New Project (1 of 2) · 4:02pm Jan 4th, 2020
Alright, I was a little delayed getting this up because of real life obligations and the desire to get a decent cover art before coming with it. But, without further ado...
ANTE SOLEM
“In Honor of the Sun”
NOTE: Artwork is a work in progress and does not reflect the final product.
For at least a millennium, the Holy Empire of Equestria has been controlled by The Seven Holy Houses of the Realms, each headed by an Alicorn. These are the Saints of the Celestial Throne, the absolute authority of the land and the spiritual leaders of the Church; what they say goes, and nopony - and no creature - can dispute them or else they risk everything. Those not fortunate enough to be among the members of the Houses are forced to oblige the policies set intended to make Equestria a shining bastion of morality. Even those among the elite are not immune from these spheres of influence. This long lasting legacy of Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Kindness, Laughter, Love, and Magic - as strangely counter-intuitive as it may seem - have been far scarier than any outside threat that could possibly take over.
However, this may be about to change. For the first time in history, the “Seven Holy Houses” have recently become the “Nine Holy Houses”. This is only the beginning of the many political changes about to take place. My partner and I can no longer stand by and witness my home and family fall further into this rabbit hole. I declare, in the honor of the Sun, that I will use my newfound title as Saint for the good of the people.
May the Daughter of the Sun have mercy on my soul.
This is a project I’ve been wanting to try for awhile now, it’s my answer to an “Evil Mane Six” story... Sort of. This is a bit out there so bare with me.
One thousand years ago, during the incident with Nightmare Moon, Princess Celestia has exhausted every ounce of strength and willpower she had in order to cease her sister’s rebellion. Just like in canon, she has to resort to using the Elements of Harmony to combat this foe. Unlike canon, however, Celestia was too weak to use their power to banish her to find a way to save her. There was no other way, she was forced to vanquish this danger for got; for the good of Equestria, Luna had to be removed from the equation. Unfortunately, this desperation tactic came at a price and she too perished on her throne. The seven noble houses loyal to her immortalized her as a messiah, the central figure in what would become a new religion. The seven houses took over running Equestria in her place, and to honor her legacy adopted family seals with corresponding Elements of Harmony.
Things got a little strange as after the death of their figurehead. When the heads of these clans died, select children of their kin began to undergo changes when they would get their cutie marks. Both a physical change, ascending into alicorns, and a mental change, in adopting traits and personality of the deceased previous leaders. They would also adopt power from the Element of their clan. This resulted in a relatively powerful individual who would live longer lifespans than their peers. The trend continued even as the Crystal Empire was acquired and joined the newly established Holy Empire of Equestria (the crystal heart could be considered a seventh element), divided into seven realms each ruled by one of the seven houses. As time went on, in a misguided attempt to further honor the holy doctrine, policies were adopted corresponding to the Elements. Future generations of the leadership felt these policies did not go far enough. Thus they were made much stricter and punishable for not adhering to them; after all, anyone not following the doctrine must be committing a willful act of heresy, right?
“Thou shalt never lie, or thou shalt lose thy tongue.”
“Thou shalt remain loyally enforce Harmony, or thou shalt die a heretic.”
“Thou shalt donate half thy income to charity, or thou shalt have no income.”
“Thou shall help those in need, or thou shalt suffer the same need.”
“Thou shall promote a life of happiness, or thou shalt live a life of sadness.”
And so on. And as the centuries of rule went on, things only got more and more controlled, until eventually the leaders of the houses, christening themselves as the Saints of the church, became the unquestionable oligarchs of the Empire, akin to a set of absolute monarchs. They were too powerful, physically and politically, to oppose and could do pretty much anything they wanted in the name of the doctrine (which they write and rewrite on demand).
Today, the Leadership is composed of:
Chief Saint Twilight Sparkle of House Magic
Saint Rainbow Dash of House Loyalty
Saint Applejack of House Honesty
Saint Rarity of House Generosity
Saint Fluttershy of House Kindness
Saint Pinkamena of House Laughter
Saint Cadenza of House Amore
The thing with the alicorn quirk is that none of them are born into this. Members of these clans would gain this little upgrade along with their cutie mark, and it’s never sure which child it’s going to be, only that it happens after the previous Saint passes away. The point is, it only ever happens to kin of the Saint, be they descendants or relatives, or even those of close associates.
Which is why it caused quite a confusion when not one but two mares from outside these clans ascended to such a status. After it happened, the Saints called for an emergency summit at the imperial capital of Everfree to discuss the matter, with the two mares in question taken along for the ride. After a three day tribunal and a majority vote of 5-2, these two mares were allowed to create realms of their own to join the Saints.
And thus after some time goes by, newly christened Saint Sunset Shimmer of House Empathy and Saint Starlight Glimmer of House Equality see a course of events that would drastically change the status quo long ingrained in culture.
More on this project will come as time goes on, I still need to work on ironing out the kinks in the story as well as some artwork - to say nothing of my day job and personal life - but I’m excited to finally do something again and I’m hoping to make 2020 the year of my focus. Stay tuned and I hope you all have a fantastic day.
I’m gonna go lay down for awhile, I was up all night working on this drawing and this post...
