Reboot

[Empathy]

Ok, so lets move the discussion about the reboot here.

What is certain at this point:

A clarification on the last point: I want to make Earth ponies an attractive option when compared to Pegasi and Unicorns, so that the default option for players isn't just to slap a pair of wings or a horn onto a completely acceptable pony OC. I have several thoughts on how to achieve this, ranging from the least to the most explicit:

Other thoughts:

Source of the Steampunk airships
Two fuel sources come in mind: the traditional fossil fuels and biofuels. While fossil fuels are more realistic, maybe Equestria doesn't have a large supply of those or maybe some technological or magical invention has boosted the effectiveness of apple cider. This would be a good plot point for the Apple family.

Politics of airships
They will probably be operated mostly by earth ponies, who may jealously guard their secrets. pegasi will be upset, as they lose out by not being required for some tasks anymore. Finally, rich Canterlot unicorns will be the main patrons and clients of such airships. So in my mind, unicorns would be the aristocracy, earth ponies the rising class and pegasi the big losers of this technological change.

Pirates
Depending on what the source of the airship fuel is, we could have pirates looting towns for it. These pirates may include a larger proportion of pegasi, as these can more easily jump in and out of the airship. I suspect though that the captains and technicians will be earth ponies. These pirates may give political clout to the pegasi's demands to curb the technology, and may give the unicorns some thoughts. Also, pirates would up the consumption of apple cider on the board.

Chaos ponies
Their goal is to put chaos into power. This means overthrowing the princesses and either reviving Discord or reforming him back (or find a new chaos leader). As mentioned above, one possibility is to have chaos magic be infused (maybe temporarily?) into some members.

Non-pony races
How much freedom do we want to give members? On the one hand, there are so many species that would work. On the other hand, unless we can find a unified way of treating them, each race will have to be handled on a case-by-case scenario, which may become tedious to follow. I mean, keeping track of the politics of Equestria with each race puts quite a burden on members who just want to RP. So in my mind either we find a unified structure, or the playable races could be listed up front.

Nightmare Moon
If night-living creatures are played on the board, we could have a faction loyal to Nightmare Moon played out. This would be a similar plot to the chaos pony one, but more focused on non-pony villains (owls, were-wolfs, maybe plain wolfs...).

Changelings
Do we want to allow them? They could be fun in very small numbers, but I'm worried about how they play out in an RP setting.

Discord
Same question for the lord of chaos, who is quite powerful. We also have to figure out if he's been revived and reformed in our timeline.

[The Shadow Pony]

I agree? .3.

Is there an alicorn rule? Can they be made as OCs?

Because I have one..... He doesn't know how to control his magic though and its rather weak due to not being practiced as much.

[Empathy]

Yes. No OC alicorns. *tries to put more carrots around the earth ponies to make them more attractive*

Out of curiosity, what are his powers?

[The Shadow Pony]

Well he can fly and he has some chaotic/shadow magic.

When he tries to use it something bad may happen. For example, if he were to try to levitate a cake it might explode, or turn into a frog or something of the sorts. His magic isn't really natural, more of a curse. Not a TRUE Alicorn.

[The Shadow Pony]

Hes also a bit like a vampire in the sense that sunlight hurts his eyes. Hes a nighttime creature.

I'd have to make the character on a character sheet to show ya everything bout him. I've spent quite a bit of time working on him. Hes got an interesting history and a brother.

[The Shadow Pony]

I had an idea.

What if people are allowed only 1 Alicorn, but they have to describe how they became an alicorn or w/e. Basically go far more into detail for an Alicorn character. Also maybe give them some sort of extreme weakness? Like for example with mine, even though he is an alicorn, he doesn't know how to use magic.

Just some suggestions x.x

[feathers]

Feb 26, 2014 10:17:24 GMT -5 Empathy said:

Ok, so lets move the discussion about the reboot here.

