Immortality

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• DF2014:Immortality

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Immortality in Dwarf Fortress refers to any creature that will not die by the result of old age. Immortality can be inherent to a species, or acquired via a variety of different methods. Note that immortal creatures can still be killed by traditional methods.

Inherent Immortality

The following creatures are inherently immortal, and thus will never die of old age in an unmodded game.

• Elves

• Goblins

• Semi-megabeasts, like minotaurs or ettins

• Megabeasts, including dragons and hydras

• All randomized titans and forgotten beasts

All of these creatures lack the [MAXAGE:#:#] tag in their species file, granting them their immortality.

Acquired Immortality

Dwarf Fortress has several methods by which a creature might acquire immortality. Each of these has accompanying effects (that may or may not be desirable), and multiple can effect the same creature. These are:

• Becoming undead. Note that a creature must first die in some way before being able to be raised as a zombie, and that this condition is incompatible with other forms of immortality.

• Becoming a vampire

• Becoming a werebeast

• Becoming a necromancer

These conditions each have their own limitations, which can be found on their respective pages.

In Fortress Mode

Immortality, as it applies to Fortress Mode, is far from necessary. After all, it is a very small percentage of fortresses that last long enough for death by age to become an issue, and your fortress will be most concerned with removing the undying condition of most immortals it will encounter. Still, it can be useful to acquire immortals for your fortress for one purpose or another.

The easiest method, by far, is to receive a vampire in a migrant wave. After you've successfully discerned and separated your vampire, you may now have an immortal meat shield watchdwarf, lever puller, or super-soldier.

Acquiring a werebeast for your fortress is more difficult, and less sustainable, but still with its uses. Werebeasts of the same species will not attack each other, and the condition increases your soldiers' survivability dramatically - all wounds are healed fully upon transformation. Infecting a permanently crippled dwarf may be similarly beneficial. As long as you're careful to keep the infected separate from the rest of your fortress, they can make an excellent asset.

Currently, undead are not a practical choice due to their unending hatred of the living, and necromancers will not join your fortress.

In Adventure Mode

Acquiring immortality in Adventure Mode is a more straightforward task than in Fortress Mode.

To acquire vampirism, one needs simply drink the blood of a (preferably recently-deceased) vampire. To become a necromancer, you must steal and read a a necromancer's tablet, and to become a werebeast, one must be bitten by said werebeast. It is worth noting your adventurer can acquire all three of these conditions simultaneously, and thus be immortal, friendly with undead, not need food or drink, have massively increased physical attributes, be able to raise the dead, and heal all wounds once a month. Details on all of these methods can be found on their respective pages.

Unfortunately, there is currently no way to play your adventurer as a zombie, even if killed by a necromancer, as the game will end upon the player's death.

Notes

• Somewhat counterintuitively, ghosts of deceased dwarves can and will die of old age, and thus are not immortal