Deleted Scenes
"So what's it like?"
IJ glanced up from her meal to see Carradan approaching from the other end of the room. The mess hall was mostly used by palace guards, and since the morning watch had started hours before it was empty save for herself, her two guards, and the salmon Pegasus.
IJ sighed loudly and resigned herself to Stanley's presence, returning to idly stirring the grits before her with one hoof. The gyroscopically stabilized bowl, a staple eating implement for non-Unicorns, made a slight rasping sound as the wooden gimbals moved slightly with each revolution "You mean being trapped in a single form?"
Carradan plopped down into the seat opposite his fellow newly minted Pegasus, and shook his head, "Naw. I mean what's the hive like?"
IJ looked up from her bowl again, an expression of confusion mixed with disdain plastered to her muzzle, "Beg pardon?"
Carradan leaned forward enthusiastically, "The hive! Neyla told me Changelings have a hive mind. What's it like to be connected?"
The white Pegasus shook her head and downed a mouthful of grits before responding, "Why do you care?"
Carradan snorted and sat back, his expression of offense not entirely sincere, yet not entirely false, "Awww c'mon! I'm a *reporter* sweetheart. Most folks who read a newspaper, over here or over there, haven't the foggiest what your life is like. Aintcha the least bit interested to open their eyes?"
IJ raised an eyebrow and glared, "Why should I discuss a difficult topic to further *your* career, *and* help induce greater prejudice against my race than we already suffer?"
Carradan shook his head and leaned forward again, lowering his tone to a conspiratorial level and eyeing the stone-faced unmoving guards flanking IJ, "Because sister... I don't want to 'induce greater prejudice.' I want to give people a chance to see what *you* did."
IJ grimaced, "You mean lie, play the traitor's role, and fail miserably at even that?"
Carradan frowned sympathetically, "No. I mean comin' quietly, and learnin' your lesson. Like I had to. You think you're the only one who's 'gone four legs' ? Alotta people back on Earth deal with being forced into a new shape every day. I was given the chance to go willingly, or refuse, even tho I didn't much deserve it, and it was *still* hard to adjust to some things as wonderful as it is."
The reporter's normally mirthful minty-green eyes fixed solidly on IJ's, and he spoke with unusual gravitas, "I want folks to give others the same chance you got. I've done alotta nasty things in my career its true... so maybe its time for a change."
IJ frowned thoughtfully, before sighing, her ears flattening in defeat, "Very well." She sighed and leaned back in her own seat, "It is difficult to make into words you would grasp. We can have private thought, but most elect not to; why hide anything after all? While our thoughts are our own and we do not hear those of others at all times, our streams of consciousness become... linked when we choose to. More importantly, information and emotions flow instantly and freely through the hive. Part of the power and joy of it is perfect memory; when one of us dies, copies of our memories are preserved, and later generations can peruse them. Practically, this also gives us instant access to all the collective knowledge of our kind."
Stanley gaped and stammered, "You uhh. um.. you talk about it like a thing... is it? A real thing you can touch I mean."
IJ shook her head, "It is... distributed. All Changelings act as... nodes in a web. A tiny portion of each mind dedicated to storing data not-its-own so that no individual suffers inconvenience, yet the whole always has access."
Carradan nodded, "Like cloud computing."
"It has nothing to do with weather magic."
Stanley guffawed, "Earth stuff sweetheart. Anyways that gives me another question; how do you 'log on' ?"
IJ tilted her head quizzically, and Carradan shook his, rephrasing swiftly, "Turn of phrase. I mean how do ya connect to the Hive? Is it pheremones or chemical whatchamacallits?"
IJ flared her wings impatiently, "I am not sure you have the words for it. It is a form of magic, or science, you would not understand. It works over great, but not infinite distances, and it happens naturally whenever any Changeling is close enough to one or more others that are themselves linked to the Hive."
Carradan shook his head once more, in awe, and sat back, "Sweetheart... I bet you have some amazing stories to tell."
IJ allowed herself an almost-smile, "And if you call me that again... I shall give you an excellent story to tell about how I broke every bone in your muzzle, and it took two royal guards to get me off you."
Stanley smirked, "I like the way you think. I'd wrastle with you anytime. Sweetheart."
Neyla yawned; a gesture non-beaked life forms seemed to find peculiar and amusing on Gryphic faces. Sleep had been a long time coming, even by her rugged standards, and she was looking forward to nesting early.