What is certain at this point:

[/span]Ponies, no humans.
[*]No alicorn Twilight.
[*]Steampunk airships will be a thing.
[*]Non-pony races will be playable.
[*]There will be a 'chaos' faction trying to revive and/or put Discord back on the throne.
[*]Earth ponies will be special in some way.
[/ul]

A clarification on the last point: I want to make Earth ponies an attractive option when compared to Pegasi and Unicorns, so that the default option for players isn't just to slap a pair of wings or a horn onto a completely acceptable pony OC. I have several thoughts on how to achieve this, ranging from the least to the most explicit:

[/span] on how good of a flyer they are. I think we could explicitly give earth ponies an advantage over the other two pony races by explicitly putting in a field for special senses or affinities. Think Pinkie sense, Fluttershy's stare, animal empathy (Fluttershy is basically an earth pony xD) or Applejack's insane dexterity and strength. These wouldn't be magical per say, but definitely a special talent of sorts.

[*] Make the Steampunk ships run on something produced exclusively by earth pony towns (oil, cider...) so that the new booming technology will be predominantly in their hands. Any airship captain will have to be an earth pony to be realistic within that political environment.

[*] The chaos faction may be able to imbue earth ponies with chaos magic, giving them one specialized magical ability, but not the versatility of a standard unicorn. This means they won't have telekinesis or other standard magic. Side effects may occur.
[/ul]
[/quote]
What if we set a rule? Like, each member are limited to 4 or 3 OC. They can only apply to their OC's to one race each. Like, I apply Stardust to be a unicorn. That means my next arc will be either an Earth and Pegasus pony. The fourth one, could be a creative new breed/racer's. OR a earth pony! Of coz, with the approved of Admin's of coz.

-Depending on the Admin's agreement to set OC's limitation to 3 or 4 OC application-

That way, we can control and limit members a choice of races. I know it mean, but it helps not having too many Unicorn and Pegasus in one place.

Feb 26, 2014 10:17:24 GMT -5 Empathy said:

Other thoughts:

Source of the Steampunk airships
Two fuel sources come in mind: the traditional fossil fuels and biofuels. While fossil fuels are more realistic, maybe Equestria doesn't have a large supply of those or maybe some technological or magical invention has boosted the effectiveness of apple cider. This would be a good plot point for the Apple family.

Politics of airships
They will probably be operated mostly by earth ponies, who may jealously guard their secrets. pegasi will be upset, as they lose out by not being required for some tasks anymore. Finally, rich Canterlot unicorns will be the main patrons and clients of such airships. So in my mind, unicorns would be the aristocracy, earth ponies the rising class and pegasi the big losers of this technological change.

Pirates
Depending on what the source of the airship fuel is, we could have pirates looting towns for it. These pirates may include a larger proportion of pegasi, as these can more easily jump in and out of the airship. I suspect though that the captains and technicians will be earth ponies. These pirates may give political clout to the pegasi's demands to curb the technology, and may give the unicorns some thoughts. Also, pirates would up the consumption of apple cider on the board.

Pirate Stuff

Well, I agree if we should stick with the apple cider being the fuel. Just as Kenni-chan suggested it. More fun to mess play around with the Applebloom family.

This is a fan made rp. We don't have to specific and stuff. Like, what actually airshops runs on? Creativity is boundless. If we are nuts, we could even say Spike is actually powering the ship with his dragon breath.

='D

Abt the captain being an earth pony is an awesome idea. You might need to make him a awesome sword fighter to keep his colt in place.

Feb 26, 2014 10:17:24 GMT -5 Empathy said:

Chaos ponies
Their goal is to put chaos into power. This means overthrowing the princesses and either reviving Discord or reforming him back (or find a new chaos leader). As mentioned above, one possibility is to have chaos magic be infused (maybe temporarily?) into some members.

Non-pony races
How much freedom do we want to give members? On the one hand, there are so many species that would work. On the other hand, unless we can find a unified way of treating them, each race will have to be handled on a case-by-case scenario, which may become tedious to follow. I mean, keeping track of the politics of Equestria with each race puts quite a burden on members who just want to RP. So in my mind either we find a unified structure, or the playable races could be listed up front.

Nightmare Moon
If night-living creatures are played on the board, we could have a faction loyal to Nightmare Moon played out. This would be a similar plot to the chaos pony one, but more focused on non-pony villains (owls, were-wolfs, maybe plain wolfs...).

