• Member Since 9th Feb, 2012
  • offline last seen Dec 29th, 2022

Visiden Visidane


Is that a terrorist?!?

T

Throughout history, the wolven have been known as vicious and rapacious raiders, swooping in from their frozen homeland far to the north in small bands to seize what they please from unfortunate settlements and caravans across Equestria's borders. For this one occasion, however, wolven raiders have acquired something that may be more trouble than it's worth.

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 26 )

Hurry a new sidestory
& so fast too :DDD

I personally think this one was meh.
The first time you disappoint me vis :fluttershyouch:

3 Ponies taking down 2 wolven squads and a castle just for a painting, thats some extreme shit.
The Blackmoon blades are few as it is, why would they sacrifice 2 members (one of them i am speculating to be Sablesteel's grandfather) for a painting just because it has Luna on it.

And the wolven surely seem incompetent as fuck, getting beaten by 3 thunder-foots in they own castle ...
Also i can't imagine them wearing breather masks, its a bit out of character for them (not to mention silly).

Anyways, judging from the ending, this story is far from over.
But i would favor reading a new chapter of 'kin and kind' over this (if you are planning to expand these sub fics) because it is easily a 10/10 & the most interesting out of the 3 sub fics you've made.

& Don't get me wrong, i want to learn more about the Blackmoon blades and the Wolven, but it has to be in the same quality as everything else.
My favorite part about this was the pup story Sekiskrei told to Kilrok. It gave more insight about wolven history and their king (Fenrir is badass i love him). But the rest was mindless squabbling about some painting i don't care about.

I think that the action belongs to the main fic, and these sub fics should have more lore / characterization to important characters that the main fic doesn't get the chance to talk about alot.




Of course you know better, and maybe you have plans for this sub fic. But am just putting my opinion out there for you to consider.

:heart:

4608322 Upheaval fanboy powers activate!

3 Ponies taking down 2 wolven squads and a castle just for a painting, thats some extreme shit.

Considering Sablesteel took down six heavily armored True Earth Ponies without even trying too hard, three of them taking on a small group of unprepared wolven is practically par for course in my mind.

The Blackmoon blades are few as it is, why would they sacrifice 2 members (one of them i am speculating to be Sablesteel's grandfather) for a painting just because it has Luna on it.

But the painting was SUPER beautiful, too beautiful to be left in the paws(?) of the wolven. That must have been Charred's (Sable's grandfather) rational to the other Blades for getting it back. Remember, Charred wanted to kill off the Blackmoon Blades because, to quote Sable: "[they] were deluded fanatics" (Reckoning chpt. 47). He wanted Sable to become the first Blade with "their dedicated discipline, their brutal and effective training, their accumulated knowledge on the arts of killing" but without their "worthless, deluded, self-serving dogma." The whole idea of the mission is definitely insane, probably the only reason the other members agreed to it was to 'prove their dedication to Luna' or something along those lines. And who knows, maybe the pegasus who got away was Sablesteel, though that's pure speculation, we never got an actual look at the pony under the insect-looking armor.

As for the reason why the wolven were wearing breather masks it's quite simple: they think death by poison to be a dishonorable one and since Seskiskrei knew that their attackers were poison users (the earless corpses were a dead giveaway that it was the Blackmoon Blades) she created some since they didn't want to die dishonorably. The wolven are quite interesting, they're not above using loopholes (Fenrir causing fear blizzard in final battle for Bastion City), I'd say above all else they're fairly clever despite all their obsession about 'honor'.

Otherwise, yay! Wolven backstory!

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You definitely out fanboyed me with all that knowledge.
You knocked my argument about the mission itself.

But comon, what are six heavily armored True Earth Ponies to a castle full of wolven.
I get its a new moon, but the wolven are fearsome and vicious. And they are portrayed too incompetent and out of character in this chapter.

It just made me fanrage :ajsleepy:

4608889 Considering it was a sneak attack by a relatively unknown foe with basically one-hit-kill poisons I'd say the wolven did okay as a melee force who focus on brute strength. Though I would like to hear how you thought the wolven were incompetent and out of character in more detail.

