ooc The Dark Millennium - a combat & exploration RP - updated rules for joining

[Hederik 119]

It will be at least 16 hours before I can post. Unless I do another small post during my break at work, I've got to get sleep, go to work than attend a seminar before I'll have a chance to get home in front of my computer.

 

Mkay. I'll probably need a good while, and then some, to compose this next part anyway, and I'm rather busy today as well. So all is well.

 

Added on 22.06.2016 (wow this is really hard)

 

@@Colenso Rivers (just in case, still don't know whether or how that works)

 

 

 

"You're not the only one that doesn't believe the world is as small as they say. Gravity dictates it cannot be so. The world as we know it cannot hold onto any atmosphere, but it does. The farther anything is from the center the more outwards the tilt of it's stand would have to be in order to stand at all. And fall into what? If the world just had a cliff, we would gravitate towards it's other side. But what commonplace suggests is that the world is two dimensional, and only one side, which is greater than impossible in this world of ours. The only thing that could make something like that occur is magic, and that's saying there is a sentience behind it, but in our world of three dimensions, it's beyond difficult tp fully comprehend at it's exact properties."

 

Wait, whaaaa...? Where did you learn about the properties of gravity beyond "what rises must fall", or about anything like the atmosphere? We're talking semi-medieval society here, with a few added technological bonuses like ease of access to written word or appliances like trains (which in fact are not a thing in Pony Valley, having gone away with Equestria. Perhaps there are accounts of such, but they do not exist here.). I'm okay with advanced maths - that had been a thing as early on as ancient Greece - but gravity and such are 17th+ century findings.

 

Not to mention the topic has already been mentioned by Blue Moon and, I quote,

 

 

 

I choose to believe instead that the MLP universe features a different physics system. Equestria is either a flat plane or a geode, I don't know and you won't find out; sun and moon are just objects rotating around it, and so are the stars.

 

I know that Colenso is supposed to be well-read, smart and whatnot, but tone it down a little Other than this overabundance of scientific prowess, your post was really good.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Hederik

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

@@Hederik, @@Colenso Rivers, @@SilverHeart.

 

Behold the group photo picture! I didn't do them in all their gear, but I did try to include their main weapon(s).

 

 

Camouflage training must be quite the sight.

 

N.B. I do have a larger, 19MB version if anyone wants it - mostly it shows more details that I don't want shown, such as smudges, mistakes and all the usual problems associated with a poorly cleaned scanner.

[Hederik 119]

@@Once In A Blue Moon,

 

Awesome, and included in the database immediately. Now you'll have to do all the NPCs as well, O illustratious player!

 

I think I like how Silver turned out best. Cat looks incredibly tired with that thick black line on the bottom of her eye.

Edited July 1, 2016 by Hederik

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

I think I like how Silver turned out best.

 

 

Agreed - I think I spent longest on her, although the leg accounted for a fair bit of that.

 

 

Cat looks incredibly tired with that thick black line on the bottom of her eye.

 

 

I do tend to give them both upper and lower eyelids in black, as opposed to the show which only gives them upper eyelids in black. That one on the right was thicker than it should be, though. 

 

 

Now you'll have to do all the NPCs as well, O illustratious player!

 

[Hederik 119]

 

 

Here Lie Redshirts

I'm tempted to make you wear red uniforms. Or throw the roof down on everypony's heads. Or make you vote for who of your unit should die first, then kill anyone who didn't get a vote. Or... wait, who said anything about retirement?

[Ruby Splash 100]

You got any room for a little one?

 

I can be a Antagonist if you've filled all the Protagonist spaces.

[Hederik 119]

@@Ruby Splash,

 

Filled all spaces, good one. No, I don't need more antagonists, the PCs are going to fight against the world at large as it is. And as the RP has a decent tempo at the moment, we're already at a point where adding new players would feel very unnatural. Plus, looking at your most recent posts from the WC RP (an unfortunate abbreviation by the way), you appear to neglect reading your own writing before posting. You have heaps of typos, including the dreaded "your" in place of "you're", and some muddled sentences.

