Starlight Character Series - The Seven Sins of Starlight · 1:53am Jan 6th, 2016
Howdy folks! It’s been a while since I did one of these, but I figured why the heck not. Let’s do another character introspection post! The first one of these I did focused on the character of Lilith.
This post is going to focus on several characters, instead of just one. That’s right, I’m going to be focusing on the Seven Sins today.
The concept of the Seven Sins originally came about as a way to come up with a cast of villains for Star to combat, providing a driving force for Star in Chicacolt. Each one was to represent that negative emotion, and each one was selected because it tied back into the statues that created them.
Obviously, with getting to see Greed first, many people assumed that I was crossing in Fullmetal Alchemist, an anime property with a similarly themed cast of characters. Suffice to say, I must have had FMA on the brain at the time I wrote Greed in, because he did sort of end up like a carbon copy of the Greed from FMA. This left a bad taste in my mouth, but the deed was done.
Suffice to say, I decided that the rest of them needed to be different enough to try and pull away that similarity. The Seven Sins of Starlight aren’t homunculi, they’re not all evil, and they all were someone before becoming a Sin. Each one of them had a name, a backstory, relationships to each other. We got to see all of these in the Memory Orbs in Chapter 20: The Sins We Commit
Despite the fact that some people still view Starlight as crossing in FMA (which I can’t control), I’m pleased to say that it’s pretty obvious by simply reading the characters that they’re not like that at all. Since they were the largest antagonists in the fic at the time (and some of them not even antagonists), they were largely the most interesting characters I’d written.
We’re going to dip into each one today, one by one. So here we go!
Greed - Cutter, male unicorn
Greed. The first of the Sins we got to see. Greed started life as a unicorn by the name of Cutter. Cutter was a courier for an unknown group that mistakenly sent him into a gang war zone between a couple of Hellraisers in Chicacolt. It was there that he was found by Lilith (Lust) and Grenadine (Gluttony), and brought on as an enforcer/security detail for the MMMM. During his time as an enforcer, he fell in love with Lilith and they dated seriously for quite some time.
Cutter’s exploits in the city earned him quite a few enemies in his time there. Because of this, Lilith was kidnapped by a rival group of raiders. Her freedom was ransomed in the form of a job that Cutter was supposed to do, a massacre of an innocent town of ponies.
Cutter was going to do the job, but was stopped at the last moment by Diamond Night, an alicorn friend of his that he had known since he’d been in the MMMM.
Diamond Night knew that Cutter wanted power, the power to save Lilith, and knew how he could acquire it. Diamond was infatuated with Cutter, and hoped to use her power as Pride to bring Cutter to her. With the use of the “Statues of Nightmare”, Diamond converted Cutter into the insatiable Greed. Using his newfound power, Greed saved Lilith from the raiders. Wishing to share his power, he had Pride convert Lilith into Lust.
Lust’s conversion did not sit well with Pride, her jealousy and anger pushing away Greed. Greed decided to strike out on his own after he realized he wasn’t wanted. By this time Lust hardly cared, her memories gone of the stallion Greed had once been.
Greed became a raider king in Chicacolt, but true to his name he kept seeking objects of more power. To that end, he made his way south with several of his compatriots, seeking another “Statue of Nightmare” that he found out about in the Museum at Far Hills. It is here that he meets Radiant Star and company for the first time.
Greed eventually perished at the hooves of Violet Iris with no inkling of the stallion he once had been.
Greed’s abilities had much to do with the power he sought. His horn emitted a magical shield, protecting his body from most common blows. He was also shown to have high magical proficiency, as he was capable of telekinesis and teleportation.
- Author's comments: Greed was one of the least interesting of the Sins I wrote, unfortunately. If I had the ability to go back and rewrite him, I would try to make him a little more interesting, and also give a little more knowledge that he used to be more than just a psycho raider.
Lust - Lilith, female pegasus
Image by: RinaSunshine
Lust was the second Sin to appear on stage in the story, attacking the town of New Appleloosa for Pride after Greed’s death in search of the Ministry Mare.
Lust was once Lilith, a former Enclave civilian who fled the sky cover during the Enclave’s defeat on the Day of Sunshine of Rainbows. Lilith found herself in the city of Chicacolt where she fell into the friendly hooves of Grenadine Rose, an enforcer for the MMMM. Grenadine saved her life from a gang of raiders, cementing a friendship that would last for ages.
Eventually, Lilith would find love in a unicorn named Cutter, who joined the MMMM as an enforcer. Cutter was brash and overconfident, and Lilith loved him for it. Among the other friends she had there was the alicorn Diamond Night and the zebra Evora, who Lilith could see as plain as day that Evora was clearly smitten with Diamond.