Whoa it has been a while since we got a story/chapter from the perspective of the wolven. I was most impressed with the amount of detail subtly highlighting the principles of wolven society and military doctrine. Sometime I forget just how fleshed out the Upheaval universe is :twilightblush:

I especially like the whole concept surrounding the "Night of Long Howls". It makes sense Fenrir would be bummed out that Luna got blasted to the moon. Still I can't help but wonder if it was sadness or rage that fueled his campaign of retaliation.

As always these Upheaval sides stories make for some damn good reading.

4608889
No one can out fanboy Stringtheory in the Upheaval knowledge department. Don't feel bad, we have all been there my friend :raritywink:
Just remember that the Upheaval fan-base has some of the chillest bros on the internet, so we are all pals here.

But I understand where you are coming from, just take solace in the fact that the Wolven are still totally badass. Even with comparatively limited magical abilities these glorious bastards still wreck town against their foes. Overgrown snakes and tiny horses are a tenacious lot, but eventually they will just be dinner.

I have no idea how the Wolven would fair against the forces of Arugek's Ursinium. As readers we don't know much about them, but it safe to assume that it would be a contest of raw strength. hmm now isn't that some food for thought (O_o)

4610024 In terms of Ursan vs Wolven, I'd say it would be plain brute strength vs brute strength with cleverness. Against ponies all Ursans seem to have going for them is their size, strength, and magic resistance, so against Wolven I'd say it would roughly be equal from what very little knowledge we have of the Ursans, since they do apparently have armor, but there's been no mention of them using weapons of any kind, only claws, so they're probably entirely melee focused while the Wolven do at least have crossbows.

I really do enjoy these wolven chapters a lot. It's always nice to hear from different sides. :)
But wow, some wolven get so angry that they would kill their own kind! (Poor Taskra) And that some wolven would make themselves 'delicious' for their king to eat them, knowing they could die.
By the way,how do you come up with their names? They're obviously different from ponies.
Anyway, great story! Like always, keep up the good work!

4611911

Well since all we can do is speculate at this point, I figured I would add my two cents to the conversation. My guess is the same as yours, with it mainly being a contest of strength.

However each side has their own unique advantages. The Wolven have speed and pack oriented tactics. Where as the Ursan have overwhelming strength and tenacity. Which in all likeliness probably evens out the match up between the two races.

Still I think the real heart of the debate lies in the question of how does a wolven brachyurus compare to a typical Ursan?

The Quarrel Mark Two Windlass-operated Arbalest was strong enough to pierce the hide of a brachyurus yet just light enough to be used in flight. In Chapter 56: Legion-forged, it's mentioned that the Western barrier land troops were using an unnamed variety of heavy crossbow that was designed to puncture the armor of the Ursans, and as such was unusable in flight.

Discounting the ursan armor, does this mean that your typical rank and file Ursan is on par with the elite brachyurus? There is still to many unknowns for me to have anything close to a definitive answer. But I suspect they must be somewhat evenly matched.

Don't even get me started on the where the Ursan Titan falls into this debate. Considering the Equestrian Legion employs a small two pony operated ballistae, aka the "bear-skewer" against those beasts. :unsuresweetie:

4613291 Hmm, considering we haven't seen an Ursan in person, I'm just extrapolating from wolves and bears to say that while an average Ursan would overpower a wolven, the wolven would probably be able to outsmart and probably outnumber the Ursans.

I'm pulling in Visiden's World Notes into this discussion since it helps clear up some of the size questions on both sides. Apparently the average Ursan is about six feet tall with four inch claws capable of rending metal and teeth capable of crushing stone, this lines up with the Western Legion's focus more on mobility since armor is practically useless against Ursans. On the Wolven side, the average wolven is about the size of a pony (I'd say around 3-4 ft tall, with alicorns being 4-6 ft. judging from both the story and the show), while berserkers are 2-4 times larger than the average wolven (so about 6-9 ft. tall), finally brachyurri are 8-10 ft tall. So that would put the average berserker about on par with the average Ursan in terms of size.
However, Ursans only get larger from the base of about six feet tall, Matriarchs/Patriarchs stand about 12 feet tall and are usually the leaders of large Ursan clans. Ursan Titans stand upwards of usually 16 feet tall but are the most animalistic, being unleashed at the enemy rather than given any kind of orders.
So, while titans would be almost twice the size of a brachyurus, the brachyurus is fully intelligent compared with the most likely instinctual, animalistic titan.
When comparing the two societies, the Wolven are far more organized with a clear hierarchy due to their pack nature. The average Ursan on the other hand:

"consider themselves as the pinnacle of the ursan form and view other ursans as ugly copies to be tolerated."

