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Author Topic: DF should have cranes (the birds), and they should lust for dwarven blood  (Read 1471 times)

leoboiko

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This is an engraving by the Swedish human Olaus Magnus in the year 1555.  The artwork depicts dwarves and cranes.  The dwarves are riding goats.  The dwarves are fighting the cranes.


It turns out that cranes battling dwarves is a very old, very widespread trope.  Admittedly, it didn't start with the Norse dvergar, who are the source of Tolkien's and DF's dwarvenfolk, but with the legendary "pygmies" of ancient Greece:



But the story reached everywhere through the ages, and all sorts of dwarvenlike humanoids, including Norse dvergar, found themselves fighting cranes, crane-like birds and such.  You can read a bit about it in this book.  It all started when, according to the poet Kallimachos, cranes acquired the taste for dwarven blood, going as far as migrating in flocks to raid them.  Dwarves would invade nests and destroy eggs in an attempt to curb such attacking flocks.  From them on we get reports from all over the place: Arab Mūsā Ud-Damīrī’s (14c) talked of one-eyed dwarves battling storks; meanwhile the dwarven tribe found by Turkish explorers fought sables; the one by the Cherokee, geese; while the Comox only reported that the dwarves they found were in war with “birds”.

« Last Edit: August 27, 2014, 03:24:12 pm by leoboiko »
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therahedwig

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Damn, that is a deeply specific trope.

Well, DF already has cranes, or at the least, my last fort had white storks.
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Cptn Kaladin Anrizlokum

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Well, DF already has cranes, or at the least, my last fort had white storks.

I remember an adventurer I had that got killed by white storks, is that good enough?
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leoboiko

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Well, storks aren't quite exactly cranes, but… I'm totally new to raw modding; would this work to make my storks scarier?


[CREATURE:BIRD_STORK_WHITE]
-       [DESCRIPTION:A small bird with long legs and bill, and a extremely long wingspan.]
+       [DESCRIPTION:A bird with long legs, neck and bill, and a extremely long wingspan.  In war with dwarvenkind.]
        [NAME:white stork:white storks:white stork]
        [CASTE_NAME:white stork:white storks:white stork]
        [CHILD:1][GENERAL_CHILD_NAME:white stork hatchling:white stork hatchlings]
        [CREATURE_TILE:'s'][COLOR:7:0:1]
        [NATURAL]
-       [LARGE_ROAMING]
+        [LIKES_FIGHTING]
        [BIOME:ANY_GRASSLAND]
        [BIOME:ANY_WETLAND]
-       [POPULATION_NUMBER:15:30]
-       [CLUSTER_NUMBER:5:10]
-       [PETVALUE:25]
-       [BENIGN][MEANDERER][PET_EXOTIC]
+       [POPULATION_NUMBER:25:50]
+       [CLUSTER_NUMBER:8:16]
+       [LARGE_PREDATOR][MEANDERER]
        [FLIER]
        [DIURNAL]
        [HOMEOTHERM:10067]
@@ -1061,6 +1060,7 @@
                [ATTACK_PREPARE_AND_RECOVER:3:3]
                [ATTACK_PRIORITY:MAIN]
                [ATTACK_FLAG_CANLATCH]
+                [SPECIALATTACK_SUCK_BLOOD:50:100]
        [MUNDANE]
        [CASTE:FEMALE]
                [FEMALE]



the main problem I have is that they'd become bloodsuckers of anything, while ideally I'd like their aggression to be directed specifically to dwarves…
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pisskop

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[CREATURE:GIANT_STORK]
[CRAZED]
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Pirate Bob

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I think if you mod in a civilization for cranes and then give them the [babysnatcher] tag, then you might get sieges of cranes.  Probably the easiest thing would be to copy the goblin civilization and replace goblins with cranes.  Buth then they would build pits and such, and possibly try to use weapons and armor, which you likely don't want.  But it should be possible to make the cranes send sieges, and with enough modding remove whatever elements of goblin civilization you don't want.  Maybe make them have forest retreats instead of pits?

I don't know if there's any way to make them hostile to dwarves but not humans.

Shadow Of Fate

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I love this. This should definitely be a thing.

Perhaps instead of making them natural predators, you should make the cranes easily enraged by dwarfs. Make it every crane "absolutely detests dwarfs." Seeing the dwarfs would then makes them upset. And being upset would make them much more prone to rage... Also, all cranes should totally have a martial trance based on some of the myths of cranes in relation to martial arts.

I'm not 100% sure how the raws would work on that, but it should be easier to keep it more specific that way.
« Last Edit: August 30, 2014, 09:00:49 am by Shadow Of Fate »
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