By the Will of Osmuth [Chapter 1 of X]

At its core, Dwarf Fortress is a story generator. The following post is but one entry in a single thread of a substantially larger body of historical legend. For more stories, please see the Loremastery tab

To see the table of contents for this particular story, please click here

If you haven't ever generated a pocket world with a low amount of civs and a high amount of monsters, then I encourage you to do so. The cramped confines and increased variability cause all sorts of wacky shit to happen - century-long wars as survivors are picked apart by skeletal dragons, dwarven civs run by goblin vampires, elves being wiped from the map. That type of thing.

I generated a world just now and was surprised to see it enter the Golden Age with nearly 400 years more to go. I was even more surprised when it remained in a Golden Age for the entire generation. The world had 3 civs - dwarf, human and elf - and more monsters than it knew what to do with. How did they not tear each other apart?

The answer paints a pretty bleak picture for democracy.

First up, the humans

Worship List Beksur, deity: nature, happiness, revelry, dance Omsuth, deity: deformity, disease Kuppo, deity: jewels Paboz the Tenebrous Ruthlessness of Devils, deity: lies Len the Heathers of Quietness, deity: silence Therset, deity: marriage, lust, depravity Omba, deity: hunting Ash b Judgereins the Superior Messiah, deity: duty, order Master List [*] Ome (b.???, Reign Began: 5), *** Original Line, Never Married No Children

Yes, you're reading that right - for the first 5 years of its creation, the human civ was a collection of disjointed city states not ruled by any central figure. Then in the year 5, a mysterious-sounding "Ome" took reign and, despite bearing no children or taking a spouse, has ruled for five and a half centuries.

That's a long time

The answer as to what "Ome" is should be obvious, right? Well, if you guessed "enormous, skinless badger twisted into a human form. Beware its poisonous gas!", then jesus fuck, how did you do that??? 

You have to admire her audacity, topped only by the fact that her plan actually worked. After convincing people she was a god (note above, Omsuth is the god of disease and deformity, so it fits), she created the title of "Master" through threats and violence and promptly granted it to herself. The Wayward Realm has never known another leader.

And yet...and yet...it's working. The Wayward Realm has known nothing but endless, bountiful expansion and peace. They have never once been in a war or suffered any major losses, and they have cleared out its domain of its dragons and hydras. Its by far the largest kingdom, absolutely dominating all but a single coast of their world:

Their domain includes every area marked with a white diamond or a maroon/white symbol

Clearly Ome has been on an aggressive warpath to take over the world, right? Well if so, she's doing a poor job at it. Ome has absolutely no kills to her name - not a one - and has appointed no generals or standing army. Instead, she spends her time mandating constructions and granting lordship to those that contribute to society.

In her reign she has promoted nearly 120 lords, and has built 30 hamlets, 3 of which that were successful enough to be considered a city.

Her success is as complete as it is impressive, given that she's a monster-pretending-to-be-a-god dictator that is somehow steering her people toward peace and prosperity.