Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

Relationship

2026-05-23T18:50:52Z

Kloido:

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
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[[File:love_preview.png|right]][[Dwarves]] have '''relationships''' amongst each other. These can be seen in detail by going to the dwarf's [[profile]], and clicking on the relations tab to take you to their relationships screen. Relationships are usually formed by spending time with another dwarf. Often, the strongest relationships are between dwarves from the same [[migrant]] wave, despite time spent with dwarves from other waves. Relationships are important because their presence or absence has an important effect on the dwarf in question. Note that when it comes to familial relationships, the dwarves in question do not have to be in your fortress.

Making and talking to friends gives happy [[thought]]s, while death - of a [[pet]], friend, parent, [[children|child]] or [[marriage|spouse]] - gives unhappy ones. Dwarves in a network of friends and family are happier than otherwise, but are more likely to make [[children]], and will be much harder-hit when a familiar dwarf dies in an [[ambush]] or whatnot. Getting [[ghost|haunted]] by a familiar dwarf produces a strong negative thought as well.

(Note that the relationships screen is mouse-enabled.)

== Types ==
The following is a list of known relationships, listed in the order they appear on the screen (and thus, their importance):
* Kin relationships
**'''Spouse''' - [[Marriage|Married]] dwarves are spouses of one another, and will share a [[bed]]. Heterosexual couples will produce children (the happier the couple, the more [[Marriage|often?]]).
**'''Lover''' - Lovers are basically dwarven pairs; unmarried, but getting there. Dwarves may have multiple lovers (allthough love relationships generated during world gen might count the same lover multiple times and in world gen or world activities a love relationship to a dwarf is usually not removed, when the lover is finally married). Dwarves who are lovers and marriage-compatible (as per their {{token|ORIENTATION|c}} token) and that spend enough time chatting may marry, at which point they will begin using the same bed, and start producing children if belonging to opposite genders. Dwarves who are married do not seem to take lovers while they are still married.
**'''Child''' - Any [[child]]ren that dwarven parents have are the objects of their attention - this includes grown adults, juveniles, and babies. Children are described by their sex and birth order. The relationship is described as: eldest son, second eldest son, eldest daughter, and so on. The child might not necessarily be in the fortress. Even if born as twins, one will be older and one will be younger.
**'''Parent''' - If the dwarf has known parents, they will appear here.
**'''Grandparent''' - Like known parents. They're separated into "paternal" and "maternal". (In listing order, may be mixed with siblings)
**'''Sibling''' - If the dwarf in question has siblings, they will appear here. Like children, they do not necessarily have to be in the fortress. The relationships are described as older brother, younger brother, older sister, and younger sister (creatures with one or more genderless castes, such as the [[ant man]], also may have older/younger siblings). If dwarves share only one parent, they are described as above, but with half- (half-brother, half-sister etc). Even if born as twins, one will count as older than another.
**'''Aunt/Uncle''' - If the dwarf has known aunts or uncles, they will appear here. Often these don't live in the same fortress.
**'''Niece/Nephew''' - If the dwarf has known nieces or nephews, they will appear here. Again, nieces and nephews often don't live in the same fortress.
**'''Cousin''' - If the dwarf has known cousins, they will appear here. Cousins, much like some of the above categories, often don't live in the fortress.
* Spiritual relationships
**'''Deity''' - Ye olde dwarven [[deity|god]]s are the most important non-familial relationships for a dwarf. A dwarf can worship multiple gods, and on rare occasions will not worship any (atheism). Dwarves can have different levels of worship ("ardent", "faithful", "casual", and "dubious"). Note that cursed creatures are ''always'' dubious worshippers of their deities, making this relationship an important sign of a [[vampire]]. A [[temple]] may be designated as a [[location]] from a [[meeting area]]. Worshiping at a temple reduces [[stress]] by a large amount, but not being able to worship causes further stress to develop.
**'''Object of Worship''' - Dwarves tend to worship [[megabeast]]s that have attacked a settlement, most likely out of fear. This relationship is, for now, only aesthetic, and does not change the behavior of the dwarf or the megabeast if the worshipper meets the worshipped.
**'''Force''' - An [[elf]] may worship a [[force|force of nature]], which works the same as worship of a deity.
* Professional relationships
**'''Apprentice''' - [[Scholar]]s, [[performer]]s, and [[necromancer]]s can take apprentices, who they will teach what they know. Apprentices sometimes don't live in the fortress, but one master can have many apprentices.
**'''Master''' - The master to an apprentice. Sometimes migrants and visitors have masters that don't live in the fortress.
**'''Former Master''' - A creature can have more than one former master.
**'''Former Apprentice''' - A creature that once learned from this one.
* Animal relationships
**'''[[Pet]]''' - The dwarf's [[animal]] companion, who they have adopted (or in the case of [[cat]]s, the dwarf was adopted by them). If the pet is a [[grazer]], the owner will periodically feed them, allowing them to roam free without the need of a [[pasture]]. Dwarves can have multiple pets. In [[Legends mode]] pets have a link to their '''owner''', but if certain viewing utilities are used, the relationship list of the pet will have no link to the owner ("Thoughts and preferences" will still have the name of the owner).
**'''Bonded animal''' - [[Animal trainer]]s typically form bonds with the animals they work with over time. The death of a bonded animal causes a bad thought to the trainer.
* Non-kin personal relationships
**'''Kindred spirit''' - A step above close friend, a step below lover.
**'''Companion''' - may be found on adventurers, if you retired them in your retired fortress and then unretire that fortress.
**'''Close friend''' - A close friend, yet neither a kindred spirit nor a lover.
**'''Friend''' - Dwarves that idle near other dwarves and/or have high [[social skill]]s tend to develop [[friend]]s. Making a friend takes some effort on the part of the dwarf, and happens most often within individual waves. [[Personality|Personalities]] play a part as well. Making friends causes a happy thought, as can be expected, and the death of friends causes unhappy ones. Lovers develop from a dwarf's pool of friends.
**'''Grudge''' - [[Grudge]]s are the opposite of friendships, and tend to develop between dwarves of conflicting personality traits. Sometimes, it is possible to have your starting dwarves form grudges even before they arrive at the new fortress location. Making a grudge causes an unhappy thought, but ironically, the death of a grudgee actually causes a bad thought as well.
**'''Friendly Terms''' - More than an acquaintance, less than a friend. This relationship cannot be created during fortress mode between citizens of the fort.
**'''Long-term Acquaintance''' - Long-term acquaintances are dwarves that have had at least 30 conversations with each other, but aren't friends. At [[embark]], the seven starting dwarves will each be either long-term acquaintances or be friends (friends, good friends or kindred spirits) with each other (or in very rare cases have a grudge). Long-term Acquaintance relationships are currently unlikely to form between dwarves in fortress mode.
**'''Passing Acquaintance''' - Passing acquaintances are dwarves that are familiar with one another, but just barely. As long term acquaintances do not produce a bad thought, passing ones do not either. If an acquaintance does not make contact with the dwarf over a time, they will be forgotten, absent from the relationships screen.