She had decided she liked human fabrics and 'tempur' materials; they made for astonishingly restful sleeping surfaces, especially compared to her usual position in a rock cleft or on a tree branch, deep in the wilderness.
The Gryphoness was nearly to her temporary quarters, when she noticed a strange bluish light coming from Varan's room. Kephic and Fyrenn had their accommodations several doors down, but their rooms seemed silent and dark.
The light under the door was being accompanied by a strange rhythmic beat. Neyla's right ear twitched, and she rapped sharply on the metal slab of the door, unable to stem the rising tide of her curiosity.
When no answer was forthcoming, Neyla tapped the open control beside the aperture and stepped in as the door hissed open. She paused, coming up short and flattening both ears as the noise assaulted her directly.
"Oppa GANGAM STYLE!"
The sound was blaring from a pair of extra-large headphones surrounding Varan's ears. The golden Gryphon was sitting on a large cushion before his desk terminal. Neyla could make out a human in some form of peculiar obsolete clothing and eye protection dancing madly on the holoscreen.
"What in the name of...?"
Varan was oblivious; the headphones were intended to be noise-cancelling, and he was too busy enjoying blaring the peculiar form of human music at a decibel level that most Gryphons would find truly painful.
Neyla reached forward and tapped him on the shoulder-joint of his wing, causing him to tense and reflexively pause the video.
"Neyla?!" His shock swiftly shifted to a glowering stare, "Are you not familiar with the concept of requesting permission before entering?"
Neyla chuckled and shook her head, "I did knock. Rather loudly. You missed it. I can hear your... cultural studies all the way out in the hall. I wasn't sure what to make of the noise."
Even under the pale blue light of the screen, Neyla could tell Varan was uncharacteristically blanching, "I... well... Kephic and Fyrenn were insistent I browse this 'internet.' I was merely taking my brothers' suggestion in order to better understand human culture."
Neyla raised an eyebrow and smirked, the expression mixed with a tinge of rebuking glare, "Mmmhmmmm. And what have you learned from..." She leaned over and glanced at the words on the screen, "You Tube?"
Varan tried, mostly successfully, to resume his usual stoic posture and expression, "Thus far my strongest impression has been that the infrastructure is riddled with... cats."
Neyla laughed, her amusement generated as much by the deadpan manner in which Varan delivered the word 'cats' as by the fact that it *was* 'cats.' "Cats?"
Varan nodded and with the swipe of a claw displayed several tabs at once. Neyla swiftly scanned the images as Varan described the phenomenon, "In the twenty-first epoch of their Anno Domini calendar, a strange infatuation with images of tame felines, captioned with amusing phrases, swept the 'internet.' I have found the spelling to be universally reprehensible."
Neyla giggled, "I take it you have no desire to share your finding with the others?"
Varan nodded, "Your discretion is appreciated."
The tan and blue Gryphoness smiled and nodded herself, "I will remain silent on the matter." She began walking back to the hallway, but turned as she reached the door, "Providing, of course, that you pass on half of your meat ration tomorrow."
Varan glowered, "One quarter."
Neyla smirked, "One third, or I tell Fyrenn to go look up the security log for this room for the past hour."
"You would not."
Neyla's expression instantly robbed the surety from Varan's words, and expression. The gold Gryphon sighed, "Very well then. And if you feel tempted to break our agreement, I will find a suitable recourse for punishment."
Neyla rolled her eyes and tapped the door control, "Duly noted."
"And you let him?"
In answer to Skye's query, Fyrenn shrugged, "Well of course Tevere got off easy. The CO was watching."
Skye stopped and stepped to the side to clear the hallway; the Bureau was still in damage control mode thanks to the events at Gavin/Schummel, and the corridors were even more crowded than usual.
"And when the CO *wasn't* watching?" Her mischievous grin implied that she had some idea of the answer before the Gryphon spoke.
Fyrenn grinned, the devil-may-care expression sitting well on his sharp yellow beak, "Hypothetically... I may or may not have reprogrammed all the lieutenant's DaTabs to spout offensive remarks with regard to the character of the CO. In Einrig's own voice too."
Skye tried unsuccessfully to avoid bursting out into peals of laughter, first making a few strained 'snerk' noises, then finally succumbing. Fyrenn chuckled, the humor of the memory somehow enhanced by having someone appreciative to share it with.