 

All in all, for now I'll pass on your proposition. But once the first part of the journey is through, I will be organizing a second inning for more players to join (I guess I should update the opening post to make that clear). If you should still be interested then, I'll reconsider.

[AzureNightLight 122]

I would like to reserve a spot for when they return to the starting area.

You can have a look at my character here.

https://mlpforums.com/page/roleplay-characters/_/azure-r9604

My character will be at Level 1. (This is important; its for filtering out what spells I have at my disposal, like for example, if I get into an RP with stronger characters, then I might raise it to Level 3. At Level 1, I won't have access to Level 3 spells and abilities.)

 

It would be great if you could just add me in, but I do know it might seriously disrupt the entire roleplay, so I wouldn't mind waiting.

[Ruby Splash 100]

how i not follow this topic, even though im not following it 

 

coz its bugging me with notifications 

[Hederik 119]

@@AzureNightLight,

 

Based on the quality of your OC's page, I will be glad to invite you in during the second round of applications. You get bonus points for noticing there is one planned. You immediately lose them for not reading through the rest of the post. I like your OC, but she will not fit the RP at all in her current shape. The backstory makes no sense in the setting of the Dark Millennium, and it's kind of awkward that you should share the chief non-military interest with Carto Sketch, since star-mapping could hardly be called a common pursuit in fields of knowledge among the Cadets. Nonetheless, I will not begrudge you the ability; it can actually contribute to some interesting interaction between your two characters. However, if you should insist to use Azure as your character in this RP, you will definitely need to rewrite her backstory from scratch (not that I require much of a backstory, there's actually little place to shine in this regard as most of the facts are predetermined in the description of the setting). The list of abilities will need a touch of freshness as well, but you'll easily figure it out if you commit to a thorough read-through of the OOC - and I'm here to discuss any doubts you might have.

 

@@Ruby Splash,

 

Might it be the fact that you've been @mentioned by me in the previous post? (In this one, too.) If not, you should probably try to get help in the tech support section of the forums, there might be someone there who'd deign to assist you.

[Ruby Splash 100]

@@Hederik, 

 

Hmm, maybe its a sign that i should join the rp immediately

 

jks, ill go see support 

Edited July 5, 2016 by Ruby Splash

[AzureNightLight 122]

@@Hederik,

 

Well, this is surprising. I certainly didn't expect to find another pony with an interest in the subject.

 

I understand that my backstory makes no sense with this context. I'll think up another one that works and post it in a form, here.

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

 

 

Well, this is surprising. I certainly didn't expect to find another pony with an interest in the subject.

 

Great minds think alike.

 

To be precise, Carto Sketch is a cartographer - mostly a terrestrial cartographer, but given that the Valley was kind of limited she turned her eyes upwards, as explained in this post here. There's also an OOC post somewhere where I pester our good GM about astronomy.

 

I had intended to use this as justification for her ability to navigate by the stars, which I note is something Azure does as well - if you will pardon my temerity, you may wish to add to her skill set (and adjust her backstory) to help give her a slightly different role (I see both her and Cat being scouts / navigators as it stands.) A flair for unconventional tactics (stemming from a disregard for rules and traditions) could make her the group's tactician, or if she were less introverted then she could be the unofficial leader (or both of the above.)

[AzureNightLight 122]

@@Once In A Blue Moon

So you're saying that my character should be a tactician. That sounds interesting how about a 70% scout and 30% tactician mix? Like that one guy who comes in and says.

 

"I've reported [a thing] about 3 kilometres east of [another thing]. I propose we do [this]." 

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

 

 

So you're saying that my character should be a tactician. That sounds interesting how about a 70% scout and 30% tactician mix? Like that one guy who comes in and says.  

 

"I've reported [a thing] about 3 kilometres east of [another thing]. I propose we do [this]." 

