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ooc Equestria Forward (OOC)

skbl17

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FancyHorse

FancyHorse

I appreciate your appreciation to it :) There are times creating my own threads thinking I'm gonna be able to type up paragraph upon paragraph and just end making a measly single paragraph or what not x3.

 

Keep being awesome :squee:

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skbl17
skbl17

....*is this thing up*? Okay...finally, I can use MLP Forums again! Stupid cooling systems and flash drives having to break and screw up everything.   So, Equestria Forward. Where are we? What are m

skbl17
skbl17

Okay, so three points:   1) I've decided to add a timestamp to my posts, detailing the current time in-roleplay.   2) Yes, it's still Tuesday. Don't worry, I still plan on speeding up the time wit

skbl17
skbl17

Is this thing on? Is this thing on? Oh, it is? Okay...   Oh man, where's the time gone? Hey everyone, I should apologize for the very long delay in things here, but I've been really sick (pollen + c

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skbl17

skbl17

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I have to echo what Illusive says. Quite detailed.

 

I also get the impression we have lots of non show canon cities like the one we're all in, due to some kind of population explosion.

 

There are a lot of non-canon locales. When you have an open-ended universe like this, and canon has only confirmed a few cities (Canterlot, Ponyville, Baltimare, Manehattan, etc.), there is going to be a lot of non-canon stuff involved.

 

Some day, I'll make a map.

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skbl17

skbl17

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(edited)

I've updated the OP to reflect the fact that it seems that the RP has developed, dare I say it, a PLOT!  :o

 

I'm actually okay with it, but I've decided that this will now be divided into "arcs". What's going on right now is part of the first arc. There will be a second arc once the events of the first are cleared up. Signups are still open.

Edited by skbl17
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skbl17

skbl17

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(edited)

I'd like to add this characters profile if its acceptable? I've already mentioned him, so he'll be a reoccurring character.

 

http://mlpforums.com/page/roleplay-characters/_/bulawayo-zebra-r7602

 

And Aha'ban has a sister, I'll add her profile.

 

http://mlpforums.com/page/roleplay-characters/_/imaia-steelwings-r7773

 

No, that's fine. There's no hard limit on characters.

 

Also, rule reminder:

Rule 3: All posts must be made in English. If your character speaks another language, a translation must be provided in parentheses.

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Lektra Bolt

Lektra Bolt

(edited)

Yea I've also been confused what the buck your characters are saying, Illusive.

 

I'd like to give it ample time in the RP to make a time skip make sense, so you guys go on your way a bit. Don't wait for me to post. Heck, I was kinda hoping High Voltage would pay Lektra a visit anyway.

Edited by bronislav84
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skbl17

skbl17

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(edited)

New detail post coming Wednesday! This time, I'm finishing up the Infrastructure series. The focus: how the buck do ponies get around? No stagecoaches, dirt roads, or steam trains? Madness!

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Lektra Bolt

Lektra Bolt

(edited)

You know, this could be great as a whole forum section RP similar to EQE. It's so detailed, it might just work.

 

Speaking of getting around, Lektra flies short distances but she needs to use normal transportation for long distances. Sparky can fly her between cities and towns, but it might take too long.

Edited by bronislav84
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Ashen Pathfinder

Ashen Pathfinder

Augh, I completely forgot about this! D:

 

I'll have to look over the details of this one again and go from there! My apologies. >_<

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skbl17

skbl17

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Augh, I completely forgot about this! D:

 

I'll have to look over the details of this one again and go from there! My apologies. >_<

 

That's okay. Some stuff came up back in mid December, so I had to take a break for about a month. In that time, this RP fell by the wayside.

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Scribblegroove

Scribblegroove

(edited)

Augh, I completely forgot about this! D:

 

I'll have to look over the details of this one again and go from there! My apologies. >_<

@skbl17

Right, same story here. I'll try to post again soon. I really like the idea of this roleplay so letting it die would be an awful waste.

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skbl17

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(edited)

Well, as promised, here it is, the final part of the infrastructure series.

