When the Everfree Burns

by SpiritDutch

Everfree Extra: Everfree Index 2: Maps of Equestria 1

Author's Note:

This is the accumulation of Maps created by Merier & Sons of Manechester for a contracted handbook-style publication of When the Everfree Burns. The Manechester Review purchased the rights to issue the maps as part of the normal publication format within the paper. I have added the descriptions, giving a background for the locations as they were on the even of the Thousandth Summer Sun.
I must say I am somewhat impressed by Merier & Sons's work. They have also created a few character portraits which the Manechester Review also purchased. Those may appear in a different issue.

/un-character
These are my shitty fanfic art I made. They were in blog posts but for some reason the links broke. I was intending to put them here eventually, so I thought I might as well do it now while I'm thinking about it. Yeah, I know they're crap.
/re-character.

This forms the second part of the index. Look forward to more, my readership.

THE PRINCIPALITY OF CANTERLOT

Canterlot is the personal domain of the sun empress, governed by royal agents distinct from of the imperial government of Equestria. It extends from the grand city itself to the far edge of the Everfree, and to the western bank of the Dneighper river and great Whitetail Wood. Its core lands are the Dneighper Valley and the expansive but tranquil forests, all north of the now defunct Principality of Everfree and the jungle which has annexed it.

Canterlot is the grandest of the unicorn mountain cities, the shining jewel of Central Equestria. Originally the seat of House Blackhorn, Celestia I was invited to rule by the city's nobles after Argo Blackhorn the Reckless died in battle leaving no 'worthy' heirs. For several hundred years, the Blackhorn cadet houses sought to retake their city, but each time were put down by the new Empress. Now Canterlot's greatest threat is from within, as the urban nobility grows ever bolder and more ambitious.

The lands just under Canterlot are a thin band of gentle hills and fertile riverbanks known as the Canter. Providing most of the food for the imperial city above them, the ponies of the Canter have long suffered as indentured serfs to the petty urban nobles therein. The burden of containing unrest has always fallen to agents of the princess who, while sympathetic with the commoner cause, would not suffer having their empress face revolt so close to home.

The forests of the Principality of Canterlot (sometimes called the princess-pality by the commoners), are vast and largely anarchic, lacking roads or ties to the central authority of Canterlot City. Hundreds of tiny villages hide in the shade of the trees, their stout ponies living a life in blissful ignorance of politics and taxes. Wild creatures may roam in the deepest hollows, but only under cover of night do they prey, and the hardy villagers never go without a fight.

The Griffinbend, situated on the opposite side of the Upper Dneighper Valley from Canterlot, is home to the largest population of settled non-ponies in Equestria. Originally a fief of house Blackhorn, the small barony of Embankment was granted to a Kestrelian griffin mercenary lord by Celestia I upon her accession to the Canterlot throne. Renamed to Uferböschung, the castle became the seat of the new house Scharffeder, and has since attracted any and all equestrian griffins who would find the institutionalized discrimination under other lords intolerable.

The Free City of Ponyville sits on the southern border of the principality, where it holds a commanding presence on river trade between Canterlot and the breadbasket of the Dneighper Run. The smallest of the free cities by far, Ponyville was paradoxically one of the first chartered cities to receive such an honor, with it's Act of Imperial Immediacy dating some hundreds of years before the city's supposed founding. Still, the riverside hamlet been the archetype of quiet pastoral life in Equestria, and as long as peace continues to reign in the empire that shouldn't change.

And lastly there is the Everfree Forest, a name spoken in hushed tones and only with great reluctance. Once the land where the forest now grows was the prosperous Principality of the Everfree, founded by Celestia I and her sister. However the scourge of the Great Corruptions to the north and the Wars of Unification in the riverpony lands depleted the population greatly, as Celestia tried and failed to play the great game on the level of the other lords. The rebellion of Celestia's sister and the resulting War of the Nightmare Pretender sealed the fate of the fledgeling state. Twisted trees and hateful brambles are all that grow there now, and fell beasts haunt the graves of heroes and monsters alike.

THE RIVERPONY LANDS

Often called the heart of Equestria, the fertile Crystal River Valley could be more appropriately called the heart of Equestrian feudalism. Despite their adjacency to the imperial crown land, the lords rule as near sovereigns within their own territories. Royal agents find no protection here, and the empress has fined more than one feisty lord for murdering her administrators.

The riverpony lands are arguably also some of the most backwards in the whole of the empire. Literacy among the poor farmers is discouraged by the rural aristocracy, and outright illegal among serfs. Despite the incredible agrarian wealth extracted from the region, poverty and starvation are commonplace. The cities here are not the bastions of knowledge and mercantile wealth as at the coast, as no self-respecting merchant is willing to tolerate the arbitrary tyranny of lords.

In stark contrast to the squalor of the majority, the riverponies have the greatest claim to equestrian knightly tradition. Frequent tourneys and athletic competitions among the knights determines their social standing, and the lords themselves even occasionally join in.

