Have some world-building while you wait · 8:38pm Dec 4th, 2013
I'm still writing out the final part of Dreams of War, so I thought I would share some neat images I made until it's ready, courtesy of the Game of Thrones sigil creator, and some world-building ideas I worked out along with them.
Below are the major noble houses that have appeared so far in the story. In the tribal era, the nobility consisted entirely of unicorns, with other races as servants and the like only. They have slowly opened up since that time, but that legacy is still there, as evidenced by the unicorn on Blueblood's sigil.
When a very rare alicorn appears, they become the de jure head of a new dynasty. Hence why Celestia and Luna have their own separate houses, even though they're sisters. "But what about their parents' House?" Well, that's a question I think would be best explored by a sequel or side story. But basically, they're "cadet branches" of that house, like how the Valois and Bourbon dynasties of France were both cadet branches of the Capetians. Same thing happens if an alicorn appears who is already a member of a noble house. Most noble houses try to trace their ancestry back to an alicorn, or at least an alicorn's un-ascended relatives, to try to legitimize themselves. As you can probably imagine, there has been a lot of conflict and intrigue over things like this. Celestia has learned to manage internal politics skillfully enough to avoid civil wars and assassinations like in our world and Equestria's past, but petty jealousies and rivalries can still occur. Luna... well, let's hope she can learn quickly.
As for the languages, it's a mishmash. Classical-era families tend to either keep their classical (i.e. Latin, to us) motto (like Heartstrings does), or change with the times (like Blueblood). Some new ones, like Cadenza, adopt a classical motto to try to fit in, or because it sounds impressive. Luna has updated the words of her house, but not the name. That is in pre-Classical (i.e. Gaelic, and it means "Stars") Equine, because she wanted to balance very old and very new after her return. Hers is the only surviving noble house from the time of the tribes, aside from Celestia's, but the older sister's has changed a lot.
The Bluebloods aren't as hoity-toity as their name suggests. They can't be anymore, since most of their lands are on Equestria's frontier, where resources are scarce and incursions from other nations are common. They accept whoever will fight with them, unicorn or not.
Luna's house. Most of the dynasty's records were destroyed either by Nightmare Moon, or by the angry populace opposing her, so Luna herself is the only known surviving member.
[Since the pseudo-Prince Blueblood is the only child of Duke Blueblood, he's going to be slightly peeved that his son's marriage to Luna would be matrilineal, making any children they have members of House Realtai (assuming Luna manages to get Blueblood the Younger back for the marriage, that is!). Of course, there are numerous benefits to marrying into alicorn royalty, so he might get over it. Luna may have to rely on her silver tongue for that. :P]
Celestia's house, the first to open lineage and membership up to non-unicorns, and today the most inclusive and progressive family.
Princess Candybutt's--I mean, Cadence's--dynasty, which consists of only her so far, since she became an alicorn only about a decade ago. Shining Armor needs to work on that.
Heartstrings, the dynasty of Gethsemane and Lyra. Though Lyra has been disinherited since moving in with Bon Bon. It's not exactly prejudice against lesbians. Some ponies even encourage relationships with other mares... as long as you still get married to a stallion and produce legitimate offspring to continue the line. Lyra refused to become a "brood mare" and hasn't spoken to most of her family since.
Finally, the house of Twilight and her parents. While Twilight hasn't become an alicorn in this story, she's still nobility.
So does all this mean that Celestia and Luna have relatives all over the place? We know that Luna has been married several times in my story. Did she have any children? If so, could descendants of those children be alive today? ...Maybe! (If there are any, rest assured that they won't be ultra-special black-coated uber-alicorns, just regular ponies; though the emotional effect on Luna would be far from regular).
Finally, there's been a preview of the IDW comic featuring Luna. link They're really bringing out the badass within her here. For example: "I'm sure I could handle both night and day. I fought the faceless perils in the dark. You are about to fight a roll of red tape." Sounds like a line she might have said in Night Errantry. Just sayin'. :D
Have a great day everybody. Expect the epic conclusion to my current chapter soon!
Slight addendum: Lauren Faust once posted on deviantart that in her vision, neither Celestia nor Luna had ever been married or had children. I know that nothing is actually canon unless and until it appears on the show, but since Word of Faust is the next best thing, I want to address that.
Obviously, I completely ignored it for Luna. Marriage and bloodlines are simply too important an element of knightly tales. But I think I'm keeping that idea for Celestia. Not because I think she is or should be some ideal of virginal purity (in fact, I find that idea, that having sex or children "taints" you if you're female, offensive), but because it raises some interesting questions about her character, and, in my story, about her House. For example, how does she even have a dynasty if she has no descendants? My answer is that House Solaria consists almost entirely of orphans and illegitimate offspring Celestia has adopted. (And of course, every time a new member is adopted, there are rumors that the child is actually Celestia's. Some of those rumors could be true.)
As some of you may know, Cadence is an orphan according to the official books Hasbro has put out. I took that a step farther and had her be adopted into House Solaria. Though she technically founded her own cadet bloodline when she became an alicorn, that connection with Celestia as her adopted mother is the reason why she had the connections to be foalsitting the young Twilight Sparkle. There! Show tie-in! I'm out.