This is my first DF Story and is based on a modded world called the Everseeing Universe, modded of course with
Forgotten Realms Direforged 2.1D. I plan to play through the game, write down a log of what my dwarves are thinking in the style of a logbook and then copy up what I have written with certain changes to this forum. Here goes the title page:
Background of the Last Dwarves
In the 200 years since the calender was reinvented following the loss of the first calender in the Age of Chaos brought about ultimately by the arrival of colonists from Faerun, things have not been going well for the mountain dwarves. This is rather ironic given that it was they that the calender 200 years ago and were also the first to start to once again build established sites during the course of this Age of Chaos. 200 years ago there had been two mountain dwarf kingdoms on the Land of Neutralization, the Mine of Crowds to the north and the Wall of Gladness to the south. Now only the Wall of Gladness remains, reduced to a handful of mountain halls and refugee camps; with their last fortress gone. The howling ogres of the Thief of Tar had crushed the heroic but feeble forces underfoot but were wary to follow them into the cramped and dark tunnels in which the last free dwarves had taken refuge.
In desperation the mountain dwarves turned to their northwestern neighbors, the Learned Bushes rock gnomes only to be easily thwarted by ogre 'diplomacy'. The kind of diplomacy to involve Dark Master Lest Glumcoastal stomping into the nearest rock gnome fortress, grabbing it's negotiator in one arm and it's dictator in the other before bellowing very loadly at the ruling tribunal:
"Mountain dwarves are hiding in narrow tunnels! Mountain dwarves be made to work to fill ogre bellies but bad dwarves are hiding! Learned Bushes must go bring bad dwarves to justice or gnomes be made to fill ogre bellies!". In response to this steller display of ogre diplomatic prowess the ruling tribunals of all the gnome fortresses were most cooperative and the dictators of the Learned Bushes were soon leading their armies into the caverns in search for the Last Dwarves.
Background of the Treasury of Knots
When all seemed lost King Dugem Lancedvaults of the Wall of Gladness could not accept that the end had come. A devout believer in the goddess Igril the Cave of Puzzling (and hence in Astrology) he knew that the planets were aligning for the first time in many centuries in the constellation of Armok. In the legendary days of old, before the Age of Chaos Armok had been the legendary champion of the mountain dwarf people, so how could the end of the mountain dwarves come when the stars aligned in such a manner? It had been understood by the more realistic dwarves for some time that if there was to be any future for the Walls of Gladness it would have to be far way from the ancestral homelands in the mountains of the Wall of Fights. A small band called the Yawning Gloves had made their way northwards across the Muscular Hills, between the mountain ranges of the Blameless Horn and the Finger of Society, holing in an abandoned hamlet called Robustlock. From there they reported back to King Dugem about the rich lands of the surrounding area (but somehow failed to mention the fomorian presence).
King Dugem was particularly interested in a strange, apparently magical land to the south of Robustlock that the Yawning Gloves had named the Reticent Fields. King Dugem quickly concluded that this land was the legendary field of Armok and the salvation of dwarfkind. He ordered that a secret tunnel be dug to the surface and a single wagon earlier stolen from the gnomes was filled with provision for a long journey; seven were sent aboard the wagon, all ordinery civilians since no soldiers or nobles could be spared. The group called itself the Treasury of Gnots and it's leader is a dwarf woman called Rodes Partnergirders. While the other followers of Igril goddess of the stars were eager to echo their king's talk of a promised land beyond the mountains, some objected not to the group's existance but their precise destination.
Led by Gul Crystalmute, Baron of Trumpetoars the followers of Enuk the Aquamarine Cover god(ess?) of war mostly (also of:earth, mountains, volcanos, fire and fortresses) denounces the king's plan, such an evidently sacred land as the Reticent Hills could not be delved by sinful dwarves and Enuk would surely pour destruction upon the Treasury of Gnats for their sacrilage and the king's hubris. Of course Baron Gul Crystalmute's words carried little sway, given that Trumpetroars, once a great fortress was now a crumbling virtual ruin populated by only a miserable group of a dozen dwarves labouring ceaseless under the name of the Immorality of Learning, which their howling ogre masters had chosen for them. Would history however prove him or the king right?
Embark Map
Caption: The blue icons on the eastern screen are the few remaining holdings of the Wall of Gladness. The scattered fortresses and hillocks in the southeast of the western window are the treacherous and cowardly Learned Bushes rock gnomes, only the fortress in the extreme south-east corner is an occupied dwarf fortress. The Thief of Tar howling ogres originated in the yellow desert that can be seen to the east and from there they built up an impressive empire, expanding westwards and conquering lots of other civilizations and not just the dwarves; the remaining forest retreats in the vicinity of the rock gnomes that are still standing are all ogre controlled. The yellow cross is the destination of the Treasury of Gnots, the surrounding pale blue patch is the Reticent Fields while Robustlock is one of the two blue hamlets to the north. The Muscular Hills are to the east of the cross and pass between the Finger of Society which is the mountain range to the east of the yellow cross and the Blameless Horn which is the mountain range to the south. The Wall of Fights is the south-eastern most mountain range on the eastern map and is where the expedition comes from. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Colour KeyNo position/Captain/Militia Captain:0Mayor/Expedition Leader:0Manager:0Bookkeeper:0Broker:0Militia Commander/Lieutenant:0Chief Medic:0Sheriff/Captain of the Guard:0Hammerer:0Baron/Count/Duke:0King:0Royal Liason:0Diplomat:0