I drew up the muskoxes; the wagon clattered to a stop behind me easily. "You're sure this is the place?" I called back to the wagon.
From inside the wagon, our navigator's head popped up. He looked around the flat expanse of landscape, pocked only by the shimmering heat haze over the magma pit, and nodded. "Yeah, this is the spot the King gave us." Heh. He may not be the sharpest obsidian sword in the weapon rack, but he did have a certain knack for geography. I wasn't sure that I could pick one spot on this endlessly flat plain out from another, but I wasn't going to argue the point.
Instead, I shoved my hands on my hips and glanced around. Weren't much to look at, I told myself. No mountain in sight. Not even a small hill. But there were pools and a river to drink from, and seeds to be gathered. If the humans could do it, then by Armok, so could my band of dwarves.
Not "my" band of dwarves, I corrected myself. So could "we". That was the whole point after all. A land were all the dwarves would be equal. No snotty jewelers here, looking down on the peasants! And what would those jewelers be, even, if they didn't have the peasants hauling all their gems and pigtail trousers and whatnot around for them? No one, that's what! Who hauls the stones? The peasants! Who hauls the wood? The peasants!
I stopped myself from chanting the war cries out loud. The revolt had been put down bloodily, but in the aftermath, some of the peasants had been given exile instead of death, with the chance to prove themselves worthy and rejoin the civilization. Oh, that's what we'll do all right...show them how glorious the future could be if they could just throw off the shackles of tradition...
I slapped the wagon and yelled, "Alright! Let's show them what we're made off, eh? We need stuff to eat, that's for sure, so, those who feel like gathering seeds or fishing should get on to it! Remember, one for all, and all for one!"
Cheerily whistling the war songs, the dwarves jumped out of the wagon and got to work, each according to their own wishes, with no one saying they could only do this job or the other. Utopia, at last. A beautiful day, this founding.
The wagon was quickly disassembled, an easy task as, once no more dwarves were in it, it was quite empty...but the stout dwarves had hope in their hearts, and equality on their minds. "Power to the peasants!" "Any job for any dwarf!" some shouted as they got to work.
OOC: The embarkation area
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/embark.jpg)
The embarking party:
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/embark-dwarves.jpg)
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/embark-equipment.JPG)
Yes, that's right. All the dwarves are unskilled, and *nothing* was bought on the embarkation screen. The entirety of the assets of the group are:
1) 2 Muskox (Tame) (pulled the wagon)
2) 3 Tower Cap logs (from the wagon)
3) Clothing
No blocks. No picks. No axes.
This is playing the Legendary Lands mod. Given the challenge, this may turn out to have been a mistake. We'll see.
The rules:
1) All dwarves will have the same set of jobs enabled (save mining and woodcutting, being exclusive to eachother). (Despite the slogan, not necessarily all jobs -- hunting is not going to be turned on initially, for instance.)
2) Of the migrants (if we get that far...), only peasants will be accepted. All others will be...dealt with.
3) No personal rooms, offices, or dining rooms. This means no bookkeeper or manager, effectively.
I'm not sure yet what to do about military; if the fort lasts long enough, eventually someone will turn elite and then refuse to do more work...but maybe that problem will solve itself down the line.
1st Granite: We have arrived. The place is flat, but alive. There are seeds to be gathered and ponds to be fished. Legolord tells stories of creatures of flame that inhabit the volcanos; we decide to settle on the other side of the brook from the open magma vent.
There is much to be done, but at the same time, little to do. The wagon is broken into pieces of wood, which are carried to our founding site. That is the extent of our supplies. Some area is set aside for farming, but we have no seeds yet; gathering plants is the second thing to do.
I didn't get a lot of time to talk with my companions on the trip here -- I was elected to lead the oxen pulling the wagon -- but now we have plenty of time to converse...
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/profiles.jpg)
(OOC: All labors turned on except for hunting, fishing, and mining.)
5th Granite: It didn't take long for us to set up.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/our-little-slice-of-utopia.jpg)
18th Granite: After two weeks, we have stopped gathering plants. Our labor over those two weeks has given us...two whip vine, one sliver barb, and one prickle berry. Out of those, the prickle berry is all that is edible.
Not an auspicious beginning, but we shall persevere. Across the brook, I have seen with my own eyes creatures of fire shambling around the magma pipe. Legolord was right. Luckily, they have shown no interest in us. So far. And despite the terrifying tales that we were taunted with as we were exiled to this land, the only other wildlife to be found so far are horses. Safe enough.
With the poor results of our plant gathering, the commune has decided to allow fishing. Almost immediately, we all sit down to fish, ignoring other chores, such as putting up the fishery.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/they-love-to-fish.jpg)
Sigh.
After only half a year of work, I feel that all of my comrades and I have become more than dabbling at gathering plants. Were we to return to the Mountainhome, we could likely gain entrance into the Farmer's Guild.
But we shall do no such thing, for to do that would doom us to gathering plants for the rest of our lives. Who wants that, when one can be a free dwarf, free to choose their labor 'till the end of days? Down with the guilds! Up with the common dwarf!
8th Timber: You know, all this time we've been spending sitting around the fishing hole, telling stories, just passing the time...I've really gotten to know my comrades.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/profiles2.jpg)
And now that I know them better, Legolord is kind of cute. Sitting next to him makes the days pass faster...
16th Timber: SUCCESS!
Only nine months into the expedition, and I have crafted our very first barrel of alcohol: whip vine wine! Yes, there's not enough for everyone to get a drink, but when the barrel is empty, we shall simply make more! ALCOHOL! It is like a little piece of the Mountainhome has found its way to our humble establishment. Surely, this is a good omen of things to come!
19th Moonstone: After the last of the whip vine whine was drunk, Legolord tried his hand at brewing, giving us our first barrel of gutter cruor! I've heard stories about fortresses where it's dwarven wine all day, in and out, but not here -- we have a bountiful selection of crops to brew into drinks!
(Although I will say that gutter cruor is appropriately named. But I won't tell that to Legolord; he's so proud of his creation)
Now it's time to make use of our magma glass furnace. We have sand -- it's everywhere. We just need a bag. But we have no cloth, nor leather. This will have to be rectified. One of our comrades suggested slaughtering an animal for its leather, an idea that was heartily approved by the commune. Legolord and I were picked to go out and kill it.
