Here we are, I overplayed my season a little because I got somewhat sucked in to my mining project.

Diary of Degel Egathdakost, Planter

Those damn fools, everyone knows you can't build a fortress in a bloody swamp. Here we are stuck in this haunted wasteland with no stone little wood and nothing but water to drink.

The incompetent buffoon, oh I'm sorry, "The Right Honourable People's President" Deler Dorensherik has replaced that idiot Lokum but much good it did us; he needs constant supervision for even the most trivial administrative tasks and you have to chase him up for every damn thing; I only just managed to get him to set up a still and a plot of land for farming. How does that nincompoop expect us to weather it through the harsh winter without food to fill our bellies and good ale to put fire in our veins!

Some traders from the mountainhome arrived today, The Peoples Ass hadn't
arranged for any tradeable crafts to be manufactured in due time for their arrival so I had to ask Imush to knock up something quickly in the workshop while I tried to keep the trader happy and everyone else ran around looking for our glorious leader (he had gone fishing of course). Well, when he finally swaggered in to the trade outpost (without apologising for his tardiness) he flicked through our small pile of trade goods disdainfully, tutting, right in front of the trader; given such a bad impression we were lucky to walk away with the few iron bars that we did.

Since the traders left (how I envied them their transience) I have taken to arranging certain things involved in the development of our home without the knowledge of Deler. He has taken to hiding himself away in his office mumbling about manifestos and addressing everyone as 'comrade'; yesterday he overheard Imush telling me that what he missed most about the mountainhome was how easy it was to get a cup of proper tea, well, he leapt between us and screamed "PROPER TEA IS THEFT!", started crying and pranced off to his quarters. Anyway, I've sent Lokum digging north of our base, looking for a way to penetrate this sea of water we seem to be floating on so we can maybe get underneath it and access some stone and metal ores. He may be an fool but he's a good miner so there may be hope for us yet.

Winter has come and here we are rubbing two cats trying to start a fire and trying to brew a few drinks to keep us going, I've taken advantage of the lake freezing to dig in to the ice and build a wall to stop the flooding, now we just need to find a way to drain the water that is already inside, perhaps once we have a mechanics workshop set up we can build a screw pump.

Tragedy, Lokum was killed today by a skeletal couger while scouting out the northern reaches of our territory. There is little else to add except that despite his incompetence as a leader, he was a good dwarf and a brother in hardship to us all. I feel somewhat responsible for his demise as it was I who sent him on his errand in the wilderness; perhaps it would be wise for me to stop trying to organise everything for now. I need time to clear my head and reconsider my position. If I am to be leader then I must live with the consequences of my leadership; Lokum may have been useless and Deler may be a maddwarf but neither of them ever sent a dwarf to his death.

I must end this diary now, I have a burial to arrange.