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Position token

2026-04-03T14:13:03Z

Silverwing235:

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{av}}
{{Modding}}
Position tokens define [[noble]] positions for civilizations and site governments, inside [[entity token]]s. In the vanilla game, position token definitions can be found in <code>[[Game folder|<Dwarf Fortress>]]\data\vanilla\vanilla_entities\objects\entity_default.txt</code>.

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==Code==
A position is defined with a position 'code', as an argument in the [POSITION]-tag. The same code may be used multiple times, they don't have to be unique. This code is used as reference by APPOINTED_BY, SUCCESSION:BY_POSITION, REPLACE_BY and COMMANDER. 'MONARCH' is an example of this code.

==Position tokens==
These tokens belong in an entity definition, applying to a position (such as monarch) and should follow the [POSITION:POSITION_NAME] token.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Arguments
! Description

|-
| {{text anchor|ACCOUNT_EXEMPT}}
|
| The position holder is not subjected to the [[Dwarven economy|economy]]. Less than relevant right now.

|-
| {{text anchor|ALLOWED_CLASS}}
| {{token|CREATURE_CLASS|creature}} token
| rowspan=2 | ALLOWED_CLASS: Only creatures with the specified [CREATURE_CLASS] token may be appointed to this position. Multiple entries are allowed. ALLOWED_CREATURE: Restricts the position to the specified creature and caste. Multiple entries are allowed. These tokens only apply within the entity’s own race (including its castes).
In world generation, they limit which units may be assigned to the position, but they do not prevent other creature types from acquiring the position through alternative means (for example, via a coup).
In fortress mode, these tokens are enforced during manual appointment and succession.
During world generation, if all allowed castes have a POP_RATIO of 0, a unit of an allowed caste will still be generated to fill the position.

|-
| {{text anchor|ALLOWED_CREATURE}}
| CREATURE:CASTE

|-
| {{text anchor|APPOINTED_BY}}
| position
| This position can only be chosen for the task from the nobles screen, and is available only if there is an *argument* present. For example, the GENERAL is [APPOINTED_BY:MONARCH]. Contrast [ELECTED]. Being appointed by a MONARCH seems to handle a lot of worldgen stuff, and interferes with fort mode titles. Multiple entries are allowed. If you have neither an ELECTED-token nor a APPOINTED_BY-token, the holder may always be changed (like the expedition leader).
''Read more: [[Advanced_Entity_Position_Mechanics#Appointment]]''

|-
| {{text anchor|BRAG_ON_KILL}}
|
| A creature that kills a member of this position will be sure to talk/brag about it a lot.

|-
| {{text anchor|CHAT_WORTHY}}
|
| In adventure mode, when referencing locations, an NPC may mention this position holder living there or having done some deed there; it also means that the position exists in world-gen, rather than being created only at the end of world-gen.

|-
| {{text anchor|COLOR}}
| [[Color]]
| Creatures of this position will have this [[color]], instead of their profession color, e.g. [COLOR:5:0:1]. It is also applied to the name of the citizen in the units screen.

|-
| {{text anchor|COMMANDER}}
| position:ALL
| This position will act as a commander of the specified position{{verify}}. E.g. GENERAL is [COMMANDER:LIEUTENANT:ALL]. Unknown if values other than ALL work. Multiple entries are allowed.
''Read more: [[Army]]''

|-
| {{text anchor|CONQUERED_SITE}}
|
| This position is a puppet ruler, left behind at a conquered site.

|-
| {{text anchor|DEMAND_MAX}}
| number (0-100)
| How many demands the position can make of the population at one time.

|-
| {{text anchor|DESCRIPTION}}
| string. Readable up to 470 characters in the nobles' screen.
| description of this position in the nobles screen.

|-
| {{text anchor|DETERMINES_COIN_DESIGN}}
|
| The site's (or civ's) minted [[coin]]s, if any, will have images that reflect the personality of this position holder.

|-
| {{text anchor|DO_NOT_CULL}}
|
| The position won't be culled from Legends as "unimportant" during world generation.

|-
| {{text anchor|DUTY_BOUND}}
|
| Members of this position will never agree to 'join' your character during adventure mode. They also don't settle anywhere else but in the capital, and will not [[immigration|emigrate]] from their site. If they are not DUTY_BOUND, they will live anywhere as they like.

|-
| {{text anchor|ELECTED}}
|
| The population will periodically select the most skill-eligible creature to fill this position for site-level positions at the player's fort. For responsibilities or positions that use more than one skill, no skill takes priority in electing a creature: an accomplished comedian is more qualified for the TRADE responsibility than a skilled appraiser. A creature may be elected to multiple positions at the same time. Contrast [APPOINTED_BY].
''More info: [[Elections]]''
''Read more: [[Advanced_Entity_Position_Mechanics#Elections]]''

|-
| {{text anchor|EXECUTION_SKILL}}
| weapon skill
| A mandatory sub-tag of [RESPONSIBILITY:EXECUTIONS]. Determines the weapon chosen by the executioner for their work.

|-
| {{text anchor|EXPORTED_IN_LEGENDS}}
|
| The various members who have filled this role will be listed in the civilisation's history.

|-
| {{text anchor|FLASHES}}
|
| The creature holding this position will visibly flash, like legendary citizens. Represents a properly noble station by default.

|-
| {{text anchor|GENDER}}
| male/female
| The position can only be held by the specified gender. Currently bugged {{bug|2714}}

|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_QUEST}}
|
| The position can assign quests to adventurers.

|-
| {{text anchor|LAND_HOLDER}}
| importance tier (1-10)
| This is an alternative to SITE, allowing positions to be created at civ-level 'as needed' for all sites that meet the requirements to have them, which are the values set in [[Difficulty#Land_holder|land holder difficulty]] [[settings]]. The character is tied permanently to a particular site, but also operates at the civ-level.
''Read more: [[Advanced_Entity_Position_Mechanics#land holders]]''

|-
| {{text anchor|LAND_NAME}}
| string. Readable up to 21 characters in the nobles' screen.
| The name the area takes on when under the control of a LAND_HOLDER. E.g. for the DUKE, [LAND_NAME:a duchy]. If the position is not a [[LAND_HOLDER]], the land_name is still displayed left of the position in the nobles menu.

|-
| {{text anchor|MANDATE_MAX}}
| number (0-100)
| The maximum number of mandates the position can make at once.

|-
| {{text anchor|MENIAL_WORK_EXEMPTION}}
|
| The position holder cannot be assigned labors. It only works for [SITE]-positions.

|-
| {{text anchor|MENIAL_WORK_EXEMPTION_SPOUSE}}
|
| The spouse of the position holder doesn't have to work, either - see above.
|-
| {{text anchor|MILITARY_SCREEN_ONLY}}
|
| This position cannot be appointed from the nobles screen. Intended for militia captains and other squad leaders to reduce clutter. Currently nonfunctional{{bug|8965}}

|-
| {{text anchor|NAME}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 21 characters in the nobles' screen and up to 30 in the unit list.
| The name of the position.

|-
| {{text anchor|NAME_MALE}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 21 characters in the nobles' screen and up to 30 in the unit list.
| If the creature holding the position is male, this is the position's name. E.g. for MONARCH, [NAME_MALE:king:kings]

|-
| {{text anchor|NAME_FEMALE}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 21 characters in the nobles' screen and up to 30 in the unit list.
| If the creature holding the position is female, this is the position's name. E.g. for MONARCH, [NAME_FEMALE:queen:queens]

|-
| {{text anchor|NUMBER}}
|
* number/AS_NEEDED
| How many of the position there should be. If the [SITE] token exists, this is per site, otherwise this is per civilisation. AS_NEEDED applies mainly to positions involved with the military command chain; this is used to allow armies to expand to whatever size they need to be. Other non-military positions like the land_holders or the [[messenger]] with NUMBER:AS_NEEDED will also be appointed.
The problem with [[Lieutenant]]s and [[Captain]]s not being created, is their AS_NEEDED number. They are only then created when they're needed, and that has some pretty unusual conditions. When a fixed number is used, they are appointed with the creation of the civ.
If the NUMBER is set at a fixed value higher than 1, the position is always filled up full. If the position is available on embark, it is completely filled up with only the first dwarf.

|-
| {{text anchor|PRECEDENCE}}
| number (0-30000)/NONE
| How important the position is in society; a lower number is more important and displayed higher in the Nobles menu. For MONARCH it's 1, for MILITIA_CAPTAIN it's 200.

The game marks the first non-[SITE] position with [PRECEDENCE:1] as the ruler, for both embark screen and mountainhome purposes. When it is empty, [REPLACED_BY] another position, or not yet created because of [REQUIRES_POPULATION], the screen just says 'None' as the holders' name.

Landholders can become the ruler, if they are the first defined position with precedence of 1. civ-position can also be created without precedence. Positions may have the same precedence and will be appointed, although the effect is unknown. Precedence has no effect on who's doing the job, if both positions have the same responsibilities.

|-
| {{text anchor|PUNISHMENT_EXEMPTION}}
|
| The position holder will not be held accountable for his or her crimes. Currently nonfunctional.{{bug|4589}}{{verify|seems to prevent punishment when they are convicted of actual crime}}

|-
| {{text anchor|QUEST_GIVER}}
|
| The position holder can give quests in Adventure mode. Functionality in 0.31.13 and later is uncertain.

|-
| {{text anchor|REJECTED_CLASS}}
| CREATURE_CLASS Token
| Creatures of the specified class cannot be appointed to this position. Multiple entries are allowed

|-
| {{text anchor|REJECTED_CREATURE}}
| CREATURE:CASTE
| Restricts position holders by CREATURE type. Multiple entries are allowed. It doesn't seem to work in world-gen. When checking Legends mode, units are seen assigned this position regardless of their creature-type or caste. It does work in Fortress mode.

|-
| {{text anchor|REPLACED_BY}}
| position
| This position is absorbed by another down the line. For example, expedition leader is [REPLACED_BY:MAYOR]. Only a single entry is allowed.

It can work with both [REQUIRES_POPULATION] and [REQUIRES_MARKET].

The tag differs in function for landholders, see [[Advanced_entity_position_mechanics]]

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_BEDROOM}}
| number (0-1000000)
| The position holder requires a bedroom with at least this value.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_BOXES}}
| number (0-100)
| The position holder requires at least this many boxes.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_CABINETS}}
| number (0-100)
| The position holder requires at least this many cabinets.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_DINING}}
| number (0-1000000)
| The position holder requires a dining room with at least this value.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_OFFICE}}
| number (0-1000000)
| The position holder requires an office with at least this value.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_RACKS}}
| number (0-100)
| The position holder requires at least this many weapon racks.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_STANDS}}
| number (0-100)
| The position holder requires at least this many armour stands.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_TOMB}}
| number (0-1000000)
| The position holder requires a tomb with at least this value.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRES_MARKET}}
|
| Does not have anything directly to do with [[trade depot|trade depots]]. It means that in minor sites (such as hillocks) the position will not appear, while in major sites (such as dwarf fortresses) it will. Depending on its economical position in the region, a [[hamlet]] may build a market and develop into a [[Town]] eventually. That is when this position becomes available. It only works in combination with the [SITE]-token.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRES_POPULATION}}
| number
| The position requires the population to be at least this number before it becomes available, or before the position holder will move in.

|-
| {{text anchor|RESPONSIBILITY}}
| responsibility
| The position holder does something - see the Responsibilities table below for suitable arguments. A position does not need to have a responsibility.

|-
| {{text anchor|RULES_FROM_LOCATION}}
|
| If there is a special location set aside for rulers, such as a human castle/mead hall, the position holder will always be found at that particular location. Does nothing for dwarven nobles, because at present, dwarves have no such special locations.

|-
| {{text anchor|SITE}}
|
| Every site government will have the defined number of this position instead of the whole civilization; provided that other criteria (if any) are met. Unless LAND_HOLDER is present instead, the defined number of the position will be created only for the civilization as a whole.

|-
| {{text anchor|SLEEP_PRETENSION}}
|
| The position holder will get upset if someone with a higher PRECEDENCE holds quarters with a greater value than their own.

|-
| {{text anchor|SPECIAL_BURIAL}}
|
| The civilization will inter the corpse of the position holder in a special grave, either in catacombs or in monuments. If that grave is disturbed, the position holder can return as a [[mummy]]. {{verify}}

|-
| {{text anchor|SPOUSE}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 30 characters in the unit list.
| The name of the position holder's spouse.

|-
| {{text anchor|SPOUSE_FEMALE}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 30 characters in the unit list.
| If the spouse of the creature holding the position is female, this is the spouse's position name.

|-
| {{text anchor|SPOUSE_MALE}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 30 characters in the unit list.
| If the spouse of the creature holding the position is male, this is the spouse's position name.

|-
| {{text anchor|SQUAD}}
| number:singular:plural
| The position holder is authorized to form a military squad, led by themselves using the [[leader]] and [[military tactics]] skills. The number denotes the maximum headcount. The noun used to describe the subordinates (e.g. royal guard) is used in adventure mode for the adventurer. This token is used together with [RESPONSIBILITY:LAW_ENFORCEMENT] for giving [[quest]]s to adventurers as [[Hearthperson|hearthpeople]]. Further details: [[Advanced_entity_position_mechanics#Military]]

|-
| {{text anchor|SUCCESSION}}
|
* BY_HEIR / BY_POSITION:position
| How a new position holder is chosen. A single position can have multiple BY_POSITION tokens. See [[Noble]] for more information on how succession is handled in the game.
The SUCCESSION-Tag is also considered when a new positions opens up, for example when a required population number is reached. If a valid successor is available, they will be the one taking that position initially, without appointment or election.

|}

== Responsibilities ==
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Argument
! Description

|-
| {{text anchor|ACCOUNTING}}
| Found on [[bookkeeper]]. The position will use the [[record keeper]] skill to keep track of stocks.

|-
| {{text anchor|ADVISE_LEADERS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|ATTACK_ENEMIES}}
| Found on elven [[ranger captain]] and human warrior. Effect unknown.{{verify}}

|-
| {{text anchor|BUILD_MORALE}}
| Found on [[champion]]. Citizens get a special thought for "talking to a pillar of society" when speaking to this noble.

|-
| {{text anchor|BUILDING_SAFETY}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|COLLECT_TAXES}}
| Currently unused - was originally assigned to the tax collector.

|-
| {{text anchor|CONSTRUCTION_PERMITS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|DELIVER_MESSAGES}}
| Found on [[messenger]]. The position travels to other sites and uses [[social skill]]s.
|

|-
| {{text anchor|EQUIPMENT_MANIFESTS}}
| Currently unused - was originally assigned to the arsenal dwarf.

|-
| {{text anchor|ESCORT_TAX_COLLECTOR}}
| Currently unused - was originally assigned to the Royal Guards (squad members beneath the Hammerer).

|-
| {{text anchor|ESPIONAGE}}
| Found on [[dungeon master]] and the [[Elf|elven]] [[General|princess]] and uses the [[schemer]] skill.

|-
| {{text anchor|ESTABLISH_COLONY_TRADE_AGREEMENTS}}
| Found on [[outpost liaison]]. Position travels with the caravan and uses [[social skill]]s to make trade agreements with any settlements that it visits, provided they are domestic, report the news and promote {{token|LAND_HOLDER|e}} positions. Also reports recent news. Presumably has no effect at site level. Crucially, it does not visit foreign settlements, but the civ-level TRADE position does the exact same thing in its position. They arrive the same time as the caravan arrives, and this can thus be modded by setting {{token|ACTIVE_SEASON|e}}

|-
| {{text anchor|EXECUTIONS}}
| Found on [[hammerer]]. Position executes death penalty judgements with a weapon of the appropriate skill. Cannot be combined with LAW_ENFORCEMENT, resulting in the "Invalid Officer"-error.

|-
| {{text anchor|FIRE_SAFETY}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|FOOD_SUPPLY}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|HEALTH_MANAGEMENT}}
| Found on [[chief medical dwarf]]. Position will use [[diagnostician]] skill to evaluate [[wounds]] and schedule [[Health care|treatment]], reported in each citizen's Health tab.

|-
| {{text anchor|JUDGE}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|LAW_ENFORCEMENT}}
| Found on [[sheriff]]/[[captain of the guard]]. Position and its subordinates are in charge of punishing criminals. A {{token|SITE|position}} position holding this responsibility plus the {{token|SQUAD|position}} token (or allowing the entity to have a {{token|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|e}} with this responsibility) is required for an adventurer from a given civilization to start as a [[hearthperson]], [[Captain of the guard|fortress guard]], etc. Cannot be combined with EXECUTIONS, resulting in the "Invalid Officer"-error.

|-
| {{text anchor|LAW_MAKING}}
| Found on [[monarch]]s and [[:Category:Aristocrats|nobles]]. Will be referred to as the leader of the site in adventure mode and they may designate the site as being the capital city for civ-level positions. This position is in charge of creating procedural positions, corresponding to either {{token|VARIABLE_POSITIONS|e}} or {{token|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|e}}. Position-holders that have attained [[immortality]] may issue oppressive edicts to protect themselves against suspicion.

|-
| {{text anchor|MAINTAIN_BRIDGES}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MAINTAIN_ROADS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MAINTAIN_SEWERS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MAINTAIN_TUNNELS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_INTRODUCTIONS}}
| Position will make a 'social call' to an established foreign settlement, complimenting or insulting them depending on relations and reporting the news.

|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_PEACE_AGREEMENTS}}
| Found on diplomat. Position negotiates peace treaties in order to end wars.

|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_TOPIC_AGREEMENTS}}
| Found on [[diplomat]]. Position negotiates special agreements, such as tree cutting quotas. Used when elevating a settlement in the {{token|LAND_HOLDER|position}} chain up from level 1.

|-
| {{text anchor|MANAGE_ANIMALS}}
| Found on [[dungeon master]].

|-
| {{text anchor|MANAGE_LEADER_HOUSEHOLD_CLEANLINESS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MANAGE_LEADER_HOUSEHOLD_DRINKS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MANAGE_LEADER_HOUSEHOLD_FOOD}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MANAGE_PRODUCTION}}
| Found on [[manager]]. Position enables the use of workshop profiles and uses the [[organizer]] skill to process work orders entered in the job manager after the fortress population reaches 20.

|-
| {{text anchor|MEET_WORKERS}}
| Found on [[expedition leader]]/[[mayor]]. Position uses the various [[social skill]]s to hold meetings with unhappy citizens and try to pacify them with happy thoughts. In adventure mode, [SITE] positions with this responsibility handle petitions to make the player a performer for the local government.

|-
| {{text anchor|MILITARY_GOALS}}
| Found on [[monarch]]/[[:Category:Aristocrats|landholder]]/[[:Category:Elected Nobles|leaders]]. Character is in charge of going to war and making peace for the government they work for. Without a position with this responsibility at civ level the civilization will not be able to make peace and its sites will wage war on each other constantly, and as a result, all viable civilizations must have one leader with this tag at civ level. This appears not to be a problem for [[kobold]]s, presumably due to the {{token|SKULKING|e}}. If no position has this responsibility in fortress mode, players are unable to start [[missions]].

|-
| {{text anchor|MILITARY_STRATEGY}}
| Found on [[general]]/[[militia commander]]. Means that they will command the armies of their site or civilization. Issues the orders for the teams conducting raids or other operations away from the fortress. During worldgen, positions (of a civilization) will go on expeditions to tame exotic creatures (but this only yields a pet, not any training knowledge, and only of a race for which the civilization has already some training knowledge). Counterintuitively not by the TAME_EXOTICS-position. The destinations of these expeditions are determined by the entities USE_(...)_ANIMALS-tokens.

|-
| {{text anchor|OVERSEE_LEADER_HOUSEHOLD}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|PATROL_TERRITORY}}
| Found on elven ranger captain. Effect unknown.{{verify}}

|-
| {{text anchor|PREPARE_LEADER_MEALS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|RECEIVE_DIPLOMATS}}
| Found on [[monarch]]/[[:Category:Aristocrats|landholder]]/[[:Category:Elected Nobles|leaders]]. Position uses the various social skills to hold meetings with incoming diplomats and liaisons.

|-
| {{text anchor|RELIGION}}
| Found on elven [[druid]] and uses [[social skill]]s. Position informs you about worship cults{{verify}}

|-
| {{text anchor|SORT_AMMUNITION}}
| Currently unused - was originally assigned to the arsenal dwarf.

|-
| {{text anchor|TAME_EXOTICS}}
| Position will tame animals with the {{token|PET_EXOTIC}} token. Currently unused - was originally assigned to the dungeon master. Expeditions to tame exotic creatures will be done by the MILITARY_STRATEGY-position

|-
| {{text anchor|TRADE}}
| Found on [[broker]]. Position will use Appraisal skill to display value estimates and the various Social skills to trade at the depot. When applied to other civilizations, this position will arrive with the caravan to make trade agreements (like the Human Guild Representative from older versions) and behaves otherwise like the civ's own ESTABLISH_COLONY_TRADE_AGREEMENTS position holder. They arrive the same time as the caravan arrive and this can thus be modded by setting {{token|ACTIVE_SEASON|e}}

|-
| {{text anchor|UPGRADE_SQUAD_EQUIPMENT}}
| Currently unused - was originally assigned to the arsenal dwarf.

|}

== Related tokens ==
The following two entity tokens are not actually position tokens, but bear mentioning on this page because they can modify the way that a civilization's positions behave:

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Arguments
! Description

|-
| {{token|VARIABLE_POSITIONS|entity}}
| Position responsibility or ALL
| Allows a responsibility to be taken up by a dynamically generated position (such as Law-maker).

|-
| {{token|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|entity}}
| Position responsibility or ALL
| Allows a responsibility to be taken up by a dynamically generated position (such as Law-maker).
|}

== Why won't my positions appear? ==
The way DF determines what positions will actually ''appear'' in your fortress is somewhat counter-intuitive and fairly limiting. This guide should help you understand what you can do to actually get your positions working properly.

There are five tokens governing which positions appear in your fortress - LAND_HOLDER, REQUIRES_POPULATION, APPOINTED_BY, ELECTED, and REPLACED_BY. The first two determine when your fortress is eligible for a new position, the next two determine how a new position for which your fortress is eligible can be added, and the fifth allows you to clear up obsolete positions. Unfortunately, they also interact in some strange ways that makes creating interesting position structures difficult.

When you start a new fortress, DF compiles a list of your initial positions. To do this, it looks at the requirements for each position - any position whose only requirement is less than seven dwarves (either because they have no requirement tokens, or because their only requirement tokens are [REQUIRES_POPULATION: =< 7] or [LAND_HOLDER:some trigger whose only requirement is some number of dwarves equal to or less than 7]). Most importantly, ''any'' position whose only requirement is a LAND_HOLDER requirement, regardless of what the trigger for that requirement is, will be added if another eligible starting position is REPLACED_BY it. '''A non-LAND_HOLDER position that is REPLACED_BY a LAND_HOLDER position will never appear.''' With this list compiled, the game culls all positions that are REPLACED_BY another eligible position, and then culls all positions that have the APPOINTED_BY token. '''You may not embark with any appointed positions.''' Any remaining positions are then filled by a dwarf chosen at random.

'''Positions do not automatically appear when you reach their requirements.''' For example, if you remove the ELECTED token from the Mayor, then the Mayor will never appear, even once you reach their required number of dwarves. '''For a position that does not appear at embark to appear in your fortress, it must be APPOINTED_BY another position or ELECTED.'''

Naturally, this is more complicated than it looks. '''APPOINTED_BY positions must be appointed by another position already in your fortress, or a civ-level position. Only LAND_HOLDER positions may be appointed by civ-level positions.''' LAND_HOLDER positions that are APPOINTED_BY civ-level positions are inherently tied to civ-level tokens with the ESTABLISH_COLONY_TRADE_AGREEMENTS responsibility. If a fortress meets the LAND_HOLDER_TRIGGER for a new LAND_HOLDER tier when a caravan leaves, then the next time the outpost liaison or equivalent arrives, they will offer to make you an official colony, which will allow you to select all positions for that LAND_HOLDER level. '''Each time they appear, the outpost liaison will only promote your fortress one tier up the LAND_HOLDER track.''' The biggest problem with this system is that you may set your LAND_HOLDER_TRIGGERS such that you are eligible for the first tier of LAND_HOLDER positions at embark. '''If you are eligible for the first tier of LAND_HOLDER positions at embark, then all first-tier positions will appear twice - once at embark, and again when the outpost liaison comes to appoint you to the first tier.'''

If civ-positions are neither APPOINTED_BY nor ELECTED, they still will be filled.

Read more: [[Advanced Entity Position Mechanics]]

{{Category|Modding}}
{{Category|Tokens}}
[[ru:Position token]]

Position token

2026-04-03T14:07:53Z

Silverwing235: /* Position tokens */

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{av}}
{{Modding}}
Position tokens define [[noble]] positions for civilizations and site governments, inside [[entity token]]s. In the vanilla game, position token definitions can be found in <code>[[Game folder|<Dwarf Fortress>]]\data\vanilla\vanilla_entities\objects\entity_default.txt</code>.

__TOC__
{{clear}}

==Code==
A position is defined with a position 'code', as an argument in the [POSITION]-tag. The same code may be used multiple times, they don't have to be unique. This code is used as reference by APPOINTED_BY, SUCCESSION:BY_POSITION, REPLACE_BY and COMMANDER. 'MONARCH' is an example of this code.

==Position tokens==
These tokens belong in an entity definition, applying to a position (such as monarch) and should follow the [POSITION:POSITION_NAME] token.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Arguments
! Description

|-
| {{text anchor|ACCOUNT_EXEMPT}}
|
| The position holder is not subjected to the [[Dwarven economy|economy]]. Less than relevant right now.

|-
| {{text anchor|ALLOWED_CLASS}}
| {{token|CREATURE_CLASS|creature}} token
| rowspan=2 | ALLOWED_CLASS: Only creatures with the specified [CREATURE_CLASS] token may be appointed to this position. Multiple entries are allowed. ALLOWED_CREATURE: Restricts the position to the specified creature and caste. Multiple entries are allowed. These tokens only apply within the entity’s own race (including its castes).
In world generation, they limit which units may be assigned to the position, but they do not prevent other creature types from acquiring the position through alternative means (for example, via a coup).
In fortress mode, these tokens are enforced during manual appointment and succession.
During world generation, if all allowed castes have a POP_RATIO of 0, a unit of an allowed caste will still be generated to fill the position.

|-
| {{text anchor|ALLOWED_CREATURE}}
| CREATURE:CASTE

|-
| {{text anchor|APPOINTED_BY}}
| position
| This position can only be chosen for the task from the nobles screen, and is available only if there is an *argument* present. For example, the GENERAL is [APPOINTED_BY:MONARCH]. Contrast [ELECTED]. Being appointed by a MONARCH seems to handle a lot of worldgen stuff, and interferes with fort mode titles. Multiple entries are allowed. If you have neither an ELECTED-token nor a APPOINTED_BY-token, the holder may always be changed (like the expedition leader).
''Read more: [[Advanced_Entity_Position_Mechanics#Appointment]]''

|-
| {{text anchor|BRAG_ON_KILL}}
|
| A creature that kills a member of this position will be sure to talk/brag about it a lot.

|-
| {{text anchor|CHAT_WORTHY}}
|
| In adventure mode, when referencing locations, an NPC may mention this position holder living there or having done some deed there; it also means that the position exists in world-gen, rather than being created only at the end of world-gen.

|-
| {{text anchor|COLOR}}
| [[Color]]
| Creatures of this position will have this [[color]], instead of their profession color, e.g. [COLOR:5:0:1]. It is also applied to the name of the citizen in the units screen.

|-
| {{text anchor|COMMANDER}}
| position:ALL
| This position will act as a commander of the specified position{{verify}}. E.g. GENERAL is [COMMANDER:LIEUTENANT:ALL]. Unknown if values other than ALL work. Multiple entries are allowed.
''Read more: [[Army]]''

|-
| {{text anchor|CONQUERED_SITE}}
|
| This position is a puppet ruler, left behind at a conquered site.

|-
| {{text anchor|DEMAND_MAX}}
| number (0-100)
| How many demands the position can make of the population at one time.

|-
| {{text anchor|DESCRIPTION}}
| string. Readable up to 470 characters in the nobles' screen.
| description of this position in the nobles screen.

|-
| {{text anchor|DETERMINES_COIN_DESIGN}}
|
| The site's (or civ's) minted [[coin]]s, if any, will have images that reflect the personality of this position holder.

|-
| {{text anchor|DO_NOT_CULL}}
|
| The position won't be culled from Legends as "unimportant" during world generation.

|-
| {{text anchor|DUTY_BOUND}}
|
| Members of this position will never agree to 'join' your character during adventure mode. They also don't settle anywhere else but in the capital, and will not [[immigration|emigrate]] from their site. If they are not DUTY_BOUND, they will live anywhere as they like.

|-
| {{text anchor|ELECTED}}
|
| The population will periodically select the most skill-eligible creature to fill this position for site-level positions at the player's fort. For responsibilities or positions that use more than one skill, no skill takes priority in electing a creature: an accomplished comedian is more qualified for the TRADE responsibility than a skilled appraiser. A creature may be elected to multiple positions at the same time. Contrast [APPOINTED_BY].
''More info: [[Elections]]''
''Read more: [[Advanced_Entity_Position_Mechanics#Elections]]''

|-
| {{text anchor|EXECUTION_SKILL}}
| weapon skill
| A mandatory sub-tag of [RESPONSIBILITY:EXECUTIONS]. Determines the weapon chosen by the executioner for their work.

|-
| {{text anchor|EXPORTED_IN_LEGENDS}}
|
| The various members who have filled this role will be listed in the civilisation's history.

|-
| {{text anchor|FLASHES}}
|
| The creature holding this position will visibly flash, like legendary citizens. Represents a properly noble station by default.

|-
| {{text anchor|GENDER}}
| male/female
| The position can only be held by the specified gender. Currently bugged {{bug|2714}}

|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_QUEST}}
|
| The position can assign quests to adventurers.

|-
| {{text anchor|LAND_HOLDER}}
| importance tier (1-10)
| This is an alternative to SITE, allowing positions to be created at civ-level 'as needed' for all sites that meet the requirements to have them, which are the values set in [[Difficulty#Land_holder|land holder difficulty]] [[settings]]. The character is tied permanently to a particular site, but also operates at the civ-level.
''Read more: [[Advanced_Entity_Position_Mechanics#land holders]]''

|-
| {{text anchor|LAND_NAME}}
| string. Readable up to 21 characters in the nobles' screen.
| The name the area takes on when under the control of a LAND_HOLDER. E.g. for the DUKE, [LAND_NAME:a duchy]. If the position is not a [[LAND_HOLDER]], the land_name is still displayed left of the position in the nobles menu.

|-
| {{text anchor|MANDATE_MAX}}
| number (0-100)
| The maximum number of mandates the position can make at once.

|-
| {{text anchor|MENIAL_WORK_EXEMPTION}}
|
| The position holder cannot be assigned labors. It only works for [SITE]-positions.

|-
| {{text anchor|MENIAL_WORK_EXEMPTION_SPOUSE}}
|
| The spouse of the position holder doesn't have to work, either - see above.
|-
| {{text anchor|MILITARY_SCREEN_ONLY}}
|
| This position cannot be appointed from the nobles screen. Intended for militia captains and other squad leaders to reduce clutter. Currently nonfunctional{{bug|8965}}

|-
| {{text anchor|NAME}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 21 characters in the nobles' screen and up to 30 in the unit list.
| The name of the position.

|-
| {{text anchor|NAME_MALE}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 21 characters in the nobles' screen and up to 30 in the unit list.
| If the creature holding the position is male, this is the position's name. E.g. for MONARCH, [NAME_MALE:king:kings]

|-
| {{text anchor|NAME_FEMALE}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 21 characters in the nobles' screen and up to 30 in the unit list.
| If the creature holding the position is female, this is the position's name. E.g. for MONARCH, [NAME_FEMALE:queen:queens]

|-
| {{text anchor|NUMBER}}
|
* number/AS_NEEDED
| How many of the position there should be. If the [SITE] token exists, this is per site, otherwise this is per civilisation. AS_NEEDED applies mainly to positions involved with the military command chain; this is used to allow armies to expand to whatever size they need to be. Other non-military positions like the land_holders or the [[messenger]] with NUMBER:AS_NEEDED will also be appointed.
The problem with [[Lieutenant]]s and [[Captain]]s not being created, is their AS_NEEDED number. They are only then created when they're needed, and that has some pretty unusual conditions. When a fixed number is used, they are appointed with the creation of the civ.
If the NUMBER is set at a fixed value higher than 1, the position is always filled up full. If the position is available on embark, it is completely filled up with only the first dwarf.

|-
| {{text anchor|PRECEDENCE}}
| number (0-30000)/NONE
| How important the position is in society; a lower number is more important and displayed higher in the Nobles menu. For MONARCH it's 1, for MILITIA_CAPTAIN it's 200.

The game marks the first non-[SITE] position with [PRECEDENCE:1] as the ruler, for both embark screen and mountainhome purposes. When it is empty, [REPLACED_BY] another position, or not yet created because of [REQUIRES_POPULATION], the screen just says 'None' as the holders' name.

Landholders can become the ruler, if they are the first defined position with precedence of 1. civ-position can also be created without precedence. Positions may have the same precedence and will be appointed, although the effect is unknown. Precedence has no effect on who's doing the job, if both positions have the same responsibilities.

|-
| {{text anchor|PUNISHMENT_EXEMPTION}}
|
| The position holder will not be held accountable for his or her crimes. Currently nonfunctional.{{bug|4589}}{{verify|seems to prevent punishment when they are convicted of actual crime}}

|-
| {{text anchor|QUEST_GIVER}}
|
| The position holder can give quests in Adventure mode. Functionality in 0.31.13 and later is uncertain.

|-
| {{text anchor|REJECTED_CLASS}}
| CREATURE_CLASS Token
| Creatures of the specified class cannot be appointed to this position. Multiple entries are allowed

|-
| {{text anchor|REJECTED_CREATURE}}
| CREATURE:CASTE
| Restricts position holders by CREATURE type. Multiple entries are allowed. It doesn't seem to work in world-gen. When checking Legends mode, units are seen assigned this position regardless of their creature-type or caste. It does work in Fortress mode.

|-
| {{text anchor|REPLACED_BY}}
| position
| This position is absorbed by another down the line. For example, expedition leader is [REPLACED_BY:MAYOR]. Only a single entry is allowed.

It can work with both [REQUIRES_POPULATION] and [REQUIRES_MARKET].

The tag differs in function for landholders, see [[Advanced_entity_position_mechanics]]

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_BEDROOM}}
| number (0-1000000)
| The position holder requires a bedroom with at least this value.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_BOXES}}
| number (0-100)
| The position holder requires at least this many boxes.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_CABINETS}}
| number (0-100)
| The position holder requires at least this many cabinets.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_DINING}}
| number (0-1000000)
| The position holder requires a dining room with at least this value.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_OFFICE}}
| number (0-1000000)
| The position holder requires an office with at least this value.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_RACKS}}
| number (0-100)
| The position holder requires at least this many weapon racks.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_STANDS}}
| number (0-100)
| The position holder requires at least this many armour stands.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_TOMB}}
| number (0-1000000)
| The position holder requires a tomb with at least this value.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRES_MARKET}}
|
| Does not have anything directly to do with [[trade depot|trade depots]]. It means that in minor sites (such as hillocks) the position will not appear, while in major sites (such as dwarf fortresses) it will. Depending on its economical position in the region, a [[hamlet]] may build a market and develop into a [[Town]] eventually. That is when this position becomes available. It only works in combination with the [SITE]-token.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRES_POPULATION}}
| number
| The position requires the population to be at least this number before it becomes available, or before the position holder will move in.

|-
| {{text anchor|RESPONSIBILITY}}
| responsibility
| The position holder does a thing. See the table below for suitable arguments. A position does not need to have a responsibility.

|-
| {{text anchor|RULES_FROM_LOCATION}}
|
| If there is a special location set aside for rulers, such as a human castle/mead hall, the position holder will always be found at that particular location. Does nothing for dwarven nobles, because at present, dwarves have no such special locations.

|-
| {{text anchor|SITE}}
|
| Every site government will have the defined number of this position instead of the whole civilization; provided that other criteria (if any) are met. Unless LAND_HOLDER is present instead, the defined number of the position will be created only for the civilization as a whole.

|-
| {{text anchor|SLEEP_PRETENSION}}
|
| The position holder will get upset if someone with a higher PRECEDENCE holds quarters with a greater value than their own.

|-
| {{text anchor|SPECIAL_BURIAL}}
|
| The civilization will inter the corpse of the position holder in a special grave, either in catacombs or in monuments. If that grave is disturbed, the position holder can return as a [[mummy]]. {{verify}}

|-
| {{text anchor|SPOUSE}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 30 characters in the unit list.
| The name of the position holder's spouse.

|-
| {{text anchor|SPOUSE_FEMALE}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 30 characters in the unit list.
| If the spouse of the creature holding the position is female, this is the spouse's position name.

|-
| {{text anchor|SPOUSE_MALE}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 30 characters in the unit list.
| If the spouse of the creature holding the position is male, this is the spouse's position name.

|-
| {{text anchor|SQUAD}}
| number:singular:plural
| The position holder is authorized to form a military squad, led by themselves using the [[leader]] and [[military tactics]] skills. The number denotes the maximum headcount. The noun used to describe the subordinates (e.g. royal guard) is used in adventure mode for the adventurer. This token is used together with [RESPONSIBILITY:LAW_ENFORCEMENT] for giving [[quest]]s to adventurers as [[Hearthperson|hearthpeople]]. Further details: [[Advanced_entity_position_mechanics#Military]]

|-
| {{text anchor|SUCCESSION}}
|
* BY_HEIR / BY_POSITION:position
| How a new position holder is chosen. A single position can have multiple BY_POSITION tokens. See [[Noble]] for more information on how succession is handled in the game.
The SUCCESSION-Tag is also considered when a new positions opens up, for example when a required population number is reached. If a valid successor is available, they will be the one taking that position initially, without appointment or election.

|}

== Responsibilities ==
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Argument
! Description

|-
| {{text anchor|ACCOUNTING}}
| Found on [[bookkeeper]]. The position will use the [[record keeper]] skill to keep track of stocks.

|-
| {{text anchor|ADVISE_LEADERS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|ATTACK_ENEMIES}}
| Found on elven [[ranger captain]] and human warrior. Effect unknown.{{verify}}

|-
| {{text anchor|BUILD_MORALE}}
| Found on [[champion]]. Citizens get a special thought for "talking to a pillar of society" when speaking to this noble.

|-
| {{text anchor|BUILDING_SAFETY}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|COLLECT_TAXES}}
| Currently unused - was originally assigned to the tax collector.

|-
| {{text anchor|CONSTRUCTION_PERMITS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|DELIVER_MESSAGES}}
| Found on [[messenger]]. The position travels to other sites and uses [[social skill]]s.
|

|-
| {{text anchor|EQUIPMENT_MANIFESTS}}
| Currently unused - was originally assigned to the arsenal dwarf.

|-
| {{text anchor|ESCORT_TAX_COLLECTOR}}
| Currently unused - was originally assigned to the Royal Guards (squad members beneath the Hammerer).

|-
| {{text anchor|ESPIONAGE}}
| Found on [[dungeon master]] and the [[Elf|elven]] [[General|princess]] and uses the [[schemer]] skill.

|-
| {{text anchor|ESTABLISH_COLONY_TRADE_AGREEMENTS}}
| Found on [[outpost liaison]]. Position travels with the caravan and uses [[social skill]]s to make trade agreements with any settlements that it visits, provided they are domestic, report the news and promote {{token|LAND_HOLDER|e}} positions. Also reports recent news. Presumably has no effect at site level. Crucially, it does not visit foreign settlements, but the civ-level TRADE position does the exact same thing in its position. They arrive the same time as the caravan arrives, and this can thus be modded by setting {{token|ACTIVE_SEASON|e}}

|-
| {{text anchor|EXECUTIONS}}
| Found on [[hammerer]]. Position executes death penalty judgements with a weapon of the appropriate skill. Cannot be combined with LAW_ENFORCEMENT, resulting in the "Invalid Officer"-error.

|-
| {{text anchor|FIRE_SAFETY}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|FOOD_SUPPLY}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|HEALTH_MANAGEMENT}}
| Found on [[chief medical dwarf]]. Position will use [[diagnostician]] skill to evaluate [[wounds]] and schedule [[Health care|treatment]], reported in each citizen's Health tab.

|-
| {{text anchor|JUDGE}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|LAW_ENFORCEMENT}}
| Found on [[sheriff]]/[[captain of the guard]]. Position and its subordinates are in charge of punishing criminals. A {{token|SITE|position}} position holding this responsibility plus the {{token|SQUAD|position}} token (or allowing the entity to have a {{token|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|e}} with this responsibility) is required for an adventurer from a given civilization to start as a [[hearthperson]], [[Captain of the guard|fortress guard]], etc. Cannot be combined with EXECUTIONS, resulting in the "Invalid Officer"-error.

|-
| {{text anchor|LAW_MAKING}}
| Found on [[monarch]]s and [[:Category:Aristocrats|nobles]]. Will be referred to as the leader of the site in adventure mode and they may designate the site as being the capital city for civ-level positions. This position is in charge of creating procedural positions, corresponding to either {{token|VARIABLE_POSITIONS|e}} or {{token|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|e}}. Position-holders that have attained [[immortality]] may issue oppressive edicts to protect themselves against suspicion.

|-
| {{text anchor|MAINTAIN_BRIDGES}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MAINTAIN_ROADS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MAINTAIN_SEWERS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MAINTAIN_TUNNELS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_INTRODUCTIONS}}
| Position will make a 'social call' to an established foreign settlement, complimenting or insulting them depending on relations and reporting the news.

|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_PEACE_AGREEMENTS}}
| Found on diplomat. Position negotiates peace treaties in order to end wars.

|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_TOPIC_AGREEMENTS}}
| Found on [[diplomat]]. Position negotiates special agreements, such as tree cutting quotas. Used when elevating a settlement in the {{token|LAND_HOLDER|position}} chain up from level 1.

|-
| {{text anchor|MANAGE_ANIMALS}}
| Found on [[dungeon master]].

|-
| {{text anchor|MANAGE_LEADER_HOUSEHOLD_CLEANLINESS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MANAGE_LEADER_HOUSEHOLD_DRINKS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MANAGE_LEADER_HOUSEHOLD_FOOD}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MANAGE_PRODUCTION}}
| Found on [[manager]]. Position enables the use of workshop profiles and uses the [[organizer]] skill to process work orders entered in the job manager after the fortress population reaches 20.

|-
| {{text anchor|MEET_WORKERS}}
| Found on [[expedition leader]]/[[mayor]]. Position uses the various [[social skill]]s to hold meetings with unhappy citizens and try to pacify them with happy thoughts. In adventure mode, [SITE] positions with this responsibility handle petitions to make the player a performer for the local government.

|-
| {{text anchor|MILITARY_GOALS}}
| Found on [[monarch]]/[[:Category:Aristocrats|landholder]]/[[:Category:Elected Nobles|leaders]]. Character is in charge of going to war and making peace for the government they work for. Without a position with this responsibility at civ level the civilization will not be able to make peace and its sites will wage war on each other constantly, and as a result, all viable civilizations must have one leader with this tag at civ level. This appears not to be a problem for [[kobold]]s, presumably due to the {{token|SKULKING|e}}. If no position has this responsibility in fortress mode, players are unable to start [[missions]].

|-
| {{text anchor|MILITARY_STRATEGY}}
| Found on [[general]]/[[militia commander]]. Means that they will command the armies of their site or civilization. Issues the orders for the teams conducting raids or other operations away from the fortress. During worldgen, positions (of a civilization) will go on expeditions to tame exotic creatures (but this only yields a pet, not any training knowledge, and only of a race for which the civilization has already some training knowledge). Counterintuitively not by the TAME_EXOTICS-position. The destinations of these expeditions are determined by the entities USE_(...)_ANIMALS-tokens.

|-
| {{text anchor|OVERSEE_LEADER_HOUSEHOLD}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|PATROL_TERRITORY}}
| Found on elven ranger captain. Effect unknown.{{verify}}

|-
| {{text anchor|PREPARE_LEADER_MEALS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|RECEIVE_DIPLOMATS}}
| Found on [[monarch]]/[[:Category:Aristocrats|landholder]]/[[:Category:Elected Nobles|leaders]]. Position uses the various social skills to hold meetings with incoming diplomats and liaisons.

|-
| {{text anchor|RELIGION}}
| Found on elven [[druid]] and uses [[social skill]]s. Position informs you about worship cults{{verify}}

|-
| {{text anchor|SORT_AMMUNITION}}
| Currently unused - was originally assigned to the arsenal dwarf.

|-
| {{text anchor|TAME_EXOTICS}}
| Position will tame animals with the {{token|PET_EXOTIC}} token. Currently unused - was originally assigned to the dungeon master. Expeditions to tame exotic creatures will be done by the MILITARY_STRATEGY-position

|-
| {{text anchor|TRADE}}
| Found on [[broker]]. Position will use Appraisal skill to display value estimates and the various Social skills to trade at the depot. When applied to other civilizations, this position will arrive with the caravan to make trade agreements (like the Human Guild Representative from older versions) and behaves otherwise like the civ's own ESTABLISH_COLONY_TRADE_AGREEMENTS position holder. They arrive the same time as the caravan arrive and this can thus be modded by setting {{token|ACTIVE_SEASON|e}}

|-
| {{text anchor|UPGRADE_SQUAD_EQUIPMENT}}
| Currently unused - was originally assigned to the arsenal dwarf.

|}

== Related tokens ==
The following two entity tokens are not actually position tokens, but bear mentioning on this page because they can modify the way that a civilization's positions behave:

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Arguments
! Description

|-
| {{token|VARIABLE_POSITIONS|entity}}
| Position responsibility or ALL
| Allows a responsibility to be taken up by a dynamically generated position (such as Law-maker).

|-
| {{token|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|entity}}
| Position responsibility or ALL
| Allows a responsibility to be taken up by a dynamically generated position (such as Law-maker).
|}

== Why won't my positions appear? ==
The way DF determines what positions will actually ''appear'' in your fortress is somewhat counter-intuitive and fairly limiting. This guide should help you understand what you can do to actually get your positions working properly.

There are five tokens governing which positions appear in your fortress - LAND_HOLDER, REQUIRES_POPULATION, APPOINTED_BY, ELECTED, and REPLACED_BY. The first two determine when your fortress is eligible for a new position, the next two determine how a new position for which your fortress is eligible can be added, and the fifth allows you to clear up obsolete positions. Unfortunately, they also interact in some strange ways that makes creating interesting position structures difficult.

When you start a new fortress, DF compiles a list of your initial positions. To do this, it looks at the requirements for each position - any position whose only requirement is less than seven dwarves (either because they have no requirement tokens, or because their only requirement tokens are [REQUIRES_POPULATION: =< 7] or [LAND_HOLDER:some trigger whose only requirement is some number of dwarves equal to or less than 7]). Most importantly, ''any'' position whose only requirement is a LAND_HOLDER requirement, regardless of what the trigger for that requirement is, will be added if another eligible starting position is REPLACED_BY it. '''A non-LAND_HOLDER position that is REPLACED_BY a LAND_HOLDER position will never appear.''' With this list compiled, the game culls all positions that are REPLACED_BY another eligible position, and then culls all positions that have the APPOINTED_BY token. '''You may not embark with any appointed positions.''' Any remaining positions are then filled by a dwarf chosen at random.

'''Positions do not automatically appear when you reach their requirements.''' For example, if you remove the ELECTED token from the Mayor, then the Mayor will never appear, even once you reach their required number of dwarves. '''For a position that does not appear at embark to appear in your fortress, it must be APPOINTED_BY another position or ELECTED.'''

Naturally, this is more complicated than it looks. '''APPOINTED_BY positions must be appointed by another position already in your fortress, or a civ-level position. Only LAND_HOLDER positions may be appointed by civ-level positions.''' LAND_HOLDER positions that are APPOINTED_BY civ-level positions are inherently tied to civ-level tokens with the ESTABLISH_COLONY_TRADE_AGREEMENTS responsibility. If a fortress meets the LAND_HOLDER_TRIGGER for a new LAND_HOLDER tier when a caravan leaves, then the next time the outpost liaison or equivalent arrives, they will offer to make you an official colony, which will allow you to select all positions for that LAND_HOLDER level. '''Each time they appear, the outpost liaison will only promote your fortress one tier up the LAND_HOLDER track.''' The biggest problem with this system is that you may set your LAND_HOLDER_TRIGGERS such that you are eligible for the first tier of LAND_HOLDER positions at embark. '''If you are eligible for the first tier of LAND_HOLDER positions at embark, then all first-tier positions will appear twice - once at embark, and again when the outpost liaison comes to appoint you to the first tier.'''

If civ-positions are neither APPOINTED_BY nor ELECTED, they still will be filled.

Read more: [[Advanced Entity Position Mechanics]]

{{Category|Modding}}
{{Category|Tokens}}
[[ru:Position token]]

Variable positions

2026-03-27T19:29:07Z

Silverwing235:

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{Modding}}
'''Variable positions''' are lesser [[noble|nobility]] titles that can be created by entity leaders after initial world generation.
In vanilla, this is the case for [[human]] and [[goblin]] [[Civilization|civilizations]], but also for merchants' companies, guilds, [[mercenary|mercenary groups]], [[Religion|religious groups]] and [[Criminal|criminal]]s.

== Tokens ==
The tokens that manage the creation of positions are {{token|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|entity}} and {{token|VARIABLE_POSITIONS|entity}}.

SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS allows for the creation of lords, hearthpersons, and [[boss]]es, while VARIABLE_POSITIONS allow the creation of Law-makers.

== General Info ==
Initially, none of the positions marked as variable exist for an entity. The positions will only exist for a given entity, if they are either created during world-gen, world activities(?) or by memory hacking or scripting (ie. with Lua). Ie. in vanilla, all human civilizations have at the beginning of the world-generation no positions at all, neither on the site nor civ-level, as all positions of the vanilla human civs are marked as variable (variable positions: all). When a variable (civ level) position is created, the position is only created for that civilization (entity) and not for any other entities of the same type. Ie. the creation of a law-giver for one human civ does not create law-givers for other human civs. Also presumably all site-level positions for each entity are created on a per site basis, meaning the creation of a site ruler for one site (of a civ) does not also create the site ruler positions for any other site of that civ.

The existence of a variable position does not mean that the position will also be filled by a historical figure, but during world-gen the creation of a position will usually be followed up with the position being filled. Ie. the human historical figure who forced the creation of a law-giver position, will usually become the first law-giver.

For the succession rules of a variable position (after the position has been initially filled by a historical figure), presumably, the same rules as for non-variable positions apply.

(Disclaimer: The following only applies during world-gen and normal world activities. Scripting and memory hacking can circumvent the normal limitations, but with currently unknown results).

For civ level entities, if the law-giving position is a variable position, the law-giving position does not (seem to) have any further requirements to be created (ie. no other position being already created). Ie. this position can be created by force (or popular support etc.) by any historical figure of that civ. But for all other variable (civ-level) positions the law-giving position must exist as usually the historical figure, who is the law-giver, does create the other variable positions (for various reason).

Something similar is probably the case for site level positions. Ie. if the ruler of a site is a variable position, that position needs to be created, before any other site-level variable positions can be created. And the site ruler can afterwards create other variable positions for that site. It is not yet clear if a site level ruling position can be created before a civ level ruling (law-giving) position is created (or exists). This also means that it should be possible, via memory-hacking or scripting, to create (and fill) the variable site level positions (for a player site), at least after the civ level law-giving position has been created (and the law-giving position has been filled), so that a human player site gets the maximum possible human site level positions (with the normal appointment rules for the succession/reappointment of the positions), without having to edit the raw files (as outlined in the human civ page), prior to creating a world, to make the variable positions of human civilizations to "static" ones.

Presumably for guilds (Merchant Guild and others), mercenary groups, religious orders (and criminals) also a "leader" position needs to be created by a historical figure, before other variable positions for that entity can be created.

So far, no restrictions on allowed_class or allowed_creature have been found and also the rejected_creature and rejected_class entries are always empty. Squad_size is 0, except when a variable position (in the following sections) explicitly states otherwise (ie. squad size for CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 is 20). Also most other entries (of entity_position entry under "own") not mentioned in their section have standard values (ie. are empty). The best_appointment_precedence of all positions is 30001. Also the execution skill is always set to "-1" even for the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9, whose sole responsibility is executions.

Also, variable positions are usually only created (with the exception of if they replace another position), if the position will have at least one responsibility the already created (existing) positions for that entity does not have, regardless of whether there are any more prerequisites for a variable position to be created.

=== Sources ===
See spoiler-sections of those posts.
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=178697.msg8295235#msg8295235
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8084095#msg8084095
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8083631#msg8083631 (first answer)

== Civilizations ==
If all positions of a civ are variable, then the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible positions) can be created. After the creation (and filling) of the law-maker positions, the other variable positions (both CUSTOM_OFFICIALS_i and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALS_i, where i stands for a non-zero natural number) can be created in any order. These other positions are then always appointed by the law-maker of the civ. The law-maker position itself uses succession by heir.

In contrast to, for example, the positions of the dwarven civilizations, where the site nobility positions (eg. baron, duke) do get added to the own position list (vector) of the civilization, the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2) positions (of a site government) are not added to the own position list (at least for civs with all variable positions). The "own" positions list (of the civ entity) only exclusively contains the variable positions of the civ, which are all created by the civ, and no positions which are the "ruler" of a site (even if the variable site position was appointed by the law maker of the civ). Also the "site" positions list is empty (or at least no entries were found so far).

The CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position for goblins civs (in vanilla) are automatically created with the creation of the entity and there is no historical event which mentions the creation of that position. For the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER positions of the human civs, there is always a historical event which mentions the creation of that position, where the creation reason "As a matter of course" is not possible, all other reasons, which are "Collaboration", "Threats of Violence", "Force of Argument" and "Wave of popular support", are possible (and seem equally likely to be used).

The following table gives an overview over the different possible rulers of a human or goblin civilization.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!succession type!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!is diplomat!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals,
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|yes
|no

|}

Note that the ruler (law-giver or master) is not a diplomat, if and only if the ruler has the military strategy responsibility. Otherwise it seems totally random, whether a ruler (law-giver) is a diplomat or not (ie. for human civilizations the position creation reason and the civilization values do not play any role at all). Also note that the master of a goblin civilization does not have peace agreements as a responsibility.

The creation of all non-ruling positions, ie. CUSTOM_OFFICIALs, of a civ are mentioned in the history, where all CUSTOM_OFFICIALs and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALs will always be created "as a matter of course", only the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS and CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY positions can be created by any reason (including "as a matter of course").

The following table gives an overview of the possible non-ruling civ-level positions:

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name prefix!!Name5!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Flags11!!Flags22!!Color!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1
|yes3
|"keeper of the seal" / chancellor
|receive diplomats, make introductions and make topic agreements; optional: espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2
|yes3
|justiciar
|law enforcement, collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|yes
|treasurer
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|yes
|advisor/counselor
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|yes3
|chamberlain
|oversee leader household
|1
|0
|80
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|master of beasts
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|yes
|butler / cup-bearer
|manage leader household food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|yes
|doctor
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|yes
|executioner
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|yes
|chef
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|yes
|housekeeper
|manage leader household cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY
|no
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS4
|no
|war leader
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|no
|no
|}
: ''Note'':
:* 1) These are the standard official flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, has_met_pop_req, color, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* 2) These are the following additional flags: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver and special_burial.
:* 3): Name prefix can be empty.
:* 4) These would be the values for the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position, but on the civ-level that position is not created, as the military goals responsibility is already performed by the law-giver/master (and for the military strategy responsibility the CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY position is created instead). But a CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position would be created, if the civ leader would not have the military goals responsibility. The CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position is - in vanilla - only created for site governments and then only, if the site leader is the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.
:* 5): Name prefixes are: high, head, chief and royal.

In the above table the responsibility "espionage" of the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is optional. A civ needs to have a "cunning" value of at least 11 for the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 to have the responsibility, otherwise the official will not have the espionage responsibility, consequentially all CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 of goblin civs will have the espionage responsibility (as their default cunning value is 15). Only if the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is created with the "espionage" responsibility such officials can also be created for the site governments, where the leader of the site-government is not called "law-giver", (as all other responsibility are already performed by the standard custom site ruler). Also, the columns "human" and "goblin" dictate whether human and/or goblin civilizations can have the positions.

== Site Governments ==
If all positions of a civ (and with that of a site government) are variable, then a leader position for the site government needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible variable positions) can be created. The created position is usually the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, but other positions have been found, ie. CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER and FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.

Note that if a site is taken over during a war, then a new leader can be created directly with the formation of a new site government (even if the all site positions of the new owning civ are variable and the old site government did not have any leaders), in such cases the new leader position is either a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR or - rarer - a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (only found, if the site taken over was a Town and both the defending and attacking civilization was human).

Note that human and goblin civilizations can also create further site positions, if the current site leader is the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER (both) or FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR (only encountered/found in case of humans). All other races (eg. dwarves and elves) cannot.

Also a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER can be created for a site government (of a human civilization) before a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER for the civilization has been created.

Also note that not all site government entities need to be a child of a civilization entity, if they are not, then the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is used as a site-ruler (regardless of race, ie. even dwarven and the rare elven site government without connection to a civ will use the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER as initial ruler/leader). Ie. a Necromancer founding a tower will generate a site government (or site entity), which does not have any parent entity, and does function as a civ entity for any of its child entities (and will use the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER as ruler). But such Necromancer entities are not the only site entities without a parent civ (which can have positions), ie. some (all?) groups construction forts (and where the creation of the entity coincides with the construction of the fort) will also not have a parent civ (and use the entity type site).

The following table gives an overview of the possible leader positions:

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!Responsibilities!!squad8 size!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!goblin!!human!!elf!!dwarf!!flags!!appointment type

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER1
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|2
|1
|55 or 10 (rare)
|yes
|yes
|yes
|yes
|standard bandit leader
|elected

|-
!FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR
|administrator
|law making, receive diplomats, meet workers, make topic agreements
|0
|3
|2
|100
|yes
|yes
|yes
|yes2
|forced admin
|none3

|-
!FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR4
|administrator
|law making, receive diplomats, meet workers, make topic agreements
|0
|3
|2
|65
|no
|no
|no
|yes
|dwarf forced admin
|none3

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER5
|law-giver
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals; optional6: military strategy
|0
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|civ law-giver
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER6
|lord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|lord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|40
|yes
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|baron
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|41
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir; appointed by law-giver (civ)

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_27
|baron
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|35
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir; optional: appointed9

|}

: ''Notes'':
:* 1): Only leader position, if the entity (site-government) is not a child of a civilization, but can also appear, if the entity has a parent civ. Only site leader position of goblins, where other site positions will be created (both cases: with civ and without civ).
:* 2): 2 of the 53 forced administrator positions of dwarves (in a large 250 year history world-gen world with many civs) used this forced administrator (rather than the one defined in the raws). No site official positions found for goblins so far, if the leader was a forced administrator.
:* 3): The position has no appointed_by defined, nor any form of succession by position or heir. And the position is also not elected. So how and if a forced admin gets refilled, in case of death of the previous position holder, is unclear.
:* 4): This is the forced administrator as defined in the (vanilla) dwarf raws.
:* 5): Was created once in a large 250 year history world-gen world with many civs. The parent civ did not have a law-maker position created. But this definition is not always used, if the law-maker position of the parent civ has not been created. Also the site-entity was the original owner/creator of the site.
:* 6): This position can get created for a newly formed site-entity, if a site-entity has created the law-maker position and afterwards the site-entity gets conquered by another entity (of the same civ) and at the time of conquest no law-giver was created (yet) for the civ.
:* 7: Can be created (and replaces the former site ruler), if the ruler (of a human site entity) was either a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR or a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER with the name "lord".
:* 8): If the squad size is greater than zero, then the squad members are called soldiers (CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER) or hearthpeople (otherwise).
:* 9): Always appointed by the law-giver of the civilization, if the previous site leader was a forced administrator. Otherwise the appointed_by (and appointed_by_civ) definition is either empty or set to the law-giver of the civ, eg. a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2, which replaces a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, can be appointed (in which case appointed by the law-giver of the civ) or not be appointed at all.
:* "by heir" in the appointment type definition entry means, that the succession is by heir. If nothing else is mentioned in the table cell, then the position did get filled immediately upon creation of the position and the first position holder was not appointed by the civ-leader, otherwise the first position holder was appointed by the civ-leader.
:* "standard bandit leader" entry in "flags" table cell means the same flags as the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER of bandit groups are set.
:* "forced admin" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, is_diplomat, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, sleep_pretension, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, special_burial.
:* "dwarf forced admin" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, is_diplomat, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, menial_work_exemption, sleep_pretension, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, special_burial.
:* "standard leader" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, special_burial.
:* "civ law-giver" entry in "flags" table cell means that the flags of the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (civ level) are set, where the is_diplomat flag is only set, if (and only if) the law-giver does not have the military strategy responsibility. Also in this case the is_diplomat flag is only set, if the "law-giver" (of the site entity) does not have the military strategy responsibility.
:* Remark to forced administrator: The only differences between the forced administrator (only usable by the dwarves and defined in the raws) and the other forced administrator are, that the forced administrator of the dwarves is not a quest giver, does not rule from a location and has a different precedence.
:* The color of all leaders is the standard noble color (5,0,1), except for the forced administrators, who uses a different color entry (5,0,0).

If a leader does exist for a site entity, other variable positions can be created for that entity. In rare cases a variable official (or market official) position can even be created, if the requirements are not met (at least one of the flags has_met_pop_req and has_met_market_req is false for the position entry).

The following table gives an overview of the non-ruler variable positions of a site government.

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name prefix1!!Name!!Name suffix2!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Color!!human!!goblin!!add. flags3

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1
|no
|sewer
|always
|maintain sewers
|0
|0
|500
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_2
|no
|grain / harvest
|always
|food supply
|1
|0
|450
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_3
|no
|fire
|always
|fire safety
|0
|0
|475
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_4
|no
|judge / magistrate / justice
|no
|judge
|1
|0
|350
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_5
|no
|building
|always
|construction permits, building safety
|1
|0
|460
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|road
|always
|maintain roads, bridges and tunnels
|1
|0
|375
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_16,7,8
|optional
|"keeper of the seal" / chancellor
|no
|espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_27,9
|optional
|justiciar
|no
|collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|always
|treasurer
|no
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|always
|advisor / counselor
|no
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|optional
|chamberlain
|no
|oversee leader household
|1
|0
|80
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|master of beasts
|no
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|always
|butler / cup-bearer
|no
|manage leader household food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|always
|doctor
|no
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|always
|executioner
|no
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|always
|chef
|no
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|always
|housekeeper
|no
|manage leader household cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY4
|no
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|no
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS5
|no
|war leader
|no
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|yes

|}

: ''Notes'':
:* 1): The possible name prefixes are "chief", "head" and "high" (always) and also "royal", if the site leader has the name "law-giver". The name prefix can be empty, if the cell entry is "optional". A name prefix will always be present, if the cell entry is "always".
:* 2): The possible name suffixes are "administrator", "caretaker", "commissioner", "master" and "official". A name suffix will always be present, if the cell entry is "always".
:* 3): The additional flags are: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver and special_burial.
:* 4): Only ever created, if the first site leader was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR. Can even be created, if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2.
:* 5): Only created, either after the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was created and the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was not created with the military strategy responsibility or if the leader has the name law-giver (and does not have the military strategy responsibility). Can even be created, if the first site leader was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, who has already been replaced by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2.
:* 6): If the leader name is not law-giver (and the first site leader was not a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR), then a CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 has the espionage responsibility. All CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 of a civ (regardless of whether the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 belongs to a site government or the civ government) will either have the espionage responsibility or do not have the espionage responsibility.
:* 7): If the leader has the name law-giver then this official position has the responsibilities (and also optional resp.) as given in the civ table for the official position and not the responsibilities as in this table. Ie. that is the only case where a CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 can be created for a site government without the espionage responsibility.
:* 8): The CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 has always the responsibility make introductions, if the first site leader/ruler was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, even if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced (by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2).
:* 9): The CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2 has always the responsibility law enforcement, if the first site leader/ruler was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, even if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced (by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2).
:* In the above table the columns "human" and "goblin" donate, whether a site government of a human civilization or of a goblin civilization can have that position (or at least, if the position was encountered so far). Note so far only goblin site governments with a CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER did have further positions created.
:* All CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALs created during world-gen seem to have an already constructed market present (and thus are not created for site governments ruling over a Hamlet or a Dark Pit as Hamlets and Dark Pits cannot have a market, but need to be a Town or Dark Fortress). Additionally the CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1 needs an already constructed sewer (which seems to be only created, after both a market and a keep are constructed). Also note that sewers are only constructed in towns (in contrast to ie. markets, which can also be found/constructed in other site types like Dark Fortresses, Fortresses, Hillocks, Caves and Forest Retreats).
:* In addition to the above table the "best_appointment_precedence" is 30001. Also the following flags are set (true) for all officials, regardless, of whether belonging to a human or goblin site government: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, color, menial_work_exemption and has_received_positions.
:* All of the positions are appointed by the current ruler of the site (ie. CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR), except the CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY position will be appointed by the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position, if the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was created prior and the current ruler of the site government is a forced administrator.

Additionally the position entry usually has the flag active set and the flag is_replaced is false, otherwise the position would no longer be active (and might have been replaced).

== Bandits ==
Bandits use the entity types 4 and 7, which are nomadic groups (type 4) and outcasts (type 7). It must also be noted that some CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER positions are used by site governments (typically goblin site governments) both with and without a parent civilization (site government is not a child of an entity of type 0). The creation of CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER and CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR positions is never mentioned as a historical event, but the creation of CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT is (and is always created "as a matter of course").

The following table gives an overview over the possible variable positions used by bandits (some further info on bandit leaders is below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!squad size!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!add. flags1!!rules from location!!entity type

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|20
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic, outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER2
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|20
|2
|1
|10
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT3
|lieutenant
|appointed by bandit leader
|patrol territory, attack enemies
|0
|1
|0
|160
| -1
|no
|no
|outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR
|representative
|appointed by bandit leader
|trade and accounting
|0
|1
|0
|70
| -1
|yes (except is_law_maker)
|yes
|outcast

|}
: ''Notes'':
:* 1): Additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt and quest_giver
:* 2): Only difference to the other CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is the increased precedence of 10, encountered in 11 of 148 bandit leaders (148 of 175 nomadic groups had leaders). The reason is of yet unknown, except that the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is also used by the goblin civilization (and some site governments, without an entity link to a parent civ, had a nomadic group with a custom bandit leader as a child entity).
:* 3: Currently only up-to one CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT will be created for Outcast groups, despite allowing for an unlimited number. The possible reason for one getting created at all is that an assignment definition is automatically created with the creation of the position itself (while ie. for Ranger Captain, Militia Captain etc. there is currently never an assignment created, as they are neither land-holders nor is their number tied to a location or site).
:* Further note the common flags of these positions are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* The entity type in the above table refers to the (as displayed by dfhack's gm-editor, when viewing an entity).

Additionally the bandit leader (CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER) always has a squad size of 20 and the squad members are referred to as "bandits".

== Religious Entities ==
Some religious entities, which are considered "child"-entities of civilizations (no religious entity which was not a "child" of a civ entity has been found so far), also have variable positions - the other religious entities have no positions at all.
If a religious entity rules a site (always monastery?), then the only variable position (of that entity) seems to be the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and the name of the position seems to be always "abbot".
Otherwise the variable positions PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created for that religious entity, where any such entity, if it has a position, will always have the PRIEST as position. Afterwards, the position HIGH_PRIEST can be created and at last - after the HIGH_PRIEST was created - the HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created. The names of these position are randomly created (more about the name generation is currently out-of-scope, ie. why a PRIEST might be called "sacred squid", "holy burial", "sacred rumor", "holy lemon" or "sacred paper" is out-of-scope at least for this wiki article). No temple is needed in an associated site for a religious entity (not ruling from a monastery) to create a priest, high priest or highest priest position.

Note that there is no historical event that mentions the creation of a PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST or HIGHEST_PRIEST position.

An overview on the positions of religious entities is given in the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name prefix!!name!!appointment type5!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!missing common flags1!!additional flags2

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER3
|
|abbot
|heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|100
|3
|2
|1
|is_diplomat
|all

|-
!PRIEST
|holy or sacred
|random4
|elected
|religion
|200
|0
|0
| -1
|none
|no

|-
!HIGH_PRIEST
|high, first or exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|50
|3
|2
| -1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|-
!HIGHEST_PRIEST
|absolute or most sacred/high/exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|1
|5
|3
|1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|}

Notes:
1): The common flags are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, is_leader, is_diplomat, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req. So if one of the flags is mentioned in a column, then the position does not have that flag.

2): The additional flags (in this case) are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, kill_quest, exported_in_legends, account_exempt, quest_giver, special_burial.

3): Is always the only position for that religious entity. And so far any such entity, which was found, always governed/ruled a monastery.

4): The name is one of the possible "name prefixes" for the position written before a completely random word, which may or may not depend on the religious spheres/domains worshipped by that religion.

5): The appointment/succession type is actually determined by flags, ie. elected and succession_by_heir. One of the flags is also true for these positions (but not explicitly mentioned in the common/additional flags).

Additional notes: The PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST have a variable color entry, but the color-flag (of the position entry) is false, so it is unclear whether currently the color entry has any effect.

== Mercenary Groups ==
All mercenary entities will have at least one position (the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER), this position is created with the creation of the group (and the creation of the entity is marked - in the history/legends - with the filling of the leader position). The only other possible position is the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER and the creation of the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER is mentioned as a historical event (and is always created "as a matter of course").

Basic information about both positions are found in the table below (and the explanations below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!! imp. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER
|usually "warlord", "leader", "general" or "overlord" but very unusual names are possible (see below table)
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER
|treasurer
|elected
|trade and accounting
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes: 1): The imp. flags are flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, punishment_exemption, kill_quest and quest giver.

Both positions also have the is_leader flag and the following flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.

For the mercenary leader also illustrious names such as lord twinkle, lord duty, lord savant, maze commander or secret commander can be created. In these cases the name seems to be generated by either adding a random word after the word lord or adding a random word before commander. Note that mercenary groups can bestow honors on either their members or their leaders and in case of leader only honors it might be that, instead of the leader name, the name of the currently highest bestowed honor (on the leader) is used.

== Guilds ==
All guilds will always have all four of the variable positions mentioned in this section. Note that "merchant guilds" are merchant companies and an entirely separate entity.

The following table gives an overview of the four guild positions.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!precedence!!demands!!mandates!!number!!add. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_LEADER
|dean/doyen
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|elected
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_ALDERPERSON
|alderperson
|meet workers, manage production
|elected
|150
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_STEWARD
|steward or treasurer
|trade
|elected
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_CLERK
|clerk, bookkeeper, recordkeeper
|accounting
|elected
|170
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes:
1): The additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill; chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, account_exempt, rules_from_location, punishment_exemption and quest_giver.

All positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_positions.

== Merchant Companies ==
Every merchant company will have a leader (CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER). Furthermore a merchant company can have a CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR, to which an unlimited number of history figures can be assigned to (ie. a company can have multiple governors, but the number of current governors is always the same as the number of counting houses - branches - in non-headquarters sites). Also note that there is no history event, which mentions the creation of a position for a merchant company, still the CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR position is only created with creation of the first branch of a company (and branch creation - purchase of a counting house or building of a new counting house - and filling of custom company factor position are always at exactly the same time according to the corresponding historical events).

An overview of both positions is given by the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!additional flag

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER
|master or head
|elected or succession by heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military goals, military strategy
|50
|2
|1
|1
|is_law_maker

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR
|agent, factor, administrator or governor
|appointed by company leader
|trade and accounting
|200
|1
|0
| -1
|none

|}

Both positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver and has_met_market_req.

Also note that in contrast to many other variable positions (of different entities) for the CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER both an election based appointment (or succession) and an succesion by heir is possible, but each merchant company will only have an elected leader or a leader (with inheritance).

Variable positions

2026-03-27T18:18:12Z

Silverwing235: /* Tokens */

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{Modding}}
'''Variable positions''' are lesser [[noble|nobility]] titles that can be created by entity leaders after initial world generation.
In vanilla, this is the case for [[human]] and [[goblin]] [[Civilization|civilizations]], but also for merchants' companies, guilds, [[mercenary|mercenary groups]], [[Religion|religious groups]] and [[Criminal|criminal]]s.

== Tokens ==
The tokens that manage the creation of positions are {{token|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|entity}} and {{token|VARIABLE_POSITIONS|entity}}.

SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS allows for the creation of lords, hearthpersons, and [[boss]]es, while VARIABLE_POSITIONS allows the creation of Law-makers.

== General Info ==
Initially, none of the positions marked as variable exist for an entity. The positions will only exist for a given entity, if they are either created during world-gen, world activities(?) or by memory hacking or scripting (ie. with Lua). Ie. in vanilla, all human civilizations have at the beginning of the world-generation no positions at all, neither on the site nor civ-level, as all positions of the vanilla human civs are marked as variable (variable positions: all). When a variable (civ level) position is created, the position is only created for that civilization (entity) and not for any other entities of the same type. Ie. the creation of a law-giver for one human civ does not create law-givers for other human civs. Also presumably all site-level positions for each entity are created on a per site basis, meaning the creation of a site ruler for one site (of a civ) does not also create the site ruler positions for any other site of that civ.

The existence of a variable position does not mean that the position will also be filled by a historical figure, but during world-gen the creation of a position will usually be followed up with the position being filled. Ie. the human historical figure who forced the creation of a law-giver position, will usually become the first law-giver.

For the succession rules of a variable position (after the position has been initially filled by a historical figure), presumably, the same rules as for non-variable positions apply.

(Disclaimer: The following only applies during world-gen and normal world activities. Scripting and memory hacking can circumvent the normal limitations, but with currently unknown results).

For civ level entities, if the law-giving position is a variable position, the law-giving position does not (seem to) have any further requirements to be created (ie. no other position being already created). Ie. this position can be created by force (or popular support etc.) by any historical figure of that civ. But for all other variable (civ-level) positions the law-giving position must exist as usually the historical figure, who is the law-giver, does create the other variable positions (for various reason).

Something similar is probably the case for site level positions. Ie. if the ruler of a site is a variable position, that position needs to be created, before any other site-level variable positions can be created. And the site ruler can afterwards create other variable positions for that site. It is not yet clear if a site level ruling position can be created before a civ level ruling (law-giving) position is created (or exists). This also means that it should be possible, via memory-hacking or scripting, to create (and fill) the variable site level positions (for a player site), at least after the civ level law-giving position has been created (and the law-giving position has been filled), so that a human player site gets the maximum possible human site level positions (with the normal appointment rules for the succession/reappointment of the positions), without having to edit the raw files (as outlined in the human civ page), prior to creating a world, to make the variable positions of human civilizations to "static" ones.

Presumably for guilds (Merchant Guild and others), mercenary groups, religious orders (and criminals) also a "leader" position needs to be created by a historical figure, before other variable positions for that entity can be created.

So far, no restrictions on allowed_class or allowed_creature have been found and also the rejected_creature and rejected_class entries are always empty. Squad_size is 0, except when a variable position (in the following sections) explicitly states otherwise (ie. squad size for CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 is 20). Also most other entries (of entity_position entry under "own") not mentioned in their section have standard values (ie. are empty). The best_appointment_precedence of all positions is 30001. Also the execution skill is always set to "-1" even for the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9, whose sole responsibility is executions.

Also, variable positions are usually only created (with the exception of if they replace another position), if the position will have at least one responsibility the already created (existing) positions for that entity does not have, regardless of whether there are any more prerequisites for a variable position to be created.

=== Sources ===
See spoiler-sections of those posts.
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=178697.msg8295235#msg8295235
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8084095#msg8084095
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8083631#msg8083631 (first answer)

== Civilizations ==
If all positions of a civ are variable, then the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible positions) can be created. After the creation (and filling) of the law-maker positions, the other variable positions (both CUSTOM_OFFICIALS_i and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALS_i, where i stands for a non-zero natural number) can be created in any order. These other positions are then always appointed by the law-maker of the civ. The law-maker position itself uses succession by heir.

In contrast to, for example, the positions of the dwarven civilizations, where the site nobility positions (eg. baron, duke) do get added to the own position list (vector) of the civilization, the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2) positions (of a site government) are not added to the own position list (at least for civs with all variable positions). The "own" positions list (of the civ entity) only exclusively contains the variable positions of the civ, which are all created by the civ, and no positions which are the "ruler" of a site (even if the variable site position was appointed by the law maker of the civ). Also the "site" positions list is empty (or at least no entries were found so far).

The CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position for goblins civs (in vanilla) are automatically created with the creation of the entity and there is no historical event which mentions the creation of that position. For the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER positions of the human civs, there is always a historical event which mentions the creation of that position, where the creation reason "As a matter of course" is not possible, all other reasons, which are "Collaboration", "Threats of Violence", "Force of Argument" and "Wave of popular support", are possible (and seem equally likely to be used).

The following table gives an overview over the different possible rulers of a human or goblin civilization.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!succession type!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!is diplomat!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals,
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|yes
|no

|}

Note that the ruler (law-giver or master) is not a diplomat, if and only if the ruler has the military strategy responsibility. Otherwise it seems totally random, whether a ruler (law-giver) is a diplomat or not (ie. for human civilizations the position creation reason and the civilization values do not play any role at all). Also note that the master of a goblin civilization does not have peace agreements as a responsibility.

The creation of all non-ruling positions, ie. CUSTOM_OFFICIALs, of a civ are mentioned in the history, where all CUSTOM_OFFICIALs and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALs will always be created "as a matter of course", only the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS and CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY positions can be created by any reason (including "as a matter of course").

The following table gives an overview of the possible non-ruling civ-level positions:

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name prefix!!Name5!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Flags11!!Flags22!!Color!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1
|yes3
|"keeper of the seal" / chancellor
|receive diplomats, make introductions and make topic agreements; optional: espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2
|yes3
|justiciar
|law enforcement, collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|yes
|treasurer
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|yes
|advisor/counselor
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|yes3
|chamberlain
|oversee leader household
|1
|0
|80
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|master of beasts
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|yes
|butler / cup-bearer
|manage leader household food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|yes
|doctor
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|yes
|executioner
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|yes
|chef
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|yes
|housekeeper
|manage leader household cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY
|no
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS4
|no
|war leader
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|no
|no
|}
: ''Note'':
:* 1) These are the standard official flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, has_met_pop_req, color, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* 2) These are the following additional flags: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver and special_burial.
:* 3): Name prefix can be empty.
:* 4) These would be the values for the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position, but on the civ-level that position is not created, as the military goals responsibility is already performed by the law-giver/master (and for the military strategy responsibility the CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY position is created instead). But a CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position would be created, if the civ leader would not have the military goals responsibility. The CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position is - in vanilla - only created for site governments and then only, if the site leader is the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.
:* 5): Name prefixes are: high, head, chief and royal.

In the above table the responsibility "espionage" of the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is optional. A civ needs to have a "cunning" value of at least 11 for the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 to have the responsibility, otherwise the official will not have the espionage responsibility, consequentially all CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 of goblin civs will have the espionage responsibility (as their default cunning value is 15). Only if the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is created with the "espionage" responsibility such officials can also be created for the site governments, where the leader of the site-government is not called "law-giver", (as all other responsibility are already performed by the standard custom site ruler). Also, the columns "human" and "goblin" dictate whether human and/or goblin civilizations can have the positions.

== Site Governments ==
If all positions of a civ (and with that of a site government) are variable, then a leader position for the site government needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible variable positions) can be created. The created position is usually the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, but other positions have been found, ie. CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER and FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.

Note that if a site is taken over during a war, then a new leader can be created directly with the formation of a new site government (even if the all site positions of the new owning civ are variable and the old site government did not have any leaders), in such cases the new leader position is either a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR or - rarer - a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (only found, if the site taken over was a Town and both the defending and attacking civilization was human).

Note that human and goblin civilizations can also create further site positions, if the current site leader is the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER (both) or FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR (only encountered/found in case of humans). All other races (eg. dwarves and elves) cannot.

Also a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER can be created for a site government (of a human civilization) before a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER for the civilization has been created.

Also note that not all site government entities need to be a child of a civilization entity, if they are not, then the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is used as a site-ruler (regardless of race, ie. even dwarven and the rare elven site government without connection to a civ will use the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER as initial ruler/leader). Ie. a Necromancer founding a tower will generate a site government (or site entity), which does not have any parent entity, and does function as a civ entity for any of its child entities (and will use the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER as ruler). But such Necromancer entities are not the only site entities without a parent civ (which can have positions), ie. some (all?) groups construction forts (and where the creation of the entity coincides with the construction of the fort) will also not have a parent civ (and use the entity type site).

The following table gives an overview of the possible leader positions:

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!Responsibilities!!squad8 size!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!goblin!!human!!elf!!dwarf!!flags!!appointment type

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER1
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|2
|1
|55 or 10 (rare)
|yes
|yes
|yes
|yes
|standard bandit leader
|elected

|-
!FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR
|administrator
|law making, receive diplomats, meet workers, make topic agreements
|0
|3
|2
|100
|yes
|yes
|yes
|yes2
|forced admin
|none3

|-
!FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR4
|administrator
|law making, receive diplomats, meet workers, make topic agreements
|0
|3
|2
|65
|no
|no
|no
|yes
|dwarf forced admin
|none3

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER5
|law-giver
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals; optional6: military strategy
|0
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|civ law-giver
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER6
|lord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|lord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|40
|yes
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|baron
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|41
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir; appointed by law-giver (civ)

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_27
|baron
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|35
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir; optional: appointed9

|}

: ''Notes'':
:* 1): Only leader position, if the entity (site-government) is not a child of a civilization, but can also appear, if the entity has a parent civ. Only site leader position of goblins, where other site positions will be created (both cases: with civ and without civ).
:* 2): 2 of the 53 forced administrator positions of dwarves (in a large 250 year history world-gen world with many civs) used this forced administrator (rather than the one defined in the raws). No site official positions found for goblins so far, if the leader was a forced administrator.
:* 3): The position has no appointed_by defined, nor any form of succession by position or heir. And the position is also not elected. So how and if a forced admin gets refilled, in case of death of the previous position holder, is unclear.
:* 4): This is the forced administrator as defined in the (vanilla) dwarf raws.
:* 5): Was created once in a large 250 year history world-gen world with many civs. The parent civ did not have a law-maker position created. But this definition is not always used, if the law-maker position of the parent civ has not been created. Also the site-entity was the original owner/creator of the site.
:* 6): This position can get created for a newly formed site-entity, if a site-entity has created the law-maker position and afterwards the site-entity gets conquered by another entity (of the same civ) and at the time of conquest no law-giver was created (yet) for the civ.
:* 7: Can be created (and replaces the former site ruler), if the ruler (of a human site entity) was either a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR or a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER with the name "lord".
:* 8): If the squad size is greater than zero, then the squad members are called soldiers (CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER) or hearthpeople (otherwise).
:* 9): Always appointed by the law-giver of the civilization, if the previous site leader was a forced administrator. Otherwise the appointed_by (and appointed_by_civ) definition is either empty or set to the law-giver of the civ, eg. a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2, which replaces a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, can be appointed (in which case appointed by the law-giver of the civ) or not be appointed at all.
:* "by heir" in the appointment type definition entry means, that the succession is by heir. If nothing else is mentioned in the table cell, then the position did get filled immediately upon creation of the position and the first position holder was not appointed by the civ-leader, otherwise the first position holder was appointed by the civ-leader.
:* "standard bandit leader" entry in "flags" table cell means the same flags as the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER of bandit groups are set.
:* "forced admin" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, is_diplomat, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, sleep_pretension, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, special_burial.
:* "dwarf forced admin" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, is_diplomat, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, menial_work_exemption, sleep_pretension, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, special_burial.
:* "standard leader" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, special_burial.
:* "civ law-giver" entry in "flags" table cell means that the flags of the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (civ level) are set, where the is_diplomat flag is only set, if (and only if) the law-giver does not have the military strategy responsibility. Also in this case the is_diplomat flag is only set, if the "law-giver" (of the site entity) does not have the military strategy responsibility.
:* Remark to forced administrator: The only differences between the forced administrator (only usable by the dwarves and defined in the raws) and the other forced administrator are, that the forced administrator of the dwarves is not a quest giver, does not rule from a location and has a different precedence.
:* The color of all leaders is the standard noble color (5,0,1), except for the forced administrators, who uses a different color entry (5,0,0).

If a leader does exist for a site entity, other variable positions can be created for that entity. In rare cases a variable official (or market official) position can even be created, if the requirements are not met (at least one of the flags has_met_pop_req and has_met_market_req is false for the position entry).

The following table gives an overview of the non-ruler variable positions of a site government.

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name prefix1!!Name!!Name suffix2!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Color!!human!!goblin!!add. flags3

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1
|no
|sewer
|always
|maintain sewers
|0
|0
|500
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_2
|no
|grain / harvest
|always
|food supply
|1
|0
|450
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_3
|no
|fire
|always
|fire safety
|0
|0
|475
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_4
|no
|judge / magistrate / justice
|no
|judge
|1
|0
|350
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_5
|no
|building
|always
|construction permits, building safety
|1
|0
|460
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|road
|always
|maintain roads, bridges and tunnels
|1
|0
|375
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_16,7,8
|optional
|"keeper of the seal" / chancellor
|no
|espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_27,9
|optional
|justiciar
|no
|collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|always
|treasurer
|no
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|always
|advisor / counselor
|no
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|optional
|chamberlain
|no
|oversee leader household
|1
|0
|80
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|master of beasts
|no
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|always
|butler / cup-bearer
|no
|manage leader household food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|always
|doctor
|no
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|always
|executioner
|no
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|always
|chef
|no
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|always
|housekeeper
|no
|manage leader household cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY4
|no
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|no
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS5
|no
|war leader
|no
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|yes

|}

: ''Notes'':
:* 1): The possible name prefixes are "chief", "head" and "high" (always) and also "royal", if the site leader has the name "law-giver". The name prefix can be empty, if the cell entry is "optional". A name prefix will always be present, if the cell entry is "always".
:* 2): The possible name suffixes are "administrator", "caretaker", "commissioner", "master" and "official". A name suffix will always be present, if the cell entry is "always".
:* 3): The additional flags are: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver and special_burial.
:* 4): Only ever created, if the first site leader was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR. Can even be created, if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2.
:* 5): Only created, either after the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was created and the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was not created with the military strategy responsibility or if the leader has the name law-giver (and does not have the military strategy responsibility). Can even be created, if the first site leader was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, who has already been replaced by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2.
:* 6): If the leader name is not law-giver (and the first site leader was not a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR), then a CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 has the espionage responsibility. All CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 of a civ (regardless of whether the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 belongs to a site government or the civ government) will either have the espionage responsibility or do not have the espionage responsibility.
:* 7): If the leader has the name law-giver then this official position has the responsibilities (and also optional resp.) as given in the civ table for the official position and not the responsibilities as in this table. Ie. that is the only case where a CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 can be created for a site government without the espionage responsibility.
:* 8): The CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 has always the responsibility make introductions, if the first site leader/ruler was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, even if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced (by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2).
:* 9): The CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2 has always the responsibility law enforcement, if the first site leader/ruler was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, even if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced (by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2).
:* In the above table the columns "human" and "goblin" donate, whether a site government of a human civilization or of a goblin civilization can have that position (or at least, if the position was encountered so far). Note so far only goblin site governments with a CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER did have further positions created.
:* All CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALs created during world-gen seem to have an already constructed market present (and thus are not created for site governments ruling over a Hamlet or a Dark Pit as Hamlets and Dark Pits cannot have a market, but need to be a Town or Dark Fortress). Additionally the CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1 needs an already constructed sewer (which seems to be only created, after both a market and a keep are constructed). Also note that sewers are only constructed in towns (in contrast to ie. markets, which can also be found/constructed in other site types like Dark Fortresses, Fortresses, Hillocks, Caves and Forest Retreats).
:* In addition to the above table the "best_appointment_precedence" is 30001. Also the following flags are set (true) for all officials, regardless, of whether belonging to a human or goblin site government: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, color, menial_work_exemption and has_received_positions.
:* All of the positions are appointed by the current ruler of the site (ie. CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR), except the CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY position will be appointed by the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position, if the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was created prior and the current ruler of the site government is a forced administrator.

Additionally the position entry usually has the flag active set and the flag is_replaced is false, otherwise the position would no longer be active (and might have been replaced).

== Bandits ==
Bandits use the entity types 4 and 7, which are nomadic groups (type 4) and outcasts (type 7). It must also be noted that some CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER positions are used by site governments (typically goblin site governments) both with and without a parent civilization (site government is not a child of an entity of type 0). The creation of CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER and CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR positions is never mentioned as a historical event, but the creation of CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT is (and is always created "as a matter of course").

The following table gives an overview over the possible variable positions used by bandits (some further info on bandit leaders is below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!squad size!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!add. flags1!!rules from location!!entity type

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|20
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic, outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER2
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|20
|2
|1
|10
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT3
|lieutenant
|appointed by bandit leader
|patrol territory, attack enemies
|0
|1
|0
|160
| -1
|no
|no
|outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR
|representative
|appointed by bandit leader
|trade and accounting
|0
|1
|0
|70
| -1
|yes (except is_law_maker)
|yes
|outcast

|}
: ''Notes'':
:* 1): Additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt and quest_giver
:* 2): Only difference to the other CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is the increased precedence of 10, encountered in 11 of 148 bandit leaders (148 of 175 nomadic groups had leaders). The reason is of yet unknown, except that the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is also used by the goblin civilization (and some site governments, without an entity link to a parent civ, had a nomadic group with a custom bandit leader as a child entity).
:* 3: Currently only up-to one CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT will be created for Outcast groups, despite allowing for an unlimited number. The possible reason for one getting created at all is that an assignment definition is automatically created with the creation of the position itself (while ie. for Ranger Captain, Militia Captain etc. there is currently never an assignment created, as they are neither land-holders nor is their number tied to a location or site).
:* Further note the common flags of these positions are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* The entity type in the above table refers to the (as displayed by dfhack's gm-editor, when viewing an entity).

Additionally the bandit leader (CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER) always has a squad size of 20 and the squad members are referred to as "bandits".

== Religious Entities ==
Some religious entities, which are considered "child"-entities of civilizations (no religious entity which was not a "child" of a civ entity has been found so far), also have variable positions - the other religious entities have no positions at all.
If a religious entity rules a site (always monastery?), then the only variable position (of that entity) seems to be the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and the name of the position seems to be always "abbot".
Otherwise the variable positions PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created for that religious entity, where any such entity, if it has a position, will always have the PRIEST as position. Afterwards, the position HIGH_PRIEST can be created and at last - after the HIGH_PRIEST was created - the HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created. The names of these position are randomly created (more about the name generation is currently out-of-scope, ie. why a PRIEST might be called "sacred squid", "holy burial", "sacred rumor", "holy lemon" or "sacred paper" is out-of-scope at least for this wiki article). No temple is needed in an associated site for a religious entity (not ruling from a monastery) to create a priest, high priest or highest priest position.

Note that there is no historical event that mentions the creation of a PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST or HIGHEST_PRIEST position.

An overview on the positions of religious entities is given in the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name prefix!!name!!appointment type5!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!missing common flags1!!additional flags2

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER3
|
|abbot
|heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|100
|3
|2
|1
|is_diplomat
|all

|-
!PRIEST
|holy or sacred
|random4
|elected
|religion
|200
|0
|0
| -1
|none
|no

|-
!HIGH_PRIEST
|high, first or exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|50
|3
|2
| -1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|-
!HIGHEST_PRIEST
|absolute or most sacred/high/exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|1
|5
|3
|1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|}

Notes:
1): The common flags are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, is_leader, is_diplomat, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req. So if one of the flags is mentioned in a column, then the position does not have that flag.

2): The additional flags (in this case) are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, kill_quest, exported_in_legends, account_exempt, quest_giver, special_burial.

3): Is always the only position for that religious entity. And so far any such entity, which was found, always governed/ruled a monastery.

4): The name is one of the possible "name prefixes" for the position written before a completely random word, which may or may not depend on the religious spheres/domains worshipped by that religion.

5): The appointment/succession type is actually determined by flags, ie. elected and succession_by_heir. One of the flags is also true for these positions (but not explicitly mentioned in the common/additional flags).

Additional notes: The PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST have a variable color entry, but the color-flag (of the position entry) is false, so it is unclear whether currently the color entry has any effect.

== Mercenary Groups ==
All mercenary entities will have at least one position (the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER), this position is created with the creation of the group (and the creation of the entity is marked - in the history/legends - with the filling of the leader position). The only other possible position is the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER and the creation of the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER is mentioned as a historical event (and is always created "as a matter of course").

Basic information about both positions are found in the table below (and the explanations below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!! imp. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER
|usually "warlord", "leader", "general" or "overlord" but very unusual names are possible (see below table)
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER
|treasurer
|elected
|trade and accounting
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes: 1): The imp. flags are flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, punishment_exemption, kill_quest and quest giver.

Both positions also have the is_leader flag and the following flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.

For the mercenary leader also illustrious names such as lord twinkle, lord duty, lord savant, maze commander or secret commander can be created. In these cases the name seems to be generated by either adding a random word after the word lord or adding a random word before commander. Note that mercenary groups can bestow honors on either their members or their leaders and in case of leader only honors it might be that, instead of the leader name, the name of the currently highest bestowed honor (on the leader) is used.

== Guilds ==
All guilds will always have all four of the variable positions mentioned in this section. Note that "merchant guilds" are merchant companies and an entirely separate entity.

The following table gives an overview of the four guild positions.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!precedence!!demands!!mandates!!number!!add. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_LEADER
|dean/doyen
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|elected
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_ALDERPERSON
|alderperson
|meet workers, manage production
|elected
|150
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_STEWARD
|steward or treasurer
|trade
|elected
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_CLERK
|clerk, bookkeeper, recordkeeper
|accounting
|elected
|170
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes:
1): The additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill; chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, account_exempt, rules_from_location, punishment_exemption and quest_giver.

All positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_positions.

== Merchant Companies ==
Every merchant company will have a leader (CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER). Furthermore a merchant company can have a CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR, to which an unlimited number of history figures can be assigned to (ie. a company can have multiple governors, but the number of current governors is always the same as the number of counting houses - branches - in non-headquarters sites). Also note that there is no history event, which mentions the creation of a position for a merchant company, still the CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR position is only created with creation of the first branch of a company (and branch creation - purchase of a counting house or building of a new counting house - and filling of custom company factor position are always at exactly the same time according to the corresponding historical events).

An overview of both positions is given by the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!additional flag

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER
|master or head
|elected or succession by heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military goals, military strategy
|50
|2
|1
|1
|is_law_maker

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR
|agent, factor, administrator or governor
|appointed by company leader
|trade and accounting
|200
|1
|0
| -1
|none

|}

Both positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver and has_met_market_req.

Also note that in contrast to many other variable positions (of different entities) for the CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER both an election based appointment (or succession) and an succesion by heir is possible, but each merchant company will only have an elected leader or a leader (with inheritance).

Variable positions

2026-03-27T14:54:04Z

Silverwing235:

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{Modding}}
'''Variable positions''' are lesser [[noble|nobility]] titles that can be created by entity leaders after initial world generation.
In vanilla, this is the case for [[human]] and [[goblin]] [[Civilization|civilizations]], but also for merchants' companies, guilds, [[mercenary|mercenary groups]], [[Religion|religious groups]] and [[Criminal|criminal]]s.

== Tokens ==
The tokens that manage the creation of positions are {{token|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|entity}} and {{token|VARIABLE_POSITIONS|entity}}.

SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS allows for the creation of lords, hearthpersons, and [[boss]]es, and VARIABLE_POSITIONS allows creation of Law-makers.

== General Info ==
Initially, none of the positions marked as variable exist for an entity. The positions will only exist for a given entity, if they are either created during world-gen, world activities(?) or by memory hacking or scripting (ie. with Lua). Ie. in vanilla, all human civilizations have at the beginning of the world-generation no positions at all, neither on the site nor civ-level, as all positions of the vanilla human civs are marked as variable (variable positions: all). When a variable (civ level) position is created, the position is only created for that civilization (entity) and not for any other entities of the same type. Ie. the creation of a law-giver for one human civ does not create law-givers for other human civs. Also presumably all site-level positions for each entity are created on a per site basis, meaning the creation of a site ruler for one site (of a civ) does not also create the site ruler positions for any other site of that civ.

The existence of a variable position does not mean that the position will also be filled by a historical figure, but during world-gen the creation of a position will usually be followed up with the position being filled. Ie. the human historical figure who forced the creation of a law-giver position, will usually become the first law-giver.

For the succession rules of a variable position (after the position has been initially filled by a historical figure), presumably, the same rules as for non-variable positions apply.

(Disclaimer: The following only applies during world-gen and normal world activities. Scripting and memory hacking can circumvent the normal limitations, but with currently unknown results).

For civ level entities, if the law-giving position is a variable position, the law-giving position does not (seem to) have any further requirements to be created (ie. no other position being already created). Ie. this position can be created by force (or popular support etc.) by any historical figure of that civ. But for all other variable (civ-level) positions the law-giving position must exist as usually the historical figure, who is the law-giver, does create the other variable positions (for various reason).

Something similar is probably the case for site level positions. Ie. if the ruler of a site is a variable position, that position needs to be created, before any other site-level variable positions can be created. And the site ruler can afterwards create other variable positions for that site. It is not yet clear if a site level ruling position can be created before a civ level ruling (law-giving) position is created (or exists). This also means that it should be possible, via memory-hacking or scripting, to create (and fill) the variable site level positions (for a player site), at least after the civ level law-giving position has been created (and the law-giving position has been filled), so that a human player site gets the maximum possible human site level positions (with the normal appointment rules for the succession/reappointment of the positions), without having to edit the raw files (as outlined in the human civ page), prior to creating a world, to make the variable positions of human civilizations to "static" ones.

Presumably for guilds (Merchant Guild and others), mercenary groups, religious orders (and criminals) also a "leader" position needs to be created by a historical figure, before other variable positions for that entity can be created.

So far, no restrictions on allowed_class or allowed_creature have been found and also the rejected_creature and rejected_class entries are always empty. Squad_size is 0, except when a variable position (in the following sections) explicitly states otherwise (ie. squad size for CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 is 20). Also most other entries (of entity_position entry under "own") not mentioned in their section have standard values (ie. are empty). The best_appointment_precedence of all positions is 30001. Also the execution skill is always set to "-1" even for the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9, whose sole responsibility is executions.

Also, variable positions are usually only created (with the exception of if they replace another position), if the position will have at least one responsibility the already created (existing) positions for that entity does not have, regardless of whether there are any more prerequisites for a variable position to be created.

=== Sources ===
See spoiler-sections of those posts.
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=178697.msg8295235#msg8295235
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8084095#msg8084095
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8083631#msg8083631 (first answer)

== Civilizations ==
If all positions of a civ are variable, then the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible positions) can be created. After the creation (and filling) of the law-maker positions, the other variable positions (both CUSTOM_OFFICIALS_i and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALS_i, where i stands for a non-zero natural number) can be created in any order. These other positions are then always appointed by the law-maker of the civ. The law-maker position itself uses succession by heir.

In contrast to, for example, the positions of the dwarven civilizations, where the site nobility positions (eg. baron, duke) do get added to the own position list (vector) of the civilization, the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2) positions (of a site government) are not added to the own position list (at least for civs with all variable positions). The "own" positions list (of the civ entity) only exclusively contains the variable positions of the civ, which are all created by the civ, and no positions which are the "ruler" of a site (even if the variable site position was appointed by the law maker of the civ). Also the "site" positions list is empty (or at least no entries were found so far).

The CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position for goblins civs (in vanilla) are automatically created with the creation of the entity and there is no historical event which mentions the creation of that position. For the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER positions of the human civs, there is always a historical event which mentions the creation of that position, where the creation reason "As a matter of course" is not possible, all other reasons, which are "Collaboration", "Threats of Violence", "Force of Argument" and "Wave of popular support", are possible (and seem equally likely to be used).

The following table gives an overview over the different possible rulers of a human or goblin civilization.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!succession type!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!is diplomat!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals,
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|yes
|no

|}

Note that the ruler (law-giver or master) is not a diplomat, if and only if the ruler has the military strategy responsibility. Otherwise it seems totally random, whether a ruler (law-giver) is a diplomat or not (ie. for human civilizations the position creation reason and the civilization values do not play any role at all). Also note that the master of a goblin civilization does not have peace agreements as a responsibility.

The creation of all non-ruling positions, ie. CUSTOM_OFFICIALs, of a civ are mentioned in the history, where all CUSTOM_OFFICIALs and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALs will always be created "as a matter of course", only the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS and CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY positions can be created by any reason (including "as a matter of course").

The following table gives an overview of the possible non-ruling civ-level positions:

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name prefix!!Name5!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Flags11!!Flags22!!Color!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1
|yes3
|"keeper of the seal" / chancellor
|receive diplomats, make introductions and make topic agreements; optional: espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2
|yes3
|justiciar
|law enforcement, collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|yes
|treasurer
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|yes
|advisor/counselor
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|yes3
|chamberlain
|oversee leader household
|1
|0
|80
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|master of beasts
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|yes
|butler / cup-bearer
|manage leader household food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|yes
|doctor
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|yes
|executioner
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|yes
|chef
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|yes
|housekeeper
|manage leader household cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY
|no
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS4
|no
|war leader
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|no
|no
|}
: ''Note'':
:* 1) These are the standard official flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, has_met_pop_req, color, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* 2) These are the following additional flags: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver and special_burial.
:* 3): Name prefix can be empty.
:* 4) These would be the values for the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position, but on the civ-level that position is not created, as the military goals responsibility is already performed by the law-giver/master (and for the military strategy responsibility the CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY position is created instead). But a CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position would be created, if the civ leader would not have the military goals responsibility. The CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position is - in vanilla - only created for site governments and then only, if the site leader is the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.
:* 5): Name prefixes are: high, head, chief and royal.

In the above table the responsibility "espionage" of the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is optional. A civ needs to have a "cunning" value of at least 11 for the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 to have the responsibility, otherwise the official will not have the espionage responsibility, consequentially all CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 of goblin civs will have the espionage responsibility (as their default cunning value is 15). Only if the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is created with the "espionage" responsibility such officials can also be created for the site governments, where the leader of the site-government is not called "law-giver", (as all other responsibility are already performed by the standard custom site ruler). Also, the columns "human" and "goblin" dictate whether human and/or goblin civilizations can have the positions.

== Site Governments ==
If all positions of a civ (and with that of a site government) are variable, then a leader position for the site government needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible variable positions) can be created. The created position is usually the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, but other positions have been found, ie. CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER and FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.

Note that if a site is taken over during a war, then a new leader can be created directly with the formation of a new site government (even if the all site positions of the new owning civ are variable and the old site government did not have any leaders), in such cases the new leader position is either a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR or - rarer - a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (only found, if the site taken over was a Town and both the defending and attacking civilization was human).

Note that human and goblin civilizations can also create further site positions, if the current site leader is the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER (both) or FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR (only encountered/found in case of humans). All other races (eg. dwarves and elves) cannot.

Also a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER can be created for a site government (of a human civilization) before a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER for the civilization has been created.

Also note that not all site government entities need to be a child of a civilization entity, if they are not, then the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is used as a site-ruler (regardless of race, ie. even dwarven and the rare elven site government without connection to a civ will use the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER as initial ruler/leader). Ie. a Necromancer founding a tower will generate a site government (or site entity), which does not have any parent entity, and does function as a civ entity for any of its child entities (and will use the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER as ruler). But such Necromancer entities are not the only site entities without a parent civ (which can have positions), ie. some (all?) groups construction forts (and where the creation of the entity coincides with the construction of the fort) will also not have a parent civ (and use the entity type site).

The following table gives an overview of the possible leader positions:

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!Responsibilities!!squad8 size!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!goblin!!human!!elf!!dwarf!!flags!!appointment type

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER1
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|2
|1
|55 or 10 (rare)
|yes
|yes
|yes
|yes
|standard bandit leader
|elected

|-
!FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR
|administrator
|law making, receive diplomats, meet workers, make topic agreements
|0
|3
|2
|100
|yes
|yes
|yes
|yes2
|forced admin
|none3

|-
!FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR4
|administrator
|law making, receive diplomats, meet workers, make topic agreements
|0
|3
|2
|65
|no
|no
|no
|yes
|dwarf forced admin
|none3

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER5
|law-giver
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals; optional6: military strategy
|0
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|civ law-giver
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER6
|lord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|lord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|40
|yes
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|baron
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|41
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir; appointed by law-giver (civ)

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_27
|baron
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|35
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir; optional: appointed9

|}

: ''Notes'':
:* 1): Only leader position, if the entity (site-government) is not a child of a civilization, but can also appear, if the entity has a parent civ. Only site leader position of goblins, where other site positions will be created (both cases: with civ and without civ).
:* 2): 2 of the 53 forced administrator positions of dwarves (in a large 250 year history world-gen world with many civs) used this forced administrator (rather than the one defined in the raws). No site official positions found for goblins so far, if the leader was a forced administrator.
:* 3): The position has no appointed_by defined, nor any form of succession by position or heir. And the position is also not elected. So how and if a forced admin gets refilled, in case of death of the previous position holder, is unclear.
:* 4): This is the forced administrator as defined in the (vanilla) dwarf raws.
:* 5): Was created once in a large 250 year history world-gen world with many civs. The parent civ did not have a law-maker position created. But this definition is not always used, if the law-maker position of the parent civ has not been created. Also the site-entity was the original owner/creator of the site.
:* 6): This position can get created for a newly formed site-entity, if a site-entity has created the law-maker position and afterwards the site-entity gets conquered by another entity (of the same civ) and at the time of conquest no law-giver was created (yet) for the civ.
:* 7: Can be created (and replaces the former site ruler), if the ruler (of a human site entity) was either a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR or a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER with the name "lord".
:* 8): If the squad size is greater than zero, then the squad members are called soldiers (CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER) or hearthpeople (otherwise).
:* 9): Always appointed by the law-giver of the civilization, if the previous site leader was a forced administrator. Otherwise the appointed_by (and appointed_by_civ) definition is either empty or set to the law-giver of the civ, eg. a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2, which replaces a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, can be appointed (in which case appointed by the law-giver of the civ) or not be appointed at all.
:* "by heir" in the appointment type definition entry means, that the succession is by heir. If nothing else is mentioned in the table cell, then the position did get filled immediately upon creation of the position and the first position holder was not appointed by the civ-leader, otherwise the first position holder was appointed by the civ-leader.
:* "standard bandit leader" entry in "flags" table cell means the same flags as the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER of bandit groups are set.
:* "forced admin" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, is_diplomat, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, sleep_pretension, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, special_burial.
:* "dwarf forced admin" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, is_diplomat, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, menial_work_exemption, sleep_pretension, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, special_burial.
:* "standard leader" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, special_burial.
:* "civ law-giver" entry in "flags" table cell means that the flags of the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (civ level) are set, where the is_diplomat flag is only set, if (and only if) the law-giver does not have the military strategy responsibility. Also in this case the is_diplomat flag is only set, if the "law-giver" (of the site entity) does not have the military strategy responsibility.
:* Remark to forced administrator: The only differences between the forced administrator (only usable by the dwarves and defined in the raws) and the other forced administrator are, that the forced administrator of the dwarves is not a quest giver, does not rule from a location and has a different precedence.
:* The color of all leaders is the standard noble color (5,0,1), except for the forced administrators, who uses a different color entry (5,0,0).

If a leader does exist for a site entity, other variable positions can be created for that entity. In rare cases a variable official (or market official) position can even be created, if the requirements are not met (at least one of the flags has_met_pop_req and has_met_market_req is false for the position entry).

The following table gives an overview of the non-ruler variable positions of a site government.

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name prefix1!!Name!!Name suffix2!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Color!!human!!goblin!!add. flags3

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1
|no
|sewer
|always
|maintain sewers
|0
|0
|500
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_2
|no
|grain / harvest
|always
|food supply
|1
|0
|450
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_3
|no
|fire
|always
|fire safety
|0
|0
|475
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_4
|no
|judge / magistrate / justice
|no
|judge
|1
|0
|350
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_5
|no
|building
|always
|construction permits, building safety
|1
|0
|460
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|road
|always
|maintain roads, bridges and tunnels
|1
|0
|375
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_16,7,8
|optional
|"keeper of the seal" / chancellor
|no
|espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_27,9
|optional
|justiciar
|no
|collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|always
|treasurer
|no
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|always
|advisor / counselor
|no
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|optional
|chamberlain
|no
|oversee leader household
|1
|0
|80
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|master of beasts
|no
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|always
|butler / cup-bearer
|no
|manage leader household food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|always
|doctor
|no
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|always
|executioner
|no
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|always
|chef
|no
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|always
|housekeeper
|no
|manage leader household cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY4
|no
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|no
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS5
|no
|war leader
|no
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|yes

|}

: ''Notes'':
:* 1): The possible name prefixes are "chief", "head" and "high" (always) and also "royal", if the site leader has the name "law-giver". The name prefix can be empty, if the cell entry is "optional". A name prefix will always be present, if the cell entry is "always".
:* 2): The possible name suffixes are "administrator", "caretaker", "commissioner", "master" and "official". A name suffix will always be present, if the cell entry is "always".
:* 3): The additional flags are: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver and special_burial.
:* 4): Only ever created, if the first site leader was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR. Can even be created, if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2.
:* 5): Only created, either after the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was created and the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was not created with the military strategy responsibility or if the leader has the name law-giver (and does not have the military strategy responsibility). Can even be created, if the first site leader was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, who has already been replaced by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2.
:* 6): If the leader name is not law-giver (and the first site leader was not a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR), then a CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 has the espionage responsibility. All CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 of a civ (regardless of whether the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 belongs to a site government or the civ government) will either have the espionage responsibility or do not have the espionage responsibility.
:* 7): If the leader has the name law-giver then this official position has the responsibilities (and also optional resp.) as given in the civ table for the official position and not the responsibilities as in this table. Ie. that is the only case where a CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 can be created for a site government without the espionage responsibility.
:* 8): The CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 has always the responsibility make introductions, if the first site leader/ruler was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, even if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced (by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2).
:* 9): The CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2 has always the responsibility law enforcement, if the first site leader/ruler was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, even if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced (by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2).
:* In the above table the columns "human" and "goblin" donate, whether a site government of a human civilization or of a goblin civilization can have that position (or at least, if the position was encountered so far). Note so far only goblin site governments with a CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER did have further positions created.
:* All CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALs created during world-gen seem to have an already constructed market present (and thus are not created for site governments ruling over a Hamlet or a Dark Pit as Hamlets and Dark Pits cannot have a market, but need to be a Town or Dark Fortress). Additionally the CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1 needs an already constructed sewer (which seems to be only created, after both a market and a keep are constructed). Also note that sewers are only constructed in towns (in contrast to ie. markets, which can also be found/constructed in other site types like Dark Fortresses, Fortresses, Hillocks, Caves and Forest Retreats).
:* In addition to the above table the "best_appointment_precedence" is 30001. Also the following flags are set (true) for all officials, regardless, of whether belonging to a human or goblin site government: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, color, menial_work_exemption and has_received_positions.
:* All of the positions are appointed by the current ruler of the site (ie. CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR), except the CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY position will be appointed by the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position, if the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was created prior and the current ruler of the site government is a forced administrator.

Additionally the position entry usually has the flag active set and the flag is_replaced is false, otherwise the position would no longer be active (and might have been replaced).

== Bandits ==
Bandits use the entity types 4 and 7, which are nomadic groups (type 4) and outcasts (type 7). It must also be noted that some CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER positions are used by site governments (typically goblin site governments) both with and without a parent civilization (site government is not a child of an entity of type 0). The creation of CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER and CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR positions is never mentioned as a historical event, but the creation of CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT is (and is always created "as a matter of course").

The following table gives an overview over the possible variable positions used by bandits (some further info on bandit leaders is below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!squad size!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!add. flags1!!rules from location!!entity type

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|20
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic, outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER2
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|20
|2
|1
|10
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT3
|lieutenant
|appointed by bandit leader
|patrol territory, attack enemies
|0
|1
|0
|160
| -1
|no
|no
|outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR
|representative
|appointed by bandit leader
|trade and accounting
|0
|1
|0
|70
| -1
|yes (except is_law_maker)
|yes
|outcast

|}
: ''Notes'':
:* 1): Additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt and quest_giver
:* 2): Only difference to the other CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is the increased precedence of 10, encountered in 11 of 148 bandit leaders (148 of 175 nomadic groups had leaders). The reason is of yet unknown, except that the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is also used by the goblin civilization (and some site governments, without an entity link to a parent civ, had a nomadic group with a custom bandit leader as a child entity).
:* 3: Currently only up-to one CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT will be created for Outcast groups, despite allowing for an unlimited number. The possible reason for one getting created at all is that an assignment definition is automatically created with the creation of the position itself (while ie. for Ranger Captain, Militia Captain etc. there is currently never an assignment created, as they are neither land-holders nor is their number tied to a location or site).
:* Further note the common flags of these positions are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* The entity type in the above table refers to the (as displayed by dfhack's gm-editor, when viewing an entity).

Additionally the bandit leader (CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER) always has a squad size of 20 and the squad members are referred to as "bandits".

== Religious Entities ==
Some religious entities, which are considered "child"-entities of civilizations (no religious entity which was not a "child" of a civ entity has been found so far), also have variable positions - the other religious entities have no positions at all.
If a religious entity rules a site (always monastery?), then the only variable position (of that entity) seems to be the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and the name of the position seems to be always "abbot".
Otherwise the variable positions PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created for that religious entity, where any such entity, if it has a position, will always have the PRIEST as position. Afterwards, the position HIGH_PRIEST can be created and at last - after the HIGH_PRIEST was created - the HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created. The names of these position are randomly created (more about the name generation is currently out-of-scope, ie. why a PRIEST might be called "sacred squid", "holy burial", "sacred rumor", "holy lemon" or "sacred paper" is out-of-scope at least for this wiki article). No temple is needed in an associated site for a religious entity (not ruling from a monastery) to create a priest, high priest or highest priest position.

Note that there is no historical event that mentions the creation of a PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST or HIGHEST_PRIEST position.

An overview on the positions of religious entities is given in the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name prefix!!name!!appointment type5!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!missing common flags1!!additional flags2

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER3
|
|abbot
|heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|100
|3
|2
|1
|is_diplomat
|all

|-
!PRIEST
|holy or sacred
|random4
|elected
|religion
|200
|0
|0
| -1
|none
|no

|-
!HIGH_PRIEST
|high, first or exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|50
|3
|2
| -1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|-
!HIGHEST_PRIEST
|absolute or most sacred/high/exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|1
|5
|3
|1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|}

Notes:
1): The common flags are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, is_leader, is_diplomat, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req. So if one of the flags is mentioned in a column, then the position does not have that flag.

2): The additional flags (in this case) are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, kill_quest, exported_in_legends, account_exempt, quest_giver, special_burial.

3): Is always the only position for that religious entity. And so far any such entity, which was found, always governed/ruled a monastery.

4): The name is one of the possible "name prefixes" for the position written before a completely random word, which may or may not depend on the religious spheres/domains worshipped by that religion.

5): The appointment/succession type is actually determined by flags, ie. elected and succession_by_heir. One of the flags is also true for these positions (but not explicitly mentioned in the common/additional flags).

Additional notes: The PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST have a variable color entry, but the color-flag (of the position entry) is false, so it is unclear whether currently the color entry has any effect.

== Mercenary Groups ==
All mercenary entities will have at least one position (the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER), this position is created with the creation of the group (and the creation of the entity is marked - in the history/legends - with the filling of the leader position). The only other possible position is the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER and the creation of the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER is mentioned as a historical event (and is always created "as a matter of course").

Basic information about both positions are found in the table below (and the explanations below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!! imp. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER
|usually "warlord", "leader", "general" or "overlord" but very unusual names are possible (see below table)
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER
|treasurer
|elected
|trade and accounting
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes: 1): The imp. flags are flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, punishment_exemption, kill_quest and quest giver.

Both positions also have the is_leader flag and the following flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.

For the mercenary leader also illustrious names such as lord twinkle, lord duty, lord savant, maze commander or secret commander can be created. In these cases the name seems to be generated by either adding a random word after the word lord or adding a random word before commander. Note that mercenary groups can bestow honors on either their members or their leaders and in case of leader only honors it might be that, instead of the leader name, the name of the currently highest bestowed honor (on the leader) is used.

== Guilds ==
All guilds will always have all four of the variable positions mentioned in this section. Note that "merchant guilds" are merchant companies and an entirely separate entity.

The following table gives an overview of the four guild positions.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!precedence!!demands!!mandates!!number!!add. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_LEADER
|dean/doyen
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|elected
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_ALDERPERSON
|alderperson
|meet workers, manage production
|elected
|150
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_STEWARD
|steward or treasurer
|trade
|elected
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_CLERK
|clerk, bookkeeper, recordkeeper
|accounting
|elected
|170
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes:
1): The additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill; chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, account_exempt, rules_from_location, punishment_exemption and quest_giver.

All positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_positions.

== Merchant Companies ==
Every merchant company will have a leader (CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER). Furthermore a merchant company can have a CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR, to which an unlimited number of history figures can be assigned to (ie. a company can have multiple governors, but the number of current governors is always the same as the number of counting houses - branches - in non-headquarters sites). Also note that there is no history event, which mentions the creation of a position for a merchant company, still the CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR position is only created with creation of the first branch of a company (and branch creation - purchase of a counting house or building of a new counting house - and filling of custom company factor position are always at exactly the same time according to the corresponding historical events).

An overview of both positions is given by the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!additional flag

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER
|master or head
|elected or succession by heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military goals, military strategy
|50
|2
|1
|1
|is_law_maker

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR
|agent, factor, administrator or governor
|appointed by company leader
|trade and accounting
|200
|1
|0
| -1
|none

|}

Both positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver and has_met_market_req.

Also note that in contrast to many other variable positions (of different entities) for the CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER both an election based appointment (or succession) and an succesion by heir is possible, but each merchant company will only have an elected leader or a leader (with inheritance).

Variable positions

2026-03-27T11:58:17Z

Silverwing235: /* General Info */

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{Modding}}
'''Variable positions''' are lesser [[noble|nobility]] titles that can be created by entity leaders after initial world generation. In vanilla, this is the case for [[human]] and [[goblin]] [[Civilization|civilizations]], but also for merchants' companies, guilds, mercenary groups, [[Religion|religious groups]] and [[Criminal|criminal]]s.

== Tokens ==
The tokens that manage the creation of positions are {{token|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|entity}} and {{token|VARIABLE_POSITIONS|entity}}.

SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS allows for the creation of lords, hearthpersons, and [[boss]]es, and VARIABLE_POSITIONS allows creation of Law-makers.

== General Info ==
Initially, none of the positions marked as variable exist for an entity. The positions will only exist for a given entity, if they are either created during world-gen, world activities(?) or by memory hacking or scripting (ie. with Lua). Ie. in vanilla, all human civilizations have at the beginning of the world-generation no positions at all, neither on the site nor civ-level, as all positions of the vanilla human civs are marked as variable (variable positions: all). When a variable (civ level) position is created, the position is only created for that civilization (entity) and not for any other entities of the same type. Ie. the creation of a law-giver for one human civ does not create law-givers for other human civs. Also presumably all site-level positions for each entity are created on a per site basis, meaning the creation of a site ruler for one site (of a civ) does not also create the site ruler positions for any other site of that civ.

The existence of a variable position does not mean that the position will also be filled by a historical figure, but during world-gen the creation of a position will usually be followed up with the position being filled. Ie. the human historical figure who forced the creation of a law-giver position, will usually become the first law-giver.

For the succession rules of a variable position (after the position has been initially filled by a historical figure), presumably, the same rules as for non-variable positions apply.

(Disclaimer: The following only applies during world-gen and normal world activities. Scripting and memory hacking can circumvent the normal limitations, but with currently unknown results).

For civ level entities, if the law-giving position is a variable position, the law-giving position does not (seem to) have any further requirements to be created (ie. no other position being already created). Ie. this position can be created by force (or popular support etc.) by any historical figure of that civ. But for all other variable (civ-level) positions the law-giving position must exist as usually the historical figure, who is the law-giver, does create the other variable positions (for various reason).

Something similar is probably the case for site level positions. Ie. if the ruler of a site is a variable position, that position needs to be created, before any other site-level variable positions can be created. And the site ruler can afterwards create other variable positions for that site. It is not yet clear if a site level ruling position can be created before a civ level ruling (law-giving) position is created (or exists). This also means that it should be possible, via memory-hacking or scripting, to create (and fill) the variable site level positions (for a player site), at least after the civ level law-giving position has been created (and the law-giving position has been filled), so that a human player site gets the maximum possible human site level positions (with the normal appointment rules for the succession/reappointment of the positions), without having to edit the raw files (as outlined in the human civ page), prior to creating a world, to make the variable positions of human civilizations to "static" ones.

Presumably for guilds (Merchant Guild and others), mercenary groups, religious orders (and criminals) also a "leader" position needs to be created by a historical figure, before other variable positions for that entity can be created.

So far, no restrictions on allowed_class or allowed_creature have been found and also the rejected_creature and rejected_class entries are always empty. Squad_size is 0, except when a variable position (in the following sections) explicitly states otherwise (ie. squad size for CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 is 20). Also most other entries (of entity_position entry under "own") not mentioned in their section have standard values (ie. are empty). The best_appointment_precedence of all positions is 30001. Also the execution skill is always set to "-1" even for the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9, whose sole responsibility is executions.

Also, variable positions are usually only created (with the exception of if they replace another position), if the position will have at least one responsibility the already created (existing) positions for that entity does not have, regardless of whether there are any more prerequisites for a variable position to be created.

=== Sources ===
See spoiler-sections of those posts.
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=178697.msg8295235#msg8295235
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8084095#msg8084095
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8083631#msg8083631 (first answer)

== Civilizations ==
If all positions of a civ are variable, then the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible positions) can be created. After the creation (and filling) of the law-maker positions, the other variable positions (both CUSTOM_OFFICIALS_i and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALS_i, where i stands for a non-zero natural number) can be created in any order. These other positions are then always appointed by the law-maker of the civ. The law-maker position itself uses succession by heir.

In contrast to, for example, the positions of the dwarven civilizations, where the site nobility positions (eg. baron, duke) do get added to the own position list (vector) of the civilization, the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2) positions (of a site government) are not added to the own position list (at least for civs with all variable positions). The "own" positions list (of the civ entity) only exclusively contains the variable positions of the civ, which are all created by the civ, and no positions which are the "ruler" of a site (even if the variable site position was appointed by the law maker of the civ). Also the "site" positions list is empty (or at least no entries were found so far).

The CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position for goblins civs (in vanilla) are automatically created with the creation of the entity and there is no historical event which mentions the creation of that position. For the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER positions of the human civs, there is always a historical event which mentions the creation of that position, where the creation reason "As a matter of course" is not possible, all other reasons, which are "Collaboration", "Threats of Violence", "Force of Argument" and "Wave of popular support", are possible (and seem equally likely to be used).

The following table gives an overview over the different possible rulers of a human or goblin civilization.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!succession type!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!is diplomat!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals,
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|yes
|no

|}

Note that the ruler (law-giver or master) is not a diplomat, if and only if the ruler has the military strategy responsibility. Otherwise it seems totally random, whether a ruler (law-giver) is a diplomat or not (ie. for human civilizations the position creation reason and the civilization values do not play any role at all). Also note that the master of a goblin civilization does not have peace agreements as a responsibility.

The creation of all non-ruling positions, ie. CUSTOM_OFFICIALs, of a civ are mentioned in the history, where all CUSTOM_OFFICIALs and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALs will always be created "as a matter of course", only the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS and CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY positions can be created by any reason (including "as a matter of course").

The following table gives an overview of the possible non-ruling civ-level positions:

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name prefix!!Name5!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Flags11!!Flags22!!Color!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1
|yes3
|"keeper of the seal" / chancellor
|receive diplomats, make introductions and make topic agreements; optional: espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2
|yes3
|justiciar
|law enforcement, collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|yes
|treasurer
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|yes
|advisor/counselor
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|yes3
|chamberlain
|oversee leader household
|1
|0
|80
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|master of beasts
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|yes
|butler / cup-bearer
|manage leader household food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|yes
|doctor
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|yes
|executioner
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|yes
|chef
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|yes
|housekeeper
|manage leader household cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY
|no
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS4
|no
|war leader
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|no
|no
|}
: ''Note'':
:* 1) These are the standard official flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, has_met_pop_req, color, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* 2) These are the following additional flags: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver and special_burial.
:* 3): Name prefix can be empty.
:* 4) These would be the values for the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position, but on the civ-level that position is not created, as the military goals responsibility is already performed by the law-giver/master (and for the military strategy responsibility the CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY position is created instead). But a CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position would be created, if the civ leader would not have the military goals responsibility. The CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position is - in vanilla - only created for site governments and then only, if the site leader is the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.
:* 5): Name prefixes are: high, head, chief and royal.

In the above table the responsibility "espionage" of the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is optional. A civ needs to have a "cunning" value of at least 11 for the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 to have the responsibility, otherwise the official will not have the espionage responsibility, consequentially all CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 of goblin civs will have the espionage responsibility (as their default cunning value is 15). Only if the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is created with the "espionage" responsibility such officials can also be created for the site governments, where the leader of the site-government is not called "law-giver", (as all other responsibility are already performed by the standard custom site ruler). Also, the columns "human" and "goblin" dictate whether human and/or goblin civilizations can have the positions.

== Site Governments ==
If all positions of a civ (and with that of a site government) are variable, then a leader position for the site government needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible variable positions) can be created. The created position is usually the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, but other positions have been found, ie. CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER and FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.

Note that if a site is taken over during a war, then a new leader can be created directly with the formation of a new site government (even if the all site positions of the new owning civ are variable and the old site government did not have any leaders), in such cases the new leader position is either a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR or - rarer - a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (only found, if the site taken over was a Town and both the defending and attacking civilization was human).

Note that human and goblin civilizations can also create further site positions, if the current site leader is the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER (both) or FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR (only encountered/found in case of humans). All other races (eg. dwarves and elves) cannot.

Also a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER can be created for a site government (of a human civilization) before a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER for the civilization has been created.

Also note that not all site government entities need to be a child of a civilization entity, if they are not, then the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is used as a site-ruler (regardless of race, ie. even dwarven and the rare elven site government without connection to a civ will use the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER as initial ruler/leader). Ie. a Necromancer founding a tower will generate a site government (or site entity), which does not have any parent entity, and does function as a civ entity for any of its child entities (and will use the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER as ruler). But such Necromancer entities are not the only site entities without a parent civ (which can have positions), ie. some (all?) groups construction forts (and where the creation of the entity coincides with the construction of the fort) will also not have a parent civ (and use the entity type site).

The following table gives an overview of the possible leader positions:

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!Responsibilities!!squad8 size!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!goblin!!human!!elf!!dwarf!!flags!!appointment type

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER1
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|2
|1
|55 or 10 (rare)
|yes
|yes
|yes
|yes
|standard bandit leader
|elected

|-
!FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR
|administrator
|law making, receive diplomats, meet workers, make topic agreements
|0
|3
|2
|100
|yes
|yes
|yes
|yes2
|forced admin
|none3

|-
!FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR4
|administrator
|law making, receive diplomats, meet workers, make topic agreements
|0
|3
|2
|65
|no
|no
|no
|yes
|dwarf forced admin
|none3

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER5
|law-giver
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals; optional6: military strategy
|0
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|civ law-giver
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER6
|lord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|lord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|40
|yes
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|baron
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|41
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir; appointed by law-giver (civ)

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_27
|baron
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|35
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir; optional: appointed9

|}

: ''Notes'':
:* 1): Only leader position, if the entity (site-government) is not a child of a civilization, but can also appear, if the entity has a parent civ. Only site leader position of goblins, where other site positions will be created (both cases: with civ and without civ).
:* 2): 2 of the 53 forced administrator positions of dwarves (in a large 250 year history world-gen world with many civs) used this forced administrator (rather than the one defined in the raws). No site official positions found for goblins so far, if the leader was a forced administrator.
:* 3): The position has no appointed_by defined, nor any form of succession by position or heir. And the position is also not elected. So how and if a forced admin gets refilled, in case of death of the previous position holder, is unclear.
:* 4): This is the forced administrator as defined in the (vanilla) dwarf raws.
:* 5): Was created once in a large 250 year history world-gen world with many civs. The parent civ did not have a law-maker position created. But this definition is not always used, if the law-maker position of the parent civ has not been created. Also the site-entity was the original owner/creator of the site.
:* 6): This position can get created for a newly formed site-entity, if a site-entity has created the law-maker position and afterwards the site-entity gets conquered by another entity (of the same civ) and at the time of conquest no law-giver was created (yet) for the civ.
:* 7: Can be created (and replaces the former site ruler), if the ruler (of a human site entity) was either a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR or a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER with the name "lord".
:* 8): If the squad size is greater than zero, then the squad members are called soldiers (CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER) or hearthpeople (otherwise).
:* 9): Always appointed by the law-giver of the civilization, if the previous site leader was a forced administrator. Otherwise the appointed_by (and appointed_by_civ) definition is either empty or set to the law-giver of the civ, eg. a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2, which replaces a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, can be appointed (in which case appointed by the law-giver of the civ) or not be appointed at all.
:* "by heir" in the appointment type definition entry means, that the succession is by heir. If nothing else is mentioned in the table cell, then the position did get filled immediately upon creation of the position and the first position holder was not appointed by the civ-leader, otherwise the first position holder was appointed by the civ-leader.
:* "standard bandit leader" entry in "flags" table cell means the same flags as the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER of bandit groups are set.
:* "forced admin" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, is_diplomat, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, sleep_pretension, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, special_burial.
:* "dwarf forced admin" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, is_diplomat, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, menial_work_exemption, sleep_pretension, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, special_burial.
:* "standard leader" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, special_burial.
:* "civ law-giver" entry in "flags" table cell means that the flags of the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (civ level) are set, where the is_diplomat flag is only set, if (and only if) the law-giver does not have the military strategy responsibility. Also in this case the is_diplomat flag is only set, if the "law-giver" (of the site entity) does not have the military strategy responsibility.
:* Remark to forced administrator: The only differences between the forced administrator (only usable by the dwarves and defined in the raws) and the other forced administrator are, that the forced administrator of the dwarves is not a quest giver, does not rule from a location and has a different precedence.
:* The color of all leaders is the standard noble color (5,0,1), except for the forced administrators, who uses a different color entry (5,0,0).