5th Opal: Our plan to butcher a swan to make a leather bag hits a snag: the swan is swimming in the lake, and we have no way to get in or out of it. The only other wildlife on the map are the magma creatures.
Just then, my musings are interrupted by the chompings of the muskox, chewing cud. There's a lot of leather on a muskox, isn't there? I mean, when you get right down to it. But the commune wants the muskox to breed. None of us are able to tell when a muskox is pregnant, so it's a wait and see game at this point. Looks like the glassworks will have to wait.
7th Opal: Mook points out that both of the muskox are, in fact, male. The commune immediately approves designating one for slaughter.
22nd Opal: I wake up from my nap in the dirt to the sounds of screaming and panic, the likes of which I hadn't heard since the riots. Half groggy from the sleep, I cast about for the dwarven soldiers who have to come to strike us down. But, no, that's not it; there are no dwarven soldiers here. It's far worse.
THE WORLD IS ON FIRE.
Literally, across the brook from us, the entire landscape burns with hungry flame, the fires consuming all in their path...AND THERE GOES LEGOLORD STRAIGHT TOWARDS IT!
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/hey-guys-whats-going-on-over-here.jpg)
"Legolord," I shout in fear, "What in the bloody bowels of Armok are you doing?" But he's too far away to hear, running straight into a sheet of flame. And in the flame, I can make out a shape made of fire. One of the creatures from the volcano. As I see it, it sees Legolord, and points at him.
I scream my throat raw telling him to run away, but it's not until I refer to him as "soldier" that he actually seems to listen, turning and running back towards the brook. Just as he does so, a ball of fire streaks from the conflagration straight at Legolord. My heart leaps into my throat, but he miraculously dodges the fireball, unhurt.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/legolord-dodges-a-fireball.jpg)
Another fireball arcs towards him, the blast of its impact knocking him off his feet...but he makes it back to our encampment with only minor wounds.
The fire maiden, thank Armok, does not follow him, but instead just...disappears, leaving the fire to burn unchecked. I give silent thanks to Armok for leaving us alive yet again. I have just enough time to take all this in when there's more screaming: Mook is now crossing the brook, running pell-mell towards the burning wastes, despite our comrade's pleas for him to stop.
Flint, who has sharper eyes than me by far, figures it out, and yells, "Mook! Mook! Those swan bones? NOT WORTH IT!" He turns around to address the rest of us and adds, "Hey, anything in that fire? Let's try *not* running in to get it, shall we?"
Solemnly, we agree. Mook returns, looking just a little shamefaced, as does Legolord, as we watch the fire burn its way right up to the brook. A round of congratulations goes out to Legolord for suggesting we settle on this side of the brook, else we would all be broiled alive.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/thank-armok-for-that-river.jpg)
The best we can figure is, that after we gave up on trying to catch the swan, and went ahead and butchered the muskox, the swan actually left its little pool, but wandered too near the flame maiden, who started the whole matter.
Boy, the elves are going to be *pissed*.
24th Opal: We now have a bag, made from the muskox's skin, but suddenly no one's really that interested in walking over to the magma forge to make some green glass, so the bag sits, full of sand, on the ground, while the glass furnace taunts us in the distance.
Mook has floated an interesting idea before the commune, though. Mook has suggested that instead of making crafts to trade with out of our supply of fish bones, we could instead fashion crude crossbows and bolts, and perhaps either destroy the fire creatures, or, at the very least, make far better hunters than we are now. The commune agrees to implement this plan.
2nd Obsidian: The flame maiden stalks us from afar. Inaluct says that it can fly high into the sky, so that it seems to appear out of thin air. We dwarves are not used to raising our heads so high to see something above us, but now we watch the skies in fear. You never know when it could be nearby...we all wish fervently that it would go back into the volcano and leave us be.
4th Obsidian: Inaluct started to run off into the ashy remains from the fire. Martian tackled him and held him down as he babbled to himself. Finally, Martian got him to calm down, and he tells us that he saw buffalo burning in the fires, and wanted their meat.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/buffalo-burgers.jpg)
We sniff the air; now that Inaluct mentions it, we can all smell the wonderful scent of cooked buffalo barbecuing. Nearly as one, we run to claim the corpses...but skid to a halt as the flame maiden interposes itself between us and the buffalo.
Tail between our legs, we scamper to the safety of our brook, mouths watering as he watch the meat char and burn in the distance.
Ratepe mutters some comment under her breath about "making that bitch pay."
With the flame maiden so close, we dare not fish, so instead spend the time conversing, telling stories, and keeping watch, huddled in our little corner. Going for a drink in the brook is unavoidable, but dangerous. This is no longer so fun.
5th Obsidian: Harpies have also been spotted. Aside from the volcano creatures, these are the first dangerous monsters we've seen. Luckily, there's a huge fire between us and them, and it looks like they'll be cooked to a crisp soon enough without us having to do a thing about it.
I have prepared roasts from the remains of the muskox, but the commune has declared that the roasts will be kept safe to be traded for supplies, so we are now taunted by more meat that we cannot enjoy.
6th Obsidian: Turns out harpies can also fly. Like, over the fire. Who knew?
7th Obsidian: The harpies and flame maiden seem to be circling eachother.
8th Obsidian: With all of this free time on our hands, we grow bored, restless, staring at the brook we want to fish from but dare not get close to. However, not all of us have been idle; Martian has crafted our first crossbow, made out of turtle bone. I applaud her initiative. Now, we just need some bolts to go with it...
11th Obsidian: The fire has swept the last vestige of life on the other side of the brook away, and has burned itself out in the process, leaving only ashy remains. Just as the very last of the fire dwindles to embers, it begins to rain. Now even the gods are getting in on making mockery of us. The flame maiden seems unaffected by the rain, to our dismay.
I think about returning to the Mountainhomes, were I couldn't fish and gather plants, but didn't have to sleep in the mud, enduring the rain, or eat food off the ground. Why, we're no better than elves, living out here.
13th Obsidian: The flame maiden has killed both of the harpies, moving far to the north to do so. We watch eachother, so that none feel tempted to make a break for it and claim the harpies' corpses, along with the flame maiden's attention. But with the maiden so far away, we feel it is safe to resume our fishing. Getting back to work lets me put unpleasant thoughts out of my mind.
