How to create believable, long-lasting races, species, and cultures

Wow… does that title sound… uh… racist.

So I’ve had many people comment that one of the things they love about my stories is my world building. Not just the stuff I introduce about Equestria, the Mane 6 (I still say Fluttershy should be the secret writer of Daring Do) and ponies in general but the other races and cultures in this wonderful world. I take GREAT pride that I pretty much have put the stamp on the Capricorn race and that nowadays, if I read a story that uses them, about 75% of the time it is my version of them that is used. But while the Capricorns are closest to my heart, they aren’t the only race I’ve really delved into. The Perytons of Reinssa are a close second and their rich, deep culture has only been covered briefly in the stories (off topic: be on the lookout soon for a “Concerning Perytons” blog post). I’ve also helped other people in the creation of their own races and inspired, through my works, offshoots of established ones, such as the griffins’ of CrowMagnon’s series of stories. And very soon you will all be seeing my take on a 3rd new race, the Quetzalcoatl of Draxico.

But here is the thing: I don’t want to be the sole person having fun with creating new races to live alongside the ponies. I am sure there are many of you who want to explore other species. Thus, this blog posting… a few tips I can offer when it comes to designing an entire new race in this fandom. Now, no one tip is more important than the other, so these aren’t listed in any order. And they aren’t suppose to be a ‘do this or you fail’ sort of thing. They are just tips and suggestions to help out.

Use real world...but only the best parts

Do you know where the capricons come from? Sparta.

Yeah, literally. Sparta.

You see, when it came to designing Lord Tydal, the precursor to all Capricorns, I knew I wanted him to be a bold and powerful warrior. We’ve never really had a true ‘warrior character’ on the show so I thought it would be fun to create one via Tydal. As I developed him I slowly began to shades of Leonadis in him… and that led me to the decision to base much of the Capricorns on Spartans. It worked on many levels: we didn’t have a true warrior culture in the show, Spartans have a weird dichotomy (more on that in a moment), and I am a big fan of 300. And here is the after effect of that choice… those that got what I was basing them on didn’t see it as a rip off… they saw it as a cool homage.

And that leads into the second half… use the real world but only the best parts. Not EVERYTHING with the Capricorns is from Sparta. There are other elements from other cultures. Heck, a lot of their ‘outlaw rough and tumble’ swagger actually comes from Australians… to the point that I am currently seriously considering changing Tydal’s voice actor from Keith David to Manu Bennett (aka Deathstroke from Arrow and Crixus from Spartacus). I also took some stuff from the Scots (aka Merida) and a few other races. While the Spartans are their baseline I didn’t limit myself to them… I began to pick and chose new things until I had a well rounded race, based in the history of our world, that felt at once familiar yet new. Just like Equestria, which itself has shades of the United States, Great Britian, and a even touches of Japanese Anime and Chinese myth.

So when creating a race pick a country or a ethnic group and use them as your baseline… but then begin to borrow and choose from others. Another great example are the Perytons. While at first glance they are very much Russian I also used a lot of Middle Eastern influences with them, as well as some touches of the northern United States.

Why can’t they just be ponies?

Here is a trap a lot of people fall into. They create a new race, picking out deer or sheep or something like that… but then the design makes it that honestly it could have been just ponies in the same role without any changes. Let me point to an inshow example: The MMMMmystery Express (or whatever its name is; give me a break, I’m writing 3 different novel series, a webcomic, and trying to work on other projects! My mind is full!). In it we get a griffin bakery. Now, real quick… if I changed him the a pony baker who was clearly Prench/French… would it honestly matter? Did he do anything Griffish? No, not really. Griffins, one of the first new races we’ve met in the show… have been HORRIBLY expanded upon. It took till season 5 to really find out about Griffin culture and honestly? I hated that episode. Other than a few tidbits about them being at war till their king brought them the power of friendship, we don’t learn much more about them. And I’d point out that much of that episode could have seen griffins replaced by ponies and tie it back to the Hearth’s Warming episode and it would play the same.

I point to, once again, my own world building as a counter to them. What is more memorable: the griffins of ‘The Lost Treasure’ which all played up Gilda’s rudeness and self-centeredness… or the Griffins from The God Squad that were nerdy, peace loving griffins who were clearly based on the British?

Let me point out a GOOD race the show did: The Yaks. In one episode we have a better idea of the yaks than we do of the griffins. We understand their culture, where they live, and actually get some history and personal growth. Yes, there are still holes (and the fandom is working on that… for example, one author suggested that Yak culture hates ‘fake things’ and values authentic things and actions, thus explaining why they are so mad about ‘fake Yak stuff’ and love ‘real pony stuff’) but they still have an interesting culture. The Griffins… don’t. The same is true of the buffalo, who also got a ton more characterization.