 

 

That sort of thing. A non-military interest to link it to would also make it more believable and give the character depth etc. - chess, maybe, or possibly dancing, or anything else involving planning and coordination for that matter.

[AzureNightLight 122]

@@Once In A Blue Moon

I was gonna say that stargazing is non-military. It was my intention from the beginning.

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

 

 

I was gonna say that stargazing is non-military. It was my intention from the beginning.

 

What I was suggesting was that for each 'military thing' that the character is particularly good at, they have a non-military interest that relates to it. So the stargazing interest means that they can navigate by the stars, playing a fair bit of chess might have meant that they were good at tactics etc.; it gives a nice 50/50 split in interests that tie together, although it could also be seen as highly formulaic so maybe it's not the best for every character. 

[Hederik 119]

 

 

it gives a nice 50/50 split in interests that tie together, although it could also be seen as highly formulaic so maybe it's not the best for every character.

Agreed. Not every professionally useful ability must stem from a personal interest, and not every hobby will translate into something usable in... work, if you will. It is nice to have something that binds the two worlds together and gives shape to the character as a whole, but branching beyond that correlation is what truly makes them three-dimensional.

[AzureNightLight 122]

@@Hederik said it was possible to squeeze me in right before the group leaves. So I guess I have a lot of reading for me to catch up on.

 

 

 

The Dark Millennium Azure Character Sheet

Name: Azure

Race: Unicorn

Appearance:

Character is a white unicorn with teal blue eyes.

Has two different shades of sky-blue in her mane and tail.

Has three blue stars and a quill as a cutie mark.

 

Gear:

- Her notepad of star sketches.

- Saddlebags.

- Camouflaged Padded Armour. (Excuse me, but white really stands out at night.)

- Armour has 6 small sleeves for housing 6 crossbow bolts.

- A sextant.

- A portable telescope.

- Quill and ink.

- A compass.

- Rope.

- A crossbow. It has a wooden handle and a metal stock and barrel. It can hold only one shot and can knock the average pony out if aimed correctly.

- 20 crossbow bolts and 6 stored in quick-access.

 

Skills:

- Navigation

- Celestial Navigation

- Basic self-defence.

- Assembly of crossbow bolts.

 

Spells:

- Basic Levitation

- Precision Levitation

- Zoom-and-Enhance (User can zoom and enhance his/her vision. Effects can be toggled on or off. The spell is a massive strain on the user. One minute of use equals one hour of drain. Can be lessened with further training.)

 

Role:

- A scout and a navigator.

- Part-time tactician.

 

Personality:

She is an introvert. She is private and reserved. She is patient. She hates the conflict between others. She is idealistic... but sometimes too idealistic. She does not take criticism well and usually takes them personally. She does not like being restrained by rules.

 

Hobbies

- Reading

- Stargazing

- Singing (Something she isn't particularly good at, but she is willing to learn and try nonetheless.)

 

Backstory:

 

She was curious. About the outside world. What was it like? There were legends. Legends of creatures and monsters. Monsters capable of crushing rocks with their teeth and incinerating trees with their breath. Creatures capable of disguising themselves as anypony. Creatures that are capable of rivalling pegasi in both strength and flight. Legends were, sadly, only legends. They weren’t real. They probably were made up by some mad pony. But what if they weren’t? It frightened her; it frightened her to no end, but it also had a strange enticing pull to discover, to uncover, to map, the mysteries of the outside world.

 

Of course, when the signups for becoming an Apprentice Officer opened, she knew exactly what to do.

 

 

[Hederik 119]

To reiterate on what has been said, Azure will be part of the unit that is once senior to all you other players. (Not the one with Jade Facet in it. The redshirt middle one, to tip my hat to Once.) So you'll have more of an incentive to prod each other for personal details if and when you decide to actually familiarize - probably not before leaving the academy, but I'll try and set you something up right afterwards.

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

@@Hederik. 

