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.

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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 lifted a finger to use it yet. 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 fortifiations 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 stones 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.