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[KingFerret]

The Apostles of Armok

Mad am I? Mad? Is it insane to find the best thing in the world, the most powerful thing in the world, the most...most...TERRIFYING thing in the world and devote your life to it? Is that crazy? Well that's what's they said. They call themselves worshippers of Armok but they're not really...they trade with the filthy elves...they honour their Kings and parasitic nobles over Armok...they cower behind walls instead of facing the enemy in open combat like a true dwarf...
But worst of all, now they have disgraced me - the last true follower of Armok - thrown me out of my home and left me to rot in this wasteland. And why? Because I dared to do what Armok asks. I provided blood. Oh yes lots of blood. In fact there wasn't much left of that elf liason apart from blood and chunks. Yes I enjoyed slaughtering the tree hugger, but that's not the point! I did it for Armok.
They don't know it yet, but they have actually done me a blessing. Dwarven civilization is bloated and corrupted. It's time to start a new, pure civilization. But I can't do it on my own. No...I will need helpers...not may to begin with. More will come as they hear of the splendors of the fortress I build for Armok, of the feats of our mighty warriors and the devoutness of our priests. Yes...they will come crawling, begging for the mercy of Armok's followers...and they may be granted it, or they may not...


Today I threw open the doors of a tavern and smelled the stench of piss, sweat and failure inside. "You call yourselves dwarves? You call yourselves the representatives of Armok in this plane of existence? I call you nothing - I call you filth!" Blinking faces turned towards me, surprised by the harshness of my voice and words.

"I come here to offer redemption. You dwarves are haulers, lye makers, strand extractors - dwarves that society has deemed worthless. But I say that no dwarf is worthless - for what does prayer cost? Nothing. Any dwarf can offer his worship up to the God of Blood and be useful. You will all have a place in the fortress I shall create, and any dwarf is welcome to join me. I do not require you to be intelligent (in fact I rather expect you not to be) I do not require you to be skillful at anything useful. I do not want the strongest or the most agile. All I require of you is fanatical religious fervour and belief in the power of Armok. I will be waiting in the other inn across the street for one hour  - enough time to mull over your decision I think. When you decide to end your disgustingly worthless existence and begin a new life of servitude - meet me there."

And so over the course of an hour they dribbled in - 5 dull eyed dwarves with no passion left in them. But that would come with time. One last dwarf joined us, just as we were about to set off. He was different to the rest. From his posture, from his accent, from the way he distastefully separated himself from the other dwarves, I could tell he was a nobleborn. I eyed him warily as he sauntered casually over and offered a sickly sweet smile.
"My soon to be dear friend, might I introduce myself. I am Reksas. My skills lie in management and logistics - which is where I believe I can help. You are going to need funds for this holy endeavor - to buy food, provisions etc."
"Armok will provide for us - he will sustain us and be our weapon in times of need and shield and armour on-"
"Yes, yes, yes." He said irritably, "Of course, of course he will do in due time. But does Armok not also help those who help themselves? It would be wise not to anger him by assuming his help. We should be humble servants...not leeches."
"Hmrph."
"Is that a yes?"
"Yes." I grumbled.
"Then lets go, no time to lose." he said happily.

And so it begins.

This is a masterwork fort designed to make maximum use of the prayer system. I have no idea if it's actually possible to properly provide for a fortress simply through prayer (and maybe some other supplements) however I sure as hell am going to try. Five totally unskilled dwarves, myself with proficient leadership and Reksas with a spattering of random social skills to suit his personality.

If you want to be dwarfed as one of the unskilled dwarves then you can do.
If you would like to provide a personality or backstory to your dwarf then feel free and i will try my best to incorporate it into this narrative.

I should be updating maybe once a day when I feel like it.

[KingFerret]

No.1

This is my first journal entry since gathering my six apostles. I haven't been able to write about the journey simply because we've been pushing so hard. They called me a slave driver, especially Reksas who is unused to physical labour. Already they are calling me mad...again. But it doesn't amtter to me. I had to find the right place. We passed by a fluffy meadow. We passed by a lovely mountain. They just didn't feel right. I knew Armok would give me sign when we arrived. And he did. Lava.





This place...is perfect

[Firehawk45]

I think it should be possible with minimal rearrangements. You can get hard and soft metals, silk, weapons, armour and some other stuff through praying, but by far not enough to supply a fortress. Raising of animals, brewing blood wine, making bone crafts, offering blood and bones to armok should get you where you need to be.

Dwarfing you say.... well, if you get a legion dwarf migrant, give him a sword, make him the militia commander, name him after me and give him a personality of faith near madness and fanatism.

[KingFerret]

No problem, first legion migrant I get goes to you

[Meph]

Dwarf me as an atheistic guy, one of the 5 from the bar, who just came with this bunch of crazy people, to see what will happen.

And I predict that it is possible, and I am glad that you try this, because the reactions will turn out to be unbalanced. At least I think they will be.

[KingFerret]

Awsome, I got Meph as a dwarf in my fortress
Certainly having an aetheist amongst everyone else will be interesting. You want him to be openly or secretly aetheist?

[Firehawk45]

I dont know if having openly athaestic dwarves in a fortress with an swordwielding fanatic is a good idea

Hope this Firehawk gets so overpowered like Darkhawk in the succession game, would be awesome.