If a leader does exist for a site entity, other variable positions can be created for that entity. In rare cases a variable official (or market official) position can even be created, if the requirements are not met (at least one of the flags has_met_pop_req and has_met_market_req is false for the position entry).

The following table gives an overview of the non-ruler variable positions of a site government.

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name prefix1!!Name!!Name suffix2!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Color!!human!!goblin!!add. flags3

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1
|no
|sewer
|always
|maintain sewers
|0
|0
|500
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_2
|no
|grain / harvest
|always
|food supply
|1
|0
|450
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_3
|no
|fire
|always
|fire safety
|0
|0
|475
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_4
|no
|judge / magistrate / justice
|no
|judge
|1
|0
|350
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_5
|no
|building
|always
|construction permits, building safety
|1
|0
|460
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|road
|always
|maintain roads, bridges and tunnels
|1
|0
|375
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_16,7,8
|optional
|"keeper of the seal" / chancellor
|no
|espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_27,9
|optional
|justiciar
|no
|collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|always
|treasurer
|no
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|always
|advisor / counselor
|no
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|optional
|chamberlain
|no
|oversee leader household
|1
|0
|80
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|master of beasts
|no
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|always
|butler / cup-bearer
|no
|manage leader household food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|always
|doctor
|no
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|always
|executioner
|no
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|always
|chef
|no
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|always
|housekeeper
|no
|manage leader household cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY4
|no
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|no
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS5
|no
|war leader
|no
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|yes

|}

: ''Notes'':
:* 1): The possible name prefixes are "chief", "head" and "high" (always) and also "royal", if the site leader has the name "law-giver". The name prefix can be empty, if the cell entry is "optional". A name prefix will always be present, if the cell entry is "always".
:* 2): The possible name suffixes are "administrator", "caretaker", "commissioner", "master" and "official". A name suffix will always be present, if the cell entry is "always".
:* 3): The additional flags are: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver and special_burial.
:* 4): Only ever created, if the first site leader was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR. Can even be created, if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2.
:* 5): Only created, either after the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was created and the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was not created with the military strategy responsibility or if the leader has the name law-giver (and does not have the military strategy responsibility). Can even be created, if the first site leader was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, who has already been replaced by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2.
:* 6): If the leader name is not law-giver (and the first site leader was not a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR), then a CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 has the espionage responsibility. All CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 of a civ (regardless of whether the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 belongs to a site government or the civ government) will either have the espionage responsibility or do not have the espionage responsibility.
:* 7): If the leader has the name law-giver then this official position has the responsibilities (and also optional resp.) as given in the civ table for the official position and not the responsibilities as in this table. Ie. that is the only case where a CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 can be created for a site government without the espionage responsibility.
:* 8): The CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 has always the responsibility make introductions, if the first site leader/ruler was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, even if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced (by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2).
:* 9): The CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2 has always the responsibility law enforcement, if the first site leader/ruler was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, even if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced (by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2).
:* In the above table the columns "human" and "goblin" donate, whether a site government of a human civilization or of a goblin civilization can have that position (or at least, if the position was encountered so far). Note so far only goblin site governments with a CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER did have further positions created.
:* All CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALs created during world-gen seem to have an already constructed market present (and thus are not created for site governments ruling over a Hamlet or a Dark Pit as Hamlets and Dark Pits cannot have a market, but need to be a Town or Dark Fortress). Additionally the CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1 needs an already constructed sewer (which seems to be only created, after both a market and a keep are constructed). Also note that sewers are only constructed in towns (in contrast to ie. markets, which can also be found/constructed in other site types like Dark Fortresses, Fortresses, Hillocks, Caves and Forest Retreats).
:* In addition to the above table the "best_appointment_precedence" is 30001. Also the following flags are set (true) for all officials, regardless, of whether belonging to a human or goblin site government: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, color, menial_work_exemption and has_received_positions.
:* All of the positions are appointed by the current ruler of the site (ie. CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR), except the CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY position will be appointed by the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position, if the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was created prior and the current ruler of the site government is a forced administrator.

Additionally the position entry usually has the flag active set and the flag is_replaced is false, otherwise the position would no longer be active (and might have been replaced).

== Bandits ==
Bandits use the entity types 4 and 7, which are nomadic groups (type 4) and outcasts (type 7). It must also be noted that some CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER positions are used by site governments (typically goblin site governments) both with and without a parent civilization (site government is not a child of an entity of type 0). The creation of CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER and CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR positions is never mentioned as a historical event, but the creation of CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT is (and is always created "as a matter of course").

The following table gives an overview over the possible variable positions used by bandits (some further info on bandit leaders is below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!squad size!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!add. flags1!!rules from location!!entity type

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|20
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic, outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER2
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|20
|2
|1
|10
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT3
|lieutenant
|appointed by bandit leader
|patrol territory, attack enemies
|0
|1
|0
|160
| -1
|no
|no
|outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR
|representative
|appointed by bandit leader
|trade and accounting
|0
|1
|0
|70
| -1
|yes (except is_law_maker)
|yes
|outcast

|}
: ''Notes'':
:* 1): Additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt and quest_giver
:* 2): Only difference to the other CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is the increased precedence of 10, encountered in 11 of 148 bandit leaders (148 of 175 nomadic groups had leaders). The reason is of yet unknown, except that the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is also used by the goblin civilization (and some site governments, without an entity link to a parent civ, had a nomadic group with a custom bandit leader as a child entity).
:* 3: Currently only up-to one CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT will be created for Outcast groups, despite allowing for an unlimited number. The possible reason for one getting created at all is that an assignment definition is automatically created with the creation of the position itself (while ie. for Ranger Captain, Militia Captain etc. there is currently never an assignment created, as they are neither land-holders nor is their number tied to a location or site).
:* Further note the common flags of these positions are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* The entity type in the above table refers to the (as displayed by dfhack's gm-editor, when viewing an entity).

Additionally the bandit leader (CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER) always has a squad size of 20 and the squad members are referred to as "bandits".

== Religious Entities ==
Some religious entities, which are considered "child"-entities of civilizations (no religious entity which was not a "child" of a civ entity has been found so far), also have variable positions - the other religious entities have no positions at all.
If a religious entity rules a site (always monastery?), then the only variable position (of that entity) seems to be the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and the name of the position seems to be always "abbot".
Otherwise the variable positions PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created for that religious entity, where any such entity, if it has a position, will always have the PRIEST as position. Afterwards, the position HIGH_PRIEST can be created and at last - after the HIGH_PRIEST was created - the HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created. The names of these position are randomly created (more about the name generation is currently out-of-scope, ie. why a PRIEST might be called "sacred squid", "holy burial", "sacred rumor", "holy lemon" or "sacred paper" is out-of-scope at least for this wiki article). No temple is needed in an associated site for a religious entity (not ruling from a monastery) to create a priest, high priest or highest priest position.

Note that there is no historical event that mentions the creation of a PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST or HIGHEST_PRIEST position.

An overview on the positions of religious entities is given in the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name prefix!!name!!appointment type5!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!missing common flags1!!additional flags2

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER3
|
|abbot
|heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|100
|3
|2
|1
|is_diplomat
|all

|-
!PRIEST
|holy or sacred
|random4
|elected
|religion
|200
|0
|0
| -1
|none
|no

|-
!HIGH_PRIEST
|high, first or exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|50
|3
|2
| -1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|-
!HIGHEST_PRIEST
|absolute or most sacred/high/exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|1
|5
|3
|1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|}

Notes:
1): The common flags are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, is_leader, is_diplomat, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req. So if one of the flags is mentioned in a column, then the position does not have that flag.

2): The additional flags (in this case) are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, kill_quest, exported_in_legends, account_exempt, quest_giver, special_burial.

3): Is always the only position for that religious entity. And so far any such entity, which was found, always governed/ruled a monastery.

4): The name is one of the possible "name prefixes" for the position written before a completely random word, which may or may not depend on the religious spheres/domains worshipped by that religion.

5): The appointment/succession type is actually determined by flags, ie. elected and succession_by_heir. One of the flags is also true for these positions (but not explicitly mentioned in the common/additional flags).

Additional notes: The PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST have a variable color entry, but the color-flag (of the position entry) is false, so it is unclear whether currently the color entry has any effect.

== Mercenary Groups ==
All mercenary entities will have at least one position (the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER), this position is created with the creation of the group (and the creation of the entity is marked - in the history/legends - with the filling of the leader position). The only other possible position is the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER and the creation of the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER is mentioned as a historical event (and is always created "as a matter of course").

Basic information about both positions are found in the table below (and the explanations below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!! imp. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER
|usually "warlord", "leader", "general" or "overlord" but very unusual names are possible (see below table)
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER
|treasurer
|elected
|trade and accounting
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes: 1): The imp. flags are flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, punishment_exemption, kill_quest and quest giver.

Both positions also have the is_leader flag and the following flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.

For the mercenary leader also illustrious names such as lord twinkle, lord duty, lord savant, maze commander or secret commander can be created. In these cases the name seems to be generated by either adding a random word after the word lord or adding a random word before commander. Note that mercenary groups can bestow honors on either their members or their leaders and in case of leader only honors it might be that, instead of the leader name, the name of the currently highest bestowed honor (on the leader) is used.

== Guilds ==
All guilds will always have all four of the variable positions mentioned in this section. Note that "merchant guilds" are merchant companies and an entirely separate entity.

The following table gives an overview of the four guild positions.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!precedence!!demands!!mandates!!number!!add. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_LEADER
|dean/doyen
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|elected
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_ALDERPERSON
|alderperson
|meet workers, manage production
|elected
|150
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_STEWARD
|steward or treasurer
|trade
|elected
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_CLERK
|clerk, bookkeeper, recordkeeper
|accounting
|elected
|170
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes:
1): The additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill; chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, account_exempt, rules_from_location, punishment_exemption and quest_giver.

All positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_positions.

== Merchant Companies ==
Every merchant company will have a leader (CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER). Furthermore a merchant company can have a CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR, to which an unlimited number of history figures can be assigned to (ie. a company can have multiple governors, but the number of current governors is always the same as the number of counting houses - branches - in non-headquarters sites). Also note that there is no history event, which mentions the creation of a position for a merchant company, still the CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR position is only created with creation of the first branch of a company (and branch creation - purchase of a counting house or building of a new counting house - and filling of custom company factor position are always at exactly the same time according to the corresponding historical events).

An overview of both positions is given by the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!additional flag

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER
|master or head
|elected or succession by heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military goals, military strategy
|50
|2
|1
|1
|is_law_maker

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR
|agent, factor, administrator or governor
|appointed by company leader
|trade and accounting
|200
|1
|0
| -1
|none

|}

Both positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver and has_met_market_req.

Also note that in contrast to many other variable positions (of different entities) for the CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER both an election based appointment (or succession) and an succesion by heir is possible, but each merchant company will only have an elected leader or a leader (with inheritance).

Gremlin

2026-03-25T12:55:28Z

Silverwing235:

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|image=Gremlin sprites.png
|portrait=Gremlin portrait.png
|wiki=yes
}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}
'''Gremlins''' are intelligent [[cavern]] [[creature]]s who are invisible until spotted, and cause various kinds of [[fun]] in your fortress by stepping on [[pressure plate]]s, pulling [[lever]]s, opening [[cage]]s, picking locks and opening forbidden [[door]]s - it is recommended to not have gremlins and easily-accessible [[Stupid dwarf trick#Self-destruct lever|self destruct lever]]s in the same fortress. One way of exploiting their lever-pulling behaviour is to have a lever that triggers a trap to kill the user when pulled, and leaving it in an area likely to see gremlins visiting. All gremlins are born with Competent [[skill]] in [[ambusher]].

When a gremlin is discovered, the game pauses and centers on it, with the message: "{{DFtext|A gremlin! Drive it away!|4:1}}".

Despite being intelligent creatures, gremlins possess the {{token|PET_EXOTIC}} token and can in fact be [[Animal trainer|trained]] by your [[dwarves]], provided you can bypass their [[trapavoid|natural immunity]] to most [[trap]]s. They don't possess a pet value, which theoretically makes them worthless for keeping around your fort, but if you do manage to capture and train a gremlin, it could actually become your [[mayor]]. In fact, this is quite likely because the gremlin is not able to work, so it will spend all its time in your meeting hall making friends. After a certain period of time a trained adult gremlin will turn into a gremlin hunter and will then hunt alongside your [[hunter]]s. This is because gremlins have natural skill in ambushing, which is associated with the hunting labor.

Note that a trained gremlin will not pull levers mischievously anymore. As explained by [[main:Toady One|Toady One]], the reason they are tamable is roughly that they are supposed to be only pretending to listen to your dwarves so they can mess with your levers and then run away, though trained gremlins currently do not perform this function at all and simply act as regular (albeit buggy) pets.[https://youtu.be/nAB93hOcsPI?t=4300 Source]

In the current version, a stray gremlin will claim a [[bed]] in the [[Tavern|inn]] and become a long-term resident, eventually petitioning for citizenship. This can be mortally annoying, because they will then perform labors and ignore requests to be trained, resulting in trainers dying of starvation and thirst if you aren't careful. A solution to this is to make them exclusively soldiers, or assign them to a small burrow with a workshop exclusive to them, and make the area a training ground, which you can also order them to station in. Being trained isn't a job for the gremlin and it just has to be there; the trainer will eventually finish the job if the gremlin is in the same area. This no longer occurs with their tame offspring. This method can also work for other trained intelligent creatures if you've [[modding|modded]] them to be pets.

Gremlins are carnivorous due to having the {{token|BONECARN}} tag, and are notably long-lived, with some living up to 1000 years. Due to their minuscule size, they are terrible at handling [[alcohol]], and cannot wear any other creatures' clothes or armor, nor can clothes or armor be ordered to fit them{{verify|Is this due to the PET_EXOTIC token?}}.

Some dwarves [[Preferences|like]] gremlins for their ''mischief''.

[[File:gremlin_preview.jpg|thumb|230px|center|Acts as bad as he looks.]]

== Trivia ==
Gremlins can talk, and be recruited in [[adventurer mode]], which is useful if one is trapped in a cave and cannot find [[animal people]]. Also, because they both inhabit the first cavern layer and are trainable, the dwarven [[Trading|caravan]] will offer their bodily fluids for sale, including gremlin [[blood]], sweat and tears.{{verify}}
{{D for Dwarf}}


[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zWSrT2TfBc Don't expose them to bright light. Don't feed them after midnight. Don't get them wet.]

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}
{{Category|Humanoids}}

Gremlin

2026-03-25T12:54:50Z

Silverwing235: /* Trivia */

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|image=Gremlin sprites.png
|portrait=Gremlin portrait.png
|wiki=yes
}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}
'''Gremlins''' are intelligent [[cavern]] [[creature]]s who are invisible until spotted, and cause various kinds of [[fun]] in your fortress by stepping on [[pressure plate]]s, pulling [[lever]]s, opening [[cage]]s, picking locks and opening forbidden [[door]]s - it is recommended to not have gremlins and easily-accessible [[Stupid dwarf trick#Self-destruct lever|self destruct lever]]s in the same fortress. One way of exploiting their lever-pulling behaviour is to have a lever that triggers a trap to kill the user when pulled, and leaving it in an area likely to see gremlins visiting. All gremlins are born with Competent [[skill]] in [[ambusher]].

When a gremlin is discovered, the game pauses and centers on it, with the message: "{{DFtext|A gremlin! Drive it away!|4:1}}".

Despite being intelligent creatures, gremlins possess the {{token|PET_EXOTIC}} token and can in fact be [[Animal trainer|trained]] by your [[dwarves]], provided you can bypass their [[trapavoid|natural immunity]] to most [[trap]]s. They don't possess a pet value, which theoretically makes them worthless for keeping around your fort, but if you do manage to capture and train a gremlin, it could actually become your [[mayor]]. In fact, this is quite likely because the gremlin is not able to work, so it will spend all its time in your meeting hall making friends. After a certain period of time a trained adult gremlin will turn into a gremlin hunter and will then hunt alongside your [[hunter]]s. This is because gremlins have natural skill in ambushing, which is associated with the hunting labor.

Note that a trained gremlin will not pull levers mischievously anymore. As explained by [[main:Toady One|Toady One]], the reason they are tamable is roughly that they are supposed to be only pretending to listen to your dwarves so they can mess with your levers and then run away, though trained gremlins currently do not perform this function at all and simply act as regular (albeit buggy) pets.[https://youtu.be/nAB93hOcsPI?t=4300 Source]

In the current version, a stray gremlin will claim a [[bed]] in the [[Tavern|inn]] and become a long-term resident, eventually petitioning for citizenship. This can be mortally annoying, because they will then perform labors and ignore requests to be trained, resulting in trainers dying of starvation and thirst if you aren't careful. A solution to this is to make them exclusively soldiers, or assign them to a small burrow with a workshop exclusive to them, and make the area a training ground, which you can also order them to station in. Being trained isn't a job for the gremlin and it just has to be there; the trainer will eventually finish the job if the gremlin is in the same area. This no longer occurs with their tame offspring. This method can also work for other trained intelligent creatures if you've [[modding|modded]] them to be pets.

Gremlins are carnivorous due to having the {{token|BONECARN}} tag, and are notably long-lived, with some living up to 1000 years. Due to their minuscule size, they are terrible at handling [[alcohol]], and cannot wear any other creatures' clothes or armor, nor can clothes or armor be ordered to fit them{{verify|Is this due to the PET_EXOTIC token?}}.

Some dwarves [[Preferences|like]] gremlins for their ''mischief''.

[[File:gremlin_preview.jpg|thumb|230px|center|Acts as bad as he looks.]]

== Trivia ==
Gremlins can talk, and be recruited in [[adventurer mode]], which is useful if one is trapped in a cave and cannot find [[animal people]]. Also, because they both inhabit the first cavern layer and are trainable, the dwarven [[Trading|caravan]] will offer their bodily fluids for sale, including gremlin [[blood]], sweat and tears.{{verify}}
{{D for Dwarf}}



[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zWSrT2TfBc Don't expose them to bright light. Don't feed them after midnight. Don't get them wet.]

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}
{{Category|Humanoids}}

Gremlin

2026-03-23T23:16:13Z

Silverwing235:

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|image=Gremlin sprites.png
|portrait=Gremlin portrait.png
|wiki=yes
}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}
'''Gremlins''' are intelligent [[cavern]] [[creature]]s who are invisible until spotted, and cause various kinds of [[fun]] in your fortress by stepping on [[pressure plate]]s, pulling [[lever]]s, opening [[cage]]s, picking locks and opening forbidden [[door]]s - it is recommended to not have gremlins and easily-accessible [[Stupid dwarf trick#Self-destruct lever|self destruct lever]]s in the same fortress. One way of exploiting their lever-pulling behaviour is to have a lever that triggers a trap to kill the user when pulled, and leaving it in an area likely to see gremlins visiting. All gremlins are born with Competent [[skill]] in [[ambusher]].

When a gremlin is discovered, the game pauses and centers on it, with the message: "{{DFtext|A gremlin! Drive it away!|4:1}}".

Despite being intelligent creatures, gremlins possess the {{token|PET_EXOTIC}} token and can in fact be [[Animal trainer|trained]] by your [[dwarves]], provided you can bypass their [[trapavoid|natural immunity]] to most [[trap]]s. They don't possess a pet value, which theoretically makes them worthless for keeping around your fort, but if you do manage to capture and train a gremlin, it could actually become your [[mayor]]. In fact, this is quite likely because the gremlin is not able to work, so it will spend all its time in your meeting hall making friends. After a certain period of time a trained adult gremlin will turn into a gremlin hunter and will then hunt alongside your [[hunter]]s. This is because gremlins have natural skill in ambushing, which is associated with the hunting labor.

Note that a trained gremlin will not pull levers mischievously anymore. As explained by [[main:Toady One|Toady One]], the reason they are tamable is roughly that they are supposed to be only pretending to listen to your dwarves so they can mess with your levers and then run away, though trained gremlins currently do not perform this function at all and simply act as regular (albeit buggy) pets.[https://youtu.be/nAB93hOcsPI?t=4300 Source]

In the current version, a stray gremlin will claim a [[bed]] in the [[Tavern|inn]] and become a long-term resident, eventually petitioning for citizenship. This can be mortally annoying, because they will then perform labors and ignore requests to be trained, resulting in trainers dying of starvation and thirst if you aren't careful. A solution to this is to make them exclusively soldiers, or assign them to a small burrow with a workshop exclusive to them, and make the area a training ground, which you can also order them to station in. Being trained isn't a job for the gremlin and it just has to be there; the trainer will eventually finish the job if the gremlin is in the same area. This no longer occurs with their tame offspring. This method can also work for other trained intelligent creatures if you've [[modding|modded]] them to be pets.

Gremlins are carnivorous due to having the {{token|BONECARN}} tag, and are notably long-lived, with some living up to 1000 years. Due to their minuscule size, they are terrible at handling [[alcohol]], and cannot wear any other creatures' clothes or armor, nor can clothes or armor be ordered to fit them{{verify|Is this due to the PET_EXOTIC token?}}.

Some dwarves [[Preferences|like]] gremlins for their ''mischief''.

[[File:gremlin_preview.jpg|thumb|230px|center|Acts as bad as he looks.]]

== Trivia ==
Gremlins can talk, and be recruited in [[adventurer mode]], which is useful if one is trapped in a cave and cannot find [[animal people]]. Also, because they both inhabit the first cavern layer and are trainable, the dwarven [[Trading|caravan]] will offer their bodily fluids for sale, including gremlin [[blood]], sweat and tears.{{verify}}
{{D for Dwarf}}


[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zWSrT2TfBc Don't expose them to bright light. Don't feed them after midnight. Don't get them wet.]

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}
{{Category|Humanoids}}

Variable positions

2026-03-22T14:42:45Z

Silverwing235: /* Civilizations */

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{Modding}}
'''Variable positions''' are lesser [[noble|nobility]] titles that can be created by entity leaders after initial world generation. In vanilla, this is the case for [[human]] and [[goblin]] [[Civilization|civilizations]], but also for merchants' companies, guilds, mercenary groups, [[Religion|religious groups]] and [[Criminal|criminal]]s.

== Tokens ==
The tokens that manage the creation of positions are {{token|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|entity}} and {{token|VARIABLE_POSITIONS|entity}}.

SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS allows for the creation of lords, hearthpersons, and [[boss]]es, and VARIABLE_POSITIONS allows creation of Law-makers.

== General Info ==
Initially none of the positions marked as variable do exist for an entity. The positions will only exist for a given entity, if they are either created during world-gen, world activities(?) or by memory hacking or scripting (ie. with Lua). Ie. in vanilla all human civilizations have at the beginning of the world-generation no positions at all, neither on the site nor civ level, as all positions of the vanilla human civs are marked as variable (variable positions: all). When a variable (civ level) position is created, the position is only created for that civilization (entity) and not for any other entities of the same type. Ie. the creation of a law-giver for one human civ does not create law-givers for other human civs.

Also presumably all site-level positions for each entity are created on a per site basis, meaning the creation of a site ruler for one site (of a civ) does not also create the site ruler positions for any other site (of that civ).

The existence of a variable position does not mean that the position will also be filled by a historical figure. But during world-gen the creation of a position will usually be followed up with the position being filled. Ie. the human historical figure who forced the creation of a law-giver position, will usually become the first law-giver.

For the succession rules of a variable position (after the position has been initially filled by a historical figure), presumably, the same rules as for non-variable positions apply.

(Disclaimer: The following only applies during world-gen and normal world activities. Scripting and memory hacking can circumvent the normal limitations, but with currently unknown results).

For civ level entities, if the law-giving position is a variable position, the law-giving position does not (seem to) have any further requirements to be created (ie. no other position being already created). Ie. this position can be created by force (or popular support etc.) by any historical figure of that civ. But for all other variable (civ-level) positions the law-giving position must exist as usually the historical figure, who is the law-giver, does create the other variable positions (for various reason).

Something similar is probably the case for site level positions. Ie. if the ruler of a site is a variable position, that position needs to be created, before any other site-level variable positions can be created. And the site ruler can afterwards create other variable positions for that site. It is not yet clear if a site level ruling position can be created before a civ level ruling (law-giving) position is created (or exists). This also means that it should be possible, via memory-hacking or scripting, to create (and fill) the variable site level positions (for a player site), at least after the civ level law-giving position has been created (and the law-giving position has been filled), so that a human player site gets the maximum possible human site level positions (with the normal appointment rules for the succession/reappointment of the positions), without having to edit the raw files (as outlined in the human civ page), prior to creating a world, to make the variable positions of human civilizations to "static" ones.

Presumably for guilds (Merchant Guild and others), mercenary groups, religious orders (and criminals) also a "leader" position needs to be created by a historical figure, before other variable positions for that entity can be created.

So far, no restrictions on allowed_class or allowed_creature have been found and also the rejected_creature and rejected_class entries are always empty. Squad_size is 0, except when a variable position (in the following sections) explicitly states otherwise (ie. squad size for CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 is 20). Also most other entries (of entity_position entry under "own") not mentioned in their section have standard values (ie. are empty). The best_appointment_precedence of all positions is 30001. Also the execution skill is always set to "-1" even for the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9, whose sole responsibility is executions.

Also variable positions are usually only created (with the exception, if they replace another position), if the position will have at least one responsibility the already created (existing) positions for that entity does not have, regardless of whether there are any more prerequisites for a variable position to be created.

=== Sources ===
See spoiler-sections of those posts.
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=178697.msg8295235#msg8295235
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8084095#msg8084095
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8083631#msg8083631 (first answer)

== Civilizations ==
If all positions of a civ are variable, then the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible positions) can be created. After the creation (and filling) of the law-maker positions, the other variable positions (both CUSTOM_OFFICIALS_i and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALS_i, where i stands for a non-zero natural number) can be created in any order. These other positions are then always appointed by the law-maker of the civ. The law-maker position itself uses succession by heir.

In contrast to, for example, the positions of the dwarven civilizations, where the site nobility positions (eg. baron, duke) do get added to the own position list (vector) of the civilization, the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2) positions (of a site government) are not added to the own position list (at least for civs with all variable positions). The "own" positions list (of the civ entity) only exclusively contains the variable positions of the civ, which are all created by the civ, and no positions which are the "ruler" of a site (even if the variable site position was appointed by the law maker of the civ). Also the "site" positions list is empty (or at least no entries were found so far).

The CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position for goblins civs (in vanilla) are automatically created with the creation of the entity and there is no historical event which mentions the creation of that position. For the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER positions of the human civs, there is always a historical event which mentions the creation of that position, where the creation reason "As a matter of fact" is not possible, all other reasons, which are "Collaboration", "Threats of Violence", "Force of Argument" and "Wave of popular support", are possible (and seem equally likely to be used).

The following table gives an overview over the different possible rulers of a human or goblin civilization.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!succession type!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!is diplomat!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals,
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|yes
|no

|}

Note that the ruler (law-giver or master) is not a diplomat, if and only if the ruler has the military strategy responsibility. Otherwise it seems totally random, whether a ruler (law-giver) is a diplomat or not (ie. for human civilizations the position creation reason and the civilization values do not play any role at all). Also note that the master of a goblin civilization does not have peace agreements as a responsibility.

The creation of all non-ruling positions, ie. CUSTOM_OFFICIALs, of a civ are mentioned in the history, where all CUSTOM_OFFICIALs and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALs will always be created "as a matter of course", only the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS and CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY positions can be created by any reason (including "as a matter of course").

The following table gives an overview of the possible non-ruling civ-level positions:

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name prefix!!Name5!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Flags11!!Flags22!!Color!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1
|yes3
|"keeper of the seal" / chancellor
|receive diplomats, make introductions and make topic agreements; optional: espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2
|yes3
|justiciar
|law enforcement, collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|yes
|treasurer
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|yes
|advisor/counselor
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|yes3
|chamberlain
|oversee leader household
|1
|0
|80
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|master of beasts
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|yes
|butler / cup-bearer
|manage leader household food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|yes
|doctor
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|yes
|executioner
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|yes
|chef
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|yes
|housekeeper
|manage leader household cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY
|no
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS4
|no
|war leader
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|no
|no
|}
: ''Note'':
:* 1) These are the standard official flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, has_met_pop_req, color, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* 2) These are the following additional flags: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver and special_burial.
:* 3): Name prefix can be empty.
:* 4) These would be the values for the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position, but on the civ-level that position is not created, as the military goals responsibility is already performed by the law-giver/master (and for the military strategy responsibility the CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY position is created instead). But a CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position would be created, if the civ leader would not have the military goals responsibility. The CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position is - in vanilla - only created for site governments and then only, if the site leader is the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.
:* 5): Name prefixes are: high, head, chief and royal.

In the above table the responsibility "espionage" of the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is optional. A civ needs to have a "cunning" value of at least 11 for the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 to have the responsibility, otherwise the official will not have the espionage responsibility, consequentially all CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 of goblin civs will have the espionage responsibility (as their default cunning value is 15). Only if the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is created with the "espionage" responsibility such officials can also be created for the site governments, where the leader of the site-government is not called "law-giver", (as all other responsibility are already performed by the standard custom site ruler). Also, the columns "human" and "goblin" dictate whether human and/or goblin civilizations can have the positions.

== Site Governments ==
If all positions of a civ (and with that of a site government) are variable, then a leader position for the site government needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible variable positions) can be created. The created position is usually the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, but other positions have been found, ie. CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER and FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.

Note that if a site is taken over during a war, then a new leader can be created directly with the formation of a new site government (even if the all site positions of the new owning civ are variable and the old site government did not have any leaders), in such cases the new leader position is either a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR or - rarer - a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (only found, if the site taken over was a Town and both the defending and attacking civilization was human).

Note that human and goblin civilizations can also create further site positions, if the current site leader is the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER (both) or FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR (only encountered/found in case of humans). All other races (eg. dwarves and elves) cannot.

Also a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER can be created for a site government (of a human civilization) before a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER for the civilization has been created.

Also note that not all site government entities need to be a child of a civilization entity, if they are not, then the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is used as a site-ruler (regardless of race, ie. even dwarven and the rare elven site government without connection to a civ will use the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER as initial ruler/leader). Ie. a Necromancer founding a tower will generate a site government (or site entity), which does not have any parent entity, and does function as a civ entity for any of its child entities (and will use the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER as ruler). But such Necromancer entities are not the only site entities without a parent civ (which can have positions), ie. some (all?) groups construction forts (and where the creation of the entity coincides with the construction of the fort) will also not have a parent civ (and use the entity type site).

The following table gives an overview of the possible leader positions:

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!Responsibilities!!squad8 size!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!goblin!!human!!elf!!dwarf!!flags!!appointment type

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER1
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|2
|1
|55 or 10 (rare)
|yes
|yes
|yes
|yes
|standard bandit leader
|elected

|-
!FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR
|administrator
|law making, receive diplomats, meet workers, make topic agreements
|0
|3
|2
|100
|yes
|yes
|yes
|yes2
|forced admin
|none3

|-
!FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR4
|administrator
|law making, receive diplomats, meet workers, make topic agreements
|0
|3
|2
|65
|no
|no
|no
|yes
|dwarf forced admin
|none3

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER5
|law-giver
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals; optional6: military strategy
|0
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|civ law-giver
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER6
|lord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|lord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|40
|yes
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|baron
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|41
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir; appointed by law-giver (civ)

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_27
|baron
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|35
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir; optional: appointed9

|}

: ''Notes'':
:* 1): Only leader position, if the entity (site-government) is not a child of a civilization, but can also appear, if the entity has a parent civ. Only site leader position of goblins, where other site positions will be created (both cases: with civ and without civ).
:* 2): 2 of the 53 forced administrator positions of dwarves (in a large 250 year history world-gen world with many civs) used this forced administrator (rather than the one defined in the raws). No site official positions found for goblins so far, if the leader was a forced administrator.
:* 3): The position has no appointed_by defined, nor any form of succession by position or heir. And the position is also not elected. So how and if a forced admin gets refilled, in case of death of the previous position holder, is unclear.
:* 4): This is the forced administrator as defined in the (vanilla) dwarf raws.
:* 5): Was created once in a large 250 year history world-gen world with many civs. The parent civ did not have a law-maker position created. But this definition is not always used, if the law-maker position of the parent civ has not been created. Also the site-entity was the original owner/creator of the site.
:* 6): This position can get created for a newly formed site-entity, if a site-entity has created the law-maker position and afterwards the site-entity gets conquered by another entity (of the same civ) and at the time of conquest no law-giver was created (yet) for the civ.
:* 7: Can be created (and replaces the former site ruler), if the ruler (of a human site entity) was either a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR or a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER with the name "lord".
:* 8): If the squad size is greater than zero, then the squad members are called soldiers (CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER) or hearthpeople (otherwise).
:* 9): Always appointed by the law-giver of the civilization, if the previous site leader was a forced administrator. Otherwise the appointed_by (and appointed_by_civ) definition is either empty or set to the law-giver of the civ, eg. a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2, which replaces a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, can be appointed (in which case appointed by the law-giver of the civ) or not be appointed at all.
:* "by heir" in the appointment type definition entry means, that the succession is by heir. If nothing else is mentioned in the table cell, then the position did get filled immediately upon creation of the position and the first position holder was not appointed by the civ-leader, otherwise the first position holder was appointed by the civ-leader.
:* "standard bandit leader" entry in "flags" table cell means the same flags as the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER of bandit groups are set.
:* "forced admin" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, is_diplomat, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, sleep_pretension, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, special_burial.
:* "dwarf forced admin" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, is_diplomat, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, menial_work_exemption, sleep_pretension, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, special_burial.
:* "standard leader" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, special_burial.
:* "civ law-giver" entry in "flags" table cell means that the flags of the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (civ level) are set, where the is_diplomat flag is only set, if (and only if) the law-giver does not have the military strategy responsibility. Also in this case the is_diplomat flag is only set, if the "law-giver" (of the site entity) does not have the military strategy responsibility.
:* Remark to forced administrator: The only differences between the forced administrator (only usable by the dwarves and defined in the raws) and the other forced administrator are, that the forced administrator of the dwarves is not a quest giver, does not rule from a location and has a different precedence.
:* The color of all leaders is the standard noble color (5,0,1), except for the forced administrators, who uses a different color entry (5,0,0).

If a leader does exist for a site entity, other variable positions can be created for that entity. In rare cases a variable official (or market official) position can even be created, if the requirements are not met (at least one of the flags has_met_pop_req and has_met_market_req is false for the position entry).

The following table gives an overview of the non-ruler variable positions of a site government.

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name prefix1!!Name!!Name suffix2!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Color!!human!!goblin!!add. flags3

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1
|no
|sewer
|always
|maintain sewers
|0
|0
|500
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_2
|no
|grain / harvest
|always
|food supply
|1
|0
|450
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_3
|no
|fire
|always
|fire safety
|0
|0
|475
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_4
|no
|judge / magistrate / justice
|no
|judge
|1
|0
|350
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_5
|no
|building
|always
|construction permits, building safety
|1
|0
|460
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|road
|always
|maintain roads, bridges and tunnels
|1
|0
|375
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_16,7,8
|optional
|"keeper of the seal" / chancellor
|no
|espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_27,9
|optional
|justiciar
|no
|collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|always
|treasurer
|no
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|always
|advisor / counselor
|no
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|optional
|chamberlain
|no
|oversee leader household
|1
|0
|80
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|master of beasts
|no
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|always
|butler / cup-bearer
|no
|manage leader household food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|always
|doctor
|no
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|always
|executioner
|no
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|always
|chef
|no
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|always
|housekeeper
|no
|manage leader household cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY4
|no
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|no
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS5
|no
|war leader
|no
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|yes

|}

: ''Notes'':
:* 1): The possible name prefixes are "chief", "head" and "high" (always) and also "royal", if the site leader has the name "law-giver". The name prefix can be empty, if the cell entry is "optional". A name prefix will always be present, if the cell entry is "always".
:* 2): The possible name suffixes are "administrator", "caretaker", "commissioner", "master" and "official". A name suffix will always be present, if the cell entry is "always".
:* 3): The additional flags are: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver and special_burial.
:* 4): Only ever created, if the first site leader was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR. Can even be created, if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2.
:* 5): Only created, either after the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was created and the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was not created with the military strategy responsibility or if the leader has the name law-giver (and does not have the military strategy responsibility). Can even be created, if the first site leader was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, who has already been replaced by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2.
:* 6): If the leader name is not law-giver (and the first site leader was not a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR), then a CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 has the espionage responsibility. All CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 of a civ (regardless of whether the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 belongs to a site government or the civ government) will either have the espionage responsibility or do not have the espionage responsibility.
:* 7): If the leader has the name law-giver then this official position has the responsibilities (and also optional resp.) as given in the civ table for the official position and not the responsibilities as in this table. Ie. that is the only case where a CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 can be created for a site government without the espionage responsibility.
:* 8): The CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 has always the responsibility make introductions, if the first site leader/ruler was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, even if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced (by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2).
:* 9): The CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2 has always the responsibility law enforcement, if the first site leader/ruler was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, even if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced (by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2).
:* In the above table the columns "human" and "goblin" donate, whether a site government of a human civilization or of a goblin civilization can have that position (or at least, if the position was encountered so far). Note so far only goblin site governments with a CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER did have further positions created.
:* All CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALs created during world-gen seem to have an already constructed market present (and thus are not created for site governments ruling over a Hamlet or a Dark Pit as Hamlets and Dark Pits cannot have a market, but need to be a Town or Dark Fortress). Additionally the CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1 needs an already constructed sewer (which seems to be only created, after both a market and a keep are constructed). Also note that sewers are only constructed in towns (in contrast to ie. markets, which can also be found/constructed in other site types like Dark Fortresses, Fortresses, Hillocks, Caves and Forest Retreats).
:* In addition to the above table the "best_appointment_precedence" is 30001. Also the following flags are set (true) for all officials, regardless, of whether belonging to a human or goblin site government: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, color, menial_work_exemption and has_received_positions.
:* All of the positions are appointed by the current ruler of the site (ie. CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR), except the CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY position will be appointed by the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position, if the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was created prior and the current ruler of the site government is a forced administrator.

Additionally the position entry usually has the flag active set and the flag is_replaced is false, otherwise the position would no longer be active (and might have been replaced).

== Bandits ==
Bandits use the entity types 4 and 7, which are nomadic groups (type 4) and outcasts (type 7). It must also be noted that some CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER positions are used by site governments (typically goblin site governments) both with and without a parent civilization (site government is not a child of an entity of type 0). The creation of CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER and CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR positions is never mentioned as a historical event, but the creation of CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT is (and is always created "as a matter of course").

The following table gives an overview over the possible variable positions used by bandits (some further info on bandit leaders is below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!squad size!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!add. flags1!!rules from location!!entity type

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|20
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic, outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER2
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|20
|2
|1
|10
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT3
|lieutenant
|appointed by bandit leader
|patrol territory, attack enemies
|0
|1
|0
|160
| -1
|no
|no
|outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR
|representative
|appointed by bandit leader
|trade and accounting
|0
|1
|0
|70
| -1
|yes (except is_law_maker)
|yes
|outcast

|}
: ''Notes'':
:* 1): Additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt and quest_giver
:* 2): Only difference to the other CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is the increased precedence of 10, encountered in 11 of 148 bandit leaders (148 of 175 nomadic groups had leaders). The reason is of yet unknown, except that the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is also used by the goblin civilization (and some site governments, without an entity link to a parent civ, had a nomadic group with a custom bandit leader as a child entity).
:* 3: Currently only up-to one CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT will be created for Outcast groups, despite allowing for an unlimited number. The possible reason for one getting created at all is that an assignment definition is automatically created with the creation of the position itself (while ie. for Ranger Captain, Militia Captain etc. there is currently never an assignment created, as they are neither land-holders nor is their number tied to a location or site).
:* Further note the common flags of these positions are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* The entity type in the above table refers to the (as displayed by dfhack's gm-editor, when viewing an entity).

Additionally the bandit leader (CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER) always has a squad size of 20 and the squad members are referred to as "bandits".

== Religious Entities ==
Some religious entities, which are considered "child"-entities of civilizations (no religious entity which was not a "child" of a civ entity has been found so far), also have variable positions - the other religious entities have no positions at all.
If a religious entity rules a site (always monastery?), then the only variable position (of that entity) seems to be the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and the name of the position seems to be always "abbot".
Otherwise the variable positions PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created for that religious entity, where any such entity, if it has a position, will always have the PRIEST as position. Afterwards, the position HIGH_PRIEST can be created and at last - after the HIGH_PRIEST was created - the HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created. The names of these position are randomly created (more about the name generation is currently out-of-scope, ie. why a PRIEST might be called "sacred squid", "holy burial", "sacred rumor", "holy lemon" or "sacred paper" is out-of-scope at least for this wiki article). No temple is needed in an associated site for a religious entity (not ruling from a monastery) to create a priest, high priest or highest priest position.

Note that there is no historical event that mentions the creation of a PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST or HIGHEST_PRIEST position.

An overview on the positions of religious entities is given in the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name prefix!!name!!appointment type5!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!missing common flags1!!additional flags2

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER3
|
|abbot
|heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|100
|3
|2
|1
|is_diplomat
|all

|-
!PRIEST
|holy or sacred
|random4
|elected
|religion
|200
|0
|0
| -1
|none
|no

|-
!HIGH_PRIEST
|high, first or exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|50
|3
|2
| -1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|-
!HIGHEST_PRIEST
|absolute or most sacred/high/exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|1
|5
|3
|1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|}

Notes:
1): The common flags are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, is_leader, is_diplomat, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req. So if one of the flags is mentioned in a column, then the position does not have that flag.

2): The additional flags (in this case) are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, kill_quest, exported_in_legends, account_exempt, quest_giver, special_burial.

3): Is always the only position for that religious entity. And so far any such entity, which was found, always governed/ruled a monastery.

4): The name is one of the possible "name prefixes" for the position written before a completely random word, which may or may not depend on the religious spheres/domains worshipped by that religion.

5): The appointment/succession type is actually determined by flags, ie. elected and succession_by_heir. One of the flags is also true for these positions (but not explicitly mentioned in the common/additional flags).

Additional notes: The PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST have a variable color entry, but the color-flag (of the position entry) is false, so it is unclear whether currently the color entry has any effect.

== Mercenary Groups ==
All mercenary entities will have at least one position (the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER), this position is created with the creation of the group (and the creation of the entity is marked - in the history/legends - with the filling of the leader position). The only other possible position is the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER and the creation of the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER is mentioned as a historical event (and is always created "as a matter of course").

Basic information about both positions are found in the table below (and the explanations below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!! imp. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER
|usually "warlord", "leader", "general" or "overlord" but very unusual names are possible (see below table)
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER
|treasurer
|elected
|trade and accounting
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes: 1): The imp. flags are flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, punishment_exemption, kill_quest and quest giver.

Both positions also have the is_leader flag and the following flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.

For the mercenary leader also illustrious names such as lord twinkle, lord duty, lord savant, maze commander or secret commander can be created. In these cases the name seems to be generated by either adding a random word after the word lord or adding a random word before commander. Note that mercenary groups can bestow honors on either their members or their leaders and in case of leader only honors it might be that, instead of the leader name, the name of the currently highest bestowed honor (on the leader) is used.

== Guilds ==
All guilds will always have all four of the variable positions mentioned in this section. Note that "merchant guilds" are merchant companies and an entirely separate entity.

The following table gives an overview of the four guild positions.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!precedence!!demands!!mandates!!number!!add. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_LEADER
|dean/doyen
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|elected
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_ALDERPERSON
|alderperson
|meet workers, manage production
|elected
|150
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_STEWARD
|steward or treasurer
|trade
|elected
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_CLERK
|clerk, bookkeeper, recordkeeper
|accounting
|elected
|170
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes:
1): The additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill; chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, account_exempt, rules_from_location, punishment_exemption and quest_giver.

All positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_positions.

== Merchant Companies ==
Every merchant company will have a leader (CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER). Furthermore a merchant company can have a CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR, to which an unlimited number of history figures can be assigned to (ie. a company can have multiple governors, but the number of current governors is always the same as the number of counting houses - branches - in non-headquarters sites). Also note that there is no history event, which mentions the creation of a position for a merchant company, still the CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR position is only created with creation of the first branch of a company (and branch creation - purchase of a counting house or building of a new counting house - and filling of custom company factor position are always at exactly the same time according to the corresponding historical events).

An overview of both positions is given by the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!additional flag

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER
|master or head
|elected or succession by heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military goals, military strategy
|50
|2
|1
|1
|is_law_maker

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR
|agent, factor, administrator or governor
|appointed by company leader
|trade and accounting
|200
|1
|0
| -1
|none

|}

Both positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver and has_met_market_req.

Also note that in contrast to many other variable positions (of different entities) for the CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER both an election based appointment (or succession) and an succesion by heir is possible, but each merchant company will only have an elected leader or a leader (with inheritance).

King of beasts

2026-03-21T10:07:48Z

Silverwing235: /* Land */ typo

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Tattered}}
{{av}}
{{D for Dwarf}}

'''King of Beasts''' is a fan title traditionally given to an exceptionally dangerous and powerful creature. It was historically awarded to elephants for their size, strength and [[Boatmurdered|immense thirst for dwarven blood]]. While elephants are no longer the beasts they were, there are currently quite a few contenders for the title.

== Water ==

There are 2 contenders for the Aquatic King of Beasts.

[[Giant sponge]]: These horrifying monsters can only be killed in fair combat by mashing their bodies to a pulp, a feat that generally requires lots of patience and a gigantic hammer. They are not very aggressive, but Armok help you if you are next to them in water. Are still extremely dangerous despite being nerfed.

[[Giant sperm whale]]: Gigantic beyond all comparison, this creature is large enough to absorb an unbelievable amount of punishment and smash its way through nearly any amount of armor or natural durability with its mass alone.

== Air ==

[[Giant kea]]: The uncontested Aerial King of Beasts. These brutal, green giant parrots have the distinction of looking harmless, but not only will they seek your fort for stealing stuff (such as your sole anvil, when you have not built your forge yet), but also tend to brutally murder any dwarf they meet in the dark corridors of your fort.

== Land ==

There is currently no consensus on the Terrestrial King of Beasts. There are plenty of powerful creatures, but none stands out as the true strongest of the strongest. Here are some examples:

[[Giant cave spider]]: This large arachnid will eat most stuff in the caverns, including most dwarves you throw at them. It can shoot immobilising webs and injects a deadly toxin, making it incredibly dangerous.

[[Cave dragon]]: Cave dragons are as skilled in battle as your regular soldiers, if not more, and are ''far'' larger than them. The [[fun]] news? They come by the dozens with [[goblin]] [[sieges]]!

[[Giant dingo]]: A hell-spawned monster, the giant dingo not only is bigger, faster, and more aggressive than a bear, but it spawns in groups and is native to every savage biome. Few adventurers (or babies) will survive.

[[Giant elephant]]: A giant [[elephant]]. It is the biggest land creature and second-biggest creature, tied with [[giant orca|giant orcas]]. Since they're "War Animals", "Hunting Animals" and "Exotic Mounts", they can also be fielded during [[elf]], [[human]] and [[dwarf]] [[sieges]]!

[[Elephant man]]: Massive humanoids who can wear armor and use weapons. They are the biggest sapient land animal person - and '''the''' biggest sapient that is not a megabeast or semi-megabeast. You can play them in Adventure Mode - [[Stupid_dwarf_trick#Elephant_man_armor_factory|armor and clothes are made separately]]. And they sometimes come with [[sieges]]!

== Historic Claims ==
Many creatures that once held this title have since had their power and/or agressiveness reduced.

[[Elephant]]: The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of the King of Beasts. They were infamous in the early versions for their massive strength coupled with their insane bloodlust. An elephant never forgets. An elephant never forgives...

[[Carp]]: Another infamous creature and perhaps one of the earliest holders of the title of the Aquatic King of Beasts. They were extremely agressive for a fish and had teeth that inflicted 3 times the amount of damage an unarmed dwarf did. They dragged unsuspecting fisherdwarves underwater where they would either drown, get mauled by the aforementioned teeth, or both at once.

[[Giant mosquito]]: The Giant Mosquito was the Aerial King of Beasts for the shortest amount of time. Before they were nerfed, they attacked in ''hundreds'', overwhelming dwarwes with sheer numbers and lagging the game if too much of them are on the map at the same time. Now are nowhere near as powerful.

[[Giant badger|Giant Badger]]: The Giant Badger also briefly held the title of the Terrestrial King of Beasts. They appeared very frequently in groups and attacked dwarves mercilessly. They have since been made way rarer.

[[Unicorn]]: The Unicorn is mostly a docile creature, but in older versions and specifically in Adventure Mode, Unicorns were extremely agressive. Their main definition of '[[good]]' is living in a fairyland full of [[feather tree]]s while stabbing and kicking dwarves to death, which is bad news when they're bigger than a horse and have hooves.

== Dwarf ==
There is an argument to be made that the Dwarf is the true King of Beasts. After all, only the Dwarves are capable of filling the entire map with [[Magma|rock juice]], unleashing hordes of [[Demon|hidden fun stuff]] to terrorize the wildlife, intentionally [[Site extinction|driving species extinct]] and other similarly devastating feats. Dwarven [[Philosopher|philosophers]] deny this claim, saying that the Dwarves, as the ultimate species, are above any environmental consequences

{{Category|Creatures| }}
[[ru:King of beasts]]

Save version

2026-03-20T09:44:00Z

Silverwing235:

Every world in ''Dwarf Fortress'' contains an internal '''save version''' ID number to denote the version in which it was last saved, as well as the version in which it was originally generated. When a world is loaded, the game uses this value to determine how to process all of the data it reads - data which didn't exist at the time is generated from scratch (e.g. [[v0.34:minecart|hauling routes]], added in version 0.34.08), and data which is no longer used (e.g. [[DF2014:thought|basic thoughts]], replaced with emotions in version 0.42.01) gets skipped.

Not all ''Dwarf Fortress'' releases actually incremented the save version number (especially those which only fixed bugs), and some releases incremented it multiple times (once for each piece of new data stored).

This number normally isn't visible during gameplay, but various tools (such as [[DFHack]]) can be used to query it.

{| class=wikitable
!Version number
!Save version code
|-
| [[Release information/53.11|53.11]]
| 3543
|-
| [[Release information/53.10|53.10]]
| 3543
|-
| [[Release information/53.09|53.09]]
| 3543
|-
| [[Release information/53.08|53.08]]
| 3543
|-
| [[Release information/53.07|53.07]]
| 3543
|-
| [[Release information/53.06|53.06]]
| 3537
|-
| [[Release information/53.05|53.05]]
| 3535
|-
| [[Release information/53.04|53.04]]
| 3535
|-
| [[Release information/53.03|53.03]]
| 3535
|-
| [[Release information/53.02|53.02]]
| 3534
|-
| [[Release information/53.01|53.01]]
| 3534
|-
| [[Release information/52.05|52.05]]
| 3021
|-
| [[Release information/52.04|52.04]]
| 3021
|-
| [[Release information/52.03|52.03]]
| 3021
|-
| [[Release information/52.02|52.02]]
| 3015
|-
| [[Release information/52.01|52.01]]
| 3015
|-
| [[Release information/51.13|51.13]]
| 3015
|-
| [[Release information/51.12|51.12]]
| 3015
|-
| [[Release information/51.11|51.11]]
| 3014
|-
| [[Release information/51.10|51.10]]
| 3013
|-
| [[Release information/51.09|51.09]]
| 3013
|-
| [[Release information/51.08|51.08]]
| 3013
|-
| [[Release information/51.07|51.07]]
| 3013
|-
| [[Release information/51.06|51.06]]
| 3013
|-
| [[Release information/51.05|51.05]]
| 3013
|-
| [[Release information/51.04|51.04]]
| 3013
|-
| [[Release information/51.03|51.03]]
| 3013
|-
| [[Release information/51.02|51.02]]
| 3013
|-
| [[Release information/51.01|51.01]]
| Various (beta)
|-
| [[Release information/50.15|50.15]]
| 2082
|-
| [[Release information/50.14|50.14]]
| 2082
|-
| [[Release information/50.13|50.13]]
| 2082
|-
| [[Release information/50.12|50.12]]
| 2081
|-
| [[Release information/50.11|50.11]]
| 2081
|-
| [[Release information/50.10|50.10]]
| 2081
|-
| [[Release information/50.09|50.09]]
| 2081
|-
| [[Release information/50.08|50.08]]
| 2081
|-
| [[Release information/50.07|50.07]]
| 2081
|-
| [[Release information/50.06|50.06]]
| 2081
|-
| [[Release information/50.05|50.05]]
| 2081
|-
| [[Release information/50.04|50.04]]
| 2080
|-
| [[Release information/50.03|50.03]]
| 2080
|-
| [[Release information/50.02|50.02]]
| 2079
|-
| [[Release information/50.01|50.01]]
| 2078
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.47.05|0.47.05]]
| 1716
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.47.04|0.47.04]]
| 1715
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.47.03|0.47.03]]
| 1712
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.47.02|0.47.02]]
| 1711
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.47.01|0.47.01]]
| 1710
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.44.12|0.44.12]]
| 1625
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.44.11|0.44.11]]
| 1623
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.44.10|0.44.10]]
| 1620
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.44.09|0.44.09]]
| 1614
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.44.08|0.44.08]]
| 1613
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.44.07|0.44.07]]
| 1612
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.44.06|0.44.06]]
| 1611
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.44.05|0.44.05]]
| 1604
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.44.04|0.44.04]]
| 1603
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.44.03|0.44.03]]
| 1600
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.44.02|0.44.02]]
| 1597
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.44.01|0.44.01]]
| 1596
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.43.05|0.43.05]]
| 1556
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.43.04|0.43.04]]
| 1555
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.43.03|0.43.03]]
| 1553
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.43.02|0.43.02]]
| 1552
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.43.01|0.43.01]]
| 1551
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.42.06|0.42.06]]
| 1542
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.42.05|0.42.05]]
| 1537
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.42.04|0.42.04]]
| 1534
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.42.03|0.42.03]]
| 1533
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.42.02|0.42.02]]
| 1532
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.42.01|0.42.01]]
| 1531
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.24|0.40.24]]
| 1481
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.23|0.40.23]]
| 1480
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.22|0.40.22]]
| 1479
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.21|0.40.21]]
| 1478
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.20|0.40.20]]
| 1477
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.19|0.40.19]]
| 1474
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.18|0.40.18]]
| 1473
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.17|0.40.17]]
| 1472
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.16|0.40.16]]
| 1471
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.15|0.40.15]]
| 1470
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.14|0.40.14]]
| 1469
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.13|0.40.13]]
| 1462
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.12|0.40.12]]
| 1459
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.11|0.40.11]]
| 1456
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.10|0.40.10]]
| 1452
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.09|0.40.09]]
| 1451
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.08|0.40.08]]
| 1449
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.07|0.40.07]]
| 1448
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.06|0.40.06]]
| 1446
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.05|0.40.05]]
| 1445
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.04|0.40.04]]
| 1444
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.03|0.40.03]]
| 1443
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.02|0.40.02]]
| 1442
|-
| [[DF2014:Release information/0.40.01|0.40.01]]
| 1441
|-
| [[v0.34:Release information/0.34.11|0.34.11]]
| 1404
|-
| [[v0.34:Release information/0.34.10|0.34.10]]
| 1403
|-
| [[v0.34:Release information/0.34.09|0.34.09]]
| 1402
|-
| [[v0.34:Release information/0.34.08|0.34.08]]
| 1400
|-
| [[v0.34:Release information/0.34.07|0.34.07]]
| 1383
|-
| [[v0.34:Release information/0.34.06|0.34.06]]
| 1382
|-
| [[v0.34:Release information/0.34.05|0.34.05]]
| 1378
|-
| [[v0.34:Release information/0.34.04|0.34.04]]
| 1377
|-
| [[v0.34:Release information/0.34.03|0.34.03]]
| 1376
|-
| [[v0.34:Release information/0.34.02|0.34.02]]
| 1374
|-
| [[v0.34:Release information/0.34.01|0.34.01]]
| 1372
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.25|0.31.25]]
| 1362
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.24|0.31.24]]
| 1361
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.23|0.31.23]]
| 1360
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.22|0.31.22]]
| 1359
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.21|0.31.21]]
| 1354
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.20|0.31.20]]
| 1353
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.19|0.31.19]]
| 1351
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.18|0.31.18]]
| 1341
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.17|0.31.17]]
| 1340
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.16|0.31.16]]
| 1327
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.15|0.31.15]]
| 1326
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.14|0.31.14]]
| 1325
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.13|0.31.13]]
| 1323
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.12|0.31.12]]
| 1311
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.11|0.31.11]]
| 1310
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.10|0.31.10]]
| 1305
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.09|0.31.09]]
| 1304
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.08|0.31.08]]
| 1300
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.07|0.31.07]]
| Unknown
|-
| [[v0.31:Release information/0.31.06|0.31.06]]
| 1297
|-
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[[Category:Game development]]
[[Category:Release information]]

Stone industry

2026-03-18T12:18:52Z

Silverwing235:

{{Quality|Superior}}
{{av}}
[[File:stone_industry_preview.png|right]]A considerable industry centered on the use of [[stone]] is essential for any [[fortress]]. The '''stone industry''' is based on the use of loose stone (aka boulders), which are the residual products of [[mining]], as the raw material for all of its products. The stone industry is essential for fortress [[Design strategies|development]], as both a source of revenue through [[trade]], and as a source of material and items critical for [[building]] and [[construction]].

The industry produces a variety of items under the following categories:
# [[Construction]]s
# [[Furniture]] and items used in [[building]]s
# [[Mechanism]]s
# [[Crafts]]
# [[Coffer]]s

These items are created by [[mason]]s, [[mechanic]]s, and [[stone crafter]]s, each in their specific [[workshop]]s.

[[Engraving]] and stone [[smoothing]], while not actual products or constructions, add value to your fortress and can also be considered part of the stone industry.

=== Procuring Stone ===
[[Stone]] can come from four places:

:# [[Mining]]. Loose stone and boulders are a byproduct of mining. There is a 25% chance that a section of natural stone that is mined will produce a stone boulder.
:# [[Trade]]. Stone can be purchased at the [[trade depot]] from visiting [[caravan]]s. Specific types of stone can also be requested from the [[liaison]], provided that your home civilization, or the trading race, has access to it.
:# [[Embark]]. Stone can be purchased at [[embark]]. This is a very good idea if embarking on an [[aquifer]], as it may be difficult to obtain any stone to start with.
:# [[Creature]]s - a defeated [[gabbro man]] will leave behind one unit of gabbro, and a defeated [[magma man]] will leave behind one unit of obsidian. These creatures are rare and there are far easier places to get these stones, but it is included here for completeness.

=== Labor, Skill, and Workshops ===

The stone industry relies on the following [[labor]]s:
# [[Mining]] - to procure stone / boulders.
# Stone [[Hauling]] - to bring the stone to stockpiles and/or workshops. (Refuse hauling, if using [[exploit|quantum stockpiles]].)
# [[Mason]]ry - to build buildings out of stone.
# [[Mechanic]] - to build stone [[mechanism]]s
# [[Stone crafter]] - to build stone crafts and containers, including [[nest box]]es, [[hive]]s, and stone [[short sword]]s (requires obsidian).
# [[Wall/floor construction]] - As the name suggests, to build walls and floors from stone or other materials. This also includes fortifications, stairs and ramps.
# [[Jewelry]] - [[Gem cutter]]s can cut ordinary stones into cut gems for use by [[gem setter]]s.

There are three '''workshops''' that can utilize stone as the primary material for all that they build:

A '''[[stoneworker's workshop]]''' produces stone [[block]]s (which are highly useful for construction); [[furniture]] including [[table]]s and [[throne]]s (chairs), storage items including coffers ([[chest]]), [[cabinet]]s, [[weapon rack]]s, and [[armor stand]]s; portals including [[door]]s, [[grate]]s, [[hatch cover]]s, and [[flood gate]]s, funeral items including [[slab]]s and [[coffin]]s, milling items including [[quern]]s and [[millstone]]s, and finally stone [[statue]]s.
* [[Stone carver]]s are not able to build [[pipe section]]s, [[cage]]s, [[bed]]s, [[bucket]]s, and [[bin]]s, as well as [[barrel]]s, but [[large pot|large stone pot]]s (which are arguably superior to barrels) can be made by a [[stone crafter]] at a [[craftsdwarf's workshop]].
* Querns, slabs, and millstones can only be made with stone at a stoneworker's workshop.
* Stone [[block]]s are a much more efficient way to build constructions as opposed to boulders, both in terms of maximum utilization of stone (4 blocks are created from 1 stone boulder), and for speed of movement (blocks are hauled much faster than boulders, are stored in [[bin]]s at 5 per bin and do not have [[quality]] levels). A good way to increase the [[skill]] of your novice [[Stonecutter]]s is to have them mass produce stone blocks.

A '''[[mechanic's workshop]]''' produces [[mechanism]]s and [[traction bench]]es. High value mechanisms can be a good source of income early on.
* Mechanisms may also be made of [[metal]], which is useful when creating mechanisms of high value, but general purpose mechanism are best made from stone.
* It is good practice to some make mechanisms from [[magma safe]] stone for use in and around areas with magma. This will prevent building deconstruction, provided all components are made from magma safe material, should the building come into contact with magma. Alternatively, mechanisms can be made from [[iron]] or [[steel]] since they are also magma safe.

A '''[[craftsdwarf's workshop]]''' produces stone [[craft]]s including toys, musical instruments, and mugs (goblets); containers including stone jugs and large pots; as well as [[nest box]]es and bee [[hive]]s.
* All crafts can be created using glass, and in some cases ceramics, which have higher base values, but require more effort to create.

A '''[[jeweler's workshop]]''' can [[Gem cutter|cut stone]]s into polished stones, and then [[gem setter]]s can decorate items with them. Since stones are abundant this can be a good way to train jewelers before using expensive [[gem]]s.

=== Value & Quality ===
Stone typically has three base levels of [[value]]. The vast majority of stone has a base value of 1, while [[flux|flux stone]] ([[calcite]], [[limestone]], [[dolomite]], [[chalk]], and [[marble]]) has a base value of 2, and [[obsidian]] has a base value of 3. These values serve as [[Value multiplier|multiplier]]s to the overall value of any item produced using them, so say a statue with a base value of 25, made of marble, will be worth 50, and if made from obsidian, will be worth 75.

The quality of items produced increases with the skill level of the labor assigned, such that highly skilled stonecutters, stone crafters, or mechanics, will produce high quality items. Quality is also a multiplier on base value, such that stone items created using Flux Stone or Obsidian will experience considerable increase in overall value.

== Stone Management (Logistics) ==
For a detailed article on managing the movement and stockpiling of stone, read [[stone management]].

Managing your stone resources & products is a tricky and potentially time consuming business. Stone [[hauling]] is notoriously slow and can tie up many haulers for long periods of time if you don't carefully manage your hauling & stockpiling. Based on the variety of items and uses created you will also need well organized output [[stockpile]]s, so that your [[trade]], [[construction]], and [[building]] items can be isolated to their most useful locations.

=== What to expect ===
A typical fortress will have anywhere from 6-12 specific types of [[layer]] [[stone]], which make up the bulk quantity of stone on a given [[Z-axis|Z-level]]. There are 25 types of layer stone, of which 7 are magma safe. The four types of [[Flux]] stone are layer stone, so a flux stone is present on the [[embark]] location, it should likely be available in good quantity.

Layer stone is usually grey or grey-green in color. Supplementing the layer stones will be veins and clusters of secondary types of stone which include all non-flux [[economic stone]] types. Each secondary stone is directly associated with a particular layer stone. These are typically low value stones, however, they provide a wide variety of color, and several of them are magma safe. For every layer stone in an embark, there is at least one if not 2-3 secondary stone types. As can be seen, managing all of the various types of stone requires deliberate planning and consideration.
* [[DFHack]] can be used to show you all the stone types available in your embark, by typing 'prospect all'. This is cheating, but it does allow you to plan ahead for your stone stockpiling.

=== Stone collecting and stockpiling ===
One approach to managing intake is to organize your stockpiles by the following categories: low value stone (1), medium value stone ([[flux]] -2), high value stone (obsidian - 3), and [[magma safe]] stone. See [[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]] for further details. Note that this method is not useful if you want to control furniture building by color. For that level of detail individual stockpiles by each stone type may be required. Link the stockpile in which your magma safe stone is stored to feed your Mechanic Workshops, and any Mason Workshops that you want to produce blocks (for magma safe constructions.) Link the stockpile in which your medium and high value stone is stored to feed your Craftsdwarf's workshops and Mason Workshops to produce furniture and crafts of high trade value. Low value stone can be linked to workshops who will be operated by low skill, novice level dwarves.
* Regarding [[wheelbarrow]], as stone is quite heavy to haul, wheelbarrows can be a good solution for collecting the boulders, provided the stockpiles are set up only for raw stone. Having multiple stone collection stockpiles, set up to feed your custom - type specific stockpiles should help with reducing hauling time. Wheelbarrows have several bugs associated, and are virtually uselless in multi purpose stockpiles that also use bins, but they do work for stone hauling. Keep in mind that wheelbarrows collect items, but do not deliver them.
* [[Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|Quantum stockpiles]] are an alternative to standard stockpiles, but require some micro management if you want to use them to feed your workshops.
* [[Minecart]] systems can also help with hauling stone, but require considerable effort to build.

=== Stone product stockpiling ===
Product output is best managed by stockpiling [[finished goods]] together - those you always want to sell in trade as they have no other real purpose, which are typically [[craft]] goods. Isolated Stockpiles for Large Pots and Jugs can help manage demand, while smaller stockpiles for nest boxes and hives will do likewise. Furniture can be grouped /categorized according to individual preference, but it might be a good idea to create duplicate stockpiles organized around quality levels to help control which items are used in building. Furniture stockpiles should be fairly large, as furniture items typically cannot be stored in containers. [[Blocks]] should be isolated to their own stockpiles but they need not be too large as they can be stored in [[bin]]s. [[Mechanism]]s might require fairly large stockpiles, depending on your planned use of [[trap]]s, [[bridge]]s, and [[power]]. Isolating mechanisms by quality is also a good idea, as they can provide [[Thoughts|happy thoughts]].

=== Economic Stone ===
'''[[Economic stone]]s''' are stones that can be used for purposes other than construction or masonry, and as such are typically excluded from the stone industry. Stones used in other industries include [[ore]], [[flux]], [[plaster]], [[fuel]], [[porcelain]], and [[obsidian]]. These stones should be stockpiled in the areas where they will be in demand, for example you will want to stockpile ore, some flux, and fuel-providing stone near your [[smelter]]s, while stone that can make plaster should be stockpiled near a [[kiln]]. If you have an abundance of any particular economic stone, you can enable stone industry use of that stone in the [[Labor#Stone use|Stone use tab]] in the Labor menu {{menu icon|y}}.

=== Obsidian - the Premier Stone ===
[[Obsidian]] deserves special mention as it is the highest-value stone in the game (3). It is unique in that it can be [[Obsidian farming|farmed]] using magma and water, and it can be used to create obsidian [[short sword]]s. It is [[magma safe]], and due to its high value, is considered to be the best stone to use when attempting to craft objects designed to improve your dwarves' [[Thought|happiness]] and create [[Keeping your dwarves happy|happy thoughts]]. In particular, obsidian mechanisms will achieve the highest possible value of any stone-based mechanism.

== Tips ==
After your [[fortress]] has been dug out you will likely have more stone than you know what to do with. A good idea is to produce stone [[crafts]] for when the first dwarven [[caravan]] arrives. Crafts often produce light [[finished goods|goods]]. The stone is also useful as it can produce most [[furniture]]. Finally, the stone can be used in [[construction]]s.

If you are lucky enough to have layers of [[flux]] stone in your fortress, any goods produced with them will be twice as valuable as other goods of default (non-flux stone) quality. [[Obsidian]] will enhance goods to triple value.

Stone cannot be used to produce [[bed]]s, [[bin]]s or [[barrel]]s. However, large stone [[large pot|pots]] are functionally the same as barrels, and can be traded to the <s>tree-fondling hippies</s> [[elf|elves]].

{{Category|Industry}}
{{Industry}}
[[ru:Stone industry]]

Position token

2026-03-16T21:23:09Z

Silverwing235: /* Responsibilities */

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{av}}
{{Modding}}
Position tokens define [[noble]] positions for civilizations and site governments, inside [[entity token]]s. In the vanilla game, position token definitions can be found in <code>[[Game folder|<Dwarf Fortress>]]\data\vanilla\vanilla_entities\objects\entity_default.txt</code>.

__TOC__
{{clear}}

==Code==
A position is defined with a position 'code', as an argument in the [POSITION]-tag. The same code may be used multiple times, they don't have to be unique. This code is used as reference by APPOINTED_BY, SUCCESSION:BY_POSITION, REPLACE_BY and COMMANDER. 'MONARCH' is an example of this code.

==Position tokens==
These tokens belong in an entity definition, applying to a position (such as monarch) and should follow the [POSITION:POSITION_NAME] token.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Arguments
! Description

|-
| {{text anchor|ACCOUNT_EXEMPT}}
|
| The position holder is not subjected to the [[Dwarven economy|economy]]. Less than relevant right now.

|-
| {{text anchor|ALLOWED_CLASS}}
| {{token|CREATURE_CLASS|creature}} token
| rowspan=2 | ALLOWED_CLASS: Only creatures with the specified [CREATURE_CLASS] token may be appointed to this position. Multiple entries are allowed. ALLOWED_CREATURE: Restricts the position to the specified creature and caste. Multiple entries are allowed. These tokens only apply within the entity’s own race (including its castes).
In world generation, they limit which units may be assigned to the position, but they do not prevent other creature types from acquiring the position through alternative means (for example, via a coup).
In fortress mode, these tokens are enforced during manual appointment and succession.
During world generation, if all allowed castes have a POP_RATIO of 0, a unit of an allowed caste will still be generated to fill the position.

|-
| {{text anchor|ALLOWED_CREATURE}}
| CREATURE:CASTE

|-
| {{text anchor|APPOINTED_BY}}
| position
| This position can only be chosen for the task from the nobles screen, and is available only if there is an *argument* present. For example, the GENERAL is [APPOINTED_BY:MONARCH]. Contrast [ELECTED]. Being appointed by a MONARCH seems to handle a lot of worldgen stuff, and interferes with fort mode titles. Multiple entries are allowed. If you have neither an ELECTED-token nor a APPOINTED_BY-token, the holder may always be changed (like the expedition leader).
''Read more: [[Advanced_Entity_Position_Mechanics#Appointment]]''

|-
| {{text anchor|BRAG_ON_KILL}}
|
| A creature that kills a member of this position will be sure to talk about it a lot.

|-
| {{text anchor|CHAT_WORTHY}}
|
| In adventure mode, when referencing locations, an NPC may mention this position holder living there or having done some deed there; it also means that the position exists in world-gen, rather than being created only at the end of world-gen.

|-
| {{text anchor|COLOR}}
| [[Color]]
| Creatures of this position will have this [[Color]], instead of their profession color, e.g. [COLOR:5:0:1]. It is also applied to the name of the citizen in the units-screen.

|-
| {{text anchor|COMMANDER}}
| position:ALL
| This position will act as a commander of the specified position{{verify}}. E.g. GENERAL is [COMMANDER:LIEUTENANT:ALL]. Unknown if values other than ALL work. Multiple entries are allowed.
''Read more: [[Army]]''

|-
| {{text anchor|CONQUERED_SITE}}
|
| This position is a puppet ruler, left behind in a conquered site.

|-
| {{text anchor|DEMAND_MAX}}
| number (0-100)
| How many demands the position can make of the population at one time.

|-
| {{text anchor|DESCRIPTION}}
| string. Readable up to 470 characters in the nobles' screen.
| description of this position in the nobles screen.

|-
| {{text anchor|DETERMINES_COIN_DESIGN}}
|
| The site's (or civ's) minted [[coin]]s, if any, will have images that reflect the personality of this position holder.

|-
| {{text anchor|DO_NOT_CULL}}
|
| The position won't be culled from Legends as "unimportant" during world generation.

|-
| {{text anchor|DUTY_BOUND}}
|
| Members of this position will never agree to 'join' your character during adventure mode. They also don't settle anywhere else but in the capital, and will not [[immigration|emigrate]] from their site. If they are not DUTY_BOUND, they will live anywhere as they like.

|-
| {{text anchor|ELECTED}}
|
| The population will periodically select the most skill-eligible creature to fill this position for site-level positions at the player's fort. For responsibilities or positions that use more than one skill, no skill takes priority in electing a creature: an accomplished comedian is more qualified for the TRADE responsibility than a skilled appraiser. A creature may be elected to multiple positions at the same time. Contrast [APPOINTED_BY].
''More info: [[Elections]]''
''Read more: [[Advanced_Entity_Position_Mechanics#Elections]]''

|-
| {{text anchor|EXECUTION_SKILL}}
| weapon skill
| A mandatory sub-tag of [RESPONSIBILITY:EXECUTIONS]. Determines the weapon chosen by the executioner for their work.

|-
| {{text anchor|EXPORTED_IN_LEGENDS}}
|
| The various members who have filled this role will be listed in the civilisation's history.

|-
| {{text anchor|FLASHES}}
|
| The creature holding this position will visibly flash, like legendary citizens. Represents a properly noble station by default.

|-
| {{text anchor|GENDER}}
| male/female
| The position can only be held by the specified gender. Currently bugged {{bug|2714}}

|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_QUEST}}
|
| The position can assign quests to adventurers.

|-
| {{text anchor|LAND_HOLDER}}
| importance tier (1-10)
| This is an alternative to SITE, allowing positions to be created at civ-level 'as needed' for all sites that meet the requirements to have them, which are the values set in [[Difficulty#Land_holder|land holder difficulty]] [[settings]]. The character is tied permanently to a particular site, but also operates at the civ-level.
''Read more: [[Advanced_Entity_Position_Mechanics#land holders]]''

|-
| {{text anchor|LAND_NAME}}
| string. Readable up to 21 characters in the nobles' screen.
| The name the area takes on when under the control of a LAND_HOLDER. E.g. for the DUKE, [LAND_NAME:a duchy]. If the position is not a [[LAND_HOLDER]], the land_name is still displayed left of the position in the nobles menu.

|-
| {{text anchor|MANDATE_MAX}}
| number (0-100)
| The maximum number of mandates the position can make at once.

|-
| {{text anchor|MENIAL_WORK_EXEMPTION}}
|
| The position holder cannot be assigned labors. It only works for [SITE]-positions.

|-
| {{text anchor|MENIAL_WORK_EXEMPTION_SPOUSE}}
|
| The spouse of the position holder doesn't have to work, either - see above.
|-
| {{text anchor|MILITARY_SCREEN_ONLY}}
|
| This position cannot be appointed from the nobles screen. Intended for militia captains and other squad leaders to reduce clutter. Currently nonfunctional{{bug|8965}}

|-
| {{text anchor|NAME}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 21 characters in the nobles' screen and up to 30 in the unit list.
| The name of the position.

|-
| {{text anchor|NAME_MALE}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 21 characters in the nobles' screen and up to 30 in the unit list.
| If the creature holding the position is male, this is the position's name. E.g. for MONARCH, [NAME_MALE:king:kings]

|-
| {{text anchor|NAME_FEMALE}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 21 characters in the nobles' screen and up to 30 in the unit list.
| If the creature holding the position is female, this is the position's name. E.g. for MONARCH, [NAME_FEMALE:queen:queens]

|-
| {{text anchor|NUMBER}}
|
* number/AS_NEEDED
| How many of the position there should be. If the [SITE] token exists, this is per site, otherwise this is per civilisation. AS_NEEDED applies mainly to positions involved with the military command chain; this is used to allow armies to expand to whatever size they need to be. Other non-military positions like the land_holders or the [[messenger]] with NUMBER:AS_NEEDED will also be appointed.
The problem with [[Lieutenant]]s and [[Captain]]s not being created, is their AS_NEEDED number. They are only then created when they're needed, and that has some pretty unusual conditions. When a fixed number is used, they are appointed with the creation of the civ.
If the NUMBER is set at a fixed value higher than 1, the position is always filled up full. If the position is available on embark, it is completely filled up with only the first dwarf.

|-
| {{text anchor|PRECEDENCE}}
| number (0-30000)/NONE
| How important the position is in society; a lower number is more important and displayed higher in the Nobles menu. For MONARCH it's 1, for MILITIA_CAPTAIN it's 200.

The game marks the first non-[SITE] position with [PRECEDENCE:1] as the ruler, for both embark screen and mountainhome purposes. When it is empty, [REPLACED_BY] another position, or not yet created because of [REQUIRES_POPULATION], the screen just says 'None' as the holders' name.

Landholders can become the ruler, if they are the first defined position with precedence of 1. civ-position can also be created without precedence. Positions may have the same precedence and will be appointed, although the effect is unknown. Precedence has no effect on who's doing the job, if both positions have the same responsibilities.

|-
| {{text anchor|PUNISHMENT_EXEMPTION}}
|
| The position holder will not be held accountable for his or her crimes. Currently nonfunctional.{{bug|4589}}{{verify|seems to prevent punishment when they are convicted of actual crime}}

|-
| {{text anchor|QUEST_GIVER}}
|
| The position holder can give quests in Adventure mode. Functionality in 0.31.13 and later is uncertain.

|-
| {{text anchor|REJECTED_CLASS}}
| CREATURE_CLASS Token
| Creatures of the specified class cannot be appointed to this position. Multiple entries are allowed

|-
| {{text anchor|REJECTED_CREATURE}}
| CREATURE:CASTE
| Restricts position holders by CREATURE type. Multiple entries are allowed. It doesn't seem to work in world-gen. When checking Legends mode, units are seen assigned this position regardless of their creature-type or caste. It does work in Fortress mode.

|-
| {{text anchor|REPLACED_BY}}
| position
| This position is absorbed by another down the line. For example, expedition leader is [REPLACED_BY:MAYOR]. Only a single entry is allowed.

It can work with both [REQUIRES_POPULATION] and [REQUIRES_MARKET].

The tag differs in function for landholders, see [[Advanced_entity_position_mechanics]]

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_BEDROOM}}
| number (0-1000000)
| The position holder requires a bedroom with at least this value.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_BOXES}}
| number (0-100)
| The position holder requires at least this many boxes.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_CABINETS}}
| number (0-100)
| The position holder requires at least this many cabinets.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_DINING}}
| number (0-1000000)
| The position holder requires a dining room with at least this value.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_OFFICE}}
| number (0-1000000)
| The position holder requires an office with at least this value.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_RACKS}}
| number (0-100)
| The position holder requires at least this many weapon racks.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_STANDS}}
| number (0-100)
| The position holder requires at least this many armour stands.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRED_TOMB}}
| number (0-1000000)
| The position holder requires a tomb with at least this value.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRES_MARKET}}
|
| Does not have anything directly to do with [[trade depot|trade depots]]. It means that in minor sites (such as hillocks) the position will not appear, while in major sites (such as dwarf fortresses) it will. Depending on its economical position in the region, a [[hamlet]] may build a market and develop into a [[Town]] eventually. That is when this position becomes available. It only works in combination with the [SITE]-token.

|-
| {{text anchor|REQUIRES_POPULATION}}
| number
| The position requires the population to be at least this number before it becomes available, or before the position holder will move in.

|-
| {{text anchor|RESPONSIBILITY}}
| responsibility
| The position holder does a thing. See the table below for suitable arguments. A position does not need to have a responsibility.

|-
| {{text anchor|RULES_FROM_LOCATION}}
|
| If there is a special location set aside for rulers, such as a human castle/mead hall, the position holder will always be found at that particular location. Does nothing for dwarven nobles, because at present, dwarves have no such special locations.

|-
| {{text anchor|SITE}}
|
| Every site government will have the defined number of this position instead of the whole civilization; provided that other criteria (if any) are met. Unless LAND_HOLDER is present instead, the defined number of the position will be created only for the civilization as a whole.

|-
| {{text anchor|SLEEP_PRETENSION}}
|
| The position holder will get upset if someone with a higher PRECEDENCE holds quarters with a greater value than their own.

|-
| {{text anchor|SPECIAL_BURIAL}}
|
| The civilization will inter the corpse of the position holder in a special grave, either in catacombs or in monuments. If that grave is disturbed, the position holder can return as a [[mummy]]. {{verify}}

|-
| {{text anchor|SPOUSE}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 30 characters in the unit list.
| The name of the position holder's spouse.

|-
| {{text anchor|SPOUSE_FEMALE}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 30 characters in the unit list.
| If the spouse of the creature holding the position is female, this is the spouse's position name.

|-
| {{text anchor|SPOUSE_MALE}}
| singular:plural. Readable up to 30 characters in the unit list.
| If the spouse of the creature holding the position is male, this is the spouse's position name.

|-
| {{text anchor|SQUAD}}
| number:singular:plural
| The position holder is authorized to form a military squad, led by themselves using the [[leader]] and [[military tactics]] skills. The number denotes the maximum headcount. The noun used to describe the subordinates (e.g. royal guard) is used in adventure mode for the adventurer. This token is used together with [RESPONSIBILITY:LAW_ENFORCEMENT] for giving [[quest]]s to adventurers as [[Hearthperson|hearthpeople]]. Further details: [[Advanced_entity_position_mechanics#Military]]

|-
| {{text anchor|SUCCESSION}}
|
* BY_HEIR / BY_POSITION:position
| How a new position holder is chosen. A single position can have multiple BY_POSITION tokens. See [[Noble]] for more information on how succession is handled in the game.
The SUCCESSION-Tag is also considered when a new positions opens up, for example when a required population number is reached. If a valid successor is available, they will be the one taking that position initially, without appointment or election.

|}

== Responsibilities ==
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Argument
! Description

|-
| {{text anchor|ACCOUNTING}}
| Found on [[bookkeeper]]. The position will use the [[record keeper]] skill to keep track of stocks.

|-
| {{text anchor|ADVISE_LEADERS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|ATTACK_ENEMIES}}
| Found on elven [[ranger captain]] and human warrior. Effect unknown.{{verify}}

|-
| {{text anchor|BUILD_MORALE}}
| Found on [[champion]]. Citizens get a special thought for "talking to a pillar of society" when speaking to this noble.

|-
| {{text anchor|BUILDING_SAFETY}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|COLLECT_TAXES}}
| Currently unused - was originally assigned to the tax collector.

|-
| {{text anchor|CONSTRUCTION_PERMITS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|DELIVER_MESSAGES}}
| Found on [[messenger]]. The position travels to other sites and uses [[social skill]]s.
|

|-
| {{text anchor|EQUIPMENT_MANIFESTS}}
| Currently unused - was originally assigned to the arsenal dwarf.

|-
| {{text anchor|ESCORT_TAX_COLLECTOR}}
| Currently unused - was originally assigned to the Royal Guards (squad members beneath the Hammerer).

|-
| {{text anchor|ESPIONAGE}}
| Found on [[dungeon master]] and the [[Elf|elven]] [[General|princess]] and uses the [[schemer]] skill.

|-
| {{text anchor|ESTABLISH_COLONY_TRADE_AGREEMENTS}}
| Found on [[outpost liaison]]. Position travels with the caravan and uses [[social skill]]s to make trade agreements with any settlements that it visits, provided they are domestic, report the news and promote {{token|LAND_HOLDER|e}} positions. Also reports recent news. Presumably has no effect at site level. Crucially, it does not visit foreign settlements, but the civ-level TRADE position does the exact same thing in its position. They arrive the same time as the caravan arrives, and this can thus be modded by setting {{token|ACTIVE_SEASON|e}}

|-
| {{text anchor|EXECUTIONS}}
| Found on [[hammerer]]. Position executes death penalty judgements with a weapon of the appropriate skill. Cannot be combined with LAW_ENFORCEMENT, resulting in the "Invalid Officer"-error.

|-
| {{text anchor|FIRE_SAFETY}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|FOOD_SUPPLY}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|HEALTH_MANAGEMENT}}
| Found on [[chief medical dwarf]]. Position will use [[diagnostician]] skill to evaluate [[wounds]] and schedule [[Health care|treatment]], reported in each citizen's Health tab.

|-
| {{text anchor|JUDGE}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|LAW_ENFORCEMENT}}
| Found on [[sheriff]]/[[captain of the guard]]. Position and its subordinates are in charge of punishing criminals. A {{token|SITE|position}} position holding this responsibility plus the {{token|SQUAD|position}} token (or allowing the entity to have a {{token|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|e}} with this responsibility) is required for an adventurer from a given civilization to start as a [[hearthperson]], [[Captain of the guard|fortress guard]], etc. Cannot be combined with EXECUTIONS, resulting in the "Invalid Officer"-error.

|-
| {{text anchor|LAW_MAKING}}
| Found on [[monarch]]s and [[:Category:Aristocrats|nobles]]. Will be referred to as the leader of the site in adventure mode and they may designate the site as being the capital city for civ-level positions. This position is in charge of creating procedural positions, corresponding to either {{token|VARIABLE_POSITIONS|e}} or {{token|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|e}}. Position-holders that have attained [[immortality]] may issue oppressive edicts to protect themselves against suspicion.

|-
| {{text anchor|MAINTAIN_BRIDGES}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MAINTAIN_ROADS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MAINTAIN_SEWERS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MAINTAIN_TUNNELS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_INTRODUCTIONS}}
| Position will make a 'social call' to an established foreign settlement, complimenting or insulting them depending on relations and reporting the news.

|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_PEACE_AGREEMENTS}}
| Found on diplomat. Position negotiates peace treaties in order to end wars.

|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_TOPIC_AGREEMENTS}}
| Found on [[diplomat]]. Position negotiates special agreements, such as tree cutting quotas. Used when elevating a settlement in the {{token|LAND_HOLDER|position}} chain up from level 1.

|-
| {{text anchor|MANAGE_ANIMALS}}
| Found on [[dungeon master]].

|-
| {{text anchor|MANAGE_LEADER_HOUSEHOLD_CLEANLINESS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MANAGE_LEADER_HOUSEHOLD_DRINKS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MANAGE_LEADER_HOUSEHOLD_FOOD}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|MANAGE_PRODUCTION}}
| Found on [[manager]]. Position enables the use of workshop profiles and uses the [[organizer]] skill to process work orders entered in the job manager after the fortress population reaches 20.

|-
| {{text anchor|MEET_WORKERS}}
| Found on [[expedition leader]]/[[mayor]]. Position uses the various [[social skill]]s to hold meetings with unhappy citizens and try to pacify them with happy thoughts. In adventure mode, [SITE] positions with this responsibility handle petitions to make the player a performer for the local government.

|-
| {{text anchor|MILITARY_GOALS}}
| Found on [[monarch]]/[[:Category:Aristocrats|landholder]]/[[:Category:Elected Nobles|leaders]]. Character is in charge of going to war and making peace for the government they work for. Without a position with this responsibility at civ level the civilization will not be able to make peace and its sites will wage war on each other constantly, and as a result, all viable civilizations must have one leader with this tag at civ level. This appears not to be a problem for [[kobold]]s, presumably due to the {{token|SKULKING|e}}. If no position has this responsibility in fortress mode, players are unable to start [[missions]].

|-
| {{text anchor|MILITARY_STRATEGY}}
| Found on [[general]]/[[militia commander]]. Means that they will command the armies of their site or civilization. Issues the orders for the teams conducting raids or other operations away from the fortress. During worldgen, positions (of a civilization) will go on expeditions to tame exotic creatures (but this only yields a pet, not any training knowledge, and only of a race for which the civilization has already some training knowledge). Counterintuitively not by the TAME_EXOTICS-position. The destinations of these expeditions are determined by the entities USE_(...)_ANIMALS-tokens.

|-
| {{text anchor|OVERSEE_LEADER_HOUSEHOLD}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|PATROL_TERRITORY}}
| Found on elven ranger captain. Effect unknown.{{verify}}

|-
| {{text anchor|PREPARE_LEADER_MEALS}}
|

|-
| {{text anchor|RECEIVE_DIPLOMATS}}
| Found on [[monarch]]/[[:Category:Aristocrats|landholder]]/[[:Category:Elected Nobles|leaders]]. Position uses the various social skills to hold meetings with incoming diplomats and liaisons.

|-
| {{text anchor|RELIGION}}
| Found on elven [[druid]] and uses [[social skill]]s. Position informs you about worship cults{{verify}}

|-
| {{text anchor|SORT_AMMUNITION}}
| Currently unused - was originally assigned to the arsenal dwarf.

|-
| {{text anchor|TAME_EXOTICS}}
| Position will tame animals with the {{token|PET_EXOTIC}} token. Currently unused - was originally assigned to the dungeon master. Expeditions to tame exotic creatures will be done by the MILITARY_STRATEGY-position

|-
| {{text anchor|TRADE}}
| Found on [[broker]]. Position will use Appraisal skill to display value estimates and the various Social skills to trade at the depot. When applied to other civilizations, this position will arrive with the caravan to make trade agreements (like the Human Guild Representative from older versions) and behaves otherwise like the civ's own ESTABLISH_COLONY_TRADE_AGREEMENTS position holder. They arrive the same time as the caravan arrive and this can thus be modded by setting {{token|ACTIVE_SEASON|e}}

|-
| {{text anchor|UPGRADE_SQUAD_EQUIPMENT}}
| Currently unused - was originally assigned to the arsenal dwarf.

|}

== Related tokens ==
The following two ENTITY tokens are not actually position tokens, but bear mentioning on this page because they can modify the way that a civilization's positions behave:

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Arguments
! Description

|-
| {{text anchor|VARIABLE_POSITIONS}}
| Position responsibility or ALL
| Allows a responsibility to be taken up by a dynamically generated position (such as Law-maker).

|}

== Why won't my positions appear? ==
The way DF determines what positions will actually ''appear'' in your fortress is somewhat counter-intuitive and fairly limiting. This guide should help you understand what you can do to actually get your positions working properly.

There are five tokens governing which positions appear in your fortress - LAND_HOLDER, REQUIRES_POPULATION, APPOINTED_BY, ELECTED, and REPLACED_BY. The first two determine when your fortress is eligible for a new position, the next two determine how a new position for which your fortress is eligible can be added, and the fifth allows you to clear up obsolete positions. Unfortunately, they also interact in some strange ways that makes creating interesting position structures difficult.

When you start a new fortress, DF compiles a list of your initial positions. To do this, it looks at the requirements for each position - any position whose only requirement is less than seven dwarves (either because they have no requirement tokens, or because their only requirement tokens are [REQUIRES_POPULATION: =< 7] or [LAND_HOLDER:some trigger whose only requirement is some number of dwarves equal to or less than 7]). Most importantly, ''any'' position whose only requirement is a LAND_HOLDER requirement, regardless of what the trigger for that requirement is, will be added if another eligible starting position is REPLACED_BY it. '''A non-LAND_HOLDER position that is REPLACED_BY a LAND_HOLDER position will never appear.''' With this list compiled, the game culls all positions that are REPLACED_BY another eligible position, and then culls all positions that have the APPOINTED_BY token. '''You may not embark with any appointed positions.''' Any remaining positions are then filled by a dwarf chosen at random.

'''Positions do not automatically appear when you reach their requirements.''' For example, if you remove the ELECTED token from the Mayor, then the Mayor will never appear, even once you reach their required number of dwarves. '''For a position that does not appear at embark to appear in your fortress, it must be APPOINTED_BY another position or ELECTED.'''

Naturally, this is more complicated than it looks. '''APPOINTED_BY positions must be appointed by another position already in your fortress, or a civ-level position. Only LAND_HOLDER positions may be appointed by civ-level positions.''' LAND_HOLDER positions that are APPOINTED_BY civ-level positions are inherently tied to civ-level tokens with the ESTABLISH_COLONY_TRADE_AGREEMENTS responsibility. If a fortress meets the LAND_HOLDER_TRIGGER for a new LAND_HOLDER tier when a caravan leaves, then the next time the outpost liaison or equivalent arrives, they will offer to make you an official colony, which will allow you to select all positions for that LAND_HOLDER level. '''Each time they appear, the outpost liaison will only promote your fortress one tier up the LAND_HOLDER track.''' The biggest problem with this system is that you may set your LAND_HOLDER_TRIGGERS such that you are eligible for the first tier of LAND_HOLDER positions at embark. '''If you are eligible for the first tier of LAND_HOLDER positions at embark, then all first-tier positions will appear twice - once at embark, and again when the outpost liaison comes to appoint you to the first tier.'''

If civ-positions are neither APPOINTED_BY nor ELECTED, they still will be filled.

Read more: [[Advanced_Entity_Position_Mechanics]]

{{Category|Modding}}
{{Category|Tokens}}
[[ru:Position token]]

Children

2026-03-09T21:25:58Z

Silverwing235:

{{Quality|Superior}}
{{av}}
[[File:child_sprite_preview.png|right]]
Most [[creature]]s, including [[dwarf|dwarves]], start out as infants, then after a certain number of years become '''children''', and after that become adults - for dwarves, childhood starts after reaching one year of age, and continues until age 18.

In fortress mode, some migrant dwarves are [[marriage|married]] and may bring children. Children who immigrate to your [[fortress]] might be any age from one to 17. You can determine the age of any child by viewing their [[thoughts and preferences|thoughts]] screen, which will give you the child's exact age as well as their date of birth. This information is visible regardless of whether or not the child was born in your fortress.

"Resident" heterosexually [[marriage|married]] female dwarves may also give birth to children. Dwarves can even have [[miscarriage]]s (if they become dehydrated, starving, or are subjected to certain types of physical trauma), which causes an unhappy thought for the mother, but not for the father.

Much of [[goblin]] society is centered around [[thief|stealing the children]] of other races. The appropriate response to a baby-snatcher appearing on the map is the judicious use of [[magma|dwarven diplomacy]].

Humanoid creatures (the five main species) that are children or babies will appear as unique smaller sprites, and will appear to be wearing red if the option to show worn clothing dyes is disabled. Young animals and other creatures will have a smaller sprite than their adult counterparts, with some of them having baby sprites as well. Curiously enough, portraits can still show dwarven children with facial hair.
{{Translation
| dwarven = tilat
| elvish = imi
| goblin = tox
| human = shin
}}
==Babies==
[[File:dwarf_children.jpg|thumb|260px|right|Before they grow up to realize they're in an unwinnable game. ''Art by Devilingo'']][[File:df_baby_list.png|thumb|260px|right|Many children and a baby seen in the citizen information menu.]][[File:dwarf_child_portrait.png|thumb|96px|right|Portrait of a dwarven child.]]Babies do not have to be born in [[bed]]s, but are born wherever the mother happens to be, which will interrupt most current actions of the mother. The game will play the birth sound effect and [[announcement|announce]] the arrival of the baby. The mother will cancel whatever task she was in the middle of to seek her infant, and then will ''usually'' resume whatever task she was doing before the child was born. Dwarven mothers can also give birth to twins or triplets, although that is exceedingly rare (1 out of 500), due to their [MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE] token. Babies are looked after by their mother, who will continue working while carrying the babies.

[[Unconscious]] mothers will not wake up when they give birth – [[sleep]]ing and resting in a [[hospital]] will not be interrupted. Dwarves in a [[strange mood]] will also not interrupt their mood when giving birth – cancelling a mood forces instant insanity, so it is likely a coding choice to protect mothers (and children). Imprisoned mothers can grab their child if they give birth while on a chain, but cannot retrieve an infant that is out of their reach, which can cause massive problems, since a mother carrying a child is forced to drop it before being brought to prison. Most jobs performed by a mother upon giving birth will be immediatly cancelled to pick up the baby, but for instance a current haul animal job, where the mother is already leading the animal, will not be cancelled, but will be finished before the infant is picked up.

If the mother is sleeping or otherwise prevented from collecting her infant, the baby will be free to roam as it pleases. An emancipated baby acts in a similar manner to a [[insanity|raving mad]] adult, wandering freely over the map without any sense of self-preservation, gravitating to [[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|meeting zone]]s. It may be fed and watered by other dwarves, and in recent versions, such care happens regularly enough to keep orphans alive. As long as a baby is not within reach of a hostile creature, no harm will be done to it. "Job cancellation spam" can be generated as the baby is seen by the game to be "insane" (example: "Urist McBabyname, Dwarven baby, cancels Clean Self: Too Insane"), but once it reaches childhood (at 12 months), that will stop, and they go about their business like any other dwarven child. While dwarven children are dressed in red, a baby's clothes will be dark yellow.

The sex of a baby is determined upon birth; this means that [[Cheating#Savescumming|reloading a save]] before a baby's birth might get a baby of the other sex. After giving birth, it is possible for the mother to become pregnant again immediately, and give birth to another child nine months later.

Babies will crawl to burrows when assigned to them.

Any baby being carried by its mother will effectively leech [[food]] and [[Thirst|drink]] from her, causing her to become hungry or thirsty at double the usual rate. This does not, however, count as alcohol consumption – when a baby is close to 1 year old, it will have severe withdrawal.

Babies can gain memories, although it seems that only thoughts with strong emotions can become the memory of a baby. Many thoughts (with strong emotions), which can become a memory, are able to change the dwarf's values/facets (upon becoming a core memory). And since babies (and small children) will, if any, only have few memories, such memories will have a tremendous effect on the dwarf's happiness (as they will continuesly remember the same few memories). Most of the thoughts with strong emotions (in a baby) are negative thoughts and only a few are positive. Of the negative thoughts observed to become memories, aside from the (negative) ones known to be able to change the dwarf's values facets, is being pestered by vermin (but this thought does rarely become a memory, but being aggrevated by vermin might be another matter as vermin generating such thoughts are hated by the dwarven baby). On the positive side, aside from gaining a sibling (which will usually change the dwarf's values/facets later on), being "near to a favorite (caged) creature" can become a memory (and presumly also being near to a waterfall {{verify}}). All of this means that it is not advised to let a baby-carrying mother (and thus the baby) be caught in the rain. But it might be a good idea to let the baby-carrying mother walk by a cage containing a favorite creature of the baby, as babies getting such a positive memory might be "fine" upon becoming a child (and not merely content or even unhappy). Also, babies can gain knowledge of dance, music and poetry forms by watching performances, although they supposedly cannot gain any other skills (except when eg. taken on a raid mission by their mother).

The first order of business when a baby becomes a child is to pick up their clothing. After finishing that task, the child will start to play in the tile they picked up their last piece of clothing (although they might fetch a toy beforehand). This behaviour, by proper stockpile placement (and stockpile links) and having enough mittens/cloaks/hoods, can be exploited, so that the former dwarven baby will always play in a guildhall after becoming a child.

==Labor==
In [[fortress mode]], children can be assigned the relatively minor labors designated chores, below, but will also perform a few simple tasks on their own, such as:

* Socializing in [[location]]s, also holding [[performance]]s like singing, or reciting poetry (and they can gain skill levels in dancing, poetry and musical instruments). But children can perform music that they know anywhere and everywhere (especially if it only requires one performer), they are not bound by meeting places or locations, but instead start singing in a bedroom or stockpile instead. But performing seems to be currently gated, ie. only children, that have a musician and/or singing skill, will perform music, which means that children born in the current fortress will not display that behaviour, but "void" dwarf children (migrants) can as they can be created with such performance skills.
* Picking out, and wearing, their own [[clothing]].
* Watching (and even leading) guild demonstrations, provided the guild is open to all citizens.
* Attending meetings to complain to someone in charge, if unhappy (ie. as a 1 year old due to being caught in the rain as a baby).
* Eating, drinking, and sleeping as necessary.
* [[Farming|Harvesting]] [[crops]], if the "All dwarves harvest" [[standing orders|order]] is on. This will also increase their [[planter]] skill, which only happens very sporadically in the current version.
* When they want to, storing their items, including toys (specifically, they may perform a Store Item in Bin order for multiple toys).
* Children can play with [[toy]]s, such as puzzle boxes or toy axes, and might also play make believe. Both are basically filler jobs without tangible benefits, except for usually giving the child a happy thought and so unstressing the child (although some children might not feel anything instead).
* Fighting or running from hostiles, depending on circumstances. (Since children are small, can't use armor or weapons, and all start without combat skills, don't expect them to be effective fighters. Nor, for that matter, can they be assigned to squads.)
* Children can enter [[strange mood]]s, going about them the same as an adult dwarf. If they did not watch any guild demonstrations in a moodable skill (prior to the strange mood), they will attempt to make one artifact appropriate for a [[bone carver]], [[wood crafter]], or [[stonecrafter]], otherwise they will create an artifact according to the highest moodable skill (normal strange mood rules apply). They will also gain experience as normal if they complete it, except for possessed moods.
* Children respect [[burrow]] restrictions, including civilian alerts.
* Attempting to [[swim]] if submerged in [[water]].

Children may not be assigned to the [[noble|nobility]] and cannot join any guild (even if legendary in one of the required skills). However, they ''can'' be assigned bedrooms - even though children might still choose to sleep in their parents' bedroom instead of their own. If no tasks are available, they will gladly loiter in meeting areas, like [[dining room]]s for example, for the duration of their youth. Children born in the fort tend to follow their mother by preference, even (especially?) if their mother is a soldier and is currently going into battle.

Children are also known to be invisible to [[vampire]]s, thus making excellent crime detectors, as they speak truthfully in all cases.

The game will create an [[announcement]] when children reach adulthood, and can be assigned labors. This announcement will not pause and/or center the screen by default.

==Chores==
There is a chores tab under Labor/Standing Orders that allows players to disable/enable the chore tasks, which are:

* [[Feed patients/prisoners]]
* [[Milking]]
* [[Stone hauling]]
* [[Wood hauling]]
* [[Item hauling]]
* [[Burial]]
* [[Food hauling]]
* [[Refuse hauling]]
* [[Furniture hauling]]
* [[Animal hauling]]
* [[Trade good hauling]]
* [[Water hauling]]
* [[Cleaning]]
* [[Lever operation]]

Children don't seem to like chores, resulting in them becoming depressed and moody, which can result, obviously, in the children committing various crimes. Turning off chores will help alleviate this issue - you must decide for yourself if the increased mood is worth the loss of their labor.

Consider turning off Refuse Hauling and Burial as well; children tend to accumulate bad thoughts when hauling corpses, which can stress them out even more than it does adults. Also, children tend to start playing immediately after finishing a task, so if you leave Refuse Hauling on, they may decide that the corpse pile is an excellent playground, adding to the problem.

Furthermore, do not expect children who are younger than 12 years to be as good at hauling as their adult counterparts with similar physical attributes, as they are smaller and size does matter when it comes to hauling. It is even worse for children before they are at least one year & 168 days old (528 days total), as this is another size cut point.

== Dwarven School (aka getting children to watch guild demonstrations) ==
Even though a real school for dwarven children does not exist yet, every guildhall (which is not only open for its members) can serve as a school for them. The only slight hurdles are having someone in the guildhall to teach lessons and getting the children to the guildhall (to study aka watch guild demonstrations). But both of these hurdles can be overcome easily.

First a big enough guildhall is needed and enough levers (preferably unlinked ones) installed in the guildhall, intended to be pulled by the dwarven children - these levers should not be assigned to anyone (of course other levers can be in the guildhall assigned to adult dwarves). If other levers are used for defenses etc. one lever for each such defensive purpose should preferably be located somewhere else, with nearby stockpiles for food and drink (and a few bedrooms for the defensive lever pullers) and a lockable door, so that some dwarves (needed to pull the defensive levers) can be locked in, when it is time to give some lessons to the children (and get them to the guildhall). Also, a work detail just for lever pulling should be created, and only the dwarves (locked in for the defensive lever duty) should be set to do these tasks (at least temporary). All other (adult) dwarves should not be allowed to pull any levers.

Temporarily set the intended teacher and some other adult dwarves (ie. substitute teachers) to not do any labors at all (not even hauling) and then also set them to do the lever-pulling work detail and set a few levers in the guildhall to be pulled (to get the teachers and substitute teachers into the guildhall). After they are in the guildhall, remove them from the lever pulling duty, and let them do some guild demonstrations.

Then disable all chores for children, except lever pulling (which needs to be enabled), and set all levers, which are unlined and not assigned to anyone, in the guildhall to be pulled. Every time a dwarven child takes up a task to pull any of the levers (can be seen in the task list) that dwarven child should be excluded from doing any chores at all (otherwise the dwarven child might decide to pull multiple levers). The child will still pull the lever (finish the current task) and then - unless the child spontaneously decides to pick-up equipment, eat, drink or sleep (in which case the chores for the child need to be enabled again)- the child will start socializing in the guild hall (at least if there is still a guild demonstration in progress or currently a new one is organized) and the child will watch the next guild demonstrations in the guildhall (usually until either the child decides to eat, drink, sleep, pickup some equipment, no new guild demonstrations are organized or some chores are again enabled for the child). This way more or less all children can be goaded into the guildhall to take some lessons (aka watch some guild demonstrations). When nearly all children are in the guildhall or have already watched some guild demonstrations, then the lever pulling of the adults can be reset to the original preference of the player and the locked (forbidden) door for the defensive lever pullers can be unlocked (unforbidden). Also after the player is satisfied with the learning progress of the children the original chores for the children can be set again - some children currently watching a guild demonstration can still be left to temporarily do not chores (if there are still some guild demonstrations in progress). Also the original labors of the teacher (and substitue teachers) can be enabled again.

''Note:'' If at any point, after some children have started watching guild demonstrations, for one reason or another no one is present to give another guild demonstration, then all children will usually decide that the lessons are over and will immediatly start to play (either in the guildhall or somewhere else). Which is the main reason, why there should be a teacher and substitue teachers present and the labors for these have to be temporarily disabled (so that they will only leave the guildhall to eat, drink, sleep or pick-up equipment).

==Dwarven parenthood==

In the eighth [http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/df_talk.html DFTalk], it was mentioned that, due to a programming oversight, children's parents can become so preoccupied with finding their children that they can die of thirst.

==Too many children==
If there are too many children in the fort, [[FPS]] may suffer. [[Unfortunate accident|Removing]] children is difficult, as doing so may quickly lead to [[stress]]. One possibility is to [[burrow]] children outside to aid [[thief|snatchers]]. To prevent a large population of children in the first place, it is preferred to set the child and/or strict population capacities in the [[Settings#Population_and_seed_capacities|settings]].

In longer-running forts, when a parent has more than 10 children of one gender, the 11th onward will merely be referred to as "son" or "daughter". The exception to this is that the youngest will always be referred to as "youngest son" or "youngest daughter".

==Non-dwarven children==
[[Human]]s, goblins, [[Elf|elves]], [[kobold]]s and subterranean [[animal people]] follow the same aging progress of dwarves (born as babies, becoming children at a year old then become adults at eighteen). The same is true for some races of wild humanoid creatures and [[semi-megabeast]]s, though some possess shorter or longer child states than dwarves do, e.g. [[troll]]s become adults at the age of 10. Regardless of how long their child states are, intelligent non-dwarf children are functionally identical to their dwarven counterparts for gameplay purposes.

Young animals possess limited capabilities compared to their adult stages. Infant [[milk]]-bearing livestock can't be milked, young [[wool]]-bearing animals can't be [[shear]]ed, and bird and reptile hatchlings are unable to lay [[egg]]s. However, unlike intelligent creatures, almost all animals follow a different aging progress; they skip the baby stage entirely and are born as children, who become adults at only 1 year of age (though they usually don't stop growing in size until the age of 2). Certain exceptions exist, however, such as [[elephant]]s, who take 10 years to reach adulthood. Savage [[animal people]] versions of these animals follow this same aging progress.

Certain creatures possess no child state to speak of, and are technically adults at birth, having all the capabilities of an adult immediately after starting existing (though most of them are still subject to growing in size as they get older). These creatures include stuff like all species of snakes, [[crundle]]s, [[giant cave spider]]s, [[creeping eye]]s, [[magma crab]]s and most [[megabeast]]s. Inorganic creatures such as [[Gabbro man|gabbro men]], [[Fire man|fire men]] and [[Amethyst man|amethyst men]] also exist only as adults and never as children. If the creature born as an adult is an intelligent creature, they'll be born with generally mild levels in some skills.

Creatures capable of being [[invader]]s can do so regardless of age - as such, you may be attacked by a [[werebeast]] child, or a young [[roc]], [[giant]], [[cyclops]], [[ettin]] or [[minotaur]]. They will behave exactly like their adult counterparts, but will generally be easier to kill than adults due to their smaller size. Such cases are rare, as they require either children being infected by a werebeast and not dying in the process, or for megabeasts to breed, both being particularly uncommon occurrences.

If the mother of a child is not a historical figure (on birth of the child) the game will not keep track of the family relationship between parent and offspring. The game will also not keep track of offspring of male historical figures, unless the mother is already a historical figure at the time the fertilization of the not yet laid eggs (in case of egg-layers) resp. at the time the pregnancy starts (non egg-layers).


{{Category|Dwarves}}
{{Category|Relationships}}
[[ru:Children]]

Variable positions

2026-03-08T09:27:04Z

Silverwing235: /* Religious Entities */ typo/grammar

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{Modding}}
{{stub}}
This page documents the variable positions that entities create when neccesary. This is - in vanilla - the case for [[human]] and [[goblin]] [[Civilization|civilizations]], but also for merchants' companies, guilds, mercenary groups, [[Religion|religious groups]] and [[Criminal|criminal]]s.

= Introduction =
Initially none of the positions marked as variable do exist for an entity. The positions will only exist for a given entity, if they are either created during world-gen, world activities(?) or by memory hacking or scripting (ie. with Lua). Ie. in vanilla all human civilizations have at the beginning of the world-generation no positions at all, neither on the site nor civ level, as all positions of the vanilla human civs are marked as variable (variable positions: all). When a variable (civ level) position is created, the position is only created for that civilization (entity) and not for any other entities of the same type. Ie. the creation of a law-giver for one human civ does not create law-givers for other human civs.

Also presumably all site-level positions for each entity are created on a per site basis, meaning the creation of a site ruler for one site (of a civ) does not also create the site ruler positions for any other site (of that civ).

The existence of a variable position does not mean that the position will also be filled by a historical figure. But during world-gen the creation of a position will usually be followed up with the position being filled. Ie. the human historical figure who forced the creation of a law-giver position, will usually become the first law-giver.

For the succession rules of a variable position (after the position has been initially filled by a historical figure), presumably, the same rules as for non-variable positions apply.

(Disclaimer: The following only applies during world-gen and normal world activities. Scripting and memory hacking can circumvent the normal limitations, but with currently unknown results).

For civ level entities, if the law-giving position is a variable position, the law-giving position does not (seem to) have any further requirements to be created (ie. no other position being already created). Ie. this position can be created by force (or popular support etc.) by any historical figure of that civ. But for all other variable (civ-level) positions the law-giving position must exist as usually the historical figure, who is the law-giver, does create the other variable positions (for various reason).

Something similar is probably the case for site level positions. Ie. if the ruler of a site is a variable position, that position needs to be created, before any other site-level variable positions can be created. And the site ruler can afterwards create other variable positions for that site. It is not yet clear if a site level ruling position can be created before a civ level ruling (law-giving) position is created (or exists). This also means that it should be possible, via memory-hacking or scripting, to create (and fill) the variable site level positions (for a player site), at least after the civ level law-giving position has been created (and the law-giving position has been filled), so that a human player site gets the maximum possible human site level positions (with the normal appointment rules for the succession/reappointment of the positions), without having to edit the raw files (as outlined in the human civ page), prior to creating a world, to make the variable positions of human civilisations to "static" ones.

Presumably for guilds (Merchant Guild and others), mercenary groups, religious orders (and criminals) also a "leader" position needs to be created by a historical figure, before other variable positions for that entity can be created.

== General Info ==
So far, no restrictions on allowed_class or allowed_creature have been found and also the rejected_creature and rejected_class entries are always empty. Squad_size is 0, except when a variable position (in the following sections) explictly states otherwise (ie. squad size for CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 is 20). Also most other entries (of entity_position entry under "own") not mentioned in their section have standard values (ie. are empty). The best_appointment_precedence of all positions is 30001. Also the execution skill is always set to "-1" even for the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9, whose sole responsiblity is executions.

Also variable positions are usually only created (with the exception, if they replace another position), if the position will have at least one responsibility the already created (existing) positions for that entity does not have, regardless of whether there are any more prerequisites for a variable position to be created.

== Sources to process ==
See spoiler-sections of those posts.
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=178697.msg8295235#msg8295235
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8084095#msg8084095
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8083631#msg8083631 (first answer)

= Civilizations =
If all positions of a civ are variable, then the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible positions) can be created. After the creation (and filling) of the law-maker positions, the other variable positions (both CUSTOM_OFFICIALS_i and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALS_i, where i stands for a non-zero natural number) can be created in any order. These other positions are then always appointed by the law-maker of the civ. The law-maker position itself uses succession by heir.

In contrast to e.g the positions of the dwarven civilizations, where the site nobility positions (eg. baron, duke) do get added to the own position list (vector) of the civilization, the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2) positions (of a site government) are not added to the own position list (at least for civs with all variable positions). The "own" positions list (of the civ entity) only exclusively contains the variable positions of the civ, which are all created by the civ, and no positions which are the "ruler" of a site (even if the variable site position was appointed by the law maker of the civ). Also the "site" positions list is empty (or at least no entries were found so far).

The following table gives an overview over the different possible rulers of a human or goblin civilization.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!succession type!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!is diplomat!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals,
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|yes
|no

|}

Note that the ruler (law-giver or master) is not a diplomat, if and only if the ruler has the military strategy responsibility. Also note that the master of a goblin civilization does not have peace agreements as a responsibility.

The following table gives an overview of the possible non-ruling civ-level positions:

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name prefix!!Name5!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Flags11!!Flags22!!Color!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1
|yes3
|"keeper of the seal" / chancellor
|receive diplomats, make introductions and make topic agreements; optional: espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2
|yes3
|justiciar
|law enforcement, collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|yes
|treasurer
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|yes
|advisor/counselor
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|yes3
|chamberlain
|oversee leader household
|1
|0
|80
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|master of beasts
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|yes
|butler / cup-bearer
|manage leader household food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|yes
|doctor
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|yes
|executioner
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|yes
|chef
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|yes
|housekeeper
|manage leader household cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY
|no
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS4
|no
|war leader
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|no
|no
|}
: ''Note'':
:* 1) These are the standard official flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, has_met_pop_req, color, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* 2) These are the following additional flags: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver and special_burial.
:* 3): Name prefix can be empty.
:* 4) These would be the values for the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position, but on the civ-level that position is not created, as the military goals responsibility is already performed by the law-giver/master (and for the military strategy responsibility the CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY position is created instead). But a CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position would be created, if the civ leader would not have the military goals responsibility. The CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position is - in vanilla - only created for site governments and then only, if the site leader is the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.
:* 5): Name prefixes are: high, head, chief and royal.

In the above table the responsibility "espionage" of the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is optional. Only if the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is created with the "espionage" responsibility such officials can also be created for the site governments (as all other responsibility are already performed by the standard custom site ruler). Also, the columns "human" and "goblin" dictate whether human and/or goblin civilizations can have the positions.

= Site Governments =
If all positions of a civ (and with that of a site government) are variable, then a leader position for the site government needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible variable positions) can be created. The created position is usually the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, but other positions have been found, ie. CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER and FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.

Note that if a site is taken over during a war, then a new leader can be created directly with the formation of a new site government (even if the all site positions of the new owning civ are variable and the old site government did not have any leaders), in such cases the new leader position is either a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR or - rarer - a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (only found, if the site taken over was a Town and both the defending and attacking civilization was human).

Note that human and goblin civilizations can also create further site positions, if the current site leader is the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER (both) or FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR (only encountered/found in case of humans). All other races (eg. dwarves and elves) cannot.

Also a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER can be created for a site government (of a human civilization) before a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER for the civilization has been created.

Also note that not all site government entities need to be a child of a civilization entity, if they are not, then the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is used as a site-ruler (regardless of race, ie. even dwarven and the rare elven site government without connection to a civ will use the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER as initial ruler/leader).

The following table gives an overview of the possible leader positions:

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!Responsibilities!!squad8 size!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!goblin!!human!!elf!!dwarf!!flags!!appointment type

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER1
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|2
|1
|55 or 10 (rare)
|yes
|yes
|yes
|yes
|standard bandit leader
|elected

|-
!FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR
|administrator
|law making, receive diplomats, meet workers, make topic agreements
|0
|3
|2
|100
|yes
|yes
|yes
|yes2
|forced admin
|none3

|-
!FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR4
|administrator
|law making, receive diplomats, meet workers, make topic agreements
|0
|3
|2
|65
|no
|no
|no
|yes
|dwarf forced admin
|none3

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER5
|law-giver
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals; optional6: military strategy
|0
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|civ law-giver
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER6
|lord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|lord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|40
|yes
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|baron
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|41
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir; appointed by law-giver (civ)

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_27
|baron
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|20
|3
|2
|35
|no
|yes
|no
|no
|standard leader
|by heir; optional: appointed9

|}

: ''Notes'':
:* 1): Only leader position, if the entity (site-government) is not a child of a civilization, but can also appear, if the entity has a parent civ. Only site leader position of goblins, where other site positions will be created (both cases: with civ and without civ).
:* 2): 2 of the 53 forced administrator positions of dwarves (in a large 250 year histor world-gen world with many civs) used this forced administrator (rather than the one defined in the raws). No site official positions found for goblins so far, if the leader was a forced administrator.
:* 3): The position has no appointed_by defined, nor any form of succession by position or heir. And the position is also not elected. So how and if a forced admin gets refilled, in case of death of the previous position holder, is unclear.
:* 4): This is the forced administrator as defined in the (vanilla) dwarf raws.
:* 5): Was created once in a large 250 year history world-gen world with many civs. The parent civ did not have a law-maker position created. But this definition is not always used, if the law-maker position of the parent civ has not been created. Also the site-entity was the original owner/creator of the site.
:* 6): This position can get created for a newly formed site-entity, if a site-entity has created the law-maker position and afterwards the site-entity gets conquered by another entity (of the same civ) and at the time of conquest no law-giver was created (yet) for the civ.
:* 7: Can be created (and replaces the former site ruler), if the ruler (of a human site entity) was either a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR or a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER with the name "lord".
:* 8): If the squad size is greater than zero, then the squad members are called soldiers (CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER) or hearthpeople (otherwise).
:* 9): Always appointed by the law-giver of the civilization, if the previous site leader was a forced administrator. Otherwise the appointed_by (and appointed_by_civ) definition is either empty or set to the law-giver of the civ, eg. a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2, which replaces a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, can be appointed (in which case appointed by the law-giver of the civ) or not be appointed at all.
:* "by heir" in the appointment type definition entry means, that the succession is by heir. If nothing else is mentioned in the table cell, then the position did get filled immediatly upon creation of the position and the first position holder was not appointed by the civ-leader, otherwise the first position holder was appointed by the civ-leader.
:* "standard bandit leader" entry in "flags" table cell means the same flags as the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER of bandit groups are set.
:* "forced admin" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibitities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, is_diplomat, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, sleep_pretesion, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, special_burial.
:* "dwarf forced admin" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibitities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, is_diplomat, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, menial_work_exemption, sleep_pretesion, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, special_burial.
:* "standard leader" entry in "flags" table cell: is_law_maker, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, exported_in_legends, determines_coin_design, account_exempt, color, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, special_burial.
:* "civ law-giver" entry in "flags" table cell means that the flags of the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (civ level) are set, where the is_diplomat flag is only set, if (and only if) the law-giver does not have the military strategy responsibility. Also in this case the is_diplomat flag is only set, if the "law-giver" (of the site entity) does not have the military strategy responsibility.
:* Remark to forced administrator: The only differences between the forced administrator (only usable by the dwarves and defined in the raws) and the other forced administrator are, that the forced administrator of the dwarves is not a quest giver, does not rule from a location and has a different precedence.
:* The color of all leaders is the standard noble color (5,0,1), except for the forced administrators, who uses a different color entry (5,0,0).

If a leader does exist for a site entity, other variable positions can be created for that entity. In rare cases a variable official (or market official) position can even be created, if the requirements are not met (at least one of the flags has_met_pop_req and has_met_market_req is false for the position entry).

The following table gives an overview of the non-ruler variable positions of a site government.

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name prefix1!!Name!!Name suffix2!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Color!!human!!goblin!!add. flags3

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1
|no
|sewer
|always
|maintain sewers
|0
|0
|500
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_2
|no
|grain / harvest
|always
|food supply
|1
|0
|450
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_3
|no
|fire
|always
|fire safety
|0
|0
|475
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_4
|no
|judge / magistrate / justice
|no
|judge
|1
|0
|350
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_5
|no
|building
|always
|construction permits, building safety
|1
|0
|460
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|road
|always
|maintain roads, bridges and tunnels
|1
|0
|375
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_16,7,8
|optional
|"keeper of the seal" / chancellor
|no
|espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_27,9
|optional
|justiciar
|no
|collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|always
|treasurer
|no
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|always
|advisor / counselor
|no
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|optional
|chamberlain
|no
|oversee leader houshold
|1
|0
|80
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|master of beasts
|no
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|always
|butler / cup-bearer
|no
|manage leader houshold food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|always
|doctor
|no
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|always
|executioner
|no
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|always
|chef
|no
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|always
|housekeeper
|no
|manage leader houshold cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY4
|no
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|no
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS5
|no
|war leader
|no
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|yes

|}

: ''Notes'':
:* 1): The possible name prefixes are "chief", "head" and "high" (always) and also "royal", if the site leader has the name "law-giver". The name prefix can be empty, if the cell entry is "optional". A name prefix will always be present, if the cell entry is "always".
:* 2): The possible name suffixes are "administrator", "caretaker", "commissioner", "master" and "official". A name suffix will always be present, if the cell entry is "always".
:* 3): The additional flags are: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver and special_burial.
:* 4): Only ever created, if the first site leader was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR. Can even be created, if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2.
:* 5): Only created, either after the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was created and the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was not created with the military strategy responsibility or if the leader has the name law-giver (and does not have the military strategy responsibility). Can even be created, if the first site leader was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, who has already been replaced by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2.
:* 6): If the leader name is not law-giver (and the first site leader was not a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR), then a CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 has the espionage responsibilty. All CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 of a civ (regardless of whether the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 belongs to a site government or the civ government) will either have the espionage responsibility or do not have the espionage responsibility.
:* 7): If the leader has the name law-giver then this official position has the responsibilities (and also optional resp.) as given in the civ table for the official position and not the responsibilities as in this table. Ie. that is the only case where a CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 can be created for a site government without the espionage responsibility.
:* 8): The CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 has always the responsibility make introductions, if the first site leader/ruler was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, even if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced (by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2).
:* 9): The CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2 has always the responsibility law enforcement, if the first site leader/ruler was a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR, even if the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR has already been replaced (by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2).
:* In the above table the columns "human" and "goblin" donate, whether a site government of a human civilization or of a goblin civilization can have that position (or at least, if the position was encountered so far). Note so far only goblin site governments with a CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER did have further positions created.
:* In addtion to the above table the "best_appointment_precedence" is 30001. Also the following flags are set (true) for all officials, regardless, of whether belonging to a human or goblin site government: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, color, menial_work_exemption and has_received_positions.
:* All of the positions are appointed by the current ruler of the site (ie. CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR), except the CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY position will be appointed by the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position, if the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was created prior and the current ruler of the site government is a forced administrator.

Additionally the position entry usually has the flag active set and the flag is_replaced is false, otherwise the position would no longer be active (and might have been replaced).

= Bandits =
Bandits use the entity types 4 and 7, which are nomadic groups (type 4) and outcasts (type 7). It must also be noted that some CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER positions are used by site governments (typically goblin site governments) both with and without a parent civilization (site government is not a child of an entity of type 0). The creation of CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER and CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR positions is never mentioned as a historical event, but the creation of CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT is.

The following table gives an overview over the possible variable positions used by bandits (some further info on bandit leaders is below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!squad size!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!add. flags1!!rules from location!!entity type

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|20
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic, outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER2
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|20
|2
|1
|10
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT
|lieutenant
|appointed by bandit leader
|patrol territory, attack enemies
|0
|1
|0
|160
| -1
|no
|no
|outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR
|representative
|appointed by bandit leader
|trade and accounting
|0
|1
|0
|70
| -1
|yes (except is_law_maker)
|yes
|outcast

|}
: ''Notes'':
:* 1): Additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt and quest_giver
:* 2): Only difference to the other CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is the increased precedence of 10, encountered in 11 of 148 bandit leaders (148 of 175 nomadic groups had leaders). The reason is of yet unknown, except that the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is also used by the goblin civilization (and some site governments, without an entity link to a parent civ, had a nomadic group with a custom bandit leader as a child entity).
:* Further note the common flags of these positions are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* The entity type in the above table refers to the (as displayed by dfhack's gm-editor, when viewing an entity).

Additionally the bandit leader (CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER) always has a squad size of 20 and the squad members are refered to as "bandits".

= Religious Entities =
Some religious entities, which are considered "child"-entities of civilizations (no religious entity which was not a "child" of a civ entity has been found so far), also have variable positions - the other religious entities have no positions at all.
If a religious entity rules a site (always monastery?), then the only variable position (of that entity) seems to be the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and the name of the position seems to be always "abbot".
Otherwise the variable positions PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created for that religious entity, where any such entity, if it has a position, will always have the PRIEST as position. Afterwards, the position HIGH_PRIEST can be created and at last - after the HIGH_PRIEST was created - the HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created. The names of these position are randomly created (more about the name generation is currently out-of-scope, ie. why a PRIEST might be called "sacred squid", "holy burial", "sacred rumor", "holy lemon" or "sacred paper" is out-of-scope at least for this wiki article). No temple is needed in an associated site for a religious entity (not ruling from a monastery) to create a priest, high priest or highest priest position.

Note that there is no historical event that mentions the creation of a PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST or HIGHEST_PRIEST position.

An overview on the positions of religious entities is given in the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name prefix!!name!!appointment type5!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!missing common flags1!!additional flags2

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER3
|
|abbot
|heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|100
|3
|2
|1
|is_diplomat
|all

|-
!PRIEST
|holy or sacred
|random4
|elected
|religion
|200
|0
|0
| -1
|none
|no

|-
!HIGH_PRIEST
|high, first or exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|50
|3
|2
| -1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|-
!HIGHEST_PRIEST
|absolute or most sacred/high/exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|1
|5
|3
|1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|}

Notes:
1): The common flags are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, is_leader, is_diplomat, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req. So if one of the flags is mentioned in a column, then the position does not have that flag.

2): The additional flags (in this case) are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, kill_quest, exported_in_legends, account_exempt, quest_giver, special_burial.

3): Is always the only position for that religious entity. And so far any such entity, which was found, always governed/ruled a monastery.

4): The name is one of the possible "name prefixes" for the position written before a completely random word, which may or may not depend on the religious spheres/domains worshipped by that religion.

5): The appointment/succession type is actually determined by flags, ie. elected and succession_by_heir. One of the flags is also true for these positions (but not explicitly mentioned in the common/additional flags).

Additional notes: The PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST have a variable color entry, but the color-flag (of the position entry) is false, so it is unclear whether currently the color entry has any effect.

= Mercenary Group =

All mercenary entities will have at least one position (the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER). The only other possible position is the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER and the creation of the CUSTOM_MERCENTARY_TREASURER is mentioned as a historical event.

Basic information about both positions are found in the table below (and the explanations below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!! imp. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER
|usually "warlord", "leader", "general" or "overlord" but very unusual names are possible (see below table)
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER
|treasurer
|elected
|trade and accounting
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes: 1): The imp. flags are flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, punishment_exemption, kill_quest and quest giver.

Both positions also have the is_leader flag and the following flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.

For the mercenary leader also illustrous names such as lord twinkle, lord duty, lord savant, maze commander or secret commander can be created. In these cases the name seems to be generated by either adding a random word after the word lord or adding a random word before commander.

= Guilds =
All guilds will always have all four of the variable positions mentioned in this section. Note that "merchant guilds" are merchant companies and an entirely separate entity.

The following table gives an overview of the four guild positions.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!precedence!!demands!!mandates!!number!!add. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_LEADER
|dean/doyen
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|elected
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_ALDERPERSON
|alderperson
|meet workers, manage production
|elected
|150
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_STEWARD
|steward or treasurer
|trade
|elected
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_CLERK
|clerk, bookkeeper, recordkeeper
|accounting
|elected
|170
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes:
1): The additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill; chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, account_exempt, rules_from_location, punishment_exemption and quest_giver.

All positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_positions.

= Merchant Company =
Every merchant company will have a leader (CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER). Furthermore a merchant company can have a CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR, to which an unlimited number of history figures can be assigned to (ie. a company can have multiple governors, but the number of current governors is always the same as the number of counting houses - branches - in non-headquarters sites). Also note that there is no history event, which mentions the creation of a position for a merchant company, still the CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR position is only created with creation of the first branch of a company (and branch creation - purchase of a counting house or building of a new counting house - and filling of custom company factor position are always at exactly the same time according to the corresponding historical events).

An overview of both positions is given by the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!additional flag

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER
|master or head
|elected or succession by heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military goals, military strategy
|50
|2
|1
|1
|is_law_maker

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR
|agent, factor, administrator or governor
|appointed by company leader
|trade and accounting
|200
|1
|0
| -1
|none

|}

Both positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver and has_met_market_req.

Also note that in contrast to many other variable positions (of different entities) for the CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER both an election based appointment (or succession) and an succesion by heir is possible, but each merchant company will only have an elected leader or a leader (with inheritance).

= Raw tokens =
The tokens that manage the creation of positions are [[Entity_token#SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS]] and [[Entity_token#VARIABLE_POSITIONS|VARIABLE_POSITIONS]].

SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS allows for the creation of lords, hearthpersons, and [[boss]]es, and [VARIABLE_POSITIONS] allows creation of Law-makers.

Beekeeping industry

2026-03-08T00:55:16Z

Silverwing235: /* Gathering products */

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{av}}
{{buggy}}
<div style="margin-right: 15px;">[[File:honey_bee_sprite_preview.png|right]]</div>
The '''beekeeping industry''' is an agricultural process that involves farming [[honey bee]]s in built [[hive]]s to produce [[honeycomb]]s and [[royal jelly]], the former of which is further processed into [[honey]] and [[wax]]. The primary skill and labor used in the industry is [[Beekeeper|beekeeping]].

