Part 14 of the Palaververse: Gazellen · 7:03pm Dec 20th, 2015
Another week, another slice of blithering fanon for My Little Pony's political landscape! Apologies for the delay for this one. I'd say vital and time-consuming things arose that demanded my attention. Alas, I wasn't raised a liar, so I'll just hang my head shamefully and point in the direction of the post below, this time detailing the fractious Serene Confederation of Gazellen.
The usual applies. Nominate whatever nation you'd like to see covered next in the comments, and feel free to ask any follow-up questions. Themaskedferret continues to proofread these and inject some semblance of coherency and sense into them, for which we can all only be thankful.
Read on for all things Gazellen!
South of Zebrica and past the great deserts that connect its mass to the rest of the inhabited continent, the middle extent of Dactylia falls apart into a patchwork of terrain and policies. Splintering mountain ranges from the great Stormshield peaks rake into the continent’s belly like claws, each buffered by layers of jungle spilling out from the savage Interior itself. Between those ranges, rainforested highlands and patches of desert jostle for space with savannah grasslands, all sliced apart by the vast and complex network of rivers spawned by the mountains. In the skies above, the dregs of wyld storms passing eastwards over the Stormshields often meet their counterparts in the remains of wyld storms travelling westwards from the other side of the Black Ocean. Wild magic insinuates itself into the beasts, plants, and very geography, and migrating forests and nomadic mountains lumbering across the landscape are a common sight. Lost remains of dead civilisations lie hidden within the deserts and deeper jungles, and in the utmost depths, the outposts of Fallen Antlertis itself rest silent and empty.
These are the Fractious Lands, in which the bulk and greatest diversity of Dactylia’s sapient life reside. It is in this land that the Serene Confederation of Gazellen was formed three hundred years ago, ending a long age of disunity. And it is this land that may hold the future of Dactylia in its hooves. Or paws. Or claws. Or whatever appendages apply.
From early times until the present day, an unparalleled number of sapient species have called the Fractious Lands home, developing within and migrating to each little enclave the land offers. Coast-dwelling hippopotami, grassland wildebeests and gazelles, savannah-dwelling giraffes and warthogs, okapis in the highland jungles, and other and yet more exotic quadrupeds have raised their own nations amidst the wilderness. Axex tribes, close kin to the Ungulan griffons, flock amidst the Stormshields, while Diamond Jackals and Fennecs dwell within the Stormshields themselves. Each species boasts its own magical talents, whether in the magical channeling achieved by the giraffes and gazelles, the fortitude and strength of the warthogs, the shapeshifting and camouflage talents of the okapi, and each has used these talents to carve themselves out a niche amidst the otherwise-unforgiving land.
That variety of life and talents has given rise to a multitude of different ways of living and governance for each species and that species’ sub-communities, dependent on the resources native to their part of the Fractious Lands. Settled and agrarian gazelles may live scant miles away from their nomadic kin on the savannah, divided only by one mountain range, under the merely theoretical unifying authority of the King of Gazellekind. Hippopotami tend to exist as part of collective fleets of sturdy riverboats traversing the waterways of the Fractious Lands, assembling only rarely for a great council in one of the larger lakes under their Grand Duke. Some Diamond Fennecs and Jackals fashion Ungulan-style underholds within mountains, or dwell atop and within the great stone bodies of flying rocs, travelling wherever the roc chooses and mining out whatever mountains the roc chooses to roost upon. The antelopes of the coast largely dwell in the Fractious Lands’ largest city of Horndoba, a mighty regional trade capital ruled by the Emir of Al-Antelus. Countless members of all species exist in various petty kingdoms and tribes, only loosely answerable to whatever central authority exists for their nation — if one exists at all. A few cosmopolitan towns and cities exist at crossroads within the lands, hosting vibrant populations composed of many of the species and typically answerable to elected councils and/or unelected dictators.
