Headcanon dump: Changeling Wasteland

Hey y'all, I wasn't able to submit my initial prompt for a particular fanfic contest, a incomplete draft that held plenty of world building. I didn't want to waste my work, so I've decided to write down whatever headcanon I had planned but had no real chance to implement due to my seeming inability to write a fimfic. So here's the first of these particular blogs; if it does ok or if people actually like the strange little worlds I've created, I may post more.

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A introduction:

The Changeling Wastelands are largely unexplored territory, with most knowledge originating from half-remembered myths brought by migrating Barbarian Hordes. However, it is known that the Wastes are quite possibly the largest geographical region in the world, a massive inhospitable arid land trapped in perpetual darkness with rays of sunshine breaking through only in rare occurrences. When approaching the Wastes you'll notice that the entire known border of the wasteland has been enclosed by the gargantuan Great Wall of the Kings, constructed long ago in order to hold off the formerly powerful Changeling Empire.

The Great Wall:

The wall is truly a grand feat of Magical Engineering; going both deep beneath the earth to impede Burrowers, in addition to ascending high into the sky where the weak Changeling wings simply weren't able to scale. But alas, it has long fallen into ruin. Now a cracked relic unofficially used as a Eastern Border for the Griffin Kingdoms, with only a few half-hearted attempts at colonization. But it should also be mentioned that it only mildly impedes the Scavengers*, resulting in some often whispering Celestia's influence is what truly prevented the Griffins from claiming the region for themselves.

The wall has many holes; some naturally created, others artificially by dynamite or having served as gates during a different time period. There are also 'official' entry ways both heavily guarded above and below ground by royal soldiers; serving as a passage for Military expeditions, or supply caravans traveling towards the isolated outposts of the deep wastes.

The Inner Wasteland:

But no matter your entrance of choice, the world itself seems to change on the other side; the windy fields are now charred desert, the beautiful flowers replaced by alien predatory plants, the Birds are now oversized moth-like Insectoids, and the pleasant agricultural villages replaced by the rancid sight of long abandoned small Hives.

You may see fires burning in the distance, or see decrepit little Shanty Towns with stenches that literally can be smelled from miles away. Welcome to the inner wasteland; a realm populated by Scavengers, Outcasts, Exiles, and Criminals. This is a territory infamous for it's anarchy, with whatever passes as 'civil order' enforced at the barrel of a gun. How did the situation get like this?

For the longest time the Wastelands served as a penal dumping ground of sorts for not just the Griffins; but their subterranean Greenskin neighbors as well, allowing for a cheap alternative to imprisonment. For the longest time they assumed the Changelings would've eaten their criminals making the exile sentence something akin to a death penalty; but as the Bug population declined, the descendants of the Convicts began to form ramshackle little tribes of their own. The population never made it past a few thousand, until the infamous Queen Snow attempted to colonize the land in the form of Prison Colonies a mere century ago. But it failed; during the great Eagle Wars, more and more resources were diverted to the front, ending in a food shortage that drove the inmates to riot.

The Guard tried to keep order for as long as possible, but they were overpowered with the Inmates declaring themselves free. As a result the Prison population spread out; bringing whatever tools or weapons they managed to drag out of the workshops or the abandoned armories, which ranged from crude hammers to basic rifles. The former prisoners constructed their own little ramshackle little villages while fending off not just Barbarians but also the positively dreadful wildlife, often constructing their new population centers within former Changeling Hives.

They weren't just Griffins either; there were Donkey dissidents, Pony Prisoners of War, Minotaur Snake Oil Salesmen caught in the act, and most infamously, a particularly troublesome Keythong Prince, all forced to make a go of civilization building. This ended in a rather diverse population who more often than not, were divided on racial lines for much of the early period of their history which partly explains why two of the three most powerful Warlords arose to power**. As for the Griffin Barbarians who already lived there, they mostly assimilated, although a few drifted off to form a Warlordship of their own.

Outer Wasteland:

If you press a hundred or so miles into the Wasteland, the Shanty Towns start disappearing, and the fires become fewer, but you'll see these almost fairy tail like mountains in the distance. They will at first look like mountains that resemble the Termite Mounds found in Oceania, but pitch black like the color of Obsidian, but look closely and you'll see signs of a intelligent craftsmanship. That's when you should realize that you're looking at what were the former great Hives of the major Changeling queens, as you approach closer you should notice the diluted colors formerly marking the Hive in question. For example: if you see a particularly poorly made Mound with the color of Scarlet, know that you're looking at Hive Miasma***.

There are approximately four major Hives that have been discovered: Chrysalis, Ferrugo, Oasis, and the aforementioned Miasma. All three of which were razed by the great Greenskin Hordes of the Great King Haraldur the Hammerer, a figure that's only remembered in myth and legend. It's said he united the Goblins, Ogres, and the Trolls under a single banner after the downfall of Luna, motivated by a vision that showed him how to save his people. A salvation that came at the cost of the Changeling race; when the Barbarians migrated through, the Changelings had regressed back to only a few Hives with their 'Empire' now nothing more than a pathetic collection of bickering city states hell bent on controlling the last remaining 'farms' not destroyed by the incessant resource wars.

It's said the Greenskins, having suffered countless Changeling raids during their nomadic past, unleashed their collective rage smashing through whatever defenses the Changelings set up for themselves. The Changeling Queens refused to work together which let the Greenskins exterminate each Hive one by one, finally ending with Hive Miasma before migrating towards the fertile lands of the west. The myth implied that the Changelings were all extinct, but the fate of some individuals and Hives remained ambiguous.

And now with Chrysalis's reappearance, the powers that be are now wondering just what the hell happened to those particular settlements...

The Unknown Regions:

If you continue another hundred miles east, you'll see a vast desert that's almost completely flat, pitch black, and almost no sunlight. There's a joint Pony/Griffin research outpost in this region, but it's not terribly far within this realm of nothing. Few people have wandered any further, and those that have never came back. According to the Greenskin myths, their homeland is on the other side of this dark land, a land of great Forests and legendary winters. Some say there's a massive Changeling Empire still out there, others proclaim that you'll find the realms of the legendary Kirins and Qillins, and one man once shouted (shortly before getting locked in a Hospital with Lyra) to have crossed the dark lands, seeing the very edge of the world and the void beyond. No one knows what's truly out here, no one except for the Princesses.

*They peck at the ruins of Hives, taking whatever looks profitable. Anything from weird lost Changeling technology, to soap that smells weird sells. They're also called 'Stalkers' in some circles.

**The big three are Warlords who're simply the largest and most influential. The largely Griffin Sturmtrupen, the Donkey followers of King Karlos la Ass (also called Karlists), and the infamous United Wasteland Trading Company. The last of which is a Corporation founded by the enigmatic Diamond Jack, and is currently banned from Equestrian lands.

***If you decide to explore this particular ruin in question, bring a gas-mask.