So, here's a collection of various tidbits of information about the world of The Seven Tribes. I'll keep this updated when I have something to add that doesn't give away spoilers from unreleased chapters, but does contain spoilers for any available chapters. Nothing here is necessary to enjoy or understand the rest of the story.
Lies and truths from the Professor
-he did not invent the machine, though he did build the one he used himself from the book
-the terra ponies did not create discord
-who or what started the conflict is currently unknown
-while having been in hiding for some time, the terra ponies number in the hundreds if not thousands
-the terra ponies have infiltrated Canterlot, but have not gotten into the Royal Guard
-the terra ponies are far more technologically advanced then the rest of Equestria
Rules for the Pony Blender Mark III
-you can totally use it for your own story (this or any model)
-ponies going in must be of similar size
-the result will always be stronger then the three ponies used to make it combined.
-willpower, sense of self, ego, and physical strength all play into which characteristics carry through.
-horn and wing colors will always match the color of the donor regardless of the above
-cutie mark is typically a combination of the ponies's put in
-if subjects are not harmonious, especially with themselves, the result may be brain-dead or worse (see test 1-7)
-older models tended to have worse results
-result will live longer then other ponies except alicorns
-earlier models did not have the reverse function
-Terra ponies, sea ponies, alicorns, and fairy ponies, cannot be used in one
Feel free to use terra ponies in your own story as long as you follow these rule to keep things canon:
-terra ponies are almost impossible to distinguish from earth ponies on the outside.
-terra ponies have duller coats (less saturation). This is not absolute but is true for 99% of them.
-other ponies can use magic that is in their bodies, but only unicorns and alicorns generate magic on their own. If a unicorn shared magic with a non unicorn, that pony would be able to use that magic until it ran out. Terra ponies cannot do this.
-terra ponies are not united against the rest of ponykind.
-their technology is much more advanced
-terra ponies are still ponies, not humans or any crap like that. Do not attempt that. Do not even make a human to pony story where the human becomes a terra pony
-terra ponies cannot access other dimensions.
-they have little military hardware. Being forced into hiding, they lost most of their arsenal. They have weapons and small arms, but few machines of war survived. They have the knowledge of how to build them still. They are currently trying to rectify this shortage.
-terra ponies are almost universally skilled in combating other ponies. This includes carrying magic blocking collars, and knowledge of certain pressure points on pegasus that prevent them from flying.
Just about every adult unicorn knows these three spells: levitation, illumination, and magic missile. Illumination creates light from their horn as Snails demonstrated. Magic missile isn't really a spell, but just a blast of raw magic.
All unicorns can learn all spells if they put forward the effort. The only limit is spells that require more magic then they have. They do have a tendency to learn certain spells more easily then others and disregard others.
Alicorns are not truly immortal but there's no easy way of saying an ability to live a very long time and age slowly. Their life spans usually range from 8000 to 10000 years.
Shells are sea pony currency. 2 shells = 1 bit at current exchange rates.
Adding new rooms to cloud homes isn't actually free but is very inexpensive. The more solid parts of pegasus dwellings are typically 'hardcloud'. This is an odd substance that has the properties of both a cloud and a ground based object. While solid, it sits on top of clouds itself until it bares too much weight for the cloud to hold it up. A non pegasus can stand on hardcloud, even if that hardcloud is on a cloud itself but how reliably they would be able to do so depends on the size of the piece of hardcloud and again weight. Shoes of hardcloud would not allow them to walk on clouds, but a floor would be sufficient.
Hard cloud is incredibly cheap to manufacture so making an entire room out of it cost slightly more then a week of groceries for two. It can also be shaped like a cloud but maintains it's shape well.
Regular materials have to be enchanted to stay on clouds so they are much more expensive. That is why Rainbow Dash only has the bare minimum of ground appliances.
Messenger dragons can summon any object small enough, but only objects in their own hoard.