When Skye finally managed to regain vocal control, she glanced up at Fyrenn, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes with a hoof, "And... how.. hehe... did that work out for him?"
Fyrenn snickered, "It.. aaahh.. 'didn't go his way.' He was trying to give a briefing the next morning and, from what sources tell me, the DaTab he was reading off of popped out with, 'Who wants to know, captain wanker, sir?' the first time he got asked a question."
Skye's eyes grew to the size of saucers, "I bet that went over like a lead airship."
"Its Balloon, actually. And the CO put him in traction for two months."
Skye began chuckling again, "Noooo..."
Fyrenn smiled wickedly and began walking again, "Yessss. And what's better? I went to sign his cast. The guy was a die-hard speciesist. Been on watchlist for HLF activity twice... and do you know what I did?"
Skye winced, mocking Fyrenn's manic expression, "You *didn't*...."
The red Gryphon nodded and chirruped slightly in his throat mirthfully, "I did. I drew my best rendition of her majesty, the esteemed Solar Monarch herself on his dermoplast cast. In pink permanent ink..."
Fyrenn paused and snickered uncontrollably for a moment before finishing, "With the words 'I am the very model of an asinine homo sapiens, I wish I could be pretty, pink, and nice as all the Ponies is.' "
Skye once again devolved into peals of laughter, drawing confused looks from several passing medical technicians.
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I'm not really sure what to make of these, except that these are funny. There really is nothing else to say about it.
That explanation of changelings gives me very long term ideas. Also, Stanley is now best pony.
Now I can't have Vinyl Scratch trying to recreate Gangnam style in my fic. On the plus side the number of jokes running through my head for Opalescence has quintupled.
Nice play on "Modern Major General", Gilbert and Sullivan are awesome.
still waiting on the sequal of epicness
1885061
Hehehehe... now I have this image of Vinyl doing the Psy-dance...
1886066
Still planning to launch that once Threshold is done.
If you like sneak peeks tho, stay tuned to ye olde bloge; I'm shortly going to post the first segment of the Genesis prologue.
hah! They're fun, but the modern references which are too direct for my taste are a bit jarring, you know? I prefer fun little references rather than in-your-face copy-pastes - so I'm glad I got to read them but I'm also glad they were taken out. You're right, they don't fit the rest
1915124
Yeah, in the course of a normal chapter I prefer to be amusingly subtle with it.
The deleted scenes could also be considered funny shorts and/or a cast blooper reel, so it felt right to put the more hilariously blunt stuff there.
1915175
By the way, who drew the (new?) artwork?
1915351
That'd be my sister actually!
She has a DA which is kinda scary (for me, conceptually), but always cool to browse.
2063927
)
I don't mind at all
(I just have no clue when I'll actually have time to fix them.
That reminds me of something a scientist Salarian once said...
2133699
Know whats funny?
I only got into the Deus Ex Games *after* I finished.
Needless to say, they have provided me with alot of new inspiration tho, given that they are indeed related in tone to the Earth portions.
I'm very very glad you're enjoying it, and I'd be happy to see my ideas spread, especialyl if it means 'more Gryphons as good, badass good guys.'
I'm through the prologue and Ch-1 of the sequel, and I intend to start releasing once I hit Ch-3; so you have alot to look forward to if you continue to enjoy this.
5149996
Been there, read that for my anthropology classes, was moderately impressed by the author but not immensely so. His worst failing was attempting to over-simplify obscenely complex systems down to a few variables.
In any case, only the most basic concepts of his work could apply here. You have to stop thinking of Gryphons in human biological terms, or even human societal and cultural terms. They're not humans, and don't operate on the same biochemistry by any stretch, nor even the same mentality or cultural basis.
In reverse order from the bottom (mostly):
Gryphons process food differently, and are far faster and better hunters than humans are as a result of their flight, and sight. They can hunt the same raw amount of meat in minutes that it would take a human days to gather.
They can also eat this food uncooked if they so desire, and they gain far more from their food either way. Gryphons have a metabolism approaching-100% efficiency. Nothing is wasted, everything is turned to the maximum possible amount of energy.
A steak for a Gryphon gives him ten times the useful energy the same steak gives a human. The human's body processes, encapsulates, and expels many chemicals that the Gryphon's body does not, and instead has ways of burning efficiently.
While Gryphons need a certain amount of meat because certain meat-related chemicals are required for their digestive tract to function, they can also get nutrition from other food provided enough meat was also present in the meal, further increasing their options.
