Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1] 2

Author Topic: The most inspirational dwarf awards  (Read 15222 times)

Stephen

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
The most inspirational dwarf awards
« on: September 24, 2009, 04:30:41 pm »

I had a dwarf named Kogan who once lost a lung in a cave-in. He recovered, but that one lung would never work again. As he went through his working day (he was a peasant), he would often pass out from lack of oxygen, dropping whatever he was carrying. When he came to, he would get right back to work. I was always getting messages saying "Kogan cancels task Drink reason: unconscious," but somehow he managed to keep himself from dying of thirst or hunger. One day Kogan collapsed in the entrance to my fort, and set off a cage trap -- it took me ages to get a dwarf to let him out. But after that incident he was the happiest little dorf you ever saw:  his thoughts always included "Happy to be free," and it seemed to override any other negative thoughts he had. Every time he walked past my weapons traps armed with giant serrated steel discs, I held my breath -- I was not looking forward to seeing my favorite dwarf's guts strewn about the main entrance. He continued being an inspiration to all the dwarves, until one day he was caught outside gathering wood during a goblin raid. Every other dwarf outside quickly ran for the fort, and I prepared to pull up the drawbridge, but poor, hardworking Kogan fell unconscious right in the goblins' path.  Every one of those goblins was killed brutally by my hammerdwarves.
Logged

Ubiq

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: The most inspirational dwarf awards
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2009, 06:49:22 pm »

Every other dwarf outside quickly ran for the fort, and I prepared to pull up the drawbridge, but poor, hardworking Kogan fell unconscious right in the goblins' path. 

Too bad that you didn't either assign him a whole host of war dogs or have him train them or else he'd still be with us today.

The most inspirational dwarf I've ever seen was from the Legends page for one of the worlds I generated a few months ago. He was the only surviving member of his city after a long series of wars with the neighbors had whittled them down over the last few decades. If I recall his personal history correctly, he became a woodcutter before moving there.

Then he pissed off the elves by cutting down to many trees (I think that was the stated reason for the war) and they kept invading him. I think the battles went something like 70 elves versus the Iron Woodsman. Fifty of them died, defenders win. And so on for about two or three more battles. I think he finally wound up moving somewhere else and let the elves have the city uncontested. Presumably because of all the elven blood everywhere made it smell like Pinesol all of the time.

There was another dwarf who was kidnapped by goblins of the Menacing Spider at the tender young age of four and managed to go on a bloody rampage right up the year 106 (with at least two decades of that being as the sole surviving inhabitant of that Dark Tower) when an invading dwarf managed to kill her at tender age of 94. She had 172 kills to her credit thanks to the fact that the local dwarven and elven civilization both sent almost yearly expeditions to try and take her out.
Logged

Atarlost

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: The most inspirational dwarf awards
« Reply #2 on: September 24, 2009, 07:05:12 pm »

I can trump Kogan I think.  I have three walking one lungers in a single fort. 

I forget how she got wounded, possibly a training accident, but I have a champion named Dakost Olinidos.  She has one mangled lung, no eyes, and a mustard yellow neck injury.  She still goes on active duty,  She's not very effective though.  Her neck injury is from trying to fight a goblin. 

I also have a novice wrestler named Solon Toollong.  He just has a mangled lung.  He has three kills and I think they're all from after his injury.  He makes up for his lack of skill from being unable to spar (novice wrestler/dabbling swordsdwarf) by being Extremely Strong, Unbelievably Agile, and Very Tough from attending parties.  There apparently are advantages to having a party fort. 

Then, of course there's Kogan Egomalath, who is allmost like your Kogan, except he's a mechanic, only gets winded, and hasn't died.  I'm not sure, but I think he may even have lost his lung in a cave in as well.  Of the lungless dwarves he's the only one that I haven't had to release from a cage trap. 

Then there's the one eyed swordmaster with a neck injury,
Logged

Warlord255

  • Bay Watcher
  • Master Building Designer
    • View Profile
Re: The most inspirational dwarf awards
« Reply #3 on: September 24, 2009, 07:08:06 pm »

Kib Thunderfist the Regenerating.

