3748371
If it's convenience, then the legionnaires would surely be capable of casting the spell! I was thinking that the Seraphs must have something that benefited M&S much that they were made a unit. The sheet stated it as an aerial superiority against the ground, performing anti-ground attacks while inferior against aerial combatants due to the frail nature of the wings.

If we take account that the total Pegasi Auxiliaries in Earthborn is larger than the entire Stormwing Army as stated by PoorYorick, surely the seraphs would be told to flight more than fight. So like I had mentioned, they might be designed purely on speed being frail and all. Aerial Dogfights in my head meant that it would be prolonged swift flight. Seraph's wings lack endurance, so that might be an explanation to their a bit certain defeat against aerial combatants.

Hey! What do you think are the effects of the spells used by the celestial knights? Here's my take.
Radiant Glory - Exploding Fireball?
Blinding Light - Flash Bomb?

Night Veil - Invisibility only at night?
Moon Beam - Liquid Telekinesis, the beam pulling the fluids of the target's body similar to how to moon's gravity makes the tide rises.

And also, do you think M&S military operated like this? : At day you fight the Sun Guild, at night against the Moon Guild. Something around that? I mean the Sunray Cannon can only be used during the day. How in Equestria would they manipulate the Sunlight at night?

3750098

Well the moon is reflected sunlight so they can use the cannon althought it would be somewhat weaker.

3750277
If we use that logic, then it would need to be operated by mages of the Moon Guild. Manipulating Moonlight would basically be manipulating the Sunlight from the other side. The spell might have a different formula from what I stated, but the results should be the same. Also, IF moonlight was used to fire the cannon, what would be the results? Would it have the same effect as I suggested for the spell "Moon Beam"?

Added: "Not gonna go into much details yet"..... yea kinda ignored that after i started typing -.- but anywyas yea im wokring on alot of notes for my own vision of the universe of ED. So expect something sooner or later, finishing up the Cult of laughter(only got most of the units descriptions and such to go) might post my notes on them later.

3752727 When it comes to units and spells and such, I'm working on notes and everything and plan on posting all of these when I'm done or at least have made significant progress on them, so I'm not gonna go into to much details yet. Id say the celestial knights probably don't really have spells or at least, if they do it would be more of a buff for them. They are more like knights and not magicians as far as i remember. So maybe the Sun ones would make theirs swords turn to flame or possibly blind their foes. But they would only have like 1 spell, nothing more, and nothing to fancy or special. The moon ones would have something like increased speed maybe? Blink possibly but that seems more like an assassin spell. Possibly create a small shroud of darkness to hide themselves in the night, acting like sentries waiting? Large groups could form together to make one large invisible squad and ambush an enemy squad.

As for the Sunray cannon, odds are that they have a different canon for the night. Similar but uses the Moonlight like Onikaan said. Maybe instead of being brute force its more like a poison or darkness that blinds enemies. Being more spread out but with less force, decreasing its range but increasing its cone of effect?

Id say that your right, considering that one group takes its power from the sun and the other from the moon, it would only make sense to use your units that are capable of fighting during said times. Or at least, maybe sun and moon units become more powerful during those times, the other can still fight but the main force switches between the two. One being the main offensive force while the other being more like back up and supporting them. During the day, Sun units use their powerful offensive magic to decimate their foes while moon uses curses and such to try to protect Sun units or to help them defeat their foes. While at night, Moon units start using "dark" tactics like sabotage, poison, stealth while sun units try to defend them or help them out when brute force is needed, using fireball spells and such, however more powerful spells like "Sunrays" and such wouldn't work. Similar to how things like their dark mist that moon units create to hide would not work in the morning as you would see the darkness surrounding them.

3763491
They do have spells as stated in the description, the names were also from the description. Now the Celestial Knights are not to be compared with the generic Knight Class, but rather the Crusader Class.

Maybe instead of a different cannon, it could be an upgraded version. From Sunray Cannon to Celestial Cannon, being able to be used by the Moon Guild as well, serving like a symbol of unity between the guilds as well. When used by Solar Mages, it would be a precision long range artillery. When used by Lunar Mages, it would be like canister shots pretty much, but way more deadly. Thoughts? Canister Shots are basically Shotgun Shots

The guilds would have to rely on basic units when it's not day and night respectively. They won't be able to use their specialized spells, which would make them a bit useless against more advanced forces during said times. That's where the inquisitors come in to support them in time of need.

Now here's a little joke: Do you think the Celestial Mages studied "Celestial Theology" in their universities before graduating? Would there be an equivalent of the College of Cardinals in M&S? Also, is Cadence their equivalent of the Pope? Would she issue a Crusade?

3764560 Cool, i just find that if EVERY unit has a large enough array of spells they become a little OP, so simpler spells seems more likely since they are still trained to be knights after all. And that takes a lot of time.

I like the idea of a combined cannon. How about there are two different cannons for each group and one stronger upgraded cannon for both? I wouldn't say the Celestial Cannon if its a mix between the two. Even tough its fitting i find its too much "Celestia" if you understand what I'm trying to say. Maybe more along the lines of Eclipse Cannon you know? something more of a mix between the sun and moon. Tough for the mix way it changes during the day and night, there's some pretty cool ideas. however instead of more like shotgun, its more like a wide beam of energy that doesn't go very far instead of multiple shots spreading everywhere. The Moon seems more Area of effect while the Sun seems more like precise power.

for the units, Id say at least let them use weak spells like fireball and such that don't rely on the Sun or Moon, but effectively make them nowhere NEAR as powerful as they usually are. (because if not, then mages and such go from being powerful to absolutely USELESS, which would require M&S to continuously change and swap their units. At least with this they could still hold out while waiting for the other Banner to take their place) Making them weaker in the long run. Tough the inquisitors i actually forgot about them, being both Sun and Moon. It seems like they would aid in battle. here's and idea of a very advanced and rare unit. Some form of a more advanced and high up Inquisitor.

For years they have trained and mastered their spells, being the pure representation of balance between the Moon and Sun. They are capable of using spells from both Celestial bodies at anytime of the day. However their training is hard, and requires many years of practice, there are only a very few amount of unicorns that succeed their training. And even then, they must continue to hone their skills for many more years before having full control over their spells. Only a few succeed in making it this far. Making this unit extremely rare, however, they can wreak destruction upon the battlefield. Making them one of the most feared members of the House Moon and Star.

Dunno, just an idea.

As for becoming a Mage it seems only natural to have to learn about the being you believe in and that gives you your power. However something like a Cardinal would be more like an inquisitor no? and so they would be the ones to go to a school made to become a cardinal and learn pretty much everything about the religion of M&S. As for Cadence, odds are yea it would be that way, she is the "Leader" of M&S alongside Shinning armor. Tough not exactly the same she would have the final say in most matters. Making the rules and stuff (of course, we all know that really, its Twilight doing all this, however to the citizens of M&S, they would believe its Cadence) this leads to one more question, who in M&S know about Twilight? The citizens certainly don't, but i find units like the Inquisitors would know. What do you think?

3776561
Eclipse Cannon sounds almighty terrifying!!! Area Effect... would like to see the cannon firing against Vinyl's Sound [BASS] Cannon.

Yes, they might have basic spells every mage should know. While intermediate spells, they have to learn them themselves during their free time. Are there any fitting list of spells out there that we could use as reference?

My comment for your 'High Inquisitors' : Where did they graduate, Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns?

In game, they might be an extremely rare spawn when recruiting or encountering inquisitors.