However, Lilith also knew that Diamond loved Cutter, although she never said anything about it.
Lilith was not much of a combatant prior to her transformation, and was easily captured by a gang of raiders looking for payback against her beau. The lead raider came close to raping and beating her, but was stopped by Cutter, who had returned to save her.
Cutter, however was not the same pony. He had been changed into Greed. Greed sought to have Lilith by his side, so he convinced Pride to convert her as well. Pride, jealous of Lilith, used her memory magic to not only convert Lilith into Lust, but to remove any memory she had of her friends and especially Cutter.
Lilith’s transformation into Lust was more than just a mental change, it came with physical changes as well. Lust’s wings turned into wicked bladed things that sliced flesh. Her body became stronger, and she took to wearing modified Enclave power armor to enhance her fighting skill.
Eventually Lust would transform back into Lilith, with the help of Radiant Star and friends. Regaining her memories, she forgave Pride for what she had done after she realized how much of a victim Diamond was to Nightmare.
Lilith journeyed with Radiant Star to the very end of her journey, and was present for Steeljack’s death to the dragon as well as the birth of Patch’s twins. After the events of Starlight, Lilith moved back with Patch to Chicacolt, and took up residence as a security officer working for the MMMM in Theater. Today, she works closely with Apple Danish whom she romantically linked with, and Gluttony, the supreme leader of the MMMM.
- Author's comments: Lilith/Lust were my most favorite of the Sins to write, because she went from being a villain to a true part of the group and a good character in her own right. She had spats with Patch, had a cool missile launcher affectionately named The Bitch, and was just an all-around fun character to write.
Pride - Diamond Night, female alicorn
Image by: RinaSunshine
Pride is the third Sin to appear in the story, and notably the most important one, as she is responsible for the creation of the other Sins in addition to spurring Radiant Star’s journey to Chicacolt.
Pride was Diamond Night, an alicorn who fled the death of the Goddess in Maripony with a jumbled and twisting set of memories that she was never sure was her own. During her journey, she traveled through Canterlot, meeting the Canterlot ghoul Cranky Doodle Donkey. Eventually, Diamond found her way to Chicacolt, where she found friends in the MMMM.
Diamond Night was obsessed with finding out more about herself, and extremely obsessed with old technology. A chance writing in a terminal led her to search for a set of statues that she believed to be made of starmetal, a rare material. The status were supposed to be focal points for magical power. Diamond toiled endlessly looking for them, even taking trips to visit the Cult of Iron Will and a scribe named Bronze Fist.
With the assistance of the zebra Evora, Diamond found a locked container hidden in Twilight Sparkle’s secret office that contained the statues. When Diamond touched them, a presence made itself known in her mind. It was the creature Nightmare, an ancient being that had once possessed Princess Luna. It offered power and much more to the alicorn, who was all the more willing to accept it.
From that moment, Diamond Night no longer existed. She had become Pride. Pride used her power judiciously to further her own means. To that end, when she created Greed she realized her purpose in life was to control all of ponykind. She used the Statues of Nightmare to transform those she deemed worthy (or in the case of Lust, unworthy) into subordinates for her plans.
Unfortunately for Pride, it did not work out quite like she planned. Greed left, seeking power of his own. Gluttony, one of the few who retained his memories, wanted no part of Pride’s plans so he went back to the MMMM. Wrath, a minotaur who viewed Pride’s mind magic as pure weakness based on the tenets of Iron Will, took over the Cult of Iron Will through sheer force. Envy left to become a bounty hunter. The only ones left that Pride could control were Lust and Sloth, thanks to having been able to find Sloth’s long-lost love Matilda in a stasis tube. Pride held her life over his, forcing him to do her bidding.
Pride’s first encounter with Radiant Star occurred after Greed’s death. The spirit of Chaos, Discord, tipped the alicorn off to the existence of a power that threatened her own. After learning the same alicorn had killed Greed, she sent Lust after her to kill her.
Pride used her magic to break Star away from her friends after Lust's failure, intending to absorb her powers. Unfortunately for her, Star's friendships and Violet's love were stronger than her will, and she was driven off.
Pride led Star and her friends to Chicacolt, where she came to meet the spirits Spark and Lucky. Pride captured the two when Spark came to her, intending to merge with her physical body. Pride did not trust the spirit, having felt its presence in Star's mind during their previous encounter.
