten to know the squad well and have even come to like a few of them. Not Mater of course, still can't stand the man. But the others are alright. This sadness didn't last long though. Once I began mining into the mountain. I can't exactly say why, but being in the mountain feels right to me. Perhaps I'm part Dwarf? No. That can't be the case. Whatever the reason, the tunnels feel more like home than the city ever did. Also, the very first stone I found in the mountain was obsidian! Can you believe the luck? I can only imagine the uses this will have. First things first though, I need to settle my living arrangements. The guard's servant was kind enough to make an extra bed for me, so that's taken care of. I used two chunks of obsidian to make a crude table and chair, I'll make better ones later but these will do for now. I've been exploring into the mountain and found some native aluminum, but I'm worried that I'll damage it if I try to mine it out now so I'm leaving that for later. Eventually food will be a problem. I doubt the squad will share theirs This obsidian's great and all, but you can't grow food in it...