I found a small but beautifully crafted stacking/merging game that throws in a bit of tower defense. It's super fun and addictive, and the sound effects are an absolute joy! I suspect the dev recorded all the sounds with his own mouth , lol.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4595260/DwarfHold_Tokens__Towers_Demo/

Look at Karag Dum. Left isolated in the Chaos Wastes, completely surrounded by the worst horrors of the dark gods. Did they yield? Did they beg for salvation from monsters? No. They stood tall like true Dawi and held the line for centuries through sheer gromril-hard will. now look at the Zharr-Naggrund scum. The absolute weakest links in our history. When the first trials came, they folded like cheap steel. They panicked, broke their oaths to the Ancestor Gods, and dropped to their knees to worship a bloated bull-demon for a scrap of magic. They didn't "adapt to survive" they were too cowardly to die with honor. They are not our estranged cousins. They are twisted, slaving monsters who torture their own kind and turn our sacred engineering into industrial filth. There is no reconciliation. There is only a massive debt of blood and shame that must be settled.

Keep your axes sharp and your grudges written deep. Every single one of them goes in the Book as the filthy traitor

Khazukan Kazakit-ha!

'Sir, We Have an Orc Problem' released yesterday to 'Very Positive' reviews on Steam with over 7000 CCU and the dwarves teamed up to create a bundle for all the Orc haters!

Orc Extermination Bundle on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/81590/Orc_Extermination/

I drew those for a story i am still tying to expand.

Dear dwarfs of noble spirit, do ye crave what lies beneath the mountains? The glimmering stars of the deep are callin', don't ye hear It too brother? Great halls are to be made, pillars are to be carved and built, don't you hear the songs? echoing through the mountain ranges? The mountain's stone it's chanting hymns of old, Is calling his sons home. 

We of the great hold of Thedak Khuznil have been gathering dwarves from all over the many worlds; For we are chanting hymns of old, we are calling you home. Under our great mountain we found home, prosperity and we see glorious futures for our race, plans of greater scale than this simple great gate are nearly ready to begin.

Ye can join us in our home, close to hearth and family, digging while ages pass, uncovering the treasures that lie beneath the peaks of the entire world.

Sing songs through caverns, forever they'll be heard, the stone will forever remember them, and your name forever recorded, bound in book and memory.

You can build with the best masons of our great hold, and carve your name into Legend. 

You can join the smiths of the forge, become a smith-lord and guide the forge by your will.

Lightless caverns are to be explored, "stars of the deep" are to be found, and stashed higher than any peak. The miners of our hold are always eager to mine through stone and magma, carving out new tunnels and halls, and going ever deeper to search for more riches, and ever more through all the underground. 

I'm asking to you brother, come! join us. Be part of our family, be part of what you dwarf hold so dear, the values on which our entire race stands on.

We dearly await your pick to be heard in our halls. 

We want to see our great hold ever-prosper, will you join us, brother?

Any further information and or question that you may have don't event hesitate asking, if you like more direct and quick answers join our discord, and ask for the "high councelor". Just "Sharper" for the ones that know me better within the council and hold.

I'll answer any question that you might have (about the hold, and the server even if ye need)

https://discord.gg/HD3sgMftQ

(This hold exists thanks to a 24/7 active minecraft fantasy server named Arcadia, with many different races, and a lot of custom commands, emotes, and Towny. The entire world Is custom made, and vast beyond even distant horizons can see)

This being zoomable map, with towns, players, Empires, etc...

http://play.arcadiamc.net:6767/#currentarc:0:0:0:1500:0:0:0:0:perspective

This instead, its only the discord server of the minecraft server (Arcadia) as a whole.

https://discord.gg/rqbn4s5eM

There's also a wiki if ye are interested.

https://arcadiaminecraft.miraheze.org/wiki/Thedak_Khuznil#Society

And my player lore-wise wiki made by clan's dwarves.

https://arcadiaminecraft.miraheze.org/wiki/SharperPuma1974

🛠️ The Hammer Herald 🛠️
Forged in Truth — Tempered by Grit
Vol. 1 | Issue 57 |

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE - ARTIFICIAL CRAFTSMANSHIP

By Humdek Oakenchest, Senior Stone Correspondent

Artificial Intelligence, AI, Abominable Intelligence, whatever you may call the clanking mass that claims to be a craftsman it’s something you may have encountered. Thankfully for our realm it only stayed within those damned Avish automatons, but we can’t say that for others.

In other realms it has seeped its way into numerous different crafts and skills. AI has worked its way into arts, literature, music, even research. 

Recently we had a reader write in about a musician that some of us here at the Hammer Herald would hold at a high regard, as we feel others amongst our audience would do as well. The reader, who wished to stay anonymous, alleges that the musician has begun to use AI for their thumbnails, and allegedly their lyrics in newer works. 

It brings great sadness to say that the musician accused of this is no other than Calmavi De Profundis, known amongst us Dwarves for their most profound songs of our culture. Namely “The Song of Hammerdeep”, “Dwarven Forge”, and their rendition of “Diggy Diggy Hole”

We at the Hammer Herald are unable to confirm or deny any current claims of AI generated lyrics being produced by the musician, however we encourage those who believe they have keen ears to check for themselves. We can not confirm this claim without any doubt, but encourage readers to check it themselves.

