Ask Us 10/16/15 · 5:06pm Oct 16th, 2015
10/16/15
Friday already? No complaints here! A little housekeeping first:
The Quill & Blade Fall 2015 Cameo call is now open! If you've ever wanted a chance at getting your OC into a Q&B story this is the method by which to do it. Check out this blog post for details!
Now on to the questions!
Posted asked:
Anzel, Is the three day and three night alicorns at all similar to the Lady, Queen, and Mother for Summer and Winter faerie courts in the Dresden Files? Were they all on equal footing, have different duties, or was three just a nice number if a decision had to be made?
I know I answered this in private (because I was excited) and now I can't find it! We'll see if my answers match haha. There is no questioning the fact that the Dresden Files have had a HUGE influence on me as a writer. My stories are in first person directly because of it. Consciously I did not create the alicorns based on the faerie courts but I'm sure subconsciously they absolutely had an impact.
The amount of alicorns was chosen based on the number six. It is important to Q&B and I'm sure some of you can deduce exactly why that is!
Each alicorn is very different and very much not on equal footing. In each house you have a mentor, a ruler, and a student.
The mentor is an ancient alicorn of immense power (Nocturna). She is the most knowledgeable pony on her house's magic, alicorns, history, and anything else you might imagine. Her very visage implored Silent Knight to prostrate himself. It is the mentor's duty to protect knowledge and pass it on to the ruler and the student.
The ruler is the alicorn in charge of running her house (Azuleka). She is a "full alicorn" and knows all of the magic necessary to do her job. She isn't as wise or knowledgeable as the mentor but she's no slouch. Her day to day is really about running the kingdom.
The student is the newest alicorn (Luna). She's still dealing with the transition. She doesn't have magic much more powerful than a powerful unicorn and she has a long way to go wisdom wise. Her time is spent learning from the mentor and being prepared to become the next ruler.
The same situation occurs in the House of the Day.
XxDjCoL7xX asked:
Silent Knight, Do you ever miss Iridescence being your special somepony.
No. We're still friends, she's with my sister, I'm with Crystal. Iridescence was great but she isn't Crystal. Someponies just fit better together and no pony fits me better than my fiancee.
FSoul asked:
Anzel, Is polygamy marriage allowed? I think in the "Three of hearts" it was mentioned that this kind of relationship is frowned upon, so what is the "legal" point of view?
Tricky question! Really two parts there: Is multi-partner marriage allowed AND is it acceptable.
Marriage is a crazy topic really. In real life we have secular marriage and religious marriage. That leads to some serious issues because we try to apply rules from one to the other. Putting religion aside, secular marriage is really just a tax/benefits arrangement. That is how I'm looking at this.
I'm not sure how the Q&B Equestrian tax structure is to be honest. I haven't invested a lot of time into thinking about it. I'm not a fan of income tax. I'm more on the "sales tax" side of the fence (please, nobody turn this into a tax debate).
Given that I view Princesses Celestia and Luna and super benevolent and kind ponies I'm going to say they wouldn't stop ponies from getting into all kinds of crazy marriages as long as all of the ponies in them were consenting adults. So, fundamentally, yes multi-partner marriages are not illegal (see what I did there? Not illegal?).
Now! Before we jump in and say "BUT Sunny and Soarin said..."
In America it is not illegal to be transexual. You cannot, however, actively serve in the military as a transexual right now (although that is changing). Recently it was not illegal to be homosexual but you also couldn't serve in the military. Now homosexual marriage is legal but people still discriminate.
Multi-partner relationships (pony or otherwise) are not typical. That would leave a lot of ponies either A. curious, B. ambivalent, C. disapproving, and/or D. down right angry. Sunny and Soarin don't want to find out somepony who has pull is in camp C or D. So they've decided to keep their relationship a secret.
Your answer is both missing information that was in the original and has more information than it as well.
3474610 Go figure! Do you have the original? I'll add it!
3474649
Unfortunately I don't and oddly a quick search didn't turn it up. I do remember that you had a bit more information about the mentor, ruler, student dynamic.
*edit*
I vaguely remember there was some thread about things we wanted to see covered in the future. Maybe it was in that and was deleted?
3474652 Yeah I couldn't find it either. I thought it was in general discussion. I knew I wanted to squee about Dresden with you when you mentioned it so I'd posted it immediately. Odd... I wonder where that went.
Just because,
The Mothers have enormous power and are in charge of passing on their knowledge.
The Queens are in charge of ruling the two courts, and have other duties. Not saying due to spoilers.
The Lady's, dont know what they do actually because the previous ones didnt do so well andMolly isnt being very descriptive thus far But I would assume learning is part of it.
Heh I would definitely say your subconscious drew a little from Dresden. Keep it up my friend!
Thank you for answering my question!
Thats a very... practical way of looking at it
So if I understand correctly in your canon ponies come from majorly monogamous background? I mean I don't see how else such traditions would survive if
surely such predispositions would have died out after a few generation, unless deeply rooted in traditions.
Wait... am I looking too deeply into it?
I freaking love the Dresden Files. The way you worded it makes me wonder if the other alicorns are still alive somewhere. Im also curious about the Solar unicorns. but thats just me.