RP. Equestria has moved out into space, and the universe is split between the cold-warring factions of the Unicorn Empire, the Pegasi Nation, the Earth Republic, the Griffin Kingdom, the Zebra Tribes, the Changeling Hives, and the Dragons. In the interests of international co-operation, however, the sides have agreed to build a gigantic space station, the Firefly, and place some of their best scientists there to work together for the benefit of all. Life on the Firefly isn't what anyone would call ordinary, what with the magical, scientifical, and often quite unstable experiments blowing up and running amok, but the scientists mostly co-operate on their experiments, and racial barriers do not exist between most of them (scientific rivalry is another story). All races canon to Equestria are welcome on board the Firefly (changelings included), but if they cause too much trouble, they'll be kicked out. Any scientific discipline is welcome, including different fields of magical research.

Rules:
1. No godmoding.
2. Be nice to other players.
3. Don't cause too much trouble (e.g. deliberately try to take over/destroy the Firefly, attempt to murder everyone on it, sabotage its mission and cause an interstellar war, so forth). You WILL be kicked out of the Firefly.
4. Nothing NSFW
5. [OOC interaction is posted in brackets or parenthesis.]

2451613 Umm, shouldn't there be a character creation type area so we know who is what and why? And are zonies allowed?

2451613
Name: lolk
Race: changeling [disguised as shadhavar]
Gender: male
Field of science: Bio[engineering/physics/chemistry/technology]
cutie mark: Mirror splitting a spooky forest.
eye color: gold
Mane color: White, with gold stripes.
Coat: faded purple
Things other's might need to know: Cybernetic forehooves has thumbs. He can modify the biological systems and structure of any organic matter he touches.

Actual changeling appearance
Chitin: black
membraneous mane and tail: White
Eyes: red

Ah, play-by-post RPGs... the only realm in which I can ever dream of having a tenured professorship.

2451620>>2451630
Oops, sorry.
Template:

Name:
Race:
Gender:
Mane and Tail style and color:
Coat color:
Eye Color:
Cutie Mark:
Field of Science:
Things Others Might Need to Know:

2451636
Well, you joining?

2451620
Yes. Viable hybrids are allowed, and given that zonies exist in real life, that'd work. They'd be sterile, though.

2451683 That is one of the main points I have in making a zony.

Besides, I just can't decide between Zebras and ponies, so I combine the two

2451613
Race: Changeling

Gender: Female

Mane and Tail Membrane style and color: Green worker style

Coat Chitin color: Black

Eye Color: Teal

Cutie Mark: N/a

Field of Science: M-Theory

Things Others Might Need to Know: Eccentric, asocial, analytical

Name: Glenda
Race: Griffin
Gender: Female
Coat Color: chocolate brown
Eye color: Royal purple
Field of Science: Cybertech
Other Stuff: Glenda is a cyborg, with an implant that allows her to control machines, and a robotic arm, replacing one she lost when one of her projects exploded on her.

2451742
What's M-theory?

2451613 Huzzah! For science!

Effecta Optima
Race: Zony (Pony side is Unicorn.)
Gender: Mare
Appearance: Her mane is striped and upright, like that of a zebra, however the white portions possess an iridescent silver luster which glows softly in moonlight, the stripes continue down roughly halfway down her body, wreathing themselves around her legs, the silver gleam lingering behind once the stripes fade into a dull, lifeless gunmetal grey. EDIT: Forgot to add this in, has two prototype prosthetic limbs of her own design (Right forward leg and left hind leg). The front leg incorporates a griffon claw like set of fingers- in addition to other features.
Eye Color: She has sapphire eyes which give off the effect of a dulled gem.
Cutie Mark: An stylized neuron connecting to a semi-organic PEDOT electrode connection.
Field of Science: Neuroscience, specifically brain-machine interface, in addition to mild robotics for mechanized prosthesis, mediocre chemistry, for conductive electrodes, capacitors, and just connecting everything so there's no horrendous chemical imbalances.
Things Others Might Need to Know: Likes sci-fi, as in, she really likes sci-fi. Also trained in martial arts.

Is this ok?

