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| “ | The Human Hammerer Someone McName was caught sneaking around! | „ |
| ~ End result of an agent revealing a secret. |
Agents (also known as Spies) are major antagonists in the indie construction and management simulation video game Dwarf Fortress. They are individuals with the purpose of seeking information from civilizations by spying on them, so that expensive artifacts can be stolen, and are always strongly associated with other criminals. They are primarily encountered in the game's "Fortress Mode".
By default, they are not as openly combative and violent as most other factions and creatures, but are still equipped for combat. Also, if they are unsuccessful at first in getting one of the player's artifacts stolen, they can lead dangerous counterattacks that only a well-trained military will be able to fight off.
Due to the procedural generation of the world and civilizations in the game, coupled with the fact that many elements can be customized by the player, the strength, placement, criminal connections and amount of agents in a game vary greatly.
Whereas most enemies in the game are brutally violent and merciless, agents play the unique role of using their social skills and sophistication to get what they want, then pass that information on to other criminals they are aligned with. The only other individuals that play this role are villainous historical figures that use their power to slowly corrupt others, rather than blindly kill their enemies.
Biography[]
History[]
Before agents enter a player's dwarven fortress, they will have an established connection with a historical figure that plays the role of a tactical, powerful and extremely manipulative villain. These villains have the power to use their connections to corrupt entire civilizations and regions. The duration of this can go on for hundreds of years and beyond if the villain is a supernatural being, such as a necromancer or demon.
Agents will also be connected to other criminals, even to the point of creating strong friendships with them. They will hang out with bosses of criminal organizations as their real friends, and will use their manipulative ways to pretend to make friends with the citizens of a fortress.
Gameplay[]
Example of a career criminal, someone an agent would interact with. Normally, the game doesn't completely reveal someone as a criminal this way.
A mayor discussing a deal with goblins, due to an agent revealing an artifact's location.
Agents will appear as visitors, which happens when the player creates taverns, libraries and temples. When agents appear, they will disguise themselves as standard visitors, using a fake alias. There is no mechanic in the game where agents are completely revealed prior to being interrogated. Instead, the player must examine each visitor to check for discrepancies with their character, for example, a dancer carrying around a sword or an elf having a human-like name. Agents will always be sent from civilizations hostile to the player's.
Once they arrive, agents will socialize with other visitors and diplomats, and attempt to get as much information out of them as possible. If an agent is speaking to someone that's drunk (which is a very easy task if speaking to dwarves, given that every dwarf is genetically predisposed to always wanting alcohol), they will have an easier time in getting the information of an artifact located in the player's fortress. Agents can also figure things out through rumors being passed around. Once they have the information they need on an artifact's location, they will run back home to reveal the information.
Artifacts are items in the game that are made when a dwarf has what's called a strange mood. These strange moods are caused by mysterious forces (likely the deities of the game) that temporarily take over a dwarves' consciousness and attempt to build a random item with random components. Once the artifact is built, it is given a unique name, and the strange mood disappears with the possessed dwarf reverting to normal. If the possessed dwarf can't find the components, they will go insane. These artifacts are the most expensive and sought-after items in the game, and can be even more expensive if hard-to-find expensive materials are used in their creation (such as gold, rare gems, adamantine, platinum, etc.)
An agent that returns to their hometown empty-handed will return later in force, as the agent will bring many hostile individuals with them. When this happens, the agent will give the player an ultimatum, peacefully give up the artifact, or refuse and take on a full siege upon the fortress. No matter what, the agent will always treat the ultimatum fairly.
It is possible for the player to catch and imprison agents if there is an established justice system, and there are open and/or cold cases. These cases allow the player to select someone to be interrogated or convicted. If an agent is interrogated, their evil deeds may be revealed, but this can fail, due to the dwarf interrogating the perpetrator having lower social skills than the agent. Nearly all creatures in the game can have a "schemer" skill of a variable levels, which the agents will of course use to their own benefit. The player can nickname an agent before they leave, knowing who they are when they return.
Personality[]
Sneaky, treacherous, highly intelligent, charismatic and extremely manipulative, agents will use any social charm or intimidation they have to get the information they need by creating as many false friendships as possible. They will also build any criminal connection available to them, and after that, will systematically follow any lead they possibly can. Though they are not openly violent, they are usually lightly equipped for combat, and are not above killing someone if they are attacked.
Agents will - to maintain their façade - act as outgoing, friendly and conversational as they can to gain the trust of others, which commonly happens in taverns where many visitors there will feel inebriated, and therefore euphoric, due to how the game handles people being drunk. Individuals conversing with friends and acquaintances will almost always feel a positive emotion when it happens, and this includes those same people remembering these moments, reliving them mentally and once again getting a positive emotion out of it.
Agents will never resort to violence before socializing and manipulating others, as they have a remarkably high amount of composure, and will do anything they can to hide their deeds, even when caught and heavily interrogated. At first glance, the agents can very easily fool players by acting like yet another standard visitor in their fortress, not doing anything out of the ordinary to blow their cover. They only resort to combat if attacked first, and have no other way around a situation. Even in combat, they can maintain their façade, making an attack look like self-defense.
The only honorable trait agents have is when they are giving an ultimatum to the player, as they'll never attack a player's fortress if they get the artifact they want. They will never break their promise, and won't even attack the messenger when delivering the answer on what the player's decision is.
External Links[]
 Villains 
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Enemies Immortal & Undead Night Creatures Other | ||