Life stories and social care in Fortress

Begin keeping life stories

Open Settlers, select a settler and choose Life. A colony without stories can choose Keep life stories once backgrounds and relationships are enabled. An older colony begins its record on that day. Earlier events are not filled in. New colonies that keep stories record their founders’ arrival. Use Colony life to read events across the colony.

Read what happened and what they feel now

Life so far keeps events after their memories have faded. Feeling now shows the memories still affecting the settler. Up to 8 memories can remain active. When there are too many, the weakest current morale effect is removed, with older memories removed first on equal strength. Nature can change how long good or bad memories last. A number beside an old event records how it felt then. It is not another permanent morale bonus.

Who can witness an event

A living, awake settler on the home map can see an event within 8 tiles, including diagonals, on their own level. Line of sight is required. Walls, rock and shut doors can block it. Friends and comrades can be upset by seeing any recorded blow hurt someone they care about. Other non-rivals gain the serious-injury memory when the victim has 50 health or less. A witness who gains no new painful memory can still be listed as having seen the injury.

How news of a death spreads

Home settlers who see a death learn of it at once. Death news then passes between awake settlers within two walkable cardinal steps on the same level. A clear diagonal corner counts as two steps. Finding a recorded body also gives the news while its death news is still active. If that news is active and nobody at home knows after one day, the colony notices the missing settler and the home settlers learn together. That broadcast does not happen when even one home settler already knows. Arrange meetings so news can reach the others.

News has a time limit

A death remains available to pass on for up to 6 in-game days. At most 24 news entries can be waiting. An older entry can be removed when this queue fills. News also stops once every living home settler knows. After an entry ends, the written story still shows who saw the death, heard about it, found the body or learned when the settler was missed. Settlers who never learned are not automatically treated as mourners.

Follow a cause

Choose Why to follow the earlier event linked to a feeling, injury, death or change of view. What followed lists events directly linked to that event. Closely spaced hits with the same recorded cause and source name can share one injury entry. A long chain shows up to its latest 24 linked events. Life stories include the people directly involved and recorded witnesses. Very long colony histories eventually discard their oldest pages.

A shared tie and a personal view

Two settlers need not see a relationship the same way. If both change to the same new view together, one shared relationship event is written. If only one changes their view, the entry belongs to that person. Read Social on both settlers to see their own reasons and what the other person thinks. Ordinary chats and jokes are counted without adding a conversation entry each time. The first retained routine feeling can still appear in Life so far.

Keep a pair apart

In Social, choose Keep apart beside the other settler. They stop starting exchanges with each other, including quarrels, fights, comfort and lessons. The hourly relationship changes from spending time together are also suppressed. A warband battle can still strengthen their relationship. This order does not move them, and they can still pass death news. Use work areas and schedules to control their meetings. Choose Kept apart to allow them to speak again. Keeping a pair apart also cancels a Sit with request between them.

Ask someone to sit with a grieving settler

Open the grieving settler’s Life tab and look under Feeling now. A person who counts them a Friend or Comrade can help. A Kindly settler can also help someone they do not count as a Rival. Choose a name, then arrange for the pair to meet within two walkable steps, awake and able to speak. The helper must be able to stand when Medical care is enabled. The request does not make them walk together. At a suitable meeting, comfort happens without the ordinary conversation roll. Comfort is limited to once per 24 in-game hours. The request waits if someone else already comforted the griever.

Hold a wake

Open Life for someone who has died and choose Hold a wake, or use the same action on their death entry. A wake needs a recorded death. At 21:00, living home settlers at campfire leisure who know of the death attend. The base memory gives 3 morale for 3 days. The order does not gather people for you. If nobody qualifies, the wake waits for the next evening. It can be called off before it happens. A completed wake can be held only once for that death.

Order limits

The colony can keep up to 24 pairs apart, request helpers for up to 12 grieving settlers and keep up to 12 wakes waiting. One griever can have one requested helper. These orders need life stories. A death from before the stories began has no recorded wake to call. Requests do not create new memories until their actual meeting or wake conditions are met.