OOC: I was inspired to build a megaproject. I hope its dwarvy enough for you :-). Sorry for the delay in the writeup, but this took forever to explain my plans, and designating that much mining was extremely slow and irritatingJournal of Id 'NCommander' Matulcog
19 Slate 777
===Slate has mostly passed relatively quietly. We have learned to sleep, eat, and even fight while in water. It is slowly becoming natural to all of us. Once news of my project spread and its inspiration came forth, TheAussieDwarf conned the term "Clown And Rabble Pacification" for our new solders. As such, I issued a decree those who've undergone CARP training shall officially be a member of the First Dwarven Marine CARP Special Forces.
Our first batch of CARP recruits are now approaching an accomplished level of swimming. Once they have, I plan to release us from our prison, and allow them to eat, drink and sleep. I find it rather hilarious that some of us are thirsty despite the fact that we are continuously surrounded by water ...
Once cleared, pumps will be installed in this area, and all military personal will be given the Pump Operator profession, and their training schedule modified to spend 7 months military training, 5 months as civilians where they will build their bodies. I also hope that in this configuration, it will end the constant griping of 'endless patrol duty' that is all too common.
Speaking of pumps, I consulted with TheAussieDwarf, and provided a detailed set of instructions of how the BATTERY is designed, and the necessary steps to complete its construction. While we have no need for the power at the moment, at the very least, it will allow Deathgate's sole milestone to once again become operational once it is relocated to the BATTERY's drive chain.
I've also began work on my own megaproject. While sitting in the waters of the trade depot, I found myself possessed with a clarity of mind that I have never before experienced. I've known many who have entered the strange moods that occasional claim members of our race to produce legendary artifacts. While I do not have the compulsory urge to run and claim a workshop, the vision persists in my mind.
Many years ago, a previous overseer began construction on an aqueduct that would lead into hell and presumably act as a cleaning system for the exterior of the Hellbunker. This aqueduct was never completed, but I realize it could be used for a far greater purpose than simple building washing. However, closer examination reveals that this first aqueduct's construction was fatally flawed. Instead of connecting to an infinite source of water such as a river or an aquifer, it connected to an underground pool which was fully drained into the aqueduct. Furthermore, since the passageway has since dried up, trees have grown in the fill passageway rendering it useless for my purposes.
Thus I've begun designation construction on what I call the Kôkdath Areltulon Sash. I suspect someone or another will find a more glorious name for it, but until then, Areltulon Sash will stand.
The Areltulon's is comprised of four parts. The first part, known as Therlethcustith ("The Serpents Passage" in common tounge), is a two-urist wide aqueduct leading from the top of the adamantine spire and winds its way up over 90 levels until it connects to the underground sea in the first cavern.
Construction will begin from the bottom-up, using upward ramps to bridge each level to prevent any mining accidents. To insure quick construction, any and all miners are to be immediately releved of their current positions. NRDL, who beside being an axedwarf, is one of our few legendary miners. As such, he is immediately exempted from CARP training and will oversee mining operations. At the beginning of the Therlethcustith, two floodgates will be installed and both accessing seperate taps of water, ensuring constant supply. Floodgates-behind-doors combined with mine-and-run will be used to safely tap into the underground sea.
One complication exists though, a forgotten beast lurks within the sea.
As a building destoryer, this monster could destory any floodgates installed, either destorying our possibility of draining the Areltulon, or destorying one of the floodgates before the final tiles are mined out, thus leaving the passage with less than ideal amounts of water. I also do not know if building destoryers can success destory open floodgates. As an alternative, I may simply bring the feed point for the waterway to the aquifer, which is at least monster free.
On the flipside, once a path to hell is opened, the beast may decide to travel down and attack the demons within. The waterflow though by itself will not be strong enough to wash its bulk into hell. Alteratively, live bait may be usable in luring it downwards. Finally, to allow the beast to reach the bottom, the construction must be devoid of demon-filters, which is less than ideal. As it stands, I will likely have to reconstruct parts of the waterway during to include straight channels so grates may be installed.