== Setup ==
=== Finding wild bees ===
[[File:Beekeeping Industry Flowchart.png|thumb|300px|upright=1.5|Beekeeping industry flowchart]]Wild colonies of honey bees must be present on the map. Since live [[vermin]] cannot be bought during [[embark]], wild bees are necessary to start beekeeping. Colonies of honey bees can appear in any [[Freezing#Climate|non-freezing]] land [[biome]], which excludes mountains, glaciers, and tundras. While they are common in places they appear ({{token|FREQUENCY|c|100}}), bees are not {{token|UBIQUITOUS|c}}, thus are not guaranteed to appear in every [[region]].

[[Bumblebee]]s cannot be used in beekeeping.[https://dwarffortressbugtracker.com/view.php?id=4003#c15306] They do possess their own version of honey, royal jelly, wax, and even mead, all of which are unobtainable in normal gameplay.

Honey bees are one of the {{token|VERMIN_SOIL_COLONY|c}} creatures, which includes bumblebees, [[ant]]s, and [[termite]]s. Maps have a hard limit to how many wild colonies can appear simultaneously. If new colonies stop appearing, it means this limit has been reached. Therefore, honey bee colonies might be unable to spawn because the "space" is occupied by other vermin colonies. Building [[dirt road]]s over existing colonies frees up space for new ones to generate.

If a colony cannot be found after searching, set up a single hive and leave it for about a year as a last-ditch effort. Beekeepers will immediately be able to find an accessible honey bee colony that may have gone unnoticed or spawned inconspicuously.

=== Building hives ===

{{Main|Hive}}

{| class="wikitable floatright"
|+ Workshop and labor requirements
! Material !! Workshop !! Labor
|-
| [[Ceramic]] || [[Kiln]] or [[magma kiln]] || [[Pottery]]
|-
| [[Glass]] || [[Glass furnace]] or [[magma glass furnace]] || [[Glassmaking]]
|-
| [[Metal]] || [[Metalsmith's forge]] or [[magma forge]] || [[Metalcrafting]]
|-
| [[Stone]] || [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]] || [[Stonecrafting]]
|-
| [[Wood]] || [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]] || [[Woodcrafting]]
|}
Hives are a [[tool]]. They can be made in a variety of hard materials from their respective [[workshop]]s and [[labor]]s. Beekeepers themselves do not craft them. Hives are stored in [[finished goods]] [[stockpile]]s.

Hives can be built ({{Menu icon|b|o|f|h}}) on any hard surface, both indoors and outdoors from the Workshops FARMING tab. Only beekeepers can haul and place hives.

[[Tile attributes]] affect honey production. In order for hives to produce, they must be built adjacent to (or on) an above ground tile. Subterranean hives cannot produce anything, but can store colonies to be split later. Clicking on a hive will show whether it has "Outdoor access" or "No outdoor access" - relating to the above ground or subterranean attribute respectively. So long as hives are placed adjacent to or on an above ground tile, they can be completely enclosed with constructions from outside while still creating products, allowing beekeepers to work safely at all times.

== Hive management ==
Managing hives is fairly automated–beekeepers will perform most of the necessary jobs on their own when available. There are two options in the building settings that can be toggled to control beekeepers from installing colonies or from gathering products in a hive. Hives are set by default to allow colony installation and product gathering.

In the {{menu icon|t}} [[Task]] menu, two notable beekeeping jobs are:

* {{DFtext|Install Colony In Hive|3:0}} – when a beekeeper installs a colony to a new hive.
* {{DFtext|Collect Hive Products|3:0}} – when a beekeeper gathers the products from a hive.

=== Examining hives ===
Clicking on the hive will display:

* Which options have been set for that hive:
** {{DFtext|Install colony when ready|7:1}} or {{DFtext|Do not install colony|7:1}}.
** {{DFtext|Gather any products|7:1}} or {{DFtext|Do not gather products|7:1}}.
* Whether it has {{DFtext|Outdoor access|2:1}} or {{DFtext|No outdoor access|4:1}}.
* If the hive is {{DFtext|Ready to be split|2:1}} or {{DFtext|Not ready to be split|0:1}}.
* If there are too many colonized hives on the map (due to a [[#Limit|limit]]).

To see if a hive has a colony, click the hive to open the hive menu. If a colony is present, it will show a [[stack]] of live honey bees inside a built hive. It will also show if the hive contains a honeycomb or royal jelly.

=== Colony installation ===
Beekeepers automatically haul colonies to new hives as long as they have access to a wild colony or another colony that is ready to be split from another hive. They must have their setting set to {{DFtext|Install colony when ready|7:1}}. Hives set to {{DFtext|Do not install colony|7:1}} will not accept new colonies, even after existing colonies are destroyed. If the settings change or the hive gets slated for removal before the beekeeper reaches the hive to install a new colony, then the job gets cancelled, and the hauled colony is removed from the beekeeper.

Beekeepers usually go for the closest available colony to install, whether it's a wild colony or a colony in a hive. Assigning beekeepers to [[burrow]]s can prevent them from seeking other hives.

=== Splitting colonies ===
Colonies can split in three months after installation. A split-able colony is indicated in the building settings as {{DFtext|Ready to be split|2:1}}. Splitting colonies produce new colonies that are installed to other hives, thereby increasing the colony count. In order to split the colony, an empty hive and a beekeeper must be present. A beekeeper will perform a splitting automatically if an empty hive is set to allow colony installation. After splitting, beekeepers haul the new colony to an empty built hive. Doing this leaves the original hive populated, and after another three months, it will become ready for splitting again.

Splitting a colony does not reset the honeycomb and royal jelly production. [[Forbid]]ding a hive or its colony will not prevent beekeepers from using the hive's colony for splitting. If a hive is slated for removal but has not been removed yet, then the split-able colony inside can still be used for installation.

=== Gathering products ===
Hives containing colonies produce a single honeycomb and royal jelly. Honeycombs and royal jelly are "part" of the building, as indicated by the [[File:Icon semipermanent part.png]] or {{DFtext|[-]|7:1}} symbol next to their names when viewing the building's items. When a beekeeper gathers them, the items are released from the hive, which allows a food hauler to carry the items to a stockpile. An empty [[jug]] is required to gather the products, since royal jelly must be stored in a container.

Hives must be set to {{DFtext|Gather any products|7:1}} for beekeepers to go and gather their products. A honeycomb and royal jelly must both be present in a hive before they can be gathered. When these requirements are met, a beekeeper will automatically find an empty jug and gather the products for hauling. Beekeepers usually go for the closest accessible hive to gather first. If the settings change, or the hive gets slated for removal before the beekeeper reaches the hive to collect the products, then the job gets cancelled, and the jug is stored back.

The gathering process always destroys the colony inside the hive, which disappears instantly when destroyed. A new colony must be installed every time the products are gathered in order for the hive to produce more. To avoid colony extinction from gathering products, it is recommended to save a few hives just for splitting by changing their settings to not gather products. This would ensure a permanent supply of bees at all times.

=== Limit ===
There is a soft limit of 40 colonies, which empty hives and wild or hauled colonies do not count against. When the number of colonies on the map reaches 41 or more, honeycomb and royal jelly no longer have a 100% possibility of spawning six months after installation. If the colony does not produce a honeycomb or royal jelly, then it has a chance to produce again every six months. The likelihood of spawning affects products individually, so it is possible that a honeycomb appears while royal jelly does not, and vice versa. The soft limit does not affect colonies that were installed before the limit had passed. Hives that contain colonies will have the following warning in the building settings when the soft limit is exceeded:

<div style="background: {{fgcolor|0:0}}; width: 12em;">
{{DFtext|Too many hives|6:1}} {{DFtext|* Output restricted|6:0}}
</div>

The maximum limit of active colonies for honey production is 59. When the colony count reaches 60, no more hive products appear. It also resets all ongoing production, so any colony that was in the process of producing must wait at least six months again to produce honeycomb and royal jelly after the max limit is brought back down. When the max limit is reached, the warning message in the building settings reads:

<div style="background: {{fgcolor|0:0}}; width: 12em;">
{{DFtext|Too many hives|4:1}} {{DFtext|* No output|4:0}}
</div>

The limits do not affect the spawning of wild colonies, nor the amount of time needed for colonies to become ready to split.

The total number of colonies can be checked in the [[stocks]] under "Small live animals" and hitting {{k|Tab}} to display individual stacks. Each stack represents a single colony. The number of colonies can exceed 60 by installing colonies into new hives (by splitting or collecting wild bees), but nothing is gained from doing this. To lower the number of colonies, either dismantle colonized hives, [[dump]] the colony, or allow beekeepers to gather existing products in the hive, which destroys the colony. To attain high output efficiency, keep the number of active hives below 41.

=== Removing hives ===
Built hives can be removed using the hive menu ([[File:Button remove building.png|24px]]). A beekeeper is required to remove the hive. After the building is removed, the item is carried back to a finished goods stockpile by an item hauler. Hives can also be destroyed by [[building destroyer]]s, [[cave-in]]s, and [[magma]].

Deconstructing a hive releases the colony inside (it cannot be retrieved), as well as dropping any honeycomb, royal jelly, or jug left inside. Fallen honeycombs and jugs can be hauled back, but spilled royal jelly cannot.

== Production and processing ==
Six months after installing a colony, a hive produces one [[honeycomb]] {{Tile|∞|6:1}} and one [[royal jelly]] {{Tile|≈|7:1}}. Products have a 100% chance of spawning, unless the colony count exceeded the limit. Only one honeycomb and royal jelly will spawn at a time, and no further products will appear until they are gathered from the hive. The colony size does not affect the output speed; neither do the [[surroundings]], [[plant]]s, [[weather]], or [[season]]s affect production.

Royal jelly is a liquid [[food]] used as an ingredient in [[prepared meal]]s, but it can only be cooked if another solid food item is included in the meal.

Honeycombs are classified as tools, and stored with other finished goods. As an intermediate product, honeycombs do not have any applications on their own, but when [[presser|pressed]] at a [[screw press]], each honeycomb produces two items: [[honey]] {{Tile|≈|6:0}} and pressed [[wax]] (or wax cake) {{Tile|≈|6:1}}, both of which are stored in food stockpiles. To press a honeycomb, add a new task in a screw press and select "Press honey from honeycomb", or search and select "Press honey from honeycomb" in the [[manager]] screen. An empty jug is needed for the job to store the honey.

Honey, like royal jelly, is a liquid food that can be cooked into a meal. Additionally, it can be brought to a [[still]] and brewed into [[alcohol|mead]], the only obtainable non-plant-based alcoholic drink. Wax can be processed into various [[craft]]s by a [[wax worker]], which all have a [[material value]] of one.

== Bugs ==
* Stacks of honey bees in their hives can be [[wear|mangled]] by forest [[fire]]s, but will still live, resulting in some odd descriptions.{{bug|4101}}
* Filled jugs may be stored in [[bin]]s as finished goods, preventing the use of their contents in the food industry.{{bug|4229}}

{{d for dwarf}}

The entire beekeeping industry is a bug exploit.(''with regards to the Apis genus, to be exact'')
[[File:beekeeping_preview.png|thumb|340px|center|You get used to the buzzing sounds. Honest.]]
{{Industry}}

{{Category|Guides}}
{{Category|Industry}}
[[ru:Beekeeping industry]]

Historical figure

2026-03-06T14:46:08Z

Silverwing235: /* In adventure mode */

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{av}}
<div style="margin-bottom:15px;">[[File:historical_statue_preview.png|right]]</div>In [[world generation]], due to computation and memory constraints, most population numbers have to be treated abstractly. However, a small percentage of the population is treated explicitly, i.e. the game keeps track of all of their history. These people are called '''historical figures''', or '''histfigs''' for short. If a creature's hist_figure_id is not equal to -1, then by definition it is a historical figure.

__TOC__

Historical figures mainly relate to what is abstractly offloaded (i.e. forgotten) or explicitly tracked by the game. The game can't keep track of every single creature in the world, but it has to keep things interesting for your [[Fortress mode|fortress]], [[Adventure mode|adventurer]], or [[legends]]; as such, there are a number of rules that define who gets to become a historical figure and who doesn't. These rules are mostly there to guarantee a consistency of gameplay experience, so that people you encounter don't suddenly disappear from the game as they are offloaded. In other words, the game generates everything for you as you explore the world – ''except'' for historical figures, artifacts and what pertains to them – and vanishes everything as you leave a site – ''except'' for that which is related to historical figures and artifacts, including newly-generated ones.

== In world generation (and [[World activities|after]])==
In each [[site]] a percentage of the actual population is tracked: this includes nobility and their entourage. Their family relationships, titles and heroic feats (e.g. kill lists) are stored for you to discover. All [[Semi-megabeast|(semi-)]][[megabeast]]s, unique [[demon]]s, [[forgotten beast]]s, [[titan]]s and other such {{token|POWER}} creatures are historical figures, as are other [[villain]]ous creatures such as [[necromancer]]s, [[vampire]]s, [[werebeast]]s, [[night troll]]s, or [[Boss|bosses]] of [[criminal]] organisations (along with all their families and other such relationships). Likewise, animals that somehow become enemies of a civilization (usually for killing a few members) become historical figures. The number of historical figures allowed in a world can be set in [[ Advanced_world_generation#Population_cap_after_civ_creation|advanced world generation]], as well as whether unimportant ones are [[Advanced_world_generation#Cull_Unimportant_Historical_Figures|culled]]; each civilization is also limited by their [[Entity_token#Population|entity population]] tokens.

== In fortress mode ==
Your seven starting dwarves are generated ''ex nihilo'' (out of nothing – "void dwarves"). However, all fortress citizens become historical figures as they appear, and the game will keep track of them if they [[Emigration|leave]] the site, or you retire or abandon your fortress. The game attempts to pull subsequent migrants from actual histfig populations, but it will continue to generate "void dwarves" as necessary. All offspring [[breeding|born]] from female creatures who are historical figures (when the birth happens), will also be historical figures (on birth).

[[Caravan]]s and [[invader|invasions]] can instantiate non-historical populations, though those generated creatures may become historical figures during their time on site; for caravans, both the pack animals and traders, but not caravan guards, will become historical figures (and will settle in any of the available sites of that civ in the months after leaving your site alive). [[Noble]]s (including [[diplomat]]s and [[liaison]]s), workers requested from [[holding]]s, and [[visitor]]s will generally only be selected from existing historical figures.

Wildlife is abstracted away, except if an animal gets a [[name]] for some reason (e.g. killing one of your dwarves), in which case they also become a historical figure. Training a creature can make it into a histfig; a creature that [[Animal_trainer#Bonding|forms a bond]] with the trainer are made a historical figure.

Historical figures, which are off-site (and where also the corresponding unit has been offloaded), will die off-site when they reach their old age (during any time of a calender year), but historical figures (as all other units in the fortress) on the map of the fortress will only die of old age at the end/beginning of a year (and not during the rest of the year) - which creates the situation that historical figures which are animals and have been traded away, can currently not die (as the corresponding unit is never offloaded from the map although the unit is no longer on the map after the caravan, to which the animal was traded, did leave the map).

== In adventure mode ==
Similarly to fortress mode's starting seven, your adventurer is also generated ''ex nihilo'', but becomes a historical figure upon entering the game. Every time the local map is offloaded, all units, including your adventurer, are also offloaded and re-initialized from historical figure data. This is why, whenever sleeping/waiting, fast-traveling, composing, crafting, or site-building, all non-permanent wounds are healed (though some are converted to scars) and stomach fullness and intoxication is reset.

Anyone with a name who the adventurer encounters also becomes a historical figure, if they weren't already. This includes companions, the people you take [[quest]]s from, the people in your kill list, and people (or animals) you talk to. It should also be noted that anyone you encounter that wasn't a historical figure already, is going to be a complete blank slate, with almost no knowledge of anything – for example, they won't know about any of the [[Bestiary|enemies or beasts]] you've slain (even the most basic animals such as [[cat]]s and [[dog]]s) if you don't tell them. This leaves the mistaken impression that no one cares about your achievements you brag about – they ''would'', if they had any idea who you were talking about.

These figures can also be found [[Dungeon_guardian|guarding]] [[Mysterious dungeon|dungeons]], as they are forever changed by a [[deity]] to become powerful, loveless, immortal beings wielding magic weapons and healing substances.

The DFHack script 'unretire-anyone' lets you take control of almost any historical figure in the game, and play as them in Adventure mode. Exceptions currently include deities or forces.

== In legends mode ==
You may browse the history of every single histfig in the world, as well as their relationships with other histfigs. Special objects of note (namely [[artifact]]s and other such objects that have gotten a [[name]] from one of your dwarves or adventurers) also have their history tracked.

{{Category|Game mechanics}}
{{Category|Legends mode}}
[[ru:Historical figure]]

Historical figure

2026-03-06T14:42:23Z

Silverwing235:

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{av}}
<div style="margin-bottom:15px;">[[File:historical_statue_preview.png|right]]</div>In [[world generation]], due to computation and memory constraints, most population numbers have to be treated abstractly. However, a small percentage of the population is treated explicitly, i.e. the game keeps track of all of their history. These people are called '''historical figures''', or '''histfigs''' for short. If a creature's hist_figure_id is not equal to -1, then by definition it is a historical figure.

__TOC__

Historical figures mainly relate to what is abstractly offloaded (i.e. forgotten) or explicitly tracked by the game. The game can't keep track of every single creature in the world, but it has to keep things interesting for your [[Fortress mode|fortress]], [[Adventure mode|adventurer]], or [[legends]]; as such, there are a number of rules that define who gets to become a historical figure and who doesn't. These rules are mostly there to guarantee a consistency of gameplay experience, so that people you encounter don't suddenly disappear from the game as they are offloaded. In other words, the game generates everything for you as you explore the world – ''except'' for historical figures, artifacts and what pertains to them – and vanishes everything as you leave a site – ''except'' for that which is related to historical figures and artifacts, including newly-generated ones.

== In world generation (and [[World activities|after]])==
In each [[site]] a percentage of the actual population is tracked: this includes nobility and their entourage. Their family relationships, titles and heroic feats (e.g. kill lists) are stored for you to discover. All [[Semi-megabeast|(semi-)]][[megabeast]]s, unique [[demon]]s, [[forgotten beast]]s, [[titan]]s and other such {{token|POWER}} creatures are historical figures, as are other [[villain]]ous creatures such as [[necromancer]]s, [[vampire]]s, [[werebeast]]s, [[night troll]]s, or [[Boss|bosses]] of [[criminal]] organisations (along with all their families and other such relationships). Likewise, animals that somehow become enemies of a civilization (usually for killing a few members) become historical figures. The number of historical figures allowed in a world can be set in [[ Advanced_world_generation#Population_cap_after_civ_creation|advanced world generation]], as well as whether unimportant ones are [[Advanced_world_generation#Cull_Unimportant_Historical_Figures|culled]]; each civilization is also limited by their [[Entity_token#Population|entity population]] tokens.

== In fortress mode ==
Your seven starting dwarves are generated ''ex nihilo'' (out of nothing – "void dwarves"). However, all fortress citizens become historical figures as they appear, and the game will keep track of them if they [[Emigration|leave]] the site, or you retire or abandon your fortress. The game attempts to pull subsequent migrants from actual histfig populations, but it will continue to generate "void dwarves" as necessary. All offspring [[breeding|born]] from female creatures who are historical figures (when the birth happens), will also be historical figures (on birth).

[[Caravan]]s and [[invader|invasions]] can instantiate non-historical populations, though those generated creatures may become historical figures during their time on site; for caravans, both the pack animals and traders, but not caravan guards, will become historical figures (and will settle in any of the available sites of that civ in the months after leaving your site alive). [[Noble]]s (including [[diplomat]]s and [[liaison]]s), workers requested from [[holding]]s, and [[visitor]]s will generally only be selected from existing historical figures.

Wildlife is abstracted away, except if an animal gets a [[name]] for some reason (e.g. killing one of your dwarves), in which case they also become a historical figure. Training a creature can make it into a histfig; a creature that [[Animal_trainer#Bonding|forms a bond]] with the trainer are made a historical figure.

Historical figures, which are off-site (and where also the corresponding unit has been offloaded), will die off-site when they reach their old age (during any time of a calender year), but historical figures (as all other units in the fortress) on the map of the fortress will only die of old age at the end/beginning of a year (and not during the rest of the year) - which creates the situation that historical figures which are animals and have been traded away, can currently not die (as the corresponding unit is never offloaded from the map although the unit is no longer on the map after the caravan, to which the animal was traded, did leave the map).

== In adventure mode ==
Similarly to fortress mode's starting seven, your adventurer is also generated ''ex nihilo'', but becomes a historical figure upon entering the game. Every time the local map is offloaded, all units, including your adventurer, are also offloaded and re-initialized from historical figure data. This is why, whenever sleeping/waiting, fast-traveling, composing, crafting, or site-building, all non-permanent wounds are healed (though some are converted to scars) and stomach fullness and intoxication is reset.

Anyone with a name who the adventurer encounters also becomes a historical figure, if they weren't already. This includes companions, the people you take [[quest]]s from, the people in your kill list, and people (or animals) you talk to. It should also be noted that anyone you encounter that wasn't a historical figure already is going to be a complete blank slate, with almost no knowledge of anything – for example, they won't know about any of the [[Bestiary|enemies or beasts]] you've slain (even the most basic animals such as [[cat]]s and [[dog]]s) if you don't tell them. This leaves the impression that no one cares about your achievements you brag about – they would if they had any idea who you were talking about.

These figures can also be found [[Dungeon_guardian|guarding]] [[Mysterious dungeon|dungeons]], as they are forever changed by a [[deity]] to become powerful, loveless, immortal beings wielding magic weapons and healing substances.

The DFHack script 'unretire-anyone' lets you take control of almost any historical figure in the game and play as them in Adventure mode. Exceptions include deities or forces.

== In legends mode ==
You may browse the history of every single histfig in the world, as well as their relationships with other histfigs. Special objects of note (namely [[artifact]]s and other such objects that have gotten a [[name]] from one of your dwarves or adventurers) also have their history tracked.

{{Category|Game mechanics}}
{{Category|Legends mode}}
[[ru:Historical figure]]

Strange mood

2026-03-06T14:32:39Z

Silverwing235: /* Fell */

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{av}}
{{buggy|bugsection=Bugs}}
{{minorspoiler}}
[[File:strange_mood_prev.png|thumb|350px|right|A dwarf losing ownership of his mind. ''Artwork by Zippy'']]
Periodically, individual [[Dwarf|dwarves]] are struck with an idea for a [[legendary artifact]] and enter a '''strange mood'''. Dwarves which enter a strange mood will stop whatever they are doing, and pursue the construction of this artifact to the exclusion of all else – they will not stop to eat, drink, or sleep; pretty much the ''only'' thing that can pause a "moody" dwarf is giving birth, after which they will immediately get back to making the artifact. If they do not manage to begin construction of the artifact within a handful of months, they will go [[#Failure|insane]] and die (one way or another) soon afterward.

Any creature with the {{token|STRANGE_MOODS}} token is able to enter strange moods in [[Legends|history]] and [[fortress mode]], though, by default, this ability is unique to dwarves.

==Overview==
[[File:mood_announce_v50_x2.png|right]]Once your fortress has at least 20 dwarves, occasionally one of them will be struck by a "strange mood". These largely random events will be seen as an [[announcement]], but will not pause the game.

A dwarf struck by a strange mood will seek an appropriate workshop, immediately claim it for the duration of the mood, attempt to collect the materials to create their [[artifact]] of choice, and, once those have been collected, proceed to do so. Depending on the exact mood (see [[Strange mood#Types of moods|types of moods]], below), both the workshop and the artifact are based on the highest "moodable skill" of that dwarf (see "[[Strange mood#Skills and Workshops|Skills and Workshops]]", below).

At the end of this process, if successful, the dwarf will '''usually''' gain a large amount of [[experience]] in one skill, and then return to life as normal, but usually now with much greater skills. The "possessed" mood is the exception to this rule, as it does not grant any experience upon completion.

A dwarf cannot be struck by more than one mood in their lifetime.

=== In fortress mode ===
[[File:workshop_claimed_sample.png|thumb|300px|right|Information from a forcefully claimed workshop.]]
# The game will announce that the dwarf has entered one of five different types of strange moods. The [[#Types of moods|types of moods]] are listed below. While in a mood, a dwarf will display a blinking exclamation point (see [[Status icon|status icons]]).
# For the duration of the mood, the dwarf will claim a workshop related to the skill that the mood affects (not all skills are eligible), kick out any dwarf who was using it (aborting the current [[job]]), and render it otherwise unusable until the mood has ended. If a moody dwarf does not claim a workshop, it is because the appropriate workshop either does not exist or is inaccessible (e.g. due to being outside of the dwarf's assigned burrows, or simply being behind a locked door). (See [[#Skills and workshops|skills and workshops]] below to determine which workshop(s) might be required.) A moody dwarf will ''not'' be able to build a needed workshop; another dwarf with the appropriate [[labor]] designation must do so for them, if one is necessary. Furnaces are also counted as a workshop.
# After claiming a workshop, the dwarf will set about collecting the required materials for their artifact (while respecting burrow restrictions, if assigned to an active burrow). If the dwarf remains idle inside the workshop, it's because they cannot find the right material. Reference the [[#Demands|demands]] section to determine what may be required. Important Note: They will only collect these materials in the order that they require them. In other words, you have to determine where they are on the list of required materials and then provide the next one before they will continue collecting other materials.
# Once all materials have been gathered, the game will once again pause and center, and the moody dwarf will begin construction. Upon completion, the dwarf will create a semi-random artifact related to the skill affected and gain several levels in that skill (unless the mood type is [[#Possessed|possessed]]). See the [[#Skills and workshops|skills and workshops]] for information on which skills can be gained, or the [[#Artifacts created|artifacts created]] section for more details on the artifacts themselves.
# While you have some control over the skill the dwarf uses, and so some (but less) control over the type of artifact created, and (with some effort) the materials used, you have no control over which dwarf is struck by a mood, nor the type of mood that strikes them, nor the specific type of artifact created.
# The conditions necessary for a strange mood to occur have been fully understood due to a disassembly of the game; see below for the exact mechanics.

===In world generation===
Long before your seven dwarves [[embark]] on their adventure, non-player dwarves may also be struck by strange moods during world generation, albeit these are treated more abstractly. These events are a primary source of non-player artifacts that are scattered across the outside world when the game starts (see [[Mission]]). They have the same properties and quality as any artifact your fortress could have produced, and may be stolen or pillaged just like any other non-player artifact.

== Skills and workshops ==
If struck by a Fey, Secretive or Possessed mood, the workshop and artifact will be based on the highest "moodable skill" that a dwarf possesses. Not all skills are moodable. Fell and Macabre moods will either claim a butcher's shop and use Bonecarving, or a tanner's shop and use Tanning (see [[Strange mood#Types of moods|Types of moods]], below).

{| class="wikitable sortable" cellpadding="4" style="border:1px solid black;border-collapse:collapse;text-align:left;float:right;margin:0 0 20px 30px;vertical-align:top;"
|-
! Highest skill
! Workshop required
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Armorsmith]]
| [[Metalsmith's forge]] (or [[Magma forge]])
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Bone carver]]
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Bowyer]]
| [[Bowyer's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Carpenter]]
| [[Carpenter's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Clothier]]
| [[Clothier's shop]]
|- style="background-color:lightgray"
| [[Engraver]]
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Gem cutter]]
| [[Jeweler's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Gem setter]]
| [[Jeweler's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Glassmaker]]
| [[Glass furnace]] (or [[Magma glass furnace]])
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Leatherworker]]
| [[Leather works]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Mason]]
| [[Stoneworker's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Mechanic]]
| [[Mechanic's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Metal crafter]]
| [[Metalsmith's forge]] (or [[Magma forge]])
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Blacksmith|Metalsmith]]
| [[Metalsmith's forge]] (or [[Magma forge]])
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Miner]]
| [[Stoneworker's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Stone carver]]
| [[Stoneworker's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:lightgray"
| [[Stone crafter]]
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Stonecutter]]
| [[Stoneworker's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Tanner]]
| [[Leather works]]
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Weaponsmith]]
| [[Metalsmith's forge]] (or [[Magma forge]])
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Weaver]]
| [[Clothier's shop]]
|- style="background-color:lightgray"
| [[Wood crafter]]
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:lightgray"
| <none>
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|}

A dwarf will claim a workshop according to their highest applicable [[skill]]. If not [[Strange mood#Possessed|possessed]], completion of the artifact grants 20,000 [[experience]] in that skill. This will transform a previously unskilled dwarf to one of Legendary status. The table to the right describes all applicable skills and their potential workshop requirements – there are only 20 skills that determine the workshop and that can be affected by a mood (sometimes referred to as '''moodable''' skills.) If a dwarf does not possess at least one of the moodable skills listed to the right, they will take over a [[craftsdwarf's workshop]] and gain one of [[bone carver]], [[stone crafter]], or [[wood crafter]] skills, producing an artifact [[craft]].

When selecting the desired mood skill, only the level itself is checked, and if the highest level found is shared by multiple skills, then one will be selected randomly.

This fact can be utilized to maximize the possibility of getting a dwarf with the specific skill you want: since ''non''-moodable skills are ignored, whenever possible make sure that each dwarf's highest ''moodable'' skill is one of those you want. Have all your peasants, [[farmer]]s, non-professional military and other dwarves without any moodable skills do one job each in the skill(s) you most want; if a "[[experience|dabbling]]" skill is the highest moodable skill they have, that is the skill that will be used. [[Guildhall]]s related to moodable skills may both help and hinder, as demonstrations will increase skill levels without any jobs being done.

[[Scholar]]s may discuss mechanics as part of their work and gain a small amount of experience in it. This is the only skill that scholars discuss that is moodable.

=== "Best" skills ===
Some skills produce generally useful and valuable items, and others produce only trinkets or jewelry. While what is considered "best" is very subjective, the moodable skills can be broken down into tiers of relative utility, based on the potential artifacts created and the needs and goals of a fortress.

Note that, in addition to an artifact, the mood will raise the dwarf to Legendary in the chosen skill (except for possessed moods); often, this is (from a practical standpoint) more valuable than the artifact, so you might consider trying to push poorly-trained dwarves towards moodable skills you have a need for, in case they are struck by a mood.

* [[Weaponsmith]] – One of the "best" skills for strange moods. While a moody dwarf might create a questionable lead spear or lightweight aluminum mace, odds are they'll create something that is still more deadly than its ☼steel☼ equivalent. And, with a little manipulation, you can at least make sure the item ''is'' steel, although they could still produce a non-dwarf weapon.
* [[Mechanic]] - A close second for reliability and usefulness – a mechanism's [[quality]] directly impacts a trap's chance to hit its target, and an artifact lever or trap will make a room's value skyrocket (even if unlinked!). Note that, despite popular belief, traps made with artifact mechanisms still have a 50% chance to jam when they directly kill a creature ([https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/wj2ego/i_thought_traps_made_with_artifact_mechanisms/]).
* [[Armorsmith]] – Similarly valuable, having a decent chance to create something with exceptional value for your military (or at least one member of it). However, similar to weapons, this requires manipulating available material to avoid getting [[Armor#Material|soft]], useless gold or lead [[armor]] pieces. Additionally, boots and gauntlets are created individually, rather than in pairs. Good luck.
* [[Furniture]]-making skills ([[Mason]], [[Miner]], [[Carpenter]], [[Blacksmith]], [[Glassmaker]]) – Artifact furniture is unbreakable by building destroyers and provides otherwise-impossible fortress defense options. For example, a dwarf with a preference for doors, hatches, or floodgates will always produce that item, which can then be locked against many enemies that would otherwise break through. Similar to mechanisms, it can provide a huge boost to a room's value, and placing an artifact item where all can pass by to admire it will be good for general morale. Note that Miners are treated the same as Masons, both of whom will produce rock furniture (which is a remnant of when Masons performed the work of a Stone Carver). Also note that Stone Carvers only produce crafts while moody. Carpenters and Blacksmiths can also produce [[bucket]]s, which can be used in various work stations or a [[well]]. Glassmakers can also produce trap components, which would rate them higher on the list were it not for their chance to produce <s>useless</s> pretty crafts - don't forget about [[display furniture]]!

The remaining skills are quite odds-against. Chances are, they will produce items only useful to display or wear, and there's little chance of creating a truly useful and valuable item.
* [[Bowyer]] – While moody Bowyers can create artifact wood/bone [[crossbow]]s of great accuracy, they also have an equal chance to produce a [[blowgun]] or [[bow]]. Also, wooden crossbows make for poor melee weapons, should it come to that, so the skill falls well below the metal equivalent.
* [[Metal crafter]], [[Gem cutter]], [[Gem setter]] – Metal Crafters can produce [[chain]]s, which can be used in the creation of a [[well]]. Gem Cutters and Setters can produce furniture made solely of gems, which is otherwise impossible. However, each of these skills will most likely create a [[craft]] (Gem cutters and setters, notably, have a 50% chance to create a perfect gem instead of anything else).
* Other armormakers ([[Leatherworker]], [[Tanner]], [[Bone carver]]) – Shields can be made by Leatherworkers or Tanners, and all listed skills can create artifact leather/bone armor pieces, which could be better-suited for Marksdwarves (who ''usually'' avoid close-combat). Leatherworkers can also create normal clothing, mentioned next.
* [[Clothier]], [[Weaver]] – While these dwarves can create an artifact [[rope]], which is useful for a [[well]], they are more likely to create clothing, which can only be worn by a single dwarf. [[Adamantine]] clothing, however, is extraordinarily useful (especially [[cloak]]s). These garments provide meaningful protection, and (unlike normal Adamantine clothing) is rendered immune to wear due to its status as an artifact.
* Craft-producers ([[Engraver]], [[Stone crafter]], [[Stone carver]], [[Stonecutter]], [[Wood crafter]]) – These skills lack any redeeming potential artifacts which the other craft-producing skills possess (notably, [[Metal crafter]], [[Glassmaker]], [[Bone carver]], [[Gem cutter]], and [[Gem setter]]) and only produce [[craft]]s – surprisingly valuable trinkets in the form of amulets, totems, rings, figuringes, or (at best) crowns, which at least ''sound'' impressive.
** [[Peasant]]s, defined here as having no moodable skill, always produce from the crafts list. Therefore, it's always a good idea to have every newly-arrived "peasant" (looking at you, Urist McPotashmaker) craft at least one item from the moodable skill of your choice, to avoid such a tragic waste of dwarfcraft.

== Types of moods ==
For each of the following types of moods, the first message is how the mood is [[Announcement|announced]]; the second message appears in the dwarf's [[profile]]. All moody dwarves will have "Strange Mood" listed as their active task and are "quite content", regardless of any recent [[thought]]s they may have had.

=== Fey ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> is taken by a fey mood!|7:1}}
: ''Has the aspect of one that is fey!''

This is the most basic strange mood. Fey dwarves will clearly state their demands when the workshop they are in is examined.

=== Secretive ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> withdraws from society...|7:0}}
: ''Peculiarly secretive...''

Secretive moods are the same as fey moods, except a secretive dwarf will sketch pictures of their required materials instead of clearly stating their demands if they cannot find what they need. Descriptions of all these [[#Demands|secretive requirements]] can be seen only by viewing the workshop that the moody dwarf has claimed, and then only while the dwarf is waiting inside it. More than one "picture" is likely; these will cycle through the entire list automatically if any one is not available. (Since materials are gathered ''in order'', it's quite possible that only one of a long list is needed to allow the moody dwarf to continue on their project. If the dwarf has gathered some of the materials (seen as "tasked" when looking at the workshop), then the next in the list is what they are looking for.)

=== Possessed ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> has been possessed!|5:1}}
: ''Possessed by unknown forces!''

Possessed dwarves have cryptic material requests, and have the unfortunate distinction of not receiving any experience upon the successful construction of an artifact. No controllable circumstances lead to a possessed mood instead of one of the more desirable fey or secretive moods, it is purely luck-based. Possessed dwarves will mutter the name of the artifact they are working on (which, under some circumstances, might end up being ''their own name'') once they have all the materials they need.

Possession is the only mood that does '''''not''''' result in a jump in [[experience]].

A possessed dwarf that "keeps muttering <name of the artifact>..." has already gathered everything they need.

=== Fell ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> looses a roaring laughter, fell and terrible!|5:0}}
: ''Has a horrible fell look!''

A dwarf that goes into a fell mood will try to take over a [[butcher's shop]] or a [[tanner's shop]]. If neither are available, any other workshop will be used instead. The dwarf will then ''murder'' the nearest dwarf, drag the corpse into the shop and make some sort of object out of dwarf [[leather]] or [[bone]]. The unfortunate dwarf is killed on the spot – no dragging to the workshop, just sneaking up behind them, killing them, and dragging their corpse to the workshop. Once the artifact is completed, the fell dwarf will become a highly skilled [[bone carver]] or [[leatherworker]]. Only highly [[stress]]ed dwarves may enter a fell mood.

Amusingly, it seems fell dwarves can also murder [[ghost]]s. If they do, they will murder a living dwarf as well, since ghosts obviously don't yield a corpse to butcher.{{bug|4681}}

Aside from the loss of a potentially important dwarf in the wrong place at the wrong time, there doesn't seem to be any downside to a fell mood. The end result is always an artifact and a highly skilled craftsdwarf. Since the only ingredient used (a dwarf) is available in abundance, a fell mood will only fail if the fell dwarf is completely isolated from other dwarves, or if the proper workshop does not exist.

If no one is around to witness the murder, whichever dwarf Urist McEmo decides to slaughter will be reported as missing some time after their death. If the murder is witnessed (or if the dwarf in fell mood reports themself, somewhat idiotically), the moody dwarf will be subject to dwarven [[justice]].

A fell mood "reagent" is not merely limited to dwarves, however. In truth, any intelligent creature can be subjected to the creative imagination of the terrible laughing dwarves. Legends speak of [[werebeast]] attacks being halted by timely appearances of fell dwarves. Indeed, there are even whispers of fell mood dwarves smuggling [[clowns]] from the [[circus]] into their forts to be used in their strange artifice. In cases where an unusual intelligent creature made from a material such as [[vomit]] happens to fall prey to the depredations of a fell dwarf, the resultant crafted object will be selected randomly from the list of craftable [[shell]] items, but will be made from the victim's primary material instead of shell.

=== Macabre ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> begins to stalk and brood...|0:1}}
: ''Brooding darkly...''

Macabre moods are similar to fell moods, but the dwarf will not murder a fellow dwarf. A macabre dwarf may require [[bone]]s, [[skull]]s, or vermin [[remains]]; if you do not happen to have any, you will have to make some, e.g. by butchering an animal and/or allowing a [[cat]] to go hunting, or let the moody dwarf go [[insane]]. Like fell moods, only highly [[stress]]ed dwarves can enter macabre moods.

==Caveats==
* Shells are perhaps the most difficult-to-obtain material for a strange mood, though there are several {{catlink|Shell|creatures}} that produce shells. Some of these, such as [[armadillo]]s and [[common snapping turtle]]s, are butcherable. Vermin from [[fishing]] are the easiest and most renewable source of shells. [[Pond turtle]]s are common in many embarks in [[murky pool]]s, but usually only appear in small numbers, and can go extinct easily. A stream or river almost guarantees a functionally inexhaustible supply of [[mussel]]s. [[Nautilus]]es can also serve as sources of shells when cleaned at a fishery. Nevertheless, shells are rare and hard to acquire. Currently, the only way of trading for shells is to hope that the [[elven]] caravan brings some tamed shell-producing large creature. Traded [[pond turtle]]s are ''processed'' fish (with the shells already removed). Tamed vermin with shells cannot be butchered for their shells, since the only way to get a vermin's shell is to [[Fish cleaning|clean]] it. Since all shelled non-vermin animals are [[exotic pet|exotic]], only elves will bring them. If you should be fortunate enough to acquire some breeding, shelled, butcherable animals, it's probably worth keeping a breeding pair around in case of future need. Only dwarves with a [[preference]] for shells will demand shells in a strange mood.
* All demands for cloth are for a specific generic type (plant, silk, or yarn). Clothiers and Weavers will demand [[adamantine]] cloth if any is available, otherwise the type will be the generic form of the dwarf's first cloth preference, or a randomly chosen variety if the dwarf has no preference (or if the cloth is for a decoration, not the primary material). Types of cloth your fortress has not produced are '''not''' excluded, so it's best to keep a few bolts of each type of cloth in reserve.
* Should the claimed workshop be a [[magma forge]] and lose power due to insufficient magma beneath it, the mood will fail immediately and the dwarf will go [[insanity|insane]]. Should the forge be in danger of losing power, you should forbid it before it is claimed and wait until it is powered up reliably. Once magma forges are built, at least some dwarves will no longer be satisfied with a regular forge. Similarly, if a workshop claimed by a dwarf is deconstructed, destroyed or [[Creature_token#BUILDING_DESTROYER|toppled]] the mood will immediately fail and the dwarf will go insane.
* If one of a claimed workshop's building materials (marked with [[File:Icon permanent part.png]]) are selected and toggled to forbidden, this will also cause the mood to immediately fail and the dwarf to go insane.
* The mood's primary material will only be mentioned ''once'' in the dwarf's requests, even if the dwarf wants more than one unit of it. [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=75139.0]
* The item type of the artifact to be created is not decided until the instant the mood ''ends''. Saving (even after a dwarf has begun to gather materials) will allow you to reload and the result may be a different artifact (unless the moody dwarf's preferences force a particular item type). If you want to get an artifact platinum warhammer, make sure to have platinum nearby and/or block access to any other materials.
* You can restart the artifact creating process, even after the dwarf has gathered most of the components, by forbidding the claimed items (click to view the contents of the workshop, select the undesired material, and press [[File:Button forbid.png]] to forbid it). If other items of that type are available, the dwarf will immediately switch to them.
* Each request for bones is actually a request for any kind of bone [[stack]], not individual bones. If they request bones more than one time, then they need that many stacks. Any size stack will do and the entire stack will be used. Bones come from [[butcher]]ing, rotted animal corpses do not count, even if they are skeletons. [[Tame]] animal corpses, whether they were pets or strays, can only be butchered as a result of a [[Butcher#Slaughtering|slaughter]] task, tame animals that died by any other means cannot be butchered. Slaughter a puppy. [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=105002.0]

== Demands ==
Once a workshop is claimed, the dwarf will begin collecting materials. Each artifact will require 1-3 "base items" and up to 7 additional items for decorations. The dwarf may well need several items of one material!

If the moody dwarf remains idle, then the necessary materials are not available. [[Forbid|Forbidden]] items must be reclaimed ({{menu icon|i|F}}) before they may be used, but moody dwarves will ignore settings regarding [[economic stone]]. Click on the workshop to receive a series of clues about what the dwarf needs. '''Hints that stay active for longer than 2 seconds mean that multiple pieces of that material will be required; each single demand will be displayed for 2 seconds, so if it says "gems... shining" for 6 seconds, 3 gems are demanded. However, the mood's primary material will always be shown for only 2 seconds, even if more than one is required.''' Materials will always be fetched ''in order'', so if at least one item has already been retrieved (the items will show up with [[File:Icon tasked.png]] next to them in the workshop menu), it will usually be possible to tell what item is required next.

If you want your dwarves to construct their artifacts out of ''valuable'' materials, instead of whatever useless thing happens to be close at hand, you can selectively forbid types of material through the stocks screen so that only the material you want them to use is available; though this might interfere with the normal crafting operations of your fortress, the disruption is generally short-lived (as long as you remember to unforbid them again afterwards!). You can even forbid something a moody dwarf is carrying (which may be necessary sometimes, since while they are not waiting in the workshop, they will not tell you what they need); the dwarf will finish hauling it to the workshop, but then immediately go searching for another. This trick can mean the difference between a bauxite statue decorated with moss agates and a native platinum statue encrusted with diamonds. Be aware that this may not always work – see below for more information.

Burrows allow even better control over a moody dwarf's material usage. Simply by creating a burrow around the claimed workshop and another part over the desired material, a moody dwarf can be controlled without forbidding every single stone in the fortress. A moody dwarf will follow the burrow definitions just like a regular worker, but be mindful that they will not leave the burrow to get materials that are outside of their assigned burrow. A problem can arise when bones from an outside refuse stockpile are needed by a moody dwarf that is assigned to a burrow.

Also a moody dwarf can be assigned to an active burrow (and unassigned from all other burrows), before a workshop has been claimed, and while the moody dwarf might initially go to a workshop outside the burrow (and even enter the center tile of the workshop), the dwarf will then go back to the burrow and claim a workshop there (under the assumption that the burrow has a workshop of the needed type). So stockpiles with high quality materials in a burrow (and the possible moodable workshops) can be prepared ahead of time, to be used in case of strange moods, with about no hassle at all (when a mood strikes a dwarf). Eventhough one might want different burrows for different type of moods (ie. other types of metal bars for armorsmiths and weaponsmiths, then for other moods).

The various demands are translated here:

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left;width:90%;"
|-
! Material
! Fey
! Macabre
! Secretive
! Possessed
|-
|
| <dwarf> screams "I must have <demand>!"
| <dwarf> broods "Yes. I need <demand>."
| <dwarf> sketches pictures of <demand>.
| <dwarf> mutters "<artifact> needs <demand>..."
|-
| [[Stone]]
| colspan=2 | rock
| a quarry
| stone... rock
|-
| Stone/metal [[block]]s
| colspan=2 | rock blocks
| square blocks
| blocks... bricks
|-
| [[Wood]]
| colspan=2 | wood logs
| a forest
| tree... life
|-
| Metal [[bar]]
| colspan=2 | metal bars
| shining bars of metal
| bars... metal
|-
| [[Gem]]s (cut)
| colspan=3 | cut gems
| gems... shining
|-
| [[Gem]]s (raw)
| colspan=3 | rough gems
| rough... color
|-
| Green [[glass]]
| colspan=2 | raw green glass
| glass
| raw... green
|-
| Clear glass
| colspan=2 | raw clear glass{{verify}}
| glass and burning wood
| raw... clear
|-
| Crystal glass
| colspan=2 | raw crystal glass{{verify}}
| rough gems and glass
| raw... crystal
|-
| [[Bone]] [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=105002.0;topicseen stack]
| colspan=2 | bones
| skeletons
| bones... yes
|-
| [[Shell]] {{cite talk/this|Re:_.22Verify.22_on_the_shell_row_of_the_demands_table}}
| colspan=3 | shells
| a shell...
|-
| [[Leather]]
| colspan=2 | tanned hides
| stacked leather
| leather... skin
|-
| [[Cloth]] (plant fiber)
| colspan=2 | plant cloth
| stacked cloth
| cloth... thread
|-
| [[Cloth]] (silk)
| colspan=2 | silk cloth
| stacked cloth
| cloth... thread
|-
| [[Cloth]] (yarn)
| colspan=2 | yarn cloth
| stacked cloth
| cloth... thread
|-
| [[Skull]]{{verify}}
| colspan=2 | body parts
| death
| a corpse
|}

Dwarves in macabre moods may also say "Leave me. I need... things... certain things", in which case they want special items, such as [[skull]]s or vermin [[remains]]. Moody dwarves demanding rock blocks will also accept [[ceramic]] bricks and blocks forged from metal bars.

*The first item demanded by the dwarf is based on the moodable skill being used – stoneworkers (miners, engravers, masons, stone crafters, and mechanics) will demand boulders, woodworkers (carpenters, wood crafters, and bowyers) will demand logs, leatherworkers and tanners will demand leather, weavers and clothiers will demand cloth, metalworkers will demand metal bars, gem cutters/setters will demand rough gems, glassmakers will demand raw glass, and bone carvers will demand bones.
**Metalworkers will demand adamantine wafers or divine metals if any are available (unforbidden). If not, they will demand a preferred metal ''if'' you have ''ever'' smelted any bars of it – fey moods will state this outright, while for secretive moods and possessions, you will need to check the dwarf's [[preferences]] to see which metal they like. Metal bars acquired via [[trade]] or by melting down items (such as the 'Goblinite' technique) do ''not'' count as smelted. Otherwise, they will select any available metal(s).
**Weavers and clothiers will demand [[adamantine]] cloth if any is available (unforbidden). If not, they will demand a generic type of cloth (silk, plant fiber, or yarn) that matches a specific cloth preference (e.g. a dwarf that likes cave spider silk will require ''any'' type of silk cloth, and a dwarf who likes more than one type of cloth will demand whichever one appears first in their list). Dwarves without a cloth preference will demand a generic type at random.
**Glassmakers will demand their preferred type of glass ''if'' you've produced any of it (or if it's green glass); if they don't prefer any type of glass, they will randomly select one type of glass you've produced (though they will always assume you have created green glass). Note that acquiring raw glass from a caravan does ''not'' count as producing it.
**Dwarves in macabre moods will select 1-3 vermin remains, stacks of bones, or skulls.
**Bone carvers will demand shells if they like a type of shell; if not, they will demand bones.
**All preference-based material requests are decided the instant the mood begins – by the time the workshop is claimed, it is too late to change the dwarf's mind.
*The remaining "decoration" items are selected randomly from the following list: wood logs, metal bars, small gems, rock blocks, rough gems, boulders, bones, leather, plant/silk/yarn cloth, or raw glass (green/clear/crystal, based on what you've produced).
**Decoration items will never be the same type as the primary mood material.
**Certain mood professions will also explicitly avoid using certain items for decorations – most of these match up with the primary mood material, but miners, engravers, masons, and stonecrafters will additionally avoid requesting rock blocks.
**If you have not produced any raw glass in your fortress, moody dwarves will never request it.
**Dwarves in macabre moods have a 50% chance to replace each decoration item with either remains or bones.
*Gem cutters and gem setters have a 50% chance of only gathering a single rough gem and nothing else – when they do this, they produce a "perfect gem" with a single decoration.

Once all materials have been gathered, viewing the workshop will display a special message depending on the type of mood:
* Fey – "<dwarf> works furiously!"
* Secretive – "<dwarf> works secretly..."
* Possessed – "<dwarf> keeps muttering <artifact>..."
* Macabre – "<dwarf> works, darkly brooding..."
* Fell – "<dwarf> works with menacing fury!"

== The mechanics of moods ==

=== Frequency===
When a fortress is started, an internal counter is set to 1000. Every 100 frames (12 times per day), this counter is decremented by 1, running down to zero in about 3 months. When the counter would ordinarily be decremented and it has already reached zero, there is a 1 in 500 chance that a strange mood will strike. This means that, once all conditions are met and the clock is ticking, while there is approximately a 2.4% chance of a strange mood per day, or a ~52% chance of at least one strange mood per month, there is no guarantee when a mood will strike – might be sooner, might be (almost) never. The counter resets to 1000 once a mood begins and continues counting down as the mood progresses, resetting again if it reaches zero before the mood finishes.

=== Conditions ===
In order for a dwarf to be struck with a strange mood, three conditions must be met:
:* There is no currently active strange mood,
:* The maximum number of artifacts is not met,
:* There are at least 20 eligible creatures ''(see below)'', including those who have already created artifacts.

If all three of these conditions are true, the game may trigger a strange mood according to the frequency.

==== Maximum number of artifacts ====
The maximum number of artifacts in any one fortress is limited by the lower of:
* The number of items created divided by 100.1 Mined-out rock ''does'' count as an "item created", though it is not clear whether bolts or units of drink are counted individually.
* The number of revealed [[subterranean]] tiles divided by 2304 (this is an area equivalent to a 48x48 square). Once you discover and explore the [[cavern]]s and [[magma sea]], this limit becomes largely irrelevant, and using a [[utilities#DFHack|"reveal" utility]] will eliminate it altogether, though strip-mining an area entirely and exposing it to the surface will count ''against'' this.
:1 – technically, the sum of the game's "itemmade" counters divided by 200, where every item happens to be counted twice. Furthermore, destroying items does '''not''' decrement these counters, so casting and mining [[obsidian]] will count toward this.

==== Eligibility ====
First and foremost, only creatures with the {{token|STRANGE_MOODS|c}} token are capable of entering a strange mood. Additionally, they must be a permanent resident of your fortress - visitors are exempt.

The deciding factor for eligibility is a dwarf's actual [[profession]]. ''(Note that "[[Skill#Professions|custom professions]]" have no effect on this!)'' Thus, dwarves may enter strange moods regardless of what skills they have or don't have, so long as they are of an acceptable profession. Dwarves who have already created an artifact are not eligible to create another, and since every mood ends in either an artifact or death, every dwarf may enter at most one mood. Dwarves who have obtained one or more legendary skills without creating artifacts ''may'' enter strange moods and will simply become even ''more'' legendary.

On-duty dwarves with a [[Soldier#Soldier professions|military profession]] other than "Recruit" ''cannot'' enter moods. Incidental military skills make no difference – eligibility (and weighting) depends purely on the actual ''[[profession]]'' as listed at the time (with the exception of squad leaders, whose on-duty and off-duty titles are the same). Soldiers are still capable of entering moods if they are ''off duty'' and thus in Civilian mode, but you don't have to worry about your axedwarves getting a burst of inspiration mid-combat, and then wandering off to make a highest-quality craftsdwarfship gabbro scepter, decorated with cow bone menacing spikes, cow bone rings and a cow bone image of hamster men while the trolls sack your settlement.

Children may enter moods, but babies will not. Children who enter strange moods will usually attempt to create an artifact appropriate for a bone carver, wood crafter, or stonecrafter. They will also gain experience if they complete the artifact, just like an adult dwarf would--unless the mood is a possessed mood, in which case (''as extensively noted above'') they do not.
Any other profession is eligible to enter a mood, but not all have the same ''chance'' to enter a mood.

:''('''Note''' – Specifically, and to avoid previous misunderstandings, [[Strand extractor]], [[Clerk]]/[[Administrator]]/[[Trader]], [[Doctor]] (and related), [[Soldier#Recruits|Recruit]] and [[Child]] ''are'' moodable professions.)''

There are several additional factors which will prevent a dwarf from entering a mood:
* Being unable to pick up items ("cannot grasp")
* Being dragged by/dragging another unit (off to [[jail]]/leading livestock to a [[cage]], [[chain]], [[pasture]], [[Activity zone#Pit/Pond|pit/pond zone]], or to the [[butcher's shop]] or [[farmer's workshop]])

=== Chance ===
When determining who will have a strange mood, each eligible dwarf is put into a weighted lottery, where the chance of being selected is based on the dwarf's [[profession]]. Most professions receive 6 "tickets", but some receive additional tickets to improve their odds.

{| class="wikitable" cellspacing="0" border="2" cellpadding="5"
|-
! Weighting
! Professions
|-
| 21 ||Armorer, Blacksmith, Bone Carver, Clothier, Craftsdwarf, Jeweler, Gem Cutter, Gem Setter, Glassmaker, Leatherworker, Metalcrafter, Metalsmith, Stonecrafter, Weaponsmith, Weaver, Woodcrafter
|-
| 11 ||Bowyer, Carpenter, Stoneworker, Stone Carver, Woodworker
|-
| 6 ||Engraver, Mechanic, Miner, Tanner, and all other [[profession]]s (including Peasant).
|}

:'''''Example:''' What this means is: if you had 21 dwarves, made up of 20 eligible farmers, furnace operators, miners, woodcutters etc. (with 6 chances each) plus one Armorer (with 21 chances), that one Armorer would have a 21 in 141 chance (20 dwarves x 6 chances each = 120 + 21 chances more = 141 total) of the mood striking them. That's about 1 in 7, while the other 20 have a 6 in 141 chance each, or about 1 in 24. The odds are still against the armorer, but much better than for any other single dwarf.''

Note that not every profession has a moodable skill. A Soaper, Furnace Operator, or Strand Extractor can be taken by a mood, but that will not increase those skills, nor will they create an artifact bar of soap, bar of metal, or wafer of adamantine. The workshop a moody dwarf claims, and thus the resulting artifact they create, will always be based off their highest moodable skill, not necessarily the highest skill that determines their profession.

=== Timing ===
A dwarf will go [[Insanity|insane]] after exactly 50000 ticks (which, at 1200 ticks per day, works out to 41.66 days, or almost a month and a half) waiting for an item they demand. However:
*The insanity countdown is reset after every item they bring to the workshop.
*It doesn't run while they are out getting something, working on their construction or on their way to claim a workshop. Only during time spent idling without either the required workshop or a required item do they spiral towards madness.
*Dwarves currently under strange moods do not require food, drink, or sleep.

=== Fuel ===

{{D for dwarf}}

Curiously, [[metalsmith]]s in strange moods do not seem to require any [[fuel]] to complete their [[metal]] [[artifact]]s. It is believed that they, consumed by artistic passion, fuel the forges with their own beards, vigorously fanning the flaming hairs while they feed the furnace more beard. Such a sacrifice is a dwarf's own beard that only an artifact merits its removal. Only an artifact's completion can mollify its creator's shame; dwarves unable to complete this great pursuit go insane, not because of its failure, but because they cannot endure the inevitable humiliation.

Legend has it that the world's first [[elf]] once attempted to forge the world's most powerful artifact, imbued with magic to control all dwarves. But, because he could not suffer to cut a tree for fuel, he was unable to do so. Faced with no alternative, he kidnapped each of the seven ancient dwarves by tempting them with [[booze]], an unfamiliar drink to the first dwarves. He then forcefully shaved them and created [[charcoal]] from their beards.

Enraged by their loss, the dwarves set out to find the elf's home, based in the world's first tree. They startled the engrossed elf who fled with nothing but a handful of the tree's unborn children. After reclaiming the beard-charcoal, the dwarves set fire to this tree. Alight in flames hotter than the sun, the tree burned in what is believed to have been the world's hottest fire – a fire so hot that the tree's roots melted the inside of the earth, creating a worldwide [[magma sea]]. The elf watched this fire and swore revenge on the dwarves.

After realizing their beards could not be recovered from their charred state, the dwarves agreed to sprinkle the charcoal over the earth, as a gift and reminder to future dwarves. In doing so, they created the world's [[bituminous coal]] deposits. They then spent the next years searching for a way to create the drink they had been given. Discovering new drinks along their pursuit, the dwarves eventually perfected the hidden art of brewing booze and passed this emerging knowledge to coming generations.

== Artifacts created ==
The type of artifact created depends on the type of mood, the dwarf's highest moodable skill, and the base material. Masons and miners will always create some kind of stone furniture; bone carvers, a bone or shell object (including furniture); carpenters, a piece of wooden furniture; engravers and stone crafters, a stone craft; metalworkers, metal crafts, weapons, or armor (depending on the type of metalworker); weavers and clothiers, an article of clothing; tanners and leatherworkers, a leather armor or object. If a dwarf has no moodable skills, they will randomly select stone crafting, wood crafting, or bone carving as their mood skill and produce their artifact accordingly. The precise type of craft created is usually somewhat random, but if a dwarf has a personality preference for a particular item type, such as gauntlets or floodgates or crowns, and that thing is an available choice given the dwarf's profession, they are guaranteed to create an object of that type (if multiple preferences match, one will be randomly selected).

The first object grabbed by the dwarf will be the base material; all other materials will be used as [[decoration]]s. If a dwarf grabs a piece of [[chalk]] and makes a statue, for instance, it will be a "chalk statue", but an artifact can potentially include bone, cloth, gems, leather, metal, shell, stone, and wood decorations all at once. In some cases, a moody dwarf will produce an item which normally cannot be made from that material, leading to such odd constructions as an [[obsidian]] [[bed]], [[ruby]] [[floodgate]], or turtle [[shell]] [[cage]], but the actual item types available for each mood type are still very much restricted (e.g. only a glassmaker or jeweler can make a [[window]], and a moody clothier cannot produce an article of clothing that could not normally be made from cloth).

{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="4" style="border:1px solid black;border-collapse:collapse;text-align:left;"
|-
! Mood / Skill
! Artifact type
|-
| [[Armorsmith]]
| Each equipment item with [METAL] (mail shirt, breastplate, leggings, greaves, gauntlet, low boot, high boot, cap, helm, mask), any shield
|-
| [[Bone carver]] (bone)
| Each equipment item with [BARRED] (leggings, greaves, gauntlet, helm), any shield, instrument, toy, door, bed, chair, table, statue, chest, bin, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, chain, cage, animal trap, figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, any weapon, any trap component†
|-
| [[Bone carver]] (shell)
| Each equipment item with [SCALED] (leggings, gauntlet, helm), figurine, amulet, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, chain, cage, animal trap, instrument, toy
|-
| [[Bowyer]]
| Each ranged weapon (crossbow, bow, blowgun)
|-
| [[Carpenter]]
| Door, bed, chair, table, statue, chest, bin, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, cage, barrel, bucket, animal trap, splint, crutch
|-
| [[Clothier]]
| rowspan=2| Each equipment item with [SOFT] (dress, shirt, tunic, toga, vest, robe, coat, cloak, cape, trousers, loincloth, thong, short skirt, skirt, long skirt, braies, glove, mitten, sock, sandal, shoe, chausses, cap, hood, mask, turban, head veil, face veil, headscarf), bag, rope
|-
| [[Weaver]]
|-
| [[Engraver]]
| rowspan=4| Figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, goblet, instrument, toy
|-
| [[Stone crafter]]
|-
| [[Stonecutter]]
|-
| [[Stone carver]]
|-
| Fell Mood
| rowspan=3| Each equipment item with [LEATHER] (dress, shirt, tunic, toga, vest, robe, coat, cloak, cape, armor, trousers, loincloth, thong, short skirt, skirt, long skirt, braies, leggings, glove, mitten, sock, sandal, shoe, chausses, low boot, high boot, cap, hood, mask, turban, head veil, face veil, headscarf, helm), any shield, bag, backpack, quiver, instrument
|-
| [[Leatherworker]]
|-
| [[Tanner]]
|-
| [[Gem cutter]]
| rowspan=3| Perfect gem‡, door, bed, chair, table, statue, box, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, chain, flask, goblet, cage, barrel, bucket, animal trap, window, instrument, toy
|-
| [[Gem setter]]
|-
| [[Glassmaker]]
|-
| Macabre Mood (vermin remains)
| Amulet, bracelet, earring
|-
| [[Mason]]
| rowspan=2| Door, bed, chair, table, statue, quern, millstone, coffer, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate
|-
| [[Miner]]
|-
| [[Mechanic]]
| Mechanism
|-
| [[Metal crafter]]
| Figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, chain, flask, goblet, instrument, toy
|-
| [[Metalsmith]]
| Door, bed, chair, table, statue, chest, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, anvil, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, cage, barrel, bucket, animal trap, pipe section†, splint, crutch
|-
| [[Weaponsmith]]
| Any weapon, any trap component†
|-
| [[Wood crafter]]
| Figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, goblet, instrument, toy
|}
:† ''chance of selection for this entry is reduced by 90%''
:‡ ''this item may only be selected at the beginning of the mood (50% chance)''

If your dwarf does not have a preference for any possible items, the game will randomly select one from the list. Entries with "any" are treated as collective entries with a single chance and will randomly choose a subtype which your civilization is capable of making, while entries with "each" are distinct (e.g. an Armorsmith has 11 item choices, and one of those can turn out to be either a Shield or a Buckler). This explains why bowyers and clothiers will regularly produce foreign artifacts, while weaponsmiths will not unless they have exotic preferences.

== Success ==
Once created, most [[artifact]]s will be available for use just like a normal item of its type. Artifact [[armor]] and [[weapon]]s gain extra bonuses in combat, while artifact clothing is immune to [[wear]]. Artifact mechanisms installed in weapon traps will improve attack rolls. Artifact furniture is useful for raising the value of a [[noble]]'s room. Artifact mechanisms, trap components, or weapons in [[weapon trap|weapon trap]]s can also boost a room's value considerably. Other artifacts that can be used in construction (such as [[barrel]]s, [[bucket]]s, and [[anvil]]s) may be used similarly. Artifact [[door]]s and [[hatch]]es are immune to [[building destroyer]]s, and artifact [[cage]]s can even hold gnawing vermin. All artifacts can be displayed in a [[display case]] or on a [[pedestal]], or [[trade]]d to a [[caravan]] for supplies.

Successfully creating an artifact grants a very strong happy [[thought]] (enough to significantly reduce their [[stress]] over the coming months) as well as granting the creator partial ''immunity to insanity'' – even if your fortress is left in a terrible state, any dwarf who has created an artifact is exempt from going [[insane]] due to prolonged stress. The dwarf may also cry, found as a coating of dwarf tears on both their eyes.

== Failure ==
If you can't provide the desired workshop and all the required component materials within a couple of months, the dwarf will go [[insanity|insane]], which cancels the mood and the artifact. As if that's not bad enough, any dwarf who goes insane will soon die, one way or another.

A dwarf who is '''stark raving mad''', '''melancholy''', or '''catatonic''' is harmless to others (until they die and start a [[tantrum]] spiral), but a '''berserk''' dwarf will attack everybody in sight. You may want to station a squad nearby or assign a few war dogs to the dwarf on the chance that they will lash out. If you build your workshops inside enclosed rooms with doors you can also lock the moody dwarf in the room until he or she starves. In extreme cases, building a wall around an open workshop is the best precaution.

==Bugs==
There are many bugs reported related to moody dwarves. As has been the case in 40d, most turned out to be (understandable) failures of the player to grasp the mechanics of artifact creation and demands. ([http://bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt/view_all_bug_page.php Bug tracker])
* If a dwarf dies due to failing to complete an artifact, a memorial made to the dwarf will read that the dwarf did create it, despite the failure, and will even list the name of the artifact that never came to be. {{bug|3640}}
* When producing an item that is normally made in pairs (gloves, boots, etc.), only a single artifact will be created.
* Attacking a dwarf who fails their mood with your militia may result in a "civil war", causing your dwarves to begin fighting each other. {{bug|7107}}
* If the mood primary component is forbidden while working, but the strange mood still has other items tasked, the result is an iron artifact. {{bug|5625}}
* If the dwarf starts constructing the artifact and is scared off by a hostile creature before completion, they may become stuck. {{bug|9833}} Removing the floors around them, then dropping an item on them should cause them to dodge, fall, and return to the workshop.{{cite forum|161598}}

== Troubleshooting ==

'''Problem''': Moody dwarf does not claim a workshop
:'''Solution''': Check for highest moodable skill and build the corresponding workshop. If no moodable skills, build a craftsdwarf's workshop. Once [[magma forge]]s have been built, some dwarves may demand to work at a magma-powered forge or furnace while others might still insist on a coal-powered one. If a forge is needed, make sure you built a forge, not smelter. Note that [[forbid]]den workshops cannot be claimed. Verify if the dwarf is assigned to a burrow and/or if there is a civilian alert set to a burrow. If so, verify that the burrow allows access to the workshop being sought after.

'''Problem''': Moody dwarf waits in claimed workshop
:'''Solution''': Desired material is unavailable. Determine which material is requested next (materials are collected in the same order as shown in the dwarf's request list) and make some available, if possible. Be aware that some lists contain duplicates and you will need to make a seperate stack available for each one. Note that dwarves with [[preference]]s may demand a specific type of material ([[brass]] bars or [[yarn]] cloth, for example). [[Forbid]]den and inaccessible materials cannot be collected, nor can material located outside the moody dwarf's [[burrow]].

'''Problem''': No dwarf has entered a mood for a long time
:'''Solution''': Strange moods require at least 20 dwarves; if you have that many, you've probably hit one of the two caps. Exploring the caverns can increase the number of revealed tiles very quickly, while [[craft]]ing [[goblet]]s will quickly raise your item count; [[exploratory mining]] will count toward ''both'' caps, simultaneously revealing tiles and producing boulders, though more slowly than exploring or crafting. Exposing excavated terrain to the sky is counterproductive, as it will ''lower'' your artifact cap (since the cap only counts revealed ''subterranean'' tiles).

'''Problem''': Moody dwarf wants stacked cloth, but all types are available and he's not moving
:'''Solution''': Dwarves will not take items from active hospitals. If you have no cloth available outside of hospitals, try disabling or temporarily removing the hospital designation from their zones. They will then proceed to take new items, even if they don't go for the cloth right away. It is also possible that the desired cloth has been partially consumed in order to make wound dressings.

==Trivia==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6454rENbtc Strange Moods], by Dabu, is the fourth track in the first Premium [[soundtrack]] volume, occasionally playing during [[Fortress mode]].

{{D for Dwarf}}
It is widely said that Tarn Adams has been in the grips of a fey mood for two decades now, and we are playing his artifact. However, neither [[human]]s nor [[giant toad]]s can enter strange moods, so this must surely be a joke.

{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Dwarves}}
[[Ru:Strange mood]]

Strange mood

2026-03-06T14:30:02Z

Silverwing235: /* Fey */ fix ungrammatical cringe of, IMHO, long standing

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{av}}
{{buggy|bugsection=Bugs}}
{{minorspoiler}}
[[File:strange_mood_prev.png|thumb|350px|right|A dwarf losing ownership of his mind. ''Artwork by Zippy'']]
Periodically, individual [[Dwarf|dwarves]] are struck with an idea for a [[legendary artifact]] and enter a '''strange mood'''. Dwarves which enter a strange mood will stop whatever they are doing, and pursue the construction of this artifact to the exclusion of all else – they will not stop to eat, drink, or sleep; pretty much the ''only'' thing that can pause a "moody" dwarf is giving birth, after which they will immediately get back to making the artifact. If they do not manage to begin construction of the artifact within a handful of months, they will go [[#Failure|insane]] and die (one way or another) soon afterward.

Any creature with the {{token|STRANGE_MOODS}} token is able to enter strange moods in [[Legends|history]] and [[fortress mode]], though, by default, this ability is unique to dwarves.

==Overview==
[[File:mood_announce_v50_x2.png|right]]Once your fortress has at least 20 dwarves, occasionally one of them will be struck by a "strange mood". These largely random events will be seen as an [[announcement]], but will not pause the game.

A dwarf struck by a strange mood will seek an appropriate workshop, immediately claim it for the duration of the mood, attempt to collect the materials to create their [[artifact]] of choice, and, once those have been collected, proceed to do so. Depending on the exact mood (see [[Strange mood#Types of moods|types of moods]], below), both the workshop and the artifact are based on the highest "moodable skill" of that dwarf (see "[[Strange mood#Skills and Workshops|Skills and Workshops]]", below).

At the end of this process, if successful, the dwarf will '''usually''' gain a large amount of [[experience]] in one skill, and then return to life as normal, but usually now with much greater skills. The "possessed" mood is the exception to this rule, as it does not grant any experience upon completion.

A dwarf cannot be struck by more than one mood in their lifetime.

=== In fortress mode ===
[[File:workshop_claimed_sample.png|thumb|300px|right|Information from a forcefully claimed workshop.]]
# The game will announce that the dwarf has entered one of five different types of strange moods. The [[#Types of moods|types of moods]] are listed below. While in a mood, a dwarf will display a blinking exclamation point (see [[Status icon|status icons]]).
# For the duration of the mood, the dwarf will claim a workshop related to the skill that the mood affects (not all skills are eligible), kick out any dwarf who was using it (aborting the current [[job]]), and render it otherwise unusable until the mood has ended. If a moody dwarf does not claim a workshop, it is because the appropriate workshop either does not exist or is inaccessible (e.g. due to being outside of the dwarf's assigned burrows, or simply being behind a locked door). (See [[#Skills and workshops|skills and workshops]] below to determine which workshop(s) might be required.) A moody dwarf will ''not'' be able to build a needed workshop; another dwarf with the appropriate [[labor]] designation must do so for them, if one is necessary. Furnaces are also counted as a workshop.
# After claiming a workshop, the dwarf will set about collecting the required materials for their artifact (while respecting burrow restrictions, if assigned to an active burrow). If the dwarf remains idle inside the workshop, it's because they cannot find the right material. Reference the [[#Demands|demands]] section to determine what may be required. Important Note: They will only collect these materials in the order that they require them. In other words, you have to determine where they are on the list of required materials and then provide the next one before they will continue collecting other materials.
# Once all materials have been gathered, the game will once again pause and center, and the moody dwarf will begin construction. Upon completion, the dwarf will create a semi-random artifact related to the skill affected and gain several levels in that skill (unless the mood type is [[#Possessed|possessed]]). See the [[#Skills and workshops|skills and workshops]] for information on which skills can be gained, or the [[#Artifacts created|artifacts created]] section for more details on the artifacts themselves.
# While you have some control over the skill the dwarf uses, and so some (but less) control over the type of artifact created, and (with some effort) the materials used, you have no control over which dwarf is struck by a mood, nor the type of mood that strikes them, nor the specific type of artifact created.
# The conditions necessary for a strange mood to occur have been fully understood due to a disassembly of the game; see below for the exact mechanics.

===In world generation===
Long before your seven dwarves [[embark]] on their adventure, non-player dwarves may also be struck by strange moods during world generation, albeit these are treated more abstractly. These events are a primary source of non-player artifacts that are scattered across the outside world when the game starts (see [[Mission]]). They have the same properties and quality as any artifact your fortress could have produced, and may be stolen or pillaged just like any other non-player artifact.

== Skills and workshops ==
If struck by a Fey, Secretive or Possessed mood, the workshop and artifact will be based on the highest "moodable skill" that a dwarf possesses. Not all skills are moodable. Fell and Macabre moods will either claim a butcher's shop and use Bonecarving, or a tanner's shop and use Tanning (see [[Strange mood#Types of moods|Types of moods]], below).

{| class="wikitable sortable" cellpadding="4" style="border:1px solid black;border-collapse:collapse;text-align:left;float:right;margin:0 0 20px 30px;vertical-align:top;"
|-
! Highest skill
! Workshop required
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Armorsmith]]
| [[Metalsmith's forge]] (or [[Magma forge]])
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Bone carver]]
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Bowyer]]
| [[Bowyer's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Carpenter]]
| [[Carpenter's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Clothier]]
| [[Clothier's shop]]
|- style="background-color:lightgray"
| [[Engraver]]
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Gem cutter]]
| [[Jeweler's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Gem setter]]
| [[Jeweler's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Glassmaker]]
| [[Glass furnace]] (or [[Magma glass furnace]])
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Leatherworker]]
| [[Leather works]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Mason]]
| [[Stoneworker's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Mechanic]]
| [[Mechanic's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Metal crafter]]
| [[Metalsmith's forge]] (or [[Magma forge]])
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Blacksmith|Metalsmith]]
| [[Metalsmith's forge]] (or [[Magma forge]])
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Miner]]
| [[Stoneworker's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Stone carver]]
| [[Stoneworker's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:lightgray"
| [[Stone crafter]]
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Stonecutter]]
| [[Stoneworker's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Tanner]]
| [[Leather works]]
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Weaponsmith]]
| [[Metalsmith's forge]] (or [[Magma forge]])
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Weaver]]
| [[Clothier's shop]]
|- style="background-color:lightgray"
| [[Wood crafter]]
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:lightgray"
| <none>
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|}

A dwarf will claim a workshop according to their highest applicable [[skill]]. If not [[Strange mood#Possessed|possessed]], completion of the artifact grants 20,000 [[experience]] in that skill. This will transform a previously unskilled dwarf to one of Legendary status. The table to the right describes all applicable skills and their potential workshop requirements – there are only 20 skills that determine the workshop and that can be affected by a mood (sometimes referred to as '''moodable''' skills.) If a dwarf does not possess at least one of the moodable skills listed to the right, they will take over a [[craftsdwarf's workshop]] and gain one of [[bone carver]], [[stone crafter]], or [[wood crafter]] skills, producing an artifact [[craft]].

When selecting the desired mood skill, only the level itself is checked, and if the highest level found is shared by multiple skills, then one will be selected randomly.

This fact can be utilized to maximize the possibility of getting a dwarf with the specific skill you want: since ''non''-moodable skills are ignored, whenever possible make sure that each dwarf's highest ''moodable'' skill is one of those you want. Have all your peasants, [[farmer]]s, non-professional military and other dwarves without any moodable skills do one job each in the skill(s) you most want; if a "[[experience|dabbling]]" skill is the highest moodable skill they have, that is the skill that will be used. [[Guildhall]]s related to moodable skills may both help and hinder, as demonstrations will increase skill levels without any jobs being done.

[[Scholar]]s may discuss mechanics as part of their work and gain a small amount of experience in it. This is the only skill that scholars discuss that is moodable.

=== "Best" skills ===
Some skills produce generally useful and valuable items, and others produce only trinkets or jewelry. While what is considered "best" is very subjective, the moodable skills can be broken down into tiers of relative utility, based on the potential artifacts created and the needs and goals of a fortress.

Note that, in addition to an artifact, the mood will raise the dwarf to Legendary in the chosen skill (except for possessed moods); often, this is (from a practical standpoint) more valuable than the artifact, so you might consider trying to push poorly-trained dwarves towards moodable skills you have a need for, in case they are struck by a mood.

* [[Weaponsmith]] – One of the "best" skills for strange moods. While a moody dwarf might create a questionable lead spear or lightweight aluminum mace, odds are they'll create something that is still more deadly than its ☼steel☼ equivalent. And, with a little manipulation, you can at least make sure the item ''is'' steel, although they could still produce a non-dwarf weapon.
* [[Mechanic]] - A close second for reliability and usefulness – a mechanism's [[quality]] directly impacts a trap's chance to hit its target, and an artifact lever or trap will make a room's value skyrocket (even if unlinked!). Note that, despite popular belief, traps made with artifact mechanisms still have a 50% chance to jam when they directly kill a creature ([https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/wj2ego/i_thought_traps_made_with_artifact_mechanisms/]).
* [[Armorsmith]] – Similarly valuable, having a decent chance to create something with exceptional value for your military (or at least one member of it). However, similar to weapons, this requires manipulating available material to avoid getting [[Armor#Material|soft]], useless gold or lead [[armor]] pieces. Additionally, boots and gauntlets are created individually, rather than in pairs. Good luck.
* [[Furniture]]-making skills ([[Mason]], [[Miner]], [[Carpenter]], [[Blacksmith]], [[Glassmaker]]) – Artifact furniture is unbreakable by building destroyers and provides otherwise-impossible fortress defense options. For example, a dwarf with a preference for doors, hatches, or floodgates will always produce that item, which can then be locked against many enemies that would otherwise break through. Similar to mechanisms, it can provide a huge boost to a room's value, and placing an artifact item where all can pass by to admire it will be good for general morale. Note that Miners are treated the same as Masons, both of whom will produce rock furniture (which is a remnant of when Masons performed the work of a Stone Carver). Also note that Stone Carvers only produce crafts while moody. Carpenters and Blacksmiths can also produce [[bucket]]s, which can be used in various work stations or a [[well]]. Glassmakers can also produce trap components, which would rate them higher on the list were it not for their chance to produce <s>useless</s> pretty crafts - don't forget about [[display furniture]]!

The remaining skills are quite odds-against. Chances are, they will produce items only useful to display or wear, and there's little chance of creating a truly useful and valuable item.
* [[Bowyer]] – While moody Bowyers can create artifact wood/bone [[crossbow]]s of great accuracy, they also have an equal chance to produce a [[blowgun]] or [[bow]]. Also, wooden crossbows make for poor melee weapons, should it come to that, so the skill falls well below the metal equivalent.
* [[Metal crafter]], [[Gem cutter]], [[Gem setter]] – Metal Crafters can produce [[chain]]s, which can be used in the creation of a [[well]]. Gem Cutters and Setters can produce furniture made solely of gems, which is otherwise impossible. However, each of these skills will most likely create a [[craft]] (Gem cutters and setters, notably, have a 50% chance to create a perfect gem instead of anything else).
* Other armormakers ([[Leatherworker]], [[Tanner]], [[Bone carver]]) – Shields can be made by Leatherworkers or Tanners, and all listed skills can create artifact leather/bone armor pieces, which could be better-suited for Marksdwarves (who ''usually'' avoid close-combat). Leatherworkers can also create normal clothing, mentioned next.
* [[Clothier]], [[Weaver]] – While these dwarves can create an artifact [[rope]], which is useful for a [[well]], they are more likely to create clothing, which can only be worn by a single dwarf. [[Adamantine]] clothing, however, is extraordinarily useful (especially [[cloak]]s). These garments provide meaningful protection, and (unlike normal Adamantine clothing) is rendered immune to wear due to its status as an artifact.
* Craft-producers ([[Engraver]], [[Stone crafter]], [[Stone carver]], [[Stonecutter]], [[Wood crafter]]) – These skills lack any redeeming potential artifacts which the other craft-producing skills possess (notably, [[Metal crafter]], [[Glassmaker]], [[Bone carver]], [[Gem cutter]], and [[Gem setter]]) and only produce [[craft]]s – surprisingly valuable trinkets in the form of amulets, totems, rings, figuringes, or (at best) crowns, which at least ''sound'' impressive.
** [[Peasant]]s, defined here as having no moodable skill, always produce from the crafts list. Therefore, it's always a good idea to have every newly-arrived "peasant" (looking at you, Urist McPotashmaker) craft at least one item from the moodable skill of your choice, to avoid such a tragic waste of dwarfcraft.

== Types of moods ==
For each of the following types of moods, the first message is how the mood is [[Announcement|announced]]; the second message appears in the dwarf's [[profile]]. All moody dwarves will have "Strange Mood" listed as their active task and are "quite content", regardless of any recent [[thought]]s they may have had.

=== Fey ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> is taken by a fey mood!|7:1}}
: ''Has the aspect of one that is fey!''

This is the most basic strange mood. Fey dwarves will clearly state their demands when the workshop they are in is examined.

=== Secretive ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> withdraws from society...|7:0}}
: ''Peculiarly secretive...''

Secretive moods are the same as fey moods, except a secretive dwarf will sketch pictures of their required materials instead of clearly stating their demands if they cannot find what they need. Descriptions of all these [[#Demands|secretive requirements]] can be seen only by viewing the workshop that the moody dwarf has claimed, and then only while the dwarf is waiting inside it. More than one "picture" is likely; these will cycle through the entire list automatically if any one is not available. (Since materials are gathered ''in order'', it's quite possible that only one of a long list is needed to allow the moody dwarf to continue on their project. If the dwarf has gathered some of the materials (seen as "tasked" when looking at the workshop), then the next in the list is what they are looking for.)

=== Possessed ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> has been possessed!|5:1}}
: ''Possessed by unknown forces!''

Possessed dwarves have cryptic material requests, and have the unfortunate distinction of not receiving any experience upon the successful construction of an artifact. No controllable circumstances lead to a possessed mood instead of one of the more desirable fey or secretive moods, it is purely luck-based. Possessed dwarves will mutter the name of the artifact they are working on (which, under some circumstances, might end up being ''their own name'') once they have all the materials they need.

Possession is the only mood that does '''''not''''' result in a jump in [[experience]].

A possessed dwarf that "keeps muttering <name of the artifact>..." has already gathered everything they need.

=== Fell ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> looses a roaring laughter, fell and terrible!|5:0}}
: ''Has a horrible fell look!''

A dwarf that goes into a fell mood will try to take over a [[butcher's shop]] or a [[tanner's shop]]. If neither are available, any other workshop will be used instead. The dwarf will then ''murder'' the nearest dwarf, drag the corpse into the shop and make some sort of object out of dwarf [[leather]] or [[bone]]. The unfortunate dwarf is killed on the spot – no dragging to the workshop, just sneaking up behind them, killing them, and dragging their corpse to the workshop. Once the artifact is completed, the fell dwarf will become a highly skilled [[bone carver]] or [[leatherworker]]. Only highly [[stress]]ed dwarves may enter a fell mood.

Amusingly, it seems fell dwarves can also murder [[ghost]]s. If they do, they will murder a living dwarf as well, since ghosts obviously don't yield a corpse to butcher.{{bug|4681}}

Aside from the loss of a potentially important dwarf in the wrong place at the wrong time, there doesn't seem to be any downside to a fell mood. The end result is always an artifact and a highly skilled craftsdwarf. Since the only ingredient used (a dwarf) is available in abundance, a fell mood will only fail if the fell dwarf is completely isolated from other dwarves, or if the proper workshop does not exist.

If no one is around to witness the murder, whichever dwarf Urist McEmo decides to slaughter will be reported as missing some time after their death. If the murder is witnessed (or if the <s>idiot</s> dwarf in fell mood reports themself), the moody dwarf will be subject to dwarven [[justice]].

A fell mood "reagent" is not merely limited to dwarves, however. In truth, any intelligent creature can be subjected to the creative imagination of the terrible laughing dwarves. Legends speak of [[werebeast]] attacks being halted by timely appearances of fell dwarves. Indeed, there are even whispers of fell mood dwarves smuggling [[clowns]] from the [[circus]] into their forts to be used in their strange artifice. In cases where an unusual intelligent creature made from a material such as [[vomit]] happens to fall prey to the depredations of a fell dwarf, the resultant crafted object will be selected randomly from the list of craftable [[shell]] items, but will be made from the victim's primary material instead of shell.

=== Macabre ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> begins to stalk and brood...|0:1}}
: ''Brooding darkly...''

Macabre moods are similar to fell moods, but the dwarf will not murder a fellow dwarf. A macabre dwarf may require [[bone]]s, [[skull]]s, or vermin [[remains]]; if you do not happen to have any, you will have to make some, e.g. by butchering an animal and/or allowing a [[cat]] to go hunting, or let the moody dwarf go [[insane]]. Like fell moods, only highly [[stress]]ed dwarves can enter macabre moods.

==Caveats==
* Shells are perhaps the most difficult-to-obtain material for a strange mood, though there are several {{catlink|Shell|creatures}} that produce shells. Some of these, such as [[armadillo]]s and [[common snapping turtle]]s, are butcherable. Vermin from [[fishing]] are the easiest and most renewable source of shells. [[Pond turtle]]s are common in many embarks in [[murky pool]]s, but usually only appear in small numbers, and can go extinct easily. A stream or river almost guarantees a functionally inexhaustible supply of [[mussel]]s. [[Nautilus]]es can also serve as sources of shells when cleaned at a fishery. Nevertheless, shells are rare and hard to acquire. Currently, the only way of trading for shells is to hope that the [[elven]] caravan brings some tamed shell-producing large creature. Traded [[pond turtle]]s are ''processed'' fish (with the shells already removed). Tamed vermin with shells cannot be butchered for their shells, since the only way to get a vermin's shell is to [[Fish cleaning|clean]] it. Since all shelled non-vermin animals are [[exotic pet|exotic]], only elves will bring them. If you should be fortunate enough to acquire some breeding, shelled, butcherable animals, it's probably worth keeping a breeding pair around in case of future need. Only dwarves with a [[preference]] for shells will demand shells in a strange mood.
* All demands for cloth are for a specific generic type (plant, silk, or yarn). Clothiers and Weavers will demand [[adamantine]] cloth if any is available, otherwise the type will be the generic form of the dwarf's first cloth preference, or a randomly chosen variety if the dwarf has no preference (or if the cloth is for a decoration, not the primary material). Types of cloth your fortress has not produced are '''not''' excluded, so it's best to keep a few bolts of each type of cloth in reserve.
* Should the claimed workshop be a [[magma forge]] and lose power due to insufficient magma beneath it, the mood will fail immediately and the dwarf will go [[insanity|insane]]. Should the forge be in danger of losing power, you should forbid it before it is claimed and wait until it is powered up reliably. Once magma forges are built, at least some dwarves will no longer be satisfied with a regular forge. Similarly, if a workshop claimed by a dwarf is deconstructed, destroyed or [[Creature_token#BUILDING_DESTROYER|toppled]] the mood will immediately fail and the dwarf will go insane.
* If one of a claimed workshop's building materials (marked with [[File:Icon permanent part.png]]) are selected and toggled to forbidden, this will also cause the mood to immediately fail and the dwarf to go insane.
* The mood's primary material will only be mentioned ''once'' in the dwarf's requests, even if the dwarf wants more than one unit of it. [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=75139.0]
* The item type of the artifact to be created is not decided until the instant the mood ''ends''. Saving (even after a dwarf has begun to gather materials) will allow you to reload and the result may be a different artifact (unless the moody dwarf's preferences force a particular item type). If you want to get an artifact platinum warhammer, make sure to have platinum nearby and/or block access to any other materials.
* You can restart the artifact creating process, even after the dwarf has gathered most of the components, by forbidding the claimed items (click to view the contents of the workshop, select the undesired material, and press [[File:Button forbid.png]] to forbid it). If other items of that type are available, the dwarf will immediately switch to them.
* Each request for bones is actually a request for any kind of bone [[stack]], not individual bones. If they request bones more than one time, then they need that many stacks. Any size stack will do and the entire stack will be used. Bones come from [[butcher]]ing, rotted animal corpses do not count, even if they are skeletons. [[Tame]] animal corpses, whether they were pets or strays, can only be butchered as a result of a [[Butcher#Slaughtering|slaughter]] task, tame animals that died by any other means cannot be butchered. Slaughter a puppy. [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=105002.0]

== Demands ==
Once a workshop is claimed, the dwarf will begin collecting materials. Each artifact will require 1-3 "base items" and up to 7 additional items for decorations. The dwarf may well need several items of one material!

If the moody dwarf remains idle, then the necessary materials are not available. [[Forbid|Forbidden]] items must be reclaimed ({{menu icon|i|F}}) before they may be used, but moody dwarves will ignore settings regarding [[economic stone]]. Click on the workshop to receive a series of clues about what the dwarf needs. '''Hints that stay active for longer than 2 seconds mean that multiple pieces of that material will be required; each single demand will be displayed for 2 seconds, so if it says "gems... shining" for 6 seconds, 3 gems are demanded. However, the mood's primary material will always be shown for only 2 seconds, even if more than one is required.''' Materials will always be fetched ''in order'', so if at least one item has already been retrieved (the items will show up with [[File:Icon tasked.png]] next to them in the workshop menu), it will usually be possible to tell what item is required next.

If you want your dwarves to construct their artifacts out of ''valuable'' materials, instead of whatever useless thing happens to be close at hand, you can selectively forbid types of material through the stocks screen so that only the material you want them to use is available; though this might interfere with the normal crafting operations of your fortress, the disruption is generally short-lived (as long as you remember to unforbid them again afterwards!). You can even forbid something a moody dwarf is carrying (which may be necessary sometimes, since while they are not waiting in the workshop, they will not tell you what they need); the dwarf will finish hauling it to the workshop, but then immediately go searching for another. This trick can mean the difference between a bauxite statue decorated with moss agates and a native platinum statue encrusted with diamonds. Be aware that this may not always work – see below for more information.

Burrows allow even better control over a moody dwarf's material usage. Simply by creating a burrow around the claimed workshop and another part over the desired material, a moody dwarf can be controlled without forbidding every single stone in the fortress. A moody dwarf will follow the burrow definitions just like a regular worker, but be mindful that they will not leave the burrow to get materials that are outside of their assigned burrow. A problem can arise when bones from an outside refuse stockpile are needed by a moody dwarf that is assigned to a burrow.

Also a moody dwarf can be assigned to an active burrow (and unassigned from all other burrows), before a workshop has been claimed, and while the moody dwarf might initially go to a workshop outside the burrow (and even enter the center tile of the workshop), the dwarf will then go back to the burrow and claim a workshop there (under the assumption that the burrow has a workshop of the needed type). So stockpiles with high quality materials in a burrow (and the possible moodable workshops) can be prepared ahead of time, to be used in case of strange moods, with about no hassle at all (when a mood strikes a dwarf). Eventhough one might want different burrows for different type of moods (ie. other types of metal bars for armorsmiths and weaponsmiths, then for other moods).

The various demands are translated here:

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left;width:90%;"
|-
! Material
! Fey
! Macabre
! Secretive
! Possessed
|-
|
| <dwarf> screams "I must have <demand>!"
| <dwarf> broods "Yes. I need <demand>."
| <dwarf> sketches pictures of <demand>.
| <dwarf> mutters "<artifact> needs <demand>..."
|-
| [[Stone]]
| colspan=2 | rock
| a quarry
| stone... rock
|-
| Stone/metal [[block]]s
| colspan=2 | rock blocks
| square blocks
| blocks... bricks
|-
| [[Wood]]
| colspan=2 | wood logs
| a forest
| tree... life
|-
| Metal [[bar]]
| colspan=2 | metal bars
| shining bars of metal
| bars... metal
|-
| [[Gem]]s (cut)
| colspan=3 | cut gems
| gems... shining
|-
| [[Gem]]s (raw)
| colspan=3 | rough gems
| rough... color
|-
| Green [[glass]]
| colspan=2 | raw green glass
| glass
| raw... green
|-
| Clear glass
| colspan=2 | raw clear glass{{verify}}
| glass and burning wood
| raw... clear
|-
| Crystal glass
| colspan=2 | raw crystal glass{{verify}}
| rough gems and glass
| raw... crystal
|-
| [[Bone]] [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=105002.0;topicseen stack]
| colspan=2 | bones
| skeletons
| bones... yes
|-
| [[Shell]] {{cite talk/this|Re:_.22Verify.22_on_the_shell_row_of_the_demands_table}}
| colspan=3 | shells
| a shell...
|-
| [[Leather]]
| colspan=2 | tanned hides
| stacked leather
| leather... skin
|-
| [[Cloth]] (plant fiber)
| colspan=2 | plant cloth
| stacked cloth
| cloth... thread
|-
| [[Cloth]] (silk)
| colspan=2 | silk cloth
| stacked cloth
| cloth... thread
|-
| [[Cloth]] (yarn)
| colspan=2 | yarn cloth
| stacked cloth
| cloth... thread
|-
| [[Skull]]{{verify}}
| colspan=2 | body parts
| death
| a corpse
|}

Dwarves in macabre moods may also say "Leave me. I need... things... certain things", in which case they want special items, such as [[skull]]s or vermin [[remains]]. Moody dwarves demanding rock blocks will also accept [[ceramic]] bricks and blocks forged from metal bars.

*The first item demanded by the dwarf is based on the moodable skill being used – stoneworkers (miners, engravers, masons, stone crafters, and mechanics) will demand boulders, woodworkers (carpenters, wood crafters, and bowyers) will demand logs, leatherworkers and tanners will demand leather, weavers and clothiers will demand cloth, metalworkers will demand metal bars, gem cutters/setters will demand rough gems, glassmakers will demand raw glass, and bone carvers will demand bones.
**Metalworkers will demand adamantine wafers or divine metals if any are available (unforbidden). If not, they will demand a preferred metal ''if'' you have ''ever'' smelted any bars of it – fey moods will state this outright, while for secretive moods and possessions, you will need to check the dwarf's [[preferences]] to see which metal they like. Metal bars acquired via [[trade]] or by melting down items (such as the 'Goblinite' technique) do ''not'' count as smelted. Otherwise, they will select any available metal(s).
**Weavers and clothiers will demand [[adamantine]] cloth if any is available (unforbidden). If not, they will demand a generic type of cloth (silk, plant fiber, or yarn) that matches a specific cloth preference (e.g. a dwarf that likes cave spider silk will require ''any'' type of silk cloth, and a dwarf who likes more than one type of cloth will demand whichever one appears first in their list). Dwarves without a cloth preference will demand a generic type at random.
**Glassmakers will demand their preferred type of glass ''if'' you've produced any of it (or if it's green glass); if they don't prefer any type of glass, they will randomly select one type of glass you've produced (though they will always assume you have created green glass). Note that acquiring raw glass from a caravan does ''not'' count as producing it.
**Dwarves in macabre moods will select 1-3 vermin remains, stacks of bones, or skulls.
**Bone carvers will demand shells if they like a type of shell; if not, they will demand bones.
**All preference-based material requests are decided the instant the mood begins – by the time the workshop is claimed, it is too late to change the dwarf's mind.
*The remaining "decoration" items are selected randomly from the following list: wood logs, metal bars, small gems, rock blocks, rough gems, boulders, bones, leather, plant/silk/yarn cloth, or raw glass (green/clear/crystal, based on what you've produced).
**Decoration items will never be the same type as the primary mood material.
**Certain mood professions will also explicitly avoid using certain items for decorations – most of these match up with the primary mood material, but miners, engravers, masons, and stonecrafters will additionally avoid requesting rock blocks.
**If you have not produced any raw glass in your fortress, moody dwarves will never request it.
**Dwarves in macabre moods have a 50% chance to replace each decoration item with either remains or bones.
*Gem cutters and gem setters have a 50% chance of only gathering a single rough gem and nothing else – when they do this, they produce a "perfect gem" with a single decoration.

Once all materials have been gathered, viewing the workshop will display a special message depending on the type of mood:
* Fey – "<dwarf> works furiously!"
* Secretive – "<dwarf> works secretly..."
* Possessed – "<dwarf> keeps muttering <artifact>..."
* Macabre – "<dwarf> works, darkly brooding..."
* Fell – "<dwarf> works with menacing fury!"

== The mechanics of moods ==

=== Frequency===
When a fortress is started, an internal counter is set to 1000. Every 100 frames (12 times per day), this counter is decremented by 1, running down to zero in about 3 months. When the counter would ordinarily be decremented and it has already reached zero, there is a 1 in 500 chance that a strange mood will strike. This means that, once all conditions are met and the clock is ticking, while there is approximately a 2.4% chance of a strange mood per day, or a ~52% chance of at least one strange mood per month, there is no guarantee when a mood will strike – might be sooner, might be (almost) never. The counter resets to 1000 once a mood begins and continues counting down as the mood progresses, resetting again if it reaches zero before the mood finishes.

=== Conditions ===
In order for a dwarf to be struck with a strange mood, three conditions must be met:
:* There is no currently active strange mood,
:* The maximum number of artifacts is not met,
:* There are at least 20 eligible creatures ''(see below)'', including those who have already created artifacts.

If all three of these conditions are true, the game may trigger a strange mood according to the frequency.

==== Maximum number of artifacts ====
The maximum number of artifacts in any one fortress is limited by the lower of:
* The number of items created divided by 100.1 Mined-out rock ''does'' count as an "item created", though it is not clear whether bolts or units of drink are counted individually.
* The number of revealed [[subterranean]] tiles divided by 2304 (this is an area equivalent to a 48x48 square). Once you discover and explore the [[cavern]]s and [[magma sea]], this limit becomes largely irrelevant, and using a [[utilities#DFHack|"reveal" utility]] will eliminate it altogether, though strip-mining an area entirely and exposing it to the surface will count ''against'' this.
:1 – technically, the sum of the game's "itemmade" counters divided by 200, where every item happens to be counted twice. Furthermore, destroying items does '''not''' decrement these counters, so casting and mining [[obsidian]] will count toward this.

==== Eligibility ====
First and foremost, only creatures with the {{token|STRANGE_MOODS|c}} token are capable of entering a strange mood. Additionally, they must be a permanent resident of your fortress - visitors are exempt.

The deciding factor for eligibility is a dwarf's actual [[profession]]. ''(Note that "[[Skill#Professions|custom professions]]" have no effect on this!)'' Thus, dwarves may enter strange moods regardless of what skills they have or don't have, so long as they are of an acceptable profession. Dwarves who have already created an artifact are not eligible to create another, and since every mood ends in either an artifact or death, every dwarf may enter at most one mood. Dwarves who have obtained one or more legendary skills without creating artifacts ''may'' enter strange moods and will simply become even ''more'' legendary.

On-duty dwarves with a [[Soldier#Soldier professions|military profession]] other than "Recruit" ''cannot'' enter moods. Incidental military skills make no difference – eligibility (and weighting) depends purely on the actual ''[[profession]]'' as listed at the time (with the exception of squad leaders, whose on-duty and off-duty titles are the same). Soldiers are still capable of entering moods if they are ''off duty'' and thus in Civilian mode, but you don't have to worry about your axedwarves getting a burst of inspiration mid-combat, and then wandering off to make a highest-quality craftsdwarfship gabbro scepter, decorated with cow bone menacing spikes, cow bone rings and a cow bone image of hamster men while the trolls sack your settlement.

Children may enter moods, but babies will not. Children who enter strange moods will usually attempt to create an artifact appropriate for a bone carver, wood crafter, or stonecrafter. They will also gain experience if they complete the artifact, just like an adult dwarf would--unless the mood is a possessed mood, in which case (''as extensively noted above'') they do not.
Any other profession is eligible to enter a mood, but not all have the same ''chance'' to enter a mood.

:''('''Note''' – Specifically, and to avoid previous misunderstandings, [[Strand extractor]], [[Clerk]]/[[Administrator]]/[[Trader]], [[Doctor]] (and related), [[Soldier#Recruits|Recruit]] and [[Child]] ''are'' moodable professions.)''

There are several additional factors which will prevent a dwarf from entering a mood:
* Being unable to pick up items ("cannot grasp")
* Being dragged by/dragging another unit (off to [[jail]]/leading livestock to a [[cage]], [[chain]], [[pasture]], [[Activity zone#Pit/Pond|pit/pond zone]], or to the [[butcher's shop]] or [[farmer's workshop]])

=== Chance ===
When determining who will have a strange mood, each eligible dwarf is put into a weighted lottery, where the chance of being selected is based on the dwarf's [[profession]]. Most professions receive 6 "tickets", but some receive additional tickets to improve their odds.

{| class="wikitable" cellspacing="0" border="2" cellpadding="5"
|-
! Weighting
! Professions
|-
| 21 ||Armorer, Blacksmith, Bone Carver, Clothier, Craftsdwarf, Jeweler, Gem Cutter, Gem Setter, Glassmaker, Leatherworker, Metalcrafter, Metalsmith, Stonecrafter, Weaponsmith, Weaver, Woodcrafter
|-
| 11 ||Bowyer, Carpenter, Stoneworker, Stone Carver, Woodworker
|-
| 6 ||Engraver, Mechanic, Miner, Tanner, and all other [[profession]]s (including Peasant).
|}

:'''''Example:''' What this means is: if you had 21 dwarves, made up of 20 eligible farmers, furnace operators, miners, woodcutters etc. (with 6 chances each) plus one Armorer (with 21 chances), that one Armorer would have a 21 in 141 chance (20 dwarves x 6 chances each = 120 + 21 chances more = 141 total) of the mood striking them. That's about 1 in 7, while the other 20 have a 6 in 141 chance each, or about 1 in 24. The odds are still against the armorer, but much better than for any other single dwarf.''

Note that not every profession has a moodable skill. A Soaper, Furnace Operator, or Strand Extractor can be taken by a mood, but that will not increase those skills, nor will they create an artifact bar of soap, bar of metal, or wafer of adamantine. The workshop a moody dwarf claims, and thus the resulting artifact they create, will always be based off their highest moodable skill, not necessarily the highest skill that determines their profession.

=== Timing ===
A dwarf will go [[Insanity|insane]] after exactly 50000 ticks (which, at 1200 ticks per day, works out to 41.66 days, or almost a month and a half) waiting for an item they demand. However:
*The insanity countdown is reset after every item they bring to the workshop.
*It doesn't run while they are out getting something, working on their construction or on their way to claim a workshop. Only during time spent idling without either the required workshop or a required item do they spiral towards madness.
*Dwarves currently under strange moods do not require food, drink, or sleep.

=== Fuel ===

{{D for dwarf}}

Curiously, [[metalsmith]]s in strange moods do not seem to require any [[fuel]] to complete their [[metal]] [[artifact]]s. It is believed that they, consumed by artistic passion, fuel the forges with their own beards, vigorously fanning the flaming hairs while they feed the furnace more beard. Such a sacrifice is a dwarf's own beard that only an artifact merits its removal. Only an artifact's completion can mollify its creator's shame; dwarves unable to complete this great pursuit go insane, not because of its failure, but because they cannot endure the inevitable humiliation.

Legend has it that the world's first [[elf]] once attempted to forge the world's most powerful artifact, imbued with magic to control all dwarves. But, because he could not suffer to cut a tree for fuel, he was unable to do so. Faced with no alternative, he kidnapped each of the seven ancient dwarves by tempting them with [[booze]], an unfamiliar drink to the first dwarves. He then forcefully shaved them and created [[charcoal]] from their beards.

Enraged by their loss, the dwarves set out to find the elf's home, based in the world's first tree. They startled the engrossed elf who fled with nothing but a handful of the tree's unborn children. After reclaiming the beard-charcoal, the dwarves set fire to this tree. Alight in flames hotter than the sun, the tree burned in what is believed to have been the world's hottest fire – a fire so hot that the tree's roots melted the inside of the earth, creating a worldwide [[magma sea]]. The elf watched this fire and swore revenge on the dwarves.

After realizing their beards could not be recovered from their charred state, the dwarves agreed to sprinkle the charcoal over the earth, as a gift and reminder to future dwarves. In doing so, they created the world's [[bituminous coal]] deposits. They then spent the next years searching for a way to create the drink they had been given. Discovering new drinks along their pursuit, the dwarves eventually perfected the hidden art of brewing booze and passed this emerging knowledge to coming generations.

== Artifacts created ==
The type of artifact created depends on the type of mood, the dwarf's highest moodable skill, and the base material. Masons and miners will always create some kind of stone furniture; bone carvers, a bone or shell object (including furniture); carpenters, a piece of wooden furniture; engravers and stone crafters, a stone craft; metalworkers, metal crafts, weapons, or armor (depending on the type of metalworker); weavers and clothiers, an article of clothing; tanners and leatherworkers, a leather armor or object. If a dwarf has no moodable skills, they will randomly select stone crafting, wood crafting, or bone carving as their mood skill and produce their artifact accordingly. The precise type of craft created is usually somewhat random, but if a dwarf has a personality preference for a particular item type, such as gauntlets or floodgates or crowns, and that thing is an available choice given the dwarf's profession, they are guaranteed to create an object of that type (if multiple preferences match, one will be randomly selected).

The first object grabbed by the dwarf will be the base material; all other materials will be used as [[decoration]]s. If a dwarf grabs a piece of [[chalk]] and makes a statue, for instance, it will be a "chalk statue", but an artifact can potentially include bone, cloth, gems, leather, metal, shell, stone, and wood decorations all at once. In some cases, a moody dwarf will produce an item which normally cannot be made from that material, leading to such odd constructions as an [[obsidian]] [[bed]], [[ruby]] [[floodgate]], or turtle [[shell]] [[cage]], but the actual item types available for each mood type are still very much restricted (e.g. only a glassmaker or jeweler can make a [[window]], and a moody clothier cannot produce an article of clothing that could not normally be made from cloth).

{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="4" style="border:1px solid black;border-collapse:collapse;text-align:left;"
|-
! Mood / Skill
! Artifact type
|-
| [[Armorsmith]]
| Each equipment item with [METAL] (mail shirt, breastplate, leggings, greaves, gauntlet, low boot, high boot, cap, helm, mask), any shield
|-
| [[Bone carver]] (bone)
| Each equipment item with [BARRED] (leggings, greaves, gauntlet, helm), any shield, instrument, toy, door, bed, chair, table, statue, chest, bin, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, chain, cage, animal trap, figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, any weapon, any trap component†
|-
| [[Bone carver]] (shell)
| Each equipment item with [SCALED] (leggings, gauntlet, helm), figurine, amulet, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, chain, cage, animal trap, instrument, toy
|-
| [[Bowyer]]
| Each ranged weapon (crossbow, bow, blowgun)
|-
| [[Carpenter]]
| Door, bed, chair, table, statue, chest, bin, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, cage, barrel, bucket, animal trap, splint, crutch
|-
| [[Clothier]]
| rowspan=2| Each equipment item with [SOFT] (dress, shirt, tunic, toga, vest, robe, coat, cloak, cape, trousers, loincloth, thong, short skirt, skirt, long skirt, braies, glove, mitten, sock, sandal, shoe, chausses, cap, hood, mask, turban, head veil, face veil, headscarf), bag, rope
|-
| [[Weaver]]
|-
| [[Engraver]]
| rowspan=4| Figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, goblet, instrument, toy
|-
| [[Stone crafter]]
|-
| [[Stonecutter]]
|-
| [[Stone carver]]
|-
| Fell Mood
| rowspan=3| Each equipment item with [LEATHER] (dress, shirt, tunic, toga, vest, robe, coat, cloak, cape, armor, trousers, loincloth, thong, short skirt, skirt, long skirt, braies, leggings, glove, mitten, sock, sandal, shoe, chausses, low boot, high boot, cap, hood, mask, turban, head veil, face veil, headscarf, helm), any shield, bag, backpack, quiver, instrument
|-
| [[Leatherworker]]
|-
| [[Tanner]]
|-
| [[Gem cutter]]
| rowspan=3| Perfect gem‡, door, bed, chair, table, statue, box, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, chain, flask, goblet, cage, barrel, bucket, animal trap, window, instrument, toy
|-
| [[Gem setter]]
|-
| [[Glassmaker]]
|-
| Macabre Mood (vermin remains)
| Amulet, bracelet, earring
|-
| [[Mason]]
| rowspan=2| Door, bed, chair, table, statue, quern, millstone, coffer, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate
|-
| [[Miner]]
|-
| [[Mechanic]]
| Mechanism
|-
| [[Metal crafter]]
| Figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, chain, flask, goblet, instrument, toy
|-
| [[Metalsmith]]
| Door, bed, chair, table, statue, chest, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, anvil, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, cage, barrel, bucket, animal trap, pipe section†, splint, crutch
|-
| [[Weaponsmith]]
| Any weapon, any trap component†
|-
| [[Wood crafter]]
| Figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, goblet, instrument, toy
|}
:† ''chance of selection for this entry is reduced by 90%''
:‡ ''this item may only be selected at the beginning of the mood (50% chance)''

If your dwarf does not have a preference for any possible items, the game will randomly select one from the list. Entries with "any" are treated as collective entries with a single chance and will randomly choose a subtype which your civilization is capable of making, while entries with "each" are distinct (e.g. an Armorsmith has 11 item choices, and one of those can turn out to be either a Shield or a Buckler). This explains why bowyers and clothiers will regularly produce foreign artifacts, while weaponsmiths will not unless they have exotic preferences.

== Success ==
Once created, most [[artifact]]s will be available for use just like a normal item of its type. Artifact [[armor]] and [[weapon]]s gain extra bonuses in combat, while artifact clothing is immune to [[wear]]. Artifact mechanisms installed in weapon traps will improve attack rolls. Artifact furniture is useful for raising the value of a [[noble]]'s room. Artifact mechanisms, trap components, or weapons in [[weapon trap|weapon trap]]s can also boost a room's value considerably. Other artifacts that can be used in construction (such as [[barrel]]s, [[bucket]]s, and [[anvil]]s) may be used similarly. Artifact [[door]]s and [[hatch]]es are immune to [[building destroyer]]s, and artifact [[cage]]s can even hold gnawing vermin. All artifacts can be displayed in a [[display case]] or on a [[pedestal]], or [[trade]]d to a [[caravan]] for supplies.

Successfully creating an artifact grants a very strong happy [[thought]] (enough to significantly reduce their [[stress]] over the coming months) as well as granting the creator partial ''immunity to insanity'' – even if your fortress is left in a terrible state, any dwarf who has created an artifact is exempt from going [[insane]] due to prolonged stress. The dwarf may also cry, found as a coating of dwarf tears on both their eyes.

== Failure ==
If you can't provide the desired workshop and all the required component materials within a couple of months, the dwarf will go [[insanity|insane]], which cancels the mood and the artifact. As if that's not bad enough, any dwarf who goes insane will soon die, one way or another.

A dwarf who is '''stark raving mad''', '''melancholy''', or '''catatonic''' is harmless to others (until they die and start a [[tantrum]] spiral), but a '''berserk''' dwarf will attack everybody in sight. You may want to station a squad nearby or assign a few war dogs to the dwarf on the chance that they will lash out. If you build your workshops inside enclosed rooms with doors you can also lock the moody dwarf in the room until he or she starves. In extreme cases, building a wall around an open workshop is the best precaution.

==Bugs==
There are many bugs reported related to moody dwarves. As has been the case in 40d, most turned out to be (understandable) failures of the player to grasp the mechanics of artifact creation and demands. ([http://bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt/view_all_bug_page.php Bug tracker])
* If a dwarf dies due to failing to complete an artifact, a memorial made to the dwarf will read that the dwarf did create it, despite the failure, and will even list the name of the artifact that never came to be. {{bug|3640}}
* When producing an item that is normally made in pairs (gloves, boots, etc.), only a single artifact will be created.
* Attacking a dwarf who fails their mood with your militia may result in a "civil war", causing your dwarves to begin fighting each other. {{bug|7107}}
* If the mood primary component is forbidden while working, but the strange mood still has other items tasked, the result is an iron artifact. {{bug|5625}}
* If the dwarf starts constructing the artifact and is scared off by a hostile creature before completion, they may become stuck. {{bug|9833}} Removing the floors around them, then dropping an item on them should cause them to dodge, fall, and return to the workshop.{{cite forum|161598}}

== Troubleshooting ==

'''Problem''': Moody dwarf does not claim a workshop
:'''Solution''': Check for highest moodable skill and build the corresponding workshop. If no moodable skills, build a craftsdwarf's workshop. Once [[magma forge]]s have been built, some dwarves may demand to work at a magma-powered forge or furnace while others might still insist on a coal-powered one. If a forge is needed, make sure you built a forge, not smelter. Note that [[forbid]]den workshops cannot be claimed. Verify if the dwarf is assigned to a burrow and/or if there is a civilian alert set to a burrow. If so, verify that the burrow allows access to the workshop being sought after.

'''Problem''': Moody dwarf waits in claimed workshop
:'''Solution''': Desired material is unavailable. Determine which material is requested next (materials are collected in the same order as shown in the dwarf's request list) and make some available, if possible. Be aware that some lists contain duplicates and you will need to make a seperate stack available for each one. Note that dwarves with [[preference]]s may demand a specific type of material ([[brass]] bars or [[yarn]] cloth, for example). [[Forbid]]den and inaccessible materials cannot be collected, nor can material located outside the moody dwarf's [[burrow]].

'''Problem''': No dwarf has entered a mood for a long time
:'''Solution''': Strange moods require at least 20 dwarves; if you have that many, you've probably hit one of the two caps. Exploring the caverns can increase the number of revealed tiles very quickly, while [[craft]]ing [[goblet]]s will quickly raise your item count; [[exploratory mining]] will count toward ''both'' caps, simultaneously revealing tiles and producing boulders, though more slowly than exploring or crafting. Exposing excavated terrain to the sky is counterproductive, as it will ''lower'' your artifact cap (since the cap only counts revealed ''subterranean'' tiles).

'''Problem''': Moody dwarf wants stacked cloth, but all types are available and he's not moving
:'''Solution''': Dwarves will not take items from active hospitals. If you have no cloth available outside of hospitals, try disabling or temporarily removing the hospital designation from their zones. They will then proceed to take new items, even if they don't go for the cloth right away. It is also possible that the desired cloth has been partially consumed in order to make wound dressings.

==Trivia==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6454rENbtc Strange Moods], by Dabu, is the fourth track in the first Premium [[soundtrack]] volume, occasionally playing during [[Fortress mode]].

{{D for Dwarf}}
It is widely said that Tarn Adams has been in the grips of a fey mood for two decades now, and we are playing his artifact. However, neither [[human]]s nor [[giant toad]]s can enter strange moods, so this must surely be a joke.

{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Dwarves}}
[[Ru:Strange mood]]

On the origins of dwarves

2026-03-03T21:04:06Z

Silverwing235: /* "On the Origin of Dwarves" */

{{D for Dwarf}}

Piecewise's <s>article</s> <s>masterstroke</s> work of art on the forums needs to go here, so all can admire it.

== "On the Origin of Dwarves" ==

Long before our times, during the times of yore when great beasts stalked the darkness and tore civilization’s forebears asunder, there came to this world a strange new race: the dwarves. The ancestry of the dwarves is muddled and confused, often times contradictory, impossible, incestuous or all three. This can mainly be contributed to the dwarven tendency to keep their history through the use of engravings, rather than books or even oral tradition. Dwarves, being a subterranean people, rarely create paper and lack the memories to pass down stories of their ancestors in any reasonable fashion; this inability is mostly blamed on their near constant state of inebriation. Also unfortunate to would be historians is the dwarven tendency to place these historical engravings 60 feet underground and surrounded by all manner of deadly traps, questionable architecture and various slavering beasts. If one didn’t know better it would seem as though they are deliberately hiding their past.

Through what can be recovered the origin of dwarven kind (according to their creation myths) is as follows:

Once, long ago, a particularly ugly and foul tempered mountain goat raped a particularly hairy and insane Mandrill atop a pile of stones and vomit. From this coupling was born the first of dwarven kind, the Mountain King. He was born with a battle axe and bottomless tankard clutched in his tiny hands and his body was covered in such copious amounts of hair that he might easily have been mistaken for a bearded bear cub. The Mountain King was raised by a granite boulder and grew strong upon a diet of booze, cave mushrooms and the blood of his enemies. At age 4 he killed a bear in a staring contest, and at age 7 he domesticated the first wagon. Upon his ascendancy into adulthood, he destroyed the boulder which had raised him and reshaped it into the first anvil, proclaiming:

“Reg limar, abod ber, avuz thol, or mabdug, nokor buket!”

These words would echo forever through dwarvenkind, though it is said that another phrase was within this motto. The lost phrase is said to have been:

“Gatiz emar agak.” though what this phrase means has been lost to us, and inquiries to dwarven historians often end in violence. What little can be gathered is that it seems to relate to animal husbandry.

His childhood behind him, the Mountain King set about founding the first Mountain Home, digging out most of the mountain by himself using only his bare hands and frighteningly calloused manhood. His lavish home now complete and balanced entirely upon a single pillar he set out to make his name known and to find a wife worthy of bearing his fuzzy offspring. The first civilization he came upon were the elves, a race of naked and eternally beautiful feyfolk who abhorred the use of trees or animals for any means. It was said that when they met the Mountain King, he was in the process of beating a mountain lion to death with a wolf. The elves, in their kindness, attempted to persuade the Mountain King to follow their naturalistic ways. In response the Mountain King tore off the head druid’s face and promptly began using it as his undergarments. Before the shocked elven masses he announced:

“Etar linem etes gubel lor."

Which, roughly translated, means:

“Your king blows my bulbous tool.”

Since this epochal meeting the relations between the elves and dwarves have continued to be tense, often times ending in massive forest fires, rampant cannibalism, horrifying dismemberment or, worst of all, crossbreeding. His duty done, the Mountain King continued his journey through the primal world. He next came upon the goblins and was delighted to find that their skinny limbs and necks broke with even the gentlest of hammer blows. After a brief campaign of recreational genocide the Mountain King grew bored of his new playthings and continued on, leaving the goblins broken and scattered, connected only by their intense hatred of small, bearded people. This hatred continues to this day, resulting in nearly constant goblin raids against dwarven settlements. Unfortunately, goblins' limbs and neck still snap with the ease of twigs, making these valiant efforts more or less meaningless.

The last race which the Mountain King discovered was that of Humans, still in their fragile and frightened infancy. Taking rare pity upon the gangly and awkward race, the Mountain King gifted them with weapons, armor and booze, ensuring a stable business and war partner as well as drinking buddy for generations to come. It was after finding this last race that the Mountain King realized he was still without a wife and was beginning to feel the effects of his decades of celibacy. After a tour of countless brothels and leaving a swath of broken pelvises and dislocated jaws behind him The Mountain king finally returned to his home. Determined to have his bride, the Mountain King built a tower to the heavens themselves and petitioned Armok, God of Blood, to grant him a wife. Armok agreed, on the condition that all their descendants from first to last be cursed with a tendency to die horribly. The Mountain King gladly agreed.

The wife which he was given, The Queen of All Stone, was truly a rightful receiver of his seed and wore a beard that could match his own. It was from these two that all dwarven kind sprang (or walked, being that dwarves don't really spring, hop, jump, skip or do anything that means removing more than one foot from the ground).

From this common ancestor onward the genealogy is scattered and unsure, engraved upon bars of soap and metal beds across the world. Many believe that the first child of the Mountain King was a girl by the name of Urist. Records become scarce beyond this, but what little can be found indicates that she was a notorious trickster and prone to paranoid mania, preferring to remain isolated. From this point on we can only guess.

== Urist's Anatomy ==

Dwarves are, by weight, 40% Body hair, 30% alcohol, 6% calluses, 12% anger, 7% muscle, 1% skin and 4% miscellaneous. Their blood does not have different “types”; rather it has a variety of “proofs”. Their bone structure is not unlike that of a man, though much stouter and more dense. The exceptions to this comparison come mostly from two places: the legs and the head. Dwarves, for whatever reason, lack knees and are therefore incapable of things like hopping, skipping, running in a dignified manner or bending down without falling prone. Dwarves, however, seem to prefer it this way and regard anything requiring knees as being the actions of “elven silly nannys”. Several of the other strange anatomical designs are centered in the head and the curious structure of the dwarven skull. A dwarf’s beard is actually connected directly to the bones of his jaw and palate and is comprised of a thick mane of hair like cartilage growths. These growths are actually quite sensitive to certain stimuli and allow a dwarf to detect things like an abandoned pigtail sock, even from miles away.

The dwarven skull is composed of only two very thick bones, one being the mandible and the other consisting of the entire rest of the cranium. This strange configuration seems to be an adaptation to generations of cave-ins and the popular dwarven drinking game “Smash rock with face”. Unfortunately the thick and solid skull compresses the dwarven brain and induces a species wide mental syndrome not unlike severe bipolar disorder. This means that dwarves are highly susceptible to sudden and often violent mood swings, shifting between murderous rage and enthralled stupor with only a particularly nice sock or table as the cause. Another interesting anomaly, or lack of anomaly, is that of the dwarven liver. Dwarves, as a race, are dependent on alcohol from birth; it has been proven that it is not simply conditioning but that the dwarven body is actually dependent on alcohol to perform at its best. While the exact process that makes them dependent and why it is so necessary is still unknown, it does appear as though the dwarven body is paradoxically not equipped to deal with the massive amounts of alcohol it must imbibe. The dwarven liver is by no means more effective or efficient when it comes to filtering the massive amounts of booze that a dwarf drinks, leading to liver failure to be the leading cause of death among dwarven kind (followed closely by “bludgeoned to death by enraged soap maker”).

Beyond these obvious abnormalities are the less known and harder to distinguish differences in dwarven anatomy. Dwarves are a methodical and stubborn race to the point that every aspect of their life is directly influenced. Dwarves work, party, drink and sleep in marathon-like stints, often times continuing a single party or drinking binge for months on end and their inherent stubbornness makes it nearly impossible to change tasks quickly even if their lives depend on it. It is far from unknown to hear of a dwarven fortress falling to invading hordes simply because the fortress guard were in the middle of a 6 month nap or drinking themselves comatose. This tendency has lead to the adage “oblivious as a dwarf on break”.

Beyond their stubbornness dwarves also exhibit a variety of odd behaviors, some of which seem to be related to their physiology while others are more idiosyncratic. A dwarf’s chosen profession seems to influence his thought patterns in radical ways, often leading to specific phobias and reckless behavior. Non-military dwarves, for example, seem to universally develop a crippling fear of all animals, even the most harmless. It’s not uncommon to see panicking works-dwarves running in abject terror from things like mountain goats and perturbed llamas. Military dwaves, on the other hand, seem to completely lose their sense of self-preservation and run heedlessly into battle, ignoring tactics in favor of fanatic yelling. So removed from their sense of fear are the warrior women that they often carry their children into battle, a tactic which often ends in tragedy; It should be noted, however, that there are few sights more frightening then a dwarven woman, bare from the waist up, holding a suckling newborn in one hand and a battleaxe in the other, charging toward you.

The debate on the subject of dwarven depression and anger is a complex one at best and is hard to study without significant risk to life and limb. It’s a well known fact that dwarves are particularly mentally unstable and subject a great many psychoses. One, as yet unproven, theory asserts that this tendency toward madness is actually a inborn limiting mechanism to control the number of dwarves occupying a certain area. It is a documented fact that, as a dwarven civilization grows in population the risk of insanity and depression also increases. Indeed it is impossible to walk into a thriving dwarven civilization and not see at least a handful of raving mad-dwarves screaming at the walls. The Theory asserts, however, that these harmless, though insane, individuals are not the purpose of the madness, merely a unforeseen failing. The true purpose of the madness is to limit population numbers through murder, suicide and random dwarfslaughter. Indeed it does seem that large dwarven civilizations are often brought down by internal subterfuge, mass suicide and ritual murder (or by poor architectural planning).

This inherent tendency toward insanity, whatever its cause, seems to have given dwarves an odd sense of art as well as particular building talents. Dwarves are known world over for their proficiency in metal working and weapon crafting as well as mechanical skill, however it is their decorative arts that are perhaps the most interesting. Take for instance a random piece of dwarven armor, a copper gauntlet in this case. Its construction is of the highest order and it is menacing with iron spikes, however perhaps the most frightening thing is its decoration. Recreated in painstaking detail is an image of a horse. The horse is screaming. Often times things such as dining room walls and children’s toys are adorned with images of violent slaughter, terrible holocausts and the occasional giant mushroom. Its not known exactly why dwarves would decorate their homes in such manner, but the scenes of violence actually seem to stave off fits of madness and violence, perhaps acting in some sort of primitive cathartic manner. Or perhaps dwarves just genuinely enjoy images of bloody dismemberment and triangles.

== "War, Peace and Fell Moods" ==

The dwarven society is a complex and puzzling one, when compared to our relatively simple human society. Where as we seem to be guided mostly by instinct and desire, dwarves are driven by an entirely different kind of morals and ambitions. For instance, it is still completely unknown, even by the dwarves themselves, where their orders come from. Despite the existence of nobles within their society dwarves seem to act independently yet, paradoxically, also as a whole. For the non-informed imagine it like this. One dwarf may decide to mine out some stone, while another may decided to cut stone blocks and yet another may decide to assemble these blocks into a wall. These dwarves do these actions without the knowledge of what their fellow dwarves are doing and they seem only to do this on a whim. Theories of hivemindism abound, but perhaps the most interesting theory is that, in line with dwarven creation myth, the dwarves are being influenced and semi-puppeted by Armok, the dwarven god of blood, or His helpers. However, these speculations remain simply blind guesses.

A brief glance at dwarven society reveals it to be something like Feudalism, with many settlements under the ultimate control of a Monarchy. However, in depth study reveals that the tiny fraction of nobles actually seem to have very little to do with anything outside of trade relations. The prevailing opinion of the dwarven working class is that nobles are slightly touched in the head and their orders border on delusional. Its common for nobles to attempt to restrict the trade of items that do not exist and often can not exist in a specific settlement; they're also known for their strange obsessions over seemingly random objects and will demand their manufacture, much to the annoyance of the general masses. Some believe that nobles are simply dwarves which have some how escaped whatever force binds and orders the rest of the workers, leading them to be unreliable and mentally unsound without the external control. In this situation the Aristocracy is seen more as an aggravating and demanding elephant graveyard, a position that the worthless and potentially dangerous of dwarven society are “promoted” to, in order to keep them away from weapons or heavy machinery.

The possible exceptions of this rule lie within the dwarven justice system, specifically with the sheriff and the Hammerer. Dwarven law is seemingly draconian in many ways, but is also rather progressive. Dwarves put a great emphasis on the lives of living creatures (so much so that they consider the killing of a tame, non-food animal equivalent to murder) and as such have no capital punishment. What they have instead though, could be said to be even worse. Dwarves have three forms of punishment: Imprisonment, beating and Hammering. The first two are relatively minor, with even the harshest of beatings generally resulting in only minor injuries, it is the final punishment which is the most feared. The Hammering is doled out by the Hammerer, the dwarven equivalent of an executioner who wields a war hammer rather then an ax or sword. Hammering is simply that, the condemned receives repeated blows with the war hammer until either the sentence is carried out or the criminal is dead. While death is not the express purpose of the hammering it is often a side effect, with the other outcome usually being serious, crippling injury. Unfortunately one of the crimes which can possibly net this debilitating consequence is that of failure to comply with work orders, meaning that innocent dwarves may have their heads caved in for their inability to make glass in the middle of a frozen tundra. Its not surprising that nobles tend to meet their ends under suspicious circumstances and are often found under mysterious cave ins or floating face down in the moat.

Despite their warrior mentalities and fierce personalities dwarves have shown themselves to be passive aggressive at best (and aggressively passive at worst). While they are known for their fighting ability and boastful nature they rarely conduct war as an invading force, preferring instead to let the foolhardy enemies break themselves upon the fortresses' walls. A common dwarven saying that of “The best place to insult your enemies is behind forty feet of stone.” Its not to say that the most famous dwarven conflicts were those between dwarves and other sentient beings, far from it in fact. Perhaps the greatest example of the, ahem, quirkiness of dwarven culture is that the grand fortress of Boatmurdered. Boatmurdered endured the normal hardships of a dwarven settlement, namely constant raids from goblins and an inherently unstable society, but there was one main difference: elephants. It is, to this day, not known as to why the settlement was founded so close to the forest of “Tuskydeath”, but the outcome was nothing less then horrifying on all sides. For years the dwarves and elephants traded blows, usually resulting in the brutal impalement or trampling of dwarves or the imprisonment or death of the elephants. This conflict culminated in the creation of a “doomsday device” which was used to halt aggressive flooding as well as to flash boil most of the wildlife. Since the final fiery end of Boatmurdered a fragile truce seems to have been enacted between the elephants and the dwarves, if only to prevent such slaughter from ever occurring again.

Unfortunately one creature that continues to be a continuous hazard to dwarven kind is that of carp. The official myth of the dwarves is that Armok created the carp out of river rocks and instructed them to mutilate random passersby. Regardless of their origin carp are considerably dangerous to dwarves, fisher dwarves in particular. Its not uncommon for fisher dwarves to be dragged into the river by swarms of these blood thirsty beasts. Some dwarves die as they are snatched off bridges or while gathering water and are never seen again, at least in one piece. Worse than river carp are the popularly named “death pool carp” or carp that have become trapped in murky pools. These pools are death traps and can be fatal to anything which wanders too close. Perhaps the most terrifying is the idea of what dwarves refer to (in hushed tones) as skeletal carp. These creatures are the remains of carp, animated through dark means, and are reported to be “faster than a beak dog and stronger than an ogre” as well as nearly immune to any sort of conventional weapons. There are reports of hordes of these strangely animate corpses galloping across the bleak and blasted wastes, tearing apart anything which gets in their way. Exactly how a fish, undead or not, can gallop is something beyond this writer's comprehension.

== The Book of Job(s) ==

Dwarven culture is one dominated by toil and greed, leading most dwarves to be little more then glorified workhorses for the vast majority of their lives. It was once remarked of a dwarven miner that “there has never been a life as cruel or mercifully short as his”. In general dwarven labor is separated into two categories, crafting and hauling things about. For instance, a carpenter is considered a craftdwarf, as he creates useful objects from a raw material; a woodcutter is considered a hauler because his job consists mainly of chopping trees and lugging them around till he inevitably dies during some sort of animal attack. Almost all known dwarven professions have been complied and documented here for the sake of…well, record keeping.

[[Mining]]:
The noble, humble and very crushable miner is a job of both great importance and great ineptitude. On one hand the lives and livelihoods of all other dwarves depend on their ability to carve away the mountain and protect their comrades from the harshness of outdoor living. On the other hand their only discernible skill is the ability to swing a pick and (usually) not get crushed by falling rocks (maybe). It should be noted that, though both the job and the worker are relatively simple, the work does tend to produce sculpted, muscular dwarves ripe for military usage. Let us not forget the tales of dwarven work camps being defended by Herculean miners, their massive arms bulging as they embed pickaxes into elven hearts and minds.

