ooc Another Cultural Exchange

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

Looks like some ponies here are interested in this coming back!

For those of you who don't know what A Cultural Exchange is, I'd invite you to take a look at the original thread: 

Or at the story that was created as a result of the most successful rendition of it:

https://www.fimfiction.net/story/325624/a-cultural-exchange

 

In short, I invite you to explore the world I've made, and I extend the same courtesy to you. Do you have a character you'd like to explore? A situation? A nation? A world? Let me know, and I'll help you out.

 

Active threads:

With Skylight Scintillate

With Courageous Thunder Dash

Edited July 28, 2022 by Illiad Easle

[Props Valroa 26,042]

I may be interested with this, but I'll need you to explain more about the setup. I don't feel as if I fully understand it. What's it about?

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

I may wanna do this with either Thundy or Chelsea, my two griffon hybrids...

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@-Solstice-

4 hours ago, -Solstice- said:

I'll need you to explain more about the setup.

So, I originally created A Cultural Exchange because I had created an expansive world, and I wanted to explore it. I thought, what better way to explore an area, than to invite someone in and offer them a tour? They'll be sure to ask questions about things I wouldn't think of, and I'll get to flesh out the corners of the world I hadn't explored before, and see my world from new and exciting angles. This concept extends to my characters, what better way to understand who they are and how they work than to put them in a new situation and see how they would get through it? This exchange offers that new situation for discovery and growth. These benefits aren't just for myself, but the same offer is extended to the participant, an the scale that they are willing/able to reciprocate.

Essentially you decide:

What do you want to explore? Do you have a character you want to flesh out? A community or area of your own design?

How far do you want to venture? Do you want something casual? Romantic? Adventure? A deep commentary on the Socio-political systems of Equis? I can scale the situation to your level of comfort and interest.

Let me know if you have more questions.

 

@Courageous Thunder Dash

If they're in the same region you could potentially have both, that's up to you though. What I wrote for -Solstice- also applies to you, though I'd ask more directly, are you interested more in just exploring these characters? Or do you have a community in mind that surrounds them? For instance, have you thought about where they live, and how they interact with the other creatures in their community? And is that something you'd like to explore?

Second, what sort of story are you interested in on my end? What sort of pairing do you think would bring out the aspects of your characters that you're most interested in seeing? If you don't have a preference you'll probably get paired with a changeling, I seem to be on a changeling kick recently.

[Props Valroa 26,042]

@Illiad Easle

I have a few ideas, but none that I am sure I may be willing to commit to at the moment. This is a fascinating concept, the only thing I would be weary of is the amount of RPs I am currently involved in so I wouldn't want to burn myself out. The idea did cross my mind of say, a community of ponies based on this concept here, it is not my own however so I wouldn't want to copy it too directly. -

https://austraeoh.fandom.com/wiki/Dihmers 

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

@Illiad Easle

Thundy and Chelsea come from two totally different backgrounds. For Thundy, my first thought was a true "cultural exchange, as said in previous RPs, he wasn't always a griffon, let alone a griffon hybrid (his second species he's mixed with is still unknown to this very day.)

For Chelsea, she's a pure griffon-pony hybrid, but interestingly, she shows more pony than griffon, since it is said that griffons are known to be quite savage and "tough" in nature...

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@Courageous Thunder Dash

I'm sure I could come up with something for either of them, are you just interested in exploring them as characters? Or do you have a community in mind around them that they interact with?

Perhaps a better question is, where do they live? What sort of things do they do in their daily lives?

[Props Valroa 26,042]

@Illiad Easle

I do however, have a few locations I already have pre-made, such as the Kingdom of Velross and other areas. I could entirely make up completely new areas specifically for something of this nature, however. 

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

@Illiad Easle

Chelsea is studying to get her degree in Marine Biology. 

Meanwhile Thundy is sort of a freelancer, who is originally from earth and wasn't even born as a griffon. For Chelsea I was thinking of her sharing her experiences, because technically, she's involved in 3 different cultures: Griffon, pony and seapony. 

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@Courageous Thunder Dash

It sounds like Chelsea has more to go off of, I'd be interested to see what sort of culture you have in mind for griffons, I haven't put much thought into their culture myself.

Whereabouts in the world is Chelsea? Is she even on Equis? What sort of personality does she have?

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

@Illiad Easle

Here's all you need to know: https://mlpforums.com/character/42-chelsea/

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@Courageous Thunder Dash

Interesting backstory and an adorable picture!

Thinking about who she could be paired with, since she's a pacifist maybe with a warrior type? Another hybrid who had a different experience growing up, and would be just about the same age as her... I think I've got it.

Midnight 'Snipes' Ice, son of the thestral stallion Moon D, and reindeer doe Peppermint Ice. His father met his mother while living in Cervidas (The home of the deer and reindeer) and was exciled from his thestral clan for marrying a non-thestral. (That's why his last name is D, for Disowned, and why Snipes' last name is Ice from his mother) Pepperment Ice's community was not much kinder to her upon learning of her marriage, and so they lived with a deer tribe for Midnight's formative years in what would become West Cervidas. Snipes inherited his father's eyes, wings, and fangs, but his mother's horns and body shape. He was often teased and left out of things as a fawn for being too different from the other fawns in the tribe. According to the others he was half dark and scary, and half even worse. (The Deer and Reindeer don't often get along)

When he was about 12 his family moved to Troy, where for once in his life his uniqueness was not only accepted, but appreciated. He enrolled in a Spartration academy and has been training since then with the hopes of one day becoming a Dragon Commando (Think Seal Team 6).

 

I think there could be lots of good interaction potential between these two, but what do you think?

[Props Valroa 26,042]

@Illiad Easle

I had an idea for something involving 2 characters. 

Peoria Turve.

