Page generated in 0.019 seconds
Total duration
887 users online
497,404 hits today, 2,167,270 yesterday
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
If Merrie is named after a river, then what is Damme named after?
Well I just started reading this and so far I'm enjoying it immensely.
10659834
The Dam farther up the river mitigating the worst of the yearly floodwaters. Inspiration for the names of the cities came from Amsterdam, named after the river and the dam. The dam itself rarely comes up in the story, though. It will come up later in the story, though, as the annual floodwaters start to be a problem again.
Amsterdam name history The language they spoke in the past is also somewhat dutch. It's called Dammerlandic, just as dutch is sometimes called "netherlandic". In fact, some of the words and concepts in the story are dutch language.
Principes van Vrije Liefde: Principles of Free Love (rough translation). Merrie's philosophical base.
Liefdesprincipes Tussen Twee: Principles of love between two, Damme's philosophical base.
10659859
I'm glad! I hope you find it interesting the way through. I'm very happy to say lots, and sometimes too much.
10659889
So what’s happened to the original language? Was it phased out gradually as Equestria began to wield greater economic and political power? Or have they been speaking it this entire time and because we’ve heard everything from them alone we haven’t noticed?
Either way, is there much of a Merrie/Damme national consciousness beyond just the two cities competing with each other?
10662005
The old language has faded into Old Dammerlandic, and mostly exists as an accent as larger Equestrian has moved in. Some still speak it and it's getting a revival as more than an academic interest about now.
Rosewater speaks it, but her primary language is Equestrian.
As for their national identities, Merrie is very proud of their wines, their control and use of fragrance, the color and use of flowers and flowering plants throughout their city making a feast for the eyes and nose, and their rich romantic view of life.
Damme is more stoic, but they very much enjoy a good piece of furniture, good wood for all sorts of things, their rich variety of grains and cereal crops for breads, pastries, and the rich tradition of brewing Dammerale, and their steadfast, stable view on life.
Together, the cities thrive on trade, more now that the major portion of the port facilities is no longer actively engaged in a cold war, and they both welcome tourism and immigration, though the latter is less common.
They're slowly being absorbed into the Equestrian whole, both by treaty and by the slow integration of ideas and customs from outside their borders, but they'll never really lose the accent, the appreciation of their original language (it becomes a language taught as an elective in school), or their rich heritage as woodworkers, ale brewers, flower growers, and vintners. A piece of Dammer furniture will last generations, and a Merrier wine will appreciate in flavor over decades, and put together on a good night, romance blooms.
In the future, the cities somewhat retain their old aesthetic, albeit less constrained by the river's borders and for five hundred years, color has been spreading throughout the Damme side of the city. They still maintain that rivalry in their guard force, the Merrie and Damme guards are in the same protective roles, but their tradition doesn't mean fighting, but trying to out-soldier the other half.
10662005
Ah! Customs and festivals. Good grief. I forgot about that.
Both Merrie and Damme have a special appreciation for the "Mare in the Moon", since they're so much closer to the day-long nights and the "Midnight Sun" during summer and winter. Mare's Night - not a night for mares alone, but a celebration of the Mare in the Moon. Due to their relative isolation for a hundred years or so, and the fact that the "Nightmare Night" tradition didn't really reach them in time for it to get a foothold, they venerate the Mare in the Moon on the night when she lingers longest in the sky.
Damme also has an Ice Festival that celebrates their stone working and woodworking skills in a less permanent fashion by having ice sculpture contests after the temperature dips down below freezing for the winter months. There are even mini blocks for foals and younger ponies to try their hoof at sculpting ice. Shaved ice treats are served. Since it's contingent on when the temperature turns, it generally happens at different times of the year.
Merrie has the Harvest festival, a fertility festival that celebrates the harvest with... well... hopeful fertility. Rosewater was the product of one such festival as seen in this chapter (Grandfather).
The Commoner's Gala in Merrie, on the Garden Lands, is another one, but it's much younger, and takes place on the same days every year. Four of them, in conjunction with the quarterly bi-city get-togethers mandated by the treaty as an attempt to get the cities to get along. It started out as a sales and trade event with the merchant and common class from both cities invited to attend, and participation has grown yearly since Budding Rosethorn, Seed's mother, started the tradition. Now, in the time of the story, it's a well-attended event with much revelry, dancing, socializing, and food from both cities.
These are all festivals and celebrations that are unique to the cities, and reflect the changing face, and the history, of their inhabitants.
They also have a certain pride in their history, even if sometimes they have to brush some of the inconvenient historical facts and tyrants under the rug to do so. Their family crests and flags are an important part of their national heritage, and represent centuries of local acculturation and change as they've adapted to their growing prominence and their changing stakes in the war and their own cities.
That's gotta be one of the worst parts of the pony world: if your name is a thing you make, you'll probably be bothered about it forever.
PFFT ROSE FARTS LOOOOOL
Busted Collar, your girlfriend knows better than you~
Woof, inhaling dragon fire smoke. That must have just....done awful things to their lungs...
Uh.... Rosewater...this might get worse before it gets better, girl...
HHHHMMMmmmmMMmM