 

 

 

 they were being led by royalty 

 

I thought that I should check that being a winged unicorn grants the Equestrian equivalent of Divine Right - so merely being one makes Twilight queen (or 'princess' as the case may be.)

Edited July 8, 2016 by Once In A Blue Moon

[Hederik 119]

They each had an emotionless, expression upon their faces, almost sorry for the mission the officers were about to undertake.

 

 

 

His distress was as apparent as the general’s light-heartedness

 

Don't play the media and warp my truths

 

 

 

 

I thought that I should check that being a winged unicorn grants the Equestrian equivalent of Divine Right - so merely being one makes Twilight queen (or 'princess' as the case may be.)

 

This could easily be assumed, seeing as the only two alicorns winged unicorns to have made it down the long road of history indeed were. What your characters make of it is up to you.

 

 

PREEMPTIVELY EDITED TO AVOID MERGING

 

You may call this being inspired by Mr. Seldom, you may call this fallout from when I helped a bit to create a kind of awesome flash video. Whatever the reason, have what is mostly a recolor and totally a vectorized image of Rainbow Dash, but with a few details changed, most notably hair style. I may go and add background at some point, but am too lazy to do so at the moment. I may do other NPCs this way, which is the only way I can create 'art' that has any place being shared publicly.

 

 

(In case this isn't obvious, that's Cirrus with her "Are you taking some sick pleasure in all this?" line. Although I'd hope it was.)

Edited July 8, 2016 by Hederik

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

@@Hederik. 

 

I felt like drawing a changeling, and since most of the stuff here is now digital (and digital looks neater and more in line with the show) I went over the sketch in digital. I now remember why I don't use digital, but at least I got this finished: 

 

 

 

Maybe I'll get around to putting the PCs I did earlier into digital at some point (if anyone else is so inclined, please be my guest.)

 

Oh, and if you want to let me know in advance about any monsters I could have a bash at doing them.

Edited July 16, 2016 by Once In A Blue Moon

[Hederik 119]

@@Once In A Blue Moon,

 

You won't do NPCs, but you'll do nameless enemies that haven't even been sighted yet? Have 5 experience point for your character for bringing trolls to Equestria.

 

On a more serious note, it's pretty good actually. The only thing that sticks out as needing some more love for me is the head which looks rather flat without the cel shading. The rest of the body suffers a little from the low contrast between fill and line as well, but it's more acceptable elsewhere than the head.

 

And as I've only done two vectorizations so far, and Azure's picture is the third, your three renditions of in-game characters actually put the score at a tie for now.

 

Also, I wonder whether changelings only wear back armor because they're cheap or if it's somehow the product of their bodies... either way, it looks kinda weird (in general, not your portrayal specifically).

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

 

 

You won't do NPCs, but you'll do nameless enemies that haven't even been sighted yet?

 

I'm waiting to see what their life expectancy is. I also don't really know much about them - the more I know, the better an image I have. Maybe later I'll feel up to drawing whole scenes, complete with NPCs, but for the time being it is beyond my capability (Hence my efforts to draw more unusual things.)

 

 

 

On a more serious note, it's pretty good actually. The only thing that sticks out as needing some more love for me is the head which looks rather flat without the cel shading. The rest of the body suffers a little from the low contrast between fill and line as well, but it's more acceptable elsewhere than the head.

 

Adding depth is something I have never been able to satisfactorily achieve, no matter the medium, and I have no real idea how to go about it with the program I use. The fill / line contrast could only really be improved by making the changeling lighter - and I preferred the darker colour. I suppose I could thicken the lines, but with the amount of bodging I did at the end that would probably end up a mess.

 

 

 

Also, I wonder whether changelings only wear back armor because they're cheap or if it's somehow the product of their bodies... either way, it looks kinda weird (in general, not your portrayal specifically).

 

I assumed that it was a thickened section of chitinous carapace... and when I saw soldiers wearing extra gear, I liked the idea that it was harvested from unfortunate drones.