Update: Bring the Dawn #1

Heya all! For those not incredibly interested in writings outside of ponies, this may still interest you. I'd like to introduce Bring the Dawn, my own original IP I've been working partly on for the last few months, until my motivation pool dried up after having to fresh restart at the very beginning.

Bring the Dawn is a high fantasy adventure story taking place in its own world, with a completed magic system viable for D&D tabletop gaming (if I were to pursue that path). Its been my side project while I work on other things to refresh my motivation, but I have too much writing on cloven hoof to not drop a few notes; namely my recently reworked chapter one (which follows a prologue I'll keep secret for now).

The main race of Bring the Dawn are Goldtail, also known as Cervanin, and are a bit similar to ponies. My inspiration for them comes from my childhood; I always loved deer! And I must have watched Bambi and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer a million times. I intend to one day commission a large picture from one of my favorite pony artists, Yakovlev, as he can really capture the spirit of a pony/deer hybrid quite well!

Here is an example of Yakovlev's work, coupled with a link to his Deviantart. I believe Goldtail would look similar to something like this, though all Goldtail prefer to wear clothing.

And his DA: https://www.deviantart.com/yakovlev-vad (Commission him sometime! He's a great artist~)

"But what ARE Goldtail, exactly?"
Goldtail are a race of "magic graced" deer, in the forests of the Deeproot. They are a newly discovered race with a long and complex history, much too much to explain in one post. To put it simply, they have high hopes for a bright future and strong ties to another race or two on this world I've written. They also have access to "unicorn" style magic (though it's not through antler or horn; instead, their eyes glow dimly when they lift something in their grasp, and magic hoof-like etheral arms form their appendages). This magic is crudely limited to a short range, working similar to arms and hands, but nothing more. Their shoulders can easily reach as high as one's chest, and they're quiet creatures as a whole. They live in the Fairglades region of the Western Deeproot (a magical plane of existence, one of many in my world).

I have a scaled down map on my travel laptop I can share here; this is the "work version" of the map, and not the real thing. I intend to hand-draw it with its own unique markings later on. You can take a quick peak here.

Here's a link to the first chapter, as well. I would love reviews and notes, which you can leave on this blog post. I want to note: I've dumped 21 completed ten page chapters to start anew. This is due to the fact that my original writing was inspired much too heavily by J.R. Tolkien. I've decided to go with my own style instead. Also, this isn't heavily spellchecked, as I'm not at that stage. Feel free to discuss the contents on your own here, or in-file.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Rvo28dlgm8KrPlFxS1Gwosrd5Qag_F2bj-z5btYWvOU/edit?usp=sharing

"What is the overall premise of Bring the Dawn?"

Bear in mind that I'm gladly reusing old character names and ideas. Bring the Dawn is a long story that would stretch beyond a single book; I'm hoping for three, to be exact, with a few side novels to fill in the world lore and history of the land. I already have TOO MUCH written in terms of blunt lore. So to sum it up:
Bring the Dawn follows the tale of Aster Woodcrest as his life falls to ruin around him. From the loss of love, to his very home - he's left as an outcast, and forced to work under the musings of a familiar Raven. Joined by new friends and old family, Aster and company travel across the land in search of answers, and a cure for the world's ails.

"Okay but >no pony"

I wanted to speak about this directly. I have a million reasons for not wanting to write pony anymore. I'm growing older, wiser, but I've been part of the brony community since 2012. Ten years. I'm approaching my 30s. Not for a dozen more seasons at the least, but still. MLP as a whole, is incredibly restrictive. You can't make large content easily without either neighsayers (ha, neigh) or Hasbro butting in. I want to create an IP that those willing could use for their own creative freedom. Whether that be something like... music, or games, I want a new place for a community to grow and thrive. I want to write the best story I can, but I also want to invite others to join my idea and make a bit of the world they'd like to see. And without a global company throwing lawsuits to suck the very life out of everything, and break the community to shambles.
Bring the Dawn is going to offer a world where creatures of all types can evolve, and do so quickly; sentient wolf-men? You've got it. Flying implings with a penchant for magic? Done. Humans? They have an empire. Ents or plant people? Yep, they're a main race. Gnomes? Definitely! While you won't find elves, dwarves, or halflings about - you'll find more than humanoid races running amok as well. This includes the Seraphs, who now reside in their own magical plane of existence, and Unicorn/Pegasi as well (though distinct and different enough from MLP to not be claimed by Hasbro... in fact, the inspiration for their design is something more akin to The Last Unicorn!)
And the fact that I could one day make a D&D module around it sounds amazing.

So if any of this piques your interest, message me - or leave a comment. I even have a small section on a discord server where you'd be welcome to join, if you're enthused with the idea.