Bloodline:SL Xvareon Arctic Hellhole/Year206

First off let me apologize for any issues with pictures or story... This is my first time I've ever uploaded any and the first time I've ever dealt with a succession game. I don't even have the pictures uploaded yet, trying to figure that out right now. Issues with file types, won't accept bmp's. I'll deal with it later though.

Text in ( and ) brackets is personal notes rather than parts of the journal, so pay attention.

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1st Granite, 206, Early Spring

What the hell was that? First some lunatic with a crossbow screams at me over and over if I brought wood, then I nearly get brained by a stone-fall trap. They must really be paranoid over here or something. I finally got admitted inside where its at least somewhat warmer than outside, damn glad I finally didn't have to deal with all that sun anymore. I haven't the slightest idea why well over a hundred Dwarves would come to this Armok-forsaken arctic hellhole in the middle of nowhere, and I don't think even they know that much. But for the time being, we must live with it.

I asked for a drink while I look over our reports and stockpile records. We've got plenty of food for now, seems most of the military use crossbows. I reached for my drink... And for a moment there, I thought it was the most watered-down, tasteless booze ever made, but it really WAS water. Is that what we've been drinking down here for six years? That's getting fixed immediately, even if I have to shorten down our number of mouths to feed. I'll take a good look at our infrastructure and workshop placement and the like also, see if anything can be improved. Things aren't too bad, I guess, and we have magma available... But no one seems to have managed to use it on any kind of scale... I mean, most of our military and guards don't have full suits of armor, and most don't even have weapons. And it's been six years. We're going to work on that too.

For safety reasons first thing I did was have a look at the various levers we have... Not one of them have a note on them, no way of telling exactly what they're supposed to do. While I can make some educated guesses I'm gonna test a few of them out to see what they do.

And I nearly got two of our marksdwarves squashed. Some moron built a drawbridge too long and covered what was NOT open space. I'm going to have that fixed too, and consider moving our trade depot further inside because someone obviously put all these ramps here for a reason.

An Elven diplomat showed up earlier. I think he's insane because there isn't a tree for miles around in all directions. Still, if it makes him bring us more wood, what's the harm, right?

5th Granite, 206, Early Spring

Armok help me. The previous rulers of this place built the fortifications wrong. I had to order most of them torn down and rebuilt, but it looks like plenty of dwarves are willing to help. (Fortifications HAVE to sit ON A WALL to provide the extra protection bonus for creatures behind them. If they're on open space the enemy can just shoot through the little crack between them and the wall.) I drafted a few of our more non-essential dwarves as masons, though there's a bit of a joke going around about whether a dwarf that carves ice should be called a mason or a sculpter. No complaints, though, so we'll have those fortifications back in no time. Rather surprisingly, some nobles and even the tax collector showed up to help renovate.

16th Granite, 206, Early Spring

I ordered our dining room to be engraved since I noticed we have plenty of Dwarves who know how. Dodok Amostidos, one of our more skilled engravers, took on the room and began engraving masterpiece after masterpiece in a whirlwind of efficiency. This should really improve things. I knocked out a few more unnecessary walls to streamline traffic in certain areas. Also having our engravers work on the common housing block.

Also today the Elven traders showed up. I guess they now consider us some of their best friends or something for not killing all their precious imaginary trees. Isn't it kind of funny that they go batshit on anyone who cuts down trees but they bring wood themselves in caravans? Oh, well. Won't hear me complaining. People going crazy hoping they brought wood, the aforementioned lunatic and his buddies are on the roof too, hope they don't accidentally shoot them....... Ugh, what am I saying...?

25th Granite, 206, Early Spring

Nine days after they show up they finally manage to get inside. They came while we were just building the new drawbridges so we had to finish those before they'd even get close. Hopefully we can make a deal before they get frustrated and leave.

