Hasbroverse Worldbuilding post four: Facts and some figures about Hasbroverse Equestria · 6:40pm Jul 9th, 2013
And... welcome back. :)
The planet and system
Equestria is on a planet that is orbited by a single moon and star, controlled by Celestia and Luna respectively. It's about the size of Earth, with comparable gravity and atmosphere. The sun is nigh-identical to our own, a G-type main sequence. The Equus System lies in a pocket dimension adjacent to the 'main' Hasbroverse one, smaller, but containing other stars, planets and celestial bodies.
Equus has a ratio of 33-67 land to water, with about 70% of the land concentrated on one side of the planet. There's a scattering of islands that trail around the planet like a belt and a smaller landmass on the opposite side from the larger supercontinent. I would draw it but I mess up stick figures. I also only have the basic paint program that came with the PC. So, sorry.
The entire planet has been explored, but large swaths remain unclaimed. Equestria is mostly around the center, with a long east coast. The Griffin Empire is to the north, with the former site of the Crystal Empire to the northeast. The lands of the Ursa is to the northwest, and the Dragon Lands dominates the western border. To the south lies a few smaller nations, but mostly unclaimed land. There may or may not be populations on the scattered islands or the other landmass.
Equestria proper
Equestria itself is the approximate size of the continental United States and Canada without the three Territories. The total population is just under 200 million. This includes but is not limited to not only the five types of ponies-earth, pegasus, unicorn, flutter and sea-but also any and all nonhuman species we saw in G1, such as crabnasties, stonebacks, penguins, bushwooliees, bumbles and G4 species such as donkeys, zebra, minotaurs, griffins and the like. I also include giraffes, okapis and... a lot of others. ;)
Some time after the end of G1, not 100% sure how long, the humans and near-humans, led by Scorpan and the Moochik left the land a'la the Elves from Lord of the Rings. It was orderly and peaceful, and they left behind their villages, castles and most of their tools for the pony's future use. They did NOT die off, nor are they on the smaller landmass. They simply... went away. The Moochik was the last to leave, giving Celestia, Luna and Wind Whistler a series of prophecies for the future.
Standard of living is fairly high. the base tech level is around the 1910's-1920's, but there are obvious spikes in technology. Open up Mayor Mare's trotman radio from chapter nine and it would look almost identical to a walkman from the 80's. Only difference would be the power source, as that would be recharged by magic.
The main things holding back technological progress are, ironically, the things helping Equestria in the first place. The first are the books in the Vault. Although invaluable for their raw knowledge, they were also a bit... haphazard. Also, even with complete blueprints to build a nuclear reactor, you can't do that without the infrastructure or raw materials. Also, some things must be adapted to hooves or pegasi wings. They're much more flexible than RL hooves, but they're still not hands. The second thing is magic. Some technology/devices simply aren't needed with magic. Please note this is NOT a bad thing. You don't really need a car when you've got Big Macintosh hauling around a house, after all. And as seen with the trotman, Equestria uses magic and technology together.
In harmony. ;)
Government:
I won't go into too much detail, simply because sometimes politics baffles me and because it's mostly irrelevant to the main thrust of the story, I can say the ponies mainly picked and chose from various books brought over. Celestia and Luna are princesses, with self-limited authority. There is a Senate with representatives along provincial lines, with a chancellor. The current chancellor is Fancy Pants.
The government is primarily decentralized. Celestia wants her little ponies to help themselves, after all. ;) But the government does step in when and where necessary.
Military
Equestria's military is the most technologically advanced on Equus. Only the Dragon Clans could take them in a straight fight, and only if they're united. Good thing relations are so cordial. ;) Their motto is, "Be our friend, or be a memory." Danny came up with that one. The current Chairpony of thew Joint Chiefs is General Spanish Steel, a pegasus stallion. There are several branches of the Equestrian Armed Forces, including but not limited to:
1. The Royal Guard, charged mainly with the protection of Canterlot, the surrounding province and guard duty for the Diarchs. The current captain is Shining Armor, who is in the process of rebuilding the Guard after several centuries of neglect, nepotism and general nincompoopery.
