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[Mel_Vixen]

Well the usa are in comparsion to a tribe of 20 utebolds not the best example i think. Also the most european countrys have had good  amaounts of immigrants. Germany (east and west) during the cold war for exsample took many people in to strengthen the workforce etc. 

[Roflcopter5000]

I think the general idea here is not that slavery is silly, because from a purely logical standpoint it's obviously been proven to work, only whether or not it is worth the effort to actually bother raising somebody else's kid just to use them as a slave.
And that is debatable in most human-like scenarios, but keep in mind, kobolds are tiny and weak. They would see dwarves as large, stocky creatures. Getting a breeding pair and then training them from birth would give you hyper-intelligent cattle. Think like humans enslaving ogres, to use a fantasy setting example. As to why goblins snatch dwarves, I don't know. But, they worship demons and gods of slaughter. So, maybe they raise them to kill them ritually at a particular age, and the free labor part of it is just sort of a fringe benefit?

[Dradym]

maybe kobolds need dwarves as part of their reproductive cycle?  as silly as that thought is, it might make more !science! sense.  they "couldve" evolved from the rats that infest dwarf fortresses...before the coming of cats and their powers over dwarves.

brings me to another idea: its a kobold rite of passage to become an adult...like in some cultures, hunting.  afterwards, they feast upon the child, and have a big, old party.

[iceball3]

maybe kobolds need dwarves as part of their reproductive cycle?  as silly as that thought is, it might make more !science! sense.  they "couldve" evolved from the rats that infest dwarf fortresses...before the coming of cats and their powers over dwarves.

brings me to another idea: its a kobold rite of passage to become an adult...like in some cultures, hunting.  afterwards, they feast upon the child, and have a big, old party.

Wait, don't they have cannibalism as a no-no in their ethics?

[DooMJake]

maybe kobolds need dwarves as part of their reproductive cycle?  as silly as that thought is, it might make more !science! sense.  they "couldve" evolved from the rats that infest dwarf fortresses...before the coming of cats and their powers over dwarves.

brings me to another idea: its a kobold rite of passage to become an adult...like in some cultures, hunting.  afterwards, they feast upon the child, and have a big, old party.

So Kobolds are Xenomorphs now?
Wait. Thats interesting can we mod Xenomorphs in? Which the whole Facehugger -> Chestburster -> real alien thing?

[iceball3]

maybe kobolds need dwarves as part of their reproductive cycle?  as silly as that thought is, it might make more !science! sense.  they "couldve" evolved from the rats that infest dwarf fortresses...before the coming of cats and their powers over dwarves.

brings me to another idea: its a kobold rite of passage to become an adult...like in some cultures, hunting.  afterwards, they feast upon the child, and have a big, old party.

So Kobolds are Xenomorphs now?
Wait. Thats interesting can we mod Xenomorphs in? Which the whole Facehugger -> Chestburster -> real alien thing?

Nope.

[therahedwig]

maybe kobolds need dwarves as part of their reproductive cycle?  as silly as that thought is, it might make more !science! sense.  they "couldve" evolved from the rats that infest dwarf fortresses...before the coming of cats and their powers over dwarves.

Uhm, just so you know, kobolds in DF are supossed to be yellow imp-like critters. Not the fluffy snout creature everyone seems to think it is.

EDIT: I'm sorry, brown skin and yellow eyes. And pointy ears. So yeah, sorta Dobby the house-elf from Harry Potter but then with yellow eyes.

[darkflagrance]

maybe kobolds need dwarves as part of their reproductive cycle?  as silly as that thought is, it might make more !science! sense.  they "couldve" evolved from the rats that infest dwarf fortresses...before the coming of cats and their powers over dwarves.

Uhm, just so you know, kobolds in DF are supossed to be yellow imp-like critters. Not the fluffy snout creature everyone seems to think it is.

Hey, a lot of people think of fluffy wamblers as cuddly bunny-like quadrupeds before they check the raws and find out they're somehow humanoid bipeds.

I think the general idea here is not that slavery is silly, because from a purely logical standpoint it's obviously been proven to work, only whether or not it is worth the effort to actually bother raising somebody else's kid just to use them as a slave.
And that is debatable in most human-like scenarios, but keep in mind, kobolds are tiny and weak. They would see dwarves as large, stocky creatures. Getting a breeding pair and then training them from birth would give you hyper-intelligent cattle. Think like humans enslaving ogres, to use a fantasy setting example. As to why goblins snatch dwarves, I don't know. But, they worship demons and gods of slaughter. So, maybe they raise them to kill them ritually at a particular age, and the free labor part of it is just sort of a fringe benefit?

Or maybe they enjoy brainwashing the children of their enemies into learning their dark ways, and then unleashing them back on their former friends and family, to great effect. This is illustrated by a quote I found on the forums:

I found a kidnapped dwarf in Legends mode called Ingish Pillarspeak, who ended up being the sole defender of his adopted goblin civ, killing over two hundred dwarves, including his own mother, father, father in law (he married another kidnapped dwarf, she was killed by dwarves early in the war), brother in law (duelled him five times), several brothers, and a sister.  He was at war with his original dwarven civ from the year 30 to 70, armed with a crossbow and presumably a knife.  He liked to rip off the third toe of his opponents.  Oh, and he ate the dwarves he killed (never his own family, at least).