Don’t fall into this trap. When designing a race remember that you need to make them just far enough removed from ponies that people don’t go ‘why can’t we just have other ponies in these roles’? Now, I’m not saying that they have to be totally alien from ponies. But they do need to, at the very least, have some quirk that makes them different from the ponies. Capricorns swim, Yaks are huge and prone to violence and have a unique way of speaking, the buffalo (save for the ‘see ya later, bro’ ones) also have a very memorable way of speaking and acting… it helps ensure that they are remembered.

Dig deep into myth

Do you know why I am the father of the Capricorn race? Because no one else was using them. Yeah, some people do seaponies but I was the first to use them and thus there were no strings attached to them. Had I do seaponies instead of Capricorns I would have been competing with seaponies and merponies and so on. By digging into myth and selecting a race that wasn’t being used, it gave me free reign. The perytons are also a great example… I think I might be literally the first person to write about perytons anywhere in this fandom… or almost all other fandoms save for a single Harry Potter fan fic I read where Hermione’s animagi form was a peryton (long story, don’t ask).

Yeah, griffins and hippogriffs and such are fun and have great designs… but there are a TON of other cool creatures waiting to be played with. Qilin, for example. Or the many races Reality Check featured in Aliconundrum (Seriously, Reality Check creates great races… I find it fun to read his stuff and see if I measure up or managed to beat him *coughLordTydalisbetterthanTritoncoughSuckitseaponiescough*). If you want to be known for creating a new race dig deep into myth… sometimes it will inspire you in new and interesting directions.

Think out as many aspects before hand as possible before writing a single word (But don’t be held to the plan)

This is my last major tip: preplan. A LOT.

I have in my head (I don’t do a ton of notes until I am 75% committed to an idea) TONS of details about the Capricorns. That’s where ‘Concerning Capricorns’ came from but there is so much more I’ve never discussed with anyone. Their history, famous members of the race, their other cities, their different crafts, variations of Capricorns and what scale-color (which can change!) means for them (Green is the color of the king, red is the queen, pink the princesses, blue tend to be faster swimmers and stealth, brown stronger in limbs, black for advisors and brilliant strategists, aquamarine being potion and rune masters) so on and so forth. By the time I got to them in their first appearance I had a pretty great idea of their social structure, their roles, their culture, so on.

You should do the same.

You know the debate of nature vs. nurture? In MLP fandom it is also VERY important. On one hand, this can allow for a single member of a race to behave in a way like their race… a Yak is going to act like a yak. But it also allows for chances to go against the norm. Spike is a GREAT example of this. When we meet him he basically is a pony in dragon form. But when we meet the other dragons, and see their culture, the differences between Spike and them become more clear and create interesting drama.

On a bit of a side not, I am surprised the show hasn’t tackled the idea of one kind of pony being races by other types. Imagine an episode where Twilight discovers a unicorn orphan raised by Earth ponies, who behaves like an earth pony and has no magic… the orphan doesn’t even understand it. You could go two ways… the orphan learns magic but uses it in a way to help his family, coming to understand that it is merely another part of him or her… or never learns magic, showing that just because you were born one way doesn’t mean you can’t act differently.

Back to my point, though… a race or species should have a cultural identity and you should understand as much of it as possible because by doing so their reactions will make more sense. One of my friends here is not a fan of Tydal at all and complains whenever I have him go off on a murder spree. For me though, and for others, we accept that Tydal behaves this way because of his culture, where such acts aren’t seen as monstrous… furthermore, by understand Capricorn culture and their hatred for the idea of ‘the elite’, the idea that Tydal would order his subjects to kill most of Canterlot… and they do… isn’t that shocking. It makes sense to him. It is horrific but it fits the culture.

But here is the very last part... the plan should never be set in stone. Sometimes writing a story will help you discover things you never expected. For example, the peryton national anthem. That was purely just a joke but by putting it in I suddenly realized that there is a bit of Dwarf in the Perytons... and I've now begun adding some of the dwarven culture to them. It was a happy little find.

I hope this helps all of you in your writing. Thanks for reading!

Comments

[Razalon The Lizardman]

This is a very insightful blog post, indeed. Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us, defender. Fortunately, for me, I need not look far if I wish to create a whole 'nother race for Equestria, if you catch my drift.