Scootaloo walking on water is exactly what she said it was. It does take more magic than cloud walking and exceptional focus due to the fluctuating nature of water. Unicorns might be able to replicate it but one with the skill and desire is unlikely to exist. Twilight is not capable of it at this point, even if she knew how to do it. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia both can do it but don't as it tends to startle other ponies.
Apple Bloom learned two different but related spells. They are both magic to force spells that allow her to hit with more power than she normally would be able to muster. The one she did on the beach is a force transference spell that channeled the force through the sand to where she wanted it while her splash was a force amplification spell released the force on impact. Such spells are rarely learned as other spells are much simpler. Such as just hitting with magic or using magic to manipulate the sand. Also few unicorns would actually make contact.
That last spell Apple Bloom cast is another one unicorns would never normally learn called Steel Skin. It basically hardens their body to resist physical damage to the point where they are nearly invulnerable. Its strength is uniform so the magic goes to maintaining it and has no effect on how strong it is. She can maintain it for about four seconds. It's pretty demanding, but can save a pony's life. It can't protect them from everything. A significant fall or massive impact will cause damage through the magic. I.E. Rarity falling out of Cloudsdale. Even with this spell she would have died. She wouldn't have gone splat, as the magic would have held her body together, but her insides would have been destroyed by the sudden deceleration. The hardening effect is only skin deep.
Blood-sister and blood-brother is a common griffin term for any adopted family member. Such things are common among griffins but other species are rarely if ever considered. To become a blood-sibling all one has to do is impress the patriarch of the family to the point where he offers one the option of joining the family. One does not have to accept and should not feel they have to. That is part of the reason there has only been 5 known pony blood-siblings since Nightmare Moon's banishment (7 in recorded griffin history). Only pegasus have been made blood-siblings. The griffins would simply not accept a ground bound creature.
All griffin cities are built on mountains that meet the clouds. This is because they can walk on them like pegasus. They do not like being low to the ground, but also like the feeling of solid rock. Also the names almost always follow the same pattern, adjective then noun. Griffins do not have their own official nation, as they have no defined boarders except where other countries end. The mountain they live on and a distance around the base are usually considered their territory and land between other nations that they inhabit are called theirs even if they have no interest in controlling it. They just live on mountain tops in a wide area, sometimes crossing other countries or sitting in the middle of them. They have a unified legal system and culture, but have no official boarders, so they are not a nation. The largest single territory is a mountain chain far to the north, covering almost fifty square miles. Because of this, they have no currency and just accept all other forms of currency and they compare values based on the exchange rates between them.
Griffon Clans:
A list of every clan mentioned, with a few unused, with their current numbers (when mentioned in the story with Alsara having two, one for when they first come up, then one for the present day), current leader (again two for Alsara) and if they are a patriarch or matriarch, clan mark, any clan traits, and any other notes on the clan. Some stuff is blank. I know. Deal.
Forming a new clan is easy, all you need is a unique name and mark. However you need the respect of other clans for it to mean anything. Unique marks are hard to come by now.
Alsara (al-sara), Estimated Population: 29/53, Clan Leader: Tansas (tan-sass)(P)/Liana (lee-on-ah)(M), Clan Mark: tree , Clan Traits: very high number of blood-siblings, Notes: Established first griffon city. One of the clan council members
Falney (fall knee): Estimated Population: 24 Clan Leader: (), Clan Mark: a wheel, Clan Traits: almost all blood-siblings, Notes:
Fook (foo-ck), Estimated Population: 229, Clan Leader: Flay (M), Clan Mark: A coin, Clan Traits: leader is decided by a massive fight between all clan members. All members blood-siblings. Griffons born to current members do not qualify by birth to be in the clan, Notes: A clan of mercenaries and griffons for hire.
Liaq (lie ack), Estimated Population: 31, Clan Leader: (), Clan Mark: A single layer cake, Clan Traits: , Notes:
Mouas (moe-as), Estimated Population: 75, Clan Leader: (), Clan Mark: A sharp rock, Clan Traits: , Notes:
Qnak (nack), Estimated Population: 124 ,Clan Leader: Clance(P), Clan Mark: A claw, Clan Traits: , Notes: One of the clan council members
Trals (trah-alls), Estimated Population: 84, Clan Leader: (), Clan Mark: A dagger, Clan Traits: Matriarch only, Notes: ate beings before civil war. Former member of the clan council, banned due to civil war involvement.
