Quickstarting currently has the possibility to start with the larger kinds of (therefore non-totem) axes.

Hmm, I thought I had that one straightened out. They shouldn't even have the regular axes as part of their civilization tech anymore.

Just to cover bases, this is a new world created with the latest mod version or was it an old world that the mod updated after creation?

It's a new world, I only have the latest version of the mod.

Specifically halberds were what they spawned with if it helps.

Yes that confirms what I suspected. I didn't realize that halberds could cut trees, seems they get added to the pool of woodcutting items that the civ has so they get picked instead of other axes.

Unfortunately the fix will only apply to newly generated worlds. But if you want a more challenging start you should also hopefully start with enough resources to enchant the halberds yourself.

Thank you very much for reporting this, I rarely use the quick start option so I would have missed this for a long time.

Edit:

Changes should now be in place.

For Some reason after a while of playing The Grimalkins just *Won't* dig, I have Pick totems in stockpile, I have the mining job set as the only thing they do, hell I even tried making just normal picks to see if that helps at all, I tried assassinating them nope! Any clue what's happening?

This was after a year in game that it started

Are they starving by any chance?

That was an issue I ran into way back when I first started working on this mod.
In my case it was because they were still set to hunt vermin like cats but it kept them from eating themselves which lead to a job cancelling loop that never broke.

I hadn't run into that since though.

Nope there's plenty of food & drink, Though looking into it might just be a DF ♥♥♥♥ up