[[Wood cutting]]:
The wood cutter is much like his miner counterpart: essential to many facets of the modern fortress and yet requiring the rough mental equivalency of a wagon wheel. However the wood cutter faces many more dangers in his line of work, from braving the horror of the wide open sky to battling the various forest creatures (sometimes including elven assassins). Unfortunately the woodcutter gains even less recognition than the miner, probably because the material he harvests only has a small set of uses within a well established fortress.

[[Carpentry]]:
Carpenters make various things out of wood, a practice that was deemed “Dangerously elf-like” many generations ago. Because of this carpenters are viewed either as outcasts (if they enjoy their job) or as unfortunate souls doing a terrible duty out of necessity (if they don’t like their job). While it is grudgingly acknowledged that some wooden things are necessary, at least early on, this does not mean that dwarves have to like this fact. In the grand scheme of things dwarves view carpentry as somewhere between manure shoveler and rapist on the scale of social agreeability.

Generally Carpenters and Wood cutters are tolerated as essential for the sheer fact that they make elves cry.

[[Masonry]]:
A mason has a strange place within dwarven society. They're generally seen as respectable by most, their job being one of the more useful and in demand; however they are also sometimes seen as heretical and dangerous. This belief stems from a common dwarven idea that the mountain and natural stone are all around better than anything that they or any of the other races could throw together; as such it’s seen as rather impertinent that a mason would try to “improve” on the natural rock by making unnatural things out of it. However the groups that truly think this tend to be small fringe groups, many of which also believe that the masons are a world spanning cabal intent on taking over the world and then carving all the mountains into giant cheese statues.

[[Engraving]]:
Engravers are an odd bunch, perhaps the most innately subversive group in any dwarven fortress. During times of relative calm they enjoy carving things like triangles and mushrooms, perhaps in an attempt to create some sort of weaponized boredom. However, in troubled times they delight in covering every flat surface in an endless array of disturbing images; it's not uncommon for dwarven bedrooms to be adorned with mosaics of the inhabitant’s loved ones being gored by elephants or trampled by goats. Engravers are often described by their peers as “arseholes”.

[[Animal training]]:
Despite the job title this dwarf seems to have the perplexing task of randomly releasing various terrifying animals from their cages and promptly getting mauled. It seems that occasionally they may accidentally domesticate one of these snarling beasts but this can probably be chalked up to chance. Very rarely they also teach dogs to bite goblins where it hurts.

[[Animal care]]:
See Butcher

[[Health care]]:
See Burial

[[Fish cleaning]], [[small animal dissection]], [[fish dissection]];
Dwarves with any of these jobs seem rather unbalanced and are prone to fire starting and bed wetting. It’s advised that one should keep at least ten feet from them, for a variety of very good reasons, not the least of which being that they are coated in the internal fluids of untold house pets.

[[Butchery]]:
The butcher serves essentially the same purpose a human butcher does, though dwarven butchers seem to prefer battle axes to meat cleavers and enjoy their job a great deal more. While dwarves can live quite healthily on a diet of Plump Helmets they are renown for their delight in all manners of carnivorousness and as such the Butcher is seen as a welcome friend, a bloody and wide eyed bartender. The difference here is that the drinks are undercooked and made from cats.

[[Leatherworking]]:
Dwarves have a code of morals surrounding animals that is strangely familiar. They abhor the torture or mistreatment of their furry companions but seem to have no problem slaughtering, skinning, and eating them wholesale as long as it’s done in a specific manner. This means that there is often a vast amount of usable leather from various beasts and house pets just laying around the fortress, making leatherworking a stable job indeed. Dwarves seem to possess a strange affinity for elf leather products, perhaps a hold over from the leather thong of their great forefather the Mountain King.

[[Tanning]]:
This is the middle man between pet and sock, the great equalizer of life and upholstery. The tanner has the glorious job of taking the semi-rotten skin of various animals (and occasionally people) and transforming it into fine leather to be used as a raw material. It’s unknown how dwarves go about this process, as the human method of tanning requires large tracts of time, various foul chemicals and generally produces an odor that is noticeable for miles. The dwarven Tanneries are, by comparison, tiny workshops often located next to living quarters or even within kitchens. When questioned about this perplexity dwarven tanners whistle and attempt to look uninterested

[[Farming]]:
Dwarven farming takes two paths, the normal above-ground farming which we are familiar with and more exotic underground growing. Dwarves seem to prefer the act of farming underground, even if they occasionally delight in the exotic brews made possible by above ground plants. Beyond the dwarven nutritional staple of booze the farms serve a lesser purpose of producing food and raw materials. Dwarves seem unconcerned about what they eat in most cases and can easily live out their lives subsisting on a diet of Dwarven wine, plump helmet and the occasional side of cat meat; This leads to an overwhelming majority of plump helmet farms which in turn leads a dwarven farm to resemble a scene from Alice in wonderland, albeit a dark, dank, vomit reeking wonderland populated by manic-depressive midgets.

[[Fishing]]:
Depending on the area the job of a fisherdwarf can either be a luxury or a death sentence. In most areas the work of a fisherdwarf is dangerous only because of its need to be outside, amongst wild animals and horrible sky. However if [[carp]] are involved this normally menial job becomes a game of roulette, with every moment being just another chance to die. From the few historical carvings we have we know that the dwarves once had a 4th punishment, in addition to their current triad of prison, pummeling, and pounding; this fourth punishment entailed forcing the condemned to fish in a carp infested river till he was finally set upon by the beasts. This punishment was eventually banned, partially because it was deemed too cruel and partially because it tended to have a mortality rate of 4 or 5 rather then the intended 1 as guards and spectators were also dragged to their fishy end.

[[Soap making]]:
Strange does not begin to describe this particular labor, The strangeness of it stems from the fact that dwarves are seemingly incapable of using soap for its intended washing purposes, choosing instead to stacking it about or simply trade it away. The soap maker himself seems perplexed by his creation yet continues to make it. Various men have tried to instruct the dwarves in the use of their creation however they remain seemingly mentally blocked from comprehending its purpose. However, men have also tried to teach the dwarves the meaning of being on fire and were equally unsuccessful, so perhaps there is simply some sort of cognitive dissonance involved.

[[Furnace operating]]:
There is a saying which goes “When a dwarf and fire are wed, the former will inevitably end up dead.” This, above all else, accurately describes the dwarven relationship with things hotter then body temperature. As such it’s surprising that furnace operation is such a safe job, indeed there are no reports of fatalities directly relating to the furnace operator’s job (unless being caught in a cave in counts). How this record is maintained appears to be a complete mystery to all involved, including the Operators themselves. However, since it seems to take the average Operator something like a week to do even the simplest of tasks one could surmise that the record is the result of extreme safety measures or simple cowardice.

[[Wood burning]]:
Wood burners lead a charmed life, revered as heroes for their use of fire to destroy the scourge that is above-ground nature, yet constantly hunted by elven assassins for the same reason. Wood burners are often local celebrities and are the pride of a fortress but the position is rarely volunteered for. The elves, in their endless attempts to destroy dwarven values, have singled wood burners out for death. The term of a Wood burner is usually ended when he his found face down with an oak arrow embedded in his spine.

[[Lye making]]/[[Potash making]]:
This labor includes letting ash float in water and then letting that water dry out (maybe). It also includes setting one’s hair on fire in a desperate attempt to liven up one’s bleak, ashy existence.

[[Weaponsmithing]]:
The act of making a hammer with another hammer, creating the paradox of “where did the first hammer come from?” Weaponsmiths are often hulking brutes of considerable strength, perhaps second only to dwarven accountants in sheer muscle mass. Their job mainly consists of lifting something heavy and smacking it against something hot till something sharp is made. They are considered the backbone of the army, both for their skill in weapon creation and for their general propensity to cave in goblin skulls with their hammers.

[[Armoring]]:
The rival of weaponsmithing, it’s not uncommon for inter-fortress arms races to pop up as weaponsmiths and armorers compete to one up each other. (in this case however I’m referring to the ancient dwarven tradition of “arms races” in which the participants drag themselves around the fortress using only one arm.) The armorers say they are more valuable because you only need one weapon, but many items of armor.

[[Blacksmithing]] and [[Metalcrafting]]:
The work that doesn’t fall into either armoring or weaponsmithing is relegated to the humble blacksmith. The Metalsmith makes the much more mundane objects needed by the fortress, including cups which no one uses and coins that generally have no value.

[[Gem cutting]] and [[Gem setting]]
Gem cutters are the jewelers of the dwarven world and are known for their flamboyant nature and sequin cloaks. They are often found, prancing about the tunnels with small hammers, gathering the raw material for their labor before returning to the shop to gently chisel away. While not a particularly proud part of the fortress gem cutters are tolerated for the vast wealth they bring in. Curiously they’re all named Shirley. Gem setters are a fair bit more dignified, even if their casual attire is a jewel encrusted codpiece.

[[Bonecarving]]:
A habit most pick up in jail is actually a time honored tradition within dwarven society. It’s well known that dwarves prefer to use just about every part of an animal (not because of any sort of ethical ideal, but because it increases profit) and that they have a vicious sense of ironic humor; as such the act of turning elephant bones into arrows with which to shoot more elephants is seen not only as cost effective but as a genocidal good time.

[[Stonecrafting]]:
One thing that dwarven society is never short of is spare rocks and it is the stoneworker’s job to turn all this useless debris into equally useless trade goods. Some of the strangest things a stonecrafter can make are stone musical instruments. How exactly one is expected to play a stone harp is lost on this author.

[[Woodcrafting]]:
Like carpenters, woodcrafters are often the object of ridicule and anger. They do, however, have one talent which brings them some social standing: the ability to make wood bolts for crossbows. As mentioned before dwarves have a love of poetic justice and as such greatly enjoy killing elves with wooden arrows. A famous dwarven general once said of a particular conflict with the elves: “They demanded to know what we had done with all their precious trees. So our archers showed them.”

[[Glassmaking]]:
Dwarves have a perilous relationship with glass. On one hand it’s fragile, a quality dwarves detest. On the other it’s shiny and involves fire in its creation, both qualities which they love. Regardless of their opinions on the substance glass tends to have few if any practical uses within a fortress, being that windows aren’t exactly a necessity a mile beneath the earth. Much like the stonecrafter the glass maker seems to focus his efforts on building things like Goblets which dwarves never use and toys which will invariably shatter into some child’s hands and eyes. However, unlike the stonecrafter, the glassmaker’s raw material is time and resource consuming to create. This leads to the common impression that dwarven glassmakers are insane.

[[Siege engineering]] and [[Siege operating]]:
Merchants of death on a grand scale, Siege engineers create the dwarven weapons of mass destruction: the ballista and the catapult. Regarded as talented though a bit off, as they tend to test their wares on migrants and unsuspecting wildlife, much to their own delight.

[[Mechanics]]:
The dwarven mechanic is usually considered one of the most intelligent of dwarven society, capable of constructing everything from power generators to deadly traps. Oddly enough they require only one type of mechanism to do this, though the number of these mechanisms varies from machine to machine. Humans have for years tried to discover the method by which such complex apparatuses can be constructed with only 2-3 parts and have in-so-far been unsuccessful. Another mystery is the way in which mechanics can mechanically connect two objects, even across massive distances, with only two of these mechanisms. When we questioned a dwarven mechanic by the name of Hertz about this seemingly impossible phenomenon he merely shrugged and replied “Ich habe keine Ahnung, aber es ist recht interessant.”

[[Weaving]]:
While the task of weaving is usually relegated to the women of other races dwarves hold no such sexist policies. Instead they have much more dangerous policies, like capturing enormous spiders and feeding them a constant diet of crippled goblins in order to harvest the spider’s web for high value silk production. It should be noted that the dwarves also do not discriminate who to feed to said spider based on sex, race or age; in other words it’s equal opportunity murder all around.

[[Dyeing]]:
A favorite activity of dwarves, especially those near volcanoes or cliffs.

[[Clothes making]]:
Dwarves are a simple race when it comes to clothing; many wear and in fact prefer to wear simple clothing. Of course this simple clothing invariably degenerates into rags, prompting the creation of new clothing. After all, spending is better then mending. Counter-intuitively, though, the post as clothier is rarely filled, meaning that the demand for new clothing often goes unanswered. When asked why so few are willing to become a clothier most dwarves will simply scream and run, while the few braver souls will recount stories of horrible carnage and destruction. It is believed, after careful study, that the loom is actually a distant cousin of the Wagon; however, unlike the wagon, the loom is capable of moving of its own accord. Loss of life and limb is rife.

[[Milling]]:
Dwarves tend to do this when they should otherwise be working.

[[Hunting]]:
In theory this is the practice of bludgeoning, stabbing or shooting various wildlife to death in order to use their carcass as food or raw materials. In reality it’s the practice of wandering into the forest, getting trampled or gored and then dragging one’s crippled self back to the fortress where one then occupies a bed for the rest of one’s natural life.

[[Brewing]]:
Brewers are loved above all others in their community and in the cases of exceptional brewers almost worshiped. A master brewer will often have a harem of comely young women (or nubile young boys) along with substantial treasure and fame. However a brewer who disgraces the practice by brewing sub-par drinks will be ridiculed and despised, or in some extreme cases publicly lynched. It should be noted that many of the aforementioned actions and decisions happen while the participants are extremely inebriated on said brewers beer. This has lead to the adage “Madder then a Dwarf on Sewer Brew”

[[Plant gathering]]:
The act of tearing various plants out of the ground for various purposes, the favorite of which is “just to annoy the blasted elves”. The brewers do thank the gatherers - sometimes.

[[Milking]]:
Dwarves are quite odd in their choice of which animal to milk. While all manner of mammals are available to dwarves, including the cow, camel, ox and goat, dwarves instead choose a insect as their only source of milk. Beyond this they chose a maggot that many dwarves find detestable and that can only be milked once a season. When asked why they would do something so counter-intuitive most dwarves look embarrassed and attempt to change the subject.

[[Cheese making]]:
Because milk is a rather rare commodity in dwarven society, for aforementioned reasons, the prospect of cheese is rather dubious. Because of this dwarven cheese is actually extremely valuable, equal to dragon meat. This author wonders if the choice of “dwarven” cheese rather then “purring maggot” cheese has something to do with this, though dwarven cheese implies rather disturbing things in and of itself.

[[Cooking]]:
Dwarven cooks are only grudgingly accepted into society, mainly because they are seen as an unnecessary step between the raw meat of the butcher and a potential meal. The dwarves are not particularly unreasonable in this either as it is a well documented fact that dwarven cooks do not, in fact, cook anything. Raw meat, plant products and Minced wine are simply mixed together to create “roasts” and “biscuits”. While these names may sound appetizing the reality of the matter is that they are gelatinous masses of grayish moist unhappiness. While many outsiders think that the miasma found around kitchens is the result of rotting food, it is actually a byproduct of successful cooking.

[[Trapping]]:
Imagine, if you will, a great and grizzled mountain man with a long flowing beard and eyes shining like two great lumps of coal. Imagine this man holding a bear trap. Imagine this man chasing a mouse with this bear trap. This is the basic scenario of dwarven Trapping.

[[Architecture]]:
The dwarven architect is often uneducated and inexperienced, sometimes picked simply because he is the closest to the current construction job. Thus thrust into his new position the unfortunate victim usually fails terribly, often ending in the deaths of several masons and the stranding of many more. In order to avoid embarrassment the project foreman has the architect jailed and supposedly executed. However, rather then actually executing him the foreman simply gives the victim a false beard to wear over his real one and then reintroduces him into society. By the end of his life time the average dwarf is reported to be wearing no fewer then 3 false beards over his real one.

[[Category:Humor and stories]]

On the origins of dwarves

2026-03-03T21:00:57Z

Silverwing235:

{{D for Dwarf}}

Piecewise's <s>article</s> <s>masterstroke</s> work of art on the forums needs to go here, so all can admire it.

== "On the Origin of Dwarves" ==

Long before our times, during the times of yore when great beasts stalked the darkness and tore civilization’s forebears asunder, there came to this world a strange new race: the dwarves. The ancestry of the dwarves is muddled and confused, often times contradictory, impossible, incestuous or all three. This can mainly be contributed to the dwarven tendency to keep their history through the use of engravings, rather than books or even oral tradition. Dwarves, being a subterranean people, rarely create paper and lack the memories to pass down stories of their ancestors in any reasonable fashion; this inability is mostly blamed on their near constant state of inebriation. Also unfortunate to would be historians is the dwarven tendency to place these historical engravings 60 feet underground and surrounded by all manner of deadly traps, questionable architecture and various slavering beasts. If one didn’t know better it would seem as though they are deliberately hiding their past.

Through what can be recovered the origin of dwarven kind (according to their creation myths) is as follows:

Once, long ago, a particularly ugly and foul tempered mountain goat raped a particularly hairy and insane Mandrill atop a pile of stones and vomit. From this coupling was born the first of dwarven kind, the Mountain King. He was born with a battle axe and bottomless tankard clutched in his tiny hands and his body was covered in such copious amounts of hair that he might easily have been mistaken for a bearded bear cub. The Mountain King was raised by a granite boulder and grew strong upon a diet of booze, cave mushrooms and the blood of his enemies. At age 4 he killed a bear in a staring contest, and at age 7 he domesticated the first wagon. Upon his ascendancy into adulthood, he destroyed the boulder which had raised him and reshaped it into the first anvil, proclaiming:

“Reg limar, abod ber, avuz thol, or mabdug, nokor buket!”

These words would echo forever through dwarvenkind, though it is said that another phrase was within this motto. The lost phrase is said to have been:

“Gatiz emar agak.” though what this phrase means has been lost to us, and inquiries to dwarven historians often end in violence. What little can be gathered is that it seems to relate to animal husbandry.

His childhood behind him, the Mountain King set about founding the first Mountain Home, digging out most of the mountain by himself using only his bare hands and frighteningly calloused manhood. His lavish home now complete and balanced entirely upon a single pillar he set out to make his name known and to find a wife worthy of bearing his fuzzy offspring. The first civilization he came upon were the elves, a race of naked and eternally beautiful feyfolk who abhorred the use of trees or animals for any means. It was said that when they met the Mountain King, he was in the process of beating a mountain lion to death with a wolf. The elves, in their kindness, attempted to persuade the Mountain King to follow their naturalistic ways. In response the Mountain King tore off the head druid’s face and promptly began using it as his undergarments. Before the shocked elven masses he announced:

“Etar linem etes gubel lor."

Which, roughly translated, means:

“Your king blows my bulbous tool.”

Since this epochal meeting the relations between the elves and dwarves have continued to be tense, often times ending in massive forest fires, rampant cannibalism, horrifying dismemberment or, worst of all, crossbreeding. His duty done, the Mountain King continued his journey through the primal world. He next came upon the goblins and was delighted to find that their skinny limbs and necks broke with even the gentlest of hammer blows. After a brief campaign of recreational genocide the Mountain King grew bored of his new playthings and continued on, leaving the goblins broken and scattered, connected only by their intense hatred of small, bearded people. This hatred continues to this day, resulting in nearly constant goblin raids against dwarven settlements. Unfortunately, goblins' limbs and neck still snap with the ease of twigs, making these valiant efforts more or less meaningless.

The last race which the Mountain King discovered was that of Humans, still in their fragile and frightened infancy. Taking rare pity upon the gangly and awkward race, the Mountain King gifted them with weapons, armor and booze, ensuring a stable business and war partner as well as drinking buddy for generations to come. It was after finding this last race that the Mountain King realized he was still without a wife and was beginning to feel the effects of his decades of celibacy. After a tour of countless brothels and leaving a swath of broken pelvises and dislocated jaws behind him The Mountain king finally returned to his home. Determined to have his bride, the Mountain King built a tower to the heavens themselves and petitioned Armok, God of Blood, to grant him a wife. Armok agreed, on the condition that all their descendants from first to last be cursed with a tendency to die horribly. The Mountain King gladly agreed.

The wife which he was given, The Queen of All Stone, was truly a rightful receiver of his seed and wore a beard that could match his own. It was from these two that all dwarven kind sprang (or walked, being that dwarves don't really spring, hop, jump, skip or do anything that means removing more than one foot from the ground).

From this common ancestor onward the genealogy is scattered and unsure, engraved upon bars of soap and metal beds across the world. Many believe that the first child of the Mountain King was a girl by the name of Urist. Records become scarce beyond this but what little can be found indicate that she was notorious trickster and prone to paranoid mania, preferring to remain isolated. From this point on we can only guess.

== Urist's Anatomy ==

Dwarves are, by weight, 40% Body hair, 30% alcohol, 6% calluses, 12% anger, 7% muscle, 1% skin and 4% miscellaneous. Their blood does not have different “types”; rather it has a variety of “proofs”. Their bone structure is not unlike that of a man, though much stouter and more dense. The exceptions to this comparison come mostly from two places: the legs and the head. Dwarves, for whatever reason, lack knees and are therefore incapable of things like hopping, skipping, running in a dignified manner or bending down without falling prone. Dwarves, however, seem to prefer it this way and regard anything requiring knees as being the actions of “elven silly nannys”. Several of the other strange anatomical designs are centered in the head and the curious structure of the dwarven skull. A dwarf’s beard is actually connected directly to the bones of his jaw and palate and is comprised of a thick mane of hair like cartilage growths. These growths are actually quite sensitive to certain stimuli and allow a dwarf to detect things like an abandoned pigtail sock, even from miles away.

The dwarven skull is composed of only two very thick bones, one being the mandible and the other consisting of the entire rest of the cranium. This strange configuration seems to be an adaptation to generations of cave-ins and the popular dwarven drinking game “Smash rock with face”. Unfortunately the thick and solid skull compresses the dwarven brain and induces a species wide mental syndrome not unlike severe bipolar disorder. This means that dwarves are highly susceptible to sudden and often violent mood swings, shifting between murderous rage and enthralled stupor with only a particularly nice sock or table as the cause. Another interesting anomaly, or lack of anomaly, is that of the dwarven liver. Dwarves, as a race, are dependent on alcohol from birth; it has been proven that it is not simply conditioning but that the dwarven body is actually dependent on alcohol to perform at its best. While the exact process that makes them dependent and why it is so necessary is still unknown, it does appear as though the dwarven body is paradoxically not equipped to deal with the massive amounts of alcohol it must imbibe. The dwarven liver is by no means more effective or efficient when it comes to filtering the massive amounts of booze that a dwarf drinks, leading to liver failure to be the leading cause of death among dwarven kind (followed closely by “bludgeoned to death by enraged soap maker”).

Beyond these obvious abnormalities are the less known and harder to distinguish differences in dwarven anatomy. Dwarves are a methodical and stubborn race to the point that every aspect of their life is directly influenced. Dwarves work, party, drink and sleep in marathon-like stints, often times continuing a single party or drinking binge for months on end and their inherent stubbornness makes it nearly impossible to change tasks quickly even if their lives depend on it. It is far from unknown to hear of a dwarven fortress falling to invading hordes simply because the fortress guard were in the middle of a 6 month nap or drinking themselves comatose. This tendency has lead to the adage “oblivious as a dwarf on break”.

Beyond their stubbornness dwarves also exhibit a variety of odd behaviors, some of which seem to be related to their physiology while others are more idiosyncratic. A dwarf’s chosen profession seems to influence his thought patterns in radical ways, often leading to specific phobias and reckless behavior. Non-military dwarves, for example, seem to universally develop a crippling fear of all animals, even the most harmless. It’s not uncommon to see panicking works-dwarves running in abject terror from things like mountain goats and perturbed llamas. Military dwaves, on the other hand, seem to completely lose their sense of self-preservation and run heedlessly into battle, ignoring tactics in favor of fanatic yelling. So removed from their sense of fear are the warrior women that they often carry their children into battle, a tactic which often ends in tragedy; It should be noted, however, that there are few sights more frightening then a dwarven woman, bare from the waist up, holding a suckling newborn in one hand and a battleaxe in the other, charging toward you.

The debate on the subject of dwarven depression and anger is a complex one at best and is hard to study without significant risk to life and limb. It’s a well known fact that dwarves are particularly mentally unstable and subject a great many psychoses. One, as yet unproven, theory asserts that this tendency toward madness is actually a inborn limiting mechanism to control the number of dwarves occupying a certain area. It is a documented fact that, as a dwarven civilization grows in population the risk of insanity and depression also increases. Indeed it is impossible to walk into a thriving dwarven civilization and not see at least a handful of raving mad-dwarves screaming at the walls. The Theory asserts, however, that these harmless, though insane, individuals are not the purpose of the madness, merely a unforeseen failing. The true purpose of the madness is to limit population numbers through murder, suicide and random dwarfslaughter. Indeed it does seem that large dwarven civilizations are often brought down by internal subterfuge, mass suicide and ritual murder (or by poor architectural planning).

This inherent tendency toward insanity, whatever its cause, seems to have given dwarves an odd sense of art as well as particular building talents. Dwarves are known world over for their proficiency in metal working and weapon crafting as well as mechanical skill, however it is their decorative arts that are perhaps the most interesting. Take for instance a random piece of dwarven armor, a copper gauntlet in this case. Its construction is of the highest order and it is menacing with iron spikes, however perhaps the most frightening thing is its decoration. Recreated in painstaking detail is an image of a horse. The horse is screaming. Often times things such as dining room walls and children’s toys are adorned with images of violent slaughter, terrible holocausts and the occasional giant mushroom. Its not known exactly why dwarves would decorate their homes in such manner, but the scenes of violence actually seem to stave off fits of madness and violence, perhaps acting in some sort of primitive cathartic manner. Or perhaps dwarves just genuinely enjoy images of bloody dismemberment and triangles.

== "War, Peace and Fell Moods" ==

The dwarven society is a complex and puzzling one, when compared to our relatively simple human society. Where as we seem to be guided mostly by instinct and desire, dwarves are driven by an entirely different kind of morals and ambitions. For instance, it is still completely unknown, even by the dwarves themselves, where their orders come from. Despite the existence of nobles within their society dwarves seem to act independently yet, paradoxically, also as a whole. For the non-informed imagine it like this. One dwarf may decide to mine out some stone, while another may decided to cut stone blocks and yet another may decide to assemble these blocks into a wall. These dwarves do these actions without the knowledge of what their fellow dwarves are doing and they seem only to do this on a whim. Theories of hivemindism abound, but perhaps the most interesting theory is that, in line with dwarven creation myth, the dwarves are being influenced and semi-puppeted by Armok, the dwarven god of blood, or His helpers. However, these speculations remain simply blind guesses.

A brief glance at dwarven society reveals it to be something like Feudalism, with many settlements under the ultimate control of a Monarchy. However, in depth study reveals that the tiny fraction of nobles actually seem to have very little to do with anything outside of trade relations. The prevailing opinion of the dwarven working class is that nobles are slightly touched in the head and their orders border on delusional. Its common for nobles to attempt to restrict the trade of items that do not exist and often can not exist in a specific settlement; they're also known for their strange obsessions over seemingly random objects and will demand their manufacture, much to the annoyance of the general masses. Some believe that nobles are simply dwarves which have some how escaped whatever force binds and orders the rest of the workers, leading them to be unreliable and mentally unsound without the external control. In this situation the Aristocracy is seen more as an aggravating and demanding elephant graveyard, a position that the worthless and potentially dangerous of dwarven society are “promoted” to, in order to keep them away from weapons or heavy machinery.

The possible exceptions of this rule lie within the dwarven justice system, specifically with the sheriff and the Hammerer. Dwarven law is seemingly draconian in many ways, but is also rather progressive. Dwarves put a great emphasis on the lives of living creatures (so much so that they consider the killing of a tame, non-food animal equivalent to murder) and as such have no capital punishment. What they have instead though, could be said to be even worse. Dwarves have three forms of punishment: Imprisonment, beating and Hammering. The first two are relatively minor, with even the harshest of beatings generally resulting in only minor injuries, it is the final punishment which is the most feared. The Hammering is doled out by the Hammerer, the dwarven equivalent of an executioner who wields a war hammer rather then an ax or sword. Hammering is simply that, the condemned receives repeated blows with the war hammer until either the sentence is carried out or the criminal is dead. While death is not the express purpose of the hammering it is often a side effect, with the other outcome usually being serious, crippling injury. Unfortunately one of the crimes which can possibly net this debilitating consequence is that of failure to comply with work orders, meaning that innocent dwarves may have their heads caved in for their inability to make glass in the middle of a frozen tundra. Its not surprising that nobles tend to meet their ends under suspicious circumstances and are often found under mysterious cave ins or floating face down in the moat.

Despite their warrior mentalities and fierce personalities dwarves have shown themselves to be passive aggressive at best (and aggressively passive at worst). While they are known for their fighting ability and boastful nature they rarely conduct war as an invading force, preferring instead to let the foolhardy enemies break themselves upon the fortresses' walls. A common dwarven saying that of “The best place to insult your enemies is behind forty feet of stone.” Its not to say that the most famous dwarven conflicts were those between dwarves and other sentient beings, far from it in fact. Perhaps the greatest example of the, ahem, quirkiness of dwarven culture is that the grand fortress of Boatmurdered. Boatmurdered endured the normal hardships of a dwarven settlement, namely constant raids from goblins and an inherently unstable society, but there was one main difference: elephants. It is, to this day, not known as to why the settlement was founded so close to the forest of “Tuskydeath”, but the outcome was nothing less then horrifying on all sides. For years the dwarves and elephants traded blows, usually resulting in the brutal impalement or trampling of dwarves or the imprisonment or death of the elephants. This conflict culminated in the creation of a “doomsday device” which was used to halt aggressive flooding as well as to flash boil most of the wildlife. Since the final fiery end of Boatmurdered a fragile truce seems to have been enacted between the elephants and the dwarves, if only to prevent such slaughter from ever occurring again.

Unfortunately one creature that continues to be a continuous hazard to dwarven kind is that of carp. The official myth of the dwarves is that Armok created the carp out of river rocks and instructed them to mutilate random passersby. Regardless of their origin carp are considerably dangerous to dwarves, fisher dwarves in particular. Its not uncommon for fisher dwarves to be dragged into the river by swarms of these blood thirsty beasts. Some dwarves die as they are snatched off bridges or while gathering water and are never seen again, at least in one piece. Worse than river carp are the popularly named “death pool carp” or carp that have become trapped in murky pools. These pools are death traps and can be fatal to anything which wanders too close. Perhaps the most terrifying is the idea of what dwarves refer to (in hushed tones) as skeletal carp. These creatures are the remains of carp, animated through dark means, and are reported to be “faster than a beak dog and stronger than an ogre” as well as nearly immune to any sort of conventional weapons. There are reports of hordes of these strangely animate corpses galloping across the bleak and blasted wastes, tearing apart anything which gets in their way. Exactly how a fish, undead or not, can gallop is something beyond this writer's comprehension.

== The Book of Job(s) ==

Dwarven culture is one dominated by toil and greed, leading most dwarves to be little more then glorified workhorses for the vast majority of their lives. It was once remarked of a dwarven miner that “there has never been a life as cruel or mercifully short as his”. In general dwarven labor is separated into two categories, crafting and hauling things about. For instance, a carpenter is considered a craftdwarf, as he creates useful objects from a raw material; a woodcutter is considered a hauler because his job consists mainly of chopping trees and lugging them around till he inevitably dies during some sort of animal attack. Almost all known dwarven professions have been complied and documented here for the sake of…well, record keeping.

[[Mining]]:
The noble, humble and very crushable miner is a job of both great importance and great ineptitude. On one hand the lives and livelihoods of all other dwarves depend on their ability to carve away the mountain and protect their comrades from the harshness of outdoor living. On the other hand their only discernible skill is the ability to swing a pick and (usually) not get crushed by falling rocks (maybe). It should be noted that, though both the job and the worker are relatively simple, the work does tend to produce sculpted, muscular dwarves ripe for military usage. Let us not forget the tales of dwarven work camps being defended by Herculean miners, their massive arms bulging as they embed pickaxes into elven hearts and minds.

[[Wood cutting]]:
The wood cutter is much like his miner counterpart: essential to many facets of the modern fortress and yet requiring the rough mental equivalency of a wagon wheel. However the wood cutter faces many more dangers in his line of work, from braving the horror of the wide open sky to battling the various forest creatures (sometimes including elven assassins). Unfortunately the woodcutter gains even less recognition than the miner, probably because the material he harvests only has a small set of uses within a well established fortress.

[[Carpentry]]:
Carpenters make various things out of wood, a practice that was deemed “Dangerously elf-like” many generations ago. Because of this carpenters are viewed either as outcasts (if they enjoy their job) or as unfortunate souls doing a terrible duty out of necessity (if they don’t like their job). While it is grudgingly acknowledged that some wooden things are necessary, at least early on, this does not mean that dwarves have to like this fact. In the grand scheme of things dwarves view carpentry as somewhere between manure shoveler and rapist on the scale of social agreeability.

Generally Carpenters and Wood cutters are tolerated as essential for the sheer fact that they make elves cry.

[[Masonry]]:
A mason has a strange place within dwarven society. They're generally seen as respectable by most, their job being one of the more useful and in demand; however they are also sometimes seen as heretical and dangerous. This belief stems from a common dwarven idea that the mountain and natural stone are all around better than anything that they or any of the other races could throw together; as such it’s seen as rather impertinent that a mason would try to “improve” on the natural rock by making unnatural things out of it. However the groups that truly think this tend to be small fringe groups, many of which also believe that the masons are a world spanning cabal intent on taking over the world and then carving all the mountains into giant cheese statues.

[[Engraving]]:
Engravers are an odd bunch, perhaps the most innately subversive group in any dwarven fortress. During times of relative calm they enjoy carving things like triangles and mushrooms, perhaps in an attempt to create some sort of weaponized boredom. However, in troubled times they delight in covering every flat surface in an endless array of disturbing images; it's not uncommon for dwarven bedrooms to be adorned with mosaics of the inhabitant’s loved ones being gored by elephants or trampled by goats. Engravers are often described by their peers as “arseholes”.

[[Animal training]]:
Despite the job title this dwarf seems to have the perplexing task of randomly releasing various terrifying animals from their cages and promptly getting mauled. It seems that occasionally they may accidentally domesticate one of these snarling beasts but this can probably be chalked up to chance. Very rarely they also teach dogs to bite goblins where it hurts.

[[Animal care]]:
See Butcher

[[Health care]]:
See Burial

[[Fish cleaning]], [[small animal dissection]], [[fish dissection]];
Dwarves with any of these jobs seem rather unbalanced and are prone to fire starting and bed wetting. It’s advised that one should keep at least ten feet from them, for a variety of very good reasons, not the least of which being that they are coated in the internal fluids of untold house pets.

[[Butchery]]:
The butcher serves essentially the same purpose a human butcher does, though dwarven butchers seem to prefer battle axes to meat cleavers and enjoy their job a great deal more. While dwarves can live quite healthily on a diet of Plump Helmets they are renown for their delight in all manners of carnivorousness and as such the Butcher is seen as a welcome friend, a bloody and wide eyed bartender. The difference here is that the drinks are undercooked and made from cats.

[[Leatherworking]]:
Dwarves have a code of morals surrounding animals that is strangely familiar. They abhor the torture or mistreatment of their furry companions but seem to have no problem slaughtering, skinning, and eating them wholesale as long as it’s done in a specific manner. This means that there is often a vast amount of usable leather from various beasts and house pets just laying around the fortress, making leatherworking a stable job indeed. Dwarves seem to possess a strange affinity for elf leather products, perhaps a hold over from the leather thong of their great forefather the Mountain King.

[[Tanning]]:
This is the middle man between pet and sock, the great equalizer of life and upholstery. The tanner has the glorious job of taking the semi-rotten skin of various animals (and occasionally people) and transforming it into fine leather to be used as a raw material. It’s unknown how dwarves go about this process, as the human method of tanning requires large tracts of time, various foul chemicals and generally produces an odor that is noticeable for miles. The dwarven Tanneries are, by comparison, tiny workshops often located next to living quarters or even within kitchens. When questioned about this perplexity dwarven tanners whistle and attempt to look uninterested

[[Farming]]:
Dwarven farming takes two paths, the normal above-ground farming which we are familiar with and more exotic underground growing. Dwarves seem to prefer the act of farming underground, even if they occasionally delight in the exotic brews made possible by above ground plants. Beyond the dwarven nutritional staple of booze the farms serve a lesser purpose of producing food and raw materials. Dwarves seem unconcerned about what they eat in most cases and can easily live out their lives subsisting on a diet of Dwarven wine, plump helmet and the occasional side of cat meat; This leads to an overwhelming majority of plump helmet farms which in turn leads a dwarven farm to resemble a scene from Alice in wonderland, albeit a dark, dank, vomit reeking wonderland populated by manic-depressive midgets.

[[Fishing]]:
Depending on the area the job of a fisherdwarf can either be a luxury or a death sentence. In most areas the work of a fisherdwarf is dangerous only because of its need to be outside, amongst wild animals and horrible sky. However if [[carp]] are involved this normally menial job becomes a game of roulette, with every moment being just another chance to die. From the few historical carvings we have we know that the dwarves once had a 4th punishment, in addition to their current triad of prison, pummeling, and pounding; this fourth punishment entailed forcing the condemned to fish in a carp infested river till he was finally set upon by the beasts. This punishment was eventually banned, partially because it was deemed too cruel and partially because it tended to have a mortality rate of 4 or 5 rather then the intended 1 as guards and spectators were also dragged to their fishy end.

[[Soap making]]:
Strange does not begin to describe this particular labor, The strangeness of it stems from the fact that dwarves are seemingly incapable of using soap for its intended washing purposes, choosing instead to stacking it about or simply trade it away. The soap maker himself seems perplexed by his creation yet continues to make it. Various men have tried to instruct the dwarves in the use of their creation however they remain seemingly mentally blocked from comprehending its purpose. However, men have also tried to teach the dwarves the meaning of being on fire and were equally unsuccessful, so perhaps there is simply some sort of cognitive dissonance involved.

[[Furnace operating]]:
There is a saying which goes “When a dwarf and fire are wed, the former will inevitably end up dead.” This, above all else, accurately describes the dwarven relationship with things hotter then body temperature. As such it’s surprising that furnace operation is such a safe job, indeed there are no reports of fatalities directly relating to the furnace operator’s job (unless being caught in a cave in counts). How this record is maintained appears to be a complete mystery to all involved, including the Operators themselves. However, since it seems to take the average Operator something like a week to do even the simplest of tasks one could surmise that the record is the result of extreme safety measures or simple cowardice.

[[Wood burning]]:
Wood burners lead a charmed life, revered as heroes for their use of fire to destroy the scourge that is above-ground nature, yet constantly hunted by elven assassins for the same reason. Wood burners are often local celebrities and are the pride of a fortress but the position is rarely volunteered for. The elves, in their endless attempts to destroy dwarven values, have singled wood burners out for death. The term of a Wood burner is usually ended when he his found face down with an oak arrow embedded in his spine.

[[Lye making]]/[[Potash making]]:
This labor includes letting ash float in water and then letting that water dry out (maybe). It also includes setting one’s hair on fire in a desperate attempt to liven up one’s bleak, ashy existence.

[[Weaponsmithing]]:
The act of making a hammer with another hammer, creating the paradox of “where did the first hammer come from?” Weaponsmiths are often hulking brutes of considerable strength, perhaps second only to dwarven accountants in sheer muscle mass. Their job mainly consists of lifting something heavy and smacking it against something hot till something sharp is made. They are considered the backbone of the army, both for their skill in weapon creation and for their general propensity to cave in goblin skulls with their hammers.

[[Armoring]]:
The rival of weaponsmithing, it’s not uncommon for inter-fortress arms races to pop up as weaponsmiths and armorers compete to one up each other. (in this case however I’m referring to the ancient dwarven tradition of “arms races” in which the participants drag themselves around the fortress using only one arm.) The armorers say they are more valuable because you only need one weapon, but many items of armor.

[[Blacksmithing]] and [[Metalcrafting]]:
The work that doesn’t fall into either armoring or weaponsmithing is relegated to the humble blacksmith. The Metalsmith makes the much more mundane objects needed by the fortress, including cups which no one uses and coins that generally have no value.

[[Gem cutting]] and [[Gem setting]]
Gem cutters are the jewelers of the dwarven world and are known for their flamboyant nature and sequin cloaks. They are often found, prancing about the tunnels with small hammers, gathering the raw material for their labor before returning to the shop to gently chisel away. While not a particularly proud part of the fortress gem cutters are tolerated for the vast wealth they bring in. Curiously they’re all named Shirley. Gem setters are a fair bit more dignified, even if their casual attire is a jewel encrusted codpiece.

[[Bonecarving]]:
A habit most pick up in jail is actually a time honored tradition within dwarven society. It’s well known that dwarves prefer to use just about every part of an animal (not because of any sort of ethical ideal, but because it increases profit) and that they have a vicious sense of ironic humor; as such the act of turning elephant bones into arrows with which to shoot more elephants is seen not only as cost effective but as a genocidal good time.

[[Stonecrafting]]:
One thing that dwarven society is never short of is spare rocks and it is the stoneworker’s job to turn all this useless debris into equally useless trade goods. Some of the strangest things a stonecrafter can make are stone musical instruments. How exactly one is expected to play a stone harp is lost on this author.

[[Woodcrafting]]:
Like carpenters, woodcrafters are often the object of ridicule and anger. They do, however, have one talent which brings them some social standing: the ability to make wood bolts for crossbows. As mentioned before dwarves have a love of poetic justice and as such greatly enjoy killing elves with wooden arrows. A famous dwarven general once said of a particular conflict with the elves: “They demanded to know what we had done with all their precious trees. So our archers showed them.”

[[Glassmaking]]:
Dwarves have a perilous relationship with glass. On one hand it’s fragile, a quality dwarves detest. On the other it’s shiny and involves fire in its creation, both qualities which they love. Regardless of their opinions on the substance glass tends to have few if any practical uses within a fortress, being that windows aren’t exactly a necessity a mile beneath the earth. Much like the stonecrafter the glass maker seems to focus his efforts on building things like Goblets which dwarves never use and toys which will invariably shatter into some child’s hands and eyes. However, unlike the stonecrafter, the glassmaker’s raw material is time and resource consuming to create. This leads to the common impression that dwarven glassmakers are insane.

[[Siege engineering]] and [[Siege operating]]:
Merchants of death on a grand scale, Siege engineers create the dwarven weapons of mass destruction: the ballista and the catapult. Regarded as talented though a bit off, as they tend to test their wares on migrants and unsuspecting wildlife, much to their own delight.

[[Mechanics]]:
The dwarven mechanic is usually considered one of the most intelligent of dwarven society, capable of constructing everything from power generators to deadly traps. Oddly enough they require only one type of mechanism to do this, though the number of these mechanisms varies from machine to machine. Humans have for years tried to discover the method by which such complex apparatuses can be constructed with only 2-3 parts and have in-so-far been unsuccessful. Another mystery is the way in which mechanics can mechanically connect two objects, even across massive distances, with only two of these mechanisms. When we questioned a dwarven mechanic by the name of Hertz about this seemingly impossible phenomenon he merely shrugged and replied “Ich habe keine Ahnung, aber es ist recht interessant.”

[[Weaving]]:
While the task of weaving is usually relegated to the women of other races dwarves hold no such sexist policies. Instead they have much more dangerous policies, like capturing enormous spiders and feeding them a constant diet of crippled goblins in order to harvest the spider’s web for high value silk production. It should be noted that the dwarves also do not discriminate who to feed to said spider based on sex, race or age; in other words it’s equal opportunity murder all around.

[[Dyeing]]:
A favorite activity of dwarves, especially those near volcanoes or cliffs.

[[Clothes making]]:
Dwarves are a simple race when it comes to clothing; many wear and in fact prefer to wear simple clothing. Of course this simple clothing invariably degenerates into rags, prompting the creation of new clothing. After all, spending is better then mending. Counter-intuitively, though, the post as clothier is rarely filled, meaning that the demand for new clothing often goes unanswered. When asked why so few are willing to become a clothier most dwarves will simply scream and run, while the few braver souls will recount stories of horrible carnage and destruction. It is believed, after careful study, that the loom is actually a distant cousin of the Wagon; however, unlike the wagon, the loom is capable of moving of its own accord. Loss of life and limb is rife.

[[Milling]]:
Dwarves tend to do this when they should otherwise be working.

[[Hunting]]:
In theory this is the practice of bludgeoning, stabbing or shooting various wildlife to death in order to use their carcass as food or raw materials. In reality it’s the practice of wandering into the forest, getting trampled or gored and then dragging one’s crippled self back to the fortress where one then occupies a bed for the rest of one’s natural life.

[[Brewing]]:
Brewers are loved above all others in their community and in the cases of exceptional brewers almost worshiped. A master brewer will often have a harem of comely young women (or nubile young boys) along with substantial treasure and fame. However a brewer who disgraces the practice by brewing sub-par drinks will be ridiculed and despised, or in some extreme cases publicly lynched. It should be noted that many of the aforementioned actions and decisions happen while the participants are extremely inebriated on said brewers beer. This has lead to the adage “Madder then a Dwarf on Sewer Brew”

[[Plant gathering]]:
The act of tearing various plants out of the ground for various purposes, the favorite of which is “just to annoy the blasted elves”. The brewers do thank the gatherers - sometimes.

[[Milking]]:
Dwarves are quite odd in their choice of which animal to milk. While all manner of mammals are available to dwarves, including the cow, camel, ox and goat, dwarves instead choose a insect as their only source of milk. Beyond this they chose a maggot that many dwarves find detestable and that can only be milked once a season. When asked why they would do something so counter-intuitive most dwarves look embarrassed and attempt to change the subject.

[[Cheese making]]:
Because milk is a rather rare commodity in dwarven society, for aforementioned reasons, the prospect of cheese is rather dubious. Because of this dwarven cheese is actually extremely valuable, equal to dragon meat. This author wonders if the choice of “dwarven” cheese rather then “purring maggot” cheese has something to do with this, though dwarven cheese implies rather disturbing things in and of itself.

[[Cooking]]:
Dwarven cooks are only grudgingly accepted into society, mainly because they are seen as an unnecessary step between the raw meat of the butcher and a potential meal. The dwarves are not particularly unreasonable in this either as it is a well documented fact that dwarven cooks do not, in fact, cook anything. Raw meat, plant products and Minced wine are simply mixed together to create “roasts” and “biscuits”. While these names may sound appetizing the reality of the matter is that they are gelatinous masses of grayish moist unhappiness. While many outsiders think that the miasma found around kitchens is the result of rotting food, it is actually a byproduct of successful cooking.

[[Trapping]]:
Imagine, if you will, a great and grizzled mountain man with a long flowing beard and eyes shining like two great lumps of coal. Imagine this man holding a bear trap. Imagine this man chasing a mouse with this bear trap. This is the basic scenario of dwarven Trapping.

[[Architecture]]:
The dwarven architect is often uneducated and inexperienced, sometimes picked simply because he is the closest to the current construction job. Thus thrust into his new position the unfortunate victim usually fails terribly, often ending in the deaths of several masons and the stranding of many more. In order to avoid embarrassment the project foreman has the architect jailed and supposedly executed. However, rather then actually executing him the foreman simply gives the victim a false beard to wear over his real one and then reintroduces him into society. By the end of his life time the average dwarf is reported to be wearing no fewer then 3 false beards over his real one.

[[Category:Humor and stories]]

Relationship

2026-03-02T23:28:31Z

Silverwing235: cook Anon's SPAGetti

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[[File:love_preview.png|right]][[Dwarves]] have '''relationships''' amongst each other. These can be seen in detail by going to the dwarf's [[profile]], and clicking on the relations tab to take you to their relationships screen. Relationships are usually formed by spending time with another dwarf. Often, the strongest relationships are between dwarves from the same [[migrant]] wave, despite time spent with dwarves from other waves. Relationships are important because their presence or absence has an important effect on the dwarf in question. Note that when it comes to familial relationships, the dwarves in question do not have to be in your fortress.

Making and talking to friends gives happy [[thought]]s, while death - of a [[pet]], friend, parent, [[children|child]] or [[marriage|spouse]] - gives unhappy ones. Dwarves in a network of friends and family are happier than otherwise, but are more likely to make [[children]], and will be much harder-hit when a familiar dwarf dies in an [[ambush]] or whatnot. Getting [[ghost|haunted]] by a familiar dwarf produces a strong negative thought as well.

(Note that the relationships screen is mouse-enabled.)

== Types ==
The following is a list of known relationships, listed in the order they appear on the screen (and thus, their importance):
* Kin relationships
**'''Spouse''' - [[Marriage|Married]] dwarves are spouses of one another, and will share a [[bed]]. Heterosexual couples will produce children (the happier the couple, the more [[Marriage|often?]]).
**'''Lover''' - Lovers are basically dwarven pairs; unmarried, but getting there. Dwarves may have multiple lovers (allthough love relationships generated during world gen might count the same lover multiple times and in world gen or world activities a love relationship to a dwarf is usually not removed, when the lover is finally married). Dwarves who are lovers and marriage-compatible (as per their {{token|ORIENTATION|c}} token) and that spend enough time chatting may marry, at which point they will begin using the same bed, and start producing children if belonging to opposite genders. Dwarves who are married do not seem to take lovers while they are still married.
**'''Child''' - Any [[child]]ren that dwarven parents have are the objects of their attention - this includes grown adults, juveniles, and babies. Children are described by their sex and birth order. The relationship is described as: eldest son, second eldest son, eldest daughter, and so on. The child might not necessarily be in the fortress. Even if born as twins, one will be older and one will be younger.
**'''Parent''' - If the dwarf has known parents, they will appear here.
**'''Grandparent''' - Like known parents. They're separated into "paternal" and "maternal". (In listing order, may be mixed with siblings)
**'''Sibling''' - If the dwarf in question has siblings, they will appear here. Like children, they do not necessarily have to be in the fortress. The relationships are described as older brother, younger brother, older sister, and younger sister (creatures with one or more genderless castes, such as the [[ant man]], also may have older/younger siblings). If dwarves share only one parent, they are described as above, but with half- (half-brother, half-sister etc). Even if born as twins, one will count as older than another.
**'''Aunt/Uncle''' - If the dwarf has known aunts or uncles, they will appear here. Often these don't live in the same fortress.
**'''Niece/Nephew''' - If the dwarf has known nieces or nephews, they will appear here. Again, nieces and nephews often don't live in the same fortress.
**'''Cousin''' - If the dwarf has known cousins, they will appear here. Cousins, much like some of the above categories, often don't live in the fortress.
* Spiritual relationships
**'''Deity''' - Ye olde dwarven [[deity|god]]s are the most important non-familial relationships for a dwarf. A dwarf can worship multiple gods, and on rare occasions will not worship any (atheism). Dwarves can have different levels of worship ("ardent", "faithful", "casual", and "dubious"). Note that cursed creatures are ''always'' dubious worshippers of their deities, making this relationship an important sign of a [[vampire]]. A [[temple]] may be designated as a [[location]] from a [[meeting area]]. Worshiping at a temple reduces [[stress]] by a large amount, but not being able to worship causes further stress to develop.
**'''Object of Worship''' - Dwarves tend to worship [[megabeast]]s that have attacked a settlement, most likely out of fear. This relationship is, for now, only aesthetic, and does not change the behavior of the dwarf or the megabeast if the worshipper meets the worshipped.
**'''Force''' - An [[elf]] may worship a [[force|force of nature]], which works the same as worship of a deity.
* Professional relationships
**'''Apprentice''' - [[Scholar]]s, [[performer]]s, and [[necromancer]]s can take apprentices, who they will teach what they know. Apprentices sometimes don't live in the fortress, but one master can have many apprentices.
**'''Master''' - The master to an apprentice. Sometimes migrants and visitors have masters that don't live in the fortress.
**'''Former Master''' - A creature can have more than one former master.
**'''Former Apprentice''' - A creature that once learned from this one.
* Animal relationships
**'''[[Pet]]''' - The dwarf's [[animal]] companion, who they have adopted (or in the case of [[cat]]s, the dwarf was adopted by them). If the pet is a [[grazer]], the owner will periodically feed them, allowing them to roam free without the need of a [[pasture]]. Dwarves can have multiple pets. In [[Legends mode]] pets have a link to their '''owner''', but if certain viewing utilities are used, the relationship list of the pet will have no link to the owner ("Thoughts and preferences" will still have the name of the owner).
**'''Bonded animal''' - [[Animal trainer]]s typically form bonds with the animals they work with over time. The death of a bonded animal causes a bad thought to the trainer.
* Non-kin personal relationships
**'''Kindred spirit''' - A step above close friend, a step below lover.
**'''Companion''' - may be found on adventurers, if you retired them in your retired fortress and then unretire that fortress.
**'''Close friend''' - A close friend, yet neither a kindred spirit nor a lover.
**'''Friend''' - Dwarves that idle near other dwarves and/or have high [[social skill]]s tend to develop [[friend]]s. Making a friend takes some effort on the part of the dwarf, and happens most often within individual waves. [[Personality|Personalities]] play a part as well. Making friends causes a happy thought, as can be expected, and the death of friends causes unhappy ones. Lovers develop from a dwarf's pool of friends.
**'''Grudge''' - [[Grudge]]s are the opposite of friendships, and tend to develop between dwarves of conflicting personality traits. Sometimes, it is possible to have your starting dwarves form grudges even before they arrive at the new fortress location. Making a grudge causes an unhappy thought, but ironically, the death of a grudgee actually causes a bad thought as well.
**'''Friendly Terms''' - More than an acquaintance, less than a friend. This relationship cannot be created during fortress mode between citizens of the fort.
**'''Long-term Acquaintance''' - Long-term acquaintances are dwarves that have had at least 30 conversations with each other, but aren't friends. At [[embark]], the seven starting dwarves will each be either long-term acquaintances or be friends (friends, good friends or kindred spirits) with each other (or in very rare cases have a grudge). Long-term Acquaintance relationships currently do not form between dwarves in fortress mode.
**'''Passing Acquaintance''' - Passing acquaintances are dwarves that are familiar with one another, but just barely. As long term acquaintances do not produce a bad thought, passing ones do not either. If an acquaintance does not make contact with the dwarf over a time, they will be forgotten, absent from the relationships screen.

''Note:'' Kindred spirits, Close friends and friends in the relationship screen are only sorted by id (ie. all kindred spirits will not appear before the close friends and friends, unless the ids of all kindred spirits are lower). The Long-term acquaintances and passing acquaintances are sorted below the friends (close friends and kindred spirits).

==Non-kin relationships of citizens created in fortress mode==
The non-kin relationships (and not only passing acquaintance relationships) between dwarves in fortress mode can currently deteriorate over time, if there is no contact between the two dwarves, between the first (tick of the first) day of Granite and the last (tick of the last) day of Obsidian of a year, the non-kin relationship (at least below lover) is removed with the start of the new year. The relationships between the seven starting dwarves are not affected by this (and presumably also non-kin relationships, which are non-passing acquaintance relationships generated during worldgen, are not affected). But for all other non-kin relationships (below lover) it is possible. EG: two dwarves, who had been kindred spirits, will no longer acknowledge the existence of the other dwarf (with the beginning of a year), if there has been no (social) contact between the two dwarves in the past calendar year.

The same mechanic is used to remove caravan traders (and presumably other guests/visitors) from the relationships of the dwarf citizens.

For the seven starting dwarves, on the other hand, the non-kin relationships can only increase (at least if they do not have a grudge) and a long-term acquaintance can become a friend, good friend or kindred spirit (or even more) over time.

It is currently not clear, as to why non-kin relationships between the seven starting dwarves are handled differently in comparison to newly created non-kin relationships generated during fortress mode.

==Other familial relationships==
Dwarves can have '''Uncles''', '''Aunts''', '''Nieces''', '''Nephews''' and '''Cousins''' listed as relationships. They do not appear to take special interest in the wellbeing of such relations. Migrants with long lists of such "extended family" are typically well-connected historical personalities, but expansive relative lists of this type also commonly appear when children in a fort manage to grow up to adulthood, marry and have children of their own.
As historical personages of special importance, [[monarch]]s frequently immigrate with a large number of distant relatives listed.

==Types of friendships==

In world generation, characters make friendships due to worldgen events, and those friendships may carry over to fortress mode when some of them [[migrate]]. Those are:

* Childhood friendships
* Bonding over [[scholar]]ly interests
* Bonding over art at performances
* Friends from athletic competitions
* War buddies

==Types of grudges==

Like friendships, grudges can also happen during worldgen, and usually pave the way to more general corruption from [[villain]]s. These can spawn from:

* Business rivalries
* Sport competitions
* Abusive rulers
* Religious grievances...Sometimes very specific grudges can happen, such as a [[mummy]] forming one against a [[tomb]] thief.

==Relationship variables==

On top of the existing relationships, there are variables that govern the attitude between two characters. This usually comes up during corruption attempts by [[villain]]s in worldgen (e.g. intimidation is more successful if the target fears the villain already, and flattery works better if the target trusts them) and is especially relevant during interrogations in both fortress and adventure mode. Those variables are:

* Loyalty
* Trust/distrust
* Fear
* Love/hate
* Respect

'''Notes''':
* It seems that in fortress mode usually, meaning normal informal social interactions (discounting tantrums etc., but including getting into arguments), only the love/hate variable (of fortress citizens) is modified. The possible increase, while random, seems to depend on the love propensity and even with the trait "is not the type to fall in love or even develop positive feelings" will usually result in an increase of the love variable by 5 (for the first few informal social interactions). Higher tiers of the love prospenity facet can result in higher increases (which are usually a multiple of 5 for the first few social interactions) per (informal) social interaction.
* In fortress mode the (initial) trust level is set with the first social interaction between two dwarves (and solely depends on the personality facet tier of trust, with -50,-25,-10,0,10,25 and 50 as trust value from lowest to highest tier), afterwards normal informal social interactions do not change the trust value. For the starting dwarves the trust level is set at embark (and also only depends on the personality facet tier of trust).
* A love value of at least 50 (towards another dwarf) means that the other dwarf is considered a friend, upto (and including) 74.
* A love value of 75 (towards Urist) from Bomrek usually means that the other dwarf is considered a close friend, unless Urist only considers Bomrek to be an acquaintance (in which case it will only be friend) and a close friend relationship will begin with a higher value (further details unknown).
* A love value of 100 is needed so that the other dwarf is considered a kindred spirit.
* Love values, which are not divisible by 5, where only encountered in the relationship between starting dwarves.
* The love value seems to increase slower the higher the relationship level currently is.
* The above variables are not tracked for family relationships (as social interactions between parent and child and siblings do not create a hf_visual entry (if it is missing) for the histfig (in info.relationships.hf_visual)). For spouses such an entry might exist (or is created), if there is currently none, but if the spouses do not interact in a calendar year that hf_visual entry is currently deleted with the beginning of a new year (and re-created when they interact again socially).

==Night troll relationships==

After abducting someone, a [[night troll]] makes its victim into a '''prisoner''' and becomes an '''imprisoner'''; that relationship may be seen in legends mode, and (if using DFHack) in the thoughts and preferences screen. Then the prisoner and imprisoner become just ordinary spouses, if during worldgen, otherwise (at least in fortmode) the night troll can't convert the prisoner into a proper spouse caste, and so the prisoner is stuck forever.{{verify}}

==Growing relationships==
Over time, dwarves who spend time idling near each other will begin to form friendships and grudges. This happens through 'chats' and the 'socialize' activity.

Two dwarves who are standing on the same or adjacent tiles, may decide to chat if they are idle. Dwarves who are busy eating, drinking, or doing any job, will not chat with one another. This has the amusingly realistic effect that two dwarves who work side by side for years may barely know each other, or even not at all.

As two dwarves accumulate these chats, they will form opinions of each other, based on a 'compatibility' score. Dwarves who like similar things (such as [[elephant]]s), have the same skills (such as two miners), or who have similar personalities can form friendships (if their personality facets permit it). These begin as passing acquaintances, who will then become friends (if the two aren't too incompatible) or form grudges (if the dwarves are too incompatible). Currently, only vastly different [[personality|personalities]] (such as a confident, selfless dwarf vs. a nervous but arrogant one) cause this, as differences in likes or skills don't hurt a dwarf's opinion of another. Changes in a dwarf's skill set can thus cause their opinions of another dwarf to change, potentially removing old grudges. Dwarves who don't chat will lose acquaintances (and friends) over time.

Some personality facets (like love_propensity, emotionally_obsessive and gregariousness) seem to play a big role in how fast (or slow) friendships are formed and could also possibly mean that some dwarves will not ever consider anyone a kindred spirit (unless the dwarfs personality facets change through core memories), regardless of how long (and often) they chat with each other.

Dwarves who are compatible enough, and chat enough, can become lovers (if their personality facets permit it). In order to be eligible for this, a dwarf has to be an adult, not have a too-large age difference (which is currently max(10,min(age_1,age_2)/2), be orientation-compatible, and not be too closely related to their new friend. Lovers who continue to have enough opportunities to chat, and are willing to commit as per their [[orientation]] preferences will eventually get married (if their personality facets permit it).

[[Social skill]]s such as [[broker skills|conversationalist]], [[intimidator]], [[pacifier]], [[comedian]], [[negotiator]], [[flatterer]], [[consoler]], [[persuader]], or [[judge of intent]] play no roles in relationships.

It is possible for two dwarves to have different opinions about each other - for example, Urist can treat Bomrek as a long-term acquainted buddy, while Bomrek counts Urist as a barely recognised person.

===Mechanics===
# Relations are formed the first time a unit is idle or socializing next to another unit*
# When a relationship rank hits 15, a friendship or grudge is formed, depending on compatibility.
# When the rank is around 40, if the units are friends and are romantically inclined, they become lovers. A range of 31-42 has been observed, probably influenced by one or more personality traits.
# When the rank hits 50, and the units are lovers, they can get married.
# Talking to grudges can really spike a unit's stress level (700+ per day), depending on personality.
# Socializing units can increase rank with busy adjacent units if they don't move (tested with pumpstacks, libraries, and temples).

 * - It doesn't look like units begin socializing with same-tile or diagonally adjacent units. Only N,S,E,W adjacent units can start socialization, but, once started, socializing dwarves will include same-tile and diagonal neighbors.
{{Category|Relationships}}
[[ru:Relationship]]

Grudge

2026-03-01T12:55:53Z

Silverwing235: reference

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
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A '''grudge''' is a type of [[relationship]] a [[dwarf]] can have with another dwarf. The opposite of friendships, they tend to develop between dwarves of conflicting personality traits - sometimes, it is possible to have your starting dwarves form grudges even ''before'' they arrive at the new fortress location! Making a grudge causes an unhappy thought, but ironically, the death of a grudgee actually causes a bad thought as well.

==Mechanics==

It is currently unknown how a grudge is formed, but a dwarf that talks to another that they have a grudge with will generate an unhappy thought ("He was forced to talk to somebody annoying lately."). This is more likely to happen if you only have one [[meeting area]] or many jobless dwarves.

A grudge is more likely to form between dwarves with opposite ideals and/or personalities. An example would be between the dwarf Mistem Okoluzul who formed a grudge with the dwarf Adilina Kubukthiz. In examining their respective "Thoughts and Preferences" screens, we find an obvious clash:

'''- Adilina Kubukthiz:''' "''She is candid and sincere in dealings with others. She finds helping others very rewarding.''" 
'''- Mistem Okoluzul:''' "''He is often sad and dejected. He does not go out of his way to help others.''"

A personality clash is not necessarily a requirement to the forming of a grudge. Likewise, grudges are not always going to be mutual.{{cite forum|58158}}

{{D for Dwarf}}


Dwarves are well known for keeping grudges towards anyone who slights them, and keep note of these many grudges in a great [[book]] maintained by the [[monarch]]. [[Goblin]]s are by far the biggest offenders, and their names are listed in the great book many times. Once, a [[human]] [[noble]] hired dwarves to construct his [[castle]], but underpaid them by two [[Currency|dwarfbucks]], a slight which could not be ignored! And so they drowned the whole castle in [[magma]].

{{Category|Relationships}}
[[ru:Grudge]]

Relationship

2026-03-01T12:43:28Z

Silverwing235: /* Types */

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[[File:love_preview.png|right]][[Dwarves]] have '''relationships''' amongst each other. These can be seen in detail by going to the dwarf's [[profile]], and clicking on the relations tab to take you to their relationships screen. Relationships are usually formed by spending time with another dwarf. Often, the strongest relationships are between dwarves from the same [[migrant]] wave, despite time spent with dwarves from other waves. Relationships are important because their presence or absence has an important effect on the dwarf in question. Note that when it comes to familial relationships, the dwarves in question do not have to be in your fortress.

Making and talking to friends gives happy [[thought]]s, while death - of a [[pet]], friend, parent, [[children|child]] or [[marriage|spouse]] - gives unhappy ones. Dwarves in a network of friends and family are happier than otherwise, but are more likely to make [[children]], and will be much harder-hit when a familiar dwarf dies in an [[ambush]] or whatnot. Getting [[ghost|haunted]] by a familiar dwarf produces a strong negative thought as well.

(Note that the relationships screen is mouse-enabled.)

== Types ==
The following is a list of known relationships, listed in the order they appear on the screen (and thus, their importance):
* Kin relationships
**'''Spouse''' - [[Marriage|Married]] dwarves are spouses of one another, and will share a [[bed]]. Heterosexual couples will produce children (the happier the couple, the more [[Marriage|often?]]).
**'''Lover''' - Lovers are basically dwarven pairs; unmarried, but getting there. Dwarves may have multiple lovers. Dwarves who are lovers and marriage-compatible (as per their {{token|ORIENTATION|c}} token) and that spend enough time chatting may marry, at which point they will begin using the same bed, and start producing children if belonging to opposite genders.
**'''Child''' - Any [[child]]ren that dwarven parents have are the objects of their attention - this includes grown adults, minors, and babies. Children are described by their sex and birth order. The relationship is described as eldest son, second eldest son, eldest daughter, and so on. The child might not necessarily be in the fortress. Even if born as twins, one will be older and one will be younger.
**'''Parent''' - If the dwarf has known parents, they will appear here.
**'''Grandparent''' - Like known parents. They're separated into "paternal" and "maternal". (In listing order, may be mixed with siblings)
**'''Sibling''' - If the dwarf in question has siblings, they will appear here. Like children, they do not necessarily have to be in the fortress. The relationships are described as older brother, younger brother, older sister, and younger sister (creatures with one or more genderless castes, such as the [[ant man]], also may have older/younger siblings). If dwarves share only one parent, they are described as above, but with half- (half-brother, half-sister etc). Even if born as twins, one will count as older than another.
**'''Aunt/Uncle''' - If the dwarf has known aunts or uncles, they will appear here. Often these don't live in the same fortress.
**'''Niece/Nephew''' - If the dwarf has known nieces or nephews, they will appear here. Again, nieces and nephews often don't live in the same fortress.
**'''Cousin''' - If the dwarf has known cousins, they will appear here. Cousins, much like some of the above categories, often don't live in the fortress.
* Spiritual relationships
**'''Deity''' - Ye olde dwarven [[deity|god]]s are the most important non-familial relationships for a dwarf. A dwarf can worship multiple gods, and on rare occasions will not worship any (atheism). Dwarves can have different levels of worship ("ardent", "faithful", "casual", and "dubious"). Note that cursed creatures are ''always'' dubious worshippers of their deities, making this relationship an important sign of a [[vampire]]. A [[temple]] may be designated as a [[location]] from a [[meeting area]]. Worshiping at a temple reduces [[stress]] by a large amount, but not being able to worship causes further stress to develop.
**'''Object of Worship''' - Dwarves tend to worship [[megabeast]]s that have attacked a settlement, most likely out of fear. This relationship is, for now, only aesthetic, and does not change the behavior of the dwarf or the megabeast if the worshipper meets the worshipped.
**'''Force''' - An [[elf]] may worship a [[force|force of nature]], which works the same as worship of a deity.
* Professional relationships
**'''Apprentice''' - [[Scholar]]s, [[performer]]s, and [[necromancer]]s can take apprentices, who they will teach what they know. Apprentices sometimes don't live in the fortress, but one master can have many apprentices.
**'''Master''' - The master to an apprentice. Sometimes migrants and visitors have masters that don't live in the fortress.
**'''Former Master''' - A creature can have more than one former master.
**'''Former Apprentice''' - A creature that once learned from this one.
* Animal relationships
**'''[[Pet]]''' - The dwarf's [[animal]] companion, who they have adopted (or in the case of [[cat]]s, the dwarf was adopted by them). If the pet is a [[grazer]], the owner will periodically feed them, allowing them to roam free without the need of a [[pasture]]. Dwarves can have multiple pets. In [[Legends mode]] pets have a link to their '''owner''', but if certain viewing utilities are used, the relationship list of the pet will have no link to the owner ("Thoughts and preferences" will still have the name of the owner).
**'''Bonded animal''' - [[Animal trainer]]s typically form bonds with the animals they work with over time. The death of a bonded animal causes a bad thought to the trainer.
* Non-kin personal relationships
**'''Kindred spirit''' - A step above close friend, a step below lover.
**'''Companion''' - may be found on adventurers, if you retired them in your retired fortress and then unretire that fortress.
**'''Close friend''' - A close friend, yet neither a kindred spirit nor a lover.
**'''Friend''' - Dwarves that idle near other dwarves and/or have high [[social skill]]s tend to develop [[friend]]s. Making a friend takes some effort on the part of the dwarf, and happens most often within individual waves. [[Personality|Personalities]] play a part as well. Making friends causes a happy thought, as can be expected, and the death of friends causes unhappy ones. Lovers develop from a dwarf's pool of friends.
**'''Grudge''' - [[Grudge]]s are the opposite of friendships, and tend to develop between dwarves of conflicting personality traits. Sometimes, it is possible to have your starting dwarves form grudges even before they arrive at the new fortress location. Making a grudge causes an unhappy thought, but ironically, the death of a grudgee actually causes a bad thought as well.
**'''Friendly Terms''' - More than an acquaintance, less than a friend.{{verify}}
**'''Long-term Acquaintance''' - Long-term acquaintances are dwarves that have had at least 30 conversations with each other, but aren't friends. At [[embark]], the seven starting dwarves will each be either long-term acquaintances or be friends (friends, good friends or kindred spirits) with each other (or in very rare cases have a grudge). Long-term Acquaintance relationships currently do not form between dwarves in fortress mode.
**'''Passing Acquaintance''' - Passing acquaintances are dwarves that are familiar with one another, but just barely. As long term acquaintances do not produce a bad thought, passing ones do not either. If an acquaintance does not make contact with the dwarf over a time, they will be forgotten, absent from the relationships screen.

==Non-kin relationships of citizens created in fortress mode==
The non-kin relationships (and not only passing acquaintance relationships) between dwarves in fortress mode can currently deteriorate over time, if there is no contact between the two dwarves, between the first (tick of the first) day of Granite and the last (tick of the last) day of Obsidian of a year, the non-kin relationship (at least below lover) is removed with the start of the new year. The relationships between the seven starting dwarves are not affected by this (and presumably also non-kin relationships, which are non-passing acquaintance relationships generated during worldgen, are not affected). But for all other non-kin relationships (below lover) it is possible. EG: two dwarves, who had been kindred spirits, will no longer acknowledge the existence of the other dwarf (with the beginning of a year), if there has been no (social) contact between the two dwarves in the past calendar year.

The same mechanic is used to remove caravan traders (and presumably other guests/visitors) from the relationships of the dwarf citizens.

For the seven starting dwarves, on the other hand, the non-kin relationships can only increase (at least if they do not have a grudge) and a long-term acquaintance can become a friend, good friend or kindred spirit (or even more) over time.

It is currently not clear, as to why non-kin relationships between the seven starting dwarves are handled differently in comparison to newly created non-kin relationships generated during fortress mode.

==Other familial relationships==
Dwarves can have '''Uncles''', '''Aunts''', '''Nieces''', '''Nephews''' and '''Cousins''' listed as relationships. They do not appear to take special interest in the wellbeing of such relations. Migrants with long lists of such "extended family" are typically well-connected historical personalities, but expansive relative lists of this type also commonly appear when children in a fort manage to grow up to adulthood, marry and have children of their own.
As historical personages of special importance, [[monarch]]s frequently immigrate with a large number of distant relatives listed.

==Types of friendships==

In world generation, characters make friendships due to worldgen events, and those friendships may carry over to fortress mode when some of them [[migrate]]. Those are:

* Childhood friendships
* Bonding over [[scholar]]ly interests
* Bonding over art at performances
* Friends from athletic competitions
* War buddies

==Types of grudges==

Like friendships, grudges can also happen during worldgen, and usually pave the way to more general corruption from [[villain]]s. These can spawn from:

* Business rivalries
* Sport competitions
* Abusive rulers
* Religious grievances...Sometimes very specific grudges can happen, such as a [[mummy]] forming one against a [[tomb]] thief.

==Relationship variables==

On top of the existing relationships, there are variables that govern the attitude between two characters. This usually comes up during corruption attempts by [[villain]]s in worldgen (e.g. intimidation is more successful if the target fears the villain already, and flattery works better if the target trusts them) and is especially relevant during interrogations in both fortress and adventure mode. Those variables are:

* Loyalty
* Trust/distrust
* Fear
* Love/hate
* Respect

''Note:'' It seems that in fortress mode usually, meaning normal informal social interactions (discounting tantrums etc., but including getting into arguments), only the love/hate variable (of fortress citizens) is modified.

==Night troll relationships==

After abducting someone, a [[night troll]] makes its victim into a '''prisoner''' and becomes an '''imprisoner'''; that relationship may be seen in legends mode, and (if using DFHack) in the thoughts and preferences screen. Then the prisoner and imprisoner become just ordinary spouses, if during worldgen, otherwise (at least in fortmode) the night troll can't convert the prisoner into a proper spouse caste, and so the prisoner is stuck forever.{{verify}}

==Growing relationships==
Over time, dwarves who spend time idling near each other will begin to form friendships and grudges. This happens through 'chats' and the 'socialize' activity.

Two dwarves who are standing on the same or adjacent tiles, may decide to chat if they are idle. Dwarves who are busy eating, drinking, or doing any job, will not chat with one another. This has the amusingly realistic effect that two dwarves who work side by side for years may barely know each other, or even not at all.

As two dwarves accumulate these chats, they will form opinions of each other, based on a 'compatibility' score. Dwarves who like similar things (such as [[elephant]]s), have the same skills (such as two miners), or who have similar personalities can form friendships (if their personality facets permit it). These begin as passing acquaintances, who will then become friends (if the two aren't too incompatible) or form grudges (if the dwarves are too incompatible). Currently, only vastly different [[personality|personalities]] (such as a confident, selfless dwarf vs. a nervous but arrogant one) cause this, as differences in likes or skills don't hurt a dwarf's opinion of another. Changes in a dwarf's skill set can thus cause their opinions of another dwarf to change, potentially removing old grudges. Dwarves who don't chat will lose acquaintances (and friends) over time.

Some personality facets (like love_propensity, emotionally_obsessive and gregariousness) seem to play a big role in how fast (or slow) friendships are formed and could also possibly mean that some dwarves will not ever consider anyone a kindred spirit (unless the dwarfs personality facets change through core memories), regardless of how long (and often) they chat with each other.

Dwarves who are compatible enough, and chat enough, can become lovers (if their personality facets permit it). In order to be eligible for this, a dwarf has to be an adult, not have a too-large age difference (which is currently max(10,min(age_1,age_2)/2), be orientation-compatible, and not be too closely related to their new friend. Lovers who continue to have enough opportunities to chat, and are willing to commit as per their [[orientation]] preferences will eventually get married (if their personality facets permit it).

[[Social skill]]s such as [[broker skills|conversationalist]], [[intimidator]], [[pacifier]], [[comedian]], [[negotiator]], [[flatterer]], [[consoler]], [[persuader]], or [[judge of intent]] play no roles in relationships.

It is possible for two dwarves to have different opinions about each other - for example, Urist can treat Bomrek as a long-term acquainted buddy, while Bomrek counts Urist as a barely recognised person.

===Mechanics===
# Relations are formed the first time a unit is idle or socializing next to another unit*
# When a relationship rank hits 15, a friendship or grudge is formed, depending on compatibility.
# When the rank is around 40, if the units are friends and are romantically inclined, they become lovers. A range of 31-42 has been observed, probably influenced by one or more personality traits.
# When the rank hits 50, and the units are lovers, they can get married.
# Talking to grudges can really spike a unit's stress level (700+ per day), depending on personality.
# Socializing units can increase rank with busy adjacent units if they don't move (tested with pumpstacks, libraries, and temples).

 * - It doesn't look like units begin socializing with same-tile or diagonally adjacent units. Only N,S,E,W adjacent units can start socialization, but, once started, socializing dwarves will include same-tile and diagonal neighbors.
{{Category|Relationships}}
[[ru:Relationship]]

Animal trainer

2026-03-01T11:32:15Z

Silverwing235: /* Hunting/War training */

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{av}}
{{v50_skill
| color = 2:0
| graphic = [[File:green_sprite_icon.png]]
| graphicmargin = 106px
| skill = Animal Trainer
| profession = [[Ranger]]
| job name = [[Animal training]]
| tasks =
* Train [[dog|war animal]]
* Train [[dog|hunting animal]]
* Train large animal
* Train small animal
| workshop = [[Vermin catcher's shop]]
| attributes =
* Agility
* Toughness
* Endurance
* Intuition
* Patience
* Empathy
}}

'''Animal trainer''' is the skill associated with the '''animal training''' [[labor]]. An animal trainer works with [[animal]]s, either taming wild ones or training certain tame species for war or hunting. They also tame certain kinds of captured live [[vermin]].

The Pets/Livestock tab of the citizen information menu ({{menu icon|u}}) has a list of all animals that belong to your fortress, and are tame, trained, or trainable. Each animal on the list can be assigned a trainer, who will then tame the animal or increase its training (if not already fully tame), or train it for war or hunting (if selected for that). Which animals are known and how well can be checked with the {{DFtext|Overall Training|7:2:1}} button in the lower right corner of this tab.

An [[Activity_zone#Animal_training|animal training zone]] or [[Activity_zone#Pen/Pasture|pasture]] is required for all training activities for animals. Taming vermin instead requires a [[vermin catcher's shop]].

== Taming wild animals ==
=== Capture ===
[[File:animal_train_comic.png|thumb|200px|right|The butchers have it worse, they gotta 'obtain' the dogs' leather. Art by p3ach_tea]]To tame a wild animal, you must capture them. Which animals can appear at your fortress varies by region, which depends on [[surroundings]] and [[biome]], and a fortress map can have multiple regions; populations are chosen randomly per region, so regions with the same surroundings and biome might not have the same fauna (or flora). This is also true in the [[cavern]]s, however caverns do not have surroundings or biomes, although different creatures (and plants) are restricted to certain levels.

Wild [[creature]]s can only be captured by [[cage trap]]s; as creatures can enter and exit the map from any direction, and as above-ground traffic is mostly unrestricted, the most reliable way to force wildlife into your cages is to build a lot of them. Another way is to build many walls to try to funnel them to choke points. The same is true of the [[caverns]], although since they are usually less expansive, capturing passing creatures is a little easier; on the other hand, you have to be much more worried about exposing your dwarves to the various subterranean nasties. Note that [[animal trap]]s are ''not'' used in this role, but are instead used by [[trapper]]s to capture live [[vermin]], and thus, surprisingly enough, trappers are not involved in the trapping of actual creatures. Additionally, {{token|TRAPAVOID|c}} creatures ignore cage traps, unless there is a web on the same tile, although creatures also ignore those.

Just because you have a creature stowed away in your animal [[stockpile]], does not mean that it can be tamed, as only creatures with the {{token|PET|c}} or {{token|PET_EXOTIC|c}} [[creature token]] can be. Most creatures have one of the two flags, but there are exceptions, notably some underground creatures. Sentient creatures (such as [[goblin]]s or [[animal people]]), and [[forgotten beast]]s and [[titan]]s are among the creatures that can never be tamed or trained. Captured [[siege|war]] [[mount]]s and any other [[name]]d enemies of your civilization can also be trained, but they will, regardless of training level, remain hostile to your civilization and will, if released from bondage, attack your units without mercy; even worse, these creatures [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=111357.0 may cause] a [[loyalty cascade]] if you order your [[military]] to deal with the situation.{{bug|6051}} To make use of captured creatures that you cannot or do not want to tame, see [[live training]] and [[mass pitting]].

=== Training ===
{| style="text-align:center; float:right; margin:8px;" class=wikitable
! '''Designation'''
! '''Description'''
|-
| Wild || Not Tame
|-
| Semi-wild || Semi-wild
|-
| Trained || Trained
|-
| -Trained- || Well-trained
|-
| +Trained+ || Skillfully trained
|-
| *Trained* ||Expertly trained
|-
| ≡Trained≡ || Exceptionally trained
|-
| ☼Trained☼ || Masterfully trained
|-
| Tame || Tame
|}

Once you have a captured, tamable creature trapped in a cage, you can start taming it. You will need an [[Zone#Animal Training|animal training zone]] and some [[plants]] or [[meat]] depending on whether the animal is herbivorous or carnivorous. To have your animal trainer begin taming a wild animal, use {{menu icon|u}} to open the citizen information screen and select the Pets/Livestock tab. Scroll through, or filter the list until your captured wild animal is selected and use the whistle icon to set a trainer to tame it (the cursor keys and {{k|Ctrl|t|sep=+}} also work).

The trainer will bring food to the cage and perform the initial training, setting the animal to one of the trained levels (see table at right). A fully wild animal must be trained from its cage, but once an animal has been initially trained and it is no longer wild, it may be safely released from its cage (and preferably assigned to an enclosed [[pasture]] or [[restraint]], to keep it contained in case problems arise later). When a caged animal is fed a plant, [[seed]]s will be left in the cage. This has no effect on taming, but if you later release the animal, you will need to [[Activity zone#Garbage Dump|dump]] the seeds from the cage before it can be reused.

A notable exception from "training levels" are animals which are a member of a species your civilization already has domesticated. Only a few of them can occur in the wild to be captured - e.g. [[water buffalo]] and [[turkey]]. Such creatures become fully tame upon the completion of taming, and after that they will never require or receive training again, even if assigned to a trainer.

Only wild animals can be trained in a cage. If you want your animal trainer to provide further training you must release the trained animal. Alternatively, with a difficult-to-train animal or a poor trainer, you may want to leave the animal in its cage. A caged animal will eventually revert to its wild state, at which point your trainer will perform the initial training again, safely giving your trainer experience and your civilization more knowledge about the animal. Note that {{token|GRAZER|c}}animals need a pasture to survive, and will die if left to linger in a cage for too long.

The overall difficulty and time required to tame an animal is roughly proportional to its [[List of creatures by pet value|pet value]]. As a general guideline, animals with pet values of less than 100 are easy to train, those with values of 100+ take some effort and a few years to train well, and creatures with pet values of 1000+ such as [[dragon]]s are very slow to train.

Adult trained animals will slowly revert to their wild origins over time, and must be regularly re-trained. Trained animals have a quality associated to their training that affects how long they will retain composure before reverting to the wild, but which may have other effects as well. The last state an animal reaches before it becomes fully wild is semi-wild, which prompts an [[announcement]]. Dwarves will instinctively know when their assigned animals need retraining, and will prioritize doing so, but will obviously not be able to if they are [[wound|injured]], experiencing a [[strange mood]], or are otherwise unable to reach their trainees. If you assign a single dwarf to an animal (Any available trainer is also an option) only that dwarf will ever attempt to train or retrain the creature, so care must be taken to keep that trainers healthy and available.

Animals acquired from [[merchants]] will be fully tame and will never revert to a wild state. This is also true when you seize the animals, or kill all the merchants. These animals will be in cages, so you will have to release them in some way; this is very important if they are grazers as they will starve due to the lack of grass in the cage. To do this you can either assign them to a pasture, or build the cage, link lever to it, and have the lever pulled. Killing all the merchants will '''not''' make the pack animals a part of your civilization, instead they will become "friendly" and wander around the map.

=== Animal knowledge ===
When training animals that your [[civilization]] has not domesticated, successful training will result in some knowledge being transferred to your civilization every time the dwarven [[caravan]] returns to the mountainhomes. Although a number of farm animals are domesticated by your civilization from the beginning of the game, your fortress cannot individually "civilization-level" domesticate a species.{{cite forum|169696/7990286}}{{cite forum|169696/8134419}}

Every tame animal job increases overall fort training points for that animal by 10, and the fort training knowledge levels are attained at 30, 100, 250 and 500 (it zeroes points when it increases level). War and hunting jobs are also worth 10 points, but a maintenance job is only worth 3. If your fort level is higher than the civ level for a given animal, 10 points of knowledge are transferred with each caravan that gets off the map (so it'd take 88 years worth of caravans to bring the civ all the way up to "expert", but just 3 years to get every subsequent fort to start at "few facts").

The fort level of knowledge has a strong effect on in-fort training. When attempting to train an animal, a skill roll will be matched against a threshold that depends on animal knowledge. For instance, if you know nothing about the animal, the animal training roll must be 30 to get past semi-wild and 100 to be masterfully trained (with 40/50/65/80 for the others). As you gain knowledge, the thresholds become lower and easier to attain:
{|class="wikitable" style="width:80%; align:center"
! Announcement
! Fortress training knowledge level
! Creature training level thresholds
|-
| {{Gametext|The dwarves of (civ) now know a few facts about (animal) training.|cyan}}
| {{DFtext|A few facts|red}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 20/30/40/60/70/90
|-
| {{Gametext|The dwarves of (civ) have attained a general familiarity with (animal) training methods.|cyan}}
| {{DFtext|General familiarity|yellow}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 15/20/30/50/60/80
|-
| {{Gametext|The dwarves of (civ) are now quite knowledgeable (animal) trainers.|cyan}}
| {{DFtext|Knowledgeable|white}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 10/15/25/40/50/70
|-
| {{Gametext|The dwarves of (civ) are now expert (animal) trainers.|cyan}}
| {{DFtext|Expert|cyan}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 5/10/20/30/40/60
|-
| {{center|(no announcement since this cannot happen in a player fortress)}}
|{{DFtext|Domesticated|lime}}
|}
The calculations for skill rolls are complicated, but by these numbers, your trainers are almost twice as good at expert-level fort knowledge, if they weren't already great trainers in their own right (in which case they'll probably crack 100 most times without help).

=== Taming children ===
Animals who can be tamed and possess a child state (allowed by the {{token|CHILD}} token) can produce a fully tamed population. Note that animals cannot get pregnant in cages (in fact, this is one of the ''few'' times they can't), so you'll have to move past the initial training stage to have them.

Animals born from a partially-trained mother will not revert to a wild state while they are still children: for example, if a wild female [[wolf]] is captured and trained up to the +T+ level, and gives birth, the pups may forget this "inherited" training, but will never go lower than Semi-Wild while they're still pups. They will revert to a wild state when they become adult wolves, though going back to a fully wild state will still take some time after they've reached adulthood. The training level of the father does not count for anything when it comes to the child.

Animal children always become fully tame upon receiving training ''once''. This not only allows making children of trained mothers fully tame, it also allows instant taming of caught animal children or of children born in captivity to fully wild mothers. Only children can be permanently tamed, and once the young animal grows up the opportunity for this will no longer be available.[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=121150.0 1] Once an animal child becomes fully tame, it will never require training again, nor will it receive any even if assigned to a trainer - this means taming children gives you a fully tame population at the cost of removing a source of experience from your trainers.

Animals fully tamed as a child behave as adults similar to animals (of the same species) who are bonded with a trainer.

Animals in ''Dwarf Fortress'' give birth in one of two ways, either with live birth, or by laying and incubating [[egg]]s. Child-bearing animals that give birth to their young is easy: with an adjacent male of the species, children may be conceived, inheriting their mother's pasture status in the process. Egg-layers are more complicated: The female must be adjacent to a male for fertilization, there must be an open constructed [[nest box]] for the female to occupy and lay a clutch of eggs in, and they and the mother must remain undisturbed during the process as the mother must incubate her eggs; even training is inadmissible. Thus the eggs must be [[forbid]]den and the mother should have her trainer de-assigned during the duration of her stay; they also will ''not'' inherit their mother's pasture status.[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=121150.0 1] The resultant children will have the taming status of their mother when they were ''laid'', not hatched.

Creatures missing the {{token|CHILD}} token are considered adults at birth, thus they can never be rendered fully tame and will require re-training for the rest of their lives {{bug|7983}}. Examples of such creatures include [[crundle]]s, [[giant cave spider]]s and [[hydra]]s. Previously [[dragon]]s could not be tamed, however with the release of the steam version, they were given the {{token|CHILD}} token and are now considered adults at age 10, thus allowing [[dragon]]s to be fully tamed by a fortress.

==Animal AI==
If a tamed animal is "stray", that is, it's not a pet, it will (usually), if not assigned to a pen/pasture, wander around your fortress randomly, spending most of its time in meeting areas, and attacking any hostiles that it comes across or wild animals that are attacking citizens. Animals with the {{token|LARGE_PREDATOR}} token are somewhat more aggressive than animals lacking this token, and are more likely to attack hostiles, while animals with a {{token|BENIGN}} token will simply run away from any hostiles, which makes them useless for [[Attack|dwarven]] defense, but they can be used as arrow fodder to keep the enemy entertained while you're bunkering in. Grazing animals should be assigned to a [[pasture]] because they will otherwise starve to death.

An animal which did either bond with a trainer or was tamed (after birth) by a trainer, or was hunting/war trained (but is not yet assigned to a dwarf as a work animal), will usually have its following link set to the corresponding trainer (eg. the dwarf who bonded with the animal or tamed the animal or war/hunting trained the animal) and thus comes to the trainer, if the trainer approaches the pen/pasture the animal is assigned to, follow the trainer around (if not assigned to a pen/pasture) and might even follow the trainer from an assigned pen/pasture (after the trainer leaves the pasture). But animals with the {{token|VERMINHUNTER}} token (read: peregrine falcons), who are domesticated after birth, will not necessarily display that behaviour (ie. if the following link is retained seems to be random). Bonded animals - even with the vermin hunter token - will still follow their trainer.

A pet or work animal, if not assigned to a pasture, will alternate between following its owner and visiting [[meeting area]]s. Should their owner die, the animal may instead be seen alternating between meeting areas and visiting the site of their death (even if their body is no longer there).

Additionally adult females with the egg-laying token will (usually) once a season claim an unclaimed (but accessible) nest box and try to reach the nest box, even leaving a pen/pasture (if the nest box is somewhere else) or even break free from a hauler, while being led somewhere else, in order to reach the nest box. (Female egg-layers which are released from a cage and are led to being slaughtered will only claim an unclaimed, but accessible, nestbox but will not break free from a handler).

==Hunting/War training==
Some tamed animals can receive additional training for hunting or for war, for which you need a [[Zone#Animal_Training|training zone]] and a dwarf with the animal training labor enabled, but animals in a pasture can be trained for hunting/war without any animal training zone overlapping the zone. Then you can go to your Pets/Livestock list and find your trainable animal. Trainable animals are those where you see either war training or hunting training icons in the middle column. If you wish you can also select a particular trainer to perform this task with the first icon in the column.

Some domesticated animal juveniles, such as puppies, are unable to be trained until they reach adulthood, at which point they only need hunting/war training once in their training zone (or assigned pasture).

War and hunting trained animals can be assigned to a character, either via the pet/livestock tab of the unit list or via the work animals sub-tab of the character sheet. If the pet/livestock tab (of the unit list) is used, then children and babies appear in the list of possible characters the animal can be assigned to. But work animals currently assigned to a dwarf cannot be unassigned via the pet/livestock tab of the unit list, still unassigning (or re-assigning) of work animals is possible via the work animals sub-tab (of the labors tab) of the character sheet. (Note that work animals assigned to children or babies need first to be assigned to another character before the animal can be unassigned, as the work animal sub tabs of children and babies - incorrectly - claims that work animals cannot be assigned to the character).

A work animal which is not a pet, receives a name the first time the animal is assigned as a work animal to a character.

===Train a hunting animal===
''This Animal hunts at will.''

This requires a [[Cage|uncaged]] trainable animal with {{token|TRAINABLE|c}} or {{token|TRAINABLE_HUNTING|c}}, an animal training activity zone, and an animal trainer. Note that an animal that is in a pasture does not need an additional overlapping animal training zone to receive hunting training. Hunting animals can be assigned to follow a hunter and assist in the hunting process (see above for assignment and unassignment of hunting animals). They are intrinsically faster and more agile than a regular animal, and can [[ambusher|sneak]] alongside their partner, but are not as strong as a war animal.

=== Train a war animal ===
''This Animal is waiting for conflict.''

This requires a [[Cage|uncaged]] trainable animal with {{token|TRAINABLE|c}} or {{token|TRAINABLE_WAR|c}}, an animal training activity zone, and an animal trainer. [[Pasture|Pastured]] animals do not need an additional animal training zone overlapping the pasture. War animals are significantly stronger than their untrained counterparts; war dogs make excellent companions when starting a fortress, when you can't spare many dwarves for fighting.

Like hunting animals, they can be assigned (unassigned and re-assigned) to individual dwarves the same way; combined with their strength, this makes them effective expendable bodyguards for any dwarf likely to see danger or who you feel is valuable enough to be worth protecting. Even if they fail to defeat an attacker, they can often buy their charge time to escape, or for additional reinforcements to arrive.

== Bonding ==
As animal trainers work with an animal, they may become [[Relationships|bonded]] to it ("formed a bond with an animal training partner"), and this relationship is visible in the dwarf's relationships screen. This happens even if the dwarf is not specifically assigned to the animal and appears to disregard training quality. The death of a bonded animal results in a bad thought for the trainer ("has lost an animal training partner to tragedy"), whose exact severity is unknown but fairly significant. It is unknown whether working with a bonded animal gives a happy thought similar to the one gained from talking to a friend.

An animal trainer with a preference for the animal may adopt and name the animal at the time of training, even if the animal is not designated for adoption. This leaves the trainer highly susceptible to the bad "pet death" thought, renders the animal inedible, and eventually requires an extra coffin. It may be advisable to disable animal training on any trainer with such a preference, especially for war training.

Bonded animals can be traded. In that case the bonded animals will currently live happily ever after, as the game does not let them die (neither when they reach their max age nor when they reach the max possible age for that species). So it is currently an open question as to whether the death of an off-site bonded animal would cause a bad thought for the on-site bonded trainer.

== Trainable war/hunting animals ==
The following creatures can be trained into war or hunting animals once they are tamed. Bigger animals ''tend'' to be stronger in combat. For comparison, an average adult dwarf is size 60,000.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Animal
! Size (cm³)
! Pet value
! Notes
|-
|[[Bobcat]]
|8,000
|75
|Too small ≈
|-
|[[Mandrill]]
|20,000
|50
|^
|-
|[[Lynx]]
|25,000
|75
|^ ≈
|-
|[[Ocelot]]
|25,000
|100
|^ ≈
|-
|[[Dog]]
|30,000
|30
|^ ♪
|-
|[[Cheetah]]
|50,000
|200
|^ ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Leopard]]
|50,000
|100
|^ ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Jaguar]]
|75,000
|100
|† ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Gorilla]]
|150,000
|500
|† ≈
|-
|[[Giant bat]]
|200,000
|750
|♪ Hunting only
|-
|[[Giant cave swallow]]
|200,000
|700
|♪ Hunting only
|-
|[[Grizzly bear]]
|200,000
|500
|† ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Lion]]
|200,000
|200
|† ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Tiger]]
|225,000
|200
|† ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Giant bobcat]]
|256,320
|500
|☼ ≈
|-
|[[Giant mandrill]]
|341,800
|500
|☼
|-
|[[Giant lynx]]
|377,750
|500
|☼ ≈
|-
|[[Giant ocelot]]
|377,750
|500
|☼ ≈
|-
|[[Polar bear]]
|400,000
|500
|☼ ≈
|-
|[[Giant cheetah]]
|560,000
|200
|☼ ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Giant leopard]]
|560,000
|100
|☼ ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Giant jaguar]]
|750,000
|100
|☼ ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Gigantic panda]]
|1,160,900
|1,000
|☼ ‼ ≈
|-
|[[Giant grizzly bear]]
|1,700,000
|500
|☼ ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Giant lion]]
|1,700,000
|200
|☼ ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Giant tiger]]
|1,900,000
|200
|☼ ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Rhinoceros]]
|3,000,000
|500
|☼ ♪ ‼ ≈ War only
|-
|[[Giant polar bear]]
|3,268,000
|500
|☼ ≈
|-
|[[Jabberer]]
|4,500,000
|1,500
|☼
|-
|[[Elephant]]
|5,000,000
|500
|☼ ‼ ≈
|-
|[[Cave dragon]]
|15,000,000
|10,000
|☼ ○
|-
|[[Roc]]
|20,000,000
|10,000
|☼ ♪ [[Megabeast]]
|-
|[[Giant rhinoceros]]
|24,000,000
|500
|☼ ♪ ‼ ≈ War only
|-
|[[Dragon]]
|25,000,000
|10,000
|☼ [[Megabeast]]
|-
|[[Giant elephant]]
|40,000,000
|500
|☼ ‼ ≈
|}

: ☼ — ''Recommended choice for armies due to their great size.''
: † — ''Recommended choice for bodyguards, stalls most creatures enough to give dwarves time to escape safely.''
: ^ — ''Recommended choice for fort patrols and supporting dwarves in small skirmishes. Effective in very large numbers.''
: ♪ — ''Recommended hunting companions for their speed and mobility. Smaller animals also sneak more successfully.''
: ‼ — ''Poor choice for training due to their voracious appetites for [[grass]].''
: ≈ — <s>''Possesses the {{token|MEANDERER}} token, which severely slows their movement speed. Will likely fall behind any moving squad and miss offensive combat situations due to it.''</s> As of version 52.05 meandering behavior stops for animals that are trained for war or hunting.
: ○ — ''Offspring are born adults and cannot be fully tamed. They also grow extremely slowly.''
: [[Megabeast]]s — ''While extremely powerful, megabeasts are currently hostile to all military dwarves, regardless of training level.''{{Verify}} {{bug|10731}}

Remember to keep a breeding pair out of harm's way if you want more of a particular animal, in case the ones in service die.

==Training water creatures==
With a great deal of effort and some clever engineering, it is possible to capture, train, and butcher water creatures.[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=75780.0 2] Water creatures can survive indefinitely in [[cage]]s, but will drown at water levels below 4/7 while dwarves will cancel tasks at water levels at or above 4/7, making training extremely tricky. This basic problem can be solved with one of the more interesting bugs in the game: [[ghost]] trainers.[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=127659 3] It is currently unknown what bug causes this, but some animal trainers that are killed and never [[burial|buried]] or [[memorial]]ized will continue to perform their job from the grave. This removes the fundamental problem of water depth incompatibility and makes the task much easier. An easier solution, however, would be [[vampire]] animal trainers: they are unbreathing and will path through such water normally, so long as there is no flow. Taming water creatures in vanilla is fairly useless, however, as without [[modding]] they never have children, nor can they receive war (or hunting, however that would work) training.

==Training hostile creatures==
Training hostile creatures like enemy [[mount]]s does not cancel their hostility. While the job is completed and the animal trainer gains experience, the trained creature remains hostile to your civilization and will attack your dwarves. A creature will also be hostile if it becomes an enemy of your civilization, for instance if it killed one of your dwarves before. The rule of thumb is: if it has a [[name]], it's hostile, don't release it from its cage. Though, if you know how it got the name, wild animals that get names from killing other named entities like forgotten beasts, invaders, uninvited guests, etc. will still be friendly after training.

However, it does seem that the offspring of hostile creatures belong to your civilization, because trained mounts <s>amusingly</s> disturbingly attack and subsequently kill their offspring at birth. If you are careful and [[stupid dwarf trick|ingenious]] enough, you can separate the parents and children at birth.

Note that hostile egg-layers, such as [[cave crocodile]]s, might not use [[nest box]]es and therefore generate no offspring.

==Handling dangerous creatures==
Only dwarves with the animal trainer labor active will move non-trained (wild or hostile) captive creatures to a chain or to another cage. This restriction only applies to non-trained creatures and only to the "chain large creature" and "cage large creature" jobs. Throwing such a creature into a pit or pond can be done by anybody, and the chaining and caging of trained creatures is similarly unrestricted.

==Taming vermin==
First, a [[trapper]] needs to catch vermin in an animal trap. A few types of vermin can escape from wooden traps, such as the [[hamster]], so it might be a good idea to use only metal traps. An animal trainer will tame a vermin at a vermin catcher's shop. Unlike animals, vermin do not have training levels - they are either tame or not tame. Taming vermin does not pass civilization-wide experience with that vermin to the parent civilization, like taming animals does. Taming requires a food item. Vermin cannot be trained for war or hunting.

There isn't much purpose to taming vermin. It allows vermin to be adopted as pets, but few dwarves have a preference for vermin, so they will rarely be adopted. Vermin don't breed like animals do, so there is no need to have a tame pair to produce offspring. [[Animal dissector]]s can't make [[extract]]s from tame vermin, though there isn't much reason to make extracts either. Tame vermin have little value so they aren't of much use for export either. Taming vermin does give experience to animal trainers, so they can improve their skill in a fort with few animals, especially since vermin are inexhaustible.

==Taming intelligent creatures==
If you mod the game to have trainable intelligent creatures (or if you find a [[gremlin]]) they may be captured in cage traps and tamed. However, several things differ from when training other creatures, as training sapients display a number of strange behaviors.

First off, the game will consider any tamed (or semi-wild) sentient an inhabitant of your fortress (or at least partially so). This will increase your population count, which likely has the same effects as when the count is increased by [[immigration|immigrants]] arriving or [[children|babies]] being born. The trained creature will be considered a peasant in the z-screen. Despite this, the trained creature cannot work, as it is impossible to set any labor preferences. Neither can they be enlisted to the militia or have any pets. Once trained, they will be subject to hunger, thirst and drowsiness, and as such will require food, drink and sleep to survive. The creature will pick up and wear [[clothes]], but only if they are the right [[size]].

It is impossible to view their general stats screen, trying to do so will only bring you to a simple description of the creature as with any other non-inhabitant of your fort. It might not be possible to view the creature's thoughts, but they still exist, proven by the fact that the trained creature can become [[insane]]. Having the creatures socialize with your dwarves, and each other, as well as [[Keeping_your_dwarves_unstressed|all the other countermeasures to prevent insanity]] seems to prevent this though. As caged creatures cannot do any of these actions, keeping trained creatures in [[cage]]s for elongated periods of time is advised against.

It is normally impossible to give the trained creature a nickname, causing individuals of the same species to be difficult to tell apart, but if you train them for hunting or war and then assign them to one of your dwarves, they will obtain a [[name]]. The further implications of doing so are not known as of yet. Trained sapients may be assigned for butchering (which is otherwise impossible), but their returns are completely unusable and will just be taken to the nearest [[refuse]] [[stockpile]] to rot away.

Because they tend to go wherever they please, a trained intelligent creature will rarely be at a training zone out of their own volition, making re-training them difficult. Depending on how well they're trained, it brings the risk of them going wild again, potentially leading to their escape or for them to attack your dwarves due to becoming hostile. The animal trainer assigned to train these creatures may also be stuck at the training zone waiting for the creature's arrival, potentially leading to hunger and thirst. Making use of [[burrow]]s to force the creature into the training zone is an option, as the training itself will be done as long as the creature and the trainer are within the zone for a few moments.

A trained intelligent creature will only become fully controllable if it applies for [[citizenship]] in your fortress, in which case they'll be able to perform labors and their stats screen will give you full descriptions of their person and personalities. Whether trained sapients apply for citizenship in the same manner as [[visitor]]s do (2 years after becoming part of the fortress) and if they still require training after applying for citizenship requires verification.

==Bugs==
* Capturing and training [[siege|war]] [[mount]]s [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=111357.0 may cause] a [[loyalty cascade]] if your [[military]] has to put them down.{{bug|6051}}
* Trained [[flying|fliers]] may swap positions with dwarves, leaving the dwarves stranded in an inaccessible area.{{bug|3371}}
* Taming herbivores leaves [[seed]]s in [[cage]]s, which must be manually removed.{{bug|201}}
* Creatures lacking the {{token|CHILD}} tag are impossible to tame. {{bug|7983}} You can work around this by adding {{token|CHILD|c|X}} to the raws for that animal. Replace X with years creature is a child.
* [[Megabeast]]s and active [[squad]]s attack each other on sight, regardless of the former's training level, making [[dragon]]s, [[hydra]]s and [[roc]]s unusable without excessive micromanaging.{{Verify}} {{bug|10731}}

{{skills}}

Animal trainer

2026-02-28T00:37:41Z

Silverwing235:

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{av}}
{{v50_skill
| color = 2:0
| graphic = [[File:green_sprite_icon.png]]
| graphicmargin = 106px
| skill = Animal Trainer
| profession = [[Ranger]]
| job name = [[Animal training]]
| tasks =
* Train [[dog|war animal]]
* Train [[dog|hunting animal]]
* Train large animal
* Train small animal
| workshop = [[Vermin catcher's shop]]
| attributes =
* Agility
* Toughness
* Endurance
* Intuition
* Patience
* Empathy
}}

'''Animal trainer''' is the skill associated with the '''animal training''' [[labor]]. An animal trainer works with [[animal]]s, either taming wild ones or training certain tame species for war or hunting. They also tame certain kinds of captured live [[vermin]].

The Pets/Livestock tab of the citizen information menu ({{menu icon|u}}) has a list of all animals that belong to your fortress, and are tame, trained, or trainable. Each animal on the list can be assigned a trainer, who will then tame the animal or increase its training (if not already fully tame), or train it for war or hunting (if selected for that). Which animals are known and how well can be checked with the {{DFtext|Overall Training|7:2:1}} button in the lower right corner of this tab.

An [[Activity_zone#Animal_training|animal training zone]] or [[Activity_zone#Pen/Pasture|pasture]] is required for all training activities for animals. Taming vermin instead requires a [[vermin catcher's shop]].

== Taming wild animals ==
=== Capture ===
[[File:animal_train_comic.png|thumb|200px|right|The butchers have it worse, they gotta 'obtain' the dogs' leather. Art by p3ach_tea]]To tame a wild animal, you must capture them. Which animals can appear at your fortress varies by region, which depends on [[surroundings]] and [[biome]], and a fortress map can have multiple regions; populations are chosen randomly per region, so regions with the same surroundings and biome might not have the same fauna (or flora). This is also true in the [[cavern]]s, however caverns do not have surroundings or biomes, although different creatures (and plants) are restricted to certain levels.

Wild [[creature]]s can only be captured by [[cage trap]]s; as creatures can enter and exit the map from any direction, and as above-ground traffic is mostly unrestricted, the most reliable way to force wildlife into your cages is to build a lot of them. Another way is to build many walls to try to funnel them to choke points. The same is true of the [[caverns]], although since they are usually less expansive, capturing passing creatures is a little easier; on the other hand, you have to be much more worried about exposing your dwarves to the various subterranean nasties. Note that [[animal trap]]s are ''not'' used in this role, but are instead used by [[trapper]]s to capture live [[vermin]], and thus, surprisingly enough, trappers are not involved in the trapping of actual creatures. Additionally, {{token|TRAPAVOID|c}} creatures ignore cage traps, unless there is a web on the same tile, although creatures also ignore those.

Just because you have a creature stowed away in your animal [[stockpile]], does not mean that it can be tamed, as only creatures with the {{token|PET|c}} or {{token|PET_EXOTIC|c}} [[creature token]] can be. Most creatures have one of the two flags, but there are exceptions, notably some underground creatures. Sentient creatures (such as [[goblin]]s or [[animal people]]), and [[forgotten beast]]s and [[titan]]s are among the creatures that can never be tamed or trained. Captured [[siege|war]] [[mount]]s and any other [[name]]d enemies of your civilization can also be trained, but they will, regardless of training level, remain hostile to your civilization and will, if released from bondage, attack your units without mercy; even worse, these creatures [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=111357.0 may cause] a [[loyalty cascade]] if you order your [[military]] to deal with the situation.{{bug|6051}} To make use of captured creatures that you cannot or do not want to tame, see [[live training]] and [[mass pitting]].

=== Training ===
{| style="text-align:center; float:right; margin:8px;" class=wikitable
! '''Designation'''
! '''Description'''
|-
| Wild || Not Tame
|-
| Semi-wild || Semi-wild
|-
| Trained || Trained
|-
| -Trained- || Well-trained
|-
| +Trained+ || Skillfully trained
|-
| *Trained* ||Expertly trained
|-
| ≡Trained≡ || Exceptionally trained
|-
| ☼Trained☼ || Masterfully trained
|-
| Tame || Tame
|}

Once you have a captured, tamable creature trapped in a cage, you can start taming it. You will need an [[Zone#Animal Training|animal training zone]] and some [[plants]] or [[meat]] depending on whether the animal is herbivorous or carnivorous. To have your animal trainer begin taming a wild animal, use {{menu icon|u}} to open the citizen information screen and select the Pets/Livestock tab. Scroll through, or filter the list until your captured wild animal is selected and use the whistle icon to set a trainer to tame it (the cursor keys and {{k|Ctrl|t|sep=+}} also work).

The trainer will bring food to the cage and perform the initial training, setting the animal to one of the trained levels (see table at right). A fully wild animal must be trained from its cage, but once an animal has been initially trained and it is no longer wild, it may be safely released from its cage (and preferably assigned to an enclosed [[pasture]] or [[restraint]], to keep it contained in case problems arise later). When a caged animal is fed a plant, [[seed]]s will be left in the cage. This has no effect on taming, but if you later release the animal, you will need to [[Activity zone#Garbage Dump|dump]] the seeds from the cage before it can be reused.

A notable exception from "training levels" are animals which are a member of a species your civilization already has domesticated. Only a few of them can occur in the wild to be captured - e.g. [[water buffalo]] and [[turkey]]. Such creatures become fully tame upon the completion of taming, and after that they will never require or receive training again, even if assigned to a trainer.

Only wild animals can be trained in a cage. If you want your animal trainer to provide further training you must release the trained animal. Alternatively, with a difficult-to-train animal or a poor trainer, you may want to leave the animal in its cage. A caged animal will eventually revert to its wild state, at which point your trainer will perform the initial training again, safely giving your trainer experience and your civilization more knowledge about the animal. Note that {{token|GRAZER|c}}animals need a pasture to survive, and will die if left to linger in a cage for too long.

The overall difficulty and time required to tame an animal is roughly proportional to its [[List of creatures by pet value|pet value]]. As a general guideline, animals with pet values of less than 100 are easy to train, those with values of 100+ take some effort and a few years to train well, and creatures with pet values of 1000+ such as [[dragon]]s are very slow to train.

Adult trained animals will slowly revert to their wild origins over time, and must be regularly re-trained. Trained animals have a quality associated to their training that affects how long they will retain composure before reverting to the wild, but which may have other effects as well. The last state an animal reaches before it becomes fully wild is semi-wild, which prompts an [[announcement]]. Dwarves will instinctively know when their assigned animals need retraining, and will prioritize doing so, but will obviously not be able to if they are [[wound|injured]], experiencing a [[strange mood]], or are otherwise unable to reach their trainees. If you assign a single dwarf to an animal (Any available trainer is also an option) only that dwarf will ever attempt to train or retrain the creature, so care must be taken to keep that trainers healthy and available.

Animals acquired from [[merchants]] will be fully tame and will never revert to a wild state. This is also true when you seize the animals, or kill all the merchants. These animals will be in cages, so you will have to release them in some way; this is very important if they are grazers as they will starve due to the lack of grass in the cage. To do this you can either assign them to a pasture, or build the cage, link lever to it, and have the lever pulled. Killing all the merchants will '''not''' make the pack animals a part of your civilization, instead they will become "friendly" and wander around the map.

=== Animal knowledge ===
When training animals that your [[civilization]] has not domesticated, successful training will result in some knowledge being transferred to your civilization every time the dwarven [[caravan]] returns to the mountainhomes. Although a number of farm animals are domesticated by your civilization from the beginning of the game, your fortress cannot individually "civilization-level" domesticate a species.{{cite forum|169696/7990286}}{{cite forum|169696/8134419}}

Every tame animal job increases overall fort training points for that animal by 10, and the fort training knowledge levels are attained at 30, 100, 250 and 500 (it zeroes points when it increases level). War and hunting jobs are also worth 10 points, but a maintenance job is only worth 3. If your fort level is higher than the civ level for a given animal, 10 points of knowledge are transferred with each caravan that gets off the map (so it'd take 88 years worth of caravans to bring the civ all the way up to "expert", but just 3 years to get every subsequent fort to start at "few facts").

The fort level of knowledge has a strong effect on in-fort training. When attempting to train an animal, a skill roll will be matched against a threshold that depends on animal knowledge. For instance, if you know nothing about the animal, the animal training roll must be 30 to get past semi-wild and 100 to be masterfully trained (with 40/50/65/80 for the others). As you gain knowledge, the thresholds become lower and easier to attain:
{|class="wikitable" style="width:80%; align:center"
! Announcement
! Fortress training knowledge level
! Creature training level thresholds
|-
| {{Gametext|The dwarves of (civ) now know a few facts about (animal) training.|cyan}}
| {{DFtext|A few facts|red}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 20/30/40/60/70/90
|-
| {{Gametext|The dwarves of (civ) have attained a general familiarity with (animal) training methods.|cyan}}
| {{DFtext|General familiarity|yellow}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 15/20/30/50/60/80
|-
| {{Gametext|The dwarves of (civ) are now quite knowledgeable (animal) trainers.|cyan}}
| {{DFtext|Knowledgeable|white}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 10/15/25/40/50/70
|-
| {{Gametext|The dwarves of (civ) are now expert (animal) trainers.|cyan}}
| {{DFtext|Expert|cyan}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 5/10/20/30/40/60
|-
| {{center|(no announcement since this cannot happen in a player fortress)}}
|{{DFtext|Domesticated|lime}}
|}
The calculations for skill rolls are complicated, but by these numbers, your trainers are almost twice as good at expert-level fort knowledge, if they weren't already great trainers in their own right (in which case they'll probably crack 100 most times without help).

=== Taming children ===
Animals who can be tamed and possess a child state (allowed by the {{token|CHILD}} token) can produce a fully tamed population. Note that animals cannot get pregnant in cages (in fact, this is one of the ''few'' times they can't), so you'll have to move past the initial training stage to have them.

Animals born from a partially-trained mother will not revert to a wild state while they are still children: for example, if a wild female [[wolf]] is captured and trained up to the +T+ level, and gives birth, the pups may forget this "inherited" training, but will never go lower than Semi-Wild while they're still pups. They will revert to a wild state when they become adult wolves, though going back to a fully wild state will still take some time after they've reached adulthood. The training level of the father does not count for anything when it comes to the child.

Animal children always become fully tame upon receiving training ''once''. This not only allows making children of trained mothers fully tame, it also allows instant taming of caught animal children or of children born in captivity to fully wild mothers. Only children can be permanently tamed, and once the young animal grows up the opportunity for this will no longer be available.[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=121150.0 1] Once an animal child becomes fully tame, it will never require training again, nor will it receive any even if assigned to a trainer - this means taming children gives you a fully tame population at the cost of removing a source of experience from your trainers.

Animals fully tamed as a child behave as adults similar to animals (of the same species) who are bonded with a trainer.

Animals in ''Dwarf Fortress'' give birth in one of two ways, either with live birth, or by laying and incubating [[egg]]s. Child-bearing animals that give birth to their young is easy: with an adjacent male of the species, children may be conceived, inheriting their mother's pasture status in the process. Egg-layers are more complicated: The female must be adjacent to a male for fertilization, there must be an open constructed [[nest box]] for the female to occupy and lay a clutch of eggs in, and they and the mother must remain undisturbed during the process as the mother must incubate her eggs; even training is inadmissible. Thus the eggs must be [[forbid]]den and the mother should have her trainer de-assigned during the duration of her stay; they also will ''not'' inherit their mother's pasture status.[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=121150.0 1] The resultant children will have the taming status of their mother when they were ''laid'', not hatched.

Creatures missing the {{token|CHILD}} token are considered adults at birth, thus they can never be rendered fully tame and will require re-training for the rest of their lives {{bug|7983}}. Examples of such creatures include [[crundle]]s, [[giant cave spider]]s and [[hydra]]s. Previously [[dragon]]s could not be tamed, however with the release of the steam version, they were given the {{token|CHILD}} token and are now considered adults at age 10, thus allowing [[dragon]]s to be fully tamed by a fortress.

==Animal AI==
If a tamed animal is "stray", that is, it's not a pet, it will (usually), if not assigned to a pen/pasture, wander around your fortress randomly, spending most of its time in meeting areas, and attacking any hostiles that it comes across or wild animals that are attacking citizens. Animals with the {{token|LARGE_PREDATOR}} token are somewhat more aggressive than animals lacking this token, and are more likely to attack hostiles, while animals with a {{token|BENIGN}} token will simply run away from any hostiles, which makes them useless for [[Attack|dwarven]] defense, but they can be used as arrow fodder to keep the enemy entertained while you're bunkering in. Grazing animals should be assigned to a [[pasture]] because they will otherwise starve to death.

An animal which did either bond with a trainer or was tamed (after birth) by a trainer, or was hunting/war trained (but is not yet assigned to a dwarf as a work animal), will usually have its following link set to the corresponding trainer (eg. the dwarf who bonded with the animal or tamed the animal or war/hunting trained the animal) and thus comes to the trainer, if the trainer approaches the pen/pasture the animal is assigned to, follow the trainer around (if not assigned to a pen/pasture) and might even follow the trainer from an assigned pen/pasture (after the trainer leaves the pasture). But animals with the {{token|VERMINHUNTER}} token (read: peregrine falcons), who are domesticated after birth, will not necessarily display that behaviour (ie. if the following link is retained seems to be random). Bonded animals - even with the vermin hunter token - will still follow their trainer.

A pet or work animal, if not assigned to a pasture, will alternate between following its owner and visiting [[meeting area]]s. Should their owner die, the animal may instead be seen alternating between meeting areas and visiting the site of their death (even if their body is no longer there).

Additionally adult females with the egg-laying token will (usually) once a season claim an unclaimed (but accessible) nest box and try to reach the nest box, even leaving a pen/pasture (if the nest box is somewhere else) or even break free from a hauler, while being led somewhere else, in order to reach the nest box. (Female egg-layers which are released from a cage and are led to being slaughtered will only claim an unclaimed, but accessible, nestbox but will not break free from a handler).

==Hunting/War training==
Some tamed animals can receive additional training for hunting or for war, for which you need a [[Zone#Animal_Training|training zone]] and a dwarf with the animal training labor enabled. Then you can go to your Pets/Livestock list and find your trainable animal. Trainable animals are those where you see either war training or hunting training icons in the middle column. If you wish you can also select a particular trainer to perform this task with the first icon in the column.

Some domesticated animal juveniles, such as puppies, are unable to be trained until they reach adulthood, at which point they only need hunting/war training once in their training zone.

===Train a hunting animal===
''This Animal hunts at will.''

This requires an [[Cage|uncaged]] trainable animal with {{token|TRAINABLE|c}} or {{token|TRAINABLE_HUNTING|c}}, an animal training activity zone, and an animal trainer. Note that an animal that is in a pasture can only be trained if the zone is also in the same [[pasture]]. Hunting animals can be assigned to follow a hunter and assist in the hunting process; once assigned they cannot be unassigned. They are intrinsically faster and more agile than a regular animal, and can [[ambusher|sneak]] alongside their partner, but are not as strong as a war animal.

=== Train a war animal ===
''This Animal is waiting for conflict.''

This requires an [[Cage|uncaged]] trainable animal with {{token|TRAINABLE|c}} or {{token|TRAINABLE_WAR|c}}, an animal training activity zone, and an animal trainer. [[Pasture|Pastured]] animals can only be trained if the zone is located within their pasture. War animals are significantly stronger than their untrained counterparts; war dogs make excellent companions when starting a fortress, when you can't spare many dwarves for fighting.

Like hunting animals, they can be assigned to individual dwarves the same way, and cannot be unassigned; combined with their strength, this makes them effective expendable bodyguards for any dwarf likely to see danger or who you feel is valuable enough to be worth protecting. Even if they fail to defeat an attacker, they can often buy their charge time to escape or for additional reinforcements to arrive.

== Bonding ==
As animal trainers work with an animal, they may become [[Relationships|bonded]] to it ("formed a bond with an animal training partner"), and this relationship is visible in the dwarf's relationships screen. This happens even if the dwarf is not specifically assigned to the animal and appears to disregard training quality. The death of a bonded animal results in a bad thought for the trainer ("has lost an animal training partner to tragedy"), whose exact severity is unknown but fairly significant. It is unknown whether working with a bonded animal gives a happy thought similar to the one gained from talking to a friend.

An animal trainer with a preference for the animal may adopt and name the animal at the time of training, even if the animal is not designated for adoption. This leaves the trainer highly susceptible to the bad "pet death" thought, renders the animal inedible, and eventually requires an extra coffin. It may be advisable to disable animal training on any trainer with such a preference, especially for war training.

Bonded animals can be traded. In that case the bonded animals will currently live happily ever after, as the game does not let them die (neither when they reach their max age nor when they reach the max possible age for that species). So it is currently an open question as to whether the death of an off-site bonded animal would cause a bad thought for the on-site bonded trainer.

== Trainable war/hunting animals ==
The following creatures can be trained into war or hunting animals once they are tamed. Bigger animals ''tend'' to be stronger in combat. For comparison, an average adult dwarf is size 60,000.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Animal
! Size (cm³)
! Pet value
! Notes
|-
|[[Bobcat]]
|8,000
|75
|Too small ≈
|-
|[[Mandrill]]
|20,000
|50
|^
|-
|[[Lynx]]
|25,000
|75
|^ ≈
|-
|[[Ocelot]]
|25,000
|100
|^ ≈
|-
|[[Dog]]
|30,000
|30
|^ ♪
|-
|[[Cheetah]]
|50,000
|200
|^ ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Leopard]]
|50,000
|100
|^ ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Jaguar]]
|75,000
|100
|† ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Gorilla]]
|150,000
|500
|† ≈
|-
|[[Giant bat]]
|200,000
|750
|♪ Hunting only
|-
|[[Giant cave swallow]]
|200,000
|700
|♪ Hunting only
|-
|[[Grizzly bear]]
|200,000
|500
|† ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Lion]]
|200,000
|200
|† ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Tiger]]
|225,000
|200
|† ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Giant bobcat]]
|256,320
|500
|☼ ≈
|-
|[[Giant mandrill]]
|341,800
|500
|☼
|-
|[[Giant lynx]]
|377,750
|500
|☼ ≈
|-
|[[Giant ocelot]]
|377,750
|500
|☼ ≈
|-
|[[Polar bear]]
|400,000
|500
|☼ ≈
|-
|[[Giant cheetah]]
|560,000
|200
|☼ ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Giant leopard]]
|560,000
|100
|☼ ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Giant jaguar]]
|750,000
|100
|☼ ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Gigantic panda]]
|1,160,900
|1,000
|☼ ‼ ≈
|-
|[[Giant grizzly bear]]
|1,700,000
|500
|☼ ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Giant lion]]
|1,700,000
|200
|☼ ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Giant tiger]]
|1,900,000
|200
|☼ ♪ ≈
|-
|[[Rhinoceros]]
|3,000,000
|500
|☼ ♪ ‼ ≈ War only
|-
|[[Giant polar bear]]
|3,268,000
|500
|☼ ≈
|-
|[[Jabberer]]
|4,500,000
|1,500
|☼
|-
|[[Elephant]]
|5,000,000
|500
|☼ ‼ ≈
|-
|[[Cave dragon]]
|15,000,000
|10,000
|☼ ○
|-
|[[Roc]]
|20,000,000
|10,000
|☼ ♪ [[Megabeast]]
|-
|[[Giant rhinoceros]]
|24,000,000
|500
|☼ ♪ ‼ ≈ War only
|-
|[[Dragon]]
|25,000,000
|10,000
|☼ [[Megabeast]]
|-
|[[Giant elephant]]
|40,000,000
|500
|☼ ‼ ≈
|}

: ☼ — ''Recommended choice for armies due to their great size.''
: † — ''Recommended choice for bodyguards, stalls most creatures enough to give dwarves time to escape safely.''
: ^ — ''Recommended choice for fort patrols and supporting dwarves in small skirmishes. Effective in very large numbers.''
: ♪ — ''Recommended hunting companions for their speed and mobility. Smaller animals also sneak more successfully.''
: ‼ — ''Poor choice for training due to their voracious appetites for [[grass]].''
: ≈ — <s>''Possesses the {{token|MEANDERER}} token, which severely slows their movement speed. Will likely fall behind any moving squad and miss offensive combat situations due to it.''</s> As of version 52.05 meandering behavior stops for animals that are trained for war or hunting.
: ○ — ''Offspring are born adults and cannot be fully tamed. They also grow extremely slowly.''
: [[Megabeast]]s — ''While extremely powerful, megabeasts are currently hostile to all military dwarves, regardless of training level.''{{Verify}} {{bug|10731}}

Remember to keep a breeding pair out of harm's way if you want more of a particular animal, in case the ones in service die.

==Training water creatures==
With a great deal of effort and some clever engineering, it is possible to capture, train, and butcher water creatures.[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=75780.0 2] Water creatures can survive indefinitely in [[cage]]s, but will drown at water levels below 4/7 while dwarves will cancel tasks at water levels at or above 4/7, making training extremely tricky. This basic problem can be solved with one of the more interesting bugs in the game: [[ghost]] trainers.[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=127659 3] It is currently unknown what bug causes this, but some animal trainers that are killed and never [[burial|buried]] or [[memorial]]ized will continue to perform their job from the grave. This removes the fundamental problem of water depth incompatibility and makes the task much easier. An easier solution, however, would be [[vampire]] animal trainers: they are unbreathing and will path through such water normally, so long as there is no flow. Taming water creatures in vanilla is fairly useless, however, as without [[modding]] they never have children, nor can they receive war (or hunting, however that would work) training.

==Training hostile creatures==
Training hostile creatures like enemy [[mount]]s does not cancel their hostility. While the job is completed and the animal trainer gains experience, the trained creature remains hostile to your civilization and will attack your dwarves. A creature will also be hostile if it becomes an enemy of your civilization, for instance if it killed one of your dwarves before. The rule of thumb is: if it has a [[name]], it's hostile, don't release it from its cage. Though, if you know how it got the name, wild animals that get names from killing other named entities like forgotten beasts, invaders, uninvited guests, etc. will still be friendly after training.

However, it does seem that the offspring of hostile creatures belong to your civilization, because trained mounts <s>amusingly</s> disturbingly attack and subsequently kill their offspring at birth. If you are careful and [[stupid dwarf trick|ingenious]] enough, you can separate the parents and children at birth.

Note that hostile egg-layers, such as [[cave crocodile]]s, might not use [[nest box]]es and therefore generate no offspring.

==Handling dangerous creatures==
Only dwarves with the animal trainer labor active will move non-trained (wild or hostile) captive creatures to a chain or to another cage. This restriction only applies to non-trained creatures and only to the "chain large creature" and "cage large creature" jobs. Throwing such a creature into a pit or pond can be done by anybody, and the chaining and caging of trained creatures is similarly unrestricted.

==Taming vermin==
First, a [[trapper]] needs to catch vermin in an animal trap. A few types of vermin can escape from wooden traps, such as the [[hamster]], so it might be a good idea to use only metal traps. An animal trainer will tame a vermin at a vermin catcher's shop. Unlike animals, vermin do not have training levels - they are either tame or not tame. Taming vermin does not pass civilization-wide experience with that vermin to the parent civilization, like taming animals does. Taming requires a food item. Vermin cannot be trained for war or hunting.

There isn't much purpose to taming vermin. It allows vermin to be adopted as pets, but few dwarves have a preference for vermin, so they will rarely be adopted. Vermin don't breed like animals do, so there is no need to have a tame pair to produce offspring. [[Animal dissector]]s can't make [[extract]]s from tame vermin, though there isn't much reason to make extracts either. Tame vermin have little value so they aren't of much use for export either. Taming vermin does give experience to animal trainers, so they can improve their skill in a fort with few animals, especially since vermin are inexhaustible.

==Taming intelligent creatures==
If you mod the game to have trainable intelligent creatures (or if you find a [[gremlin]]) they may be captured in cage traps and tamed. However, several things differ from when training other creatures, as training sapients display a number of strange behaviors.

First off, the game will consider any tamed (or semi-wild) sentient an inhabitant of your fortress (or at least partially so). This will increase your population count, which likely has the same effects as when the count is increased by [[immigration|immigrants]] arriving or [[children|babies]] being born. The trained creature will be considered a peasant in the z-screen. Despite this, the trained creature cannot work, as it is impossible to set any labor preferences. Neither can they be enlisted to the militia or have any pets. Once trained, they will be subject to hunger, thirst and drowsiness, and as such will require food, drink and sleep to survive. The creature will pick up and wear [[clothes]], but only if they are the right [[size]].

It is impossible to view their general stats screen, trying to do so will only bring you to a simple description of the creature as with any other non-inhabitant of your fort. It might not be possible to view the creature's thoughts, but they still exist, proven by the fact that the trained creature can become [[insane]]. Having the creatures socialize with your dwarves, and each other, as well as [[Keeping_your_dwarves_unstressed|all the other countermeasures to prevent insanity]] seems to prevent this though. As caged creatures cannot do any of these actions, keeping trained creatures in [[cage]]s for elongated periods of time is advised against.

It is normally impossible to give the trained creature a nickname, causing individuals of the same species to be difficult to tell apart, but if you train them for hunting or war and then assign them to one of your dwarves, they will obtain a [[name]]. The further implications of doing so are not known as of yet. Trained sapients may be assigned for butchering (which is otherwise impossible), but their returns are completely unusable and will just be taken to the nearest [[refuse]] [[stockpile]] to rot away.

Because they tend to go wherever they please, a trained intelligent creature will rarely be at a training zone out of their own volition, making re-training them difficult. Depending on how well they're trained, it brings the risk of them going wild again, potentially leading to their escape or for them to attack your dwarves due to becoming hostile. The animal trainer assigned to train these creatures may also be stuck at the training zone waiting for the creature's arrival, potentially leading to hunger and thirst. Making use of [[burrow]]s to force the creature into the training zone is an option, as the training itself will be done as long as the creature and the trainer are within the zone for a few moments.

A trained intelligent creature will only become fully controllable if it applies for [[citizenship]] in your fortress, in which case they'll be able to perform labors and their stats screen will give you full descriptions of their person and personalities. Whether trained sapients apply for citizenship in the same manner as [[visitor]]s do (2 years after becoming part of the fortress) and if they still require training after applying for citizenship requires verification.