17th Obsidian: The flame maiden shows no signs of moving from the far north. Mook streaks over to the magma glass furnace to try to fashion a green glass block from the sand, but is scared off by a fire imp. Idiot leaves the bag of sand there; Ratepe has to trek over near the volcano to retrieve it.
26th Obsidian: Legolord is the first of our band to become novice in two skills: Herbalist and Grower! I'm so excited for him, that I would make him some wine, but we have no plump helmets. He'll have to content himself with this turtle bone amulet. It's not much, but it's all I have to give him.
27th Obsidian: The commune has taken ownership of the turtle bone amulet, stating that everything here belongs to us all. I wander off to stand by the lone remaining muskox, not knowing what else to do.
1st Granite: Spring. Some grass is reappearing amongst the ashes on the other side of the brook. The flame maiden hasn't moved away from the harpies' bodies, and still remains nearby the dead buffalo, so that we can't even fetch their rotting bones. Boar have wandered into the area; Flint tries to take bets as to how long it'll take before the flame maiden makes them into boar-be-que, but we have no money to gamble with, and the commune owns all the items, so...we merely watch. Fish, eat, drink, sleep, and watch.
9th Granite: More boar! Near us! The commune is a frenzy of activity as we prepare to hunt! The thought of fresh meat gives us energy that we haven't had for months. Not only do we dream of meat and leather, but we all know without being told that we must kill the boars before the flame maiden comes to kill them, and us with them.
11th Granite: The hunt was unsuccessful in killing boar, but it did drive them away from our area. We are too slow to outrun the boar, and Flint with Martian's crossbow was too poor a shot to wound any. The poor results of our showing seem to leave us unhappier than we were before the boar appeared.
The fire maiden continues to hover nearby. At this rate, the elves will show up and get incinerated by that thing.
16th Granite: Mook was wrong. Both the muskox weren't male; they were both *female*. The remaining one has just given birth. We rejoice, and can only speculate it was the dwarven caravan's animals that did it. Inaluct has to go and point out that, had we not slaughtered the other muskox, we might even have more calves now, which dampens the feeling.
4th Slate: I couldn't take it anymore, sitting at the fishing hole, so I went to try to make a glass block. I had barely stepped foot into the glass furnace when I saw a form rising out of the lava. I ran as fast as I could, but got thrown by the force of one of those fireballs. Luckily, the creature didn't pursue, and I managed to limp back to the encampment, where I sit unhappily.
Legolord reports that the boar have gone, and that there are slugmen far to the north.
22nd Slate: The slugmen have been killed by the flame maiden. More corpses we cannot go collect. Ratepe has pointed out that there are now bird men, tengu she calls them. And they're close. Real close.
I can't find it in me to care; just more things that will die. And we still haven't seen an elven caravan. There seems no respite from this toil.
23rd Slate: I was awoken by battle cries. "For the peasants!" Ratepe yelled as she charged past me. Through the confusion, I could see that the tengu had entered into our camp, bold as could be. Fury pushed my other emtions aside, and I leaped onto one that was about to strike Mook, struggling with it while Mook kicked it repeatedly, until it stopped moving.
Considering our inexpertise at killing anything other than defenseless animals, the combat was rather brief. Ratepe, Mook, and Legolord each killed one of the tengu with their bare hands, and were lauded as heroes of the people. I'm so proud of him.
Flint went to drag their corpses to the butchery, but there was resistance. They were sentient creatures, after all, and we have not been reduced to that level of cannibalism. Legolord, Flint, and I disagreed, but were overruled. We let their bodies rot. At least we will get to make use of their bones.
5th Felsite: Martian runs across the brook, out into the open, yelling her fool head off, something about attending a meeting. None of us know why, but she soon calms down and returns to the camp, to complain to me about how terrible things are. Like I don't know all this already? I try to listen to her complaints and console her as best I can, but it's hard.
Now that I look at it, we're all unhappy. Well, all of us except for Ratepe, who seems to be doing just fine. No one wants to come out and admit it, but after the thrill of battle wore off...we all came here to avoid dying in combat, yet that's more and more exactly what's going to happen.
1st Hematite: Summer. That means no elves came during the spring. What if no one ever comes again? I try to hope for a human caravan, but it's hard...
(OOC: Had to savescum the first part of this *repeatedly*. The flame maiden kept getting attracted by someone fishing and coming over and killing *everyone*. That thing is *brutal*.
Chaoticjosh, Nilik, Mondark, you'll get your dwarves once we get migrants. Which we haven't, yet. =P
And Flint, thank you for the first community entry!)
12th Hematite: I'm fishing (again, though I never seem to get any better at it) when I feel a rumbling underneath me. I look up and dodge out of the way of the stampeding buffalo just in time.
Two thoughts go through my mind. "Fresh meat!" followed almost immediately by, "Dear Armok, I hope the flame maiden isn't chasing it!"
Indeed, crossing over the brook, I see a creature of fire, but it's smaller -- one of the fire imps. Still, I've seen those things launch fireballs.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/buffalo-chasing-imp.jpg)
Acting as one, we all converge on the thing. There's no time to grab the crossbows or the bolts -- our entire camp could go up in flame in mere moments. Despite being a creature made of fire, Ratepe holds it down with her bare hands while Mook rips off it's arms, and then it's legs, until it stops moving. Our hands are blistered and burnt from the heat, but none of us are seriously wounded, miraculously enough.
On the other side of the brook, we spy the flame maiden. We all hold still, as if any movement will invite disaster, but as the seconds turn into minutes, it becomes apparent that the flame maiden is not going to charge us. Slowly, very slowly, we haul the fire imp corpse to our refuse pile.
In the confusion, the buffalo escaped, so we don't even get the fresh meat or leather. And despite the death of one of the fire creatures that's plagued us so, we seem unhappier than before, with this threat of imminent death hanging over our heads at all times.
3rd Malachite: No humans have arrived yet. Inaluct reports that the fire maiden and *all* of the remaining imps hang just outside our crossbow range. Waiting. Watching us. It's unnerving, but what can we do? We keep our crossbows and bolts handy, but this is a battle we would not win. It's hard to concentrate on anything. I want to go home.
7th Malachite: Due to diligent construction, mostly by Mook and Martian, we have a crossbow for every comrade, and bolts, too.
