Lets Play / Jawmetal

The newest TV Tropes Dwarf Fortress Succession Game. Founded after an incident with a piece of cotton candy^note the super-metal Adamantine, for those that don't play Dwarf Fortress (WHY AREN"T YOU PLAYING DWARF FORTRESS?) caused the opening of the three-ring circus^note mining Adamantine typically leads to the forces of Hell constantly invading your fortress in Beigeknife, with the resultant calamitous drop in framerate.

Current thread, containing the story of Jawmetal.

Jawmetal is absurdly wealthy for its youth, being built near a volcano and possessing a thriving industry built around magma furnaces and easily-obtained precious metals (and other valuables looted from would-be invaders seeking said precious metals).

Timeline of Overseers (click to hide)

• Tuefel Hunden IV, Year(s) ???-252
• Jimmy T Malice, Year 253
• Archereon, Year 254 (passed on the remainder of Jimmy's Turn)
  • PC Deaths during this reign ^note :
    • Tarsen (unknown causes)
• GandAandR, Year 255
  • PC Deaths during this reign ^note :
    • LordofLore/Oscar the first (KIA); and Cisel (KIA), later found to be only dream-deaths
• Durza, Year 254 (had to pick up where GAR started, lost GAR's save)
  • PC Deaths during this reign ^note :
    • NESgamer190 (drained of blood); and Caspellar (infanticide in the training room, with his father inheriting his name).
• NESgamer190, Year 256
• Ringsea, Year 256 (from summer onward)
• Condorito, Year 257
  • PC Deaths during this reign^note :
    • bitemytail (Killed by trolls?)
• Bladebound, Year 258
• Tuefel Hunden IV, Year 259 (Paramythion had issues getting the save file)
  • PC Deaths during this reign^note :
    • Tarsen (actually the second Tarsen, unknown causes); Tarsen II (Tarsen's third death- KIA); NESGamer190 (KIA); Ripsaw (KIA); Besserwisser (KIA); Snuggle Squid (went berserk but was later KIA in the goblin invasions along with the others); and Caspellaer (KIA)
• GandAandR, Year 260
• Durza, Year 260 (the remainder)-261
  • PC Deaths during this reign^note :
    • NESGamer190 (went berserk and was killed by Oscar the First); viha Kirbonium I (dehydrated); viha Kirbonium II (went berserk and was impaled by Overseer Durza); viha Kirbonium III (unknown causes); viha Kirbonium IV (dehydrated again); viha Kirbonium V (starved); and viha Kirbonium VI (getting possessed and *then* dehydration).
• Condorito, Year 262
  • PC Deaths during this reign^note :
    • Azrael (thirst, hunger, and stupidity- apparently all at once)
• Ringsea, Year 263
• Bladebound, Year 263 (Ringsea's save was lost/corrupted)
• Paramythion, Year 264
• GandAandR, Year 264-265 (autumn-to-autumn)
  • PC Deaths during this reign^note :
    • Hermunster (declared missing early in the reign, and later found dead in a ditch), Ringsea (dehydration), 0blivionmobile (found dead in the memorial slab hall, of all places)
• Durza, Year 265-266 (autumn-to-autumn)
  • PC Deaths during this reign^note :
    • Bladebound ("struck down in his prime by foul betrayers"), viha Kirbonium VII ("of old age, I promise"), viha Kirboniums VIII (KIA, with his successor's name typo'd as "XI")
• Condorito, Year 266-267 (autumn onward)
  • PC Deaths discovered during this reign^note :
    • A whole lot of player dorfs were discovered to have died at various points, and those without explanations had their player characters writing out their deaths
  • PC Deaths during this reign^note :
    • Jreaper (KIA in the Great Goblin Siege of 267)
• GandAandR, Year 268
• Bladebound II, Year 269

---

The dorfy antics exhibited in Jawmetal so far (up to the end of Bladebound II's first reign):