During a Goblin siege, he had his hip shattered when two Goblin Wrestlers set upon him. In response, he punched one clean across the small valley the fort's entrance was situated in, and beat the other to a bloody pulp. He then walked off as if nothing had happened.
Logged
DF Vanilla-Spice Revised: Better balance, more !!fun!!
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=173907.msg7968772#msg7968772

LeadfootSlim on Steam, LeadfootSlim#1851 on Discord. Hit me up!

darkflagrance

  • Bay Watcher
  • Carry on, carry on
    • View Profile
Re: The most inspirational dwarf awards
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2009, 05:21:06 am »

This is the tragic but hopefully inspiring legend of Tholtig Momuzidek Lelumdoren, "Tholtig Cryptbrain the Waning Diamonds," and the bloody century and a half-long war with the elves that she was born into and died within. It is long, for it chronicles the epic of an entire dwarf civilization, but there is a screenshot at the end that summarizes her greatness.

 I discovered her story while I was browsing legends mode tracing the many wars of the era (I was looking for a world with a long history and interesting events to engrave, and had therefore increased the size of megabeasts to 70, except for hydras, which I increased 140) and happened to notice her name appear over and over, throughout the decades.

She was the fifth and last ruler of the dwarven cilization known as the Bronze Orbs, and ruled the mountainhome of Circletower.
 Her grandfather Meng Emetmistem Tirdugzodost Urrith, "Meng Freshportal the Brutal Rot of Scarring," had been the first of their line to rule Circletower, after the only daughter of the first ruler since time immemorial had died childless, slain by a titan after ruling for only less than a year. Meng had earned the throne after he himself stepped up to duel with the titan, driving it off but receiving a heavy wound to his lower body in the process.
It was Meng who had started the war with the elves, incensed over their devouring of sentient beings. In the year 81 He led ten of his best dwarves against fifteen of the elves of the Steamy Winds, slaying five of them in exchange for two of his comrades. Several dwarves who would go on to earn fame and honor earned their first kills in that first conflict, among them Goden Leafybridges the Talon of Shooting (294 kills), Tosid Stockadefortunes the Lined Friend (146 kills), and Goden Routedgates the Jade Planes of Braving (23 kills).

However, Meng had picked as his foe a powerful elf civ on the rise. During the same years as they fought with the dwarves, the Steamy Winds declared war on the humans and a goblin tyranny ruled by a demon - it was a world war of unimaginable scale. Cities and forest retreats were stained with the blood of literally tens of thousands of the dead, settlements were razed repeatedly by both sides as they fought over them, and the fortunes of empires often turned on a single battle. By the end of it all, the great elven forest that once stretched across the map was reduced to scattered outposts, but this was long after the passing of Meng and his daughters.

Meng died forty years after claiming the throne in 113, and the skulls of 91 elves decorate the mausoleum where he was laid to rest. He had outlived all but one of his children, the rest having been slain (but thankfully not devoured) by elves. 
The only survivor, Metthos Rodercatten Notlith Am, "Metthos Baldedchanneled the Ruin of Speaking," (101 kills) ruled for only seven years before her death leading the Bronze Orbs to victory against a force of elves that outnumbered the dwarves more than 6 to 1, leaving the throne to her only daughter, the aforementioned Tholtig, who had just turned 30. There had been no other children because Metthos's husband had been slain by elves two years after Tholtig's birth.

The odds would only get worse after her death.

As soon as she could raise a hammer at the age of twelve, Tholtig had joined her parents and grandparents on the battlefield. The dwarves had no choice, for their losses were so great that they needed every pair of hammer-wielding arms they could find. By the time she ascended the throne in 121, she had slain 48 elves and a cyclops, but the amount of dwarves left capable of wielding a weapon numbered less than ten. Nonetheless, she led them to victory in her first assault against the elves, but it was a Pyrrhic victory that saw the deaths of two of her children, including her eldest son.

