Gatereign - 205 Late Winter by Noble Digger

DF Map Archive:

Points of Interest

Δ 21. Military Housing 3F
The third floor of the military complex will house the Royal Guard. This floor, and those above, are works in progress

Like many other areas of Gatereign, construction here is pending the creation of more granite blocks. Over 3000 granite blocks have been used to date in the construction of Gatereign, with Basalt bringing in a close second at over 2000, and Green Glass in third with nearly 1000. - Noble Digger
Δ 20. East Barracks
Built to accomodate the massive influx of soldiers after the Duke's arrival and the fortress' subsequent population climb to over 140.

Iron doors and basalt fortifications mark the exits and the entire wall, like the outer fortress wall, is made of granite. Microcline borders the walls for accentuation and the roof above is made of alunite and glass. - Noble Digger
Δ 20. Military Housing 2F
This small building houses the fortress' military personnel. This level is home to the axedwarves and hammerdwarves. Below is the military dining hall, fitted with wooden furniture. - Noble Digger
Δ 20. The Crater
Due to the unique geography of Gatereign's volcano, several levels contain inaccessible platforms and ledges. This level was the most prominent example; the entire inside of the crater was lousy with spider webs.

Excepting times when harvesting of webs is in progress, this crater is sealed off from the fortress to protect spiders from the fortress' two cats. - Noble Digger
Δ 20. West Barracks
A cluster of silver armor stands and weapon racks decorate the center of the fortress' barracks. It was designed to protect the military while they train, and simultaneously give them access to the fortress ramparts and a decent vantage point on the ramps leading up into the hills.

As this fortress is home to more than 40 military dwarves, this single barracks was not sufficient to keep training accidents down, so I built a duplicate structure out of over 200 blocks. - Noble Digger
Δ 19. Military Housing 1F
The military of Gatereign tip glasses in this wood-furnished dining hall at the base of the skyscraper currently under construction to house them.

I intend to add windows (east) and a food stockpile (west) to this room as construction continues.

The four granite statues commemorate the original four defenders of Gatereign, the living legends of The Golden Crystals led by Cerol Mistemottan, whose sharp axes cut down two score kobolds and goblins in the first years of the fortress. - Noble Digger
Δ 19. Miner's Sorrow
This willow tree, christened "Miner's Sorrow" by Gatereign's miners in honor of their deceased friend Lor Kovestinod, stands sentinel over the east pond. This tree has the distinction of being the only living thing to witness Lor's death, and the only tree within the borders of the fortress to avoid being cut down during its early, charcoal-craving years of magma-free industry. - Noble Digger
Δ 18. Central Magma Works
I never formally gave the magma works here a name, so this generic title shall suffice. Here, all metal, glass, ash, and charcoal is processed to produce goods. Numerous grates give passing dwarves a glance down into the fiery heart of Gatereign, The Crucible.

Bowyers and Jewelers are also temporarily housed here. Before the fortress' magma supply was turned on, wood furnaces, smelters, and forges occupied much of the floor space here. With these structures no longer needed, they were removed.

The initial channeling to tap the magma pipe was performed in the far westof this room, adjecent to the volcano. Levers control magma inlet and can be used to raise bridges covering the magma. I had initially intended to trap my fire imps via the cage traps here, but instead chose to leave them trapped in the works. - Noble Digger
Δ 18. Crater Access Airlock
Not knowing why I had spider webs inside my volcano, I cautiously assumed the possibility that they were of the giant variety (I now know that these actually say "Giant Cave Spider Silk Web" in their description) and constructed an airlock so I could place my military forward and lock the door behind them when I breeched the crater.

There turned out to be no hostile creatures above, so this room remains as a reminder of the caution that has kept this fortress running. The room can be sealed with iron floodgates and is completely magma-safe, and includes a drain which leads into the lower west magma works of the fortress, and a stairwell which allows access to magma kilns which are currently under construction. - Noble Digger
Δ 18. East Pond Water Temple
This small glass temple was constructed to prevent the east pond from bleeding out after it was punctured during efforts to reclaim Lor Kovestinod's corpse.

While the temple is not currently wired for drainage, a few small changes will soon add a floodgate which can be raised to let the pond drain, when necessary. - Noble Digger
Δ 18. Galley Dormitory
This dorm houses 18 dwarves, including the 6 surviving founders and most of the galley workers.

A single cage just outside the dorm is crammed full of nearly a hundred animals, whose sole, floundering attempt at freedom consists of birthing baby animals through the bars and urging them to flee. Fortunately, trained animal handlers quickly shove any escapees back into the cage. - Noble Digger
Δ 18. Grand Cross Dining Halls
Note that this POI describes the four small dining halls at the eastern and western edges of the main dormitories.