The Inquisition's still too large for the secret to be kept. Maybe only the high ranking leaders like Trixie. I can imagine Cadence being the complete opposite from what we know, to imitate what Twilight wanted M&S to follow, no matter the harshness and cruelty.

What do you think are the purposes of the Sun Batteries at Studgart? I mean surely it's not an arsenal / production plant of the Sunray Cannons. Coastal Defense against naval invasion: Pirates? Civilization from the other side? Seaponies? M&S did claim the entire area and named it "Coast of Stars".

*stealthily leaves this here*

House Moon and Star: Beginnings
• by PoorYorickDA, Nov 10, 2013, 12:51:13 PM
• Literature / Characters & Settings / Sci-Fi & Fantasy / Settings
-Twilight's reaction to the disappearance of the Princesses was that of disbelief, followed by deep sadness, which in the following weeks spiralled wildly into depression;

-after being called back to Canterlot, to meet her parents and brother, her depression takes a backseat to her newfound determination for finding the truth about the disappearance;

-one time after attending a meeting in the Caterlot Palace, she is approached by a mysterious unicorn mare who presents herself to Twi as Bright Eyes – a spokespony for a rather elusive organization called „The Moon and Star Society”.

-Twilight refuses the offer to join the society, feeling that something was not right about them;

-meanwhile, the political climate in Caterlot and in turn in whole Equestria has been becoming steadily more unstable and hostile, soon heated arguments started to arise between those who still believed in the divine rule of the Princesses and those who believed them to be a sham;

-Twilight attends a couple of political meetings, giving full support as an Element of Magic to her Parents and their political agenda of „Cautious Transformation”;

-in the meantime, Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence have been chosen by the Canterlot Council to be the de-facto rulers of Equestria until the crisis has been resolved;

-more and more horryfying information about the current state of Equestria is seeping through the walls of Canterlot, messengers report full-blown riots in southern part of the coutry and a rapid increase in citizen dissent against Canterlot authority thorough the land;

-amongst the chaos, centuries-old grudges and grievances come to light again – some of the unicorn nobles start preaching of unicorn superiority over the other pony races;

-once again, Twilight is approached by Bright Eyes and offered to join the „Moon and Star Society” – once again, she refuses;

-a political party going by the name of „White Horns” , led by ponies Jet Set and Upper Crust, is formed and starts gaining followers for ther unicorn supremacy doctrine, Twilight acts openly antagonistic and even violent towards them, but her father warns her that they should be defeated in a debate that would expose their irrational goals, rather than in a fight;

-meanwhile the rest of Equestria is being plagued by riots, uprisings and a crime wave of magnitude no pony has ever seen before;

-one of the mages at Canterlot University informs Twilight that he may have found a way to find what happened to the Princesses and intructs her to go to the Royal Castle Library and search the „Clover the Clever” wing for clues, but the only things she finds in there are three mysterious books: „The Divine Pony”, „A Shadow Cast by the Sun” and „On the Three Races”. After reading through all of them, Twilight finds herself appalled and disgusted by the ideologies and ideas they seem to promote, but at the same time she finds the books incredibly fascinating. Exiting the library, Twi meets her father who tells her to not trust anyone from the M&S Society, as that will spell doom on her and the entire Equestria;

-the day of the great debate between the „White Horns” and Twilight's parents' „ Cautious Transformation” Movement ends in a tragedy, as a group of pegasi terrorists attacks the crowd and the politicians on the stand and kills both Twi's mom and dad before her very eyes; the terrorist are later caught without much trouble and sentenced to death by revenge-driven Prince Shining Armor;

-the „Bloody Debate” causes a domino effect in Canterlot and its neighbourhood, unicorn supremacists of „White Horn” gather more and more followers for their cause and soon – any pegasi found in Canterlot becomes a target of ridicule, mistreatment, bullying, prejudice, crime and outright persecution; soon the same misfortune begins to plague the earth ponies of Canterlot;

-in midst of the ongoing racial tensions, two great canterlotian organizations: „Equestrian Trade Union” and „The Society of Canterlot Nobles” leave Canterlot for Manehattan and there they set up their new base of operations; they're soon followed by at least one third of the members of the Canterlot University of Mages;

-Twilight, mentally broken by the loss of her parents seeks comfort in the arms of her older brother, who reassures her that everything will be allright, not that they have their new allies; moments after, Twilight notices a copy of „A Shadow Cast by the Sun” lying on one of her brother's bookshelves;

-at the very moment, Twilight is again approached by Bright Eyes and asked to join her brother in the ranks of the M&S Society; Twilight screams in anger at Shining and storms out of the castle;

-meanwhile, the disgusting propaganda of „White Horns” starts to take effect outside of Canterlot: pegasi are treated as mindless barbarians they always really were, and earth ponies being the natural-born slaves are reminded of their rightful place among the dirt;

-the creation of the secret Unicorn Bureau of Integrity and Morality gives birth to the brutal indoctrination practices which will become far more common when the bureau eventually transforms itself into the dreaded Celestial Inquisition;

-Twilight lost in the chaos turns to the only ones who can help her now in these dire times – her friends; she devises a plan to turn herself into an alicorn using a foribidden ritual mentioned in the book „The Divine Pony”; to succed, she needs to merge with one physically strong specimen of earth ponies and one equally strong specimen of pegasi; in her mind the choices are obvious;

-under the cloak of the night, Twilight leads her friends into the castle's ritual chambers and there she spells the whole plan out for them, all while nervously shivering and desperately holding back her tears; her friends are her only hope of restoring the order, but one of them says. . . „No.”

-Applejack appaled at the mere thought of taking part in creating such an unholy monstrosity, and moreover – returning to the old status-quo of a divine creature governing the masses through the power of „the Benevolent Lie” turns her back on her friend and runs off never to be seen again;

-Twilight infuriated by such act of treachery curses AJ and promises her a payback, then coerces Pinkie to take the earth pony part of the ritual; Pinkie reluctantly agrees;

-the ritual starts, and Twilight starts to radiate enormous power, the whole spectacle is too frightening for Fluttershy to witness and soon she follows AJ's steps leading outside the castle and Canterlot proper; meanwhile Rarity stays with the rest and observes the whole ritual;

-at one point it seems as if the three ponies will actually merge and create actual alicorn, but a sudden burst of uncontrolled energy going through Twilight's horn severes the connection and blasts the three of them into the ground;

-the results are horryfying – Pinkie's dead and her body is horribly burned and maimed, Rainbow Dash survives, but the right side of her face and neck is all melted, she's quivering in pain; Twilight seems to not be affected at all; Rarity mortified by the sight of her friends horrifically scarred and dead manages to mutter only one sentence to Twilight: „You're a murderer.” before she runs off in terror.

