Felsite

1 Felsite 263
For two months the dwarves have obeyed my directives; the earlier migrants witnessed the official hand-over of Overseership, and the newcomers accepted their word for it. However, today while reviewing the documents in my office I noted that the official record was not updated.

Therefore today is my first Official day as Overseer. I quietly asked Markus to sign the document. He detected my consternation and was enthusiastic that there would be no consequences but I was not mollified.

4 Felsite 263
The floor of the great hall is clear of stray stones.


The lower masonry workshop has abundant nearby supply. I have ordered the lowest walls of the great hall smoothed in preparation for engraving. Already a year has passed without permanent record of the important events at Gemclod; that is counter to tradition and should be rectified. Now there are idle hands, no excuse remains.

I am the only dwarf permitted to detail stone. Smoothing stone is good practice for a novice, so I reviewed the records, but no other dwarf has even that much experience.

Mehuyael Vabokodroz, is talented at stonecrafting. I assigned the labor to him, in hopes that some affinity for the medium will transfer.

10 Felsite 263
A large area adjacent to the water tunnel has been mined out. I double-checked that the upper floodgate was closed, and the door to the room was secure, and ordered the tunnel breached. Star Guarded accepted the task; I warned him that there was risk but he was sanguine. While we spoke I noted that the thumb of his left hand was still torn and infected, but he insisted this did not affect his mining prowess.


As the final stroke of his pick breached the hematite wall of the tunnel, the stone crumbled, sending a spray of fist-sized rocks exploding outward into the room. Star Guarded was quick but did not entirely avoid injury. Pebbles pelted his head and left hand, but he took only bruises.


As the hole rapidly widened, the pressure slaked, water gushing into the room but no faster than a swift stream a dwarf might ford in a mountain valley. Star Guarded was quickly out and seemed as cheerful as ever so I paid the matter no mind and was glad of the operation's success.


12 Felsite 263
K0npeito has organized a party in the Great Hall. Star Guarded attended but I noticed that there were only three drinks left. I suspect K0npeito's intent was to monopolize the remaining alcohol, but no dwarf would dare to blaspheme by openly objecting to drinking at a party.

Fortunately Mr. Vile has Appraised many trees and there are 22 logs in the stockpiles. Charcoal has been made and I have ordered coke be reduced from lignite and coal; already both smelters on the surface belch smoke.

Therefore barrels must be made. Once more I consulted the records and discovered that of 35 dwarfs in the fortress, only Vox Nihili has any skill at carpentry. I canceled most of his other labors and ordered barrels made immediately. life_source is skilled at woodcrafting, so I have instructed that he be the second carpenter, to fill in when Vox rests or eats.

An hour or so later, I discovered life_source is making barrels. Seeking Vox Nihili, I found him by the river. He was drinking water from it. Nearby, Mehuyael was also slurping from the stream, and then further south, so was Shorter Than Some. As they left, Bad Munki emerged, going also to drink water.

I avoided their glares but did not avoid shame.

Ed: I swear I took screenshots of this but fraps disobeyed and they do not exist.

Down in the hall, K0npieto was alone at his party. I joined him and watched as he drained the last barrel of alcohol in the fortress.


He avoided my glare. I cannot guess if he felt shame.

17 felsite 263
Disaster has been averted; Angry Ed has labored and the stockpile contains five drinks despite an initial rush for them. life_source also labors and there are sufficient empty barrels as well. Dwarves have begun smiling when I pass by again.

Flooding subsides in the wet room and silt settles to the bottom of the water which is now only ankle deep. Every corner was wetted. Once more I consulted the records to find that no dwarf has any skill at farming. Neither plant processing, and although Apocadall is a High Master miller, I will not interrupt his training to grind seed.

TyrantSabre's only useful skill is Adequate animal care, but there are four others at least as skilled at this task in the fortress. Therefore TyrantSabre must learn to farm. I found him loitering in the great hall telling a pointless story to Mahoshonen, and interrupted to explained his new function. At first he seemed angry but I asked if he thought the task too difficult. Thereupon he sputtered and then boasted that no dwarf in Gemclod could do better.

I explained that the farm would soon dry enough to begin labors and suggested gathering Farming Lore. When I left him TyrantSabre seemed determined. I am encouraged that I have selected the right dwarf.

20 felsite 263
Despite the moisture TyrantSabre has managed to plow a plot and labors to clear three more.


Markus counts 33 drinks in the stockpile: strawberry wine and swamp whiskey.


