Kyphis the Bard

Caravan is here, we need a Broker (someone who does the trading) First come, first served (and since we got another wave of migrants you don't have to already be in the fort if you want the job)

I have Trend Micro - same error report though. This didn't start until Mozilla updated for me, although it is on other browsers as well (IE/Chrome)

Doesn't let you pick specific materials though for most things. If I'm going to micro manage, I'ma MICRO-micro manage :D

First Story Entry. This is the story of arrival, no exploration has taken place, nor work on the settlement begun. It is the first month of the year 301. [spoiler]My name is Kyphis, and I am an Engraver. Our escourt is dead, our ship destroyed by sea beasts, and this island is the domain of monsters. But dwarves do not give up so easily... I write this, that if our efforts do not succeed and our queens fears of our civilization being wiped out by the Goblin's of the Mainland run true, there will be a record for those who come in the future, that we may be remembered. After Bomrek Mirroredbalances, our great king, died in 296 the victim of age, our security as a kingdom has been shaken. His first sucessor, Queen Kosoth Veiledgirders was slain by the Cyclops Xogak Flickermined the Red Crystal in a duel within one year of taking the throne. Although she was skilled with the martial weapon of our kingdom, the crossbow, her ability to dodge was found lacking, and the beast slew her with his mighty axe. In 297 our current queen Catten Roughnessmountains rose to power, and since then eight monstrous beasts have sought to end her reign much as her predecessor was slain. It was in the first two years of this time that the Potter Ushat Streamcastle began to display her martial abilities, stepping in four times to drive off the beasts. Last year, she was given command of my kingdoms armies. With the devestation of the elven forest of Lionwilt and the Goblin Forestress of Badworry by the Goblin Slaves of the Demon Lord Dusak Hatedbrides the Infinite Manges, and with war against this horde numbering more than five thousand goblins strong a very real threat, our Catten Roughnessmountains our Queen, and her General Ushat Streamcastle hatched the plan to make a settlement isolated from the threats of war. In this land of ours, that we call The Domain of Portents, war is by no means the greatest threat. Vast tracks of land are cursed and blighted with evil, and equally vast regions are protected by ancient guardians against any outsiders. Near everywhere in this land roam beasts of nightmare and savage monsters. It has taken four years since the rise of our queen to find a suitable bastion for our people. Four years of scouting, of citizens lost to the ravages of the wild. But in the end, there was only one site that showed true promise: Bothon Merir, the Murk of Pregnancy. This island, across Nolˆth Bor, the Gulf of Chunks, is to be our cultural vault. One of only two islands off the mainland of our region, unlike its counterpart Nentuk ”Gred, the Withered Swamps, which is a blighted place of undead monsters and dark magics, this place is guarded by ancient constructs, built in a bygone age. Horrors roam here two, brought to these lands by the haunted waters of Nolˆth Bor, but at least here our dead can sleep easily in the ground. This will be our cultural vault, should the unthinkable happen and the mountainhomes fall to the goblin hordes. Of our party, only the seven of us have survived the journey. Rophs, the Bowyer. Without his bravery and skill with the Axe, the sea monster that wrought doom upon our ship would have done so sooner, and none of us would be alive now. Rikstar, the Miner. When the passage through the canyons was blocked by a landslide, it was he that carved the path through, that we might avoid the Monstrously large lions of the grasslands. Change, the Brewer. While not as direct an impact as some of the others, she has kept our morals high, and our resolve strong, in the face of harsh adversity. Maebius, our Cook. His cooking has helped keep us from diseases of the wild, and ensured our health in this new settlement. Rumi, the farmer. Without whom we would have run through our supplies long hence. Dolomich, the Hunter. Many beasts has he slain, many monsters has he driven off. It is he that leads our group, for now. And of course, myself, the engraver. However my contribution to our arrival has not been as great as my luck in surviving has shown, my skills now that we are here will help make this settlement safe and secure. This island has a Volcano at its heart, and from there have risen many minerals and raw resources that will sustain us. We have moved ourselves inland, away from the coast of the ocean with its sea monsters and tainted fogs of death. We cannot go further inland else the Constructs may leave their shrine and eject us from this land. Worse, a vile mockery of nature makes its lair near a cave rising from the ground at the foot of these cliffs. It has not seen us yet, for which we must be thankful, for we have seen it spew forth vile gases to kill its prey. We have found a place to dig into the cliffs. It will be hard, but if this effort ensures our civilizations survival, then it is worth it. For Queen and Kingdom![/spoiler] The end of the first season (screenshots in the next tab) [spoiler] Spring has come to a close. I had not thought I would be writting more in this journal, however I think it wise for now, lest anything happen to us before we have made a lasting mark in this land. While working on our entryway, which is to have a ballistae range to protect us against the predations of the regions beasts, we have struck many valuable resources. We have planned our site to be able to handle any caravans that make the journey across the sea monster laden gulf. Work on a permanent site for the farms is well underway, with two plots already prepared for planting. The remainder have patches of stone that needs to be muddied before we can install crops on them. This may prove a dangerous task, as the insane heat of this place prevented any rain the last three months, and all the waterholes lie as shallow pools of mud. The only source of reliable water we have is the haunted ocean... While excavation was underway, Rophs and Dolomich took to cutting down trees in the area, that we might build with them. During their wandering, they reported two horrifying discoveries. By far the worst, is the effect the horrid green fogs that roll off the ocean have on living beasts. At first we simply thought them ominous, but of no threat themselves. However, any bird or beast that has been caught within its bounds has swiftly choked to death, and arisen as a violent thrall. They hunt out any living creature they can, and seek to kill it, regardless of their preys size. Any attempts to gather water from the ocean will be fraught with great peril. The second, and normally greater but thanks to Roph's and Dolomich's quick work now the far lesser threat, is the hydras. While watching the coast from their vantage point on the cliffs, the pair where startled to see a hydra come into view and wade into the waters, catching fish and birds through ambush and speed. As they watched throughout the day, they saw that it was not one, but more than ten hydras making their den in a cliffside cave! Fortunately for our survival, the pair set to work creating a great trap, and when the hydras returned to their den for the night they pushed a great mass of wood off of the cliff to crash into the cavern's entrance, blocking it off. The hydra's are enraged within, but with Roph's and Dolomich's work to make the entrance fully secured, they will not likely cause us threat any time soon. Thankfully for us, the Umbra Brute has not noticed us, and the great Bronze Constructs seem content to stay by their ruined shrine, for now. But in the night, the sound of savage beasts can always be heard, and Rumi has seen strange creatures that are half beast half men deeper inland. We cannot afford to lower our guard.