21st Malachite: Thank Armok. A group of rabbits sprinted through the ashes, and the flame maiden chased them all the way back to the volcano, slaughtering them all single-handed. More meat we can't use, but the flame maiden has returned to the magma, leaving only the imps near us. It's not much, but it's an improvement.
22nd Malachite: Ratepe has made a proposal: ambush the fire imps, now that the filame maiden is nowhere around. We've killed one before, unarmed; we should be able to do far better armed with crossbows. And if we can destroy the imps, we should be able to sleep far easier. Armok be with us, the commune has approved this plan.
28th Malachite: Success! We each equipped ourself with a crossbow and a bundle of bolts and set out across the river. We choose a fire imp away from the rest, and opened fire. It tried to run, but Inaluct finished it off with a tengu bone bolt. The rest of the fire imps, obviously cowed by our show of strength, fled back to the volcano. We dragged the corpse back to our refuse pile and threw it on the other one. 3 fire imps remain, plus the fire man, and the flame maiden, but they're all within the magma. For the first time in months, we sleep without fear of being flame-broiled.
21st Galena: We push our luck; Flint sneaks near the volcano and makes off with one of the dead rabbits that the flame maiden had killed. Legolord butchers it. We dine on rabbit that night.
1st Limestone: Autumn. That means that there's no human caravan, either. The thought depresses me, as it means all of our hopes rest on the dwarven caravan, and they seem to take joy only in tormenting us.
Furthermore, NO ONE TANNED THE RABBIT'S HIDE, and now it's gone. WHAT IS IT WITH YOU ALL AND FISHING?
Magua has thrown a tantrum!
Magua has calmed down.
10th Limestone: THE DWARVEN CARAVAN IS HERE! Once again, we hurry to deconstruct the buildings we've been using for sustenance and erect a Trade Depot. Fishing is put on hold. A problem arises, though, in that we don't have any space to build the Depot on our side of the brook anymore. The commune orders it constructed on the other side; with all of the fire creatures in the magma, this should be safe enough. And it's just a temporary structure anyways...
11th Limestone: Inaluct takes off towards the volcano, blathering about needing to attend a meeting; halfway there, he turns around and returns, looking to talk with me. I ask him why he thought I'd be by the volcano. He doesn't answer, but instead begins to complain about sleeping in the mud. I have no time for this!
13th Limestone: Flint complains that he tried to brew some alcohol, but that he needed an empty barrel. I pointed out the empty barrel standing all by itself. He says, "Nope, can't use *that* one." I ask him why, but he won't tell me. IS EVERYONE HERE GOING CRAZY?
15th Limestone: The Trade Depot is completed; for us, 5 days to deconstruct the buildings and put together the Depot has to be a fantastic record. We begin loading it with our crafts....but it is all for naught! The caravan passed too close to the volcano, and the flame maiden leapt out to destroy them!
16th Limestone: We watch from the safety of the brook as one of the axedwarves accompanying the caravan does battle with the flame maiden. I wish I could say it was a glorious battle, but it is over very, very quickly, and the flame maiden seems unwounded while the axedwarf seems dead.
But...
But...
That was an axedwarf. And a dead axedwarf means...
The flame maiden flies away from the volcano to pursue the caravan. Without even a discussion, Martian is running as fast as dwarvenly possible to the still smoldering corpse to retrieve the nice, shiny, and only slightly-used axe.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/flame-maiden-attacks-caravan.jpg)
17th Limestone: THEY KILLED THE FLAME MAIDEN!
I still can't believe it, but they did it. As we watched, more of their axedwarves fell onto the flame maiden in a grand battle. Another axedwarf fell to the heat, as did two other dwarves, but THEY KILLED THE FLAME MAIDEN!
By the brook, we break into a chorus of huzzahs, except for Ratepe, who mutters something about lost vengeance. As we watch, the axedwarves kill two more of the fire imps! We begin singing dwarven battle songs. Giddy as we are, no one seems to care that we sing the battle songs of the hated monarchy.
The remaining fire imp and fire man slink back to the volcano, and do not show themselves.
Legolord goes to claim the second axe, but another grass fire seems to have started during the battle. It is small, but like the one before it, growing rapidly. That could be trouble.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/merchant-aftermath.jpg)
18th Limestone: It looked like the merchants would run away after the battle, but after circling around a few times, perhaps to look for more attackers, they are making their way to our Trade Depot! They don't seem concerned about the grass fire. It's still some distance away.
As they arrive, I see that these are the same merchants from last year. My giddiness mixes with disgust; I let Mook handle the trading. As I haul in some more of the bone crafts, I hear them tell Mook that "our efforts are legendary in Mountainhome." Why must they mock us?
Strangely enough, they don't mention their two dead comrades. They don't even go and collect their belongings. Are they rich enough that the loss of a fully outfitted axedwarf is as nothing to them? I don't ask; I don't want them to change their minds. Those axes are our salvation.
I look over what they've unloaded as I arrange the bone crafts. They mock us twice by having no picks and no axes. I feel my blood boil, but it is soothed with the knowledge that with an axe, we can finally begin building a home. Next year, we'll have a larger Trade Depot. Next year, they'll bring wagons. By this time next year, I'll have a bed, and a roof, and more alcohol than I could drink in a lifetime...
The merchants play the annoying "Make me an offer/I won't trade at a loss" game. It seems to amuse them; I catch them jostling eachother every time they say "I won't trade at a loss," and one points at me and laughs when they think I can't see.
But that's fine. Mook trades all of our remaining crafts for a dog in a cage. I don't care if the merchants think they're ripping us off with that trade. We've won today more than they could ever imagine.
23rd Limestone: Our hauling of items to the Depot is cut short by the advancing grass fire. Mook doesn't seem to want to leave -- does she enjoy the trading that much? -- but we persuade her.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/abandon-the-depot.jpg)
Curiously enough, the merchants...don't. As the fire advances upon them, they merely watch it, laughing amongst themselves. I don't understand it. They've lost four of their number today, and a burning flame is rapidly approaching them, but they don't move...wait, are they drunk?
I check. Our alcohol barrel is empty. I watch Mook. No, she's not the type. Ratepe? Ratepe has anger, true, but this doesn't smack of her style; too underhanded. Then who? I have my suspicions.
As I watch, one of the merchants stumbles around, laughing, before slumping into unconsciousness.