-Twilight stands alone and broken – her beloved teacher has disappeared without a trace, her parents have been murdered and now her friends have abandoned her when she needed them the most; moments later, a voice from the dark reassures her that she is in fact, not alone – it's her brother, Shining Armor who lends a helping hoof in these troubled times;

-days later, Twilight attends the funeral of her dear friend Pinkie Pie and sees Rainbow Dash escorted to Cloudsdale, despite „White Horns” objecting to such action, saying that a pony like Rainbow Dash may prove a nuisance later;

-after the funeral, Twilight is again approached by Bright Eyes and offered to join the M&S Society; this time, after a long talk and many questions both answered and unanswered Twilight decides to join the society;

-in the following months, Twilight becomes the most important figure within the society, effectively becoming its leader; now fully versed in the teachings of the Society and its rituals, Twilight is ready to introduce the new order to Equestria – the one Celestial Sisters would deem worthy;

-Twilight, feeling that she cannot ever truly trust the „Moon and Star Society”, starts to surround herself with ponies outside of their sphere of influence, often from outside of Canterlot; one of such ponies is a travelling magician with an unquenched lust for power – Trixie Lulamoon;

-soon, the „White Horns” political party gets disbanded and the Unicorn Bureau of Integrity and Morality is officially renamed the Celestial Inquisition; Bright Eyes – the spokespony for the Society, gets hanged by Twilight for her crimes against Equestria and teachings of Celestia and Luna; Twilight methodically, with the help of her new aquaintance and now the leader of the Inquisition – Trixie Lulamoon, slowly but steadily eradicates any influence of the M&S Society in Canterlot and its neighbouring lands;

-Twilight – now donning the title of „Archmagister” - introduces Trixie to the three books: „The Divine Pony”, „A Shadow Cast by the Sun” and „On the Three Races”, which will eventually lead the Grand Inquisitor to become obsessed with unicorn supremacy;

-in a dramatic fit of irony, she decides to rename the war-torn Equestria „The One Nation Under Moon and Star”. After the other lands start to secede from Equestria, the Canterlot-held lands will be known by separatists as „House Moon and Star”.

Stars in the dark
• by PoorYorickDA, May 7, 2013, 4:57:15 PM
• Journals / Personal
(Fanfic time, this time something for Moon and Star fans!)

The corridors of the Fortress of the Sun gleamed with the usual splendor associated with the Sun Guild. Numerous paintings and sculptures of the Most Venerable Princess Celestia adorned the walls and halls of the structure, reminding anypony who came with a visit, that this is the bastion of the Holy Light of The Sun and those who have chosen to serve it.
One of these corridors ended with a great pair of brass doors, embelished with words of wisdom excerpted from one of the Holy Scriptures of Celestia. Behind these doors - the chamber of the Grandmistress of the Sun Guild, Lady Magister Amethyst Star.
-"Oh, so they were right afterall." - the lavender-coated mare whispered to herself, opening another report placed on her massive, wooden desk by one of her servants - „The Whitegold Gem Wizards must have the rest of the documents I need for my gem research, the Archmagister won't be happy with this." - Amethyst Star took off her glasses and placed them carefully on one of her books, just as the loud knocking noise began to fill her chamber - „Please, come in!" - she answered the knocking, still searching through the numerous notes and reports on her desk.
The brass doors moved, and soon, a white-coated stallion dressed in a typical Moon and Star military fashion emerged from the entrance to the chamber. His black and purple armor shone in the dim lights of the candles so conservatively placed around the room. His black mane well kept as if he wasn't truly a soldier, but just another unicorn noble pretending to be one.
-"My lady, I believe you asked for my presence in your chamber." - said the stallion, lowering his head in respect.
-"Warmage Orion" - Lady Magister raised her head above her books - „I'm overjoyed that you finally have found some free time to answer my call."
-"How could I resist such a lovely mare?" - the warmage lowered his head again, his face painted with a flirtatious smile - „May I say that you look especially striking today, my lady. Your violet mane has never looked so enchanting. And those mesmerizing amethyst eyes!" - Orion continued to compliment the mare.
-"Oh please, spare me your useless flattery" - visibly unamused, Amethyst Star stroke her desk with her hoof, then placed her glasses back on her snout - „I didn't call for you to hear your cheap compliments you use to woo the mares at the local tavern!" - lady's stern tone echoed through the chamber, but still wasn't enough to take away that rogue-ish smile from Orion's mouth.
-"Really? Then why did you call for me, my lady?"
-"Come, sit down." - the mare pointed at the large, wooden chair left to her desk, adorned with various sun motives - „Want something to Drink? I have a whole keg of cider, straight from Stalliongrad's famous distilleries" - not waiting for the response, she began to fill up two cups with the cider from her keg, so scrupulously hidden behind one of her book-filled cabinets.
-"Unicorn-made cider? No, thanks. It tastes like piss." - Orion refused the offer with a grimace - „I would give up my horn for a cup of genuine Earthborn cider!"
-"I'm afraid you would have to give up your head for treason." - Star replied, a mischevious smirk breaking the usual grim look on her face.
-"Some things are worth dying for, my lady. Anyway, what it is you wanted to talk about?" - the stallion asked, growing visibly impatient.
-"Good then, let us talk." - the mare took a sip of her cider. - „First and foremost – let me congratulate you on your latest victory against Stormwing raiders. Those hot-headed fools will now think twice before attacking our farms and outposts." - Orion bowed his head slightly in a thankful gesture while Star continued - „Second – there's been some talk about your, umm, unconventional use of the contingent of slave warriors our Guild provided you with. Any comments on that?" - the mare leaned back on her chair and crossed her front hooves in a sort of a confrontational gesture.
-"Using slave warriors as actual soldiers, instead of a simple cannon fodder counts as unconventional? My, I must be really behind the curve" - the warmage replied sarcastically.
-"I've read the report, Orion. Using slave warriors as flanking troops, while your legionnaires took the brunt of the enemy force and then personally leading a group of Celestial Knights to relieve the slaves surrounded by Stormwing's Ground Guard. Twice, you risked the lives of your unicorn brethren, while attempting to prove your slaves are something they're not. How would you explain this?"
-"I guess you expect me to apologize for caring about those under my command?" - Orion replied with barely hidden anger - „You'd be surprised how capable those slaves can be, once you start to treat them with dignity and stop randomly torturing them with magic!"
-"Careful, my dear warmage." - Said the lady magister, slowly taking off her glasses, and putting them on the battle report - „I can tolerate your little missteps in commanding your troops. Afterall, I can't really argue with the results. But have you considered the reaction of our superiors, once this reaches Canterlot?" - Amethyst Star started to be visibly worried, dropping her stern attitude for a more approachable one.
-"You mean the Archmagister?" - a subtle smirk appeared on Orion's face - „She has already congratulated me through a letter. And we both know that any information about the course of the battle would have reached her by now. She's a practical mare, I wouldn't worry, as long as the information doesn't reach the stuck-up Canterlot nobility."
-"You're really sure of yourself, Orion. But you seem to forget that the Archmagister isn't the only superior we have to answer to" - Star's face began to fill with visible disdain for a certain pony.
-"Oh, you mean the insane witch herself - the Grant Inquisitor - and her cronies." - Orion's cocksure smirk seemed to disappear from his face completely, his front hooves fell down, as if consumed by numbness - „Why in Tartarus does the Inquisition even exist? How can we ever win this war if we have an enemy within our own borders, posing as a friend?"
-"You know why - any hearts Princess Cadence can't win over with love, the Grand Inquisitor Lulamoon will subjugate by fear."
-"I don't think the princesses would be happy with all of this." - the warmage replied, turning his attention to one of the portraits of Princess Celestia decorating the chamber.
-"They wouldn't. But they're gone and probably won't ever return. We have new princesses now – Princess of Power and Princess of Fear. I suggest you accept this fact and start following them, for your own sake."
-"Is the Lady Magister of the Sun Guild worried about me? I fell flattered." - Orion's smirk seemed to have returned, this time a little more flirtatious.
-"Well, don't. I'm worried about the consequences my guild will have to face if the information about your little wargames ever reaches the Inquisition." - Amethyst Star replied, trying to hide her true feelings.
-"You're really bad at this, my lady." - the stallion smiled at his companion, this time with more sincerity, and without a sign of his usual overconfident mannierisms.
-"Orion, you're one of the best commanders the Sun Guild ever had at its disposal. Probably the best. All this talent being taken away by the Inquisition. . . It would be such a waste." - Star lowered her voice to a soft whisper - „Besides, you're my friend."
-"Don't worry my lady." - Orion stopped the conversation for a second, trying to change the topic to something less depressing. His eyes caught the shine of a unusually clear emerald glowing in the corner of the room, beside one of the magister's lockers. - „Ohh, what's that? Are you conducting some experiments on emeralds?" - the warmage asked, his eyes fixated on the green stone.
-"This? This is just a part of my research on gems. Unfortunately, the Canterlot Archives are incomplete, some parts were taken by the unicorn separatists during the time of the Schism. They're now in Manehattan, serving Whitegold Gem Wizards." - the mare replied, seemingly uninterested.
-"Must be fascinating"
-"Believe me – it isn't. But I must do something to win the favor of the Archmagister. That damn Magister Minuette and her Moon Guild have been recieving too much funding and slaves recently. I have no idea what's up with their sudden rise in popularity." - the lady's voice seemed to resonate with deep disappointment.
-"I'll be going now, my lady" - Orion rose up from his chair, and trotted straight to the exit. Suddently, he stopped - „Everything will be fine. You won't have to answer for my mistakes. If they come for me, just deny you had anything to do with this, and publicly condemn me to save face. I won't hold it against you."
-"I'd rather die." - the magister replied, visibly disgusted that anypony would even suggest such a thing.
-"Then we shall burn at the stake beside each other. To be honest, it's not exactly what I had in mind for our first romantic evening together, but it'll do." - smirking, the handsome stallion galloped out of the chamber - „Till the next time, my lady!"
-"Orion, you charming fool." - Amethyst Star smiled as she watched her friend disappear in the deep corridors of the fortress - „Anyway, back to the boring gems." - she opened one of her dusty notebooks and went back to writing down her observations.