''Note:'' Kindred spirits, Close friends and friends in the relationship screen are only sorted by id (ie. all kindred spirits will not appear before the close friends and friends, unless the ids of all kindred spirits are lower). The Long-term acquaintances and passing acquaintances are sorted below the friends (close friends and kindred spirits).

==Non-kin relationships of citizens created in fortress mode==
The non-kin relationships of dwarves created in fortress mode can be lost, if a dwarf has at least 50 non-kin relationships, where bonded animals (and possibly pets) do count towards the limit, also a marriage, which was created in the fortress, does count to the limit (at least if also the romantic relationship was formed during fortress mode). In that case, with the beginning of a new calendar year, all non-kin relationships of that dwarf, that are a passing acquaintance of that dwarf and where no social interaction happened in the last calendar year did happen with the passing acquaintance, are lost. Note that this does not mean that the other dwarf (Urist) also necessarily loses the relationship to that dwarf (Bomrek), as for that Urist also needs to have at least 50 non-kin relationships and consider Bomrek a passing acquaintance. This means that it is now - as of v53.11 - possible that Urist considers Bomrek a close friend, while Urist does not even appear in the relations tab of Bomrek. Also note that grudges are never forgotten (and also disliked and hated dwarves are never forgotten, but the relationship status towards disliked/hated dwarves can possibly be changed to the better).

''Note:'' As currently bonded animals (and possibly pets) do count toward the limit, it might be a good idea to either spread out taming of animals onto multiple dwarves or have someone as an animal trainer with a very high love prospensity (as such dwarves have an easy time to consider someone else a friend), as an animal trainer with ie. 40+ bonded animals (which do never get deleted from the relations screen) might have otherwise a hard time to make new friends.

