Hearthhome: A Dwarf Fortress Story

[eternalnight264]

!!Very Image Heavy!!


Seven dwarves with no discernible skill were sent out; They are hunting for Adamantine, the fabled metal of the gods, or so they were told. They were, in fact, sent out to wander.

They were running out of supplies on their way to the site of the mine they were to dig, so they decided to hunker down for a few years and establish a colony.

Unfortunately, dwarves of 'The Short Mountain' were rather stupid, and didn't know that the metal could only be found beneath tall mountains. They established their fort in the middle of a flat desert, Hearthhome, they called it. This is their story.

With stout labor comes sustenance:

The Short Mountain's journey ended rather suddenly in the middle of the flat plain.. not a mountain in sight. Preliminary surveying has revealed that there is no aquifer in the area, nor a river, so they will have to produce alcohol en-mass to survive, the underground sea may also harbor safety for them.

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The each took a role with what rudimentary knowledge they had and set to work-- a home would not carve itself out from the earth, but by dwarven strength.

The digging began, while the woodsdwarf was manufacturing goods, the miners were thinking for the future. The initial tunnel downwards led to a wide open plain, easily defensible, and next, the farms.

If anybody wishes to enter, they must enter through this hallway.

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A brave new wave of migrants has come just as the farms are being assembled.. the fisherdwarf is useless in the desert, so he is converted into a farm labourer. The jeweler's knowledge of minerals allows him to help in masonry, and of course who could forget the all important surgeon and clerk, the back bone of any fortress.

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The farms have been made, there is a steady supply of booze flowing, and the dormitories are being assembled until individual housing can be established.

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The fortress settles into the monotony of brief setup, notable events will be displayed from now on, or anything interesting.


----
I really enjoy playing dwarf fortress and I feel I have gotten quite good at it lately, I figured I'd my own thread even though we already have one!

Feel free to send suggestions of things to do, I just wanted to share my latest fortress and chronicle what is sure to be a rather short-lived stay in the badlands of my world, open to suggestions and prods of what I should be doing in my fort.


Some of my dwarves need nicknames, any ideas?

[NoahKirchner]

Slam Rockfist best dwarven name.

[eternalnight264]

Rockfist has become the first soldier in the dwarven army, he is a wrestler.

[eternalnight264]

Standard kit for my usual forts, Hearthhome is no different!

However, it seems the civilization has not only not invented loincloths or shirts, but we also have high boots, but not low boots.

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More migrants have arrived, a welcome boon to the fledgling fortress.. also they brought a baby chicken for some reason. More meat for the army, as far as they're concerned.

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"Drats!" Expedition Leader Apoppa Knifecanyon mumbled to himself, "More fisherdwarves? Why do they keep sending me Fisherdwarves, we don't even have a damned river."

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What is that? The forges are being assembled as we speak.. as well, the living quarters are coming along nicely, the engravers are hard at work carving it to a nice, beautiful smooth finish. You can see our administration offices are coming along nicely, and finally, the carpenters are hard at work producing luxury trade goods for the Mountainhome. Apparently, spiked wooden balls are in fashion this year. They sell like hotcakes!

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That is all from Hearthhome tonight folks, feel free to leave suggestions or comments if you have any, there will be more as more interesting things come up, such as any nasty visitors or when our first weapons are produced!

[eternalnight264]

Another season, another wave of immigrants. The Adminbus squad is strong and full, training has begun to bring them up to snuff. Two notable members, Rockfist the Wrestler and Feweh the Hammerdwarf with his Banhammer train day and night three months out of the year to better themselves and prepare for whatever scum may threaten their new colony.


!!THE MARCH OF WAR!!

A cyclops approaches! The military is still small, paltry.. weak. They are not prepared, it will surely be a slaughter.





Tekkud, our hero, faces him, Zefon, his battle-buddy has died a horrible fate of having his face punched in.. Tekkud was thrown far, skidding against the gravel, but he got up, charging forwards in another valiant attempt to take on the massive creature before him..



Reinforcements have arrived! Tekkud is thrown far from his squad, heavily wounded. They shall have to fight on without him for now..




In an almost poetic victory, the cyclops becomes too tired to continue.. the dwarves surrounded him, beating him repeatedly until his body gave out and his head caved in.. amazingly, the cyclops collapses next to the corpse of the fallen soldier, the two laying side by side in a brazen display of the horrors the dwarves may face in the coming days. The remains of the squad return; rest, alcohol, and food, await their weary selves, the hospital will be complete soon, the wounded can be patched up then.

[eternalnight264]

A wereiguana has come! A large iguana twisted into a massive humanoid form, all it craves is blood and flesh.. look at its vile, heinous face.



It has killed one of the elite carpenters, he is lucky.. were he to survive, he may have been afflicted with its curse due to the bite he received on his leg..


Moving on, the wereiguana has attacked the fortress bone doctor..

She has survived. Immediate measures are being taken to isolate her from the rest of the fort, lest she bring another reign of terror when she herself turns. The miners get to work immediately.




Preventative measures were not quick enough! She has transformed, assaulting a nearby woodworker who was coming to aid her, as well as the infant child the infected woman carried with her. It is truly a tragic day for the fortress.




Thankfully, the visiting human caravan has brought some trained mercenaries with them.. they have put a stop to the horrors of this beast before it manages to enter the main dwarven population.. however, one of the swordsmen was bitten, he will bring the disease back to his town? Perhaps the caravan will never make it back to its stop.. Who knows, all that can be said is that they dwarves of Hearthhome are free from this torment for now.

[eternalnight264]

So many uninvited guests, it seems. They can never get any peace around here!

An ettin has arrived from parts unknown, (That is one of these, to be exact.)






