planning Equus

[Lektra Bolt 2,336]

56 minutes ago, Buck Testa said:

Well let me put it like this: Oaths have been a part of Midnights life since she was a filly. Her power can be attributed in large part to oaths. I've said that Oaths get less ambiguous and more strict as they get closer to Midnight. Oath taking is an intrinsic part of the empire and moving up the ranks requires oaths.

It would be severely suspect if she HADNT taken oaths yet is that close to the Empress.

Fair enough. It's unnecessary but if she needs it she needs it *shrug*

I guess the moment she swore undying love and devotion was conveniently turned into one? 

Edited October 19, 2018 by Lektra Bolt

[Buck Testa 5,503]

8 hours ago, Lektra Bolt said:

Fair enough. It's unnecessary but if she needs it she needs it *shrug*

I guess the moment she swore undying love and devotion was conveniently turned into one? 

Those would be something you would see in marriage oaths, not in an important political position. Think it out a bit. A business contract (outside of 50 shades) doesnt require undying love or devotion or what have you would it? It would be stuff like an agreement to provide services, an agreement not to betray and harm the company or its members, stuff like that. I really would like to encourage you to think outside this infatuation box you're putting yourself in. Its preventing you from thinking things out about the setting.

Edited October 19, 2018 by Buck Testa

[Buck Testa 5,503]

Oaths in this setting are essentially binding contracts. Just like a contract it can have clauses, stipulations, terms and conditions to keep that oath valid. Once you are in an oath, your character will have the oath imbued into their very being. If you oath to work diligently for an employer for x number of hours a week, you will do everything in your power to make that happen, as long as doing do doesnt violate other oaths You've made. 

I'll draw up the specific rules of that mechanic later on.

[Lektra Bolt 2,336]

No worries, I understand how it works. I had just felt like being a major player and the one who oversees most of the Magitek development, actively working yourself and designing the whole process willingly then offering yourself and the company to the ruler was enough, but I suppose there would be oaths involved even for willing participants

Perhaps she only thought she broke through all the guards, but the empress knew it was going to happen anyway, due to past oaths already taken?

Edited October 19, 2018 by Lektra Bolt

[Denim&Venöm 16,471]

@Buck Testa

I don't think twi should be an alicorn. 

What do alicorns embody? Unity between the races. What is this wolrd founded upon? Conflict between the races. What furthered that conflict? Alicorns. So if anything, all three races should have a deep mistrust of alicorns. Just have twi be a powerful unicorn. Or perhaps have her power be more tehcnological, legal and political than magical.

Also me thinks the bat ponies should be in the republic. They wanted darkness during the 1000 years war, this is as close as they'll get, being underground and stuff. 

Also I imagine that part of what sparked the windigo invasion was conflict between bats and pegasai. 

What was each tribe responsible for? Earth ponies farmed. Unicorns move the sun and moon. Pegasai weathered. Bat Ponies? They defended. Protected ponies while they slept. Equestria sword and shield. Till the pegasai tried to take that spot. 

[Lektra Bolt 2,336]

I can see what Denim says being possible. It's possible that Twi has a similar armor or just a lot of add-ons like Lektra loves to wear, making her 'Alicorn powers' Magitek artifact enhancements.

With Magitek so prevalent and development constantly ongoing, it seems more likely she's tech enhanced rather than naturally ascended.

But ya know, Buck's world. You might have a better explanation Buck

Edited October 20, 2018 by Lektra Bolt

[Buck Testa 5,503]

6 hours ago, Denim&Venom said:

@Buck Testa

I don't think twi should be an alicorn. 

What do alicorns embody? Unity between the races. What is this wolrd founded upon? Conflict between the races. What furthered that conflict? Alicorns. So if anything, all three races should have a deep mistrust of alicorns. Just have twi be a powerful unicorn. Or perhaps have her power be more tehcnological, legal and political than magical.

Also me thinks the bat ponies should be in the republic. They wanted darkness during the 1000 years war, this is as close as they'll get, being underground and stuff. 

Also I imagine that part of what sparked the windigo invasion was conflict between bats and pegasai. 

What was each tribe responsible for? Earth ponies farmed. Unicorns move the sun and moon. Pegasai weathered. Bat Ponies? They defended. Protected ponies while they slept. Equestria sword and shield. Till the pegasai tried to take that spot. 

You also ascend to being an alicorn after achieving some great feat, and Midnight certainly did a few on her rise to power, Some far more impressive than finishing someone elses spell. Alicorns also embody different things to the ponies in this timeline. The only two known ones up to this point where chaotic beings that both saved and nearly destroyed pony kind. So yes it would bring her a lot of mistrust being an Alicorn, and that isnt a bad thing narratively speaking. It just gives the other nations another reason to resist.

There are other reasons as well but those would be a bit too spoilery.