Each of these dining halls is furnished with wooden tables and chairs, and contains an alcove in which one of the honored dead is buried. The southwest hall also provides access to the airlock which leads into the crater.

Once the two "main" dining halls in the main dormitory are finished I may scrap these small dining halls or assign them to nobles or favored dwarves. - Noble Digger
Δ 18. Grand Cross North
This dormitory houses thirty dwarves. The lever near the entrance currently operates the outflow floodgates for the Crucible below.

I'm not sure why all the doors in this fortress look like plus signs, but this area is largely mundane. A massive dining hall to the north will eventually replace the two small ones here. A food stockpile is planned for the oblong unfinished room. - Noble Digger
Δ 18. Grand Cross South
This dormitory also houses thirty dwarves. The lever near the entrance is not currently connected.

Note the two bedrooms in the southeast which have their own opaque windows looking into one of the fortress' ponds. The pond can be drained via three floodgates attached to a lever in the south central dorm.

In keeping with Gatereign's safety protocols, these two rooms have sturdy iron doors which can be locked in the event of magma-related... accidents.

The unfinished room in the upper left will be a food stockpile. - Noble Digger
Δ 18. Grey Breeze Hall
It is no secret to the dwarves of Gatereign that Grey Breeze Hall shares an outer wall with the dusty soil cavern used to bury pet animals and foreigners that die within the fortress' borders. While dwarves pay homage to the honored dead buried within Grey Breeze Hall, many find the knowledge that dead vermin and outsiders linger nearby to be unsettling. - Noble Digger
Δ 18. Kogan's Closet
The tragic death of Kogan Tiristastod calls attention once more to the dwarven military's penchant for throwing suckling infants into the faces of their enemies when faced with insurmountable odds. The child's mother, Lolor Tekkudzes, a mighty axedwarf, bought herself the time to escape from a goblin ambush by throwing little Kogan at their feet.

Due to the shady circumstances surrounding Kogan's death and the immense workload that the stoneworkers were then shouldering, many unpleasant questions were directed at the dwarven military following the incident. The entire matter was hushed up and Kogan's place of burial remains unknown to the general populace.

Repeated requests by "Shitsley" Vuthilbim to have the four tiles of bare soil in his dorm room replaced with constructed walls have been denied, miners citing that the tiles are "forbidden" before rushing off to other work.

"Shitsley" complained of an eerie feeling when staying in his room, earning him two hammer strikes. - Noble Digger
Δ 18. Lor's Tomb
The faces of death are many-fold and often hidden behind unassuming masks. Such was the case in the unfortunate death of the founding dwarf, Lor Kovestinod. Returning from the wilderness with a stack of wooden logs, Lor was startled by a raccoon in the fortress yard and fell into the pond. Amid the confusion of chasing the animal and getting the paniced dwarves back to work, Lor was left to his fate and drowned.

This open-air tomb allows Lor's spirit to live out the rest of time gazing out over the cliffs at the babbling brook he so loved.

Raccoons are forbidden from living within the borders of Gatereign for all time. - Noble Digger
Δ 18. Ten Stone Hall
This dining hall was finished, amid hailstorms of procrastination, shortly after I noticed dwarves walking down into the magma works to eat. An artifact table frames this room, leading most dwarves to ignore other larger or more convenient halls in favor of this one. It is periodically shut down for cleaning to encourage dwarves to use the other halls.

Note the dwarven custom of placing the burial plots of the honored dead behind dense glass windows in the dining halls. This is so those who live on remember to redouble their merriment and give thanks and cheers to those who died to build the dwarven nation. While this custom would seem ghastly to human settlements, dwarves are very comfortable and pragmatic when dealing with death and the dead. - Noble Digger
Δ 18. The King's Galley
Upon the founding of Gatereign, the king made himself painfully clear: He intended one day to live within its halls, and he expected to be attended to by a galley crew worthy of a king. From its first year, Gatereign's populace has put blood and sweat into making the best food and drink in the realm.

The fortress' larder occupies the large central portion of this floor, as well as four more giant halls of the same size on the level below. It is stocked with enough food and drink to supply the fortress for several years and boasts enough variety to keep even the pickiest Cogs and Urists shoveling down their favorite delicacies.

As the galley crew is also responsible for producing dyes and pigments for the textile industry, a series of hand-operated querns were installed here in favor of a third still. An artifact quern gives happy thoughts to passing farmers and millers. - Noble Digger
Δ 17. Lower West Magma Works
This cavity is designed to store magma which will feed two magma kilns above. It will feed magma directly from the pipe above after the wall has been breeched via channeling from the room above.