Changelings
Do we want to allow them? They could be fun in very small numbers, but I'm worried about how they play out in an RP setting.

Discord
Same question for the lord of chaos, who is quite powerful. We also have to figure out if he's been revived and reformed in our timeline.

Chaos Ponies

Emp, was that my idea I suggested to you in PM. And yeah, I like the idea. Sounds like a plot xD

My ideas I discuss with Emp through Pm's

What happen? If there is an evil villain, who is an old enemy of the element of harmony. He/she came up with a plan. In order to defend your enemies, you need to fight fire with fire. Coming up with an idea to create an opposite of the element of harmony. Born of the negative emotion of the pony/Equestria. Corrupting the friends or family of the weirder by the element current users.

In order words, our oc gets a chance to test what it's like to be evil. 

Non-pony races

This will be a problem. I suggest the member comes to us and suggest to us. So, we can evaluate and think abt it. We can have them too much freedom. They might create an pony x dragon who or might be too powerful and god mod and such. 

We could lay down some ground rules. Again, we admins need to sit down and talk about it. Or the member could suggest something we can maintain the standard. 

Nightmare Moon

Again, sound like an epic plot. 

Changelings

Probably as NPC. Cause I'm worried they might go a bit wild. Since changelings can be anything or anyone they wanted to be. They could even be Princess Candance and such. Sooo...

='D

Discord

We could npc unless someone like to take his place. We could get him reform and tempted to be evil again. Will be an epic story there. xD He was still kinda evil in Season 4 of MLP

Another ideas

Here's another one. Here's another idea. Originated from the MLP G1 story.


An odd gipsy stranger came to Ponyville. She has a magical bird who sang a song before leaving. Soon, one by one. Ponies started to disappear from town. When the heroes came to save the day. They found out the gipsy was  a witch. Capturing the unicorn to gather its power empowers her magic. Creating a fantasy land where all your dreams will come true. Unaware they became obsessed with the place and as they began to wither older and older. Turning their obsession to give the gypsy her youth.

[Deleted]

(For those of you not familiar with me, this is Werefox/Red Fox from TTGG.)

Feb 26, 2014 10:17:24 GMT -5 Empathy said:

A clarification on the last point: I want to make Earth ponies an attractive option when compared to Pegasi and Unicorns, so that the default option for players isn't just to slap a pair of wings or a horn onto a completely acceptable pony OC. I have several thoughts on how to achieve this, ranging from the least to the most explicit:

Personally, I don't think you/we should go out of our way to make people play earth ponies. If people want to play earth ponies they'll play them; if they don't, they won't. Trying to force people t will most likely backfire.

So, if you made it so that airship captains have to be earth ponies, and people don't want to play earth ponies, they'd just ignore the airship plot.

But I do agree about the special traits. Every pony is supposed to have something they're uncannily good at as indicated by cutie mark, and each pony race is supposed to have broad specialties as well (at least that's my understanding). Unicorns have traditional magic and telekinesis, pegasi have flight/tactile tk and weather control, and earth ponies have an affinity for the earth (mechanics, agriculture, crafts, animal care) and are physically stronger than the other two breeds.

And yes, Fluttershy is pretty much an earth pony. The fact that she has a lot of their powers is offset by her lack of flying ability.

What would be a good idea is to set up a topic about this, explainign the proclivities of the different races and saying that if your pony is a labourer, artisan or deals with animals, it would be best to make them an earth pony. Unicorns are more scholars and artists and pegasi are all about the flying.

Somewhat tangential, but I saw somewhere that someone suggested we redo the profile form. I completely agree.

What if we set a rule? Like, each member are limited to 4 or 3 OC. They can only apply to their OC's to one race each. Like, I apply Stardust to be a unicorn. That means my next arc will be either an Earth and Pegasus pony. The fourth one, could be a creative new breed/racer's. OR a earth pony! Of coz, with the approved of Admin's of coz.

-Depending on the Admin's agreement to set OC's limitation to 3 or 4 OC application-

That way, we can control and limit members a choice of races. I know it mean, but it helps not having too many Unicorn and Pegasus in one place.