I've been wondering, since M&S is religious and all, what do we know about their religion..?

Obviously, there have to be religious wars. Wouldn't Twilight be smart enough of taking advantage of that? To conduct religious wars however, it requires beliefs to convince those soldiers to fight for something they believe in...

The Cult is similar to M&S, but part of their zealousness is madness. Everfree fights with ferociousness because it's their new way of life. Earthborn and Stormwing both fight with discipline, the former concentrated on it while the latter being concerned in honor and loyalty as well. Only M&S are warrior monks, fighting for what they believe, well, save for the slaves...

So here's the problem;

I'm not going to compare this kind of thing to real life since it's a really serious issue, that only a mere snap is enough for "all hell broke loose" kind of situation...

3984094 Now when you say religious wars. Do you mean internally? like within the faction itself? or in a way where their fighting for what they believe in? The way i see it the inquisition was capable of tricking everyone into believing that the other races are inferior. Or at least a good chunk of them because its clear not ALL members agree

-"I guess you expect me to apologize for caring about those under my command?" - Orion replied with barely hidden anger - „You'd be surprised how capable those slaves can be, once you start to treat them with dignity and stop randomly torturing them with magic!"

Like this quote suggest.

Something we need to consider is once someone starts suffering they always want to find someone to blame, and once they find someone to blame its easy to accept any form of insult towards them and to stop looking at them as an equal. Once that mentality is set, you can even start killing these people/ponies without remorse. Their religion then, becomes the excuse. The reason. The "Why". Now that you have fueled their hatred towards one race, and that they believe their inferior, all you need to do is give them an excuse to hurt them. And that's exactly what the inquisition did.

Now I'm not gonna compare any religion. That's a belief thing that I'm not gonna get into for the same reasons your not.

(I'm scared to say this but whatever, if it causes problems I'll delete this message and everything related to it.) BUT I CAN compare their racism to a group of people we all know and love to HATE. And i think you can guess who. The Nazi party.

OK OK OK OK now wait, first things first i know very well that the Nazi are terrible. and that M&S is not to THAT level. But from what i understand they used a form of "science" they invented to try to prove that people with blond hair, white skin, blue eyes, etc etc etc where more evolved then anyone else. Making them more superior to the rest. Now at the time, Germany was suffering, and in that suffering they looked for someone to blame, and do i blame them? No, its natural human behavior, it just sadly turned out that certain groups of people where targeted, reminding you of anyone? Alright, then Hitler came along, and he was a smart little monster because he knew he could manipulate this suffering and hatred into something he could use. Germany was suffering and what where they suppose to do? Ignore someone claiming that he can help? Of course not! At the time remember that everyone thought Hitler was a nice guy. Heck i think the US (i think, could be someone else) said nothing could go wrong with him in charge. Eventually Hitler fueled everyone's rage and suffering towards specific groups of people and then BAM the Nazi party gained so much control that even when Germany realized that hes bad, they couldn't do anything about it.

In ED's case. Trixie became the Hitler of their faction. The reason i say Trixie and not Twilight is because of this quote here:

-"You mean the Archmagister?" - a subtle smirk appeared on Orion's face - „She has already congratulated me through a letter. And we both know that any information about the course of the battle would have reached her by now. She's a practical mare, I wouldn't worry, as long as the information doesn't reach the stuck-up Canterlot nobility."

This is a clear indication that Twilight is NOT the racist one of them all and is simply using that to her advantage, however if someone like Orion uses the slaves in a better way then as long as it doesn't cause trouble shes fine with it.

Trixie is the one we need to blame for the racism. Shes the one that became overly obsessed with it. Ok sure Twilight was clearly intrigued and probably agrees with it but wasn't CONSUMED by it. Trixie was. Trixie helped fuel and guide all of their rage and suffering towards the other two races and there we have it, slavery and racism. And now we have ponies who realized "Hey their not actually bad" Like Orion but cannot do anything about it because Trixie and the inquisition have so much power over everypony else.

Now before i start going into the religous part of it all. I want to make something clear that i am not attacking Germany in ANY WAY while saying this. I do not believe that all Germans are evil and racist. I actually believe the complete opposite of that. I blame the Nazi party for what happened, not Germany. I didn't want to create any controversy over this touchy subject, but it was a pretty good comparison when it comes to M&S, even if M&S is a little less serious, only going so far as slavery. Compared to mass genocide. But none the less i hope that everyone understands i am not attacking Germany and simply saw this as a clear example of what i meant. And tried to do my best to stick to historical facts that i know of. If i am wrong with anything i have said please correct me, id be happy if you do.

OK now the religious side of it. This is where Twilight comes in. Now how do you mix Racism with Religion? Simple, make your religion include that racism. Twilight first of all, is still clearly into the idea of the unicorns being a superior race. However she must have seen another form of advantage for using that racism within their religion. What i think, is that their religion might be something along the lines of: Bring order back the land while we await the return of our holy leaders (celestia and luna of course). We must stop the impure races and the misguided unicorns, it is our holy duty to defend Equestria from these savages and to bring back order to our race.
or something like that. Their religion is based on the idea that Celestia and Luna are gonna return. However, it was also mixed with the ideology that unicorns are a superior race. Over time their religion ended up making Earth Ponies and Pegasus their enemies when it had originally started out as a harmless belief in the Princesses.

TBH if it wasn't for the Inquisition, its quite possible M&S would be a completely different faction without Racism. Alas, when once they mixed their good religion with their bad ideology, it turned on itself and became corrupted. Now the knights of M&S fight to do what they believe is right, and that is to eliminate the opposing factions and to subdue or remove all inferior ponies to bring back order to Equestria while awaiting the arrival of the princesses.

