Dwarf Fortress > DF Dwarf Mode Discussion

Dwarven Dying, Death, and Burial. Especially elderly dwarves.

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Noble Digger:
I've read of eskimo cultures where, upon reaching the age where they become a burden on the community, elderly people are set adrift on an ice floe to find their final resting place on the ocean or somesuch.

I imagine Armok's dwarves would have a similar custom, perhaps unique to the profession of the dwarf embarking on the journey with no return. Miners, for example, are given a pick and shovel and a backpack with some food and a blanket and sent to dig a long ramp-shaft as deep downward as possible, seeking the fortunes of the deep earth. In essence, dig a ramp downward, step down the ramp, and repeat. Never to be seen or troubled over again...

Old McUrist, Miner has quietly disappeared into the depths of the earth.

How else might dwarves send off their useless elderly? There are the obvious choices we rotten fucks have already come up with--drowning chambers, oscillating spike traps, collapsing cielings in rooms full of cage traps, magma, bridge-a-pults, gladiatorial death arenas, fire and brimstone, execution shafts with their cold, hard stone resting place for many an elf.

How would our dwarves, though, "send off" their honored elderly who are simply too frail to be a contributing member of society, and too proud of their many decades of hard work to rest on the bosom of the younger generations? Make it count, you horrible shitbags.

Ivefan:
Patricide of elderly existed in norse culture.
If you survived all your battles ones last chance to go to Valhalla would be to have your eldest sons throw you of a cliff

Wimdit:

--- Quote from: Noble Digger on February 25, 2009, 05:24:18 am ---Old McUrist, Miner has quietly disappeared into the depths of the earth.

--- End quote ---

Epic.

Other than that, the cave-in execution shaft sounds appropriate for any self-respecting dwarf. I can also imagine an ancient, decrepit champion taking on a goblin (or elven, or human) siege by himself.

Some dwarves might have magma-safe coffins made and have themselves thrown into magma pipes. That's a neat idea for a group of dwarves who depend on magma.

Then there's bonecarvers who commit seppuku and get other dwarves to make their bones into a chair...

Noble Digger:

--- Quote ---make their bones into a chair..
--- End quote ---

Maybe i'm speaking as a primadonna human here, and dwarves would fare better, but good god I couldn't sit on such an abomination, could you?

"Hey Timmy, where's daddy's coat?" "Hanging on grampa!"

*shudder*

For my part I think fisherdwarves would want to see the end of the river they spent their life fishing on, be it surface or subterranean, ...in a boat a little bigger than a bathtub. (million points to anyone who gets that reference) I'm always curious what's at the bottom of the river chasm, or offscreen along the underground river, aside from murderous green-skinned beasts and albino cave crocodiles :P

I guess a more feasible question is, how would your dwarves want to die, and subsequently how would they want to have their remains seen to, how would they want to be remembered? This thread is now about dwarven death and burial, and House Råsh for those of us who eagerly await dwarven guilds :P

Bromor Neckbeard:
Over fifteen years ago, I read a short story about a dying dwarf who was the last member of his clan.  Everybody else had either abandoned the fortress or died in combat with the reptilian horrors which were invading from the cave river.  Also, there were a tribe of elves living on the top of the mountain which contained the dwarf fortress, and they worshiped a giant tree which was as much a part of the dwarves' lives as of the elves.  The story was the dwarf remembering the most significant events of his life before he decided to end it.

So for his death, he first killed a dozen or so reptiles in brutal combat with his artifact war hammer, then, bleeding from mortal wounds, he pulled the lever which would trigger a series of intricate mechanisms that would collapse the entire fortress, dropping the mountain ten feet or so.  So, he died in the arms of the mountain, clutching his life's greatest work, surrounded by the bloody ruins of his defeated enemies.  His last thought was something along the lines of, "My only regret is that I don't get to see the looks on those elves' faces."

If I still had the story, I'd take the time to type it up for the enjoyment of this forum.  For something that predated DF by at least a decade, it's the most DF-like piece of fantasy literature that I've ever read.

(edit)  I can't remember the exact name of the story.  It was something like "Doogan's Rest", where Doogan was the name of the dwarf.

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