If summarising the current political nature and lifestyles of many of the Fractious Lands’ denizens wasn’t already enough of a madman’s task, then trying to assemble anything like a clear picture of their history would test even Princess Celestia’s patience and supplies of hard liquor. Ever since the earliest settled tribes emerged in the region a few centuries after the Fall of Antlertis, the whole patchwork of regions and realms has been in constant flux. Countless petty kingdoms rose and fell, and new ones sprung up as tribes migrated and settled and intermingled. Every settled realm invariably found itself isolated from its neighbours by the various natural barriers on offer in the forms of the mountains, deserts, rivers, and forests. Whatever kingdoms expanded and formed little empires in their heyday rarely lasted as internal strife and warfare inevitably brought them down to earth, and countless old palaces lie abandoned in the wilderness, filled with the dusty statues of forgotten kings and would-be conquerors.
Relationships between the polities shifted like water down the millennia, and the divided nature of the landscape kept nearly every nation and their populations small and hemmed-in. Contact with the outside powers of Zebrica and Pachydermia was sparse enough, even after both began to send trading expeditions up and down the Dactylian shoreline, and contact with the continents of Ungula and Ceratos was nigh-on non-existent. For the most part, the Fractious Lands simply earned their appellation and the societies within stayed comfortably embroiled in their own internal affairs. A few approximations of unified societies and species-wide kingdoms gathered together, such as for the gazelles, but in nothing like a dramatic manner, and with little outside pressure to react to or compete against.
The first major disruption of this state of affairs came about with the distant downfall of the Capric Empire and the host of liberated nations freed from its embrace, all vibrant and highly motivated in their new-found freedom. The most outgoing of these was the Kingdom of Asinia, whose well-built and donkey-crewed vessels were soon a common sight in the coastline off Dactylia as they sought new and profitable markets. At first, the ease of access to Ungulan goods was a welcome novelty to the Fractious Lands, and many coastal communities - most of all Al-Antelus - prospered and grew powerful in the region thanks to their newfound wealth.
The subsequent Asinial colonies and the rise of piracy were also novelties, but of a somewhat less welcome character.
In the decades that followed after the arrival of the Asinians, more and more traders flocked to the Fractious Lands, with many undoubtedly viewing the petty nations as easy targets for exploitation. Some of these traders simply grew weary of carrying goods, and began offering the much simpler exchange of material wealth in return for continued existence to the coastal communities. Those who resisted struggled to fend off the lightning raids of these new corsairs, especially when said corsairs had the backing, official or otherwise, of the Kingdom of Asinia behind them. Raiding became a new and entirely undesirable fact of life along the coastline, and those few societies that tried to strike back found the pirates fleeing towards the safety of new Asinian settlements and ports on Dactylia’s outlying islands, protected jealously by squadrons of Asinial warships. For every island that had been deserted, another had been inhabited or occupied by migrating fisher-tribes, and resentment grew along the coastline with every passing wave of bereft island refugees.
These new settlements provided havens for the corsairs, as well as new depots and trade routes free from the taxation imposed by local rulers. Matters came to a head when one Emir of Al-Antelus, Golden Touch, found his pride, shipping, and finances stung far too many times in succession by a spate of corsair raids. He mustered his own fleet and set sail for Fort Forlorn, the then-largest of the Asinial colonies, to order to set a proper and punitive example to pirates and all those who aided them.
Although the Asinial navy was still then in its infancy under the kingdom, it was able to put up a surprisingly good fight, and Golden Touch’s fleet was picked apart over the course of several days with some suspiciously well co-ordinated pirate interventions. Asinia forced Al-Antelus into a humiliating peace, and Horndoba never recovered its former prestige. Many coastal communities were shocked, and most of them grew closer together as a result. Even a few inland realms, on hearing of the news, signed pacts to defend one another in the face of foreign aggression, no matter previous enmities.