26th Limestone: The merchants perished in the blaze. I hated them, but I still feel sorry for them; it was not a dwarvenly way to go.
Still, I do not complain when, after the fire has burned itself out, the commune decides to reclaim our crafts...and everything else the merchants had that survived the fire: more steel, some plump helmets, a nickel cage...and an orthoclase block. But...
DID I MENTION WE HAVE AXES?
8th Sandstone: TREES ARE BEING CUT DOWN! The noises from their felling is like the purring of maggots to my ears.
14th Sandstone: We have already logged more trees than we needed to replace what was lost in the Trade Depot, and there are still uncountable ones to be cut. The danger of the volcano has been reduced an incredible amount. I feel bad for what happened to the merchants -- whoever was responsible -- but does the ends not justify the means? Their axes are the key to our utopia, the promised land were a dwarf can do as he or she wants. Their suffering, while unfortunate, has given us this new dawn.
17th Sandstone: Legolord proposed! I said yes! All of my dreams, coming true...
23rd Sandstone: The commune has already built two carpentry workshops with the felled logs, and are in the process of making more barrels. The beginnings of a project have been devised -- we may not be able to dig in the stone as true dwarves...yet...but we will raise a house like the humans do, where we can sleep in beds, and eat in chairs.
8th Timber: Ratepe is fuming; everyone has been spending so much time working on the raising of the house that a rhesus macaque managed to sneak into our camp and steal <+steel greaves+>. A valuable item to be lost, yes, but not a terribly important one, in the grand scheme of things...
14th Timber: Under the urging of Ratepe, the commune mobilizes to destroy the rhesus macaque thieves who remain. We chase them as the flee, striking them down as they gibber in fear. Their running takes them to the volcano, and we follow. As we approach, the fire imp and fire men rise to meet us in battle. Before, we would have fled, but today, dressed in our steel armor and wielding our axes, we happily charge, screaming, "Blood for the blood god!"
Flint beheads the fire man with one swing of his mighty axe, reducing the creature in a second from dangerous adversary to lump of ash. The fire imp is also quickly dispatched. With those few seconds, we have won the volcano!
18th Timber: Martian completes our first green glass block, unhindered by any creatures from the volcano. We don't have an immediate use for it, now that we have so many logs, but as a symbolic gesture, its impact is immense.
1st Moonstone: Winter. We butcher and tan some rabbit corpses remaining from the flame maiden's carnage. Despite the propensity of rhesus macaque corpses, we have decided not to butcher them, but I'm not sure of the reason. I've been spending too much time crafting furniture for our house.
27th Opal: More rhesus macaques edge near our camp, attempting to steal things, and again we sally forth and put them down.
15th Obsidian: The house has been completed! It feels so wonderful, to be in a room with a ceiling, where it doesn't rain...I now have every motivation to finish the beds I am working on.
20th Obsidian: The beds have been placed, and already Inaluct is asleep in one, oblivious to the noise of the chairs and table being placed around him.
1st Granite: Spring. It finds us all sleeping in beds. In a house. And eating off of tables. While we sit in chairs. It is *luxury*.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/the-house.jpg)
17th Granite: The muskox calves have grown up. We now have one male and two female. Martian takes this time to begin training the dog that we got from the merchants to fend off attackers.
24th Granite: To celebrate our success, and the beginning of our third year here, I host a party at our meeting table in the house!
It is soon interrupted by a gathering of rhesus macaques, however, and once more we don armor and wield weapons to slay them. At one point during the ensuring brawl, I watch Mook send one flying farther than I could shoot a crossbow with a swing of the axe. Truly impressive!
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/flying-rhesus-macaque.jpg)
26th Granite: While we're primed for fighting, we also strike at herd of buffalo. We need more leather.
28th Granite: And some boar, as well. Suddenly, we are kings to this land, instead of living in fear of it. I feel like a true dwarf, felling my enemies before me!
26th Malachite: We have a new arrival in the house: Legolord and I have had a daughter! By the time she is an adult, she will not know a world where dwarves are limited in what they can do; she will only know the utopia that we have founded here.
I only wish she'd let me get some more sleep.
11th Limestone: Merchants have arrived! I didn't think they would after last year's events. But...wait, these aren't dwarven merchants.
Legolord says that these are wizards!
Doesn't matter. Somehow, with their magic, they must have known we had a large, spacious Trade Depot waiting for them, for they have brought 4 wagons with them, brimming with items!
16th Limestone: *Another* merchant caravan has been spotted...the dwarves! I've never heard of two caravans arriving at the same time, but here they are. Luckily, our Depot is large enough to host them both. The dwarves have even outdone the wizards, bringing 10 wagons filled with items.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/merchants-present.jpg)
18th Limestone: While we are all busy preparing for trade, Ratepe informs me that a thief has made off with a suit of steel chain mail. This is serious, but we have more pressing issues to attend to. She doesn't like that answer.
21st Limestone: Legolord has gone to see what the merchants have to offer. He reports that the dwarves have picks! Even better, he says that he's learned to judge the prices of goods somewhat, and that our bone crafts should allow us to purchase three or four of the picks. The wizards have some strange goods, but none stranger than "the Steel ."
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/yes-it-is.jpg)
But then he tells us that the dwarves have anvils. Unfortunately, there's no way that we can afford these anvils. "But..." and he draws it out, making sure we're all paying attention, "The wizards have anvils, too."
We get his meaning, of course. There's a code when dwarf trades with dwarf; you don't rob from a fellow dwarf who comes to you under friendly terms. But there's no such code for wizards. And we do have steel armor and weapons, not to mention our crossbows...so the issue is put to a vote before the commune. Do we take the wizards' goods by force?
22nd Limestone: The commune debated our courses of action. On one side were the purists who held that if we were to take these things by force, we'd be no better off than the aristocratic bourgeoisie we were going to overthrow.
On the other side were those who said that our goals were true, and if we had to undertake unsavory tasks to bring about our utopia, then so be it. In addition, it was reasoned, the nobles had traded away plenty of the production that belonged to the people to these wizards, and we were simply reclaiming what was ours.
The vote was close, but final. While Legolord went to the Trade Depot, the rest of us suited up in armor, grabbed crossbows and bolts, and clambered onto the roof of our house, which provided an excellent view of the Trade Depot below. We took careful aim.
