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[Girlinhat]

It occurred to me, that Armok can be labeled, if a bit vaguely.  Armok is not a singular entity, but a pervasive idea.  Armok embodied is a dual faceted force.

The first is of destruction.  Elf slaughter, kitten butchering, siege wrecking destruction.  This extends to all areas.  Vampire kill lists, elves devouring their fallen foes, goblins constructed their defeated into a grotesque statue, necromancers scouring the country with an army of undeath.  All feel the sway of Armok's will and the impulse to cause violence.

The second is construction.  Bridgeapults, drowning chambers, pump repeaters, perpetual motion generators, quantum stocking, vast systems of pipes and walls and architecture that defy the mind.  The megaprojects themselves.  This, as well, extends to all areas.  Necromancer towers, goblin spires, human cities, elven... well, the elves are not the favored of Armok.

Dwarves, though, feel Armok's sway more than any other.  A dwarf is driven to violence.  A dwarf is compelled to produce.  A dwarf delights, thrives even when building a device of violence.  All creatures feel Armok's sway, the constructive humans and their mighty towns, the destructive goblins and their pillaging ways, and to a lesser extent the elven propensity for violence on their fallen enemies, and the humble kobold's courage to steal from an armed dwarven fortress.  Dwarves though, feel this power more than any.  A dwarf feels a constant throb of desire to fulfill violence and construction.  There are times, though, that Armok's true influence is felt.  Only once in a lifetime, or else they shall go utterly mad, a dwarf is struck by the mood that embodies these attributes stronger than any other.  An artifact, an item of utter architecture bliss, wrought from a screaming dwarf's violent claiming of a workshop and any and all materials he sees fit.  The purest embodiment of Armok, the blessed Artifacts.

Although, by nature, not all artifacts are made equal.  Some of leather, some of stone, the material doesn't matter.  Some dwarves sit secretly in their claimed corner, muttering as they piece together a robe.  Some scream bloody terror as they ransack their space and forge anew an axe of untold glory.  The violence of creation lends to the glory of design.  There can be no great production without great loss.

I'm going to dedicate a fortress to the art of the Fell Mood.  The purest form of Armok's pure influence, an artifact wrought from living flesh in a single act of beautiful violence, offering up an item of value and worth.  There is, certainly, no more glorious thing in all the worlds as a series of fell moods.

The Cult of Bones, seeking to find purity in Armok through the purity of his influence.

[slink]

I almost got a Fell Mood Artifact today, but then someone went berserk and killed the kid who had the mood.  Too bad, there were goblin parts involved.   

[Quietust]

I almost got a Fell Mood Artifact today, but then someone went berserk and killed the kid who had the mood.  Too bad, there were goblin parts involved.   

If there were goblin parts, then it wasn't a fell mood - dwarves in fell moods claim a workshop and then start wandering around randomly until they spot a dwarf, at which point they run up and murder the dwarf, drag the corpse to the workshop, then immediately start their construction.

[NW_Kohaku]

Every time I see threads talking about Armok, I keep thinking that one of these days, Toady is going to actually put Armok into the game, and he'll be something nobody ever expected, like a magical genie that you can wish to in order to purify your blood if you have contracted a disease like vampirism or something, and Armok is actually really friendly and likes elves.

[Fredd]

You would expect heresy like that from someone with a elf avatar.*gags*

[Jacob/Lee]

Every time I see threads talking about Armok, I keep thinking that one of these days, Toady is going to actually put Armok into the game, and he'll be something nobody ever expected, like a magical genie that you can wish to in order to purify your blood if you have contracted a disease like vampirism or something, and Armok is actually really friendly and likes elves.

I think it's somewhat accepted that Armok is the one who creates the world and everything in it. Basically: you're Armok. He's like God except nobody has heard of him nor worships him, but he has created everything and he may destroy it as he pleases.

[Exlo]

I think it's somewhat accepted that Armok is the one who creates the world and everything in it. Basically: you're Armok. He's like God except nobody has heard of him nor worships him, but he has created everything and he may destroy it as he pleases.

I've never thought of it like that before... I like this more than actually having Armok in the game. I mean, we as DF players are the purest of all evils, are we not? Armok would likely be sickened by the levels of violence we achieve on these forums.

[Girlinhat]

Game dynamics have been changed to prevent the evils of the player (See: Mermaid Farming).  There is no doubt that all the forces of the dwarven world do not stand up to the terror of one dork with a keyboard.  Monstrosity is too gentle a word for the things we do.

[NW_Kohaku]

I think it's somewhat accepted that Armok is the one who creates the world and everything in it. Basically: you're Armok. He's like God except nobody has heard of him nor worships him, but he has created everything and he may destroy it as he pleases.

Except it's not.