The war saw the rise of numerous heroes and their offspring: among them Alath Pageplaited the Circular Tongs (60 kills, slain by a hydra in 103), Olon Orblabors the Fenced Sandal of Shadow (Alath's brother, 118 kills, became a diplomat halfway through the war and stopped going to battle), and Unib Lancemet the Way of Boiling (the sister of Alath and Olon, 8 kills, slain by an elven arrow), and Mafol Drilledhammer the Violence of Forests (Son of Tholtig, with a mere 5 kills before death by an arrow) Many elf heroes of the wars with the humans and goblins, flouting long titles earned by the lives they had ended, themselves met their end at the hands of Tholtig or her brothers and sisters in arms. A typical battle might see 281 elves arrayed against a mere 4 dwarves, only for 96 elves to perish with all 4 dwarves surviving, yet this continued year after year. There was an elf leader who met each of the dwarf heroes in battle multiple times for eight years and escaped, before Tholtig finally killed him in their third duel. However, as time passed, the elves only grew more numerous, while the dwarves, their numbers decimated by constant warfare and their children dying without offspring, only grew closer to ultimate defeat.

Tholtig married Logem Uthmikmelbil Gosterudosiddor, "Logem Shaketomes the Hoary Men-larks," son of the heroes Leafybridges and Stockadefortunes from the first battle between the dwarves and elves and brother of Alath, Olon, and Unib. Unlike previous rulers of the Bronze Orbs, Tholtig and her husband, had many children, numbering ten in all. However, fate was against the Bronze Orbs: eight of her children died at tender ages shortly after taking up arms against the elves, and even the two who survived the wars met misfortune elsewhere. Her youngest daughter, Urist Racktoned the Permanent Scars, who had slain 176 elves and survived countless battles, was slain by a hydra, but most tragically of all, Tholtig's eldest daughter and heir, Erush Racktoned the Rough Miseries of Quiescence, was slain at the age of 90 having slain 1007 elves, by the same titan that her great-grandfather King Meng had driven off to claim his title, which had suddenly returned 100 years later to plague the Bronze Orbs.

However, time was a foe that even legendary force of arms could not overcome. In 200, five years after Tholtig mourned the passing of her heir, an adventurer slew that same hydra that took the life of Tholtig's youngest daughter and brought an end to the Age of Legends. By then, only three dwarves remained to defend Circletower: Tholtig, her husband Logem, and Obok Willbolt the Drinks of Ruining, a venerable dwarf who had witnessed the rise of Tholtig's grandfather and the beginning of the war a century ago, and amassed 1654 trophies, and of course the diplomat Olon, who must have then been regretting the pacifism had cost him equal glory.

Lacking children to carry on and therefore hope, the remaining dwarves slowly slipped away, Obok in 227, Logem in 237, and finally Olon in 242. For nearly ten years, from 237 onwards, Tholtig defended her ancestral home of Circletower alone. Each of these years year saw one hundred or more elves lay siege to the empty halls where Tholtig's entire clan lay sleeping, only to be driven back in bloody defeat. Alone she stood, hammer in hand, the only force between her home and firey conquest. Despite the injustice of chance that had taken away her children and the inevitability of defeat she held her ground until at last in 246 when old age struck her down, something no mortal weapon could have aspired to. And so fell the last dwarf of the Bronze Orbs - and with Tholtig's death ended their entire civilization and history.
Tholtig had lived for one hundred and fifty-six years, all of which had seen no peace for her, and outlived all of her children, her friends, and her husband. Logem, the second-to last of the dwarves to pass on, had died with 1955 kills. To give an idea of how many Tholtig had killed, it took one minute and thirteen seconds to scroll from the top of her entry to the bottom.

Tholtig's kills:
 
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: September 26, 2009, 09:09:36 am by darkflagrance »
Logged
...as if nothing really matters...
   
The Legend of Tholtig Cryptbrain: 8000 dead elves and a cyclops

Tired of going decades without goblin sieges? Try The Fortress Defense Mod

Lawec

  • Bay Watcher
  • Dabbling Goblinslayer
    • View Profile
Re: The most inspirational dwarf awards
« Reply #5 on: September 25, 2009, 08:15:17 am »

HOLY CARP! Tholtig truly is an inspiring dwarf! She must've had been blessed by Armok himself!
Logged
In order to improve the universe's frame rate, we must all throw rocks into volcanoes and then do absolutely nothing, worldwide, for a week, to take pressure off pathfinding.

