It was my turn to take the reigns of our little fortress. Here follows an account of the first summer in the new fortress:

Diary of Deler Dorinsherik, former fisherdwarf, currently the Right Honourable People's President for life.

Finally! We have ousted that ridiculously insane miner from his position of power. Can you believe he flooded an entire section of our fort? Madness!

My first order of business has been to evict him from his spacious bedroom, taking it back to the collective and turning it into a fine, communal living space. I also built a new food storage area indoors, that'll keep those hideous groundhogs off our tasty grubs.

I continued our grand expansion policy with yet some more indoor stockpiles. I find it upsetting that my predecessor left all our valuable good outside in the cold, and didn't even construct a vital trade depot! Good thing the people chose me to replace him.

I bumped into the farmer in the hallway as I was working on my new office, he seemed a little bored. I asked him if there was anything I could do and he demanded I allow him to build a farm! I had assumed that, being a farmer, he would actually go about doing it himself. I wasn't aware that we had brought the farmer with the least independence in the kingdom. I've allowed him a farm, but only because it suits the greater good. It can't be that hard to farm, surely. I hope the groundhogs eat him...

The mining hit a snag when I discovered a layer of damp silt beneath us. I'm sure its to do with the flooding in the fortress but I daren't dig deeper inside our base just in case. I'm commissioning a new mine a safe distance north of our new colony just in case. We really need some stone, and soon. While we search though, I feel we should get cracking on some hunting tools. We have plenty of bones, so I've “requested” some bone crossbows be whittled, and a copious amount of ammo, once the necessary stockpiles are completed of course.

I don't like that farmer. He's been hanging around outside my office. He's plotting something. I've tasked my apprentice (the chap I have dissecting all my catches) with crafting the bows now. When they're done, I think we will be needing a police force. I have ordered the construction of a prison, just in case.

Upon seeing the newly built wooden cages I was not pleased. The carpenter has done such a bad job that they can't be used to imprison wayward dwarves. Luckily no-one is aware of my plans for a police force as of yet, so I can atleast use the prison to keep the fortress free of cats for a while. A pilot scheme perhaps?

The mason is bored, owing largely to our lack of stone, so I have allowed him use of a crossbow to do some hunting. We don't really need the meat, but some monkeys have turned up now, and they are starting to become an annoyance. The added bonus of extra bones to craft cannot be overstated either.

My mining operation has hit a snag. It seems that the third level down houses a vast puddle. This is quite a conundrum.

The farmer has been whining about beer again. Apparently we don't have nearly enough and we should build a still. The prison isn't going to be of any use until we can get some stone, so I've indulged the little swine and had a still designed. We don't have a brewer, nor do we need one, but perhaps the mere appearance of a still will shut him up.

I've built my apprentice an office next to mine. He deserves it if we are going to lead this colony to success. Besides, the thought of him sleeping with the great unwashed disturbs me to some degree.

The farmer ambushed me in the hall not long after my apprentice moved into his new room. I really wish the prison was finished. He doesn't agree with my management style, apparently. If the prison was better equipped I'd have locked him up, but with things as they are I needed to be careful. I've given him the next season to manage as his own. When he fails, as I'm sure he will, the people will come running back to me. Let's see how long this mere farmer can play at being king.