Rally-HO! Hikaro's Dwarf Onslaught (a WH 2.2 mod story)

The first thing Tak did, he wrote himself.
The second thing Tak did, he wrote the Laws.
The third thing Tak did, he wrote the World.
The fourth thing Tak did, he wrote a cave.
The fifth thing Tak did, he wrote a geode, an egg of stone.​

And in the twilight of the mouth of the cave, the geode hatched, and the Brothers were born.

The first Brother walked toward the light, and stood under the open sky. Thus he became too tall. He was the first Man. He found no Laws and he was enlightened.

The second Brother walked toward the darkness, and stood under a roof of stone. Thus he achieved the correct height. He was the first Dwarf. He found the Laws Tak had written, and he was endarkened.

-From "Gd Tak Gar" (The Things Tak Wrote) (from the intro of Thud, a Discworld novel by Terry Prachett)

The year was -2000 IC, accordin' to them bigjobs (humans), that is, and our people had been wanderin' aroond for years lookin' fer a spot that had some nice silver or, preferably, gold so's we could put oor minin' skills to good use. We finally foond such a spot, but when the Low King, Goerek Starbreaker soogested that we bold oor toon at a nice spot beside the lang river, most of the dwarfs in our party said that we should coontinue oon towards the sea, soo that we could get fishes froom the water... The Low King aggreed that that was proobably the best ooption, so's we traveled oon fer 25 mare years, and boolt the city o' Ankh-Morpork (which was named after the largest dwarf city in the ancient legends) by the sea, with a lot o' fishes nearby. Oh, by the way, I'm Fitzroy Goldberg, great historian o' the dwarfs. Herein is mah accountin' o' the proogress o' oor kingdoom froom the very begginnin'.

A picture of the dwarves' starting location, and where they built their first city


At first, Ankh-Morpork didn't look like it was goin' ta amoont ta mooch, but noo sooner then we finish bracin' the main toonells o' the mine, than a shady lookin' charachter wearin' a shabby suit an' pooshin' a cart o' soosages inna boon and some suspicious lookin' meat pies shoowed up. He says his name is "Dibblahr" oor soomethin' like that, and despite mah warnin's some o' the lads went an' booght some o' them sauseges and meat pies anyways. As a result o' the food poisonin' we didn't have oor first group o' clansmen ready ta fight fer anoother 200 years! Once the boys were ready, they set ooff to th' Sooth ta try and see what they coold faind. (Historians note: first party of dwarven clansmen trained and sent exploring in -1775 IC). Several year later, a messenger coomes back an' tell oos thet there's gold in them there hills ta the SoothEast!! Everyone in Ankh-Morpork breaks oot inta a rousin' rendition o' the Dwarven National Anthem (which gooes like this: "Gold, gold gold goooold! Gold, gold gold......"), which is oonly interroopted when the messenger also informs oos that there's also a nearby source o' quality lumber in one o't the woods 'round here. Low King Goetrek decide right then and there that the second city would be boolt along the river beside the lumber source, and the third city would be boolt along the coost, near th' gold.

Interesting discoveries made by the first clansmen:


In the meantime, a group o' lads were gearin' oop ta start workin on booldin' roads ta the grasslands with some interestin' mineral formations, then they was ta boold a mine in the silver depoosit. In teh meantime, folks far and wide hear aboot the great city of Ankh-Morpork, and further-flung farmin' vilages pledge allegiance ta oor empire. (Historian's note: Ankh-Morpork's borders expand in -1725 IC, and the first group of dwarven miners is trained in -1650 IC).

Several years later, anoother messanger coomes back from oor clansmen in the Sooth, and reports that they foond nice shiny gemstones oon toop oof a moontain, and soome ruins oon anoother moontain nearby, boot they cannae reach it, because the terrain was too trecherous... We may have ta send a minin' squad doown there ta see if we can find any goodies in them. Shortly thereafter, oor great dwarven sages coome ta the Low King and report that they discovered hae ta do farmin', which would also alloow oos to boold a great big brewery, which all o' the lads was definitely fer doin', boot the Low King thinks it mooch better if we get a boonch o' lads together and send 'em ooff ta boold oor second city, which is what we do. (Historians note: Dwarven clansmen exploreing to the Southeast of Ankh-Morpork discover ruins in -1575 IC, and farming is researched in -1525 IC). When asked what they should start workin' oon next, Low King goetrek says that we should stoody mystacism, since that will aloow oos ta boold shrines to worship whate'er God oor gods we choose. The sages aggreed, an' soo they started stoodyin' Mystacism. Soomtime later, oor clansmen report findin' 25 gold worth o' useless trinkets in soome ruing onna hill noot too far from the capitol. (-1400 IC)

Painting of Dwarven clansmen about to inspect some mysterious ruins near Ankh-Morpork


And soo, things seem ta be goin' pretty good fer the dwarfs, boot the naggin' question remains; are we all aloone, or are there oother foolks out there like oos...