 

Infrastructure (Part 2)

Prior to the Equestria Forward program, transportation was very simple in nature. The primary methods of getting around involved long journeys via stagecoaches and trains; the latter was pony-pulled at first, before a gradual transition to steam power occurred before Twilight's ascension. Stagecoaches utilized a network of more than 900,800 miles (1.5 million km) of dirt and cobblestone roads draped across the country, while the railroad network was made up of more than 32,000 miles (51,499 km) of track at the time of the program's launch.

 

However, the existing network presented problems for the technocrats responsible for implementing the Equestria Forward program. There were few roads in the various mountain ranges and deserts in western and central Equestria, which not only made travel difficult, but it made planning new roads and railways in those areas difficult due to the difficulty in conducting surveys. As such, these areas were among the last to see any improvement in transportation, with some parts of the Unicorn Range northwest of Canterlot not seeing high-speed rail for almost ten years after the start of Equestria Forward.

 

Roadways

The principality's road network is composed of 1,100,500 miles (1,771,083 km) of paved and unpaved roads, with 92% of the network paved. The highest concentration of unpaved roads exists in the mountainous areas of the regions of west-central Equestria, where planning and construction has been difficult due to the terrain. Most roads are regulated and maintained for by regional governments, but there are standards in place to allow the road system to maintain uniformity in signage, distance, and markings.

 

National freeways: the Equestrian Trotway System

One of the achievements of the Equestria Forward program was the construction of a nationwide limited-access freeway network to connect the country's cities and ports. This network is the 45,000 mile (72,420 km) long Equestrian Trotway System (shortened to 'the trotway' in everyday use), which was first opened to the general public less than six years after the start of the program. The trotway network is maintained by the National Trotway Authority of Equestria, better known as Trotways Equestria. The statutory agency is composed of a five-member board whose members are appointed by the princesses and confirmed by the Crown Council.

 

Speed limits on the trotways vary by terrain, road conditions, and weather.

 

- The highest speed limit is 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), which is observed in most of Durango and Saddleshire. Most of these regions are flat grassland or desert, which makes trotway stretches here ideal for high speed limits. Otherwise, the typical rural speed limit is 80 miles per hour (128 km/h).

 

- The typical urban speed limit is 65 miles per hour (105 km/h), but some suburban trotways have posted speed limits of 70 miles per hour (113 km/h). Some tighter stretches of trotway in highly dense suburbs have reduced speed limits of 60 miles per hour (91 km/h) due to the tight corners, low clearances, and narrow shoulders. Metropolitan trotways are equipped with variable speed limit and signage systems, which allow Trotways Equestria to remotely adjust speed limits and close lanes if conditions warrant.

 

- In the mountains of west central Equestria, trotways traversing the Unicorn Range have speed limits of 55 miles per hour (88 km/h) due to the extremely tight curves, narrow tunnels, hills, valleys, and potential for hazards. Much like the systems used in urban areas, Trotways Equestria utilizes variable speed limit and signage systems in the mountain ranges.

 

The entire trotway network is tolled, no exceptions. The average toll for two-axle vehicles is B1.20/mile, while larger vehicles pay higher tolls that can reach B5.50/mile. Tolls are collected at exit and entry points on the trotway system; when a user enters a trotway, a computerized system logs the user in a central database (video license plate recognition), commencing the user's "trip". When the user exits the trotway at any point other than service plazas, the "trip" ends and the appropriate amount is charged. Payment is collected in one of two ways:

 

- The user can use a TrotPass, a transponder that contains the user's account information, including personal information and financial records. When the user exits the system, a gantry "reads" the TrotPass information and deducts the toll from the user's account.

 

- If the user does not possess a TrotPass, the license plate is matched against a database of addresses, after which Trotways Equestria sends a toll collection notice to the vehicle owner. Failure to pay within thirty days is considered a misdemeanor.

 

The trotway network also plays host to a network of service plazas, which allows drivers to take care of basic needs without having to exit the trotway system. Service plazas, usually placed fifty miles apart from each other, almost always contain fuel stations, restaurants, and restrooms, but some also contain supermarkets and security offices. Revenue collected from service plazas and tolls allow Trotways Equestria to theoretically achieve self-sufficiency.