The zeal is from Trixie, and while Twilight is religious, she is rational as well as we've seen and its not like EVERY member is incredibly Zealous. When your leader is still rational enough to make decisions and you have rational ponies in your army, especially the higher up leaders, its easier to hide that rationality within goals that seem like Religious ones. The leaders could act like their doing something for their cause however in the end it actually has nothing to do with their religion at all and their simply using that as a way to make them listen. Though religious, there are members of M&S that are still rational and will think things through, these people are also leading the faction so even if their following their religion, it doesn't change the fact that their not gonna let it blind them.

3993732
Religious Wars as in the Crusades kind; WAAAGH!, something around that...

I was going to compare them to Nazism. The problem is that it only filled up half of M&S. The party's ideology is not the morally best way, but it's efficient. Making the people believe themselves a higher race is an effective propaganda, since rationality had overshadowed religion after the Industrial Revolution and the people aren't aware of the term "Propaganda" yet. Religion unites the people with faith, and it's that faith the the Papal States used to convince devout catholics to undertake the crusades. With religion lowered down, the only thing that's holding the people together is the government...

M&S are Religious, but are they Nationalists? Considering the obvious racism, they couldn't possibly be Patriots. M&S ideologies are based on the three books Twilight found and read. I think Twilight might have written her own version, combining the contents of those three and shaping it to the best way she wants with the ideologies. Twilight introduced Trixie to the three books and made her obsessed with unicorn supremacy, an ultra racist...

Now I don't think Trixie would be an equivalent of the Hitler, but I can see your points on the racism. Seriously, in my opinion, the Holocaust happened due to the pressure. Since the people thought themselves as the superior race, they wouldn't like inferior races. People often take things too far, and BAM the Holocaust happens. This is just my opinion, if the Holocaust didn't happen, then the Nazi Party would lost the trust from the people and with it, the support for the war...

M&S doesn't need to do Mass Genocide since the inferior races are all sent to the Slave Domes anyway, and it'll be a waste of cheap labor too. I wonder how they viewed themselves as the superior race though. It's the complete opposite of the whole Harmony part they had lived in old times. There must be at least something similar to the old ways. But then again, it might just be a perfect propaganda. Or there might be parts of M&S that are more of a pacifist than the other violent ones...

I'll try to come up with the contents of those three books. That would surely give us a clear view on the religion itself since it is based on it...

: This question should fit in this thread...

: "Do you think it would be alright to use the Roman Army's organizations and ranks to define M&S military..?"

: Since they are called Legionnaires, wouldn't it make sense that they are called Legions as a whole..?

: Slaves aside since they are meat shield at best, but what will be the Auxilia..?

: I've been re-watching Code Geass, and I realized something in there. So basically, the only thing you need to know is that the superpower in that anime is racist nationalists, really. What do you need to do if you want to be the citizen of that country, but you aren't that country's native? Simple, sign up to be an Honorary Citizen...

: That's just like second-class citizens, am I right? It would be most logical that most of M&S's population are not slaves, but rather, second class citizens such as Hayseed Turnip Truck. That should be aplenty to fill in the numbers of the Auxilia...

: But the problem is if we take account of their policies, the largest population would be unicorns rather. Second Class Citizenship might still be a new thing started by Cadance possibly. So M&S still have to rely on their professional Legions for awhile...

: The Knights can be an equivalent of Praetorian Guards, but if we want it to be similar, then the Fealty Knights I came up with in the "Non-Canon Organization and Houses" thread should suffice...

: But honestly, even though M&S is zealous and all, I think all of the Knights would be experienced and engage in combat no different from the legionnaires as much as they care about all the ceremonies they have to attend...

: Now on to the Legions themselves. The most basic unit is the Centuria which composes of 80 legionnaires, contrasting the namesake by a bit. A number of 6 Centuriae would form a Cohort, and 10 Cohorts would form a Legion, with Cavalry and Officers filling in to make it numbered more than 5,000 strong...

: Wait, that's pretty much it! So what do you think of this table of texts I came up with..?

I propose "Bright Eyes" role to be merged into Starlight Glimmer.
:v
Why yes.
Why not.

: Divine Sun's Butt! I absolutely agree with this, 4267569..!

: Considering they have never met her before, it would be ideal to merge their roles together. Although, we do not know what Starlight has for her background yet, assuming that she's Bright Eyes herself is a good move...

: I suggest we should wait and see what her story is as the season goes before drawing any conclusion...

4267708 So what were considering here is that this pony who calls herself Bright Eyes could possibly be Starlight Glimmer? Or at least Bright Eyes could take on the role of Starlight Glimmer?

So far its true we should wait for later episodes before we do anything drastic. However we know very little of Bright Eyes as well. She was a part of a society know as Moon and Star, however one problem with all of this is that Bright Eyes DOES get hanged by Twilight. I feel like Making Starlight and Bright Eyes similar characters would kinda be a waste of the new villain. So I'm not really seeing what you two might be thinking with this. Mind clarifying a bit?

Also i feel like Starlight would object COMPLETELY to M&S. She believes in Equality in all ponies. I mean, to the very extreme but still. Personally she could possibly be more of a neutral enemy, similar to the bandits and pirates and rebel groups. Since she has her own ideology and has the charisma and magic to spread that ideology as we've seen in the season premiere. There's much to think about with Starlight, she's not as simple or Black and White as most of the villains are, considering she's not EVIL like discord or Tirek (if you read the Fiendship is Magic comic books, you'd know that Tirek was BORN evil pretty much). She just has an extreme ideology she really wants others to follow, going so far as to force it through magic and propaganda and brainwashing. Not a good pony that's for sure, but nowhere near as diabolical evil as some of the villains of the show, so its kinda hard to place her. She doesn't seem like the type to want to follow one of the factions yet I'm not sure how she could spread her ideology in ED without getting shut down by one of the factions.

: Hmm... 4294699..?

As far as I remember, like two weeks ago, Starlight didn't actually believe in Equality. She was just using getting herself a mindless slave army to do something. I think her higher goal was getting the marks of the Diarch, I can't really remember that part. On a bigger perspective, she might be planning a revolution to overthrow the Diarch...

From the landscape, we can assume that it's around the Mountains up north due to the chase scene. Considering that little village was entirely cut off from the outside world, they wouldn't know of the current situation. Things could have happened to them. Rioters / Bandits sacking the village is unlikely due the isolation. Stormwing however...

Around a decade later, the village would have grown, and rumors would have spread around about it. If workers and soldiers desert to the village, then Stormwing have to act. Starlight would fortify against an upcoming attack after learning about Equestria Divided. If the village survived, she would have to move else where, but where..?

: That there is a story potential...

: Her evil-like personality makes her fit anywhere in Equestria Divided..!

: A revolutionary's nice, but let's dig into Bright Ey-

: Nope! I cannot dig into this rock yet...

What in Equestria is the Moon and Star Society..?

: Bloody hell, Latin Declensions are so confusing!

Since "Magister" is etymologically (am I even using the word correctly?) Latin, I went on and attempt to translate names in Moon and Star into Latin and see how it turns out. It's OK, I guess, but it's better if you see it for yourself.

* are what I added.

** are non-canons I came up with. I took liberty of including them.

This is what I managed to come up with for the Politics, Economy, and Military of Moon and Star.
: I sincerely hope that I didn't miss anything.

This I like a LOT.
I feel kinda dumb not aporting even a well-versed opinion, but seriously I DO like this.