2. the Royal Tank Corps. Mechanized warfare, basically. Almost all Equestrian tanks resemble WW I-era designs, with sponsons containing the guns.
3. the Royal Navy. The majority are sea ponies and crabnasties.
4. The Teleportation Corps, made up of unicorns trained in teleportation. Admittedly they're used mostly for recon and logistics. Teleportation in the midst of battle for offensive purposes has proved... problematic.
5. Weather Control. Basically pegasi manipulating weather on the battlefield. Their elite units can whip up class-5 tornadoes and send them right at the enemy.
6. The Air Force. Airships and pegasi outfitted as fighters, basically. They're armored with guns mounted to their backs and custom-built harness attached to their neck that turns the rifle with their head. The rifles are belt-fed from saddlebags and are fired using special triggers built into special bits. They also have armored hooves and wings for melee combat, along with a flail tied to their tail. And man that's a lot of thought poured into that...
Relations with other countries:
Although there are nations to the south, they're not too relevant at the moment, so I haven't thought much about them. ;) The two big ones are the Dragon Clans to the west and the Griffin Empire to the north:
1. Thanks to King Spykoran, relations with the Clans is strong. Trade is heavy, with gems and ores going into the Lands and enchanted armor and weapons going out. The vast majority of dragons see Equestria as a nation not to mess with, at the very least because they give them such great snacks!
2. The Griffin Empire was once the Griffin Kingdoms. Two kingdoms even joined the Equestrian Alliance, but about 700 years ago, there was a coup and all the kingdoms were solidified under a dictator. Further details are incoming.
Miscellaneous:
1. Cloudsdale is not the only cloud city, but it is by FAR the largest. It was founded by Bloodwing of the Sky Clans, who took over after Hurricane was frozen, and Firefly of Paradise Estate. The two married. His brothers, Deathmane and Killhoof Red helped out. And yes, all three names are basic 'take thats' against Liefeldian naming conventions. :p They even had a cat named Clawire. :D Well, okay. Maybe no cat named Clawire.
2. In the western lands bordering the Dragon Lands, the zebra tribes there use domesticated manticores as we do horses, including war mounts.
3. Telephones exist, but are a fairly recent invention. By law, every town must have one in City Hall for emergency use. Ponyville has three. The one in City Hall, Mayor Mare has one in her office-a desktop unit! And Twilight Sparkle spent a large sum to get a line installed into the Golden Oaks Library.
4. Movies are fairly recent, too. The vast majority are educational films like shown in 'Hurricane Fluttershy'.
5. Two characters that have appeared are changelings. They are not flutter ponies. *Runs off*
That is... about it for now as much as I can think of. Next week I delve a bit into the Dragon Clans.
Do the Teleportation Corps ever train in Scry & Fry tactics?
Huh! Nice! It amuses me that this update is so relevent to the latest update of my own bible thread. Ie. both about smilar topics.
Deathmane had this strange habit of never letting anypony see his rear hooves, and Killhoof Red's special talent was pouches.
1199169 Oh, you have slain me with your wit, good sir!
1199174 I am afraid i am unfamiliar with that exact term. Do you mean teleport in, plant a bomb and then 'port out? If not, could you please elaborate?
1199260 Thanks. :) And I went there right after and looked yours over. Nice.
1199849 And Bloodwing's eyes are all white.
Also, you're very lucky I wasn't drinking anything when I read that. 
1199882 Scry & Fry is an old D&D adage where a wizard scrys a target to discern its location, buffs the hell out of their team, then teleports in to eliminate their target. A brief rundown on it's history can be found here.
1199964 Ah, thank you for the information and link!
Yes, they can do that, too. But it takes a stronger-than-average unicorn to teleport a whole team in.
1199882
And Bloodwing's lineage lives on, in the form of Ponyville's very own Snowflake.
1209497 No need to give out spoilers for him. ;)
Domesticated Manticores. Seriously.
Wait, wait. There are two changelings in your story! You just can't drop something like that! Wait, is it both Shining Armor and Cadence? Perhaps Fancy Pants and Fleur de Lys?