• Abnormal Ammo - While bone ammunition in Dwarf Fortress is common enough, several crossbow bolts were once discovered to be made of elf bones. Overseer Durza all but promised to ensure they were shot out of wooden crossbows.
  • As of Condorito's 2nd Reign, there were also 5 human bone crossbow bolts. Research was underway as to where the first 15 went.
• Absolute Xenophobe - Overseer Bladebound I, "God-Emperor of Dwarfkind" saw it as imperative that non-dwarf visitors to the region are killed or driven off. This makes his release of the non-killing vampire (see Videogame Caring Potential) that much more poignant.
• A Child Shall Lead Them - Caspellaer's turn for Overseer meant his three-year-old Dwarvatar would have led the fortress, but was averted when baby Caspellar got impaled on spikes while his parents trained.
• Almighty Janitor - During Archereon's reign, it was revealed that GandAandR's character was the fortress's "lowly chef". Upon Archereon/Infinitus stepping down as Overseer to persist as the fortress Mayor, we are treated to a dream of said chef ruling the fortress for a year.
• An Odd Place to Sleep - This happened quite a bit, and in retrospect almost all involving GandAandR in some way:
  • NESgamer was once found asleep on the furniture in GandAandR's office during the latter's first reign.
  • NESgamer reported finding a dorf sleeping in the supplies, just because that was where his clothes happened to be at the time.
  • GandAandR himself was found sleeping on the edge of the volcano in Durza's first reign (and was not pushed inside).
  • In GandAandR's second/real reign, the militia captain was asleep outside in the second defensive tower that was still under construction.
  • Months later, another dorf was found asleep on the bridge that acted as a hatch over the garbage-disposal chute into magma.
  • The mayor was found asleep in the hospital, who was there with no injuries.
  • Near the end of GandAandR's reign he tried sleeping on the garbage bridge himself, and realized it was possible to heat the dormitory with some magma running through pipes under the floor.
  • Inverted with the Odd Thing in a Sleeping Place, a pit in the sleeping area with adamantine spikes lining the bottom.
  • Toyed with by Journeyman, who was formerly a bookkeeper before getting drafted into the military, and reportedly sleep-counts or juggles beans in his sleep.
  • In the swordmaster lifetime of the first viha Kirbonium, sleeping on a bed of spikes was an indication of a true warrior.
  • During Bladebound I's second reign, another dwarf was found sleeping in the PSYKER construction chamber (which involved several upright spear traps connected to a lever).
  • In GandAandR's third term, an engraver fell asleep on the catapult training ground's ammo stockpile (fortunately, the range hadn't been completed at that time)
• Anti-Climax / Curb-Stomp Battle - Gagu Pulled-daub, the scrawny were-skink. "Now you will know why you fear the night". After attacking the local wildlife, she was instantly killed after stepping on a serrated glass disc trap.
• Apocalyptic Log - Played completely straight with NESgamer190's account of being killed by a vampire (which was never found using conventional methods), including the log ending mid-sentence.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking - Durza had a reputation for heinous acts, but nothing takes the cake more than seeing the top of his to-do list being "Go to Biting Demonstration".
  • Later, Durza's list of promises should he be made Overseer again:
    Durza: Burning magma sacrifices, punishing the Butt Monkey for that crime I don't quite recall, killing viha some more and making some bigger food stockpiles.
• Back-to-Back Badasses - Near the end of Condorito's second reign, Asen Spellgirder and Durza took on an entire goblin army with some marksdwarves supporting them. Though this may have been because the other dwarves locked them outside the fortress.
• Bad Boss - In a rare example, we briefly get to see Dwarf Fortress through a noble's eyes during Archereon's reign as Overseer Infinitus. Unfortunately, his constantly calling for executions of people, even when they're trying to follow his orders, quickly led to the Powder Keg Crowd situation.
  • Most overseers eventually turn out like this, regardless of their intentions.
    viha Kirbonium: Everything you do is either inherently cruel or self serving, which you play the role to with almost hamtastic aplomb.
    Durza: Oh, stop. I'm blushing.
    Durza (Later): I prefer to think of myself as the God of Unnecessary Cruelty.
• Better Off Sold - invokedWhen Durza ordered that all oversized or worn-out clothes should be dumped in lava, the dorfs responded that they would make great trade items instead. Durza then commented that "I cannot think why anyone would be interested in our worn out clothes", as the caravans at that point couldn't even get into the fortress for trading.
• Blatant Lies - Durza's dorf was quick to point out that demons didn't exist, he was certainly not possessed by one, and suggested to God-Emperor Bladebound a program for persecuting those who say otherwise. He also had no plans to sacrifice the rest of the fortress to become a dark god, and definitely didn't enjoy repeatedly watching or causing the many deaths of viha Kirbonium.
• Blown Across the Room - An unfortunate kobold under GandAandR's reign. Notable in that the kobold was outdoors at the time, so he covered a fair amount of distance before coming back down.
• Brick Joke - Early in the fortress' run, viha Kirbonium requested playing as a Swordsdwarf, with the understanding that several iterations of him might be killed in training on the way to becoming Legendary in status. Around three game-years later, his dorf became a swordmaster, and four years after that, ended up dying along with several other viha Kirboniums... in a two month span (see the individual accounts in the timeline above, and Chronically Killed Avatar below).
• Burial at Sea - A variant with flames: Durza suggested that the dead of the fortress be committed to the volcano instead of buried in coffins, so that there would be less clutter and a happier population (dwarves become happy by admiring engravings, memorial or otherwise).
• Chronically Killed Actor - During Durza's second reign, he was singlehandedly responsible for the death of at least one of viha Kirbonium's line, which eventually made its way to its 11th iteration, after 6 went mad and 4 were brutally murdered by character!Durza. In reality, player!Durza would just designate any dwarf likely to die or be killed as the next viha, so that such a string of deaths could appear.