2451751
Expansion of string theory adding another dimension and uniting five versions.

Name: Theemee

Race: Changeling

Gender: Male

Mane and Tail style and color: Grey

Coat color: Dark Grey

Eye Color: Blue

Cutie Mark: N/A

Field of Science: Medicine, specifically pathology

Things Others Might Need to Know: Awkward to talk to, Daydreams constantly, bit lazy

2451783
[Warning: chance of entering Lavender Unicorn Syndrome, also known as Purple Prose. Please begin describing your OC with more normal words. This is not an attack against you, it's just that describing your character like that (why does she glow in the moonlight?) is one of the main traits of a Mary Sue. Of course, you can only really tell a Sue by how the author plays her, so the most impossibly beautiful girl in the world does not have to be a Sue, but it's usually a symptom of a Sue that she must look to special to be described with ordinary adjectives.]

2451866 Ah, sorry about that, most of that was copied from much earlier, I had been reading a lot of Edgar Allen Poe at the time, so I felt very poetic when I wrote that, I'll go fix that

And I wasn't intending to play her anything like a Mary Sue, more like how I am in real life.

2451878
Some writers can pull it off. It's always best to assume that you can't.

2451900 I'll go back and fix that in a bit, I have overly festive/communal family dragging me away for the moment.

2451900
(Is my character okay?)

2451613

Name: Incognito

Race: pegasus

Gender: male

Mane and Tail style and color: short cut dark brown mane and tail

Coat color: Brown with Dark Green splotches

Eye Color: pale green

Physical description: 'Cog easily stands out in a crowd... Because he is a good foot taller than the average pegasus. He is unusually thin for his size, which has caused him to be called anorexic (he blames it on a high metabolism), and he has ears like a bat pony

Cutie Mark: a dashed outline of a pony

Field of Science: stealth technology (stuff like the Chinese stealth Suit from Fallout)

Things Others Might Need to Know: wears glasses and has a southern accent.

2451945
Yes. Changelings are an accepted, if not completely trusted, race in the setting.

2452098
(But I'm disguised. I don't appear as a changeling)

2452161
If they found out, they'd be annoyed at you, but the punishment wouldn't be any worse than having to be some scientist's guinea pig for a day (and they'd be forbidden from doing anything to permanently alter you unless you agreed to it).

2452201
Works for me. so, when does this start?

2452211
In a bit. I need to go somewhere.

2452211>>2451955 2451839 2451783 2451742>>2451636

[We start right now. From now on, all OOC interaction must be in brackets or parenthesis. Here goes:]

The space station Firefly was likely the greatest offplanet structure that had ever been built, and also the most famous. Firefly had been built as a result of a treaty between the major players of the galaxy, the Unicorn Empire, the Pegasi Nation, the Earth Republic, The Griffin Kingdom (though currently it was ruled by Queen Adele), the Zebra Tribes, and the Changling Hives. While no nation really liked the others all that much, they had agreed to work towards peace, and towards that end had decided to all build a space station, and in it all work together for the progress of science. The result of that agreement was the Firefly. A symbol of peace and friendship (and science) in cold times, it was, again, a very famous location.

But enough about politics. Firefly was never about politics (well, maybe a little. Well, half). Its true goal was SCIENCE! And on the Firefly, scientists of all races worked together for common, if outlandish, goals. Life on the Firefly was mostly free of racial tension, if only because it got in the way of science. As for what else life on the Firefly was like... well, it was very exciting. Case in point:

"Argh! Guys, help! It's gotten loose! It's dangerous!"
"Dr. Z, when will you stop forgetting to include tameness in your creations?"
"We don't have time for that right now! It could cause untold destruction to the Firefly!"
"Okay, okay.*speaking into communicator* Activate security system Epsilon-Green in sector 10c Biology."
*A few minutes later*
"There. Fixed it. The creature is now in containment and can be studied."
"How did you do that? I don't remember that particular security system."
"I added it on three days ago. I thought we might soon be dealing with a situation like this."
"Hmmph. So smug, thinking you're better than the biologists here. I still remember last week, when that computer you built went evil. It hacked all of your precious systems, and we biologists ended up taking it down."

Yes, this is ordinary routine on the Firefly. Pity whoever has to see their emergencies. And ordinary routine was going on in the Firefly, which meant that to the standards of anyone normal, it was complete chaos. Glenda, the griffin cyberengineer, was walking towards the community chamber. Even mad scientists (or highly dedicated engineers and physicists, as some preferred to be called) needed breaks sometimes, and this was the designated break hour. Every scientist on the Firefly, except those who could plead an extremely sensitive project that needed their presence, was there. She opened the door, and headed straight for the snack table.