Inlet and outflow will both be controlled by floodgates, and the works can be drained to the lower left if necessary for maintenance. - Noble Digger
Δ 17. The Crucible
The Crucible was one of the first major features of the fortress to be planned and one of the fifteenth or so to be completed. As I needed iron floodgates installed before I could allow magma in from the volcano, I had to use wood fires to perform most metalworking tasks up until the completion of this western branch of the fortress and testing of the influx and outflow floodgates.

Three imps got trapped inside the crucible while it was being filled. As all access points to the magma are blocked by grates or workshops, they cannot--and shall not--be allowed to leave. I consider them a permanent part of the forge and a good luck charm for my metal workers.

You can't see it because the place is full of lava, but all access points from above are marked by an orthoclase block on the floor to help me keep straight where the openings are.

Magma is fed directly from the volcano to the west and can be shut off by the (currently closed) floodgates. It is intended to be drained via pumps through the outflow pipes to the east, though the outflow system is not yet complete.

The Crucible can also be drained via pumps into the enormous rooms to its north and south, if necessary. - Noble Digger
Δ 16. A Simple Nook, Easily Forgotten
Nobody likes taxes, and everyone made sure to let Atis Tusunginod know how they felt when he arrived, hiding under the Duke's robes and chattering like a rodent.

Aside from being a social island, it is worth noting that the walls of this bedroom are all aquifer tiles. When the King's tax man shows up to a new fortress which has no currency and they shove him into a distant basement bedroom with damp walls and the sound of water draining nearby, he should consider himself given fair warning to stop raising the price of plump helmets! - Noble Digger
Δ 16. Hall of the Hammer
While the Hammerer Vabok Unibluslem has the social skills of a dead pidgeon, it is his frightening selection of blunt weaponry and penchant for eating handfulls of the mash stored in the galley stills that drove the masons to construct his domicile in an "out of the way" place.

While Vabok came up with a stunning name for his hall, since no one else in the fortress would dare visit it, it is known to the fortress population as the place where boys become men and where women become gay. Needless to say, this keeps the Hall of the Hammer nice and roomy just like Vabok likes it. - Noble Digger
Δ 16. The Black Halls
"Pokedead" was his name. The dungeon master dredged up from the deepest tunnels of the capital arrived to Gatereign with little more than a grin and a smithing hammer to smooth over the weeks' worth of rumors that he ate children and crapped dead kittens.

For all the terror and mystery surrounding his arrival, "Pokedead" (Deduk Kuletbakust to his mom'n'pop) proved to be a fairly upstanding and productive citizen with a strong work ethic and the interests of the fortress at heart.

The masons' guild, in a not-so-subtle nod to their love of this new, productive breed of noble, constructed him a stunning obsidian palace furnished with silver, gems, and iron. The window which overlooks the brook chasm contains platinum bars. - Noble Digger
Δ 16. The Duchess' Preening Room
What could be more useless to a small, centrally-housed commune of interdependant, cooperative dwarves than some pompous, demanding trust fund kiddy calling himself a noble showing up and insisting on having his own personal palace?

Why, the wife of some noble who's just as useless as he is, and refuses to cohabitate with her man! Sweet, so not only do we 'inherit' some superfluous and inactive leadership, but we get to construct TWO massive apartments to satiate his sense of entitlement!

While dwarven law insisted that we provide these two with quarters of a certain value and quality, as the bookkeeper assured us, it was completely up to us how we reached those magic numbers.

Constructed primarily from basic green glass and decked with bland, uncomfortable (and yet, bless the price of metals, valuable) iron furniture, these spacious apartments shut the yapping pair up long enough for the masons to rush off in search of elusive granite blocks. - Noble Digger
Δ 16. The Duke's Digs
Everyone hates a useless, demanding noble, but anyone who can legally refer to himself as "The Duke" deserves to be treated with a measure of respect.

Though the fortress refused to expend any comfortable, valuable furnishings on their temporary leader's housing arrangements, they did ensure that the Duke would have a stately apartment sufficient to impress upon invading goblins just how hardcore the guy they just killed must have been.

It's worth noting that both the Duke's and Duchess' apartments have stairways leading directly down into their personal, matching tombs. - Noble Digger
Δ 16. The Grand Magazine
Storing all of the fortress' stone, wood, blocks, and furniture, the Grand Magazine is a monumental testament to the tenacity of Gatereign's miners and masons.

Wing rooms in the corners house the textile and leather industries, and its relatively small wealth of gems.

This floor also provides access to the nobles' quarters. - Noble Digger
Δ 16. The Mayor's Stacks
This apartment was an early experiment in cliffside construction. Began in the early years of the fortress when its first mayor, 'Warhead' Edemstinthad ("of the unending river of blood") made clear to the masons' guild that a 2x3 bedroom was not going to cut it once she started "squirtin' out lads and lasses".

