True that a rock (or any other kind of) dwarf will be able, and yeah, willing to answer this question. ("Finally someone who really appreciates all the fine points.")
He'll be able to recall any single stroke of the hammer on the chisel, and will be able to tell you where and how he worked.
> If I've understood these little guys correctly: they're technicians.
> So keeping written records must be very important to them.
>From my contacts with programmers re: commenting their code, I doubt
it's written records. More likely it's eidetic memory.
> These records must also be truthful, accurate, and as detailed as
> possible.
Sure.
"Work Period 11473.465.08: Took a number 15 chisel and set it at an angle of 13 degrees 5 minutes 58 seconds from the front surface and delivered a STR 13.375 blow. The resulting chip of 4.7 inch length and a maximum width of 0.5 inch was handed to the nilmerg collecting raw material for the obsidian food grinder in workroom 14.374-895."
> The only dwarves which I reckon lie are gold ones specialising in
> non-dwarven communications (and I imagine lying is simply seen as part
> of the communication process).
Unfortunately the Gold Dwarves are the only ones to be likely to monitor history in addition to mechanics, production schedules etc.
> So ... if you were able to get yourself a rock dwarf, or a gold one
> who wasn't wised up to telling fibs, who was sufficiently capable,
> and you dressed up as a dwarf (or whatever you have to do to get
> past any security feature), and you asked him to tell you everything
> about the Spike (say), you would find out pretty much everything
> there is to know about it with as much true historical accuracy as
> it is possible to get.
The Spike will be difficult. "That was before my batch was produced" is a most likely reply.
If you want historical events, you'd better get a dwarf directly involved in this - a rock dwarf might be able to tell you about the recycling of the Faceless Statue, or the raising of the walls and pockets of Boldhome, or perhaps of the repairs on Ithilian's Stone Men after (or during) some battle, but that's about it. A dwarf telecontrolling Jolanti might be able to recall the terrain they moved through, since this defined the working parameters.
> Are the workings of the world machine all underground? Why don't we
> see them wandering about above ground with their slide-rules, tape
> measures, clip-boards, etc?
The surface of the earth is only very small if you remember that the earth once was a cube. Just imagine a huge number of layers cobwebbed with corridors, all inside friendly stone, and you get an impression why the surface repairs are just some sort of side order to many Mostali activities. The dwarves still try to assess the damage left when the earth fractured into three pieces during the Greater Darkness, after the emergency plugs have been set. There are projects to rebuild some of the tunnels as an intermediary workway.
> Elder Secrets says that a diamond X dwarf has 9 skills at 2000% !!!
> Seems a bit excessive to me - are such skill levels always possible?
Effectively, a diamond dwarf expects to have a critical success whenever he does anything within his speciality. That's what the number 2000% tells you, and not the possibility of such skill levels.
> A diamond iron dwarf could murder everything in Dorastor, couldn't it?
Everything within weapon range, assuming that the numbers advantage doesn't break in on him. Famous Last Words (in Ye Booke of Tentacle) includes "it's just a trollkin" for Rurik Runespear.
Problem is that there aren't that many Iron Dwarves, and IMO the ones who reach this status have chosen an armourer's crafts rather than combat skills for their contingent of nine. Those who go for the combat skills tend to get into situations which may well force them into recycling.
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