That question will be answered in the next chapter, mah friends....

Neat! I'm not familiar with warhammer, but I'm definitely liking this story.

Is the discworld stuff built into the mod, or are you making that up as you go along?

I don't know how this mod works, but it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Sima Qian said:

Neat! I'm not familiar with warhammer, but I'm definitely liking this story.

Is the discworld stuff built into the mod, or are you making that up as you go along?

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No, I'm making it up as I go... Discworld is my favorite novel series, so I felt I had to add at least some references.... Also I'm hoping to tap some of the humor potential (like the reference about C.M.O.T. Dibbler's infamous "Sausages inna Bun"). Also, don't be surprised to see some more Final Fantasy references and LoTR references in future installments.

I've never played in WH mod, but it's looking interesting.
Where can I read about this mod?

Nice going Hikaro! It looks great so far

Smart, go to the Civ3 C&C forums, into the Completed mods section = I`m to lazy to post a link

Nice story, looking for more.

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, Here I am stuck in the middle with you... -Stealer's Wheel.

One faine day, while oor miners were diggin' inta the silver lode in the hills ootside the city, a raggedy band of smaelly barbarians who called themselves "Doolguns", oor soomethin' like that, came wanderin' by. The Low King offered them an audience ta see if they had anythin' ta trade. They ooffer ta teach oos hae ta tame big animals if we'd shoow them hae ta dig mines and if we payed them 20 gold. The Low King aggreed, and we learned that there were Haerses in the plains between the mountain with the gems an' the mountain with the ruins on it. (Historians note: Dwarves make contact with a Dolgan Warrior in -1375 IC and trade Mining and 20 gold to the Dolgans for Domestication)

Results of the first diplomatic envoy to Dolga


Soon after, oor clansmen exploorin' the Noorthern coost faind soome more haerses and ancient ruins at the far NoorthEast o' oor continent. The Low King decided ta eventually plant a city right by the river there. (-1275 IC).

A depiction of the Dolgan warriors and Dwarven clansmen discovering horses and ruins to the NE of Ankh-Morpork


Not lang after that, Ankh-Morpork finishes oop gatherin' a group o' lads ta goo boold anoother city, right beside the river an' the woods with the high-quality lumber. (Note: in -1250 IC, Ankh-Morpork builds dwarven settler, which is sent to the site selected for the second city). The Settlers had barely left the city when anoother messenger coomes froom the clansmen, saying that they foond saeme ancient scrools in the ruins that told hae ta boold stuff ootta staene! (Historians note: Dwarves discover Stone Working from ruins in -1225IC).



A few years later, the settlin' party gets to the grassy spot besides the river, and boolds oor second city, Moria (named after a great dwarven stronghold of old). The new city immediately starts trainin' soome more clansmen ta help explore things a bit faster. (-1175)

Painting of Ankh-Morpork and the newly founded city of Moria


Some years later, oor sages coome before the Low King once again, reportin' that the work on Mysticism is finished, and we can boold shrines nae. The Low King give his thanks, an' tells them tae start workin' oon pottery... He wants ta eventually be able ta irrigate the surroondin' grasslands and plains. (Historians Note: Dwarves research Mystacism in -1100 IC; Player's Note: No, you CAN'T mine BG or regular grassland or plains in this mod...). At the same time, oor clansmen find a humble halfling village near a volcano that was surroonded by recent lava floows... Hoopefully, it won't eroopt again anytime soon.



Not lang after, oor clansmen find the laws Tak wrote in soome ruins oon the oother side o' the volcano. (Historians Note: Dwarves discover Chronicles in some ruins during the year -1000 IC). Not lang after that, Moria reports that it's finished trainin' soome clansmen, who are sent to make sure that noone else tries to snag oor third city site, with all the loovely gold, from oos. Moria then starts gatherin' some lads together ta form anoother minin' party. Meanwhile, oor first miner finished the rood ta the woods ootside Moria, and nae we goot a steady supply o' high quality lumber comin' in ta Ankh-Morpork (-975 IC, Dwarves get their first Strategic resource connected), an' the miners are sent to boold a road ta the third city site.

