Friday Facts · 7:56pm Jun 19th, 2015
I hope everyone is having a lovely Friday. It has been a while since I've done a blog post and I'm in an interactive mood! Today's theme is the Quill & Blade AU. If you have a question about the world let me know and I'll do my best to answer without any spoilers of future information. I do want to note that if you're not caught up you might find spoilers below!
Random Facts
Timeline:
Quill & Blade follows canon very closely for season 1 and 2. A lot of the content occurs between season 2 and 3 with Shining Armor and Lady Cadence leaving for the Crystal Empire near the end of Memoirs of a Royal Guard. That is the point where canon is more or less dropped for an entirely alternate timeline.
Certain events from the various comic books are brought in at random intervals but no attention is paid to the timeline and/or order of them.
Alicorns:
I think everyone has gotten the memo that there are only two known living alicorns. That obviously breaks with canon immediately when it comes to Cadence. We're also nearing Twilight's transformation in canon when it comes to raw time. That isn't to say she'll become an alicorn in Q&B though.
My inclusion and mention of six alicorns is very intentional and is meant to tie into the main series "mane six." Six ponies, six alicorns, etc. That is one of the themes I wanted to pick up and utilize since I didn't want my cast to have a "mane six."
Fanon:
I love a lot of the fanon that exists on this site and others. At the same time, I didn't want to rely on it. Pretty much I can't really think of any fanon that has been adopted from other stories. Although I had to cameo Fluffle Puff ;D
Iridescence's Family:
Some of you caught this (bravo btw) but Iridescence's father is Eminence. He owns the giant horse head building in Manehatten (Eminence Tower) which appears in Crystal's Wishes. There is a whole lot of backstory tied up in Iridescence, Dot, and their family. It is just difficult to get into a story from SK's PoV.
Ferrel:
Ferrel has turned out to be a runaway hit in the story. I wasn't sure how she'd play. She has also been controversial at times which I am actually accustomed to. How? Ferrel is a character stolen from another story (don't worry, it is one of mine).
One of the things I've done for years is run roleplaying games. I've had the fortune of running the same campaign with three different groups. Ferrel is a very prominent NPC in that campaign. My players always react different to her. Some trust her explicitly. Some trust her enough. Others outright hate her. I need an oracle type character for Memoirs/Secrets and I decided to tap the best one I've created.
Ferrel wasn't too hard to adapt to ponies. Her anecdote about Fiona is true. I've had to play up her gift a bit and alter it slightly for this story. The Ferrel from my dark-fantasy campaign is less spacey. Anytime I work with her is a labor of love.
Your Turn:
Those are some random facts! If you have any questions be sure to let me know!
RPing? Oh dear...
Okay, question for you, but not necessarily the Q&B verse:
How many OC's do you have in reserve? Not just Memoirs and Secrets but any other ponified things you might have done. Just curious. :P
And for a Secrets question:
Is anything you do that seems insignificant not a Chekov's Gun? And is there any difference (physically speaking) from canon/fanon baut's/bat ponies/threstals/nox ponies from your own Nox ponies, physically speaking (besides Unicorn's and Earth ponies being among them, of course)?
Speaking of RP conversions, wish I could back to having a role in a campaign, you could download some Ponyfinder materials if you haven't already. It's basically a collection of Pathfinder, which is based off d&d 3.5, supplements that allows you to play MLP style character, its first (and recent) major expansion extended into griffons. Heh, I just pictured Silent, Luna, and a few other characters sitting around with character sheets playing an RPG.
Are the Royal Guard and the Equestrian Army two separate organizations? I know you've probably told us this before, but I can't seem to remember. In one of your blog post, you told us that General Ironhoof was not a guard, but a soldier. However, in your officer ranks for the Royal Guard, you General listed as the highest rank. If he's the only General, then that would mean he's in charge of the Royal Guard as well as the Equestrian Army.
In your AU are bat ponies a special case when it comes to cross breeding as far as mixing traits? Silent Knight has ear tufts that come from them but the show certainly and in no other story have I heard of say an earth pony with a nub on their head of a unicorn with undeveloped wings for instance.
Well duh, she is the wise old kung-fu master.
3163607 How many OC's do you have in reserve? Not just Memoirs and Secrets but any other ponified things you might have done. Just curious. :P
Hmm, good question. As far as really well thought out and planned OCs, probably just one or two off hand.
Is anything you do that seems insignificant not a Chekov's Gun?
I, unfortunately, am a super planner. Very little I put into the stories is insignificant. I choose words very carefully and such. In general some things are though when it comes to the comedy or when I'm trying to get to something. As an example, the comet that messed with the cockatrices is actually not significant. It was pulled from the comic.