In other news, the magma that was supposed to make it all the way to our shiny new forges the last overseers built refuses to go any further. Apparently, the pipe was too long and now it's just evaporating. The only thing down there now is puddles of magma, burnt rock and blood gnats. I'm going to have to make the forges alot closer than that. This REALLY pissed off the pump operators who stormed into my office later that evening, demanding I widen the channel, put in floodgates or do whatever it takes to give that magma a leg up. I guess they were pissed 'cause they'd been practicing using pumps for a while now just for that. I told them if they want it widened they should go grab a pick and do it themselves. And who knows? They just might. I'll keep an eye on them, but for now, I'll consider plans for a great forge works, closer to the magma source.

27th Granite, 206, Early Spring

Met with the traders today. They brought quite a bit of wood, though they could have brought more if they had the balls to make some wagons. Ethical works, indeed... We traded off a bunch of finely made stone goods for all their wood, a handful of berries and several bins of cloth. Not a bad deal. A bunch of our Dwarves are being lazy and the drawbridges aren't all done yet so I ordered the military to guard for a while.

Fuck.

I immediately rallied the military. Our man out there somehow managed to dodge getting killed instantly but no telling how long he's going to last. One of our squad captains was asleep so another dwarf took over, damn glad someone else has a take-charge attitude around here.

Never again will I doubt the power of anyone who fights barehanded.

Our military cleaned up the rest of the goblins without too much trouble. I must admit I'm slightly terrified by them. One of them actually carried her baby into battle. Recalled military and everything is fine now--

2nd Slate, 206, Early Spring

DAMMIT!! How did they get so close?! TO ARMS!!

3rd Slate, 206, Mid-Spring

The stupid goblins tried to attack one of our kittens who ran away with a damaged tail, a marksdwarf shot several of them and the Mayor thinks this is a wonderful time to worry about paperwork. The rest of the goblins gave up and ran shortly after with dogs and marksdwarves in hot pursuit. Rigoth showed up, bulled past our men, and caught the last goblin right before he got away and ripped him to shreds. This hellhole must really toughen dwarves up. Hopefully now we can finally relax.

5th Slate, 206, Mid-Spring

Unbelievable. Water somehow found its way into the spot where I'd wanted to put the new forges. I'm pretty sure we've struck an underground aquifer, and now people are going batshit. Ordered doors put into that hall, but I think we might have a flood on our hands. Armok help me. We got one of the doors in in time, the guy hauling the other one dropped it and ran like a kobold once his feet got wet.

10th Slate, 206, Mid-Spring

Here's a general report of our progress so far. Might have to get more food production in but it's stable right now. We aren't drinking water anymore, praise Armok. I've got a lot of work to do yet.

17th Slate, 206, Mid-Spring

Oh, hell no. More... migrants... And LOOK, they brought another useless noble with them. 'Wise Sarvesh something something" the Philosopher. One of our dogs got mauled by a bunch of ice wolves which then chased after a cow... Muxaun and another dwarf ran out to grab the corpse I guess, I sent Rigoth and his team out to fight the wolves and of course Rigoth got there first and mauled them all to death.

19th Slate, 206, Mid-Spring

2 days later and the migrants are STILL coming. They still haven't all got in the fortress yet. Thankfully they brought a miner, axedwarf and a hunter with them, someone who's useful. I'm a bit worried about just how far our food stocks are going to stretch, though... Looks like we'll need to lay in more farms. Either that or get more brewers/cooks in. (Framerate is KILLING me right now, thanks to all these Dwarves... Might have to take measures.)

26th Slate, 206, Mid-Spring

Led Endoktekkud, one of our metalcrafters got a fey mood today and headed for the magma forge. In other news, I noticed our setup for farms and food stockpiles is terribly inefficient right now, so I decided to move our main food stockpile to right above the food workshops instead of where the farms are. Space was being wasted where the farms were concerned as well, so I had a bunch more soil areas excavated and removed stockpiles on the soil (We can't afford to waste space here, people.). Gonna have that prepared for more farms soon, so we won't have to worry as much about food. Oh, and the last of the migrants is finally inside. This brings us up to 161 dwarves. I also had some more beds put in the barracks; We're getting a lot more wounded from sparring accidents than I'd like, and who the hell got the idea to NOT equip the royal guard with armor?