Character limits are an idea, but not something I'd want to see right off the bat. All it really does is limit the number of characters you get, it doesn't encourage people to make a different kind of character.

]Other thoughts:

Source of the Steampunk airships
Two fuel sources come in mind: the traditional fossil fuels and biofuels. While fossil fuels are more realistic, maybe Equestria doesn't have a large supply of those or maybe some technological or magical invention has boosted the effectiveness of apple cider. This would be a good plot point for the Apple family.

Personally, charcoal is what comes to mind as a fuel. But, if we're going to use magically-enhanced cider, it makes more sense to me that it would be more of an internal combustion thing than steam. You can't *burn* cider, I don't think, but if the engines were simply extracting the vital energy of the cider via magic...

Come to think of it though, Equestria already has steam power. They have trains. So the trains are running on something and I doubt it's cider. But that could be the thing. Somepony -- or two, I like to think it as being a unicorn and earth pony working together -- invents the cider engine, and airships, and it's new, and OMG.

Politics of airships
They will probably be operated mostly by earth ponies, who may jealously guard their secrets. pegasi will be upset, as they lose out by not being required for some tasks anymore. Finally, rich Canterlot unicorns will be the main patrons and clients of such airships. So in my mind, unicorns would be the aristocracy, earth ponies the rising class and pegasi the big losers of this technological change.

The only part of this I really get is that pegasi would feel hurt, since they no longer have a monopoly on flight. Unicorns would make just as good captains and mechanics (except for earth ponies presumably having more of a knack for mechanics in general). And earth ponies can be just as rich and therefore as much patrons of the technology.

Pirates
Depending on what the source of the airship fuel is, we could have pirates looting towns for it. These pirates may include a larger proportion of pegasi, as these can more easily jump in and out of the airship. I suspect though that the captains and technicians will be earth ponies. These pirates may give political clout to the pegasi's demands to curb the technology, and may give the unicorns some thoughts. Also, pirates would up the consumption of apple cider on the board.

Pirates exist primarily for reasons other than collect fuel. I like sky pirates though.

Both this and the political stuff though bring up the question of if you guys want this to be the main direction of the board -- invention of airships and the political wrangling over them? Because it's already quite involved and the details haven't even been set yet. It's also quite a different direction from the show -- it doesn't really build on any preexisting points from the show. And finally, as long as it is the main focus it's going to crowd out other plot ideas.

Chaos ponies
Their goal is to put chaos into power. This means overthrowing the princesses and either reviving Discord or reforming him back (or find a new chaos leader). As mentioned above, one possibility is to have chaos magic be infused (maybe temporarily?) into some members.

I kind of don't think the Cult should be able to give its members chaos powers. if they can -- if there's some sort of "chaos field" for them to tap into -- it pretty much makes Discord irrelevant. They might still look up to him as an inspiration, but there's no drive to free him/revert him so that he can bring the chaos if they can do it themselves.

Non-pony races
How much freedom do we want to give members? On the one hand, there are so many species that would work. On the other hand, unless we can find a unified way of treating them, each race will have to be handled on a case-by-case scenario, which may become tedious to follow. I mean, keeping track of the politics of Equestria with each race puts quite a burden on members who just want to RP. So in my mind either we find a unified structure, or the playable races could be listed up front.

What do you mean by "unified structure"?

And your ideas for airships are likely more politically involved than setting up other races. : p Other races wouldn't necessarily have to have kingdoms of their own.

Not that I would be opposed to international intrigue.

My own idea is to have a racial template which people could fill out if they want to create another race. Also limit the kinds of races that would be acceptable to animals real or mythical. So far MLP has the following races:

Mundane
- All hooved animals are shown as being intelligent (ponies, horses, zebras, donkeys, cattle, buffalo, pigs)

Mythical
- Unicorns and pegasi

- Dragons (which I don't think an adult dragon should be playable, unless we could have mini dragons or something)

- Griffons

Original
- Changelings (which I'll address later)

- Diamond dogs

(I feel like I missed some, but I don't know -- forgive me if I did.)

So far, foxes, wolves, werewolves, vampires and kitsune have been suggested (I think I mentioned kitsne before?).