Pride ultimately returned back to Diamond Night during her final confrontation with Star. Star reached out to Diamond, who fought back against the Nightmare. Diamond's final act was to destroy the Nightmare statues by activating Stable 180's self-destruct sequence. Her fate is unknown, but it is assumed she perished in the destruction.
Pride's abilities center around her capability of influencing dreams and dream magic. She uses these abilities several times to taunt Star, showing her visions of Maripony and of Violet Iris falling into a vat of IMP.
- Author's comments: I liked Pride, quite a bit. Her sneering mannerisms and plot-twisty things were fun to write, and the dream sequences she influenced even more so. It was also nice to see her get at least an ending where she stood up for herself.
Sloth – Cranky Doodle Donkey, male donkey
Image by: RinaSunshine
Sloth is the fourth Sin that appears in the story. His origins began as the character Cranky Doodle Donkey, a show canon character from the episode “A Friend in Deed.” Cranky was a courier during the war, working tirelessly to support the love of his life, his wife Matilda. Cranky was a good friend of Pinkie Pie, the Ministry Mare of Morale, but his friendship with her waned as the war went on and Pinkie's drug addiction pushed away most of her friends. Cranky was present just outside of Canterlot during the final hours of the war, the radiation combined with the Pink Cloud turning him into a Canterlot ghoul.
Cranky, upset in his belief that Matilda had died during the war, resigned himself to life in Canterlot, among the other Canterlot ghouls living there. It was during this time that he met the alicorn Diamond Night, one of the Goddess' children who had been sent there after the Black Book. Cranky realized that he was never going to find out what had happened to Matilda by staying in Canterlot, so he left, finding his old cart where he left it and returning to life as a scavenger and trader. His fearsome appearance would scare off many customers, but it also scared off slavers and raiders hoping for an easy kill.
Cranky eventually came to Chicacolt, where upon a chance encounter he found out that Diamond Night was alive. Upon locating the alicorn, Cranky finally felt like he had found a friend who understood his plight of being centuries old.
Cranky expressed his wishes to find Matilda to Diamond, who agreed to help her friend locate his lost love. Shortly after this, Diamond became Pride. Combined with research into Stables surrounding the Ponyville/Canterlot area, she found one that had placed many of its residents into stasis tubes instead of allowing them to live freely. A certain Matilda Donkey was on the list of residents. Pride went to the Stable and found Matilda. She brought the stasis tube to Chicacolt and Stable 180, where she could study how to break free the donkey from the tube safely.
Pride saw an opportunity, using this information that she could in fact save Matilda to hold Cranky in service to her. She used the Statues of Nightmare to convert Cranky to Sloth.
As Sloth, Cranky served as Pride's willing servant, forever remembering that Matilda's life was held in her hooves. He did many things he regrets on the mere promise that Pride would heal her one day.
Sloth attacked Radiant Star and friends outside of Chicacolt on their way into the city, but was stopped by the realization that Star knew what had happened to Pinkie Pie. A slip of the tongue made Star and the others realize that Sloth wasn't doing Pride's will for himself, but for Matilda.
Sloth was called back to Stable 180 after Star dealt with Wrath, an act that forced Pride to realize that Star and the gang knew where the Stable was. Sloth set a trap for Star, intending to kill her, but in reality was a clever ploy to drive Star deeper into the Stable to confront Pride. By this time, Sloth had realized that Pride could not heal Matilda, and that there was in fact maybe no way Matilda could be healed.
Sloth ultimately assisted Star in confronting Pride in the inner sanctum of Stable 180. His assistance allowed Star to activate her mind dive spell and bring back Diamond Night.
After Diamond activated the self-destruct sequence, Sloth went to Matilda's stasis tube, intending to die alongside his long lost love. Star tried to get him out, but he sent her away before several tons of debris crashed down into the room.
It is unknown whether Cranky survived the destruction of the Stable, but on Star's exodus from the city, it is noted that she saw two pairs of red eyes in the darkness. It is possible that Cranky survived, and was somehow able to revive Matilda as well as a Canterlot ghoul, but this is mere speculation.
Before becoming Sloth, Cranky was a regular Canterlot ghoul. After his transformation, Sloth became capable of directing and utilizing the Pink Cloud inside of his body. He could use it to control other feral ghouls as well as to animate skeletons.
- Author's comments: Sloth was an incredibly fun character. I've always been a big fan of the tragic villain trope, and Sloth was exactly that. The decision to make him into a canon character (Cranky Doodle) was made very early on, as it gave me a great way to explain the character and why he was the way he was.