If enough meat it present, a Gryphon can eat more or less any other organic material and get at least some livable energy from it, and suffer no other ill effects. They gain the most from meat products, however.
Joseph Stalin, likely in reference to Soviet tanks of the period which were characterized by shoddy welding, poor ventilation, low armor, and a terribly bad clutch assembly. Not necessarily applicable here, as it refers to mechanical/armored warfare.
(I know a little something about tanks.
)
"Wars are fought with weapons, but they are won by men." George S. Patton (incidentally, a man considerably better at tank related things than Stalin
.)
He who has the best warriors wins.
Not applicable here; That is a story of humans fighting humans. It lacks any of the necessary variables required (difference in species biology) to make the point.
Besides, one could just as easily point to conflicts such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, where the world's largest armored column got blown to high-heck by not only a smaller force, but a less trained and much more poorly equipped force.
Numbers are over-rated (and many many other variables may apply). But if we must discuss them...
Bronze-age Athens only had about 15,000 people in it. Now Gryphons are much further along than this, but Gryphons are not humans.
For one thing; In general, a species' natural reproductive rate is driven by its position in the food chain.
Predators have fewer offspring (Gryphons are very much apex predators), prey have more, and humans fit somewhere on a middle line because while biologically speaking, they are prey, they also have technology at their disposal.
Technology, and society, can further alter birthrate numbers beyond the natural tendencies. In ancient times humans had far more babies, but far fewer survived. Today we have fewer children per family on the whole, but far more survive by an immense factor, hence ridiculously out-of-control population gains.
As an example; Gryphons' reproductive mechanisms physically do not function without actual love between the two parties, and the sharing of blood in a one-time marriage ceremony. So Gryphons never have children, biologically speaking, outside of marriage.
Fewer Gryphons get married than humans do, because the biological mechanisms don't trip without true love; So there are no marriages of convenience, or mistake.
A final statistic, and thought:
The sum total human population in 1800 was less than one billion. In 1000 BC it was estimated to be no more than 50 million. But some vast armies were fielded nonetheless.
The final thought being, that yes, that number is still somewhat low as you pointed out. But mayhaps I'm a thoughtful author, who plans out his issues, and mayhaps I am trying to make a point about one of the weaknesses in Gryphon society (the low rate of reproduction) that the introduction of human mentalities via converts stands to fix.
Again, Gryphons are not humans; They tend towards a more even spread, and low population overall regardless. Predators need more space, for one thing.
Gryphons prefer not to cram themselves into megatropoli like humans. Gryphons prefer to have many more 'cities,' with far less population per city. This is, among other things, a tactical advantage, as you can not wipe out a significant portion of their population just by destroying a single city. The spread also allows them to more firmly control their territory.
Marines don't have as many safety nets as you might think in some of their more brutal spec-ops training regimens. Gryphons have the biological tolerances to take these tests relatively safely at an adult age.
Gryphons do not have laywers or lawsuits. Gryphons view life differently than humans. They value it strongly, but they are also not so clingy with it. Gryphons have virtually no fear of death when it comes to their individual person. They are far more likely to fear the death of a loved one than have any worry or concern about their own mortality.
They will avoid death, true, but not to the exclusion of so much as in the human case. Humans will do almost anything to stay alive, Gryphons will willingly and calmly die to accomplish a mission objective if no other option exists. Gryphons will also risk more, in the personal sense, with less concern.
Gryphons can hold their breaths for an insane amount of time, and even survive a surprisingly long time with no air on the lungs at all. This is a function afforded by the mechanisms that let them breathe properly at extremely low air pressure and temperature found at high altitudes. Pegasi have similar capacities, as do Dragons.
Gryphons also have, much like fishing predatory birds, the capacity to account for low light and water diffraction, meaning the test-giver can see the test-taker most if not all of the time. Since Gryphons who aren't chained up are excellent swimmers, this acts as the only 'safety net' the test might need.
Most of these tests are psychological in nature, truth be told. They are about your strength of character, and reasoning, under pressure. There is far less physical danger present than what the protagonist may perceive at any given moment, because he is new to the culture.
You would be the first person to call it stupid; Most readers seem to grasp the basic concept of fiction. (And/or being polite enough to use a less charged word than 'stupid.' Trust me when I say that I do my research before writing, far more than the vast majority of writers.)