Matters stabilised afterwards as piracy gradually became a grudgingly accepted part of the Fractious Lands equation, and matters might well have stayed as close to peaceful as the region could manage … if not for another intervention from the outside world three hundred years ago. This time, the intervention threatened to consume all of the Fractious Lands, rather than merely menace the coast. And in its fires, a new and unified polity was forged across the land.
It started innocuously enough, when the heir to the Zebrican throne, Zero, visited the royal court in Pachydermia and there met his counterpart, Greyhide, the future Shahanshah of the elephant realm. The zebra foal and elephant calf almost instantly became fast and true friends, keeping in contact long after the initial visit and insisting that they accompany any trips to the other’s court as often as possible. The bond between them became an endearing focus for the two nations, and an especially warm period in Zebrican-Pachydermian relations held for several years. This warmth only intensified as the two rose to their respective realms' thrones within mere weeks of each other as young adults.
Unfortunately for the rest of the continent, both of them had happily made fighting and planning grand strategies part of their childhood games. And both of them were now ambitious young warrior-kings, with a great deal of continent at their immediate disposal and an even greater swath of continent in their sights.
Mutual plans for a great continental war were drawn up by Pharaoh Zero and Shahanshah Greyhide, dividing the Fractious Lands between them in simultaneous campaigns of conquest from either end of Dactylia. No one petty nation could hope to fend off the full force of Zebrica’s Deathly Regiments or Pachydermia’s caste armies, and the union of both posed a threat to all the Fractious Lands. Only the early discovery of the war plans gave the small realms anything like time to prepare, and even then, it was nearly too late before they began to collaborate in their preparations.
And so one summer three hundred years ago, at the same time as Capra fought its own ferocious wars across Ungula, legions of warrior caste elephants and hordes of undead stormed across the southern and northern border of the Fractious Lands. Those rulers who hadn’t been a part of the deliberations were quickly overwhelmed, and those who were found themselves frantically retreating before the overwhelming enemy forces in order to buy whatever time they could could and gather their own armies together. Desperate improvisation was the order of the day across the whole breadth and length of the Fractious Lands, with desperate skirmish after retreating action fought against the Zebrican and Pachydermian onslaught. Those who initially surrendered before the oncoming armies or tried to play them against their regional rivals found themselves simply overwhelmed and subjugated, and few others tried afterwards. In the face of no quarter, the Fractious Lands found another reason to pool their strength.
Most of the allied Fractious forces were eventually able to retreat into the territories at the very core of the Fractious Lands, the savannahs and grasslands occupied by the approximately-unified kingdom of the gazelles, ringed by mountains and rivers. Countless delaying actions were waged by the gazelles as the forces of the other realms gathered together in their territory, and with much strife and sacrifice, they were able to stymie the attempts of both Zero and Greyhide to force an entry into the realm. Countless gazelles perished in the process, soldier and civilian alike, with over a third of their overall territory reckoned devastated by the war’s end in the name of sheltering their allies. Even after these losses, Queen Springheel of Gazellekind marched with the tattered remnants of her army to join the finally-massed forces of the Fractious Lands, and charged out against the would-be conquerors where their joined forces had camped at the Black Barrens, a great stretch of savannah prone to constant wildfires.
The Battle of the Black Barrens would go down in history as among the largest and most consequential battles known to the civilised world, a record unbroken until the Battle of Dream Valley in Ungula a scant two centuries later. Over a hundred thousand denizens of the Fractious Lands met twice their number in Deathly Regimental undead and Pachydermian warrior-castes, and these denizens drove their foes off the field in just under two days of fighting, exploiting the local wildfires to their advantage and forcing the massed legions back onto them. Queen Springheel herself fell in the final charge, followed closely by Shahanshah Greyhide and Pharaoh Zero, the latter of whom died defending the body of his fallen friend. Their dreams of conquest perished with the two kings, and their routed forces were forced to flee back through the Fractious Lands and all their myriad horrors.