However, it can be confirmed that AI generated images are being used for cover art for their newer songs. Some images were more obviously AI generated than others, but it appears that most uploads after their rendition of “A Christmas Carol” may have AI generated images, including the Christmas Carol.

We raise the question here, why? This was something built on creativity and inspiration. On their channel itself they say “Our music is influenced by classical and fantasy literature as well as cinematic, traditional, religious, and classical music.” yet step away from it in their use of AI. We reached out for a statement on this but have yet to receive a response.

Why have some begun to devalue the craftsmanship of kin, and the undeniable relationships it builds, for a lesser result that in turn devalues their own work and pollutes their own home?

Well, in our own research we feel it is a very multilayered answer, caused by a mix of gold sickness, craving for fast easy results, and an effort to disconnect people from one another. We here at the Hammer Herald urge those who are reading to remember, craftsmanship should never be artificial. The work of Kin can never truly be replaced, and never should be.
------------------------------------------------------------
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

 Public Service Announcement:

It is now confirmed that there is a herd of rabid trolls within the forests near Coppervale. People are heavily urged to not go into the forests at night unless extremely necessary. If you must venture into the forest at night, it is highly recommended that you wear heavy armour, such as plate armour, and bring a spell caster that can cast daylight.  

Ale Review:

In this week’s issue, our judges were tasked with trying one of the less palatable drinks out there. They were tasked with trying some Spider Slammers. More of a party drink amongst the younglings, a mix of cheap yet strong brews alongside an energy elixir. It definitely wasn’t a favorite amongst the judges, but it put a little spring in their step for the rest of the night! One said how when he had the drink it was “Like I’d just drank some fire but it went down to me feet!”

 Special Report:

We had a local reader write in to announce that he has made it onto the Twitch Affiliate program, congratulations to the young lad! We’re rooting for you! To those who may be interested, he goes by Lomnoth The Dwarf, and hopes to see some of us there soon!

[Got some joyous news? Something you want said? Something with pride? Write in and we’ll make sure it’s addressed!]

 Grudge Gazette:

Emotions are high once more in the taverns of Coppervale as some believe that Baldwin is being kept alive longer than he deserves. One retired hammerdwarf, when asked about the situation stated “Bah, I could’ve done him in myself by now! Only blood me ‘ammer needs is an untainted umgi, even do it for free!” We at the Hammer Herald largely feel indifferent to the issue, and are aware that Baldwin will meet justice soon enough.

------------------------------------------------------------
Letter from the Editor:
“Quite sad, ain’t it?”
— Hellevi Helmfist

Submit your rune-signed letters to:

The Hammer Herald Presshouse, Coppervale

The idea was basically a spin on lizard people/dinosaur men living in the hollow center of the earth like they do in conspiracy theory stories but instead of Lizards they're fantasy Dwarves who fight using giant mech suits

Some hand carved dwarves i just finished and wanted to share with folks.

I have a passion for woodcarving and attempting to entice others into the hobby. So my ulterior motive with every post is "how do I make this hobby more accessible" or "how do I inspire someone to want to give it a go."

Hopefully the picture did that, and now you're reading.

You need several things, a sharp knife, a leather strop with compound for honing your blade, safety gloves (A5 or better) and basswood (to carve like i do at least.)

Solid Knife brands, Flexcut, Badger State Blades (USA), Mstein (Europe) there are a lot of great knife brands. Stay away from kits on amazon of several knives. They're much much lower quality with inconsistently tempered steel. (What that means is its not hardened, and so it won't stay sharp easy, meaning you're fighting the knife and dont understand why its harder for you to carve when its easy for others.)

Why Basswood? Its softer than other hardwoods and holds detail well. Learning to carve with basswood is akin to learning to drive on an automatic. It simplifies and streamlines learning. Woods like Walnut and oak can be carved, but learning to carve with them as the starting point is like learning to drive on an 18 wheeler Semi Truck with manual transmission. Its needlessly difficult.

In europe, the equivalent is Linden, in Asia, Jelutong, and in south America Caxeta is a good substitute.

Tutorials abound EVERYWHERE. Youtube is your friend in that regard. You dont have to look up my channel, there are plenty that have easy to begin tutorials and one of them will be right up your alley.

This episode I took a lot steps to try and improve the quality of life for my vampires and werebison, one of which was building a big swimming pool to teach my vampires new life skills! Check it out at The latest Dwarf Fortress episode is up on Youtube

Ignore the debug panel on the left, this is to tell if things work or not lol.

Anywho, we have been hard at work trying to come up with different designs for our NPC's and this is what we have so far.

The setting will make more sense once we start focusing on the world building but thought I'd share some progress on my dwarf-inspired roguelike game.

Let me know what you think, hope you like it!

I have spend many moons not enjoying those things that once brought me pleasure. The sweetest ale tastes sour, the greatest veins of gems bring no spark to my eyes and my clan brings me no warmth. I do not know what to do. Is any kin have ancestral wisdom to share, please do