There are 35 spare barrels. There are 20 charges of coke and we have run out of mined coal, though there is still lignite left.

There are 71 uncooked plants, which include brewable plants.


A shaft has been sunk into the cistern and I have only to cut stone and forge a chain and we will have an indoor well with clean water. With the miners idle I have decided it is time to lay out workrooms and bedrooms. Markus has been moping so I am pleased to sit with him in our offices and draw plans.

There are 35 dwarves. Although the militia may sleep in barracks and the wounded (meaning CommaToes) in the hospital, new migrants must be anticipated so the initial design is for 50 bedrooms. Furnishing them may take all summer but excepting any need for barrels there is nothing else requiring wood.

23 felsite 263
We are still working on bedroom designs but seven more chambers for workshops are Designated.


Six more stairway shafts will connect the main hall down to the workshops and rise up one level from the great hall's floor, off of which we will mine the bedrooms. Just above the workshops we will dig storerooms for stockpiles of raw materials and finished goods.

It is good to expand the diggings. Though the great hall is cavernous and open, all other places in Gemclod seem cramped now, and it is common to step over a dwarf sleeping in the dirt.

I ordered the miners to start work and they descended to begin mining at the lowest level.

24 felsite 263
Cries rose up from the deepest mines. Perfect Potato has pierced a cave system!


The miners reported standing water and the rising heat from exposed magma, only a few levels below.

Instantly much became clear to me. I Understand now why there was no aquifer here. Only nine levels below the surface there are caves, into which the swamp above percolates, running through the red sand and then small cracks and fissures in the rock. Below, the water pools; and magma nearby heats it, causing steam to rise and saturate the sand above. It is like the brewer's still; through the application of heat from below and rain from above, a porous mire is formed of floating muck above a murky wort of black water.

The rumor moved through the fortress like panicked cats. Idle dwarves ran to peer down into the black and guess at what riches – and what dangers – await below.

Markus is distraught, for the position of the caverns have ruined the symmetry of the workshop level.


I suspended mining for some hours while we modified the maps, eliminating a third of the planned excavations that would overhang or carve into the cavern ceiling. I do not want more than one opening to guard.

The miners report the caverns are quartzite, microcline, orthoclase, and mica, with veins of cinnabar and clusters of semi-precious rutile.


Far below, on the lowest level visible from the hole, an outcropping of marble is evident; that is welcome news, for marble is flux-stone, if we can get to it, we can make steel.


The floor is muddy and several common cave plants are visible; those who know their Lore identify edible growths as well as sturdier trees. There are webs, of the common cave spider, which will yield silk.


And there is magma.



Within minutes, every dwarf in Gemclod knows that we are now wealthy; but I am not enthusiastic. The spaces below are, according to the Lore, unlikely to be uninhabited. It will not be only cave spiders lurking in those black chambers, of that I am certain, and our militia, six-strong, is yet but little more than recruits.

Though it disappoints many, I order the opening walled in. We will proceed as planned; bedrooms must be carved out, the well built, the food supply assured. Only after these necessities are met (and I judge the military ready) will we brave the caverns to extract their bounty.










TyrantSabre wrote :-



From the Festive, Forbidden Apocrypha of "TyrantSabre" Gemgrowths, Animal Caretaker Mudhewer-in-Chief of Gemclod

21 Felsite 263
I am outraged! The Overseer has seen through my artifice. Though I claimed to be an Animal Caretaker on my entry to Gemclod's halls, no true dwarf takes care of any animal outside a butcher's shop. Those that do are secretly elves, and those that claim to do so are malingerers rather like myself and traitors. I am suspicious that I was singled out for this task, as a number of other dwarfs also claimed 'animal caretakery' as their expertise and I do not think the Overseer realizes that they are pulling the muleskin over his eyes as well.

In retrospect, perhaps claiming Animal Caretaking as my sole skill was putting too much hope into the naivete of the Overseer surely jealous elf-sympathizers have poisoned him against me! The fortress will run red with the blood of the treelovers!

...In time. Meanwhile, I have been tasked to ruthlessly cleave the mud to supply the fortress with things to brew. I find my new task quite soothing tedious. If nothing else, this will surely allow me to ensure that the fortress never runs dry of dwarven rum. Ah, rum... Surely the finest of all alcohols. Why, that puts me in mind of the tale of how Deg the West Trade tipped over a mountain of billon barrels and a river of rum...

Excised: ten pages of rambling about rum, billon and elves drowning in rum.