"Ursan society is rife with rivalries and constant in-fighting, held together more by mutual hatred of non-ursans and the will of their mighty king, than any kind of cooperation.

Despite their incredible strength and natural defenses, ursan extermination campaigns are plagued by low numbers and limited supplies."

For all the faults of the Wolven, their invasion of the Northern Barrier Land was highly organized, with large numbers and a working supply line I would think. Thus, while the Ursans might win the battles due to their high individual power, the Wolven would probably win the war thanks to their superior numbers and better logistics and cohesion.

4613572

Shazam! There you have it folks. Stringtheory coming up big in the knowledge department again XD

I totally forgot about the World notes the author posted awhile back. Still I think your summary of the Wolven vs Ursan really hits the nail on the head, as it covers both sides on an individual and faction level. Man it feels good to nerd out over this series!
But real talk for a second....god damn 16 foot tall armored bears :twilightoops:
reactiongifs.com/r/oh-shi.gif

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4614101

I've always though that the ursans came from mlp itself, from S1 E6.
And maybe Vis intended it that way, but if he did he got the proportions all wrong.


i.imgur.com/MuGCtUd.jpg





Keep in mind that this creature exists in the heartland and it maybe smaller than the average Ursa in the barrier lands.

I always imagine Ursas this way, surely with such an enormous size they have unmatched strength / endurance.
It would take 100 Legion ponies to take down one of these bastards using siege weaponry and that crazy magic cannon thingy.

And according to world notes, an Ursan titan is 2.6 larger than the normal Ursan. At this point, i can no longer imagine their sizes.

4614101 And Fenrir's a 20 foot tall DEMIGOD wolf! Not to mention the Ophidites have 14 foot long super magical snakes with rainbow colored WINGS! It's amazing that Equestria hasn't fallen yet, but ponies do have unity, all the others are really only kept together by their leaders, and easy access to a wide variety of magic, something that really only the Ophidites also have access to, not to mention a major percentage of the population are flyers, something that only Ophitdite Coatls have.


4614244 The Ursa Minor and Major were probably the inspiration for Ursans, but like I said before: the average mortal Ursan is about six feet tall. If star bears really are related to the Ursans and not just random megafauna like hydras, manticores, and cockatrices, then I'm going to call that they are whatever species of divine being Arugek is, but even still the Ursa Major according to your chart is too big to be Ursan divine being since it seems that the general rule of thumb is that divine beings are about twice the size of the largest mortal (alicorns are about 4-6 ft. tall, while Fenrir is at leat 20 ft. tall, two times the size of an Brachyurus), thus Arugek would be about 32 ft. tall? Shit...and Sesyth would be about 28 ft. long. :twilightoops:

4612263 It seems that Visiden likes to use naming conventions with the other species. Dragons have the ending of -adora for females and -hadar for males. Wolven seem to follow the pattern of -rok or -rak for males and one of the ending for females seems to be -skra. I don't have enough names for Ursans or Ophities to tell for them though. For mortal ponies the obvious pattern is either two word names or one word, usually a closed compound word. Alicorns for the most part follow the two word convention, except with latin.

4615837
True, now that you mention it. They all just sound so unique compared to other species! And wow, how did you notice those details? I would've never guessed that males and females have different sort of endings for their names.
Anyway, thanks for telling me about your observation there. I actually found it really interesting.

4621683 'They' meaning who? Ponies?
Someone else brought up the the naming convention for dragons (which was blindingly obvious in hindsight). For the Wolven, once I was looking for endings and had a bunch of names in front of me, it was pretty obvious.
Actually, once you step outside of english, endings based on gender become fairly common, especially in Eastern Europe, usually to denote the family name. In languages with gender-ed endings, the difference is usually obvious as well (most spanish women's names end with -a). All you've ever wanted to know about naming practices around the world: FBIIC naming practice guide.