There was some concern about the wizards' reactions -- might they turn Legolord into a frog? -- but they simply said, "Take what you wish. I can't stop you," and left shortly thereafter, minus their possessions. It was impossible for me to read their emotions; I couldn't even tell if they were angry.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/we-took-it-all.jpg)
Trading with the dwarves went smoother. They didn't comment on what they had just seen us do, just acted like it was business as usual. We exchanged our supplies of bone crafts for three of their picks, and that was that.
We stowed our weapons and armor, and everything went on as normal.
23rd Limestone: While unpacking the goods from the Trade Depot, Legolord stumbled over a tiger man thief! He scared it off before it could steal anything, but Ratepe goes on and on about how we must start taking better care of our supplies.
We begin moving our weapons, ammunition, and armor onto the roof of the house. In addition, with our newly acquired picks, we begin digging an underground farm.
13th Sandstone: The dwarven merchants leave. I turn out to have a knack for mining, evne if I can only swing the pick with one hand while I hold my daughter in the other.
2nd Timber: The underground farms are completed, and all of our food and drink moved inside. I remember how much effort and agony went into building our first still and our first barrel...now we throw three of them together with no trouble at all. The commune could now lock itself into the house if needed and have everything required to survive.
5th Timber: Dwarves arrived today, but not too trade. No, they came and demanded that we hand over control of the house, and all of its supplies to them, "in the name of the Mountainhome."
They numbered six; by the clothes they are wearing, they are all guild members, no peasants or proletariat amongst them. The commune is undecided about what to do. Giving up our dream is not an option, but we are not so savage that we will split another dwarf's head open with an axe. Indecision reigns.
1st Moonstone: Winter. The newcomers are still here, and they are aghast that we perform any jobs that we want. "Do you not have woodcutters to cut the wood, and carpenters to shape it?" When we reply that we do all of these things, they laugh amongst themselves. They eat our food and sleep in our house, all the while talking about how much better it would be if it were done "properly". I hate them.
Legolord has a plan, however, that we have begun.
5th Moonstone: The second house is finished. We inform our "new lords," as humbly as can be managed, that our house, being made of wood, is not fit to hold them. They agree. We say that we have been mining out rooms for them, out of rock, and that they're ready. They eagerly follow us to the second structure we have created. As they go inside, Legolord slams the door behind them and locks it.
There is confusion inside for a moment. "There's no stairway leading down!" "What's going on?" Then there is banging on the door. But our carpentry is strong, whatever they may say. Martian begins operation of the pumps, and within minutes the pounding on the door stops. Our carpentry is also watertight.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/hydrated-in-the-death-house.jpg)
15th Moonstone: Another tigerman thief driven off. Part of the roof of the death house is opened, and the water inside is pumped out.
17th Moonstone: *Another* tigerman thief driven off. Where are all of these thieves coming from? Rapete is glad that the last three thieves have not managed to steal anything, but the interruptions they cause are quite annoying.
2nd Obsidian: Digging further down underneath the house, we find damp stone and other evidence of an aquifer. Inaluct, who seems to also know something about mining, talks about how the aquifer can be breached in stone, but not in sand, like here. We commence digging through the obsidian around the volcano.
23rd Obsidian: The aquifer has been bypassed by digging near the volcano. We now have access to stone. The breaching stairs are linked by an underground passage to the house, so that we can continue to access the rock even if put under siege. This passage is filled with coffins to honor the dead. They may been idiots, like the merchants, or usurpers, like the guild members, but they were still dwarves, and deserve a final resting place. Our comrades who died fighting in the riots at Mountainhome were given as much; it's the least we can do.
11th Granite: Humans have arrived to trade, during the spring, no less. I had been led to believe they would only appear during the summer. Still, they kill a tiger man thief as they approach, for which Ratepe is somewhat grateful.
13th Granite: The wizards return...to trade! I suspect treachery, but none seems to be afoot. It is the same wizards from last time, even! But, still...they have ridden up to our Depot and are unloading their wares, just as last time. Odd.
15th Granite: A Skalassi cavern...they seem to be a type of humanoid fish...has arrived. We are knee deep in merchants, and our Trade Depot overflows with riches...
The humans seem to be offering us some incredibly good deals on some of their iron items:
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/humans-give-really-good-deals.jpg)
But the Skalassi...the Skalassi have items made of adamantium!
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/skalassi-sell-adamantine.jpg)
Interestingly enough, none of the merchants want what we rightfully took from the wizards last year. But, they're all willing to take these items if we put them into a bin, first...the hypocrisy of it all...
(OOC:
I do believe the capt. posted in a different thread (and apologized) about The Steel. Its supposed to be a steel circlet that would go around your head in place of a helm. You could always pretend its a steel that you use to hone and sharpen blades though.
Oh, it doesn't bother me. Just found it amusing. Much like the humans willing to sell me most of their iron items for zero dwarf bucks...
)
19th Granite: Legolord trades our crafts, as well as the things we've scavenged off of the dead tiger men thieves, for all the metal bars, some more picks, and most of the metal cages they have, to be melted down into more metal bars.
Amusingly, when presented with our offer, the wizards asked for some of their old items back in addition. Trivial items, really. I just note this down to point out how oddly these wizards act.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/wizards-ask-for-some-of-their-things-back.jpg)
A contingent of the commune thinks we should seize the adamantine items like we seized the anvils, making the same arguments as before -- these items are created by the workers and should be used by the workers, the ends justify the means. Still, though the adamantine items are tempting, they are not as necessary for our fort's self sufficiency. We let them go.
Interestingly enough, the humans seem content to give us many items made of iron. Strange, but we take them.
21st Granite: A New Plan has been concocted, and approved by the commune. The death house that we've constructed works as efficiently as any member of the proletariat, but the mass murder of dwarves, even ones who have desired to steal our birthright from us, does strike bad feelings.
Instead, we begin carving out a gulag that we can place dwarves into, where they can be given food and water without being given means of escape. In keeping with our noble aims, we will try an experiment of putting dwarves in here to work off their penance, instead of killing them outright.
18th Slate: The merchants leave. The Human Guild representative has been following Inaluct around for a month, patiently waiting for a chance to speak with him. Doesn't he know that the workers never rest?