I used it as a chance to let Silent Knight have command in combat and for all the new ponies in the unit to also experiences similar to the veterans. It was necessary to pull the unit together. Plus SK coming to the realization that Crystal could be in danger. Those among a lot of other things.
And is there any difference (physically speaking) from canon/fanon baut's/bat ponies/threstals/nox ponies from your own Nox ponies, physically speaking (besides Unicorn's and Earth ponies being among them, of course)?
Mine are obviously a range. The "pure blood" nox ponies do look like the protypical bat pony. Physically I didn't want to super diverge. Culturally though they've very different from the usual bat pony and/or night guard prototypes.
3163628 I'm actually familiar with Ponyfinder. I might get around to it one day ;D
3163810 Are the Royal Guard and the Equestrian Army two separate organizations?
Mostly yes. The Royal Guard has a few generals. Not a lot, but a few. Each in command of a region and/or a specific support command (supply, medical, pony resources, etc). Support commands also support the Equestrian Army.
The Equestrian Army is very small and only has one General and that is General Ironhoof.
Both General Ironhoof and all of the other Generals report to a single pony. A senior general who is the supreme military commander. After that is the Minister of Defense and then the princesses.
3163860 In your AU are bat ponies a special case when it comes to cross breeding as far as mixing traits? Silent Knight has ear tufts that come from them but the show certainly and in no other story have I heard of say an earth pony with a nub on their head of a unicorn with undeveloped wings for instance.
It is funny you ask! No, the nox ponies are not a special case. It is just that they have MORE traits that are obvious that say the difference between an earth pony and a unicorn pony. Crystal and I have actually discussed this some and it wouldn't be impossible for some of the things you're mentioning to happen.
The original nox ponies had more of "fur" than "hair" for their coats. They have tufted ears, draconic wings, different pulps, and several other traits. Those would be far more obvious.
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> Don't judge me.... The question actually came to mind while I was working on turning the associated 30 page source doc into a more manageable form (including this list). As soon as I find Excel's hyperlink function (again) I'm creating a Spreadsheet guide to a bunch of smaller, more easily navigated docs. Sometimes not even the Headings function on Word is enough....
> Correction, you are FORTUNATELY a super planner. Though that also has the side affect of driving me mad trying to find that significance when it's not immediately obvious/seemingly too obvious. Oh well. Evil author is awesome.
> YAY! Some of my curiosity satisfied! And from Haven and associated things so far, you're already extremely culturally diverged, even from the rare headcanon I follow.
More Questions!
~ What's the fate of Chryssy's Hive? Is it representative of the entire Changeling race? Actually, what's the Q&B canon for changelings in general? (only answer if non-spoilery =P )
~ This one's more for you that doesn't have so much to do with the Q&B verse:
What's the format, medium, and style you use for pony RP's? I'm trying to find a more active paragraph format post-by-post RP place than my current one. (Mlp Forums requires a post count. It's only a small amount but the areas I would post in don't count towards the stupid count and I don't want to get on the bad side of mods due to low quality posts)
~And lastly (for now):
Would SK or any of the cast sign a petition to turn the moon into soft cheese if it was presented to them by a young, over-enthusiastic filly with a 'far-to-innocent' vibe and approaching Dot and filly!CW/Velvet levels of diabetes inducing adorable?
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It fills me with great joy when author(s) consider such details when fleshing out their world.
My name is Posted and I am a world building addict. I will see you next week for my fix.
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What's the fate of Chryssy's Hive? Is it representative of the entire Changeling race? Actually, what's the Q&B canon for changelings in general?
The fate is something that I want to keep close for now. Q&B wise though I don't mind sharing a few details. There is only one Queen and one hive. They do not hide among the ponies and there aren't other groups of changelings.
What's the format, medium, and style you use for pony RP's?
I actually haven't done any pony RPs. All the RPs are from a dark-fantasy D&D/Pathfinder setting I created and refined over about 18 years. Those RPs were all done in person, via google hangout, or on a text based MUD a long, long time ago.
Would SK or any of the cast sign a petition to turn the moon into soft cheese if it was presented to them by a young, over-enthusiastic filly with a 'far-to-innocent' vibe and approaching Dot and filly!CW/Velvet levels of diabetes inducing adorable?
I think Miley would be an easy sell. Runic might after sitting the filly down for hours to explain how to get to the moon.
This may be jumping the gun a little, but curiosity demands an answer. What do you imagine Silent would be like as a husband and a father?
3167708 What do you imagine Silent would be like as a husband and a father?
As a father I think he'd be reactionary to his own upbringing. Possibly to the detriment of his foals. His own father is so pushy, so structured that he more or less set the path for his foals. Silent Knight might go the other way.
For being a husband he'd probably do pretty well. He is very loyal and knows when to compromise. Those are some really important traits in a marriage.