8th Felsite, 206, Late Spring

Things are really starting to get interesting now. Led is still grabbing stuff for her 'mysterious construction', we're clearing out a space to put the new food stockpiles, new farms are being put in, and I've had a catapult built so we can train and get rid of some of this stone in the process. Muxaun is putting up two very nasty looking weapon traps near the gate behind a row of cage traps in case anything gets through. I guess legendary mechanics need a challenge once in a while, but that should help defend pretty well. I've had a roof put over the keep/trade depot to stop our dwarves throwing up on the goods when we head out to trade. Cave adaptation is a bitch. Things are looking good so far, though.

12th Felsite, 206, Late Spring

Led has apparently managed to find everything she needed for this little project of hers. Everything from felsite blocks, silver bars to giant cave spider silk cloth is in there. We'll see what comes out. In the meantime, new farms being laid in, main food stockpile being moved closer.

16th Felsite, 206, Late Spring

And she has created... A toy axe. Wonderful. Now if it were a real one I would have probably given it to Rigoth and had her smash goblin heads with it, but... It IS fairly valuable, I'll admit, though (approximately 78000 dorfbucks! ka-CHING!). In other news, our military is WAY too big. Managing them isn't a problem, but equipping them is. Not enough armor to go around. Plus, without the magma forges we're pretty much stuck. I'll need to fix that soon.

12th Hematite, 206, Early Summer

Lookouts report a goblin siege force just arrived. Looks like they're coming from two ways, most of them have swords and maces, some are unarmed and a couple have bows. I've ordered everyone to get the hell inside so we can lock the fort down. Thankfully they showed up just as I had completed the basic structure of a soon-to-be siege weapon bunker... But we'll see what happens.

HAHAHA!! Success. I had miscounted the number of goblins a bit but no matter. We took a fair number of them prisoner in cage traps in the first wave of lashers, the rest managed to make it to the stone-fall traps and try to get the muskoxes tied out front. Our military burst out of the doors screaming bloody murder and doing the same to them. Their archers, including one elite bowman, heard the noise, ran around the corner -- straight into melee combat with our champions. Needless to say, the battle was quick, and we ripped most of them apart right there on the bridge, but the rest ran off only to be chased down and wiped out by our far faster and superior military.

I count four groups of goblins now. The first one was lashers and wrestlers, which got ripped apart in the first wave. Their archers got killed on the bridge, only a few of that group got away... The master lasher, more lashers and wrestlers got wiped out by our forces, and that leaves the maceman, swordsmen and wrestler group.

CHARRRGE!!

20th Hematite, 206, Early Summer

That group was wiped out without any casualties on our end. I miscounted again and we found a fifth group of goblins; This one is just wrestlers, spearmen and swordsmen. I formed up the rest of the military for one last slaughter, but that group broke and ran for the hills rather than face certain death at the hands of our superior forces. We ran down a few of them but the rest got away. I count five groups of goblins defeated now, and the end of the siege. In an eyeblink, their dreams of conquest were so many dead corpses littering the gates of the Fortress. We have four dead from this attack; Two champions died from the bowmen, and a mason and her baby who were caught outside by the lashers. Damn beasts. We're already preparing funerals for our dead, and I've canceled the alert so we can cleanup all these bodies. We have several prisoners we took from the goblins as well, probably execute them in the magma or something later. I gotta say, though, if our military is this effective unarmed, what will they be like with weapons?

Cleanup underway from the siege. Finally sited a perfect place for the great forge works, just a little bit south of the tombs. I'm going to tap the very bottom of this magma pipe and funnel it northwest to the new forges. Got lucky and hit yet another vein of silver while digging out the site.

