Mountain Halls Duskcraft

I don't know what happened to the last save, but mysteriously vanished from my save folder, so I had to start over. Thus, Tathrigoth (Duskcraft), settled in the dear temperate area near a brook and volcano, came to be. The brook, named by explorers as The Subordinate Artifices, was flowing with fresh water, but appeared to be very far away from the volcano. Indeed, it is 8 z-levels and and the entire opposite side of the map. Between setting up my fortress on the flatlands near the brook, or the obsidian-rich mountains near the volcano, I, naturally, opted for the volcanic land. Perhaps it was due to what the very same explorers named the volcano that influenced my decision: The Fire of Authority.

This volcano spanned over 50 z-levels before disappearing far beyond my dwarven echolocation devices' reach. For 45 of those 50 levels, its shape remains exactly the same. From the peak of the mountain it resides beside to deep inside, its rocky container did not change a centimeter, and so it was difficult for me, at first, to figure out how to tap the delicious magma. If I channeled down, it would spill over, and if I just carelessly ordered a dwarf to puncture the wall, it would consume him, and I did not want to lose a dear miner.

I eventually found a way, doing something so simple, I could curse myself for having trouble with it before, but never you mind. In any case, my figuring out how to access the magma right next to me is what spurned the creation of my magma furnaces.

A bit disorderly, perhaps, but it effectively encompasses most of the area dug out above for furnaces and such. My farms were not only not planted yet, but the area I was going to plant them had not even been dug out! Yes, I had prioritized magma smelters and furnaces before food. The fortress nearly starving to death aside, I think it was a completely dwarvenly thing to do, and so possess neither regret nor guilt for the incident(s).

It was around this time that my stonecrafter was taken by a fey mood, and so designed and made Zimthimshur Leganokab, "Crestpartner the Mirthful Breaker" which, regrettably, is not as interesting as the name.

Nonetheless, it allowed my stonecrafter to pump out hundreds of masterwork obsidian crowns, scepters, and other trinkets, ensuring the fortress would never look at expensive items of traders with envious eyes. Indeed, thanks to Shem Asuvar, we could most likely buy the entire stock of caravans and have trinkets left over! Which is good, as the mountain we took home to, while possessing a volcano and river, lacked much wood. In fact, when we first came, it had but 15 trees. That we deforested immediately.

In any event, after my farms were dug out (but not planted), and two smelters were up and running, with one furnace making rudimentary breastplates for my two hammerdwarves, my armorer had an epiphany, and immediately pushed everyone away from the furnace, yelling profanities and demanding all animals to be put to death. As soon as I had approached him, however, he, quite unceremoniously, threw two copper bars at the furnace, then ran away. But a few minutes later, though, he was running back, giggling madly and clutching tanned leather to his chest. Seemingly absorbed in his own work, everyone, myself included, simply left him alone, pretending that our furnace had mysteriously disappeared, rather than bother the madman.

A few days later (three, in fact), a shout was heard throughout the entirety of our dear home, and Ber Urdimaned held his new work high above his head in utter ecstasy before gently setting it on the ground for others to haul to the appropriate spot, and walking away for a long-deserved drink.

I have to say, I was, and am, quite pleased with it. Nothing is so great as a legendary piece of armor a great warrior can wear, except a legendary piece of armor that details our history. Every foe who this future warrior kills will have his blood sprayed upon the leather of our beginning.

Well, seeing as my dear mountain was filled with obsidian, and seeing as I possessed a legendary armorer and stonecrafter, I decided to set up mandatory basic military training for all my dwarves. I have both an armorer and stonecrafter who were given the gift of the fey not long after my fortress' beginning, so, I reason, it is as if the gods were saying that I should do this.

I had my armorer pump out iron shields, and he did that extremely quickly, making 50 shields in but a few days. My stonecrafter.... He makes obsidian swords very well, and very fast, but, as I have said, my site lacks very many trees.  Thankfully, the humans and elves bring us wood in great supply, but I always run out, even though I do nothing with it but make beds and swords. Bins and barrels are made out of lead (Hoho, who needs safety precautions?), by the by, and yet my sword production is still behind my shield supply. Though all my dwarves, and newly immigrated dwarves, have a shield almost immediately upon drafted, many must wait for seasons before a sword can be fashioned. This puts a damper on my basic training plan, and it is terribly difficult, bureaucratically, to tell dwarves to not go inside the danger room unless in possession of both a sword and shield. Some dwarves even lie, saying they have a sword, when they clearly do not upon inspection. I'm really uncertain as to why, but perhaps they are desirous of extra training. Those who lie about a sword often end up with being quite an expert with a shield, while all their comrades are dismissed when they become merely competent or slightly skilled with their sword and board.

Human merchants have just arrived, so this seems a good place to stop. I am having our miners search out iron veins, and have just enlisted recent migrants to a newly created "Melter" class. As the name says, their job is to do absolutely nothing but smelt the 100 or so mined iron ores into bars, while my armorer and (sadly not legendary) weaponsmith equip our army.