He was the victor of his final battle against his original dwarven civ, but still (somehow) lost the war.  He joined the new civ and died of old age, wandering the wild.

When I visited the now-dwarven dark fortress he'd defended for so long in Adventure mode, there was a goblin priest in the temple.  Every dwarf I talked to had a relative who'd been killed by Ingish Pillarspeak.

I imagine the war was ended when Ingish was shown his own kill list, and it was explained how many of his own family he'd slain in battle.  I imagine Ingish negotiated amnesty for the goblin priest, who may have been the only other surviving member of his adopted society by then.

Late in his life Ingish began worshipping a rampaging giant he'd seen battle his goblin kidnapper while still a prisoner.  The giant passed through his life kind of like Halley's comet, right at the begining and just before the end.  The list of gods and demons he'd worshipped and the various entities he'd claimed membership in made me sad: he fought so hard for so long, and for what?  His dwarveness, his goblinness, his marriage, his nation, his sense of who his family was and who he had to protect, as it all kept shifting and changing around him.  He was a dwarf constantly in search of something to believe in, and his capacity for belief gave him a terrible power.  If that didn't alienate him from his fellow dwarves, I'm sure the fact he'd personally killed (and occasionally eaten) everyone's grandparents did.

I deleted his whole world after I realized I'd spent 40 hours researching his history in a week that I worked 50 hours, and was still accruing more detail.  When I found out he'd shot and killed his youngest sister I cried.  DF creates epic stories.

[therahedwig]

I know, I don't even mod, but somehow I seem to know what's in the raws better then some modders :|

EDIT: Even better, fluffly wamblers are made from nothing but fluff and pudge.

... Now I'm curious what else we've got in the raws. /goes to check on elves.

EDIT2: If I'm reading those raws right, elves have whiskers AND mustaches/sideburns o_o
... and some have pink hair...

I think it might be a good idea to start a 'dig up weird shit nobody knows about from the raws'-thread.

EDIT3: Nvmd on the whiskers. Dwarves have them noted too.

[darkflagrance]

I know, I don't even mod, but somehow I seem to know what's in the raws better then some modders :|

EDIT: Even better, fluffly wamblers are made from nothing but fluff and pudge.

... Now I'm curious what else we've got in the raws. /goes to check on elves.

EDIT2: If I'm reading those raws right, elves have whiskers AND mustaches/sideburns o_o
... and some have pink hair...

I think it might be a good idea to start a 'dig up weird shit nobody knows about from the raws'-thread.

EDIT3: Nvmd on the whiskers. Dwarves have them noted too.

Don't forget that goblin hair comes in puce and other various synonyms for pink and violet.

[abadidea]

RE kobolds stealing the eggs of other kobold tribes:

All kobolds would share something like 94% of their DNA as identical. Hence, raising another child of the same species is only slightly less beneficial than raising your own child. It's only the individual's "peculiar" features which don't get passed on. Since they are tribal creatures who need a social structure to be viable, cross-tribe gene exchange via eggnapping would reduce inbreeding and increase the viability of groups who succeed in increasing their membership (without going over that the environment and their tech can support of course).

Oh my FSM, are we discussing evolutionary biology in a roguelike? 

And it was a few pages back but I wanted to share my take on elves and wood. I always interpreted them as gathering wood which fell naturally, like the Jains in India will only eat fruit after it has fallen from the tree.

[Mel_Vixen]

hey the cuurent traits, eyecolors etc. are just a start soon ( 4Q2012 to 2Q2013) we can start to breed out dog races including inbreeding inherited deseases etc.

[therahedwig]

Don't forget that goblin hair comes in puce and other various synonyms for pink and violet.

I can see puce.

Spoiler: Mildly disgusting (click to show/hide)

The colour puce became popular in the 17th century and originated in the colour of a flea after it sucked itself full of blood. There was even a grading of the colour that went from 'flea not having drunk much' to 'bloated flea'.

Humans and dwarves have pinks mentioned as well though. Which makes me wonder what is meant with pink. I mean, I don't think it's strawberry blond, is it?

[Armok]

There's nothing inherently wrong with bringing people into your tribe or society

The problem is that if clans were of a size significantly below the optimum they'd simply merge. There has to be a benefit to STEALING an egg rather than having it given voluntarily.

[Rose]

Don't forget that goblin hair comes in puce and other various synonyms for pink and violet.

I can see puce.

Spoiler: Mildly disgusting (click to show/hide)

The colour puce became popular in the 17th century and originated in the colour of a flea after it sucked itself full of blood. There was even a grading of the colour that went from 'flea not having drunk much' to 'bloated flea'.

Humans and dwarves have pinks mentioned as well though. Which makes me wonder what is meant with pink. I mean, I don't think it's strawberry blond, is it?

you can check the raws to see the exact color meant by the words, or use stonesense with version .16 or lower.