==Other familial relationships==
Dwarves can have '''Uncles''', '''Aunts''', '''Nieces''', '''Nephews''' and '''Cousins''' listed as relationships. They do not appear to take special interest in the wellbeing of such relations. Migrants with long lists of such "extended family" are typically well-connected historical personalities, but expansive relative lists of this type also commonly appear when children in a fort manage to grow up to adulthood, marry and have children of their own.
As historical personages of special importance, [[monarch]]s frequently immigrate with a large number of distant relatives listed.

==Types of friendships==

In world generation, characters make friendships due to worldgen events, and those friendships may carry over to fortress mode when some of them [[migrate]]. Those are:

* Childhood friendships
* Bonding over [[scholar]]ly interests
* Bonding over art at performances
* Friends from athletic competitions
* War buddies

==Types of grudges==

Like friendships, grudges can also happen during worldgen, and usually pave the way to more general corruption from [[villain]]s. These can spawn from:

* Business rivalries
* Sport competitions
* Abusive rulers
* Religious grievances...Sometimes very specific grudges can happen, such as a [[mummy]] forming one against a [[tomb]] thief.

==Relationship variables==

On top of the existing relationships, there are variables that govern the attitude between two characters. This usually comes up during corruption attempts by [[villain]]s in worldgen (e.g. intimidation is more successful if the target fears the villain already, and flattery works better if the target trusts them) and is especially relevant during interrogations in both fortress and adventure mode. Those variables are:

* Loyalty
* Trust/distrust
* Fear
* Love/hate
* Respect

'''Notes''':
* It seems that in fortress mode normal informal social interactions (discounting tantrums, etc.) have only the love/hate variable (of fortress citizens) modified. The possible increase, while random, seems to depend on the love propensity and even with the trait "is not the type to fall in love or even develop positive feelings" will usually result in an increase of the love variable by 5 for the first few informal social interactions. Higher tiers of the love propensity facet can result in higher increases (which are usually a multiple of 5 for the first few social interactions) per (informal) social interaction.
* Getting into an argument does currently not count as social interaction and also does not influence the above relationship variables in any way, shape or form (and also does not modify the hf_visual entry in info.relationships of the involved history figures). In fact two dwarves, who do not have each other as a relationship (i.e. the other dwarf does not appear in the relations tab) before the argument, will not have the other dwarf in the relations tab after getting into an argument.
* In fortress mode the (initial) trust level is set with the first social interaction between two dwarves (and solely depends on the personality facet tier of trust, with -50,-25,-10,0,10,25 and 50 as trust value from lowest to highest tier), afterwards normal informal social interactions do not change the trust value. For the starting dwarves the trust level is set at embark (and also only depends on the personality facet tier of trust).
* A love value of at least 50 towards another dwarf means that the other dwarf is considered a friend, up to (and including) 74.
* A love value of 75 towards Urist from Bomrek usually means that the other dwarf is considered a close friend, unless Urist only considers Bomrek to be an acquaintance (in which case it will only be friend) and a close friend relationship might begin with a higher value (further details unknown).
* A love value of 100 means the dwarf considers the other a kindred spirit.
* Love values not disivible by 5 have only been seen in the relationships between starting dwarves, or if there was a disparity in the relationship level of two dwarves (i.e., Urist considering Bomrek a close friend, while Bomrek considers Urist only a passing acquaintance).
* The love value seems to increase more slowly the higher the relationship level currently is.
* The above variables are not tracked for family relationships (as social interactions between parent and child and siblings do not create a hf_visual entry (if it is missing) for the histfig (in info.relationships.hf_visual)). For spouses, such an entry only exists if the marriage took place during fortress mode, otherwise the entry does not exist (and will not be created). After a lover relationship is formed (and under the assumption that the lovers do not break up, but will either stay lovers or will marry) the above variables are no longer updated through social interactions (but the meet count is updated until the couple gets married; afterwards the entry is ignored, but does not get deleted – the entry might be updated again if a married couple breaks up).
* Love values between -50 and -74 will display "disliked", between -75 and -99 will display "hated" and -100 will display "pure hate" instead of any other non-kin relationship (provided the other above relationship variables are zero).
* It is currently unclear whether social interactions (or something else) can currently reduce/decrease the value of the love/hate variable of a relationship during fortress mode.

==Night troll relationships==

After abducting someone, a [[night troll]] makes its victim into a '''prisoner''' and becomes an '''imprisoner'''; that relationship may be seen in legends mode, and (if using DFHack) in the thoughts and preferences screen. Then the prisoner and imprisoner become just ordinary spouses, if during worldgen, otherwise (at least in fortmode) the night troll can't convert the prisoner into a proper spouse caste, and so the prisoner is stuck forever.{{verify}}

==Growing relationships==
Over time, dwarves who spend time idling near each other will begin to form friendships and grudges. This happens through 'chats' and the 'socialize' activity.