12th Galena, 206, Late Summer

The forge works is done, all the smelters and forges are in place. (All that armor you see lying around is goblinite -- unuseable iron armor for melting.) We even smoothed the walls and floor over and are in the process of removing alot of this junk rock. We're just waiting for the magma to arrive through the channel now. I hope it does arrive, rather than just evaporating like the last one did... My design favors a much more direct path, however. I gotta admit I'm surprised how fast we got that job done. We have very skilled miners and stoneworkers in this fort, hellhole though it may be, and we may just make something out of this yet. Drink is still stabilized for now, but we need a lot more barrels than this... Soon as the magma arrives, though, probably start making cheap metal ones. Who needs wood? You don't know where its been.

1st Limestone, 206, Early Autumn

Turn of the season at last. With winter fast approaching, we're digging out a proper barracks and storage area for arms and armor north of the new forges. With drink stocks dropping fast, I've decided to take measures. More food preparation areas being renovated and more dwarves as brewers. We have enough plants but we just don't have enough barrels to put the booze in. The problem is as soon there's an empty barrel someone puts food in it. Going to cut off food production for now and focus on drinks. (Also got a message saying the fortress attracted no migrants this season. Thank Armok.)

10th Limestone, 206, Early Autumn

Armok help us all. A titan was just seen on the outskirts of the fortress today. We'll see what happens, but I've ordered everyone to stay the hell inside for now. Strangely enough, she doesn't seem to be worried about going naked in the middle of a freezing tundra... Tough skin, I suppose.

12th Limestone, 206, Early Autumn

That was almost too easy. The titan went after the muskoxes tied out front and blundered straight into our cage traps; A human diplomat arrived right after that happened, not a moment too soon. I guess he wants to talk about trading and such, humans usually do. Here's hoping he doesn't get scared by the caged titan and run off... Seriously, though, that was just too easy. I'm gonna figure out some use for this one later, maybe cage it in a spot for all to see to demonstrate the power of the Dwarves... Whatever. We'll figure something out. I also need to figure out what to do with these damn goblins. I think I know just the thing, though...

14th Limestone, 206, Early Autumn

ARMOK be PRAISED, the Dwarven caravan arrived today. And they brought wood. LOTS. OF. WOOD, (almost *150* units!!!) and also barrels and piles of food and drink for us. Apparently they also brought animals, but due to the harsh climate, every single one of them died during the journey. Balls. Oh well, we can still butcher the corpses for meat. But seriously, with this kind of wood we should easily be able to recover from this drink shortfall. This fortress is well on its way to becoming something great.

18th Limestone, 206, Early Autumn

Strange accident today. Unib Semorlibash, one of our metalsmiths, died of thirst. I have no idea why, since we still have plenty of booze to go around, and access to a well... In other news, finally decided to execute the stupid goblins. All of them have dirty clothes and narrow, iron armor no one can use. I don't even know why we bother to stockpile this crap, but whatever. We'll melt down the iron weapons and armor into more dwarven implements later. Recalling the issue we had with the magma channel being too long and thus overextending its reach, I had a buffer floodgate installed in the new magma channel to allow it to build up so it can keep moving.

26th Limestone, 206, Early Autumn

Thob Nolethsazir, one of our clothiers began to channel the powers from above today. He's claimed a clothiers shop and began gathering up items. If this is anything like the last time we'll have yet another insanely valuable item on our hands.

3rd Sandstone, 206, Mid-Autumn

(w00t w00t!!!) Today we got a visit from a representative form the mountainhomes, who informed us that Treasurepillar and the surrounding lands have been made a duchy. This raises our fortress to Metropolis status, effective immediately. I'm well past wondering why the nobility wastes time on this fortress; It's completely self-sufficient now, has its own military, burgeoning farms and craft industry, and high population with several prominent noble figures. Apparently we're no longer just a fringe outpost in the middle of nowhere, but a full-fledged mountainhome. Rejoice, and beer all around!

The next day...