Talk about innocent creatures.. instead of immediately heading to the fort like the werecreature and cyclops, he has elected to chase after innocent camels first. Look at him, sprinting after the humped creature, club in hand.



The etiin takes a swipe.. the camel rears its ugly head and.. the ettin.. is.. for some reason, frightened beyond all belief. It turns, the giant, monstrous behemoth of a beast sprinting away in the other direction with tears in its eyes..



(Dwarf fortress monster generation is sometimes silly. Maybe his father left when he was a baby and now he's really sensitive when faced with disapproving looks. This is sort of a disappointment.)

Daddy issues can ruin even the most epic of giant monstrous beasts. Oh well.

[eternalnight264]

What silly hijinks! When the overlord of the fortress (Yours truly~) wasn't looking, it seems the Ettin decided he was going to try again.. he killed three dwarves before one of the carpenters who was training in the militia fought back.. a spear repeatedly stabbed through its body did the trick, and after this image was taken the ettin was quickly finished off and the dead were soon tended to.




The hunt for strong metal continues, the miners dig deeper. They need weaponry and strong armor fast, lest the next creature do even more damage. Soon, almost all the dwarves will be armed and required to attend atleast two months of military training per year. The frontier is a dangerous place.

[eternalnight264]

!!FAILURE!!
Game crashed and save file was corrupted. I will make a new fortress. A BETTER FORTRESS!.. Also named Hearthome.

[NoahKirchner]

Are you gonna be posting it in this thread?

[eternalnight264]

Yes, all of my fortresses are in completely newly generated worlds and every single one are named Hearthhome.

[eternalnight264]

I can show you the foooorrrt, shining, shimmering, spleendiiid-- Wait, what?

Oh. That's right. ~It's a whollle neewwww fooorrrrrttt~

Recovering from the wreckage of our previous, corrupted save, we emerge a stronger fort, a better fort, we have evolved into..


HEARTHHOME 2.0!!!
We have found this lovely cove to nestle into.. Hearthhome is now easily defensible.

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The preliminary farms are complete, we are now producing plump helmets, cave wheat, and pig-tails! The staples of a good, productive fortress.

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That is all for now as I have plans tonight, more to come!

[eternalnight264]

In Hearthhome, everydwarf trains, and everydwarf fights. The soldier caste is heavily armed and strong, while the general civilian caste is issued a set of chainmail and leather armor, as well as a shield and spear. The only ones who are not required to preform military training twice a year are the miners, the woodcutters, nobles, and doctors. Their jobs are much too time-consuming.

Equality is paramount, women and men serve side by side.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdcU0ysQAPI
Even now, the brave dwarves continue to dig out a home for themselves.. dormitories are being dug out, and dwarves are training.

Thanks to the great traders from the Mountainhome, we have few weapons to trade. We will try to get more with the new human shipment that comes..

Also, we now have enough fish and meat to last for quite a few seasons. The dwarves' bellies will be full.

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[eternalnight264]

Advanced dwarven mining techniques have determined that there is not a single piece of ore on the entire map save for something that may lay beneath the planet's crust.

There is no ore. Anywhere.

Ever.

The only option is to trade for whatever we can.

[NoahKirchner]

wow, good luck my dude

[eternalnight264]

I know for a fact that there is adamantine as I embarked on a mountain. That will be more than enough, once I get to it. But it's shitty weapons until then.

[eternalnight264]

A nice wall has been erected outside, soon to be topped with traps. People will hopefully not climb over it.

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This is our wonderful training grounds, just past the main entrance outside.

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We were just offered a barony, the mayor has taken it and will soon be promoted upon the next caravan's arrival.

[NoahKirchner]

i don't think erected and traps should be used in the same sentence, especially when the erect object has a trap ontop of it.

[eternalnight264]

The lovely trade post will be fully established soon, with a place afterwards to store goods that are purchased there.. we may soon move the post outside of the walls, so they visitors won't always wander in.

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Our military is full and strong, almost every dwarf is armed with weapons and armor, nobody is vulnerable, and those who managed to slip through the cracks are enlisted as soon as possble.




Oh shit.. look!



It's our friend!



Rockfist, wrestler extraordinaire!

[eternalnight264]

Oh shit. OH SHIT. The Elves are stepping up. Looks like we're soon going to be kicking some vegan tree-hugging ass.



Those little pointy-eared fuckers aren't going to stand a chance.

[eternalnight264]

Oh what a calamity! Goblins have decided to invade as well.. what are the odds?




One soldier caught in the woods.. he faces one of the two goblin squads alone, he is surely outmatched.



Unfortunately, he falls quickly, taking a goblin with him.. his hammerdwarf brother fights them off, but is surrounded. One man cannot easily fight against five others..




The host of dwarves moves out to meet the enemy troops.



The first proper skirmish.. the dwarves win easily.


It is moments like these that turn boys.. into men.

They were beaten back, albeit with heavy casualties. The dwarves will survive, make it through another day, and be stronger for it. We shall have to honor our dead and grow stronger.

[NoahKirchner]

gnarly, dude

[eternalnight264]

They have delivered me an ultimatum. I have denied it. War is soon to come, again. The men are on a strict training regimen now.

[eternalnight264]

Wait.. what? What could be going on here? A mysterious gathering of dwarven soldiers surrounding the elven traders? Maybe threatening the safety of the fort while leaving your traders inside was not a good idea?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3yCcXgbKrE


(I wanted an epic theme to go with my warcrimes.. Just imagine a bunch of dwarves chopping up elves in slow motion to this..)


One casualty so far.. somehow?



He has a strong bite..

The blood of the innocent forever will stain our trade post. That is what they deserve for their heinous threats.



They cannot outrun dwarven justice


Now all of their vegan wines and vegetables shall be ours!!

[nerocavalier]

Those poor elves were probably thinking everything was OK.