[/spoiler] First season screenshots (with clutter hidden) [spoiler]Hydra Den (the shape is not my fault!) Colossi Shrine (it has several other floors, this floor just has the colossi on it) Entrance Second floor down - Future Trade Center Third floor down - Farm Excavation site [/spoiler] The End of the Second Season [spoiler]This bloody heat... so hard to stay motivated while we swelter in the sun. Even the tunnels are filled with hot air! We had some more survivors wash up from our original party, rescued by some fishermen and villagers from the mainland. We gained three of our old comrades: Koshu Farsight, who is trained as a farmer but wishes to learn the art of making soap. Dante Lionheart, who is trained in cookery, but would rather make stonecrafts and other ornaments. Jester, who I do not trust. Something about the way he goes on about being a "Lyesmith" makes me question his honesty... at any rate, he too is a cook. Many of them also have military skills the rest of us lack, which may prove the difference between our survival here and our doom. Some of their rescuers have also joined with us, favouring the potential of life in our new settlement to the restrictions of mainland life. Tekkud Idemath, trained as a smith, will certainly be useful to us as we try to set up our military. Tekkud Lolokavuz is a dyer. Not particularly useful, he has offered to help out with farming and other jobs as well, so long as when we are comfortable enough he can practice his creative skills with cloth. His wife Dst has also joined us, she is young and has no real skills to contribute, but she has a passion for nature and training animals, and her lack of training in other disciplines may prove an asset. And the last, Kadol, is a fisherman who is familiar with the perils of the Gulf, and will help to make sure we have enough fish for a healthy diet. The farms are all installed, took a long time to spread enough mud around the stones that we could farm there. We should be able to feed ourselves with little worry now, although we still need to get booze set up. The hydras are still pretty pissed off in their cave, although they are too securely trapped to escape any time soon. Rumi has insisted we keep them alive in case we can put them to use, so we have been feeding them all of the odder looking fish that we catch. They seem happy enough at the food, if not their captivity. Early in this last month of Summer Change was spying on that Umber Brute, when it caught sight of him. Chased him around for about ten days before he got away from it. He was incredibly lucky - there was nothing any of us could have hoped to do against such a vile beast. He managed to get a very good sight of the thing though. We have named it "Enure" Enure is a gigantic noseless antelope twisted into humanoid form. It has a bloated body. Its raw umber hair is long and shaggy. Beware its poisonous gas! He is very skinny. Its a good thing it has no nose, or he would be able to hunt us to our settlement and murder us all. Speaking of combat, we have had our first taste of blood in this island: A honey badger decided to pick on Dolomich, and one of the dogs tore it apart. We have planned out a military wing branching off from the farming wing, that we can begin preparing to conquer the threats of this terrible place.[/spoiler] Second season Screenshot [spoiler]Planned military wing [/spoiler] End of the Year. [spoiler]It has been a busy six months here. Enure has been sealed in his cave, although not before some of the animals went missing. I fear my cats Mebzuth and Kumil may not turn up again until we are ready to fight Enure and unseal his Lair... Much work has been done to ensure our survival. The farms are well established, and storage areas have been dug out beneath them, with passages planned that we might access them from the kitchens. The Barracks as well is dug out, although more work is needed and much needs to be produced before any training can begin. We have selected a hillside to pasture our animals in, leveling off part of the mountainside and erecting a wall to give them plenty of grass and safety. And Balistae have finally been installed across the entrance passage. The ocean has been relatively calm, thankfully our little cove rarely sees the green mists enter. It has thrown a few perils our way though - two monstrous crabs came after us with a clear thirst for blood. They where dispatched without too much harm dealt, which is thankful. It would seem the fishermen of the mainland have plotted a safe course through the waters to our settlement, as another six travelers have arrived to join our settlement. Thob is a Bowyer and fisherman, so will join Kadol on the beach. Monum is a woodswoman, with moderate skill in carpentry she will be useful in aiding Rikstar. For now she has been busy cutting down trees for Rikstar to work with. Alath used to be a seamstress, she has come to our settlement in the hopes of learning other trades. For now she has been learning how to operate the Balistae. Thikut is also from the fishing village, although he spent his time cleaning fish rather than catching them. He also has some talents as a brawler, and may find his way into the military once it is set up properly. Mafol is a farmer, who is tired of the wars of the mainland and came to us for a hopefully quieter life. With the dangers of this island, I don't know if she will get it though. Edem is one I am very thankful to see join us, as she used to be a swordswoman. Her skills will be vital for our survival here. She says that she is married to a man named Deler, although he did not accompany her to our settlement. War takes its toll on many lives, so I have not asked if he yet lives. Kriskah arcanu has already proven their worth to the settlement - she spends most of her time helping Thikut clean the fisherdwarves catches, but her real talent is as a trader. We had some traders come to us from the capital late in the year, and it was Kriskah who selected the wares we would need and struck the bargains to make sure we did not get ripped off. In the end, we gained far more through her talents than the traders, although they too seemed happy. It would seem that our settlement may yet thrive on this island, if things keep going as they have. Although I fear the horrors that lie deeper in this land may soon come for us... The terrifying howls in the night only grow louder...[/spoiler] End of year screenshots [spoiler]Entrance and Balistae Trade Depot Military Barracks Archery ammunition storage/collection area Farms and Farmer's Quarters Outdoors walled in pasture Food and Seed storage area below the farms [/spoiler]