Watara (wah-tar-ah), Estimated Population: 35, Clan Leader: (), Clan Mark: three swirls, Clan Traits: , Notes: they are the griffon equivalent to weather ponies. They aren't as involved as ponies are in weather.
Dates (which I never use) are relative to Nightmare Moon's banishment because the earlier calenders were all lost during Discords reign. Dates after the banishing are A.B. and dates before and including the year of are B.B.. Discord's reign began approximately 1030 B.B. but the exact date is unknown because of poor communication methods at the time and some debate when it began; when he first started killing off the alicorns or when he had total control. His reign ended in 923 B.B. but Celestia and Luna did not assume power for centuries as the fight had left them quite weakened, and they were unsure if they should even interfere with the offspring tribes anymore. Plus they were busy with other things. During this time the events of the Hearths Warming eve play took place. (696 B.B.)
An theory/explanation on pony genetics within my story world.
All the tribes can interbreed easily except fairy ponies and sea ponies for obvious reasons. However there are some quirks. The earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns are all muddled together enough, so that any pairing can result in any other of those tribes. Sea ponies and fairy ponies are too far from the main group to breed. Sea pony- other pony breeding is genetically possible, but with the difficulty that would have to result from it, so is considered impossible.
Winged unicorns can arise at random, but are extremely rare. They follow the same pattern as earth/pegasus/unicorn ponies, but even if two were both alive at the same time and mated, the result is slightly more likely to be another winged unicorn than any other pairing.
Earth ponies are the same as terra ponies, but plus an extra organ.
Ponies have roughly the same chance of being a winged unicorn as being a terra pony, but they're just called earth ponies.
Alicorn-alicorn is the only pair that can have alicorn offspring.
Alicorn-terra pony can result in only unicorns and pegasi in the first generation of offspring. Earth ponies can result in later generations.
Alicorn-winged unicorn, high chance of more winged unicorn offspring
Bat pegasi do not count as a full tribe. They are a variant on normal pegasi and their decendents follow the same patterns as regular pegasi, but with bat wings instead.
Bat pegasi-regular pegasi can result in either with equal chance
Bat pegasi-winged unicorn could result in a bat winged unicorn
Alicorn-bat winged unicorn, high chance of bat winged unicorn offspring
Twilight at this point (Chapter 9, or Arc 3-3) has no combat magic besides straight magic blasts and stun spells (which are not true combative spells). She does have basic elemental magic as she demonstrated, but her mastery over it is laughable. Unlike Scoots, she can use all forms currently, but in air magic alone Scoots has her beat. What she used was a self invented cauterization spell to stop the bleeding. Nor does she have healing magic of any kind other than the above and that was makeshift (a combination of fire spells and summoning oils to burn). She is quite good at transformation and conjuration spells. She also assumed Rarity was roughly equal in power to her. That's why she assumed the two of them together could teleport that far a distance.
Siren magic is not like unicorn magic. It is not powered by an internal source, but rather draws on the latent magic in the world around them. The points of light are that magic. The spell used Sweetie Belle's magic up when it charged. Unicorns near to siren spells can have their magic drained but in this case that did not happen.
Earth ponies, while having no magic of their own, use natural magic in much the same way to grow crops. Happy, J-rock?
Also I want to make it clear the spell didn't 'revive' Apple Bloom, it simply got her heart beating again and healed her enough to allow her to actually live. It was vital healing but was limited to injuries that killed her or would kill her again almost immediately, like a ruptured heart or a broken spine would have been healed. This did not cause any lasting damage to Apple Bloom other then the scars. The spell that sealed the wounds did cause some significant nerve damage in the area. No zombification, brain damage, and she can still get her cutie mark when it's time.