  Durza: viha no longer looks like a word to me.

• Continuity Nod - While this fortress is considered by the game to be a different continuity altogether, the players treat it as being over a century after the events of Beigeknife, hence the reason some of the dorfs share names and even have access to things from there, such as Durza's grandmother's records evidencing her fascination with the royal family.
  • Condorito's Stick was brought up in his first tenure of overseer, and by the time his second tenure came around he was given the option of keeping the Stick or being allowed to enter the Overseer rotation again by getting rid of it.
  • Durza's "secret" lair in a golden house within a vein of adamantine (to prevent a recurrence of the backwards time-traveling that happened between GandAandR's "dream" reign and Durza's first reign). Durza was placed under house arrest after his second reign by the rest of the fort, as punishment "for reducing the population of the fortress by a third in less than an hour" (see LAVA, below).
• Corpse Land - The hospital, of all places, due to a lack of coffins. Three dwarves died of infection and rotted away before they were finally removed.
  • The front of the fort, with its dozens of weapon traps, were also littered with corpses, up to and including a dragon skeleton that also rotted entirely away.
• Death Trap - When a path was made to the volcano's top, there were immediate suggestions for goblin sacrifices via cages and retractable floors. Another idea was for a catapult and backboard for lobbing trash and victims into the volcano from further down the slope. While not as impressive (and not involving any lava at all) the entrance to the fortress was eventually lined with weapon traps full of serrated glass discs.
  • The KFC was a sealable labyrinth that could be filled with magma once victims were inside.
  • The LONG DROP, a spike-filled pit built during Durza's reign (since the spikes were wooden, the pit was used to kill a vampire and to humiliate andy elves thrown in it).
  • The whole fort, as of Condorito's death toll
• Demonic Possession - The first dwarf in the fortress with an idea for building something became the player character for Durza, as the in-game wording has them being possessed by an idea to build something, and this was elaborated on so that his particular dwarf was just plain possessed.
  • Speculation arose as to what would happen to Possesed!Durza should the artifact (a wooden forge) be destroyed.
• Driven to Madness - viha Kirbonium (nearly all of them) went mad from the constant hauntings of the previous bearers of the title.
• Felony Misdemeanor - Anything and everything in the eyes of Overseer Infinitus.
• Fun with Acronyms - This fort had several; so many in fact that they are separated by those that were put to use and those that were merely proposed:

  • Implemented:

  • ATOMIC BOMB^☢ Atomization and Transformation of Optimally Manufatored Inverted Creation, or Better Obliteration of Malign Beings, a series of dwarven atom smashers meant to be used on the human or elf civilizations should the possibility arise.
  • PHUN TIMES^note Purely Hypotetical Unwanted Negative and Terrible Immersion in Magma and Eternal Sadness, Durza's first order given through child-Overseer Bladebound II (Bladebound I having died, been interred atop the throne, and labeled "Corpse-God").
  • JADE^note Jawmetal Artistic Deployment Endeavour GandAandR's beautification project for leaving Jawmetal JADE'd.
  • DARWIN AWARDS^note Dwarfy Attempt to Reduce Work-related Idiocy and Negate Attempts to Weaken or Annihilate our Righteous Dwarf Society, the paperwork needed for when miners and other workers couldn't get out of the areas being flooded during Bladebound II's first reign.
  • SUICIDE^note Silent Unseen Infiltrator: Covert Intelligence Developed and Engineered, Paramythion's entry device for getting into the fortress and taking contol of the military during his turn as Overseer.
  • GHOST^note Ghost Harnessing Optometric Synapse of Terror Overseer Paramythion's as-yet-unexplained plan, presumably utilizing ghost powers after a brief mention in the conversation hinted at it.
  • EXTERMINATUS^note E Xciting, Technically Evil, but Righteous, Mighty, and Imperial Newfound Approach to Terminating all Usurpers Simultaneously, God-Emperor Bladebound's approach to dealing with would-be upstart God-Emperors.
  • IMPERATOR ^note Imperial Modest Posterior-Elevator; Repurpose As Tomb Of Ruler, Bladebound's throne/crypt inside THRONE, and another 40K reference when he comments that he could probably sit on it for 10,000 years (his entries are dated using the 40k millenial method as well).
  • PSYKER^note Pointy, Spiky Young Kid Energy Reactor, Bladebound's unfinished "power source" for the IMPERATOR, fueled by the fortress' growing child population and designed for his own ascension. In reality it was a chamber filled with spikes and spear traps that would presumably kill the occupants of the room when a certain lever was pulled.
  • THRONE ^note The Holy Room Of Necessary Evil, God-Emperor Bladebound's project of a large excavation with the IMPERATOR inside it. It would have also been fueled by children, but the mechanism for doing so was not available at the time his reign ended, and a few Overseers later the plans were destroyed.
  • KFC ^note Killing Fields of Condorito, a trap-filled field in front of the fortress drawbridge for trapping or cutting aparat invaders and anything else that wanders out there, such as the unofficial fortress mascot, an unfortunate hamster-woman.
  • LAVA ^note Loving Armok's Vehicle of Ascension, Durza's project for entombing the fortress in lava should it ever be unable to be held any longer.
    • MAGMA^note Minor Adjustment Giving Major Achievement, a hasty addendum project for LAVA when it nearly flooded the fortress when filling the storage reservoirs.
    • HELLFIRE^note Harmful but Entertaining Local Lava Filling Initiative with REdesign, while the LAVA:MAGMA project would allow for rendering a large portion of the fortress uninhabitable, the addendum addendum project LAVA:MAGMA:HELLFIRE would improve the coverage to 100% of the fortress. Coverage could be extended to the entire landscape with its own addendum project LAVA:MAGMA:HELLFIRE:IMNOTEVENPRETENDINGTOBESUBTLEANYMORE YOUREALLGOINGTOBURNALIVE. Of course, a large number of dorfs went berserk when the laborers working on the projects were killed off upon activation, some of whom were the players' avatars.
  • LONG DROP^note Linearly Ordered Negation of Gradual Distance to Rest On Pinpoints, a pit trap built by Durza after "conveniently" hearing about it from some dwarves discussing how to get someone killed. It turned out to be located in the living area, right next to a bed, and with a well built on top of it.
  • MAGMA CON CARNE^note Metallic Alloy Generating Massive Amounts of Co-magnetically Operated Numerologically Concurrent Adductors for Reheated Natural Energy, Condorito's plan for his turn as Overseer. It turned out to be a labyrinth/trap for incoming sieges, with the ability to seal it off and flood it with magma once everyone was inside.
  • TOUMB^note Tranquil Occupation Under the Memorial Billets, the name for the area excavated for the inevitable noble presence that would demand lavish rooms.
  • DICKTITS ^note Dwarvane Imprisoned Captive Killing To-Improvised-Training System GandAandR's firing-squad-and-arena chamber, later furnished with audience seating separated by glass walls (glass windows have a tendency to break).
    • Proposed:
  • SITONMYASS^note Super Intelligent Triumph Of Neophyte Majesty Yielding Astoundingly Sublime Sagacity, Azreal341's plan to make himself king of the fortress using the following train of thought: "...only the king may sit on the throne. Following this logic, whoever sits on the throne is the king!". So far, though, he has yet to figure out how the doors work just entering the place.
  • TOKAMAC^note TOroidal Kineticly-Augmented MAgma Containment Hyokai's totally-not-a-superweapon idea for use at some point in the future. For the curious, a Tokamak is a fusion device that uses magnetism to keep the super-hot plasma from touching and vaporizing anything. Presumably, the TOKAMAC would use high-speed magma-bearing mine carts traveling in an endless loop until launched at targets.
  • CATAPULT^note Creatively Arranged Tripwire Activated Propulsion and Upwards Launching Trap, the suggested device for putting en-coffin'd dwarves into the volcano's lava, as well as anything else the operator desires.
  • WATERMILL^note Water-Augmented Tool Enriching Riches via Magma Induction Like Life, NESgamer190's (presumably) obsidian-themed death trap proposition.
  • MAGNET^note Magma-Augmented Goon Neutralizer for Every Threat, NESgamer190's magma-related death trap proposition.
  • ODST^note Orbital Dwarf Shock Troopers, Condorito's idea about implementing Tuefel's child-soldiers via Drop Pod. It is not yet known if they would perform High-Altitude Low-Opening insertions, however.
  • ONSEN^note Outdoors Nervousness and Stress Elimination Natatorium, Considering the presence of both an aquifer and a volcano on the same map, a Japanese-styled hot spring was suggested (hence the name).
  • PDWAF^note Project Dwarven Warrior Assault Force, Tuefel's child-soldier project aimed at making the fortress' children useful once they reach maturity.
• Funny Background Event / Comedic Sociopathy: After the Great Goblin Siege of 267, Condorito considered making the resident hamster-woman into the fortress mascot, just as she entered the serrated glass disc traps...
• Gambit Pileup - Durza, Bladebound, and viha Kirbonium VII, full stop. Bladebound I, God Emperor of Jawmetal, wanted to keep his position safe from any and all comers. Durza, a demon-possessed dwarf, wanted apotheosis via the sacrifice of practically all of Jawmetal through the mechanisms that Bladebound himself made. viha VII, a dwarf guided by the instruction of the spirits of his ancestors, wanted to prevent the apotheosis of Durza and avenge his ancestors' deaths. In Bladebound's second term as overseer, both Durza and viha VII created faction fronts (that were fully endorsed by Bladebound) to disguise their true cross-purposes. Eventually, viha became more convinced that everyone being questioned by his order had the demonic taint, no matter how much they protested otherwise.
  • Averted after Durza took over as Overseer again, he wasted no time in having God-Emperor Bladebound murdered, the EXTERMINATUS dismantled, and viha VII dragged to prison and murdered. At the very least, it appears viha XI will continue the family business.
• The Great Wall - Durza had plans for walling off the entirety of the fortress' surface, so that "even children can wander outside without fear".
• Harmless Electrocution - When Adamantine was discovered and shown to Booze-and-Armorsmith Condorito, his in-character description of handling a chunk of it is reminiscent of mild electric shock.
• Heroic Sacrifice - At the end of Condorito's second reign, Asen Spellgirder led half a goblin army away from Jawmetal's gates while the rest of the militia dealt with the other half. Durza claimed she was attempting to do something else entirely.
• Hide Your Children - To prevent lag, the "children" option was disabled in the players' machines. It was handwaved in-story as no one being able to conceive children that close to "Armok's fiery blood", and only adults were sent in the caravans.
  • Some children were born, eventually, during GandAandR's dream reign, as well as other reigns afterward. There were soon enough of them to give the idea for the PDWAF under Tuefel's second reign.
• Humans are Leaders - Early in Durza's first reign it was discovered that the nearby goblin civilization had a human as its leader, and another one as its general. This discovery was made when one of them was found in a cage amongst other prisoners from a recent attack.
• I Call It "Vera" - A silver warhammer was named "The Gleeful Joy" by its user. This is the only instance out of 37 total to be recorded during Durza's second reign (being given by the bookkeeper Oscar the First), with even more afterward in other reigns.
  • During Bladebound's second reign, the third NESGamer named an adamantine sword "Bridelull".
• Improbable Infant Survival - As in Beigeknife, the military training room claimed a number of the children, sadly including PC dorf Caspellaer, due to:

  Durza:[M]embers of the militia that decide that 'inside the training room' means 'in the room near the training room' or 'looking into the training room and holding the door open so babies and cats can get in.'

  • Later, nearly a third of the population were children whose only contributions to the fortress were sub-standard engravings and refusing to let specialist dwarfs do their jobs. Many of them ended up being renamed Mook and joining a death cult that was put to work on a magma-tunnelling project.
  • Invoked in the case of the PC dwarf Elle, who actually survived childhood.
• Kill It with Fire - Several of the early project proposals were for various means of doing this, as anyone who has extensively played Dwarf Fortress will consider putting the volcano to this use.
  • Condorito's MAGMA CON CARNE, which would trap invaders in a labyrinth which could be flooded with liquid fun.
  • Durza's second reign saw the completion of LAVA, a fortress-filling death trap, should the situation call for it; and because any good fortress has to have some levers that aren't labeled when rulerships change hands.
• Ludicrous Gibs - Serrated glass disk traps, and highly-trained, well-equipped melee dwarfs, tend to cause a lot of this.
  • Best example would be were-beast Gagu Pulleddaub, whose humanoid form didn't stand a chance.
• Master of None - Journeyman was a bookkeeper, then a member of the milita, and most recently a clothier, but was actually good at all of them.
• Money for Nothing - The surprisingly easy-to-mine wealth just below the surface, up to and including beds of demon-free Adamantine. Might also qualify as Cursed with Awesome, since that much wealth that quickly made the fort prone to repeated goblin invasions.
• Mordor - Somewhat averted; even with the active volcano nearby and the enemy armies showing up repeatedly, the fortress still had wildlife and vegetation on the surface. The LAVA:MAGMA:HELLFIRE projects were built to change all that...
• No Dwarf Should Have This Power - After the mini-forge Ugosherush flung GandAandR backwards through time, he had the thing sealed away forever.
• Nothing but Skulls - The fortress's golden-walled throne room is complete with a throne of skulls... made from rabbits.
• Old Soldier - During the second reign of Overseer Durza, an unnamed sword master ended up dying of old age, of all things.
  • And at the end of Condorito's second reign, the axe lord Kivish Regmuthkat did the same.
  • Midway through Bladebound's second reign, axe lord Kivish Regm󴨫at Bekartosidishen as well (Whether this was the same one, or another with the same name, is unknown).
  • There was also Oddom Irontemple the Circumstantial Tomes.
• Powder Keg Crowd - During Archereon's reign as Overseer^note (told through the perspectives of both the egomaniacal Overseer Infinitus and later the Commander of the Militia Gemsittirst) there was a minor tantrum spiral in the fort ^note (blamed in-story on the Overseer's execution-happy mandates, and ended by suddenly-appointed commander Gemsittirst) that somehow ended without anyone being killed or jailed.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis! - In reference to the separatist militias and the betrayal of Overseer Durza's loyalist troops:

  Durza: They! Will!! Not!!! Defy!!!! Me!!!!!

• Random Drops - Someone suggested modifying the game so that the dorfs would leave metal bars upon dying:

  Journeyman: Suddenly all those useless immigrants would have a purpose for us.

• Sadistic Choice- Condorito is presented with either running the fortress again, or being allowed to keep the MAAAAAAAGMA POWERED STIIIIIICK!!!!!, with which he had been running around the fortress disturbing others.
• Save Scumming: Done a few times due to saves getting lost or unusable when changing hands, but gloriously done during Condorito's third reign so that we are treated to a full goblin siege wherein only two dwarven casualties occur (the previous two playthrough attempts ended up making the fort unplayable).
• Sequel Hook / What Could Have Been: One of the players started a side fort and got another case of interesting rainfall:

  MadnessIncarnate: Beer rain? BEER RAIN! I MADE A FORT AND IT'S RAINING BEER!

  Condorito: Madness, this ain't even a joke, get the world, upload it with beer-coordinates, and we have our next Fort. I don't even care if there's flux or not!

  • Unfortunately, this fortress was lost with the laptop it was on. It probably would not have gone well anyway, due to the lag caused by the rainfall, the fact that said rainfall reanimated corpses into soulless killing machines, and the potentially unstoppable fires that would happen as soon as the beer was ignited.
• Serious Business - Keeping the fortress' framerate high enough to allow things to run smoothly on the players' machines. Consequently, some activities normally done in most fortresses were ignored/banned for the frame lag they would cause, so new forms of !FUN! had to be developed.
  • An in-story example is the Thursday beard-measuring/waving done by named members of the fortress.
• Shout-Out - Many:
  • The golden statues in the throne room include four of hamsters, reminiscent of another siege-prone, volcano-based Lord Hamster
  • Each of the milita squads was named after a Tabletop RPG: The hammerdwarf squad was named "Forty Thousand", as well as the Pathfinders, the Shot Trouble, the Shadow Runners and the Vigilant Hunters of Reckoning, to name a few.
    • More 40k references were made in THRONE, IMPERATOR, PSYKER, and Overseer Durza's commenting that "the Emperor will definitely not protect anyone in the fortress".
  • Monty Python gets a nod when said God-Emperor considers an organization dealing with people who have been possessed, and is both unexpected and fanatically devoted to him.
  • When Infinitus began using notes to give his demands to his "secretary" (Overseer Durza), Durza notes that he begins to put 2-3 exclamation points in most every sentence, and that something should be done before he reaches five.
  • When the human caravan first sold whip technology to the fortress, there was talk of converting it for use as sword-chucks.
  • The Stick that Condorito used to hit things with was described as being both magma-powered and never runs out of magma.
  • Journeyman considers actual bean-counting to be a superb way to sharpen the mind, then relates the story of one McMiyagi who trained his students by smoothing walls in a circular motion.
  • The Order of the Pick was created under Bladebound's second reign as a Secret Police force for rooting out traitors and the like. Unfortunately, it was headed by Durza...
  • GandAandR, in a later stint, had some warning entries in his diary about avoiding cults of personality, violent civil war, breaking spacetime in an experimental accident, and sending trained bird men after kidnappers.
• Shrine to Self - Overlord Infinitus had a throne room built for himself, and populated with as many golden statues of himself as could be made during his reign, which was three due to him getting tired of posing for the craftsdwarves and then ordering their executions.
• Spirit Advisor - During Condorito's second reign, one of the recently-dead ghosts took up residence in another dwarf's home... who was ecstatic about it. The ghost would give sparring advice during training time and also watched the crossbow dwarves practice.
  • During Bladebound's second reign, a deceased hammerdwarf was training with the milita as well.
