[First Person] [Alternating Perspectives] [Equisverse Era 1]
Far from Equestria lies the Prench Empire, a land overflowing with magic and ancient in its traditions. Among which, is the use of the undead as laborers. When the friend of Gentle Repose, an Equestrian immigrant named Felling Axe, is suddenly arrested by the local Lord on charges of espionage, Repose risks everything to get his friend safely back to Equestria.
Featured on Saturday, September 10, 2016 at 06:19:34 PM UTC. 
And on Saturday, October 1, 2016 at 00:03:03 UTC
And yet again on Friday, October 7, 2016 at 09:10:14 UTC
And once more on Tuesday, November 22, 2016 at 09:39:45 UTC
Then again on Tuesday, November 29, 2016 at 07:04:21 UTC
For my fan’s convenience: This story takes place in an alternate timeline of the Equisverse. No storyline beyond that of The Bridesmaids, Horseshoes, Dinner at Ravenloft, The Queen is Dead, All Hail the Queen, Lyra-7%, and Nightmare happens or will happen in this timeline. However, some world events, elements of the setting, and concepts from other works of mine apply, but this only pertains to foundational concepts such as thaumaturgic current. This is the more “serious” timeline.
Here we go again.
7552444 It's always such a pleasure
Is this going to be a full story.
Well this is cool! Can't wait to see what happens next!
it sounds awesome but id rather wait until there's a good amount of chapters to read
This is featured.
7553241 Yes, basically.
7553066 You wont have to wait long. Meep keeps a 3-4 day update schedule for the most part. Never more than a week,
It tastes like sheer pain and a penetrating feeling of heat and pain that radiates from your mouth, and the faint smell of sizzling flesh?
7553017 Yes. We're looking at ~200k words. Typical novel size.
7553054 Thanks! Glad you're looking forward to it.
7553241 Mabey, you'll have to read and find out.
7553346 Well yeah. TO be fair, I can see people drinking that. After all those who like alcohol are the sort who find willing disrupting their brain chemistry to the point of inducing extreme malfunctions 'fun'.
7553521
It permeates everything like brain freeze, but for heat. And a hundred times worse.
I ain't never heard of anyone who enjoys brain freezes.
Though I am talking about literally taking a piece of hot iron and putting it in one's mouth, which would be a very stupid thing to do.
7553521 200 k
Going to enjoy the ride also the min I inferred hes a Lich (Zombie/undead) it reminded me of this song.
Also I hope we get to see those zombie knights in action at some point. Hopefully doing something as epic as the following Calvary charge.
7553541 Good job there, mate! Didn't expect anyone to get that soo soon. But can you guess the variety? Also naturally you'll see that sometime. I can't cock tease my readers like that :P It's too cool NOT to show.
7553521 Your welcome!
7553595 Meep umm well the closes I have come to finding a lich type he would be is a info is redacted hes a pony not and elf but the idea is nearly identical from what I can infer from the first chapter.
7553595 Is the iron line a reference to magnot line. Is there a map you use for your fanfictions I would love to see that at some point.
7553701 Not a bad guess! Tiz a rare 3.5 suplement I got the idea from so the exact one is almost unknown, but that's very very close :) (Also remove that URL from the post please, spoilers dont hide them and I dont wanna ruin the twist for anyone) .
As for my AU, yes I have a map. ANd yes it's a reference to the Marriot line, though my Prancs is only loosely based on France.
ALso a calendar and a historic timeline.
Map. Scale is 1 pixil = 1 kilometer 1 Grid = 1000 kilometers
Calander.
Historic Timeline.
If you wanna nerd out over world building, my PM box is always open.
7553849 Edited out the url
7553954 Thank you :) I don't mind people posting spoilers, theroies, or guesses about the plot as long as they are marked out with spoiler tags. But well, you know... poor site coding of url/spoiler interaction and what not.
(Also I kinda love engaging my readers in the comments, feel free to post anything story related in here anytime you like. This includes ethics, political, economic, and theological opinions as long as they are relevant to a plot point or theme within the story.)
BlargnewchapterswhenI'moutoftown >-< okwhateverI'mfinallyhomeandcanread
Woot new story! Time for some good old-fashioned Prench necromancy. I see 7553541 already beat me to the main character question.
And this story's already off to a great start. A main character that everyone shits on that should be running the show (or at least in a respectable position), a friendly foreigner that keeps said character sane, and a changeling tag? What could possibly go wrong?
So what hive is Tua from? I would assume he's a blue from the cover, but yeah
So, I hadn't considered it before, but do the Prench just have all undead as socially below the living, regardless of sapience?
