[FO:E] Fallout Equestria OOC 2: Ante-Up My Little Ponies

[Rebonack]

Two hundred years ago war raged between Equestria and the Zebra Empire. A war ended decisively with megaspell strikes on each nation, devastating the land and poisoning it with necromantic radiation. The Pegasus sealed up the sky with an omnipresent curtain of clouds, shrouding the surface in perpetual gloom. Survivors retreated into the Stables, massive fallout shelters to protect them from the radiation storm above. Some offered salvation. Others became nightmarish death-traps. But the Stables opened and descendants populated the blasted, blighted wastes.

Some Stables remain closed, forgotten by the world.

The Princesses are dead.

Fell things watch from the Stars.

Unity seeks to consume all.

A new order rises on the backs of slaves.

Harmony is shattered and forgotten.

Discord warps fragile virtue.

And Friendship is dying in the hearts of ponies.

Can light be returned to the Equestrian Wasteland?

Or is suffering and hate its only future?

This can only be known in the course of time.

This is Fallout Equestria.

The Nation of Equestria

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Locations

Manehatten is a pretty happening place, its ruins containing the towns of Tenpony Tower (ritzy! Home of the Twilight Society and DJ-Pon3), Gutterville, Arbu (they hunt Radigators! And possibly other things...). The Buckland Cross (ruined bridge) serves as the headquarters of the Manehatten Steel Rangers chapter.

Fillydelphia is the home turf of the New Equestria movement, a growing dictatorship that is using slave labor in an attempt to rebuild Equestria's infrastructure. The Fillydelphia chapter of the Steel Rangers is set up in the StableTech HQ and they don't get along particularly well with the New Equestrians.

Ponyville is essentially a giant Raider nest. Those nasty nasty Raiders.

Maripony is the home turf of Unity, the seat from which The Goddess controls her Alicorn collective. Probably best not to go here unless one feels inclined to be mutated horribly.

Old Olneigh was previously the home of the miners who cleared out Maripony of its gem deposits. It is now home to an extensive pack of Hellhounds. Non-hellhound visitors probably won't be met with a warm welcome.

The Canterlot Ruins contains Stabletown, built from the remains of Stable1 and populated by Canterlot Ghouls. Zebratown, a suburb of Canterlot, can be found here as well. All these locations are choked with a blanket of necrotic fog. Visiting is highly discouraged unless one is undead already.

Appleloosa is one of the primary hubs of the slave trade. Slaves are auctioned off here before being shipped all over Equestria. Though mostly to Fillydelphia.

New Appleloosa is a scrap-town that survives mostly off the trade of scavenging, booze distilleries, and most notably Ditzy Doo's Mercantile. She sells everything!

Shatteredhoof was once the most infamous prison in all of Equestria. Now it's a mercenary city under the control of the Talons. If you need some tough as nails Griffons (and ponies!) to get a job done then look no further. Junction R-7 is an outpost of Shatteredhoof.

Saltlick City is a thriving community that makes quite the fortune in caps mining salts from both the nearby flats as well as the salt domes found under nearby mountains. An important ingredient in potions (as well as a number of drugs) these salts are an invaluable asset to Equestria.

Bridle Shores, paradise of the Wasteland!

Of course a place really doesn't have to be that spectacular to be considered a paradise when contrasted with the rest of the Wasteland. A small sea-side community on the west coast of Equestria, Bridle Shores wasn't large enough to warrant a MegaSpell attack. No important ministry hubs. No large military bases. No industrial centers. Just a community focused on tourism, farming, and harvesting the kelp forest that grows off shore.

Much of the farmland had been destroyed by irradiated runoff from White Tail Woods. However, the kelp fields are still thriving! Between sea weed and a much more recent fishing industry this town by the sea is one of the few places left in Equestria that holds some semblance of its former glory.

Vanhoover is located in the northwest of Equestria and is surrounded by a constant blizzard of horrific proportions. It's said that anypony who gets close enough can hear the haunting cries of Windigos amidst the driving snow. Vanhoover itself was long ago plagued by a terrible infestation of taint that warped anything that was still alive there.

Nopony goes to Vanhoover anymore.

Tall Tail was once a major shipping center for Equestria's west coast and the nation's capital for the fabrication of arcane technology. The Tall Tail Steel Rangers chapter has almost uncontested control of the city and its remaining resources.