At the end of the day? The very definition of Sci-Fi and Fantasy encompasses narratives in which one is asked to suspend some amount of disbelief and glimpse a world where things are appreciably different in sometimes impossible ways.
If every fantastic being were bound by human rules, what fun would that be?
(And if every author had to explain every tiny detail of everything to every reader, books would never be finished. Use some inferences, I'd like to think I left more than enough clues for smart readers to fill in any blanks.)
5150125
Ok, now my brain is running into a different issue with your "efficiency" of both hunting and eating. Does the efficiency in energy gain make them have to eat less or more than your average human because you've already said they have a much higher metabolism, muscle mass, and general amount of weight, which would indicate needing to eat more than humans. Also, when talking about hunting compared to humans with efficiency, at what tech level for humans are we talking because I'm wondering how many species have gone extinct due to griffon hunting considering human hunting capabilities and the amount of animals that no longer exist on Earth
5151265
Correct. In spite of better efficiency, they still need to eat more, just not so much more that its impossible to think of within the context of a workable meal.
None. Don't make assumptions about my world, seeing as how you're not the author.
Earth animals are weak, lean, and reproduce more slowly compared to Equestrian animals, on the whole. Gryphons also practice conservation where applicable when prolonged hunting in a region would otherwise have permanent effects.
Gryphons are, generally speaking, smarter than historical era humans.
Now...
My brain is running into an issue with the 'efficiency' (or lack thereof) in having to explain every tiny thing that a reader ought to be able to easily piece together for themselves. I'm not a fan of nitpicking, and I don't like argumentative discussions.
So relax, open your mind, turn on your critical reasoning centers, and enjoy the story. If you'd rather not, then check out the non-fiction section of your library instead, I guarantee you it will satisfy any rampant thirst for 100% realism.
I'm interested in following the time-honored sci-fi and fantasy tradition of salting fiction with grains of truth, but I am not interested in ruining good fun for the sake of total statistical and mathematical realism.
5153849
Honestly? I'm tired of responding to (largely unhelpful) walls of text.
Read the story and learn the answers for yourself, or don't. I'm not especially bothered either way.
I'm not here to waste my time winning pointless debates with people who are trying way too hard to look smart.
1533272 What's a potion gun?
Why does this series have gore tags, but not dark tags?
5185463
Because ultimately I believe in happy endings where good triumphs over evil. To me, the dark tag is about stories that focus entirely on their darkness. While my stories have some serious and deep darkness in them (part of that being shown in the gore of combat), they also have a proportionate amount of bright light as well.
I feel like that disqualifies them from the dark tag.
Truthfully, I might have been able to get away with foregoing the gore tag as well (I don't get super duper ridiculous with gore), but I decided to be cautious for the sake of younger readers.
5233618
You might say it was inspired by that, as well as several other types of seafood, and some Belorussian cuisine I once sampled.
6105768
All I can say without giving spoilers is this;
I always write my stories with the intention of 'paying back' the dark moments doubly with light moments of joy, or victory, or love. There's just no guarantees on precisely when, or how, those happen.
7653892
Deep down, she's got a huge heart, but over-top of that is a very tough gal.
There are some sad, painful reasons for that in her younger past, which will come up in book three to cause quite a fantastical mess for the heroes...
7663348
Thank you!
Yes, I've been aware of the image issue for a little while, but just haven't had the time set aside yet to go back and fix them all. I'm still debating whether to work on bringing back the image dividers, or just replace them with the standard ones.
7785083
Romance, and parenthood, are themes that appear in book 2 a little more (most especially parenthood), and then again in book 3 (both I think in a bit more equal measure).
In both cases, sexuality doesn't really enter into it. For Gryphons, sexuality (in the Human sense/view) effectively does not exist. Gender does, and is binary, and has romantic correlation; But Gryphons have no physical reproductive drive, no physical reproductive organs, and none of the associated baggage (good, bad, and neutral) that comes with such systems. Lust, and infidelity, for example, are utterly alien to the species.
That leaves a Gryphon with really only one main question; "Am I romantic?" Some of our mains will have a 'yes' answer to that by book 3's end, and some 'no,' and the only commentary the story really leaves with the reader on that front is that one should do what is simultaneously best for one's self, and those whom one cares for.
