World Histories: The Mane Archon · 7:03pm Sep 20th, 2020
So I'm sitting in my apartment, feeling unusually uninterested in writing on my stories. But I still want to do something today for you peoples. After some consideration, it hit me that there are still things in my collected universes that never got explained, and likely never will be in any stories I might write in the future. This in mind, I figure: why not start revealing some of the background lore in a few of my stories? Folks might be interested in that. And what's more mysterious in my universes than the origins of that ever-present organization, the Archons?
This is going to be a long one, so before I begin: if there are any questions you have regarding the backgrounds of my AUs, by all means ask. I'll either direct you to the story with the reveal or, maybe, write a blog about it. Alternatively, I could just admit "hey, I never considered that!"
Alright, the origins of the Archons. For those of you who aren't familiar with them, my Trixie vs. Equestria (TvE), Fluer-Verse (FV), and No Heroes (NH) universes are all part of the same AU, just operating on different timelines. In all three of these stories is a secret organization known as The Archons. This group of ponies act as Equestria's secret protectors (or, if you want to take it to its darkest aspect, a secret police). In the stories they are always lead by my major OC Verity Fine Crime (who is, in many ways, the main character of the NH timeline) or his predecessor, Hoofknife, who have the title of the "Mane Archon". This blog will go over where the organization came from and, more specifically, the stallion that founded it.
To begin, we go back to a time after the Great Divide. The history of this period is summed up in this blog, but to summarize: Celestia banished Luna to the moon, which leads to a massive civil war. The changelings, seeing an opportunity, jump in and nearly take over all of Equestria. The fighting goes on for 300 years before Celestia and her loyalists finally come out victorious.
As you might imagine, 300 years of nonstop war and occupation can wreak havoc on a nation. On paper, Equestria was at peace. In reality, it was barely hanging on. Infighting, opportunists spreading corruption, a weary and diminished military spread thin across a whole continent, threats from outside the borders, monsters within the borders, an economy in ruin, and on and on and on. Celestia was obligated to consolidate her power and focus on rebuilding the country piece by piece. This left a lot of the smaller townships and villages in the rural area and outskirts to fend for themselves.
Enter the unicorn Mane Archon. Born and raised in a backwater town, Archon was a prodigy. Ambitious, intelligent, clever, charismatic, and manipulative. That last one might make you think he was manipulative, but in truth Archon only had one overarching goal: to protect his town and family. Knowing that the Royal Guard would never expend their extremely limited resources to protect his little hamlet, he took matters in his own hooves and formed a local militia to help deal with bandits and monsters. Under his leadership the militia flourished, and soon his hometown was free from monsters and could beat back any bandit raid that came their way.
Nearby towns took notice. They sent representatives to inquire as to their methods. Rather than letting each town create their own militias, Archon worked to have the towns work together with a single militarized force to protect the whole. Not all towns were willing to accept this. They preferred to do things their own way with Archon's methods as a template. Even so, Archon was able to get a good half-dozen towns protected under the umbrella of his militia.
But Mane Archon was, again, ambitious. He was no longer interested in protecting a few towns. He wanted to protect Equestria itself, and his organization was far too small for that. Even if he'd had the resources, he also rejected the idea of forming a large, militaristic force, as he did not want to appear as a threat to Celestia, for whom he only held admiration. Furthermore, the nature of the enemy had evolved in response to Archon's organization. Unable to deal with his armed militia, they took to stealthier means of corruption: extortion, blackmail, kidnappings, back room deals, et cetera. The circumstances had changed, and Archon had to adapt his tactics.
Archon began recruiting ponies to act as spies, informants, and even assassins. His first few attempts were drastic failures, which led to him forgoing fresh recruits in favor of recruiting from the very criminal element he was trying to stop. In so doing,he came to learn how to address individuals based on their unique concepts of ethics and morality. Thus was the modern concept of the Archons born; Mane Archon embraced a "be bad to do good" ethos and fought Equestria's villains with their own tactics. He maintained the original militia as cover while his less transparant resources did the real dirty work.
Now we return to Celestia. Prior to the Great Divide, her sister Luna had been at forefront of national security. Indeed, the very reason the sisters had come to odds in the first place was Celestia's absolute refusal to accommodate or even entertain Luna's efforts to protect Equestria from what she foresaw as an imminent changeling invasion (a mistake Celestia paid for in both 300 years of warfare and her sibling's exile). Celestia herself was a diplomat; even during the war she avoided actively participating in the planning because she (knowingly) had no talent for military strategy and tactics. National security was simply not her element, but the dangers to Equestria's future were legion and she was being overwhelmed. She needed help, and knew it.
When Celestia learned of the relative peace overtaking a large region of the nation, she inquired as to the cause. All ponies pointed her to Mane Archon. She summoned him to the still-under-construction Canterlot and asked what his secret was. He told her everything, making no attempt at all to hide his methods. Although appalled by his "be bad to do good" methods, Celestia was desperate, and so offered Mane Archon all the resources he might need to see to the security of all Equestria. For Archon, it was like a dream come true.
Thus was the modern incarnation of the Archons born. Mane Archon, having developed quite the ego (as successful unicorns often do), named both the organization and the leadership position after himself. Under his leadership the order steadily dealt with Equestria's worst threats over the course of a few decades. Although Celestia never really liked him and his methods, he eventually became one of her most trusted advisors.
Then, one day, Mane Archon was gone. The public record is that he retired, changed his identity, and went to live the rest of his life in some forgotten corner of Equestria. The reality is that he was involved in a magic experiment involving teleportation, and a mishap led to him disappearing without a trace. Celestia presumed him dead when he did not appear again for years. Luckily, Archon was the thorough type, and had left behind a very clear set of protocols for the selection of successors, so business went on as usual.
There have been changes to the Archons' over the centuries. For example, originally the Mane Archon was a publicly recognized figure, whereas now most ponies aren't aware the Archons exist outside of rumor and conspiracy theories. The rules of succession has also changed, going from a figure chosen by certain high-ranking members to now being a "master to apprentice" methodology. But generally speaking, the Archons have existed for the last 650 years unchanged in terms of their mission, their methods, and their unwavering devotion to Equestria's protection.
Of course, Mane Archon did eventually return to Equestria. That's a story for another time.
A side note: Mane Archon's history is identical in the FV timeline. However, it varies slightly in the TvE timeline. Although he did found and lead the Archons in similar ways, he was never summoned by Celestia. Instead, he expanded the Archons to be a wholly separate entity from the Equestrian Government. He also never disappeared due to a teleportation incident. Instead he ended up with a happy retirement, much like the public record falsely states in the NH and FV timelines. Unfortunately, his successor bungled things and revealed the organization to Celestia, thinking she might want to call on their services.
Instead, she straight up took them over.
If this interested you and you have something about one of my stories you'd love to know more about, by all means say so. No stories are off limits, although I may choose to not expand upon certain subjects if I strongly expect them to be addressed in a later story.