[Meph]

Secretly of course. He grumbles along with the more enthusiastic citizens, but gets a bit freaked out by them. If he is uncovered or not, and what happens to him, is of course alone your decision

Good luck with the fortress

[KingFerret]

No.2

I knew I had to make an impression today. They collapsed as soon as we dragged our caravan to the right spot on the volcanic hillside. Pathetic. Did they expect our bloody utopia to appear overnight? There would be no rest until it was perfect. But how to rouse them from the lethargy?

Gleefully I snatched up a butchers knife and moved over to the muskox that had been pulling our wagon. I cleared my throat loudly. Droopy eyelids snapped open at the sound and after a short time all were watching me. I gave a manic smile, turned and hacked into the stupid beasts neck. Again, again, again, again. Five times my arm swooped up and down before the head flopped off onto the floor. Looking around I eventually found a long straight-ish stick. I jammed the head onto the stick and the stick onto the ground.

Turning to the shocked faces all around me, I smiled again. I was bathed from head to toe in blood.
"Sometimes worship of Armok comes in the form of a squeakily polished solid gold temple, from which prisoners are dropped to become a bloody mess on the floor hundreds of feet below. Sometimes worship is in the form of perfectly trained killing machine, chopping elves heads off neatly in a single blow time after time after time. And sometimes worship is just this: pure, unadultered, seemingly pointless brutality."

I turned to the dwarf nearest to me and asked his name.

"Me- Meph." His voice broke as he spoke. He seemed nervous. I held out the bloody blade to him, handle first. He took it in his shaky hand and moved slowly deliberately towards the horse that helped the ox pull the wagon. So slowly he raised the blade over his head. As the blade reached it's highest point he looked around him, hoping perhaps that one of the other dwarves would intervene and say, "stop this madness!" but none did. He took a gulp and - was kicked by the horse! He fell heavily to the ground, accompanied by the mocking laughter of the other dwarves. He surged angrily to his feet, a shine in his eyes. The horse bucked and whinied, and Meph bided his team before pouncing. The horse was still bracketed to the wagon and could not escape - or turn sideways to meet Meph. The helpless beast's head fell slowly to the floor. Meph was on his knees, soaked in blood. I nodded my approval and made a totem out of the horses head. The other dwarves had to settle for roosters for their personal shrines, me and Meph having killed the only large animals.

This was the first test of faith - the letting of the blood of a non-sentient in the name of Armok. They had all passed but hardly with flying colours, most of the dwarves making a mess of beheading even a rooster. Meph also seemed particularly shaken up by his kill. However I had seen the light of Armok in his eyes, fueled by his humiliation and anger. I would make a true Apostle of Armok out all of them soon enough.

[KingFerret]

Somewhat ironically it turns out that Reksas has actually started the game with expert apostle of armok, a pretty rare caste from my experiences.

[KingFerret]

No. 3

"This is my Totem. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
My Totem is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life.
My Totem without me, is useless. Without my Totem I am useless."
Eventually they begin to get the picture. The Totems are really fucking important. They are our link with Armok, and without Armok we will not survive and we will not prosper.
"You will place your totem in your bedroom and you will make it a shrine to Armok. You will pray there, constantly. For support. For guidance. For power. For food. For booze." A silence settles over the apostles. Eventually one of them pipes up with a question. I move down the line and identify the questioner as Meph.
"Err...what bedroom?"
"Good question." I say with a grin. "Grab your pickaxes, we're going mining. And where we're mining, it's hot...very hot."



Bedrooms with personal shrines to armok, around the volcano.

[KingFerret]

No. 4

It took less time than I expected. Apparently after my little scene at the tavern, word spread of a new messiah, one who would lead all dwarves to the true worship of Armok. So people started to arrive. Excellent. The more dwarves we have, the louder our prayers will be. Unlike most fortresses, every dwarf will have an equal place here. The only hierarchy is based the strength of your devotion - not on birthrights or natural advantages. I believe that this is what draws dwarves to us. We are all equal in the eyes of the Blood God.

Six of them. A shamble to be sure, but that didn't matter. As soon as they had their own totems, they would be one of us, and could contribute meaningfully to the well being of the fort.

While I was surveying the new Apostles, Reksas came alongside me.
"Not much to look at, are they?" He asked me conversationally. Never much for pointless conversation, I simply went ahead and asked him the question that had been bugging me for a while.
"Why did you join me, and fund us?" He sighed deeply.
"I was a high priest of Armok, back in the capital - and a good one too. But something didn't seem quite right. I was a high priest of Armok - the God of Blood, patron of all dwarves and our most loved deity and yet I felt queezy at the very sight of blood. I looked around me and saw old useless dwarves. Bookworms. Philosophers. Poets. Astronomers. I realised then that we were frauds. My whole life had been wasted. This wasn't what Aromk was truly about. He doesn't live on dusty bookshelves he lives out here, on the frontiers and the battlefields, where life is short and...bloody. I was in that tavern trying to drown out those thoughts when you showed up and gave me new hope." I nodded and walked away.

[Sprin]

Dwarf me
sprin
male
my story-Iam too drunk to remember.

[Meph]

"What the hell is going on here. I thought it would be fun to watch a failed priest, a useless noble and a couple of drunks on their magical journey to bliss and paradise. And that I could grab some jewels or gold here and there before I make my way back to the city. But this guy is absolutely mad. Had us chop off the heads of perfectly good lifestock, and then put the cut off heads into ours rooms. Really ? I am praying to a horse that I killed ?

At least the room is warm."

OFFTOPIC// I really hope that at some point, at some time, the cult of the carp god shows up in this fortress. It would be glorious.

[wolfwood296]

dorf as legion and with a rifle (if there are rifles) or a sword

also there's a carp god