 

Other public roadways

The rest of the country's road network is maintained by regional governments. Despite the presence of uniform roadway standards, this decentralization of control can lead to differences in road quality. In general, public roadways are free to use at the time of use and connect more areas than the trotway system can. In exchange, speed limits are much lower (the highest speed limit is 80 miles per hour in parts of Durango) and emergency response times may be longer, especially if an accident occurs in a remote area.

 

All public roadways are funded by regional governments through sales and property taxes; there are no tolls.

 

Railways

Railways in Equestria have multiple uses, but namely the movement of freight and passengers. Oddly, despite the advent of automobiles, the rail network remains the preferred method of getting around most of the country, with more than 75% of all passenger journeys last year involving trains at one point or another.

 

High-speed rail (HSR)

There is no exact definition for what constitutes a "high-speed" rail network. Assuming that "high-speed" denotes a rail line where train speeds can legally reach speeds of 200 miles per hour (322 km/h), only the network owned and operated by Harmony Railways, a consortium of the Government of Equestria and four private rail operators, meets that definition. The HR high-speed rail network largely duplicates the legacy passenger rail network, but with some corridors and stops removed. The 15,000 mile (24,140 km) long network connects cities in every region of mainland Equestria, and roughly 550 million trips every year involve the HR system.

 

The major HSR lines currently in service include:

 

- Coastal Express: The second-busiest HR line, the Coastal Express, connects Mareami with Trotston via Savanneigh, Wilmareton, Baltimare, Fillydelphia, Manehattan, and Trotford. Annual ridership numbers 110 million, or 29% of the entire system's passenger base.

 

- Lake Trot Connector: This line connects Manehattan's Central Station with Whinnyapolis via Sunshine City, Rockchester, Detrot, Chicoltgo, and Marewaukee. Annual ridership numbers 55 million.

 

- The Sealiner: The western equivalent of the Coastal Express. Sealiner service connects the cities of Los Pegasus, Maneterrey, San Coltsisco, Tall Tale, Seaddle, and the Arctican city of Vanhoover. Annual ridership on this line numbers 95 million, making the Sealiner the HSR system's second-busiest line. The southeastern branch of this line shares track with the Gulfliner service.

 

- Capital Connector: This HSR line connects Las Pegasus with the Arctican city of Whinnypeg via Las Neighgas, Everfree Crossroads, Ponyville, Canterlot, and Rubia. This is the third-busiest rail line, with an annual ridership of 88 million.

 

- Gulfliner: This line parallels the coast of the Gulf of Solaris, serving the cities and metropolitan areas of Mareami, Whitewater, Trotsacola, Neigh Orleans, and Hoofington, before continuing west as the Southeastern Sealiner. Annual ridership numbers 62 million.

 

- SDB Railway: The not-so-explanatory self-explanatory name of this line identifies the three major locations served by the line: Seaddle, Durango, and Baltimare. Seaddle, Tall Tale, Magicrest, Canterlot, Omareha, Des Manes, Neighboro and Baltimare are all connected by the SDB line. Annual ridership on this line numbers 56 million.

 

- Center North Line: This weirdly named line refers to the direction of this line, which begins in Hoofington before darting north to serve Hayetteville, Dodge Junction, Canterlot, Magicrest, and Seaddle. This line has an annual ridership of 39 million.

 

- River North Line: This line begins in Hoofington and parallels the Center North Line before splitting off at Hayetteville, heading north to serve Omareha, Whinnyapolis, and the Arctican city of Whinnypeg. Annual ridership on this line numbers 45 million.

 

Regular passenger rail

With the advent of high-speed rail, most of the old passenger rail network has either been decommissioned or converted to HR's HSR system. Some legacy train lines still exist, however.

 

- The line between Ponyville and Canterlot remains open for passenger service as a "historic" route, the Friendship Express. Annual trips number 35 million. Its service partially overlaps with that of HR's Capital Connector high-speed rail line.