2454026
(*loud clapping* nice intro!)
Lolk, a Shadhavar Biologist, was already at one of the snack tables, munching down on a tasty meal. He raised a hoof in greeting to Glenda.
"'Evening."

2454050
[What's a Shadhavar? And thanks.]
Glenda responded: "It's evening? Didn't know. I lose track of time all the time here. But good evening, anyways. How's the latest project going?"

2454070
"Fairly well.........Dragon biology can be a tad difficult to work with at times."
(Shadhavar are to unicorns as Batponies are to pegasi)

2454079
[Okay.]
"Dragon biology? You're tackling that? I've heard that it's a hard subject, but really, what else do you work on in the Firefly? I stayed up all last night trying to get my last project right. I'm stil missing something, though."

2454091
"Yes, it is. And as for help...I'm not sure what I could provide. Our fields are quite different, after all."

2454098
"Yeah, I know. But I'm interested in seeing the results of your project, and/or stopping it when it runs amok. And I don't mean that as an insult to you; on the Firefly, everything runs amok."

2454106
"No offense taken. I'm sure my experiment will attempt to kill me soon enough. At which point I would appreciate any assistance and/or medical attention."

2454116
"For medical attention, I'd have to refer you to the medtechs. Zeena the zebra is the most reliable, but you'll still have to specify that you don't want anything added on. Zeena quite likes her experiments, but she's good at honoring requests. As for the assistance, I probably could design a system to contain it. It'd be good for me to get away from that hard experiment and rest my mind on something easier."

2454158
"Thanks. Getting burnt to a crisp is never fun."

2454166
"Have you tried it before? I, personally, never have, but I've been fried with electricity, and that's probably similar. I didn't like it at all either."

2454026 [Magnificent intro, I feel so sciencey]

Effecta slouched in a corner staring seemingly mesmirized at the opposable digits on her prosthetic limb as she wiggled then undulatingly. Upon noticing Glenda's entrance she perked up momentarily to flash a lopsided grin and a casual wave- before promptly biting off a large chunk of an even larger bar of Choclate. "Sup?" She quipped, gnawing on her mouthful of Choclate. [Read in a sharper abd harder version of Zecora's accent]

2454265
Glenda took a small break from her conversation with Lolk to say to Effectiva Optima: "Hi Optima. Care to join this conversation? Lolk's a pretty nice guy and we're going to have to be dealing with a rogue experiment sometime soon, and help would be appreciated."

2454265
[Thanks for the compliment on the intro. I feel like a good writer now.]

2454273 Optima paused in mock thought, miming scrolling through a to-do list. She hmmed, and monologued- "Oh I just don't know, I could help contain a runaway experiment and test drive my prosthesis firmware upgrades at the same time or I could spend that time pushing my assistant away from the electron microscope recording subatomic electrical conductivity in organic semiconductors..." she tapped her chin sagely "Oh I suppose I could do with some adrenaline, I don't get many psychotic experiments gone wild with synthetic neurons and supercapacitors."

2454050
2454158
2454265
(Good into, Actionpony now on to the Atomic Wonders of SCIENCE!!!obligatory Old world Blues reference)

Incognito made his way into the center, grumbling angrily about something under his breath. His brown and green face was turned black due to smoke residue. "... how in Oblivion did that darn turret see me?!?... "

[im going to bed now... Merry Christmas]

2454335 Swiveling to mert the newest arrival, Optima smirked "That one was totally the stealth suit's fault , right?" she coughed, "Aheh, assuming you have a stealth suit."

2454347

"I do have one" he stated bluntly, "there just seemed to be a hole in it". He facehoofed, leaving a hoof-sized portion of his face clean

(Now I'm actually going to bed)

2454347
2454335
2454273
(I'm back.)

2454992
2454405
2454273

[I'm back too, and I have a new cloak and a gas mask, so we're all good.]

2454324
"What do they do, then?"

2454405
[Thanks for the compliment on the intro.]
"Well, there definitely was one after that turret found you."

2454992
[Welcome back.]

2455313 *Melodramatic sigh* "They tend to either burst or cause extremely painful neural degradation." she paused, "They also cost an exorbitant amount." Optima feigned a dizzy spell, sweeping her leg back with a distraught flair.

2455324
2455313
*Lolk gets back up*
"I'm afraid that I must return to my project. If you here screams, come running."