The inspiration for this work came when someone posted Edward Gorey's classic morbid alphabet
The Gashlycrumb Tinies to reddit's /r/dwarffortress under the title, 'a dwarf child's alphabet'. I thought that the idea could stand some dwarfifying, and, after a few versions, limited by the fact that the game's options for Dwarf names indicate the Dwarven alphabet to be of twenty letters (With no H, J, P, Q, W, X or Y, but including a
Th) came up with the following rhyme:
A is for Alath who buried themselves
B is for Bomrek who got shot by elves
C is for Cerol who drowned at the coast
D is for Dastot who angered a ghost
E is for Edzul who ran out of drink
F is for Famthut who failed to think
G is for Goden who fell in to magma
I is for Iton who choked on miasma
K is for Kubuk attacked by a carp
L is for Logem who sold the wrong harp
M is for Momuz found crushed to the floor
N is for Nish who went through the wrong door
O is for Olin done in by a thief
R is for Rimtar made mad by their grief
S is for Sigun burned up by a dragon
T is for Tirist run down by a wagon
Th is for Tholtig found drained of all blood
U is for Urist washed out in the flood
V is for Vabok who fell down the well
Z is for Zulban who tunnelled to hell
After coming up with this, it was, of course, necessary to illustrate it, and I set to work. As I completed more and more images, I became more convinced of the appropriateness of the treatment, rendering it as something more than parody. After all, Gorey's original work subverts the normally carefree world of childhood represented by the abecedarium (ABC book) by introducing parental paranoias about the dangers that face their offspring. The Dwarf Fortress version casts the Dwarves as children and the player as the parents, a relationship which I, at least relate to, though which might discomfort some of the more Machiavellian players of the great game. Anyway, without further ado...
