It was the 78th year of the new age of the world, and I was a fisherdwarf of the dwarven civilization The Mountainous Arches. But there aren't that many fish in the mountains, so I had a radical idea: bring dwarven civilization to where the fish are. Now fisherdwarves don't have much clout in dwarf society, that's just a fact, so my idea of building a fortress on the seashore wasn't going very far. I did what anyone would do: cram my proposal full of lots of needless attention-getting stuff to make it exciting, and then show them the money. I would construct a fabulous port complex, the first in the world to systematically harvest the riches of the ocean -- whale soap, shark leather, fish roasts, you name it -- and make it available to trade with the awestruck humans. I would build a gleaming offshore platform, seafloor magma pipes, and a five-star dwarf hotel. Who's prone to great ambition, now, by my beard!
Well, I only managed to convince six others, and we couldn't even get authorization to take a single pick or weapon, but we all agreed that the plan was worth the risk of stealing an anvil and some copper and tin ores.

By mutual consent, we dubbed our new group The Sack of Sport, and set out for the ocean. Our group:
Ducim "Dreamer" M, fisherdwarf and expedition leader. Your narrator.
Melbil Urdimlar, lady miner. Very cheerful, loves ducks.
Libash M, armorer/weaponsmith. An optimist. He likes steel and unicorn horn.
Kogan A, lady farmer. Not affected by the sufferings of others. Uh.
Dr. Ral V, physician. Lady physician. Mighty physician.
Mistem D, swordsdwarf. He's just incredibly fat, but promises to work on it.
Stukos A, hammerdwarf. Impervious to the effects of stress.
1 Granite, year 79:We drove the wagon right up to the ocean before disembarking. (Nobody ever told me about the tides!)
Somebody suggested the name "Rooterquake" and it just stuck with us. Behold the beginnings of Port Rooterquake.

A giant osprey soared over the deep ocean as we began to chop trees and forge picks. We're dealing with flat earth, here (at least for now), so we're going to have to dig down instead of sideways.