The immediate aftermath left Zebrica and Pachydermia shocked and reeling, and gave the realms of the Fractious Lands an ample amount of breathing space. In that space, still flush on their historic victory, the remaining small rulers signed an immediate concord amongst their number, pledging to protect each other in the event of any further foreign invasions, by whatever force for whatever purpose. The Fractious Lands would defend their own.
As the Zebrican and Pachydermian armies finally withdrew, and as new and considerably less ambitious Pharaohs and Shahanshahs took the thrones, that initial agreement developed into a longstanding agreement of peace and unity between the small realms. All disagreements would hence be settled with diplomacy in a neutral space. All foreign aggression would be met with a united front. And all would meet in a new Congress of the nations, to resolve any internal disputes peacefully and pass whatever measures may protect the realms in future, with a First Speaker for each Congress session being drawn from each nation in turn. The more powerful sovereigns, still flush off their victory, eagerly agreed in pursuit of whatever lasting legacy they could fashion. The smaller and weaker followed suit in the name of mutual protection. Tribe and kingdom and free city alike united under the new banner of the Serene Confederation of Gazellen, named to forever honour the nation that had suffered the worst in the wars of conquest. Even now, Gazellen remains the colloquial name for the confederation, and the gazelle representative in Congress sits upon a blood-red chair.
Each nation sent their own delegate or sovereign to the new sessions of the Congress, and got on with the business of rebuilding. In less than a decade, the lands of Gazellen were back on their hooves and ready to start flexing their newfound muscle. Roads were laid across all accommodating parts of the landscape during the post-war unity, bridging nation with nation and free city with free city, and a standing army consisting of elements from all the nations was assembled by the Congress. The confederation even looked outwards towards the longstanding colonies of Asinia and the corsair lords under whose rule they had fallen since since Asinia’s Great Revolution. The new Asinial Republic was quick to re-assert its control over these far-flung possessions, however, and they then — and for now — remain under Asinia’s control.
The post-war consensus couldn’t last, of course, and internal bickering over where the Congress should direct its attention became the order of the day. Many rulers began to dislike the encroaching power of the increasingly-centralised confederation, and actively distanced themselves from it. Factions seeking liberation from the Congress’s yoke grew in power, and in order to eventually appease them, the Congress reduced the tribute owed to maintain the roads and standing army, and shelved many of its plans to establish common laws. The right of local rulers to be supreme in their own lands was enshrined, and a new consensus reigned for a time.
This balance in power between the nations and the central Congress has been the main focus of Gazellen politics from then until the present day, with greater power typically being ceded to the Congress when the outside world comes knocking. Ongoing clashes with the corsairs of the Asinial Main have brought about the creation of a standing fleet in recent years, small but set to grow in the coming decades. Although peaceful trade has been established by Gazellen between Zebrica and Pachydermia, any rumblings from these nations automatically reinforce any calls for a growth in the size of the Gazellen army. A brief war with Zebrica seventy years ago over Zebrican encroachment on the northern realms emphasised this, even as Gazellen secured victory in that war. Even a few common laws across the whole of the expanse have been passed and a common currency adopted, and the absolute authority of the local rulers has declined down the centuries.
For all that these changes have come with their own share of disputes and grumbling, the Serene Confederation of Gazellen remains diverse, peaceful, and prosperous with its great land and material wealth. No war has been waged between any of its member states since the creation of the Congress, and the general decline of the corsairs has left its trade routes at sea much more secure. A few railways have been laid, connecting even the most far-flung lands in a matter of days or hours, and even airships have begun to fill the skies. Many Gazellen rulers have even begun to fund their own expeditions into the Dactylian Interior, exploring the exotic and deadly marvels to be found there — including a seemingly near-sapient tribe of bipedal apes, who seem remarkably keen on showing off their achievements in tool-making and convoluted mathematics to confused explorers. Disputes over whether to treat the apes as mere animals or to try and uplift them so that they may eventually become productive members of the confederation are ongoing, though the majority view currently prevailing is that the apes will never amount to anything. Some scholars have put forth the usual claims that the apes are far-flung creations of Antlertis, and are typically met with the rejoinder that the Antlertians built better than that.
