Mangled corpses with pulped heads or upper bodies will never become undead. Corpses may also be raised by a necromancer into a slave, or resurrect themselves as mummies and themselves gain the power to raise corpses, though mummies will normally only be encountered in tombs in adventure mode. On an embark location between an evil and a non-evil biome, corpses killed on the non-evil side will not rise. (protip: NEVER assign a necromancer the hunting labor.)Ĭorpses can be raised from the dead – this will occur in some evil biomes, if the creature is killed inside an evil biome.

Improperly stored corpses can be a great source of FUN in the event a necromancer enters combat. After some time, dwarves may get used to seeing dead bodies. A caravan that sees corpses may decide to not trade. Seeing body parts and corpses of sapient creatures, in general, can cause dwarves with insufficient discipline to become horrified, leading them to cancel their current task and run away. If they bond with an animal who is not a pet and who dies in any manner aside from butchering, it is advisable to quickly atom smash the corpse as there is no other way of actually preventing it from rotting. The soul of a dwarf that has not been properly put to rest may return for vengeance, which can lead to even more Fun.Īnimal trainers will also receive negative thoughts if an animal they bonded with is allowed to rot. If the corpse of a dwarf is left unburied, it will cause unhappy thoughts in the surviving family and friends.

Rotting corpses will produce miasma in subterranean areas, but not above ground. Being 'mangled' does not affect a corpse's ability to be butchered. Also, corpses of tamed (not stray) animals can't be butchered. The corpses of very small animals, such as of ravens, currently cannot be butchered. 'Butchering' a skeleton produces only a skull, bones, cartilage and other non-decaying tissues. Body parts can be butchered, presumably for whatever tissues/organs were in the part. Remains of vermin, however, simply progress from '(vermin) remains' to 'rotten (vermin) remains' before simply vanishing.īutchering a corpse produces quantities of meat, prepared organs, bones, a skull, skin, and nails/hoofs, as well as cartilage, nervous tissue, and other byproducts. Already-dead corpses can be reanimated with the help of a necromancer, or naturally if you are in any type of evil embark, and then dissected. Cutting a live goblin up using serrated blade traps or throwing them down extreme heights (such that they explode) will generate usable goblin bones and skulls. Letting corpses naturally rot is the only way to get usable bones from creatures that dwarves refuse to butcher (such as goblins, elves, and other sentient creatures), according to their ethics (unless you modded the ethics). exploded into gore, cloven asunder, torn into shreds, etc.) before death will be described as a 'mangled corpse'. A creature with parts that were destroyed (i.e. If the creature had had parts ripped or cut off before death, the corpse will be described as 'mutilated corpse' and 'partial skeleton' in the respective descriptions, and the parts (if still on the map) will decay into a type of bone depending on the part. It will begin as '(creature or name) corpse', progress to 'rotten (creature or name) corpse', '(creature or name) partially decayed corpse', and finally to '(creature or name) skeleton', and will remain at the final level indefinitely. The labor for hauling corpses is either refuse hauling or burial, depending on the corpse type.Ī corpse has several levels of decay. A corpse is the dead body of a creature the corpses of vermin are called remains.

Dwarf fortress butcher sentients