7554290
Yes and also no. They have a caste system designed by their Emperor over 5000 years ago. First Class citizens are the nobility (aka military, only soldiers may hold positions of power or have a say in policy. Service Guarantees Full Citizenship, but that also REQUIRES you participate in local politics under the penalty of imprisonment for failure to contribute.). They have privileges under the law but also responsibilities (and they can be executed for failing to meet those responsibilities.). Second class citizens are the common folk, merchants, and clergy. They have protections under the law and are required to pay taxes for those protections but NO SAY in any policy. Third class citizens are those devoid of some rights of personhood. Criminals, sentient undead, and others who are obligated to perform special duties with specific penalties for failure. Fourth Class citizens are actual slaves. These are mostly mindless undead, but also include serious criminals (rapists, pedophiles, murderers who can not justify their killing and do not show remorse, ect), they are property and not legally or culturally persons.
It is possible to change caste, upwards and downwards mobility is more than common. The system is a bit archaic, bu tit works for Prance and the requirment of "serve the Empire if you wish to have any influence within it" has kept their national identity strong over the years. However, undead are not allowed to move in the castes. Without special premission, the legal price for immortality is forsaking your ability to influence politics (This was created because vampires.)
Tua is a Saphire.
7554381
You edited that in as I was typing a question about undead being able to move up
. So becoming undead instantly drops you to third/fourth class? I assume a third class undead could move down.
You mentioned that second class citizens pay taxes. Is it just the second class? I would assume the fourth doesn't, simply because they are considered property, but what about the third?
7554439
Sorry, i litterlay forgot to type that out >< And yes, a third class can drop to fourth. If a fourth fucks up well... When a tool breaks you replace it. (ANd if a fourth does well over a set number of years they are released. The Fourth Class basically replaces prisons. The truly dangerous are executed, the rest serve the community directly.)
Yes. The other castes directly serve with their labor and time. Their money is not taxed for this reason.
Ha! I knew that obscure joke wasn't nearly as obvious as you thought it was, Meeps!
Not everyone has seen the right extremely well known British comedies to get it. I know I wouldn't have gotten it without you mentioning it because you thought it was obvious.
7554910 grumble grumble grumble... English fans should get it grumble grumble grumble.
7554381
That's what money is for...
7554943 The price for privilege in Prance is NEVER money. They're not a capitalist nation, more of a hybrid economic system. The reason for this is to keep the country firmly in military control with their frogs pinning corps firmly in place.
7554948 Maybe "value" would've been a better word. Someone in a useful place always wants something,
7554973 Exactly. Lets say you are a vampire and you want to achieve second-class status. "I can get that damn built for you this year instead of next year, sir." "DO it and we have a bargain."
Okay first of all, LOVE the new changeing scenes picture! AWESOME looking skull!
hmm not sure if I have seen a name for the Zebra language before, I like this version of it!
I would say sounds like a classic vampire, but then the vamponies we have seen so far in your world can go out in the sun just fine(at least from what I can recall? Been awhile since I read Dinner...) But hmm interesting. Zompony maybe? Don't know enough about Zombies to know how they would react generally.
Hmm so all the 'royalty' in Prance are white eh? Hmm...
Sounds like a pretty place to live.
Ahhh good old family, never knowing something they do could hurt their future progeny. Not saying the King wasn't good of course. I have no idea yet.
So true! They do seem to find it very hard to hide how they feel. And suuuuuuper, friendly, maybe even tooooo friendly.
Ahhh he has an eye similar to mine, seeing all those little details and being able to appreciate what others might not see. Have had plenty of people look at me weird when I say something like 'don't you just love the way the shadows are hitting that trees leaves? Makes them look like there are dozens of shades of green instead of just one or two.' And then they just give me the
look and I have to sigh they can't see the beauty I see.
Silly ponies, some ponies like to be able to see at night when they are walking home, but sounds like you others would rather not have the night sky blighted by 'light pollution'. x.x
Ooooo love this idea! And indeed, why waste all that good space when you don't need to?
And that is why I don't eat it, or most pre-processed pasteurized single slice cheeses. Cheese wise, they melt like plastic and taste like plastic. Bleh!
Great first chapter! I look forward to more!
7555016
Sadly I can't take all of the credit, I copied the basic shape of a skull shaped mask I found, and then extrapolated the full skull and jaw from it and added some floruishes and details. But I think I did good! (It looks way better in color, I gave it a nice yellowed bone that fades toa white bleached bone, as if the nose and jaw rest in sunlight, but the dome is always in shadow.)
No, he has a mind capable of independent thought, emotion, and is you know, a person. Zompony's are pretty much mindless, and also harmless unless you are grass or they are being controlled. But you are in the ballpark.
Yes, this is because none of the Emperor's children or descendants have been any other color than a shade of white. Ivory, cream, snow, pure white, any of the whites, and ALWAYS with a metallic tint. It's not a racist thing, it's just a genetics of the bloodline thing.
