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Author Topic: Datan and the City of Glass - A DF Story (Posted-In-The-Right-Board Edition)  (Read 5119 times)

Roach

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These are the happenings that happen to my fortress, Eribrakas, in the middle of a savage desert, told from the perspective of a late migrant in the year 27 (started from 5). The name of this world, for reference, is Minbazushal.

The way this works is that Datan keeps a journal, and then I attach footnotes to help explain things, as well as entirely separate posts of just notes for explaining more complicated things in detail. Buttfrustration will likely ensue if you have the journal entries and not the notes: obviously, Datan doesn't feel the need to scribe every little detail about his civilisation's history to explain things, because the journal will only ever be read by him and his fellow Urists, who know it all already, so someone has to do it for him.

Also, take note! I took the "beginning of time" in my lore to mean the beginning point when civilisations started counting time properly and using years, not the start of all creation. It may be wrong, but it's much more funnerer as far as lore writing goes, so it's what I'm doing.

Moving on, here's a couple contents listings so you can find your way around:

Entries
The majority of Datan's work. His chronicles of his life at Eribrakas. Some posts have notes or histories attached in the post after; this is noted after their listing.
Entry 1 -- 1 notes post
Entry 2
Entry 3
Entry 4
Entry 5
Entry 6 -- 1 history post
Entry 7
Entry 8
Entry 9
Entry 10
Entry 11
Entry 12 -- 1 notes post
Entry 13
Entry 14 -- 1 history post

Notes
These are posts I wrote to explain the backgrounds, lore and other details of Tustemerush (the civilization Datan belongs to) and its neighbours. They explain things in the entry they're attached to, but they can be read independently too.
Notes Post 1 -- Etymology of the name of Tustemerush, the Tustemeri founding myth, the debate on the geographical origin of Tustemerush, and Tustemeri arena culture.
Notes Post 2 -- The usage, meaning, and history of the Tustemeri hand gesture known as the "pommel slap", as well as how to perform it.


Histories
These are some of Datan's other works: chronicles of past heroes of Eribrakas, both before and during his time. He goes through them in chronological order, so first hero of the fortress = first post.
History 1 -- Thob Atírîgam Tholtigegen Rigòth
History 2 -- Obok Giginlolor Nicat Lunrud
« Last Edit: August 04, 2014, 08:56:22 am by Roach »
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Roach

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The spoilered version of the first of Datan's entries. Endnotes are present directly after the spoiler for the explaining of stuffs, shown in the entries by numbers in (parantheses).

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Endnotes:
1: Sandstone = October
2: Tustemerush: This name is based on slang specific to Tustemeri (the demonym for dwarves of the civilisation of Tustemerush), and translates to “The Courteous Handles”. For more information, see the notes post following this one, in the section “Etymology of The Courteous Handles”.
3: Asto Thec and others: For comprehensive help with the geography of Minbazushal, see the post following the notes that go with this one, which will be general geography help to get things in perspective.
4: The arena: Arenas and fights within them are a long-standing tradition for Tustemeri, and Eribrakas made innovations in this area. For details, see the notes post, section Arena Culture.
5: Stalkôlestrans: The main enemy of Tustemerush, with a strong presence in Asto Thec.
6: Tustemeri salute: For the Tustemeri, saluting was the traditional way of greeting a stranger. Eribrakas developed a slightly different version.
7: Akrulbûni: Demonym for people from Akrulbûnem, the mountainhomes of Tustemerush.
8: Traditional Tustemeri salutation/farewell.
« Last Edit: July 23, 2014, 02:49:04 pm by Roach »
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Roach

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And here are the notes for entry one. Quite a lot for this one, just cause there's so much new stuff.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Endnotes:
1: i.e. of Tustemerush, a dwarven civilisation, translation “The Courteous Handles”.
2: i.e. of Stalkôlestrur.
3: This device's construction is lost into the mists of time, but accounts consistently mention a claw sideswiping into the victim's throat, caused by a sudden standing motion. Usage of this device was a common execution method for many years, although it eventually fell out of favour. It was used because of how humane the method was: with major arteries present in a goblin's neck, the tearing away of the throat in the manner caused near-instantaneous death, while the deception of the executioner with the claim of letting the goblin go allowed them to die with the elation of escape being the final thought in their minds. However, nobility also favoured it due to its “entertainment value”.
4: Translation “The Glad Spine”, elven name.
5: Translation “The Jaundiced Scorpion”, goblin name.
6: Translation “The Desert of Combat”, human name.
7: Translation “Gorgestranger”, dwarven name.
8: More properly Tuthanir Rom. Probably the most infamous historian figure in Minbazushal, little is known about him besides that he chronicled the events of the world constantly, recording all he saw, for thousands of years. Name translates to “Darkpage the Ageless”, an ancient human name.
9: Tuthanir's own time measurement system, which is not explained in any of his works, but has been approximated.

