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Mayor

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Mayor
Room requirements  
Office Decent Office
Quarters Decent Quarters
Dining room Decent Dining Room
Tomb None
Furniture requirements
Chests 2
Cabinets 1
Weapon racks 1
Armor stands 1
Other
Mandates 1
Demands 2
Arrival conditions
  • 50 population
  • Elected
Function
  • Meet with foreign dignitaries
  • Talk with unhappy citizens
This article is about the current version of DF.
Note that some content may still need to be updated.

A dwarven mayor conducting a "meeting" with some goblin "liaisons".

The mayor is a noble whose job it is to speak with unhappy citizens, and (until a baron is appointed) entertain foreign diplomats. He or she is automatically elected from the most social dwarf, most likely the expedition leader, once the population reaches 50. A new mayor may be elected from time to time as your dwarves' social skills change.

Mayoral nobility

A mayor or expedition leader is required to appoint other nobles. Should your leader suffer an unfortunate accident, you will have to wait for a new leader to be elected before appointing nobles.

Mayors are classy individuals, who require certain living standards in their rooms and furniture. They may demand certain types of furniture in their rooms and will get unhappy if you don't comply. They can mandate the production of certain goods, and receive a happy thought if you comply. If the mandated items are not produced in time, the mayor will receive an unhappy thought and will order the punishment of whoever they consider responsible. Likewise, they can prohibit the export of certain goods instead of mandating their construction, resulting in dwarves being punished for trade violations.

Mayors are not replaced by barons, dukes, or counts. So if your fortress accepts one of the other nobles the mayor will still issue mandates and require quarters.

Mayoral elections

Mayors are elected for one year, elections taking place at exactly 4:00 PM on the 17th day of summer (specifically, 2000 season-ticks after the beginning of the season). If you don't have a mayor, then the election will happen at the beginning of every season, rather than just summer.

When an election happens, it's usually the dwarf with the highest social skills who gets elected. Since children have nothing to do but socialize, they gain lots of social skills which carry over when a child becomes an adult at age 12. Thus, it's not unusual for a 12-year-old to become mayor. Their chief competitors are vampires, who also tend to have high social skills, and tamed gremlins (and other non-working citizens of your fortress), since they cannot be put to work either. The mayor doesn't actually need to be a dwarf, any citizen can be elected.

Miscellaneous

Curiously, a mayor is able to appoint replacements for elected positions, including his own.Bug:2512 If your mayor likes something unpleasant like puzzleboxes, you can simply have him appoint his own replacement. This also creates a historical event, which makes for good statues of dwarves rejecting the old mayor with which to brighten up the new mayor's office. Note that the ex-mayor may periodically win election back into the mayorship.


Appointed
Military Ranks
Elected
Aristocrats
BaronCountDukeMonarch
Other
Unused
Elven