Two dwarves who are standing on the same or adjacent tiles, may decide to chat if they are idle. Dwarves who are busy eating, drinking, or doing any job, will not chat with one another. This has the amusingly realistic effect that two dwarves who work side by side for years may barely know each other, or even not at all.

As two dwarves accumulate these chats, they will form opinions of each other, based on a 'compatibility' score. Dwarves who like similar things (such as [[elephant]]s), have the same skills (such as two miners), or who have similar personalities can form friendships (if their personality facets permit it). These begin as passing acquaintances, who will then become friends (if the two aren't too incompatible) or form grudges (if the dwarves are too incompatible). Currently, only vastly different [[personality|personalities]] (such as a confident, selfless dwarf vs. a nervous but arrogant one) cause this, as differences in likes or skills don't hurt a dwarf's opinion of another. Changes in a dwarf's skill set can thus cause their opinions of another dwarf to change, potentially removing old grudges. Dwarves who don't chat will lose acquaintances (and friends) over time.

Some personality facets (like love_propensity, emotionally_obsessive and gregariousness) seem to play a big role in how fast (or slow) friendships are formed and could also possibly mean that some dwarves will not ever consider anyone a kindred spirit (unless the dwarfs personality facets change through core memories), regardless of how long (and often) they chat with each other.

Dwarves who are compatible enough, and chat enough, can become lovers (if their personality facets permit it). In order to be eligible for this, a dwarf has to be an adult, not have a too-large age difference (which is currently max(10,min(age_1,age_2)/2), be orientation-compatible, and not be too closely related to their new friend. Lovers who continue to have enough opportunities to chat, and are willing to commit as per their [[orientation]] preferences will eventually get married (if their personality facets permit it).

[[Social skill]]s such as [[broker skills|conversationalist]], [[intimidator]], [[pacifier]], [[comedian]], [[negotiator]], [[flatterer]], [[consoler]], [[persuader]], or [[judge of intent]] play no roles in relationships.

It is possible for two dwarves to have different opinions about each other - for example, Urist can treat Bomrek as a long-term acquainted buddy, while Bomrek counts Urist as a barely recognised person.

===Mechanics===
# Relations are formed the first time a unit is idle or socializing next to another unit*
# When a relationship rank hits 15, a friendship or grudge is formed, depending on compatibility.
# When the rank is around 40, if the units are friends and are romantically inclined, they become lovers. A range of 31-42 has been observed, probably influenced by one or more personality traits.
# When the rank hits 50, and the units are lovers, they can get married.
# Talking to grudges can really spike a unit's stress level (700+ per day), depending on personality.
# Socializing units can increase rank with busy adjacent units if they don't move (tested with pumpstacks, libraries, and temples).

 * - It doesn't look like units begin socializing with same-tile or diagonally adjacent units. Only N,S,E,W adjacent units can start socialization, but, once started, socializing dwarves will include same-tile and diagonal neighbors.
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[[ru:Relationship]]

Human

2024-03-07T14:02:57Z

Kloido:

{{Quality|Exceptional|00:09, 17 February 2023 (UTC)}}
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'''Humans''' are intelligent {{Catlink|Humanoids|humanoid}} [[creatures]] that live in cities on the [[biome#Plains|plains]]. They are one of the main [[civilization]]s of the game, featured in [[fortress mode]] and playable in [[adventurer mode]]. Their buildings are made entirely of [[wood]] (or in the case of towers and castles, [[stone]] or metals like [[copper]]), and usually include several houses and [[shop]]s, and a [[tavern]]. Their metal-working technology specializes in [[bronze]], though they also make use of [[copper]], [[iron]], and [[silver]]. The typical lifespan of a human ranges between 60-120 years.

In fortress mode, they are primarily interested in [[trade]], and generally send large [[caravan]]s in [[Calendar|summer]]. Humans usually bring overworld foodstuffs, [[cloth]], [[leather]], extra-large clothing and bronze items. Trading with them is the safest way to obtain exotic items such as [[two-handed sword]]s, [[whip]]s and [[bow]]s. If their caravans are continuously destroyed or if their [[diplomat]]s are killed, regardless of cause, they will eventually send a [[siege]] force to your fortress. In adventurer mode, their nobles can be found living in castles, and after earning sufficient fame, they can give out challenging quests.

