World Building 13 · 1:39am May 6th, 2014
Threats to Equestrian Security
Saddle Arabia/Roam
Normally the nations should have cooperated together, but currently Equestria's loyalty is divided between Saddle Arabia and Roam. The two are valuable trading partners with Equestria, providing raw materials to further strengthen Equestria's military and economy, but relations between Saddle Arabia and Roam are strained at best, openly hostile at worst. This is because of a stretch of fertile land known as "the Emerald of the Desert", with each side claiming the land for themselves. The Saddle Arabians claim that they had settled there first, and as such have inherited the land for their own use. The Roamans claim that they had conquered the territory from the Saddle Arabians in a pre-Lunar Heresy war, and the Saddle Arabians lost their claim with it. Celestia has refrained from intervening in the conflict, as doing so might draw Equestria into a war that would do nothing but burn resources and cost lives.
However, one faction has caused the Saddle Arabians to accuse the Equestrians of favoritism and "flying false flags"; shortly after the end of the Lunar Heresy, a band of warriors called the Black Templars of Roam began building monasteries and fortresses along the Saddle Arabian border. The Templars are an autonomous group, battling the Saddle Arabians separately under their own banner and not bothering to consult the city state from which they draw their name. As a favor to the Saddle Arabians, and to try and show that Equestria was innocent of meddling, Celestia sent two Chimera Strike Teams and a force of Western Rangers and Arctic Wolves to investigate. The force was defeated and forced to return back to Equestria, where they brought back startling news: the Templars were equipped with Legion grade weapons and armor. Relations between Equestria and the Templars is mostly positive, although there is lingering suspicion as to where their true loyalties lie. The Western Rangers despise the Templars, as they believe them to be descendants of the Empress' Chosen who had cowardly fled Equestria instead of facing Nightmare Moon or dying as the Traitors the Rangers assume they are (this is ignoring the fact that the Templars all but worship Celestia and forced Grogar's Stalliongrad Guards back when the Traitors attempted to claim Roam for themselves).
The exact organization of the Templars is unknown, but estimates put them at close to the Arctic Wolves in strength, if not stronger.
There have been numerous incidents between the Roamans and the saddle Arabians, incidents that Celestia has had to act as a third party to resolve. The zealotry of the Black Templars and the increasing presence of Chaotic forces in the region has given rise to fears that a larger scale war may soon begin, and that Equestria will be forced to take part in the slaughter.
Changelings
The existence of changelings was first documented during an attack on Fillydelphia, only a few weeks before the Lunar Heresy. Changelings were created by Discord (either as a mockery of Celestia and Luna's creation of ponies or just because he could), and are seen as abominations by many Equestrians. The changelings were scattered around the world after the death of Queen Metamorpha, and new hives spring up around the world and have to be purged before they can become too strong.
Changeling society is largely unknown. Finding the hives is incredibly difficult, as changeling disguise magic can deter even the most powerful scrying spells (One Great Mage of the Red nearly drove himself insane trying to devise a way to break through changeling illusions). Changelings tend to prefer warmer climates, as it is believed that their eggs are able to incubate faster in the heat. Most changelings encountered are drones, who are capable of independent action but are more effective in numbers. And changelings are never short for numbers; even a small hive has upwards of several thousand drones, the largest ever being recorded at nearly thirty thousand (the actual number is presumed to be higher, but this cannot be confirmed due to the Daughters of Manehattan using liberal amounts of fire spells to defeat the hive). In battle, changeling drones are directed by what can be considered an officer, who are themselves directed by the Hive Queen. The Queen is the most powerful of the changelings, with strength comparable to some of the most powerful unicorns and possibly Princess Celestia herself. However, if the Queen is slain or incapacitated in some way, the grunt changelings become less effective at fighting. As such, Chimera Kill Teams are often dispatched before an attack on a hive to slay the Queen and make it easier for the other Legionnaires (this is by no means easy- one in four Kill Teams sent in to a Hive actually succeed, much less come out alive).