I am thinking for Delilah and Peoria, that they are two best friends. However, I'm going to add a twist to the story and say that they are from the subterranean world of Melagartha, that dwells within the planet itself. Where they come from, it is much like an Eternal Twilight within those caves. Deep inside the planet, there are a system of caves and areas that open up to form an entire world of its own, many hundreds of miles wide. With strange trees, fungal forests, and surreal landscapes underneath the luminous green atmosphere. They come from a town known as Kelosia, in Kelosia it is ruled by a Mayor of sorts who also doubles as a Wizard type character, like Starswirl.

They are travelers that visit across various towns, exchanging their talents and doing things to earn money. Down there, there is no way to tell time without a clock as there are no days or nights, it is always the same, and the weather is the same. I imagine in some areas, the caves are so big you'd think you are on the surface, but there are others that make their reality more apparent. The ponies here, are an offshoot of an exploratory group that discovered the caves many, many thousand years ago and they got lost, and eventually created a stable population of ponies down in the underworld, to the point where they lost their history, and vague references of it are made in the form of mythology. Their homeland in the under world is known as St. Barnard's land, there are other kingdoms down in there as well. Pegasi here don't exist, only Earth ponies and Unicorns. 

This is the best image I have to show what the forests look like in my idea with Delilah and Peoria. There are trees of sorts but they are...different, not like normal trees, no, they just simply grow slowly based on the mana sources around. Magical trees. There is a sort of luminous, green air that flows throughout the area. No sun, no moon, the sky itself is the light that illuminates things. No shadows. The 'main' area is like a massive opening that is at least a solid 100 miles in size, with the occasional pillars and collapses of stone holding the whole thing up, at least 6 miles deep so you'd be able to stand there and look up at the 'sky' but you'd only see the top part if you squint hard enough. There are many different caves that branch off into god knows where with all sorts of ecosystems, horrors and treasures waiting to be found. And the most interesting bit is, there are whole societies down here who have lived down here for centuries, this is all they know. Even small lakes, and seas with their own varieties of fish and serpents. There is a place everyone knows, the bottomless pits just outside the border on one of the sides of the cave. Fall down there? Some say you'll never hit the bottom.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

@Illiad Easle

That's gonna be a really cool pair. I do think there will be some awesome interaction. 

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@-Solstice-

On 2022-07-25 at 10:40 PM, -Solstice- said:

I have a few ideas, but none that I am sure I may be willing to commit to at the moment. This is a fascinating concept, the only thing I would be weary of is the amount of RPs I am currently involved in so I wouldn't want to burn myself out.

Does this not still apply? Cultural exchanges, especially ones where both parties are bringing in a world to be explored. I'm not saying I'm not interested, in fact I find the world you've presented especially intriguing, I just want to make sure that you're ready and able to commit to it.

 

@Courageous Thunder Dash

Glad you like him, if you're ready to start I can make the thread later today when I get back to my computer.

[Props Valroa 26,042]

@Illiad Easle

Could possibly discuss a more simpler way of doing something involving that setting at some point, or we could alternatively discuss some other idea for a format. I am not sure if I entirely grasp the understanding of the 'cultural exchange' setup, I would be willing to commit to something, if I feel as if I fully understand what it means. 

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

@Illiad Easle

Alright! Sounds good!

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@Courageous Thunder Dash

Sorry for the delay, here it is:

 

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@-Solstice-

I don't know if I could explain it any simpler than I already have. Maybe if you read through some of them as an example of how it typically goes?

I'd recommend at least skimming through A Cultural Exchange, linked in my signature, for an example of the maximum size, and you could read through this one below for an example of a smaller scale:

Those are both examples of a traditional Cultural Exchange format.

We can also adjust the format to whatever suits us, Escape from Deep Science is an example of this adjusted format.

 

 

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@Courageous Thunder Dash

While I appreciate your, and her, enthusiasm, the typical format is that we'll exchange letters for a time and then agree to meet up. I'm sorry I forgot to mention that earlier, it was part of the original format.

Also, given his history, Snipes would not react well to getting ambushed by someone he does not know suddenly appearing. Chelsea should at least send a letter introducing herself before inviting herself over.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

@Illiad Easle

Oh! Okay then! I'll backtrack and save the fireworks for later then. 

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

@Illiad Easle

Aaannd done! Hope it's okay. 

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@Courageous Thunder Dash

Much better, I'll have a response tomorrow!

[Props Valroa 26,042]

@Illiad Easle

Looking at this concept, I understand it better and for those reasons Peoria and Delilah would not fit well - as it is in my lore that their place of dwelling, if you could call it that, is entirely unknown by Equestria.

Here is an alternative. How do you think about the idea of you being Illiad Easle, and me being one of Rosemarid's staff? I have a character in mind I could possibly use for that but I have no sheet or reference image for that character yet. Her name is Reticent Schemer. In Rosemarid's Kingdom, Pegasi are extremely rare and she basically will take them under her wing and train them to be her eyes and ears beyond her Kingdom. 

 https://mlpforums.com/character/126-rosemarid/

[Illiad Easle 2,973]

@Courageous Thunder Dash

You know, if you're not comfortable describing scenes or standing up other characters you can let me know. I'd be happy to stand up background characters and rough out scenes with you, I'm also fine if you want to just gloss over scenes that would involve interacting with other characters.

For instance, we've been going back and forth for a while trying to get to the shop. If you want I could run the shop for you, I'd just need an idea of how you think a local would react to Snipes. I could also help you run the scene if you want to learn how to do it yourself, or help you write a rough sketch like: The two of them got their food and ate quickly before continuing on. While that isn't as much fun it ensures that the focus remains on what you want to have happen and allows you to skip things you don't want to focus on.

Let me know what you think, the goal of these cultural exchanges is to help improve writing and roleplay skills.