4443623
Thank you! I will try my best to fill the rest of the Mane factions.

4444139 Ok, after reading it all in deviantart, i left this as a comment....only to realise it was REALLY big for a comment. So i decided to leave it here instead for you. All in all great analysis though, you'll see i have one major problem with it but everything else is all just observations, opinions and ideas i came up with while reading it. This whole fandom thrives on discussing our ideas together after all. I REALLY hope this doesn't break the word limit rule

Also... really long again. sorry. Though you guys are used to me doing this by now aren't you?

For your first comments on the Inquisition

As far as we know, the inquisition might be separated and have their own army, however, Grand Inquisitor Trixie seems to have authority over the normal army as well. The M&S journal that was found and posted on the Fimfiction group shows two members the sun guild (possibly moon but I think I remember them being sun) speaking about how one of them, Orion, used slaves as actual soldiers and not just canon fodder. The other states that this was unacceptable but Orion had stated that Archmagister Twilight didn't care. She then stated however that even though Twilight was ok with it, they have another superior they answer too, in which Orion ask why they have to listen to the Inquisition. This shows that either the Inquisition has authority over the guilds (and supposedly their military forces as well) or that there's some other system going on in which the Inquisition have authority over certain members of the Guilds. But i find it hard to believe there would be such a convoluted and weird system. And i seriously doubt there are several guilds of sun and moon, of which some are controlled by Twilight and others by Trixie. He does state however that the Inquisition is a clear obvious enemy to M&S but that their use outweighs the risk. So its possible that this kind of separation is actually intentional by the Inquisition so that they try to gain more control over M&S.

As for twilight, lets also not forget she was well known for being Celestia's prized pupil. That may have helped a little. Especially considering M&S is highly religious, especially towards the two princesses.

another thing i noticed real quick
Though its true that they need to grow even if they believe themselves to be superior, i don't think either them or Stormwing would trade with one another. Actually its kinda hard to believe any of the houses are trading together considering their pretty much at war with one another, at least M&S is with every other house except possibly Whitegold. Stormwing however, is like their second biggest enemy next to Earthborn. Stormwing outright believes M&S are simply usurpers to the throne, trying to take advantage of whats going on to try and become the new leaders, and that goes exactly against Stormwing's ideals of protecting Equestria until the princesses return. You don't usually trade with your enemies, so i can't see M&S and Stormwing trading.

You look at M&S in a much nicer light then I do, I mean, you make it clear that their not GOOD, but the fact that you state they are smart enough to make sure their slaves don't needlessly die is quite different then my point of view. I'm certain it depends purely on who's in charge at that point. If Trixie was in charge, odds are she'd make it as dangerous as possible to eliminate all of the members of the lower race. I mean, going back to the journal, Twilight doesn't care if the slaves are treated like soldiers if it means getting the job done right. Trixie on the other hand, would apparently prefer if the battle was lost and all the slaves we're treated like nothing or even died in the fight. I'm guessing since the members of the sun guild at least seem to sympathize with the slaves to a degree, then if Trixie and Twilight aren't in control its quite possible the higher ups also sympathize with them and would make the mining operations less dangerous, and if not then they simply aren't blinded like the Grand Inquisitor and understand how the slaves shouldn't die needlessly if they are still useful.

Glad you brought the middle class into this. Its true they don't have the same rights as unicorns but their not treated like rats. You have the slaves, non unicorn citizens then unicorns, as the three basic classes. slaves are expendable and should be treated like nothing more then a resource to use. second class should not liked however they are useful and are still citizens of M&S, even if they we're born inferior. Then unicorns, the superior race. It would make sense if they took care of the more general work like building things and such, allowing the unicorns to focus more on magic and research and such.

As for the military, i never thought of their being another Canterlot army led by shinning armor. Interesting.

I like the difference between the sun and moon guild, where one is more about the soldiers and knights while the moon one is more spiritual with magic and such. its actually quite fitting, considering one follows Celestia, the leader of Equestria for thousands of years, always there protecting her land. While the other follows Luna, who was also known as nightmare moon, a leader forgotten at times and even a being known within myths and legends. Would make sense if they were more spiritual in that sense.

For the inquisition army. Its true there would have to be more then just inquisition troops to make it its own army. Or maybe, since we saw in the Journal, they have the same units as the other armies however those units are commanded by them? Orion seemed to be under the inquisitions authority, so its possible. As for the inquisition members themselves, i see them like judges and such, or the higher tiered hunters that hunt down the bigger criminals, while the typical city watch guards take care of normal crimes like robbery and such. Makes me think of the game "Dishonored". There was the City watch, the normal military city guard that enforced the law and took care of crimes, however bigger crimes, more dangerous ones or crimes against their religions (which where pretty much some of the worst crimes you could do) would be taken care of by the "Overseers", basically the religious members of the military, having more authority and being quite skilled, they we're like elite guards that defended their religious zealously, that and they we're the only guards equipped to handle anybody with dark magic, since dark magic was involved the "Overseers" where the ones sent in to take care of anyone using dark magic since it was against their religious laws to do so. I would see the Inquisition as similar to the Overseers in Dishonored, while the typical military guards and knights would be similar to the City Watch.

And the rest of the military is pretty set and stone. I always wondered something about the Idols, will bring that up in the M&S thread on the forums.

All in all, this is a really good analysis. Ok yes, i did say a lot but that's mostly my point of views and opinions, i'm not trying to say everything you said was wrong.

Well everything except the trading with Stormwing Part, that part just irks me too much, it just doesn't make sense why Stormwing and M&S would trade if their basically mortal enemies. M&S goes right up against Stormwings Ideals so i don't see them getting along in any way to trade. You might argue that its the smart thing to do and it would help M&S however, if they always did the smart thing then ED wouldn't even exist, they would all make peace and stop fighting. Sometimes struggles and conflicting ideals lead people to making mistakes or to choose the wrong options. Similar to how i thought the slaves in the mines would just be thrown in until they die and then replaced, with little care for their health, since its the "smart" thing to use them wisely, however its also the "smart" thing to treat them right similar to how Orion did it, yet the Inquisition continues to mistreat the slaves. Their ideals can blind them from making the right choice. however, the mines are different because its not necessarily the Inquisition in charge of them, so the more sympathetic or less blinded members of M&S could treat them better. However trading with an enemy faction? I doubt even Twilight would allow that.
Sorry for sounding rude or mean, not trying to be, its just out of everything you came up with, this is the one thing that just does not make any sense to me. Everything else is opinions, ideas, things like that, so my ideas could be different then yours, but i doubt enemies trade with one another. I wonder if you have an explanation for this however? Not the first time I've gone all crazy over something you said only for you to prove me wrong in a single argument.

... I forgot this was a comment section... Ima post all of this in the M&S forum page.

4458789
Moon and Star is the religious type of nation. Not only the Inquisition, the guilds would also listen to the Church itself. The Inquisition is there to enforce discipline by using faith. became more ambitious when finally became an alicorn 5 years later, but what of the standard timeline? I doubt she has any seed of rebellion that early.

Hmm... yes, it is very likely that she used that the gain influence in court.

It's only that condemns 's actions, but that's pretty much it. She did trick her to flood Old Ponyville, and how would that affect 's reputation if she use that as her Casus Belli, being tricked into mass genocide by her old, dear friend? She would be looked upon as manipulative, and her position as a leader would be greatly at risk. Stormwing is then neutral to Moon and Star, which won't bar any trade to be conducted. Besides, it might only be Las Pegasus that's trading with them, not the entire Stormwing. The commander of the flying settlement, Spitfire, is not .