For some people, romantic connections make sense, for some not, and that's perfectly ok. I may be a bit of a Hollywood classicist in many ways (I like happy endings, for example) but one thing I hate is that idea that every main character has to hook up. Some of mine will (some whom I didn't originally intend. They seem to write themselves sometimes), some won't, but all of the ones who survive to the end will be happy and content with the shape of their lives.
The story treats that as normal, and I do my best not to lampshade it. I do my best (and I hope I succeed) to treat my readers as intelligently as possible. In good writing, there is no need to harp on concepts, the best way to introduce them to the audience is to make them a normal reality of a character's existence.
As for when Book 3 starts to release? Not sure. Life has been tremendously busy on my end, and it is going to probably be a HUGE book, maybe up to 1.5x longer than book 2.
All I can say is rest assured; progress is being made, and I absolutely intend to finish the saga.
7785648
??? No genitals? No ovaries or testes? I am sorry to ask, but I am exceedingly curious, how in the world do they reproduce?
7786003
Thaumatically; Myth talks about Gryphon eggs being made of Agate slices, so I kind of took a twist on that and went with it.
Gryphons get their total immunity to magic by being forged in an extremely intense natural occurrence of it. When two Gryphons become a mated pair, they share blood as part of the ceremony. This tunes together their low-level bio-thaumatic fields, and the aspects of their genetic material which they can pass on, and makes them able to reproduce together (Gryphons can't do so without being mated formally, which in itself is impossible without the requisite emotional connection).
The pair then pick out an egg. Gryphons warehouse them, they actually have to mine an extraordinarily rare form of agate-like mineral, and then cut it into eggs, and store those. It's essentially just an un-energized vessel at that point.
The mated pair take their egg, and keep it between them when they sleep at night. After one to ten nights doing this, the interaction of their thaumatic fields with the crystalline matrix begins the life-bearing process. All they have to do after that is keep the egg warm, and safe until hatching.
This, incidentally, also neatly explains Hippogryphs. They can be produced by either a Colt and a Gryphoness, or a Mare and a male Gryphon. Since no one has to actually lay an egg biologically speaking, it works in either pairing. The catch is that the Pony in question has to go through the Gryphon mating ceremony, and the side-affect to them is the total 100% nuking of their sex drive, sensations, and use of accompanying organs, ever again.
So it's a major commitment, and one rarely seen due to both the nature of such a commitment, as well as the huge cultural differences at play. It still happens from time to time though. The things beings will do for true love...
Hippogryphs mating with other Hippogryphs, or a Pony, will also produce more Hippogryph offspring. Gryphons treat them as being Gryphons, and see no real difference between themselves, the same way most enlightened Ponies treat all the sub-tribes as being part of one big happy species.
Mentally, emotionally, and functionally Hippogryphs are Gryphons. The only difference is the horse-like hind quarters, and an accompanying very slight decrease in agility, and increase in strength and durability as compared to the average Gryphon.
A Gryphon who loses their mate to death can mate again, with no stigma in the culture, but it is still incredibly rare. Most choose never to take another mate due to the grief. The bond is stupendously deep. They generally can't have children with a second mate either, unless by adoption.
Adoption is a big part of Gryphon culture; Gryphons have no concept of abandonment by-intent, universally valuing the lives of their young, but because they are a warrior species, there's a pretty high incidence (compared to other species) of kids losing parents at a young age to the rigors of combat. Those orphans are adopted, sometimes informally by small communities (like Kephic and Varan were), more often formally, directly, into a specific family.
Gryphlets are born eyes-open, and able to walk on all fours immediately. Within the first year or two, flight feathers allowing limited gliding will come in, and they'll learn to also walk on two legs. By age 4 or 5 they'll be flying in a limited capacity under their own power, and conversing in complete sentences.
By 12 they're fully proficient in natural flight skills, and can start to learn trained flying skills.
By age 18 or 19, they're considered mature enough for their own mate, but coupling at such a young age is immensely rare. Gryphons are very slow to form such relationships (it isn't uncommon for a Gryphon's mate to be someone they grew up with, and have known for close to a century), and usually very slow to decide to have fledglings as well (why hurry when you'll probably live to be 300?). They also rarely have more than one child, as a family. Twins are rarest of all. So all in all, their birth-rate is catastrophically low.
Like all equestrian cultures, they suffer from a form of cultural stagnation at the time of the story.
This is one of the main benefits they get from integrating human converts; a slightly better balance towards having more young, and a more expansionist mindset.