Equestrian Zomponies tend to do basic menial labor for their friends. Their zombie apockolipse left the nations windows washed and lawns mowed before the zombies rotted away, some even cleaning up the mess before they expired. It was a very weird four days and Twilight was thereafter forbidden from examining Zebrican artifacts.
Oh cool! I love it when somone can connect toa character personaly like that.
14 barrels a year is worth skimping on illuminated streets to a certain Lord Mayor. This is enough to buy a few small items at a grocers... (ANd their street lamps have shrouds and are warm not bright light so as to not cause light pollution. Many mages need to use the stars positions as part of their focus, or other work.
I'm glad you enjoyed it! And like everypony else you also missed the subtle thing! XD I'll just have to be blatant about it.
A necromancer in equestria huh? That sounds like a recipe for awesome trouble.
Necromancy is one of my favorite story subjects to see people play around with in stories I eagerly await more.
7553595
Are they a baelnorn?
7556275 They are one of that tree of creatures, yes.
I agree, you did do well. Heh and isn't that what many artists do, copy from something in real life? Ooo I can imagine! I, likely morbidly, love the look of an old skull, and that sounds pretty awesome in color?
True that, quite an interesting mind too.
Heh well I'm sure I'll get closer as I read more. ^.^ (Maybe, depends on if I have heard of the creature or not. But then with how much I read I can see that being likely.)
Oh no, i didn't think of it as a racist thing. Just a cool thing and one that makes sense? After all, it does seem to be that even in our world, each group of royals looks a lot a like. (Not as much as here of course but eh.....)
Aw how sweet of them to help their friends, and then clean up before they expire! Ooooh yes, I can imagine she would be! Silly purple pony, too curious for her own good often.
Hehe so do I! Makes a story that much more interesting when you can connect with at least one character. *cough* probably why I am plowing through this other 110 chapter story on here, I really connect with the main character so I have to know what happens? *cough*
Silly Lord Mayor, I bet you can go without those extra goodies.
And ooooo that is cool! I do love looking up at the night sky, and if they had a way to let us see the stars well and still have streetlamps so I didn't trip I would love it! (Buuuut our town either just has regular streetlights, or nothing at all. x.x)
Weeell in my defense I was half asleep when reading (long day), heh but if everypony else missed it as well then I don't feel so bad.
Another promising story begins, I can't wait to see where this goes.
7556650 Here's a color and full size copy. http://meepthechangeling.deviantart.com/art/Skull-633997045
If you read any 1980s fantasy novel you have about a 5% chance of having had one in the story.
Well yeah, because human royal bloodlines are inbred as all hell. With Prench nobility, it's simply that the DNA for fur color is dominant and will prevent all other colors from being expressed regardless of who you mate with.
Non predatory species make for odd zombies :P
Oooo I really like it!
I've read some? Buuuuut not a ton I don't think... so maybe not then. Ah well I don't mind a surprise!
True, true, so inbred! x.x That makes sense, and is kind of cool. Could totally have em breed with someone crazy pink like Pinkie or something and still have a pretty white little foal.
Indeed! Man I want to read some more of those now kind of sort of? *Is sure after that recent episode there are lots of newer zompony fanfics....*
See Repose, that's why you're my favorite. Cause your so... Thick! You're Mr. Thick, Thick Thickity-Thickface from Thicktown, Thickania...
And so's your dad!
I can respect that.
After all, on some level I know I live for a fool's errand to understand the universe but chances are I'll die without knowing.
You don't need to go to all the trouble of healing the emperor.
Just implement a text-to-speech device.
It'll work.
Trust me.
7560697 I would make a joke about that having an innuendo in there but its too easy. :P
7560719 /me coughs, "Yeah I did base him about 33% off of that Emperor. No, not the Games Workshop one. THAT one. And yes, he currently has a text to speech device. No throne though. Or psi powers."
Ironically, that's why Repose is who he is today.
7560729
I wanna be a lich, can I be a lich?
Maybe I should Orochimaru this shit and go for a desperate bid for immortality instead.
I'll admit I watched the movie the other day and it's been stuck in my head since.
7560816 David Bowie will do that to ya.
And now's a good time to point out the fact that one of my stories features a Diamond Dog with heterochromia named David who fights with a bowie knife. That is all.
7560822
7560831 Because silly geek references in stories is one of my shticks?
7560833
Hai!
That's the kinda thing I'd do and my wife would just walk away shaking her head.
Two changeling queens, one wendigo, one half wendigo, a few vampires, a couple androids, a biomancer, a necromancer, one straight up demigod who used to be Death, an alicorn, and friends that might recieve immortality in some form from their friends. The list of immortals and possible immortals is really starting to rack up. In fact this list seems to indicate they have about double what was originally asked for I think.
7560874 Unless of course, there is more than one side taking form.