The bat ponies would be split for the reasons I mentioned. I could see a large portion of them going to the Republic, but there is compelling cases to be made for some going other routes.

We already know what caused the windegoes to come, however its how they were driven off that altered the course of events.

 

[Denim&Venöm 16,471]

1 hour ago, Buck Testa said:

You also ascend to being an alicorn after achieving some great feat, and Midnight certainly did a few on her rise to power, Some far more impressive than finishing someone elses spell. Alicorns also embody different things to the ponies in this timeline. The only two known ones up to this point where chaotic beings that both saved and nearly destroyed pony kind. So yes it would bring her a lot of mistrust being an Alicorn, and that isnt a bad thing narratively speaking. It just gives the other nations another reason to resist.

There are other reasons as well but those would be a bit too spoilery.

The bat ponies would be split for the reasons I mentioned. I could see a large portion of them going to the Republic, but there is compelling cases to be made for some going other routes.

We already know what caused the windegoes to come, however its how they were driven off that altered the course of events.

 

Kay. I guess we'll see how all that plays out. 

Should the bats be divided though? All the other pony races are united. Why aren't they? 

Also, a potential exception to the oath rule might be one of my characters, Luster. Being a machine and technically not alive, an oath wouldn't have an effect on her, since she's built to resist magic, but incapable of casting it herself. So while she can't put others under oath, no one can put her under one. One of the few wild cards in the Midnight Empire as her programming evolves. 

[Drago Ryder 639]

@Buck Testa

Ok. It had to make a few assumptions, but Gale should be more or less done by this point. Feel free to inform me of any corrections that need to be made.

Edited October 20, 2018 by Drago Ryder

[Lektra Bolt 2,336]

5 hours ago, Denim&Venom said:

Kay. I guess we'll see how all that plays out. 

Should the bats be divided though? All the other pony races are united. Why aren't they? 

Also, a potential exception to the oath rule might be one of my characters, Luster. Being a machine and technically not alive, an oath wouldn't have an effect on her, since she's built to resist magic, but incapable of casting it herself. So while she can't put others under oath, no one can put her under one. One of the few wild cards in the Midnight Empire as her programming evolves. 

Actually, I'm not sure Luster should be magic resistant, or at least she needs to be built to allow maintenance easier, not harder. It makes maintenance and debug of her directives (programming) difficult when the frame needs to be shut down or taken apart to get at the core that houses the directives. Making everything one off then no repairs is extremely inefficient and wasteful, and having to take apart/shut down makes for a lot of time used to do as such. With everyone and everything in their right place, it doesn't sound like the Empire would allow such inefficiency

I would think she doesn't need oaths either, as things would just the against her core directives. It's basically an oath built in from creation, with no loop holes

Edited October 20, 2018 by Lektra Bolt

[Denim&Venöm 16,471]

11 hours ago, Lektra Bolt said:

Actually, I'm not sure Luster should be magic resistant, or at least she needs to be built to allow maintenance easier, not harder. It makes maintenance and debug of her directives (programming) difficult when the frame needs to be shut down or taken apart to get at the core that houses the directives. Making everything one off then no repairs is extremely inefficient and wasteful, and having to take apart/shut down makes for a lot of time used to do as such. With everyone and everything in their right place, it doesn't sound like the Empire would allow such inefficiency

I would think she doesn't need oaths either, as things would just the against her core directives. It's basically an oath built in from creation, with no loop holes

But wouldn't the ability to be effected by magic make her vulnerable to it? Back in the Mech RP one of the reasons she lost so frequently and had to rapidly upgrade was cause she kept getting crushed like a tin can by her magic wielding foes. 

[Lektra Bolt 2,336]

47 minutes ago, Denim&Venom said:

But wouldn't the ability to be effected by magic make her vulnerable to it? Back in the Mech RP one of the reasons she lost so frequently and had to rapidly upgrade was cause she kept getting crushed like a tin can by her magic wielding foes. 

Flimsy workmanship? Telekinesis by itself isn't that strong unless you're a master of it, and how many ponies can lift mountains with it that we know of? If I had to guess, it's cause the previous forms that you had her talk about in that RP were not made of Enchanted Steel or Magicite (IIRC this is what you or someone else had created, which is a metal that likes spells like copper likes electricity). That Luster was a composite made mostly by humans in that RP, so maybe they didn't have much of that black stone she got herself

Telekinesis by itself is not super dangerous, and the most they can do is pick up/throw. Weight to spell energy expenditure is a factor as well as practice at the craft. Lektra has a very specific specialty to enchanting and working with metal, so you'd think she'd account for this. That's why the v9 from that RP was that much superior with durability, as well as being able to rebuild itself due to nanotechnology.

The materials a true master of Magitek uses are already much stronger and can resist blasts, as well as contain enchantments for durability. If war machines were getting crushed like tin cans, the Empire wouldn't have control of so much of the world.

Luster is a war machine too, so........