Threats remain, of course, both on the same continent and overseas. Zebrica and Pachydermia have every reason to be wary of the powerful new realm between them, and more than a few in Gazellen’s Congress would be keen on a repeat of the Black Barrens, in order that the confederation may never be threatened again on its own continent. Others look towards the seas and the pirates that yet rule there, whether under antiquated heraldry or under an Asinian flag, as targets in dire need of crushing once and for all. And a rare few look at all of these targets and beyond, and contemplate a new empire.
Whatever course Gazellen may take, it is well-equipped to see it through to the finish. Its constituent nations may yet remain divided and fractious, but that hasn’t stopped them pulling off the seemingly impossible in the past. And no matter the disagreements between its internal factions, one common point of agreement persists. The Fractious Lands will never be at any outsider’s mercy ever again.
If they get the apes on their side and unlock the power calculus based physics then they could out tech level everyone else.
Love the mashup of cultures here. Do you have a full list of just how many sapient races are in the Serene Confederation? When fanon-world-building, it often seems to reach a point where you realize just how many ungulates and mythological creatures can be made into unique races and so you just kinda dump them all together. I love the combo of so many clearly diverse cultures both fantastic and historical. I like how you used Congress as the title for the ruling organization, because the conflict between them and the local rulers draws a nice parallel to American state vs federal politics.
Good show as ever. So much good here: I liked the brotherhood of the two invaders, I liked the red chair, I liked the fractitious bickering inherent in such a political body. I find myself ever more impressed by your inventive and rich imagination.
I believe that the Elephants are due their turn.
This is fucking awesome.
r u avin a giggl m8
We've got some continent left, so let's move on to Pachydermia! Although I just reminded myself of those mountain islands in the middle of the map. <.< What's up with those, I wonder? Also, does the Dactylian interior count as a separate nation for one of these?
3632499 Somehow I picture these apes as the ones from Donkey Kong Jr.
Explorer: You expect me to fly on that contraption? It looks like it was cobbled together out of a couple of barrels and a board.
Ape: Yes, it was. But it runs on the finest banana-distilled fuel, unless my mechanic has been drinking out of the fuel tank again.
Ape mechanic: *hic!"
3632162
3632199
I've no full list, alas - Gazellen's the indeterminate kitchen sink for sapience in the Palaververse, like you point out, though the gazelles, giraffes, wildebeest, warthogs, antelopes, Diamond Fennecs and Jackals, hippopotami, okapis, and axex tribes would certainly be amongst their number, as well as whatever free cities incorporating a mix of all of the above happen to exist. The American state/federal divide was certainly one source of inspiration when creating them, along with the Holy Roman Empire and the (somewhat closer to home) European Union.
3632317
Nomination for Pachydermia noted! Glad you found so much to approve of. The brotherhood between Zero and Greyhide was especial fun to play with.
3632499
Nomination for Pachydermia and my own avin-a-giggl-m8itude noted! The mountain islands in the map's centre would either fall amidst the Burning Mountains, the Asinial colonies, or be deserted wilderness in dire need of adventurers to stir things up.
3632676
My own lack of Donkey Kong experience prevents me from commenting too much, though it's certainly far from unreasonable that if you're living in the middle of a hostile jungle and your achievements are being overlooked by every sentient neighbour you've got ... you're going to be fermenting and distilling anything you can get your hands on in short order.
A great tale of a bickering family of a nation. Sure, they may not like each other, but they hate everyone else much more. It may not be friendship, but it certainly works.
And I'd forgotten about those apes. Delightful creatures. Just don't let them near anything flammable or everything else will regret it.
Pachydermia seems like the logical next step.
3632786 Well to be honest, my opinion on apes as a Equestrian race was drawn from Plucks-the-Fruit and Chews-the-Ant in your Daring Do and the Weapon of the Ancients.
Achievement: Headcanon!
