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Diary of an unnamed migrant, 12 Sandstone 202

The goblins have overrun our town. My brother and I arrived at the new Hamlet Rockfalls after a long struggle eastward, the last living of a dozen refugees. We were fortunate to have heard of the new fortress being constructed. We thought we might wait for a caravan there, or even settle. It was our only hope.

When we arrived, we found nothing but a lake of fire.

Well, I for one think the new towns are fantastic, even as they stand.

Also, those people who compared the first set of pictures to Ankh-Morpork must regret not waiting to see these!

Journal of Kisame the Herbalist-Armourer, 25 Limestone

It is the two-week anniversary of our being ensconced in the Hamlet of Rockfalls without the second half of our supplies shipments. Against all prior probabilities, we are still alive. In fact, we are doing fairly well.

I believe I'm qualified to say that, by the way. Because I'm compassionate and try to lead a well-organised life, I do check up on everyone around me quite regularly. I also have a good feel of social relationships. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that they intrigue me!

The power structure in place here is quite fascinating. First, let me tell you about Squadron Leader, that sixty-eight year old, mining, fighting woman so dear to my own heart. She is quite formidable, of course, having built most of this fortress, and killing a crundle and a goblin scout in the process.

Squadron Leader – the name she was given at birth, incidentally – has long, double-braided copper hair, and bulges with muscles – she is a talented engraver, adept mason and, surprisingly perhaps, a proficient grower. Yes, she has quite an affinity for the peaceful art of farming. And, of course, her mining prowess is the stuff of legends. She likes digging magnetite and platinum, and loves leopard skin – although I don't believe we don't have any in the fortress, so I won't be seeing leopard print underwear on her any time soon.

She likes geese, too – for their formation flying, of course. She'll eat flounder, and tells me how she used to catch them with her toes, lacking the beard of a typical fisherdward. On the other hand, she hates oysters, which are almost impossible to pry off rocks with just the toes.

My dear Squadron Leader also has great focus and an iron will, and superb intuition, patience and memory. Her high kinesthetic and spatial senses, and skill with languages, can make her fairly intimidating. Indeed, she may come off as overconfident or even arrogant at times. But she's completely incapable of telling a lie, which is psychologically interesting.

A number of dwarves have applied to train as guards under her. There has been no official announcement that she in charge of the military, so this is a power structure purely derived from appearances!

Leaving aside the motherly and nature-loving (yet strangely dark) Surrey for the moment, there is probably only one other dwarf here who inspires as much fear and respect as Squadron Leader. That is, of course, Flintus the Tenth. Objectively, he is an interesting case study. Subjectively, he scares the hell out of me.



I feel sorry for Forumite, the younger golden-haired dwarf he recently married. I can only imagine how that proposal would have gone.



Seriously, though. Already something of a recluse, Forumite has withdrawn more and more, becoming aloof and cold, since the marriage. My offers to talk have been rejected, so I will simply keep an eye on her from a distance.

Then there is the third power player, Goden, our expedition leader and manager. He's... doing his best, I suppose. I found some ...plans... of his at his desk when I went to talk to him.

They are large blueprints, so I have folded them up here:

It gets worse. Under the plans were the following lists:

Married
1. Squadron Leader x Kisame
2. Skink-Killer x Goden
3. Jitters x Yarf
4. Flintus x Forumite
5. Oassis [widowed] – children: Unib, Tekkud
6. Rance x Bowie

Spare Females
1. McClay [helpful, extremely friendly, friendly with all the males except Karakzon.]
2. Stiric [non-sociable, near-friendless and lazy – major incompatibility issues. Possible match for Valrandir? Only as long as they're not allowed to have children.]
3. Billy Bob [feels a sense of belonging with cows. Always happy but avoids crowds. Possibly mentally damaged?]
4. Surray [swings between extremely pleasant and bewilderingly terrifying. Stool may be the only one brave enough to consider her.]

Spare Males
1. Dariush [slightly deaf, slightly blind, slightly senile – good match for Billy Bob?]
2. Valrandir [nervous yet relaxed. Trust issues. Likes purple ballista arrows, gutter cruor and platypus. Possibly issues in general.]
3. Stool [grudge against Karakzon. Adventurous and accomplished, but more concerned with clothing than other people. Possible swings an axe for the other team?]
4. Karakzon [grudge against Stool. Skinny, chipper, absolutely no respect. Spits and leers. Possible match for Billy Bob.]

I think it's not so much a case of him going mad with power as being completely unable to lead, and thus overcompensating.



When I eventually found him, muttering about “unregulated hauntings”, I told him perhaps we could just add a few more beds alongside the first row of bedrooms, instead of forcing pairings.

He looked at me like I was crazy. But at least he took on board my suggestions that he share out all the duties he was handling.

pick a city center
grow outwards until the city is attacked in world gen
encase it in a wall
continue to grow outward.

Excellent idea, but world gen varies enough that different rates of wall-building to different rates of attack would have to be buffered a bit.
To prevent things like

Cook's Log [by me, Yarf], 21 Limestone

Hey-o, today has seen us clearing away all the chunks of obsidian and dolomite from inside the fortress, so we can set up workshops and bedrooms.

I'm no hauler, but you don't see me complaining. The sooner the boring bits are done, the sooner I can set to provisioning this place. So I get my hands mucky with wambler corpses and rubble. So what? It's not like-

Oh god oh god

That loner Billy Bob has me backed into a corner at the trash heap, she's not right in the head, what do I do - I think she's ...trying to flirt with me?

Oh god oh god what do I do

There's no way out and she's toying with her hair oh god

Wait - there's Jitters behind her, waiting to drop off a lump of stone!

Looks like there's only one way out of this.



...Luckily Goden had all the registry paperwork ready right there.

These are all cities of the maximum size

I doubt navigation will really be a problem most of the time.

The buildings often enclose yards where several families will keep their pigs and other beasts and birds.

So. Cool.

I note every city has exactly four cardinal gates, but presumably 'cleaning up' will change that too. All I can really wish for is the old days of embarking on other people's settlements. My mind is buzzing with plans for blocking the gates and flooding a whole city...

dorf 1 baby/child as Tuna

I can give you the last dwarf, a stonecrafter/glazer, or you can wait for the first new birth.