Changelings are believed to infiltrate pony settlements to feed on strong emotions, especially love. Legions on the hunt for changelings will often look for increases of depression and other emotional sicknesses, as such ailments are often side effects of changelings feeding. Also, for whatever reason changelings are highly resistant to Chaos taint, and Chaos warbands (especially Drakeguard and Sentries of Fillydelphia) have been seen taking changeling heads as trophies.
Dragons
Unlike the other threats to Equestria, dragons are a rogue element. Dragons are solitary creatures throughout most of their lives, only ever gathering during the Great Dragon Migrations so they can nest and breed close to the volcanoes in the southwest. Dragons normally leave settlements alone, although side effects of their presence such as smoke blocking out the sun have been documented. When angered, though, a dragon is a forced to be reckoned with, as its hide is impervious to most weapons and magic and its fire can consume an entire village in seconds. As such, whenever a suitably angered dragon appears, Celestia herself will leave Canterlot to face it on her own, driving it away or killing it with her powers.
Dragons care not for the squabbles of ponies, and are not effected by the sway of Chaos. Some dragons have shown more tolerance for Equestria as a whole (the presence of Twilight Sparkle's assistant Spike being a great example), and are willing to assist them in some way if the need arises.
Deer
The newest race to emerge to challenge Equestria. Little is known about them, for the Deer surpass even the changelings at disguises. What is known is that the Deer come and go as they please and possess weaponry and magic far beyond even the best Equestria has to offer.
Interactions with the Deer are believed to go back to before Hearth's Warming, but they have never been identified as such and were considered no more than a fairytale creature, knowledge of their existence vanishing completely during Discord's reign. Celestia never knew of the Deer presence in the world (most likely due to the distractions of raising Equestria up and defeating the powers of Chaos), and it was only after a fight between Farseer Anlindē and recently returned Warmistress Luna that the Deer came back into public mind. Why they are here, in what numbers, and where they came from remains a mystery.
Most of the nations of the world do have some tales of fair creatures like the Deer, although these are considered myth by most. The Saddle Arabians see Deer as graceful messengers of the gods, while Griffon and Diamond Dog legends speak of vindictive, impish creatures that steal and manipulate. The whole truth, if any, is yet to be revealed.
Have another world building blog post. Hopefully this sets some thoughts at rest and hopefully it brings up more questions.
But all in all, Deer are dicks.
Shame with the Changeling, their Chaos resistance would make good allies I would think. Still can't blame Equestria for not trusting them
Damn son.
I ENVY your world building.
2081224 Yup, Deer are dicks. I still haven't come up with an analogue for Grand Dick Eldrad yet.
And the changelings could be good allies... if they didn't feed off Equestrian emotions so much. Eh, maybe things will change (but most likely no)
2081226 Glad you like it. If you ever need help with world building, I'd be happy to be of service
I would say that not all of them all... but that is somewhat caused by a Mass Effect/40k crossover I'm reading and in the case the Eldar in question is working through her... well her Eldarness.
Believe me I know, in my 'verse I have to get past the Cain and Able past the Changelings had with Ponies
2081361 By any chance was that crossover The Mission Stays The Same? Because if it is, I wrote the tropes page for it
2081364
Yes that would be the story in question. Good God I really want to see that story updated
2081375 I'm with you there
2081364 wow I will totally be sure to loop you in
2081378
Well at least the story is still up. I am putting up with "Shotgun Princess" as my favorite ME crossovers... Mass Effect meets Exalted
2081375 I PM'd Ursakar about an update, and he said that he's quite busy with his programing lessons, but he almost finished latest chapter, and it's at ~12K wordcount. And although situation in Ukrain is heated, he says he's far enough to not cause him problems. Sadly it was few weeks ago, and still no new chapter.
I would like it to be released sooner rather than later, but an update to "Shinji and Warhammer 40K" after almost 1.5 years, gives me hope, that nothing is lost.
2082052
There are some stories I've been keeping an eye on since 2007, and quite a few have gone years before updating. I understand, and this is a story worth waiting on.
2082107 Sure it is! I've already read it three or four times. I could probably write summary of every chapter from my memory.
One of best scenes: ambush at Purgatory. Trap is sprung, Gallardi fucks everyone up, and Garrus is like "wat?".