Overcompensating for the mayor's volatile nature, the masons built her a royal palace complete with skylights and a window lined with iron and gold bars. The metalworkers outfitted the entire building with silver furniture and doors.

Soon thereafter, the trembling populace discovered the power of democracy and ousted Warhead in favor of the shrewd and practical jeweler, "Jewfist" Taronlogem.

"Jewfist" really likes his apartment, and regularly admires own fine cabinet.
- Noble Digger
Δ 16. The Sheriff's Abode
While most of the military has been intended to be housed in a skyscraper alongside the main fortress since many years ago, construction has been slow. Then-sheriff "Cool" Cattensezuk insisted that his personal quarters be removed from the general populace before he would agree to accept an upgrade to Captain of the Guard.

Building on the success of the Mayor's Stacks, the masons extended the mayor's apartment and copied its design in creating the Sheriff's Abode. - Noble Digger
Δ 15. A Sandy Cavern
Within this small, sandy cavern, dwarves travel from all reaches of the fortress bearing ripped, ragged, patched, and stitched bags decorated with all manner of nonsensical images, to claim the precious and everlasting patches of sand within.

In a strange incident, two dwarves once came to this cavern seeking sand. Only one would leave. While details are unclear, both dwarves stepped onto a tile of sand to harvest it, and one of the two instantaneously and mysteriously bled to death on the spot.

The fortress guard concluded that the other dwarf was not responsible for the mysterious total exsanguination of "Zep" Imushelot, beloved metalsmith. No evidence of any type of harm to "Zep" could be found, and in interests of continuing on with life the guard decided to place him in one of the alcoves of the honored dead within Grey Breeze Hall. - Noble Digger
Δ 15. Northern Labyrinth
This basalt maze serves little purpose except giving children a place to get lost when their parents are busy throwing infants at goblins. It looks more attractive than a simple quarry, and this fortress chews through Basalt Blocks at an unlawful rate. - Noble Digger
Δ 15. The Armory
Acres of metal armor and weapons litter these two massive square halls, and spill out into the fortress beyond. As the fortress stockpile manager can't make up his mind how low quality is TOO low quality, the current of goods into and out of these stockpiles is near-constant. - Noble Digger
Δ 15. The Drink
Careless experimentation on the aquifer walls above led to the damnation of this fledgeling hall, which once served as an obsidian quarry.

The miners, certain that this hall could not be saved, instead elected to isolate and flood it to create an attractive monument to the powers of fire and water.

Plans to drain The Drink and reclaim valuable metal and stone from its walls are, according to the mechanics, a decade off at best. - Noble Digger
Δ 15. The King's Grove
This grove is the future site of his majesty's statue garden, and the likely location of the entrance to his personal quarters. - Noble Digger
Δ 15. Ye Place of Fish
This small, walled-off adjunct to the brook serves as a headquarters and guild hall for the fortress' few fishermen. - Noble Digger

Related Maps:

Gatereign

207 Early Spring
205 Late Winter [R]
203 Late Spring

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Map details:

Fortress Name: Gatereign
Map Year: 205 Late Winter
Author: Noble Digger
Submitted by: Noble Digger
Date Added: 25/01/2009

Submitted by: Urist McDorf - 2009-01-26 to 205 Late Winter

Looks like you could use some bins for your armory... :)

Submitted by: Noble Digger - 2009-01-26 to 205 Late Winter

If you look up in the main yard there's an entire stockpile of bins and no more room--that's storing all the low quality iron armor and weapons in addition to crappy trade goods from goblins and such. :X

Submitted by: magic dwarf - 2009-01-26 to 205 Late Winter

This fort is massive! It looks very... planned out and organized. Those imps look ready to take out the first legendary weaponsmith they see.

Submitted by: Noble Digger - 2009-01-27 to 205 Late Winter

The funny part is that I don't plan my fortresses. I got really lucky that the new additions fit symmetrically on both sides of the for in almost every place.

I work a room at a time, making what I need at a given moment. Right now (I'm in year 206 or 207) I have so many construction projects going on that nothing is being completed, but rather being nudged closer to completion.

The hammerer killed 3 dwarves this year :|

Submitted by: Dakira - 2009-01-30 to 207 Early Spring

How will anyone access your Road of White Shadow?
Also, your "Hot Tubes" have inspired me to make a future fortress with central heating curtousy of our favorite molten rock.

Submitted by: Noble Digger - 2009-01-30 to 207 Early Spring

The Road of White Shadow will be flooded, and deep within the earth. It's not meant for travel, just to fool the king into thinking we have a valuable road. I also needed the stone and digging it out gave me quite a few mineral veins.

Stay tuned, I'm working on a highway to cut through the western mountains, removing all the ramps, and ensuring depot access on all approaches via a system of tunnels interconnected with ramps.