On the other hand, writing from the perspective that every command the player gives will be credited to fortress position holders, if an appropriate official were to order that a liquid, with usage hints/whatever in the raws, will now be used for something entirely outside those bounds (like coating a weapon with syrup), that action might be anything from brilliant to quirky to wasteful to tyrannical to suicidal, depending on the situation.  The dwarves aren't currently capable of judging their officials and it's a very difficult problem most of the time.  If a randomly-generated creature has a weakness to syrup, maybe coating the weapons with syrup is simply a practical strategy, and in that case syrup wouldn't have the "weapon coating" usage hint in the raws.  That coating action is entirely up to player ingenuity, much like ordering the creation of a complicated machine, and it's a reasonable thing to allow.

Manually ordering a dwarf to perform a specific series of actions that can't be presaged in the raws/code might be the only way to save your fort and might be a reasonably orderable action made by some official, but that kind of power can degrade the atmosphere we want to build.  It's going to depend on the specific cases, but for the sake of guiding discussion on a wide range of future topics, I think it's best that the player feels that a dwarf's autonomy is being respected.  The thing that makes dwarf mode not strictly a hands-off simulation is that you are allowed to compromise dwarves' autonomy if they hold fortress positions, to the extent that you are selecting actions that fall within their position's purview.  If an order typically makes it feel like the dwarves are being controlled like marionettes, forced to do things against their will, etc., the order should probably be altered or removed.  Presently, there are a ton of things that dwarves don't care about that they should care about, but this is the overall idea.

You aren't Armok, you're the expedition leader, the mayor, the nobles.  That's why you need positions filled to have access to the various supplemental data screens  - unless the bookkeeper knows how many stones are in your fort, you don't know.  Those nobles you hate so much, that you can't stand and just want to kill?  Toady's saying they're his representation of YOU!

So no, I think it's fair to say he might just come up with a redefinition of Armok just to yank people's chains if he feels annoyed by how people are going around casting themselves as Armok too much.

[xeivous]

Game dynamics have been changed to prevent the evils of the player (See: Mermaid Farming).  There is no doubt that all the forces of the dwarven world do not stand up to the terror of one dork with a keyboard.  Monstrosity is too gentle a word for the things we do.

If we wanted monstrosities, we'd go play games that are a bit brighter than DF, like Warhammer 40k.

[Imp]

I think it's somewhat accepted that Armok is the one who creates the world and everything in it. Basically: you're Armok. He's like God except nobody has heard of him nor worships him, but he has created everything and he may destroy it as he pleases.

Except it's not.

On the other hand, writing from the perspective that every command the player gives will be credited to fortress position holders, if an appropriate official were to order that a liquid, with usage hints/whatever in the raws, will now be used for something entirely outside those bounds (like coating a weapon with syrup), that action might be anything from brilliant to quirky to wasteful to tyrannical to suicidal, depending on the situation.  The dwarves aren't currently capable of judging their officials and it's a very difficult problem most of the time.  If a randomly-generated creature has a weakness to syrup, maybe coating the weapons with syrup is simply a practical strategy, and in that case syrup wouldn't have the "weapon coating" usage hint in the raws.  That coating action is entirely up to player ingenuity, much like ordering the creation of a complicated machine, and it's a reasonable thing to allow.

Manually ordering a dwarf to perform a specific series of actions that can't be presaged in the raws/code might be the only way to save your fort and might be a reasonably orderable action made by some official, but that kind of power can degrade the atmosphere we want to build.  It's going to depend on the specific cases, but for the sake of guiding discussion on a wide range of future topics, I think it's best that the player feels that a dwarf's autonomy is being respected.  The thing that makes dwarf mode not strictly a hands-off simulation is that you are allowed to compromise dwarves' autonomy if they hold fortress positions, to the extent that you are selecting actions that fall within their position's purview.  If an order typically makes it feel like the dwarves are being controlled like marionettes, forced to do things against their will, etc., the order should probably be altered or removed.  Presently, there are a ton of things that dwarves don't care about that they should care about, but this is the overall idea.

You aren't Armok, you're the expedition leader, the mayor, the nobles.  That's why you need positions filled to have access to the various supplemental data screens  - unless the bookkeeper knows how many stones are in your fort, you don't know.  Those nobles you hate so much, that you can't stand and just want to kill?  Toady's saying they're his representation of YOU!

I really like this assessment and the support you offer for it and agree with your line of reasoning.  Nice work, NW_Kohaku!

[Sus]

If we wanted monstrosities, we'd go play games that are a bit brighter than DF, like Warhammer 40k.

...aaand that's a sig quote right there.

But regarding the OP: It's too bad that fell moods often result in something less than useful, like a dwarf leather shoe. Then again, it's a pretty good bargain for the material cost, unless the murderous artificer grabs your legendary+5 miner...

[Mitchewawa]

Armok builds up worlds just to knock them down? Holy shit, DF is just like Mouse Trap.

[Matoro]

I got fell mood. Dwarf killed one of his friends and made statue of him from his bones...

[thegoatgod_pan]

I will join this cult of bones. I will push my monks to misery, for in misery they will find enlightenment