Aboot 100 years later (-875 IC), The clansmen ootta Ankh-Morpork who are exploorin' ta the SoothEast coome accross a peasant an' a settler belongin' ta a blood-suckin' vampire kingdom who calls itself Sylvania. Despite the fact that they aren't Black Ribboners, the Low King aggrees ta oopen diplomatic channels with them, and we teach them hae ta farm, and in exchange, they teach oos the code o' honor that their warriors follow (Note: -875 IC marks the date that some dwarven clansmen come accross a Sylvanian settler pair, and they trade Farming to the Sylvanians for Warrior Code).



The Low King was ecstatic, since we could nae train a better class o' Dwarven Warriors ta defend oor cities, an' once Moria finished organizin' the minin' crew, that's exactly what they start trainin' next. The miners are sent ta explore the ruins oon top o' the mountain, since they can use their pickaxes ta climb the steep cliffs (Note: only workers and flying units can cross mountains without roads in this mod). Shortly thereafter, we coome accross the smaelly Doolgan warriors, and we make anoother offer: We teach them hae to boold stuff ootta staene, an' they shoow oos hae to shoot things with a boow (In -825 IC, the Dwarves trade Stone Working to the Dolgans for Ballistics). Nae we can train Dwarf Archers. Soon after (-750 IC), Ankh-Morpork sends oot anoother settler crew to goo ta the third city site, boot instead o' trainin' soome archers like we were expectin', Low King Goetrek annoonces that we shoold boold a shrine in Ankh-Morpork ta keep the people happy... He had a grand plan ta make the oother countries take nootice o' the Dwarf Kingdom: Once the Shrine was finished and we goot a Dwarven Warrior ta guard the city, we'd begin workin' on Bugman's Brewery franchise, which would install a free brewery in every city we boold oon this continent, makin' all the dwarves nice and drunk happy. The miners finally reached the ruins oon the high peak and foond some treasure worth 50 gold. They was then told ta go back and start booldin' a rood tae the site picked for oor foorth city... Which was right in the plains beside the river and next ta the haerses we foond earlier.

In a great momemt o' oor history, we foond the city of Conde Petie oon the coast near the hills with the gold. Conde Petie immediately begins ta train a warior, an' the clansmen guardin' the spot are sent ta Ankh-Morpork ta keep the peace (a difficult proposition, Ah might add...). In the same year, oor sages research pottery, an' start researchin' smithing, in hoopes that we might have soome Airn nearby. (-675 IC). A few years later, we get word that the blood-suckin' vampires have started booldin' the Errantry War, an' a hundert years later, the Doolgans start the same thing (Historians Note: In -550 IC and -450 IC, respectively, the Sylvanians and Dolgans start building the Errantry War, a great wonder that produces veteran ground units and doubles combat strength vs barbarians). We joost shrug it ooff... We will soon, hoopefully have oor oown project oonderway...

After anoother 175 years of toil, the shrine o' Ankh-Morpork is finished, an' the city boolds a miner ta start minin' more o' the hills aroond the city in preparation fer Mr. Bugman ta start workin' oon his grand brewerey. In the same year (-275 IC) Moria sends oot a settler party to boold a city beside the haerses at oor foruth city spot. Oor clansmen also repor seein' a huge hole inna groond with the biggest rats he'd seen in his life.... they were even carryin' weapons and some tried ta attack him, but they lost. Unfortunately, due ta soome kind o' strange poisonous mineral in their flesh, they proved ta be completly inedible, much ta the dissapointment o' Mr. Dibbler, who was hopin' ta add "giant rat onna stick" ta his menu ooptions. (Historians note: Dwarven clansmen discover a Skaven Rathole near where they are planning to settle their fourth city, and one of the clansmen defeats a skaven clanrat).

Illustration of the first of many, many battles in what was known hence as the Skaven Wars


50 Years later, Erebor, oor foorth city is foonded, an' thanks ta the forethooght o' the Low King, we immediately had shipments o' haerses flowin' inta the capitol. Even though the beasts are too big fer oos ta ride, we figger that we could breed soome and trade them ta Sylvania or the Doolgans. (In -225 IC, the Dwarves found their fourth city, Erebor at the foot of a lonely mountain, and obtain a supply of Horses in the process). Erebor starts trainin' a squad o' sturdy Dwarven Warriors ta goo and barsh oop the giant rats. In Ankh-Morpork, our sages announce that we've finished researchin' Smithing, and they start stoodyin' irrigation (-150 IC). A seam o' Airn is dicovered not far from Moria, and that's where oor fifth city is goonna goo.

