planning The Shrapnel Storm-Equestria at War

[Aureity 3,055]

It was a bright, sunny day-just another average day in Ponyville. Fillies played and laughed, friends chatted happily and the lush green meadows seemed to sparkle as the refreshing river flowed steadily past. Little did anyone know, such peace would be the last of its kind for a long time to come. The houses that stood merrily along the road would not emerge unscathed years later. The ground would be scorched brown, and the trees would become smoking, hollow shells of their former selves. There would be no more fillies playing on the broken, crumbled roads. And although ponies would wait patiently in the smoking ruins of Ponyville, their friends would never come back.

 

This is how it all began.

 

Equestria did not stand alone in its world. Although its rolling hills and grassy plains seemed to stretch on forever, they too had a limit. Pegasopolis, a grand nation to the north, inhabited earth just as real as Equestria-while the pegasi could fly, their enslaved earth ponies could not. And the equally large nation to the east, with shimmering magical borders to guard the land it claimed its own, had a name as well-Unicornea, the mystical land of the unicorns. Equestria, the nation of equality, prosperity and opportunity, lay bordering both of these counties, but shared a smaller border with a third country as well, the enormous nation of Terrafir, where earth ponies abounded, and the farmland was fertile, the forests lush and green. These four nations formed a rough square of sorts, although by no means were the borders linear. And so they coexisted uneasily, day by day, month by month, year by year. And all the time, tempers were rising, and tensions were climbing. But perhaps the worst of all-technology was improving.

 

The nation of Terrafir was scorned by Pegasopolis and Unicornea. Earth ponies could neither fly, nor cast powerful magic spells. Propaganda campaigns ran by Wingleader Typhoon, dictator of Pegasopolis, aimed to lower the social status of the earth ponies in Pegasopolis to sub-pony, cursing them as wingless freaks of nature. The pegasi had always been brutally harsh, but their propaganda campaign came at an interesting time-right when tensions were high between Unicornea and Terrafir over a border violation incident on Unicornea's part. Archduke Solar Storm, ruler of Unicornea, saw this as a perfect opportunity, and began secretly allowing propaganda from Pegasopolis to to sneak into his country and find its way into the minds of the unicorns. Tensions continued to rise between the earth ponies and the two other races as the two leaders, Typhoon and Solar Storm, met in the palace at Elathor to sign a mutual alliance. Emperor August of Terrafir could only watch as the world drew closer to war. And all the while, Eqestria remained blissfully unaware.

 

The peace was shattered on September 21st, broken into a million pieces, as both the nations of Pegasopolis and Unicornea declared war on Terrafir, pledging to rid the world of the earth pony menace once and for all. The unprepared and technologically backwards ponies of Terrafir stood no chance, as the first of both armies came pouring in, eager for land and the eradication of the "inferior race". The port city of Cynathar was leveled in three hours by Pegasi heavy bombers from the west as the unicorns marched unopposed from the south, capturing a key railroad junction and calling in a railgun brigade that virtually annihilated the border town of Rumatherpa in a matter of days. The demoralized earth ponies fled towards the interior cities, preparing to hold out, and use guerrilla tactics if necessary, but their outdated rifles and cannon were no match for planes, tanks, rocket launchers and artillery. By mid-October, Terrafir was half the size it was just a month ago.

 

At first, Princess Celestia turned a blind eye to the war, although she grieved for the suffering of the earth ponies in Terrafir. But she sent the elements of harmony to investigate-and what they found revolted them harshly. Earth ponies were being enslaved and shipped off to the victor's respective countries. Those who could not make the journey, or were too young, were shot on the spot. The elements reported their findings back to the citizens of Equestria, outraging ponies everywhere. Ponies from Appleloosa to Cloudsdale called for justice, the earth ponies unsurprisingly being the most vocal. Forced to obey public opinion, Celestia issued an ultimatum to Wingleader Typhoon and Archduke Solar Storm to cease and desist. On November 1st, both countries flaunted the order by jointly capturing the Terrafir capital of Obsidite, and executing every single one of the hundred thousand earth ponies living there at the time. Left with no choice, Equestria declared war on Pegasopolis and Unicornea on November 7th.

 

The war had begun.