Excellent. Looks like I won't have a berserk dwarf on my hands after all. (was a bit worried 'cause he was taking so long to get the items he needed) Second buffer floodgate is in the magma channel, linking it now. Also, just to flaunt our newfound status as a mountainhome, more surface projects are underway. Trying to build a paved road out of aluminum bars, since we have so many of them. We'll see how far I can get before it's time to switch to marble. NOTE: (Because we're now a duchy, we're eligible to receive the King. We have more than enough architectural wealth, but he wants 'road value' and 'offerings' whatever that last part means. If the king doesn't show up in my turn it's up to you guys.)

8th Sandstone, 206, Mid-Autumn

Thob has finished his work. A rope reed chausse, whatever that is. It seems to have an image of a dog bone battle axe on it... Thinking back on it, we do have a dog bone battle axe in this fort. A superiorly well-made one (artifact) someone made a while back, I know it's the same one... But what does sea nettle jellyfish have to do with it? Oh, well. Personal quirks, I guess.

Speaking of that axe, one of Rigoth's team apparently grabbed it earlier and ran out to slaughter Werewolves. Here's hoping he doesn't get ambushed. (Actually, I accidentally gave the axe to him because I was equipping our military with weapons and by random chance, he grabbed the axe. I can't get it off him 'cause dwarves *never* drop artifact equipment, so I'm training him on wild animals rather than fellow dwarves.) I have faith in him, though; The man could probably slaughter an entire troop of goblins all by himself.

22nd Sandstone, 206, Mid-Autumn

Word gets around fast these days. MORE migrants have arrived. Thank Armok we have all that wood for barrels to store food and drink in now. Still, this was only 7 migrants... This brings us up to 166 dwarves.

1st Moonstone, 206, Early Winter

Winter just arrived. Days are colder than usual now, but we've managed to stay warm with hearty booze and plentiful warm clothing. Not to mention all the scrumptious meals coming out of the kitchens. I put the titan in the zoo for all to see and the last of the goblin prisoners has been executed. Here's a look at the road being built outside, also having our marksdwarves on top of the keep for defense. Most of the military is now training with (silver) weapons and our drink stocks have skyrocketed. The magma also hit the next buffer floodgate, getting ever closer to the forges. Exploratory mining has revealed nothing so far but a few veins of cinnabar and cassiterite (tin), as well as a few clusters of gems. Another bit of good fortune today as one of our champions gave birth to a boy. Congratulations to her, and once more, beer all around!

(This happened too. I guess Momuz finally realized that he did have that bronze door he's been wanting since I came into office after all.)

17th Moonstone, 206, Early Winter

Guided by the promise of loot and slaughter, the cruel and rapacious Goblin army advanced on the Fortress. It was not quite the capital of the Mountainhomes yet, but it was nonetheless a very powerful fortress, isolated though it might be. It's name was Idrathobok, Treasurepillar, and it had stood for over six years on the top of a massive glacier, unexpectedly prospering in vast, underground caverns the Dwarves had dug out for themselves. It had played host to several battles, large and small, fought against those who would despoil it. Long has it stood, it's defenders ever vigilant, for any sign of danger. The ice and tundra all around was littered with blood and bones, discarded armor and cruel implements of torture as well as war, as the Goblins always favored. It was said that the Dwarven King himself favored this fortress, both as a strong, prosperous settlement, and a strong reminder of the strength of the Dwarven people, young and old, who have proven that they can survive in even the harshest of conditions, weather the strongest of assaults and produce the finest of wares. Hoping to break their spirit, they marched with evil mien, all gird in frightening garments and spiked armor, onto the glacier. And finally they saw it; A rather plain, small building carved out of ice, sitting on the top of the glacier. Grinning evilly, they raised their weapons for slaughter and charged.