3rd Felsite: More dwarves have arrived from the Mountainhome. Our New Plan remains woefully uncompleted. They were sent to aid the other dwarves from last year who arrived to gain control over our fortress. We are stalling them currently, but this state of affairs will not last. Already, they grow suspicious.
4th Felsite: During the night, three of the newcomer dwarves snuck away from their compatriots, who were slumbering from their drink, and revealed that they were sympathizers with us! Their names are Karl Marx, Ivanna, and Mondark, and we had much to talk about. Karl Marx, in particular, seems to be quite learned on the subject, and talked at length about the philosophical underpinnings. Legolord doesn't seem to like her much.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/profiles3.jpg)
With the help of the three newcomers, we overpower the dwarves, and deliver them into the death house. Their screams for help are quickly silenced as Mondark steps up to prove her loyalty and acts as executioner.
Only after the act is done does Karl Marx tell me that Ivanna's husband was one of those she just watched die.
5th Felsite: Despite losing her husband, Ivanna describes herself as "quite content".
17th Hematite: Our New Project is a success! For our next group of dwarves who attempt to wrest control of Tombquills away from us, we will have this more humane option.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/gulag.jpg)
(OOC:
1) This should bring us up to Shoruke in terms of the waiting list.
2) The New Plan is both an excuse to have a gulag, and also to keep dwarves immigrating in, instead of no one "venturing near your accursed death-trap".
3) Speaking of accursed death traps, I may start seizing all caravans of everything in an effort to get some sieges.
4) When you remove a broker, you remove the ability to see prices when you trade, even if the person trading is a Legendary Appraiser. Which is fine, but feeds into #3 as another reason to do this thing.
5) Suggestions for megaprojects or things to do welcome!)
Out of character update:
1) During one season, Tombquills had no less than four caravans arrive at the same time. They were locked in together. The announcements screen some time later was rather amusing:
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/bwahahaha.jpg)
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/not-a-good-time-to-be-a-merchant.jpg)
2) Another Trade Depot was constructed, but there seems to be a bug. Merchants will appear, their wagons will go to the Trade Depot, but their pack animals stay on the edge of the map. After a short amount of time, their wagons and pack animals will leave (with no message; it's really short, like a week or two, instead of the normal two months or so)...leaving behind all of their goods at the Trade Depot. I like to think they're offering them as tribute.
3) In order to assist megaconstruction, a channel is being dug around the map. However, since everyone has every labor turned on, what this means in practice is that someone will wander *all the way* across the map, channel out one square, then wander *all the way* back to do something else. 6 weeks of digging has removed ~20 squares.
4) No bauxite or adamantine provides difficulties in playing with magma. Not sure if LL has any other magma-resistant stone.
I always like watching merchants go insane when locked inside of trade depots, especially when their pack animals end up slaughtering everything.
The two depot thing is a bug. For some reason the wagons and the pack animals can't agree on which depot to go to, so they never set up for trade Building just one depot should solve that problem. We'll just end up with overcrowded depots.
I guess setting a few dwarves to only mine is the only real way to speed the channeling process. Since dwarves like to work from left to right it does make it kind of a hassle to have them running back and forth constantly.
Since all or most of the lava creatures are dead we shouldn't even need grates and such. Just dig out a big room and drain some magma into it using channels. I can't remember if we still have an imp and a fire man left, but if so it might be good to send those non-peasant dwarves that arrive with migrant waves in a glorious charge to redeem themselves. I think steel is also lava-proof, so if we can get some of that we can make grates with it.
Journal summary of "Mook":
It has been several years since we first ventured from the Mountainhomes with the dream of constructing a utopia of equality. Since then, we have suffered through hunger, sobriety, and attacks from creatures forged by the planet itself. At long last, however, we have the tools needed to build our new society. Interlopers and squatters seem eager to spoil our paradise now that the hardships have been overcome, but we will not let them.
I have cast down imps, fire beasts, and all manner of vicious creatures with my bare hands. If necessary, I have no qualms about executing these dwarven intruders in the same way I executed those thieving monkeys. The commune believes we should imprison them, but I believe that this will only give them the opportunity to escape and ruin the life we have created here. The thought occurs to me, however, that these scavengers may lead the king to send his relatives to our commune, and so I can tolerate the use of a gulag as it pertains to the goal of bringing nobles here.
I look forward to the day when our ideology spreads back to the Mountainhomes, and causes those weak, capitalist nobles to sweat. When the monarchy sends some of its own to try and claim our wealth, I hope I am given the chance to take personal vengeance against these nobles.
I understand that I have become jaded since we arrived here. However, I know that the foundations of a utopia must be built on the backs of its founders. Even though I cannot fully enjoy what we will create, I am satisfied knowing that my labors and sacrifices will help to create a more ordered and equal world for our children and grandchildren.
26th Moonstone: Construction on our projects continues apace, but it's even more important now; there's been a rash of goblins sneaking near our fort, trying to steal my daughter, who I've decided to call 'Rainbow'. None of them have been successful, but the frequency is very worrying.
This doesn't stop Martian from deciding to organize a party in the house, nor does it stop me from attending with Rainbow.
1st Hematite: HOLY ARMOK! Our buildings are falling down around us! So far, a butcher's workshop, tanner's workshop, fishery, kitchen, and two craftdwarf's workshops have collapsed! Luckily, no one is hurt, but we are all worried...
5th Hematite: The collapsing continues! Accusations fly: was it shoddy engineering? Did the wood warp and go bad? We don't know, but all of our outdoor workshops by the river are gone. I worry for what might happen if the house were to collapse, with some of us sleeping inside.
8th Hematite: The mystery of the collapsing buildings was solved. Inaluct got a report that one of the wooden coffins we used to house the remains of the drowned dwarves was destroyed. This was very worrying, as the coffins are stored safely underground. We grabbed weapons and armor and ran as fast as we could, and found our answer: hobgoblin snatcher. It had snuck into our fortress, and destroyed buildings it came across looking for little Rainbow.
17th Hematite: Goblin ambush! That's "goblin" as in singular. It fired off some arrows from its bow, and ran away. Hardly even qualifies.
10th Limestone: Merchants arrived, and hadn't even made it to the Depot before being ambushed by three different sets of goblins. The merchant guards made short work of them before most of us could respond.