Of course clever spell use can topple anything and there are many different types of spells, but unicorns are much rarer outside of the Empire, so generally we don't need to worry about stuff getting destroyed that frequently. That's why war factories aren't needing to produce 24/7, either

Pretty much only Original Twilight has that kind of power, and seeing the two go head to head would be epic.

That and Lektra fighting herself in a field of destroyed machines? They'd fight to a stand still, no question

[Buck Testa 5,503]

If you are going to be in the empire of Midnight, we'll hash out via PM what kind of Oaths your character would have taken before the start of the rp. 

I also plan on divulging some info about the other two nations relatively soon, as Midnights Empire has gotten the lions share of attention. 

The plot thread about the mane six will probably be on the back burner till I get some people for that. I can work without it though. 

[Denim&Venöm 16,471]

@Buck Testa

One thing to think about are the weaknesses of each nation. There's a reason why no one power has won out over the others and why they are worse off than if they were working together. 

So for example: 

Midnight Empire:

• Over population due to long lived unicorns.
• Low amounts of food and water due to poor farming methods. 
• Low territory due to difficulty adjusting to chaotic weather and wildlife. 

Everfree Republic:

• Low resources and heavy environmental damage due to heavy mining and tunneling.
• Poor incentive and productivity due to equal rewards for all, regardless of amount or quality of work. 
• Government bogged down in bureaucracy and infighting due to a lack of direct leadership. 

Hurricane Legion:

• Low food and resources due to living in the sky.
• Heavy dependence on raiding and tributes from conquered territory.
• Heavy work rate has lead to physical and psychological burnout among the populace. 
• Has also lead to low birthrates due to focus on work and wealth over the traditional family.    

Each of these nations has to have it's own set of problems to be addressed, otherwise why would the tree send our heroes there?                                                                                    

 

 

[Lektra Bolt 2,336]

53 minutes ago, Denim&Venom said:

Low territory

Buck has stated somewhere they hold the most land. Forgot where, but I would like to estimate about 75 to 80 percent is conquered

Edited October 22, 2018 by Lektra Bolt

[Denim&Venöm 16,471]

14 minutes ago, Lektra Bolt said:

Buck has stated somewhere they hold the most land. Forgot where, but I would like to estimate about 75 to 80 percent is conquered

Okay fine. They have the most difficulty holding it. Look at Rome, the Mongol hoard or the Empire in Star Wars. Vast territory, but the inability to maintain and defend it as well as the vast rescources used trying to do so stretched their empires too thin. 

[Lektra Bolt 2,336]

5 hours ago, Denim&Venom said:

Okay fine. They have the most difficulty holding it. Look at Rome, the Mongol hoard or the Empire in Star Wars. Vast territory, but the inability to maintain and defend it as well as the vast rescources used trying to do so stretched their empires too thin. 

"You will defend this place with your life" for guards and "you will help them as necessary" for residents oaths say otherwise. Plus we have mechas

Buck can probably clarify, I'm just spitballing here

[nx9100 1,013]

13 hours ago, Denim&Venom said:

Government bogged down in bureaucracy and infighting due to a lack of direct leadership. 

If that's the case for the Everfree Republic, maybe I should re-write my OC's bio to place him there.  Since it looks like many of you are leaning towards the Midnight Empire, might be good for me to go to another nation.  That could give us a built-in power struggle between not only the nations, but our OC's as well!  more interesting rp'ing, i would think....

will wait for @Buck Testa to post more info on the Republic before I decide....

[Drago Ryder 639]

@Buck Testa

I’ll try to see if I can get a friend of mine in on this, though it seems like the hurricane legion is devoid of any OCs thus far. Still, Rainbow Dash, Gilda, and every other pegesus and gryphon aside from Fluttershy are probably there there, so that’s one heck of a military.

[Lektra Bolt 2,336]

It seems Buck has been busy lately?

[nx9100 1,013]

2 hours ago, Lektra Bolt said:

It seems Buck has been busy lately?

Life tends to get in the way, lol.

And I just realized something.  Didn't I make a car for you in Forza a few years ago?  Delorean, wasn't it?

[Lektra Bolt 2,336]

58 minutes ago, nx9100 said:

Life tends to get in the way, lol.

And I just realized something.  Didn't I make a car for you in Forza a few years ago?  Delorean, wasn't it?

Yup happens.

Do you have the link? I kept it in Other and the section got deleted. Please post it on my character profile

[nx9100 1,013]

14 hours ago, Lektra Bolt said:

Do you have the link? I kept it in Other and the section got deleted. Please post it on my character profile

I'll have to dig it out, and re-upload.  give me a day or so!

[Buck Testa 5,503]

Apologies, been quite busy lately. 

[nx9100 1,013]

36 minutes ago, Buck Testa said:

Apologies, been quite busy lately. 

None necessary!  We all know how life can get in the way of things, lol.