Lore pt 5. · 4:10am Oct 17th, 2015
- The Gathering Island, and the Orphic Kingdom.
Home to the Marewaii islands largest population, about two thirds of the population. It was the first and last stop for most tourists, boasting miles of beautiful smooth sandy beaches, and large shopping centers. The island received all the benefits of the coal/gem trade between the ponies and zebras, and because of that, the island was commonly visited by zebras on vacation.
The island is also home to the Spitfire Skyport, and Luna Harbor. Both were used early in the war before the military moved to the big island, now used by the civilian population, both became a tourist attraction in their own right.
During the war, the islands tourism industry took a hit, but unlike the other islands, it managed to recover in time, mostly thanks to efforts from the M.o.M. Using the island for family’s suffering from wartime stress disorder, it help increase the flow of tourism in the last years of the war, and helped bring in other ponies looking to get away from their stressful lives.
When the war came to its end, the Gathering Island was furthest away from the bombing, only receiving a mild amount of destruction. The Island also was hit by the fallout much later than the other islands allowing many to evacuate to shelter in time. But this also caused a false sense of security, as many ponies who had gotten to safety would leave to only get caught up in the fallout. A few stations fell to the radiation because of this, as ignorant ponies opened up blast door, sure of the safety of the outside.
As confusion and chaos set in, and semblance of order vanished, and the station on the island began fighting among each other. With survival as their main objective, the ponies of the Gathering Island became increasingly hostile, defending their territory with savage violence.
Avoiding the madness of the metro, the ponies of Stable 50 found themselves in a stable not only made to fend off bale fire bombs, but also a Zebra invasion. The Overmare was placed into a dictatorship role, and the rest of the ponies given jobs to help maintain the stable, as well as combat training in case the doors were ever forced open. The stable itself was larger than a common stable, with its own transit system built in, along with plenty of room to expend the population.
The stable remained unopened for over a generation until a Stable-Tec expedition came looking for it. Half the expedition didn’t make it, as the ponies of the metro saw them as invaders, and responded with hostility. The surviving expedition managed to get to stable 50, and get themselves inside. The ponies of the stable were shocked to find out what had become of the outside world, but were also hopeful with news about civilization still surviving on the other islands. The overmare, now and very old pony, was happy to hear that Stable-Tec had survived, and had not abandoned them.
Emboldened by the news of the outside world, Stable 50 left the safety of their home in order to retake the island from the grip of madness. Later known as the cleansing of the darkness, and the bloody miles, the ponies of Stable 50 went to war with the rest of the gathering island. Stable fifty had an overwhelming advantage, both with that of heathy ponies, and of well-maintained weapons. The ponies of stable 50 were also patent, taking each station one at a time, and taking the captives to be reeducated for the purpose of helping them take over the island. The war took years, but in time the Gathering Islands metro fell under control of Stable 50.
The ponies not from the stable looked on them with aw, none of them old enough to remember the world before, only of darkness, and being sick. They began calling the overmare “Queen Overmare” not understanding what an overmare was, yet still knowing of monarchs. The title stuck, and when the next overmare took over, the idea of a monarch was embraced. The new society that Stable 50 had created, was named The Orphic Kingdome, the ponies of the stable were given new ranks to reflect the new society. The non-stable ponies were dubbed peasants, and were put to work in strengthening the new kingdoms power.
When Orthrus was formed, what connection between them and Stable 5 was gone, and as the mirage pony population began to grow, so did racism. The called Deep Dwellers by the ponies of the other islands, they wached as the Orphic Kingdome took a very puritanical outlook on the mirage ponies, pushing them into the lowest part of their society, or simply off the island itself. The Orphic Kingdom became home to fascist gangs who would seek out mirage ponies, and or mirage pony sympathizers, and attack them. The Deep dwellers would turn a blind eye to the violence seeing it as a peasant problem only.
The violence hit a fevered pitch when the fascist gangs all teamed up and attacked Orthrus controlled tunnels. With a currently unhelpful Republic, a gleeful Solaris, and a willfully blind Orphic Kingdom as the only other military powers that could help, Orthrus found themselves allow in the fight. The fascists were eventually thwarted by Orthrus after long hard fight, and the heads of the leaders were thrown into the bed of the Orphic King as a warning.
As the years went on, the Orphic Kingdom had long starches of peace, and short burst of bloody conflicts. Often wars of session, it was not uncommon for whole family lines to be wiped out in the conflicts.
After the Republic fell to social revolution, the new republic that took over began butting heads with the Orphic Kingdome. The two islands quickly became bitter enemies, though never going to war, the tension between them is like a bomb ready to go off.
