Exactly what it says on the tin. This is where you can go if you wish to discuss anything whatsoever with fellow group members.

Although obviously I will be policing for anything not kosher, I'm not asking for Happiness is Mandatory levels of self-control. For instance, this is not the place to discuss personal matters or to throw around insults for giggles. Also, please try and keep this space family-friendly, or at least no worse than you'd find in a Teen-rated fic.

The atmosphere is supposed to be relaxed and friendly. Bear that in mind, and you should be OK when you start going off on a tangent. This space is always here if you want it.

So why does Private Pansy wear a morion-style helmet, while Hurricane is depicted wearing a Spartan or Roman legionary helmet? Is it just because it bears a sneaking resemblance to a lady's sun-hat?

(At least Pansy's morion protects her ears, which almost all of the other armor designs notably fail to do. I guess pony ears grow back given time and magic?)

5888107

I had a hypothesis that there were different clans within the pegasus tribe, such that Pansy came from one and Hurricane came from another. Assigning Hurricane to a Spartan-esque clan would make a lot of sense, and I could imagine Pansy coming from a more philosophical or contemplative clan, similar to the ancient Ionians. As you can guess, the hypothesis was loosely based on the various peoples living in Classical Greece and in the Roman Empire.

As for your other point, perhaps superior officers are just so hardcore they don't need ear protection. Hurricane only wears armour because her fellow officers wanted to curb copycat behaviour amongst the grunts.

5888107
There's a passing resemblance to a Boeotian helmet as well - the type favoured by Alexander the Great for his cavalry - so it still suits the general Greco-Roman aesthetic if that was the intended model. The resemblance to a sunhat is affa nice, though.

5888126
5888107
Hurricane probably preferred not to have her/his hearing limited by a helmet.

5888137 Yeah, I notice it now that I'm looking at something other than the images on the wiki page. Like this. Which is even more hilariously like a lady's hat, and a rather avant-garde hat at that. The sort of thing Rarity might have experimented with in Season 4.

5888150
My word. You could wear that sort of thing to the beach and nobody'd bat an eye. At least, not until you started running folk through with a cavalry lance.

5888143
5888150
5888156

That's quite a discussion up there. Hm. Perhaps it's about time I learned a bit more about different types of armour throughout ancient history. I had little idea of the amount of variety before now.

In other news: At the moment, I'm contemplating some sort of event for either this month or next month, but a contest or prompt seems both too obvious and too demanding on those without time, luxury, or inclination to write more than they already are writing. Would welcome any suggestions, but the contest/prompt remains a fallback option at this point.

5903949

I'm contemplating some sort of event for either this month or next month

I unfortunately don't get as much time as I would like to participate in any events because of all my studies but it's still fun to go through everyone's work and attempt stuff during breaks, I never finish anything though.

5903991

That's exactly why I don't want to make it too big. Any kind of event I plan will have to fit around other people's schedules, especially considering what time of year it is. If I do start a contest or prompt, odds are the entry requirements are going to be lax.

5903949
Events are good things.

If a full-blown contest or prompt might be too imposing for folk, maybe a drabble event could be worth a look-in? Wee ficlets a few hundred words long at most, posted to the forum rather than published, just for a bit of ice-breaking and to see how folk could flesh out Pansy with minimal space. If that whets folks' appetites, then longer-form competitions could be arranged.

5904007

It'd certainly be an economical way to gauge people's interest. I don't see a problem with the reasoning, but would it be multiple posts on a single thread, or multiple threads with some identifying marker to show they're part of the same event? Also, it'd have to be for intrinsic reward, as I'm not handing out cash prizes or anything. I don't go that far online, I'm afraid.

Not sure about the upper limit either. Myself, I could easily see my entry passing a thousand words, enough to qualify as an independent fic. In that case, the word limit could stifle rather than encourage participation, as opposed to a more open-ended event. Might just be overthinking this, though, or missing the point of your suggested event in some way.

5904043
Multiple posts on a single marked thread was my thinking, just for ease of keeping track. Any reward being just the warm glow of moral virtue and pats on the back from group members seems sensible. If bigger contests come about in future, I might be able to spring for some sort of reward to participants.

Length-wise, I'm just thinking something small enough to coax effort from folk who might not have the time for anything larger, and to give a wee challenge to folks in terms of succinctness, condensing narrative and suchlike. If people wanted to write something larger and publishable and just post an extract to the challenge, or expand on something they've written after the contest's run its course, I'd personally have no problem with that.

5904156

Single thread it shall be, then. I did wonder about the long comments taking up a lot of room on one page, but I suppose that's a lot tidier than a load of independent posts on the same topic. As for future cash prizes, well, so long as you're aware it's on your own head if you decide to offer one, that's all I'll say. I like incentivizing, but I personally don't feel comfortable doing it financially, even on behalf of someone else.

Concerning the length requirements, your suggestion seems perfectly reasonable to me. Parallel projects independent of or inspired by the event would be a good sign, since the point of the exercise is to encourage people to expand upon Pansy as a character. I need to think up a few more details: would a general theme be a good idea (e.g. "revenge" or "regret"), or perhaps a specific prompt word or phrase like "training", "visiting recruitment camp", or "here we go again"? I'm trying to balance open-endedness with some limiting factor that'll make sure it's a bona fide challenge too.

Something else I'm thinking of: not necessarily this time, but in the future, would it be a good idea to try for an ensemble of prompts, so people could choose which ones they'd be interested in? Not very many, of course. Just enough so they can flit from one to another if it's to their liking. They'll still be specific challenges, but the variety could balance out said specificity too.

5904193
On my head be any future prizes, and I'm fine with that. Depending on how I'm feeling, they might be Steam vouchers or something similar. They could be a nice incentive without being directly financial, if that makes sense. (It probably doesn't.)

A general theme would be good if it helps get wheels a-turning in folks' heads. 'Training' might be a nice apt one, considering it's early days for the group as well. Multiple prompts could be worth trying out as well, if just one doesn't cut it for folk.

5904215

It makes sense. The key word here is "directly".

"Training", huh? How delightfully apt! These are good ideas, and I'm thinking up the finishing details for the prompt challenge right now. Depending on the members' responses, I might start with, say, three. That sounds like a nice round number to be getting on with. To make it generous, I think I'll set the deadline for the end of May. That should be more than enough time for people.

However, I will leave it for a few days in case anyone else wants to comment or contribute. Give it... let's say until Easter Sunday, or maybe Monday? That should give enough time for others to have their say. To make sure, I'll post a thread on this forum so every member is alerted to the situation.