------------------

Aaaaand as promised, the short "Geography Helper", which I put together to explain what and where everything is. Good for reference.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: July 23, 2014, 02:50:41 pm by Roach »
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Roach

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Entry number 2, dudes. This one doesn't need any notes to go with it.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Endnotes:
1: November.
2: riraskorferi: Tustemeri term for Forgotten Beasts (plural form), literal translation "Greater Cavern Beasts".
« Last Edit: July 02, 2014, 08:30:28 pm by Roach »
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Roach

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Entry number three is now on the pedestal. No notes, although the entry one notes might come in handy.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Endnotes
1: In Akrulbûni arena fights, wooden weapons were used, and mortally wounding opponents in the fights was to be avoided at all costs. See Notes on the first journal entry, “Arena Culture” section.
2: Male or female, Akrulbûni fighters in the arena fought topless.

Is anyone reading these, or am I just posting into a wall? I'll continue either way, but it'd be nice to know.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2014, 09:42:51 am by Roach »
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CaptainLambcake

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I'm reading.
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You wake up in (suddenly) your room not somewhere Armok knows where. Travels in deserts and goblin forests turned up to be a dreams borned by procreation of your autistic imagination.

Paulus Fahlstrom

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Reading, and your story is well told. Thanks.
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Roach

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Entry number four! I realise it's been about a month since this was updated; I apologise. Long breaks like this will not be regular: updating this should be much routine from here on.

Thanks for getting back to me guys, it's nice to know someone is reading, even if my thanks is rather late.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Endnotes:
1: The Eribrakan tone: By all accounts, all long-time resident Eribrakans have had grating, rasping, scratchy and generally rough voices throughout history. Tuthanir Rom mentions that he guesses this to be a result of the dwarves inhaling finely-ground glass dust in the glass furnaces, scratching their throats.
2: KLEENUP: obviously, this was translated from dwarven: the misspelling was present in the respective word in the dwarven tongue, and has been mimicked in this transcript in the English form.
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Roach

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Two updates in one day, because I have a lot of catching up to do!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Endnotes:
1: Everything must be recorded: Again, Tuthanir Rom's writings shed light on this. In his words, Akrulbûnem was "frankly document-mad", and recorded vaults of near-endless parchment cataloguing just about everything there was to catalogue circa 3105 dùslaetùlü (very roughly 50 years before the 1st of Granite, 1).

2: Champion: "Champion" as an official position had yet to actually exist in Eribrakas. Nevertheless, Eribrakans used the title to essentially mean "head slaughterer of goblins".
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Roach

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Third update in the last 24 hours. This one is shorter and doesn't require any endnotes, but it comes with some of Datan's very own historical work attached; see the next post.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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Roach

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This is some of Datan's own work, a history he wrote of one of the heroes of the City of Glass. Obviously, his style is somewhat different for these formal reports than his more personal journal entries, and also heavily imitates the work of the eminent historian of the time (and indeed, most of the history of Minbazushal): the mysterious Tuthanir Rom. Regardless, hopefully it will still be an interesting read!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Endnotes:
1: History of...Tustemeri peoples: Dr. Eturtulon, here and throughout this history, is imitating the style of Tuthanir Rom, who even at that time was a well-known historian. Tuthanir always began his histories with three lines, indicating what the history was a history of, who the history was compiled by (usually himself, but sometimes with help of others), when it was compiled and what civilisation or tribe the history mostly concerned.

2: Little is known...: again, Dr. Eturtulon imitates Tuthanir, listing his sources precisely and also detailing their location, so that any curious reader is free to check them should they have the resources.

3: Usirmeb Rodil Othel: this spider is thought to be the main reason Eribrakas was abandoned in the year 9, although there is no proof of this.
« Last Edit: July 25, 2014, 08:19:17 am by Roach »
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Roach

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Hey guys, another update. New year and all that, woot.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Endnotes:
1: The nod to tradition: for a very long time in Tustemeri history, the preferred execution method for goblins was slitting the throat or otherwise slicing the neck arteries. See the notes on the first entry of Datan's journal for further information.
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Baffler

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Oh hey, didn't notice this was back up. Glad to see it!
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Roach

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Oh hey, didn't notice this was back up. Glad to see it!

Thanks for reading! Glad you're enjoying it. Yeah, I had some stuff to take care of for a month, but now I'm less busy, so I should be able to post more regularly. I'm actually a couple years or so behind, as far as journal entries vs. actual gameplay, so I have a lot of catching up to do. Stay tuned etc. etc.
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Roach

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Hey guys, entry number eight reporting.

I think when this thread reaches a page two, I'm going to have to edit the first post to make a sort of index. From here on it'll only get more confusing, I'm guessing, with multiple pages of entries.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Endnotes:
1: Rigòthuling: Literally "craft craze". Dwarven medical term for a strange mood.
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