23rd Limestone: Our moat is complete. Now the only way to get in or out of our fortress is the bridge that the merchants use. Work is being done to wall that area off from the rest of our fortress, so that the only way to enter will be to go through the Depot proper.
And our security prospects are looking up, as it seems that one of the merchants gifted to us a cave bear. And that better yet, the cave bear was pregnant. Now we have cave bear cubs.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/awesome.jpg)
15th Felsite: Our new Depot complex is almost complete! Instead of drab rock, it shows our cultural superiority by being entirely crafted out of glass! The only area left undone is the one containing the berserk and insane merchants. Oh, and taking a quick count, apparently 57 yak and some other number of muskox. They've been breeding in there for years. I'm surprised that there's room to move.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/crowded.jpg)
8th Hematite: More merchants arrived. We released the berserk wizard merchants, fetched our popcorn, and...nothing. The merchant wizards peacefully and quite non-berserkally made their way to the exit. There was a bit of a gridlock -- the wagons apparently can't pass eachother -- but it resolved itself after awhile. We were quite disappointed, but quickly fell to replacing the last bit of the Depot with green glass.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/exodus.jpg)
15th Hematite: There are *six* cave bears sleeping in the house. On the one hand, I like the protection. On the other, the *smell*...
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/6-bears-in-the-bedroom.jpg)
That's not to mention the wolf.
23rd Hematite: Flint was ambushed today by hobgoblins! Luckily, they were across the moat from him, but four or five of them had bows. We all stare as Flint stands and watches the hobgoblins as arrows rain around him, before eventually deciding that maybe he should move out of range.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/run-flint.jpg)
As normal, we all go to suit up and grab our own crossbows. We set up a firing line and let fly with our bolts as they let fly with their arrows. There are so many projectiles flying around that they blot out the sun; we fight in the shade. The firing went on for quite some time -- apparently, neither we nor they seem to be well practiced with ranged combat.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/fighting-in-the-shade.jpg)
In the end, Ratepe was the only one who managed to kill a hobgoblin before they ran. They killed a war dog of ours, but other than that, we suffered no injury. However, Flint, Karl Marx, and Ivanna now all seem to be much more practiced with the crossbows, so future battles should go easier.
28th Hematite: One of the Avar from a caravan has been hovering over the Depot for...months, if not years. Wonder what it's doing?
7th Malachite: Not all of the merchant's animals have left -- apparently, all the children, grandchildren, etc of the yaks and muskoxen have stuck around. A lot of butchering is going on. There will be meat tonight!
14th Malachite: Dwarves spotted! However, they're stopped by the moat, so we can take our time in getting our preparations together. These ones won't rob us of our hard earned food and drink!
We finally build a bridge across the moat for them, and direct them to the gulag. They make protestations about how they're fleeing the violence of the Mountainhome, and they were friendly with our aims. We considered this, but one must stick to one's morals -- the only one who was spared the gulag was Shoruke, who wore the colors of the peasant. This brings our numbers up to 13, 2 of whom are children.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/shoruke.jpg)
Meanwhile, 6 prisoners reside in our gulag. They have water to drink, and the floor is muddy so they can plant seeds from the plump helmets we threw down to them. They all seem desperately unhappy, but they should realize what they have is luxury compared to what we started with.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/the-trap-is-set.jpg)
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/gulag2.jpg)
There's been division in the commune lately, especially over the prisoners. Legolord has stated that while the prisoners are here, we may as well have them do some useful work, like stonecrafting. Karl Marx says that that would be exploitation of the working class, the kind that we are opposed to. Those two do not seem to like eachother at all.
Here's a log of what we're working on:
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/current-tasks2.jpg)
(OOC:
1) Hobgoblin snatchers are *evil*. Invisible creatures that can destroy buildings? This really had me freaked out for awhile, until I saw the coffin destroyed and mobilized the military.
2) After the wizard merchants and most of their pets left, my FPS doubled from 30 to 60.
3) Getting the prisoners into the gulag was much more frustrating than it should've been. For some reason, every bridge they were on when the lever was pulled wouldn't retract. At first, I thought it was just that those bridges hadn't been hooked up to the lever, but as I moved them around, I saw it was any bridge with a dwarf on it. Not sure why -- maybe because the bridges are only 1 z-level above the ground? In the end, I made one of the miner migrants dig a staircase down into the gulag, and then remove it.)
17th Limestone, 207: Goblin ambush! They're getting serious. There were 3...no, make that 4 *squads* of the greenskins! But...they were on the other side of the channel, and there don't seem to be any bow goblins amongst them.
The Avar merchants who have been hanging around forever fly over and slaughter them, though. Result: Goblin chunks fly everywhere.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/thats-a-lot-of-ambushes.jpg)
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/207-autumn-ambush.jpg)
1st Sandstone: The prisoners in the gulag do not seem to have any food. What happened to the plump helmets we threw down to them to get seeds from? Wastrels. Well, we should probably throw down some more plump helmets, but at the moment, we're all too busy partying to care.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/partying-while-the-prisoners-starve.jpg)
10th Sandstone: We had some plan to seize the contents of the four caravans in our depot, but what with the parties and all, we were all too busy to deal with the merchants before they left. Oops.
18th Sandstone: Someone finally threw two plump helmets down to the prisoners. Can they plant the seeds fast enough to grow enough food to survive? If we cared for material things, we would take bets. All they do when we throw down food is complain at us. Ungrateful.
26th Sandstone: We just dumped more plump helmets to the prisoners, when we found out that there had been dwarves waiting on the other side of the channel for over two weeks! We must have been too busy with our partying to notice. We prepare weapons, but this group is actually led by comrades of ours from the Mountainhomes! A bridge is quickly constructed to welcome our new brethren into Tombquills, and to take the prisoners they brought down to the gulag.
We now have three new comrades: Kilbom, Bjorn, and a third one who hasn't yet given us her name.
(http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/utopia/profiles4.jpg)
In addition, there are two new children, which in addition to my daughters, brings us up to 4 children. The children aren't contaminated by their parent's material greed, so we are happy to welcome them into Tombquills. Population stands at:
Comrades: 14
Children: 4
Prisoners: 12
14th Moonstone: FINALLY got the new prisoners into the gulag. Again, the new bridges failed us just like the old. We are now resorting to a simple doors and airlock scheme to lock new prisoners in.