- Foxes and wolves. I wouldn't mind them being playable. I love foxes, and wolves are okay. Also it would be interesting to see other canids -- coyotes in the western/frontier setting alongside the buffalo and cowponies, and jackals if we have an Egyptian analog.

But this raises the question of why domestic dogs are "animalistic". True, I think the pet-animals are smarter than their real-world counterparts, but they can't talk and are "cared for" in a way you wouldn't do for another intelligent being. And dogs basically are domesticated wolves.

Of course foxes aren't that closely related to wolves, so it might not apply to them.

Another thing is meat-eating. The show doesn't really address it, but apparently dragons do eat ponies so odds are that other carnivorous creatures would still be carnivorous.

- Owls: Empathy mentioned owls. Makes me think of the Parliament of Owls from the Chronicles of Narnia. But again, owls are depicted as pets...? Would you want to just erase the distinction between ponies and "pet-animals"? So that Owloysius, Angel and the others would be playable characters/NPC sidekicks instead of pets? (I.e., they'd be like Spike, only incapable of speech.)

- Werewolves: I was thinking anthro wolves a la the minotaur, but with the ability to shapeshift into regular wolves. Also they could turn ponies, and a wolfpony would basically shift under the light of he full moon. Werewolves could also have other abiltiies drawn from pop/folklore, and/or selenokinesis (ability to manipulate moonlgiht).

- Vampires: I actually hadn't given this a lot of thought. >> I'm inclined to say they're just vampire ponies; ponies that drink blood and have other vampire traits. They could be a separate race though, like anthro or giant bats.

- Kitsune: Note that I normally don't like calling them "kitsune", but it's an easy way to distinguish them from regular foxes. I imagine them in some ways like unicorn ponies -- rainbow-hued, with the ability to use magic (although I also have some specific magical specialties that they could be limited to instead). They would grow more tails as they become more powerful. They would live in an Oriental culture, similar to how the buffalo are southwest indians and the zebras are African.

And then I have some further suggestions.

- Bat ponies: These are actually semi-canon. There are a couple of bat-winged ponies drawing Luna's carriage in "Luna Eclipsed". So that implies a similar tactile tk power to pegasi. Unless they *are* pegasi that Luna mutated, which isn't something I want to think. >>

- Sea ponies: Shoo-bi-doo.~ Probably not an issue since there's no water around Ponyville and Caterlot, but I wouldn't mind. (If you're curious, there is an actual mythological basis for them -- the hippocampus.)

- Perytons: Winged deer, which in some stories are enemies to unicorns.

- Hippogryphs: Griffon-horses, which could be their own race or just the result of a cross between a gryphon and a pony.

- Bakeneko/nekomata: Magical Japanese cats, the nekomata in particular is reputed to have two tails (the inspiration of the Pokémon Espeon). They could be neighbours/compatriots to the kitsune.

- Oriental dragon: "Lung/long" in Chinese, "ryuu" in Japanese: they could be a more civilised counterpart tot he dragons in the show.

- Qilin/kirin: Another oriental race. The qilin's depiction varies a lot by source; I prefer the idea of them being "unicorns" in the sense of having a single horn, but otherwise I don't particularly care.

Non-pony races

This will be a problem. I suggest the member comes to us and suggest to us. So, we can evaluate and think abt it. We can have them too much freedom. They might create an pony x dragon who or might be too powerful and god mod and such.

We could lay down some ground rules. Again, we admins need to sit down and talk about it. Or the member could suggest something we can maintain the standard.

We could avoid this by allowing only races based on preexisting animals or myths? Or we could just not allow members to submit new races; I guess I wouldn't be against that.

]Nightmare Moon
If night-living creatures are played on the board, we could have a faction loyal to Nightmare Moon played out. This would be a similar plot to the chaos pony one, but more focused on non-pony villains (owls, were-wolfs, maybe plain wolfs...).

Those races could be played, and if I claim Luna I'm going to make her struggle with her Nightmare persona, but if we're doing the airship thing I don't see this as a doable plot.

Changelings
Do we want to allow them? They could be fun in very small numbers, but I'm worried about how they play out in an RP setting.