• Talking Your Way Out - How the appointed-only-seconds-earlier Commander Gemsittirst persuaded the mob not to go after Overseer Infinitus. We later find out they weren't all that motivated in the first place.
• Teeth Flying - Sadly, this does not refer to giant evil teeth that were raised to life by the environment, but the repeat incidences during Tuefel Hunden's second reign. To elaborate, first a donkey in an ill-fated elven caravan lost a mouthful, then most of the subsequent goblin siege.
  • A set of dentures was made from them for Hermunster's use, who commented on their being so lifelike (not knowing their origin).
• Tempting Fate- GandAandR decided to sleep on the retractable bridge over some magma for a night, just to see what it was like; afterward he commented that the idea should have happened sooner so that central heating could have been accomplished in the sleeping area using some magma-filled pipes beneath the floor...
• Time Skip: When GandAandR's first turn ended, the save was lost and his turn was treated as a dream... which was remembered by everyone in the fortress. When Durza succeeded as Overseer, he commented that even his journal was altered to one year earlier. The whole event was supposedly triggered by GandAandR (suspected of being some kind of wizard) making the mini-forge Ugosherush and Durza activating it.
• Unfinished Business - In the first year of the fortress, a were-beast "dropped dead for no apparent reason" after mauling a dog. It was later suspected of being supernatural retribution.
  • Litast Washstandard, a hammerdwarf, was haunting one of the imprisoned vampires. Since there was no record of Litast in life or death, no memorial could be made. Later, the vampire was found hammered to death and the ghost strangely happier.
  • Later on, almost a dozen ghosts were wandering around and had to be put to rest.
  • NESgamer190's dorf's spirit was housed inside her memorial slab after the vampire's attack, and while another dorf inherited the name, it was this first one that ran the fortress through influencing the living during NESgamer190's turn.
• Videogame Caring Potential - A pair of vampires were discovered, arrested, and placed inside a glass control room under GandAandR's dream reign. The first was caught in the act of drinking blood, while the second was discerned through the long list of associations they maintained but no living family, eerily similar to how Beigeknife got its vampires.
  • During the true/rewound reality, the first vampire was instead tossed down the LONG DROP and the second took longer to appear.
  • Bladebound I sealed the Fortress' mayor into the prison with only a vampire for company... who refused to drink the blood of his fellow inmate and was released.
• Volcano Lair - The new location for the starting point and resulting fortress was a mineral-rich active volcano. Naturally the dorfs made a base of operations around/in/underneath it to exploit the easy access to magma. Whether the various magma-related superweapons are put to use remains to be seen...
• We Have Reserves - Invoked by Bladebound I, word for word, during his second term in furthering the cause of Dorf-kind.
• Who Watches the Watchmen? - viha Kirbonium VII's Ordo Possideo to Durza's Order of the Pick.
• Xanatos Gambit / Thanatos Gambit - Durza was convinced he was running one, and by the time of Bladebound's second reign, there were approximately four plans in motion: one involving flooding the fortress with magma, Possessed!Durza's apotheosis, Bladebound's PSYKER project for his own apotheosis (which would inadvertently power Durza's plans), and viha Kirbonium VII's ancestor-spirit-fueled quest for revenge against Durza, who in fluff is responsible for 6 deaths of the Kirbonium line. Of course, Emperor Bladebound dismissed the claim pertaining to Durza, and instead formed the Order of the Pick to search for whoever leaked the PSYKER information (with Durza appointed as Lord Inquisitor). This prompted viha Kirbonium VII to petition Emperor Bladebound to form the Ordo Possideo, dedicated to the eradication of demonic influence and in reality drawn up to check against the Order of the Pick.