3632801
Monkey magic is a marvelous thing.
Huzzah!
Friendship is ma-
-aaaagic...
I'm picturing a militant group learning how to control one of those rocs and a small village of okapis looking up in surprise as a giant shadow sweeps over them and the Diamond Jackals leap down, only to realise that this is a flood plain and not actually all that good for mining.
Come to think of it... if some Diamond Jackals and Fennecs live both "atop and within" do they just carve an entry into the side of the roc or do they have to use one of the natural exits?
Now I'm kind of picturing rocs bragging to each other about their carvings and oddly enough, they sound like the turtle from Finding Nemo.
I'm loving your writing and worldbuilding.
It's wonderful. (Full of wonders)
3632786
Nomination for Pachydermia noted! Bickering arguments of a nation are the best fun to play around with.
3632878
Friendship Is Imperialism!
Small entries are typically carved into rocs, without any pain being done to the roc's non-existent nerve endings. Natural openings might be used, but only when the Diamond canines feel up to enduring whatever puerile remarks onlookers come up with.
I'd say Pachydermia next, obviously... and I believe that that would mark the final nation to have a representative appear in a Palaververse story, right?
Edit: Ah, no! Ceratos, right? The rhino nation. I completely forgot about that one.
3632499
Is red chair reference to something?
Also I imagine these apes as green skinned beneath their fur. And you know. Likin da red things cause dey go fastah!
And another interesting entry in this series. :)
I nominate whatever the plural of phoenix is.
3633495 It's a reference to the blood they shed, that's all.
And now we should turn to the Elephant in the room. Because just leaving him standing there would be rude.
3633462
Nomination for Pachydermia noted. They and Ceratos are indeed the last named nations ... barring Antlertis, that is.
3633495
The red chair's a reference to the blood shed by the gazelles, like Wellwater points out(3633691). Thankfully, the apes haven't gotten into the business of producing dakka yet.
3633518
Glad you approve!
3633664
Nomination for the phoenixes noted! I'd be half-inclined to cover them in a post about some of the 'verses flora and fauna, or bundled with some of the less major intelligent (or semi-intelligent) species such as the sea serpents.
3633763
Noination for Pachydermia noted! Unless people just want to keep on politely not discussing them, being the awkward problem that they are.
3633849
Ahhh hah. I'd picked that bit up, it just felt like there might be more! Still awesome. Now the question is whether anypony will recover a large black monolith or not
3632775 Corva might just be able to beat Gazellan to the Science Victory. Those are some pretty smart birds. All they need to advance along the R&D tree towards victory is a line of Cormaers who can cohere the clans along the right direction.
3633849
I agree that a post about state-less semi-sapients would be really neat after Ceratos. And then a grand Antlertis finale.
3633890
3633926
They're smart birds, no doubt, and in a more stable society with more stable leadership, they could very well have a crack at Alpha Centauri themselves. Alas, consistently pursued R&D would also depend on the R&Ders themselves not flying off every once in a while to raid for things. Bit of an embuggerance, that.
3634057
Might be. I'm currently half-inclined to open up Antlertis to nominations after Ceratos, and then let other stateless sapients be covered in the miscellany posts afterwards. It'd be a decent capstone for all the states, and there's probably only so long I can reasonably hold off on it.
Oh, I forgot to vote. pretty sure it's in the bag, but I say Pachydermia.
3634378
Nomination for Pachydermia noted! It does seem comfortably ahead of the rest of the pack, I shan't lie.
I really loved the true friendship of Zero and Greyhide. If there is one thing I love most about your entire setting, its that you consistently show friendship as an incredibly powerful weapon, while remembering that every weapon ever created is two-sided and will eventually be turned on its creators at some point. It always annoys me when I read a setting where only the "good" guys understand the value of things like love or friendship.