Changelings

Probably as NPC. Cause I'm worried they might go a bit wild. Since changelings can be anything or anyone they wanted to be. They could even be Princess Candance and such. Sooo...

Why the concern? The other thing about them is that their characteristics need to be fleshed out -- like, what does it mean that they "feed on love"? What was going to happen to Celestia inside that chrysalis?

Yes, a changeling could take Celestia's appearance. But that would take some doing to actually work -- he'd have to get rid of the real Ceelstia, and learn how to mimic her personality, and he wouldn't have her powers. So it wouldn't do much good.

And we don't know that Changelings can shift into *anything*. They're only shown transforming into ponies.

I would also suggest that not all Changelings follow Chrysalis.

Discord
Same question for the lord of chaos, who is quite powerful. We also have to figure out if he's been revived and reformed in our timeline.

My answer is that we should still have him be petrified. To be honest, I do not like Discord, and I do not like the implications for the sanity of those involved in "freeing" him nor do I think his "reformation" made any sense. And obviously we do not have to worry about him that way.

Otherwise -- if he isn't petrified or is freed in the course of the RP by the Chaos Cult -- he should always be a plot catalyst played by staff, and not available for players to claim.

And on the same note I think he should be unique. No other draconequi, thank you.

What happen? If there is an evil villain, who is an old enemy of the element of harmony. He/she came up with a plan. In order to defend your enemies, you need to fight fire with fire. Coming up with an idea to create an opposite of the element of harmony. Born of the negative emotion of the pony/Equestria. Corrupting the friends or family of the weirder by the element current users.

That would take some serious power and a lot of evil mojo. It's a good idea, from what I understand of it, but would require a lot of focus.

(And how intent are you on originality? Because I know this has been done before. Of course maybe it was done on this forum before it shut own. >>

An odd gipsy stranger came to Ponyville. She has a magical bird who sang a song before leaving. Soon, one by one. Ponies started to disappear from town. When the heroes came to save the day. They found out the gipsy was a witch. Capturing the unicorn to gather its power empowers her magic. Creating a fantasy land where all your dreams will come true. Unaware they became obsessed with the place and as they began to wither older and older. Turning their obsession to give the gypsy her youth.

Also intriguing, and maybe it could be fit in as a side-plot to another plot, although again it sounds like it deserves to be the main focus of the board.

And I have another plot idea too, involving the Alicorn Amulet. Now I dislike the episode that featured it intensely -- I mean, the Amulet is the pony version of the One Ring, why is it just gathering dust in a curio shop? When people know what and where it is? And why does it make its wearer stupid?

But the idea has a lot of potential. It wouldn't have to be Trixie who finds it, and we could decide whether it actively corrupts its user or not -- if it does then there's probably something more at work there.

Is there an alicorn rule? Can they be made as OCs?

Personally, I don't see why alicorns shouldn't be playable, within reason. But the question to ask before asking if they're playable is: what are they?

I mean, they're oviously unicorns with wings. But what does that entail? Can someone become an alicorn or is it just something you're born with -- or something that special ponies can develop in time?

And, what kind of power do they have? How do other ponies see them?

Yes, I'm going to ignore canon on this. Because I think the season three finale was silly and offers no real explanation for any of the events that happened therein.

So I see two possibilities:

- Alicorns are born. In this scenario there's one family of alicorns, that of Equestria's royalty. Any other alicorns would have to be related to them. This lends more to the idea that alicorns are the "gods" of the pony world.

- Alicorns can be created, or develop in time. This is probably more interesting if there are going to be OC alicorns.

I'd kind of go with the latter. It implies that alicorns are less special and divine, and more like superheroes/mutants. And it would kind of go without saying that not all alicorns would ahve the powers of Celestia and Luna, just like not all unicorns have the powers of Twilgiht or all pegasi the power of Rainbow Dash.

So -- going along with the idea of them being like Marvel's mutants -- here's what I would suggest:

- They can be born this way, as I assume was the cae with Celestia and Luna.

- They develop into alicorns naturally as their powers blossom.

- They can be created by other means.