==Bugs==
* Capturing and training [[siege|war]] [[mount]]s [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=111357.0 may cause] a [[loyalty cascade]] if your [[military]] has to put them down.{{bug|6051}}
* Trained [[flying|fliers]] may swap positions with dwarves, leaving the dwarves stranded in an inaccessible area.{{bug|3371}}
* Taming herbivores leaves [[seed]]s in [[cage]]s, which must be manually removed.{{bug|201}}
* Creatures lacking the {{token|CHILD}} tag are impossible to tame. {{bug|7983}} You can work around this by adding {{token|CHILD|c|X}} to the raws for that animal. Replace X with years creature is a child.
* [[Megabeast]]s and active [[squad]]s attack each other on sight, regardless of the former's training level, making [[dragon]]s, [[hydra]]s and [[roc]]s unusable without excessive micromanaging.{{Verify}} {{bug|10731}}

{{skills}}

Cross-training

2026-02-18T11:15:09Z

Silverwing235: /* Clear Cutting */

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}

'''Cross-training''' is the process of training your civilian dwarves in military pursuits, or vice versa, and can offer several benefits. First and most importantly, it can be a good way of raising attributes, leading to stronger, tougher, faster dwarves. Secondly, it provides a handy pool of recruits for when your military takes a beating or gives your civilians a halfway-decent chance of defending themselves. Thirdly, it can provide useful replacements for when your legendary mason accidentally blunders into a [[troll]] and gets all their limbs broken. Finally, it's a more productive use of time than standing around idling.

There is nothing saying you have to use only one of these ideas; they are all various approaches toward addressing these areas.

The biggest thing to remember with a reserves program is that if you're going to go, you go all the way. Don't institute something "just for a little while" and come up with a handful of novice reservists; they will not get significant stat increases and you'll only waste time. Time is not something you have a heck of a lot of in a typical reserves program. Remember that after you draft them, most dwarves are going to need about a year of sparring or training before they're ready for heavy combat. You might not have that much time if you are getting besieged regularly.

==List of Programs==

===National self-defense training===
''Make sure you're familiar with the [[military interface]], [[squads]] and [[scheduling]] before attempting this.''

This is the process of training all your civilians in military skills - or at least, most of them. The easiest way to do this is to assign every new [[migrant]] or recently grown up child to dedicated training [[squad]]s, and assign that squad a barracks. Then, schedule these squads to train and set the squad to "Active/Training".

National self-defense training is by far the most efficient way to increase attributes related to military skills. This includes strength, agility, toughness, endurance, focus, intuition, kinesthetic sense, spatial sense and willpower - all of these will see dramatic increases and reach the individual maximum when training lasts long enough. To increase the rate at which dwarves gain skills, place one experienced trainer / soldier in each squad, which will make demonstrations much more valuable.

Then, if they ever get caught where they don't want to be (maybe they bump into a thief coming around a corner, or a flying critter jumps them, or you need to urgently order them out of the path of a magma flood, or send them to the [[Lever|control room]] - anything), every dwarf has a better chance at not-dying - which can only be a good thing. You may want to remove the barracks assignment from a reserve squad after you're done training them, or they'll tend to spend all their time on "Individual Combat Drill" rather than performing their civilian jobs. To ensure dwarves can train while still performing civilian duties, set the Training Order's minimum number of dwarves to be less than the squad's size, but set their uniform to Wear Always. This will keep them in their gear at all times but will allow them to take breaks from training. Dutiful dwarves may choose not to take breaks, however.

'''Pros:'''
*Easy, cheap, and no maintenance once set up
*No need for other cross-training for any attribute affected by national self-defense training
*Trainees gain useful military skills
*Dwarves who lead demonstrations while training may also gain levels in Organizer, Leader, and Teacher, while any dwarves who watch demonstrations may gain levels in Student. This can satisfy certain [[needs]].
*Trainees will be faster, stronger and tougher both in daily life and in emergencies

'''Cons:'''
*Legendary fighting skills may make tantrums more fun
*Trainees don't work during training
*Trainees don't socialise during training, which can lead to loneliness, unhappiness, and Distraction penalties.
*Trainees will choose training over performing civilian duties
'''Attributes trained:'''

Rapid increases in strength, agility, toughness, endurance, focus, intuition, kinesthetic sense, spatial sense and willpower.

===Boiler-room ([[furnace operator]])===
:''See also: [[Melt]]''
Boiler-room training can be performed by forging and melting items that do not incur a loss of metal in the process. This method is more of a direct training scheme for the various [[smith]]ing labors, furnace operator skill and attribute training are a side benefit.

'''Pros:'''
*Easy to set up.
*Requires little continuous oversight on your part.
*Somewhat fast training; dwarves reach legendary in two years.
*Depending on item, can duplicate non-[[adamantine|spoiler]] metals.

'''Cons:'''
*Requires access to [[magma]], or vast quantities of fuel
*May interfere with legitimate melting jobs (use of linked [[stockpile]]s, [[burrow]]s, and [[profile]]s can mitigate this).

'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Toughness, Endurance, Analytical Ability, Kinesthetic Sense

===Swimming Pool ===
Adding a swimming pool allows your dwarves to rapidly boost their swimmer skill; unfortunately they will not do so voluntarily. A simple pit with 4/7 - 6/7 of water and a means of "encouraging" your dwarves to dive in are sufficient. Placing your swimming pool near/under a [[meeting hall]] will automatically train idle (and partying) dwarves. Minecart-aided swim training is a safer method; it is based on the feature that a dwarf riding a minecart learns swimming while doing so. (See [[Swimming_pool#Minecart_training|Minecart training]])

'''Pros:'''
*Cheap to set up
*Automates training of idle dwarves without interfering with actual work
*Provides a good set of physical [[attribute]]s likely to speed up fortress operation
*Swimming skill can occasionally save a dwarf's life
'''Cons:'''
*Generates no wealth
*[[gravity|Falling]] damage can be significant (of course, this trains medical staff too!).
*[[Flooding]] can be a problem, particular for overseers unfamiliar with Dwarf Fortress fluid mechanics
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Endurance, Strength, Willpower, Kinesthetic Sense, Spatial Sense

===Artillery proving ground ([[siege operator]])===
Mass-produce some catapults, line them up near a quarry, and fire away. Works well to dispose of stone from a gulag (see below). 
'''Pros:'''
*Trains a skill that's reasonably useful, and provides a place to put all the sub-par siege engine components your [[siege engineer]] will doubtlessly create if you're going for superior-quality engines.
*Harasses the wildlife, which is always fun and sometimes [[Fun]]. 
'''Cons:'''
*Very slow to train (2+ years for legendary).
*Fairly space-consuming to set up a well-designed and usable proving ground.
*Can be dangerous depending on the biome (especially when [[elephant]]s are present. If they get winged by a stray boulder, you can bet they're going to be coming straight at you).
*[[Siege operator]]s are civilians, and will run in fear when an enemy approaches them.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Toughness, Endurance, Analytical Ability, Focus, Spatial Sense

===Internship MkII ([[manager]])===
Assign a new dwarf to manager, queue several hundred jobs, and rotate a replacement in as soon as they become legendary. For bonus points, queue jobs which need to be repeated anyway, like "Prepare Raw Fish" or "Mill Plants", or jobs for which there is no workshop, like "Make Wooden Bow" or "Make Soap".

'''Pros:'''
*Requires no extra infrastructure at all.
*You need a manager anyway!
*Mostly safe; a manager spends basically all their discretionary time snug in their office, or doing other assigned jobs.
'''Cons:'''
*Only employs one dwarf at a time; not useful when you have 15-25 candidates for the reserves.
*No announcement when the current intern reaches Legendary status means you can lose time on rotation easily.
*Produces little to no useful attribute gains
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Analytical Ability, Memory, Focus

===Gulag ([[miner]])===
The gulag is basically a strip mine that is located far away from your main fortress (so you don't have to worry about accidentally screwing up your own building plans; if you are careful in planning, it may be placed closer to your fortress). Take a big square and start leveling it; it's really no more complicated than that. Since [[pick]]s can actually be used as weapons, it's worthwhile to give the reservists who will be working in the gulag picks made out of [[bronze]], or, if you are really living large, [[iron]] or even [[steel]] (Note that as of v53, pickaxe material actually matters now, so it may be a good idea to equip your dwarves with steel picks regardless). Note that you will have to turn your usual mining corps (the civilian miners who are already experienced with mining) off or designate separate mining [[burrow]]s for this setup to work properly. It might be convenient to use a locked door to isolate the gulag from the main fortress, once a batch of trainees is inside. If you wish to train all of your miners equally and still get real work done on the fort, you can designate the gulag area with a lower [[Designations_menu#Priority|priority]] than any actual important work. 
'''Pros:'''
*Soldiers can be equipped with picks from the military screen, and use the Miner skill in combat - militia squads of highly skilled miners can provide a decent defense from early threats
*Toting a pick for close-quarters support might make a legendary [[marksdwarf]] more useful, since the pathetic bludgeon damage of his [[wood]] and [[bone]] [[Weapon#Dwarf-manufactured Weapons|crossbows]] is less important.
*Can be quite useful for producing stones you might not have access to normally, or uncovering veins of precious metals.
*Levels quite fast in sand.
*Relatively little oversight from you.
*An overland hike to the gulag will fight [[cave adaptation]] in your military candidates.
*Can easily be transformed into a [[Caverns#Vegetation|underground tree farm]] on suitable maps, providing a safe and replenishable wood source.
*Mining trains all military attributes, so it's perfect for military training too

'''Cons:'''
*Juggling your real miners and your reservists when there's real work to be done on the fort can be a chore.
*Hard to keep dwarves in the gulag for too long; they'll inevitably get hungry, thirsty, and tired and start hiking back to the fortress proper. Could be solved by (temporary) [[burrow]].
*Can be dangerous, depending on the biome.
*Does require some amount of oversight from you, especially when your reservists start getting better at mining and run out of work more quickly.
*Surplus stone and mining in general are suspected to promote [[Maximizing_framerate|lag]].
*Can be trained easier and without space consumption as part of national defense training, when assigning picks as weapons.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Toughness, Endurance, Willpower, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Renovation (smoothing)===
Another convenient way to buff up your dwarves, assigning your reservists to mass [[smoothing]] duty increases your fortress' architectural wealth and makes the place look nicer. While they may clutter the halls somewhat, it doesn't require any special allocation of [[food]], [[bed]]s or [[drink]]. Just turn on [[stonecutting]] for your reservists and mark up as much of the fortress as you like for renovation. If you have no particular area you want smoothed, you can alternate designating some open space between carving tracks and then smoothing them out. Be aware that carving tracks automatically sets those squares to be low traffic areas, so you may want to choose an out-of-the-way area that won't disrupt pathing for other activities. 
'''Pros:'''
*Even easier to set up; just assign your dwarves and an area and you're good to go.
*Increases your fortress' value and general happiness.
*Requires no continuous oversight on your part.
*Very safe, if you only assign areas inside the fortress.

'''Cons:'''
*Wealth overflow may bring too many [[immigrant]]s.
*Careless designation of smoothing areas may have your dwarves trying to smooth walls too close to [[magma]], a [[river]], or an active [[minecart]] track.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Creativity, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Sweatshop ([[Stone carver]])===
Make one or more [[stoneworker's workshop]]s in an area with a bunch of junk stone you don't care about, or that you're actively looking to clear. Change the workshop settings to allow only your reservists to use it, then tell the workshop to churn out junk furniture and trade goods that you can trade en-masse. Alternatively, forbid your reservists from working in your real stoneworker's workshops, order lots of stone constructions built, and pray that your real stone carvers stay too occupied with the workshops to intrude. Can also be done with Stone Crafts (although that levels a less valuable [[moodable]] skill). Works well in conjunction with a [[Cross-training#Gulag_.28miner.29|gulag]]. Alternate ideas for sweatshops include a [[mechanic's workshop]], [[craftsdwarf's workshop]], [[Kiln|magma kiln]], or a [[Glass furnace|magma glass furnace]] to train [[mechanic]], [[Stone crafter|stonecrafter]], [[potter]] and [[glassmaker]] respectively.

Mass-producing stone blocks trains Stone '''Cutter''', not Stone Carver, another less valuable moodable skill. While stone blocks have their use in a fortress, they have no "quality", so give half the experience to leveling up that skill (though attributes increase just as fast).

''Note: Do NOT try this with the [[carpenter]] skill unless you have a large supply of trees/logs, nor with any other resource you don't have in near-limitless abundance. Sweatshops will consume huge amounts of their associated resources, and if you run out mid-way you have probably wasted your time. This includes [[coke]] or [[charcoal]] used in normal (non-magma) [[smelter]]s and [[glass furnace]]s.'' 

'''Pros:'''
*Quantitatively turns a profit. The inferior trade goods can be dumped on the next caravan for more useful commodities like bags, seeds, and logs. Logs are especially useful, since you'll inevitably stamp out lots of bins to support the trade good output.
*Unlike many other training programs, Sweatshops train a skill that is very useful.

'''Cons:'''
*Slow to level.
*Hard to keep the reservists on task, since they'll need to do plenty of hauling to keep their workshop from becoming chokingly cluttered.
*Can be a logistical nightmare; making bins and organizing hauling for the finished goods can be insane if you're working from a gulag.
*Can be dangerous depending on the biome and location of your sweatshops.

'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Creativity, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Dwarf-powered mill ([[grower]], [[cook]], [[miller]])===
Start off by creating a surplus of [[longland grass]], [[cave wheat]], and/or [[whip vine]], and some bags. Create multiple [[quern]]s all close to the food stockpile which contains the millable plants. Next to this area, make a [[kitchen]] assigned to an experienced cook. Enable milling for the dwarves you wish to cross-train and order the cook to make lavish meals. As long as your growers provide a steady supply of millable plants and your cook can empty out bags quick enough, the milling jobs will continue. 
'''Pros:'''
*Produces a lot of wealth, as flour is a high value ingredient
*Produces high amounts of food
*Sustains the training of non cross-training dwarves, such as the cook and growers

'''Cons:'''
*Requires a surplus of millable plants to ensure continuous milling, thus you may need to increase the number of plots/growers
*If you don't have enough bags, you may end up having job cancellations for the millers
*Dedicated haulers will be required to keep all workshops clutter-free
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Kinesthetic Sense (grower and miller)

Agility, Analytical Ability, Creativity, Kinesthetic Sense (cook)

===Clear Cutting===
As long as wood hauling is turned off, dwarves will move from one tree to the next without stopping to bring the wood back. On a heavily forested map, this means that dedicated wood cutters can skill up quickly, though the total number of trees to chop has been drastically reduced from previous versions.

Of course, this training strategy isn't going to endear you with the [[elves]].

'''Pros:'''
*Works quickly
*Provides useful lumber to carpenters, charcoal makers, etc.
*Can cause problems with elves
*Can agitate the wildlife to walk into your prepared cage traps

'''Cons:'''
*Can cause problems with elves, as above
*Can agitate the wildlife
*Map dependent
*Trees are limited, and regrow slowly
*Unless care is taken to only designate a small area for cutting, trainees and haulers can be spread out all over the map, making them vulnerable to creatures and ambushes.

'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Willpower, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Survival Training ([[herbalist]])===
When a herbalist picks some plants, he will carry them to the food stockpile himself, even if his food hauling labor is disabled. Herbalists can carry more than one type of item if gathering from a plant that yields multiple usable growths. When gathering from trees, a herbalist will let the item drop to the ground, to be carried to a stockpile by haulers. Setting up smaller stockpiles in the field from which haulers will collect with wheelbarrows is an obvious solution to save on hauling time.

'''Pros:'''
*Provides a reserve of ready food. Which is a good idea early on, before a steady supply is set up.
*Provides materials for prepared food, booze and sometimes extracts. Also, seeds, allowing to grow those plants on farms later.

'''Cons:'''
*Map dependent
*Unless the area is carefully designated in safer parts of the map, herbalists (and haulers, from field stockpiles) will wander all over the place, making them vulnerable to creatures and ambushes.
*Unlike wood, foodstuffs won't lie on the ground indefinitely. You have to collect it quickly, or some vermin will, and even temporary stockpiles need protection.
** Small barns in the field solve the problem, but you need to build them; then again, it's another training, see "architect" below. Cats "pastured" over stockpiles solve the problem, but create several others.

'''Attributes Trained:'''
Agility, Kinesthetic Sense, Memory

===Dwarf Scouts ([[ambusher]], [[hunter]], [[marksdwarf]])===
Marksdwarves are an important part of any military. A bum rush of low-level marksdwarves is good, but not as effective as an elite backup squad! Here is what you can do:
Draft a comfortable number of dwarves to hunting, give them all no-[[quality]] crossbows and no-quality, [[density|lightweight]] wooden bolts to make them less effective killers, and so keep them out hunting longer. Put them in heavy armor, both to slow them down even more and to protect them against the occasional danger. Your dwarves should hunt as usual - but you are really training an elite squad of assassins, that will one day hunt goblins instead of groundhogs.

'''Pros:'''
*Easy to start.
*Lots of meat, bones and leather around.
*Aforementioned bones can be recycled to make new bolts.

'''Cons:'''
*Doesn't work on some maps.
*Hunting can be dangerous!
*Evil areas may result in the deer your dwarves "bagged" rising up as [[undead]] and ripping your hunters' faces off!
*Not as economically productive as some other methods.

'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Focus, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense (ambusher)

===Art School ([[weaver]])===
Collecting spider [[web]]s is normally a slow way to train weaving, but that's because the aspiring weaver spends most of their time hiking out to the spiderweb(s) and then back to the loom. If you manage to create a [[silk farming|convenient local source of webs]] near a loom, your weavers-in-training will rapidly gain experience. The abundant silk thread can then be woven by your more experienced weavers for clothing and trade.

'''Pros:'''
*Safe and easy to run
*Virtually inexhaustible
*Produces valuable resources (silk cloth)

'''Cons:'''
*Requires somewhat complex setup
*Weaving is a [[moodable]] skill--and not a particularly desirable one
*Spider webs are typically available only in the caverns, where there could be dangerous wandering creatures such as [[giant cave spider]]s or [[blind cave ogre]]s.

'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Creativity, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense



===Dwarven [[Arena]] ([[noble|n̶o̶b̶l̶e̶s̶]])===

Find a way to put civilians near an arena, perhaps a dining room. Lock them in. Let your gobbos and "[[noble|worthy champions]]" fight to the death while they are forced to watch, gaining discipline. Unlock the room. Find a way to dispose of survivors. Revel upon your new [[tantrum|well]]-[[depression|disciplined]] [[fun|dwarves!]]

'''Pros:'''
*Discipline is useful for everyday life
*Helps with live training that may come to your dorfs at a later date
*If you have a military, you can double it as live training
*With [[Drowning chamber|good]] [[Magma|safety]] [[Bridge|procedures]], little future oversight is required
*Watching gobbos getting their internal organs thrashed out is hilarious
*Satisfies "Fight" need for dwarves who won't spar
*Useful for disposing of pesky [[nobles]] and dorfs that survive hammerings.
*Could be helpful for training discipline with your engineers

'''Cons:'''
*If you're seriously considering adding this to a fort you may not even ''need'' it very much as corpses already generate discipline.
*Doesn't produce any goods.
*Only trains one attribute for civilians (but it is a useful one.)
*Bad design choices can be quite fatal to a younger fort.

'''Attributes trained'''
*Discipline
*Various military skills (observer, fighter, dodger, etc...) (if you use your military in the arena)
*Lever operator and Mechanic (When you build and service it, but don't expect a big raise (and lever operator isn't that helpful anyway)

==Obsolete Programs==
Occasionally, a training program stops working. This section is for programs that were not obsolete in the last namespace, or were made possible in a version of this namespace, yet do not work in the latest version.

===Gym ([[pump operator]])===

Previously, building a bunch of [[screw pump]]s connected to nothing and ordering them to be operated was an effective way to train endurance. However, the attribute gain from Pump Operation has been so drastically reduced in various patches since its discovery that it can't be considered an effective training routine any longer[https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/10p4mcn/screw_pump_stats_gained_nerf/], and the problem it was once meant to solve, keeping dwarves from partying all the time, tends not to be a problem anymore. Quite the contrary. If anything, Dwarves of today seem to be unable to take care of any of their emotional needs at all unless they have no jobs to do whatsoever, making this method counter-productive and prone to accumulating Distraction penalties from loneliness and a lack of creativity, crafting, learning, praying, and merrymaking, which will slow down any and all work and skill gains until those needs are met, usually requiring you go out of your way to do so. Don't use this in any serious capacity, military training is several times better in every way.

==Overview==
*Artillery training can give you some siege operators, which will be useful if you have ballistae.
*The internship only trains up one dwarf at a time. Your stocks could also lag behind if you are unlucky.
*The gulag requires planning, and your dwarves in the fortress proper may run all the way to the gulag to grab a stone for some crafts, a chair, etc. It does, however, train your dwarves in mining quickly, which is always a useful skill.
*Renovation is hands-free, but may bloat your fortress wealth too quickly.
*The sweatshop creates a large amount of goods, which can be traded away to keep traders happy. It also increases your wealth by quite a lot, which can be good or bad depending upon your situation. The goods are also difficult to manage.
*National self-defence training is easy to manage when set up and lets you give your civilians clothes and light armour to keep them safe. However, it can take valuable workers away from their job if the training is too frequent.

Note that the artillery training and internship don't influence potential [[strange mood]]s (you can give those dwarves dabbling in anything you want and that's how they'll get theirs), while the gulag, renovation, and sweatshop do.

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Fortress defense}}
[[ru:Cross-training]]

Cross-training

2026-02-18T11:13:44Z

Silverwing235: /* Sweatshop (Stone carver) */

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}

'''Cross-training''' is the process of training your civilian dwarves in military pursuits, or vice versa, and can offer several benefits. First and most importantly, it can be a good way of raising attributes, leading to stronger, tougher, faster dwarves. Secondly, it provides a handy pool of recruits for when your military takes a beating or gives your civilians a halfway-decent chance of defending themselves. Thirdly, it can provide useful replacements for when your legendary mason accidentally blunders into a [[troll]] and gets all their limbs broken. Finally, it's a more productive use of time than standing around idling.

There is nothing saying you have to use only one of these ideas; they are all various approaches toward addressing these areas.

The biggest thing to remember with a reserves program is that if you're going to go, you go all the way. Don't institute something "just for a little while" and come up with a handful of novice reservists; they will not get significant stat increases and you'll only waste time. Time is not something you have a heck of a lot of in a typical reserves program. Remember that after you draft them, most dwarves are going to need about a year of sparring or training before they're ready for heavy combat. You might not have that much time if you are getting besieged regularly.

==List of Programs==

===National self-defense training===
''Make sure you're familiar with the [[military interface]], [[squads]] and [[scheduling]] before attempting this.''

This is the process of training all your civilians in military skills - or at least, most of them. The easiest way to do this is to assign every new [[migrant]] or recently grown up child to dedicated training [[squad]]s, and assign that squad a barracks. Then, schedule these squads to train and set the squad to "Active/Training".

National self-defense training is by far the most efficient way to increase attributes related to military skills. This includes strength, agility, toughness, endurance, focus, intuition, kinesthetic sense, spatial sense and willpower - all of these will see dramatic increases and reach the individual maximum when training lasts long enough. To increase the rate at which dwarves gain skills, place one experienced trainer / soldier in each squad, which will make demonstrations much more valuable.

Then, if they ever get caught where they don't want to be (maybe they bump into a thief coming around a corner, or a flying critter jumps them, or you need to urgently order them out of the path of a magma flood, or send them to the [[Lever|control room]] - anything), every dwarf has a better chance at not-dying - which can only be a good thing. You may want to remove the barracks assignment from a reserve squad after you're done training them, or they'll tend to spend all their time on "Individual Combat Drill" rather than performing their civilian jobs. To ensure dwarves can train while still performing civilian duties, set the Training Order's minimum number of dwarves to be less than the squad's size, but set their uniform to Wear Always. This will keep them in their gear at all times but will allow them to take breaks from training. Dutiful dwarves may choose not to take breaks, however.

'''Pros:'''
*Easy, cheap, and no maintenance once set up
*No need for other cross-training for any attribute affected by national self-defense training
*Trainees gain useful military skills
*Dwarves who lead demonstrations while training may also gain levels in Organizer, Leader, and Teacher, while any dwarves who watch demonstrations may gain levels in Student. This can satisfy certain [[needs]].
*Trainees will be faster, stronger and tougher both in daily life and in emergencies

'''Cons:'''
*Legendary fighting skills may make tantrums more fun
*Trainees don't work during training
*Trainees don't socialise during training, which can lead to loneliness, unhappiness, and Distraction penalties.
*Trainees will choose training over performing civilian duties
'''Attributes trained:'''

Rapid increases in strength, agility, toughness, endurance, focus, intuition, kinesthetic sense, spatial sense and willpower.

===Boiler-room ([[furnace operator]])===
:''See also: [[Melt]]''
Boiler-room training can be performed by forging and melting items that do not incur a loss of metal in the process. This method is more of a direct training scheme for the various [[smith]]ing labors, furnace operator skill and attribute training are a side benefit.

'''Pros:'''
*Easy to set up.
*Requires little continuous oversight on your part.
*Somewhat fast training; dwarves reach legendary in two years.
*Depending on item, can duplicate non-[[adamantine|spoiler]] metals.

'''Cons:'''
*Requires access to [[magma]], or vast quantities of fuel
*May interfere with legitimate melting jobs (use of linked [[stockpile]]s, [[burrow]]s, and [[profile]]s can mitigate this).

'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Toughness, Endurance, Analytical Ability, Kinesthetic Sense

===Swimming Pool ===
Adding a swimming pool allows your dwarves to rapidly boost their swimmer skill; unfortunately they will not do so voluntarily. A simple pit with 4/7 - 6/7 of water and a means of "encouraging" your dwarves to dive in are sufficient. Placing your swimming pool near/under a [[meeting hall]] will automatically train idle (and partying) dwarves. Minecart-aided swim training is a safer method; it is based on the feature that a dwarf riding a minecart learns swimming while doing so. (See [[Swimming_pool#Minecart_training|Minecart training]])

'''Pros:'''
*Cheap to set up
*Automates training of idle dwarves without interfering with actual work
*Provides a good set of physical [[attribute]]s likely to speed up fortress operation
*Swimming skill can occasionally save a dwarf's life
'''Cons:'''
*Generates no wealth
*[[gravity|Falling]] damage can be significant (of course, this trains medical staff too!).
*[[Flooding]] can be a problem, particular for overseers unfamiliar with Dwarf Fortress fluid mechanics
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Endurance, Strength, Willpower, Kinesthetic Sense, Spatial Sense

===Artillery proving ground ([[siege operator]])===
Mass-produce some catapults, line them up near a quarry, and fire away. Works well to dispose of stone from a gulag (see below). 
'''Pros:'''
*Trains a skill that's reasonably useful, and provides a place to put all the sub-par siege engine components your [[siege engineer]] will doubtlessly create if you're going for superior-quality engines.
*Harasses the wildlife, which is always fun and sometimes [[Fun]]. 
'''Cons:'''
*Very slow to train (2+ years for legendary).
*Fairly space-consuming to set up a well-designed and usable proving ground.
*Can be dangerous depending on the biome (especially when [[elephant]]s are present. If they get winged by a stray boulder, you can bet they're going to be coming straight at you).
*[[Siege operator]]s are civilians, and will run in fear when an enemy approaches them.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Toughness, Endurance, Analytical Ability, Focus, Spatial Sense

===Internship MkII ([[manager]])===
Assign a new dwarf to manager, queue several hundred jobs, and rotate a replacement in as soon as they become legendary. For bonus points, queue jobs which need to be repeated anyway, like "Prepare Raw Fish" or "Mill Plants", or jobs for which there is no workshop, like "Make Wooden Bow" or "Make Soap".

'''Pros:'''
*Requires no extra infrastructure at all.
*You need a manager anyway!
*Mostly safe; a manager spends basically all their discretionary time snug in their office, or doing other assigned jobs.
'''Cons:'''
*Only employs one dwarf at a time; not useful when you have 15-25 candidates for the reserves.
*No announcement when the current intern reaches Legendary status means you can lose time on rotation easily.
*Produces little to no useful attribute gains
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Analytical Ability, Memory, Focus

===Gulag ([[miner]])===
The gulag is basically a strip mine that is located far away from your main fortress (so you don't have to worry about accidentally screwing up your own building plans; if you are careful in planning, it may be placed closer to your fortress). Take a big square and start leveling it; it's really no more complicated than that. Since [[pick]]s can actually be used as weapons, it's worthwhile to give the reservists who will be working in the gulag picks made out of [[bronze]], or, if you are really living large, [[iron]] or even [[steel]] (Note that as of v53, pickaxe material actually matters now, so it may be a good idea to equip your dwarves with steel picks regardless). Note that you will have to turn your usual mining corps (the civilian miners who are already experienced with mining) off or designate separate mining [[burrow]]s for this setup to work properly. It might be convenient to use a locked door to isolate the gulag from the main fortress, once a batch of trainees is inside. If you wish to train all of your miners equally and still get real work done on the fort, you can designate the gulag area with a lower [[Designations_menu#Priority|priority]] than any actual important work. 
'''Pros:'''
*Soldiers can be equipped with picks from the military screen, and use the Miner skill in combat - militia squads of highly skilled miners can provide a decent defense from early threats
*Toting a pick for close-quarters support might make a legendary [[marksdwarf]] more useful, since the pathetic bludgeon damage of his [[wood]] and [[bone]] [[Weapon#Dwarf-manufactured Weapons|crossbows]] is less important.
*Can be quite useful for producing stones you might not have access to normally, or uncovering veins of precious metals.
*Levels quite fast in sand.
*Relatively little oversight from you.
*An overland hike to the gulag will fight [[cave adaptation]] in your military candidates.
*Can easily be transformed into a [[Caverns#Vegetation|underground tree farm]] on suitable maps, providing a safe and replenishable wood source.
*Mining trains all military attributes, so it's perfect for military training too

'''Cons:'''
*Juggling your real miners and your reservists when there's real work to be done on the fort can be a chore.
*Hard to keep dwarves in the gulag for too long; they'll inevitably get hungry, thirsty, and tired and start hiking back to the fortress proper. Could be solved by (temporary) [[burrow]].
*Can be dangerous, depending on the biome.
*Does require some amount of oversight from you, especially when your reservists start getting better at mining and run out of work more quickly.
*Surplus stone and mining in general are suspected to promote [[Maximizing_framerate|lag]].
*Can be trained easier and without space consumption as part of national defense training, when assigning picks as weapons.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Toughness, Endurance, Willpower, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Renovation (smoothing)===
Another convenient way to buff up your dwarves, assigning your reservists to mass [[smoothing]] duty increases your fortress' architectural wealth and makes the place look nicer. While they may clutter the halls somewhat, it doesn't require any special allocation of [[food]], [[bed]]s or [[drink]]. Just turn on [[stonecutting]] for your reservists and mark up as much of the fortress as you like for renovation. If you have no particular area you want smoothed, you can alternate designating some open space between carving tracks and then smoothing them out. Be aware that carving tracks automatically sets those squares to be low traffic areas, so you may want to choose an out-of-the-way area that won't disrupt pathing for other activities. 
'''Pros:'''
*Even easier to set up; just assign your dwarves and an area and you're good to go.
*Increases your fortress' value and general happiness.
*Requires no continuous oversight on your part.
*Very safe, if you only assign areas inside the fortress.

'''Cons:'''
*Wealth overflow may bring too many [[immigrant]]s.
*Careless designation of smoothing areas may have your dwarves trying to smooth walls too close to [[magma]], a [[river]], or an active [[minecart]] track.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Creativity, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Sweatshop ([[Stone carver]])===
Make one or more [[stoneworker's workshop]]s in an area with a bunch of junk stone you don't care about, or that you're actively looking to clear. Change the workshop settings to allow only your reservists to use it, then tell the workshop to churn out junk furniture and trade goods that you can trade en-masse. Alternatively, forbid your reservists from working in your real stoneworker's workshops, order lots of stone constructions built, and pray that your real stone carvers stay too occupied with the workshops to intrude. Can also be done with Stone Crafts (although that levels a less valuable [[moodable]] skill). Works well in conjunction with a [[Cross-training#Gulag_.28miner.29|gulag]]. Alternate ideas for sweatshops include a [[mechanic's workshop]], [[craftsdwarf's workshop]], [[Kiln|magma kiln]], or a [[Glass furnace|magma glass furnace]] to train [[mechanic]], [[Stone crafter|stonecrafter]], [[potter]] and [[glassmaker]] respectively.

Mass-producing stone blocks trains Stone '''Cutter''', not Stone Carver, another less valuable moodable skill. While stone blocks have their use in a fortress, they have no "quality", so give half the experience to leveling up that skill (though attributes increase just as fast).

''Note: Do NOT try this with the [[carpenter]] skill unless you have a large supply of trees/logs, nor with any other resource you don't have in near-limitless abundance. Sweatshops will consume huge amounts of their associated resources, and if you run out mid-way you have probably wasted your time. This includes [[coke]] or [[charcoal]] used in normal (non-magma) [[smelter]]s and [[glass furnace]]s.'' 

'''Pros:'''
*Quantitatively turns a profit. The inferior trade goods can be dumped on the next caravan for more useful commodities like bags, seeds, and logs. Logs are especially useful, since you'll inevitably stamp out lots of bins to support the trade good output.
*Unlike many other training programs, Sweatshops train a skill that is very useful.

'''Cons:'''
*Slow to level.
*Hard to keep the reservists on task, since they'll need to do plenty of hauling to keep their workshop from becoming chokingly cluttered.
*Can be a logistical nightmare; making bins and organizing hauling for the finished goods can be insane if you're working from a gulag.
*Can be dangerous depending on the biome and location of your sweatshops.

'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Creativity, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Dwarf-powered mill ([[grower]], [[cook]], [[miller]])===
Start off by creating a surplus of [[longland grass]], [[cave wheat]], and/or [[whip vine]], and some bags. Create multiple [[quern]]s all close to the food stockpile which contains the millable plants. Next to this area, make a [[kitchen]] assigned to an experienced cook. Enable milling for the dwarves you wish to cross-train and order the cook to make lavish meals. As long as your growers provide a steady supply of millable plants and your cook can empty out bags quick enough, the milling jobs will continue. 
'''Pros:'''
*Produces a lot of wealth, as flour is a high value ingredient
*Produces high amounts of food
*Sustains the training of non cross-training dwarves, such as the cook and growers

'''Cons:'''
*Requires a surplus of millable plants to ensure continuous milling, thus you may need to increase the number of plots/growers
*If you don't have enough bags, you may end up having job cancellations for the millers
*Dedicated haulers will be required to keep all workshops clutter-free
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Kinesthetic Sense (grower and miller)

Agility, Analytical Ability, Creativity, Kinesthetic Sense (cook)

===Clear Cutting===
As long as wood hauling is turned off, dwarves will move from one tree to the next without stopping to bring the wood back. On a heavily forested map, this means that dedicated wood cutters can skill up quickly, though the total number of trees to chop has been drastically reduced from previous versions.

Of course, this training strategy isn't going to endear you with the [[elves]].

'''Pros:'''
*Works quickly
*Provides useful lumber to carpenters, charcoal makers, etc.
*Can cause problems with elves
*Can agitate the wildlife to walk into your prepared cage traps
'''Cons:'''
*Can cause problems with elves
*Can agitate the wildlife
*Map dependent
*Trees are limited, and regrow slowly
*Unless care is taken to only designate a small area for cutting, trainees and haulers can be spread out all over the map, making them vulnerable to creatures and ambushes.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Willpower, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Survival Training ([[herbalist]])===
When a herbalist picks some plants, he will carry them to the food stockpile himself, even if his food hauling labor is disabled. Herbalists can carry more than one type of item if gathering from a plant that yields multiple usable growths. When gathering from trees, a herbalist will let the item drop to the ground, to be carried to a stockpile by haulers. Setting up smaller stockpiles in the field from which haulers will collect with wheelbarrows is an obvious solution to save on hauling time.

'''Pros:'''
*Provides a reserve of ready food. Which is a good idea early on, before a steady supply is set up.
*Provides materials for prepared food, booze and sometimes extracts. Also, seeds, allowing to grow those plants on farms later.

'''Cons:'''
*Map dependent
*Unless the area is carefully designated in safer parts of the map, herbalists (and haulers, from field stockpiles) will wander all over the place, making them vulnerable to creatures and ambushes.
*Unlike wood, foodstuffs won't lie on the ground indefinitely. You have to collect it quickly, or some vermin will, and even temporary stockpiles need protection.
** Small barns in the field solve the problem, but you need to build them; then again, it's another training, see "architect" below. Cats "pastured" over stockpiles solve the problem, but create several others.

'''Attributes Trained:'''
Agility, Kinesthetic Sense, Memory

===Dwarf Scouts ([[ambusher]], [[hunter]], [[marksdwarf]])===
Marksdwarves are an important part of any military. A bum rush of low-level marksdwarves is good, but not as effective as an elite backup squad! Here is what you can do:
Draft a comfortable number of dwarves to hunting, give them all no-[[quality]] crossbows and no-quality, [[density|lightweight]] wooden bolts to make them less effective killers, and so keep them out hunting longer. Put them in heavy armor, both to slow them down even more and to protect them against the occasional danger. Your dwarves should hunt as usual - but you are really training an elite squad of assassins, that will one day hunt goblins instead of groundhogs.

'''Pros:'''
*Easy to start.
*Lots of meat, bones and leather around.
*Aforementioned bones can be recycled to make new bolts.

'''Cons:'''
*Doesn't work on some maps.
*Hunting can be dangerous!
*Evil areas may result in the deer your dwarves "bagged" rising up as [[undead]] and ripping your hunters' faces off!
*Not as economically productive as some other methods.

'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Focus, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense (ambusher)

===Art School ([[weaver]])===
Collecting spider [[web]]s is normally a slow way to train weaving, but that's because the aspiring weaver spends most of their time hiking out to the spiderweb(s) and then back to the loom. If you manage to create a [[silk farming|convenient local source of webs]] near a loom, your weavers-in-training will rapidly gain experience. The abundant silk thread can then be woven by your more experienced weavers for clothing and trade.

'''Pros:'''
*Safe and easy to run
*Virtually inexhaustible
*Produces valuable resources (silk cloth)

'''Cons:'''
*Requires somewhat complex setup
*Weaving is a [[moodable]] skill--and not a particularly desirable one
*Spider webs are typically available only in the caverns, where there could be dangerous wandering creatures such as [[giant cave spider]]s or [[blind cave ogre]]s.

'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Creativity, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense



===Dwarven [[Arena]] ([[noble|n̶o̶b̶l̶e̶s̶]])===

Find a way to put civilians near an arena, perhaps a dining room. Lock them in. Let your gobbos and "[[noble|worthy champions]]" fight to the death while they are forced to watch, gaining discipline. Unlock the room. Find a way to dispose of survivors. Revel upon your new [[tantrum|well]]-[[depression|disciplined]] [[fun|dwarves!]]

'''Pros:'''
*Discipline is useful for everyday life
*Helps with live training that may come to your dorfs at a later date
*If you have a military, you can double it as live training
*With [[Drowning chamber|good]] [[Magma|safety]] [[Bridge|procedures]], little future oversight is required
*Watching gobbos getting their internal organs thrashed out is hilarious
*Satisfies "Fight" need for dwarves who won't spar
*Useful for disposing of pesky [[nobles]] and dorfs that survive hammerings.
*Could be helpful for training discipline with your engineers

'''Cons:'''
*If you're seriously considering adding this to a fort you may not even ''need'' it very much as corpses already generate discipline.
*Doesn't produce any goods.
*Only trains one attribute for civilians (but it is a useful one.)
*Bad design choices can be quite fatal to a younger fort.

'''Attributes trained'''
*Discipline
*Various military skills (observer, fighter, dodger, etc...) (if you use your military in the arena)
*Lever operator and Mechanic (When you build and service it, but don't expect a big raise (and lever operator isn't that helpful anyway)

==Obsolete Programs==
Occasionally, a training program stops working. This section is for programs that were not obsolete in the last namespace, or were made possible in a version of this namespace, yet do not work in the latest version.

===Gym ([[pump operator]])===

Previously, building a bunch of [[screw pump]]s connected to nothing and ordering them to be operated was an effective way to train endurance. However, the attribute gain from Pump Operation has been so drastically reduced in various patches since its discovery that it can't be considered an effective training routine any longer[https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/10p4mcn/screw_pump_stats_gained_nerf/], and the problem it was once meant to solve, keeping dwarves from partying all the time, tends not to be a problem anymore. Quite the contrary. If anything, Dwarves of today seem to be unable to take care of any of their emotional needs at all unless they have no jobs to do whatsoever, making this method counter-productive and prone to accumulating Distraction penalties from loneliness and a lack of creativity, crafting, learning, praying, and merrymaking, which will slow down any and all work and skill gains until those needs are met, usually requiring you go out of your way to do so. Don't use this in any serious capacity, military training is several times better in every way.

==Overview==
*Artillery training can give you some siege operators, which will be useful if you have ballistae.
*The internship only trains up one dwarf at a time. Your stocks could also lag behind if you are unlucky.
*The gulag requires planning, and your dwarves in the fortress proper may run all the way to the gulag to grab a stone for some crafts, a chair, etc. It does, however, train your dwarves in mining quickly, which is always a useful skill.
*Renovation is hands-free, but may bloat your fortress wealth too quickly.
*The sweatshop creates a large amount of goods, which can be traded away to keep traders happy. It also increases your wealth by quite a lot, which can be good or bad depending upon your situation. The goods are also difficult to manage.
*National self-defence training is easy to manage when set up and lets you give your civilians clothes and light armour to keep them safe. However, it can take valuable workers away from their job if the training is too frequent.

Note that the artillery training and internship don't influence potential [[strange mood]]s (you can give those dwarves dabbling in anything you want and that's how they'll get theirs), while the gulag, renovation, and sweatshop do.

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Fortress defense}}
[[ru:Cross-training]]

Cross-training

2026-02-18T11:12:22Z

Silverwing235: /* Dwarf Scouts (ambusher, hunter, marksdwarf) */

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}

'''Cross-training''' is the process of training your civilian dwarves in military pursuits, or vice versa, and can offer several benefits. First and most importantly, it can be a good way of raising attributes, leading to stronger, tougher, faster dwarves. Secondly, it provides a handy pool of recruits for when your military takes a beating or gives your civilians a halfway-decent chance of defending themselves. Thirdly, it can provide useful replacements for when your legendary mason accidentally blunders into a [[troll]] and gets all their limbs broken. Finally, it's a more productive use of time than standing around idling.

There is nothing saying you have to use only one of these ideas; they are all various approaches toward addressing these areas.

The biggest thing to remember with a reserves program is that if you're going to go, you go all the way. Don't institute something "just for a little while" and come up with a handful of novice reservists; they will not get significant stat increases and you'll only waste time. Time is not something you have a heck of a lot of in a typical reserves program. Remember that after you draft them, most dwarves are going to need about a year of sparring or training before they're ready for heavy combat. You might not have that much time if you are getting besieged regularly.

==List of Programs==

===National self-defense training===
''Make sure you're familiar with the [[military interface]], [[squads]] and [[scheduling]] before attempting this.''

This is the process of training all your civilians in military skills - or at least, most of them. The easiest way to do this is to assign every new [[migrant]] or recently grown up child to dedicated training [[squad]]s, and assign that squad a barracks. Then, schedule these squads to train and set the squad to "Active/Training".

National self-defense training is by far the most efficient way to increase attributes related to military skills. This includes strength, agility, toughness, endurance, focus, intuition, kinesthetic sense, spatial sense and willpower - all of these will see dramatic increases and reach the individual maximum when training lasts long enough. To increase the rate at which dwarves gain skills, place one experienced trainer / soldier in each squad, which will make demonstrations much more valuable.

Then, if they ever get caught where they don't want to be (maybe they bump into a thief coming around a corner, or a flying critter jumps them, or you need to urgently order them out of the path of a magma flood, or send them to the [[Lever|control room]] - anything), every dwarf has a better chance at not-dying - which can only be a good thing. You may want to remove the barracks assignment from a reserve squad after you're done training them, or they'll tend to spend all their time on "Individual Combat Drill" rather than performing their civilian jobs. To ensure dwarves can train while still performing civilian duties, set the Training Order's minimum number of dwarves to be less than the squad's size, but set their uniform to Wear Always. This will keep them in their gear at all times but will allow them to take breaks from training. Dutiful dwarves may choose not to take breaks, however.

'''Pros:'''
*Easy, cheap, and no maintenance once set up
*No need for other cross-training for any attribute affected by national self-defense training
*Trainees gain useful military skills
*Dwarves who lead demonstrations while training may also gain levels in Organizer, Leader, and Teacher, while any dwarves who watch demonstrations may gain levels in Student. This can satisfy certain [[needs]].
*Trainees will be faster, stronger and tougher both in daily life and in emergencies

'''Cons:'''
*Legendary fighting skills may make tantrums more fun
*Trainees don't work during training
*Trainees don't socialise during training, which can lead to loneliness, unhappiness, and Distraction penalties.
*Trainees will choose training over performing civilian duties
'''Attributes trained:'''

Rapid increases in strength, agility, toughness, endurance, focus, intuition, kinesthetic sense, spatial sense and willpower.

===Boiler-room ([[furnace operator]])===
:''See also: [[Melt]]''
Boiler-room training can be performed by forging and melting items that do not incur a loss of metal in the process. This method is more of a direct training scheme for the various [[smith]]ing labors, furnace operator skill and attribute training are a side benefit.

'''Pros:'''
*Easy to set up.
*Requires little continuous oversight on your part.
*Somewhat fast training; dwarves reach legendary in two years.
*Depending on item, can duplicate non-[[adamantine|spoiler]] metals.

'''Cons:'''
*Requires access to [[magma]], or vast quantities of fuel
*May interfere with legitimate melting jobs (use of linked [[stockpile]]s, [[burrow]]s, and [[profile]]s can mitigate this).

'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Toughness, Endurance, Analytical Ability, Kinesthetic Sense

===Swimming Pool ===
Adding a swimming pool allows your dwarves to rapidly boost their swimmer skill; unfortunately they will not do so voluntarily. A simple pit with 4/7 - 6/7 of water and a means of "encouraging" your dwarves to dive in are sufficient. Placing your swimming pool near/under a [[meeting hall]] will automatically train idle (and partying) dwarves. Minecart-aided swim training is a safer method; it is based on the feature that a dwarf riding a minecart learns swimming while doing so. (See [[Swimming_pool#Minecart_training|Minecart training]])

'''Pros:'''
*Cheap to set up
*Automates training of idle dwarves without interfering with actual work
*Provides a good set of physical [[attribute]]s likely to speed up fortress operation
*Swimming skill can occasionally save a dwarf's life
'''Cons:'''
*Generates no wealth
*[[gravity|Falling]] damage can be significant (of course, this trains medical staff too!).
*[[Flooding]] can be a problem, particular for overseers unfamiliar with Dwarf Fortress fluid mechanics
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Endurance, Strength, Willpower, Kinesthetic Sense, Spatial Sense

===Artillery proving ground ([[siege operator]])===
Mass-produce some catapults, line them up near a quarry, and fire away. Works well to dispose of stone from a gulag (see below). 
'''Pros:'''
*Trains a skill that's reasonably useful, and provides a place to put all the sub-par siege engine components your [[siege engineer]] will doubtlessly create if you're going for superior-quality engines.
*Harasses the wildlife, which is always fun and sometimes [[Fun]]. 
'''Cons:'''
*Very slow to train (2+ years for legendary).
*Fairly space-consuming to set up a well-designed and usable proving ground.
*Can be dangerous depending on the biome (especially when [[elephant]]s are present. If they get winged by a stray boulder, you can bet they're going to be coming straight at you).
*[[Siege operator]]s are civilians, and will run in fear when an enemy approaches them.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Toughness, Endurance, Analytical Ability, Focus, Spatial Sense

===Internship MkII ([[manager]])===
Assign a new dwarf to manager, queue several hundred jobs, and rotate a replacement in as soon as they become legendary. For bonus points, queue jobs which need to be repeated anyway, like "Prepare Raw Fish" or "Mill Plants", or jobs for which there is no workshop, like "Make Wooden Bow" or "Make Soap".

'''Pros:'''
*Requires no extra infrastructure at all.
*You need a manager anyway!
*Mostly safe; a manager spends basically all their discretionary time snug in their office, or doing other assigned jobs.
'''Cons:'''
*Only employs one dwarf at a time; not useful when you have 15-25 candidates for the reserves.
*No announcement when the current intern reaches Legendary status means you can lose time on rotation easily.
*Produces little to no useful attribute gains
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Analytical Ability, Memory, Focus

===Gulag ([[miner]])===
The gulag is basically a strip mine that is located far away from your main fortress (so you don't have to worry about accidentally screwing up your own building plans; if you are careful in planning, it may be placed closer to your fortress). Take a big square and start leveling it; it's really no more complicated than that. Since [[pick]]s can actually be used as weapons, it's worthwhile to give the reservists who will be working in the gulag picks made out of [[bronze]], or, if you are really living large, [[iron]] or even [[steel]] (Note that as of v53, pickaxe material actually matters now, so it may be a good idea to equip your dwarves with steel picks regardless). Note that you will have to turn your usual mining corps (the civilian miners who are already experienced with mining) off or designate separate mining [[burrow]]s for this setup to work properly. It might be convenient to use a locked door to isolate the gulag from the main fortress, once a batch of trainees is inside. If you wish to train all of your miners equally and still get real work done on the fort, you can designate the gulag area with a lower [[Designations_menu#Priority|priority]] than any actual important work. 
'''Pros:'''
*Soldiers can be equipped with picks from the military screen, and use the Miner skill in combat - militia squads of highly skilled miners can provide a decent defense from early threats
*Toting a pick for close-quarters support might make a legendary [[marksdwarf]] more useful, since the pathetic bludgeon damage of his [[wood]] and [[bone]] [[Weapon#Dwarf-manufactured Weapons|crossbows]] is less important.
*Can be quite useful for producing stones you might not have access to normally, or uncovering veins of precious metals.
*Levels quite fast in sand.
*Relatively little oversight from you.
*An overland hike to the gulag will fight [[cave adaptation]] in your military candidates.
*Can easily be transformed into a [[Caverns#Vegetation|underground tree farm]] on suitable maps, providing a safe and replenishable wood source.
*Mining trains all military attributes, so it's perfect for military training too

'''Cons:'''
*Juggling your real miners and your reservists when there's real work to be done on the fort can be a chore.
*Hard to keep dwarves in the gulag for too long; they'll inevitably get hungry, thirsty, and tired and start hiking back to the fortress proper. Could be solved by (temporary) [[burrow]].
*Can be dangerous, depending on the biome.
*Does require some amount of oversight from you, especially when your reservists start getting better at mining and run out of work more quickly.
*Surplus stone and mining in general are suspected to promote [[Maximizing_framerate|lag]].
*Can be trained easier and without space consumption as part of national defense training, when assigning picks as weapons.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Toughness, Endurance, Willpower, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Renovation (smoothing)===
Another convenient way to buff up your dwarves, assigning your reservists to mass [[smoothing]] duty increases your fortress' architectural wealth and makes the place look nicer. While they may clutter the halls somewhat, it doesn't require any special allocation of [[food]], [[bed]]s or [[drink]]. Just turn on [[stonecutting]] for your reservists and mark up as much of the fortress as you like for renovation. If you have no particular area you want smoothed, you can alternate designating some open space between carving tracks and then smoothing them out. Be aware that carving tracks automatically sets those squares to be low traffic areas, so you may want to choose an out-of-the-way area that won't disrupt pathing for other activities. 
'''Pros:'''
*Even easier to set up; just assign your dwarves and an area and you're good to go.
*Increases your fortress' value and general happiness.
*Requires no continuous oversight on your part.
*Very safe, if you only assign areas inside the fortress.

'''Cons:'''
*Wealth overflow may bring too many [[immigrant]]s.
*Careless designation of smoothing areas may have your dwarves trying to smooth walls too close to [[magma]], a [[river]], or an active [[minecart]] track.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Creativity, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Sweatshop ([[Stone carver]])===
Make one or more [[stoneworker's workshop]]s in an area with a bunch of junk stone you don't care about, or that you're actively looking to clear. Change the workshop settings to allow only your reservists to use it, then tell the workshop to churn out junk furniture and trade goods that you can trade en-masse. Alternatively, forbid your reservists from working in your real stoneworker's workshops, order lots of stone constructions built, and pray that your real stone carvers stay too occupied with the workshops to intrude. Can also be done with Stone Crafts (although that levels a less valuable [[moodable]] skill). Works well in conjunction with a [[Cross-training#Gulag_.28miner.29|gulag]]. Alternate ideas for sweatshops include a [[mechanic's workshop]], [[craftsdwarf's workshop]], [[Kiln|magma kiln]], or a [[Glass furnace|magma glass furnace]] to train [[mechanic]], [[Stone crafter|stonecrafter]], [[potter]] and [[glassmaker]] respectively.

Mass producing stone blocks trains Stone '''Cutter''', not Stone Carver, another less valuable moodable skill. While stone blocks have their use in a fortress, they have no "quality", so give half the experience to leveling up that skill (though attributes increase just as fast).

''Note: Do NOT try this with the [[carpenter]] skill unless you have a large supply of trees/logs, nor with any other resource you don't have in near-limitless abundance. Sweatshops will consume huge amounts of their associated resources, and if you run out mid-way you have probably wasted your time. This includes [[coke]] or [[charcoal]] used in normal (non-magma) [[smelter]]s and [[glass furnace]]s.'' 
'''Pros:'''
*Quantitatively turns a profit. The inferior trade goods can be dumped on the next caravan for more useful commodities like bags, seeds, and logs. Logs are especially useful, since you'll inevitably stamp out lots of bins to support the trade good output.
*Unlike many other training programs, Sweatshops train a skill that is very useful.

'''Cons:'''
*Slow to level.
*Hard to keep the reservists on task, since they'll need to do plenty of hauling to keep their workshop from becoming chokingly cluttered.
*Can be a logistical nightmare; making bins and organizing hauling for the finished goods can be insane if you're working from a gulag.
*Can be dangerous depending on the biome and location of your sweatshops.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Creativity, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Dwarf-powered mill ([[grower]], [[cook]], [[miller]])===
Start off by creating a surplus of [[longland grass]], [[cave wheat]], and/or [[whip vine]], and some bags. Create multiple [[quern]]s all close to the food stockpile which contains the millable plants. Next to this area, make a [[kitchen]] assigned to an experienced cook. Enable milling for the dwarves you wish to cross-train and order the cook to make lavish meals. As long as your growers provide a steady supply of millable plants and your cook can empty out bags quick enough, the milling jobs will continue. 
'''Pros:'''
*Produces a lot of wealth, as flour is a high value ingredient
*Produces high amounts of food
*Sustains the training of non cross-training dwarves, such as the cook and growers

'''Cons:'''
*Requires a surplus of millable plants to ensure continuous milling, thus you may need to increase the number of plots/growers
*If you don't have enough bags, you may end up having job cancellations for the millers
*Dedicated haulers will be required to keep all workshops clutter-free
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Kinesthetic Sense (grower and miller)

Agility, Analytical Ability, Creativity, Kinesthetic Sense (cook)

===Clear Cutting===
As long as wood hauling is turned off, dwarves will move from one tree to the next without stopping to bring the wood back. On a heavily forested map, this means that dedicated wood cutters can skill up quickly, though the total number of trees to chop has been drastically reduced from previous versions.

Of course, this training strategy isn't going to endear you with the [[elves]].

'''Pros:'''
*Works quickly
*Provides useful lumber to carpenters, charcoal makers, etc.
*Can cause problems with elves
*Can agitate the wildlife to walk into your prepared cage traps
'''Cons:'''
*Can cause problems with elves
*Can agitate the wildlife
*Map dependent
*Trees are limited, and regrow slowly
*Unless care is taken to only designate a small area for cutting, trainees and haulers can be spread out all over the map, making them vulnerable to creatures and ambushes.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Willpower, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Survival Training ([[herbalist]])===
When a herbalist picks some plants, he will carry them to the food stockpile himself, even if his food hauling labor is disabled. Herbalists can carry more than one type of item if gathering from a plant that yields multiple usable growths. When gathering from trees, a herbalist will let the item drop to the ground, to be carried to a stockpile by haulers. Setting up smaller stockpiles in the field from which haulers will collect with wheelbarrows is an obvious solution to save on hauling time.

'''Pros:'''
*Provides a reserve of ready food. Which is a good idea early on, before a steady supply is set up.
*Provides materials for prepared food, booze and sometimes extracts. Also, seeds, allowing to grow those plants on farms later.

'''Cons:'''
*Map dependent
*Unless the area is carefully designated in safer parts of the map, herbalists (and haulers, from field stockpiles) will wander all over the place, making them vulnerable to creatures and ambushes.
*Unlike wood, foodstuffs won't lie on the ground indefinitely. You have to collect it quickly, or some vermin will, and even temporary stockpiles need protection.
** Small barns in the field solve the problem, but you need to build them; then again, it's another training, see "architect" below. Cats "pastured" over stockpiles solve the problem, but create several others.

'''Attributes Trained:'''
Agility, Kinesthetic Sense, Memory

===Dwarf Scouts ([[ambusher]], [[hunter]], [[marksdwarf]])===
Marksdwarves are an important part of any military. A bum rush of low-level marksdwarves is good, but not as effective as an elite backup squad! Here is what you can do:
Draft a comfortable number of dwarves to hunting, give them all no-[[quality]] crossbows and no-quality, [[density|lightweight]] wooden bolts to make them less effective killers, and so keep them out hunting longer. Put them in heavy armor, both to slow them down even more and to protect them against the occasional danger. Your dwarves should hunt as usual - but you are really training an elite squad of assassins, that will one day hunt goblins instead of groundhogs.

'''Pros:'''
*Easy to start.
*Lots of meat, bones and leather around.
*Aforementioned bones can be recycled to make new bolts.

'''Cons:'''
*Doesn't work on some maps.
*Hunting can be dangerous!
*Evil areas may result in the deer your dwarves "bagged" rising up as [[undead]] and ripping your hunters' faces off!
*Not as economically productive as some other methods.

'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Focus, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense (ambusher)

===Art School ([[weaver]])===
Collecting spider [[web]]s is normally a slow way to train weaving, but that's because the aspiring weaver spends most of their time hiking out to the spiderweb(s) and then back to the loom. If you manage to create a [[silk farming|convenient local source of webs]] near a loom, your weavers-in-training will rapidly gain experience. The abundant silk thread can then be woven by your more experienced weavers for clothing and trade.

'''Pros:'''
*Safe and easy to run
*Virtually inexhaustible
*Produces valuable resources (silk cloth)

'''Cons:'''
*Requires somewhat complex setup
*Weaving is a [[moodable]] skill--and not a particularly desirable one
*Spider webs are typically available only in the caverns, where there could be dangerous wandering creatures such as [[giant cave spider]]s or [[blind cave ogre]]s.

'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Creativity, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense



===Dwarven [[Arena]] ([[noble|n̶o̶b̶l̶e̶s̶]])===

Find a way to put civilians near an arena, perhaps a dining room. Lock them in. Let your gobbos and "[[noble|worthy champions]]" fight to the death while they are forced to watch, gaining discipline. Unlock the room. Find a way to dispose of survivors. Revel upon your new [[tantrum|well]]-[[depression|disciplined]] [[fun|dwarves!]]

'''Pros:'''
*Discipline is useful for everyday life
*Helps with live training that may come to your dorfs at a later date
*If you have a military, you can double it as live training
*With [[Drowning chamber|good]] [[Magma|safety]] [[Bridge|procedures]], little future oversight is required
*Watching gobbos getting their internal organs thrashed out is hilarious
*Satisfies "Fight" need for dwarves who won't spar
*Useful for disposing of pesky [[nobles]] and dorfs that survive hammerings.
*Could be helpful for training discipline with your engineers

'''Cons:'''
*If you're seriously considering adding this to a fort you may not even ''need'' it very much as corpses already generate discipline.
*Doesn't produce any goods.
*Only trains one attribute for civilians (but it is a useful one.)
*Bad design choices can be quite fatal to a younger fort.

'''Attributes trained'''
*Discipline
*Various military skills (observer, fighter, dodger, etc...) (if you use your military in the arena)
*Lever operator and Mechanic (When you build and service it, but don't expect a big raise (and lever operator isn't that helpful anyway)

==Obsolete Programs==
Occasionally, a training program stops working. This section is for programs that were not obsolete in the last namespace, or were made possible in a version of this namespace, yet do not work in the latest version.

===Gym ([[pump operator]])===

Previously, building a bunch of [[screw pump]]s connected to nothing and ordering them to be operated was an effective way to train endurance. However, the attribute gain from Pump Operation has been so drastically reduced in various patches since its discovery that it can't be considered an effective training routine any longer[https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/10p4mcn/screw_pump_stats_gained_nerf/], and the problem it was once meant to solve, keeping dwarves from partying all the time, tends not to be a problem anymore. Quite the contrary. If anything, Dwarves of today seem to be unable to take care of any of their emotional needs at all unless they have no jobs to do whatsoever, making this method counter-productive and prone to accumulating Distraction penalties from loneliness and a lack of creativity, crafting, learning, praying, and merrymaking, which will slow down any and all work and skill gains until those needs are met, usually requiring you go out of your way to do so. Don't use this in any serious capacity, military training is several times better in every way.

==Overview==
*Artillery training can give you some siege operators, which will be useful if you have ballistae.
*The internship only trains up one dwarf at a time. Your stocks could also lag behind if you are unlucky.
*The gulag requires planning, and your dwarves in the fortress proper may run all the way to the gulag to grab a stone for some crafts, a chair, etc. It does, however, train your dwarves in mining quickly, which is always a useful skill.
*Renovation is hands-free, but may bloat your fortress wealth too quickly.
*The sweatshop creates a large amount of goods, which can be traded away to keep traders happy. It also increases your wealth by quite a lot, which can be good or bad depending upon your situation. The goods are also difficult to manage.
*National self-defence training is easy to manage when set up and lets you give your civilians clothes and light armour to keep them safe. However, it can take valuable workers away from their job if the training is too frequent.

Note that the artillery training and internship don't influence potential [[strange mood]]s (you can give those dwarves dabbling in anything you want and that's how they'll get theirs), while the gulag, renovation, and sweatshop do.

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Fortress defense}}
[[ru:Cross-training]]

Adventurer mode gameplay

2026-02-18T10:06:35Z

Silverwing235: /* NPC companions */

{{migrated article}}
:'' This is a detailed description of Adventurer mode gameplay. For a general overview of Adventurer mode, see [[Adventurer mode]].
{{av}}

== Common UI concepts ==
{{KeyConventions|3}}

== Moving around ==

=== Local movement ===
[[File:Advmode_normaltravel_DF2014.png|thumb|400px|An image of normal travel mode. A list of the closest (but not necessarily close) sites is in the top-left corner. On the right side are minimaps of the next two levels down, relative to the player. Along the bottom is information about the player.]]
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}}
| Move
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}}
| Move
|-
| {{k|Alt}} and a direction key
| Move carefully / Deliberately enter dangerous terrain
|-
| [[File:Adv ui ascend.png]]{{k|Shift}}+{{k|<}} or {{k|Shift}}+{{key|5}} (num lock off)
| Ascend
|-
| [[File:Adv ui ascend.png]]{{k|Shift}}+{{k|>}} or {{k|Ctrl}}+{{key|5}} (num lock off)
| Descend
|-
| {{k|.}}
| Wait for 10 instants
|-
| {{k|,}}
| Wait for 1 instant
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|s}}
| Stand or lie down
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|m}}
| Open movement speed menu
|}

Unless your character is an outsider, (''and that your chosen race is even OUTSIDER_CONTROLLABLE to begin with, ie, that you perhaps did not mod such a thing into the [[creature tokens]] beforehand''), you will start out in a race-appropriate town or hamlet; in the standard tileset, the @ sign is your character. The directional keys allow movement, diagonal movement being particularly important, especially when chasing or running away from things. Use {{k|Alt}}+direction to enter water, jump off of cliffs, or otherwise attempt to enter anything that you can't enter using normal movement commands. Note that when entering water, it's best to enter the actual water, ''not'' the open space over the water, as in the latter case you will fall in, causing you to become stunned, which may lead to drowning (''if you are not at least an Adequate swimmer''). If you hit {{Adv menu icon|j}}, you can jump, being mostly useful for getting to the far sides of gorges and crevices. Occasionally, you can manage to jump onto an opponent and tackle them, which typically causes them to go flying a short distance. Note that not every creature is able to jump. Hitting {{k|.}} allows you to stay in one place and wait for other things to move. {{k|,}} does the same but with a tenth of the time it takes for {{k|.}}.

Use {{Adv menu icon|s}} to sit/lie down. Moving while laying down (crawling) will let you move past NPCs which are standing in your way. Also note that you will frequently get knocked to the ground in combat, and if you don't hit {{Adv menu icon|s}} to stand back up, then you will crawl slowly along the ground, giving your opponent a lot of opportunity to attack you.

You can press {{Adv menu icon|m}} to set [[gait]] and {{Adv menu icon|S}} to toggle sneak mode – it will allow you to move around invisibly, limited by your [[Ambusher]] skill and nearby creatures' [[Observer]] skill. Enemies will have sight cones indicating where they can detect a sneaking adventurer – the central zone of sight (red, violet, or cyan) is where they will see you immediately and begin chasing you; their peripheral vision (yellow) is where they might see you. Violet and cyan central zones indicate the enemy is on a different level than you, while red means they are on the same level. Staying out of sight will allow you to silently assassinate your foes, as they rarely seem to notice a knife in the back in time. Note that sneak mode is also affected by a variety of other factors detailed on the {{Adv menu icon|m}} movement screen, such as light level and weather.

If you press {{Adv menu icon|h}} to hold onto a wall or tree, you can climb the wall or tree by using the movement keys – in towns and tamer parts of the countryside, this isn't particularly useful; however, in a combat situation, climbing a tree or wall can give you a height advantage, possibly allowing you to dive-tackle your opponents. Sometimes, mountains will be too steep to walk up the edge, or you will find a deep drop into a ravine. In these cases, you will have to climb up to reach the top, or perhaps jump or climb down one face, and then climb up the other.

=== Fast travel ===
[[File:Advmode_fasttravel_DF2014.png|thumb|400px|Fast Travel screen. The player is in a hamlet, between the houses to the right and the mead hall in the top-left area of the map. The asterisk represents a group of creatures (in this case unfriendly goblins). The world map (in sepia) is on the far right.]]
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T}}
| Fast Travel
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T|d|num=1}}
| Exit fast travel mode
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T|K|num=1}}
| Display detected tracks and odors
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T|c|num=1}}
| Toggle display of clouds on region map
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|S}}
| Walk around in sneak mode. Exiting fast travel starts you in sneak mode.
|-
| [[File:Adv ui T.png]]{{k|m}}
| Cycle through maps and significant structures
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|Q}}
| View Quest Log
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T|Z|num=1}}
| Bring up sleep menu
|-
| {{k|h}}
| Hide parts of the bottom bar
|-
| [[File:Adv ui descend.png]]{{k|>}} and [[File:Adv ui ascend.png]]{{k|<}}
| Enter/exit tunnel
|-
|}

Entering Fast Travel mode will allow you to move large distances in a single keypress. Of course, the same amount of time will go by and you can also be interrupted (ambushed) while moving in fast travel mode. Along the top of the map is a line showing the sky, and position of the sun and/or moon from west to east – this primarily helps you determine how long you have before it gets dark, at which point you won't be able to see very far, will risk getting attacked by bogeymen if in a darkness or nightmare-[[sphere|aspected]] area, and will be more vulnerable to attack in general. If you are not near any sites, the {{k|m}} key will toggle a world map, colored in sepia tone (matching the map you see in the quest log). If you are near a site, then {{k|m}} cycles between a list of significant structures where your player is, a regional map (matching what you travel on when away from any site), and the aforementioned world map. The {{k|c}} key will only show clouds on the region map (the one you travel on outside of sites). Some clouds will be visible regardless of the state of this option.

The {{k|h}} key will cycle through various amounts of the bottom bar of content hidden. The effects of each press are:

* 1 press: hide key reference. Allows you to see status effects on your character if obscured by the key list.
* 2 presses: hide most local name, reducing the bar to one line of text.
* 3 presses: hide less local name, eliminating the bar entirely.
* 4 presses: shows all information

== Status and information ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|l}}
| Look around
|-
| {{k|Space}}
| Advance/Clear Messages
|-
| {{Menu icon|a}}
| View [[Announcement]]s
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|z}}
| Status
|}

=== Looking around ===
{{old}}
If you're not sure what a tile is, the {{k|l}}ook command will tell you. In addition to being useful for identifying tiles and creatures, you can also view creatures' equipment and what items are sitting on the ground in a given tile. If in doubt, try the look command.

Move the cursor to the tile you want to look at using direction keys and {{k|Shift}}+direction. It's possible to look up and down z-levels (assuming you have line of sight) using the {{k|<}} and {{k|>}} keys. This, for example, allows you to find out if any flying creatures are above you. Hit {{Menu icon|Esc}} to exit look mode and go back to movement mode.

=== Messages ===

The game makes frequent use of messages on the screen to tell you what is going on. If there are a lot of these you may need to use {{k|Space}} to display the rest of the messages that won't fit on the screen. You can always go back and view old [[announcement]]s by pressing {{Menu icon|a}}.

=== Status screen ===

The status screen {{Adv menu icon|z}} shows your skills, attributes, wounded body parts, health (along with more detailed descriptions of your wounds), lets you view your description, and change your nickname if you want.

=== Saving the game ===

Hit the {{Menu icon|Esc}} key at any time and select {{DFtext|Save Game}} to save your game. You can then come back to it later by using the {{DFtext|Continue Playing}} option in the main menu.

== Searching and manipulating ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|u}}
| Interact with building, furniture, or mechanism
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|L}}
| Search the nearby area very carefully
|}

The {{k|u}} key can be used to do stuff like pull levers in an abandoned fort. It is also used to lower and raise the bucket when standing right next to a well, so you can get water to refill your waterskin with. You can also access this through the context menu.

{{Adv menu icon|L}} will perform a thorough search of the area that you're standing in, possibly revealing some [[vermin|small creatures]].

== Managing equipment ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|i}}
| Show Inventory
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|d}}
| Drop an item
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|g}}
| Get (pick up) an item off the ground
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|p}}
| Put an item into a container
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|r}}
| Remove an item you are wearing or from a container
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|w}}
| Wear an item
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|I}}
| Interact with an object in an advanced way (unstick a weapon, refill waterskin etc.).
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|q}}
| Sheath your weapons and shield. (Frees your hands for tasks such as climbing or grabbing)
|}

=== Inventory ===

Press {{Adv menu icon|i}} to display a list of what you are currently carrying. Press {{k|-}} {{k|+}} {{k|*}} {{k|/}} to scroll thru the list. This list will show you if items are being worn, held in hands, stuck on your body, or are inside a container. Detailed information about an object can be viewed by pressing the key associated with the item.

=== Getting/dropping things ===

You can {{Adv menu icon|d}} drop items out of your inventory, as well as {{k|g}}et items on the ground on the same tile that you are standing on. If there is more than one item a menu will be listed. Press {{k|-}} {{k|+}} {{k|*}} {{k|/}} to scroll the list if the list is too long to fit on the screen. Note that getting something makes your adventurer pick something up with his or her hands. This often means that you have to use {{Adv menu icon|q}} to sheathe whatever you have in your hands before you pick something up. If you do not have a backpack or some other way of storing the object, your adventurer will not pick the item up.

{{Adv menu icon|g}} will also allow you to ignite foliage/any flammable objects adjacent to you. [[Campfire]]s aren't (yet) as devastating as one might imagine, but they will cause (most) enemies to path around them, making your crowd control techniques slightly more effective when taking on multiple enemies. As an added bonus, it will also surely piss off the elves.

=== Containers/wearing ===

Items can be placed into containers with {{Adv menu icon|p}} and removed with {{Adv menu icon|r}}. Items can be worn using {{Adv menu icon|w}} and removed using {{Adv menu icon|r}} (the same command used for removing from containers). If an item you want to wear does not show up as an option, then it means you are already wearing too many items in the location used by that item. Try {{Adv menu icon|r}} removing items in that location and then wear them again in order of priority.

''Note that "large" or "small" clothing items are too big / small for your race'' (e.g. a '''large''' giant cave spider silk sock). If you have that problem, try getting clothing from a different source. Looking at the article will reveal which race it has been fitted for.

After acquiring [[armor]] from one source or another, you'll most likely want to equip it. To do this, first make sure it is in your possession--not on the ground. You can then {{key|w}}ear it, granted you don't already have too much on that equipment slot already. You can {{k|r}}emove or {{k|d}}rop inferior equipment as necessary.

See [[Armor]] for more information on wearing things. One thing to note in particular, items worn on the same location can stack in many situations, for example a copper mail shirt and a copper breastplate.

=== Wielding ===

There is no command for wielding items such as [[weapon]]s in specific hands. Instead, they are automatically equipped when you either {{Adv menu icon|g}} get them from the ground or {{Adv menu icon|r}} remove them from your [[backpack]] - provided the hand that would wield them is free. So in order to change [[weapon]]s or [[shield]]s you should drop items or place them into containers (such as your backpack) until your hands are free, then get items from the floor or remove them from containers which will place them in your hands. For example, put all items into backpack, remove sword from backpack, remove shield from backpack. The items will end up in the right and left hand. Simply remember the {{Adv menu icon|r}} remove command and the {{Adv menu icon|p}} put into container command.

While normally, one would only be able to equip one item in each hand, removing items from your inventory results in them being wielded regardless of whether one's hands are full.{{bug|9817}} This is especially useful with shields, as every shield will contribute a block chance to each incoming attack.

Once equipped, weapons and shields can be quickly drawn and sheathed with {{Adv menu icon|q}}, instantly preparing for attack or freeing your hands. Any number of weapons can be strapped, but only one for each hand will be drawn. Others can be manually {{Adv menu icon|r}} removed for use, and stowed again without occupying other inventory containers.

It should be noted that ''Dwarf Fortress'' does not enforce one particular hand as dominant for everyone (e.g. some characters may be left-handed), so do not be surprised if your character holds the weapon and [[Armor#Shields and Bucklers|shield]] in hands you yourself would not hold them in.

During advanced combat interactions, it's worth noting that the first item you picked up with empty hands shows up at the top of the interaction menu. This means picking up a shield first will mean pressing {{k|a}} will bash with the shield. Being consistent in the order you equip weapons will allow you to easily memorize attacks.

=== Advanced interaction ===

The {{Adv menu icon|I}} key allows "complex interaction" with objects in your inventory, used for removing arrows and weapons stuck in wounds, which will appear in your inventory when they become stuck in you.
Removing stuck arrows can cause bleeding, so it is not always a good idea mid-combat, but stuck objects will slow you down as you are encumbered by their weight. It's best to remove them as soon as possible when it is safe and you are not in danger of bleeding to death.

Advanced interaction can also be used to steal enemy equipment. Use [[wrestling]] to grab hold of a piece of enemy equipment, such as their weapon, or a helmet protecting their squishy brain, and it will appear in the advanced interaction menu. Simply grab the item with a free hand and pull away. If successful, you will now be holding that item in your hands.

This command is particularly useful for getting water. When standing next to a well you press the {{k|u}} key to lower, then raise the bucket, which gets 10 units of water in the bucket. Then you can press the {{Adv menu icon|I}} key to fill your waterskin from the full bucket (alternatively you can press the {{Adv menu icon|e}} key to drink directly from the bucket).

Advanced interactions can be used next to a campfire to heat things, such as any frozen liquids you have in your inventory (or snow lying on the ground) and need to drink. You can refill waterskins from a nearby liquid source as well

===Sheathing===
The {{Adv menu icon|q}} key lets you strap your weapons to your back, useful because you can't climb or wrestle with your hands while holding weapons or other objects. People will also be less likely to be scared of you on first sight, if you don't appear to be ready to attack.
Keep in mind that while strapping will put away ''everything'' you have in your hands, pressing it again will only cause you to put items into hands that are currently empty, meaning if you had multiple items in one hand, you'll have to {{Adv menu icon|r}} remove them manually to use them again.

== Time and weather ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|D}}
| Date
|-
| {{k|P}}
| Temperature
|-
| {{k|W}}
| Weather/Time
|}

The game has a day/night cycle, with time passing as various actions take place. When using fast travel mode, the top line of the screen will indicate the position of the sun in the sky with a yellow "☼"; Further to the right of the screen is earlier in the day, and further to the left is later. In local travel mode you'll have to use the {{k|W}} command to learn the position of the sun, when you're in a place where the sun is visible. At night you won't be able to see nearly as well, and you will be more vulnerable to ambush. The game also has weather and temperature. The most common weather you'll experience is rain, which is shown as blue moving dots on the local travel screen and will, unsurprisingly, cause everything outside to become wet. Temperature is important, because if it happens to drop below freezing while you're swimming through water, you'll instantly die from being encased in the ice. Therefore, you might want to keep an eye on the temperature while swimming, especially if it's getting cold. Also, unlike fortress mode, rivers/other bodies of water can be liquid during the day, and freeze at night. The cycles of freezing can also be erratic from day to day. Freezing weather can also freeze liquids in your inventory solid, making them undrinkable. If your water freezes and you are thirsty, make a campfire and {{k|I}}nteract with your waterskin to heat it over the fire and melt the ice.

== Sleep ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|Z}}
| Sleep
|}

Eventually, your character will become {{DFtext|Drowsy|1:0}}, and this will get worse until you get sufficient sleep.

{{old|Bogeymen were updated with 0.47.01, are now restricted to certain evil regions, and gained new powers}}
Sleep does not necessarily have to coincide with night, but if you're traveling alone when night comes, you'll be in danger of being attacked by [[bogeymen]]. To avoid this while traveling solo you need to make it to shelter before nightfall and sleep the night away inside a building or abandoned lair. Enter a building, use {{Adv menu icon|k}} to talk to one of the speaking-peoples, and ask for permission to stay the night. Next, press {{Adv menu icon|Z}} to sleep, {{K|d}} to sleep until dawn, then {{K|Enter}} to confirm. ('''NOTE''': If you stay the night in a castle, you have to sleep in the keep which houses the lord/lady of the castle. Sleeping inside the castle but outside the keep still leaves you vulnerable to attack.) Sleeping on an ocean beach also prevents bogeymen from attacking. (If you'd rather not deal with bogeymen, you can disable them by generating a world using [[advanced world generation]] and setting "Number of Bogeymen" to 0)

Though sleeping inside can be safe, it's also limiting: any quest site you want to go to has to be within a daytime's round-trip time of a safe habitation, and you have to make your way there by hopping from one habitation to the next, sleeping at each along the way. A way to avoid this is to travel with companions. If you have any companions with you, then [[bogeymen]] won't attack you. You'll still have to sleep at night, though, both to avoid sleep deprivation and because there's no visibility at night. You can still be ambushed at night by wildlife, but that's much less likely than being ambushed by [[bogeymen]] when traveling alone. If you find yourself alone at night with nowhere safe to sleep, the safest bet is to keep traveling until dawn, even if that means running around in circles. You will eventually feel unwell from sleep deprivation, but this can take a considerable amount of time. You can make up for lost sleep once you've found your way to safety. Note that sleeping in lairs, shrines, and labyrinths makes you safe from ambush, assuming that you or someone else has killed whatever was living there. If you have sufficient shrines/lairs/etc between you and your goal and they are either uninhabited or inhabited by things you are capable of killing, then you can travel from lair to lair, using each as a safe lodging. This is much safer than sleeping out in the open, day or night, even with companions.

If no other options are available, completely surrounding yourself with campfires will keep night marauders at bay as they cannot pass through the fires; the fires will go out after several hours and enable you to move on (you may also be able to jump over the fires). The bogeymen or other enemies may be outside your line of sight, which will prevent you from firing arrows or throwing things at them. In this case, you will have to <s>perform music, preferably playing guitar</s> stand up and lie down {{Adv menu icon|s}} or wait 10 ticks {{K|.}} repeatedly until the enemies wander into your range, the fires go out and the enemies can path to you, or dawn breaks. It should be noted that, as of DF2014, climbing trees and sleeping on them will sometimes prevent [[bogeyman]] attacks, as well. This is especially useful if you prefer to play solo, and do not wish to have an army of followers in your employ. This is also useful if you prefer to engage enemies at your own pace (such as via stealth), rather than having your entire following party immediately charge at anything that is hostile to you. Be wary though, as bogeymen may still be able to reach you by climbing or flying.

== Food and drink ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|e}}
| [[Eat]] or [[drink]] something
|}

To find water, you must find a river, stream, or well in a town and fill your waterskin (or any container) from it, or drink from it directly. Water that may be covering you or your items will not be able to satisfy your thirst. Note that drinking vampire blood will turn you into a vampire instantly. You can only eat and drink up to stomach capacity; after that you become increasingly nauseous and unable to retain your stomach contents (though if you needed a source for vomit, that's one way to acquire it.) You can reset stomach capacity by offloading the map (travel, rest, wait, etc.,) which can only be done in safe locations and circumstances. Over time, food contents are converted to stored fat, even if you remain active, and this will increase your fat layer mass and potentially reduce your speed. Fast traveling also resets food contents (as of v: 43.03) though the hunger and thirst timers are still satisfied by consumption. If you find yourself in need of both food and hydration, make sure to take care of the most urgent problem first, as if you are moderately hungry but severely dehydrated and eat three times, you may die before you have another chance to drink. If the temperature is low enough that you might have trouble finding liquid water, snow and ice can be heated into water by first making a campfire with {{Adv menu icon|g}} and then performing an advanced interaction with {{Adv menu icon|I}} on the ice or snow in your inventory to heat it. Advanced interactions with your waterskin (or any container) can also be used to gather water from water sources, or snow from the ground.

===Announcements when eating===
When eating or drinking, the following announcements will be displayed:
*(nothing): You can eat or drink more no problem.
*You are starting to feel full: You can eat or drink ''one'' more time, but any more than that will cause problems.
*You feel really full: (Exactly what it says on the tin. This is as much as you can eat or drink at the moment.)
*It's too much! You might not be able to keep it down: You've eaten/drunk too much, and will likely [[vomit]].

== Combat ==

:'' Main page: [[Combat#Adventurer mode|Combat]]

== Talking ==
:'' Main page: [[Talking]]

== Companions ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|c}}
| View companion interface
|-
| {{k|TAB}}
| Change to another party member
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|E}}
| Activate party tactical mode
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|k}}
| Talk
|}

There are three main types of companions: party members{{version|0.47.01}}, [[hearthperson|hearthpeople]] and regular [[:Category:NPCs|NPC]] companions. [[Mount#Adventurer_Mode|Mounts]] and [[pet]]s are other types of companions.

Use the {{Adv menu icon|c}} key to open a list showing your companions and their position relative to you. That location is shown as a compass direction, the color of which indicates a rough distance with greens being closest. ({{DFtext|***|7:1}} means they are on the same tile as you.) A {{DFtext|-|7:1}} or {{DFtext|+|7:1}} after the direction indicates that they are on a z-level below or above you. This can be useful if one of them runs off and you want to find them. You can select a specific companion who is in visual range to view them, which is similar to selecting them with {{k|l}}ook, and useful to see their wounds or what they are carrying.

If a companion is too far away from you, they will no longer be shown on the list. You may be able to track them with {{Adv menu icon|K}} and {{k|l}}ooking at the displayed tracks. You can try waiting for an hour {{Adv menu icon|Z}}-({{k-|w|/|/|Enter}}) to see if they catch up to you. Or you can {{Adv menu icon|T}} fast travel to see if they show up as a [[Army|{{DFtext|*}}]] near you. If you move towards the [[Army|{{DFtext|*}}]] and it disappears, that may mean they are on the same region tile - stop traveling ({{Adv menu icon|T|d|num=1}}) and try to find them.

If you keep losing companions while crossing rivers, try finding a bridge or following the river upstream until it becomes crossable in fast travel mode.

=== Party members ===

Party members are characters created before beginning the adventure. To add another member, press {{k|N}} on the last page of character creation ({{DFtext|Mounts and pets}}). The limit on how many can be created is not known. Party members are limited to the ones you've created and NPCs can't be added to your party later in the game.

In game, you can switch control to the next member with {{k|TAB}} or pick a specific member to control with {{Adv menu icon|c}} then {{k|TAB}}. The name of the currently controlled member is shown on the status bar at the bottom of the screen (left side, top line). The screen will also center on the current character and when pressing {{k|l}} to look, the flashing {{DFtext|X|6:1}} cursor will start on the current character.

You can activate party tactical mode with {{Adv menu icon|E}}. Normally, you control one member, and the others will act on their own; in tactical mode you can control all or some of the party members. You can set which ones you control with {{Adv menu icon|c}} then {{Adv menu icon|E}}. In tactical mode, after you select an action for the current member, control automatically passes to the next player–controlled member. Once all player–controlled members have actions selected, time will progress. Once one or more characters' actions have completed, control will pass to the first of those. Although most useful for [[Combat#Adventurer mode|combat]], tactical mode can be used at any time. For example, having a conversation between two player-controlled party members in tactical mode allows you to control both sides. (Though this can be a bit confusing, since everything said will be labelled as being said by {{DFtext|You: …|2:1}}.)

=== Hearthpeople ===
{{main|Hearthperson}}

Hearthpeople are NPCs who have sworn allegiance to you, as opposed to regular companions (who usually join your party as part of a mutual agreement) and party members (who you control). In order to gain hearthpeople, you should become a [[noble|lord]] of some kind, which usually means [[claim]]ing a site with no other competing claims. The easiest way to do this is to build and claim a [[camp]]; once you are a lord or lady of a [[site]], you can recruit hearthpeople to your cause. Hearthpeople will not follow you around in your adventures, instead patrolling your site. They can also build for you,{{verify}} and will side with you in case of conflict.

You may also gain hearthpeople if someone with a nobility title gives it up for you, which they can be made to through a common dialogue [[exploit]].

=== NPC companions ===

NPC companions are those who follow you around after they've accepted your offer for them to join you. Your character will have a limit on the maximum number of companions they can have at one time, based on their [[reputation]] level and the ''Social Awareness'' attribute. Companions that are not currently with you do not count towards that limit. With average social awareness and the maximum level of fame, the limit is 19 companions. Creatures with no military skills, or those with higher skills than you, are unlikely to agree to join you. However, the average soldier will join you "if you lead [them] to glory and death". Be careful, though, as joining you does not immediately mean they are loyal to you; if you turn around and start attacking their friends, they'll cancel the agreement. Companionship does seem to eventually rewrite old loyalties, although it takes some time.{{verify}}

Companions keeping their loyalties has the unfortunate side-effect of them rarely respecting ceasefires, so yielding enemies are pretty much doomed. On the plus side, at least you are unlikely to be blamed if your companion murders people.

You can give or take equipment with an NPC companion by choosing to talk to them and selecting {{DFtext|Exchange, give or take personal items}}. It is important to note that they prefer to store exchanged items in a personal container rather than to equip them. You must convince your companions to trade away any containers (pouches, quivers, backpacks, etc.) as well as the equipment that you are attempting to replace. Once you have given your companions almost no choice in the matter, they will equip the new items and a message like {{DFtext|The Swordsman reorganizes his possessions|6:1}} will be displayed.

You can have NPCs join you as performers, after you convince them of your skills. This can be used to recruit those you normally couldn't recruit, such as civilians and stronger soldiers. What exactly is required to convince someone to join you is unclear, but reputation seems to factor into it. Even a totally unskilled performer can eventually convince eligible NPCs, simply by repeatedly spamming performances in front of them. (NPCs will not move away from performances, in fact, if they start moving while you're starting one, they'll take a step back to their previous location, once you begin. They may, however, fall asleep.) Enough performances, even if they never get a single reaction above "pretty good", should convince almost anyone. This method makes obtaining the maximum number of companions much easier, allowing you to have a mob of dancing companions.

==== Undead followers ====

If you have [[necromancer]] abilities, you may raise corpses as [[undead]], who will then be listed in your companion list. Basic undead with no [[soul]] are not capable of talking, building, or indeed doing anything other than loosely following you around and attacking anything living on sight, including your other living companions. As your abilities give you the [[night creature]] status, undead followers will never attack you, even if you attack them - instead, they will all turn neutral. If you raise a corpse as intelligent undead, it will retain their pre-existing loyalty links from when they were living and not necessarily be loyal to you - this means that enemies you've slain in combat will attack you again if you resurrect them this way. To override this behavior, you should first raise them as basic undead, which destroys their souls (and associated links), 'kill' them again and re-raise them again.

=== General information ===

The information in this section applies to all types of companions. If they survive long enough, companions are capable of levelling attributes and skills, and having a job title change; which also happens if they gain enough reputation.

Your companions will continue to follow you and fight hostile creatures around you, until they die (if you asked them to join you on an adventure) or get you to the proper location (if you asked them to guide you to some place). If you want to get rid of your companions at any time, the safe way is to talk to each one of them, ask them about their journey with you, and then cancel the agreement.

Companions can be instructed to stay where they are by talking to them and selecting {{DFtext|Ask listener to wait here}} under the {{DFtext|Ask favor, place request, make demand or issue order}} menu. Your companion will stop following you and wait where they are, until you talk to them again and select {{DFtext|Ask listener to follow you}}. This can be useful if you need to leave a companion behind temporarily, such as when you are entering an area that you know will be too dangerous for your followers. Note that your [[pet]]s{{version|0.47.01}} will also obey this instruction.

Companions can be assigned to zones in camps, with {{k-|b|z|a}}. This is where they will spend their time when at the site and not travelling with you.

== Personal finance ==

=== Trading (barter) ===

In human [[town]]s (not [[hamlet]]s or [[castle]]s), you can find shops; in elven trading-trees you can find markets; and at [[depot]]s in dwarven fortresses, you can encounter [[broker]]s. Once you're inside of a [[shop]] and right next to any of the NPCs, you can use {{Adv menu icon|k}} to {{DFtext|Trade}} with them. Use {{K|Enter}} to select which items to trade, left/right arrow keys to switch between the list of shop items and your items, and up/down arrow keys to scroll through the lists. You can also either {{k|a}}sk for or {{k|o}}ffer currency as part of the process. Once done, press {{K|t}} to trade. The shopkeeper won't get angry if you're not offering enough in trade, so you can start offering just a few items, keep trying again with a little more until the trade is accepted. After trading, you will find the stuff you gave on the floor at your feet, and the stuff you got in your inventory.

=== Theft ===

You may also pick up the item before buying it, but you should never walk out of a shop carrying an unbought item, as that is theft, punishable by death if you are caught, and exile if you are not. On any occasion when you have stolen goods from a store (indicated by dollar signs on either side of the item in your inventory), the game requires you to exit the site ''and'' move a considerable distance before allowing you to quick travel. This may make a getaway more difficult if your adventurer is not already faster than anyone else. This only applies to goods in stores; killing townsfolk and taking their personal things, including those of the shopkeep, still only requires exiting the site. The moment you are out of sight, you will be able to 'warp' out as usual. Theft and murder remain within entities; even depopulating one country and stealing all its things will not generate ill-repute in another country. In some cases, the shop will be abandoned. This will be made clear by the presence of unbought items and the lack of any merchants in the area. You will not be considered a thief by the relevant entity for taking stuff from an abandoned shop, but you will still be withheld the privilege of fast-travel until you leave the site. If the item name is not surrounded by dollar signs, it is never considered stealing, even in situations where it would be in real life.

=== Managing coins ===

You will find that coins from one civilization are nearly worthless in any others (except for metal value, or so the presumption goes). This will typically result in adventurers carrying around lots of partially-useless coins. Coins can and will encumber your adventurer, eventually reducing their speed. To reduce that effect, you can try to exchange your copper and silver coins for gold ones, as well as sell all of your loot directly for gold coins. Remember, merchants will always try to pay you in higher-denomination currency first, but will resort to lower-value coins if they run out of anything higher. First, check the merchant's chest to see how much of each type of coins they have.

Standard [[coin]] values are as follows:
* [[Copper]] Coin == 1☼
* [[Silver]] Coin == 5☼
* [[Gold]] Coin == 15☼

To receive the maximum amount of gold coins from that merchant, make sure the amount '''they owe you''' during the trade is equal to (total amount of gold coins the shop has)*15☼ . If you are selling loot, simply make sure you only trade this worth of goods, and move on to other merchants for the rest. If you wish to exchange copper and silver coins for gold, buy random goods from the merchant until their price is around this value, and then sell back all of the goods for their original value, but in gold. Alternatively, you can take your excess coinage and use it to purchase [[Gem|large gems]] at a trinket shop. Large gems make good investments because they are 1) light, 2) variably priced, and 3) equally valuable between different civilizations. A few goods are strictly superior to all forms of coinage as a store of value, most notably [[giant cave spider]] [[silk]] items. A suitably sneaky (or powerful) adventurer can murder a few dwarves or goblins for such items for trade and sale for human goods. [[Giant cave spider]] silk is a non-renewable resource in any given world - please harvest responsibly.

=== Where to get items to sell ===

The best place to get items to sell is at bandit [[camp]]s, after you've slaughtered all the [[bandit]]s. You can loot the clothes and equipment off of the corpses of the bandits (and off your fallen companions, too), plus at the very center of camp there'll be a few scattered weapons and a few bags/chests containing various goods. The next best way to get items to sell is to kill a creature, butcher their corpse (see below for how), and pick up the edible bits. Butchered bits from the corpses of people (dwarves, elves, humans, etc.) can sometimes be found in monster lairs and these seem to be just as desired by shopkeepers as the products you gain from your own butchering. Remember that you can also carve the bones of animals to make them desirable trading items. Another good early source of income can be bags left in houses and shops, which usually contain plants and food. No one will complain, and the plants inside can be sold at about 2☼ each plus the value of the bag. At the bottom of the list comes {{Adv menu icon|L}} looking carefully and selling any small creatures you might find. However, shops will not accept live creatures unless they are in cages. Some rocks, piles of sand, and other things found on the ground nearly everywhere can also be sold for 1☼ each.

You can also try filling your [[backpack]] from a river - it can hold up to 100 units of water, which is worth 100☼ total. After you sell it, water will drop to the floor as a pool, and the backpack can be refilled instantly and for free from there. In fact, you can infinitely fill any container from any pool/pile of any liquid/powder, so if you happen to find some precious substance like [[sunshine]] or [[dwarven sugar]], money won't be a problem for you anymore. This is of course an [[exploit]], liable to be fixed at any time. It may be useful in a pinch, but don't rely on it. Another devious method is to go outside the shop, {{Adv menu icon|g}} grab handfuls of mud and throw it into your backpack, then sell them for 1☼ each. The merchants will gladly buy your rare and valuable mud, despite the unlimited free mud just outside their shop.

== Quest log ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|Q}}
| Open quest log
|-
| {{k|Esc}}
| Exit quest log
|-
| {{k|e}} {{k|p}} {{k|a}} {{k|s}} {{k|r}} {{k|b}}
| Access various lists
|-
| {{k|m}}
| Switch between the world map and additional info
|-
| {{k|z}}
| Center cursor on location of selected list item, if known
|-
| {{k|c}}
| Center cursor on your location
|-
| {{k|l}}
| Toggle the visibility of the line between you and some other point on the map.
|-
| {{k|f}}
| Filter the list
|-
| {{k|+}} {{k|-}} {{k|*}} {{k|/}}
| Navigate the list
|}

The quest log contains everything you know about the world, such as various events going on, people you know, and various sites. The {{k|m}} key will alternate between a world map that you can navigate, and information on whatever item is highlighted in the list to the right.

There are various kinds of lists you can check on the quest log:

* '''Events''' — A list of events that are happening or have happened. Formatting of the list is {{DFtext|(type)/(description)}}. You can center on the location of the event if you know this. This list is the closest you'll get to some formal quest system.
* '''People''' — A list of people you know. At the start of the game, this list will contain people in your site.
* '''Sites''' — A list of various sites around the world.
* '''Groups''' — A list of groups you know of and your relation to them. Note that you have to press {{k|e}} when you're on the events list in order to reach this list, requiring you to press {{k|e}} at most twice.
* '''Agreements''' - Your various agreements; this includes tasks given to you by your lord, and why people are traveling with you and the history of your agreements.
* '''Regions''' — A list of regions. The additional information will list the biomes a region possesses.
* '''Bestiary''' — A list of creatures, their characteristics, and where you could find them.

== Create ==
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|x}}
| Craft (butcher, create item...)
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|P}}
| Compose or [[Performer|perform]]
|}

Adventurers can perform limited crafting, with access to butchery and moddable [[reaction]]s. To access the crafting menu, press {{Adv menu icon|x}}. In addition to crafting, other actions can be performed.

=== Crafting ===

* '''[[Knapper|Knapping]]''' allows an adventurer to sharpen a rock. Knapping only works on stones on the ground or in your hands. When you select "Make sharp rock", you will be prompted to choose a rock to sharpen ("tool stone"), and then the rock that is to be the hammerstone. The tool stone will be replaced in your hand by a sharp version, which can serve well enough to make some...

* '''Helves''' (hafts){{version|0.43.01}} which are carved from branches, which can be pulled from trees. Doing so requires a sharp item, which can be anything from a weapon or arrow, all the way to a sharpened rock (the product of your earlier Knapping usually works best in this case). Helves are currently only used to make...

* '''Stone Axes'''{{version|0.43.01}} - Assembling a stone axe requires a helve plus a sharp rock as components. Stone axes are inferior to battle axes weapon-wise, but are just as usable for cutting down trees.

* '''[[Bone carver|Carve Bone]]''' acts similarly to fortress mode's [[Bone carver]] by allowing the adventurer to carve [[bone]]s into [[Finished goods|various objects]] and [[figurine]]s. The bone carving options are contained in a subsection of the crafting menu, due to the number of options.

* '''Carpentry'''{{version|0.43.01}} is another crafting menu, but using it requires one to stand in a [[carpenter's workshop]], either one found in a fortress, or constructed by the character. The menu includes various furniture (not all of which can be placed in the build menu) along with various containers, buckets, shields, and training weapons. All of these require a log and a sharp object.

=== Butchery ===

'''[[Butcher|Butcher]]''' acts similarly to fortress mode's [[butchery]] by converting a corpse into edible products, bones, and skin. A corpse must be on the ground or in your hand. With a sharp object (such as a [[large dagger]] or knapped stone or even a bolt/arrow) in your hand, or on the same tile as the corpse, press {{Adv menu icon|x}} for the crafting menu, then select the butcher option, and then you can select the corpse and the sharp tool to butcher with. The corpse will be replaced by its butchering returns.

=== Composing ===

The {{Adv menu icon|P}} [[Performer|performance]] menu allows you to create '''musical compositions''', '''poetry''', '''choreography''', or '''writing'''. You will then be able to select from one of the [[art]] forms already known to the adventurer, which the specific song, poem, or dance will be an example of.

[[Writer|Writing]] allows the adventurer to write books and scrolls, allowing one to create various types of literature. Writing requires reading or writing skill as a prerequisite, along with a blank scroll or quire available. Each option produces different results.

* '''Guide''' - General writing about a specific site, generally described as "concerning" that town, dark pit, etc. without going into detail.

* '''Essay''' - Writing about individual historical events, generally of personal relevance to the adventurer. E.G: the ascension of that adventurer to lordship, companions joining the party, and other such events.

* '''Manual''' - This will write down a randomly-selected form of knowledge the adventurer is aware of, to be learned by future readers. Most commonly this will be musical, poetic, and dance forms the adventurer knows or composed. This can also include scientific research the adventurer has learned, and necromancer adventurers can spread the secrets of life and death by writing manuals about them.

* '''Chronicle''' - In-depth writing about a particular site, group, or civilization. This will be presented as a multiple-chapter work, each chapter relating to a historical event related to the writing's subject.

* '''Letters''', '''short stories''', '''novels''', and '''plays''' will write generic prose, typically described as having no particular subject. In addition, letters will normally generate untitled.

* '''Composition''' - Writes new songs. This functions similarly to composing new songs, with the added benefit of writing it down for others to learn. However, unlike normal composition you do not get to select which musical form to base the song on.

* '''Choreography''' - As with compositions above, this writes down a new dance based on a randomly-selected dance form the adventurer knows.

* You can also unlock even more types of writing by going to a library and reading books of different genres, such as '''biographies'''.

Additionally, at the bottom of the writing menu, you have the option of writing down specific songs and dances known to the adventurer.

== Natural abilities and acquired powers ==
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|X}}
| Use ability
|}

* '''Spitting''' lets you [[spit]] (if you are a creature that can), which can be aimed at someone in much the same way as any projectile. To get this, choose natural ability and then spit in the [[interaction]]s menu. Other natural abilities exist (such as breathing [[fire]]), but only some are usable, since some belong to creatures that are not playable.

You may also gain acquired abilities when you become a creature of the night, such as a [[necromancer]] or [[intelligent undead]].

== Woodcutting, building and site management ==
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|b}}
| Found a site and build
|}

Adventurers can chop down trees for resources—this requires a ''non-wooden'' axe. By pressing {{Adv menu icon|g}} while next to a tree, you can chop it down and collect logs.
However building is no longer functional.

=== Faction management ===
While building personal sites and construction mechanics are no longer available in adventure mode, faction management remains functional. After [[claim|claiming]] a [[mead hall|meadhall or other similar structure]] [[Unfortunate accident|(And disappearing all previous nobles)]] you will get a text popup telling you that you are in control now, and your title will change to lord; at this point you can take control of a site and manage it as its leader. This includes hiring guards by {{DFtext|Invite listener to become a hearthperson}}. The guards will automatically patrol your site if they are not your companions, or will hang out in the zones you assign them.
Additionally, as the site's lord, you can force the leaders of nearby villages to pay you tribute, via the
{{DFtext|submit and pay tribute}} demand. However, they are unlikely to submit under non-strenuous circumstances.

== Sites ==
:'' Main article: [[Site]]
More information on each type of site can be found in the site's specific article.

At these sites you can trade, take quests, or talk with people:

{| style="margin:1em 1em 1em 0;background:#F9F9F9;border:1px #AAA solid;" class=wikitable class=sortable
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;text-align:center;"
!|'''Tile'''
!|'''Name'''
!|'''Inhabitated by'''
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Ω|0:0:1}}
| [[Mountain halls]]
| Dwarves
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Ω|7:0:0}}
| [[Hillocks]]
| Dwarves
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Ω|7:0:1}}
| [[Fortress]]
| Dwarves
|-
| {{Raw Tile|○|7:0:1}}
| [[Castle]]{{version|0.47.01}}
| Humans
|-
| {{Raw Tile|î|6:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|¶|6:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|₧|6:0:1}}
| [[Forest retreat]]
| Elves
|-
| {{Raw Tile|<nowiki>=</nowiki>|2:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|≡|2:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|æ|2:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|Æ|2:0:0}}
| [[Hamlet]]
| Humans
|-
| {{Raw Tile|+|7:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|*|7:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|#|7:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|☼|7:0:1}}
| [[Town]]
| Humans
|-
| {{Raw Tile|○|7:0:0}}
| [[Monastery]]{{version|0.47.01}}
| ?
|}

These sites are populated with goblins, monsters or undead. You may want to go there to accomplish a quest, or just for [[fun]]:

{| style="margin:1em 1em 1em 0;background:#F9F9F9;border:1px #AAA solid;" class=wikitable class=sortable
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;text-align:center;"
!|'''Tile'''
!|'''Name'''
!|'''Inhabitated by'''
|-
| {{Raw Tile|☼|6:0:1}}
| [[Camp]]
| Bandits
|-
| {{Raw Tile|○|0:6:0}}
| [[Fort]]{{version|0.47.01}}
| Bandits
|-
| {{Raw Tile|º|5:0:0}}
| [[Dark pits]]
| Goblins
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Π|0:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|Π|5:0:1}}
| [[Dark fortress]]
| Goblins
|-
| {{Raw Tile|•|0:0:1}}
| [[Cave]]
| Monsters
|-
| {{Raw Tile|#|0:7:1}}
| [[Labyrinth]]
| Monsters
|-
| {{Raw Tile|•|0:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|2:0:1}}
| [[Lair]]
| Monsters
|-
| {{Raw Tile|μ|6:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|μ|7:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|μ|7:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|μ|0:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|μ|5:0:1}}
| [[Ruin|Ruins]]
| Monsters?
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Å|7:0:0}}
| [[Shrine]]
| Monsters
|-
| {{Raw Tile|0|0:0:1}}
| [[Tomb]]
| Undead
|-
| {{Raw Tile|I|5:0:0}}
| [[Tower (necromancy)|Tower]]
| Undead
|}

== FAQ ==
:'' Main page: [[Adventurer mode F.A.Q.]]

{{Category|Adventurer mode}}
[[ru:Adventurer mode gameplay]]

Cross-training

2026-02-18T00:06:24Z

Silverwing235: /* Art School (weaver) */

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}

'''Cross-training''' is the process of training your civilian dwarves in military pursuits, or vice versa, and can offer several benefits. First and most importantly, it can be a good way of raising attributes, leading to stronger, tougher, faster dwarves. Secondly, it provides a handy pool of recruits for when your military takes a beating or gives your civilians a halfway-decent chance of defending themselves. Thirdly, it can provide useful replacements for when your legendary mason accidentally blunders into a [[troll]] and gets all their limbs broken. Finally, it's a more productive use of time than standing around idling.

There is nothing saying you have to use only one of these ideas; they are all various approaches toward addressing these areas.

The biggest thing to remember with a reserves program is that if you're going to go, you go all the way. Don't institute something "just for a little while" and come up with a handful of novice reservists; they will not get significant stat increases and you'll only waste time. Time is not something you have a heck of a lot of in a typical reserves program. Remember that after you draft them, most dwarves are going to need about a year of sparring or training before they're ready for heavy combat. You might not have that much time if you are getting besieged regularly.

==List of Programs==

===National self-defense training===
''Make sure you're familiar with the [[military interface]], [[squads]] and [[scheduling]] before attempting this.''

This is the process of training all your civilians in military skills - or at least, most of them. The easiest way to do this is to assign every new [[migrant]] or recently grown up child to dedicated training [[squad]]s, and assign that squad a barracks. Then, schedule these squads to train and set the squad to "Active/Training".

National self-defense training is by far the most efficient way to increase attributes related to military skills. This includes strength, agility, toughness, endurance, focus, intuition, kinesthetic sense, spatial sense and willpower - all of these will see dramatic increases and reach the individual maximum when training lasts long enough. To increase the rate at which dwarves gain skills, place one experienced trainer / soldier in each squad, which will make demonstrations much more valuable.

Then, if they ever get caught where they don't want to be (maybe they bump into a thief coming around a corner, or a flying critter jumps them, or you need to urgently order them out of the path of a magma flood, or send them to the [[Lever|control room]] - anything), every dwarf has a better chance at not-dying - which can only be a good thing. You may want to remove the barracks assignment from a reserve squad after you're done training them, or they'll tend to spend all their time on "Individual Combat Drill" rather than performing their civilian jobs. To ensure dwarves can train while still performing civilian duties, set the Training Order's minimum number of dwarves to be less than the squad's size, but set their uniform to Wear Always. This will keep them in their gear at all times but will allow them to take breaks from training. Dutiful dwarves may choose not to take breaks, however.

'''Pros:'''
*Easy, cheap, and no maintenance once set up
*No need for other cross-training for any attribute affected by national self-defense training
*Trainees gain useful military skills
*Dwarves who lead demonstrations while training may also gain levels in Organizer, Leader, and Teacher, while any dwarves who watch demonstrations may gain levels in Student. This can satisfy certain [[needs]].
*Trainees will be faster, stronger and tougher both in daily life and in emergencies

'''Cons:'''
*Legendary fighting skills may make tantrums more fun
*Trainees don't work during training
*Trainees don't socialise during training, which can lead to loneliness, unhappiness, and Distraction penalties.
*Trainees will choose training over performing civilian duties
'''Attributes trained:'''

Rapid increases in strength, agility, toughness, endurance, focus, intuition, kinesthetic sense, spatial sense and willpower.

===Boiler-room ([[furnace operator]])===
:''See also: [[Melt]]''
Boiler-room training can be performed by forging and melting items that do not incur a loss of metal in the process. This method is more of a direct training scheme for the various [[smith]]ing labors, furnace operator skill and attribute training are a side benefit.

'''Pros:'''
*Easy to set up.
*Requires little continuous oversight on your part.
*Somewhat fast training; dwarves reach legendary in two years.
*Depending on item, can duplicate non-[[adamantine|spoiler]] metals.

'''Cons:'''
*Requires access to [[magma]], or vast quantities of fuel
*May interfere with legitimate melting jobs (use of linked [[stockpile]]s, [[burrow]]s, and [[profile]]s can mitigate this).

'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Toughness, Endurance, Analytical Ability, Kinesthetic Sense

===Swimming Pool ===
Adding a swimming pool allows your dwarves to rapidly boost their swimmer skill; unfortunately they will not do so voluntarily. A simple pit with 4/7 - 6/7 of water and a means of "encouraging" your dwarves to dive in are sufficient. Placing your swimming pool near/under a [[meeting hall]] will automatically train idle (and partying) dwarves. Minecart-aided swim training is a safer method; it is based on the feature that a dwarf riding a minecart learns swimming while doing so. (See [[Swimming_pool#Minecart_training|Minecart training]])

'''Pros:'''
*Cheap to set up
*Automates training of idle dwarves without interfering with actual work
*Provides a good set of physical [[attribute]]s likely to speed up fortress operation
*Swimming skill can occasionally save a dwarf's life
'''Cons:'''
*Generates no wealth
*[[gravity|Falling]] damage can be significant (of course, this trains medical staff too!).
*[[Flooding]] can be a problem, particular for overseers unfamiliar with Dwarf Fortress fluid mechanics
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Endurance, Strength, Willpower, Kinesthetic Sense, Spatial Sense

===Artillery proving ground ([[siege operator]])===
Mass-produce some catapults, line them up near a quarry, and fire away. Works well to dispose of stone from a gulag (see below). 
'''Pros:'''
*Trains a skill that's reasonably useful, and provides a place to put all the sub-par siege engine components your [[siege engineer]] will doubtlessly create if you're going for superior-quality engines.
*Harasses the wildlife, which is always fun and sometimes [[Fun]]. 
'''Cons:'''
*Very slow to train (2+ years for legendary).
*Fairly space-consuming to set up a well-designed and usable proving ground.
*Can be dangerous depending on the biome (especially when [[elephant]]s are present. If they get winged by a stray boulder, you can bet they're going to be coming straight at you).
*[[Siege operator]]s are civilians, and will run in fear when an enemy approaches them.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Toughness, Endurance, Analytical Ability, Focus, Spatial Sense

===Internship MkII ([[manager]])===
Assign a new dwarf to manager, queue several hundred jobs, and rotate a replacement in as soon as they become legendary. For bonus points, queue jobs which need to be repeated anyway, like "Prepare Raw Fish" or "Mill Plants", or jobs for which there is no workshop, like "Make Wooden Bow" or "Make Soap".

'''Pros:'''
*Requires no extra infrastructure at all.
*You need a manager anyway!
*Mostly safe; a manager spends basically all their discretionary time snug in their office, or doing other assigned jobs.
'''Cons:'''
*Only employs one dwarf at a time; not useful when you have 15-25 candidates for the reserves.
*No announcement when the current intern reaches Legendary status means you can lose time on rotation easily.
*Produces little to no useful attribute gains
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Analytical Ability, Memory, Focus

===Gulag ([[miner]])===
The gulag is basically a strip mine that is located far away from your main fortress (so you don't have to worry about accidentally screwing up your own building plans; if you are careful in planning, it may be placed closer to your fortress). Take a big square and start leveling it; it's really no more complicated than that. Since [[pick]]s can actually be used as weapons, it's worthwhile to give the reservists who will be working in the gulag picks made out of [[bronze]], or, if you are really living large, [[iron]] or even [[steel]] (Note that as of v53, pickaxe material actually matters now, so it may be a good idea to equip your dwarves with steel picks regardless). Note that you will have to turn your usual mining corps (the civilian miners who are already experienced with mining) off or designate separate mining [[burrow]]s for this setup to work properly. It might be convenient to use a locked door to isolate the gulag from the main fortress, once a batch of trainees is inside. If you wish to train all of your miners equally and still get real work done on the fort, you can designate the gulag area with a lower [[Designations_menu#Priority|priority]] than any actual important work. 
'''Pros:'''
*Soldiers can be equipped with picks from the military screen, and use the Miner skill in combat - militia squads of highly skilled miners can provide a decent defense from early threats
*Toting a pick for close-quarters support might make a legendary [[marksdwarf]] more useful, since the pathetic bludgeon damage of his [[wood]] and [[bone]] [[Weapon#Dwarf-manufactured Weapons|crossbows]] is less important.
*Can be quite useful for producing stones you might not have access to normally, or uncovering veins of precious metals.
*Levels quite fast in sand.
*Relatively little oversight from you.
*An overland hike to the gulag will fight [[cave adaptation]] in your military candidates.
*Can easily be transformed into a [[Caverns#Vegetation|underground tree farm]] on suitable maps, providing a safe and replenishable wood source.
*Mining trains all military attributes, so it's perfect for military training too

'''Cons:'''
*Juggling your real miners and your reservists when there's real work to be done on the fort can be a chore.
*Hard to keep dwarves in the gulag for too long; they'll inevitably get hungry, thirsty, and tired and start hiking back to the fortress proper. Could be solved by (temporary) [[burrow]].
*Can be dangerous, depending on the biome.
*Does require some amount of oversight from you, especially when your reservists start getting better at mining and run out of work more quickly.
*Surplus stone and mining in general are suspected to promote [[Maximizing_framerate|lag]].
*Can be trained easier and without space consumption as part of national defense training, when assigning picks as weapons.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Toughness, Endurance, Willpower, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Renovation (smoothing)===
Another convenient way to buff up your dwarves, assigning your reservists to mass [[smoothing]] duty increases your fortress' architectural wealth and makes the place look nicer. While they may clutter the halls somewhat, it doesn't require any special allocation of [[food]], [[bed]]s or [[drink]]. Just turn on [[stonecutting]] for your reservists and mark up as much of the fortress as you like for renovation. If you have no particular area you want smoothed, you can alternate designating some open space between carving tracks and then smoothing them out. Be aware that carving tracks automatically sets those squares to be low traffic areas, so you may want to choose an out-of-the-way area that won't disrupt pathing for other activities. 
'''Pros:'''
*Even easier to set up; just assign your dwarves and an area and you're good to go.
*Increases your fortress' value and general happiness.
*Requires no continuous oversight on your part.
*Very safe, if you only assign areas inside the fortress.

'''Cons:'''
*Wealth overflow may bring too many [[immigrant]]s.
*Careless designation of smoothing areas may have your dwarves trying to smooth walls too close to [[magma]], a [[river]], or an active [[minecart]] track.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Creativity, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Sweatshop ([[Stone carver]])===
Make one or more [[stoneworker's workshop]]s in an area with a bunch of junk stone you don't care about, or that you're actively looking to clear. Change the workshop settings to allow only your reservists to use it, then tell the workshop to churn out junk furniture and trade goods that you can trade en-masse. Alternatively, forbid your reservists from working in your real stoneworker's workshops, order lots of stone constructions built, and pray that your real stone carvers stay too occupied with the workshops to intrude. Can also be done with Stone Crafts (although that levels a less valuable [[moodable]] skill). Works well in conjunction with a [[Cross-training#Gulag_.28miner.29|gulag]]. Alternate ideas for sweatshops include a [[mechanic's workshop]], [[craftsdwarf's workshop]], [[Kiln|magma kiln]], or a [[Glass furnace|magma glass furnace]] to train [[mechanic]], [[Stone crafter|stonecrafter]], [[potter]] and [[glassmaker]] respectively.

Mass producing stone blocks trains Stone '''Cutter''', not Stone Carver, another less valuable moodable skill. While stone blocks have their use in a fortress, they have no "quality", so give half the experience to leveling up that skill (though attributes increase just as fast).

''Note: Do NOT try this with the [[carpenter]] skill unless you have a large supply of trees/logs, nor with any other resource you don't have in near-limitless abundance. Sweatshops will consume huge amounts of their associated resources, and if you run out mid-way you have probably wasted your time. This includes [[coke]] or [[charcoal]] used in normal (non-magma) [[smelter]]s and [[glass furnace]]s.'' 
'''Pros:'''
*Quantitatively turns a profit. The inferior trade goods can be dumped on the next caravan for more useful commodities like bags, seeds, and logs. Logs are especially useful, since you'll inevitably stamp out lots of bins to support the trade good output.
*Unlike many other training programs, Sweatshops train a skill that is very useful.

'''Cons:'''
*Slow to level.
*Hard to keep the reservists on task, since they'll need to do plenty of hauling to keep their workshop from becoming chokingly cluttered.
*Can be a logistical nightmare; making bins and organizing hauling for the finished goods can be insane if you're working from a gulag.
*Can be dangerous depending on the biome and location of your sweatshops.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Creativity, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Dwarf-powered mill ([[grower]], [[cook]], [[miller]])===
Start off by creating a surplus of [[longland grass]], [[cave wheat]], and/or [[whip vine]], and some bags. Create multiple [[quern]]s all close to the food stockpile which contains the millable plants. Next to this area, make a [[kitchen]] assigned to an experienced cook. Enable milling for the dwarves you wish to cross-train and order the cook to make lavish meals. As long as your growers provide a steady supply of millable plants and your cook can empty out bags quick enough, the milling jobs will continue. 
'''Pros:'''
*Produces a lot of wealth, as flour is a high value ingredient
*Produces high amounts of food
*Sustains the training of non cross-training dwarves, such as the cook and growers

'''Cons:'''
*Requires a surplus of millable plants to ensure continuous milling, thus you may need to increase the number of plots/growers
*If you don't have enough bags, you may end up having job cancellations for the millers
*Dedicated haulers will be required to keep all workshops clutter-free
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Kinesthetic Sense (grower and miller)

Agility, Analytical Ability, Creativity, Kinesthetic Sense (cook)

===Clear Cutting===
As long as wood hauling is turned off, dwarves will move from one tree to the next without stopping to bring the wood back. On a heavily forested map, this means that dedicated wood cutters can skill up quickly, though the total number of trees to chop has been drastically reduced from previous versions.

Of course, this training strategy isn't going to endear you with the [[elves]].

'''Pros:'''
*Works quickly
*Provides useful lumber to carpenters, charcoal makers, etc.
*Can cause problems with elves
*Can agitate the wildlife to walk into your prepared cage traps
'''Cons:'''
*Can cause problems with elves
*Can agitate the wildlife
*Map dependent
*Trees are limited, and regrow slowly
*Unless care is taken to only designate a small area for cutting, trainees and haulers can be spread out all over the map, making them vulnerable to creatures and ambushes.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Willpower, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Survival Training ([[herbalist]])===
When a herbalist picks some plants, he will carry them to the food stockpile himself, even if his food hauling labor is disabled. Herbalists can carry more than one type of item if gathering from a plant that yields multiple usable growths. When gathering from trees, a herbalist will let the item drop to the ground, to be carried to a stockpile by haulers. Setting up smaller stockpiles in the field from which haulers will collect with wheelbarrows is an obvious solution to save on hauling time.

'''Pros:'''
*Provides a reserve of ready food. Which is a good idea early on, before a steady supply is set up.
*Provides materials for prepared food, booze and sometimes extracts. Also, seeds, allowing to grow those plants on farms later.

'''Cons:'''
*Map dependent
*Unless the area is carefully designated in safer parts of the map, herbalists (and haulers, from field stockpiles) will wander all over the place, making them vulnerable to creatures and ambushes.
*Unlike wood, foodstuffs won't lie on the ground indefinitely. You have to collect it quickly, or some vermin will, and even temporary stockpiles need protection.
** Small barns in the field solve the problem, but you need to build them; then again, it's another training, see "architect" below. Cats "pastured" over stockpiles solve the problem, but create several others.

'''Attributes Trained:'''
Agility, Kinesthetic Sense, Memory

===Dwarf Scouts ([[ambusher]], [[hunter]], [[marksdwarf]])===
Marksdwarves are an important part of any military. A bum rush of low level marksdwarves is good, but not as effective as an elite backup squad! Here is what you can do:
Draft a comfortable number of dwarves to hunting, give them all no-[[quality]] crossbows and no-quality, [[density|lightweight]] wooden bolts, to make them less effective killers and so keep them out hunting longer. Put them in heavy armor, both to slow them down even more and to protect them against the occasional danger. Your dwarves should hunt as usual - but you are really training an elite squad of assassins, that will one day hunt goblins instead of groundhogs.

'''Pros:'''
*Easy to start.
*Lots of meat, bones and leather around.
*Aforementioned bones can be recycled to make new bolts.

'''Cons:'''
*Doesn't work on some maps.
*Hunting can be dangerous!
*Evil areas may result in the deer your dwarves "bagged" rising up as [[undead]] and ripping your hunter's face off!
*Not as economically productive as some other methods.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Focus, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense (ambusher)

===Art School ([[weaver]])===
Collecting spider [[web]]s is normally a slow way to train weaving, but that's because the aspiring weaver spends most of their time hiking out to the spiderweb(s) and then back to the loom. If you manage to create a [[silk farming|convenient local source of webs]] near a loom, your weavers-in-training will rapidly gain experience. The abundant silk thread can then be woven by your more experienced weavers for clothing and trade.

'''Pros:'''
*Safe and easy to run
*Virtually inexhaustible
*Produces valuable resources (silk cloth)

'''Cons:'''
*Requires somewhat complex setup
*Weaving is a [[moodable]] skill--and not a particularly desirable one
*Spider webs are typically available only in the caverns, where there could be dangerous wandering creatures such as [[giant cave spider]]s or [[blind cave ogre]]s.

'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Creativity, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense



===Dwarven [[Arena]] ([[noble|n̶o̶b̶l̶e̶s̶]])===

Find a way to put civilians near an arena, perhaps a dining room. Lock them in. Let your gobbos and "[[noble|worthy champions]]" fight to the death while they are forced to watch, gaining discipline. Unlock the room. Find a way to dispose of survivors. Revel upon your new [[tantrum|well]]-[[depression|disciplined]] [[fun|dwarves!]]

'''Pros:'''
*Discipline is useful for everyday life
*Helps with live training that may come to your dorfs at a later date
*If you have a military, you can double it as live training
*With [[Drowning chamber|good]] [[Magma|safety]] [[Bridge|procedures]], little future oversight is required
*Watching gobbos getting their internal organs thrashed out is hilarious
*Satisfies "Fight" need for dwarves who won't spar
*Useful for disposing of pesky [[nobles]] and dorfs that survive hammerings.
*Could be helpful for training discipline with your engineers

'''Cons:'''
*If you're seriously considering adding this to a fort you may not even ''need'' it very much as corpses already generate discipline.
*Doesn't produce any goods.
*Only trains one attribute for civilians (but it is a useful one.)
*Bad design choices can be quite fatal to a younger fort.

'''Attributes trained'''
*Discipline
*Various military skills (observer, fighter, dodger, etc...) (if you use your military in the arena)
*Lever operator and Mechanic (When you build and service it, but don't expect a big raise (and lever operator isn't that helpful anyway)

==Obsolete Programs==
Occasionally, a training program stops working. This section is for programs that were not obsolete in the last namespace, or were made possible in a version of this namespace, yet do not work in the latest version.

===Gym ([[pump operator]])===

Previously, building a bunch of [[screw pump]]s connected to nothing and ordering them to be operated was an effective way to train endurance. However, the attribute gain from Pump Operation has been so drastically reduced in various patches since its discovery that it can't be considered an effective training routine any longer[https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/10p4mcn/screw_pump_stats_gained_nerf/], and the problem it was once meant to solve, keeping dwarves from partying all the time, tends not to be a problem anymore. Quite the contrary. If anything, Dwarves of today seem to be unable to take care of any of their emotional needs at all unless they have no jobs to do whatsoever, making this method counter-productive and prone to accumulating Distraction penalties from loneliness and a lack of creativity, crafting, learning, praying, and merrymaking, which will slow down any and all work and skill gains until those needs are met, usually requiring you go out of your way to do so. Don't use this in any serious capacity, military training is several times better in every way.

==Overview==
*Artillery training can give you some siege operators, which will be useful if you have ballistae.
*The internship only trains up one dwarf at a time. Your stocks could also lag behind if you are unlucky.
*The gulag requires planning, and your dwarves in the fortress proper may run all the way to the gulag to grab a stone for some crafts, a chair, etc. It does, however, train your dwarves in mining quickly, which is always a useful skill.
*Renovation is hands-free, but may bloat your fortress wealth too quickly.
*The sweatshop creates a large amount of goods, which can be traded away to keep traders happy. It also increases your wealth by quite a lot, which can be good or bad depending upon your situation. The goods are also difficult to manage.
*National self-defence training is easy to manage when set up and lets you give your civilians clothes and light armour to keep them safe. However, it can take valuable workers away from their job if the training is too frequent.

Note that the artillery training and internship don't influence potential [[strange mood]]s (you can give those dwarves dabbling in anything you want and that's how they'll get theirs), while the gulag, renovation, and sweatshop do.

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Fortress defense}}
[[ru:Cross-training]]

Cross-training

2026-02-18T00:04:57Z

Silverwing235: /* Dwarf Scouts (ambusher, hunter, marksdwarf) */ restore common idiom

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}

'''Cross-training''' is the process of training your civilian dwarves in military pursuits, or vice versa, and can offer several benefits. First and most importantly, it can be a good way of raising attributes, leading to stronger, tougher, faster dwarves. Secondly, it provides a handy pool of recruits for when your military takes a beating or gives your civilians a halfway-decent chance of defending themselves. Thirdly, it can provide useful replacements for when your legendary mason accidentally blunders into a [[troll]] and gets all their limbs broken. Finally, it's a more productive use of time than standing around idling.

There is nothing saying you have to use only one of these ideas; they are all various approaches toward addressing these areas.

The biggest thing to remember with a reserves program is that if you're going to go, you go all the way. Don't institute something "just for a little while" and come up with a handful of novice reservists; they will not get significant stat increases and you'll only waste time. Time is not something you have a heck of a lot of in a typical reserves program. Remember that after you draft them, most dwarves are going to need about a year of sparring or training before they're ready for heavy combat. You might not have that much time if you are getting besieged regularly.

==List of Programs==

===National self-defense training===
''Make sure you're familiar with the [[military interface]], [[squads]] and [[scheduling]] before attempting this.''

This is the process of training all your civilians in military skills - or at least, most of them. The easiest way to do this is to assign every new [[migrant]] or recently grown up child to dedicated training [[squad]]s, and assign that squad a barracks. Then, schedule these squads to train and set the squad to "Active/Training".

National self-defense training is by far the most efficient way to increase attributes related to military skills. This includes strength, agility, toughness, endurance, focus, intuition, kinesthetic sense, spatial sense and willpower - all of these will see dramatic increases and reach the individual maximum when training lasts long enough. To increase the rate at which dwarves gain skills, place one experienced trainer / soldier in each squad, which will make demonstrations much more valuable.

Then, if they ever get caught where they don't want to be (maybe they bump into a thief coming around a corner, or a flying critter jumps them, or you need to urgently order them out of the path of a magma flood, or send them to the [[Lever|control room]] - anything), every dwarf has a better chance at not-dying - which can only be a good thing. You may want to remove the barracks assignment from a reserve squad after you're done training them, or they'll tend to spend all their time on "Individual Combat Drill" rather than performing their civilian jobs. To ensure dwarves can train while still performing civilian duties, set the Training Order's minimum number of dwarves to be less than the squad's size, but set their uniform to Wear Always. This will keep them in their gear at all times but will allow them to take breaks from training. Dutiful dwarves may choose not to take breaks, however.

'''Pros:'''
*Easy, cheap, and no maintenance once set up
*No need for other cross-training for any attribute affected by national self-defense training
*Trainees gain useful military skills
*Dwarves who lead demonstrations while training may also gain levels in Organizer, Leader, and Teacher, while any dwarves who watch demonstrations may gain levels in Student. This can satisfy certain [[needs]].
*Trainees will be faster, stronger and tougher both in daily life and in emergencies

'''Cons:'''
*Legendary fighting skills may make tantrums more fun
*Trainees don't work during training
*Trainees don't socialise during training, which can lead to loneliness, unhappiness, and Distraction penalties.
*Trainees will choose training over performing civilian duties
'''Attributes trained:'''

Rapid increases in strength, agility, toughness, endurance, focus, intuition, kinesthetic sense, spatial sense and willpower.

===Boiler-room ([[furnace operator]])===
:''See also: [[Melt]]''
Boiler-room training can be performed by forging and melting items that do not incur a loss of metal in the process. This method is more of a direct training scheme for the various [[smith]]ing labors, furnace operator skill and attribute training are a side benefit.

'''Pros:'''
*Easy to set up.
*Requires little continuous oversight on your part.
*Somewhat fast training; dwarves reach legendary in two years.
*Depending on item, can duplicate non-[[adamantine|spoiler]] metals.

'''Cons:'''
*Requires access to [[magma]], or vast quantities of fuel
*May interfere with legitimate melting jobs (use of linked [[stockpile]]s, [[burrow]]s, and [[profile]]s can mitigate this).

'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Toughness, Endurance, Analytical Ability, Kinesthetic Sense

===Swimming Pool ===
Adding a swimming pool allows your dwarves to rapidly boost their swimmer skill; unfortunately they will not do so voluntarily. A simple pit with 4/7 - 6/7 of water and a means of "encouraging" your dwarves to dive in are sufficient. Placing your swimming pool near/under a [[meeting hall]] will automatically train idle (and partying) dwarves. Minecart-aided swim training is a safer method; it is based on the feature that a dwarf riding a minecart learns swimming while doing so. (See [[Swimming_pool#Minecart_training|Minecart training]])

'''Pros:'''
*Cheap to set up
*Automates training of idle dwarves without interfering with actual work
*Provides a good set of physical [[attribute]]s likely to speed up fortress operation
*Swimming skill can occasionally save a dwarf's life
'''Cons:'''
*Generates no wealth
*[[gravity|Falling]] damage can be significant (of course, this trains medical staff too!).
*[[Flooding]] can be a problem, particular for overseers unfamiliar with Dwarf Fortress fluid mechanics
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Endurance, Strength, Willpower, Kinesthetic Sense, Spatial Sense

===Artillery proving ground ([[siege operator]])===
Mass-produce some catapults, line them up near a quarry, and fire away. Works well to dispose of stone from a gulag (see below). 
'''Pros:'''
*Trains a skill that's reasonably useful, and provides a place to put all the sub-par siege engine components your [[siege engineer]] will doubtlessly create if you're going for superior-quality engines.
*Harasses the wildlife, which is always fun and sometimes [[Fun]]. 
'''Cons:'''
*Very slow to train (2+ years for legendary).
*Fairly space-consuming to set up a well-designed and usable proving ground.
*Can be dangerous depending on the biome (especially when [[elephant]]s are present. If they get winged by a stray boulder, you can bet they're going to be coming straight at you).
*[[Siege operator]]s are civilians, and will run in fear when an enemy approaches them.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Toughness, Endurance, Analytical Ability, Focus, Spatial Sense

===Internship MkII ([[manager]])===
Assign a new dwarf to manager, queue several hundred jobs, and rotate a replacement in as soon as they become legendary. For bonus points, queue jobs which need to be repeated anyway, like "Prepare Raw Fish" or "Mill Plants", or jobs for which there is no workshop, like "Make Wooden Bow" or "Make Soap".

