world building, part 2 · 3:52am Feb 25th, 2020
Welcome back...
Today I just plan to talk about ponies. As much as I like Equestria's Changelings and most of the feline races of Everglow I can't focus on them and ignore the ponies; The ponies are the focal point much like the map of Equestria has Equestria in the middle with everyone else around the sides. Though given that it is a map of a country one can be forgiven for providing so little detail on non pony locations. (has the planet even been officially named?)
One of the things I like about pony kind is how they seem to synergize with one another. Indeed and Earth Pony can grow crops like no other and is aided by pegasai with good ideal weather. Raining only as often as it needs to rain and sunshine the rest of the time (strangely I don't remember seeing a cloudy day on the show). Unicorns have both the short end and long end of the stick; they no longer raise and lower the sun and moon and their magic allows them to devise and employ ideas and technology beyond what their mundane sciences can provide (in fact 'sciences' have probably suffered). more or less they are without a job. Which brings us to something funny... like how they view a natural setting (like Everfree) as unnatural and would be unable to understand how we humans just let things happen. (Which I am glad. Giving any President the keys to the sun and moon is cause for concern. Not because they are Presidents but because they are human.)
Then crystal ponies came into the mix with the Crystal Empire spreading good vibes across Equestria with the Crystal Heart at the beginning of season three and here we come to a plot hole. If you noticed it then congrats; you over thought a setting designed for little girls. And I am not being mean about it; MLP:FIM is well written but too many cooks will always spoil the pot.
It starts with the windigos and I quote*; "Winter spirits that feed off of hatred and cause deadly blizzards the more powerful they get. They existed before Equestria's founding and were seemingly destroyed when the three tribes united in friendship, triggering a powerful spell that vanquished them."
They are rather consistent and are not a problem themselves and predate the crystal ponies which brings problems. I will have to rewatch the ending episodes but the Legion of Doom did next to nothing to the Crystal Empire. So the Crystal Heart was still there and still pumping out good mojo for all of Equestria ... or was it? The spell that banished the windigoes was based off of good mojo too so why did the Heart not stop them? How did the villains bring Equestria apart for a few days if all the ponies were being Subliminal Love Messaged at all times of the day (remember the crystal fair is an annual event to power it for the full year) so the ponies should/would be more docile/cuddily than normal.
The plot hole can be summed up as; What tangible effect does the Crystal Ponies add to the mix as the fourth tribe?
(the show doesn't really try to show it at all)
Here is where I might lose some of you. "Bat Ponies are the forth tribe!" you might cry. I must say yes and no.
Let us take a moment and say for the argument; Cannon is only the show. Which means that unless I missed one we only saw two bat ponies; the ponies pulling Luna's chariot. It was never explained who they were or any detail at all about their kind. In fact they disappeared after Luna arrived as they were too unimportant to even make a background appearance in that episode. 99% of all bat ponies you see are in fact original characters and 99.9% of lore you read about them is fan made. The Nightguard do make appearances in the comic but unless you can point out a non guard there are no other kinds than Nightguard even in the comic.
Bat ponies for all their fame has less lore than Kirin.
Makes them a pretty good target for world building; they are already blank. What could they offer that another tribe could not?
Now we come to the setting I am making. Using Ponyfinder I have fifteen pony tribes to make use of. Seventeen if we would flutterpony and donkies as both can gain the proper subtypes through trait and feat choices. I vary much want to narrow it down a bit. Clockwork is an easy choice, their whole setup deals in a curse and if I want metal ponies I would rather go to the Steelhearts. Short legs, Anteans, Ghost ponies, Sun ponies and chaos hunters are also swiped. Though I think I will keep chaos hunter as a rare mutation that can happen to a pony who is exposed to the forces of chaos.
Changelings (known as doppelgangers) will be separated from ponykind into its own race (I will cover them later). Sea Ponies I think I will replace and modify the feats to better reflect them. And make the Sea Ponies a relative unknown.
That means I have eight tribes to pick from. (unicorn, earth, pegasai, zebra, gem, bone, bat, shark) I like this list.
*Earth pony* +1plains - the main food growers of the pony nation.
*Pegasai* +1mountains - the ones able to craft perfect weather conditions for the others.
*Unicorns* +1hills - great magic users with an array of abilities.
*Zebra* +1forest - skilled workers of herbology and alchemy that are at home in the forests.
*Shark Pony* +1aquadic - An old ancient bloodline. they use their powers to help ponies of all kinds by the waters.
*Moon Pony* +1underground - fierce nocturnal predators that protect the others while they sleep.
*Crystal Pony* +1desert - filled with hope and determination they often hold the other tribes together.
*Tribe of Bones* +1marsh - filled with necromantic powers, They prefer darker more grim settings and keep the dead from rising.
Mechanical side of things;
given that I am using the Fields of Blood book I do have some mechanics to work out. Presently they have a resource rating of 2 in all terrains which leaves them being 6 points under the bar. That is not bad as Equestria clearly favors teamwork and emulating that is the idea. Earth Ponies grow the food better than anyone else, Pegasi manage the weather and Unicorns, though magic, can handle jobs the other ponies couldn't normally handle ect ect. At 3 and 6 tribes the points go up by 1 for all terrain. That will put them well above the other races.
Each small town or smaller can have a specific tribe of pony declared for its majority. Which is not the same as that one and only tribe living in it. It also has precedence in Equestria as Ponyville does have a large number of Earth Ponies (just more varied than the Unicorn centered Canterlot). Each tribe also provides bonus resources for a terrain type.
*Tv Tropes
it is time to draw this to a close... It feels long enough...
see you next week.