In the meantime, the giant rat wars are reaching a pitched creschendo.... 50 years after discoverin' Smithing, we send a clansman ta attack a rat-ogre spootted near where oor miner is booldin' a rood ta the gems. Oor clansman is killed, boot he puts the hurt oon the rat ogre, who makes the mistake o' glootin' o'er his recent victory... The last thing the giant rat hears is "Rally Hoooooo!!!!" as the miner joomps ooff the mountain and puts his pickaxe through the back o' the rat ogre's skull. The miner then gooes oon ta take oot the clanrat defendin' the rathole and finds a stash o' 25 gold inside. (Player's note: Yes, the dwarves DO have combat workers, which is one of the reasons I like them ) Of course, the last o' the rat-ogres kill the miners fer destroyin' their hole (Historians note: these events take place from -100 to -50 IC) In the meantime, Conde Petie build a settler, which is sent towards the moutains with the iron in them. Also, during this time, Ankh-Morpork sends oot another minin' squad and starts on Bugman's Brewery franchise, while the miners start minin' the hills surroundin' Ankh-Morpork.

To the far Sooth, oor clansmen explorers find the Dolgans livin' in a stinky jungle, with a smaelly swamp above it... Nae wonder their warriors smaelled soo bad. Also, the Sylvanians have a boonch o' swamp and floodplains in their territory as well... That explains hae they were able to spread oot so fast (Historians Note: at this point in time, the Sylvanians had 3 more cities than the dwarves, but that was soon to change). Ta the East, a clanrat is spooted near oor Airn, so we send the Dwarf warrior from Moria ta escort oor settler, and pay 40 gold to have the lads in Moria hurry up on trainin' the next batch o' warriors (Player's note: in this mod, all civs start with the only government they'll ever get in the game. The good humans, dwarves, wood elves and high elves start with monarchy.).

25 years later, several momentous events occurr: First o' all, Sigmar the Great is born, and this marks the first year o' the Imperial Calendar (1 IC). Secondly, Moria finishes trainin' their warriors, an' starts oon anoother settler. Finally, a travelling sage, named SSu-ma-yan drops by the Low King's palace and tells him that oos dwarves are the richest kingdom in the world....



However, this is the beginnin' o' a new era, and who knoows what dangers lie ahead... We'll see in the next chapter, Ah guess.

Very good! Although i found myself barracking for the Skaven for a moment there

Very enjoyable reading, and good luck with the rest of it!

Excellent story. The story is very interesting.

LizardmenRule! said:

Very good! Although i found myself barracking for the Skaven for a moment there

Very enjoyable reading, and good luck with the rest of it!

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Yeah, the thing is, I'm researching the other side of the tech tree from Military training (tech required for barracks).. You see, once I finish Bugmans, I plan to build a harbor, followed immediately (after I get seafaring) by the Suiddock. The Skaven have proven to be very problematic, not just to me, but to the Vampires as well.... As a matter of fact, I saw at least one settler pair get killed by a skaven Rat-ogre (BTW, I actually played enough in one setting to do three chapters, but I'm not posting the third one tonight... I'm going to catch up a bit on sleep, and get back to unit making, then I'll post chapter 3 tomorrow.... Let's just say that things could be going better... I'm behind in tech (mainly because I've been researching all the really expensive ones), not to mention that I've lost several more miners to skaven attacks (but they at least made the dirty rats pay for it)...

Here's how I rank according to demographics: Ankh-Morpork is the #2 city, the only thing I'm #1 in is Life expactancy... I'm # 2 in approval rating, goods produced, and productivity... I'm #3 in Population and Commerce... #4 in Land area and annual Imcome, # 5 in Family size and Disease (I have a couple of Flood plain tiles in my Southernmost cities), 9th in literacy (no libraries... yet), 10th in Military Service (I keep losing units to skaven ), and dead last in pollution (because one of my cities is near enough to the volcano to get some of the lava flows in its radius).

It looks like wating 1 turn to build my capitol beside the sea hurt me big-time at the beginning, but I'm hoping that once I build the Suiddock (which never expires and increases the shields and trade in all water tiles as well as allow the city that builds it to increase beyond 12 population), that things will start to work in my favor... Also, Once I've claimed all the free space on my continent, I'll start building up my military in case the Sylvanians or Dolgans try to demand stuff off of me.....

Edit: One thing that IS in my favor is that thanks to most of the grassland and plains being on my end of the continent, it appears that I've got all but 1 source of horses (that one being in Sylvania) locked down (which means no Marauder Horsemen or Horse Archers for the Dolgans).

The full details will be posted with the update, though.

Hey,

Wonderful story.