'''Pros:'''
*Requires no extra infrastructure at all.
*You need a manager anyway!
*Mostly safe; a manager spends basically all their discretionary time snug in their office, or doing other assigned jobs.
'''Cons:'''
*Only employs one dwarf at a time; not useful when you have 15-25 candidates for the reserves.
*No announcement when the current intern reaches Legendary status means you can lose time on rotation easily.
*Produces little to no useful attribute gains
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Analytical Ability, Memory, Focus

===Gulag ([[miner]])===
The gulag is basically a strip mine that is located far away from your main fortress (so you don't have to worry about accidentally screwing up your own building plans; if you are careful in planning, it may be placed closer to your fortress). Take a big square and start leveling it; it's really no more complicated than that. Since [[pick]]s can actually be used as weapons, it's worthwhile to give the reservists who will be working in the gulag picks made out of [[bronze]], or, if you are really living large, [[iron]] or even [[steel]] (Note that as of v53, pickaxe material actually matters now, so it may be a good idea to equip your dwarves with steel picks regardless). Note that you will have to turn your usual mining corps (the civilian miners who are already experienced with mining) off or designate separate mining [[burrow]]s for this setup to work properly. It might be convenient to use a locked door to isolate the gulag from the main fortress, once a batch of trainees is inside. If you wish to train all of your miners equally and still get real work done on the fort, you can designate the gulag area with a lower [[Designations_menu#Priority|priority]] than any actual important work. 
'''Pros:'''
*Soldiers can be equipped with picks from the military screen, and use the Miner skill in combat - militia squads of highly skilled miners can provide a decent defense from early threats
*Toting a pick for close-quarters support might make a legendary [[marksdwarf]] more useful, since the pathetic bludgeon damage of his [[wood]] and [[bone]] [[Weapon#Dwarf-manufactured Weapons|crossbows]] is less important.
*Can be quite useful for producing stones you might not have access to normally, or uncovering veins of precious metals.
*Levels quite fast in sand.
*Relatively little oversight from you.
*An overland hike to the gulag will fight [[cave adaptation]] in your military candidates.
*Can easily be transformed into a [[Caverns#Vegetation|underground tree farm]] on suitable maps, providing a safe and replenishable wood source.
*Mining trains all military attributes, so it's perfect for military training too

'''Cons:'''
*Juggling your real miners and your reservists when there's real work to be done on the fort can be a chore.
*Hard to keep dwarves in the gulag for too long; they'll inevitably get hungry, thirsty, and tired and start hiking back to the fortress proper. Could be solved by (temporary) [[burrow]].
*Can be dangerous, depending on the biome.
*Does require some amount of oversight from you, especially when your reservists start getting better at mining and run out of work more quickly.
*Surplus stone and mining in general are suspected to promote [[Maximizing_framerate|lag]].
*Can be trained easier and without space consumption as part of national defense training, when assigning picks as weapons.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Toughness, Endurance, Willpower, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Renovation (smoothing)===
Another convenient way to buff up your dwarves, assigning your reservists to mass [[smoothing]] duty increases your fortress' architectural wealth and makes the place look nicer. While they may clutter the halls somewhat, it doesn't require any special allocation of [[food]], [[bed]]s or [[drink]]. Just turn on [[stonecutting]] for your reservists and mark up as much of the fortress as you like for renovation. If you have no particular area you want smoothed, you can alternate designating some open space between carving tracks and then smoothing them out. Be aware that carving tracks automatically sets those squares to be low traffic areas, so you may want to choose an out-of-the-way area that won't disrupt pathing for other activities. 
'''Pros:'''
*Even easier to set up; just assign your dwarves and an area and you're good to go.
*Increases your fortress' value and general happiness.
*Requires no continuous oversight on your part.
*Very safe, if you only assign areas inside the fortress.

'''Cons:'''
*Wealth overflow may bring too many [[immigrant]]s.
*Careless designation of smoothing areas may have your dwarves trying to smooth walls too close to [[magma]], a [[river]], or an active [[minecart]] track.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Creativity, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Sweatshop ([[Stone carver]])===
Make one or more [[stoneworker's workshop]]s in an area with a bunch of junk stone you don't care about, or that you're actively looking to clear. Change the workshop settings to allow only your reservists to use it, then tell the workshop to churn out junk furniture and trade goods that you can trade en-masse. Alternatively, forbid your reservists from working in your real stoneworker's workshops, order lots of stone constructions built, and pray that your real stone carvers stay too occupied with the workshops to intrude. Can also be done with Stone Crafts (although that levels a less valuable [[moodable]] skill). Works well in conjunction with a [[Cross-training#Gulag_.28miner.29|gulag]]. Alternate ideas for sweatshops include a [[mechanic's workshop]], [[craftsdwarf's workshop]], [[Kiln|magma kiln]], or a [[Glass furnace|magma glass furnace]] to train [[mechanic]], [[Stone crafter|stonecrafter]], [[potter]] and [[glassmaker]] respectively.

Mass producing stone blocks trains Stone '''Cutter''', not Stone Carver, another less valuable moodable skill. While stone blocks have their use in a fortress, they have no "quality", so give half the experience to leveling up that skill (though attributes increase just as fast).

''Note: Do NOT try this with the [[carpenter]] skill unless you have a large supply of trees/logs, nor with any other resource you don't have in near-limitless abundance. Sweatshops will consume huge amounts of their associated resources, and if you run out mid-way you have probably wasted your time. This includes [[coke]] or [[charcoal]] used in normal (non-magma) [[smelter]]s and [[glass furnace]]s.'' 
'''Pros:'''
*Quantitatively turns a profit. The inferior trade goods can be dumped on the next caravan for more useful commodities like bags, seeds, and logs. Logs are especially useful, since you'll inevitably stamp out lots of bins to support the trade good output.
*Unlike many other training programs, Sweatshops train a skill that is very useful.

'''Cons:'''
*Slow to level.
*Hard to keep the reservists on task, since they'll need to do plenty of hauling to keep their workshop from becoming chokingly cluttered.
*Can be a logistical nightmare; making bins and organizing hauling for the finished goods can be insane if you're working from a gulag.
*Can be dangerous depending on the biome and location of your sweatshops.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Creativity, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Dwarf-powered mill ([[grower]], [[cook]], [[miller]])===
Start off by creating a surplus of [[longland grass]], [[cave wheat]], and/or [[whip vine]], and some bags. Create multiple [[quern]]s all close to the food stockpile which contains the millable plants. Next to this area, make a [[kitchen]] assigned to an experienced cook. Enable milling for the dwarves you wish to cross-train and order the cook to make lavish meals. As long as your growers provide a steady supply of millable plants and your cook can empty out bags quick enough, the milling jobs will continue. 
'''Pros:'''
*Produces a lot of wealth, as flour is a high value ingredient
*Produces high amounts of food
*Sustains the training of non cross-training dwarves, such as the cook and growers

'''Cons:'''
*Requires a surplus of millable plants to ensure continuous milling, thus you may need to increase the number of plots/growers
*If you don't have enough bags, you may end up having job cancellations for the millers
*Dedicated haulers will be required to keep all workshops clutter-free
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Kinesthetic Sense (grower and miller)

Agility, Analytical Ability, Creativity, Kinesthetic Sense (cook)

===Clear Cutting===
As long as wood hauling is turned off, dwarves will move from one tree to the next without stopping to bring the wood back. On a heavily forested map, this means that dedicated wood cutters can skill up quickly, though the total number of trees to chop has been drastically reduced from previous versions.

Of course, this training strategy isn't going to endear you with the [[elves]].

'''Pros:'''
*Works quickly
*Provides useful lumber to carpenters, charcoal makers, etc.
*Can cause problems with elves
*Can agitate the wildlife to walk into your prepared cage traps
'''Cons:'''
*Can cause problems with elves
*Can agitate the wildlife
*Map dependent
*Trees are limited, and regrow slowly
*Unless care is taken to only designate a small area for cutting, trainees and haulers can be spread out all over the map, making them vulnerable to creatures and ambushes.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Willpower, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense

===Survival Training ([[herbalist]])===
When a herbalist picks some plants, he will carry them to the food stockpile himself, even if his food hauling labor is disabled. Herbalists can carry more than one type of item if gathering from a plant that yields multiple usable growths. When gathering from trees, a herbalist will let the item drop to the ground, to be carried to a stockpile by haulers. Setting up smaller stockpiles in the field from which haulers will collect with wheelbarrows is an obvious solution to save on hauling time.

'''Pros:'''
*Provides a reserve of ready food. Which is a good idea early on, before a steady supply is set up.
*Provides materials for prepared food, booze and sometimes extracts. Also, seeds, allowing to grow those plants on farms later.

'''Cons:'''
*Map dependent
*Unless the area is carefully designated in safer parts of the map, herbalists (and haulers, from field stockpiles) will wander all over the place, making them vulnerable to creatures and ambushes.
*Unlike wood, foodstuffs won't lie on the ground indefinitely. You have to collect it quickly, or some vermin will, and even temporary stockpiles need protection.
** Small barns in the field solve the problem, but you need to build them; then again, it's another training, see "architect" below. Cats "pastured" over stockpiles solve the problem, but create several others.

'''Attributes Trained:'''
Agility, Kinesthetic Sense, Memory

===Dwarf Scouts ([[ambusher]], [[hunter]], [[marksdwarf]])===
Marksdwarves are an important part of any military. A bum rush of low level marksdwarves is good, but not as effective as an elite backup squad! Here is what you can do:
Draft a comfortable number of dwarves to hunting, give them all no-[[quality]] crossbows and no-quality, [[density|lightweight]] wooden bolts, to make them less effective killers and so keep them out hunting longer. Put them in heavy armor, both to slow them down even more and to protect them against the occasional danger. Your dwarves should hunt as usual - but you are really training an elite squad of assassins, that will one day hunt goblins instead of groundhogs.

'''Pros:'''
*Easy to start.
*Lots of meat, bones and leather around.
*Aforementioned bones can be recycled to make new bolts.

'''Cons:'''
*Doesn't work on some maps.
*Hunting can be dangerous!
*Evil areas may result in the deer your dwarves "bagged" rising up as [[undead]] and ripping your hunter's face off!
*Not as economically productive as some other methods.
'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Focus, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense (ambusher)

===Art School ([[weaver]])===
Collecting spider [[web]]s is normally a slow way to train weaving, but that's because the aspiring weaver spends most of his time hiking out to the spiderweb and then back to the loom. If you manage to create a [[silk farming|convenient local source of webs]] near a loom, your weavers-in-training will rapidly gain experience. The abundant silk thread can then be woven by your more experienced weavers for clothing and trade.

'''Pros:'''
*Safe and easy to run
*Virtually inexhaustible
*Produces valuable resources (silk cloth)

'''Cons:'''
*Requires somewhat complex setup
*Weaving is a [[moodable]] skill--and not a particularly desirable one
*Spider webs are typically available only in the caverns, where there could be dangerous wandering creatures such as [[giant cave spider]]s or [[blind cave ogre]]s.

'''Attributes Trained:'''

Agility, Creativity, Spatial Sense, Kinesthetic Sense



===Dwarven [[Arena]] ([[noble|n̶o̶b̶l̶e̶s̶]])===

Find a way to put civilians near an arena, perhaps a dining room. Lock them in. Let your gobbos and "[[noble|worthy champions]]" fight to the death while they are forced to watch, gaining discipline. Unlock the room. Find a way to dispose of survivors. Revel upon your new [[tantrum|well]]-[[depression|disciplined]] [[fun|dwarves!]]

'''Pros:'''
*Discipline is useful for everyday life
*Helps with live training that may come to your dorfs at a later date
*If you have a military, you can double it as live training
*With [[Drowning chamber|good]] [[Magma|safety]] [[Bridge|procedures]], little future oversight is required
*Watching gobbos getting their internal organs thrashed out is hilarious
*Satisfies "Fight" need for dwarves who won't spar
*Useful for disposing of pesky [[nobles]] and dorfs that survive hammerings.
*Could be helpful for training discipline with your engineers

'''Cons:'''
*If you're seriously considering adding this to a fort you may not even ''need'' it very much as corpses already generate discipline.
*Doesn't produce any goods.
*Only trains one attribute for civilians (but it is a useful one.)
*Bad design choices can be quite fatal to a younger fort.

'''Attributes trained'''
*Discipline
*Various military skills (observer, fighter, dodger, etc...) (if you use your military in the arena)
*Lever operator and Mechanic (When you build and service it, but don't expect a big raise (and lever operator isn't that helpful anyway)

==Obsolete Programs==
Occasionally, a training program stops working. This section is for programs that were not obsolete in the last namespace, or were made possible in a version of this namespace, yet do not work in the latest version.

===Gym ([[pump operator]])===

Previously, building a bunch of [[screw pump]]s connected to nothing and ordering them to be operated was an effective way to train endurance. However, the attribute gain from Pump Operation has been so drastically reduced in various patches since its discovery that it can't be considered an effective training routine any longer[https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/10p4mcn/screw_pump_stats_gained_nerf/], and the problem it was once meant to solve, keeping dwarves from partying all the time, tends not to be a problem anymore. Quite the contrary. If anything, Dwarves of today seem to be unable to take care of any of their emotional needs at all unless they have no jobs to do whatsoever, making this method counter-productive and prone to accumulating Distraction penalties from loneliness and a lack of creativity, crafting, learning, praying, and merrymaking, which will slow down any and all work and skill gains until those needs are met, usually requiring you go out of your way to do so. Don't use this in any serious capacity, military training is several times better in every way.

==Overview==
*Artillery training can give you some siege operators, which will be useful if you have ballistae.
*The internship only trains up one dwarf at a time. Your stocks could also lag behind if you are unlucky.
*The gulag requires planning, and your dwarves in the fortress proper may run all the way to the gulag to grab a stone for some crafts, a chair, etc. It does, however, train your dwarves in mining quickly, which is always a useful skill.
*Renovation is hands-free, but may bloat your fortress wealth too quickly.
*The sweatshop creates a large amount of goods, which can be traded away to keep traders happy. It also increases your wealth by quite a lot, which can be good or bad depending upon your situation. The goods are also difficult to manage.
*National self-defence training is easy to manage when set up and lets you give your civilians clothes and light armour to keep them safe. However, it can take valuable workers away from their job if the training is too frequent.

Note that the artillery training and internship don't influence potential [[strange mood]]s (you can give those dwarves dabbling in anything you want and that's how they'll get theirs), while the gulag, renovation, and sweatshop do.

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Fortress defense}}
[[ru:Cross-training]]

Zone

2026-02-18T00:00:46Z

Silverwing235: counter Anon's overgeneralisation somewhat

{{Quality|Masterwork}}
{{av}}
[[Image:Zones menu v50.03.png|right]]
A '''zone''' is an area where your citizens will work, socialize, rest, or perform specific duties, such as [[fishing]], dumping objects, or collecting [[water]].

Zones can be placed in any [[revealed tile]], including in [[open space]], over a [[river]], or on top of a [[building]] or [[stockpile]]. They are placed in one of three ways: rectangular, draw, or (for some zones) multi. From within the Zones [[menu]] ({{menu icon|z}}), selecting the zone type will open the zone creation menu. From here, you can select whether to create a zone in a rectangle (at which point you click the two corners for the zone) or simply draw it (where clicking adds single squares to the zone). You can enable erasing at any time and use rectangle and draw to remove squares from the zone. The number shown indicates how many selected floor tiles can be used for that type of zone.

Unlike [[stockpiles]], multiple zones can overlap.

For select zone types, you can change from Paint to Multi mode, in which you can draw a rectangle over multiple rooms, and each room valid for that zone type will be a separate zone. The number shown is the number of zones created in the last rectangle drawn, and the undo button will only undo the last rectangle created.

Some zones can be further specified into [[location]]s after creation. To do this, first create the relevant zone, then click the Add Location button ([[File:Ui location add.png]]) to further specify it as a location. Multiple zones can be added to a single location, allowing them to span multiple rooms.

In some cases (pen/pasture, pit/pond) additional orders can then be set from the same menu. The location of a zone is only visible while in the Zones menu, and any object lying on the ground will hide the presence of a zone tile. The size of a zone is unlimited.

== Zone Types ==

=== Meeting area ===
[[File:meeting_icon_preview.png|right]]'''Meeting area zones''' are zones in which idle dwarves and animals will congregate. After a meeting area is designated, it can be left as is, or it can be made into a [[tavern]], [[temple]], [[library]], [[guildhall]] or [[hospital]], but animals will not congegrate to meeting areas, which are assigned to certain locations like temple, tavern or guildhall (and presumably, but not yet tested, library or hospital). Additionally, [[immigration|immigrants]] will collect at a meeting area until their "migrant" status wears off. Note that the [[wagon (embark)|wagon]] you [[embark|arrive with]] constitutes a meeting area until you designate the first meeting area of your own (and it will, at least as long as the embark wagon is around, constitute a meeting area for animals, if all other meeting areas are assigned to locations to which animals do not congregate to). If you start in hostile surroundings, it is important to do so, so as to get your dwarves and animals out of danger quickly. It is a good idea to have at least one meeting area of one form or another: It allows you to make off-duty dwarves and animals gather in an area where they are not vulnerable within the fortress. A meeting area filled with dwarves increases the [[social skill]]s of idlers. It makes idle dwarves a little less idle. Because almost every dwarf visits a meeting area at least occasionally, it's an ideal place to site valuable objects and buildings. A meeting area exposed to sunlight will additionally prevent dwarves from becoming [[cave adaptation|cave-adapted]]. Note that having dwarves socialize will often result in them forming [[relationship]]s.

It is not advisable to have animals mill around in crowded meeting areas for a prolonged time, as they will pick fights with dwarves and other animals. While this may be negligible in the case of a hen, it also applies to your [[Dog#War dogs|war dogs]] (although this can be partly beneficial, since all your dwarves will get combat experience from being bitten occasionally, especially the children, who mill around constantly).

If the meeting area is made a guildhall or a temple, the icon of the zone will change depending on the room's quality. For a guildhall, the icons are [[File:meeting_quality0_sprite.png|19px]] and [[File:meeting_quality1_sprite.png|19px]]. For a temple, the icons are [[File:temple_quality0_sprite.png|20px]], [[File:temple_quality1_sprite.png|20px]] and [[File:temple_quality2_sprite.png|20px]]. Dwarves may petition for these types of rooms of varying qualities.

=== Office ===
{{main|Office}}

[[File:office_medium_icon.png|right]]An office is a zone required by some [[Noble|nobles]], and requires a [[chair]]. [[Manager|Managers]] will use the chair to validate and check [[work orders]]. A [[bookkeeper]] will use the office to update the [[stock]]records and increase the precision of the records. A dwarf with an office assigned will sometimes [[eat]] in their own office if there is no communal [[dining hall]] designated in the fortress, but this does not provide any happy [[thought]], no matter how [[#Quality_and_value|luxuriously decorated]] the office may be, and may even generate a bad thought if the chair doesn't have a [[table]] adjacent to it.

=== Bedroom ===
{{main|Bedroom}}

[[File:bedroom_medium_icon.png|right]]A bedroom is a zone where a single dwarf (and possibly their spouse and children) will sleep and store their belongings in. Requires a [[bed]]. A cabinet can be built for the dwarf to store their [[Wear|old]] clothing; and a chest for dwarves to store their belongings like [[coins]], [[Finished Goods|rings, scepters]] etc. A dwarf with no cabinet, or with low [[Personality facet#ORDERLINESS|orderliness]] personality facet will scatter their old clothing everywhere.

=== Dormitory ===
{{main|Dormitory}}

[[File:bedroom_medium_icon.png|right]]A dormitory is a zone containing multiple [[Bed|beds]] where all dwarves that do not have a bedroom assigned to them will sleep. However, sleeping in a dormitory will generate a negative [[thought]] (embarrassed after sleeping without a proper room).

=== Dining hall ===
{{main|Dining hall}}

[[File:dining_medium_icon.png|right]]A Dining Hall is a zone where dwarves go to eat. Requires one or more [[Table|tables]].

=== Barracks ===
{{main|Barracks}}

[[File:barracks_medium_icon.png|right]]A barracks zone is a zone where a [[military]] will go to sleep, train, or store their equipment.

=== Pen/Pasture ===
{{main|Pasture}}

[[File:pasture_medium_icon.png|right]]A pen or a pasture is used to contain tame animals. Once one is created, animals must be assigned to it individually from the zone information menu. Dwarves will drag the assigned animals to the pen or pasture automatically. Domestic animals tend to aggregate at [[meeting area]]s instead, as will herbivorous ones, which will probably lead to starvation, unless your meeting area is overgrown with [[grass]] or fungi for some reason. '''Any tame creature with the "grazer" token in the raws should be assigned to a pasture. This includes mules, cows, goats, horses, yaks, unicorns etc.''' Animals will not typically wander out of their assigned pasture even if it is not walled in, however animals will abandon their posts and will have to be dragged back to them if they are threatened by enemies, and an exposed pasture may lead to premature slaughter at the hands of invaders. Since pets can be assigned to pen/pastures and a zone can be created under a [[dwarven atom smasher]], this is one of the easiest ways to prevent [[catsplosion]]s.

=== Archery range ===
{{main|Archery range}}

[[File:archery_medium_icon.png|right]]An archery range is used by [[marksdwarves]] (or [[Bow|bowdwarves]] and [[blowgun|blowgunners]] by editing the raw). A marksdwarf will pick up bolts nearest to them And then shoot at the target. Upon depleting the bolts, the markdwarf will gain a happy thought(feels pleasure after practicing at an archery range). The marksdwarf's XP gain by practicing in an archery range is only [[Experience|half the amount]] compared to using a [[Advanced Marksdwarf Training Guide|live target]]. but it has the advantages of being easy to set up and needing much less micromanagement. Note that markdwarves cannot shoot adjacent to the [[archery target]]. and there must be at least 1 tile of walkable perimeter that is from the target in order for archery practice to happen.

=== Pit/Pond ===
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#c00|textbg=#ffd|[[File:warning_icon.png|25px]] Warning!|There have been multiple reports of hostile creatures escaping confinement while pitting. Use of forbidden tightly closed hatches above every hole appears to prevent escape.
See [[Mass pitting]] for more. If there are walls under the hole's edges rather than open space, they will allow [[Climber|grabbing and climbing]], so you may want to dig out an overhang, or at least [[Smoothing|smooth]] these walls.
}}

[[File:pit_medium_icon.png|right]]A Pit/Pond requires a [[ramp]] or hole with adjacent flooring on which a dwarf can stand. Designate the zone from the top of the ramp or hole, such that the zone designation is floating in the open space above the floor of the pit/pond. By default, the zone will be a pit. To toggle between pit and pond, press corresponding icon in zone information menu ([[File:Ui Pit.png|24px]]/[[File:Ui Pond.png|24px]]).

Creatures can be assigned to a pit/pond ([[File:Ui assign creature.png|24px]]). If the creature is [[cage]]d, a dwarf will release it from the cage (rather than bringing the cage to the pit). The dwarf will lead the beast to the pit and throw it in. If the pit is a ramp rather than a hole, the creature will then wander back out, as it will if the pit has some other exit path (which would include straight back up the hole for flying creatures). Note that some (or possibly all?) hostile creatures may escape on being released from their cage, possibly attacking the dwarf who opened the cage.
Additionally, dwarves refuse to pit dwarves, hostile or not.
{{Colored Notice Box||See [[Mass pitting]] for more information on pit design involving hostile creatures.}}

The only real difference between a pit and a pond is that dwarves will attempt to fill a pond with [[water]], carried by [[bucket]] from a water source. They will stand on the floor adjacent to the top of the ramp or hole, and toss the water onto the ramp or into the hole. This works even if there is a forbidden [[floor hatch]] covering the hole. Each bucketful increases the depth of the water in the tile below by 1/7. Once the water is dumped from the bucket, the dwarf will either drop the bucket and perform a different task, or choose to fill a pond zone tile again using the bucket (s)he currently holds. Dwarves will stop scheduling the Fill Pond job when the water depth reaches 6/7. Specifying a pond zone is one technique used for [[irrigation]], in order to make [[mud]] for [[farming]] on areas without soil. Currently, no matter how large the designated pond area, only one dwarf at a time will try to fill the pond. In order to fill a large area quickly, it is necessary to designate multiple smaller pond zones (or several zones overlapping the same area).

To make obsidian or cleanse stagnant water with fresh water, the pond zone must be designated an extra tile above the magma/stagnant pool, so that the water falls for a full tile before contacting the surface.

If you have more than one pond designated as a water source, your dwarves may endlessly try to fill each pond with the other pond's water, making a loop of useless duty; this may be undesirable, although otherwise-idle dwarves performing this task won't be making any friends. Only dwarves with the [[Hauling#Water_hauling|Water hauling]] labor enabled will fill ponds.

Artificial ponds are considered to be the same as Murky Pools - you'll only catch pond fish from them (i.e. turtles). If you want to catch river fish, you must fish from the river's original tiles (or perform some DFHack trickery to mark your new tiles as being part of the river).

=== Garbage Dump ===
{{main|Garbage dump}}
[[File:trash_medium_icon.png|right]]Garbage dump zones are areas in which dwarves will throw items marked for dumping - either by manual setting of dump status from item information menu, or {{menu icon|i|p}} (bulk dumping; note that this designates ''all'' items on the tiles for dumping, even built [[furniture]] and items inside [[Storage|container]]s). Garbage dumps are ''not'' the same as [[Refuse#Refuse|refuse]] stockpiles, which can be designated to accept specific type(s) of refuse, such as animal [[corpse]]s or [[bones]], and then are automatically filled by haulers whenever the items appear on the map. Despite the name, garbage dump zones are useful for many things beyond [[garbage disposal]]; they can create [[quantum stockpile]]s, transport materials to a job site, send items to the [[trade depot]] when no caravan is present, [[trap design#Falling_debris_trap|drop rocks]] on enemies below, and numerous other uses.

Be aware that if a garbage zone is designated beside a cliff or hole (any open space, either natural or dwarf-made), garbage will be thrown into the open space. If a dump is designated over a [[ramp]] to the next level down, some dwarves may walk down the ramp to dump their items, while others may just toss their items down from above and onto those dwarves, injuring or killing them.

The garbage dump may be inappropriately named, as it's more of a matter compression zone. The specifics are beyond human understanding; however, dwarves are in fact capable of compressing an infinite amount of matter into only one tile, as long as it is specified as a garbage dump. If, for some reason [[Main:Urist|Urist]] is yet again incapable of locating his favorite pair of, say, troll fur socks, he should think to look among the black hole of matter that is the nearest garbage dump, as they could be snugly lodged between a few billion rocks.

=== Water source ===
[[File:water_medium_icon.png|right]]Dwarves will use these zones to draw water, to satisfy booze-less [[thirst]], to tend to another thirsty dwarf (with the Give Water job), or to fill a [[#Pit/Pond|Pond zone]]. Only tiles ''adjacent'' to water qualify as usable water sources - thus, if you want to place a single-tile zone, place the zone onto a ground tile next to the water, not over the water itself. This zone should ''not'' be used with [[well]]s - this is redundant, as they are already considered their own water source.

If this zone does not exist, any water source can be used. If at least one water source zone exists, then dwarves will only get water from these zones.

Remember that natural bodies of water usually contain aquatic wildlife, some of which may attack your dwarves, or at least spook civilians, and interrupt their tasks. Often it may be best to simply designate a safe body of water as a water source so dwarves aren't allowed to drink/fish anywhere else.

Normally, creatures cannot attack any dwarves through a [[well]] so long as the well is not on the same z-level as the top of the lake/river, thus building one will allow your dwarves safe access to water inhabited by vicious animals (as long as those can't climb).

When dangerous fish are found in the river, one solution is to dig an artificial [[channel]] and place a [[grate]] between it and the river proper, as fish cannot swim through grates, but grates still allow water through. However, beware [[Grate#Bugs|the bug with flow and ''wall'' grates]] - taking water via U-shaped tunnel capped with ''floor'' grates may be safer. If you use a completely isolated smooth reservoir filled with [[pump]]-filtered water, it may still need protection, since the dwarf operating a pump stands right next to its water source tile.
Placing floor grates over the river or channel may also protect dwarves by preventing them from falling in.

[[Carp]] and other non-[[vermin]] fish suffocate if they are not in water, so in some situations it might be possible to pump the water out of a lake or pond. Conversely, an open water body (river or sea) not only cannot be subjected to temporary drainage, but even if there isn't anything dangerous right now, it may arrive later.

=== Animal Training ===
{{main|Animal Training}}
[[File:animaltraining_medium_icon.png|right]]An animal training zone allows [[Animal trainer|animal training]]. Animals cannot be trained, unless they are in a training zone or [[pasture]], or on a [[restraint]]. To be tamed, they must be in a [[cage]].

For making an animal training zone, it is advisable to create a small room with a [[door]], which can be closed if necessary. The training zone should be combined with a pasture to keep in wild animals. This will make sure your animals don't escape when they are not being trained.

=== Dungeon ===
{{main|Jail}}
[[File:dungeon_medium_icon.png|right]]A dungeon is a room designed for [[justice|dwarven justice]]; and in each room, there must be 1 metal [[cage]] or a [[Restraint|rope/chain]]. Once the prisoner is selected to be imprisoned via the justice screen. the [[fortress guard]]/[[sheriff]] will chain or lock the creature in the selected chain or cage. The prisoner will continuously generate a bad thought while being imprisoned. so with some micromanagement, you can save the poor innocent [[cheese maker]] who violated the [[mayor]]'s export ban, from being overly stressed out, by deconstructing the chain as soon as they were chained up. A chain is recommended over a cage, as the chained up creature can still have access to the 8 tiles adjacent to the chain, granting them access to bed, food stockpile, chair and table, as well as allowing the prisoner to admire the chain if they were made from valuable metal like [[gold]] and [[platinum]]. While a caged prisoner is fully dependent on idle dwarves to deliver them food and drink (and only water instead of alcohol are delivered!). So they are more likely to starve to death than chained prisoners (provided you designate a food & drink stockpile within that can be reached by the chained prisoner). Plus, sleeping on a cage floor is, as expected, [[Stress|not very pleasant]].

=== Tomb ===
{{main|Tomb}}
[[File:tomb_medium_icon.png|right]]A tomb is designated to a specific dwarf ([[File:Interface dwarf face.jpg|26px]]), or a pet's corpse ([[File:Interface tomb pet.png|26px]]), to be buried or memorialized in order to prevent the appearance of [[ghosts]]. A tomb zone can only accommodate one dwarf. The primary function of tombs is to keep nobles happy: certain nobles demand their own tomb, and the more self-important the noble is, the higher the quality they will require. In some circumstances a noble will get an unhappy thought if an "inferior" dwarf has a higher-quality tomb, however it is unclear what quality threshold the tomb must be to trigger the thought. Also, a noble that demands a tomb also generates a bad thought at the end of every year if the tomb is yet to be built for them, or did not reach their [[#Quality_and_value|desired rank]]. Nobles may also store certain favored objects in their tombs. To be considered properly buried, at least ''half'' (rounded up, so no less than one) of their existing body parts must be buried.

=== Fishing ===
[[File:fishing_medium_icon.png|right]]Dwarves will preferably use these zones when [[fishing]], using them up until their supply is exhausted before moving on to the next water source. As with water sources, only tiles ''adjacent'' to water qualify as usable tiles. Far-flung fisherdwarves fishing in a distant [[river]] or [[pool]] are a serious defensive liability in case of an attack, so designating a safer fishing zone and, optionally, restricting non-zone fishing in the [[standing orders]] menu will help keep your fisherdwarves safe. Dwarves can fish through a [[grate]] or even a [[well]], provided there is water in the tile 1 z-level below the activity zone.

The [[Captured live fish|capture live fish]] job can ''only'' be carried out at a designated fishing zone.

=== Gather Fruit ===
[[File:gather_medium_icon.png|right]]This will automate plant-gathering jobs in this area, necessary if you want your dwarves to collect fruit from the floor ([[File:Ui gather fallen fruits.png|28px]]), from the [[shrub]]s ([[File:Ui gather shrubs.png|28px]]) and from the trees ([[File:Ui gather trees.png|28px]]). If there are fruit-bearing trees in the designated area, a dwarf will fetch a [[stepladder]] to climb into the tree. The ladder-using dwarf will drop harvested fruit to the ground for others to collect and haul. The details can be set in a sub-menu.

=== Sand collection ===
{{main|Glass industry#Collecting sand}}
[[File:sandpit_medium_icon.png|right]]A '''sand collection''' zone allows dwarves with the [[item hauling]] labor active to fill an unused [[bag]] with [[sand]] for use in the [[glass industry]]. The 'collect sand' task is created at a [[glass furnace]].

=== Clay collection ===
{{main|Ceramic industry#Clay collection}}
[[File:claypit_medium_icon.png|right]]A '''clay collection''' zone allows dwarves with the [[item hauling]] labor active to create [[clay]] for use in the [[ceramic industry]]. The 'collect clay' task is created at a [[kiln]].

== Quality and value ==

Most dwarves don't have high expectations when it comes to rooms - a communal [[dining room]] and [[dormitory]] are enough for the general populace, though making that dining room high-quality and giving them individual quarters will give them happy [[thoughts]], helping to avoid [[tantrum]]s.
[[Nobles]], on the other hand, require rooms of a particular minimum quality that contain certain [[furniture]]. Not meeting these demands will cause [[Emotion|stressful thoughts]], and may prevent them from functioning at their full capacity.

The thoughts generated by more impressive zones will have a stronger stress–relieving value than the thoughts generated by plain or unimpressive zones.

You can check a current rank of a room in the owner's [[profile]] on the "Rooms" tab. There are 8 rank names for each type of a personal room:

{| class = "wikitable unsortable" style="margin:auto;"
|-
! Bedroom name
! Dining room name
! Office Name
! Grave Name
! Numeric Value
|-
| Meager Quarters
| Meager Dining Room
| Meager Office
| Grave
| style="text-align:right;" | 0
|-
| Modest Quarters
| Modest Dining Room
| Modest Office
| Servant's Burial Chamber
| style="text-align:right;" | 100
|-
| Quarters
| Dining Room
| Office
| Burial Chamber
| style="text-align:right;" | 250
|-
| Decent Quarters
| Decent Dining Room
| Decent Office
| Tomb
| style="text-align:right;" | 500
|-
| Fine Quarters
| Fine Dining Room
| Splendid Office
| Fine Tomb
| style="text-align:right;" | 1000
|-
| Great Bedroom
| Great Dining Room
| Throne Room
| Mausoleum
| style="text-align:right;" | 1500
|-
| Grand Bedroom
| Grand Dining Room
| Opulent Throne Room
| Grand Mausoleum
| style="text-align:right;" | 2500
|-
| Royal Bedroom
| Royal Dining Room
| Royal Throne Room
| Royal Mausoleum
| style="text-align:right;" | 10000
|}
Note: unassigned (or communal) rooms may be referenced by other descriptors, such as the happy thought "... dined in a legendary dining room ...".

=== What counts towards room value ===

Room value can be loosely-split into 3 categories: walls, floors, and furniture (everything that is a placeable object goes here, including doors).

A room's furniture value is calculated simply by counting every item of furniture in the room and adding all their [[item value]]s up. Due to the quality-value nerf in v50, furniture is a less effective way to pump up a room's value.

[[Display furniture]] counts towards room value. However, the items ''displayed in it'' only count if the dwarf has a [[preference]] for them. So if your king likes [[sword]]s then any sword in a display case will count towards room value, and any other item (such as a [[crossbow]]), no matter how valuable, won't.

Unlike previous versions where natural surfaces were preferred, now ''placed'' floors and walls have a higher value than natural, with walls having a slightly higher value than floors. Wall and floor values are also calculated by adding all the individual tiles of walls and floor, but first we have to calculate the individual values...

=== Value calculation ===
The formula for calculating the final room value has changed significantly from prior versions of Dwarf Fortress. Thanks to research by TBTerra{{cite reddit|zzqlfu}}, the new formula has been discovered (and included here with only minor edits).

* '''[[Item value#Material multipliers|Material value]]''' - The value given to an item, floor, wall etc due to the material it is made from. ''Common material types:'' Natural spaces like sky, water, or magma are 1, wood is 1, rocks are 1–3, ores/metals are 2–40, gems are 2–60
* '''Pre v50 quality multiplier''' - This is still used in some places.
* '''Current quality multiplier''' - This is used for items.
* '''Quality bonus''' - a flat bonus added after the multiplier.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; margin:auto;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | Quality
! colspan="2" | Quality multiplier
! rowspan="2" | Quality bonus
|- style="text-align:center;"
! Pre v50
! Current
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | -well crafted-
| 2
| 1.1
| 3
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | +finely crafted+
| 3
| 1.2
| 6
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | *superior*
| 4
| 4/3 ≈ 1.3
| 10
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | ≡exceptional≡
| 5
| 1.5
| 15
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | ☼masterful☼
| 12
| 2.0
| 30
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | Artifact
| 120
| 20.0
| 300
|}

=== Values of floor tiles ===

The value of an individual floor tile depends on if it's the original cave floor, a smoothed cave floor, or a placed floor.

;raw cave floor
:1 × material value
;Smooth cave floor
:4 × material value
;placed cave floor
:7 × material value

Additionally if the floor is engraved you add an extra 10 × material value × old quality multiplier.

=== Values of wall tiles ===

Again value depends on whether its original stone, smoothed stone, or placed wall. (Boulders, bars, and blocks of the same material type all have the same value.)

;original wall
:1 × material value
;smoothed wall
:5 × material value
;placed wall
:9 × material value

[[Engraving]] with walls is not always a simple matter. In order for an engraved wall to add its engraving to the room value, the room must contain both the wall itself ''and'' the location the engraver was standing when it was engraved. This means that an engraved wall shared between two zones will only add its value to one of those zones, whichever one the engraver was standing in when that engraving was done.

The value of a wall engraving is 10 × old quality multiplier × material value.

=== Overlapping Rooms ===
[[File:overlapping_zones_preview.png]]{{clear}}
When room designations such that they share floor tiles, the label of some zones in that same area will be renamed to "Overlapping (Zone)" in red text. When selecting an overlapped area, the player is able to select the zone layers with clickable arrows on either side of the zone name. Zones in this state have their values set to 0{{cite reddit|13097u3/comment/jhwgm0e}}. There is no difference in value between a piece of furniture shared by two rooms, or by forty.

Sharing walls is fine however, and sharing doors is allowed as long as the room contains a wall adjacent to the door. When sharing a door, the floor tile it is on is also shared.

[[Location]]s have individual values and are therefore not affected by overlapping zones (eg. A ''Dining Hall/Tavern'' overlapping a ''Meeting Hall/Temple'' will have both Dining and Meeting halls value to 0, but the Temple and the Tavern will share the same values{{cite forum|181632.msg8475740#msg8475740}}.

=== Building optimally ===

If you are limited on your high-value materials (or have lots of rooms you wish to improve) and don't want to abuse wall sharing or other glitches, here's how best to use those high value mats:

# Use your high-value materials on floor tiles, not furniture. A decently-engraved floor has a value of 37–57 × material value; the only thing that gets close to that is the mechanisms in levers.
# The floors of doors that go between rooms you wish to increase are of particular importance as they will count for both rooms.
# Engravings are tedious to redo (For a natural floor, you will need to carve tracks and smooth over before re-engraving. For constructed floors, you will need to build a wall, then carve fortifications, remove the fortification and replace the floor). To minimize the extra work of redoing engravings, leave your highest-value tiles to be done by your most experienced engraver so they will have a high quality on the first try.

=== Breaking room value ===

Since version 50, there is nothing that requires a room to be a single connected piece. This, combined with wall sharing, allows for some… less than fair cheesing of platinum walls that are somehow owned by every single bedroom. And with a trick in the “how to break room value” section, you can have every room royal quality for as little as 4 platinum and 6 basic wood/stone

So you don’t care about using glitches and non–contiguous rooms. Here’s the way you break room value with minimal effort and resources:
[[File:Zone value breaking example.png|thumb|200px|Steps 2 and 3.]]
# Make a line of wall with a 1 tile gap on either side (if your engravers are really good this might only need to be 2–3 long).
# Make the lines of floor either side of this wall out of the most valuable material you can (aluminum or platinum are great, steel and gold also work), and have your best engraver engrave them.
# Place doors on top of all those engraved tiles, what sort doesn’t really matter, as they will be adding 10–100 value to 2–3k value floor tiles.
# For every room ''on the same [[z-level]]'' add the doors and the wall (this is a convenient rectangle). The wall makes the doors shareable, and the doors make the engraved floor shareable.
# For optimal results hide this to the south east of your area, otherwise the zone icons can get rather confusing.

You can also assign arbitrary stretches of space on the same z-level, such as sky, magma, or water, as part of the zone to increase value. Because the standard 4×4 embark contains 192×192=36864 tiles, each with a value of one, designating one entire z-level of sky would instantly create a royal quality zone.

{{Zones}}
{{V50 menus}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Zones}}
[[ru:Zones]]

Adventurer mode gameplay

2026-02-15T15:29:52Z

Silverwing235: /* Undead followers */

{{migrated article}}
:'' This is a detailed description of Adventurer mode gameplay. For a general overview of Adventurer mode, see [[Adventurer mode]].
{{av}}

== Common UI concepts ==
{{KeyConventions|3}}

== Moving around ==

=== Local movement ===
[[File:Advmode_normaltravel_DF2014.png|thumb|400px|An image of normal travel mode. A list of the closest (but not necessarily close) sites is in the top-left corner. On the right side are minimaps of the next two levels down, relative to the player. Along the bottom is information about the player.]]
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}}
| Move
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}}
| Move
|-
| {{k|Alt}} and a direction key
| Move carefully / Deliberately enter dangerous terrain
|-
| [[File:Adv ui ascend.png]]{{k|Shift}}+{{k|<}} or {{k|Shift}}+{{key|5}} (num lock off)
| Ascend
|-
| [[File:Adv ui ascend.png]]{{k|Shift}}+{{k|>}} or {{k|Ctrl}}+{{key|5}} (num lock off)
| Descend
|-
| {{k|.}}
| Wait for 10 instants
|-
| {{k|,}}
| Wait for 1 instant
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|s}}
| Stand or lie down
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|m}}
| Open movement speed menu
|}

Unless your character is an outsider, (''and that your chosen race is even OUTSIDER_CONTROLLABLE to begin with, ie, that you perhaps did not mod such a thing into the [[creature tokens]] beforehand''), you will start out in a race-appropriate town or hamlet; in the standard tileset, the @ sign is your character. The directional keys allow movement, diagonal movement being particularly important, especially when chasing or running away from things. Use {{k|Alt}}+direction to enter water, jump off of cliffs, or otherwise attempt to enter anything that you can't enter using normal movement commands. Note that when entering water, it's best to enter the actual water, ''not'' the open space over the water, as in the latter case you will fall in, causing you to become stunned, which may lead to drowning (''if you are not at least an Adequate swimmer''). If you hit {{Adv menu icon|j}}, you can jump, being mostly useful for getting to the far sides of gorges and crevices. Occasionally, you can manage to jump onto an opponent and tackle them, which typically causes them to go flying a short distance. Note that not every creature is able to jump. Hitting {{k|.}} allows you to stay in one place and wait for other things to move. {{k|,}} does the same but with a tenth of the time it takes for {{k|.}}.

Use {{Adv menu icon|s}} to sit/lie down. Moving while laying down (crawling) will let you move past NPCs which are standing in your way. Also note that you will frequently get knocked to the ground in combat, and if you don't hit {{Adv menu icon|s}} to stand back up, then you will crawl slowly along the ground, giving your opponent a lot of opportunity to attack you.

You can press {{Adv menu icon|m}} to set [[gait]] and {{Adv menu icon|S}} to toggle sneak mode – it will allow you to move around invisibly, limited by your [[Ambusher]] skill and nearby creatures' [[Observer]] skill. Enemies will have sight cones indicating where they can detect a sneaking adventurer – the central zone of sight (red, violet, or cyan) is where they will see you immediately and begin chasing you; their peripheral vision (yellow) is where they might see you. Violet and cyan central zones indicate the enemy is on a different level than you, while red means they are on the same level. Staying out of sight will allow you to silently assassinate your foes, as they rarely seem to notice a knife in the back in time. Note that sneak mode is also affected by a variety of other factors detailed on the {{Adv menu icon|m}} movement screen, such as light level and weather.

If you press {{Adv menu icon|h}} to hold onto a wall or tree, you can climb the wall or tree by using the movement keys – in towns and tamer parts of the countryside, this isn't particularly useful; however, in a combat situation, climbing a tree or wall can give you a height advantage, possibly allowing you to dive-tackle your opponents. Sometimes, mountains will be too steep to walk up the edge, or you will find a deep drop into a ravine. In these cases, you will have to climb up to reach the top, or perhaps jump or climb down one face, and then climb up the other.

=== Fast travel ===
[[File:Advmode_fasttravel_DF2014.png|thumb|400px|Fast Travel screen. The player is in a hamlet, between the houses to the right and the mead hall in the top-left area of the map. The asterisk represents a group of creatures (in this case unfriendly goblins). The world map (in sepia) is on the far right.]]
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T}}
| Fast Travel
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T|d|num=1}}
| Exit fast travel mode
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T|K|num=1}}
| Display detected tracks and odors
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T|c|num=1}}
| Toggle display of clouds on region map
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|S}}
| Walk around in sneak mode. Exiting fast travel starts you in sneak mode.
|-
| [[File:Adv ui T.png]]{{k|m}}
| Cycle through maps and significant structures
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|Q}}
| View Quest Log
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T|Z|num=1}}
| Bring up sleep menu
|-
| {{k|h}}
| Hide parts of the bottom bar
|-
| [[File:Adv ui descend.png]]{{k|>}} and [[File:Adv ui ascend.png]]{{k|<}}
| Enter/exit tunnel
|-
|}

Entering Fast Travel mode will allow you to move large distances in a single keypress. Of course, the same amount of time will go by and you can also be interrupted (ambushed) while moving in fast travel mode. Along the top of the map is a line showing the sky, and position of the sun and/or moon from west to east – this primarily helps you determine how long you have before it gets dark, at which point you won't be able to see very far, will risk getting attacked by bogeymen if in a darkness or nightmare-[[sphere|aspected]] area, and will be more vulnerable to attack in general. If you are not near any sites, the {{k|m}} key will toggle a world map, colored in sepia tone (matching the map you see in the quest log). If you are near a site, then {{k|m}} cycles between a list of significant structures where your player is, a regional map (matching what you travel on when away from any site), and the aforementioned world map. The {{k|c}} key will only show clouds on the region map (the one you travel on outside of sites). Some clouds will be visible regardless of the state of this option.

The {{k|h}} key will cycle through various amounts of the bottom bar of content hidden. The effects of each press are:

* 1 press: hide key reference. Allows you to see status effects on your character if obscured by the key list.
* 2 presses: hide most local name, reducing the bar to one line of text.
* 3 presses: hide less local name, eliminating the bar entirely.
* 4 presses: shows all information

== Status and information ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|l}}
| Look around
|-
| {{k|Space}}
| Advance/Clear Messages
|-
| {{Menu icon|a}}
| View [[Announcement]]s
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|z}}
| Status
|}

=== Looking around ===
{{old}}
If you're not sure what a tile is, the {{k|l}}ook command will tell you. In addition to being useful for identifying tiles and creatures, you can also view creatures' equipment and what items are sitting on the ground in a given tile. If in doubt, try the look command.

Move the cursor to the tile you want to look at using direction keys and {{k|Shift}}+direction. It's possible to look up and down z-levels (assuming you have line of sight) using the {{k|<}} and {{k|>}} keys. This, for example, allows you to find out if any flying creatures are above you. Hit {{Menu icon|Esc}} to exit look mode and go back to movement mode.

=== Messages ===

The game makes frequent use of messages on the screen to tell you what is going on. If there are a lot of these you may need to use {{k|Space}} to display the rest of the messages that won't fit on the screen. You can always go back and view old [[announcement]]s by pressing {{Menu icon|a}}.

=== Status screen ===

The status screen {{Adv menu icon|z}} shows your skills, attributes, wounded body parts, health (along with more detailed descriptions of your wounds), lets you view your description, and change your nickname if you want.

=== Saving the game ===

Hit the {{Menu icon|Esc}} key at any time and select {{DFtext|Save Game}} to save your game. You can then come back to it later by using the {{DFtext|Continue Playing}} option in the main menu.

== Searching and manipulating ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|u}}
| Interact with building, furniture, or mechanism
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|L}}
| Search the nearby area very carefully
|}

The {{k|u}} key can be used to do stuff like pull levers in an abandoned fort. It is also used to lower and raise the bucket when standing right next to a well, so you can get water to refill your waterskin with. You can also access this through the context menu.

{{Adv menu icon|L}} will perform a thorough search of the area that you're standing in, possibly revealing some [[vermin|small creatures]].

== Managing equipment ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|i}}
| Show Inventory
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|d}}
| Drop an item
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|g}}
| Get (pick up) an item off the ground
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|p}}
| Put an item into a container
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|r}}
| Remove an item you are wearing or from a container
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|w}}
| Wear an item
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|I}}
| Interact with an object in an advanced way (unstick a weapon, refill waterskin etc.).
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|q}}
| Sheath your weapons and shield. (Frees your hands for tasks such as climbing or grabbing)
|}

=== Inventory ===

Press {{Adv menu icon|i}} to display a list of what you are currently carrying. Press {{k|-}} {{k|+}} {{k|*}} {{k|/}} to scroll thru the list. This list will show you if items are being worn, held in hands, stuck on your body, or are inside a container. Detailed information about an object can be viewed by pressing the key associated with the item.

=== Getting/dropping things ===

You can {{Adv menu icon|d}} drop items out of your inventory, as well as {{k|g}}et items on the ground on the same tile that you are standing on. If there is more than one item a menu will be listed. Press {{k|-}} {{k|+}} {{k|*}} {{k|/}} to scroll the list if the list is too long to fit on the screen. Note that getting something makes your adventurer pick something up with his or her hands. This often means that you have to use {{Adv menu icon|q}} to sheathe whatever you have in your hands before you pick something up. If you do not have a backpack or some other way of storing the object, your adventurer will not pick the item up.

{{Adv menu icon|g}} will also allow you to ignite foliage/any flammable objects adjacent to you. [[Campfire]]s aren't (yet) as devastating as one might imagine, but they will cause (most) enemies to path around them, making your crowd control techniques slightly more effective when taking on multiple enemies. As an added bonus, it will also surely piss off the elves.

=== Containers/wearing ===

Items can be placed into containers with {{Adv menu icon|p}} and removed with {{Adv menu icon|r}}. Items can be worn using {{Adv menu icon|w}} and removed using {{Adv menu icon|r}} (the same command used for removing from containers). If an item you want to wear does not show up as an option, then it means you are already wearing too many items in the location used by that item. Try {{Adv menu icon|r}} removing items in that location and then wear them again in order of priority.

''Note that "large" or "small" clothing items are too big / small for your race'' (e.g. a '''large''' giant cave spider silk sock). If you have that problem, try getting clothing from a different source. Looking at the article will reveal which race it has been fitted for.

After acquiring [[armor]] from one source or another, you'll most likely want to equip it. To do this, first make sure it is in your possession--not on the ground. You can then {{key|w}}ear it, granted you don't already have too much on that equipment slot already. You can {{k|r}}emove or {{k|d}}rop inferior equipment as necessary.

See [[Armor]] for more information on wearing things. One thing to note in particular, items worn on the same location can stack in many situations, for example a copper mail shirt and a copper breastplate.

=== Wielding ===

There is no command for wielding items such as [[weapon]]s in specific hands. Instead, they are automatically equipped when you either {{Adv menu icon|g}} get them from the ground or {{Adv menu icon|r}} remove them from your [[backpack]] - provided the hand that would wield them is free. So in order to change [[weapon]]s or [[shield]]s you should drop items or place them into containers (such as your backpack) until your hands are free, then get items from the floor or remove them from containers which will place them in your hands. For example, put all items into backpack, remove sword from backpack, remove shield from backpack. The items will end up in the right and left hand. Simply remember the {{Adv menu icon|r}} remove command and the {{Adv menu icon|p}} put into container command.

While normally, one would only be able to equip one item in each hand, removing items from your inventory results in them being wielded regardless of whether one's hands are full.{{bug|9817}} This is especially useful with shields, as every shield will contribute a block chance to each incoming attack.

Once equipped, weapons and shields can be quickly drawn and sheathed with {{Adv menu icon|q}}, instantly preparing for attack or freeing your hands. Any number of weapons can be strapped, but only one for each hand will be drawn. Others can be manually {{Adv menu icon|r}} removed for use, and stowed again without occupying other inventory containers.

It should be noted that ''Dwarf Fortress'' does not enforce one particular hand as dominant for everyone (e.g. some characters may be left-handed), so do not be surprised if your character holds the weapon and [[Armor#Shields and Bucklers|shield]] in hands you yourself would not hold them in.

During advanced combat interactions, it's worth noting that the first item you picked up with empty hands shows up at the top of the interaction menu. This means picking up a shield first will mean pressing {{k|a}} will bash with the shield. Being consistent in the order you equip weapons will allow you to easily memorize attacks.

=== Advanced interaction ===

The {{Adv menu icon|I}} key allows "complex interaction" with objects in your inventory, used for removing arrows and weapons stuck in wounds, which will appear in your inventory when they become stuck in you.
Removing stuck arrows can cause bleeding, so it is not always a good idea mid-combat, but stuck objects will slow you down as you are encumbered by their weight. It's best to remove them as soon as possible when it is safe and you are not in danger of bleeding to death.

Advanced interaction can also be used to steal enemy equipment. Use [[wrestling]] to grab hold of a piece of enemy equipment, such as their weapon, or a helmet protecting their squishy brain, and it will appear in the advanced interaction menu. Simply grab the item with a free hand and pull away. If successful, you will now be holding that item in your hands.

This command is particularly useful for getting water. When standing next to a well you press the {{k|u}} key to lower, then raise the bucket, which gets 10 units of water in the bucket. Then you can press the {{Adv menu icon|I}} key to fill your waterskin from the full bucket (alternatively you can press the {{Adv menu icon|e}} key to drink directly from the bucket).

Advanced interactions can be used next to a campfire to heat things, such as any frozen liquids you have in your inventory (or snow lying on the ground) and need to drink. You can refill waterskins from a nearby liquid source as well

===Sheathing===
The {{Adv menu icon|q}} key lets you strap your weapons to your back, useful because you can't climb or wrestle with your hands while holding weapons or other objects. People will also be less likely to be scared of you on first sight, if you don't appear to be ready to attack.
Keep in mind that while strapping will put away ''everything'' you have in your hands, pressing it again will only cause you to put items into hands that are currently empty, meaning if you had multiple items in one hand, you'll have to {{Adv menu icon|r}} remove them manually to use them again.

== Time and weather ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|D}}
| Date
|-
| {{k|P}}
| Temperature
|-
| {{k|W}}
| Weather/Time
|}

The game has a day/night cycle, with time passing as various actions take place. When using fast travel mode, the top line of the screen will indicate the position of the sun in the sky with a yellow "☼"; Further to the right of the screen is earlier in the day, and further to the left is later. In local travel mode you'll have to use the {{k|W}} command to learn the position of the sun, when you're in a place where the sun is visible. At night you won't be able to see nearly as well, and you will be more vulnerable to ambush. The game also has weather and temperature. The most common weather you'll experience is rain, which is shown as blue moving dots on the local travel screen and will, unsurprisingly, cause everything outside to become wet. Temperature is important, because if it happens to drop below freezing while you're swimming through water, you'll instantly die from being encased in the ice. Therefore, you might want to keep an eye on the temperature while swimming, especially if it's getting cold. Also, unlike fortress mode, rivers/other bodies of water can be liquid during the day, and freeze at night. The cycles of freezing can also be erratic from day to day. Freezing weather can also freeze liquids in your inventory solid, making them undrinkable. If your water freezes and you are thirsty, make a campfire and {{k|I}}nteract with your waterskin to heat it over the fire and melt the ice.

== Sleep ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|Z}}
| Sleep
|}

Eventually, your character will become {{DFtext|Drowsy|1:0}}, and this will get worse until you get sufficient sleep.

{{old|Bogeymen were updated with 0.47.01, are now restricted to certain evil regions, and gained new powers}}
Sleep does not necessarily have to coincide with night, but if you're traveling alone when night comes, you'll be in danger of being attacked by [[bogeymen]]. To avoid this while traveling solo you need to make it to shelter before nightfall and sleep the night away inside a building or abandoned lair. Enter a building, use {{Adv menu icon|k}} to talk to one of the speaking-peoples, and ask for permission to stay the night. Next, press {{Adv menu icon|Z}} to sleep, {{K|d}} to sleep until dawn, then {{K|Enter}} to confirm. ('''NOTE''': If you stay the night in a castle, you have to sleep in the keep which houses the lord/lady of the castle. Sleeping inside the castle but outside the keep still leaves you vulnerable to attack.) Sleeping on an ocean beach also prevents bogeymen from attacking. (If you'd rather not deal with bogeymen, you can disable them by generating a world using [[advanced world generation]] and setting "Number of Bogeymen" to 0)

Though sleeping inside can be safe, it's also limiting: any quest site you want to go to has to be within a daytime's round-trip time of a safe habitation, and you have to make your way there by hopping from one habitation to the next, sleeping at each along the way. A way to avoid this is to travel with companions. If you have any companions with you, then [[bogeymen]] won't attack you. You'll still have to sleep at night, though, both to avoid sleep deprivation and because there's no visibility at night. You can still be ambushed at night by wildlife, but that's much less likely than being ambushed by [[bogeymen]] when traveling alone. If you find yourself alone at night with nowhere safe to sleep, the safest bet is to keep traveling until dawn, even if that means running around in circles. You will eventually feel unwell from sleep deprivation, but this can take a considerable amount of time. You can make up for lost sleep once you've found your way to safety. Note that sleeping in lairs, shrines, and labyrinths makes you safe from ambush, assuming that you or someone else has killed whatever was living there. If you have sufficient shrines/lairs/etc between you and your goal and they are either uninhabited or inhabited by things you are capable of killing, then you can travel from lair to lair, using each as a safe lodging. This is much safer than sleeping out in the open, day or night, even with companions.

If no other options are available, completely surrounding yourself with campfires will keep night marauders at bay as they cannot pass through the fires; the fires will go out after several hours and enable you to move on (you may also be able to jump over the fires). The bogeymen or other enemies may be outside your line of sight, which will prevent you from firing arrows or throwing things at them. In this case, you will have to <s>perform music, preferably playing guitar</s> stand up and lie down {{Adv menu icon|s}} or wait 10 ticks {{K|.}} repeatedly until the enemies wander into your range, the fires go out and the enemies can path to you, or dawn breaks. It should be noted that, as of DF2014, climbing trees and sleeping on them will sometimes prevent [[bogeyman]] attacks, as well. This is especially useful if you prefer to play solo, and do not wish to have an army of followers in your employ. This is also useful if you prefer to engage enemies at your own pace (such as via stealth), rather than having your entire following party immediately charge at anything that is hostile to you. Be wary though, as bogeymen may still be able to reach you by climbing or flying.

== Food and drink ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|e}}
| [[Eat]] or [[drink]] something
|}

To find water, you must find a river, stream, or well in a town and fill your waterskin (or any container) from it, or drink from it directly. Water that may be covering you or your items will not be able to satisfy your thirst. Note that drinking vampire blood will turn you into a vampire instantly. You can only eat and drink up to stomach capacity; after that you become increasingly nauseous and unable to retain your stomach contents (though if you needed a source for vomit, that's one way to acquire it.) You can reset stomach capacity by offloading the map (travel, rest, wait, etc.,) which can only be done in safe locations and circumstances. Over time, food contents are converted to stored fat, even if you remain active, and this will increase your fat layer mass and potentially reduce your speed. Fast traveling also resets food contents (as of v: 43.03) though the hunger and thirst timers are still satisfied by consumption. If you find yourself in need of both food and hydration, make sure to take care of the most urgent problem first, as if you are moderately hungry but severely dehydrated and eat three times, you may die before you have another chance to drink. If the temperature is low enough that you might have trouble finding liquid water, snow and ice can be heated into water by first making a campfire with {{Adv menu icon|g}} and then performing an advanced interaction with {{Adv menu icon|I}} on the ice or snow in your inventory to heat it. Advanced interactions with your waterskin (or any container) can also be used to gather water from water sources, or snow from the ground.

===Announcements when eating===
When eating or drinking, the following announcements will be displayed:
*(nothing): You can eat or drink more no problem.
*You are starting to feel full: You can eat or drink ''one'' more time, but any more than that will cause problems.
*You feel really full: (Exactly what it says on the tin. This is as much as you can eat or drink at the moment.)
*It's too much! You might not be able to keep it down: You've eaten/drunk too much, and will likely [[vomit]].

== Combat ==

:'' Main page: [[Combat#Adventurer mode|Combat]]

== Talking ==
:'' Main page: [[Talking]]

== Companions ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|c}}
| View companion interface
|-
| {{k|TAB}}
| Change to another party member
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|E}}
| Activate party tactical mode
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|k}}
| Talk
|}

There are three main types of companions: party members{{version|0.47.01}}, [[hearthperson|hearthpeople]] and regular [[:Category:NPCs|NPC]] companions. [[Mount#Adventurer_Mode|Mounts]] and [[pet]]s are other types of companions.

Use the {{Adv menu icon|c}} key to open a list showing your companions and their position relative to you. That location is shown as a compass direction, the color of which indicates a rough distance with greens being closest. ({{DFtext|***|7:1}} means they are on the same tile as you.) A {{DFtext|-|7:1}} or {{DFtext|+|7:1}} after the direction indicates that they are on a z-level below or above you. This can be useful if one of them runs off and you want to find them. You can select a specific companion who is in visual range to view them, which is similar to selecting them with {{k|l}}ook, and useful to see their wounds or what they are carrying.

If a companion is too far away from you, they will no longer be shown on the list. You may be able to track them with {{Adv menu icon|K}} and {{k|l}}ooking at the displayed tracks. You can try waiting for an hour {{Adv menu icon|Z}}-({{k-|w|/|/|Enter}}) to see if they catch up to you. Or you can {{Adv menu icon|T}} fast travel to see if they show up as a [[Army|{{DFtext|*}}]] near you. If you move towards the [[Army|{{DFtext|*}}]] and it disappears, that may mean they are on the same region tile - stop traveling ({{Adv menu icon|T|d|num=1}}) and try to find them.

If you keep losing companions while crossing rivers, try finding a bridge or following the river upstream until it becomes crossable in fast travel mode.

=== Party members ===

Party members are characters created before beginning the adventure. To add another member, press {{k|N}} on the last page of character creation ({{DFtext|Mounts and pets}}). The limit on how many can be created is not known. Party members are limited to the ones you've created and NPCs can't be added to your party later in the game.

In game, you can switch control to the next member with {{k|TAB}} or pick a specific member to control with {{Adv menu icon|c}} then {{k|TAB}}. The name of the currently controlled member is shown on the status bar at the bottom of the screen (left side, top line). The screen will also center on the current character and when pressing {{k|l}} to look, the flashing {{DFtext|X|6:1}} cursor will start on the current character.

You can activate party tactical mode with {{Adv menu icon|E}}. Normally, you control one member, and the others will act on their own; in tactical mode you can control all or some of the party members. You can set which ones you control with {{Adv menu icon|c}} then {{Adv menu icon|E}}. In tactical mode, after you select an action for the current member, control automatically passes to the next player–controlled member. Once all player–controlled members have actions selected, time will progress. Once one or more characters' actions have completed, control will pass to the first of those. Although most useful for [[Combat#Adventurer mode|combat]], tactical mode can be used at any time. For example, having a conversation between two player-controlled party members in tactical mode allows you to control both sides. (Though this can be a bit confusing, since everything said will be labelled as being said by {{DFtext|You: …|2:1}}.)

=== Hearthpeople ===
{{main|Hearthperson}}

Hearthpeople are NPCs who have sworn allegiance to you, as opposed to regular companions (who usually join your party as part of a mutual agreement) and party members (who you control). In order to gain hearthpeople, you should become a [[noble|lord]] of some kind, which usually means [[claim]]ing a site with no other competing claims. The easiest way to do this is to build and claim a [[camp]]; once you are a lord or lady of a [[site]], you can recruit hearthpeople to your cause. Hearthpeople will not follow you around in your adventures, instead patrolling your site. They can also build for you,{{verify}} and will side with you in case of conflict.

You may also gain hearthpeople if someone with a nobility title gives it up for you, which they can be made to through a common dialogue [[exploit]].

=== NPC companions ===

NPC companions are those who follow you around after they've accepted your offer for them to join you. Your character will have a limit on the maximum number of companions you can have at one time. Companions that are not currently with you do not count towards that limit. The limit is based on your [[reputation]] level and the ''Social Awareness'' attribute. With average social awareness and the maximum level of fame, the limit is 19 companions. Creatures with no military skills, or those with higher skills than you, are unlikely to agree to join you. However, the average soldier will join you "if you lead [them] to glory and death".

Be careful, though, as joining you does not immediately mean they are loyal to you; if you turn around and start attacking their friends, they'll cancel the agreement. Companionship does seem to eventually rewrite old loyalties, although it takes some time.{{verify}} Companions keeping their loyalties has the unfortunate side-effect of them rarely respecting ceasefires, so yielding enemies are pretty much doomed. On the plus side, at least you are unlikely to be blamed if your companion murders people.

You can give or take equipment with an NPC companion by choosing to talk to them and selecting {{DFtext|Exchange, give or take personal items}}. It is important to note that they prefer to store exchanged items in a personal container rather than to equip them. You must convince your companions to trade away any containers (pouches, quivers, backpacks, etc.) as well as the equipment that you are attempting to replace. Once you have given your companions almost no choice in the matter, they will equip the new items and a message like {{DFtext|The Swordsman reorganizes his possessions|6:1}} will be displayed.

You can have NPCs join you as performers, after you convince them of your skills. This can be used to recruit those you normally couldn't recruit, such as civilians and stronger soldiers. What exactly is required to convince someone to join you is unclear, but reputation seems to factor into it. Even a totally unskilled performer can eventually convince eligible NPCs, simply by repeatedly spamming performances in front of them. (NPCs will not move away from performances, in fact, if they start moving while you're starting one, they'll take a step back to their previous location, once you begin. They may, however, fall asleep.) Enough performances, even if they never get a single reaction above "pretty good", should convince almost anyone. This method makes obtaining the maximum number of companions much easier, allowing you to have a mob of dancing companions.

==== Undead followers ====

If you have [[necromancer]] abilities, you may raise corpses as [[undead]], who will then be listed in your companion list. Basic undead with no [[soul]] are not capable of talking, building, or indeed doing anything other than loosely following you around and attacking anything living on sight, including your other living companions. As your abilities give you the [[night creature]] status, undead followers will never attack you, even if you attack them - instead, they will all turn neutral. If you raise a corpse as intelligent undead, it will retain their pre-existing loyalty links from when they were living and not necessarily be loyal to you - this means that enemies you've slain in combat will attack you again if you resurrect them this way. To override this behavior, you should first raise them as basic undead, which destroys their souls (and associated links), 'kill' them again and re-raise them again.

=== General information ===

The information in this section applies to all types of companions. If they survive long enough, companions are capable of levelling attributes and skills, and having a job title change; which also happens if they gain enough reputation.

Your companions will continue to follow you and fight hostile creatures around you, until they die (if you asked them to join you on an adventure) or get you to the proper location (if you asked them to guide you to some place). If you want to get rid of your companions at any time, the safe way is to talk to each one of them, ask them about their journey with you, and then cancel the agreement.

Companions can be instructed to stay where they are by talking to them and selecting {{DFtext|Ask listener to wait here}} under the {{DFtext|Ask favor, place request, make demand or issue order}} menu. Your companion will stop following you and wait where they are, until you talk to them again and select {{DFtext|Ask listener to follow you}}. This can be useful if you need to leave a companion behind temporarily, such as when you are entering an area that you know will be too dangerous for your followers. Note that your [[pet]]s{{version|0.47.01}} will also obey this instruction.

Companions can be assigned to zones in camps, with {{k-|b|z|a}}. This is where they will spend their time when at the site and not travelling with you.

== Personal finance ==

=== Trading (barter) ===

In human [[town]]s (not [[hamlet]]s or [[castle]]s), you can find shops; in elven trading-trees you can find markets; and at [[depot]]s in dwarven fortresses, you can encounter [[broker]]s. Once you're inside of a [[shop]] and right next to any of the NPCs, you can use {{Adv menu icon|k}} to {{DFtext|Trade}} with them. Use {{K|Enter}} to select which items to trade, left/right arrow keys to switch between the list of shop items and your items, and up/down arrow keys to scroll through the lists. You can also either {{k|a}}sk for or {{k|o}}ffer currency as part of the process. Once done, press {{K|t}} to trade. The shopkeeper won't get angry if you're not offering enough in trade, so you can start offering just a few items, keep trying again with a little more until the trade is accepted. After trading, you will find the stuff you gave on the floor at your feet, and the stuff you got in your inventory.

=== Theft ===

You may also pick up the item before buying it, but you should never walk out of a shop carrying an unbought item, as that is theft, punishable by death if you are caught, and exile if you are not. On any occasion when you have stolen goods from a store (indicated by dollar signs on either side of the item in your inventory), the game requires you to exit the site ''and'' move a considerable distance before allowing you to quick travel. This may make a getaway more difficult if your adventurer is not already faster than anyone else. This only applies to goods in stores; killing townsfolk and taking their personal things, including those of the shopkeep, still only requires exiting the site. The moment you are out of sight, you will be able to 'warp' out as usual. Theft and murder remain within entities; even depopulating one country and stealing all its things will not generate ill-repute in another country. In some cases, the shop will be abandoned. This will be made clear by the presence of unbought items and the lack of any merchants in the area. You will not be considered a thief by the relevant entity for taking stuff from an abandoned shop, but you will still be withheld the privilege of fast-travel until you leave the site. If the item name is not surrounded by dollar signs, it is never considered stealing, even in situations where it would be in real life.

=== Managing coins ===

You will find that coins from one civilization are nearly worthless in any others (except for metal value, or so the presumption goes). This will typically result in adventurers carrying around lots of partially-useless coins. Coins can and will encumber your adventurer, eventually reducing their speed. To reduce that effect, you can try to exchange your copper and silver coins for gold ones, as well as sell all of your loot directly for gold coins. Remember, merchants will always try to pay you in higher-denomination currency first, but will resort to lower-value coins if they run out of anything higher. First, check the merchant's chest to see how much of each type of coins they have.

Standard [[coin]] values are as follows:
* [[Copper]] Coin == 1☼
* [[Silver]] Coin == 5☼
* [[Gold]] Coin == 15☼

To receive the maximum amount of gold coins from that merchant, make sure the amount '''they owe you''' during the trade is equal to (total amount of gold coins the shop has)*15☼ . If you are selling loot, simply make sure you only trade this worth of goods, and move on to other merchants for the rest. If you wish to exchange copper and silver coins for gold, buy random goods from the merchant until their price is around this value, and then sell back all of the goods for their original value, but in gold. Alternatively, you can take your excess coinage and use it to purchase [[Gem|large gems]] at a trinket shop. Large gems make good investments because they are 1) light, 2) variably priced, and 3) equally valuable between different civilizations. A few goods are strictly superior to all forms of coinage as a store of value, most notably [[giant cave spider]] [[silk]] items. A suitably sneaky (or powerful) adventurer can murder a few dwarves or goblins for such items for trade and sale for human goods. [[Giant cave spider]] silk is a non-renewable resource in any given world - please harvest responsibly.

=== Where to get items to sell ===

The best place to get items to sell is at bandit [[camp]]s, after you've slaughtered all the [[bandit]]s. You can loot the clothes and equipment off of the corpses of the bandits (and off your fallen companions, too), plus at the very center of camp there'll be a few scattered weapons and a few bags/chests containing various goods. The next best way to get items to sell is to kill a creature, butcher their corpse (see below for how), and pick up the edible bits. Butchered bits from the corpses of people (dwarves, elves, humans, etc.) can sometimes be found in monster lairs and these seem to be just as desired by shopkeepers as the products you gain from your own butchering. Remember that you can also carve the bones of animals to make them desirable trading items. Another good early source of income can be bags left in houses and shops, which usually contain plants and food. No one will complain, and the plants inside can be sold at about 2☼ each plus the value of the bag. At the bottom of the list comes {{Adv menu icon|L}} looking carefully and selling any small creatures you might find. However, shops will not accept live creatures unless they are in cages. Some rocks, piles of sand, and other things found on the ground nearly everywhere can also be sold for 1☼ each.

You can also try filling your [[backpack]] from a river - it can hold up to 100 units of water, which is worth 100☼ total. After you sell it, water will drop to the floor as a pool, and the backpack can be refilled instantly and for free from there. In fact, you can infinitely fill any container from any pool/pile of any liquid/powder, so if you happen to find some precious substance like [[sunshine]] or [[dwarven sugar]], money won't be a problem for you anymore. This is of course an [[exploit]], liable to be fixed at any time. It may be useful in a pinch, but don't rely on it. Another devious method is to go outside the shop, {{Adv menu icon|g}} grab handfuls of mud and throw it into your backpack, then sell them for 1☼ each. The merchants will gladly buy your rare and valuable mud, despite the unlimited free mud just outside their shop.

== Quest log ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|Q}}
| Open quest log
|-
| {{k|Esc}}
| Exit quest log
|-
| {{k|e}} {{k|p}} {{k|a}} {{k|s}} {{k|r}} {{k|b}}
| Access various lists
|-
| {{k|m}}
| Switch between the world map and additional info
|-
| {{k|z}}
| Center cursor on location of selected list item, if known
|-
| {{k|c}}
| Center cursor on your location
|-
| {{k|l}}
| Toggle the visibility of the line between you and some other point on the map.
|-
| {{k|f}}
| Filter the list
|-
| {{k|+}} {{k|-}} {{k|*}} {{k|/}}
| Navigate the list
|}

The quest log contains everything you know about the world, such as various events going on, people you know, and various sites. The {{k|m}} key will alternate between a world map that you can navigate, and information on whatever item is highlighted in the list to the right.

There are various kinds of lists you can check on the quest log:

* '''Events''' — A list of events that are happening or have happened. Formatting of the list is {{DFtext|(type)/(description)}}. You can center on the location of the event if you know this. This list is the closest you'll get to some formal quest system.
* '''People''' — A list of people you know. At the start of the game, this list will contain people in your site.
* '''Sites''' — A list of various sites around the world.
* '''Groups''' — A list of groups you know of and your relation to them. Note that you have to press {{k|e}} when you're on the events list in order to reach this list, requiring you to press {{k|e}} at most twice.
* '''Agreements''' - Your various agreements; this includes tasks given to you by your lord, and why people are traveling with you and the history of your agreements.
* '''Regions''' — A list of regions. The additional information will list the biomes a region possesses.
* '''Bestiary''' — A list of creatures, their characteristics, and where you could find them.

== Create ==
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|x}}
| Craft (butcher, create item...)
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|P}}
| Compose or [[Performer|perform]]
|}

Adventurers can perform limited crafting, with access to butchery and moddable [[reaction]]s. To access the crafting menu, press {{Adv menu icon|x}}. In addition to crafting, other actions can be performed.

=== Crafting ===

* '''[[Knapper|Knapping]]''' allows an adventurer to sharpen a rock. Knapping only works on stones on the ground or in your hands. When you select "Make sharp rock", you will be prompted to choose a rock to sharpen ("tool stone"), and then the rock that is to be the hammerstone. The tool stone will be replaced in your hand by a sharp version, which can serve well enough to make some...

* '''Helves''' (hafts){{version|0.43.01}} which are carved from branches, which can be pulled from trees. Doing so requires a sharp item, which can be anything from a weapon or arrow, all the way to a sharpened rock (the product of your earlier Knapping usually works best in this case). Helves are currently only used to make...

* '''Stone Axes'''{{version|0.43.01}} - Assembling a stone axe requires a helve plus a sharp rock as components. Stone axes are inferior to battle axes weapon-wise, but are just as usable for cutting down trees.

* '''[[Bone carver|Carve Bone]]''' acts similarly to fortress mode's [[Bone carver]] by allowing the adventurer to carve [[bone]]s into [[Finished goods|various objects]] and [[figurine]]s. The bone carving options are contained in a subsection of the crafting menu, due to the number of options.

* '''Carpentry'''{{version|0.43.01}} is another crafting menu, but using it requires one to stand in a [[carpenter's workshop]], either one found in a fortress, or constructed by the character. The menu includes various furniture (not all of which can be placed in the build menu) along with various containers, buckets, shields, and training weapons. All of these require a log and a sharp object.

=== Butchery ===

'''[[Butcher|Butcher]]''' acts similarly to fortress mode's [[butchery]] by converting a corpse into edible products, bones, and skin. A corpse must be on the ground or in your hand. With a sharp object (such as a [[large dagger]] or knapped stone or even a bolt/arrow) in your hand, or on the same tile as the corpse, press {{Adv menu icon|x}} for the crafting menu, then select the butcher option, and then you can select the corpse and the sharp tool to butcher with. The corpse will be replaced by its butchering returns.

=== Composing ===

The {{Adv menu icon|P}} [[Performer|performance]] menu allows you to create '''musical compositions''', '''poetry''', '''choreography''', or '''writing'''. You will then be able to select from one of the [[art]] forms already known to the adventurer, which the specific song, poem, or dance will be an example of.

[[Writer|Writing]] allows the adventurer to write books and scrolls, allowing one to create various types of literature. Writing requires reading or writing skill as a prerequisite, along with a blank scroll or quire available. Each option produces different results.

* '''Guide''' - General writing about a specific site, generally described as "concerning" that town, dark pit, etc. without going into detail.

* '''Essay''' - Writing about individual historical events, generally of personal relevance to the adventurer. E.G: the ascension of that adventurer to lordship, companions joining the party, and other such events.

* '''Manual''' - This will write down a randomly-selected form of knowledge the adventurer is aware of, to be learned by future readers. Most commonly this will be musical, poetic, and dance forms the adventurer knows or composed. This can also include scientific research the adventurer has learned, and necromancer adventurers can spread the secrets of life and death by writing manuals about them.

* '''Chronicle''' - In-depth writing about a particular site, group, or civilization. This will be presented as a multiple-chapter work, each chapter relating to a historical event related to the writing's subject.

* '''Letters''', '''short stories''', '''novels''', and '''plays''' will write generic prose, typically described as having no particular subject. In addition, letters will normally generate untitled.

* '''Composition''' - Writes new songs. This functions similarly to composing new songs, with the added benefit of writing it down for others to learn. However, unlike normal composition you do not get to select which musical form to base the song on.

* '''Choreography''' - As with compositions above, this writes down a new dance based on a randomly-selected dance form the adventurer knows.

* You can also unlock even more types of writing by going to a library and reading books of different genres, such as '''biographies'''.

Additionally, at the bottom of the writing menu, you have the option of writing down specific songs and dances known to the adventurer.

== Natural abilities and acquired powers ==
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|X}}
| Use ability
|}

* '''Spitting''' lets you [[spit]] (if you are a creature that can), which can be aimed at someone in much the same way as any projectile. To get this, choose natural ability and then spit in the [[interaction]]s menu. Other natural abilities exist (such as breathing [[fire]]), but only some are usable, since some belong to creatures that are not playable.

You may also gain acquired abilities when you become a creature of the night, such as a [[necromancer]] or [[intelligent undead]].

== Woodcutting, building and site management ==
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|b}}
| Found a site and build
|}

Adventurers can chop down trees for resources—this requires a ''non-wooden'' axe. By pressing {{Adv menu icon|g}} while next to a tree, you can chop it down and collect logs.
However building is no longer functional.

=== Faction management ===
While building personal sites and construction mechanics are no longer available in adventure mode, faction management remains functional. After [[claim|claiming]] a [[mead hall|meadhall or other similar structure]] [[Unfortunate accident|(And disappearing all previous nobles)]] you will get a text popup telling you that you are in control now, and your title will change to lord; at this point you can take control of a site and manage it as its leader. This includes hiring guards by {{DFtext|Invite listener to become a hearthperson}}. The guards will automatically patrol your site if they are not your companions, or will hang out in the zones you assign them.
Additionally, as the site's lord, you can force the leaders of nearby villages to pay you tribute, via the
{{DFtext|submit and pay tribute}} demand. However, they are unlikely to submit under non-strenuous circumstances.

== Sites ==
:'' Main article: [[Site]]
More information on each type of site can be found in the site's specific article.

At these sites you can trade, take quests, or talk with people:

{| style="margin:1em 1em 1em 0;background:#F9F9F9;border:1px #AAA solid;" class=wikitable class=sortable
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;text-align:center;"
!|'''Tile'''
!|'''Name'''
!|'''Inhabitated by'''
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Ω|0:0:1}}
| [[Mountain halls]]
| Dwarves
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Ω|7:0:0}}
| [[Hillocks]]
| Dwarves
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Ω|7:0:1}}
| [[Fortress]]
| Dwarves
|-
| {{Raw Tile|○|7:0:1}}
| [[Castle]]{{version|0.47.01}}
| Humans
|-
| {{Raw Tile|î|6:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|¶|6:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|₧|6:0:1}}
| [[Forest retreat]]
| Elves
|-
| {{Raw Tile|<nowiki>=</nowiki>|2:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|≡|2:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|æ|2:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|Æ|2:0:0}}
| [[Hamlet]]
| Humans
|-
| {{Raw Tile|+|7:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|*|7:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|#|7:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|☼|7:0:1}}
| [[Town]]
| Humans
|-
| {{Raw Tile|○|7:0:0}}
| [[Monastery]]{{version|0.47.01}}
| ?
|}

These sites are populated with goblins, monsters or undead. You may want to go there to accomplish a quest, or just for [[fun]]:

{| style="margin:1em 1em 1em 0;background:#F9F9F9;border:1px #AAA solid;" class=wikitable class=sortable
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;text-align:center;"
!|'''Tile'''
!|'''Name'''
!|'''Inhabitated by'''
|-
| {{Raw Tile|☼|6:0:1}}
| [[Camp]]
| Bandits
|-
| {{Raw Tile|○|0:6:0}}
| [[Fort]]{{version|0.47.01}}
| Bandits
|-
| {{Raw Tile|º|5:0:0}}
| [[Dark pits]]
| Goblins
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Π|0:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|Π|5:0:1}}
| [[Dark fortress]]
| Goblins
|-
| {{Raw Tile|•|0:0:1}}
| [[Cave]]
| Monsters
|-
| {{Raw Tile|#|0:7:1}}
| [[Labyrinth]]
| Monsters
|-
| {{Raw Tile|•|0:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|2:0:1}}
| [[Lair]]
| Monsters
|-
| {{Raw Tile|μ|6:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|μ|7:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|μ|7:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|μ|0:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|μ|5:0:1}}
| [[Ruin|Ruins]]
| Monsters?
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Å|7:0:0}}
| [[Shrine]]
| Monsters
|-
| {{Raw Tile|0|0:0:1}}
| [[Tomb]]
| Undead
|-
| {{Raw Tile|I|5:0:0}}
| [[Tower (necromancy)|Tower]]
| Undead
|}

== FAQ ==
:'' Main page: [[Adventurer mode F.A.Q.]]

{{Category|Adventurer mode}}
[[ru:Adventurer mode gameplay]]

Adventurer mode gameplay

2026-02-14T16:38:42Z

Silverwing235: /* Announcements when eating */

{{migrated article}}
:'' This is a detailed description of Adventurer mode gameplay. For a general overview of Adventurer mode, see [[Adventurer mode]].
{{av}}

== Common UI concepts ==
{{KeyConventions|3}}

== Moving around ==

=== Local movement ===
[[File:Advmode_normaltravel_DF2014.png|thumb|400px|An image of normal travel mode. A list of the closest (but not necessarily close) sites is in the top-left corner. On the right side are minimaps of the next two levels down, relative to the player. Along the bottom is information about the player.]]
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}}
| Move
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}}
| Move
|-
| {{k|Alt}} and a direction key
| Move carefully / Deliberately enter dangerous terrain
|-
| [[File:Adv ui ascend.png]]{{k|Shift}}+{{k|<}} or {{k|Shift}}+{{key|5}} (num lock off)
| Ascend
|-
| [[File:Adv ui ascend.png]]{{k|Shift}}+{{k|>}} or {{k|Ctrl}}+{{key|5}} (num lock off)
| Descend
|-
| {{k|.}}
| Wait for 10 instants
|-
| {{k|,}}
| Wait for 1 instant
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|s}}
| Stand or lie down
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|m}}
| Open movement speed menu
|}

Unless your character is an outsider, (''and that your chosen race is even OUTSIDER_CONTROLLABLE to begin with, ie, that you perhaps did not mod such a thing into the [[creature tokens]] beforehand''), you will start out in a race-appropriate town or hamlet; in the standard tileset, the @ sign is your character. The directional keys allow movement, diagonal movement being particularly important, especially when chasing or running away from things. Use {{k|Alt}}+direction to enter water, jump off of cliffs, or otherwise attempt to enter anything that you can't enter using normal movement commands. Note that when entering water, it's best to enter the actual water, ''not'' the open space over the water, as in the latter case you will fall in, causing you to become stunned, which may lead to drowning (''if you are not at least an Adequate swimmer''). If you hit {{Adv menu icon|j}}, you can jump, being mostly useful for getting to the far sides of gorges and crevices. Occasionally, you can manage to jump onto an opponent and tackle them, which typically causes them to go flying a short distance. Note that not every creature is able to jump. Hitting {{k|.}} allows you to stay in one place and wait for other things to move. {{k|,}} does the same but with a tenth of the time it takes for {{k|.}}.

Use {{Adv menu icon|s}} to sit/lie down. Moving while laying down (crawling) will let you move past NPCs which are standing in your way. Also note that you will frequently get knocked to the ground in combat, and if you don't hit {{Adv menu icon|s}} to stand back up, then you will crawl slowly along the ground, giving your opponent a lot of opportunity to attack you.

You can press {{Adv menu icon|m}} to set [[gait]] and {{Adv menu icon|S}} to toggle sneak mode – it will allow you to move around invisibly, limited by your [[Ambusher]] skill and nearby creatures' [[Observer]] skill. Enemies will have sight cones indicating where they can detect a sneaking adventurer – the central zone of sight (red, violet, or cyan) is where they will see you immediately and begin chasing you; their peripheral vision (yellow) is where they might see you. Violet and cyan central zones indicate the enemy is on a different level than you, while red means they are on the same level. Staying out of sight will allow you to silently assassinate your foes, as they rarely seem to notice a knife in the back in time. Note that sneak mode is also affected by a variety of other factors detailed on the {{Adv menu icon|m}} movement screen, such as light level and weather.

If you press {{Adv menu icon|h}} to hold onto a wall or tree, you can climb the wall or tree by using the movement keys – in towns and tamer parts of the countryside, this isn't particularly useful; however, in a combat situation, climbing a tree or wall can give you a height advantage, possibly allowing you to dive-tackle your opponents. Sometimes, mountains will be too steep to walk up the edge, or you will find a deep drop into a ravine. In these cases, you will have to climb up to reach the top, or perhaps jump or climb down one face, and then climb up the other.

=== Fast travel ===
[[File:Advmode_fasttravel_DF2014.png|thumb|400px|Fast Travel screen. The player is in a hamlet, between the houses to the right and the mead hall in the top-left area of the map. The asterisk represents a group of creatures (in this case unfriendly goblins). The world map (in sepia) is on the far right.]]
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T}}
| Fast Travel
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T|d|num=1}}
| Exit fast travel mode
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T|K|num=1}}
| Display detected tracks and odors
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T|c|num=1}}
| Toggle display of clouds on region map
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|S}}
| Walk around in sneak mode. Exiting fast travel starts you in sneak mode.
|-
| [[File:Adv ui T.png]]{{k|m}}
| Cycle through maps and significant structures
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|Q}}
| View Quest Log
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T|Z|num=1}}
| Bring up sleep menu
|-
| {{k|h}}
| Hide parts of the bottom bar
|-
| [[File:Adv ui descend.png]]{{k|>}} and [[File:Adv ui ascend.png]]{{k|<}}
| Enter/exit tunnel
|-
|}

Entering Fast Travel mode will allow you to move large distances in a single keypress. Of course, the same amount of time will go by and you can also be interrupted (ambushed) while moving in fast travel mode. Along the top of the map is a line showing the sky, and position of the sun and/or moon from west to east – this primarily helps you determine how long you have before it gets dark, at which point you won't be able to see very far, will risk getting attacked by bogeymen if in a darkness or nightmare-[[sphere|aspected]] area, and will be more vulnerable to attack in general. If you are not near any sites, the {{k|m}} key will toggle a world map, colored in sepia tone (matching the map you see in the quest log). If you are near a site, then {{k|m}} cycles between a list of significant structures where your player is, a regional map (matching what you travel on when away from any site), and the aforementioned world map. The {{k|c}} key will only show clouds on the region map (the one you travel on outside of sites). Some clouds will be visible regardless of the state of this option.

The {{k|h}} key will cycle through various amounts of the bottom bar of content hidden. The effects of each press are:

* 1 press: hide key reference. Allows you to see status effects on your character if obscured by the key list.
* 2 presses: hide most local name, reducing the bar to one line of text.
* 3 presses: hide less local name, eliminating the bar entirely.
* 4 presses: shows all information

== Status and information ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|l}}
| Look around
|-
| {{k|Space}}
| Advance/Clear Messages
|-
| {{Menu icon|a}}
| View [[Announcement]]s
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|z}}
| Status
|}

=== Looking around ===
{{old}}
If you're not sure what a tile is, the {{k|l}}ook command will tell you. In addition to being useful for identifying tiles and creatures, you can also view creatures' equipment and what items are sitting on the ground in a given tile. If in doubt, try the look command.

Move the cursor to the tile you want to look at using direction keys and {{k|Shift}}+direction. It's possible to look up and down z-levels (assuming you have line of sight) using the {{k|<}} and {{k|>}} keys. This, for example, allows you to find out if any flying creatures are above you. Hit {{Menu icon|Esc}} to exit look mode and go back to movement mode.

=== Messages ===

The game makes frequent use of messages on the screen to tell you what is going on. If there are a lot of these you may need to use {{k|Space}} to display the rest of the messages that won't fit on the screen. You can always go back and view old [[announcement]]s by pressing {{Menu icon|a}}.

=== Status screen ===

The status screen {{Adv menu icon|z}} shows your skills, attributes, wounded body parts, health (along with more detailed descriptions of your wounds), lets you view your description, and change your nickname if you want.

=== Saving the game ===

Hit the {{Menu icon|Esc}} key at any time and select {{DFtext|Save Game}} to save your game. You can then come back to it later by using the {{DFtext|Continue Playing}} option in the main menu.

== Searching and manipulating ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|u}}
| Interact with building, furniture, or mechanism
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|L}}
| Search the nearby area very carefully
|}

The {{k|u}} key can be used to do stuff like pull levers in an abandoned fort. It is also used to lower and raise the bucket when standing right next to a well, so you can get water to refill your waterskin with. You can also access this through the context menu.

{{Adv menu icon|L}} will perform a thorough search of the area that you're standing in, possibly revealing some [[vermin|small creatures]].

== Managing equipment ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|i}}
| Show Inventory
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|d}}
| Drop an item
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|g}}
| Get (pick up) an item off the ground
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|p}}
| Put an item into a container
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|r}}
| Remove an item you are wearing or from a container
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|w}}
| Wear an item
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|I}}
| Interact with an object in an advanced way (unstick a weapon, refill waterskin etc.).
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|q}}
| Sheath your weapons and shield. (Frees your hands for tasks such as climbing or grabbing)
|}

=== Inventory ===

Press {{Adv menu icon|i}} to display a list of what you are currently carrying. Press {{k|-}} {{k|+}} {{k|*}} {{k|/}} to scroll thru the list. This list will show you if items are being worn, held in hands, stuck on your body, or are inside a container. Detailed information about an object can be viewed by pressing the key associated with the item.

=== Getting/dropping things ===

You can {{Adv menu icon|d}} drop items out of your inventory, as well as {{k|g}}et items on the ground on the same tile that you are standing on. If there is more than one item a menu will be listed. Press {{k|-}} {{k|+}} {{k|*}} {{k|/}} to scroll the list if the list is too long to fit on the screen. Note that getting something makes your adventurer pick something up with his or her hands. This often means that you have to use {{Adv menu icon|q}} to sheathe whatever you have in your hands before you pick something up. If you do not have a backpack or some other way of storing the object, your adventurer will not pick the item up.

{{Adv menu icon|g}} will also allow you to ignite foliage/any flammable objects adjacent to you. [[Campfire]]s aren't (yet) as devastating as one might imagine, but they will cause (most) enemies to path around them, making your crowd control techniques slightly more effective when taking on multiple enemies. As an added bonus, it will also surely piss off the elves.

=== Containers/wearing ===

Items can be placed into containers with {{Adv menu icon|p}} and removed with {{Adv menu icon|r}}. Items can be worn using {{Adv menu icon|w}} and removed using {{Adv menu icon|r}} (the same command used for removing from containers). If an item you want to wear does not show up as an option, then it means you are already wearing too many items in the location used by that item. Try {{Adv menu icon|r}} removing items in that location and then wear them again in order of priority.

''Note that "large" or "small" clothing items are too big / small for your race'' (e.g. a '''large''' giant cave spider silk sock). If you have that problem, try getting clothing from a different source. Looking at the article will reveal which race it has been fitted for.

After acquiring [[armor]] from one source or another, you'll most likely want to equip it. To do this, first make sure it is in your possession--not on the ground. You can then {{key|w}}ear it, granted you don't already have too much on that equipment slot already. You can {{k|r}}emove or {{k|d}}rop inferior equipment as necessary.

See [[Armor]] for more information on wearing things. One thing to note in particular, items worn on the same location can stack in many situations, for example a copper mail shirt and a copper breastplate.

=== Wielding ===

There is no command for wielding items such as [[weapon]]s in specific hands. Instead, they are automatically equipped when you either {{Adv menu icon|g}} get them from the ground or {{Adv menu icon|r}} remove them from your [[backpack]] - provided the hand that would wield them is free. So in order to change [[weapon]]s or [[shield]]s you should drop items or place them into containers (such as your backpack) until your hands are free, then get items from the floor or remove them from containers which will place them in your hands. For example, put all items into backpack, remove sword from backpack, remove shield from backpack. The items will end up in the right and left hand. Simply remember the {{Adv menu icon|r}} remove command and the {{Adv menu icon|p}} put into container command.

While normally, one would only be able to equip one item in each hand, removing items from your inventory results in them being wielded regardless of whether one's hands are full.{{bug|9817}} This is especially useful with shields, as every shield will contribute a block chance to each incoming attack.

Once equipped, weapons and shields can be quickly drawn and sheathed with {{Adv menu icon|q}}, instantly preparing for attack or freeing your hands. Any number of weapons can be strapped, but only one for each hand will be drawn. Others can be manually {{Adv menu icon|r}} removed for use, and stowed again without occupying other inventory containers.

It should be noted that ''Dwarf Fortress'' does not enforce one particular hand as dominant for everyone (e.g. some characters may be left-handed), so do not be surprised if your character holds the weapon and [[Armor#Shields and Bucklers|shield]] in hands you yourself would not hold them in.

During advanced combat interactions, it's worth noting that the first item you picked up with empty hands shows up at the top of the interaction menu. This means picking up a shield first will mean pressing {{k|a}} will bash with the shield. Being consistent in the order you equip weapons will allow you to easily memorize attacks.

=== Advanced interaction ===

The {{Adv menu icon|I}} key allows "complex interaction" with objects in your inventory, used for removing arrows and weapons stuck in wounds, which will appear in your inventory when they become stuck in you.
Removing stuck arrows can cause bleeding, so it is not always a good idea mid-combat, but stuck objects will slow you down as you are encumbered by their weight. It's best to remove them as soon as possible when it is safe and you are not in danger of bleeding to death.

Advanced interaction can also be used to steal enemy equipment. Use [[wrestling]] to grab hold of a piece of enemy equipment, such as their weapon, or a helmet protecting their squishy brain, and it will appear in the advanced interaction menu. Simply grab the item with a free hand and pull away. If successful, you will now be holding that item in your hands.

This command is particularly useful for getting water. When standing next to a well you press the {{k|u}} key to lower, then raise the bucket, which gets 10 units of water in the bucket. Then you can press the {{Adv menu icon|I}} key to fill your waterskin from the full bucket (alternatively you can press the {{Adv menu icon|e}} key to drink directly from the bucket).

Advanced interactions can be used next to a campfire to heat things, such as any frozen liquids you have in your inventory (or snow lying on the ground) and need to drink. You can refill waterskins from a nearby liquid source as well

===Sheathing===
The {{Adv menu icon|q}} key lets you strap your weapons to your back, useful because you can't climb or wrestle with your hands while holding weapons or other objects. People will also be less likely to be scared of you on first sight, if you don't appear to be ready to attack.
Keep in mind that while strapping will put away ''everything'' you have in your hands, pressing it again will only cause you to put items into hands that are currently empty, meaning if you had multiple items in one hand, you'll have to {{Adv menu icon|r}} remove them manually to use them again.

== Time and weather ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|D}}
| Date
|-
| {{k|P}}
| Temperature
|-
| {{k|W}}
| Weather/Time
|}

The game has a day/night cycle, with time passing as various actions take place. When using fast travel mode, the top line of the screen will indicate the position of the sun in the sky with a yellow "☼"; Further to the right of the screen is earlier in the day, and further to the left is later. In local travel mode you'll have to use the {{k|W}} command to learn the position of the sun, when you're in a place where the sun is visible. At night you won't be able to see nearly as well, and you will be more vulnerable to ambush. The game also has weather and temperature. The most common weather you'll experience is rain, which is shown as blue moving dots on the local travel screen and will, unsurprisingly, cause everything outside to become wet. Temperature is important, because if it happens to drop below freezing while you're swimming through water, you'll instantly die from being encased in the ice. Therefore, you might want to keep an eye on the temperature while swimming, especially if it's getting cold. Also, unlike fortress mode, rivers/other bodies of water can be liquid during the day, and freeze at night. The cycles of freezing can also be erratic from day to day. Freezing weather can also freeze liquids in your inventory solid, making them undrinkable. If your water freezes and you are thirsty, make a campfire and {{k|I}}nteract with your waterskin to heat it over the fire and melt the ice.

== Sleep ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|Z}}
| Sleep
|}

Eventually, your character will become {{DFtext|Drowsy|1:0}}, and this will get worse until you get sufficient sleep.

{{old|Bogeymen were updated with 0.47.01, are now restricted to certain evil regions, and gained new powers}}
Sleep does not necessarily have to coincide with night, but if you're traveling alone when night comes, you'll be in danger of being attacked by [[bogeymen]]. To avoid this while traveling solo you need to make it to shelter before nightfall and sleep the night away inside a building or abandoned lair. Enter a building, use {{Adv menu icon|k}} to talk to one of the speaking-peoples, and ask for permission to stay the night. Next, press {{Adv menu icon|Z}} to sleep, {{K|d}} to sleep until dawn, then {{K|Enter}} to confirm. ('''NOTE''': If you stay the night in a castle, you have to sleep in the keep which houses the lord/lady of the castle. Sleeping inside the castle but outside the keep still leaves you vulnerable to attack.) Sleeping on an ocean beach also prevents bogeymen from attacking. (If you'd rather not deal with bogeymen, you can disable them by generating a world using [[advanced world generation]] and setting "Number of Bogeymen" to 0)

Though sleeping inside can be safe, it's also limiting: any quest site you want to go to has to be within a daytime's round-trip time of a safe habitation, and you have to make your way there by hopping from one habitation to the next, sleeping at each along the way. A way to avoid this is to travel with companions. If you have any companions with you, then [[bogeymen]] won't attack you. You'll still have to sleep at night, though, both to avoid sleep deprivation and because there's no visibility at night. You can still be ambushed at night by wildlife, but that's much less likely than being ambushed by [[bogeymen]] when traveling alone. If you find yourself alone at night with nowhere safe to sleep, the safest bet is to keep traveling until dawn, even if that means running around in circles. You will eventually feel unwell from sleep deprivation, but this can take a considerable amount of time. You can make up for lost sleep once you've found your way to safety. Note that sleeping in lairs, shrines, and labyrinths makes you safe from ambush, assuming that you or someone else has killed whatever was living there. If you have sufficient shrines/lairs/etc between you and your goal and they are either uninhabited or inhabited by things you are capable of killing, then you can travel from lair to lair, using each as a safe lodging. This is much safer than sleeping out in the open, day or night, even with companions.

If no other options are available, completely surrounding yourself with campfires will keep night marauders at bay as they cannot pass through the fires; the fires will go out after several hours and enable you to move on (you may also be able to jump over the fires). The bogeymen or other enemies may be outside your line of sight, which will prevent you from firing arrows or throwing things at them. In this case, you will have to <s>perform music, preferably playing guitar</s> stand up and lie down {{Adv menu icon|s}} or wait 10 ticks {{K|.}} repeatedly until the enemies wander into your range, the fires go out and the enemies can path to you, or dawn breaks. It should be noted that, as of DF2014, climbing trees and sleeping on them will sometimes prevent [[bogeyman]] attacks, as well. This is especially useful if you prefer to play solo, and do not wish to have an army of followers in your employ. This is also useful if you prefer to engage enemies at your own pace (such as via stealth), rather than having your entire following party immediately charge at anything that is hostile to you. Be wary though, as bogeymen may still be able to reach you by climbing or flying.

== Food and drink ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|e}}
| [[Eat]] or [[drink]] something
|}

To find water, you must find a river, stream, or well in a town and fill your waterskin (or any container) from it, or drink from it directly. Water that may be covering you or your items will not be able to satisfy your thirst. Note that drinking vampire blood will turn you into a vampire instantly. You can only eat and drink up to stomach capacity; after that you become increasingly nauseous and unable to retain your stomach contents (though if you needed a source for vomit, that's one way to acquire it.) You can reset stomach capacity by offloading the map (travel, rest, wait, etc.,) which can only be done in safe locations and circumstances. Over time, food contents are converted to stored fat, even if you remain active, and this will increase your fat layer mass and potentially reduce your speed. Fast traveling also resets food contents (as of v: 43.03) though the hunger and thirst timers are still satisfied by consumption. If you find yourself in need of both food and hydration, make sure to take care of the most urgent problem first, as if you are moderately hungry but severely dehydrated and eat three times, you may die before you have another chance to drink. If the temperature is low enough that you might have trouble finding liquid water, snow and ice can be heated into water by first making a campfire with {{Adv menu icon|g}} and then performing an advanced interaction with {{Adv menu icon|I}} on the ice or snow in your inventory to heat it. Advanced interactions with your waterskin (or any container) can also be used to gather water from water sources, or snow from the ground.

===Announcements when eating===
When eating or drinking, the following announcements will be displayed:
*(nothing): You can eat or drink more no problem.
*You are starting to feel full: You can eat or drink ''one'' more time, but any more than that will cause problems.
*You feel really full: (Exactly what it says on the tin. This is as much as you can eat or drink at the moment.)
*It's too much! You might not be able to keep it down: You've eaten/drunk too much, and will likely [[vomit]].

== Combat ==

:'' Main page: [[Combat#Adventurer mode|Combat]]

== Talking ==
:'' Main page: [[Talking]]

== Companions ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|c}}
| View companion interface
|-
| {{k|TAB}}
| Change to another party member
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|E}}
| Activate party tactical mode
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|k}}
| Talk
|}

There are three main types of companions: party members{{version|0.47.01}}, [[hearthperson|hearthpeople]] and regular [[:Category:NPCs|NPC]] companions. [[Mount#Adventurer_Mode|Mounts]] and [[pet]]s are other types of companions.

Use the {{Adv menu icon|c}} key to open a list showing your companions and their position relative to you. That location is shown as a compass direction, the color of which indicates a rough distance with greens being closest. ({{DFtext|***|7:1}} means they are on the same tile as you.) A {{DFtext|-|7:1}} or {{DFtext|+|7:1}} after the direction indicates that they are on a z-level below or above you. This can be useful if one of them runs off and you want to find them. You can select a specific companion who is in visual range to view them, which is similar to selecting them with {{k|l}}ook, and useful to see their wounds or what they are carrying.

If a companion is too far away from you, they will no longer be shown on the list. You may be able to track them with {{Adv menu icon|K}} and {{k|l}}ooking at the displayed tracks. You can try waiting for an hour {{Adv menu icon|Z}}-({{k-|w|/|/|Enter}}) to see if they catch up to you. Or you can {{Adv menu icon|T}} fast travel to see if they show up as a [[Army|{{DFtext|*}}]] near you. If you move towards the [[Army|{{DFtext|*}}]] and it disappears, that may mean they are on the same region tile - stop traveling ({{Adv menu icon|T|d|num=1}}) and try to find them.

If you keep losing companions while crossing rivers, try finding a bridge or following the river upstream until it becomes crossable in fast travel mode.

=== Party members ===

Party members are characters created before beginning the adventure. To add another member, press {{k|N}} on the last page of character creation ({{DFtext|Mounts and pets}}). The limit on how many can be created is not known. Party members are limited to the ones you've created and NPCs can't be added to your party later in the game.

In game, you can switch control to the next member with {{k|TAB}} or pick a specific member to control with {{Adv menu icon|c}} then {{k|TAB}}. The name of the currently controlled member is shown on the status bar at the bottom of the screen (left side, top line). The screen will also center on the current character and when pressing {{k|l}} to look, the flashing {{DFtext|X|6:1}} cursor will start on the current character.

You can activate party tactical mode with {{Adv menu icon|E}}. Normally, you control one member, and the others will act on their own; in tactical mode you can control all or some of the party members. You can set which ones you control with {{Adv menu icon|c}} then {{Adv menu icon|E}}. In tactical mode, after you select an action for the current member, control automatically passes to the next player–controlled member. Once all player–controlled members have actions selected, time will progress. Once one or more characters' actions have completed, control will pass to the first of those. Although most useful for [[Combat#Adventurer mode|combat]], tactical mode can be used at any time. For example, having a conversation between two player-controlled party members in tactical mode allows you to control both sides. (Though this can be a bit confusing, since everything said will be labelled as being said by {{DFtext|You: …|2:1}}.)

=== Hearthpeople ===
{{main|Hearthperson}}

Hearthpeople are NPCs who have sworn allegiance to you, as opposed to regular companions (who usually join your party as part of a mutual agreement) and party members (who you control). In order to gain hearthpeople, you should become a [[noble|lord]] of some kind, which usually means [[claim]]ing a site with no other competing claims. The easiest way to do this is to build and claim a [[camp]]; once you are a lord or lady of a [[site]], you can recruit hearthpeople to your cause. Hearthpeople will not follow you around in your adventures, instead patrolling your site. They can also build for you,{{verify}} and will side with you in case of conflict.

You may also gain hearthpeople if someone with a nobility title gives it up for you, which they can be made to through a common dialogue [[exploit]].

=== NPC companions ===

NPC companions are those who follow you around after they've accepted your offer for them to join you. Your character will have a limit on the maximum number of companions you can have at one time. Companions that are not currently with you do not count towards that limit. The limit is based on your [[reputation]] level and the ''Social Awareness'' attribute. With average social awareness and the maximum level of fame, the limit is 19 companions. Creatures with no military skills, or those with higher skills than you, are unlikely to agree to join you. However, the average soldier will join you "if you lead [them] to glory and death".

Be careful, though, as joining you does not immediately mean they are loyal to you; if you turn around and start attacking their friends, they'll cancel the agreement. Companionship does seem to eventually rewrite old loyalties, although it takes some time.{{verify}} Companions keeping their loyalties has the unfortunate side-effect of them rarely respecting ceasefires, so yielding enemies are pretty much doomed. On the plus side, at least you are unlikely to be blamed if your companion murders people.

You can give or take equipment with an NPC companion by choosing to talk to them and selecting {{DFtext|Exchange, give or take personal items}}. It is important to note that they prefer to store exchanged items in a personal container rather than to equip them. You must convince your companions to trade away any containers (pouches, quivers, backpacks, etc.) as well as the equipment that you are attempting to replace. Once you have given your companions almost no choice in the matter, they will equip the new items and a message like {{DFtext|The Swordsman reorganizes his possessions|6:1}} will be displayed.

You can have NPCs join you as performers, after you convince them of your skills. This can be used to recruit those you normally couldn't recruit, such as civilians and stronger soldiers. What exactly is required to convince someone to join you is unclear, but reputation seems to factor into it. Even a totally unskilled performer can eventually convince eligible NPCs, simply by repeatedly spamming performances in front of them. (NPCs will not move away from performances, in fact, if they start moving while you're starting one, they'll take a step back to their previous location, once you begin. They may, however, fall asleep.) Enough performances, even if they never get a single reaction above "pretty good", should convince almost anyone. This method makes obtaining the maximum number of companions much easier, allowing you to have a mob of dancing companions.

==== Undead followers ====

If you have [[necromancer]] abilities, you may raise corpses as [[undead]] who will then be listed in your companion list. Basic undead with no [[soul]] are not capable of talking, building or indeed doing anything other than loosely following you around and attacking anything living on sight, including your other living companions. As your abilities give you [[night creature]] status, undead followers will never attack you, even if you attack them - instead, they will all turn neutral. If you raise a corpse as intelligent undead, it will retain their pre-existing loyalty links from when they were living and not be necessarily loyal to you - this means that enemies you've slain in combat will attack you again if you resurrect them this way. To override this behavior, you should first raise them as basic undead, which destroys their souls (and associated links), 'kill' them again and re-raise them again.

=== General information ===

The information in this section applies to all types of companions. If they survive long enough, companions are capable of levelling attributes and skills, and having a job title change; which also happens if they gain enough reputation.

Your companions will continue to follow you and fight hostile creatures around you, until they die (if you asked them to join you on an adventure) or get you to the proper location (if you asked them to guide you to some place). If you want to get rid of your companions at any time, the safe way is to talk to each one of them, ask them about their journey with you, and then cancel the agreement.

Companions can be instructed to stay where they are by talking to them and selecting {{DFtext|Ask listener to wait here}} under the {{DFtext|Ask favor, place request, make demand or issue order}} menu. Your companion will stop following you and wait where they are, until you talk to them again and select {{DFtext|Ask listener to follow you}}. This can be useful if you need to leave a companion behind temporarily, such as when you are entering an area that you know will be too dangerous for your followers. Note that your [[pet]]s{{version|0.47.01}} will also obey this instruction.

Companions can be assigned to zones in camps, with {{k-|b|z|a}}. This is where they will spend their time when at the site and not travelling with you.

== Personal finance ==

=== Trading (barter) ===

In human [[town]]s (not [[hamlet]]s or [[castle]]s), you can find shops; in elven trading-trees you can find markets; and at [[depot]]s in dwarven fortresses, you can encounter [[broker]]s. Once you're inside of a [[shop]] and right next to any of the NPCs, you can use {{Adv menu icon|k}} to {{DFtext|Trade}} with them. Use {{K|Enter}} to select which items to trade, left/right arrow keys to switch between the list of shop items and your items, and up/down arrow keys to scroll through the lists. You can also either {{k|a}}sk for or {{k|o}}ffer currency as part of the process. Once done, press {{K|t}} to trade. The shopkeeper won't get angry if you're not offering enough in trade, so you can start offering just a few items, keep trying again with a little more until the trade is accepted. After trading, you will find the stuff you gave on the floor at your feet, and the stuff you got in your inventory.

=== Theft ===

You may also pick up the item before buying it, but you should never walk out of a shop carrying an unbought item, as that is theft, punishable by death if you are caught, and exile if you are not. On any occasion when you have stolen goods from a store (indicated by dollar signs on either side of the item in your inventory), the game requires you to exit the site ''and'' move a considerable distance before allowing you to quick travel. This may make a getaway more difficult if your adventurer is not already faster than anyone else. This only applies to goods in stores; killing townsfolk and taking their personal things, including those of the shopkeep, still only requires exiting the site. The moment you are out of sight, you will be able to 'warp' out as usual. Theft and murder remain within entities; even depopulating one country and stealing all its things will not generate ill-repute in another country. In some cases, the shop will be abandoned. This will be made clear by the presence of unbought items and the lack of any merchants in the area. You will not be considered a thief by the relevant entity for taking stuff from an abandoned shop, but you will still be withheld the privilege of fast-travel until you leave the site. If the item name is not surrounded by dollar signs, it is never considered stealing, even in situations where it would be in real life.

=== Managing coins ===

You will find that coins from one civilization are nearly worthless in any others (except for metal value, or so the presumption goes). This will typically result in adventurers carrying around lots of partially-useless coins. Coins can and will encumber your adventurer, eventually reducing their speed. To reduce that effect, you can try to exchange your copper and silver coins for gold ones, as well as sell all of your loot directly for gold coins. Remember, merchants will always try to pay you in higher-denomination currency first, but will resort to lower-value coins if they run out of anything higher. First, check the merchant's chest to see how much of each type of coins they have.

Standard [[coin]] values are as follows:
* [[Copper]] Coin == 1☼
* [[Silver]] Coin == 5☼
* [[Gold]] Coin == 15☼

To receive the maximum amount of gold coins from that merchant, make sure the amount '''they owe you''' during the trade is equal to (total amount of gold coins the shop has)*15☼ . If you are selling loot, simply make sure you only trade this worth of goods, and move on to other merchants for the rest. If you wish to exchange copper and silver coins for gold, buy random goods from the merchant until their price is around this value, and then sell back all of the goods for their original value, but in gold. Alternatively, you can take your excess coinage and use it to purchase [[Gem|large gems]] at a trinket shop. Large gems make good investments because they are 1) light, 2) variably priced, and 3) equally valuable between different civilizations. A few goods are strictly superior to all forms of coinage as a store of value, most notably [[giant cave spider]] [[silk]] items. A suitably sneaky (or powerful) adventurer can murder a few dwarves or goblins for such items for trade and sale for human goods. [[Giant cave spider]] silk is a non-renewable resource in any given world - please harvest responsibly.

=== Where to get items to sell ===

The best place to get items to sell is at bandit [[camp]]s, after you've slaughtered all the [[bandit]]s. You can loot the clothes and equipment off of the corpses of the bandits (and off your fallen companions, too), plus at the very center of camp there'll be a few scattered weapons and a few bags/chests containing various goods. The next best way to get items to sell is to kill a creature, butcher their corpse (see below for how), and pick up the edible bits. Butchered bits from the corpses of people (dwarves, elves, humans, etc.) can sometimes be found in monster lairs and these seem to be just as desired by shopkeepers as the products you gain from your own butchering. Remember that you can also carve the bones of animals to make them desirable trading items. Another good early source of income can be bags left in houses and shops, which usually contain plants and food. No one will complain, and the plants inside can be sold at about 2☼ each plus the value of the bag. At the bottom of the list comes {{Adv menu icon|L}} looking carefully and selling any small creatures you might find. However, shops will not accept live creatures unless they are in cages. Some rocks, piles of sand, and other things found on the ground nearly everywhere can also be sold for 1☼ each.

You can also try filling your [[backpack]] from a river - it can hold up to 100 units of water, which is worth 100☼ total. After you sell it, water will drop to the floor as a pool, and the backpack can be refilled instantly and for free from there. In fact, you can infinitely fill any container from any pool/pile of any liquid/powder, so if you happen to find some precious substance like [[sunshine]] or [[dwarven sugar]], money won't be a problem for you anymore. This is of course an [[exploit]], liable to be fixed at any time. It may be useful in a pinch, but don't rely on it. Another devious method is to go outside the shop, {{Adv menu icon|g}} grab handfuls of mud and throw it into your backpack, then sell them for 1☼ each. The merchants will gladly buy your rare and valuable mud, despite the unlimited free mud just outside their shop.

== Quest log ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|Q}}
| Open quest log
|-
| {{k|Esc}}
| Exit quest log
|-
| {{k|e}} {{k|p}} {{k|a}} {{k|s}} {{k|r}} {{k|b}}
| Access various lists
|-
| {{k|m}}
| Switch between the world map and additional info
|-
| {{k|z}}
| Center cursor on location of selected list item, if known
|-
| {{k|c}}
| Center cursor on your location
|-
| {{k|l}}
| Toggle the visibility of the line between you and some other point on the map.
|-
| {{k|f}}
| Filter the list
|-
| {{k|+}} {{k|-}} {{k|*}} {{k|/}}
| Navigate the list
|}

The quest log contains everything you know about the world, such as various events going on, people you know, and various sites. The {{k|m}} key will alternate between a world map that you can navigate, and information on whatever item is highlighted in the list to the right.

There are various kinds of lists you can check on the quest log:

* '''Events''' — A list of events that are happening or have happened. Formatting of the list is {{DFtext|(type)/(description)}}. You can center on the location of the event if you know this. This list is the closest you'll get to some formal quest system.
* '''People''' — A list of people you know. At the start of the game, this list will contain people in your site.
* '''Sites''' — A list of various sites around the world.
* '''Groups''' — A list of groups you know of and your relation to them. Note that you have to press {{k|e}} when you're on the events list in order to reach this list, requiring you to press {{k|e}} at most twice.
* '''Agreements''' - Your various agreements; this includes tasks given to you by your lord, and why people are traveling with you and the history of your agreements.
* '''Regions''' — A list of regions. The additional information will list the biomes a region possesses.
* '''Bestiary''' — A list of creatures, their characteristics, and where you could find them.

== Create ==
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|x}}
| Craft (butcher, create item...)
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|P}}
| Compose or [[Performer|perform]]
|}

Adventurers can perform limited crafting, with access to butchery and moddable [[reaction]]s. To access the crafting menu, press {{Adv menu icon|x}}. In addition to crafting, other actions can be performed.

=== Crafting ===

* '''[[Knapper|Knapping]]''' allows an adventurer to sharpen a rock. Knapping only works on stones on the ground or in your hands. When you select "Make sharp rock", you will be prompted to choose a rock to sharpen ("tool stone"), and then the rock that is to be the hammerstone. The tool stone will be replaced in your hand by a sharp version, which can serve well enough to make some...

* '''Helves''' (hafts){{version|0.43.01}} which are carved from branches, which can be pulled from trees. Doing so requires a sharp item, which can be anything from a weapon or arrow, all the way to a sharpened rock (the product of your earlier Knapping usually works best in this case). Helves are currently only used to make...

* '''Stone Axes'''{{version|0.43.01}} - Assembling a stone axe requires a helve plus a sharp rock as components. Stone axes are inferior to battle axes weapon-wise, but are just as usable for cutting down trees.

* '''[[Bone carver|Carve Bone]]''' acts similarly to fortress mode's [[Bone carver]] by allowing the adventurer to carve [[bone]]s into [[Finished goods|various objects]] and [[figurine]]s. The bone carving options are contained in a subsection of the crafting menu, due to the number of options.

* '''Carpentry'''{{version|0.43.01}} is another crafting menu, but using it requires one to stand in a [[carpenter's workshop]], either one found in a fortress, or constructed by the character. The menu includes various furniture (not all of which can be placed in the build menu) along with various containers, buckets, shields, and training weapons. All of these require a log and a sharp object.

=== Butchery ===

'''[[Butcher|Butcher]]''' acts similarly to fortress mode's [[butchery]] by converting a corpse into edible products, bones, and skin. A corpse must be on the ground or in your hand. With a sharp object (such as a [[large dagger]] or knapped stone or even a bolt/arrow) in your hand, or on the same tile as the corpse, press {{Adv menu icon|x}} for the crafting menu, then select the butcher option, and then you can select the corpse and the sharp tool to butcher with. The corpse will be replaced by its butchering returns.

=== Composing ===

The {{Adv menu icon|P}} [[Performer|performance]] menu allows you to create '''musical compositions''', '''poetry''', '''choreography''', or '''writing'''. You will then be able to select from one of the [[art]] forms already known to the adventurer, which the specific song, poem, or dance will be an example of.

[[Writer|Writing]] allows the adventurer to write books and scrolls, allowing one to create various types of literature. Writing requires reading or writing skill as a prerequisite, along with a blank scroll or quire available. Each option produces different results.

* '''Guide''' - General writing about a specific site, generally described as "concerning" that town, dark pit, etc. without going into detail.

* '''Essay''' - Writing about individual historical events, generally of personal relevance to the adventurer. E.G: the ascension of that adventurer to lordship, companions joining the party, and other such events.

* '''Manual''' - This will write down a randomly-selected form of knowledge the adventurer is aware of, to be learned by future readers. Most commonly this will be musical, poetic, and dance forms the adventurer knows or composed. This can also include scientific research the adventurer has learned, and necromancer adventurers can spread the secrets of life and death by writing manuals about them.

* '''Chronicle''' - In-depth writing about a particular site, group, or civilization. This will be presented as a multiple-chapter work, each chapter relating to a historical event related to the writing's subject.

* '''Letters''', '''short stories''', '''novels''', and '''plays''' will write generic prose, typically described as having no particular subject. In addition, letters will normally generate untitled.

* '''Composition''' - Writes new songs. This functions similarly to composing new songs, with the added benefit of writing it down for others to learn. However, unlike normal composition you do not get to select which musical form to base the song on.

* '''Choreography''' - As with compositions above, this writes down a new dance based on a randomly-selected dance form the adventurer knows.

* You can also unlock even more types of writing by going to a library and reading books of different genres, such as '''biographies'''.

Additionally, at the bottom of the writing menu, you have the option of writing down specific songs and dances known to the adventurer.

== Natural abilities and acquired powers ==
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|X}}
| Use ability
|}

* '''Spitting''' lets you [[spit]] (if you are a creature that can), which can be aimed at someone in much the same way as any projectile. To get this, choose natural ability and then spit in the [[interaction]]s menu. Other natural abilities exist (such as breathing [[fire]]), but only some are usable, since some belong to creatures that are not playable.

You may also gain acquired abilities when you become a creature of the night, such as a [[necromancer]] or [[intelligent undead]].

== Woodcutting, building and site management ==
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|b}}
| Found a site and build
|}

Adventurers can chop down trees for resources—this requires a ''non-wooden'' axe. By pressing {{Adv menu icon|g}} while next to a tree, you can chop it down and collect logs.
However building is no longer functional.

=== Faction management ===
While building personal sites and construction mechanics are no longer available in adventure mode, faction management remains functional. After [[claim|claiming]] a [[mead hall|meadhall or other similar structure]] [[Unfortunate accident|(And disappearing all previous nobles)]] you will get a text popup telling you that you are in control now, and your title will change to lord; at this point you can take control of a site and manage it as its leader. This includes hiring guards by {{DFtext|Invite listener to become a hearthperson}}. The guards will automatically patrol your site if they are not your companions, or will hang out in the zones you assign them.
Additionally, as the site's lord, you can force the leaders of nearby villages to pay you tribute, via the
{{DFtext|submit and pay tribute}} demand. However, they are unlikely to submit under non-strenuous circumstances.

== Sites ==
:'' Main article: [[Site]]
More information on each type of site can be found in the site's specific article.

At these sites you can trade, take quests, or talk with people:

{| style="margin:1em 1em 1em 0;background:#F9F9F9;border:1px #AAA solid;" class=wikitable class=sortable
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;text-align:center;"
!|'''Tile'''
!|'''Name'''
!|'''Inhabitated by'''
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Ω|0:0:1}}
| [[Mountain halls]]
| Dwarves
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Ω|7:0:0}}
| [[Hillocks]]
| Dwarves
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Ω|7:0:1}}
| [[Fortress]]
| Dwarves
|-
| {{Raw Tile|○|7:0:1}}
| [[Castle]]{{version|0.47.01}}
| Humans
|-
| {{Raw Tile|î|6:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|¶|6:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|₧|6:0:1}}
| [[Forest retreat]]
| Elves
|-
| {{Raw Tile|<nowiki>=</nowiki>|2:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|≡|2:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|æ|2:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|Æ|2:0:0}}
| [[Hamlet]]
| Humans
|-
| {{Raw Tile|+|7:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|*|7:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|#|7:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|☼|7:0:1}}
| [[Town]]
| Humans
|-
| {{Raw Tile|○|7:0:0}}
| [[Monastery]]{{version|0.47.01}}
| ?
|}

These sites are populated with goblins, monsters or undead. You may want to go there to accomplish a quest, or just for [[fun]]:

{| style="margin:1em 1em 1em 0;background:#F9F9F9;border:1px #AAA solid;" class=wikitable class=sortable
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;text-align:center;"
!|'''Tile'''
!|'''Name'''
!|'''Inhabitated by'''
|-
| {{Raw Tile|☼|6:0:1}}
| [[Camp]]
| Bandits
|-
| {{Raw Tile|○|0:6:0}}
| [[Fort]]{{version|0.47.01}}
| Bandits
|-
| {{Raw Tile|º|5:0:0}}
| [[Dark pits]]
| Goblins
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Π|0:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|Π|5:0:1}}
| [[Dark fortress]]
| Goblins
|-
| {{Raw Tile|•|0:0:1}}
| [[Cave]]
| Monsters
|-
| {{Raw Tile|#|0:7:1}}
| [[Labyrinth]]
| Monsters
|-
| {{Raw Tile|•|0:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|2:0:1}}
| [[Lair]]
| Monsters
|-
| {{Raw Tile|μ|6:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|μ|7:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|μ|7:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|μ|0:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|μ|5:0:1}}
| [[Ruin|Ruins]]
| Monsters?
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Å|7:0:0}}
| [[Shrine]]
| Monsters
|-
| {{Raw Tile|0|0:0:1}}
| [[Tomb]]
| Undead
|-
| {{Raw Tile|I|5:0:0}}
| [[Tower (necromancy)|Tower]]
| Undead
|}

== FAQ ==
:'' Main page: [[Adventurer mode F.A.Q.]]

{{Category|Adventurer mode}}
[[ru:Adventurer mode gameplay]]

Adventurer mode gameplay

2026-02-14T16:37:08Z

Silverwing235: /* Faction management */

{{migrated article}}
:'' This is a detailed description of Adventurer mode gameplay. For a general overview of Adventurer mode, see [[Adventurer mode]].
{{av}}

== Common UI concepts ==
{{KeyConventions|3}}

== Moving around ==

=== Local movement ===
[[File:Advmode_normaltravel_DF2014.png|thumb|400px|An image of normal travel mode. A list of the closest (but not necessarily close) sites is in the top-left corner. On the right side are minimaps of the next two levels down, relative to the player. Along the bottom is information about the player.]]
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}}
| Move
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}}
| Move
|-
| {{k|Alt}} and a direction key
| Move carefully / Deliberately enter dangerous terrain
|-
| [[File:Adv ui ascend.png]]{{k|Shift}}+{{k|<}} or {{k|Shift}}+{{key|5}} (num lock off)
| Ascend
|-
| [[File:Adv ui ascend.png]]{{k|Shift}}+{{k|>}} or {{k|Ctrl}}+{{key|5}} (num lock off)
| Descend
|-
| {{k|.}}
| Wait for 10 instants
|-
| {{k|,}}
| Wait for 1 instant
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|s}}
| Stand or lie down
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|m}}
| Open movement speed menu
|}

Unless your character is an outsider, (''and that your chosen race is even OUTSIDER_CONTROLLABLE to begin with, ie, that you perhaps did not mod such a thing into the [[creature tokens]] beforehand''), you will start out in a race-appropriate town or hamlet; in the standard tileset, the @ sign is your character. The directional keys allow movement, diagonal movement being particularly important, especially when chasing or running away from things. Use {{k|Alt}}+direction to enter water, jump off of cliffs, or otherwise attempt to enter anything that you can't enter using normal movement commands. Note that when entering water, it's best to enter the actual water, ''not'' the open space over the water, as in the latter case you will fall in, causing you to become stunned, which may lead to drowning (''if you are not at least an Adequate swimmer''). If you hit {{Adv menu icon|j}}, you can jump, being mostly useful for getting to the far sides of gorges and crevices. Occasionally, you can manage to jump onto an opponent and tackle them, which typically causes them to go flying a short distance. Note that not every creature is able to jump. Hitting {{k|.}} allows you to stay in one place and wait for other things to move. {{k|,}} does the same but with a tenth of the time it takes for {{k|.}}.

Use {{Adv menu icon|s}} to sit/lie down. Moving while laying down (crawling) will let you move past NPCs which are standing in your way. Also note that you will frequently get knocked to the ground in combat, and if you don't hit {{Adv menu icon|s}} to stand back up, then you will crawl slowly along the ground, giving your opponent a lot of opportunity to attack you.

You can press {{Adv menu icon|m}} to set [[gait]] and {{Adv menu icon|S}} to toggle sneak mode – it will allow you to move around invisibly, limited by your [[Ambusher]] skill and nearby creatures' [[Observer]] skill. Enemies will have sight cones indicating where they can detect a sneaking adventurer – the central zone of sight (red, violet, or cyan) is where they will see you immediately and begin chasing you; their peripheral vision (yellow) is where they might see you. Violet and cyan central zones indicate the enemy is on a different level than you, while red means they are on the same level. Staying out of sight will allow you to silently assassinate your foes, as they rarely seem to notice a knife in the back in time. Note that sneak mode is also affected by a variety of other factors detailed on the {{Adv menu icon|m}} movement screen, such as light level and weather.

If you press {{Adv menu icon|h}} to hold onto a wall or tree, you can climb the wall or tree by using the movement keys – in towns and tamer parts of the countryside, this isn't particularly useful; however, in a combat situation, climbing a tree or wall can give you a height advantage, possibly allowing you to dive-tackle your opponents. Sometimes, mountains will be too steep to walk up the edge, or you will find a deep drop into a ravine. In these cases, you will have to climb up to reach the top, or perhaps jump or climb down one face, and then climb up the other.

=== Fast travel ===
[[File:Advmode_fasttravel_DF2014.png|thumb|400px|Fast Travel screen. The player is in a hamlet, between the houses to the right and the mead hall in the top-left area of the map. The asterisk represents a group of creatures (in this case unfriendly goblins). The world map (in sepia) is on the far right.]]
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T}}
| Fast Travel
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T|d|num=1}}
| Exit fast travel mode
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T|K|num=1}}
| Display detected tracks and odors
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T|c|num=1}}
| Toggle display of clouds on region map
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|S}}
| Walk around in sneak mode. Exiting fast travel starts you in sneak mode.
|-
| [[File:Adv ui T.png]]{{k|m}}
| Cycle through maps and significant structures
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|Q}}
| View Quest Log
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|T|Z|num=1}}
| Bring up sleep menu
|-
| {{k|h}}
| Hide parts of the bottom bar
|-
| [[File:Adv ui descend.png]]{{k|>}} and [[File:Adv ui ascend.png]]{{k|<}}
| Enter/exit tunnel
|-
|}

Entering Fast Travel mode will allow you to move large distances in a single keypress. Of course, the same amount of time will go by and you can also be interrupted (ambushed) while moving in fast travel mode. Along the top of the map is a line showing the sky, and position of the sun and/or moon from west to east – this primarily helps you determine how long you have before it gets dark, at which point you won't be able to see very far, will risk getting attacked by bogeymen if in a darkness or nightmare-[[sphere|aspected]] area, and will be more vulnerable to attack in general. If you are not near any sites, the {{k|m}} key will toggle a world map, colored in sepia tone (matching the map you see in the quest log). If you are near a site, then {{k|m}} cycles between a list of significant structures where your player is, a regional map (matching what you travel on when away from any site), and the aforementioned world map. The {{k|c}} key will only show clouds on the region map (the one you travel on outside of sites). Some clouds will be visible regardless of the state of this option.