I was in the perspective around the point that Moon and Star isn't ancient, isn't archaic, isn't stupid. Resources are limited, slaves are included. If they are as advanced as they boast, then they would make sure that their slaves working in the mines last long enough to dig up more minerals than they are worth, profitable enough to overshadow the costs. Sure they are treated in worst conditions, but dead slaves won't work their worth out.

Hmm... are you aware that unicorns can fall into slavery?

Orion is the commander of the Sun Guild's military forces.

Legionnaires on guard duties make sense, but Knights? They have that much free time to volunteer on guard duty? Shouldn't they be training and honing their skills for battle? I doubt that their charity in general would go that far.

Many present businesses employ cheap labor from poor countries. Slavery of Moon and Star isn't different much. If they can disregard their well-being, they can allocate those resources to much more demanding investments. And if they die, they can employ more slaves. The tricky part is experience. Veteran slaves work faster than new unaspiring ones. Abusive slavery works in the short run for efficiency, but not in the long run as slaves become lacking.

Back then, working in the mines is the worst career. Miners will likely die from either suffocation of dusts, explosion of natural gases, or cave-ins, and their experiences will vanish along with them. If Moon and Star wants more output from their mines, then they may only have to ensure that their slaves working in there last long enough to teach the new slaves their forced-trade as miners. This will make sure that the new slaves can bring similar output to the dead old ones.

Who knows? Most of the slave warriors might be criminals sentenced to execution. "Become a slave warrior the inquisitors told me, but certain death it actually is."

Good to know il just post everything there here

I just wanted to say that much of the info contained in the original House Sheets is SEVERELY outdated. They were made almost a year ago, many ideas I had for the houses have changed with time.

Yes, it is possible for earth ponies and pegasi to live inside one of the main cities and fortresses, usually as second class citizens and so-called educated slaves working as house servants, teachers, menial laborers and so on. Some of them may even work in administration or other such important establishments, but without having the possibility of ever reaching the highest positions. If a non-unicorns "enjoys" the life of a second class citizen, it usually means that he/she is/was either:
a)A staunch supporter of the Celestial Sisters and M&S claim to the throne, probably to the point of fanaticism;
b)A two-faced scum that would sell their friends/relatives to the Inquisition if it meant climbing up the social ladder, even if a little;
c)A member/descendant of a pre-war non-unicorn nobility, or other such high-ranking social group;
b)An offspring of two unicorn parents;
e)Married to a unicorn (only pre-war marriages apply, nowadays a unicorn cannot mary a non-unicorn without losing their first-class status);
f)Promoted to a second-class citizen status for their remarkable acts of bravery, generosity and kindness towards unicorns in need (usually practiced by the Church of The Celestial Sisters, particularly by the head of the church, Princess Cadence), or years of faithful servitude as an educated slave, not stained by even the slightest act of disloyalty (common occurence in both Sun Guild and Moon Guild).

Unicorns can also become second-class citizens (and can fall even lower), usually for the following reasons:
a)Being a child of two non-unicorns;
b)Speaking openly against the M&S goverment (if they continue to do so, they risk becoming nothing more but slaves);
c)Being a victim of dehornification;
d)Being guilty of a petty crime such as: petty theft, vandalism, trespass, simple assault, disorderly conduct, prostitution, possession of drugs, possession of Earthborn-made cider, insulting the authorities, looking the wrong way at an inquisitor;
e)Marrying a second-class citizen.

And new information. Cool.

4460446 Alright i see most of your points. The whole slave thing i still believe they'd treat them worst, even if their smart. Twilight and most M&S leaders wouldn't but if the inquisition was in control of them then those slaves wouldn't last long. Depends on who's in charge

However i still can't agree with the Stormwing thing. Some things we can't forget is how Rainbow Dash herself is a high officer and the head of the house. She has the most influence so her ideals would be respected, not only that but she represents everything Stormwing stands for perfectly, being honorable, strong, loyal and brave. let's also not forget that Stormwing was founded by pegasi that used to live in Canterlot before they we're forced to flee because of the unicorns. You don't forget being thrown out of your home that easily.
Its true that not all pegasi might be against Moon and Star, such as Spitfire, who grew up and lived in Cloudsdale. But that doesn't change the fact that Stormwings main ideals is to that they are a pegasi race defending Equestria with military might while awaiting for the princesses to return. M&S go DIRECTLY against that ideal, trying to make themselves the new rulers of equestria. Its not like Rainbow dash is the ONLY one that would beleive that, and im sure her words have a lot of weight considering the respect she must have gained to be the head, unlike places likes M&S where race superiority can play a role or Whitegold where tricks and status and money play a role, Stormwing has a very honor focused system. The top members are all honorable and respected members. Rainbow Dash could have spread her thoughts on M&S which could have convinced other pegasi to believe her. All because its just Rainbow Dash that states she doesn't like M&S doesn't necessarily mean shes the only one. If anything, Stormwing would be furious that M&S tricked them with such a lie, its dishonorable, its deceiving, even cowardly.

I just see Stormwing and M&S as enemies, not neutral. M&S has done too much to them, not just RD, but the fact that M&S forcing them out is what founded their house in the first place, i just don't see them getting along well enough. And if members like Spitfire are trading with them, it would be in secret, because i doubt RD would let her get away with that. She's still the head of the house and still has the highest authority of all of them, Spitfire might be high up, but not as high up as RD is.

Anyways to each there own i guess right? Your version of ED is a lot more...tame... then mine. Mine has a lot more war and bloodshed, yours seems to be more focused on the houses just barely staying out of war, with very shaky truces that could burst at any moment. Though there's plenty of trading and more political matters that happen in mine, there's also the fact that they're all at war and odds are there are few rare temporary alliances between them. Also my Mane 6 (and cult prophets) have much more power and influence then yours seem to have. Yours has a lot more political issues and such, inner struggles and those things, mine has more outer struggles, wars and battles being raged.

Quite interesting to look at it both ways actually, even though i could probably never wrap my head around Stormwing and M&S getting along. Though you do seem to have a pretty good point, and its not like its impossible or anything, its all head canon after all. Anyways this was fun to debate, i like seeing everyone else's points of views, inspires me with new ideas.

(Also what i mean by can't "agree" is that i can't see it. I can't see in my head the two factions getting along, even neutrally. Doesn't mean i think your idea is stupid or anything, its just unlike all your other ideas where i can imagine in my head what you mean by them, that one i just can't understand. Its a perfectly good idea, just one i find that just...makes no sense in my head. Though once again we both see ED in a very different light from what i can tell. For me its in the middle of the war, during one of the most heated moments of Equestrian history, you it seems its more in a passive moment, where every army is now trying to sustain itself and establish itself instead of trying to fight and destroy the other houses.)

4462362
And as you said, the livelihood of the slaves rest upon the authority of their respective slavers, and those slavers would have their orders from their superiors on how to manage the slaves whether they like it or not.

...

: Blast!

Yes! That would make sense! Now that I reread their goals, they have their reasons to unite Equestria! I was taking accounts of how far apart they are settlement-wise, that they are almost more of a confederation of flying cities, not a unitary state. But with that just cause, they are technically at war with everyone in Equestria. Their hope for support would rest upon their Ground Guards, their mercenaries, and their foreign allies such as the Greyfeathers.

: Stormwing is playing aggressive, very aggressive.

I find this one problem lingering that we should've discussed early on:
How did trick to flood Old Ponyville?

: Here's my headcanon!

