Major Vucar Rimtarshadmal was summoned by the Board of Generals, a collection of the highest-ranking commanders in the whole of the Imperial Dwarven Army.
"The enemies of our dwarven empire are both numerous and terrifying," began the commander-in-chief, "and it has come to our attention that we must establish an outpost further south for our military to protect the mainland from attacks being mounted from that direction. Major Vucar Rimtarshadmal, you are hereby tasked with establishing this much-needed outpost at once. Take four of your finest soldiers and the necessary supplies and be ready to embark by the 1st of Limestone. Your journey will take six months to be exact, arriving on 1st of Granite at your destination."
"Sire, with only five dwarves, including myself, it will be hard work to set up the outpost. Is it possible for me to take more dwarves?" Vucar pleaded. He knew it was protocol to embark with at least seven dwarves.
The generals exchanged looks and there were nods all round. The commander-in-chief spoke again, "We suppose you could take two completely useless and expendable peasants to aid you... yes, that is what you shall do. Assemble your troopers and the two peasants and be ready to embark by the 1st of Limestone. Good luck. You are dismissed."
Greetings, and welcome to my part-playthrough part-story! It is my first go at something like this, but I hope that you will enjoy it. I will post on a regular basis about how the fortress is going in a sort of story/narrative form. I don't think I'm very good at DF in general at the moment, so if you see something I should improve on, please post here! Also post here if you have a suggestion for the fortress, e.g. "Build a lava pit!" or "Build a massive vault with gold and shiny stuff inside!" etc. etc.
On embark, I will take five dwarves with military skills (Feb and the four our soldiers) as well as the two skill-less peasants. Basically, this fortress will be a military outpost, and every dwarf must be in the army (excluding those two peasants). Also, no personal bedrooms for the grunts. Private quarters only for officers and high-ranking troopers. Feel free to suggest some more restrictions/rules.
EDIT: You may notice some... erm... references to some other, non-DF stuff a little later.
+++ 1st Granite, 253 +++
After a grueling trek, the group have finally arrived at their destination. The two peasants were quite cold, as they were not fore-warned of the 'slight chill' here.
Vucar was very glad to have brought a load of logs with them, as he could see that the vegetation was indeed very sparse. He also congratulated himself on making it all the way here. Once he got over himself, Vucar immediately ordered the construction of Danglebanners to begin. He wanted all the supplies inside as quickly as possible, so they would not freeze up. More importantly, though, a place to sleep must be quickly cleared out if they were to survive until the autumn caravan that the generals promised would come with supplies and other goods. They would most like charge exorbitant prices, but what could he do about it? He set aside these thoughts for later, and put his back into working for the glory of the Empire.