The {{k|h}} key will cycle through various amounts of the bottom bar of content hidden. The effects of each press are:

* 1 press: hide key reference. Allows you to see status effects on your character if obscured by the key list.
* 2 presses: hide most local name, reducing the bar to one line of text.
* 3 presses: hide less local name, eliminating the bar entirely.
* 4 presses: shows all information

== Status and information ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|l}}
| Look around
|-
| {{k|Space}}
| Advance/Clear Messages
|-
| {{Menu icon|a}}
| View [[Announcement]]s
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|z}}
| Status
|}

=== Looking around ===
{{old}}
If you're not sure what a tile is, the {{k|l}}ook command will tell you. In addition to being useful for identifying tiles and creatures, you can also view creatures' equipment and what items are sitting on the ground in a given tile. If in doubt, try the look command.

Move the cursor to the tile you want to look at using direction keys and {{k|Shift}}+direction. It's possible to look up and down z-levels (assuming you have line of sight) using the {{k|<}} and {{k|>}} keys. This, for example, allows you to find out if any flying creatures are above you. Hit {{Menu icon|Esc}} to exit look mode and go back to movement mode.

=== Messages ===

The game makes frequent use of messages on the screen to tell you what is going on. If there are a lot of these you may need to use {{k|Space}} to display the rest of the messages that won't fit on the screen. You can always go back and view old [[announcement]]s by pressing {{Menu icon|a}}.

=== Status screen ===

The status screen {{Adv menu icon|z}} shows your skills, attributes, wounded body parts, health (along with more detailed descriptions of your wounds), lets you view your description, and change your nickname if you want.

=== Saving the game ===

Hit the {{Menu icon|Esc}} key at any time and select {{DFtext|Save Game}} to save your game. You can then come back to it later by using the {{DFtext|Continue Playing}} option in the main menu.

== Searching and manipulating ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|u}}
| Interact with building, furniture, or mechanism
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|L}}
| Search the nearby area very carefully
|}

The {{k|u}} key can be used to do stuff like pull levers in an abandoned fort. It is also used to lower and raise the bucket when standing right next to a well, so you can get water to refill your waterskin with. You can also access this through the context menu.

{{Adv menu icon|L}} will perform a thorough search of the area that you're standing in, possibly revealing some [[vermin|small creatures]].

== Managing equipment ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|i}}
| Show Inventory
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|d}}
| Drop an item
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|g}}
| Get (pick up) an item off the ground
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|p}}
| Put an item into a container
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|r}}
| Remove an item you are wearing or from a container
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|w}}
| Wear an item
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|I}}
| Interact with an object in an advanced way (unstick a weapon, refill waterskin etc.).
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|q}}
| Sheath your weapons and shield. (Frees your hands for tasks such as climbing or grabbing)
|}

=== Inventory ===

Press {{Adv menu icon|i}} to display a list of what you are currently carrying. Press {{k|-}} {{k|+}} {{k|*}} {{k|/}} to scroll thru the list. This list will show you if items are being worn, held in hands, stuck on your body, or are inside a container. Detailed information about an object can be viewed by pressing the key associated with the item.

=== Getting/dropping things ===

You can {{Adv menu icon|d}} drop items out of your inventory, as well as {{k|g}}et items on the ground on the same tile that you are standing on. If there is more than one item a menu will be listed. Press {{k|-}} {{k|+}} {{k|*}} {{k|/}} to scroll the list if the list is too long to fit on the screen. Note that getting something makes your adventurer pick something up with his or her hands. This often means that you have to use {{Adv menu icon|q}} to sheathe whatever you have in your hands before you pick something up. If you do not have a backpack or some other way of storing the object, your adventurer will not pick the item up.

{{Adv menu icon|g}} will also allow you to ignite foliage/any flammable objects adjacent to you. [[Campfire]]s aren't (yet) as devastating as one might imagine, but they will cause (most) enemies to path around them, making your crowd control techniques slightly more effective when taking on multiple enemies. As an added bonus, it will also surely piss off the elves.

=== Containers/wearing ===

Items can be placed into containers with {{Adv menu icon|p}} and removed with {{Adv menu icon|r}}. Items can be worn using {{Adv menu icon|w}} and removed using {{Adv menu icon|r}} (the same command used for removing from containers). If an item you want to wear does not show up as an option, then it means you are already wearing too many items in the location used by that item. Try {{Adv menu icon|r}} removing items in that location and then wear them again in order of priority.

''Note that "large" or "small" clothing items are too big / small for your race'' (e.g. a '''large''' giant cave spider silk sock). If you have that problem, try getting clothing from a different source. Looking at the article will reveal which race it has been fitted for.

After acquiring [[armor]] from one source or another, you'll most likely want to equip it. To do this, first make sure it is in your possession--not on the ground. You can then {{key|w}}ear it, granted you don't already have too much on that equipment slot already. You can {{k|r}}emove or {{k|d}}rop inferior equipment as necessary.

See [[Armor]] for more information on wearing things. One thing to note in particular, items worn on the same location can stack in many situations, for example a copper mail shirt and a copper breastplate.

=== Wielding ===

There is no command for wielding items such as [[weapon]]s in specific hands. Instead, they are automatically equipped when you either {{Adv menu icon|g}} get them from the ground or {{Adv menu icon|r}} remove them from your [[backpack]] - provided the hand that would wield them is free. So in order to change [[weapon]]s or [[shield]]s you should drop items or place them into containers (such as your backpack) until your hands are free, then get items from the floor or remove them from containers which will place them in your hands. For example, put all items into backpack, remove sword from backpack, remove shield from backpack. The items will end up in the right and left hand. Simply remember the {{Adv menu icon|r}} remove command and the {{Adv menu icon|p}} put into container command.

While normally, one would only be able to equip one item in each hand, removing items from your inventory results in them being wielded regardless of whether one's hands are full.{{bug|9817}} This is especially useful with shields, as every shield will contribute a block chance to each incoming attack.

Once equipped, weapons and shields can be quickly drawn and sheathed with {{Adv menu icon|q}}, instantly preparing for attack or freeing your hands. Any number of weapons can be strapped, but only one for each hand will be drawn. Others can be manually {{Adv menu icon|r}} removed for use, and stowed again without occupying other inventory containers.

It should be noted that ''Dwarf Fortress'' does not enforce one particular hand as dominant for everyone (e.g. some characters may be left-handed), so do not be surprised if your character holds the weapon and [[Armor#Shields and Bucklers|shield]] in hands you yourself would not hold them in.

During advanced combat interactions, it's worth noting that the first item you picked up with empty hands shows up at the top of the interaction menu. This means picking up a shield first will mean pressing {{k|a}} will bash with the shield. Being consistent in the order you equip weapons will allow you to easily memorize attacks.

=== Advanced interaction ===

The {{Adv menu icon|I}} key allows "complex interaction" with objects in your inventory, used for removing arrows and weapons stuck in wounds, which will appear in your inventory when they become stuck in you.
Removing stuck arrows can cause bleeding, so it is not always a good idea mid-combat, but stuck objects will slow you down as you are encumbered by their weight. It's best to remove them as soon as possible when it is safe and you are not in danger of bleeding to death.

Advanced interaction can also be used to steal enemy equipment. Use [[wrestling]] to grab hold of a piece of enemy equipment, such as their weapon, or a helmet protecting their squishy brain, and it will appear in the advanced interaction menu. Simply grab the item with a free hand and pull away. If successful, you will now be holding that item in your hands.

This command is particularly useful for getting water. When standing next to a well you press the {{k|u}} key to lower, then raise the bucket, which gets 10 units of water in the bucket. Then you can press the {{Adv menu icon|I}} key to fill your waterskin from the full bucket (alternatively you can press the {{Adv menu icon|e}} key to drink directly from the bucket).

Advanced interactions can be used next to a campfire to heat things, such as any frozen liquids you have in your inventory (or snow lying on the ground) and need to drink. You can refill waterskins from a nearby liquid source as well

===Sheathing===
The {{Adv menu icon|q}} key lets you strap your weapons to your back, useful because you can't climb or wrestle with your hands while holding weapons or other objects. People will also be less likely to be scared of you on first sight, if you don't appear to be ready to attack.
Keep in mind that while strapping will put away ''everything'' you have in your hands, pressing it again will only cause you to put items into hands that are currently empty, meaning if you had multiple items in one hand, you'll have to {{Adv menu icon|r}} remove them manually to use them again.

== Time and weather ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|D}}
| Date
|-
| {{k|P}}
| Temperature
|-
| {{k|W}}
| Weather/Time
|}

The game has a day/night cycle, with time passing as various actions take place. When using fast travel mode, the top line of the screen will indicate the position of the sun in the sky with a yellow "☼"; Further to the right of the screen is earlier in the day, and further to the left is later. In local travel mode you'll have to use the {{k|W}} command to learn the position of the sun, when you're in a place where the sun is visible. At night you won't be able to see nearly as well, and you will be more vulnerable to ambush. The game also has weather and temperature. The most common weather you'll experience is rain, which is shown as blue moving dots on the local travel screen and will, unsurprisingly, cause everything outside to become wet. Temperature is important, because if it happens to drop below freezing while you're swimming through water, you'll instantly die from being encased in the ice. Therefore, you might want to keep an eye on the temperature while swimming, especially if it's getting cold. Also, unlike fortress mode, rivers/other bodies of water can be liquid during the day, and freeze at night. The cycles of freezing can also be erratic from day to day. Freezing weather can also freeze liquids in your inventory solid, making them undrinkable. If your water freezes and you are thirsty, make a campfire and {{k|I}}nteract with your waterskin to heat it over the fire and melt the ice.

== Sleep ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|Z}}
| Sleep
|}

Eventually, your character will become {{DFtext|Drowsy|1:0}}, and this will get worse until you get sufficient sleep.

{{old|Bogeymen were updated with 0.47.01, are now restricted to certain evil regions, and gained new powers}}
Sleep does not necessarily have to coincide with night, but if you're traveling alone when night comes, you'll be in danger of being attacked by [[bogeymen]]. To avoid this while traveling solo you need to make it to shelter before nightfall and sleep the night away inside a building or abandoned lair. Enter a building, use {{Adv menu icon|k}} to talk to one of the speaking-peoples, and ask for permission to stay the night. Next, press {{Adv menu icon|Z}} to sleep, {{K|d}} to sleep until dawn, then {{K|Enter}} to confirm. ('''NOTE''': If you stay the night in a castle, you have to sleep in the keep which houses the lord/lady of the castle. Sleeping inside the castle but outside the keep still leaves you vulnerable to attack.) Sleeping on an ocean beach also prevents bogeymen from attacking. (If you'd rather not deal with bogeymen, you can disable them by generating a world using [[advanced world generation]] and setting "Number of Bogeymen" to 0)

Though sleeping inside can be safe, it's also limiting: any quest site you want to go to has to be within a daytime's round-trip time of a safe habitation, and you have to make your way there by hopping from one habitation to the next, sleeping at each along the way. A way to avoid this is to travel with companions. If you have any companions with you, then [[bogeymen]] won't attack you. You'll still have to sleep at night, though, both to avoid sleep deprivation and because there's no visibility at night. You can still be ambushed at night by wildlife, but that's much less likely than being ambushed by [[bogeymen]] when traveling alone. If you find yourself alone at night with nowhere safe to sleep, the safest bet is to keep traveling until dawn, even if that means running around in circles. You will eventually feel unwell from sleep deprivation, but this can take a considerable amount of time. You can make up for lost sleep once you've found your way to safety. Note that sleeping in lairs, shrines, and labyrinths makes you safe from ambush, assuming that you or someone else has killed whatever was living there. If you have sufficient shrines/lairs/etc between you and your goal and they are either uninhabited or inhabited by things you are capable of killing, then you can travel from lair to lair, using each as a safe lodging. This is much safer than sleeping out in the open, day or night, even with companions.

If no other options are available, completely surrounding yourself with campfires will keep night marauders at bay as they cannot pass through the fires; the fires will go out after several hours and enable you to move on (you may also be able to jump over the fires). The bogeymen or other enemies may be outside your line of sight, which will prevent you from firing arrows or throwing things at them. In this case, you will have to <s>perform music, preferably playing guitar</s> stand up and lie down {{Adv menu icon|s}} or wait 10 ticks {{K|.}} repeatedly until the enemies wander into your range, the fires go out and the enemies can path to you, or dawn breaks. It should be noted that, as of DF2014, climbing trees and sleeping on them will sometimes prevent [[bogeyman]] attacks, as well. This is especially useful if you prefer to play solo, and do not wish to have an army of followers in your employ. This is also useful if you prefer to engage enemies at your own pace (such as via stealth), rather than having your entire following party immediately charge at anything that is hostile to you. Be wary though, as bogeymen may still be able to reach you by climbing or flying.

== Food and drink ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|e}}
| [[Eat]] or [[drink]] something
|}

To find water, you must find a river, stream, or well in a town and fill your waterskin (or any container) from it, or drink from it directly. Water that may be covering you or your items will not be able to satisfy your thirst. Note that drinking vampire blood will turn you into a vampire instantly. You can only eat and drink up to stomach capacity; after that you become increasingly nauseous and unable to retain your stomach contents (though if you needed a source for vomit, that's one way to acquire it.) You can reset stomach capacity by offloading the map (travel, rest, wait, etc.,) which can only be done in safe locations and circumstances. Over time, food contents are converted to stored fat, even if you remain active, and this will increase your fat layer mass and potentially reduce your speed. Fast traveling also resets food contents (as of v: 43.03) though the hunger and thirst timers are still satisfied by consumption. If you find yourself in need of both food and hydration, make sure to take care of the most urgent problem first, as if you are moderately hungry but severely dehydrated and eat three times, you may die before you have another chance to drink. If the temperature is low enough that you might have trouble finding liquid water, snow and ice can be heated into water by first making a campfire with {{Adv menu icon|g}} and then performing an advanced interaction with {{Adv menu icon|I}} on the ice or snow in your inventory to heat it. Advanced interactions with your waterskin (or any container) can also be used to gather water from water sources, or snow from the ground.

===Announcements when eating===
When eating or drinking, the following announcements will be displayed:
*(nothing): You can eat or drink more, no problem.
*You are starting to feel full: You can eat or drink ''one'' more time, but any more than that will cause problems.
*You feel really full: Exactly what it says on the tin. This is as much as you can eat or drink at the moment.
*It's too much! You might not be able to keep it down: You've eaten/drunk too much, and will likely [[vomit]].

== Combat ==

:'' Main page: [[Combat#Adventurer mode|Combat]]

== Talking ==
:'' Main page: [[Talking]]

== Companions ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|c}}
| View companion interface
|-
| {{k|TAB}}
| Change to another party member
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|E}}
| Activate party tactical mode
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|k}}
| Talk
|}

There are three main types of companions: party members{{version|0.47.01}}, [[hearthperson|hearthpeople]] and regular [[:Category:NPCs|NPC]] companions. [[Mount#Adventurer_Mode|Mounts]] and [[pet]]s are other types of companions.

Use the {{Adv menu icon|c}} key to open a list showing your companions and their position relative to you. That location is shown as a compass direction, the color of which indicates a rough distance with greens being closest. ({{DFtext|***|7:1}} means they are on the same tile as you.) A {{DFtext|-|7:1}} or {{DFtext|+|7:1}} after the direction indicates that they are on a z-level below or above you. This can be useful if one of them runs off and you want to find them. You can select a specific companion who is in visual range to view them, which is similar to selecting them with {{k|l}}ook, and useful to see their wounds or what they are carrying.

If a companion is too far away from you, they will no longer be shown on the list. You may be able to track them with {{Adv menu icon|K}} and {{k|l}}ooking at the displayed tracks. You can try waiting for an hour {{Adv menu icon|Z}}-({{k-|w|/|/|Enter}}) to see if they catch up to you. Or you can {{Adv menu icon|T}} fast travel to see if they show up as a [[Army|{{DFtext|*}}]] near you. If you move towards the [[Army|{{DFtext|*}}]] and it disappears, that may mean they are on the same region tile - stop traveling ({{Adv menu icon|T|d|num=1}}) and try to find them.

If you keep losing companions while crossing rivers, try finding a bridge or following the river upstream until it becomes crossable in fast travel mode.

=== Party members ===

Party members are characters created before beginning the adventure. To add another member, press {{k|N}} on the last page of character creation ({{DFtext|Mounts and pets}}). The limit on how many can be created is not known. Party members are limited to the ones you've created and NPCs can't be added to your party later in the game.

In game, you can switch control to the next member with {{k|TAB}} or pick a specific member to control with {{Adv menu icon|c}} then {{k|TAB}}. The name of the currently controlled member is shown on the status bar at the bottom of the screen (left side, top line). The screen will also center on the current character and when pressing {{k|l}} to look, the flashing {{DFtext|X|6:1}} cursor will start on the current character.

You can activate party tactical mode with {{Adv menu icon|E}}. Normally, you control one member, and the others will act on their own; in tactical mode you can control all or some of the party members. You can set which ones you control with {{Adv menu icon|c}} then {{Adv menu icon|E}}. In tactical mode, after you select an action for the current member, control automatically passes to the next player–controlled member. Once all player–controlled members have actions selected, time will progress. Once one or more characters' actions have completed, control will pass to the first of those. Although most useful for [[Combat#Adventurer mode|combat]], tactical mode can be used at any time. For example, having a conversation between two player-controlled party members in tactical mode allows you to control both sides. (Though this can be a bit confusing, since everything said will be labelled as being said by {{DFtext|You: …|2:1}}.)

=== Hearthpeople ===
{{main|Hearthperson}}

Hearthpeople are NPCs who have sworn allegiance to you, as opposed to regular companions (who usually join your party as part of a mutual agreement) and party members (who you control). In order to gain hearthpeople, you should become a [[noble|lord]] of some kind, which usually means [[claim]]ing a site with no other competing claims. The easiest way to do this is to build and claim a [[camp]]; once you are a lord or lady of a [[site]], you can recruit hearthpeople to your cause. Hearthpeople will not follow you around in your adventures, instead patrolling your site. They can also build for you,{{verify}} and will side with you in case of conflict.

You may also gain hearthpeople if someone with a nobility title gives it up for you, which they can be made to through a common dialogue [[exploit]].

=== NPC companions ===

NPC companions are those who follow you around after they've accepted your offer for them to join you. Your character will have a limit on the maximum number of companions you can have at one time. Companions that are not currently with you do not count towards that limit. The limit is based on your [[reputation]] level and the ''Social Awareness'' attribute. With average social awareness and the maximum level of fame, the limit is 19 companions. Creatures with no military skills, or those with higher skills than you, are unlikely to agree to join you. However, the average soldier will join you "if you lead [them] to glory and death".

Be careful, though, as joining you does not immediately mean they are loyal to you; if you turn around and start attacking their friends, they'll cancel the agreement. Companionship does seem to eventually rewrite old loyalties, although it takes some time.{{verify}} Companions keeping their loyalties has the unfortunate side-effect of them rarely respecting ceasefires, so yielding enemies are pretty much doomed. On the plus side, at least you are unlikely to be blamed if your companion murders people.

You can give or take equipment with an NPC companion by choosing to talk to them and selecting {{DFtext|Exchange, give or take personal items}}. It is important to note that they prefer to store exchanged items in a personal container rather than to equip them. You must convince your companions to trade away any containers (pouches, quivers, backpacks, etc.) as well as the equipment that you are attempting to replace. Once you have given your companions almost no choice in the matter, they will equip the new items and a message like {{DFtext|The Swordsman reorganizes his possessions|6:1}} will be displayed.

You can have NPCs join you as performers, after you convince them of your skills. This can be used to recruit those you normally couldn't recruit, such as civilians and stronger soldiers. What exactly is required to convince someone to join you is unclear, but reputation seems to factor into it. Even a totally unskilled performer can eventually convince eligible NPCs, simply by repeatedly spamming performances in front of them. (NPCs will not move away from performances, in fact, if they start moving while you're starting one, they'll take a step back to their previous location, once you begin. They may, however, fall asleep.) Enough performances, even if they never get a single reaction above "pretty good", should convince almost anyone. This method makes obtaining the maximum number of companions much easier, allowing you to have a mob of dancing companions.

==== Undead followers ====

If you have [[necromancer]] abilities, you may raise corpses as [[undead]] who will then be listed in your companion list. Basic undead with no [[soul]] are not capable of talking, building or indeed doing anything other than loosely following you around and attacking anything living on sight, including your other living companions. As your abilities give you [[night creature]] status, undead followers will never attack you, even if you attack them - instead, they will all turn neutral. If you raise a corpse as intelligent undead, it will retain their pre-existing loyalty links from when they were living and not be necessarily loyal to you - this means that enemies you've slain in combat will attack you again if you resurrect them this way. To override this behavior, you should first raise them as basic undead, which destroys their souls (and associated links), 'kill' them again and re-raise them again.

=== General information ===

The information in this section applies to all types of companions. If they survive long enough, companions are capable of levelling attributes and skills, and having a job title change; which also happens if they gain enough reputation.

Your companions will continue to follow you and fight hostile creatures around you, until they die (if you asked them to join you on an adventure) or get you to the proper location (if you asked them to guide you to some place). If you want to get rid of your companions at any time, the safe way is to talk to each one of them, ask them about their journey with you, and then cancel the agreement.

Companions can be instructed to stay where they are by talking to them and selecting {{DFtext|Ask listener to wait here}} under the {{DFtext|Ask favor, place request, make demand or issue order}} menu. Your companion will stop following you and wait where they are, until you talk to them again and select {{DFtext|Ask listener to follow you}}. This can be useful if you need to leave a companion behind temporarily, such as when you are entering an area that you know will be too dangerous for your followers. Note that your [[pet]]s{{version|0.47.01}} will also obey this instruction.

Companions can be assigned to zones in camps, with {{k-|b|z|a}}. This is where they will spend their time when at the site and not travelling with you.

== Personal finance ==

=== Trading (barter) ===

In human [[town]]s (not [[hamlet]]s or [[castle]]s), you can find shops; in elven trading-trees you can find markets; and at [[depot]]s in dwarven fortresses, you can encounter [[broker]]s. Once you're inside of a [[shop]] and right next to any of the NPCs, you can use {{Adv menu icon|k}} to {{DFtext|Trade}} with them. Use {{K|Enter}} to select which items to trade, left/right arrow keys to switch between the list of shop items and your items, and up/down arrow keys to scroll through the lists. You can also either {{k|a}}sk for or {{k|o}}ffer currency as part of the process. Once done, press {{K|t}} to trade. The shopkeeper won't get angry if you're not offering enough in trade, so you can start offering just a few items, keep trying again with a little more until the trade is accepted. After trading, you will find the stuff you gave on the floor at your feet, and the stuff you got in your inventory.

=== Theft ===

You may also pick up the item before buying it, but you should never walk out of a shop carrying an unbought item, as that is theft, punishable by death if you are caught, and exile if you are not. On any occasion when you have stolen goods from a store (indicated by dollar signs on either side of the item in your inventory), the game requires you to exit the site ''and'' move a considerable distance before allowing you to quick travel. This may make a getaway more difficult if your adventurer is not already faster than anyone else. This only applies to goods in stores; killing townsfolk and taking their personal things, including those of the shopkeep, still only requires exiting the site. The moment you are out of sight, you will be able to 'warp' out as usual. Theft and murder remain within entities; even depopulating one country and stealing all its things will not generate ill-repute in another country. In some cases, the shop will be abandoned. This will be made clear by the presence of unbought items and the lack of any merchants in the area. You will not be considered a thief by the relevant entity for taking stuff from an abandoned shop, but you will still be withheld the privilege of fast-travel until you leave the site. If the item name is not surrounded by dollar signs, it is never considered stealing, even in situations where it would be in real life.

=== Managing coins ===

You will find that coins from one civilization are nearly worthless in any others (except for metal value, or so the presumption goes). This will typically result in adventurers carrying around lots of partially-useless coins. Coins can and will encumber your adventurer, eventually reducing their speed. To reduce that effect, you can try to exchange your copper and silver coins for gold ones, as well as sell all of your loot directly for gold coins. Remember, merchants will always try to pay you in higher-denomination currency first, but will resort to lower-value coins if they run out of anything higher. First, check the merchant's chest to see how much of each type of coins they have.

Standard [[coin]] values are as follows:
* [[Copper]] Coin == 1☼
* [[Silver]] Coin == 5☼
* [[Gold]] Coin == 15☼

To receive the maximum amount of gold coins from that merchant, make sure the amount '''they owe you''' during the trade is equal to (total amount of gold coins the shop has)*15☼ . If you are selling loot, simply make sure you only trade this worth of goods, and move on to other merchants for the rest. If you wish to exchange copper and silver coins for gold, buy random goods from the merchant until their price is around this value, and then sell back all of the goods for their original value, but in gold. Alternatively, you can take your excess coinage and use it to purchase [[Gem|large gems]] at a trinket shop. Large gems make good investments because they are 1) light, 2) variably priced, and 3) equally valuable between different civilizations. A few goods are strictly superior to all forms of coinage as a store of value, most notably [[giant cave spider]] [[silk]] items. A suitably sneaky (or powerful) adventurer can murder a few dwarves or goblins for such items for trade and sale for human goods. [[Giant cave spider]] silk is a non-renewable resource in any given world - please harvest responsibly.

=== Where to get items to sell ===

The best place to get items to sell is at bandit [[camp]]s, after you've slaughtered all the [[bandit]]s. You can loot the clothes and equipment off of the corpses of the bandits (and off your fallen companions, too), plus at the very center of camp there'll be a few scattered weapons and a few bags/chests containing various goods. The next best way to get items to sell is to kill a creature, butcher their corpse (see below for how), and pick up the edible bits. Butchered bits from the corpses of people (dwarves, elves, humans, etc.) can sometimes be found in monster lairs and these seem to be just as desired by shopkeepers as the products you gain from your own butchering. Remember that you can also carve the bones of animals to make them desirable trading items. Another good early source of income can be bags left in houses and shops, which usually contain plants and food. No one will complain, and the plants inside can be sold at about 2☼ each plus the value of the bag. At the bottom of the list comes {{Adv menu icon|L}} looking carefully and selling any small creatures you might find. However, shops will not accept live creatures unless they are in cages. Some rocks, piles of sand, and other things found on the ground nearly everywhere can also be sold for 1☼ each.

You can also try filling your [[backpack]] from a river - it can hold up to 100 units of water, which is worth 100☼ total. After you sell it, water will drop to the floor as a pool, and the backpack can be refilled instantly and for free from there. In fact, you can infinitely fill any container from any pool/pile of any liquid/powder, so if you happen to find some precious substance like [[sunshine]] or [[dwarven sugar]], money won't be a problem for you anymore. This is of course an [[exploit]], liable to be fixed at any time. It may be useful in a pinch, but don't rely on it. Another devious method is to go outside the shop, {{Adv menu icon|g}} grab handfuls of mud and throw it into your backpack, then sell them for 1☼ each. The merchants will gladly buy your rare and valuable mud, despite the unlimited free mud just outside their shop.

== Quest log ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|Q}}
| Open quest log
|-
| {{k|Esc}}
| Exit quest log
|-
| {{k|e}} {{k|p}} {{k|a}} {{k|s}} {{k|r}} {{k|b}}
| Access various lists
|-
| {{k|m}}
| Switch between the world map and additional info
|-
| {{k|z}}
| Center cursor on location of selected list item, if known
|-
| {{k|c}}
| Center cursor on your location
|-
| {{k|l}}
| Toggle the visibility of the line between you and some other point on the map.
|-
| {{k|f}}
| Filter the list
|-
| {{k|+}} {{k|-}} {{k|*}} {{k|/}}
| Navigate the list
|}

The quest log contains everything you know about the world, such as various events going on, people you know, and various sites. The {{k|m}} key will alternate between a world map that you can navigate, and information on whatever item is highlighted in the list to the right.

There are various kinds of lists you can check on the quest log:

* '''Events''' — A list of events that are happening or have happened. Formatting of the list is {{DFtext|(type)/(description)}}. You can center on the location of the event if you know this. This list is the closest you'll get to some formal quest system.
* '''People''' — A list of people you know. At the start of the game, this list will contain people in your site.
* '''Sites''' — A list of various sites around the world.
* '''Groups''' — A list of groups you know of and your relation to them. Note that you have to press {{k|e}} when you're on the events list in order to reach this list, requiring you to press {{k|e}} at most twice.
* '''Agreements''' - Your various agreements; this includes tasks given to you by your lord, and why people are traveling with you and the history of your agreements.
* '''Regions''' — A list of regions. The additional information will list the biomes a region possesses.
* '''Bestiary''' — A list of creatures, their characteristics, and where you could find them.

== Create ==
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|x}}
| Craft (butcher, create item...)
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|P}}
| Compose or [[Performer|perform]]
|}

Adventurers can perform limited crafting, with access to butchery and moddable [[reaction]]s. To access the crafting menu, press {{Adv menu icon|x}}. In addition to crafting, other actions can be performed.

=== Crafting ===

* '''[[Knapper|Knapping]]''' allows an adventurer to sharpen a rock. Knapping only works on stones on the ground or in your hands. When you select "Make sharp rock", you will be prompted to choose a rock to sharpen ("tool stone"), and then the rock that is to be the hammerstone. The tool stone will be replaced in your hand by a sharp version, which can serve well enough to make some...

* '''Helves''' (hafts){{version|0.43.01}} which are carved from branches, which can be pulled from trees. Doing so requires a sharp item, which can be anything from a weapon or arrow, all the way to a sharpened rock (the product of your earlier Knapping usually works best in this case). Helves are currently only used to make...

* '''Stone Axes'''{{version|0.43.01}} - Assembling a stone axe requires a helve plus a sharp rock as components. Stone axes are inferior to battle axes weapon-wise, but are just as usable for cutting down trees.

* '''[[Bone carver|Carve Bone]]''' acts similarly to fortress mode's [[Bone carver]] by allowing the adventurer to carve [[bone]]s into [[Finished goods|various objects]] and [[figurine]]s. The bone carving options are contained in a subsection of the crafting menu, due to the number of options.

* '''Carpentry'''{{version|0.43.01}} is another crafting menu, but using it requires one to stand in a [[carpenter's workshop]], either one found in a fortress, or constructed by the character. The menu includes various furniture (not all of which can be placed in the build menu) along with various containers, buckets, shields, and training weapons. All of these require a log and a sharp object.

=== Butchery ===

'''[[Butcher|Butcher]]''' acts similarly to fortress mode's [[butchery]] by converting a corpse into edible products, bones, and skin. A corpse must be on the ground or in your hand. With a sharp object (such as a [[large dagger]] or knapped stone or even a bolt/arrow) in your hand, or on the same tile as the corpse, press {{Adv menu icon|x}} for the crafting menu, then select the butcher option, and then you can select the corpse and the sharp tool to butcher with. The corpse will be replaced by its butchering returns.

=== Composing ===

The {{Adv menu icon|P}} [[Performer|performance]] menu allows you to create '''musical compositions''', '''poetry''', '''choreography''', or '''writing'''. You will then be able to select from one of the [[art]] forms already known to the adventurer, which the specific song, poem, or dance will be an example of.

[[Writer|Writing]] allows the adventurer to write books and scrolls, allowing one to create various types of literature. Writing requires reading or writing skill as a prerequisite, along with a blank scroll or quire available. Each option produces different results.

* '''Guide''' - General writing about a specific site, generally described as "concerning" that town, dark pit, etc. without going into detail.

* '''Essay''' - Writing about individual historical events, generally of personal relevance to the adventurer. E.G: the ascension of that adventurer to lordship, companions joining the party, and other such events.

* '''Manual''' - This will write down a randomly-selected form of knowledge the adventurer is aware of, to be learned by future readers. Most commonly this will be musical, poetic, and dance forms the adventurer knows or composed. This can also include scientific research the adventurer has learned, and necromancer adventurers can spread the secrets of life and death by writing manuals about them.

* '''Chronicle''' - In-depth writing about a particular site, group, or civilization. This will be presented as a multiple-chapter work, each chapter relating to a historical event related to the writing's subject.

* '''Letters''', '''short stories''', '''novels''', and '''plays''' will write generic prose, typically described as having no particular subject. In addition, letters will normally generate untitled.

* '''Composition''' - Writes new songs. This functions similarly to composing new songs, with the added benefit of writing it down for others to learn. However, unlike normal composition you do not get to select which musical form to base the song on.

* '''Choreography''' - As with compositions above, this writes down a new dance based on a randomly-selected dance form the adventurer knows.

* You can also unlock even more types of writing by going to a library and reading books of different genres, such as '''biographies'''.

Additionally, at the bottom of the writing menu, you have the option of writing down specific songs and dances known to the adventurer.

== Natural abilities and acquired powers ==
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|X}}
| Use ability
|}

* '''Spitting''' lets you [[spit]] (if you are a creature that can), which can be aimed at someone in much the same way as any projectile. To get this, choose natural ability and then spit in the [[interaction]]s menu. Other natural abilities exist (such as breathing [[fire]]), but only some are usable, since some belong to creatures that are not playable.

You may also gain acquired abilities when you become a creature of the night, such as a [[necromancer]] or [[intelligent undead]].

== Woodcutting, building and site management ==
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{Adv menu icon|b}}
| Found a site and build
|}

Adventurers can chop down trees for resources—this requires a ''non-wooden'' axe. By pressing {{Adv menu icon|g}} while next to a tree, you can chop it down and collect logs.
However building is no longer functional.

=== Faction management ===
While building personal sites and construction mechanics are no longer available in adventure mode, faction management remains functional. After [[claim|claiming]] a [[mead hall|meadhall or other similar structure]] [[Unfortunate accident|(And disappearing all previous nobles)]] you will get a text popup telling you that you are in control now, and your title will change to lord; at this point you can take control of a site and manage it as its leader. This includes hiring guards by {{DFtext|Invite listener to become a hearthperson}}. The guards will automatically patrol your site if they are not your companions, or will hang out in the zones you assign them.
Additionally, as the site's lord, you can force the leaders of nearby villages to pay you tribute, via the
{{DFtext|submit and pay tribute}} demand. However, they are unlikely to submit under non-strenuous circumstances.

== Sites ==
:'' Main article: [[Site]]
More information on each type of site can be found in the site's specific article.

At these sites you can trade, take quests, or talk with people:

{| style="margin:1em 1em 1em 0;background:#F9F9F9;border:1px #AAA solid;" class=wikitable class=sortable
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;text-align:center;"
!|'''Tile'''
!|'''Name'''
!|'''Inhabitated by'''
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Ω|0:0:1}}
| [[Mountain halls]]
| Dwarves
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Ω|7:0:0}}
| [[Hillocks]]
| Dwarves
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Ω|7:0:1}}
| [[Fortress]]
| Dwarves
|-
| {{Raw Tile|○|7:0:1}}
| [[Castle]]{{version|0.47.01}}
| Humans
|-
| {{Raw Tile|î|6:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|¶|6:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|₧|6:0:1}}
| [[Forest retreat]]
| Elves
|-
| {{Raw Tile|<nowiki>=</nowiki>|2:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|≡|2:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|æ|2:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|Æ|2:0:0}}
| [[Hamlet]]
| Humans
|-
| {{Raw Tile|+|7:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|*|7:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|#|7:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|☼|7:0:1}}
| [[Town]]
| Humans
|-
| {{Raw Tile|○|7:0:0}}
| [[Monastery]]{{version|0.47.01}}
| ?
|}

These sites are populated with goblins, monsters or undead. You may want to go there to accomplish a quest, or just for [[fun]]:

{| style="margin:1em 1em 1em 0;background:#F9F9F9;border:1px #AAA solid;" class=wikitable class=sortable
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;text-align:center;"
!|'''Tile'''
!|'''Name'''
!|'''Inhabitated by'''
|-
| {{Raw Tile|☼|6:0:1}}
| [[Camp]]
| Bandits
|-
| {{Raw Tile|○|0:6:0}}
| [[Fort]]{{version|0.47.01}}
| Bandits
|-
| {{Raw Tile|º|5:0:0}}
| [[Dark pits]]
| Goblins
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Π|0:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|Π|5:0:1}}
| [[Dark fortress]]
| Goblins
|-
| {{Raw Tile|•|0:0:1}}
| [[Cave]]
| Monsters
|-
| {{Raw Tile|#|0:7:1}}
| [[Labyrinth]]
| Monsters
|-
| {{Raw Tile|•|0:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|2:0:1}}
| [[Lair]]
| Monsters
|-
| {{Raw Tile|μ|6:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|μ|7:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|μ|7:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|μ|0:0:1}} {{Raw Tile|μ|5:0:1}}
| [[Ruin|Ruins]]
| Monsters?
|-
| {{Raw Tile|Å|7:0:0}}
| [[Shrine]]
| Monsters
|-
| {{Raw Tile|0|0:0:1}}
| [[Tomb]]
| Undead
|-
| {{Raw Tile|I|5:0:0}}
| [[Tower (necromancy)|Tower]]
| Undead
|}

== FAQ ==
:'' Main page: [[Adventurer mode F.A.Q.]]

{{Category|Adventurer mode}}
[[ru:Adventurer mode gameplay]]

Variable positions

2026-02-12T22:36:46Z

Silverwing235: /* Religious Entities */

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{Modding}}
{{stub}}
This page documents the variable positions that entities create when neccesary. This is - in vanilla - the case for [[human]] and [[goblin]] [[Civilization|civilizations]], but also for merchants' companies, guilds, mercenary groups, [[Religion|religious groups]] and [[Criminal|criminal]]s.

= Introduction =
Initially none of the positions marked as variable do exist for an entity. The positions will only exist for a given entity, if they are either created during world-gen, world activities(?) or by memory hacking or scripting (ie. with Lua). Ie. in vanilla all human civilizations have at the beginning of the world-generation no positions at all, neither on the site nor civ level, as all positions of the vanilla human civs are marked as variable (variable positions: all). When a variable (civ level) position is created, the position is only created for that civilization (entity) and not for any other entities of the same type. Ie. the creation of a law-giver for one human civ does not create law-givers for other human civs.

Also presumably all site-level positions for each entity are created on a per site basis, meaning the creation of a site ruler for one site (of a civ) does not also create the site ruler positions for any other site (of that civ).

The existence of a variable position does not mean that the position will also be filled by a historical figure. But during world-gen the creation of a position will usually be followed up with the position being filled. Ie. the human historical figure who forced the creation of a law-giver position, will usually become the first law-giver.

For the succession rules of a variable position (after the position has been initially filled by a historical figure), presumably, the same rules as for non-variable positions apply.

(Disclaimer: The following only applies during world-gen and normal world activities. Scripting and memory hacking can circumvent the normal limitations, but with currently unknown results).

For civ level entities, if the law-giving position is a variable position, the law-giving position does not (seem to) have any further requirements to be created (ie. no other position being already created). Ie. this position can be created by force (or popular support etc.) by any historical figure of that civ. But for all other variable (civ-level) positions the law-giving position must exist as usually the historical figure, who is the law-giver, does create the other variable positions (for various reason).

Something similar is probably the case for site level positions. Ie. if the ruler of a site is a variable position, that position needs to be created, before any other site-level variable positions can be created. And the site ruler can afterwards create other variable positions for that site. It is not yet clear if a site level ruling position can be created before a civ level ruling (law-giving) position is created (or exists). This also means that it should be possible, via memory-hacking or scripting, to create (and fill) the variable site level positions (for a player site), at least after the civ level law-giving position has been created (and the law-giving position has been filled), so that a human player site gets the maximum possible human site level positions (with the normal appointment rules for the succession/reappointment of the positions), without having to edit the raw files (as outlined in the human civ page), prior to creating a world, to make the variable positions of human civilisations to "static" ones.

Presumably for guilds (Merchant Guild and others), mercenary groups, religious orders (and criminals) also a "leader" position needs to be created by a historical figure, before other variable positions for that entity can be created.

== General Info ==
So far, no restrictions on allowed_class or allowed_creature have been found and also the rejected_creature and rejected_class entries are always empty. Squad_size is 0, except when a variable position (in the following sections) explictly states otherwise (ie. squad size for CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 is 20). Also most other entries (of entity_position entry under "own") not mentioned in their section have standard values (ie. are empty). The best_appointment_precedence of all positions is 30001. Also the execution skill is always set to "-1" even for the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9, whose sole responsiblity is executions.

Also variable positions are usually only created (with the exception, if they replace another position), if the position will have at least one responsibility the already created (existing) positions for that entity does not have, regardless of whether there are any more prerequisites for a variable position to be created.






== Sources to process ==
See spoiler-sections of those posts.
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=178697.msg8295235#msg8295235
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8084095#msg8084095
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8083631#msg8083631 (first answer)

= Civilizations =
If all positions of a civ are variable, then the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible positions) can be created. After the creation (and filling) of the law-maker positions, the other variable positions (both CUSTOM_OFFICIALS_i and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALS_i, where i stands for a non-zero natural number) can be created in any order. These other positions are then always appointed by the law-maker of the civ. The law-maker position itself uses succession by heir.

In contrast to e.g the positions of the dwarven civilizations, where the site nobility positions (eg. baron, duke) do get added to the own position list (vector) of the civilization, the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2) positions (of a site government) are not added to the own position list (at least for civs with all variable positions). The "own" positions list (of the civ entity) only exclusively contains the variable positions of the civ, which are all created by the civ, and no positions which are the "ruler" of a site (even if the variable site position was appointed by the law maker of the civ). Also the "site" positions list is empty (or at least no entries were found so far).

The following table gives an overview over the different possible rulers of a human or goblin civilization.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!succession type!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!is diplomat!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals,
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|yes
|no

|}

Note that the ruler (law-giver or master) is not a diplomat, if and only if the ruler has the military strategy responsibility. Also note that the master of a goblin civilization does not have peace agreements as a responsibility.

The following table gives an overview of the possible non-ruling civ-level positions:

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name prefix!!Name5!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Flags11!!Flags22!!Color!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1
|yes3
|"keeper of the seal" / chancellor
|receive diplomats, make introductions and make topic agreements; optional: espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2
|yes3
|justiciar
|law enforcement, collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|yes
|treasurer
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|yes
|advisor/counselor
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|yes3
|chamberlain
|oversee leader household
|1
|0
|80
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|master of beasts
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|yes
|butler / cup-bearer
|manage leader household food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|yes
|doctor
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|yes
|executioner
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|yes
|chef
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|yes
|housekeeper
|manage leader household cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY
|no
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS4
|no
|war leader
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|no
|no
|}
: ''Note'':
:* 1) These are the standard official flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, has_met_pop_req, color, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* 2) These are the following additional flags: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver and special_burial.
:* 3): Name prefix can be empty.
:* 4) These would be the values for the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position, but on the civ-level that position is not created, as the military goals responsibility is already performed by the law-giver/master (and for the military strategy responsibility the CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY position is created instead). But a CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position would be created, if the civ leader would not have the military goals responsibility. The CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position is - in vanilla - only created for site governments and then only, if the site leader is the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.
:* 5): Name prefixes are: high, head, chief and royal.

In the above table the responsibility "espionage" of the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is optional. Only if the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is created with the "espionage" responsibility such officials can also be created for the site governments (as all other responsibility are already performed by the standard custom site ruler). Also, the columns "human" and "goblin" dictate whether human and/or goblin civilizations can have the positions.

= Site Governments =
If all positions of a civ (and with that of a site government) are variable, then a leader position for the site government needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible variable positions) can be created. The created position is usually the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, but other positions have been found, ie. CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER and FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.

Note that human and goblin civilizations can also create further site positions, if the current site leader is the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER or FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR. All other races (eg. dwarves and elves) cannot.

Also a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER can be created for a site government (of a human civilization) before a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER for the civilization has been created.

Also note that not all site government entities need to be a child of a civilization entity, if they are not, then the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is used as a site-ruler (regardless of race, ie. even dwarven and the rare elven site government without connection to a civ will use the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER as initial ruler/leader).

The following table gives an overview of the non-ruler variable positions of a site government.

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name first!!Name second !!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Color!!human!!goblin!!add. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1
|sewer
|master / administrator / caretaker / commissioner / official
|maintain sewers
|0
|0
|500
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_2
|grain / harvest
|official / administrator / caretaker / commissioner
|food supply
|1
|0
|450
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_3
|fire
|administrator / official / commissioner
|fire safety
|0
|0
|475
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_4
|
|judge / magistrate / justice
|judge
|1
|0
|350
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_5
|building
|caretaker / administrator / official / commissioner
|construction permits, building safety
|1
|0
|460
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_6
|road
|administrator / official / commissioner
|maintain roads, bridges and tunnels
|1
|0
|375
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1
|(high / head / chief)
|"keeper of the seal" / chancellor
|espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2
|(chief / head / high)
|justiciar
|collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|chief / high / head
|treasurer
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|chief / high / head
|advisor / counselor
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|(chief / high / head)
|chamberlain
|oversee leader houshold
|1
|0
|80
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|
|master of beasts
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|chief / head / high
|butler / cup-bearer
|manage leader houshold food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|chief / high / head
|doctor
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|head / high / chief
|executioner
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|chief / high / head
|chef
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|chief / head / high
|housekeeper
|manage leader houshold cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY2,3
|
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS2
|
|war leader
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|yes

|}

: ''Notes'':
:* 1): The additional flags are: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver and special_burial.
:* 2): Only ever created, if the current site leader is a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.
:* 3): Only created, after the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was created and the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was not created with the military strategy responsibility.
:* In the above table the columns "human" and "goblin" donate, whether a site government of a human civilization or of a goblin civilization can have that position (or at least, if the position was encountered so far). Also the custom officials (CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 etc.), in contrast to market officials (CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1 etc.), seem to only be generated, if a) the parent civ did generate the position and b) the official has a responsibility that the site-ruler does not have.
:* In addtion to the above table the "best_appointment_precedence" is 30001. Also the following flags are set (true) for all officials, regardless, of whether belonging to a human or goblin site government: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, has_met_pop_req, color, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* All of the positions are appointed by the current ruler of the site (ie. CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR), except the CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY position will be appointed by the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position, if the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was created prior and the current ruler of the site government is a forced administrator.

Additionally the position entry usually has the flag active set and the flag is_replaced is false, otherwise the position would no longer be active (and might have been replaced).

= Bandits =
Bandits use the entity types 4 and 7, which are nomadic groups (type 4) and outcasts (type 7). It must also be noted that some CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER positions are used by site governments (typically goblin site governments) both with and without a parent civilization (site government is not a child of an entity of type 0).

The following table gives an overview over the possible variable positions used by bandits (some further info on bandit leaders is below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!squad size!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!add. flags1!!rules from location!!entity type

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|20
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic, outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER2
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|20
|2
|1
|10
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT
|lieutenant
|appointed by bandit leader
|patrol territory, attack enemies
|0
|1
|0
|160
| -1
|no
|no
|outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR
|representative
|appointed by bandit leader
|trade and accounting
|0
|1
|0
|70
| -1
|yes (except is_law_maker)
|yes
|outcast

|}
: ''Notes'':
:* 1): Additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt and quest_giver
:* 2): Only difference to the other CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is the increased precedence of 10, encountered in 11 of 148 bandit leaders (148 of 175 nomadic groups had leaders). The reason is of yet unknown, except that the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is also used by the goblin civilization (and some site governments, without an entity link to a parent civ, had a nomadic group with a custom bandit leader as a child entity).
:* Further note the common flags of these positions are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* The entity type in the above table refers to the (as displayed by dfhack's gm-editor, when viewing an entity).

Additionally the bandit leader (CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER) always has a squad size of 20 and the squad members are refered to as "bandits".

= Religious Entities =
Some religious entities, which are considered "child"-entities of civilizations (no religious entity which was not a "child" of a civ entity has been found so far), also have variable positions - the other religious entities have no positions at all.
If a religious entity rules a site (always monastery?), then the only variable position (of that entity) seems to be the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and the name of the position seems to be always "abbot".
Otherwise the variable positions PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created for that religious entity, where any such entity, if it has a position, will always have the PRIEST as position. Afterwards, the position HIGH_PRIEST can be created and at last - after the HIGH_PRIEST was created - the HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created. The names of these position are randomly created (more about the name generation is currently out-of-scope, ie. why a PRIEST might be called "sacred squid", "holy burial", "sacred rumor", "holy lemon" or "sacred paper" is out-of-scope at least for this wiki article). No temple is needed in an associated site for a religious entity (not ruling from a monastery) to create a priest, high priest or highest priest position.

An overview on the positions of religious entities is given in the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name prefix!!name!!appointment type5!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!missing common flags1!!additional flags2

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER3
|
|abbot
|heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|100
|3
|2
|1
|is_diplomat
|all

|-
!PRIEST
|holy or sacred
|random4
|elected
|religion
|200
|0
|0
| -1
|none
|no

|-
!HIGH_PRIEST
|high, first or exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|50
|3
|2
| -1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|-
!HIGHEST_PRIEST
|absolute or most sacred/high/exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|1
|5
|3
|1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|}

Notes:
1): The common flags are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, is_leader, is_diplomat, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req. So if one of the flags is mentioned in a column, then the position does not have that flag.

2): The additional flags (in this case) are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, kill_quest, exported_in_legends, account_exempt, quest_giver, special_burial.

3): Is always the only position for that religious entity. And so far any such entity, which was found, always governed/ruled a monastery.

4): The name is one of the possible "name prefixes" for the position written before a completely random word, which may or may not depend on the religious spheres/domains worshipped by that religion.

5): The appointment/succession type is actually determined by flags, ie. elected and succession_by_heir. One of the flags is also true for these positions (but not explicitly mentioned in the common/additional flags).

Additional notes: The PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST have a variable color entry, but the color-flag (of the position entry) is false, so it is unclear whether currently the color entry has any effect.

= Mercenary Group =

All mercenary entities will have at least one position (the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER). The only other possible position is the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER.

Basic information about both positions are found in the table below (and the explanations below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!! imp. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER
|usually "warlord", "leader", "general" or "overlord" but very unusual names are possible (see below table)
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER
|treasurer
|elected
|trade and accounting
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes: 1): The imp. flags are flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, punishment_exemption, kill_quest and quest giver.

Both positions also have the is_leader flag and the following flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.

For the mercenary leader also illustrous names such as lord twinkle, lord duty, lord savant, maze commander or secret commander can be created. In these cases the name seems to be generated by either adding a random word after the word lord or adding a random word before commander.

= Guilds =
All guilds will always have all four of the variable positions mentioned in this section. Note that "merchant guilds" are merchant companies and an entirely separate entity.

The following table gives an overview of the four guild positions.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!precedence!!demands!!mandates!!number!!add. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_LEADER
|dean/doyen
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|elected
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_ALDERPERSON
|alderperson
|meet workers, manage production
|elected
|150
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_STEWARD
|steward or treasurer
|trade
|elected
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_CLERK
|clerk, bookkeeper, recordkeeper
|accounting
|elected
|170
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes:
1): The additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill; chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, account_exempt, rules_from_location, punishment_exemption and quest_giver.

All positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_positions.

= Merchant Company =
Every merchant company will have a leader (CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER). Furthermore a merchant company can have a CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR, to which an unlimited number of history figures can be assigned to (ie. a company can have multiple governors).

An overview of both positions is given by the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!additional flag

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER
|master or head
|elected or succession by heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military goals, military strategy
|50
|2
|1
|1
|is_law_maker

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR
|agent, factor, administrator or governor
|appointed by company leader
|trade and accounting
|200
|1
|0
| -1
|none

|}

Both positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver and has_met_market_req.

Also note that in contrast to many other variable positions (of different entities) for the CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER both an election based appointment (or succession) and an succesion by heir is possible, but each merchant company will only have an elected leader or a leader (with inheritance).

= Raw tokens =
The tokens that manage the creation of positions are [[Entity_token#SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS]] and [[Entity_token#VARIABLE_POSITIONS|VARIABLE_POSITIONS]].

SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS allows for the creation of lords, hearthpersons, and [[boss]]es, and [VARIABLE_POSITIONS] allows creation of Law-makers.

Ethic

2026-02-12T21:09:31Z

Silverwing235:

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{Modding}}

'''Ethic''' tags are used in the [[Entity token|entity raw files]] to determine how different civilizations feel about various issues. Relationships between civilizations are based on their ethic responses in relation to each other; similar ethics result in friendship, while conflicting ethics result in animosity. Strongly conflicting ethics often trigger [[war]]s during [[world generation]]. (In practice, this generally causes [[Elf|elves]] to declare war on everybody else over killing plants and making trophies, and everybody else to declare war on the elves over the devouring of [[Person|sapient beings]].)

Some ethics also affect [[fortress mode]] features, such as [[justice]], or [[trading]]. In [[adventurer mode]], ethics can affect the [[level of conflict]] (lethal, or no quarter). During [[world generation]], ethics also affect how the entity treats its kills, such as devouring them or making trophies out of them.

== Example ==
In the [[raw file]]s for entities, ethics appear as follows:
[ETHIC:LYING:PERSONAL_MATTER]

This means that the entity will treat lying as a personal matter - more technically, the value of its LYING ethic is set to PERSONAL_MATTER.

== Ethic types ==
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
!Token
!Extra Information
|-
| {{text anchor|ASSAULT}}
| The result of a tantrumming citizen attacking another in fortress mode. Other effects unknown.
|-
| {{text anchor|EAT_SAPIENT_KILL}}
| This determines if members of the civilization will sometimes devour defeated enemy combatants.
|-
| {{text anchor|EAT_SAPIENT_OTHER}}
| This includes whether or not a civilization is willing to [[butcher]] other sapients. Note that any sapient creature that dies on site will never be butchered by citizens in fortress mode, and if butchered in adventure mode the products are inedible and unusable. However, this works for offsite behaviors (caravans will deliver products made from sentients, etc.) Also note that if an item doesn't actually come from a sapient creature that died on site (i.e: it was generated as part of a caravan or site) it is usable and edible regardless of ethics.
|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_ANIMAL}}
| A response of JUSTIFIED_IF_EXTREME_REASON, JUSTIFIED_IF_SELF_DEFENSE, or anything from MISGUIDED to UNTHINKABLE (see below) causes the entity to refuse animal products in trade — namely, [[material token|materials]] with [IMPLIES_ANIMAL_KILL]. Animal products sold by caravans will be marked as "grown", which means kosher for their ethics, for example grown leather.
|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_ENEMY}}
| If REQUIRED, all lethal combat with an enemy who is an enemy of the whole entity will put the creature in [[no quarter]] mode.
|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_ENTITY_MEMBER}}
| If REQUIRED, all lethal combat with an enemy in the same entity will put the creature in [[no quarter]] mode. Determines whether and how often entity members will be murdered.
|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_NEUTRAL}}
| If REQUIRED, all lethal combat with an enemy who is neutral with the entity will put the creature in [[no quarter]] mode, and the creature will also demand that strangers identify themselves; it will also greatly increase war aggression in worldgen.
|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_PLANT}}
| This includes a civilization's position towards wood — any response from MISGUIDED to UNTHINKABLE (see below) causes the entity to refuse wooden objects (except for "grown" wooden objects) in trade, and also prohibits them from bringing caravan [[wagon]]s. Caravans will sell grown wood objects (if the civ has WOOD_PREF) and even grown non-wood objects, that elves refuse to buy (if the civ uses misc processed wood products).
|-
| {{text anchor|LYING}}
| Giving false witness reports?{{verify}}
|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_TROPHY_ANIMAL}}
| This determines whether animal kills will lead to characters with trophies. [[Historical figure]]s can arrive at your fortress with leather, horn, ivory, tooth, hair, bone or nail jewellery from slain non-sapients, and fortress citizens may put on [[crafts]] made from their kills as well.
|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_TROPHY_SAME_RACE}}
| This determines whether kills of one's own race will lead to characters with trophies. [[Historical figure]]s can arrive at your fortress with leather, tooth, hair, bone or nail jewellery from their race. Example: a goblin with a -goblin tooth ring-.
|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_TROPHY_SAPIENT}}
| This determines whether kills of other sapients will lead to characters with trophies - as previously, but regarding other races, including INTELLIGENT.
|-
| {{text anchor|OATH_BREAKING}}
| The result of a citizen violating noble mandates in fortress mode. Other effects unknown.
|-
| {{text anchor|SLAVERY}}
|Civilization will enslave defeated enemies and bring them back to their site. Also affects whether you may trade caged sapient beings to merchants. Aside from diplomacy, higher/lower values don't seem to affect anything beyond if a civilization is willing to take slaves at all. {{verify}}
|-
| {{text anchor|THEFT}}
| This determines whether the civilization will try to steal goods and how it will respond when stolen from.{{verify}}
|-
| {{text anchor|TORTURE_ANIMALS}}
|Determines if the civilization will kill all animals of the conquered site, or preserve them for further use.
|-
| {{text anchor|TORTURE_AS_EXAMPLE}}
|Civilization will sometimes execute non-combatants after defeating enemy defenders.
|-
| {{text anchor|TORTURE_FOR_FUN}}
|
|-
| {{text anchor|TORTURE_FOR_INFORMATION}}
|
|-
| {{text anchor|TREASON}}
| Protects position-holders from being murdered like everyone else – the reason that demon overlords of goblins manage to live for centuries, despite goblins' regard of killing each other as being a personal matter.
|-
| {{text anchor|TRESPASSING}}
| Ignoring burrow restrictions {{verify}}
|-
| {{text anchor|VANDALISM}}
| The result of a tantruming citizen breaking furniture in fortress mode. Other effects unknown.
|}

==Ethic values==
As used internally (see below), roughly in order of acceptability:

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Num !! Token
|-
| 0 || {{text anchor|NOT_APPLICABLE}}
|-
| 1 || {{text anchor|ACCEPTABLE}}
|-
| 2 || {{text anchor|PERSONAL_MATTER}}
|-
| 3 || {{text anchor|JUSTIFIED_IF_NO_REPERCUSSIONS}}
|-
| 4 || {{text anchor|JUSTIFIED_IF_GOOD_REASON}}
|-
| 5 || {{text anchor|JUSTIFIED_IF_EXTREME_REASON}}
|-
| 6 || {{text anchor|JUSTIFIED_IF_SELF_DEFENSE}}
|-
| 7 || {{text anchor|ONLY_IF_SANCTIONED}}
|-
| 8 || {{text anchor|MISGUIDED}}
|-
| 9 || {{text anchor|SHUN}}
|-
| 10 || {{text anchor|APPALLING}}
|-
| 11 || {{text anchor|PUNISH_REPRIMAND}}
|-
| 12 || {{text anchor|PUNISH_SERIOUS}} || Will result in either a beating or a month in prison. See: [[Justice#Punishments]]
|-
| 13 || {{text anchor|PUNISH_EXILE}} || Mentioning in history: "...after being exiled following a criminal conviction."
|-
| 14 || {{text anchor|PUNISH_CAPITAL}} || Will result in either 8 months in prison or 50 hammerstrikes. See: [[Justice#Punishments]]
|-
| 15 || {{text anchor|UNTHINKABLE}}
|-
| 16 || {{text anchor|REQUIRED}}
|}

==Ethic value numbers in relation to each other==
The following table describes how entities respond to other cultures, with the observer on the vertical axis and their target on the horizontal axis.
If an entity's accumulated animosity towards another passes a certain threshold (determined by the ruler's personality) then it will run a risk-assessment check. If passed, this will lead to a declaration of war.

In general, entities react much more strongly to actions that violate ''their'' taboos than to the outlawing of their customs in other civilisations.
For example, Civ A finds slavery Acceptable, but Civ B considers it a Capital Offence.
* Civ A will consider Civ B most unreasonable (−5) for executing people over such a non-issue.
* Civ B will be shocked and disgusted (−15) that Civ A engages in such a debased activity.
* The end result is mutual negativity. However, Civ B is 3× ''more'' offended, and much more likely to go to war over the issue — assuming, of course, they think they have a chance of winning.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! rowspan=2 colspan=2 |  
! colspan=16 | TARGET
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
!width=6%| Accept. ||width=6%| Personal ||width=6%| Reperc. ||width=6%| Good ||width=6%| Extreme ||width=6%| Self-Def. ||width=6%| Sanct. ||width=6%| Misguid. ||width=6%| Shun ||width=6%| Appall. ||width=6%| Reprim. ||width=6%| Serious ||width=6%| Exile ||width=6%| Capital ||width=6%| Unthink. ||width=6%| Req.
|-
! rowspan=16 | {{rotate|OBSERVER}}     
! Acceptable || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}}
|-
! Personal || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}}
|-
! No Reperc. || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}}
|-
! Good Reas. || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0
|-
! Extreme Reas. || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}}
|-
! Self-Defence || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}}
|-
! Sanctioned || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+2}} || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}}
|-
! Misguided || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−1}}
|-
! Shun || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−1}}
|-
! Appalling || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−5}}
|-
! Reprimand || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−5}}
|-
! Serious || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−7}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−10}}
|-
! Exile || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−7}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−10}}
|-
! Capital || {{tc|red|−15}} || {{tc|red|−15}} || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || 0 || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−15}}
|-
! Unthinkable || {{tc|red|−15}} || {{tc|red|−15}} || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|red|−15}}
|-
! Required || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}}
|}

All above info was collected and interpreted from the data given by Toady himself at [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=22151.msg239689].

== Ethics of vanilla civilizations ==
[[Animal people]] currently have the same ethics as [[kobold]]s.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Issue
! Mountain (dwarf)
! Forest (elf)
! Plains (human)
! Evil (goblin)
! Skulking (kobold)
|-
| Killing member of the same entity
| Capital punishment
| Justified with extreme reason
| Justified with good reason
| Personal matter
| Exile
|-
| Killing neutral sapient
| Only if sanctioned
| Acceptable
| Justified if no repercussions
| Required
| Required
|-
| Killing enemy
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Required
| Required
|-
| Killing animal
| Acceptable
| Justified in self-defence
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
|-
| Killing plant
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
|-
| Torture as example
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
|-
| Torture for information
| Unthinkable
| Misguided
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| N/A
|-
| Torture for fun
| Unthinkable
| Unthinkable
| Appalling
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
|-
| Torture of animals
| Unthinkable
| Unthinkable
| Shunned
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
|-
| Treason
| Capital punishment
| Exile
| Capital punishment
| Capital punishment
| Unthinkable
|-
| Oathbreaking
| Capital punishment
| Exile
| Capital punishment
| Personal matter
| N/A
|-
| Lying
| Personal matter
| Exile
| Personal matter
| Personal matter
| N/A
|-
| Vandalism
| Serious punishment
| Reprimand
| Serious punishment
| Personal matter
| N/A
|-
| Trespassing
| Serious punishment
| Reprimand
| Serious punishment
| Personal matter
| N/A
|-
| Theft
| Serious punishment
| Reprimand
| Serious punishment
| Personal matter
| N/A
|-
| Assault
| Serious punishment
| Exile
| Serious punishment
| Personal matter
| Personal matter
|-
| Slavery
| Capital punishment
| Exile
| Acceptable
| Personal matter
| Unthinkable
|-
| Eating sapients
| Unthinkable
| Unthinkable
| Unthinkable
| Personal matter
| Unthinkable
|-
| Eating sapients (that have been killed in battle)
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
| Personal matter
| Unthinkable
|-
| Making a trophy from a corpse of the same race
| Appalling
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
|-
| Making a trophy from a corpse of another sapient race
| Shunned
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
|-
| Making a trophy from the corpse of an animal
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
|}

{{Category|Modding}}
{{Category|Tokens}}
{{Template:V50 entities}}
[[ru:Ethic]]

Ethic

2026-02-12T20:08:30Z

Silverwing235:

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{Modding}}

'''Ethic''' tags are used in the [[Entity token|entity raw files]] to determine how different civilizations feel about various issues. Relationships between civilizations are based on their ethic responses in relation to each other; similar ethics result in friendship, while conflicting ethics result in animosity. Strongly conflicting ethics often trigger [[war]]s during [[world generation]]. (In practice, this generally causes [[Elf|elves]] to declare war on everybody else over killing plants and making trophies, and everybody else to declare war on the elves over the devouring of [[Person|sapient beings]].)

Some ethics also affect [[fortress mode]] features, such as [[justice]], or [[trading]]. In [[adventurer mode]], ethics can affect the [[level of conflict]] (lethal, or no quarter). During [[world generation]], ethics also affect how the entity treats its kills, such as devouring them or making trophies out of them.

== Example ==
In the [[raw file]]s for entities, ethics appear as follows:
[ETHIC:LYING:PERSONAL_MATTER]

This means that the entity will treat lying as a personal matter - more technically, the value of its LYING ethic is set to PERSONAL_MATTER.

== Ethic types ==
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
!Token
!Extra Information
|-
| {{text anchor|ASSAULT}}
| The result of a tantrumming citizen attacking another in fortress mode. Other effects unknown.
|-
| {{text anchor|EAT_SAPIENT_KILL}}
| This determines if members of the civilization will sometimes devour defeated enemy combatants.
|-
| {{text anchor|EAT_SAPIENT_OTHER}}
| This includes whether or not a civilization is willing to [[butcher]] other sapients. Note that any sapient creature that dies on site will never be butchered by citizens in fortress mode and if butchered in adventure mode the products are inedible and unusable. However this works for offsite behaviors (caravans will deliver products made from sentients, etc.) Also note that if an item doesn't actually come from a sapient creature that died on site (i.e: it was generated as part of a caravan or site) it is usable and edible regardless of ethics.
|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_ANIMAL}}
| A response of JUSTIFIED_IF_EXTREME_REASON, JUSTIFIED_IF_SELF_DEFENSE, or anything from MISGUIDED to UNTHINKABLE (see below) causes the entity to refuse animal products in trade — namely, [[material token|materials]] with [IMPLIES_ANIMAL_KILL]. Animal products sold by caravans will be marked as "grown", which means kosher for their ethics, for example grown leather.
|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_ENEMY}}
| If REQUIRED, all lethal combat with an enemy who is an enemy of the whole entity will put the creature in [[no quarter]] mode.
|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_ENTITY_MEMBER}}
| If REQUIRED, all lethal combat with an enemy in the same entity will put the creature in [[no quarter]] mode. Determines whether and how often entity members will be murdered.
|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_NEUTRAL}}
| If REQUIRED, all lethal combat with an enemy who is neutral with the entity will put the creature in [[no quarter]] mode, and the creature will also demand that strangers identify themselves; it will also greatly increase war aggression in worldgen.
|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_PLANT}}
| This includes a civilization's position towards wood — any response from MISGUIDED to UNTHINKABLE (see below) causes the entity to refuse wooden objects (except for "grown" wooden objects) in trade, and also prohibits them from bringing caravan [[wagon]]s. Caravans will sell grown wood objects (if the civ has WOOD_PREF) and even grown non-wood objects but that elves refuse to buy (if the civ uses misc processed wood products).
|-
| {{text anchor|LYING}}
| Giving false witness reports?{{verify}}
|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_TROPHY_ANIMAL}}
| This determines whether animal kills will lead to characters with trophies. [[Historical figure]]s can arrive at your fortress with leather, horn, ivory, tooth, hair, bone or nail jewellery from slain non-sapients, and fortress citizens may put on [[crafts]] made from their kills as well.
|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_TROPHY_SAME_RACE}}
| This determines whether kills of one's own race will lead to characters with trophies. [[Historical figure]]s can arrive at your fortress with leather, tooth, hair, bone or nail jewellery from their race. Example: a goblin with a -goblin tooth ring-.
|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_TROPHY_SAPIENT}}
| This determines whether kills of other sapients will lead to characters with trophies - as previously, but regarding other races, including INTELLIGENT.
|-
| {{text anchor|OATH_BREAKING}}
| The result of a citizen violating noble mandates in fortress mode. Other effects unknown.
|-
| {{text anchor|SLAVERY}}
|Civilization will enslave defeated enemies and bring them back to their site. Also affects whether you may trade caged sapient beings to merchants. Aside from diplomacy, higher/lower values don't seem to affect anything beyond if a civilization is willing to take slaves at all. {{verify}}
|-
| {{text anchor|THEFT}}
| This determines whether the civilization will try to steal goods and how it will respond when stolen from.{{verify}}
|-
| {{text anchor|TORTURE_ANIMALS}}
|Determines if the civilization will kill all animals of the conquered site, or preserve them for further use.
|-
| {{text anchor|TORTURE_AS_EXAMPLE}}
|Civilization will sometimes execute non-combatants after defeating enemy defenders.
|-
| {{text anchor|TORTURE_FOR_FUN}}
|
|-
| {{text anchor|TORTURE_FOR_INFORMATION}}
|
|-
| {{text anchor|TREASON}}
| Protects position-holders from being murdered like everyone else – the reason that demon overlords of goblins manage to live for centuries, despite goblins' regard of killing each other as being a personal matter.
|-
| {{text anchor|TRESPASSING}}
| Ignoring burrow restrictions {{verify}}
|-
| {{text anchor|VANDALISM}}
| The result of a tantruming citizen breaking furniture in fortress mode. Other effects unknown.
|}

==Ethic values==
As used internally (see below), roughly in order of acceptability:

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Num !! Token
|-
| 0 || {{text anchor|NOT_APPLICABLE}}
|-
| 1 || {{text anchor|ACCEPTABLE}}
|-
| 2 || {{text anchor|PERSONAL_MATTER}}
|-
| 3 || {{text anchor|JUSTIFIED_IF_NO_REPERCUSSIONS}}
|-
| 4 || {{text anchor|JUSTIFIED_IF_GOOD_REASON}}
|-
| 5 || {{text anchor|JUSTIFIED_IF_EXTREME_REASON}}
|-
| 6 || {{text anchor|JUSTIFIED_IF_SELF_DEFENSE}}
|-
| 7 || {{text anchor|ONLY_IF_SANCTIONED}}
|-
| 8 || {{text anchor|MISGUIDED}}
|-
| 9 || {{text anchor|SHUN}}
|-
| 10 || {{text anchor|APPALLING}}
|-
| 11 || {{text anchor|PUNISH_REPRIMAND}}
|-
| 12 || {{text anchor|PUNISH_SERIOUS}} || Will result in either a beating or a month in prison. See: [[Justice#Punishments]]
|-
| 13 || {{text anchor|PUNISH_EXILE}} || Mentioning in history: "...after being exiled following a criminal conviction."
|-
| 14 || {{text anchor|PUNISH_CAPITAL}} || Will result in either 8 months in prison or 50 hammerstrikes. See: [[Justice#Punishments]]
|-
| 15 || {{text anchor|UNTHINKABLE}}
|-
| 16 || {{text anchor|REQUIRED}}
|}

==Ethic value numbers in relation to each other==
The following table describes how entities respond to other cultures, with the observer on the vertical axis and their target on the horizontal axis.
If an entity's accumulated animosity towards another passes a certain threshold (determined by the ruler's personality) then it will run a risk-assessment check. If passed, this will lead to a declaration of war.

In general, entities react much more strongly to actions that violate ''their'' taboos than to the outlawing of their customs in other civilisations.
For example, Civ A finds slavery Acceptable, but Civ B considers it a Capital Offence.
* Civ A will consider Civ B most unreasonable (−5) for executing people over such a non-issue.
* Civ B will be shocked and disgusted (−15) that Civ A engages in such a debased activity.
* The end result is mutual negativity. However, Civ B is 3× ''more'' offended, and much more likely to go to war over the issue — assuming, of course, they think they have a chance of winning.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! rowspan=2 colspan=2 |  
! colspan=16 | TARGET
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
!width=6%| Accept. ||width=6%| Personal ||width=6%| Reperc. ||width=6%| Good ||width=6%| Extreme ||width=6%| Self-Def. ||width=6%| Sanct. ||width=6%| Misguid. ||width=6%| Shun ||width=6%| Appall. ||width=6%| Reprim. ||width=6%| Serious ||width=6%| Exile ||width=6%| Capital ||width=6%| Unthink. ||width=6%| Req.
|-
! rowspan=16 | {{rotate|OBSERVER}}     
! Acceptable || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}}
|-
! Personal || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}}
|-
! No Reperc. || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}}
|-
! Good Reas. || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0
|-
! Extreme Reas. || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}}
|-
! Self-Defence || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}}
|-
! Sanctioned || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+2}} || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}}
|-
! Misguided || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−1}}
|-
! Shun || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−1}}
|-
! Appalling || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−5}}
|-
! Reprimand || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−5}}
|-
! Serious || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−7}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−10}}
|-
! Exile || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−7}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−10}}
|-
! Capital || {{tc|red|−15}} || {{tc|red|−15}} || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || 0 || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−15}}
|-
! Unthinkable || {{tc|red|−15}} || {{tc|red|−15}} || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|red|−15}}
|-
! Required || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}}
|}

All above info was collected and interpreted from the data given by Toady himself at [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=22151.msg239689].

== Ethics of vanilla civilizations ==
[[Animal people]] currently have the same ethics as [[kobold]]s.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Issue
! Mountain (dwarf)
! Forest (elf)
! Plains (human)
! Evil (goblin)
! Skulking (kobold)
|-
| Killing member of the same entity
| Capital punishment
| Justified with extreme reason
| Justified with good reason
| Personal matter
| Exile
|-
| Killing neutral sapient
| Only if sanctioned
| Acceptable
| Justified if no repercussions
| Required
| Required
|-
| Killing enemy
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Required
| Required
|-
| Killing animal
| Acceptable
| Justified in self-defence
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
|-
| Killing plant
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
|-
| Torture as example
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
|-
| Torture for information
| Unthinkable
| Misguided
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| N/A
|-
| Torture for fun
| Unthinkable
| Unthinkable
| Appalling
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
|-
| Torture of animals
| Unthinkable
| Unthinkable
| Shunned
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
|-
| Treason
| Capital punishment
| Exile
| Capital punishment
| Capital punishment
| Unthinkable
|-
| Oathbreaking
| Capital punishment
| Exile
| Capital punishment
| Personal matter
| N/A
|-
| Lying
| Personal matter
| Exile
| Personal matter
| Personal matter
| N/A
|-
| Vandalism
| Serious punishment
| Reprimand
| Serious punishment
| Personal matter
| N/A
|-
| Trespassing
| Serious punishment
| Reprimand
| Serious punishment
| Personal matter
| N/A
|-
| Theft
| Serious punishment
| Reprimand
| Serious punishment
| Personal matter
| N/A
|-
| Assault
| Serious punishment
| Exile
| Serious punishment
| Personal matter
| Personal matter
|-
| Slavery
| Capital punishment
| Exile
| Acceptable
| Personal matter
| Unthinkable
|-
| Eating sapients
| Unthinkable
| Unthinkable
| Unthinkable
| Personal matter
| Unthinkable
|-
| Eating sapients (that have been killed in battle)
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
| Personal matter
| Unthinkable
|-
| Making a trophy from a corpse of the same race
| Appalling
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
|-
| Making a trophy from a corpse of another sapient race
| Shunned
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
|-
| Making a trophy from the corpse of an animal
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
|}

{{Category|Modding}}
{{Category|Tokens}}
{{Template:V50 entities}}
[[ru:Ethic]]

Variable positions

2026-02-12T16:47:17Z

Silverwing235: /* Civilizations */ Typos,SPAG etc

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{Modding}}
{{stub}}
This page documents the variable positions that entities create when neccesary. This is - in vanilla - the case for [[human]] and [[goblin]] [[Civilization|civilizations]], but also for merchants' companies, guilds, mercenary groups, [[Religion|religious groups]] and [[Criminal|criminal]]s.

= Introduction =
Initially none of the positions marked as variable do exist for an entity. The positions will only exist for a given entity, if they are either created during world-gen, world activities(?) or by memory hacking or scripting (ie. with Lua). Ie. in vanilla all human civilizations have at the beginning of the world-generation no positions at all, neither on the site nor civ level, as all positions of the vanilla human civs are marked as variable (variable positions: all). When a variable (civ level) position is created, the position is only created for that civilization (entity) and not for any other entities of the same type. Ie. the creation of a law-giver for one human civ does not create law-givers for other human civs.

Also presumably all site-level positions for each entity are created on a per site basis, meaning the creation of a site ruler for one site (of a civ) does not also create the site ruler positions for any other site (of that civ).

The existence of a variable position does not mean that the position will also be filled by a historical figure. But during world-gen the creation of a position will usually be followed up with the position being filled. Ie. the human historical figure who forced the creation of a law-giver position, will usually become the first law-giver.

For the succession rules of a variable position (after the position has been initially filled by a historical figure), presumably, the same rules as for non-variable positions apply.

(Disclaimer: The following only applies during world-gen and normal world activities. Scripting and memory hacking can circumvent the normal limitations, but with currently unknown results).

For civ level entities, if the law-giving position is a variable position, the law-giving position does not (seem to) have any further requirements to be created (ie. no other position being already created). Ie. this position can be created by force (or popular support etc.) by any historical figure of that civ. But for all other variable (civ-level) positions the law-giving position must exist as usually the historical figure, who is the law-giver, does create the other variable positions (for various reason).

Something similar is probably the case for site level positions. Ie. if the ruler of a site is a variable position, that position needs to be created, before any other site-level variable positions can be created. And the site ruler can afterwards create other variable positions for that site. It is not yet clear if a site level ruling position can be created before a civ level ruling (law-giving) position is created (or exists). This also means that it should be possible, via memory-hacking or scripting, to create (and fill) the variable site level positions (for a player site), at least after the civ level law-giving position has been created (and the law-giving position has been filled), so that a human player site gets the maximum possible human site level positions (with the normal appointment rules for the succession/reappointment of the positions), without having to edit the raw files (as outlined in the human civ page), prior to creating a world, to make the variable positions of human civilisations to "static" ones.

Presumably for guilds (Merchant Guild and others), mercenary groups, religious orders (and criminals) also a "leader" position needs to be created by a historical figure, before other variable positions for that entity can be created.

== General Info ==
So far, no restrictions on allowed_class or allowed_creature have been found and also the rejected_creature and rejected_class entries are always empty. Squad_size is 0, except when a variable position (in the following sections) explictly states otherwise (ie. squad size for CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 is 20). Also most other entries (of entity_position entry under "own") not mentioned in their section have standard values (ie. are empty). The best_appointment_precedence of all positions is 30001. Also the execution skill is always set to "-1" even for the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9, whose sole responsiblity is executions.

Also variable positions are usually only created (with the exception, if they replace another position), if the position will have at least one responsibility the already created (existing) positions for that entity does not have, regardless of whether there are any more prerequisites for a variable position to be created.






== Sources to process ==
See spoiler-sections of those posts.
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=178697.msg8295235#msg8295235
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8084095#msg8084095
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8083631#msg8083631 (first answer)

= Civilizations =
If all positions of a civ are variable, then the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible positions) can be created. After the creation (and filling) of the law-maker positions, the other variable positions (both CUSTOM_OFFICIALS_i and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALS_i, where i stands for a non-zero natural number) can be created in any order. These other positions are then always appointed by the law-maker of the civ. The law-maker position itself uses succession by heir.

In contrast to e.g the positions of the dwarven civilizations, where the site nobility positions (eg. baron, duke) do get added to the own position list (vector) of the civilization, the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2) positions (of a site government) are not added to the own position list (at least for civs with all variable positions). The "own" positions list (of the civ entity) only exclusively contains the variable positions of the civ, which are all created by the civ, and no positions which are the "ruler" of a site (even if the variable site position was appointed by the law maker of the civ). Also the "site" positions list is empty (or at least no entries were found so far).

The following table gives an overview over the different possible rulers of a human or goblin civilization.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!succession type!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!is diplomat!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals,
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|yes
|no

|}

Note that the ruler (law-giver or master) is not a diplomat, if and only if the ruler has the military strategy responsibility. Also note that the master of a goblin civilization does not have peace agreements as a responsibility.

The following table gives an overview of the possible non-ruling civ-level positions:

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name prefix!!Name5!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Flags11!!Flags22!!Color!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1
|yes3
|"keeper of the seal" / chancellor
|receive diplomats, make introductions and make topic agreements; optional: espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2
|yes3
|justiciar
|law enforcement, collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|yes
|treasurer
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|yes
|advisor/counselor
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|yes3
|chamberlain
|oversee leader household
|1
|0
|80
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|no
|master of beasts
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|yes
|butler / cup-bearer
|manage leader household food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|yes
|doctor
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|yes
|executioner
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|yes
|chef
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|yes
|housekeeper
|manage leader household cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY
|no
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS4
|no
|war leader
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|no
|no
|}
: ''Note'':
:* 1) These are the standard official flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, has_met_pop_req, color, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* 2) These are the following additional flags: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver and special_burial.
:* 3): Name prefix can be empty.
:* 4) These would be the values for the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position, but on the civ-level that position is not created, as the military goals responsibility is already performed by the law-giver/master (and for the military strategy responsibility the CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY position is created instead). But a CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position would be created, if the civ leader would not have the military goals responsibility. The CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position is - in vanilla - only created for site governments and then only, if the site leader is the FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.
:* 5): Name prefixes are: high, head, chief and royal.

In the above table the responsibility "espionage" of the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is optional. Only if the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is created with the "espionage" responsibility such officials can also be created for the site governments (as all other responsibility are already performed by the standard custom site ruler). Also, the columns "human" and "goblin" dictate whether human and/or goblin civilizations can have the positions.

= Site Governments =
If all positions of a civ (and with that of a site government) are variable, then a leader position for the site government needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible variable positions) can be created. The created position is usually the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, but other positions have been found, ie. CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER and FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.

Note that human and goblin civilizations can also create further site positions, if the current site leader is the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER or FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR. All other races (eg. dwarves and elves) cannot.

Also a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER can be created for a site government (of a human civilization) before a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER for the civilization has been created.

Also note that not all site government entities need to be a child of a civilization entity, if they are not, then the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is used as a site-ruler (regardless of race, ie. even dwarven and the rare elven site government without connection to a civ will use the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER as initial ruler/leader).

The following table gives an overview of the non-ruler variable positions of a site government.

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name first!!Name second !!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Color!!human!!goblin!!add. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1
|sewer
|master / administrator / caretaker / commissioner / official
|maintain sewers
|0
|0
|500
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_2
|grain / harvest
|official / administrator / caretaker / commissioner
|food supply
|1
|0
|450
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_3
|fire
|administrator / official / commissioner
|fire safety
|0
|0
|475
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_4
|
|judge / magistrate / justice
|judge
|1
|0
|350
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_5
|building
|caretaker / administrator / official / commissioner
|construction permits, building safety
|1
|0
|460
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_6
|road
|administrator / official / commissioner
|maintain roads, bridges and tunnels
|1
|0
|375
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1
|(high / head / chief)
|"keeper of the seal" / chancellor
|espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2
|(chief / head / high)
|justiciar
|collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|chief / high / head
|treasurer
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|chief / high / head
|advisor / counselor
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|(chief / high / head)
|chamberlain
|oversee leader houshold
|1
|0
|80
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|
|master of beasts
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|chief / head / high
|butler / cup-bearer
|manage leader houshold food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|chief / high / head
|doctor
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|head / high / chief
|executioner
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|chief / high / head
|chef
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|chief / head / high
|housekeeper
|manage leader houshold cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY2,3
|
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS2
|
|war leader
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|yes

|}

: ''Notes'':
:* 1): The additional flags are: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver and special_burial.
:* 2): Only ever created, if the current site leader is a FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR.
:* 3): Only created, after the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was created and the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was not created with the military strategy responsibility.
:* In the above table the columns "human" and "goblin" donate, whether a site government of a human civilization or of a goblin civilization can have that position (or at least, if the position was encountered so far). Also the custom officials (CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 etc.), in contrast to market officials (CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1 etc.), seem to only be generated, if a) the parent civ did generate the position and b) the official has a responsibility that the site-ruler does not have.
:* In addtion to the above table the "best_appointment_precedence" is 30001. Also the following flags are set (true) for all officials, regardless, of whether belonging to a human or goblin site government: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, has_met_pop_req, color, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* All of the positions are appointed by the current ruler of the site (ie. CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER, CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, FORCED_ADMINISTRATOR), except the CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY position will be appointed by the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position, if the CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was created prior and the current ruler of the site government is a forced administrator.

Additionally the position entry usually has the flag active set and the flag is_replaced is false, otherwise the position would no longer be active (and might have been replaced).

= Bandits =
Bandits use the entity types 4 and 7, which are nomadic groups (type 4) and outcasts (type 7). It must also be noted that some CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER positions are used by site governments (typically goblin site governments) both with and without a parent civilization (site government is not a child of an entity of type 0).

The following table gives an overview over the possible variable positions used by bandits (some further info on bandit leaders is below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!squad size!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!add. flags1!!rules from location!!entity type

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|20
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic, outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER2
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|20
|2
|1
|10
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT
|lieutenant
|appointed by bandit leader
|patrol territory, attack enemies
|0
|1
|0
|160
| -1
|no
|no
|outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR
|representative
|appointed by bandit leader
|trade and accounting
|0
|1
|0
|70
| -1
|yes (except is_law_maker)
|yes
|outcast

|}
: ''Notes'':
:* 1): Additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt and quest_giver
:* 2): Only difference to the other CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is the increased precedence of 10, encountered in 11 of 148 bandit leaders (148 of 175 nomadic groups had leaders). The reason is of yet unknown, except that the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is also used by the goblin civilization (and some site governments, without an entity link to a parent civ, had a nomadic group with a custom bandit leader as a child entity).
:* Further note the common flags of these positions are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
:* The entity type in the above table refers to the (as displayed by dfhack's gm-editor, when viewing an entity).

Additionally the bandit leader (CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER) always has a squad size of 20 and the squad members are refered to as "bandits".

= Religious Entities =
Some religious entities, which are considered "child"-entities of civilizations (no religious entity which was not a "child" of a civ entity has been found so far), also have variable positions - the other religious entities have no positions at all.
If a religious entity rules a site (always monastery?), then the only variable position (of that entity) seems to be the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and the name of the position seems to be always "abbot".
Otherwise the variable positions PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created for that religious entity, where any such entity, if it has a position, will always have the PRIEST as position. Afterwards, the position HIGH_PRIEST can be created and at last - after the HIGH_PRIEST was created - the HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created. The names of these position are randomly created (more about the name generation is currently out-of-scope, ie. why a PRIEST might be called "sacred squid", "holy burial", "sacred rumor", "holy lemon" or "sacred paper" is out-of-scope at least for this wiki-article). No temple is needed in an associated site for a religious entity (not ruling from a monastery) to create a priest, high priest or highest priest position.

An overview on the positions of religious entities is given in the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name prefix!!name!!appointment type5!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!missing common flags1!!additional flags2

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER3
|
|abbot
|heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|100
|3
|2
|1
|is_diplomat
|all

|-
!PRIEST
|holy or sacred
|random4
|elected
|religion
|200
|0
|0
| -1
|none
|no

|-
!HIGH_PRIEST
|high, first or exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|50
|3
|2
| -1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|-
!HIGHEST_PRIEST
|absolute or most sacred/high/exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|1
|5
|3
|1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|}

Notes:
1): The common flags are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, chat_worty, do_not_cull, is_leader, is_diplomat, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req. So if one of the flags is mentioned in a column, then the position does not have that flag.

2): The additional flags (in this case) are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, kill_quest, exported_in_legends, account_exempt, quest_giver, special_burial.

3): Is always the only position for that religious entity. And so far any such entity, which was found, always governed/ruled a monastary.

4): The name is one of the possible "name prefix" for the position written before a completly random word, which may or may not depend on the religious spheres/domains worshipped by that religion.

5): The appointment/succession type is actually determined by flags, ie. elected and succession_by_heir. One of the flags is also true for these positions (but not explictly mentioned in the common/additional flags).

Additional notes: The PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST have a variable color entry, but the color-flag (of the position entry) is false, so it is unclear, whether currently the color entry has any effect.

= Mercenary Group =

All mercenary entities will have at least one position (the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER). The only other possible position is the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER.

Basic information about both positions are found in the table below (and the explanations below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!! imp. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER
|usually "warlord", "leader", "general" or "overlord" but very unusual names are possible (see below table)
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER
|treasurer
|elected
|trade and accounting
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes: 1): The imp. flags are flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, punishment_exemption, kill_quest and quest giver.

Both positions also have the is_leader flag and the following flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.

For the mercenary leader also illustrous names such as lord twinkle, lord duty, lord savant, maze commander or secret commander can be created. In these cases the name seems to be generated by either adding a random word after the word lord or adding a random word before commander.

= Guilds =
All guilds will always have all four of the variable positions mentioned in this section. Note that "merchant guilds" are merchant companies and an entirely separate entity.

The following table gives an overview of the four guild positions.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!precedence!!demands!!mandates!!number!!add. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_LEADER
|dean/doyen
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|elected
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_ALDERPERSON
|alderperson
|meet workers, manage production
|elected
|150
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_STEWARD
|steward or treasurer
|trade
|elected
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_CLERK
|clerk, bookkeeper, recordkeeper
|accounting
|elected
|170
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes:
1): The additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill; chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, account_exempt, rules_from_location, punishment_exemption and quest_giver.

All positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_positions.

= Merchant Company =
Every merchant company will have a leader (CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER). Furthermore a merchant company can have a CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR, to which an unlimited number of history figures can be assigned to (ie. a company can have multiple governors).

An overview of both positions is given by the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!additional flag

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER
|master or head
|elected or succession by heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military goals, military strategy
|50
|2
|1
|1
|is_law_maker

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR
|agent, factor, administrator or governor
|appointed by company leader
|trade and accounting
|200
|1
|0
| -1
|none

|}

Both positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver and has_met_market_req.

Also note that in contrast to many other variable positions (of different entities) for the CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER both an election based appointment (or succession) and an succesion by heir is possible, but each merchant company will only have an elected leader or a leader (with inheritance).

= Raw tokens =
The tokens that manage the creation of positions are [[Entity_token#SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS]] and [[Entity_token#VARIABLE_POSITIONS|VARIABLE_POSITIONS]].

SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS allows for the creation of lords, hearthpersons, and [[boss]]es, and [VARIABLE_POSITIONS] allows creation of Law-makers.

Ethic

2026-02-12T11:05:49Z

Silverwing235: fix anon's literal backwards spelling (ESL shortcomings?)

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{Modding}}

'''Ethic''' tags are used in the [[Entity token|entity raw files]] to determine how different civilizations feel about various issues. Relationships between civilizations are based on their ethic responses in relation to each other; similar ethics result in friendship, while conflicting ethics result in animosity. Strongly conflicting ethics often trigger [[war]]s during [[world generation]]. (In practice, this generally causes [[Elf|elves]] to declare war on everybody else over killing plants and making trophies, and everybody else to declare war on the elves over the devouring of [[Person|sapient beings]].)

Some ethics also affect [[fortress mode]] features, such as [[justice]], or [[trading]]. In [[adventurer mode]], ethics can affect the [[level of conflict]] (lethal, or no quarter). During [[world generation]], ethics also affect how the entity treats its kills, such as devouring them or making trophies out of them.

== Example ==
In the [[raw file]]s for entities, ethics appear as follows:
[ETHIC:LYING:PERSONAL_MATTER]

This means that the entity will treat lying as a personal matter - more technically, the value of its LYING ethic is set to PERSONAL_MATTER.

== Ethic types ==
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
!Token
!Extra Information
|-
| {{text anchor|ASSAULT}}
| The result of a tantrumming citizen attacking another in fortress mode. Other effects unknown.
|-
| {{text anchor|EAT_SAPIENT_KILL}}
| This determines if members of the civilisation will sometimes devour defeated enemy combatants.
|-
| {{text anchor|EAT_SAPIENT_OTHER}}
| This includes whether or not a civilisation is willing to [[butcher]] other sapients. Note that any sapient creature that dies on site will never be butchered by citizens in fortress mode, and if butchered in adventure mode the products are inedible and unusable. However this works for offsite behaviors (caravans will deliver products made from sentients, etc.) Also note that if an item doesn't actually come from a sapient creature that died on site (i.e: it was generated as part of a caravan or site) it is usable and edible regardless of ethics.
|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_ANIMAL}}
| A response of JUSTIFIED_IF_EXTREME_REASON, JUSTIFIED_IF_SELF_DEFENSE, or anything from MISGUIDED to UNTHINKABLE (see below) causes the entity to refuse animal products in trade — namely, [[material token|materials]] with [IMPLIES_ANIMAL_KILL]. Animal products sold by caravans will be marked as "grown", which means kosher for their ethics, for example grown leather.
|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_ENEMY}}
| If REQUIRED, all lethal combat with an enemy who is an enemy of the whole entity will put the creature in [[no quarter]] mode.
|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_ENTITY_MEMBER}}
| If REQUIRED, all lethal combat with an enemy in the same entity will put the creature in [[no quarter]] mode. Determines whether and how often entity members will be murdered.
|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_NEUTRAL}}
| If REQUIRED, all lethal combat with an enemy who is neutral with the entity will put the creature in [[no quarter]] mode, and the creature will also demand that strangers identify themselves; it will also greatly increase war aggression in worldgen.
|-
| {{text anchor|KILL_PLANT}}
| This includes a civilization's position towards wood — any response from MISGUIDED to UNTHINKABLE (see below) causes the entity to refuse wooden objects (except for "grown" wooden objects) in trade, and also prohibits them from bringing caravan [[wagon]]s. Caravans will sell grown wood objects (if the civ has WOOD_PREF) and even grown non-wood objects, that elves refuse to buy (if the civ uses misc processed wood products).
|-
| {{text anchor|LYING}}
| Giving false witness reports?{{verify}}
|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_TROPHY_ANIMAL}}
| This determines whether animal kills will lead to characters with trophies. [[Historical figure]]s can arrive at your fortress with leather, horn, ivory, tooth, hair, bone or nail jewellery from slain non-sapients, and fortress citizens may put on [[crafts]] made from their kills as well.
|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_TROPHY_SAME_RACE}}
| This determines whether kills of one's own race will lead to characters with trophies. [[Historical figure]]s can arrive at your fortress with leather, tooth, hair, bone or nail jewellery from their race. Example: a goblin with a -goblin tooth ring-.
|-
| {{text anchor|MAKE_TROPHY_SAPIENT}}
| This determines whether kills of other sapients will lead to characters with trophies - as previously, but regarding other races, including INTELLIGENT.
|-
| {{text anchor|OATH_BREAKING}}
| The result of a citizen violating noble mandates in fortress mode. Other effects unknown.
|-
| {{text anchor|SLAVERY}}
|Civilization will enslave defeated enemies and bring them back to their site. Also affects whether you may trade caged sapient beings to merchants. Aside from diplomacy, higher/lower values don't seem to affect anything beyond if a civilization is willing to take slaves at all. {{verify}}
|-
| {{text anchor|THEFT}}
| This determines whether the civilization will try to steal goods and how it will respond when stolen from.{{verify}}
|-
| {{text anchor|TORTURE_ANIMALS}}
|Determines if the civilization will kill all animals of the conquered site, or preserve them for further use.
|-
| {{text anchor|TORTURE_AS_EXAMPLE}}
|Civilization will sometimes execute non-combatants after defeating enemy defenders.
|-
| {{text anchor|TORTURE_FOR_FUN}}
|
|-
| {{text anchor|TORTURE_FOR_INFORMATION}}
|
|-
| {{text anchor|TREASON}}
| Protects position-holders from being murdered like everyone else – the reason that demon overlords of goblins manage to live for centuries, despite goblins' regard of killing each other as being a personal matter.
|-
| {{text anchor|TRESPASSING}}
| Ignoring burrow restrictions {{verify}}
|-
| {{text anchor|VANDALISM}}
| The result of a tantruming citizen breaking furniture in fortress mode. Other effects unknown.
|}

==Ethic values==
As used internally (see below), roughly in order of acceptability:

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Num !! Token
|-
| 0 || {{text anchor|NOT_APPLICABLE}}
|-
| 1 || {{text anchor|ACCEPTABLE}}
|-
| 2 || {{text anchor|PERSONAL_MATTER}}
|-
| 3 || {{text anchor|JUSTIFIED_IF_NO_REPERCUSSIONS}}
|-
| 4 || {{text anchor|JUSTIFIED_IF_GOOD_REASON}}
|-
| 5 || {{text anchor|JUSTIFIED_IF_EXTREME_REASON}}
|-
| 6 || {{text anchor|JUSTIFIED_IF_SELF_DEFENSE}}
|-
| 7 || {{text anchor|ONLY_IF_SANCTIONED}}
|-
| 8 || {{text anchor|MISGUIDED}}
|-
| 9 || {{text anchor|SHUN}}
|-
| 10 || {{text anchor|APPALLING}}
|-
| 11 || {{text anchor|PUNISH_REPRIMAND}}
|-
| 12 || {{text anchor|PUNISH_SERIOUS}} || Will result in either a beating or a month in prison. See: [[Justice#Punishments]]
|-
| 13 || {{text anchor|PUNISH_EXILE}} || Mentioning in history: "...after being exiled following a criminal conviction."
|-
| 14 || {{text anchor|PUNISH_CAPITAL}} || Will result in either 8 months in prison or 50 hammerstrikes. See: [[Justice#Punishments]]
|-
| 15 || {{text anchor|UNTHINKABLE}}
|-
| 16 || {{text anchor|REQUIRED}}
|}

==Ethic value numbers in relation to each other==
The following table describes how entities respond to other cultures, with the observer on the vertical axis and their target on the horizontal axis.
If an entity's accumulated animosity towards another passes a certain threshold (determined by the ruler's personality) then it will run a risk-assessment check. If passed, this will lead to a declaration of war.

In general, entities react much more strongly to actions that violate ''their'' taboos than to the outlawing of their customs in other civilisations.
For example, Civ A finds slavery Acceptable, but Civ B considers it a Capital Offence.
* Civ A will consider Civ B most unreasonable (−5) for executing people over such a non-issue.
* Civ B will be shocked and disgusted (−15) that Civ A engages in such a debased activity.
* The end result is mutual negativity. However, Civ B is 3× ''more'' offended, and much more likely to go to war over the issue — assuming, of course, they think they have a chance of winning.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! rowspan=2 colspan=2 |  
! colspan=16 | TARGET
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
!width=6%| Accept. ||width=6%| Personal ||width=6%| Reperc. ||width=6%| Good ||width=6%| Extreme ||width=6%| Self-Def. ||width=6%| Sanct. ||width=6%| Misguid. ||width=6%| Shun ||width=6%| Appall. ||width=6%| Reprim. ||width=6%| Serious ||width=6%| Exile ||width=6%| Capital ||width=6%| Unthink. ||width=6%| Req.
|-
! rowspan=16 | {{rotate|OBSERVER}}     
! Acceptable || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}}
|-
! Personal || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}}
|-
! No Reperc. || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}}
|-
! Good Reas. || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0
|-
! Extreme Reas. || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}}
|-
! Self-Defence || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}}
|-
! Sanctioned || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+2}} || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}}
|-
! Misguided || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−1}}
|-
! Shun || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−1}}
|-
! Appalling || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−5}}
|-
! Reprimand || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−5}}
|-
! Serious || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−7}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−10}}
|-
! Exile || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−7}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−10}}
|-
! Capital || {{tc|red|−15}} || {{tc|red|−15}} || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || 0 || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|red|−15}}
|-
! Unthinkable || {{tc|red|−15}} || {{tc|red|−15}} || {{tc|red|−10}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+2}} || {{tc|red|−15}}
|-
! Required || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || {{tc|blue|+1}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || {{tc|red|−1}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|red|−3}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−5}} || {{tc|red|−2}} || {{tc|blue|+1}}
|}

All above info was collected and interpreted from the data given by Toady himself at [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=22151.msg239689].

== Ethics of vanilla civilizations ==
[[Animal people]] currently have the same ethics as [[kobold]]s.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Issue
! Mountain (dwarf)
! Forest (elf)
! Plains (human)
! Evil (goblin)
! Skulking (kobold)
|-
| Killing member of the same entity
| Capital punishment
| Justified with extreme reason
| Justified with good reason
| Personal matter
| Exile
|-
| Killing neutral sapient
| Only if sanctioned
| Acceptable
| Justified if no repercussions
| Required
| Required
|-
| Killing enemy
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Required
| Required
|-
| Killing animal
| Acceptable
| Justified in self-defence
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
|-
| Killing plant
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
|-
| Torture as example
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
|-
| Torture for information
| Unthinkable
| Misguided
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| N/A
|-
| Torture for fun
| Unthinkable
| Unthinkable
| Appalling
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
|-
| Torture of animals
| Unthinkable
| Unthinkable
| Shunned
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
|-
| Treason
| Capital punishment
| Exile
| Capital punishment
| Capital punishment
| Unthinkable
|-
| Oathbreaking
| Capital punishment
| Exile
| Capital punishment
| Personal matter
| N/A
|-
| Lying
| Personal matter
| Exile
| Personal matter
| Personal matter
| N/A
|-
| Vandalism
| Serious punishment
| Reprimand
| Serious punishment
| Personal matter
| N/A
|-
| Trespassing
| Serious punishment
| Reprimand
| Serious punishment
| Personal matter
| N/A
|-
| Theft
| Serious punishment
| Reprimand
| Serious punishment
| Personal matter
| N/A
|-
| Assault
| Serious punishment
| Exile
| Serious punishment
| Personal matter
| Personal matter
|-
| Slavery
| Capital punishment
| Exile
| Acceptable
| Personal matter
| Unthinkable
|-
| Eating sapients
| Unthinkable
| Unthinkable
| Unthinkable
| Personal matter
| Unthinkable
|-
| Eating sapients (that have been killed in battle)
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
| Personal matter
| Unthinkable
|-
| Making a trophy from a corpse of the same race
| Appalling
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
|-
| Making a trophy from a corpse of another sapient race
| Shunned
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
|-
| Making a trophy from the corpse of an animal
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
| Acceptable
| Acceptable
| Unthinkable
|}

{{Category|Modding}}
{{Category|Tokens}}
{{Template:V50 entities}}
[[ru:Ethic]]

Variable positions

2026-02-11T18:02:08Z

Silverwing235: /* Religious Entities */

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{Modding}}
{{stub}}
This page documents the variable positions that entities create when neccesary. This is - in vanilla - the case for [[human]] and [[goblin]] [[Civilization|civilizations]], but also for merchants' guilds, mercenary groups, [[Religion|religious groups]] and [[Criminal|criminal]]s.

= Introduction =
Initially none of the positions marked as variable do exist for an entity. The positions will only exist for a given entity, if they are either created during world-gen, world activities(?) or by memory hacking or scripting (ie. with Lua). Ie. in vanilla all human civilizations have at the beginning of the world-generation no positions at all, neither on the site nor civ level, as all positions of the vanilla human civs are marked as variable (variable positions: all). When a variable (civ level) position is created, the position is only created for that civilization (entity) and not for any other entities of the same type. Ie. the creation of a law-giver for one human civ does not create law-givers for other human civs.

Also presumably all site-level positions for each entity are created on a per site basis, meaning the creation of a site ruler for one site (of a civ) does not also create the site ruler positions for any other site (of that civ).

The existence of a variable position does not mean that the position will also be filled by a historical figure. But during world-gen the creation of a position will usually be followed up with the position being filled. Ie. the human historical figure who forced the creation of a law-giver position, will usually become the first law-giver.

For the succession rules of a variable position (after the position has been initially filled by a historical figure), presumably, the same rules as for non-variable positions apply.

(Disclaimer: The following only applies during world-gen and normal world activities. Scripting and memory hacking can circumvent the normal limitations, but with currently unknown results).

For civ level entities, if the law-giving position is a variable position, the law-giving position does not (seem to) have any further requirements to be created (ie. no other position being already created). Ie. this position can be created by force (or popular support etc.) by any historical figure of that civ. But for all other variable (civ-level) positions the law-giving position must exist as usually the historical figure, who is the law-giver, does create the other variable positions (for various reason).

Something similar is probably the case for site level positions. Ie. if the ruler of a site is a variable position, that position needs to be created, before any other site-level variable positions can be created. And the site ruler can afterwards create other variable positions for that site. It is not yet clear if a site level ruling position can be created before a civ level ruling (law-giving) position is created (or exists). This also means that it should be possible, via memory-hacking or scripting, to create (and fill) the variable site level positions (for a player site), at least after the civ level law-giving position has been created (and the law-giving position has been filled), so that a human player site gets the maximum possible human site level positions (with the normal appointment rules for the succession/reappointment of the positions), without having to edit the raw files (as outlined in the human civ page), prior to creating a world, to make the variable positions of human civilisations to "static" ones.

Presumably for guilds (Merchant Guild and others), mercenary groups, religious orders (and criminals) also a "leader" position needs to be created by a historical figure, before other variable positions for that entity can be created.

== General Info ==
So far, no restrictions on allowed_class or allowed_creature have been found and also the rejected_creature and rejected_class entries are always empty. Squad_size has so far been empty, except for CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 where the squad_size was 20. Also most other entries (of entity_position entry under "own") not mentioned below have standard values (ie. are empty).

If the naming of a variable position is also variable, then the name has usually two parts and at least one part of the name has a few different possibilities defined (although one part might allow for an empty string, ie. name is only "chamberlain", whereas another possible name would be "high chamberlain"). For some positions that are ie. "high", "chief" and "head" for the first part (of a site variable position) or it might be "harvest" and "grain" (the later used for the official with the food supply responsibility). For some positions the list for the second part contains at least the words "administrator", "official" and "commissioner". But some variable positions have static names (fixed, possibly hardcoded and thus only ie. by raw-editing - or similiar editing after world-gen - changeable in-game displayed position names). Also in the variable naming-case a different subset of parts might be used for site government and civ government positions (ie. "royal" being reserved for civ government positions). The defined possibilities for the first and second part might be hardcoded or be defined somewhere in the raw files (investigation needed).

== Variable Civilization Government Positions ==

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 ===
So far, two different names have been found, but in contrast to the other variable (CUSTOM_OFFICIAL) positions so far, the responsibilities are not fixed. The names are "Chancellor" and "Keeper of the Seal". The responsibilities of the "Keeper of the Seal" were receive_diplomats, make_introductions and make_topic_agreements. The Chancellor additionally had espionage as responsibility.

Shared values:
Standard_official_flags, standard color entry,
precedence: 20; number: 1, max mandates: 2; max demands: 3
best_appointment_precedence: 30001

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2 (Justiciar) ===
Name found so far: chief justiciar.
responsibilities: law_enforcement, collect_taxes
precedence: 60 ; number: 1; max mandates: 2; max demands: 3;
best_appointment_precedence: 30001

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3 (Treasurer) ===
Names found so far: chief/head/high treasurer.
As CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3 of a site government (only difference: appointed by position 0 of the civ).

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4 (Advisor) ===
Names found so far: chief/head advisor, chief/head/high/royal counselor.
As CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4 of a site government (only difference: appointed by position 0 of the civ).

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5 (Chamberlain) ===
Names found so far: Chamberlain, head/high chamberlain.
As CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5 of a site government (only difference: appointed by position 0 of the civ).

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6 (Master of Beasts) ===
Name always: Master of Beasts.
As CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6 of a site government (only difference: appointed by position 0 of the civ).

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7 (Cup-bearer) ===
Name found so far: chief cup-bearer.
Responsibilities: manage_leader_household_food, manage_leader_household_drinks
Standard_official_flags, standard color entry,
precedence: 300; number: 1; no demands/mandates;
best_appointment_precedence: 30001

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8 (Doctor) ===
Name found so far: head doctor.
Responsibilities: health_management
Standard_official_flags, standard color entry,
precedence: 310; number: 1; no demands/mandates;
best_appointment_precedence: 30001

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9 (Executioner) ===
Names found so far: royal/head/high/chief executioner.
Otherwise as CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9 of a site government (only difference: appointed by position 0 of the civ).

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10 (Chef) ===
Name found so far: high chef.
Responsibilities: PREPARE_LEADER_MEALS
Standard_official_flags, standard color entry,
precedence: 330; number: 1; no demands/mandates;
best_appointment_precedence: 30001

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11 (Housekeeper) ===
Names found so far: royal/chief/head/high housekeeper.
Otherwise as CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11 of a site government (only difference: appointed by position 0 of the civ).

=== CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY (Marshall) ===
Name found so far: Marshall.
responsibilities: military strategy
standard color entry.
precedence: 50; number: 1; max mandates: 2; max demands: 3;
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
Flags (additionally to standard_official_flags): flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver, special_burial.

== Variable Site Government Positions ==
If all positions of a civ (and with that of a site government) are variable, then the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position for the site government needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible positions) can be created. The initial CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER positions is normally not appointed by the law-giver of the civilization and in thtat case the historical figure occupying it is called "lord" (if male) and "lady" (if female). Only in the rare cases, where the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER was appointed by the law-giver of the civ, the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER is called "baron" instead (and no CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 position will be created later on). If a law-giver of the civilization exists, then the lord of a site (leader of a site government) can be replaced by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2. The law-giver of the civilization appoints the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2. The CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 is (at least in case of the so far checked human civ) always called baron (if male) or baronness (if female). If a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 position has been created the flag "active" (of the original CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position) is set to false and the flag "has_been_replaced" is set to true. The position of the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER is always the next_position_id of the civ (either at the time of creation of the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position for the site or the time of creation of the site government). The creation of a variable position (for a site government) always increments the next_position_id by 1 (and also increases next_assignment_id by 1, which is always on creation of an entity with all variable positions and thus no positions existing on creation of the entity initialized to 0).

Regardless of whether a lord/lady has been upgraded to a baron/baroness other variable positions (both CUSTOM_OFFICIALS_i and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALS_i, where i stands for a non-zero natural number) can be created in any order. These other positions are then always appointed by the lord (or baron) of the site. In case the position has been created before a lord has been upgraded to a baron the appointed_by and appointed_by_civ (in the position definition) refer to the position of the lord (and are not updated to point to the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 position, when it gets created). In case the positions are created after a lord has been elevated to a baron the appointed_by and appointed_by_civ (in the position definition) refer to the position of the baron.

NOTE (further research needed): It seems as if CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_I can only be created if the site (ruled by the site government) has a market (abstract_building_marketst). It is not clear whether an additional prerequisite for the upgrading to the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 exists, ie. if the ruled site does need to have a keep (abstract_building_keepst). Furthermore so far it seems that only CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_I can be created for a site, if the civ has also (already) created the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_I position.

Note: The historical figure currently holding the position of a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (or CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2) of a site government has (often/usually) under histfig_site_links an entry of the type histfig_site_link_seat_of_powerst (which points to the site belonging to the site government, ie. "site" has the id of the site and "entity" has the id of the entity as values).

(Note: the following subsections might need moving into a wiki table).
So far the following CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_i and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_i (for site governments) have been found (except for the position_id, appointed_by, appointed_by_civ and name entries the values for CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_i are usually the same for civ positions and site government positions):

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 (Chancellor/Keeper of the Seal) ===
The name is variable. Both Chancellor and Keeper of the Seal are used, with a possible additional word from the list "high", "head" and "chief" as prefix, ie. "high chancellor" or "chief keeper of the seal".
Only responsibility is espionage, the additional responsibilities of the Chancellor/Keeper of the Seal are lost (ie. still performed by the Lord/Baron of the site and not outsourced to the chancellor). The rest is as the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 of the civ.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2 (Justiciar) ===
The name is "justiciar", allthough an additional word as prefix has so far only been found on the civ level, it can be assumed that "high", "head" and "chief" are possible prefix words.
Difference to CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2 on the civ level (except for the standard differences): Only responsibility: Collect taxes.
Meaning law enforcement is still performed by the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2) of the site government.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3 (treasurer) ===
The name is variable. Always the word "treasurer" is used, with "high", "chief" or "head" as prefix.
The other entries of the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3 are fixed (except the position_id, appointed_by and appointed_by_civ entries - see above). The responsibilities are trade and accounting.
precedence: 70; number: 1; mandates (max): 1; demands (max): 2;
best_appointment_precedence: 30001 (disclaimer: needs verification, whether this is only the case for the specific world or a general hard-coded value).
standard custom official flags, which means: "duty_bound", "has_responsibilities", "do_not_cull", "has_met_pop_req", "color", "menial_work_exemption", "has_received_positions", "active" and "has_met_market_req" set to true.
standard color entry, which means 0: 5, 1: 0 and 2: 1 (number before the ":" is the index and the number after the ":" is the actual value).

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4 (advisor) ===
The name is variable. The second part of the name is either "counselor" or "advisor". The first part is one of "chief", "head" and "high".
The other entries of the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4 are fixed (except the position_id, appointed_by and appointed_by_civ entries - see above). The responsibilites is advise_leaders.
precedence: 55; number: 1; mandates (max): 1; demands (max): 2;
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5 (Chamberlain) ===
The name is variable. Always the word "Chamberlain" is used, either without prefix or one of the words "chief", "head" and "high" as prefix.
Responsibility: Oversee_leader_household
precedence: 80; number: 1; demand (max): 1
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6 (Master of beasts) ===
The name is fixed: "master of beasts" (no "beast tamer" or any other names as alternative).
The responsibilities are manage_animals and tame_exotics.
Again the entries, except position_id and appointed_by and appointed_by_civ entries, are fixed.
precedence: 90; number: 1; mandates (max): 0; demands (max): 1;
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7 (Butler/Cup-bearer) ===
The name is variable. The second part of the name is either "butler" or "cup-bearer". The first part is any of "high", "head" and "chief".
Rest as the civ case.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8 (Doctor) ===
The name is variable. Always the word "doctor" is used, with either no prefix or with one of "high", "head" and "chief".
Rest as the civ case.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9 (Executioner) ===
The name is variable. Always the word "executioner" is used, with either "chief", "head" or "head" as prefix.
The other entries are fixed (except for the usual exceptions). The responsibilities are, unsurprisingly, executions.
precedence: 320; number: 1; no mandates or demands
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10 (Chef) ===
The name is variable. Always the word "chef" is used, with either "chief", "head" or "head" as prefix.
Rest as the civ case.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11 (Housekeeper) ===
The name is variable. Always the word "housekeeper" is used, with either "chief", "head" or "head" as prefix.
The other entries are fixed (except for the usual exceptions). Responsibility: Cleaning ("MANAGE_LEADER_HOUSEHOLD_CLEANLINESS").
precedence: 340; number: 1; no mandates or demands
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

=== CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_2 (Food Administrator) ===
The name is variable. The name seems to be generated by "grain" or "harvest" as first word and one of the words of "commissioner", "caretaker", "official" and "administrator" as second word, ie. harvest caretaker.
Responsibility: food_supply
precedence: 450; number: 1; demand (max): 1
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

=== CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_3 ((Unneeded) Fire Safety) ===
The name is variable. The first word of the name seems to be always "fire" and the second word seems to be one of
"administrator", "official" and "commissioner", allthough not found also "caretaker" might belong to the list (allthough fire caretaker might sound strange).
Responsibility: fire_safety
precedence: 475; number: 1; no mandates or demands
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

=== CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_4 (Judge) ===
The name is variable, allthough either judge or magistrate seems to be used as name.
precedence: 350, number: 1, standard_color_entry,
standard_official_flags,
responsibility: judge
demand (max): 1
best_appointment_precedence: 30001

=== CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_5 ((Unneeded) Building Commissioners) ===
The name is variable. First word of name is "building" and second word one of administrator, official, commissioner and caretaker.
Responsibilities: building_safety and construction_permits.
precedence: 460; number: 1; demand (max): 1
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

=== CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_6 (Road Caretaker) ===
The name is variable. First word of name is "road" and the second word one of "administrator", "commissioner", "caretaker" (and possible "official").
Responsibility: maintain_roads, maintain_bridges and surprisingly maintain_tunnels.
precedence: 375; number: 1; demand (max): 1
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

== Religious Entities ==

PRIEST:
elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, is_leader, is_diplomat, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, active, has_met_market_req
responsibility: religion
number: -1
precedence: 200, no mandates/demands
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
color entry is variable, ie. (0,0,1), (1,0,1) or (7,0,1), but color entry is the same for all positions of that religious entity.

HIGH_PRIEST:
is_law_maker, elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, is_diplomat, exported_in_legends, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, special_burial, has_met_market_req, active
responsibilities: law_making, receive_diplomats, make_topic_agreements, religion
number: -1
precedence: 50, mandates (max): 2, demands (max): 3
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
color entry is variable (see PRIEST)

HIGHEST_PRIEST:
is_law_maker, elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, is_diplomat, exported_in_legends, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, special_burial, has_met_market_req, active
responsibilities: law_making, receive_diplomats, make_topic_agreements, religion
number: 1
precedence: 1, mandates (max). 3, demand (max): 5
best_appointment_precedence: 30001

== Nomadic Entities (Bandits) ==
Nomadic entities are usually some kind of bandit groups. The only position they seem to be able to get is the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, with such illustrous names as Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord (and possibly even some more). The CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER always has a squad_size of 20 and a precedence of 55. Also no succession is defined. The flags, which are set to true are: is_law_maker, elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver and has_met_market_req (and usually also active). Responsibilities are law_making, law_enforcement, receive_diplomats, make_introductions, make_peace_agreements, make_topic_agreements, military_goals and military_strategy. Also the standard color entry is used. And the bandit leader has max mandates 1 and max demands 2. And as always the best_appointment_precedence is 30001. The squad members are always named soldiers (and not bandits).

Values for CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER are the same as for the entity of type 7 (outcast).

== Outcast (Bandits, entity type 7) ==
Possible positions are CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT, CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR. The name of the bandit leaders are the same (and possibly also the other variable values) as for the the bandit leader of nomadic groups. The CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT seems to be always called lieutenant and the custom_outcast_factor seems to be always called representative. (Allthough the sample size is kinda low).

CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER
is_law_maker, elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, active, quest_giver, has_met_market_req
squad_size: 20
precedence: 55
number: 1
responsibilities: law_making, law_giving, receive_diplomats, make_introductions, make_peace_agreements, make_topic_agreements,
military_goals, military_strategy
mandate_max: 1; demand_max: 2; default_color_entry
best_appointment_precedence: 30001

CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_req, active.
responsibilities: attack_enemies, patrol_territory
number -1
precedence: 160, mandate (max): 0, demand (max) 1, default_color_entry
appointed by CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER (same entity).
best_appointment_precedence 30001

CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, has_met_market_req, active.
responsibilities: trade, accounting
number: -1,
precedence: 70, mandate (max): 0, demand (max) 1, default_color_entry
appointed by CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER (same entity).
best_appointment_precedence 30001

== Guilds (Entity type 10) ==
The positions of guild entities are CUSTOM_GUILD_LEADER, CUSTOM_GUILD_ALDERPERSON, CUSTOM_GUILD_STEWARD, CUSTOM_GUILD_CLERK.
It seems that after (or with) the creation of a guild the above positions are always created.
Possible names for the clerk positions are Clerk, Bookkeeper and Recordkeeper.
Possible names for the steward position are steward and treasurer.
The guild leader is called doyen or dean. And the alderperson position is always called alderperson.

CUSTOM_GUILD_LEADER
is_law_maker, elected, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, has_met_market_req, active.
number: 1
precedence: 50, mandate (max): 1, demand (max): 2, default_color_entry
Responsibilities: law_making, law_enforcement, receive_diplomats, make_introductions, make_peace_agreements, make_topic_agreements, military_goals, military_strategy.
best_appointment_precedence 30001

CUSTOM_GUILD_ALDERPERSON
elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_req, active
number: 1
precedence: 150, mandate (max): 0, demand (max) 1, default_color_entry
responsibilities: meet_workers, manage_production
best_appointment_precedence 30001

CUSTOM_GUILD_STEWARD
elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_req, active
responsibilities: trade
number: 1
precedence: 160, mandate (max): 0, demand (max) 1, default_color_entry
best_appointment_precedence 30001

CUSTOM_GUILD_CLERK
elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_req, active
responsibilities: accounting
number: 1
precedence: 170, mandate (max): 0, demand (max) 1, default_color_entry
best_appointment_precedence 30001

== Mercenaries (Entity Type 6) ==
The only position of military entities (mercenary groups) seems to be the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER, who can ie. be called Leader or General.

CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER
is_law_maker, elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, has_met_market_req, active.
precedence: 50, mandate (max): 1, demand (max): 2, default_color_entry
no succession defined
Responsibilities: law_making, law_enforcement, receive_diplomats, make_introductions, make_peace_agreements, make_topic_agreements, military_goals, military_strategy.
best_appointment_precedence 30001

== Merchants (Entity Type 9) ==
Positions found so far: CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER (called ie. head or master) and CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR (called ie. agent or factor).

CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER
is_law_maker, duty_bound, succession_by_heir, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, has_met_market_req, active.
precedence: 50, mandate (max): 1, demand (max): 2, default_color_entry
Responsibilities: law_making, law_enforcement, receive_diplomats, make_introductions, make_peace_agreements, make_topic_agreements, military_goals, military_strategy.
best_appointment_precedence 30001

CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, has_met_market_req, active.
precedence: 200, mandate (max): 0, demand (max): 1, default_color_entry
Responsibilities: trade, accounting
number: -1
appointed by CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER (same entity).
best_appointment_precedence 30001

== Other not mentioned entities ==
The other entities like performance troupes (entity type 8) and migrating groups (entity type 3) do not seem to have positions.
Instances of the entity type 2 (called VesselCrew according to dfhack) were so far not found.

== Sources to process ==
See spoiler-sections of those posts.
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=178697.msg8295235#msg8295235
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8084095#msg8084095
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8083631#msg8083631 (first answer)

= Civilizations =
If all positions of a civ are variable, then the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible positions) can be created. After the creation (and filling) of the law-maker positions, the other variable positions (both CUSTOM_OFFICIALS_i and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALS_i, where i stands for a non-zero natural number) can be created in any order. These other positions are then always appointed by the law-maker of the civ. The law-maker position itself uses succession by heir.

In contrast to e.g the positions of the dwarven civilizations, where the site nobility positions (eg. baron, duke) do get added to the own position list (vector) of the civilization, the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2) positions (of a site government) are not added to the own position list (at least for civs with all variable positions). The "own" positions list (of the civ entity) only exclusively contains the variable positions of the civ, which are all created by the civ, and no positions which are the "ruler" of a site (even if the variable site position was appointed by the law maker of the civ). Also the "site" positions list is empty (or at least no entries were found so far).

The following table gives an overview over the different possible rulers of a human or goblin civilization.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!succession type!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!is diplomat!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|master
|none
|law making, military goals,
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|no
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals, military strategy
|3
|2
|1
|no
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
|law-giver
|by heir
|law making, make peace agreements, military goals
|3
|2
|1
|yes
|yes
|no

|}

Note that the ruler (law-giver or master) is not a diplomat, if and only if the ruler has the military strategy responsibility. Also note that the master of a goblin civilization does not have peace agreements as responsibilities.

The following table gives an overview of the possible non-ruling civ-level positions:

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Flags11!!Flags22!!Color!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1
|(royal/high/head/chief) "keeper of the seal"/chancellor
|receive diplomats, make introductionsa and make topic agreements; optional: espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2
|(royal/chief/head/high) justiciar
|law enforcement, collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|royal/chief/high/head treasurer
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|royal/chief/high/head advisor/counselor
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|(royal/chief/high/head) chamberlain
|oversee leader houshold
|1
|0
|80
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|master of beasts
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|royal/chief/head/high butler/cup-bearer
|manage leader houshold food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|royal/chief/high/head doctor
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|royal/head/high/chief executioner
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|royal/chief/high/head chef
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|royal/chief/head/high housekeeper
|manage leader houshold cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY
|general/(field) marshal / constable
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS
|war leader
|military goals, optional: military strategy
|3
|2
|45
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no
|}
Note:
1) These are the standard official flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, has_met_pop_req, color, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
2) These are the following additional flags: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver andspecial_burial.

In the above table the responsibility "espionage" of the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is optional. Only if the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is created with the "espionage" responsibility such officials can also be created for the site governments (as all other responsibility are already performed by the standard custom site ruler). Also, the columns "human" and "goblin" dictate whether human and/or goblin civilizations can have the positions.

= Site Governments =

The following table gives an overview of the non-ruler variable positions of a site government.

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Color!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1
|?
|maintain sewers
|?
|?
|?
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_2
|grain/harvest official/administrator/caretaker/commissioner
|food supply
|1
|0
|450
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_3
|fire administrator/official/commissioner
|fire safety
|0
|0
|475
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_4
|judge/magistrate
|judge
|1
|0
|350
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_5
|building caretaker/administrator/official/commissioner
|construction permits, building safety
|1
|0
|460
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_6
|fire administrator/official/commissioner
|maintain roads, bridges and tunnels
|1
|0
|375
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1
|(high/head/chief) "keeper of the seal"/chancellor
|espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes?

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2
|(chief/head/high) justiciar
|collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|chief/high/head treasurer
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|chief/high/head advisor/counselor
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes?

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|(chief/high/head) chamberlain
|oversee leader houshold
|1
|0
|80
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes?

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|master of beasts
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes?

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|chief/head/high butler/cup-bearer
|manage leader houshold food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|chief/high/head doctor
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|head/high/chief executioner
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes?

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|chief/high/head chef
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|chief/head/high housekeeper
|manage leader houshold cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|}

In the above table the columns "human" and "goblin" donate, whether a site government of a human civilization or of a goblin civilization can have that position (or at least, if the position was encountered so far). Also the custom officials (CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 etc.), in contrast to market officials (CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1 etc.), seem to only be generated, if a) the parent civ did generate the position and b) the official has a responsibility that the site-ruler does not have.

In addtion to the above table the "best_appointment_precedence" is 30001. Also the following flags are set (true) for all officials, regardless, of whether belonging to a human or goblin site government: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, has_met_pop_req,
color, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.

Additionally the position entry usually has the flag active set and the flag is_replaced is false, otherwise the position would no longer be active (and might have been replaced).

= Bandits =
Bandits use the entity types 4 and 7, which are nomadic groups (type 4) and outcasts (type 7).

The following table gives an overview over the possible variable positions used by bandits (some further info on bandit leaders is below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!squad size!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!add. flags1!!rules from location!!entity type

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|elected
|20
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic, outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER2
|Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introduction, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy and military goals
|elected
|20
|2
|1
|10
|1
|yes
|no
|nomadic

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT
|lieutenant
|patrol territory, attack enemies
|appointed by bandit leader
|0
|1
|0
|160
| -1
|no
|no
|outcast

|-
!CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR
|representative
|trade and accounting
|appointed by bandit leader
|0
|1
|0
|70
| -1
|yes (except is_law_maker)
|yes
|outcast

|}

Notes:
1): Additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt and quest_giver
2): Only difference to the other CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is the increased precedence of 10, encountered in 11 of 148 bandit leaders (148 of 175 nomadic groups had leaders). The reason is of yet unknown, except that the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER is also used by the goblin civilization (and some site governments, without an entity link to a parent civ, had a nomadic group with a custom bandit leader as a child entity).

Further note the common flags of these positions are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.

The entity type in the above table refers to the (as displayed by dfhack's gm-editor, when viewing an entity).

Additionally the bandit leader (CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER) always has a squad size of 20 and the squad members are refered to as "bandits".

= Religious Entities =
Some religious entities, which are considered "child"-entities of civilizations (no religious entity which was not a "child" of a civ entity has been found so far), also have variable positions.
If a religious entity rules a site (always monastery?), then the only variable position (of that entity) seems to be the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and the name of the position seems to be always "abbot".
Otherwise the variable positions PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created for that religious entity, where any such entity, if it has a position, will always have the PRIEST as position. Afterwards, the position HIGH_PRIEST can be created and at last - after the HIGH_PRIEST was created - the HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created. The names of these position are randomly created (more about the name generation is currently out-of-scope, ie. why a PRIEST might be called "sacred squid", "holy burial", "sacred rumor", "holy lemon" or "sacred paper" is out-of-scope at least for this wiki-article). No temple is needed in an associated site for a religious entity (not ruling from a monastery) to create a priest, high priest or highest priest position.

An overview on the positions of religious entities is given in the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name prefix!!name!!appointment type5!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!missing common flags1!!additional flags2

|-
!CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER3
|
|abbot
|heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|100
|3
|2
|1
|is_diplomat
|all

|-
!PRIEST
|holy or sacred
|random4
|elected
|religion
|200
|0
|0
| -1
|none
|no

|-
!HIGH_PRIEST
|high, first or exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|50
|3
|2
| -1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|-
!HIGHEST_PRIEST
|absolute or most sacred/high/exalted
|random4
|elected
|law_making, receive diplomats and make topic agreements
|1
|5
|3
|1
|none
|all (except determines_coin_design)

|}

Notes:
1): The common flags are: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, chat_worty, do_not_cull, is_leader, is_diplomat, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req. So if one of the flags is mentioned in a column, then the position does not have that flag.

2): The additional flags (in this case) are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill, kill_quest, exported_in_legends, account_exempt, quest_giver, special_burial.

3): Is always the only position for that religious entity. And so far any such entity, which was found, always governed/ruled a monastary.

4): The name is one of the possible "name prefix" for the position written before a completly random word, which may or may not depend on the religious spheres/domains worshipped by that religion.

5): The appointment/succession type is actually determined by flags, ie. elected and succession_by_heir. One of the flags is also true for these positions (but not explictly mentioned in the common/additional flags).

Additional notes: The PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST have a variable color entry, but the color-flag (of the position entry) is false, so it is unclear, whether currently the color entry has any effect.

= Mercenary Group =

All mercenary entities will have at least one position (the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER). The only other possible position is the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER.

Basic information about both positions are found in the table below (and the explanations below the table).

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!! imp. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER
|usually "warlord", "leader", "general" or "overlord" but very unusual names are possible (see below table)
|elected
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER
|treasurer
|elected
|trade and accounting
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes: 1): The imp. flags are flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, punishment_exemption, kill_quest and quest giver.

Both positions also have the is_leader flag and the following flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.

For the mercenary leader also illustrous names such as lord twinkle, lord duty, lord savant, maze commander or secret commander can be created. In these cases the name seems to be generated by either adding a random word after the word lord or adding a random word before commander.

= Guilds =
All guilds will always have all four of the variable positions mentioned in this section. Note that "merchant guilds" are merchant companies and an entirely separate entity.

The following table gives an overview of the four guild positions.

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!precedence!!demands!!mandates!!number!!add. flags1

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_LEADER
|dean/doyen
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military strategy, military goals
|elected
|50
|2
|1
|1
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_ALDERPERSON
|alderperson
|meet workers, manage production
|elected
|150
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_STEWARD
|steward or treasurer
|trade
|elected
|160
|1
|0
|1
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_GUILD_CLERK
|clerk, bookkeeper, recordkeeper
|accounting
|elected
|170
|1
|0
|1
|no

|}

Notes:
1): The additional flags are: is_law_maker, flashes, brag_on_kill; chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, account_exempt, rules_from_location, punishment_exemption and quest_giver.

All positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_positions.

= Merchant Company =
Every merchant company will have a leader (CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER). Furthermore a merchant company can have a CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR, to which an unlimited number of history figures can be assigned to (ie. a company can have multiple governors).

An overview of both positions is given by the following table:

{|class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!name!!appointment type!!Responsibilities!!Precedence!!Demands!!Mandates!!number!!additional flag

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER
|master or head
|elected or succession by heir
|law making, law enforcement, receive diplomats, make introductions, make peace agreements, make topic agreements, military goals, military strategy
|50
|2
|1
|1
|is_law_maker

|-
!CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR
|agent, factor, administrator or governor
|appointed by company leader
|trade and accounting
|200
|1
|0
| -1
|none

|}

Both positions have the following flags in common:
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver and has_met_market_req.

Also note that in contrast to many other variable positions (of different entities) for the CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER both an election based appointment (or succession) and an succesion by heir is possible, but each merchant company will only have an elected leader or a leader (with inheritance).

= Raw tokens =
The tokens that manage the creation of positions are [[Entity_token#SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS]] and [[Entity_token#VARIABLE_POSITIONS|VARIABLE_POSITIONS]].

SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS allows for the creation of lords, hearthpersons, and [[boss]]es, and [VARIABLE_POSITIONS] allows creation of Law-makers.

= Generated positions =
The following positions can be created. Note: these should be sorted among the different group types.
* CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
* CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2
* CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT
* CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR
* CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER
* CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR
* CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER
* CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER
* CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER
* CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_#
* CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_#
* CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY
* CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS
* HIGHEST_PRIEST
* HIGH_PRIEST
* CUSTOM_GUILD_LEADER
* CUSTOM_GUILD_STEWARD
* CUSTOM_GUILD_CLERK
* CUSTOM_GUILD_ALDERPERSON
* WORSHIP_HF

The following names can be seen given to those positions. Note: these should be sorted among the different positions.
* lord
* hearthperson
* factor
* agent
* governor
* lieutenant
* representative
* head
* chieftain
* warlord
* ringleader
* cup-bearer
* butler
* master of beasts
* sewer
* housekeeper
* chef
* executioner
* chancellor
* chief
* chamberlain
* captain
* chief / chieftess
* constable
* royal
* advisor
* counselor
* justiciar
* keeper of the seal
* law-giver
* baron
* marshal
* war leader
* most high priest
* absolute X
* most exalted X
* most high X
* most holy X
* most sacred X
* treasurer
* recordkeeper
* clerk
* bookkeeper
* doyen / doyenne
* dean
* steward
* alderperson
* X administrator
* X official (like grain official)
* X officials
* X commissioner
* X commissioners
* X caretakers
* judge
* justices
* magistrate
* abbot

Variable positions

2026-02-11T13:13:26Z

Silverwing235: /* Variable Civilization Government Positions */ typo (?)

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{Modding}}
{{stub}}
This page documents the variable positions that entities create when neccesary. This is - in vanilla - the case for [[human]] and [[goblin]] [[Civilization|civilizations]], but also for merchants' guilds, mercenary groups, [[Religion|religious groups]] and [[Criminal|criminal]]s.

= Introduction =
Initially none of the positions marked as variable do exist for an entity. The positions will only exist for a given entity, if they are either created during world-gen, world activities(?) or by memory hacking or scripting (ie. with Lua). Ie. in vanilla all human civilizations have at the beginning of the world-generation no positions at all, neither on the site nor civ level, as all positions of the vanilla human civs are marked as variable (variable positions: all). When a variable (civ level) position is created, the position is only created for that civilization (entity) and not for any other entities of the same type. Ie. the creation of a law-giver for one human civ does not create law-givers for other human civs.

Also presumably all site-level positions for each entity are created on a per site basis, meaning the creation of a site ruler for one site (of a civ) does not also create the site ruler positions for any other site (of that civ).

The existence of a variable position does not mean that the position will also be filled by a historical figure. But during world-gen the creation of a position will usually be followed up with the position being filled. Ie. the human historical figure who forced the creation of a law-giver position, will usually become the first law-giver.

For the succession rules of a variable position (after the position has been initially filled by a historical figure), presumably, the same rules as for non-variable positions apply.

(Disclaimer: The following only applies during world-gen and normal world activities. Scripting and memory hacking can circumvent the normal limitations, but with currently unknown results).

For civ level entities, if the law-giving position is a variable position, the law-giving position does not (seem to) have any further requirements to be created (ie. no other position being already created). Ie. this position can be created by force (or popular support etc.) by any historical figure of that civ. But for all other variable (civ-level) positions the law-giving position must exist as usually the historical figure, who is the law-giver, does create the other variable positions (for various reason).

Something similar is probably the case for site level positions. Ie. if the ruler of a site is a variable position, that position needs to be created, before any other site-level variable positions can be created. And the site ruler can afterwards create other variable positions for that site. It is not yet clear if a site level ruling position can be created before a civ level ruling (law-giving) position is created (or exists). This also means that it should be possible, via memory-hacking or scripting, to create (and fill) the variable site level positions (for a player site), at least after the civ level law-giving position has been created (and the law-giving position has been filled), so that a human player site gets the maximum possible human site level positions (with the normal appointment rules for the succession/reappointment of the positions), without having to edit the raw files (as outlined in the human civ page), prior to creating a world, to make the variable positions of human civilisations to "static" ones.

Presumably for guilds (Merchant Guild and others), mercenary groups, religious orders (and criminals) also a "leader" position needs to be created by a historical figure, before other variable positions for that entity can be created.

== General Info ==
So far, no restrictions on allowed_class or allowed_creature have been found and also the rejected_creature and rejected_class entries are always empty. Squad_size has so far been empty, except for CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 where the squad_size was 20. Also most other entries (of entity_position entry under "own") not mentioned below have standard values (ie. are empty).

If the naming of a variable position is also variable, then the name has usually two parts and at least one part of the name has a few different possibilities defined (although one part might allow for an empty string, ie. name is only "chamberlain", whereas another possible name would be "high chamberlain"). For some positions that are ie. "high", "chief" and "head" for the first part (of a site variable position) or it might be "harvest" and "grain" (the later used for the official with the food supply responsibility). For some positions the list for the second part contains at least the words "administrator", "official" and "commissioner". But some variable positions have static names (fixed, possibly hardcoded and thus only ie. by raw-editing - or similiar editing after world-gen - changeable in-game displayed position names). Also in the variable naming-case a different subset of parts might be used for site government and civ government positions (ie. "royal" being reserved for civ government positions). The defined possibilities for the first and second part might be hardcoded or be defined somewhere in the raw files (investigation needed).

== Variable Civilization Government Positions ==
If all positions of a civ are variable, then the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible positions) can be created. After the creation (and filling) of the law-maker positions, the other variable positions (both CUSTOM_OFFICIALS_i and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALS_i, where i stands for a non-zero natural number) can be created in any order. These other positions are then always appointed by the law-maker of the civ. The law-maker position itself uses succession by heir.

In contrast to e.g the positions of the dwarven civilizations, where the site nobility positions (eg. baron, duke) do get added to the own position list (vector) of the civilization, the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (and CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2) positions (of a site government) are not added to the own position list (at least for civs with all variable positions). The "own" positions list (of the civ entity) only exclusively contains the variable positions of the civ, which are all created by the civ, and no positions which are the "ruler" of a site (even if the variable site position was appointed by the law maker of the civ). Also the "site" positions list is empty (or at least no entries were found so far).

The responsibilities of the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER of a (vanilla human) civilization (all positions variable) are not fixed, but the responsibilities do seem to depend on which other civ level positions have been created. Ie. some initial responsibilities might get outsourced to a later created (civ) level position (ie. military_strategy to the custom_military_strategy position).

The following table gives an overview of the possible non-ruling civ-level positions:

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Flags11!!Flags22!!Color!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1
|(royal/high/head/chief) "keeper of the seal"/chancellor
|receive diplomats, make introductionsa and make topic agreements; optional: espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2
|(royal/chief/head/high) justiciar
|law enforcement, collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|royal/chief/high/head treasurer
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|royal/chief/high/head advisor/counselor
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|(royal/chief/high/head) chamberlain
|oversee leader houshold
|1
|0
|80
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|master of beasts
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|royal/chief/head/high butler/cup-bearer
|manage leader houshold food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|royal/chief/high/head doctor
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|royal/head/high/chief executioner
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|royal/chief/high/head chef
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|royal/chief/head/high housekeeper
|manage leader houshold cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|yes
|no
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY
|general/(field) marshal
|military strategy
|3
|2
|50
|1
|yes
|yes
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes

|-
!CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS
|?
|military goals
|?
|?
|?
|1
|yes
|?
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes?
|}
Note:
1) These are the standard official flags: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, has_met_pop_req, color, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.
2) These are the following additional flags: flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver andspecial_burial.

In the above table the responsibility "espionage" of the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is optional. Only if the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 is created with the "espionage" responsibility such officials can also be created for the site governments (as all other responsibility are already performed by the standard custom site ruler). Also, the columns "human" and "goblin" dictate whether human and/or goblin civilizations can have the positions.
Note also that CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS position was so far not found.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 ===
So far, two different names have been found, but in contrast to the other variable (CUSTOM_OFFICIAL) positions so far, the responsibilities are not fixed. The names are "Chancellor" and "Keeper of the Seal". The responsibilities of the "Keeper of the Seal" were receive_diplomats, make_introductions and make_topic_agreements. The Chancellor additionally had espionage as responsibility.

Shared values:
Standard_official_flags, standard color entry,
precedence: 20; number: 1, max mandates: 2; max demands: 3
best_appointment_precedence: 30001

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2 (Justiciar) ===
Name found so far: chief justiciar.
responsibilities: law_enforcement, collect_taxes
precedence: 60 ; number: 1; max mandates: 2; max demands: 3;
best_appointment_precedence: 30001

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3 (Treasurer) ===
Names found so far: chief/head/high treasurer.
As CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3 of a site government (only difference: appointed by position 0 of the civ).

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4 (Advisor) ===
Names found so far: chief/head advisor, chief/head/high/royal counselor.
As CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4 of a site government (only difference: appointed by position 0 of the civ).

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5 (Chamberlain) ===
Names found so far: Chamberlain, head/high chamberlain.
As CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5 of a site government (only difference: appointed by position 0 of the civ).

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6 (Master of Beasts) ===
Name always: Master of Beasts.
As CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6 of a site government (only difference: appointed by position 0 of the civ).

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7 (Cup-bearer) ===
Name found so far: chief cup-bearer.
Responsibilities: manage_leader_household_food, manage_leader_household_drinks
Standard_official_flags, standard color entry,
precedence: 300; number: 1; no demands/mandates;
best_appointment_precedence: 30001

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8 (Doctor) ===
Name found so far: head doctor.
Responsibilities: health_management
Standard_official_flags, standard color entry,
precedence: 310; number: 1; no demands/mandates;
best_appointment_precedence: 30001

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9 (Executioner) ===
Names found so far: royal/head/high/chief executioner.
Otherwise as CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9 of a site government (only difference: appointed by position 0 of the civ).

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10 (Chef) ===
Name found so far: high chef.
Responsibilities: PREPARE_LEADER_MEALS
Standard_official_flags, standard color entry,
precedence: 330; number: 1; no demands/mandates;
best_appointment_precedence: 30001

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11 (Housekeeper) ===
Names found so far: royal/chief/head/high housekeeper.
Otherwise as CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11 of a site government (only difference: appointed by position 0 of the civ).

=== CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY (Marshall) ===
Name found so far: Marshall.
responsibilities: military strategy
standard color entry.
precedence: 50; number: 1; max mandates: 2; max demands: 3;
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
Flags (additionally to standard_official_flags): flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, kill_quest, account_exempt, punishment_exemption, quest_giver, special_burial.

== Variable Site Government Positions ==
If all positions of a civ (and with that of a site government) are variable, then the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position for the site government needs to be created (in world-gen), before other positions (of the possible positions) can be created. The initial CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER positions is normally not appointed by the law-giver of the civilization and in thtat case the historical figure occupying it is called "lord" (if male) and "lady" (if female). Only in the rare cases, where the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER was appointed by the law-giver of the civ, the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER is called "baron" instead (and no CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 position will be created later on). If a law-giver of the civilization exists, then the lord of a site (leader of a site government) can be replaced by a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2. The law-giver of the civilization appoints the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2. The CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 is (at least in case of the so far checked human civ) always called baron (if male) or baronness (if female). If a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 position has been created the flag "active" (of the original CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position) is set to false and the flag "has_been_replaced" is set to true. The position of the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER is always the next_position_id of the civ (either at the time of creation of the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER position for the site or the time of creation of the site government). The creation of a variable position (for a site government) always increments the next_position_id by 1 (and also increases next_assignment_id by 1, which is always on creation of an entity with all variable positions and thus no positions existing on creation of the entity initialized to 0).

Regardless of whether a lord/lady has been upgraded to a baron/baroness other variable positions (both CUSTOM_OFFICIALS_i and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIALS_i, where i stands for a non-zero natural number) can be created in any order. These other positions are then always appointed by the lord (or baron) of the site. In case the position has been created before a lord has been upgraded to a baron the appointed_by and appointed_by_civ (in the position definition) refer to the position of the lord (and are not updated to point to the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 position, when it gets created). In case the positions are created after a lord has been elevated to a baron the appointed_by and appointed_by_civ (in the position definition) refer to the position of the baron.

NOTE (further research needed): It seems as if CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_I can only be created if the site (ruled by the site government) has a market (abstract_building_marketst). It is not clear whether an additional prerequisite for the upgrading to the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2 exists, ie. if the ruled site does need to have a keep (abstract_building_keepst). Furthermore so far it seems that only CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_I can be created for a site, if the civ has also (already) created the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_I position.

Note: The historical figure currently holding the position of a CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (or CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2) of a site government has (often/usually) under histfig_site_links an entry of the type histfig_site_link_seat_of_powerst (which points to the site belonging to the site government, ie. "site" has the id of the site and "entity" has the id of the entity as values).

The following table gives an overview of the non-ruler variable positions of a site government.

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;"
!Position!!Name!!Responsibilities!!Demands!!Mandates!!Precedence!!Number!!Color!!human!!goblin

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1
|?
|maintain sewers
|?
|?
|?
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_2
|grain/harvest official/administrator/caretaker/commissioner
|food supply
|1
|0
|450
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_3
|fire administrator/official/commissioner
|fire safety
|0
|0
|475
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_4
|judge/magistrate
|judge
|1
|0
|350
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_5
|building caretaker/administrator/official/commissioner
|construction permits, building safety
|1
|0
|460
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_6
|fire administrator/official/commissioner
|maintain roads, bridges and tunnels
|1
|0
|375
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1
|(high/head/chief) "keeper of the seal"/chancellor
|espionage
|3
|2
|20
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes?

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2
|(chief/head/high) justiciar
|collect taxes
|3
|2
|60
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3
|chief/high/head treasurer
|trade, accounting
|2
|1
|70
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4
|chief/high/head advisor/counselor
|advise leaders
|2
|1
|55
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes?

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5
|(chief/high/head) chamberlain
|oversee leader houshold
|1
|0
|80
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes?

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6
|master of beasts
|tame exotics, manage animals
|1
|0
|90
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes?

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7
|chief/head/high butler/cup-bearer
|manage leader houshold food and drinks
|0
|0
|300
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8
|chief/high/head doctor
|health management
|0
|0
|310
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9
|head/high/chief executioner
|executions
|0
|0
|320
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|yes?

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10
|chief/high/head chef
|prepare leader meals
|0
|0
|330
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|-
!CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11
|chief/head/high housekeeper
|manage leader houshold cleanliness
|0
|0
|340
|1
|(5,0,1)
|yes
|no

|}

In the above table the columns "human" and "goblin" donate, whether a site government of a human civilization or of a goblin civilization can have that position (or at least, if the position was encountered so far). Also the custom officials (CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 etc.), in contrast to market officials (CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_1 etc.), seem to only be generated, if a) the parent civ did generate the position and b) the official has a responsibility that the site-ruler does not have.

In addtion to the above table the "best_appointment_precedence" is 30001. Also the following flags are set (true) for all officials, regardless, of whether belonging to a human or goblin site government: duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, has_met_pop_req,
color, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions and has_met_market_req.

Additionally the position entry usually has the flag active set and the flag is_replaced is false, otherwise the position would no longer be active (and might have been replaced).

(Note: the following subsections might need moving into a wiki table).
So far the following CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_i and CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_i (for site governments) have been found (except for the position_id, appointed_by, appointed_by_civ and name entries the values for CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_i are usually the same for civ positions and site government positions):

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 (Chancellor/Keeper of the Seal) ===
The name is variable. Both Chancellor and Keeper of the Seal are used, with a possible additional word from the list "high", "head" and "chief" as prefix, ie. "high chancellor" or "chief keeper of the seal".
Only responsibility is espionage, the additional responsibilities of the Chancellor/Keeper of the Seal are lost (ie. still performed by the Lord/Baron of the site and not outsourced to the chancellor). The rest is as the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_1 of the civ.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2 (Justiciar) ===
The name is "justiciar", allthough an additional word as prefix has so far only been found on the civ level, it can be assumed that "high", "head" and "chief" are possible prefix words.
Difference to CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_2 on the civ level (except for the standard differences): Only responsibility: Collect taxes.
Meaning law enforcement is still performed by the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER (CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2) of the site government.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3 (treasurer) ===
The name is variable. Always the word "treasurer" is used, with "high", "chief" or "head" as prefix.
The other entries of the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_3 are fixed (except the position_id, appointed_by and appointed_by_civ entries - see above). The responsibilities are trade and accounting.
precedence: 70; number: 1; mandates (max): 1; demands (max): 2;
best_appointment_precedence: 30001 (disclaimer: needs verification, whether this is only the case for the specific world or a general hard-coded value).
standard custom official flags, which means: "duty_bound", "has_responsibilities", "do_not_cull", "has_met_pop_req", "color", "menial_work_exemption", "has_received_positions", "active" and "has_met_market_req" set to true.
standard color entry, which means 0: 5, 1: 0 and 2: 1 (number before the ":" is the index and the number after the ":" is the actual value).

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4 (advisor) ===
The name is variable. The second part of the name is either "counselor" or "advisor". The first part is one of "chief", "head" and "high".
The other entries of the CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_4 are fixed (except the position_id, appointed_by and appointed_by_civ entries - see above). The responsibilites is advise_leaders.
precedence: 55; number: 1; mandates (max): 1; demands (max): 2;
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_5 (Chamberlain) ===
The name is variable. Always the word "Chamberlain" is used, either without prefix or one of the words "chief", "head" and "high" as prefix.
Responsibility: Oversee_leader_household
precedence: 80; number: 1; demand (max): 1
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_6 (Master of beasts) ===
The name is fixed: "master of beasts" (no "beast tamer" or any other names as alternative).
The responsibilities are manage_animals and tame_exotics.
Again the entries, except position_id and appointed_by and appointed_by_civ entries, are fixed.
precedence: 90; number: 1; mandates (max): 0; demands (max): 1;
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_7 (Butler/Cup-bearer) ===
The name is variable. The second part of the name is either "butler" or "cup-bearer". The first part is any of "high", "head" and "chief".
Rest as the civ case.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_8 (Doctor) ===
The name is variable. Always the word "doctor" is used, with either no prefix or with one of "high", "head" and "chief".
Rest as the civ case.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_9 (Executioner) ===
The name is variable. Always the word "executioner" is used, with either "chief", "head" or "head" as prefix.
The other entries are fixed (except for the usual exceptions). The responsibilities are, unsurprisingly, executions.
precedence: 320; number: 1; no mandates or demands
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_10 (Chef) ===
The name is variable. Always the word "chef" is used, with either "chief", "head" or "head" as prefix.
Rest as the civ case.

=== CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_11 (Housekeeper) ===
The name is variable. Always the word "housekeeper" is used, with either "chief", "head" or "head" as prefix.
The other entries are fixed (except for the usual exceptions). Responsibility: Cleaning ("MANAGE_LEADER_HOUSEHOLD_CLEANLINESS").
precedence: 340; number: 1; no mandates or demands
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

=== CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_2 (Food Administrator) ===
The name is variable. The name seems to be generated by "grain" or "harvest" as first word and one of the words of "commissioner", "caretaker", "official" and "administrator" as second word, ie. harvest caretaker.
Responsibility: food_supply
precedence: 450; number: 1; demand (max): 1
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

=== CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_3 ((Unneeded) Fire Safety) ===
The name is variable. The first word of the name seems to be always "fire" and the second word seems to be one of
"administrator", "official" and "commissioner", allthough not found also "caretaker" might belong to the list (allthough fire caretaker might sound strange).
Responsibility: fire_safety
precedence: 475; number: 1; no mandates or demands
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

=== CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_4 (Judge) ===
The name is variable, allthough either judge or magistrate seems to be used as name.
precedence: 350, number: 1, standard_color_entry,
standard_official_flags,
responsibility: judge
demand (max): 1
best_appointment_precedence: 30001

=== CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_5 ((Unneeded) Building Commissioners) ===
The name is variable. First word of name is "building" and second word one of administrator, official, commissioner and caretaker.
Responsibilities: building_safety and construction_permits.
precedence: 460; number: 1; demand (max): 1
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

=== CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_6 (Road Caretaker) ===
The name is variable. First word of name is "road" and the second word one of "administrator", "commissioner", "caretaker" (and possible "official").
Responsibility: maintain_roads, maintain_bridges and surprisingly maintain_tunnels.
precedence: 375; number: 1; demand (max): 1
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
standard custom official flags and standard color entry.

== Religious Entities ==
Some religious entities, which are considered "child"-entities of civilizations (no religious entity which was not a "child" of a civ entity has been found so far), also have variable positions.
If a religious entity rules a site (always monastery?), then the only variable position (of that entity) seems to be the CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER and the name of the position seems to be always "abbot".
Otherwise the variable positions PRIEST, HIGH_PRIEST and HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created for that religious entity, where any such entity, if it has a position, will always have the PRIEST as position. Afterwards, the position HIGH_PRIEST can be created and at last - after the HIGH_PRIEST was created - the HIGHEST_PRIEST can be created. The names of these position are randomly created (more about the name generation is currently out-of-scope, ie. why a PRIEST might be called "sacred squid", "holy burial", "sacred rumor", "holy lemon" or "sacred paper" is out-of-scope at least for this wiki-article). No temple is needed in an associated site for a religious entity (not ruling from an monastery) to create a priest, high priest or highest priest position.

PRIEST:
elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, is_leader, is_diplomat, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, active, has_met_market_req
responsibility: religion
number: -1
precedence: 200, no mandates/demands
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
color entry is variable, ie. (0,0,1), (1,0,1) or (7,0,1), but color entry is the same for all positions of that religious entity.

HIGH_PRIEST:
is_law_maker, elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, is_diplomat, exported_in_legends, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, special_burial, has_met_market_req, active
responsibilities: law_making, receive_diplomats, make_topic_agreements, religion
number: -1
precedence: 50, mandates (max): 2, demands (max): 3
best_appointment_precedence: 30001
color entry is variable (see PRIEST)

HIGHEST_PRIEST:
is_law_maker, elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, is_diplomat, exported_in_legends, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, special_burial, has_met_market_req, active
responsibilities: law_making, receive_diplomats, make_topic_agreements, religion
number: 1
precedence: 1, mandates (max). 3, demand (max): 5
best_appointment_precedence: 30001

== Nomadic Entities (Bandits) ==
Nomadic entities are usually some kind of bandit groups. The only position they seem to be able to get is the CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, with such illustrous names as Boss, Captain, Chief, Chieftain, Commander, Leader, Master, Overlord, Ringleader or Warlord (and possibly even some more). The CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER always has a squad_size of 20 and a precedence of 55. Also no succession is defined. The flags, which are set to true are: is_law_maker, elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver and has_met_market_req (and usually also active). Responsibilities are law_making, law_enforcement, receive_diplomats, make_introductions, make_peace_agreements, make_topic_agreements, military_goals and military_strategy. Also the standard color entry is used. And the bandit leader has max mandates 1 and max demands 2. And as always the best_appointment_precedence is 30001. The squad members are always named soldiers (and not bandits).

Values for CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER are the same as for the entity of type 7 (outcast).

== Outcast (Bandits, entity type 7) ==
Possible positions are CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER, CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT, CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR. The name of the bandit leaders are the same (and possibly also the other variable values) as for the the bandit leader of nomadic groups. The CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT seems to be always called lieutenant and the custom_outcast_factor seems to be always called representative. (Allthough the sample size is kinda low).

CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER
is_law_maker, elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, active, quest_giver, has_met_market_req
squad_size: 20
precedence: 55
number: 1
responsibilities: law_making, law_giving, receive_diplomats, make_introductions, make_peace_agreements, make_topic_agreements,
military_goals, military_strategy
mandate_max: 1; demand_max: 2; default_color_entry
best_appointment_precedence: 30001

CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_req, active.
responsibilities: attack_enemies, patrol_territory
number -1
precedence: 160, mandate (max): 0, demand (max) 1, default_color_entry
appointed by CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER (same entity).
best_appointment_precedence 30001

CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, has_met_market_req, active.
responsibilities: trade, accounting
number: -1,
precedence: 70, mandate (max): 0, demand (max) 1, default_color_entry
appointed by CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER (same entity).
best_appointment_precedence 30001

== Guilds (Entity type 10) ==
The positions of guild entities are CUSTOM_GUILD_LEADER, CUSTOM_GUILD_ALDERPERSON, CUSTOM_GUILD_STEWARD, CUSTOM_GUILD_CLERK.
It seems that after (or with) the creation of a guild the above positions are always created.
Possible names for the clerk positions are Clerk, Bookkeeper and Recordkeeper.
Possible names for the steward position are steward and treasurer.
The guild leader is called doyen or dean. And the alderperson position is always called alderperson.

CUSTOM_GUILD_LEADER
is_law_maker, elected, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, has_met_market_req, active.
number: 1
precedence: 50, mandate (max): 1, demand (max): 2, default_color_entry
Responsibilities: law_making, law_enforcement, receive_diplomats, make_introductions, make_peace_agreements, make_topic_agreements, military_goals, military_strategy.
best_appointment_precedence 30001

CUSTOM_GUILD_ALDERPERSON
elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_req, active
number: 1
precedence: 150, mandate (max): 0, demand (max) 1, default_color_entry
responsibilities: meet_workers, manage_production
best_appointment_precedence 30001

CUSTOM_GUILD_STEWARD
elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_req, active
responsibilities: trade
number: 1
precedence: 160, mandate (max): 0, demand (max) 1, default_color_entry
best_appointment_precedence 30001

CUSTOM_GUILD_CLERK
elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, do_not_cull, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, has_received_positions, has_met_market_req, active
responsibilities: accounting
number: 1
precedence: 170, mandate (max): 0, demand (max) 1, default_color_entry
best_appointment_precedence 30001

== Mercenaries (Entity Type 6) ==
The only position of military entities (mercenary groups) seems to be the CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER, who can ie. be called Leader or General.

CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER
is_law_maker, elected, duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, has_met_pop_req, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, has_met_market_req, active.
precedence: 50, mandate (max): 1, demand (max): 2, default_color_entry
no succession defined
Responsibilities: law_making, law_enforcement, receive_diplomats, make_introductions, make_peace_agreements, make_topic_agreements, military_goals, military_strategy.
best_appointment_precedence 30001

== Merchants (Entity Type 9) ==
Positions found so far: CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER (called ie. head or master) and CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR (called ie. agent or factor).

CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER
is_law_maker, duty_bound, succession_by_heir, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, has_met_market_req, active.
precedence: 50, mandate (max): 1, demand (max): 2, default_color_entry
Responsibilities: law_making, law_enforcement, receive_diplomats, make_introductions, make_peace_agreements, make_topic_agreements, military_goals, military_strategy.
best_appointment_precedence 30001

CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR
duty_bound, has_responsibilities, flashes, brag_on_kill, chat_worthy, do_not_cull, kill_quest, is_leader, account_exempt, has_met_pop_req, rules_from_location, menial_work_exemption, punishment_exemption, has_received_positions, quest_giver, has_met_market_req, active.
precedence: 200, mandate (max): 0, demand (max): 1, default_color_entry
Responsibilities: trade, accounting
number: -1
appointed by CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER (same entity).
best_appointment_precedence 30001

== Other not mentioned entities ==
The other entities like performance troupes (entity type 8) and migrating groups (entity type 3) do not seem to have positions.
Instances of the entity type 2 (called VesselCrew according to dfhack) were so far not found.

== Sources to process ==
See spoiler-sections of those posts.
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=178697.msg8295235#msg8295235
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8084095#msg8084095
* https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175434.msg8083631#msg8083631 (first answer)

= Raw tokens =
The tokens that manage the creation of positions are [[Entity_token#SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS|SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS]] and [[Entity_token#VARIABLE_POSITIONS|VARIABLE_POSITIONS]].

SITE_VARIABLE_POSITIONS allows for the creation of lords, hearthpersons, and [[boss]]es, and [VARIABLE_POSITIONS] allows creation of Law-makers.

= Generated positions =
The following positions can be created. Note: these should be sorted among the different group types.
* CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER
* CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2
* CUSTOM_OUTCAST_LT
* CUSTOM_OUTCAST_FACTOR
* CUSTOM_COMPANY_LEADER
* CUSTOM_COMPANY_FACTOR
* CUSTOM_MERCENARY_LEADER
* CUSTOM_MERCENARY_TREASURER
* CUSTOM_BANDIT_LEADER
* CUSTOM_MARKET_OFFICIAL_#
* CUSTOM_OFFICIAL_#
* CUSTOM_MILITARY_STRATEGY
* CUSTOM_MILITARY_GOALS
* HIGHEST_PRIEST
* HIGH_PRIEST
* CUSTOM_GUILD_LEADER
* CUSTOM_GUILD_STEWARD
* CUSTOM_GUILD_CLERK
* CUSTOM_GUILD_ALDERPERSON
* WORSHIP_HF

The following names can be seen given to those positions. Note: these should be sorted among the different positions.
* lord
* hearthperson
* factor
* agent
* governor
* lieutenant
* representative
* head
* chieftain
* warlord
* ringleader
* cup-bearer
* butler
* master of beasts
* sewer
* housekeeper
* chef
* executioner
* chancellor
* chief
* chamberlain
* captain
* chief / chieftess
* constable
* royal
* advisor
* counselor
* justiciar
* keeper of the seal
* law-giver
* baron
* marshal
* war leader
* most high priest
* absolute X
* most exalted X
* most high X
* most holy X
* most sacred X
* treasurer
* recordkeeper
* clerk
* bookkeeper
* doyen / doyenne
* dean
* steward
* alderperson
* X administrator
* X official (like grain official)
* X officials
* X commissioner
* X commissioners
* X caretakers
* judge
* justices
* magistrate
* abbot

Advanced entity position mechanics

2026-02-10T11:18:43Z

Silverwing235:

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{Modding}}

= Introduction =

[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=182239.0 Discussion thread on the forum]

This page documents observed and tested behavior of entity positions in Dwarf Fortress that is not fully described elsewhere on the wiki. It focuses on advanced interactions between position tokens, including appointment, succession, election, and responsibility handling, across both civilization-level and site-level entities.

The mechanics described here are based on empirical testing in world generation and fortress mode, supplemented where necessary by raw analysis. In several cases, the game’s behavior is determined by evaluation order and interaction between multiple tags, rather than by individual tokens in isolation.

This page is intended for modders and advanced players who are designing or debugging custom entity position structures. It does not restate basic position mechanics, but instead highlights edge cases, non-obvious interactions, and behaviors that may appear inconsistent or undocumented.

Unless stated otherwise, the described behavior applies to current versions of the game and may differ from older releases.

==What is an entity? What is a position?==
An [[entity]] is an organizational structure that can have relationships with other entities, usually known as a [[civilization]] or a "[[site]] government" in the game, but merchant [[guild]]s, religious organizations, necromancer towers, and [[bandit]] groups are also entities. An entity can have positions - in most cases, these are hardcoded and generated by the game, but as for civilizations and sites, the [[raw file]]s can be customised.

A position is a special relationship between a unit and an entity. The unit holding a position has a larger influence over that entity than other citizens. Positions are mostly known as [[nobles]], but in this article. the technical term is used.

=Position levels (Site/Civ) and their interaction=
There are two basic types of positions that are customizable: '''civ(ilization)''' level and '''site level'''. Positions with the tag [SITE] are at site level, positions without the tag [SITE] are at 'civ level'. These two types of nobles can be considered '''loosely related systems'''. There are a few places where they can interact with each other.

Civ-level positions are in charge of the civilization as a whole, managing national [[trade]], laws, and [[war]]s. These are, for example, the vanilla [[monarch]], [[diplomat]] and [[general]]. (Note that the general doesn't do anything in either mode in the current version.)

'''[LAND_HOLDER]''' nobles are also positions at civ-level. These units are members of the national government, but have gained authority over some land or site. Once they do, they move to that place, but their position is still regarded as a civ-level position.

Site-level position holders are members of a site government (subsidiary to the civilization), and manage local affairs in that location. These are, for example, the [[mayor]], the [[sheriff]] and the [[broker]].

==Table of interaction between different position levels==
In this table, the possible interactions between different position levels are summarized.
The header row shows the positions defining the tokens.

The left column shows the position type that is referred to.
Example:
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#ddd"
! referred position-type
! LAND_HOLDER
|-
| civilization
| (baron is) APPOINTED_BY:MONARCH
|}
color coding: 
* Exists in vanilla
* Possible with mods
* Not possible
* possible to some extent.
* not yet fully investigated.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#ddd"
! referred position-type
! Civilization
! SITE
! LAND_HOLDER
! CONQUERED_SITE

|-
| Civilization
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION '''(1)'''
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION

|-
| SITE
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION '''(2)'''
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION
| APPOINTED_BY '''(3)''' COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION '''(4)'''
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION

|-
| LAND_HOLDER
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY '''(6)''' SUCCESSION
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION '''(5)'''
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY '''(7)''' SUCCESSION '''(8)'''
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION

|-
| CONQUERED_SITE
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION
|}

Remarks:
# Works only in world-gen, if a unit with that civ-position is present at the site.
# Works only in world-gen, the site-position holding unit will then move to the capital.
# Is completely ignored
# Works only in world-gen.
# Works only in world-gen.
# Won't appear at all
# This is necessary for the landholder chain to work properly, it doesn’t work otherwise.
# This works only outside of the landholder chain, so when landholders are simply regarded as civ-level nobles. might also work in world-gen
#

== Other interactions ==

Unfortunately, interactions with positions of other entities don't seem possible, such as APPOINTED_BY: HIGH_PRIEST. With [VARIABLE_POSITIONS], positions are automatically created with codes like CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2, but interaction with these positions don't seem to work, either. For more info on those, see [[Variable positions]]

=General=

==Civ-level nobles living at your site==
Nobles from your civilization can come to live at your fortress. This happens in vanilla with landholders such as [[Baron]], [[Count]] and [[Duke]], with the Monarch, but sometimes also with non-landed LAND_HOLDERS.

When a civ-level noble becomes a [[citizen]] at your location, their position is shown among the site-level positions in your [[nobles screen]]. They appear to function as a site-level noble. They may have [[demand]]s, [[mandate]]s, [[squad]]s and the like. They can appoint nobles at the site-level.

If they have certain [RESPONSIBILITY]ies, they do the tasks that go with them.

==Fortress mode, world-gen and their differences==
Their are a few differences in how positions function between fortress mode (normal play mode) and the world generation (world-gen).

In '''fortress mode''', the player has some control over the appointment of nobles, limited by elections, automatic filled-in positions and succession rules. Pre-fortress mode, which is referred to as '''world-gen''', the game will always attempt to assign nobles whenever possible. It is subjected to the same rules as in fortress-mode, but there are some exceptions. In '''[[World activities]]''', which is the thing that happens in the world while you play fortress mode, it seems as if the same rules are applied as fortress mode.

A difference between player-fortress-mode and world-gen, is causes by visibility (see below). Positions that are not visible by the player and thus not available for assignment, will be available in world-gen and will thus be automatically assigned.

In fortress mode, a position that is both [ELECTED] and [APPOINTED_BY], cannot be appointed by the player and is also not elected, and can thus not be filled. But in world-gen sites however, these positions are automatically filled.

Positions with [AS_NEEDED] are almost never created and filled in world-gen (depending on their [RESPONSIBILITY]ies), but can always be used in player mode.

A position can, in fortress mode, be filled by the same unit. A unit can gain multiple positions in fortress mode, for example because of [[elections]]. This will not happen in world-gen mode: a unit can only have one position. See also remarks on 'embark' and 'Losing a position'.

In world-gen, [SUCCESSION] between civ-levels and [SITE-]levels may happen. This will not happen in fortress mode, or even off-site in [[World activities]].

In fortress mode, premature SUCCESSION may happen. This will not happen in world-gen mode.

==Units holding multiple positions in multiple entities==
A unit can hold multiple positions in its civilisation or in its site-entity, however this does not happen in world-gen. Only at player-managed sites can units be holding multiple positions at once. (It is probably not possible for a unit to hold a position in two different civilisations or two different sites.)

In world-gen, if there are too many positions to be filled, they simply stay empty until more units are available. E.G, a unit at a site might inherit a civ-level position and still remain a member of the local government. When this happens however, they move to the capital. If a unit gains a new position, either inherited or otherwise, it drops the previous one. If a unit assumes a civ-position in fortress mode, it leaves the current position.

If a unit holds the same (site-)position multiple times, it has no additional effect.

If a unit holds multiple different positions of the same entity, it has all those positions' responsibilities and properties, stacked up. Presumably, the demands for those combined positions are determined by the highest.

A unit holding a position with a succession token can be assigned another position with a (different) succession token.

A unit holding a position with a squad-position cannot hold another squad-position. It is dropped from the first, when it gets its second assigned.
A unit holding a position with a succession token cannot be assigned to a squad-position - the unit is simply not available. It works the other way around, though.

=[PRECEDENCE]=
The first defined position with precedence of 1 counts as the ruler of the civ. See also: [[Position_token#PRECEDENCE|PRECEDENCE]].

If the precedence is omitted or has a negative value, the game sets 0 as precedence, which seems to have no effect whatsoever.

When a unit has multiple positions, the name of the position with the highest rank in precedence is shown behind the unit's name.

If you omit precedence entirely, or set it to [PRECEDENCE:NONE], the position name will not be shown after the unit’s name. Your *Urist Mason* will remain simply *Mason*. This can be useful for positions that are unimportant or purely functional. The position will also not appear in the civilisation overview of your site on the world map. The position name is shown in messages, but remains hidden on the nobles screen as well. To make it visible there, use [LAND_NAME].

=[RESPONSIBILITY]ies=
Both civ and [SITE] positions can carry responsibilities. However, not all responsibilities are active for both types: some function only for civ positions, others only for site positions. When a civ noble arrives at a site and takes up residence, they do not perform responsibilities that are intended for SITE nobles. As a result, these responsibilities neither trigger their associated tasks nor unlock related game mechanics. For example, a civ-level manager living in a fortress will not perform management duties there and doesn't unlock the management-screen, even with an assigned office.
This behavior applies to the following [SITE]-level responsibilities:
* [RESPONSIBILITY:ACCOUNTING]
* [RESPONSIBILITY:BUILD_MORALE]
* [RESPONSIBILITY:HEALTH_MANAGEMENT]
* [RESPONSIBILITY:LAW_ENFORCEMENT]
* [RESPONSIBILITY:MANAGE_PRODUCTION]
* [RESPONSIBILITY:MEET_WORKERS]
* [RESPONSIBILITY:TRADE] (functions differently)
Other responsibilities may be affected as well, but have not yet been fully tested.

==[DELIVERS_MESSAGES]==
The only [AS_NEEDED]-position that is created in worldgen based on responsibility is that of the site-level responsibility [DELIVERS_MESSAGES].

==Outpost Liaisons and Diplomats==
Civ-positions with the responsibility [ESTABLISH_COLONY_TRADE_AGREEMENTS] ([[Outpost_Liaison|Outpost Liaison]]s) will meet with the site-noble who has responsibility for [RECEIVE_DIPLOMATS] and the highest rank of precedence (i.e. the lowest precedence value). Usually this is the [[Expedition_leader|Expedition leader]].

Once a [LAND_HOLDER] is assigned to the site, civ-positions with the responsibility [MAKE_TOPIC_AGREEMENTS] ([[Diplomat]]s) will meet with '''civ'''-level nobles present at the site who have the [RECEIVE_DIPLOMATS] responsibility. If multiple eligible nobles are available, one is selected at random. If no eligible noble is present, the diplomat leaves angrily. If the landholder is no longer present at the site, diplomats will not arrive at all.

It appears that Outpost Liaisons and Diplomats are chosen for a diplomatic mission based on availability. When multiple candidates exist, the position defined last in the raws is most often selected.

==[TRADE]==
Civ-level nobles with [TRADE] will arrive with the caravan, just as the Outpost Liaison. Their behavior is no longer active in the vanilla game, but the mechanics are still present. See [[40d:Guild_representative|Guild representative]] for more details. This civ-noble will only meet with the SITE noble with [TRADE], usually the [[Broker]].

If two civ-nobles exist with both [TRADE] and [ESTABLISH_COLONY_TRADE_AGREEMENTS], they both arrive at the same time. Even if both tokens are assigned to a single position, if more than one instance of that position exists, two of them will arrive. However in that case, somehow the elevation of the site and appointment of landholder isn't offered.

If the SITE-noble they intend to meet has both [TRADE] and [RECEIVE_DIPLOMATS], only one meeting will proceed and the other is cancelled. However, when two SITE-nobles are available, each with either [TRADE] or [RECEIVE_DIPLOMATS], both meetings will proceed and both civ-nobles will attempt to negotiate a trade agreement. It is not known what happens if these agreements are accepted or refused.

In the trade depot, the last defined position with the [TRADE] responsibility is shown as broker. However when requesting a trader, the first defined position with [TRADE] will actually go there to do the trade.

==World-gen effects of the [RESPONSIBILITY] of available positions ==
It is possible to cause civs and individual sites to change their behavior substantially when they reach a certain size, by controlling nobles.
* If a site can only appoint a position with [MILITARY_GOALS] after reaching a particular size, that site will not send armies on missions until the required size is reached.
* A civ-level [LAW_MAKING] position is required for the civilization to have any kind of cohesion. Without it, sites will be constantly embroiled in territorial disputes and civil wars will be commonplace.
* [MILITARY_STRATEGY] positions go out and tame wild animals. This makes your civ gain those animals as domesticated and also brings them in sieges.
* The [[Personality_facet|Personality]] of the position's holder determines how they lead the civ.

=Availability and visibility=
==Availability of (new) positions==
Warning: Do not mistake "availability" for "visibility"!

Of all the possible positions existing in your site's entity, there may only be some available.
* Positions with [REQUIRES_POPULATION] require the population to have a specific size.
* Positions with [REQUIRES_MARKET] will only appear in "large" sites (which may have different rules for different site types). This tag has no effect in fort mode.
* Positions that are appointed by positions that have an AS_NEEDED number. The appointable positions only become available after an appointer position-slot is created. This works also on civ-level. If a position is appointed by a Land-holder, it only becomes available, when that level of landholder is created.

Only the replaced positions are culled and are no longer available.
A position that requires a certain population will become available, even if it doesn't have [APPOINTED_BY] or [ELECTED]. In that case, see 'automatic assignment' and 'assumption'

In fortress mode, in some cases 'succession' is evaluated immediately after a position becomes available. See: Succession.
==Visibility of positions==
A position might be available, but can still be invisible for the player in the [[nobles screen]]. The positions with their respective holders are visible for players:
* All site-positions that are already filled-in (even if they could not be re-filled-in considering current conditions)
* Site positions that are appointable by a filled-in site position
* Site positions that are appointable by a filled-in civ position, when that civ positions holder becomes a citizen of your fortress.
* Civ positions of units that are also a citizen of your fortress.
If a position becomes available, for example because a certain pop number has been reached, or if it is available from the start(like expedition leader), as long as it cannot be appointed, it still is INVISIBLE for the player.

It might strike someone as odd if a position becomes filled automatically in fortress mode when that position is not even visible. This might be the case if the current holder of a non-appointable position dies or succeeds another position. Regardless of player visibility, these positions will be automatically filled in if the necessary requisitions are met. It might happen with the expedition leader.

A situation with a non-visible but available position, is for example when a position is solely appointed by the expedition leader, when the expedition leader's position is left vacant. It can no longer be appointed by the player and is invisible. Then, it gets automatically assumed, proving that the position still was available.

A position that is both [APPOINTED_BY] and [ELECTED] is visible, but players cannot interact with it.

=[NUMBER]=
A position might be defined with a number. In that case, as many as defined can be available. If the positions become available, in world-gen and when embarking, they are all filled-in completely.

If the ruling position (with PRECEDENCE of 1) has a NUMBER higher than 1, a random unit of the ones holding these positions is shown as ruler in the embark screen.

A [NUMBER] of 0 (zero) has the same effect as 1.

==Automatic spreading of assumed, non-singular positions==
If there are civ positions that have a NUMBER higher then '1' and which are assumed (not APPOINTED_BY or ELECTED) but are '''not DUTY_BOUND''', these are automatically spread among the civilisation, based on population. If there are a number of '''20''' available slots of that position, they spread among a civilization with a combined population of, for example, 1000 of which your fortress has 100 (10%), '''2''' of your fortress' citizens will assume that position.
This may probably also work with elected and appointed positions, but that may be depending on the death of the current holders and this needs more testing. Assumption works within a day, anyway.

==[AS_NEEDED]==
These positions can be created automatically by the game in world-gen. This, however, only works with:
* [LAND_HOLDER]'s
* squad commanders (needs more testing)
* Messengers at sites

For all other types of positions, they're not created in world-gen, even if they are defined with RESPONSIBILITY's. For example, even in war, the game wouldn't create a MILITARY_GOALS position, if they have AS_NEEDED as number.

However, in fortress mode / player mode, these positions can be created by the player at will.

Positions with AS_NEEDED need to be created first, before any symbols are assignable as 'symbols' (objects) for the position holder to carry or wear.

Positions with AS_NEEDED cannot be created and then ELECTED in fortress mode. It only works with APPOINTED_BY.

=Replacement and Required Population=

The token REPLACED_BY:position means that once the replacing position reaches its required population-number, the 'to-be-replaced' position will disappear. This is defined in REQUIRES_POPULATION. These tags are closely related to each other and seem to only have a meaningful function if combined. Nobles with REQUIRES_POPULATION require the population to have a specific size.

This works on the civ-level as well as on site-level, but those systems are in this mechanic strictly separated. Site-level positions cannot be replaced by civ-level positions and visa versa. This makes sense, because they both depend on their own population-count. When using REQUIRES_POPULATION on civ-level, it counts the total population of the civilisation.

See also: [[Advanced_entity_position_mechanics#Evaluation_of_Positions|Evaluation of positions]]

==Effect of replacement (and on [LAND_HOLDER]s)==

Replacement is immediate and complete - the current holding unit loses the position, even before SUCCESSION_BY_POSITION rules are applied. A position with a number of 1 will replace all the slots of a position with a higher number of slots.

Even if the next position is available but not visible, replacement still takes place. If a position is replaced, it is completely gone - it cannot be appointed, succeeded, elected or assumed any longer.
The unit immediately loses its position.

In legends, replacement is mentioned as: "(unit name) ceased to be (position name)" The replacement of an AS_NEEDED position empties the position's slot forever. In fortress mode, it may seem as if you can create new slots and appoint new units in the nobles screen, but this is reversed as soon as you close the window.

The landholder chain uses [REPLACED_BY] differently. It does not clear the position completely, but uses it for succession to the next level's position. [REPLACE_BY] is required to let that system work properly. This also means that the way in which landholders succeed (replace + as_needed) does not work in any other way.

Replacement between LAND_HOLDERS and other site- or civ positions does not work in any way. Only the vanilla replacement sequence between levels of LAND_HOLDERs does work. If the token is omitted for landholders, the landholder chain is broken, so replacement is required for the landholder system to work.

[REQUIRES_POPULATION] also does not work for [LAND_HOLDER], when you set [NUMBER] to 1. The position is not created when the required population is reached.

==What doesn't work==

'''Attention: If a position cannot be appointed, for example because of 'mutual appointment', it still exists according to replacement mechanics and will replace other positions if so defined. If a certain position(a) will be replaced by the baron's assistant, which can only be appointed by the [LAND_HOLDER] baron, than that position(s) still will be replaced from the start of the game, even if no baron or their assistant is ever present.'''

A position that is replaced by a somehow non-fillable position is still replaced. This counts for mutual-appointing positions, replacement by not-yet-assigned landholders, replacement by AS_NEEDED positions, or replacement by not-yet-appointed positions.

Replacement does not work if the replaced position is a [LAND_HOLDER], even with civ-positions. In that case, the LAND_HOLDER's position is not replaced. It does not matter if AS_NEEDED is used, or a fixed number, and it also does not matter what type of position the replacer is. So this only works (correctly) with positions that become available by REQUIRES_POPULATION.

={{text anchor|Evaluation of Positions}}=
The game does not continuously check whether positions should become available, elected or be [REPLACE_BY]. This is well-known behavior—for example with the [[mayor]], who does not appear automatically when the required population ([REQUIRES_POPULATION]) is reached. Instead, positions must somehow be evaluated. This applies in several other situations as well

'''Cases that require a trigger:'''
* Election of a newly created position
* Election after the current holder dies
* Automatic assumption of a newly created position (this may take up to a day)
* New citizens (such as migrants) considering available positions
* Premature succession of a newly created position

'''Cases that do not wait for a trigger:'''
* Succession following the death of the previous holder
* Automatic assumption of existing positions that have become vacant

'''Triggers that cause the game to reevaluate noble positions:'''
* Succession of a [SITE]-position due to the death of the current holder
* [[Advanced_entity_position_mechanics#Election_Day|Election Day]]
* Automatic assumption of a [SITE]-position that becomes vacant
* (Re)assigning any site position manually
* Settlement elevation on the LAND_HOLDER track (e.g. gaining a [[Baron]] or [[Count]])

=Gaining a position=
There are several ways a unit can gain a position:
* Appointment: A unit is appointed by another unit or by the player.
* Election: A unit is elected by and among the members of the entity
* Assumption: A position is neither elected or appointed: a random unit just simply 'takes' the position
* Succession: a unit is the valid successor of this position(A), either by its current position(B) or because they are that position(A)-holder's heir.

Available positions will automatically be assigned to a random civ member when a new site/civ is created.

==Who can take a position==

* If so defined, a unit needs to be the right caste and/or class - it does not seem to work with creature types.
* The unit needs to be an adult member of the site or its parent civ's government; that is also CAN_LEARN or INTELLIGENT (SLOW_LEARNER cannot take positions) or otherwise is able to think.

==Appointment==

Positions that have an [APPOINTED_BY:position] token require that position to exist, to be available and appointed. Any position that is APPOINTED_BY can be appointed if the appointer's position is filled in.
For site-positions to be appointed, it is required that the appointer is present at that location.

If the appointing unit is temporarily not present, or if that position is not filled, positions depending on it cannot be appointed. This is the case with [[militia captains]], when the [[militia commander]] is on a [[mission]].

A site position cannot appoint a civ position ''or'' LAND_HOLDER in any way whatsoever.

Civ-level positions can appoint other civ-level positions and site-level positions can appoint other site-level positions.

Contrary to what has been said elsewhere, civ-level nobles also can appoint site-level nobles. They need to be at the site to do so. Landholders can appoint both site-level and civ-level nobles. These systems are therefore not as separate as was assumed.

'''Mutual appointment''' cannot take place. If these are the only requisites of the position, then the positions will never appear or get filled. These unfillable positions can be put to good use, for example, to replace a position that is no longer needed without creating a new one.

'''Self appointment''' doesn't normally work. If you have a position that is only appointed by itself, it is never appointed and also cannot be assumed. However, if the position has a number higher than 1, and is filled by multiple units (for example by another position that is now empty), than those units can re-assign or appoint each other from that their shared position.

If an APPOINTED_BY token refers to a non-existing position's code, the effects are as if the appointment token doesn't exist at all.

===Automatic appointment in world-gen and on the civ level===

Outside of fortress mode, the game will always attempt to appoint nobles whenever possible, as long as these positions are '''available''', even if they are invisible to the player.
It shows this message in legends: "(unit name) has been appointed to the position of (position name)"

In world-gen, all positions become available and are automatically appointed, taking population- and appointment-requirements into consideration.

Positions that are REPLACED_BY are culled and won't be filled.

If a citizen of your fortress holds a civ-level position that can appoint another civ-level position, the appointment will happen automatically and without player intervention. It may happen that another citizen of your fortress is appointed by that unit, creating civ-level position holders in your fortress, but it is unknown what is required to force this effect.

===Manual appointments by players in fortress mode===
In fortress mode, the positions that need to be appointed stay empty on embark. and it is the player's job to appoint those. A player can appoint a unit to any available position, according to the hereabove mentioned conditions. The player takes the role of the automatic appointment-system, but has no direct control over elections, successions and replacement. There are some differences in what is possible at world-gen sites and at player-controlled sites.

* A position that is appointed by a unit present as a fortress citizen, can be appointed, re-appointed or left vacant. This means also by civ-level nobles living as a citizen in your fortress; not when they are only visiting, like the diplomat.
* A position whose appointing positions are all either vacant or [REPLACED_BY] can no longer be appointed. If the position is already filled, it cannot be reappointed or vacated; the current holder simply remains in office.
* A position that is APPOINTED_BY a unit present as the land_holder of your site, can be appointed, reassigned or left vacant.
* A position that has SUCCESSION BY_HEIR or BY_POSITION can 'initially' be appointed and also re-appointed or left vacant, but as soon as the [[nobles]] screen closes, ''it can no longer be replaced or left vacant''. From then on, the succession-rules determine who gains that position when the current holder loses the position. This works even if the SUCCESSION:BY_POSITION-position is vacant or replaced.
* A position that is ELECTED nor APPOINTED_BY, can always be (re-)appointed by the player. This is the case with the [[Expedition leader]]. If it is left vacant however, it cannot be appointed, but will be assumed shortly after.
* A position that is both ELECTED and APPOINTED_BY, cannot be appointed by the player. Contrary to world-gen sites, its slot is visible, but it doesn't show the +-sign. This is either by AS_NEEDED or by a fixed number. Even if the position somehow gets filled (re)assignment is never possible
* A player can appoint a number of units to a position, as much as the NUMBER token dictates. If it is AS_NEEDED, the player may create as many slots as they like, also contrary to world-gen sites.
* A civ-position can never be appointed, even if the appointing civ noble is a citizen of your fortress. A civ position also never can be re-assigned or left vacant, would that position be defined as appointed by a site-position.

==Election==
Read more in [[Elections]]. The message that is shown is: "(creature name) has been elected to the position of (position name)"

In worldgen, there is no functional difference between ELECTED and non-appointment, except that elected nobles tend to have high social skills and/or skills related to the position, while non-elected ones are assigned randomly. See: [[Elections]]

A succession goes before an election.

A position that is both ELECTED and APPOINTED_BY never gets elected. Even if the appointees' position somehow gets filled, (re)-elections won't happen. So, it doesn't seem possible to have an elected position become available when a certain other position becomes filled.

An ELECTED civ-(or LAND_HOLDER) position at your site will never be (re)-elected in fortress mode. So real (re-)election only works with SITE-positions.

=== {{text anchor|Election Day}} ===
Election Day takes place on the 17th of Summer. On this day, a full reevaluation is performed, including all currently elected positions, which are subject to re-election. Contrary to the information on [[Elections]], nothing occurs at the start of a season.

Positions that are both [APPOINTED_BY] and [ELECTED] will not be re-elected on Election Day when assigned through [SUCCESSION].

=== Election Eligiblity ===
Any citizen may stand for election. Eligibility cannot be restricted using [ACCEPTED_CREATURE], [REJECTED_CREATURE], [ACCEPTED_CLASS], [REJECTED_CLASS], or [GENDER]. Units currently having a [SUCCESSION]-position even may be elected for a position with a [SQUAD]-token, which is otherwise impossible to assign or even succeed.

=== Skills ===
In elections, skills are taken into account for the tokens of the position which is elected.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Relevant skills per position token
|-
! Position Token !! Relevant skills
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#DELIVER_MESSAGES|[DELIVER_MESSAGES]]] || [[Ambusher]], [[Observer]] and [[Social_skill|Social skills]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#ACCOUNTING|[ACCOUNTING]]] || [[Record_keeper|Record keeper]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#ESPIONAGE|[ESPIONAGE]]] || [[Schemer]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#HEALTH_MANAGEMENT|[HEALTH_MANAGEMENT]]] || [[Diagnostician|Diagnostician]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#MAKE_INTRODUCTIONS|[MAKE_INTRODUCTIONS]]] || [[Social_skill|Social skills]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#MAKE_PEACE_AGREEMENTS|[MAKE_PEACE_AGREEMENTS]]] || [[Social_skill|Social skills]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#MAKE_TOPIC_AGREEMENTS|[MAKE_TOPIC_AGREEMENTS]]] || [[Social_skill|Social skills]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#MANAGE_PRODUCTION|[MANAGE_PRODUCTION]]] || [[Organizer]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#MEET_WORKERS|[MEET_WORKERS]]] || [[Social_skill|Social skills]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#RECEIVE_DIPLOMATS|[RECEIVE_DIPLOMATS]]] || [[Social_skill|Social skills]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#RELIGION|[RELIGION]]] || [[Social_skill|Social skills]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#TAME_EXOTICS|[TAME_EXOTICS]]] || [[Animal_trainer|Animal trainer]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#TRADE|[TRADE]]] || [[Social_skill|Social skills]] and [[Appraiser|Appraiser]]
|-
| [[Position_token#SQUAD|[SQUAD]]]-token || [[Tactician]] and [[Leader]]
|}

==Assumption==

A position that is not APPOINTED_BY nor ELECTED, or is appointed by positions that are not available in your site or civ, will be assumable by a random dwarf. If it has responsibilities that require certain skills, then these are taken into consideration on embark, but not when the position is assumed during the actual game.

Normally, one to three units will take the into consideration to assume a position. Most of the time when there are multiple open positions, only a single unit will assume all of them. However, a position that has REJECTED_CREATURE, REJECTED_CLASS, ALLOWED_CREATURE or ALLOWED_CLASS will be filled with all different units, even if the creature or class mentioned is irrelevant. It seems that this forces the game to loop over all the available units.

The message that is shown in Legends mode is: "(unit name) has assumed the position of (position name)". This may also take place in fortress mode, which then shows this message to the player.

If an assumable position becomes empty, it will be assumed within a day. This is the case when you leave the position of expedition-leader vacant. It also happens with entities.

Assumable positions that become empty will not be assumed if that position has a valid [SUCCESSION] -successor. In that case, the successor inherits the position.

Even positions that are somehow invisible because they cannot be directly APPOINTED_BY players, can be assumed.

When you embark, the assumable positions are automatically assigned to a random unit. If there are multiple of these positions at embark, they all are assigned to the same unit. If there are enough positions available, multiple units may gain a position, but often no more than three different ones.

If a dwarf in fortress mode assumes a position, that already has another position, it will leave the current position empty. When that position also is assumed, then this will continue until all positions have a dwarf appointed to them, with no other position.

A unit that already has a position with a [SUCCESSION] token won't take assumable positions into consideration that have a [SQUAD] token. This can be used by the modder to prevent unwanted loss of current positions.

A position that has an appointer which got replaced because of REPLACED_BY, will not become assumable. Also, positions that have an AS_NEEDED appointer that is not yet filled (or ever), will also not be assumed.

==Succession==

If a position-holder dies or advances to a new position via succession, the position will be granted to another unit based on the [SUCCESSION] tag. If they have an heir or the succeeding position exists, that unit will be assigned. If not, a new one will be appointed according to the usual rules. The message that is shown is: "(creature name) being the rightful heir, has inherited the position of (position name)"

The succeeding creature will also lose its previous position. When succession is defined using BY_POSITION, the unit naturally loses the referenced position. However, it also loses any other positions it may hold. If a unit could simultaneously inherit multiple positions, the last-defined succession overrides the earlier one, clearing the previously acquired position

Succession works both at site-level and at civ-level, both in world-gen and in fortress-mode. Succession by position on the civ-level is also visible and functional in fortress-mode. If both civ-level nobles are a citizen of your fortress, succession is applied visually. Vanilla example: The [[druid]] is succeeded by the [[acolyte]]. This means that as soon as the druid dies, the acolyte takes over.

When a position that is succeeded by position becomes available, immediately it is checked if a position-successor is available and the position is filled with that unit. Even if this is an [ELECTED] position, succession goes first. When elections eventually do happen, succession plays no role.

It is possible to assign multiple levels of [SUCCESSION:BY_POSITION] in different positions, creating a line of positions where the death of one causes all those "below" them to advance.

A position can have multiple tokens with position-succession. It looks to be random which one is used. It is not always:
* The first or last defined token
* The first or last appointed unit
* the oldest or youngest
* one with a higher or lower precedence
* a unit with relevant skills

When a position is defined with a Succession-type, that unit cannot have another position that has a Squad-type. If the succession-position itself has a squad, than it can be assigned another position with a squad, but then it will loose the previous succesion position. See further details by "Squad"

Assumed positions can also be succeeded by position, if the current holder dies.

If the successor is an AS_NEEDED position, the used unit will leave a vacant position-slot on its removal by succession. This empty slot remains a real slot, which will only be cleaned up if you (un)appoint a unit to this position-series. It isn't cleaned up after regular position validation.

A civ-level position of a unit living at your site might be inherited by a unit holding that does not currently live at your site. This, unfortunately, moves that position to a unit off site. This may also happen with the landholder of your site, for example when it is succeeded by another civ-level position. This currently poses an unsolved challenge.

===Eligibility for succession===
Succession is restricted by the tokens [ACCEPTED_CREATURE], [REJECTED_CREATURE], [ACCEPTED_CLASS], [REJECTED_CLASS] and [GENDER].

===Site and civ combined succession===

Succession can work when combining site positions with civ-level positions or land_holders, but only in world-gen mode. In fortress mode, it only works with combining the same level of nobles, with Landholders regarded as civ-level. So, in fortress mode, a site's position cannot succeed a landholder's position and it cannot succeed another type of civ-level position, and vice versa.

This won't work even if the positions:
* are AS_NEEDED or having a fixed number.
* Are LAND_HOLDERs.

===Succession [BY_HEIR]===

When a heir is needed for succession, all children and then other relatives are validated. They cannot take the position if their status does not allow it, for example if they have become a member of another civilisation. See: "Who can take a position". If the unit has no valid heir on that location, the position may go to a unit living on another site. This may cause the title of Landholder of some land to be inherited by a unit living somewhere else. That might be a problem, because then you lose your landholders.

===Premature Succession===

There are cases where [SUCCESSION:BY_POSITION] is applied prematurely: at the moment a position is first created and becomes appointable or assumable, rather than after a current holder leaves. In this situation, the succession mechanism assigns a holder immediately, without any player interaction.

When a position becomes available for the first time, the game checks whether a valid successor-by-position exists. If so, that unit is assigned instantly. It can affect positions that would normally be appointed or elected by the player, causing succession to trigger before the player has any opportunity to intervene.

This behavior occurs only in Fortress mode, but can be applied both on [SITE]-positions as well in civ-positions. That last one however is a bit harder to control. Example: [[Advanced entity position mechanics#The Archduke|The Archduke]]

This premature succession only occurs the first time a position becomes available (i.e. when it is created and becomes appointable or assumable). Even if the position remains vacant and the conditions for succession improve later, premature succession will not trigger again. From that point onward, only normal succession rules apply.

Using premature succession, a position that has [ELECTED], [APPOINTED_BY], or both, can be filled directly.
Notably, positions that combine [ELECTED] and [APPOINTED_BY] are normally impossible to fill through regular mechanics. Premature succession bypasses both election and appointment entirely, making this combination uniquely reachable through this mechanism.

No initial election takes place, and no subsequent elections will ever occur for that position. Succession always takes precedence over election, both in premature succession and in normal succession cases.

This behavior applies only in Fortress mode, not during world generation. World-gen uses simplified and more efficient mechanics, and this interaction does not occur there. Premature succession can affect both site-level and civilization-level positions.

====Multiple succession chains====

Multiple succession chains may be defined and are resolved in the order they appear in the raws.

If a position has both:
* a direct succession chain (A → C), and
* a multi-step chain (A → B → C),

and intermediate positions are vacant, resolution proceeds according to raw order. A common outcome is:
# The direct succession (A → C) is applied first, assigning A to C.
# The remaining chain then advances (A → B).
# If C still has empty slots, the final step (B → C) may occur.

If position B is already filled, behavior depends entirely on raw definition order:
* nothing may happen, or
* B may move to C first, followed by A moving to B.
====Working triggers====
Premature succession is triggered when a succeedable position is created under the following conditions:
* The succeedable position is created because its [REQUIRES_POPULATION] threshold is reached. This applies even if the position is not [APPOINTED_BY]. Premature succession takes priority over automatic assumption (e.g. the mayor declaring themselves within a day).
* The succeedable position can be [APPOINTED_BY] another position of the same level (site or civ) that has just been created because its [REQUIRES_POPULATION] was reached.
* The succeedable position can be appointed by another [SITE] [AS_NEEDED] position that has just been created and filled.
* The succeedable (site or civ) position is [APPOINTED_BY] the [LAND_HOLDER] position, which has just been created due to site elevation. This typically resolves when the diplomat leaves the map, at which point the landholder position becomes active.
* If all other requirements are met, premature succession can occur immediately after unpausing following embark, for positions with [REQUIRES_POPULATION:7].
====Non-working triggers====
Premature succession does '''not''' occur in the following cases:
* An [AS_NEEDED] succeedable position slot is manually created by the player while its succeeding position is already filled. [AS_NEEDED] positions must always be appointed after creation.
* The succeeding position is filled after the succeedable position becomes available. The moment of creation is the decisive trigger; filling the source position later is too late.
* The succeedable position can be appointed by another site or civ position with a fixed number of slots that has just been appointed. In this case, the succeedable position is just available for appointment itself, nothing more
* Any situation occurring during world generation.
* The succeeding position is [REPLACED_BY] the succeedable position. In this case, replacement removes the unit from the source position first, leaving no holder available for the succession mechanism to use.rst, leaving no holder available for the succession mechanism to use.
* The position is [APPOINTED_BY] a civ-level position, that just became a citizen of your fortress. It must be noted that those civ-level positions were active all that time and the succeedable position could be appointed even before. The monarchs arrival does not trigger premature succession

=Losing a position=

A unit can lose a position when:
* It dies
* It succeeds another position, even if it has nothing to do with the previous position.
* It is assigned to another SQUAD-holding position
* It is convicted of a crime.
* Another unit is ELECTED for the position
* Its position becomes replaced
* Another unit is appointed by the player, or the position is left vacant.
* It has assumed another position, as this always leaves the previous position vacant.

=Embarkment=
Two types of positions are automatically filled by embark.
* Positions without [APPOINTED_BY] or [ELECTED] (assumable). All these positions, even with a NUMBER higher than 1, are all filled with one to three dwarves. Contrary to assumption, this doesn't take into account any limitations. REJECTED_CLASS, ALLOWED_CLASS, REJECTED_CREATURE, ALLOWED_CREATURE and GENDER are applied, but without the normal spread you may expect with assumptions. Also it doesn't look at [SUCCESSION] and [SQUAD] limitations.
* Positions that are elected are filled-in by the normal election rules.

Positions that have a defined appointer are never initially filled at embark.

All positions that don't have [REQUIRES_POPULATION] or with a [REQUIRES_POPULATION] of 7 or lower, will be available at embark.

=Land Holders=

A Landholder is a '''special civ-level noble''' who gets a certain piece of land to hold, when that land is elevated to a certain level, determined by the tag [LAND_HOLDER] and by the landholder triggers in the game's settings. In vanilla, these are the baron, the count and the duke.

A unit gaining the landholder position does not migrate to that specific named land. In world-gen, they stay just where they are, probably at the capital. In fortress mode, you can suggest a citizen for the role. So for the time being that works.

Succession is then a real issue. If you use BY_HEIR, its solved when that landholder has children living at your site. But when its not the case, the title just goes to anyone randomly. Succession BY_POSITION works, but only in the civ-chain, and there's no way to guarantee a civ-holder is at your site at that time. Even with 'automatic spread' positions, it goes to one of them randomly.

==Functioning of the regular landholder chain==

The distinct difference between a landholder and a regular civ-level noble, is that a landholder may gain the position of landholder "of (sitename)" They are then seen as ruler of a particular site.

For a land_holder position to function as such, it has a few requirements:
* NUMBER:AS_NEEDED
* The first landholder-number of 1 is defined.
* No SITE (so civ) tag in that position.
*REPLACED_BY the next level landholder
If a landholder is defined with differentiating properties, it will function like a regular noble. A higher-up landholder that lacks the required tokens or connections will then not be used in elevation.

If a fortress meets the trigger for a new LAND_HOLDER tier when a caravan leaves, then the next time the outpost liaison or equivalent arrives, they will offer to make you an official colony, which will allow you to select all positions for that LAND_HOLDER level. Each time they appear, the outpost liaison will only promote your fortress one tier up the LAND_HOLDER track.

The landholder's LAND_NAME is not required for the functioning of this system. If omitted, messages will be shown with a more generic text.

==Appointment==

This mechanism differs from the regular methods of position management. It ignores all regular appointment- and election rules, so it more or less functions like automatic assignment. A landholder is, in vanilla, appointed by the monarch. Changing this doesn't seem to do anything. If they are appointed by a site-position, a not-yet-existing civ-position, or not appointed at all: the system keeps working as usual.

A landholder can appoint civ-positions and site positions. This works as expected: the positions only are appointed then when that landholder becomes available on civ-level or when he arrives at that site for site-level positions.

If your rank of landholder is the first of its rank in the realm, and is the sole appointer of some civ-position, then immediately as it gains the title, it will appoint the empty civ-slots. This may happen on your site, but the frequency and certainty is hard to determine.

==Succession==

Succession rules are applied to some extent:
* In world-gen it works according to succession rules, and site-positions can be used here. This means that a site position or a civ-position can inherit a landholder position, and vice versa.
* In fortress mode, once a landholder has been appointed, it then can inherit civ-level positions, and vice versa. This means that your baron can become king.
* Succession rules do not apply within the [LAND_HOLDER] chain; a count will not inherit a baron's land. This is because succession does not work well with the AS_NEEDED token.
* Premature succession works in fortress mode with landholders. If a unit gets a landholder's position and that landholder is the appointer of an as yet empty position, which is defined as succeeding from a third one, then the succession is immediately applied. The landholder themselves can even be the successor of a newly created position.
* A landholder's position is, in fortress mode, not successionable by a site-position or vice versa

===Impossibilities for succession by a site-position===
It would be very beneficial if the landholder can be succeeded by a [SITE]-position. So far, the following tests have not lead to positive results:
* making landholder and site-position both non-[DUTY_BOUND]
* make the site-position be [APPOINTED_BY] the landholder and/or the monarch
* give landholder and site-position [REJECTED_CREATURE]
* Let the monarch live at your site when succession could happen.
* Let the site-position be [REPLACED_BY] the landholder.

==Nomination==

The player is able to nominate a unit to become the LAND_HOLDER, but this only works with units of [LAND_HOLDER] level 1. The player can select all units, only limited by the PRECEDENCE of the current units' positions.

A unit that has a position with a PRECEDENCE lower or equal to that of the landholder's position, cannot be selected. This means that a baron (or count) from another site or the monarch cannot be selected, because their precedence is lower or equal.

The GENDER token does not work here: also units with the wrong gender (sorry) can be selected.

==Levels==
In mods, up to 10 levels of LAND_HOLDER may be defined.

If a landholder is replaced by a wrong landholder number (1 replaced by 3), then the number 3 is still correctly attached to the settlement.

If the current landholder has the highest available landholder number, then the next elevation will not happen - the diplomat will not elevate your fortress to a higher position, even if that position might be REPLACED_BY a lower landholder.

These chains do work:
* 1 -> 2a - > 2b -> 3
* 1 -> 3 -> 2 -> 4

These chains do not work:
* 2 -> 3 (need to start at 1)
* 1 -> 4 -> 2 -> 3 (stops after 4 as the highest)
* 1a -> 2, 1b -> 2 (only 1a and 2 work, 1b is not used)

==Moving landholders==

It may happen that a land-holder no longer lives at the site which they are the landholder of, specifically when the current landholder dies, leaving the title to an heir living somewhere else.

To prevent this from happening, you can make their succession from heir and make sure that their kids live at your site. Or, you can make their position succeeded by another civ position, and make it so that this civ position is somehow available on your site. But if multiple of these positions exist, it cannot be guaranteed that a citizen of your fortress will inherit the title.

In world gen, a landholder lacking the DUTY_BOUND-token will also move to the site they like, according to legends mode.

==Replacement by a generic civ-position==

If a landholder is replaced by an AS_NEEDED non-landholder civ-position, then this will work: the current landholder loses that title upon settlement-elevation and gains that civ-title. However, the civ-title lacks the landholder-property of being attached to the land. It will not show the name of the settlement alongside the position's name. So no "minister of Shovelmounts"

If a landholder is replaced by a general AS_NEEDED civ-position, that itself is also replaced by a generic AS_NEEDED civ-position, then firstly the elevation is executed and also the unit gains that new position. However, he immediately loses it, because an AS_NEEDED position that is replaced by another position can be filled initially, but units wont be able to hold that title.

==Landholder with fixed number==

A landholder's position that has a fixed number will be created and filled directly when the civilisation is born, so this position slot is then not available for the regular landholder-mechanic and will also not be used. That landholder will thus not be attached to a settlement.

It doesn't matter if the landholder's position is connected to the regular landholder's-chain with the REPLACE_BY token.

==Responsibilities==

When given a certain [RESPONSIBILITY], a landholder may function as a regular civ-level noble. If the position has [TRADE] or [OUTPOST_NEGOTIATING] responsibilities, then the landholder functions both as a diplomat and as an actual land holder. A landholder with the [MILITARY_STRATEGY] responsibility will travel around taming creatures in world-gen, according to legends mode.

Besides that, the responsibilities work the same as with any other on-site living position-holder, civ or otherwise.

=Military=
==Squad management==
In the vanilla game, the Squad interface only becomes available after a militia commander has been appointed. Until then, the window displays:{{DFtext|You must appoint somebody first to create a squad.}}

What’s surprising is how this is determined internally. In the entity raw definition, '''only the last two positions that include a [SQUAD] token are checked''' to decide whether the interface is accessible at all. As a result, if your hierarchy defines commanders A through E, appointing '''Commander D or E''' unlocks squad formation, while appointing A–C does nothing.

In other words, squad availability is not tied to ''having a militia commander'', but to ''which specific positions happen to be last in the raw list''—a notably hacky implementation.

These 'last two' are always the last two '''available positions.''' So if they get [REPLACED_BY] or become available because of [REQUIRES_POPULATION], the game adapts to those.

==Squad assignment==

Squads can be assigned, even if the leader position has no holder.

A specific unit can only have one position associated with a squad. If it gains another 'squad holding position', it is unassigned from the first one. This does not work with a 0-squad, so only 1+squads are taken into consideration. This technique can possibly be used to distribute all positions equally among all citizens. It does however not work with election and assumption.

If a civ-level position is associated with a squad and it gets a site-level squad-holding position assigned, it loses the current civ-position.

Squads can get really messed up, if you make the position (or multiple) either elected or not-elected and not-appointed, then this can cause the game to assign multiple squads to the same unit. Automatic assignment and election does not take squads into account, but the nobles screen does. This can cause the positions to be cleared as the game figures out that they have more than one position, and immediately get elected or assumed again.

Positions that cannot have a squad-position:
* A site- or civ-position with a [SUCCESSION] token cannot be appointed a squad-holding-position. The other way around, however, does work. For example, if a site-position with a [SUCCESSION]-token is appointed to a unit that has already a position with [SQUAD]. But when that squad position is assigned to another unit, it cannot be assigned back.
* A position with [SUCCESSION] can also not be assigned as a '''member''' of a squad.
* A squad-holding position with a formed squad cannot be appointed to another squad holding position.

If a position has at least one squad member, it cannot be left vacant. First, the squad has to be disbanded, then the position may be cleared.

==0-squads==
A 0-Squad is defined in a position as [SQUAD:0:member:members]. It does not seem to do anything useful as of now.
* It cannot be used to activate the [[Squad|military interface]]
* It does not restrict the assignment of [SUCCESSION] positions.
* Assigning this position does not clear any previously held squad position.
* The [[Leader]] and [[Tactician]] skill are not marked as relevant skills and are not taken into account in elections.
* It cannot be formed as a squad.

=Further testing=
The following questions may need additional testing. Feel free to add or answer
* Everything regarding COMMANDING and army-structure
** [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175437.msg8331668#msg8331668]
** [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=165213.msg8335682#msg8335682]
** [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=174584.msg8026854#msg8026854]
* Everything regarding CONQUERED_SITE, but it is presumably just like site. But what if you combine SITE or LAND_HOLDER with it?
* Stuff about the monarch, its arrival and its entourage.

=Oddities (Bugs)=
Almost everything on this page could be called an oddity. Because of their unexpected usability, some may also be referred to as “undocumented features.” Others, however, are simply odd and not particularly useful, yet I hesitate to call them “bugs.”
* If a certain threshold is reached that makes an elected position electable, and the triggering event that initiates this evaluation is an assumption, then the resulting assumption is also referred to in the messages as an election

=Examples=

===The Founder===
The founder is a single dwarf, appointed at embark. They will be the only one ever to have this position and are not replaceable. When they lose their position some way, the position will not be assumed by another dwarf.
{{gamedata|title=The Founder|
[POSITION:THE_FOUNDER]
[NAME:the founder:founders]
[NUMBER:1]
[SITE]
[ALLOWED_CREATURE:DWARF:ALL] - will only be filled at embark, but not assumable later.
[REJECTED_CREATURE:DWARF:ALL] - will only be filled at embark, but not assumable later.
[SUCCESSION:BY_POSITION:THE_FOUNDER] - not unassignable, also cannot be assigned to a [SQUAD] position.
[PRECEDENCE:200]
Non APPOINTED_BY
Non ELECTED
Optional: Add responsibilities to make the game select a unit with certain skills.
}}
===Marriage bar===
Dwarven matrons are held in great honour. Upon marriage, a female dwarf is no longer expected to perform menial labour. All dwarven males hold this position by default, granting their spouses exemption from menial work.

The position becomes available with the arrival of the first migrants; otherwise, on embark, it would be assumed by females. Its succession rule is non-functional, but this prevents the player from unassigning the position. A squad size of 1 and the succession rules together prevent a unit from assuming the position more than once.

With precedence set to NONE, the position name is hidden, while LAND_NAME remains visible on the nobles screen. All married females receive the suffix “, Mrs.” and are marked as Nobles.

The practical usefulness of this position is debatable, but it serves as a clear demonstration of several mechanics.
{{gamedata|title=Mrs. Urist|

[POSITION:MRS_URIST]
[NUMBER:300]
[SITE]
[ALLOWED_CREATURE:DWARF:MALE]
Not APPOINTED_BY
Not ELECTED
[LAND_NAME:Dwarven male]
[NAME:dwarven male:dwarven male]
[PRECEDENCE:NONE]
[SPOUSE_FEMALE:, Mrs.:spouses]
[MENIAL_WORK_EXEMPTION_SPOUSE]
[REQUIRES_POPULATION:8]
[SUCCESSION:BY_POSITION:MONARCH]
[SQUAD:1:member:members]
}}
===The Archduke===
The archduke is the leader of the civilization, but exists only from landholder 4-level. Until then, its position remains vacant. When a settlement is elevated to tier 4 (grand duke), the grand duke can appoint the ruler of the civilisation, the archduke. Because of 'Premature Succession', they themself inherit that position immediately, but only when in fortress mode. Its heir then becomes grand duke.
{{gamedata|title=The Archduke| no POSITION:MONARCH or other PRECEDENCE:1

[POSITION:THE_ARCHDUKE]
[NAME:archduke:archdukes]
[NAME_MALE:archduke:archdukes]
[NAME_FEMALE:archduchess:archduchesses]
[LAND_NAME:a archduchy]
[NUMBER:1]
[PRECEDENCE:1]
[SUCCESSION:BY_POSITION:GRAND_DUKE]
[APPOINTED_BY:GRAND_DUKE]
(add additional monarch-stuff, like spouse name, demands etc.)

[POSITION:GRAND_DUKE]
[NAME:grand duke:grand dukes]
[NAME_MALE:grand duke:grand dukes]
[NAME_FEMALE:grand duchess:grand duchesses]
[NUMBER:AS_NEEDED]
[LAND_HOLDER:4]
// Optional ...
[PRECEDENCE:19]
[LAND_NAME:a archduchy]
[RESPONSIBILITY:LAW_MAKING]
[RESPONSIBILITY:RECEIVE_DIPLOMATS]
[SUCCESSION:BY_HEIR]
[APPOINTED_BY:THE_ARCHDUKE]
(add additional landholder-stuff)

!!add to [POSITION:DUKE]
[REPLACED_BY:GRAND_DUKE]

}}
{{Category|Modding}}
{{Category|Entities}}
{{Category|Guides}}

Variable positions

2026-02-09T20:41:43Z

Silverwing235: /* Religious Entities */

Variable positions

2026-02-09T20:41:21Z

Silverwing235: /* Religious Entities */

Variable positions

2026-02-09T20:39:18Z

Silverwing235: /* General Info */

Advanced entity position mechanics

2026-02-09T10:36:36Z

Silverwing235: more consolidation

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{Modding}}

= Introduction =

[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=182239.0 Discussion thread on the forum]

This page documents observed and tested behavior of entity positions in Dwarf Fortress that is not fully described elsewhere on the wiki. It focuses on advanced interactions between position tokens, including appointment, succession, election, and responsibility handling, across both civilization-level and site-level entities.

The mechanics described here are based on empirical testing in world generation and fortress mode, supplemented where necessary by raw analysis. In several cases, the game’s behavior is determined by evaluation order and interaction between multiple tags, rather than by individual tokens in isolation.

This page is intended for modders and advanced players who are designing or debugging custom entity position structures. It does not restate basic position mechanics, but instead highlights edge cases, non-obvious interactions, and behaviors that may appear inconsistent or undocumented.

Unless stated otherwise, the described behavior applies to current versions of the game and may differ from older releases.

==What is an entity? What is a position?==
An [[entity]] is an organizational structure that can have relationships with other entities, usually known as a [[civilization]] or a "[[site]] government" in the game, but merchant [[guild]]s, religious organizations, necromancer towers, and [[bandit]] groups are also entities. An entity can have positions - in most cases, these are hardcoded and generated by the game, but as for civilizations and sites, the [[raw file]]s can be customised.

A position is a special relationship between a unit and an entity. The unit holding a position has a larger influence over that entity than other citizens. Positions are mostly known as [[nobles]], but in this article. the technical term is used.

=Position levels (Site/Civ) and their interaction=
There are two basic types of positions that are customizable: '''civ(ilization)''' level and '''site level'''. Positions with the tag [SITE] are at site level, positions without the tag [SITE] are at 'civ level'. These two types of nobles can be considered '''loosely related systems'''. There are a few places where they can interact with each other.

Civ-level positions are in charge of the civilization as a whole, managing national [[trade]], laws, and [[war]]s. These are, for example, the vanilla [[monarch]], [[diplomat]] and [[general]]. (Note that the general doesn't do anything in either mode in the current version.)

'''[LAND_HOLDER]''' nobles are also positions at civ-level. These units are members of the national government, but have gained authority over some land or site. Once they do, they move to that place, but their position is still regarded as a civ-level position.

Site-level position holders are members of a site government (subsidiary to the civilization), and manage local affairs in that location. These are, for example, the [[mayor]], the [[sheriff]] and the [[broker]].

==Table of interaction between different position levels==
In this table, the possible interactions between different position levels are summarized.
The header row shows the positions defining the tokens.

The left column shows the position type that is referred to.
Example:
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#ddd"
! referred position-type
! LAND_HOLDER
|-
| civilization
| (baron is) APPOINTED_BY:MONARCH
|}
color coding: 
* Exists in vanilla
* Possible with mods
* Not possible
* possible to some extent.
* not yet fully investigated.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#ddd"
! referred position-type
! Civilization
! SITE
! LAND_HOLDER
! CONQUERED_SITE

|-
| Civilization
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION '''(1)'''
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION

|-
| SITE
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION '''(2)'''
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION
| APPOINTED_BY '''(3)''' COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION '''(4)'''
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION

|-
| LAND_HOLDER
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY '''(6)''' SUCCESSION
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION '''(5)'''
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY '''(7)''' SUCCESSION '''(8)'''
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION

|-
| CONQUERED_SITE
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION
| APPOINTED_BY COMMANDER REPLACED_BY SUCCESSION
|}

Remarks:
# Works only in world-gen, if a unit with that civ-position is present at the site.
# Works only in world-gen, the site-position holding unit will then move to the capital.
# Is completely ignored
# Works only in world-gen.
# Works only in world-gen.
# Won't appear at all
# This is necessary for the landholder chain to work properly, it doesn’t work otherwise.
# This works only outside of the landholder chain, so when landholders are simply regarded as civ-level nobles. might also work in world-gen
#

== Other interactions ==

Unfortunately, interactions with positions of other entities don't seem possible, such as APPOINTED_BY: HIGH_PRIEST. With [VARIABLE_POSITIONS], positions are automatically created with codes like CUSTOM_LAW_MAKER_2, but interaction with these positions don't seem to work, either. For more info on those, see [[Variable positions]]

=General=

==Civ-level nobles living at your site==
Nobles from your civilization can come to live at your fortress. This happens in vanilla with landholders such as [[Baron]], [[Count]] and [[Duke]], with the Monarch, but sometimes also with non-landed LAND_HOLDERS.

When a civ-level noble becomes a [[citizen]] at your location, their position is shown among the site-level positions in your [[nobles screen]]. They appear to function as a site-level noble. They may have [[demand]]s, [[mandate]]s, [[squad]]s and the like. They can appoint nobles at the site-level.

If they have certain [RESPONSIBILITY]ies, they do the tasks that go with them.

==Fortress mode, world-gen and their differences==
Their are a few differences in how positions function between fortress mode (normal play mode) and the world generation (world-gen).

In '''fortress mode''', the player has some control over the appointment of nobles, limited by elections, automatic filled-in positions and succession rules. Pre-fortress mode, which is referred to as '''world-gen''', the game will always attempt to assign nobles whenever possible. It is subjected to the same rules as in fortress-mode, but there are some exceptions. In '''World Automation''', which is the thing that happens in the world while you play fortress mode, it seems as if the same rules are applied as fortress mode.

A difference between player-fortress-mode and world-gen, is causes by visibility (see below). Positions that are not visible by the player and thus not available for assignment, will be available in world-gen and will thus be automatically assigned.

In fortress mode, a position that is both [ELECTED] and [APPOINTED_BY], cannot be appointed by the player and is also not elected, and can thus not be filled. But in world-gen sites however, these positions are automatically filled.

Positions with [AS_NEEDED] are almost never created and filled in world-gen (depending on their [RESPONSIBILITY]ies), but can always be used in player mode.

A position can, in fortress mode, be filled by the same unit. A unit can gain multiple positions in fortress mode, for example because of [[elections]]. This will not happen in world-gen mode: a unit can only have one position. See also remarks on 'embark' and 'Losing a position'.

In world-gen, [SUCCESSION] between civ-levels and [SITE-]levels may happen. This will not happen in fortress mode, or even off-site in World Automation.

In fortress mode, premature SUCCESSION may happen. This will not happen in world-gen mode.

==Units holding multiple positions in multiple entities==
A unit can hold multiple positions in its civilisation or in its site-entity, however this does not happen in world-gen. Only at player-managed sites can units be holding multiple positions at once. (It is probably not possible for a unit to hold a position in two different civilisations or two different sites.)

In world-gen, if there are too many positions to be filled, they simply stay empty until more units are available. E.G, a unit at a site might inherit a civ-level position and still remain a member of the local government. When this happens however, they move to the capital. If a unit gains a new position, either inherited or otherwise, it drops the previous one. If a unit assumes a civ-position in fortress mode, it leaves the current position.

If a unit holds the same (site-)position multiple times, it has no additional effect.

If a unit holds multiple different positions of the same entity, it has all those positions' responsibilities and properties, stacked up. Presumably, the demands for those combined positions are determined by the highest.

A unit holding a position with a succession token can be assigned another position with a (different) succession token.

A unit holding a position with a squad-position cannot hold another squad-position. It is dropped from the first, when it gets its second assigned.
A unit holding a position with a succession token cannot be assigned to a squad-position - the unit is simply not available. It works the other way around, though.

=[PRECEDENCE]=
The first defined position with precedence of 1 counts as the ruler of the civ. See also: [[Position_token#PRECEDENCE|PRECEDENCE]].

If the precedence is omitted or has a negative value, the game sets 0 as precedence, which seems to have no effect whatsoever.

When a unit has multiple positions, the name of the position with the highest rank in precedence is shown behind the unit's name.

If you omit precedence entirely, or set it to [PRECEDENCE:NONE], the position name will not be shown after the unit’s name. Your *Urist Mason* will remain simply *Mason*. This can be useful for positions that are unimportant or purely functional. The position will also not appear in the civilisation overview of your site on the world map. The position name is shown in messages, but remains hidden on the nobles screen as well. To make it visible there, use [LAND_NAME].

=[RESPONSIBILITY]ies=
Both civ and [SITE] positions can carry responsibilities. However, not all responsibilities are active for both types: some function only for civ positions, others only for site positions. When a civ noble arrives at a site and takes up residence, they do not perform responsibilities that are intended for SITE nobles. As a result, these responsibilities neither trigger their associated tasks nor unlock related game mechanics. For example, a civ-level manager living in a fortress will not perform management duties there and doesn't unlock the management-screen, even with an assigned office.
This behavior applies to the following [SITE]-level responsibilities:
* [RESPONSIBILITY:ACCOUNTING]
* [RESPONSIBILITY:BUILD_MORALE]
* [RESPONSIBILITY:HEALTH_MANAGEMENT]
* [RESPONSIBILITY:LAW_ENFORCEMENT]
* [RESPONSIBILITY:MANAGE_PRODUCTION]
* [RESPONSIBILITY:MEET_WORKERS]
* [RESPONSIBILITY:TRADE] (functions differently)
Other responsibilities may be affected as well, but have not yet been fully tested.

==[DELIVERS_MESSAGES]==
The only [AS_NEEDED]-position that is created in worldgen based on responsibility is that of the site-level responsibility [DELIVERS_MESSAGES].

==Outpost Liaisons and Diplomats==
Civ-positions with the responsibility [ESTABLISH_COLONY_TRADE_AGREEMENTS] ([[Outpost_Liaison|Outpost Liaison]]s) will meet with the site-noble who has responsibility for [RECEIVE_DIPLOMATS] and the highest rank of precedence (i.e. the lowest precedence value). Usually this is the [[Expedition_leader|Expedition leader]].

Once a [LAND_HOLDER] is assigned to the site, civ-positions with the responsibility [MAKE_TOPIC_AGREEMENTS] ([[Diplomat]]s) will meet with '''civ'''-level nobles present at the site who have the [RECEIVE_DIPLOMATS] responsibility. If multiple eligible nobles are available, one is selected at random. If no eligible noble is present, the diplomat leaves angrily. If the landholder is no longer present at the site, diplomats will not arrive at all.

It appears that Outpost Liaisons and Diplomats are chosen for a diplomatic mission based on availability. When multiple candidates exist, the position defined last in the raws is most often selected.

==[TRADE]==
Civ-level nobles with [TRADE] will arrive with the caravan, just as the Outpost Liaison. Their behavior is no longer active in the vanilla game, but the mechanics are still present. See [[40d:Guild_representative|Guild representative]] for more details. This civ-noble will only meet with the SITE noble with [TRADE], usually the [[Broker]].

If two civ-nobles exist with both [TRADE] and [ESTABLISH_COLONY_TRADE_AGREEMENTS], they both arrive at the same time. Even if both tokens are assigned to a single position, if more than one instance of that position exists, two of them will arrive. However in that case, somehow the elevation of the site and appointment of landholder isn't offered.

If the SITE-noble they intend to meet has both [TRADE] and [RECEIVE_DIPLOMATS], only one meeting will proceed and the other is cancelled. However, when two SITE-nobles are available, each with either [TRADE] or [RECEIVE_DIPLOMATS], both meetings will proceed and both civ-nobles will attempt to negotiate a trade agreement. It is not known what happens if these agreements are accepted or refused.

In the trade depot, the last defined position with the [TRADE] responsibility is shown as broker. However when requesting a trader, the first defined position with [TRADE] will actually go there to do the trade.

==World-gen effects of the [RESPONSIBILITY] of available positions ==
It is possible to cause civs and individual sites to change their behavior substantially when they reach a certain size, by controlling nobles.
* If a site can only appoint a position with [MILITARY_GOALS] after reaching a particular size, that site will not send armies on missions until the required size is reached.
* A civ-level [LAW_MAKING] position is required for the civilization to have any kind of cohesion. Without it, sites will be constantly embroiled in territorial disputes and civil wars will be commonplace.
* [MILITARY_STRATEGY] positions go out and tame wild animals. This makes your civ gain those animals as domesticated and also brings them in sieges.
* The [[Personality_facet|Personality]] of the position's holder determines how they lead the civ.

=Availability and visibility=
==Availability of (new) positions==
Warning: Do not mistake "availability" for "visibility"!

Of all the possible positions existing in your site's entity, there may only be some available.
* Positions with [REQUIRES_POPULATION] require the population to have a specific size.
* Positions with [REQUIRES_MARKET] will only appear in "large" sites (which may have different rules for different site types). This tag has no effect in fort mode.
* Positions that are appointed by positions that have an AS_NEEDED number. The appointable positions only become available after an appointer position-slot is created. This works also on civ-level. If a position is appointed by a Land-holder, it only becomes available, when that level of landholder is created.

Only the replaced positions are culled and are no longer available.
A position that requires a certain population will become available, even if it doesn't have [APPOINTED_BY] or [ELECTED]. In that case, see 'automatic assignment' and 'assumption'

In fortress mode, in some cases 'succession' is evaluated immediately after a position becomes available. See: Succession.
==Visibility of positions==
A position might be available, but can still be invisible for the player in the [[nobles screen]]. The positions with their respective holders are visible for players:
* All site-positions that are already filled-in (even if they could not be re-filled-in considering current conditions)
* Site positions that are appointable by a filled-in site position
* Site positions that are appointable by a filled-in civ position, when that civ positions holder becomes a citizen of your fortress.
* Civ positions of units that are also a citizen of your fortress.
If a position becomes available, for example because a certain pop number has been reached, or if it is available from the start(like expedition leader), as long as it cannot be appointed, it still is INVISIBLE for the player.

It might strike someone as odd if a position becomes filled automatically in fortress mode when that position is not even visible. This might be the case if the current holder of a non-appointable position dies or succeeds another position. Regardless of player visibility, these positions will be automatically filled in if the necessary requisitions are met. It might happen with the expedition leader.

A situation with a non-visible but available position, is for example when a position is solely appointed by the expedition leader, when the expedition leader's position is left vacant. It can no longer be appointed by the player and is invisible. Then, it gets automatically assumed, proving that the position still was available.

A position that is both [APPOINTED_BY] and [ELECTED] is visible, but players cannot interact with it.

=[NUMBER]=
A position might be defined with a number. In that case, as many as defined can be available. If the positions become available, in world-gen and when embarking, they are all filled-in completely.

If the ruling position (with PRECEDENCE of 1) has a NUMBER higher than 1, a random unit of the ones holding these positions is shown as ruler in the embark screen.

A [NUMBER] of 0 (zero) has the same effect as 1.

==Automatic spreading of assumed, non-singular positions==
If there are civ positions that have a NUMBER higher then '1' and which are assumed (not APPOINTED_BY or ELECTED) but are '''not DUTY_BOUND''', these are automatically spread among the civilisation, based on population. If there are a number of '''20''' available slots of that position, they spread among a civilization with a combined population of, for example, 1000 of which your fortress has 100 (10%), '''2''' of your fortress' citizens will assume that position.
This may probably also work with elected and appointed positions, but that may be depending on the death of the current holders and this needs more testing. Assumption works within a day, anyway.

==[AS_NEEDED]==
These positions can be created automatically by the game in world-gen. This, however, only works with:
* [LAND_HOLDER]'s
* squad commanders (needs more testing)
* Messengers at sites

For all other types of positions, they're not created in world-gen, even if they are defined with RESPONSIBILITY's. For example, even in war, the game wouldn't create a MILITARY_GOALS position, if they have AS_NEEDED as number.

However, in fortress mode / player mode, these positions can be created by the player at will.

Positions with AS_NEEDED need to be created first, before any symbols are assignable as 'symbols' (objects) for the position holder to carry or wear.

Positions with AS_NEEDED cannot be created and then ELECTED in fortress mode. It only works with APPOINTED_BY.

=Replacement and Required Population=

The token REPLACED_BY:position means that once the replacing position reaches its required population-number, the 'to-be-replaced' position will disappear. This is defined in REQUIRES_POPULATION. These tags are closely related to each other and seem to only have a meaningful function if combined. Nobles with REQUIRES_POPULATION require the population to have a specific size.

This works on the civ-level as well as on site-level, but those systems are in this mechanic strictly separated. Site-level positions cannot be replaced by civ-level positions and visa versa. This makes sense, because they both depend on their own population-count. When using REQUIRES_POPULATION on civ-level, it counts the total population of the civilisation.

See also: [[Advanced_entity_position_mechanics#Evaluation_of_Positions|Evaluation of positions]]

==Effect of replacement (and on [LAND_HOLDER]s)==

Replacement is immediate and complete - the current holding unit loses the position, even before SUCCESSION_BY_POSITION rules are applied. A position with a number of 1 will replace all the slots of a position with a higher number of slots.

Even if the next position is available but not visible, replacement still takes place. If a position is replaced, it is completely gone - it cannot be appointed, succeeded, elected or assumed any longer.
The unit immediately loses its position.

In legends, replacement is mentioned as: "(unit name) ceased to be (position name)" The replacement of an AS_NEEDED position empties the position's slot forever. In fortress mode, it may seem as if you can create new slots and appoint new units in the nobles screen, but this is reversed as soon as you close the window.

The landholder chain uses [REPLACED_BY] differently. It does not clear the position completely, but uses it for succession to the next level's position. [REPLACE_BY] is required to let that system work properly. This also means that the way in which landholders succeed (replace + as_needed) does not work in any other way.

Replacement between LAND_HOLDERS and other site- or civ positions does not work in any way. Only the vanilla replacement sequence between levels of LAND_HOLDERs does work. If the token is omitted for landholders, the landholder chain is broken, so replacement is required for the landholder system to work.

[REQUIRES_POPULATION] also does not work for [LAND_HOLDER], when you set [NUMBER] to 1. The position is not created when the required population is reached.

==What doesn't work==

'''Attention: If a position cannot be appointed, for example because of 'mutual appointment', it still exists according to replacement mechanics and will replace other positions if so defined. If a certain position(a) will be replaced by the baron's assistant, which can only be appointed by the [LAND_HOLDER] baron, than that position(s) still will be replaced from the start of the game, even if no baron or their assistant is ever present.'''

A position that is replaced by a somehow not-fillable position, is still replaced. This counts for mutual-appointing positions, replacement by not-yet-assigned landholders, replacement by AS_NEEDED positions, or replacement by not-yet-appointed positions.

Replacement does not work if the replaced position is a [LAND_HOLDER], even with civ-positions. In that case, the LAND_HOLDER's position is not replaced. It does not matter if AS_NEEDED is used, or a fixed number, and it also does not matter what type of position the replacer is. So this only works (correctly) with positions that become available by REQUIRES_POPULATION.

={{text anchor|Evaluation of Positions}}=
The game does not continuously check whether positions should become available, elected or be [REPLACE_BY]. This is well-known behavior—for example with the [[mayor]], who does not appear automatically when the required population ([REQUIRES_POPULATION]) is reached. Instead, positions must somehow be evaluated. This applies in several other situations as well

'''Cases that require a trigger:'''
* Election of a newly created position
* Election after the current holder dies
* Automatic assumption of a newly created position (this may take up to a day)
* New citizens (such as migrants) considering available positions
* Premature succession of a newly created position

'''Cases that do not wait for a trigger:'''
* Succession following the death of the previous holder
* Automatic assumption of existing positions that have become vacant

'''Triggers that cause the game to reevaluate noble positions:'''
* Succession of a [SITE]-position due to the death of the current holder
* [[Advanced_entity_position_mechanics#Election_Day|Election Day]]
* Automatic assumption of a [SITE]-position that becomes vacant
* (Re)assigning any site position manually
* Settlement elevation on the LAND_HOLDER track (e.g. gaining a [[Baron]] or [[Count]])

=Gaining a position=
There are several ways a unit can gain a position:
* Appointment: A unit is appointed by another unit or by the player.
* Election: A unit is elected by and among the members of the entity
* Assumption: A position is neither elected or appointed: a random unit just simply 'takes' the position
* Succession: a unit is the valid successor of this position(A), either by its current position(B) or because they are that position(A)-holder's heir.

Available positions will automatically be assigned to a random civ member when a new site/civ is created.

==Who can take a position==

* If so defined, a unit needs to be the right caste and/or class - it does not seem to work with creature types.
* The unit needs to be an adult member of the site or its parent civ-government; that is also CAN_LEARN or INTELLIGENT (SLOW_LEARNER cannot take positions) or otherwise is able to think.

==Appointment==

Positions that have an [APPOINTED_BY:position] token require that position to exist, to be available and appointed. Any position that is APPOINTED_BY can be appointed if the appointer's position is filled in.
For site-positions to be appointed, it is required that the appointer is present at that location.

If the appointing unit is temporarily not present, or if that position is not filled, positions depending on it cannot be appointed. This is the case with [[militia captains]], when the [[militia commander]] is on a [[mission]].

A site position cannot appoint a civ position ''or'' LAND_HOLDER in any way whatsoever.

Civ-level positions can appoint other civ-level positions and site-level positions can appoint other site-level positions.

Contrary to what has been said elsewhere, civ-level nobles also can appoint site-level nobles. They need to be at the site to do so. Landholders can appoint both site-level and civ-level nobles. These systems are therefore not as separate as was assumed.

'''Mutual appointment''' cannot take place. If these are the only requisites of the position, then the positions will never appear or get filled. These unfillable positions can be put to good use, for example, to replace a position that is no longer needed without creating a new one.

'''Self appointment''' doesn't normally work. If you have a position that is only appointed by itself, it is never appointed and also cannot be assumed. However, if the position has a number higher than 1, and is filled by multiple units (for example by another position that is now empty), than those units can re-assign or appoint each other from that their shared position.

If an APPOINTED_BY token refers to a non-existing position's code, the effects are as if the appointment token doesn't exist at all.

===Automatic appointment in world-gen and on the civ level===

Outside of fortress mode, the game will always attempt to appoint nobles whenever possible, as long as these positions are '''available''', even if they are invisible to the player.
It shows this message in legends: "(unit name) has been appointed to the position of (position name)"

In world-gen, all positions become available and are automatically appointed, taking population- and appointment-requirements into consideration.

Positions that are REPLACED_BY are culled and won't be filled.

If a citizen of your fortress holds a civ-level position that can appoint another civ-level position, the appointment will happen automatically and without player intervention. It may happen that another citizen of your fortress is appointed by that unit, creating civ-level position holders in your fortress, but it is unknown what is required to force this effect.

===Manual appointments by players in fortress mode===
In fortress mode, the positions that need to be appointed stay empty on embark. and it is the player's job to appoint those. A player can appoint a unit to any available position, according to the hereabove mentioned conditions. The player takes the role of the automatic appointment-system, but has no direct control over elections, successions and replacement. There are some differences in what is possible at world-gen sites and at player-controlled sites.

* A position that is appointed by a unit present as a fortress citizen, can be appointed, re-appointed or left vacant. This means also by civ-level nobles living as a citizen in your fortress; not when they are only visiting, like the diplomat.
* A position whose appointing positions are all either vacant or [REPLACED_BY] can no longer be appointed. If the position is already filled, it cannot be reappointed or vacated; the current holder simply remains in office.
* A position that is APPOINTED_BY a unit present as the land_holder of your site, can be appointed, reassigned or left vacant.
* A position that has SUCCESSION BY_HEIR or BY_POSITION can 'initially' be appointed and also re-appointed or left vacant, but as soon as the [[nobles]] screen closes, ''it can no longer be replaced or left vacant''. From then on, the succession-rules determine who gains that position when the current holder loses the position. This works even if the SUCCESSION:BY_POSITION-position is vacant or replaced.
* A position that is ELECTED nor APPOINTED_BY, can always be (re-)appointed by the player. This is the case with the [[Expedition leader]]. If it is left vacant however, it cannot be appointed, but will be assumed shortly after.
* A position that is both ELECTED and APPOINTED_BY, cannot be appointed by the player. Contrary to world-gen sites, its slot is visible, but it doesn't show the +-sign. This is either by AS_NEEDED or by a fixed number. Even if the position somehow gets filled (re)assignment is never possible
* A player can appoint a number of units to a position, as much as the NUMBER token dictates. If it is AS_NEEDED, the player may create as many slots as they like, also contrary to world-gen sites.
* A civ-position can never be appointed, even if the appointing civ noble is a citizen of your fortress. A civ position also never can be re-assigned or left vacant, would that position be defined as appointed by a site-position.

==Election==
Read more in [[Elections]]. The message that is shown is: "(creature name) has been elected to the position of (position name)"

In worldgen, there is no functional difference between ELECTED and non-appointment, except that elected nobles tend to have high social skills and/or skills related to the position, while non-elected ones are assigned randomly. See: [[Elections]]

A succession goes before an election.

A position that is both ELECTED and APPOINTED_BY never gets elected. Even if the appointees' position somehow gets filled, (re)-elections won't happen. So, it doesn't seem possible to have an elected position become available when a certain other position becomes filled.

An ELECTED civ-(or LAND_HOLDER) position at your site will never be (re)-elected in fortress mode. So real (re-)election only works with SITE-positions.

=== {{text anchor|Election Day}} ===
Election Day takes place on the 17th of Summer. On this day, a full reevaluation is performed, including all currently elected positions, which are subject to re-election. Contrary to the information on [[Elections]], nothing occurs at the start of a season.

Positions that are both [APPOINTED_BY] and [ELECTED] will not be re-elected on Election Day when assigned through [SUCCESSION].

=== Election Eligiblity ===
Any citizen may stand for election. Eligibility cannot be restricted using [ACCEPTED_CREATURE], [REJECTED_CREATURE], [ACCEPTED_CLASS], [REJECTED_CLASS], or [GENDER]. Units currently having a [SUCCESSION]-position even may be elected for a position with a [SQUAD]-token, which is otherwise impossible to assign or even succeed.

=== Skills ===
In elections, skills are taken into account for the tokens of the position which is elected.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Relevant skills per position token
|-
! Position Token !! Relevant skills
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#DELIVER_MESSAGES|[DELIVER_MESSAGES]]] || [[Ambusher]], [[Observer]] and [[Social_skill|Social skills]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#ACCOUNTING|[ACCOUNTING]]] || [[Record_keeper|Record keeper]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#ESPIONAGE|[ESPIONAGE]]] || [[Schemer]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#HEALTH_MANAGEMENT|[HEALTH_MANAGEMENT]]] || [[Diagnostician|Diagnostician]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#MAKE_INTRODUCTIONS|[MAKE_INTRODUCTIONS]]] || [[Social_skill|Social skills]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#MAKE_PEACE_AGREEMENTS|[MAKE_PEACE_AGREEMENTS]]] || [[Social_skill|Social skills]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#MAKE_TOPIC_AGREEMENTS|[MAKE_TOPIC_AGREEMENTS]]] || [[Social_skill|Social skills]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#MANAGE_PRODUCTION|[MANAGE_PRODUCTION]]] || [[Organizer]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#MEET_WORKERS|[MEET_WORKERS]]] || [[Social_skill|Social skills]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#RECEIVE_DIPLOMATS|[RECEIVE_DIPLOMATS]]] || [[Social_skill|Social skills]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#RELIGION|[RELIGION]]] || [[Social_skill|Social skills]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#TAME_EXOTICS|[TAME_EXOTICS]]] || [[Animal_trainer|Animal trainer]]
|-
| Responsibility [[Position_token#TRADE|[TRADE]]] || [[Social_skill|Social skills]] and [[Appraiser|Appraiser]]
|-
| [[Position_token#SQUAD|[SQUAD]]]-token || [[Tactician]] and [[Leader]]
|}

==Assumption==

A position that is not APPOINTED_BY nor ELECTED, or is appointed by positions that are not available in your site or civ, will be assumable by a random dwarf. If it has responsibilities that require certain skills, then these are taken into consideration on embark, but not when the position is assumed during the actual game.

Normally, one to three units will take the into consideration to assume a position. Most of the time when there are multiple open positions, only a single unit will assume all of them. However, a position that has REJECTED_CREATURE, REJECTED_CLASS, ALLOWED_CREATURE or ALLOWED_CLASS will be filled with all different units, even if the creature or class mentioned is irrelevant. It seems that this forces the game to loop over all the available units.

The message that is shown in Legends mode is: "(unit name) has assumed the position of (position name)". This may also take place in fortress mode, which then shows this message to the player.

If an assumable position becomes empty, it will be assumed within a day. This is the case when you leave the position of expedition-leader vacant. It also happens with entities.

Assumable positions that become empty will not be assumed if that position has a valid [SUCCESSION] -successor. In that case, the successor inherits the position.

Even positions that are somehow invisible because they cannot be directly APPOINTED_BY players, can be assumed.

When you embark, the assumable positions are automatically assigned to a random unit. If there are multiple of these positions at embark, they all are assigned to the same unit. If there are enough positions available, multiple units may gain a position, but often no more than three different ones.

If a dwarf in fortress mode assumes a position, that already has another position, it will leave the current position empty. When that position also is assumed, then this will continue until all positions have a dwarf appointed to them, with no other position.

A unit that already has a position with a [SUCCESSION] token won't take assumable positions into consideration that have a [SQUAD] token. This can be used by the modder to prevent unwanted loss of current positions.

A position that has an appointer which got replaced because of REPLACED_BY, will not become assumable. Also, positions that have an AS_NEEDED appointer that is not yet filled (or ever), will also not be assumed.

==Succession==

If a position-holder dies or advances to a new position via succession, the position will be granted to another unit based on the [SUCCESSION] tag. If they have an heir or the succeeding position exists, that unit will be assigned. If not, a new one will be appointed according to the usual rules. The message that is shown is: "(creature name) being the rightful heir, has inherited the position of (position name)"

The succeeding creature will also lose its previous position. When succession is defined using BY_POSITION, the unit naturally loses the referenced position. However, it also loses any other positions it may hold. If a unit could simultaneously inherit multiple positions, the last-defined succession overrides the earlier one, clearing the previously acquired position

Succession works both at site-level and at civ-level, both in world-gen and in fortress-mode. Succession by position on the civ-level is also visible and functional in fortress-mode. If both civ-level nobles are a citizen of your fortress, succession is applied visually. Vanilla example: The [[druid]] is succeeded by the [[acolyte]]. This means that as soon as the druid dies, the acolyte takes over.

When a position that is succeeded by position becomes available, immediately it is checked if a position-successor is available and the position is filled with that unit. Even if this is an [ELECTED] position, succession goes first. When elections eventually do happen, succession plays no role.

It is possible to assign multiple levels of [SUCCESSION:BY_POSITION] in different positions, creating a line of positions where the death of one causes all those "below" them to advance.

A position can have multiple tokens with position-succession. It looks to be random which one is used. It is not always:
* The first or last defined token
* The first or last appointed unit
* the oldest or youngest
* one with a higher or lower precedence
* a unit with relevant skills

When a position is defined with a Succession-type, that unit cannot have another position that has a Squad-type. If the succession-position itself has a squad, than it can be assigned another position with a squad, but then it will loose the previous succesion position. See further details by "Squad"

Assumed positions can also be succeeded by position, if the current holder dies.

If the successor is an AS_NEEDED position, the used unit will leave a vacant position-slot on its removal by succession. This empty slot remains a real slot, which will only be cleaned up if you (un)appoint a unit to this position-series. It isn't cleaned up after regular position validation.

A civ-level position of a unit living at your site might be inherited by a unit holding that does not currently live at your site. This, unfortunately, moves that position to a unit off site. This may also happen with the landholder of your site, for example when it is succeeded by another civ-level position. This currently poses an unsolved challenge.

===Eligibility for succession===
Succession is restricted by the tokens [ACCEPTED_CREATURE], [REJECTED_CREATURE], [ACCEPTED_CLASS], [REJECTED_CLASS] and [GENDER].

===Site and civ combined succession===

Succession can work when combining site positions with civ-level positions or land_holders, but only in world-gen mode. In fortress mode, it only works with combining the same level of nobles, with Landholders regarded as civ-level. So, in fortress mode, a site's position cannot succeed a landholder's position and it cannot succeed another type of civ-level position, and vice versa.

This won't work even if the positions:
* are AS_NEEDED or having a fixed number.
* Are LAND_HOLDERs.

===Succession [BY_HEIR]===

When a heir is needed for succession, all children and then other relatives are validated. They cannot take the position if their status does not allow it, for example if they have become a member of another civilisation. See: "Who can take a position". If the unit has no valid heir on that location, the position may go to a unit living on another site. This may cause the title of Landholder of some land to be inherited by a unit living somewhere else. That might be a problem, because then you lose your landholders.

===Premature Succession===

There are cases where [SUCCESSION:BY_POSITION] is applied prematurely: at the moment a position is first created and becomes appointable or assumable, rather than after a current holder leaves. In this situation, the succession mechanism assigns a holder immediately, without any player interaction.

When a position becomes available for the first time, the game checks whether a valid successor-by-position exists. If so, that unit is assigned instantly. This behavior occurs only in Fortress mode. It can affect positions that would normally be appointed or elected by the player, causing succession to trigger before the player has any opportunity to intervene.

This premature succession only occurs the first time a position becomes available (i.e. when it is created and becomes appointable or assumable). Even if the position remains vacant and the conditions for succession improve later, premature succession will not trigger again. From that point onward, only normal succession rules apply.

Using premature succession, a position that has [ELECTED], [APPOINTED_BY], or both, can be filled directly.
Notably, positions that combine [ELECTED] and [APPOINTED_BY] are normally impossible to fill through regular mechanics. Premature succession bypasses both election and appointment entirely, making this combination uniquely reachable through this mechanism.

No initial election takes place, and no subsequent elections will ever occur for that position. Succession always takes precedence over election, both in premature succession and in normal succession cases.

This behavior applies only in Fortress mode, not during world generation. World-gen uses simplified and more efficient mechanics, and this interaction does not occur there. Premature succession can affect both site-level and civilization-level positions.

====Multiple succession chains====

Multiple succession chains may be defined and are resolved in the order they appear in the raws.

If a position has both:
* a direct succession chain (A → C), and
* a multi-step chain (A → B → C),

and intermediate positions are vacant, resolution proceeds according to raw order. A common outcome is:
# The direct succession (A → C) is applied first, assigning A to C.
# The remaining chain then advances (A → B).
# If C still has empty slots, the final step (B → C) may occur.

If position B is already filled, behavior depends entirely on raw definition order:
* nothing may happen, or
* B may move to C first, followed by A moving to B.
====Working triggers====
Premature succession is triggered when a succeedable position is created under the following conditions:
* The succeedable position is created because its [REQUIRES_POPULATION] threshold is reached. This applies even if the position is not [APPOINTED_BY]. Premature succession takes priority over automatic assumption (e.g. the mayor declaring themselves within a day).
* The succeedable position can be [APPOINTED_BY] another position of the same level (site or civ) that has just been created because its [REQUIRES_POPULATION] was reached.
* The succeedable position can be appointed by another [SITE] [AS_NEEDED] position that has just been created and filled.
* The succeedable (site or civ) position is [APPOINTED_BY] the [LAND_HOLDER] position, which has just been created due to site elevation. This typically resolves when the diplomat leaves the map, at which point the landholder position becomes active.
* If all other requirements are met, premature succession can occur immediately after unpausing following embark, for positions with [REQUIRES_POPULATION:7].
====Non-working triggers====
Premature succession does '''not''' occur in the following cases:
* An [AS_NEEDED] succeedable position slot is manually created by the player while its succeeding position is already filled. [AS_NEEDED] positions must always be appointed after creation.
* The succeeding position is filled after the succeedable position becomes available. The moment of creation is the decisive trigger; filling the source position later is too late.
* The succeedable position can be appointed by another site or civ position with a fixed number of slots that has just been appointed. In this case, the succeedable position is just available for appointment itself, nothing more
* Any situation occurring during world generation.
* The succeeding position is [REPLACED_BY] the succeedable position. In this case, replacement removes the unit from the source position first, leaving no holder available for the succession mechanism to use.rst, leaving no holder available for the succession mechanism to use.
* The position is [APPOINTED_BY] a civ-level position, that just became a citizen of your fortress. It must be noted that those civ-level positions were active all that time and the succeedable position could be appointed even before. The monarchs arrival does not trigger premature succession

=Losing a position=

A unit can lose a position when:
* It dies
* It succeeds another position, even if it has nothing to do with the previous position.
* It is assigned to another SQUAD-holding position
* It is convicted of a crime.
* Another unit is ELECTED for the position
* Its position becomes replaced
* Another unit is appointed by the player, or the position is left vacant.
* It has assumed another position, as this always leaves the previous position vacant.

=Embarkment=
Two types of positions are automatically filled by embark.
* Positions without [APPOINTED_BY] or [ELECTED] (assumable). All these positions, even with a NUMBER higher than 1, are all filled with one to three dwarves. Contrary to assumption, this doesn't take into account any limitations. REJECTED_CLASS, ALLOWED_CLASS, REJECTED_CREATURE, ALLOWED_CREATURE and GENDER are applied, but without the normal spread you may expect with assumptions. Also it doesn't look at [SUCCESSION] and [SQUAD] limitations.
* Positions that are elected are filled-in by the normal election rules.

Positions that have a defined appointer are never initially filled at embark.

All positions that don't have [REQUIRES_POPULATION] or with a [REQUIRES_POPULATION] of 7 or lower, will be available at embark.

=Land Holders=

A Landholder is a '''special civ-level noble''' who gets a certain piece of land to hold, when that land is elevated to a certain level, determined by the tag [LAND_HOLDER] and by the landholder triggers in the game's settings. In vanilla, these are the baron, the count and the duke.

A unit gaining the landholder position does not migrate to that specific named land. In world-gen, they stay just where they are, probably at the capital. In fortress mode, you can suggest a citizen for the role. So for the time being that works.

Succession is then a real issue. If you use BY_HEIR, its solved when that landholder has children living at your site. But when its not the case, the title just goes to anyone randomly. Succession BY_POSITION works, but only in the civ-chain, and there's no way to guarantee a civ-holder is at your site at that time. Even with 'automatic spread' positions, it goes to one of them randomly.

==Functioning of the regular landholder chain==

The distinct difference between a landholder and a regular civ-level noble, is that a landholder may gain the position of landholder "of (sitename)" They are then seen as ruler of a particular site.

For a land_holder position to function as such, it has a few requirements:
* NUMBER:AS_NEEDED
* The first landholder-number of 1 is defined.
* No SITE (so civ) tag in that position.
*REPLACED_BY the next level landholder
If a landholder is defined with differentiating properties, it will function like a regular noble. A higher-up landholder that lacks the required tokens or connections will then not be used in elevation.

If a fortress meets the trigger for a new LAND_HOLDER tier when a caravan leaves, then the next time the outpost liaison or equivalent arrives, they will offer to make you an official colony, which will allow you to select all positions for that LAND_HOLDER level. Each time they appear, the outpost liaison will only promote your fortress one tier up the LAND_HOLDER track.

The landholder's LAND_NAME is not required for the functioning of this system. If omitted, messages will be shown with a more generic text.

==Appointment==

This mechanism differs from the regular methods of position management. It ignores all regular appointment- and election rules, so it more or less functions like automatic assignment. A landholder is, in vanilla, appointed by the monarch. Changing this doesn't seem to do anything. If they are appointed by a site-position, a not-yet-existing civ-position, or not appointed at all: the system keeps working as usual.

A landholder can appoint civ-positions and site positions. This works as expected: the positions only are appointed then when that landholder becomes available on civ-level or when he arrives at that site for site-level positions.

If your rank of landholder is the first of its rank in the realm, and is the sole appointer of some civ-position, then immediately as it gains the title, it will appoint the empty civ-slots. This may happen on your site, but the frequency and certainty is hard to determine.

==Succession==

Succession rules are applied to some extent:
* In world-gen it works according to succession rules, and site-positions can be used here. This means that a site position or a civ-position can inherit a landholder position, and vice versa.
* In fortress mode, once a landholder has been appointed, it then can inherit civ-level positions, and vice versa. This means that your baron can become king.
* Succession rules do not apply within the [LAND_HOLDER] chain; a count will not inherit a baron's land. This is because succession does not work well with the AS_NEEDED token.
* Premature succession works in fortress mode with landholders. If a unit gets a landholder's position and that landholder is the appointer of an as yet empty position, which is defined as succeeding from a third one, then the succession is immediately applied. The landholder themselves can even be the successor of a newly created position.
* A landholder's position is, in fortress mode, not successionable by a site-position or vice versa

===Impossibilities for succession by a site-position===
It would be very beneficial if the landholder can be succeeded by a [SITE]-position. So far, the following tests have not lead to positive results:
* making landholder and site-position both non-[DUTY_BOUND]
* make the site-position be [APPOINTED_BY] the landholder and/or the monarch
* give landholder and site-position [REJECTED_CREATURE]
* Let the monarch live at your site when succession could happen.
* Let the site-position be [REPLACED_BY] the landholder.

==Nomination==

The player is able to nominate a unit to become the LAND_HOLDER, but this only works with units of [LAND_HOLDER] level 1. The player can select all units, only limited by the PRECEDENCE of the current units' positions.

A unit that has a position with a PRECEDENCE lower or equal to that of the landholder's position, cannot be selected. This means that a baron (or count) from another site or the monarch cannot be selected, because their precedence is lower or equal.

The GENDER token does not work here: also units with the wrong gender (sorry) can be selected.

==Levels==
In mods, up to 10 levels of LAND_HOLDER may be defined.

If a landholder is replaced by a wrong landholder number (1 replaced by 3), then the number 3 is still correctly attached to the settlement.

If the current landholder has the highest available landholder number, then the next elevation will not happen - the diplomat will not elevate your fortress to a higher position, even if that position might be REPLACED_BY a lower landholder.

These chains do work:
* 1 -> 2a - > 2b -> 3
* 1 -> 3 -> 2 -> 4

These chains do not work:
* 2 -> 3 (need to start at 1)
* 1 -> 4 -> 2 -> 3 (stops after 4 as the highest)
* 1a -> 2, 1b -> 2 (only 1a and 2 work, 1b is not used)

==Moving landholders==

It may happen that a land-holder no longer lives at the site which they are the landholder of, specifically when the current landholder dies, leaving the title to an heir living somewhere else.

To prevent this from happening, you can make their succession from heir and make sure that their kids live at your site. Or, you can make their position succeeded by another civ position, and make it so that this civ position is somehow available on your site. But if multiple of these positions exist, it cannot be guaranteed that a citizen of your fortress will inherit the title.

In world gen, a landholder lacking the DUTY_BOUND-token will also move to the site they like, according to legends mode.

==Replacement by a generic civ-position==

If a landholder is replaced by an AS_NEEDED non-landholder civ-position, then this will work: the current landholder loses that title upon settlement-elevation and gains that civ-title. However, the civ-title lacks the landholder-property of being attached to the land. It will not show the name of the settlement alongside the position's name. So no "minister of Shovelmounts"

If a landholder is replaced by a general AS_NEEDED civ-position, that itself is also replaced by a generic AS_NEEDED civ-position, then firstly the elevation is executed and also the unit gains that new position. However, he immediately loses it, because an AS_NEEDED position that is replaced by another position can be filled initially, but units wont be able to hold that title.

==Landholder with fixed number==

A landholder's position that has a fixed number will be created and filled directly when the civilisation is born, so this position slot is then not available for the regular landholder-mechanic and will also not be used. That landholder will thus not be attached to a settlement.

It doesn't matter if the landholder's position is connected to the regular landholder's-chain with the REPLACE_BY token.

==Responsibilities==

When given a certain [RESPONSIBILITY], a landholder may function as a regular civ-level noble. If the position has [TRADE] or [OUTPOST_NEGOTIATING] responsibilities, then the landholder functions both as a diplomat and as an actual land holder. A landholder with the [MILITARY_STRATEGY] responsibility will travel around taming creatures in world-gen, according to legends mode.

Besides that, the responsibilities work the same as with any other on-site living position-holder, civ or otherwise.

=Military=
==Squad management==
In the vanilla game, the Squad interface only becomes available after a militia commander has been appointed. Until then, the window displays:{{DFtext|You must appoint somebody first to create a squad.}}

What’s surprising is how this is determined internally. In the entity raw definition, '''only the last two positions that include a [SQUAD] token are checked''' to decide whether the interface is accessible at all. As a result, if your hierarchy defines commanders A through E, appointing '''Commander D or E''' unlocks squad formation, while appointing A–C does nothing.

In other words, squad availability is not tied to ''having a militia commander'', but to ''which specific positions happen to be last in the raw list''—a notably hacky implementation.

These 'last two' are always the last two '''available positions.''' So if they get [REPLACED_BY] or become available because of [REQUIRES_POPULATION], the game adapts to those.

==Squad assignment==

Squads can be assigned, even if the leader position has no holder.

A specific unit can only have one position associated with a squad. If it gains another 'squad holding position', it is unassigned from the first one. This does not work with a 0-squad, so only 1+squads are taken into consideration. This technique can possibly be used to distribute all positions equally among all citizens. It does however not work with election and assumption.

If a civ-level position is associated with a squad and it gets a site-level squad-holding position assigned, it loses the current civ-position.

Squads can get really messed up, if you make the position (or multiple) either elected or not-elected and not-appointed, then this can cause the game to assign multiple squads to the same unit. Automatic assignment and election does not take squads into account, but the nobles screen does. This can cause the positions to be cleared as the game figures out that they have more than one position, and immediately get elected or assumed again.

Positions that cannot have a squad-position:
* A site- or civ-position with a [SUCCESSION] token cannot be appointed a squad-holding-position. The other way around, however, does work. For example, if a site-position with a [SUCCESSION]-token is appointed to a unit that has already a position with [SQUAD]. But when that squad position is assigned to another unit, it cannot be assigned back.
* A position with [SUCCESSION] can also not be assigned as a '''member''' of a squad.
* A squad-holding position with a formed squad cannot be appointed to another squad holding position.

If a position has at least one squad member, it cannot be left vacant. First, the squad has to be disbanded, then the position may be cleared.

==0-squads==
A 0-Squad is defined in a position as [SQUAD:0:member:members]. It does not seem to do anything useful as of now.
* It cannot be used to activate the [[Squad|military interface]]
* It does not restrict the assignment of [SUCCESSION] positions.
* Assigning this position does not clear any previously held squad position.
* The [[Leader]] and [[Tactician]] skill are not marked as relevant skills and are not taken into account in elections.
* It cannot be formed as a squad.

=Further testing=
The following questions may need additional testing. Feel free to add or answer
* Everything regarding COMMANDING and army-structure
** [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175437.msg8331668#msg8331668]
** [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=165213.msg8335682#msg8335682]
** [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=174584.msg8026854#msg8026854]
* Everything regarding CONQUERED_SITE, but it is presumably just like site. But what if you combine SITE or LAND_HOLDER with it?
* Stuff about the monarch, its arrival and its entourage.

=Oddities (Bugs)=
Almost everything on this page could be called an oddity. Because of their unexpected usability, some may also be referred to as “undocumented features.” Others, however, are simply odd and not particularly useful, yet I hesitate to call them “bugs.”
* If a certain threshold is reached that makes an elected position electable, and the triggering event that initiates this evaluation is an assumption, then the resulting assumption is also referred to in the messages as an election

=Examples=

===The Founder===
The founder is a single dwarf, appointed at embark. They will be the only one ever to have this position and are not replaceable. When they lose their position some way, the position will not be assumed by another dwarf.
{{gamedata|title=The Founder|
[POSITION:THE_FOUNDER]
[NAME:the founder:founders]
[NUMBER:1]
[SITE]
[ALLOWED_CREATURE:DWARF:ALL] - will only be filled at embark, but not assumable later.
[REJECTED_CREATURE:DWARF:ALL] - will only be filled at embark, but not assumable later.
[SUCCESSION:BY_POSITION:THE_FOUNDER] - not unassignable, also cannot be assigned to a [SQUAD] position.
[PRECEDENCE:200]
Non APPOINTED_BY
Non ELECTED
Optional: Add responsibilities to make the game select a unit with certain skills.
}}
===Marriage bar===
Dwarven matrons are held in great honour. Upon marriage, a female dwarf is no longer expected to perform menial labour. All dwarven males hold this position by default, granting their spouses exemption from menial work.

The position becomes available with the arrival of the first migrants; otherwise, on embark, it would be assumed by females. Its succession rule is non-functional, but this prevents the player from unassigning the position. A squad size of 1 and the succession rules together prevent a unit from assuming the position more than once.

With precedence set to NONE, the position name is hidden, while LAND_NAME remains visible on the nobles screen. All married females receive the suffix “, Mrs.” and are marked as Nobles.

The practical usefulness of this position is debatable, but it serves as a clear demonstration of several mechanics.
{{gamedata|title=Mrs. Urist|

[POSITION:MRS_URIST]
[NUMBER:300]
[SITE]
[ALLOWED_CREATURE:DWARF:MALE]
Not APPOINTED_BY
Not ELECTED
[LAND_NAME:Dwarven male]
[NAME:dwarven male:dwarven male]
[PRECEDENCE:NONE]
[SPOUSE_FEMALE:, Mrs.:spouses]
[MENIAL_WORK_EXEMPTION_SPOUSE]
[REQUIRES_POPULATION:8]
[SUCCESSION:BY_POSITION:MONARCH]
[SQUAD:1:member:members]
}}
{{Category|Modding}}
{{Category|Entities}}
{{Category|Guides}}