Old Ponyville is at the heart of Equestria. Controlling it would mean controlling the jewel of logistics, an ideal location to mass the military to unite Equestria, and Earthborn controls it. If I were to be in 's position, that town would be my prime target. I'm sure she once considered that the nearby Nature's Fury and their Wraiths would make short work of the settlement. If the Tribes are already well-known in Equestria, wouldn't let those borders left with petty defenses. Since the Tribes couldn't take Old Ponyville alone, had to bring an another player to the board. I doubt that she would ask for help. The only one left was none other than Stormwing of the Northern Expansion.

Maybe at that time, was just recently promoted and wasn't fully acquainted to the ruthless nature of war, a good target for manipulation using old friendships. When gave access to Dragonpoint, maybe saw an opportunity to severely weaken her enemies by using a single flood attack to wash all her threats away. Blame the act to Stormwing and she lose nothing. With the center flooded and ruined, no power can utilize it now. Though she won't get advantages from the position, her enemies won't either. Earthborn and Stormwing then wage war. When both exhausted themselves in their conflict, the legions of Moon and Star will move in and purge them clean; ruthless, cunning, effective.

I don't really like how the ED founder simply left the fate of Celestia in the shadow if he went to explain the endgame. Did he ment for us to come to our own conclusions on what happen? What do we know about Celestia?

So from what I gathered it seemed the Royal Sisters is actually a plot hole itself. From a standpoint I somewhat agreed as it seemed they just disappeared just to create conflict.

This is an interesting situation. No one knows, not even metas, on how and why they disappeared, 4890695. But we do know that their disappearance set in motion the events that would lead into Equestria Divided as we know it. Interesting point by the way, but why though? Why would they vanish themselves to create a second conflict far worse that prior to the Founding of Equestria? Why?

Is it perhaps a plot to deified themselves? To ascend from being revered to worshiped?

4890905
I love mystery such as this, reason I'm asking is that I am writing a fic about this concept. Where the character tries to find out what happen to the Royal Sisters.

Hmm, I can think of some few rather odd ideas, 4891330, but you're better off with writing material from this particular thread. Note that Yorick did say that even the Laughing Mare herself has no idea where they are, or at least couldn't find them in the Astral Plane, so her suspect status is out of the board!

4893332
Hmm thanks for the thread, these are certainly good theories.

The Celestial Inquisition

Our Inquisition
The Inquisition, as we humans commonly know of, is usually associated with the Spanish one which, in the end, lost more lives than it saved. But it should also be noted that the Spanish Inquisition was not the first to be established. There were many heretics before then, but when one became massive, an inquisition was in order. The Episcopal Inquisition and the Papal Inquisition were the first to be created, the former being quite disorganized (as they were administered by local bishops), whilst the latter was all but contrast to it.
The Inquisitions were established to counter the problem which was the variety of justice concerning heretical trials carried out by judges and lieges, the majority of which barely following (or even know of!) the procedures laid down by the Church, using their own secular sense of justice (provided that they have any in the first place). Although lives were unsurprisingly lost to the Inquisition, the saving of countless innocent lives by them cannot be denied either.

Mode of Operation
The same way as the Inquisition is separated from the military, it might as well be separated from the clergy too in practice. What I mean is that the Inquisition is seen by outsiders as a rather big branch of the Church, instead of a separate institution which has more power than the Church itself.

Under the guise of doing religious duties they keep order through conventional means, your typical law enforcement agency with quite a large grip on civil order through the divine authority of the Celestial Sisters. Many times though, that is still not enough. Even though used to impose order, a divine law has loopholes and restrictions which have the potential to make things worse than it should be. A body of operatives which are above such things is necessary.

Military
The Celestial Inquisition is noted to be a separate entity from the military, which is simply another way of saying that their ranking in the power hierarchy is no less than those responsible for the defense of the realm along with the rest that prove vital to it, and of course that they have their own armies and navies under their command.

Their military is likely to comprise of elite soldiers hold in reserve to deal with internal threats, which are most often bound to be those of the Cult, but a brewing rebellion shouldn’t be unheard of either. Whilst brave Legionnaires of the Sun and Moon zealously fight the infidels of the lesser races, those troops belonging to the Inquisition are the ones making sure that no threats exist inside of the nation they've sworn to protect.

On the numbers of soldiers, it is highly unlikely that they have what it takes to match that of an army (legion?) to last in a military campaign, which would explain why armies (legions?) of Moon and Star may acquire their military support instead in the form of Inquisition Troops. These fellows are likely more than sermon chanters unless they have reasons to give out more than that.

Rank: Grand Inquisitor
The highest rank in the hierarchy of the Celestial Inquisition without a doubt. What power does the Great and Powerful Trixie have? As she answers to only the Archmagister, perhaps she's also the head of the secret police part as well. What does the Grand Inquisitor do with her time. Other than managing and overseeing the operations of the Inquisition she is responsible with, she might as well go out hunting when she's free from the paperwork. On the other hand, she seems more fitting as a proficient and dreaded hunter in a daily basis.

Rank: Inquisition Officer
Only two are known to hold this rank, Snips and Snails, and both of them are Trixie’s lieutenants and assigned to the Twin Guilds. This would mean that the position is high-ranking, but of what responsibility? Taking note on their clumsiness, these two would make poor field agents, dimming the possibility of the rank being held for veteran Inquisitors. Inquisition Officer might indicate the individual being responsible for administration instead, serving to oversee the Inquisition unit stationed in an assigned area.

Rank Proposal: Field Inquisitor
Any Inquisitor would be no less a veteran Magister whose wisdom few could hope to outshine. As the Grand Inquisitor answers only to the Archmagister, so too do the Field Inquisitors, who all in turn answer only to the Grand Inquisitor. They are granted independence so that little would hinder their operations, which are usually, if not always, combating major threats to Moon and Star, preferably preventing them in the first place.

Rank Proposal: High Inquisitor
Whilst Field Inquisitors operate independently without any granted support, those who distinguish themselves with outstanding results, from which would mostly be exceptional acumen, would be granted the position High Inquisitor. These field agents are privileged to the resources of the state, allowing them to perform their missions more effectively.

: What I've come up with the elusive Celestial Inquisition so far...

I been trying to predict this house's attack pattern if you put 100 moon and star troops against anything else but its really hard to use concrete evidence sense we don't know how they actually act in battle besides there mottos and goals, like how many ponies or whatever do they casual send. Do they casual send out them , we know that the legionnaires are the backbone of the MAS they also don't seem to be anything like Roman legionnaires because they don't have the shields they seem more like Greek hoplites with quick stabs ad throwing their spears might be a tactic. Also if equestrian divided was a game it seems that this unit would be one of the most annoying because how fast they would be able to kill a big enemy if there was enough of them and sweep down any enemies similar to them because of there magical abilities of far range with out throwing it making the spear even deadlier when it comes to range and imagine like 50 of them at once they could quickly overrun almost any foe. they would be a force only heavy units and artillery would be able to take down , that's just the first unit! The problem with predicting who would win is that nobody would win they all are op against each other and they all have ways of easily wiping out each other. I been trying to piece together the houses attack patterns all day , most of their units can wipe out all other enemy units, like the cult of laughter's unit the macabre music machine can wipe out an MAS unit in three seconds because of its power to drive people insane but the MAS unit nightmares can also wipe out the macabre music machine in 3 seconds so I came of a conclusion. Equestria is doomed because no faction can win against each other only lose because of those units that can wipe out each other in 3 seconds. No one will win this war and I think Equestria divided's war is going to destroy Equestria.