• Member Since 31st Jan, 2016
  • offline last seen Feb 11th, 2018

Ahuras Wrath


I am here to write stories about small equines and chew bubblegum, and I am all out of bubblegum

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Jul
28th
2017

Brainstorming a possible King of Dragon Pass crossover · 1:53am Jul 28th, 2017

So about a few months ago I bought King of Dragon Pass, and while the gameplay is good, the background setting is truly impressive. I've been taking a crash course in learning about setting. The world does not rune on the lays of physics, or even the laws of magic, but the laws of myth. The premise is this: Several hundred years ago, a settlement of ponies was transported not to Earth, but to the world of Glorantha, specifically the lands of Kethaela. Now, at long last they (or rather their descendants) have been found using magical scrying, the the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony lead a mission to rescue them.

The source of the conflict is this: they don't want to be rescued. To survive they adopted the Orlanthi ways and practices, even going so far as to cut themselves off from their own magic and rename themselves the Sun Hoof clan. They worship the Orlanthi gods and behave in ways the bewilder, shock, and horrify the Equestrians. (The mental image of a pony Axe Sister explaining the cult of Babeester Gor to the horrified Mane Six to too good to pass up.) They only allow themselves to make use of a limited amount of their own magic. Earth ponies can use their increased strength, pegasi can fly, unicorns can use telekinesis, but that's all. Anything more risks angering the spirits of earth and storm, not to mention accusations of sorcery. Instead they prefer to make use of rune magic and to a lesser amount, shamanism. The benefit of rune magic is that is is not dependent of which tribe one is. A unicorn follower of Ernalda can use magic relating to crops and the earth, and earth pony worshiper of Olranth Adventurous can fly, and a pegasi cultist of Lhankor Mhy can use (aproved) sorcery.

Complicating the matter is that the transplanted ponies are not aware (and do not believe) that they have transitioned to another world.

Although the Sun Hooves worship many Olranthi gods, none is dearer to them than Elmal, the Loyal Thane although the goddess Redalda is also very popular. In him they see their story reflected. Elmal was once a member of the Fire Tribe, but realized that its ways were unjust and joined the Storm Tribe. Indeed, more ponies are born with the Fire Rune than the runes of Storm or Earth.

After several hundred years, the Sun Hooves now interpret their history through an Orlanthi lens. To them, the destruction wrought by the Windgoes is the Greater Darkness, and the Windgoes were the agents of Wakboth. The heroes of Heartswarming Eve have been identified with the Lightbringers, who established the Cosmic Compromise that forever separated godtime from the world that mortals live in. Discord has become the Malevolent Trickster, not so much as a figure of Chaos as disorder. (Gloranthian chaos isn't just the opposite of disorder, but something much, much, worse. It is the primordial pre-dark of uncreation, and it's forces constantly seeks to unmake Gloranthia.) Just as Dara Harpan sun god Yelm (aka the Bad Emperor) is associated with stasis and stagnation, the now Orlanthised ponies take a rather dimmer view of Celestia. They speak of her as the Solar Sorceress, who with the aid of her sister overthrew Discord but then cut the ponies off from the gods and established a rigid and unchanging hierarchy. In spite of the suffering that they endured when they first arrived, they are glad to be free of her rule (much to Twilight's consternation). Luna's banishment (which the transplanted ponies dimly remember) is seen as a power struggle between the two sisters; her defeat shattered the moon into pieces. Which, by the way is why there has only been the barely visible Blue Moon (or Blue Streak) until the recent rising of the Red Moon.

The Equestrians, of course would find such views frustrating beyond belief. They would see the Orlanthised ponies as having adopted the backwards ways of the natives and regressed, socially, magically, and technologically. In turn they would be looked upon as naive fools still under the yoke of the Solar Sorceress. The battles between the Equestrians and the Sun Hooves would not be fought with weapons, but with ideas and ideals.

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