 

 

Overview:

The point of this roleplay is to create a dynamic environment to satisfy the action-orientated and more emotional roleplayers alike. There will be lots of "run and gun" in the roleplay, but also lots of emotional and character development as well. There is no limit to the number of players, but each player can only have two characters at any given point in the roleplay. There also is not a post length requirement. However, I will say that fortune in battle tends to favor those who write more than just one-sentence posts like "X aimed and fired". *hint hint*. There's much more to this RP than just shooting. Describe the battle scene! Describe where the artillery lands, the sound machine guns make as planes roar overhead dropping explosive cargo! How does your character feel at the moment? What's going through his/her mind? There's so much to RP about, especially in a setting like this!

 

Characters:

I understand that it's frustrating going into an RP not being able to do anything about it-as a soldier, you can't expect to win the war single-handedly. This is why I allow two characters per person. The first MUST be a soldier. You don't have to focus the rp on him, but he must be there, and you have to develop his personality at least a bit. The second character is probably someone with a little more influence. These characters will be separated into two types.

 

Officers-

You won't be spending ALL your time on the front lines. In fact, most of your time will be spent planning and chatting with other officers about the war. The commander (NPC rp'd by me) will ask your opinion from time to time. Depending on your rank, you can influence parts of the battle by strategically ordering soldiers to do X or Y. This is more suited towards critical thinkers and emotional development-there's less chance for you to get shot and lose all of your work. Of course, if you're action-orientated, by all means play an officer on the front lines. Just like Patton, ride a tank into battle if that's what you really want! You'll get more of the battle action (and the emotional development that comes with it), at a price of strategical planning-you'll influence the overall war less, as you'll be fighting rather than commanding.

 

Special Ops-

Self-explanatory. Remember that this is world war 2. Technology hasn't advanced far enough for cyborgs and Spartans. However, unicorns with strong magical powers? Go right ahead. Remember though, there IS a limit to how powerful you can be. Wipe out a hundred soldiers with one blast of magic? You might be able to slip that past me, if you can provide a VERY good rp reason, I feel that your character is very well developed, and it happens once, maybe twice in the entire war. A unicorn that can EMP the battlefield and shut down every single plane operating in the air? Nope. Not gonna happen. Special Ops are soldiers, so they will be rping with ordinary soldiers and fighting with them. Thus, they have a lesser overall impact on the war, as their strategies do not dictate the outcome of the battle.

 

I am not gender biased in this RP! Yes, most soldiers were male in the real WW2, but in this RP, female soldiers/officers/special ops are common.

 

Roleplay:

If you read the posts of others who do play officers, as well as my posts for the commander (I'm rping too, don't wanna miss the fun ), you can sort of grasp how the battle is going.I can't be on 24/7, so don't just rely on the commander's posts to judge what's happening. If I'm not on, you can assume that someone playing an officer and IS online, for example, a general, is fighting the battle and directing orders. RP accordingly-if an officer says "X orders his division to charge the enemy's fortified artillery position!" (although hopefully they'll rp say more than just that), RP it out! Describe how just-made-up lieutenants are yelling at their soldiers to advance, how npc soldiers around the character are reacting. Are they neighing enthusiastically? Are the artillery barrages scaring them. Describe the charge. Is it gallant, tatty? Are the artillery taking a heavy toll on the troops? Is morale plummeting? Your vivid descriptions help the roleplayers reading them to imagine the battle through your eyes, while they add their own description with their own soldier characters. With many diffrent roleplayers describing the battle at the same time, an image will start to take shape of what's going on-and that's the main goal! That image will help those who are also rping generals, colonels, etc to make decisions based upon what is happening. And if you're in it for the emotional reaction too, don't forget to develop yourself! How is your character feeling? Is he going to bravely charge with the rest of his unit? Is he going to bow his head, convinced it will be his last battle?

 

NPC Control:

Players have limited control over "on-the-spot" NPCs in order to flesh out the battles, marches, campfires, or whatever the current RP situation is. After all, this is supposed to be a huge war effort, there should be more than ten ponies per battle. You can create on-the-spot characters to make the scene more lifelike. These are throwaway characters, not real ones. For example, you may want to say what a random soldier next to you is yelling out, the second before he falls forward on his face. Or you may want to have a lieutenant yelling out orders for the company to follow (this order, however, must be a direct translation of what a officer has said earlier. If he ordered your battalion to charge, you can have the npc yell something like, "Everypony, forward!", but not "Fall back!"). Basically, just describe the scene, and don't be afraid to create npcs to suit the purpose and make the entire rp more lifelike (this goes for non-character machinery, as well. You can specify where the artillery is dropping, for example). Don't become too attached to these NPCs, they're spontaneous aids, not characters, and I can decide their fate at any moment.