I have been trying to find a new story and this will be the one. Tried a few others but they have either finished or just lost with lack of posts.

You have a every unique writing style that suits this tale. Sure sometimes I have trouble following, like the post with a third city marked and you had 3 cities already. But the historian notes do help. Plus I could never get this MOD to run on my end, lost file every try. Thanks for explaining the rules about units it really helps.

Question Time.

1. What is a hobbit hole. A good hut?

2. You mentioned that the Dwarves were to small to use horses. Is this a MOD rule?


Blaze Injun

Blaze Injun said:

Hey,

Wonderful story.

I have been trying to find a new story and this will be the one. Tried a few others but they have either finished or just lost with lack of posts.

You have a every unique writing style that suits this tale. Sure sometimes I have trouble following, like the post with a third city marked and you had 3 cities already. But the historian notes do help. Plus I could never get this MOD to run on my end, lost file every try. Thanks for explaining the rules about units it really helps.

Question Time.

1. What is a hobbit hole. A good hut?

2. You mentioned that the Dwarves were to small to use horses. Is this a MOD rule?


Blaze Injun

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Halflings are a strategical resource that allows creation of Hafling units (Cheap, realatively weak archers that are available to all non-chaos/non-undead factions, and who treat all terrain as roads, making them good scouts) as well as a great wonder called the Moot, which requires halflings to be in the city radius, and increases trade in all trade producing tiles, as well as +1 happy face in the city that builds it.

And about the horses, the Dwarves do not have any fast units except for their Gyrocopters and airships, and they don't have any cavalry units at all, so horses are a completely useless resource if you play as the dwarves.... Of course, since every dwarven unit has attack values (except for thier settlers), and they all get at least +1 HP, that kind of makes up for it. One thing that kind of irks me is that the Dwarves don't get any kind of dragon unit, either (unlike every single other faction except possibly the Chaos Dwarves), but to make up for that they get an INCREDIBLY powerful unit called the Dragon Slayer... The dragon slayer has one of, if not THE most powerful attack values of any unit in the game, and on top of that, they get not 1 but TWO extra HP, making them a fearsome (but still slow) force to be reckoned with...

As it seems there's at least three people here who hasn't heard about the WH mod, I thought I'd post a link.

Remember Koom Valley!

Excellent read ... and historians notes are great ... I'm enjoying the struggle of the little people

Sigmar the Great ???

question ... if another were to start the game ... will the random events be changed or is the random seed active?

mrtn said:

As it seems there's at least three people here who hasn't heard about the WH mod, I thought I'd post a link.

Remember Koom Valley!

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Mrtn, I bet you couldn't take a wild guess at what one of the cities I built is named (I've played the game up until shortly after I get to the second age... I'll be posting updates tommorrow or the day after.... I've got a stack of screen shots to sort out and I've also got some unit making to do).... Let's just say that things have gotten a bit... Interesting....

Fe3333au: Sigmar the Great was the first champion of Light to defeat one of the great Chaos Lords (or something like that), and he was also founder of the Empire (a.k.a Riekland), and the Imperial Calendar (IC) marks the year of his birth as year 1....

As for the random events, no, they'll be different (that was part of the fun with the original WH challenge). Even if the Preserve random seed was flagged, it only does so for basically one turn... Two turns into the game, it will be completely different, so basically you'd have two almost comletely different stories that have a common origin and share the same world (almost like paralell universes, and working along the same basic principles, when you get down to the sticky quantum mechanics of the whole thing.....)

Remember Copperhead too.

Sigmar was later deified and is now one of the major (if not the biggest) gods of Reikland.

Great story, although I'm also not familiar with Warhammer.
BTW, is it just me or there are many people here that usually (or only) post in the C&C forum?

mrtn said:

Remember Copperhead too.

Sigmar was later deified and is now one of the major (if not the biggest) gods of Reikland.

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Oh, don't worry about that. You'll see once I get home from work and post my next update....

Mirc: It's not just you... You hardly ever see MRTN, Stormrage or myself outside the C&C forums, but the WH 2.2 mod IS their baby, and I've always liked fantasy (even though I know little of the WH universe), and ever since seeing Semulin's Wh 2.0 challenge and the four excellent, and often humorous, Orc Onslaught stories it spawned, I was itching for the chance to do my own (I couldn't until recently, though... My old internet connection wasn't good enough to download the 1.22 patch for Conquests, let alone the 600 MB file for the mod).

I am also planning on doing a story once my Final Fantasy mod goes public....

It ain`t my baby, but I like it anyway Heck, I adore it! Love your story too