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Author Topic: Mortician  (Read 312 times)

nicolaw

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Mortician
« on: April 14, 2025, 06:53:36 pm »

Sometimes, a dwarf corpse is found, but the cause of death is unclear because it wasn’t witnessed. I wonder if adding a new medical position of “mortician” in the hospital might be possible. Just like injured dwarves are automatically taken to hospital for a diagnosis and then appropriate treatment, if a corpse is discovered, it could be taken to the hospital for a post-mortem to be carried out by the mortician. Once they have completed their work, the corpse could be handled in the same way as they currently are by sending it to a stockpile, tomb or dump, etc, as per the existing gameplay.

Factors such as elapsed time since death until examination, level of trauma (mutilated vs not), missing limbs, blood spatter, wounds, etc, could influence the accuracy of the mortician's conclusions. An option under the standing orders menu might be helpful to allow the player to decide which corpses and under what circumstances should be eligible for a post-mortem (only residents vs residents and visitors, not during sieges, etc).

I truly love the level of detail and depth that the hospital gives to the game, and I often watch with interest as my dwarves are being treated. This could add a similar level of interest and utility for when things get “fun”. It could also give players more clues to detect nefarious evil activities in their forts.

What do you think?
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Salmeuk

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Re: Mortician
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2025, 02:26:04 am »

very nice! and embalmer (for burial preparations) might go along with this idea.
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Azerty

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Re: Mortician
« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2025, 12:13:30 am »

This might be handy for the judiciary panel, with courts having to rule whether it was murder or accident.

Aside note, studying dead bodies to seek the causes of the death is done by the coroner, not the mortician. Morticians are tasked with preparing the bodies for funeral.
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Re: Mortician
« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2025, 04:37:07 am »

The task could be done through the chief medical dwarf's diagnosis skill, without adding a new role.
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slowpersun

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Re: Mortician
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2025, 04:13:50 pm »

CSI Dwarf Fortress, OK.  But doesn't it sort of not matter without embalming corpses, bodies don't exactly stay fresh, and no refrigeration without at least more magic... although allowing heat transfer via magic could be super interesting, refrigeration would be probably a rather mundane use.
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