7786113 That was a very informative response. Thank you. It does, however, bring up two more questions:
1. How did Gryphons discover how to reproduce in the first place?
2. When reproducing, two Gryphons create one, how does the species even still exist? The math is WAAAAY off for that. By that math, the population of each consecutive generation would be half the size of the one before it. Once the two parents pass away, there is only a single offspring to continue the line. Two more Grypbons pair-bond and create only one more, and the pattern goes on. I am confused how their reproduction patterns, alone, have not rendered them extinct.
Now, don't get me wrong, it does me good to see Gryphons being portrayed in almost exactly the same way I do in my own story. I am just curious how it works. Gryphon defender/warrior culture F.T.W.
7786547
Defender/Warrior culture indeed... That's no accident...
1. Without giving away a big, big spoiler, the information has been available to them since the species began. Exactly why, and how, will be covered in book 3.
2. It didn't always used to be this way; Very early in their history, family size tended to be larger, allowing for very slow-burn, but steady growth. Somewhat more 'recently' (in the long-view eyes of history anyhow) their population was more or less stable, with two or three young being born to enough pairs to balance out the ones having only one, or none, for net 0 growth, less the negative slope for those dying in combat.
Lately however, that's nosedived, and had put the species at a real risk for extinction within 1,000 years or so. An influx of human converts, plus the tendency of the human spirit to seek larger family unit size, and the infectiousness of human expansionism as an ideal, is changing all that...
If you read the first two books long enough, you start to discover that all the Equestrian races are dying, in their own subtle ways, and in desperate need of a good bracing injection of the human spirit, just as much as humanity also needs the unique physical, mental, and societal benefits the Equestrian races can offer.
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Interesting assessment...
Check back with us on that hypothesis towards the end of book 2
Now imagine the zebra and the dragons getting in the action.
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If you stick around through book 2 (finished) and 3 (still working on it, to be released relatively soon) you'll get a chance to see
I have to admit, the Dragon combat scenes in book 2 are in my top 5 for the action scenes I most enjoyed writing.
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I just imagine Zebra and Dragons offering humans a chance to join their species.
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In the end, pretty much every species ends up being available, compatibility and the laws of humans, and that species, permitting.
With some species there's few to no entry requirements on either side, with some like the Gryphons there are rules on both sides, because the Gryphons are choosy, and Earthgov is scared of the idea of too many incompatible candidates dying, and giving the program a bad name.
In some cases like Dragons, the species themselves aren't choosy, but Earthgov is scared pants-less of what happens when incompatible people go through the process (they go savage, and become exceedingly dangerous) and therefore Earthgov are the main ones putting down barriers to entry.
With still others like Zebra, and Buffalo, there are few-to-no barriers to entry, same as with Ponies.
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Given how long dragons take to reach adulthood, and their low reproductive rate, I imagine Dragon Lord Ember would embrace any creature that wants to 'upgrade' their species with open arms.
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True, partially. Both Gryphons and Dragons have an astoundingly low birthrate, though Gryphons are much worse about it than Dragons, and have shorter life-spans, but are ironically more choosy. Has to do with our morals and such.
In truth? I started writing all this way way back in 2012, so the timeline in the Hegira universe incorporates less and less as it goes from the show post-2012, and in lots of cases at this point is extremely different from canon.
Gryphons are a noble warrior race with the most respected and feared military in Equestria, Dragons don't have a single ruler, and are primarily broken into sub-species tribes, which are all quite different culturally. And so on, and so forth.
If any of the new characters like Flash Sentry or Sunset Shimmer exist at all in Hegira's reality, their lives have been very different, and never crossed paths with anyone of importance.
Mild book 2 spoilers, Changeling reform is also a thing, but it happens very differently here, and I hadn't seen the show's version until much later after I wrote the relevant segments.
Full disclosure; I quit watching the show all-together after the divergence between their 'Gryphons,' and my Gryphons started to tick me off beyond any continued desire to watch. Sometimes you love a concept too much to really be able to enjoy any interpretations of it that vary too strongly, and this is definitely one of those cases, since my Gryphon obsession goes back about 20 years.
Initially I wanted to fill in a lot of backstory, and plot holes with my work, and the show runners hadn't at the time, so it was fertile ground for speculation, and creativity. Now they have, but of course the way I did it is quite different.
Definitely darker.
Probably not for kids under age 12
I knew that strong divergence was likely going in, and I'm not worried about it (though I'd have been happier if the show didn't crap all over my favorite race, so I could keep watching happily. I fault the writers for most of their non-pony material in general, on account of it not being very good, and largely un-creative).