And in the latter two cases it doesn't have to be unicorns that develop into them. Borrowing an idea from an author I like, I wouldn't mind seeing Star Swirl's spell being used, but it should affect all six ponies involved -- basically using the magic of friendship to unlock the hidden potential of all of them. This would be considered "natural" -- given time, the Mane Six might have become alicorns anyway.

Then there could be "unnatural" ways, like the alciron amulet.

As far as their powers, they would each have their own special talent as well as the combined abilities of the other three races. They basically are harmony incarnate, a living representation of the bond between the three tribes.

And I want to hear more about your OC, Shadow Pony. : )

And, I think we need to split this into at least two other topics. : p We could keep talking about the plot here, but move the discussion about races to a new one.

Suggested Plots:
- Cider Revolution
- Elements of Disharmony
- Youth-Stealing Witch
- Alicorn Amulet
- International Intrigue
- Cult of Chaos
- Return of Nightmare Moon

[Empathy]

Fox raises good points.

A single main political plot would be good, at least to start with. Here is my pitch for the steampunk airships.

The nation of Equestria was founded by the intertwining of three separate pony races: the magical unicorns, flying pegasi and industrious earth ponies. For centuries these three groups have increasingly mingled and mixed together to form a functioning society under the motto 'unity and harmony'. Sure, each city has a majority of one of the three races, but tries very hard to have enough of a mix of talents to function in a near autonomous fashion.

But recently cracks have started to appear in equestrian society. A new invention, the ingenious mindchild of a unicorn mage and an earth pony tinkerer threatens to divide the society by -ironically- binding together the cities more closely.

Cider-powered Steam engines. Magically improved cider, an easy fuel for the burgeoning trade of high-speed air ships now racing the equestrian skies to deliver goods from city to city. They promise great speed in transportation of ponies and cargo. They allow cities to specialize their economy and rely more heavily on trade for their needs. It is creating a new class of rich merchant earth ponies and unicorns. But it is also leaving behind disillusioned pegasi, now unable to find employment and live in the big unicorn or earth pony cities. They are simply not needed anymore.

But some of them are fighting back, using airships of their own. These are designed to be smaller, faster to raid the giant merchant cargo airships or kidnap wealthy transport balloons. Where is your harmony now?

So, in my mind, a more interconnected Equestria means that each town or city doesn't need to focus as much on having a diverse population to cover all the traditional roles for unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies, as they can simply trade faster the goods that they cannot produce on their own. Pegasi would be the biggest losers in the equation, and may reuse their superior aerial mobility to resort to pirating. Also, while cider is plentiful in the earth pony towns, it is still a somewhat rarer resource (especially with the growing demand) in pegasi and unicorn towns, which leads to raids by pirates to refuel their airships. And some factions (chaos, other races...) may use this setting to their advantage to further whatever goals they have. So while the steampunk airship would be the major background setting, I hope it doesn't crowd out more frontground arcs as the ones discussed previously.

[The Shadow Pony]

Fox = Boss..... 'nuff said.

[Deleted]

Hmmm.

I want to sign up for it, but I can't help but point out that I don't think airships would make *that* big a difference to Equestria. As I said, they have railroads. At most airships would just accelerate whatever trends that introduced. And pegasi's main purpose -- weather stability -- could still be fulfilled only by them. So, hrm.

Also in eneral I think unicorns would have been the "useless" race -- pegasi controlt he weather and at one time dominated rapid transit, whereas earth ponies do most of the "important" stuff, agriculture and industry. Of course, if unicorns are the intelligentsia, it might not *seem* that way, but it's useful to remember that their position is really less secure than either of the other two. The fact that the new technology is really magitek and requires their input could be seen as a boon to them.

But I personally would focus less on tribal division and more on the piracy, which would be more of a thing where unscrupulous ponies prey on other other airships. Which amkes me think that since pegasi *would* be good at fighting from airships, they would have a new niche as airship guards.

Perhaps a different angle for conflict would just a "loss of order" as ponies find new freedom. I like Celestia, but I do think she's something of a control freak -- she controls the motions of the heavens, the pegasi control the weather under her direction. Even the leaves can't fall from the trees without the ponies' intervention. Now the cider power is allowing the ponies to move "too fast" for Celestia to keep track of, and so she might feel like she has to crack down -- which could spur a revolution.

