planning [OOC] Generation 5 Role play: Pony Factions

[North Star 2,770]

Introduction

 

Ponies are split into factions separated by history, hatred and exigency, driven by the lack of magic in their world. Monsters controlled much of ancient Equestria - but the adaptable ponies managed to thrive in the remaining grass-lands and forests. From the scattered pony tribes, the ponylands reformed, though organised around racial grounds. Powerful leaders have risen to guide the fate of each race. In opposition to these leaders a recent movement has gained support – the Equestrian Unification Party (EUP). The activist members of the new movement are considered to be criminals in all but unicorn territory, and its shadowy leader’s name is whispered with terror across the ponylands.

Into this divided land, your pony, or creature, strides. Will they seek pony unification, monster domination or do they want to preserve the status quo against possible changes... Whatever awaits him or her, the outcome of their journey is likely to change the course of pony history.

Commonly known ancient History (head canon) (1000 years ago)

A powerful villainous entity is known to have destroyed magic many moons ago. During this troubled period famous pony landmarks of ancient Equestria were destroyed, including the legendary home of the final Princesses: Ponyville. There are few tales of the cataclysm that occurred which removed pony magic. From the scattered accounts a legend emerged of a humming and a darkening of the sky, which ponies described as the heavens crawling. Ponies recount innumerable tiny metallic and alien insect-like creatures stalking every inch of Equestria. These insects did not consume crops, like locusts, nor did they bite or sting - rather they brought a magical sickness to everypony, starting with the greatest ponies themselves: the alicorns, and working down to everypony else. Soon nopony was free of the sickness and magic in Equestria was no more. 

It is known that the cataclysm lifted suddenly, leaving behind it a changed world. The old Princesses of ancient Equestria, the ones of legend who moved the Sun and Moon, disappeared shortly after the cataclysm. Their protege, Twilight Sparkle, lived to reign, but did not ascend to the semi-divinity of her mentor Celestia. The archetype of magic lived and died alongside her fabled friends.

 Commonly known recent history (100 years ago to present)

Ponies continued to live in relative harmony for many years after the disappearance of magic. However, they struggled: without ponies of transcendent magical ability to guide pony-kind to its sparkly destiny, dissent against the order of Equestrian Princesses soon spread - in the end there was no record of a fight for the monarchy's survival - it appears that Twilight's successor simply relinquished her throne.

The concentrations of different pony races in the ancient pony territories of Cloudsdale (pegasi), Canterlot (unicorn) and Manehatten (earth) began to lead to differences between the tribes. One of the first was how to defend ponies against incursions from the remaining monsters who had retained their magic. It soon became apparent that the pegasi were far superior to either the magic-less unicorns and mundane earth ponies. Pegasi were naturally more athletic and their wings, even though they could not fly, gave them a significant advantage when it came to both hoof to hoof combat and ranged attacks.

Dragons were the first monsters to seek to dominate the newly weakened ponies. The beasts took over Equestria mountain by mountain, enslaving the populace and making ponies bring them gold and other sparkly pony things to adorn their hordes. At great cost, the beasts were eventually thrown back - predominantly by the pegasi. The devastated pegasi demanded payment from the other tribes for their sacrifice, and began the tradition - still upheld to this day - of tithing to the pegasi for defence.

Many generations after the defeat of the dragons, the pegasi began to increase their demands on the other races - they insisted that the unicorns provide the results of their arcane research and the magical crystals with which unicorns were still able to practice limited unicorn magic. From earth ponies, meanwhile, the pegasi demanded labour and recruits for pegasi armies. Eventually, the pride of the pegasi was such that they declared that the land and populations of the earth pony tribes fell under their mandate. In a short and decisive war, in which many earth ponies were slain from aerial assault and also magical attack using the unicorn crystals, the earth ponies were subdued and many were forced into indentured servitude. 

In the last 50 years, the earth ponies, using their superior numbers and also under the leadership of new and charismatic chairponies championing a new earth republic, threw off the yoke of the pegasi at great cost. Older earth ponies still remember the days of slavery, and all earth ponies have a deep seated sense of the cruelty of the pegasi oppressor and the treachery of the unicorn enabler.

 

Commonly known features of the Gen 5 world your pony/creature will inhabit

Magical ponies!

Magic is no longer a property of the horn in Gen 5 prior to Sunny bringing it back to Equestria, but that doesn’t mean it was gone! Unicorn researchers studied the properties of the magical crystals in the Briarwood and, using their innate unicorn talent, have long been able to release their magic to create magical effects.

Fighting ponies! The existence of monsters and other creatures

Some monsters grew more powerful and bold once Equestrian magic fell. However, after the Wars of Pony Unity, pony resilience, intelligence and heart for combat proved more than enough to force back the old foes of Dragons, Centaurs and Changelings. These foes live in tense harmony with ponies and each other, as they always did. However, monster races are open to player input and we already have extensive lore provided on Changelings, courtesy of the wonderful @Starforce.

As for the creatures, such as hippogriffs and the like, who knows… (if a player comes to me with well worked out lore for a creature race in the Gen 5 world, I would be glad to incorporate it!)

Clever ponies! Level of technology

Ponies are among the most technological advanced sentient beings in the world! Thanks to thousands of years, the absence of magic and the necessity of fending off more physically powerful foes, ponies have driven their talents into the development of technologies in all spheres of pony existence. Of the pony tribes, unicorns are by far the most gifted at research, and that is the main import from Briarwood. There is nary a pegasi or earth pony invention that doesn’t have a unicorn’s horn in its genesis, despite the loud denials from the leaders of those tribes …

Productive ponies!

Ponies are the engineers of the world and are among the most numerous species on the planet. Their cities dominate Equestria and pony blimps and rail penetrate even to the most dangerous regions. No part of Equestria has not been turned to the use of pony kind – whether it is magic crystals, metal ores or explosives, ponies have turned a canny hoof to draw what is needed from their fertile environment. Resilient, hard-working earth ponies populate factories in hundreds of thousands, outnumbering their pegasi and unicorn cousins by five to one and working harder, pony to pony, too.

Immediate history (character hooks)

Contact me (abrony-mouse) for your start.

Character creation

Voice RP

Character creation uses modified Tails of Equestria rules. I would be happy to help you make your character, or – if you know Tails of Equestria already – simply make your character first and then get in touch – there are only a few minor adjustments for talents needed for the RP. PM me for my Discord details – I tend to be active on Fridays/weekends.

There must be a common character hook for the voice RP which works best if all the characters are on the same page, questing together, so if you know a few people who would be interested in playing with us, then invite them along 😊 (There are a few other discord RP’ers on the forum but always nice to have some more). Never played Tails before? NP! You can spectate and just come along for the fun!

Forum RP

Character creation should cover the areas of the forum character sheet in full if possible (in the character section of the site); however, Gen 5 is still in head-canon territory, so please PM me or post the char in this thread before you finalise. That way the Gen 5 aspects of the background and talents can be agreed between us. The In addition to the general character sheet points, there are a few RP specific points:

·        Your race determines particular talents which are used as story beats eg: unicorns have an affinity for magic and research; pegasi have an affinity for flying and fighting; earth ponies have stout hearts and strong wills. Additional talents can be gained for completing quests/story-lines.

 

[Silly Druid 4,707]

We need players for the voice RP, see this status update for details:

https://mlpforums.com/profile/45100-pawels/?status=1047326&type=status