 

Quality:

I leave it to you to judge what "good quality" is. Know that one-sentence posts are NOT good quality, UNLESS there are many people rping at the same time, and the rp gets frenzied with many ninjas. Then I will accept fast dialogue responses and one-sentence descriptions, but please, try to add something to your posts to flesh out the situation for your fellow rpers.

 

Character Death:

I really don't like killing off characters. Even in a situation like a battle. I'll put it this way-if you don't force your characters to do stupid stuff like charge a fortified bunker alone for no reason-then I'll make sure a random artillery shell does NOT hit where you're currently standing. I go by a three-strike penalty to warn when you're going too far. The first time will be a near-miss death. The second, you'll be wounded. The third time, you're dead. You're still free to kill off your own characters if you wish-sometimes you may be aiming for emotional reaction from other roleplayers' characters.

 

How do I start?

Post the link to your character below, and I'll start a list to keep track of who's who. Please don't make overpowered characters-I know I said special Ops are allowed, but no missile-summoning alicorns, okay? I'll tell you if your character is a little bit too unbalanced, don't worry.

 

 

Please, everypony. This is the first RP I made. Even if you don't want to play, at least give me some feedback so in the future I can make something that you hopefully WILL want to play. Thanks in advance!

 

 

"War does not determine who is right-only who is left." -Bertrand Russel.

Edited March 6, 2012 by Aureity

[Fizz. 1,078]

This sounds pretty cool. Are we allowed to join either side?

 

 

I haven't RP'd since the update, where do our forms go? Is there a form or something?

[Aureity 3,055]

This sounds pretty cool. Are we allowed to join either side?

 

 

I haven't RP'd since the update, where do our forms go? Is there a form or something?

 

I'd prefer it if you joined on Equestria, if only because I predict that's where most other rp'ers go. But if you want to join another nation, go right ahead-you might even be pitting your tactics against another roleplayer's enemy general, which would be pretty fun to see Just don't blame me if you're the only one in your nation who's being roleplayed

[Toothless the Night Fury 260]

I'm in! I might join. If I do, I'll go ahead and use Hiccup and Toothless. Characters are in my signature. Edited March 6, 2012 by Toothless the Night Fury

[Linguz 136]

I'll read this when I have more time. I might want to take the position of general/lieutenant/officer of one of the opposing nations, as that would allow me to use an entire army and you'd have someone else to fight than the DM. I feel like that would allow for more things to happen. Y'know? Tell me what you think Aureity. I'd also play a soldier in each wave, allowing me to describe what he/she sees/feels/smells/etc. If you will let me, then say the word. If not, so be it.

[Aureity 3,055]

I'll read this when I have more time. I might want to take the position of general/lieutenant/officer of one of the opposing nations, as that would allow me to use an entire army and you'd have someone else to fight than the DM. I feel like that would allow for more things to happen. Y'know? Tell me what you think Aureity. I'd also play a soldier in each wave, allowing me to describe what he/she sees/feels/smells/etc. If you will let me, then say the word. If not, so be it.

 

If you can handle it, go for it! Like I said with Fizzy though, you'll be in the minority who aren't fighting for Equestria, so your char may get kinda lonely

[Linguz 136]

Yep. I fully expect to go long times without posting. But that's alright, for that allows me to, well, do other stuff.

[Fizz. 1,078]

Yep. I fully expect to go long times without posting. But that's alright, for that allows me to, well, do other stuff.

 

I'll join you in your military pursuits, Linguz. <3

[Linguz 136]

I'll join you in your military pursuits, Linguz. <3

 

We shall rule this world together!

[Aureity 3,055]

I haven't RP'd since the update, where do our forms go? Is there a form or something?

 

Just realized that I didn't actually answer your other question. If you haven't figured it out yet, you just put a character into the character database, and post a link to that character here.