Also, if we want to tie international politics into this, I would suggest that other nations might view the excessive control that the Equestrians exercise over nature as unnatural. Stifling. Plus Celestia and Luna controlling the heavens might be seen as a threat to other nations who are basically at their mercy for the seasons (unless the Princesses actually rule the entire world...)

And ponies could, for the first time, really be experiencing contact with other peoples. Railroads aren't conducive to exploring, but airships could be. Their advent could mean the end of an isolationist period.

About airhsips themselves, like I said I don't really see them as steampunk. I'm going to describe my idea for the basics of one.

Ind esign they're a blend of a zeppelin/dirigible and an ornithopter, meaning they have birdlike wings. They're basically a balloon full of helium with a gondola suspended from it, and mechanical bird wings extending from that (which are either raised or retracted to land, although the airship could also remain suspended indefinitely). Lift is provided both by the balloon and by the wings; thrust by the wings and by propellers. The propulsion comes from the cider engine, which is a magical device that extracts energy from enriched cider -- in essence a stomach, with the exhaust being sweet-smelling fumes (the perks of living in a magical world). The energy is then converted to kinetic energy which powers the wings and propellers, all of which are mechanical.

It might be possible for smaller craft to dispense with the balloon, relying on the wings alone for lift -- possibly using pegasus or unicorn magic for initial takeoff, after which the wings are extended. That would make them fater and more maneuverable.

[The Shadow Pony]

Seems like you all wish to make a great war or something.....

[Deleted]

Mar 2, 2014 18:18:07 GMT -5 The Shadow Pony said:

Fox = Boss..... 'nuff said.

Why, thank you. ^^;

I'm not sure I want a war... but I kind of do want a conflict, preferably the kind of conflict that will make people think about their actions, question their assumptions. That's one reason i suppose I want to revisit Nightmare Moon, and have a "night" faction that would confront the ponies with the idea that perhaps they aren't treating Luna with due respect.

But I also... kind of just want to play in the setting and have fun. *Shrug.* It seems a good many bronies want to mark Equestria into a dark place with nothing but conflict, and I don't really cotton to that either.

And on reading about her I don't really think Celestia is *that* obsessed by order either. So I don't think the economic freedom presented by airships would upset her. Though the proliferation of pirates might. But then it's hard to imagine a huge criminal class of ponies springing up out of nowhere.

Do you (or anypony else) have any opinions on the airship/cider revolution plot? I assume Empathy likes it, it being his idea and all. : p I like airships in general and I've warmed tot he idea of cider being used as a magic fuel; however I don't see it creating that much of a disturbance.

Then again, does it have to? I suppose it depends on what kind of roleplay y'all primarily want -- slice of life, epic good/evil struggle, or political drama.

Like:

Slice of life -- there is no major plot, we just play ponies. Exciting stuff crops up now and then, but the main focus is just developing our characters.

Epic battle: This is definitely what the Elements of Disharmony would be. Also something involving Sombra.

Political drama: This is pretty much we've been discussing so far, serious business about intrapony relations, Celestia's rule, and how other countries/nations see Equestria.

I kind of want to go for a mix of slice of life and political drama I guess. The occassional epic plot line could be thrown in, but I feel like truly evil characters make for a boring roleplay over-all.

[The Shadow Pony]

I think Fox just wants Sombra cause he looked cool

But I thought he was destroyed or imprisoned or something. and he doesn't really spring back up until the crystal empire springs up. And even then he starts off as a mere shadow of his former self.

I think I just confused myself.... I just can't see a Sombra villain really causing that much trouble outside of the Crystal empire. I mean hes pretty much tied down to the place.

[The Shadow Pony]

I agree that having airship(s) wouldn't really be that much of a cause for trouble... Airships are cool, but I don't think any real political dilemna would be created because of them. and while I do love me some pirateering, I can't really picture ponies as pirates for some reason.

Pirates are usually rowdy, crude, plunder and pillage and kill half of the people on the other ship kinda people. I can't picture the ponehs slaughtering other ponehs. Its like Diablo 3 Whimsyshire all over again T.T