This work was always meant to be practice for totally original fiction, so the further I can launch away from the 'fan' part of 'fanfic,' the harder I have to work, and the more I learn, and thus the more useful it is to me as a writer long-term.
The entire idea of writing FiM fanfic was that I wanted to challenge myself to write something with Tolkien or Lewis level seriousness and gravitas, set in a world half made up from an animated more kid-friendly show.
Originally? I only intended to write one book. But the story ballooned out of control, and now I'm knee-deep into book 3 of 3, which will probably be the size of a George RR Martin tome. And I got my toes wet in a stand-alone prequel which is probably not getting finished, because at this stage I'm feeling the itch keenly to move on to original sci-fi works.
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Cool, thanks for answering. I've been very curious about this.
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Anytime!
Luna was far too cool to not have an important secondary role in the story.
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Ah, roger that.
Weird that the allergies would be factor, though--since we're essentially talking about "super-high tech = magic" to get people to survive passing through the barrier.
Or was it that Planters® was a major shareholder in producing the original ponification potion?
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Actually as I understand it, people can develop allergies to almost anything over time, as a population. My hypothesis was that a limited number of people would be allergic to the common bonding agent that ties the programmable nano-particles, and the thaumatic substances together, the same way some people are allergic to gluten. Just as a matter of statistics.
It also lends the PER a slightly more cynical, cold-hearted streak. There's a logic to why, but that's a spoiler for much later...
I've not read many stories yet related to TCB, except for a few outliers that had caught my eye before, so I've never before immersed myself in the genre.
But this has been a pretty fun romp. This did have bit of an XCOM flavor to it than the few TCBs I've looked at. Overall, I definitely recommend this story.
For me, now, onto your sequels/prequels
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Don't get into the prequel unless you're big into minor details; I haven't finished it, and I'm not sure I will.
The sequel, on the other claw, is finished, and I'm knee-deep into finishing the third and final book. With any luck, it'll be done before year's end.
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Rgr that. Even so, I think I'll still take a look at it. Aside from the griffons taking a major lead, I liked the intricate complexity of this story.
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If you do read Threshold, and really want to know what happened that remains unwritten, you can PM me and I'll summarize for you.
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Ironically, in show canon at least, it looks like dragon reproduction touches a little on this idea.
While it's possible all the species have genitalia (just not drawn for obvious reasons), at least dragon do have eggs that are hard as rock and it takes considerable amounts of magic to hatch, given what we've seen of Spike's hatching and Holder's Bolder.
And I'm still expecting an episode where that thing hatches on the Pie family farm!
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Oh dear...
I'm not sure if I find that idea more exciting, or terrifying...
Ooookay, I'm finally done. These were quite an interesting couple of sleepless nights : )
But yeah, awesome story, to the favs it goes : )
Interesting spin on the TCB. Gryphons are still OP, but well in line with other Equestrian species. So it's rather humans a little underpowered here, on per-specimen basis. But they're fixing it with numbers and lateral thinking. Political stuff was executed well, action scenes are one of the best I've seen on this site, personal growth and characters' developement was there.
I liked the nods to Ambassador's Son, it is indeed another awesome story, with quite interesting take on the dragons.
Eh, I'm rambling, onwards to the next!
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Thank you very much!
I consider that one of the best compliments I can receive. I know and relish that feeling of being hooked and wanting to see how something ends, and to be able to give that feeling to others is a very nice thing!
I hope you enjoy the next ones even more; I worked hardest on improving my character work as I went, because I felt comfortable with my descriptive work, world building, and generalist dialogue skills. I've come to love these characters, and think of many of them as almost-people living inside my head.
More than one of them has gone and done things I either strictly didn't want them to do, or didn't plan for at all, so that's been an interesting time to say the least.
So very much creative lateral thinking still to come...
If you're going by the Roman alphabet, then shouldn't this story have "Alpha" in the title?
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I suppose, but I chose Gamma because Gamma -> G, and G is for Gryphon.
Hence the Delta-Gamma symbol meaning 'Change into a Gryphon.'
Book two references Delta in the title because of Change as a continuing and primary theme.
Book three references Omega because it is the end of the trilogy, and also about the end of at least one world.
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I think it's a fine testament to my willpower that I've resisted asking you to spoil, so far.