Niveras

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: The most inspirational dwarf awards
« Reply #6 on: September 25, 2009, 10:26:22 am »

Tholtig's story is truly an epic one, on par with any of the heroes from the Chinese Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Logged

Satarus

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: The most inspirational dwarf awards
« Reply #7 on: September 25, 2009, 10:30:32 am »

Out of curiosity, how many kills does the Captain have compared to that?
Logged
Quote
You need to make said elf leather into the most amazing work of art.  Embed it with every kind of gem you have, stud it with metals, and sew images into it.  Erect a shrine outside your fort with that in the center.  Let the elves know that you view their very skin as naught more but a medium for your dwarves to work on.

twwolfe

  • Bay Watcher
  • Likes ponies for their cuteness
    • View Profile
Re: The most inspirational dwarf awards
« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2009, 11:56:35 am »

when i was reading about tholtig, i was getting falshback to reading the Silmarillion
Logged
There are dwarves that are nothing but useless sacrifices - Miners are not one of them.

darkflagrance

  • Bay Watcher
  • Carry on, carry on
    • View Profile
Re: The most inspirational dwarf awards
« Reply #9 on: September 25, 2009, 12:20:22 pm »

Incidentally, total death toll on the elvish civilization due to the above dwarves: 7978 elves. Not included are the kills of dwarves without long names like Tholtig's other eight children, who each killed perhaps two or three elves.
Logged
...as if nothing really matters...
   
The Legend of Tholtig Cryptbrain: 8000 dead elves and a cyclops

Tired of going decades without goblin sieges? Try The Fortress Defense Mod

Hectonkhyres

  • Bay Watcher
  • Has a Fetish for Skulking Filth-
    • View Profile
Re: The most inspirational dwarf awards
« Reply #10 on: September 25, 2009, 11:54:02 pm »

I am going to be sorely (read genocidally) disappointed if Tholtig ends up being forgotten, merely another footnote in the heaps of forum history to be glanced at and then never thought of again. This is epic... the sort of thing that should inspire novels.

Captain Ironblood apparently has a wife waiting for him in Dwarven Valhalla.
Logged
And now the thread is about starfish porn.
...originally read that as 'perpetual motion pants' and thought how could I have missed this??

Bloogonis

  • Bay Watcher
  • Steamyworks
    • View Profile
Re: The most inspirational dwarf awards
« Reply #11 on: September 26, 2009, 12:40:22 am »

Bomrek isn't dead, and she keeps popping out mini Ironbloods.
Logged

Ieb

  • Bay Watcher
  • A Breakdancing Ogre
    • View Profile
Re: The most inspirational dwarf awards
« Reply #12 on: September 26, 2009, 06:46:20 am »

I recall Ironblood's most numerous killed creatures being the elks and skelks that were around 3.7k I think. Or maybe it was just the skelks.

I think Tholtig got poor Ironblood beat in the history of epics. Although again these are two different settings. Tholtig lived in war from the start. Ironblood lived in the horrible frozen wastelands. In their own category, these two are on the top so no one should feel too bad about it.
Logged

RevolutionaryDorf

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: The most inspirational dwarf awards
« Reply #13 on: September 26, 2009, 08:30:46 am »

That's an amazing tale. This kind of thing makes me excited for the release where we get to fight wars outside of our own fortress in dwarf mode.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Logged

Grendus

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: The most inspirational dwarf awards
« Reply #14 on: September 26, 2009, 09:45:17 am »

Tholtig is an amazing dwarf, as is the Captain. I think Morul has em both beat though, his kill count is around theirs and he's been battling megabeast-sized orcs solo.

Personally, I think that's Toady's biggest accomplishment with DF. Most of the legendary dwarves are not his or Threetoe's, they're the stories and worlds made by the community. Most game developers can only dream of such a thing.
Logged
A quick guide to surviving your first few days in CataclysmDDA:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=121194.msg4796325;topicseen#msg4796325
Pages: [1] 2