Areltulon's second part, the Okilisul ("Test of Faith"), is the dropzone into the Areltulon. Built directly over a straightway near the bedrooms, two bridges with a lever will be constructed to allow our CARPs to be dropped into the waterway. I'm currently debating the design of activiating the actual drop, but this is not an immediate concern. As an addition aside, the bends in the Custiththerleth can be used to construct addition entry points where we may drop units in thought this initial design will only involve the single Okilisul.
The third part, which I call Therlethrazs ("Seperant's Tooth"), involves the construction of the waterway through the adamantine, and into hell itself. Due to the irregular shape of the vein, walls will have to be constructive to keep the waterway at 2x2 less it dispence and loose depth. I believe a minimal depth of 3 or 4 will be required to have the flow move our solders unwillingly into hell (as an additional note, the water level must never reach 7/7. For reasons I do not understand, any waterway at 7/7 depth seems to loose any pushing power it has on things within its passageway. While I must reconfirm this fact, it is a valid worry).
At the bottom of the vein exists a 2x2 constructed floor to prevent demons from flying into hell followed by a four level drop to the ground below. This floor will be removed, and a set of artifical steps must be constructed, beginning the start of the fourth and final part of the Areltulon, which I've come to call the "Final Insult", as there is no formal words to desire it. It safely bringing the water down one level at a time until it reached the floor of hell itself. The bottom of the vein exits relatively close to the original Hellfarm, and the bunker. As such, minor modifications to the bunker must be made to provide a way to safely bring our warriors back into the safety of the fortress once they've been deployed and are ready for collection.
The water from the Areltulon will provide safety to our warriors as the fight, washing off any dust and poisions (as long as the idiots are smart enough to stay near the stream), and will coat large portions of the slade floor with water, constantly washing grim away. My current construction plan involves a large overhanging passageway with regular gaps in it to allow water to flow out and create mist all throughout hell. In effect, it will be a giant sprinkler system for the demons. A quick survey of all the current monstories in hell show that none of them are capiable of flight. As such, building from the top down should be relatively safe, though I have never attempted a construction like that before.
As for the insult part, well wherever possible, I plan to construct most of the overhanging waterway out of soap.
Before you call me crazy, let that thought sink in for a moment. The floors of hell and the demons within are covered in centuries of fifth, blood, grime, and ichor. Demons seem to believe that being covered in the dried blood of their enemies strikes terror into mortals, and they would be right. However, should they become squeakly clean, the terror they hoped to strike into their enemies will be lost for good.
The water travelling through the Areltulon will pass over several kilometers of mineral dust; effectively, hundreds of gallons of mineral water will pass into hell itself. In addition, it will gain traces of adamantine as it enters Separant's Tooth, and be warmed as it passed close to the magma, and the semi-molton rock below. The now hot mineral waters will then pick up the soap as it runs over it, and falls into hell, wiping the filth away before finally falling into one of the pits.
I believe you can now see why I've choosen to call the last stage "The Final Insult".
I must still draft up the remainer of the plans for the overhang and passage construction.
OOC: I decided though the ability to flush our military into hell, surrounded by water (and live fish; if we have any to capture), is WAY too good of an idea to pass up. I'm not sure though if stairs will block a unit from flowing downward; my concern is I know stairs block pumps, hence they might prevent flowing water from dragging a unit down into hell. Any insight is helpful, else I'll channel out all the staircases.
In addition, due to the design of the sprinkers in hell, I've wondering if I should up the aqueduct up to 3x3 or even 4x4 though that risks creating a bottleneck in the vein. Alternatively, I could use the mine through SMR/slade exploit and simply MAKE a bigger passageway, though that requires killing off at least seven to nine dwarfs ...
I've never attempted to construct anything like this before; my few projects before all involved magma vs. water. Any thoughts, insights are GREATLY welcomes. I also suspect I won't conclude it before the end of the year, though it should be trivial for another overseer to finish it.
And yes, Kôkdath Areltulon Sash is actual Dwarven as taken from the language files. I suck at naming things though in general. Another idea I had for a name for the last part was Via Purifico (latin: Cleanse the way).
Also, the first image is showing up at a 404 even though I know have the link correct. Here's a hotlink to it if anyone is having issues http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w517/NCommander/Deathgate%20777%20Turn/dwarian-needs.png
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Topic: Deathgate - And We Must Scream (Finished Succession Game) (Read 836828 times)