CHRONICLES OF GEMCLOD
These are the chronicles of dwarven fortress Gemclod, as written by the first overseer Markus Cz. Orbsand.
State of the Fortress:
We have arrived amidst frogs and flies. Mud and water everywhere. Mosquitoes. Scorching heat. This fetid swamp will be our home, and it's the best place we could hope for. For several weeks have we been travelling, looking for places more horrible than those before, and finally found this. It's beautiful. You can climb the hill and see no forests anywhere. The few trees that do grow here are diseased hunks overgrown by mushrooms. No Forest Lover will seek us here. No Arrogant knows about this place. We are safe.
Or are we? CommaToes doesn't like the bog and says he's worried about Greenskins. Do Greenskins live in swamps? I haven't seen a Greenskin ever. Didn't they use to be our friends?
Population: Seven
Those are...
- Markus Cz. Orbsand – myself, the Great Architect of Gemclod which we named so because we intend to decorate this piece of dirt with the most vibrant colours the world has seen.
- Leperfish – my best friend and accomplice. I'm the Architect who plans a thing, he's the Mason who gets to build it. He's very observant and kind enough to note any slight errors in my designs. We've planned so long for this Great Hall.
- Vox Nihili – I don't know him much. He says he's a skilled metalworker of all kinds, which will come handy once we're decorating the Great Hall. Somebody's got to craft all those menacing spikes!
- CommaToes – A veteran of many a battle against foes of dwarvenkind. Skilled in weapon use, but I told him he needs to find a new occupation now. We won't need any weapons here.
- Enzer – The only woman of our group. Useless but kind enough. Knows many stories and keeps the spirits high.
- Star Guarded – A handler of animals and a milker of udders. Says he loves all animals but I don't think he'll like the mosquitoes here. I don't. Reassigned to mining duty.
- K0npeito – A master of various tools and instruments. Perfect for a chief medical dwarf. Since we're not expecting any injuries, reassigned to mining duty.
Plans:
I've sketched the plans of the entrance to the Great Hall. Drawing lines to squelching ground proved more difficult than expected. Had to improvise and use gypsum powder, sticks and pig tail thread. In the end we managed to stake the area out.
Leperfish observed there might be an aquifer under the ground. He's very clever. I hope there's no aquifer.
The entrance is just a small one but it's designed so we can extend it when needed.
Sirocco wrote :-
The seven dwarves surveyed the swamp. Markus stepped away from the group and crouched to study the ground. With a flourish he thrust one hand into the soft soil and watched as it ran through his fingers in sodden clumps. A glint caught his eye - for in the muddy earth he held, the tiniest fragment of a gemstone was visible. This was auspicious indeed. He stood and turned to address his companions.
'Here,' said Markus. 'This is where we will begin anew. Free of the Arrogant Ones, free of the elves, and free of the greenskins.'
'What of the wild animals?' asked one, with another querying the possibility of kobolds living nearby.
'What harm could they cause us?' Markus laughed, and the others joined him. Eventually the chortles died down and their attention returned to the swamp, their new home. It seemed very peaceful.
'What should we call it?' a dwarf asked.
'Oh...' Markus replied softly. 'I have a few ideas.'
(Click here for tablatures and background information on the song.)
Kudos goes to LoopyDood of the Bay12 forums for creating the original MIDI file I used as a starting point - it would have been very tedious otherwise.
PureRok wrote :-
So, I was bored and grabbed three of the original seven to see what their descriptions would look like using Dragon Age's character creator. I realized later I should have read their personalities as well, since the physical descriptions don't really give you much to go with, especially for female dwarves. That, and Dragon Age's face editor is less robust than I remembered.
These are supposed to look like they were engravings. I have unedited versions, just ask and I'll post those too.
Vox Nihili wrote :-
I believe the red arrow points to the swamp where Gemclod is located. The smaller blue arrow points to an alternate desert location that was almost selected.