A noise like a thousand screaming madmen split the air. The doors of the fortress burst open, spewing forth Dwarves with gleaming steel armor and white swords, to meet the tide of darkness. The battle erupted in flame and bloodshed. Sword rang against shield, spears shattered like kindling, bolts flew through the air to impale green throats, and hammers sent Goblins flying like rag dolls. So strong were they, the defenders of the fortress, that none of them received a single scratch in the carnage. Even those that had children could still hold their child in one hand, and accurately shoot a crossbow with the other. Blood ran in rivers on the ice, skulls were smashed underfoot like eggshells, until not a single evil creature remained on the field of battle. One group that remained, who had witnessed the carnage, broke and ran for their lives rather than follow them into suicide. It is said that for years beyond counting after that day, that the plains around the Fortress are littered with blood and bones, covered with snow.

Idrathobok, Treasurepillar. Idrathobok, The Field of Bones. Idrathobok, The Eternal Fortress.

-- Xvareon Nirmektun

3rd Obsidian, 206, Late Winter

Interesting. FlyingHurts, one of the former rulers of this place, got what seemed like one of those 'strange moods' people talk about. Seen a few myself, this makes three this year. As I was getting a drink he suddenly ran past us with a strangely blank expression on his face and out the door. Curiously I followed him; He ran into the Jeweler's Workshop, then into the room next into it, grabbed a clear zircon (not even a cut one either), and began working on it. He keeps mumbling the word 'Ecemelis' over, and over... Hope he'll be alright in there. Anyways, dug out a soon-to-be jail block near the new forges and installed a few more cage traps. Work on the roads isn't making very fast progress, but we've got some of it done. The magma has hit the final buffer floodgate before the forges and is building up, soon we'll be able to get our metalwork done. We've used up about the last of the wood for barrels, now have (about 1600 units) plenty of booze to last us through the rest of this year and most of next year.

7th Obsidian, 206, Late Winter

FlyingHurts has finished his work. He took a single rough zircon and cut it perfectly, more beautiful than any jewel I've ever seen in my life.

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Epilogue

Armok curse them all. You remember those stupid pump operators from way back when? Apparently they finally got tired of having nothing to pump and staged something in the nature of a revolt. With most of the military thinking this is a GREAT time to eat, drink or sleep, they caught me while I was going to get a drink, dragged me outside and tossed me onto the ice. They practically chased me all the way across the glacier until they gave up. May goblins wear their skin for a cloak! By insane chance I stumbled upon an escorted conveyance to the Mountainhomes, so I'll probably be staying there for a while until I can figure out some way to return. For rest assured, I will be back. They have not heard the last of Xvareon Nirmektun.

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Well folks, my turn is over. Thanks for taking the time to read my report!

Notes for the next overseer; Very important, the new forges are located 1 Z-level above the very bottom level. 11 magma smelters and 8 magma forges total. Have at it, folks. We have plenty of food and drink for a while now thanks to that HUGE wood influx, but can always use more. Never forget to order wood from the caravans. Most of our military I've equipped with silver weapons now, including guards. Goblin sieges are easy to beat now because they usually only bring one group of bowmen; The second siege I fought I killed off all their melee and their ranged got scared and ran without firing a shot. Try to avoid conflict with enemy bowmen unless you're behind fortifications. That's good advice any day. MAKE SURE you regularly check the new forges. They aren't powered yet, still need magma in there. It's reached the last floodgate, but I wanted to give it some time to build up before I open it. The red lever on the forge floor opens that gate. The current magma level at the end of the channel is now on average 3 to 4. I'll leave when to open it up to you, but make sure you do sometime. Also, check the notes. I laid some information around the fortress mostly on levers but also to denote floors and the like. The new jails I installed need metallic chains, another incentive to get that forge going. The King will need more road value to arrive, about 7500 or so, we have roughly 3 to 4000. Make roads out of expensive materials like silver, aluminum or what have you. Also found out what Offerings are; Offering goods to a caravan for free rather than trading them. Next time the Dwarven caravan arrives, give away 5000 dorfbucks worth of goods to tidy up that third objective.

Anyhoo, that's where we stand. Good luck with the fort now, and I look forward to seeing what you do with it! Here's the end of the year report.