First migrants are in; eight dwarves. First four are claimed, four spaces open. We got several military trained migrants in case !!FUN!! happens, and a weapon smith. Although I don't see any need for a Manager, I've never had one in any of my forts... Book keeper is more important. We also embarked with pages and pages of thread/cloth/leather, so raw materials for clothes aren't too important :P

Here, have someone elses discussion thread on cow as an insult And a few context based definitions from Urban Dictinary (NSFW - Language) There are plenty of other links I could throw up, but basically it all boils down to the following: Cow is almost always intended as an insult, however the severity of that insult is based on its context. Given that the word cow is proceeded by the word "stupid".... Its less about who made the post, and more about the rules being applied fairly for all, with no subjectivity (which, as many of us pointed out, is going to be pretty close to impossible). At least, that's the only reason I am taking any interest. No One might be doing it because he is actually genuinely offended.

I disagree with this suggestion.

+ you have a stat that heals them automatically (experiment a little)

So it is o_O I had not noticed, thanks Chewbuckett!

Eh. I figure if you wanted to give Land Leaders the ability to favor those who are truly loyal to their land you could just make Land Score public (and I don't mean public like "look up their profile", because that can be hidden/doctored. I mean public like "click on a page below their avatar", like we have for inventory and logs, that lists their land scores in the sidebar) But I don't really think that's a good idea. It would probably have unfair repercussions, even if it would work to let land leaders, well, discriminate.

Aye, that's why I said in my suggestion to change the random hour length as needed. Obviously with this consideration you would want it to be closer to by original suggestion, 144 to 168 hours

No One's idea is a great one. To answer his question, I typically only use shared items for a few hours, on days where I can be on MD for a long time. While it can be annoying to get tools from LotE, having an alliance I can use to teleport out again certainly helps. Since I typically only use items for a couple hours at a time, having a link to send the damn things back would be very useful.