This is my vote:
3634630
Nomination for the Pachydermians and their military style noted! I'm glad to hear the importance of friendship is still coming across in the worldbuilding. It only seems proper to respect what's such a fundamental plank of the show, and the larger scope of the Palaververse gives me scope to explore how it and arguably-broader manifestations of it made manifest (international co-operation, alliances, nationhood, economies of scale) could play out on the world stage. And I believe all these instances of friendship and co-operation are necessary and potent things, both in the real world and in the Palaververse. Zero and Greyhide's invasion wouldn't have gone nearly so far or even gotten off the planning stage if the two hadn't trusted each other implicitly, and the Gazellens wouldn't have had a hope of resisting them if they'd not united together. Even entities like the Crown and the Cormaer needed and still need networks of confidants and allies who share their goals, whether in their own nations or abroad, if they want to keep their positions and advance their interests.
At the same time, like you point out, it'd be bad to restrict friendship to the good guys alone, and doing so would almost seem to cheapen the value of friendship. Even our own history's most all-round despicable cads had their own loved ones and close friends in whom they could confide and get support. Not giving fictional baddies a fair crack at this friendship business would just be misleading ... and it would needlessly limit the threat they can pose to the good guys, of course.
Antlertis as a finale is still a great idea, but damn if I'm not chomping at the bit for it.
Still wanna hear about the Protheans.
I mean the Valyrians.
I mean the Antlertians.
3635164
I'm reckoning it'd make as decent a finale as any to the major nations - I'll at least open it up for nominating after Ceratos and Pachydermia have both been polished.
3635320
Pfft, what would you want to hear about the
NúmenoriansAyleidsEldrenAntlertians for? I bet they did absolutely nothing of consequence.I'm going to double dip and nominate the bit (and how you stop a currency being magically counterfeited). Just exactly how did every sapient species settle down with one currency?
3635942
Blame the usage of the bit in that passage below to my muddle-headedness and not coming up with a named currency for the Dactylians. Coming up with a suitably-named one's always tricky, but I'll say that they use the gazacha (flailing spun from the Zambian and Malawian kwacha. Not every species uses the same currency, for what it's worth; Equestrians use the bit, Asinians use the rucat, and everyone else uses their own brilliant puns and wordplay that I've yet to devise. Some of the more powerful and backed currencies, such as the bit and rucat, may be used in foreign parts regardless.
As for preventing magical counterfeiting, that often comes down to the sophistication of each nation's mint and the enchanters they can retain. Suitably complex and layered enchantments can be placed on each coin or note that do little more that give off a signal of authenticity to those looking for it, but which are complex enough to defy most simple efforts by counterfeiters. Clever counterfeiters can attempt to unravel and replicate these sequences of enchantments, though, and so there's usually always a ongoing magical arms race going on between the various mints' enchanters and cunning counterfeiters.
3635450
If nothing else, they must have built a whole lot of additional pylons.
That aside, I very, very much enjoyed this part! Gazellen history is great. The part with the blood red chair? Awesome. And as others have noted, your use of the central theme of friendship on all sides is also great.
And I'm disliking Asinia more and more. I have this conversation in my mind now, between Celestia and a Gazellen ambassador (for whatever conglomerate of parts he speaks). Cultural exchanges, trade and knowledge transfer... all those nice international friendship things. Just, you know, call off your donkeys and we have a deal.
3637044
Glad to satisfy once more, particularly with regards to red chairs and abundances of friendship and suchlike.
Asinia's certainly got a heck of lot of international stuff to answer for. It might have moved past officially condoning the worst excesses in modern times ... but that doesn't mean the Asinian establishment doesn't develop convenient blind spots to a lot of stuff that goes on in the shadows. Definitely a problem for Celestia.
Delete the "a"
Move the apostrophe.
"swath", not "swathe"
Missing word: looked outwards towards the longstanding colonies
4086173
All fixed, and thank you!
So much fighting... you'd think all these species were some kind of violent nearly-hairless ape or something!