 

- The Sea-to-Sea Railway, the first railway line in Equestria, also remains open for passenger service. The privately-run rail line serves an annual ridership of 45 million; to allow the railway to continue to make a profit, freight companies are allowed to use the railway during the overnight and midday hours. Almost half of the line overlaps with that of HR's SDB Railway.

 

Regional rail service

Most major metropolitan areas have some kind of local rail system, which can include a subway, light rail, tram, or commuter rail service. Some really large metropolitan areas, such as Manehattan, have all of these modes of transit as part of their regional transport network. 51% of commuter trips last year involved regional rail systems, with Manehattan's system being the most used (69% of all commutes). Some notes:

 

- In Manehattan, the Metro Transit Commission (MTC)'s member rail systems are the most heavily used, with MTC systems registering an estimated 12 million passenger trips per day. The Manehattan Area Subway Authority (MASA)'s 6.1 million daily trips makes that system the most used subway in the country. Aside from MASA, two commuter rail systems, three light rail systems, and one tram network are members of the MTC consortium.

 

- Canterlot's commuter rail system, Canterail, is the busiest commuter rail system in the country, with an estimated daily ridership of 798,500.

 

- The regional rail system run by the Haywaii Transport Administration is the only rail system currently in use in Equestria's island regions. A system for the Hen Islands is currently in development.

 

Air travel

In Equestria, air travel options remain limited despite the advancements in infrastructure and technology in other transportation sectors. At the beginning of Equestria Forward, an airship system was in development, but its implementation was scuttled as a result of lobbying and stalling tactics undertaken by Cloudsdale residents and hot air balloon enthusiasts. For now, air travel remains the exclusive domain of pegasi, hot air balloons, and the occasional small airship. Princess Twilight has indicated that the development of an air travel sector was still "a necessity", but admitted that it is currently a "low priority" due to the heavy opposition, which includes:

 

- Cloudsdale's representative to the Crown Council, who stalls all air travel-related legislation insisting that the sky is "the domain of Cloudsdale and Cloudsdale alone", much to the ire of urban groups,

- The refusal of hot air balloon operators to do business with cities that want to build airports, fearing that their business would tank dramatically,

- The tactics of powerful lobbying groups, especially the Sky Association, a union of pegasi and Cloudsdale business owners who fear that pegasus-owned businesses will fold if mainland Equestria is allowed to build airports and start commercial air service,

- The Cloudsdale government's refusal to allow any "ground" airline to fly to Cloudsdale, and

- Neighborhoods who wish not to have "noisy" airports built nearby. This is a huge problem in Manehattan, Fillydelphia, and Canterlot, among other major cities.

 

A newspaper editor for the Equestria Daily News summed up the reasons: "Corruption and fear. That's all. Cloudsdale doesn't want to lose control of the skies over Equestria; they see the sky as their economic lifeline, no matter how shortsighted and self-centered that may be."

 

The national government does not actively block companies who wish to operate an air travel service from, well, operating, but they cannot provide any financial or legal support because of the aforementioned roadblocks and opposition. In addition, the Canterlotian bureaucracy placed a moratorium on new airport construction by cities, citing heavy opposition. Essentially, if company A wants to operate an air travel service, they can, but they have to build and maintain their own airports and airplanes, cannot fly to Cloudsdale, and risk boycotts by Sky Association-aligned pegasi. There are some groups, such as the fledgling Association for Free Airspace (AFA), who are trying to overcome all of the opposition in court, but time will tell whether they are successful or not. 

 

A lawsuit (Association for Free Airspace v. City of Cloudsdale) is currently before the Privy Court in Canterlot, which will determine if the constitutional freedom of movement and travel applies to airspace. If the court rules in favor of the plaintiffs (the aforementioned AFA), the national government will be required to establish a regulatory framework for the commencement of nationwide air travel, allowing cities to build airports and rapidly deploy commercial air service. Regardless of their decision, air travel will continue to serve as the battleground in transportation for some time to come.