Wrath – Bronze Fist, male minotaur
Wrath is a minotaur who was once known as Bronze Fist, a scribe for the Cult of Iron Will, an organization devoted to the prewar minotaur Iron Will and his teachings. In the Cult's infancy, much of the religious focus was on Iron Will's self-help series, urging the members of the Cult to be all they could be. Bronze Fist was the most fervent worshiper of the great Iron Will, taking every word in as if it were life itself. He one day had hoped to become leader of the Cult, to take it into a new era of Iron Will;s teachings.
Bronze Fist was at one point called upon by a local alicorn named Diamond Night, who needed help searching for several statues that were magical in nature. Although Bronze Fist was unable to help Diamond, the alicorn remembered that the minotaur had been kind to her. After her transformation into Pride, she summoned him before her to grant him the gifts he would need to be the leader of the Cult.
Bronze Fist ceased to be, and in his place stood Wrath. Wrath saw the existing Cult for what it was – weak and powerless. He envisioned greatness built on the backs of physical strength and power. He also knew that Pride was weak as well, her reliance on mind and dream magic a flaw in his eyes. Wrath valued strength, power, and pure might.
Wrath left Pride, the alicorn being unable to stop him from doing so. He went back to the Cult of Iron Will, violently overthrowing the existing leaders and taking it by pure physical force. He produced scriptures of Iron Will's teachings on the value of strength, converting many of the Cult's members to his way of thinking.
The Cult eventually would develop into the organization it is today, a violent autocracy controlled by the mad claws of Wrath himself. To ensure that no one would take power from him, Wrath instituted gladiatorial games that pitted the Cult's slaves against each other. Wrath also cultivated his slaves by outfitting the losers with cybernetics, as a way for them to prove themselves in Iron Will's eyes. He did this with the money generated from the games, recognizing that the weak would willingly part with their caps for displays of strength.
Wrath kept up a relationship with Pride however, neither actively supporting or antagonizing the alicorn. He would use his brothers and sisters in Sin in the games to attract more money.
Wrath stood present over the fight between Violet Iris and Radiant Star (while Star was possessed by Spark). There he witnessed Star's strength, and issued his own challenge against her. During the fight between Lust and Patch, he tossed the pegasus around like a rag doll before Star finally stood up to him.
Star and Wrath's battle would not culminate in defeat, unfortunately. Apple Danish of the MMMM interrupted the fight and rescued Star and company.
Wrath pursued the heroes to the Museum, where he waited to see if Star would reappear. When it became clear that the crew would escape from the accursed place, he intervened and attacked, requesting an honorable combat with the Ministry Mare. Star was able to beat him fair and square, so he gave her the location of Stable 180 and withdrew.
Wrath would later appear at O'Mare Skyport, as part of one of the Cult's various slaving operations. He faced off against Patch's children, Starry Night and Lightning Chaser, retreating after it became apparent that they held the upper hand with the help of the Minotaur's suppression megaspell.
Wrath's power is purely physical, but he supplements his abilities with combat drugs like Buck and Rage to get an edge over his competition.
- Author's comments: I really really enjoyed Wrath. He was a lot of fun to write, and the basis of a Cult that worshiped Iron Will really drew me in. Wrath is one of the few Sins to have survived the ending of the story, so he may yet again rear his ugly head.
Envy – Evora, female zebra
Evora was a zebra resident of Stable 180 when the Stable opened. She was a practitioner of zebra magic, as taught to her by her family.
When Evora ventured out of the Stable, she found herself in an unfamiliar city with no friends. She scavenged and looted what she could for her family, but found herself caught by raiders. During this event, she met Diamond Night, an alicorn who saved her from being killed. It was this event that cemented Evora's adoration for Diamond Night.
Diamond would eventually introduce Evora to her other friends, Lilith, Cutter, and Grenadine, but it was Evora that always went with Diamond on scavenging excursions. Evora greatly believed in Diamond's quest to find the statues, and wanted to do everything she could to help her. Always too timid to admit her feelings, as obvious as they were, Evora wanted nothing more than to see Diamond's dreams come true.
Eventually, with Evora's help, Diamond found the statues she sought, and instead used them to become Pride. After Greed left, Pride turned to Evora, using her love of the alicorn to lure her into becoming Envy.
After her transformation, Evora was appalled by what Pride was doing. Although she'd always love her, part of her realized that there was something wrong with Pride. Coupled with the jealousy she felt over Pride's love of Greed over her, she decided that enough was enough. She left the group and struck out on her own, using her newfound abilities to become a top-notch mercenary/assassin/bounty hunter.
