Humble beginnings: this is where we first struck Earth. Now, it is only an incredibly inconvenient trade depot located 38 Z-levels above the main workshop. After a management mishap and waves of migrants, food and drink supplies were exhausted so a hundred dwarves were mobilized to pick the surface clean of fruits. Many got nauseous from cave adaption. It was a sight to behold though. They picked the field like a horde of locusts and left a trail of vomit in their wake. A few seams of bituminous coal have been extracted.
With no drinking water available on the surface and no available aquifers, modest living accommodations had to be arranged while the primary focus was placed on locating the caverns. This outpost is now abandoned, with most of the furniture stripped away. A large seam of lignite was discovered along the wall of a former stockroom.
A cavern was discovered nearly 40 Z-levels below the surface. It had water which could be tapped for a well, and fertile soil to establish a farm. It wasn't all good news though. Very quickly, it became the sight of conflict with the indigenous population of Bat People. Sometimes wielding steel weapons and shields, these flying creatures have appeared in numbers up to 90 at a time. The farm has been completely enclosed by stone walls, and a fragile armistice has held for a couple years as both sides foolishly prepare to completely annihilate each other... one day.
Once water was discovered, we finally chose a place to establish more permanent industry and living spaces.
One floor of the high density dorms. This one also features a few hallways of tombs. Casualties of the war with the Bat Men lay here, including a Gorlak monster slayer.
At the bottom of the second cavern, some 41 Z-levels below the main workshop, a large family of Rutherers mills about, living a care-free life. These creatures are enormous and incredibly dangerous, but they have a benign temperament and won't seek conflict unless they are pissed off. The stray cats have been testing their patience, however.
As I near the end of the fifth year, the population of the fort has soared to 180. Hopefully this will be the one which manages to dig all the way to hell.
Update:
Discovered the third cavern layer, along with a magma pool and an "unusual volcanic wall studded with gems." No signs of life in here aside from vermin and a couple more rutherers, but there are pieces of abandoned Bat Man armor lying around. In the mid-long term, this ought to be our new base, as we can set up magma-powered smelters, kilns, and forges without building an 80-layer tall pump stack or minecart elevator. Last time I tried to build an absurdly tall minecart elevator it took me several in-game YEARS to dig and a level of micro-management which lead to various other disasters in the fort being ignored.
Also, there is a direct shot from the farm on the top cavern to the magma pool, if I want to set up a garbage chute.
Started building a new hub centered around a magma workshop (This is actually the first time I have ever gotten to build magma workshops in this game. First time I have ever tapped a magma tube). A web-shooting forgotten beast turned up but the rutherers have severely injured it for me.