Just as a quick off topic post... While it may seem I am aggressively rebutting No One's argument, I just want to say that I am very glad he is joining in this discussion. I don't talk to him any where often enough that I would call him a friend, but I like him a lot and value his opinion.

I call it land loyalty because that is what it is called on our profiles. By the Game. In the place where it is most often seen. In the most easily accessible reference to it a player can get. You know the second most commonly accessed reference to it? Shared item collection. Where it is also called Land Loyalty. In the interface. By the Game. And DD, I have to disagree there. I do not think leaving a land shows that you are not loyal to it. Not returning, on the other hand, certainly begins to show that. And you do not need to be in an alliance to be a citizen. If your king kicks you out of the land, then that is their right. As the leader of your land, who you voted for, they have the right to decide what it means to be loyal to the land. And if you didn't vote for them, then you can always rebel. It is why we have these systems; so you can be loyal to the land even if you are not to its leader.

My reasoning: Its called "land loyalty", not familiarity or anything like that. It's a bit hard to be loyal to a land you are not in. However, it is quite possible to have mixed loyalties. Hence, much slower loss rate than gain rate, still allowing people to be loyal to multiple lands. So you don't forget life in france after four years, big whoop. Memory and loyalty are not the same thing. And so you are loyal to france even if you don't live there, big whoop. Location and loyalty are not the same thing. Real world analogies don't exactly work here. You want to be show loyalty for more than one land? Fine! Go for it! Totally possible to have a constantly increasing loyalty value to upto four separate lands with this suggestion. No One, yes it impact most those that don't do it on purpose. Ironically, that's exactly who it is supposed to ;) This gives a clearer distinction between loyal subjects and alliance hoppers. It is still totally possible for people to gain loyalty in multiple lands if they want, but it discourages people from joining a land under false pretenses just so they can exploit it in the future. If people want to maintain a loyalty score with a land, they should actually need to show some loyalty to it. Even if that just means being a citizen one day in four. This doesn't place any judgement on alliance hoppers either. If a land, or multiple lands, want to allow someone to maintain a loyalty score with them when they spend most of their time in another land, they total can. But it takes the lands continued consent, not just someone lying once and reaping the benefits forever. DD, I don't think anything more needs to be done to reward loyal citizens, I just think a proper distinction needs to be made between proper loyal citizens (even if they are loyal to multiple lands, I am myself even if I only have land loyalty to MDA), and those who are just exploiting the system.

Well, to flesh out my idea, I would say: Have fortnightly scheduled regroups. Scheduled regroups do not effect items picked up within 12 hours of the regroup Items are automatically returned after a random interval of between 36 and 60 hours, randomly chosen at time of pick up and not displayed anywhere Current "return on use" limitations apply. That provides more opportunity for people to get items, as well as having a fixed time that most items should be returned. This allows for both organized groups to get the items they need, and individuals to get a chance to try them out. Fiddle with the random time frames all you want though.

I propose that land loyalty be changed in the following manner: For lands that you are a current citizen of, no change For lands that you are a non-current citizen of, reduce by one point every four days. Discuss?

A shame you want simple, or I would suggest having the return interval be per item, based on when it was grabbed, with the random component of return time being anywhere from 144 to 168 hours. Ah well. Simplicity dashes my dreams for elegant complexity, once again.

So your forum rep is low, so what? Forum rep doesn't mean that you are a bad person, or that people dislike you. Giving you negatives for either of those reasons is actually spam (hell, that a lot of those people on that list are people you HAVEN'T talked to much is the biggest evidence it's not spam to me). All it means is that people disagree with your ideas. But so what? So people disagree with your ideas? Does that make your ideas wrong? No. Does it make your ideas right? No. If Galileo had voiced his opinions about the world going around the sun on a forum like this, and the church had been able to neg rep him, they damn well would have. He'd still have been RIGHT, but he would at least know that most people disagreed with him (which he knew anyway, but lets ignore that for the sake of metaphor).

Wife baked this. It is [EXPLETIVE DELETED] fantastic. I am not vegan by any measure (I grew up on a farm, so "acquiring" meat is well understood by me), but it is easily my preferred cake :D

I love that days of tranquility happen on my birthday :P Anywho, those of you who are waiting to see me about quest stuff, or waiting on commissions from me, will have to wait until tomorrow. Today shall be claimed by party.

... from about half of MD's population. Now THAT takes commitment! (and a time machine, and an ability to break MD's code :P)

The tooltip for exiting the fictionist house in tribunal is "Exit - (AP: 1,2 +36)"

Dwarf Fortress. Fantastic free game. Bloody hard to figure out on your own though, google and the wiki are your friend (but you already know that, Rophs, your in mah gaming guild :P)

Hahahaha!