Prance is not a part of Equestria, but the political ties are strong enough that if either princess put out an arrest warrant on a pony, they would respect it. There is no warrant for Trixie however. Princess Celestia feels that Trixie will inevitably punish herself more than Celestia would have, and has let the matter go.
The hair dying is a form of magic the manedresser came up with on her own. The paint is just to get the color right. It actually changes the ponies genetics so the hair produced in that area is the desired color. A pony could do any color anywhere if they so desired. Since single colors are the norm, they tend to stick to that.
Magic stats
A comparison between the various magic users in the series based on a few numbers I made up. All values out of 10.
Magic: two numbers, first is the maximum amount of magic the pony can have at once, the second is how much magic their body generates per hour up to the maximum amount. If the two are the same, then the pony has all their magic back within an hour and it works out from there. Works on magnitude scale like the Richter scale.
On average, unicorns range from 2 to 6. Fairy ponies ranged from 8 to 10. Alicorns ranged from 6 to 10. Pegasi don't count as all magic their body produces is immediately consumed by the cloudwalking spell. Obviously, being charged from another source can cause a pony to go over their limit, but this causes mild discomfort to extreme pain, and permanent damage if it goes too far for too long.
Power: Average strength of spells. Some spells do not apply.
Control: how well the pony can control the spells and get them to do what he/she wants
Raw Control: how well the pony can control raw magic and summon their magic
Spells: a comparison between the number of spells they know
Princess Celestia
Magic: 10.0/ N/A
Power: 10
Control: 10
Raw Control: 9
Spells: 10
Notes: The two princesses seem to generate enough magic to make up for the constant loss consumed by turning the planet. What it is beyond this is unknown, as it is so far proved impossible to measure the rate due to the constant use.
Princess Luna
Magic: 10.0/ N/A
Power: 10
Control: 9
Raw Control: 10
Spells: 10
Notes: See above. Better at illusion spells and detecting them than her sister.
Twilight
Magic: 9.0/8.3
Power: 6
Control: 6
Raw Control: 4
Spells: 6
Notes: Twilight is the only unicorn to get a 9 in magic and the first to break 8. Good at transformation and conjuration spells.
Appledash Sparkle
Magic: 9.1/8.6
Power: 7
Control: 6
Raw Control: 8
Spells: 6
Notes: Merging only improved magic and power as control and spells are both restricted to those who went into the new form.
Trixie
Magic: 6.2/5.8
Power: 6
Control: 8
Raw Control: 8
Spells: 8
Notes: Really is a fair match for Twilight, but the lower magic puts her at a disadvantage. If magic were equal, Trixie would beat Twilight in a magic contest. Very good at illusion spells, but poor in most other areas.
Alicorn Trixie
Magic: 7.1/6.7
Power: 7
Control: 8
Raw Control: 8
Spells: 8
Notes: See Appledash Sparkle
Rarity:
Magic: 3.8/3.9
Power: 3
Control: 9
Raw Control: 9
Spells: 2
Notes: Very skilled at levitating multiple objects in multiple directions at once. Discovered the spell: detect gem stone.
Apple Bloom
Magic: 2.8/ 2.6
Power: 1
Control: 4
Raw Control: 4
Spells: 1
Notes: Is very bad at complex spells. Anything beyond, cast for immediate effect, is beyond her current ability. This includes levitation.
Scootaloo
Magic: 2.1/4.2
Power: 3
Control: 8 / 4
Raw Control: 7
Spells: 1
Notes: Magic regeneration is high because while her spells require very little magic to use, they run for a long time so her body responded to this by producing it faster, so some of her spells she can cast almost indefinitely. Control has two numbers as the first applies to wind spells the other to all other spells.
Sweetie Belle
Magic: 3.2/2.5
Power: 2
Control: 7
Raw Control: 5
Spells: 1
Notes:
Sweet Appaloo
Magic: 4.2/5.0
Power: 2
Control: 7
Raw Control: 5
Spells: 1
Notes: Most of the stats come from Sweetie Belle as she was the only current magic user.