Envy would later come into contact with Radiant Star, seeking her head over a large bounty placed on it by the Lotus Triad. After several battles with Star, the last of which left Envy licking her wounds and hurting, she retreated into the shadows. She came across Star again after Pride's death and the destruction of the Nightmare statues. Realizing that Star was distraught over Diamond's demise, Envy offered to train her in the use of zebra magic.
During their training, Envy helped Star crack into the Ministry of Arcane Science hub that Diamond had found the statues in, and helped her combat the Cowpones during the Siege of Theater. After Star left Chicacolt, Envy realized that she would not live forever, and that she needed to pass down her knowledge of weaponry and skills.
Today, Envy collects youngsters and trains them in the deadly arts. Foremost among these is the minotaur Rock Thresher, a former Cult of Iron Will gladiator. At some point, Envy would find a suitable stallion and had a son by the name of Xerves. While she tried to instill her code upon the young zebra, it would ultimately fail and he would leave her, beginning the events of “Mending Hearts.” Envy holds herself responsible for Xerves' actions, believing that she should have been a better parent to the youngster.
Envy's abilities in zebra magic allow her to maintain stealth at close range. She also has a wide array of implements, from throwing blades to bloodwing cloaks, that allow her to be a formidable fighter.
- Author's comments: Envy was a lot of fun as well. It allowed me to create a character that functioned in stealth and open combat, as well as a bit of mysticism like Zecora showed off. I was never super good with her rhyming though, so I only used it sparingly as a way for Envy to intimidate her prey. While Envy used her old name in her last appearance of Starlight, in Mending Hearts she has returned to using Envy, as she no longer feels she is Evora due to the events that transpired in Starlight.
Gluttony – Grenadine Rose, male earth pony
Grenadine Rose started as a simple enforcer for the MMMM. His job was to deal with bad ponies. The original MMMM was a motley group of various gangs united under a similar cause, but none of them had the cohesiveness that the group exhibits today.
Grenadine was directly responsible for bringing both Cutter and Lilith into the MMMM, being involved in saving both their lives. Grenadine always saw Lilith as a little sister during his time as an enforcer, and his friendship with Cutter was unparalleled. He also was friends with Diamond Night and Evora, if only on acquaintance basis. Grenadine also directly influenced a younger Apple Danish to become more involved with the MMMM.
After Cutter became Greed and Lilith became Lust, Grenadine confronted Pride. Pride forcibly converted Grenadine into the insatiable Gluttony, hoping to also remove Grenadine's memories to make him a slave. Grenadine was able to resist her powers, either through sheer earth pony magic, or sheer stupidity. Regardless, his transformation completed, and Grenadine was gone. Only Gluttony remained.
His transformation into Gluttony did more than just mentally change Grenadine. His physical attributes became enhanced and enlarged, to the point of utter ridiculousness. His consumption needs outweighed a normal pony's by five times. Gluttony returned to the MMMM, his physical form making him more than capable of resisting Pride's magic.
The MMMM saw Gluttony as a savior, unaware of his true identity as Grenadine Rose. Most ponies believed Grenadine to be dead, save for Apple Danish who knew that the monstrosity known as Gluttony used to be his friend.
Gluttony gave the ponies of the MMMM a banner to stand under, literally. He drew the various companies together in the interest of providing food for the Wasteland. However, in reality, he was having food provided for himself.
Gluttony's.... gluttony would eventually overeat the capacity of the MMMM, driving a fracture into the various companies. It wasn't until Radiant Star intervened with the assistance of Apple Danish that Gluttony finally saw the value of being the boss that the MMMM needed. At Lust's request, Gluttony assisted the MMMM when one of the company leaders tried to sell the faction out to the Lotus Triad, asserting his dominance once more.
Gluttony's help provided Radiant Star the location of the underground entrance to Stable 180. He also took charge of the fight against the Cowpones and their new leader Cow-Face.
Gluttony's abilities extended his form, turning him into a monstrously large pony with rippling skin. This form granted him enhanced strength and stamina, but increased his need for food consumption massively. Gluttony is incredibly fast and light on his hooves for his size, and is capable of inequine feats of strength.
- Author's comment: Gluttony was amazingly fun to work with. “Who wants a piece of my fucking cake?!” is probably one his best lines. He was so much more varied than a simple glutton monster, and that's what I loved about him.
Conclusion
Well, there you have it folks! This was a long one, but it was a lot of fun sharing these little character bits. I hope to do another one of these sooner or later, focusing on characters like Patch, Violet, and Finishing Touch/Featherjoy!
See you kids on the flip side!
- V
That's some nice artwork of those characters you found.
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Yes, I really wish there was more art of the Sins. I would dig seeing Wrath or Envy, or shit god forbid Gluttony.