The language they speak is [[Main:Human language|human]]. Some [[Dwarf|dwarves]] [[Preferences|like]] humans for their ''stature''.

[[File:humansprev.png|thumb|400px|center|''Conquest of Mexico: Hernando Cortés destroying his fleet at Vera Cruz, 1519'']]

==Ethics==

In-game, humans have a system of [[ethic]]s similar to real-life humans of past times. Through world generation, humans will almost always become friendly with dwarves, most likely become enemies with [[goblin]]s and [[elf|elves]], and may possibly become enemies with [[kobold]]s and [[animal people]].

The devouring of sapient beings and of dead enemy combatants are the two most horrific crimes to humans, who see them as unthinkable acts; this puts them at odds with both elves and goblins, who are more lenient. Humans routinely use torture to extract information and to set an example, but find torture for sport appalling and shun the torture of animals.

In stark contrast to the ethics of elves, kobolds and animal people, humans find keeping trophies of animals, sapient beings and of other humans perfectly acceptable. Like dwarves, humans find killing animals, enemies and plants acceptable. However, humans can avoid punishment for killing other humans if the killing had been done for good reason, unlike dwarves, who sentence murderers to death regardless of whether they can provide justification. Humans find the killing of neutral beings acceptable so long as there are no repercussions.

Human ethics regarding crime are the same as dwarven ethics (where assault, theft, trespassing and vandalism are seriously punished while some crimes such as breaking oaths and treason are punishable by death) with the one exception being that slavery is considered acceptable. Human [[Personality trait|values]], unlike other races', are randomized in every world generation, so as to fit with the common thought of humans being the most varied and flexible race.

==Community outlook==
[[File:Cleric-Knight-Workman.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Admired for their ''stature''.]]

Out of the five main races in the game, humans tend to be mostly ignored by players, largely due to their friendly disposition meaning you rarely have a reason to fight them unless you go out of your way to provoke them. Because of this, humans are typically treated by the community as being the best friends of the dwarves in almost every scenario, always bringing actually useful trading goods and sharing a dislike for the goblins and elves' savage and unwashed ways.

==Playing as Humans in fortress mode==
===Human Mercenaries/Performers===
If you have a [[tavern]] in your dwarven fortress and you live near a human civilization, humans may visit your fortress. You cannot assign them labours unless they become [[Citizenship|citizens]]. In time, some of them might petition for [[Long-term resident|long-term residency]], either as performers or as mercenaries. As performers, they will remain in your inn and perform music, tell stories and poetry, and provide social interaction for your dwarves. As [[mercenary|mercenaries]], they will have a weapon skill, and can be enlisted in your army and controlled as you would any dwarf. Because humans are larger than dwarves, they can wield weapons that your dwarves cannot, such as [[two-handed sword]]s, [[pike]]s, and [[maul]]s. Unlike dwarves, humans do not suffer from [[cave adaptation]], so human mercenaries may be better suited to fighting outdoors. Turning a dwarven fortress into a human-only fort takes a very long time, because usually two years pass before they apply for citizenship.

===Starting a Human Fortress===
{{mod}}
To start a "Human Town" (or, alternately, an Elven [[forest retreat]], Goblin [[Dark pit|pit]] or Kobold Cave) one need only add the tag [SITE_CONTROLLABLE] to the entity_default.txt file in the /raw/objects folder, under whichever race you wish to play. You should never do this after having already generated a world, as it will not work with an already-generated world. It's also advisable to only have one race playable at a time by removing the [SITE_CONTROLLABLE] tag from all but the race you wish to play, as having multiple playable races forces you to navigate the civilization selection UI in the embark screen (see the characters highlighted on the world map to know what creature the civilisation belongs to). The elves can carry with them many different pets upon embarking, and the races will start with appropriate food and plants (for example, humans have prickle berries instead of plump helmets by default). An important note, you will have NO nobles unless you copy-paste the 'positions' of the Dwarves (Monarch, Chief Medical Dwarf, etc.) to the same place in the entity_default.txt on whichever race you choose to play (Excluding Elves) You may edit the names of these professions/positions however you wish after placement.
Another thing to note is that, when playing as humans in fortress mode, humans are unable to make adamantine wafers, steel or pig iron unless modded to do so. They can, however, work adamantine as cloth, and have access to weaponry too large for dwarves, such as pikes, halberds and long swords.

{{D for Dwarf}}
Fun fact: Though this may be difficult to believe, this article was most likely written by a ''human''.

Some [[Dwarf|dwarves]] [[Preferences|like]] humans for their ''ability to play Dwarf Fortress''.

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