4624830
Oops, sorry. XD
What I meant was that each species has their own unique types of names.
You actually surprised me again. My family is Spanish and all the women in our family have names that end with -a. Can't believe I didn't notice that before.
And thanks for the link, I'll definitely look into it.

Ah, now that's more like it, Vis. Wasn't overly fond of Kin and Kind, but this is more my style. Worldbuilding, some great action with the (last?) Blackmoon Blades, and revisiting the perspective of the wolven, who were always interesting in the rare few chapters we took their POV.

But I should tell you, you really need to start submitting these side-stories to Equestria Daily so that they can be added to Upheaval's page. Reckoning has 1553 favourites, but only a little over 700 people follow you, and when you submit a new side-story, it's never accompanied by a story-tagged blog of any kind to alert readers. Over half your audience has no idea that these even exist. You might want to do something about that.

This was one end very good.:derpyderp2:

Bon appétit, Wolven King. :rainbowlaugh:

It didn't matter which from our enemies.

from which?

He seen their legionnaires and he had heard enough tales

He'd


I thought this would be very predictable, but but the last bit was interesting and I'd actually expected that it would be more one-sided victory for the Blackmoons.

Really though, I'm not sure how the woven can continue as a species if they kill each other at the rate you seem to imply.

If only my loyal subjects were as thoughtful as Sekiskrei

4608322

Anyways, judging from the ending, this story is far from over.

It ends with them seasoning themselves so they taste good when they're eaten. How does that count as 'far from over'? :derpyderp1:

4608780

maybe the pegasus who got away was Sablesteel,

This happened 100 years after Luna was banished, 900 years before Upheval.

4986000 Sekiskrei said it had been "over a hundred years" since Luna was banished, so anywhere from 125-200 years afterwards, depending on how much valve the Wolven put on exact timekeeping. Also, remember that the individuals who became part of the Thorns were already at peak ability when they were recruited by Black Rose and in Growing Thorns she was already High Commander of the Legion and had her tower, remember she got smashed by Terrato around 300 years after Luna got banished, and she had be extending her life for a while by that point. So I'd say they might have been recruited around 200 considering everyone's roughly the same age as in Reckoning assuming they also got their lives extended, and Sablesteel was the last Blackmoon Blade for...some period of time before Growing Thorns. I'd say it's possible that the pegasus was Sablesteel, though I do have to admit I'm skewing the dates in my favor.

So tell me something. Do the Wolven even have a sense of smell? I mean you'd think a Wolf like race, Wolves being natural hunters, would have a really good sense of smell therefore making it really hard for them to be snuck up on. If their scent was being cloaked by a spell, surely the Wolven Shamans would have set up a ritual to counteract cloaking spells as well as the anti-Pegasi icy wind spell. Especially in one of their main fortresses, this is absurd.

I don't see how the hell the Wolven have stayed in this war for a thousand years. You have all these elite Pony troops (Special Operations, Blackmoon Blades, True Earth Ponies, the Thorns), a massive technological and magical advantage. Sure you have the Brachyurus but there isn't a lot of them and we've heard of individual Ponies like Scarlet Rabbit killing them. Yet the only adaptation the Wolven make are crossbows and gas masks. :facehoof:

If the Ponies can vary wildly in magical ability, why can't Wolven? Where are the uber Shamans freezing fortress walls or whole lines of Pony infantry? If the Wolven steal from the Ponies they raid, why haven't they studied Pony armor and made their own yet? Would they really let themselves die to crossbow when they are willing to wear gas masks to ward off poison because it's not an honourable death?

This is an okay one-shot but it just makes the Wolven look weak as shit. I understand none of the 3 enemies (Wolven, Ophidites and Ursans) can be equal to the Ponies because we have to believe the Ponies could hold off all 3 for a thousand years +. But they have to be at least somewhat comparable or it makes people like me question how the fuck the Ponies haven't beaten the Wolven yet?

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