Once, the riverpony lands were united under a single kingdom. The lords elected their leader from amongst their ranks, and he or she would reign absolute in matters of war and justice. The last such kings, Lector, launched a series of campaigns against the unicorns that devastated the commoners and lead to the extinction of many riverpony noble lines. After Lector’s death, no new king was elected, and so the counties and duchies remained disparate until their unification with the rest of Equestria under Celestia I.

Perhaps even more than Canterlot (At least in the understanding of the riverponies), the castle of Cottingholm could be called the center of Equestria. Guarding the pass between Canterlot and Foal, the fortress was once a jutting stone pillar in the middle of the Crystal River. In a joint venture, the unicorns and earth ponies carved it into a fortress to guard against pegasi raiders from the north. After its completion it was given as a county palatine to the knightly house Reads, who guarded the pass in the name of the Riverpony king. Since the desolution of the kingdom, the Reads have been their own lords, save for their outstanding service to the princess.

The only natural crossing point for a thousand kilometers up and downstream, Four Fords was once the greatest hub of trade and commerce in all of Equestria. Caravans going East-West and barges going North-South were mandated to stop there by the house Highlight, who watched over it all from their humble keep of Fourth Ford. However such times have long since passed, and Four Fords has shrunk into the ramshackle village known as First Ford. House Highlight pine for their former wealth, and amuse themselves by constantly feuding with their neighbors.

Denish Oasis is bizarrely out of place compared its surrounding holds. Built a measly century ago, the castle has not had the time to deteriorate like the rest of the riverpony lands, and still stands in ominous grandeur over a tributary and a road into Canterlot. The lands once belonged to the house Hightlight, but bankruptcy forced them to sell their lands on the western bank of the Crystal river to the enigmatic Baron Denish, who erected his keep and began styling himself as another riverpony lord. The Denishs are shunned by the other lords as nouveau riche, and so are forced to make company with the unicorns more often than most earth pony houses.

Nothing quite captures the degradation of the riverpony lands quite so much as Rapidwatch. A mere shell of a castle, even its secondary function as a bridge is stunted by frequent collapses and fires. King Lector commissioned the opulent and ambitious castle as a triumphal monument to his conquests, and upon his death the construction was picked up by the house Concourse. The project became a hell for them, as they faced setback after setback. After decades of work, it seemed Rapidwatch was completed, but a fire at the inauguration ceremony killed the entire house Concourse and their guests. A local knight took the castle for himself and founded the eponymous house Rapidwatch. Since then, fear of further disasters has compelled the family to stay in the countryside, instead of their haunted home.

Stirstream, one of the oldest castles in the riverpony lands, guards the Everfree River where it exits the forest on it’s way to the conflux. Greatly unremarkable, the castle serves as the hold of house Aiolie. Much of the house’s land is swamp and forest, and as such they lack the wealth and decadence of their peers. Having a reputation as austere and deeply religious, the Aiolies were some of the first supporters of Celestia I. Now, there times is spent hiding in their castle and peering out enviously at the fertile lands of their neighbors.

Monitor’s Gathering has stood in roughly the same spot in various forms for thousands of years. The house Monitor has defended the Crystal River conflux against jealous invaders innumerable times, and suffered the destruction of their home keep just as often. The latest iteration on Monitor’s Gathering is by far the shoddiest: A wooden motte and bailey, sitting on a mound of rubble that was their former castles. House Monitor’s fierce pride compels them to throw blame wherever they can for their misfortunes, and lately they have been the most vocal critics of Celestia and the supposed unicorn hegemony within the empire.

The last of the riverpony holds, far downstream of the others, is the stately castle and village of Eaulin. House Bluestreamer owns both sides of the Crystal River run, having usurped the north bank from the extinct house Greenstreamer in the turmoil after King Lector’s death. The two halves of their domain are distinct, yet both problematic. Their native south bank is home to numerous rogue villages of fisherponies who, with the tacit aid of river mermares, have been terrorizing trade along the Crystal River. The north bank has become overgrown and wild, and tribes of deer wage a guerilla war against loggers and homesteaders. Driven to bankruptcy fighting the threats, house Bluestreamer has become cruel and tyrannical, extracting unreasonable taxes from the peasants for levying whomever they can. Desertion is common among the forced levies, which fuels even more banditry. The problem has grown so bad that the Imperial army has established a permanent encampment outside the walls of Eaulin to discourage outright revolution.

There is some debate as to the classification of the Empty Plains. The riverponies claim it belongs to the unicorns of Foal. The unicorns of Foal claim it belongs to Filly Delphia. Filly Delphia claims it belongs to Baltimare. And Baltimare claims it belongs to the Riverponies. And so on. The vast tracts have defied countless settling expeditions and humbled conquerors and tycoons alike. Home to roaming tribes of various species, the Empty Plain is anything but. It is thousands of square kilometers of head-high grass, soil too poor for farming, and clear blue skies that become raging lightning storms. No road crosses it, instead diverting north through the foothills of Foal, or south to the lush and uninhabited Green Range.