 

Waterways

Alongside the dirt roads and steam trains of yesterday, waterways have also been eliminated as a means of mass transportation outside of certain areas. Most water-based transport today involves ferries that transport ponies and other residents between remote islands and the mainland. The busiest ferries are those in the Hen Islands, where both the Hen Islands Ministry of Transportation and private ferry operators operate the largest ferry network in Equestria, with an estimated daily ridership of 2.4 million trips on a network that serves the ten islands of the archipelago.

 

Other popular ferry and waterway networks include:

 

- Hen Islands Ferry Consortium: A partnership between HIMoT and five private operators. Busiest ferry system in the country.

 

- Manehattan-Hayboken Ferry: A popular ferry that operates between Manehattan's West Side Docks and the Cantershire suburb of Hayboken. This MTC member system serves 978,000 passengers daily.

 

- Seaddle Bay Ferry (Sebafe): A ferry network that connects various cities in Seaddle Bay, including Seaddle, Redwood, Tall Tale, and Starswirl. This system is the most popular ferry network in mainland Equestria, with an estimated 1.1 million trips per day.

Edited by skbl17
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Lektra Bolt

Lektra Bolt

(edited)

Wow, no air travel technology? Bolt Solutions stands to make a sizeable profit on personal air transportation devices. Non intelligent, non transforming, self driven winged backpacks.

 

I'd call it a lucrative business, even.

Edited by bronislav84
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skbl17

skbl17

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Wow, no air travel technology? Bolt Solutions stands to make a sizeable profit on personal air transportation devices. Non intelligent, non transforming, self driven winged backpacks.

 

I'd call it a lucrative business, even.

 

Just made an edit about that.

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skbl17

skbl17

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Still not seeing anything that would bother or impede the selling of what's essentially a one pony "jetpack" product.

 

Oh wait, personal transportation solutions? As in "one pony, one jetpack"? Then there isn't any problem, I must have misread your post and edited my previous post based off that assumption.

 

In short, Bolt Solutions would be fine. In fact, Bolt Solutions can actually take advantage of the current setup. No pesky airplanes to deal with (no airports = no airlines), no national government interference, the relative lack of noise will keep neighborhoods off its trail, the tiny diehard "the sky's only for ponies with wings" crowd could be ignored with no negative impacts on revenue or service, and by the city's own laws, they can do business in Cloudsdale. If the jetpack becomes really popular, then the hot air balloon market will die off, and there isn't much they can do about it. When the Privy Court rules in the ongoing lawsuit, it might be too late for any future airlines, as Bolt Solutions would have captured almost the entire "we want to fly, but don't have wings" market.

 

I really should get a move on my next detail post: history. Boy, that one might take a few days, as I've got a lot of history to tell.

Edited by skbl17
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Lektra Bolt

Lektra Bolt

(edited)

That's precisely what I meant. One pony, one wingpack. They're not *really* jetpacks. I just called it a jetpack for an easy visualization. But yea, that's precisely the situation I was envisioning. By the time that suit finishes, Bolt Solutions will very likely capture the market on anypony who wants to fly. There won't be need for airplanes or airlines.

 

What's really funny about this is there was a thread in Show Discussion (Might get moved) of a person looking for a non alicorn solution for a Uni to fly. I offered my idea if he is interested. I think her inventing this product based on magic she can do can be made to make sense in a canon environment.

 

I need to post again.

Edited by bronislav84
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skbl17

skbl17

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I noticed that earlier, there was a post about this becoming the next "Equestrian Empire". I don't know, but it would be nice to make this a full-fledged universe with smaller roleplays interacting in this not-quite-cyberpunk-but-close-enough Equestria.

 

Oh, and in case you don't know what day it is in the roleplay, it's still Monday, but don't worry, it's almost Tuesday! :D

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Lektra Bolt

Lektra Bolt

I don't know if you wanna do that, and it would take a lot of work to set up. It's a cool setting though for a bigger forum-wide RP if you decide to pursue it.

 

As for the day changing, yea would be nice. I kinda wanna time skip for the repairs but I don't want you guys to just be left behind like that. Not only is it not my call, but people have stuff they might need to do.

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