Honestly, this world would end up bearing little resemblance to the show's Equestrian-centered world. Each nation, ponies included, are war-hardened. Celestia would certainly not be the oft-naïve risk-taker she's shown as in the show. This Celestia would never have thrown the Mane 6 straight into either NMM's or Discord's path and hoped for the best. She'd have known better than to count on children's show writing to save the day.
Experience shapes a person's decision-making processes. And Celestia has direct experience of thousands of years of death and suffering. If she has attained the resolve required to steel herself against this, then I would expect her to possess a will even stronger than mine. NOTHING would escape her attentions, NOTHING would be left to chance.
And in the Fractious Lands, a mysterious creature dwelt... quietly, stealthily biding its time... hungry and patient, it awaited the War which would set its schemes in motion and create the long-awaited Opportunity.
The only report of it spoke of a tawny-haired pony with alluring amber eyes, a shining golden horn and fierce countenance. None who've ever laid eyes on its true shape escaped its clutches to give news and warning to the rest.
pre07.deviantart.net/4931/th/pre/f/2014/104/1/1/catsclaw__by_gikima_by_charlesdeleroy-d7efe68.png
Cat's Claw and her true self would fit this world better than any other I've encountered.
Day 14: The Gazellen
- These lumbering mountains and forests are interesting. Problematic if you live next to one though. Has anyone tried to kill these things yet?
- Have the Diamond Jackals or Fennecs accidentally built one of their cities in one of those nomadic mountains?
- Must be problematic if the Roc flew off when the Diamond Jackals and Fennecs were mining the near by mountains. Oh well, just one more glorious danger to be faced by the deep-delvers.
- Would Zero and Greyhide have tried to conquer other lands if their succeed in their war against the Gazellen? If this is the case Celestia would most likely have to defend Asinia and a war between Equestria, Asinia, Ovarn, Zebrica, Pachydermia, and possibly even Bovaland would have started then and there. Alliance chains are fun things to mess with.
- With Capra, Corva, Zebrica, Gazellen, and Pachydermia all having potential scores to settle and Creatos looking to do their own expansion soon enough, it looks like a world war is going to start. A perfect time for Antlertis to strike, am I right?
- What started the brief war between the Gazellen and Zebrica seventy years ago?
4457939
- Attempts have been made, but tend to come to a premature close whenever someone poses the crucial question, "Er, guys, how the fuck do we actually kill a mountain?" (Answer: Plenty of Dig Dogs and a lot of patience.)
- Accidentaly? Yes. Deliberately? Also yes. Mobile homes can be a very handy thing.
- Deep-delvers tend to have brief and exciting lives, no matter the continent they live on.
- Other lands beyond the sea could well have been within their sights if they'd subdued Gazellen. The Asinian colonies would be a sensible first target (apart from bringing down an Equestrian-led retaliation) but Ceratos could also have been in the line of fire.
- I'm sure Antlertis shan't do anything apart from sit peacefully under the sea to itself. Totally. Really. Honest.
- Sabre-rattling over a small piece of disputed land along the border. Celestia tried to mediate the dispute, but a bit too much jingoism was in the air for her to prevent it rather than just delay it.
I know they are just a little unimportant piece of all of this but I do wonder what species those math addicted apes are. Are they a mix of bonobos, chimpances, orangutans, gorillas and other "normal" apes? Are they human ancestors like australopithecus africanus, homo erectus or neanderthals? Or are they the mythological/cryptid apes like the rock apes, bigfoot and the yeti?
The answer is probably "Yes" but it's fun to ask.
PS: my vote (people vote for stuff here right? Its a Confederation!) is for the mystical/cryptid apes, I had the idea of an army of yeti reinforcing the Mammoths once the deer return and I find it too god damn funny for some reason
5627053
If ponykind can consist of unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies, then let's let the apes going wild with abstract thought consist of chimps, gorillas, australopithecuses, yetis, and all other sorts. It seems only fair.
The answer, alas, is 'yes', but credit given for trying to extract something coherent out of this lunacy.