The Factions

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-Steel Rangers are an elite group of power-armor clad Earth ponies committed to collecting and guarding the artifacts of the Ministry of Wartime Technology. While some Steel Rangers are kind hearted as an organization they value technology above the lives of ponies. Purges of whole Stables aren't uncommon as a means to gain old tech. In many ways the Steel Rangers are no better than Bandits with better training and toys.

-Unity is a collective hivemind of Alicorns controlled by the enigmatic Goddess out of her citadel in Maripony. They are known to capture ponies of exceptional magical power and convert them into Alicorns to augment the abilities of Unity. An alicorn's old memory is drowned out in the Dream of Unity, though their core personality is left intact. Despite common stories alicorns are not in fact without individuality. Some ponies worship the Goddess and see Unity as an improvement over the strife of the Wasteland.

-The Enclave is the military government of the Pegasus ponies. For the most part they keep to themselves above the cloud curtain, though there are a few mountain top Enclave Mining Outposts where contact and trade are possible. Pegasus that travel to the surface and associate with other ponies are written off as contaminated by the Enclave and killed if they attempt to return to Pegasus society.

-The Twilight Society is a cabal of powerful mages who seek to follow the legacy of Twilight Sparkle, arguably the most magical unicorn who has ever lived. To that end they seek out powerful magical objects and lore to increase their own knowledge and power base. The Twilight Society often employs other ponies to collect important objects of power for them.

-New Equestria is a brutal oligarchy using slavery to attempt to rebuild the infrastructure and former glory of Equestria. Though their leadership insists that their goals are laudable their methods leave quite a bit to be desired.

-The Talons are the most prestigious group of mercenaries in Equestria. Traditionally a griffon-only organization ponies also serve to lend a bit of extra hoof-power when the need arises. The Talons are known for a strong sense of honor, unwilling to break contract even if a more lucrative offer arises. Talons who break contract often find a bounty placed on their head by the organization.

-Raiders aren't strictly a faction, but they can be found scattered all over Equestria. These are ponies that have completely lost their Virtue and now have no anchor to keep themselves from becoming caught up in the maddening whispers of the Stars. They are driven in an ever deepening spiral of insanity and depravity ended only by the forfeit of their lives.

-Towns, Tribes, and Stables are likewise not a faction in the strict sense, but many ponies have no allegiance to an Equestria-spanning organization. Instead they may simply fight to protect their community or their own interests.

Creating a Character

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The Bio

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Name Your pony has one of these, right?

Race Pony (Earth, Unicorn, Pegasus), Zebra, Griffon, Hellhound, Bison, Dragon, Alicorn, Sheep, Goat, Minotaur, Donkey, Cow, Changeling. Are they a ghoul? Do we want Bat Ponies (Luna's royal guards) to be a separate race from Pegasus? What about Glimmerwing and Crystal ponies (season 3)?

Cutie Mark/Special Talent Pony and Zebra only. What is the one special thing that your pony is really good at? What makes them special? Decide and they get a pretty picture representing it on their butt. Oh. And their innate magic focuses on that talent as well. Zebras gain Glyphmarks rather than Cutie Marks.

Virtue What separates ponies with some degree of good left in them from completely irredeemable Raiders. Kindness. Laughter. Honesty. Generosity. Loyalty. Magic. Every Virtue can be a Harmonious and tempered by friendship or a Discordant, hollow mockery. Regardless of whether a pony's Virtue is Discordant or Harmonious it is their anchor against the steady erosion of their soul by the Equestrian Wasteland. This would be a swell place to expound on your pony's personality in general, too!

Appearance Your pony looks like something, right?

Faction Who is your pony associated with? A city? A Stable? An ideological group? Or are they the lone timberwolf sort? Do they have Friends? Tell us here!

Primary Skills What is your pony good at? Aside from their special talent of course. A character should have five (or fewer) skills that they're VERY good at. These are the generalized skills applicable to life in the Wasteland. Armor, Battle-Saddle, Explosives, Fire-Arms, Medical, Melee, MEWs, Repair, Science, Speech, Stealth, and Survival. Especially powerful Traits should be included here as well (like, say, bending reality ala Pinkie Pie).

Secondary Skills Secondary skills can be viewed either as things that a pony is decent at, but not particularly amazing, as a specialization within one of their primary skills, or as a skill that doesn't really fall into the major categories (underwater basket weaving!) Secondary skills tend to be more focused than primary skills are (surgery/chem pre/potion making/first aid as opposed to Medical).

Equipment What kind of nifty gear is your pony outfitted with? Barding, tools, weapons, ammo, potions, books, alchemy ingredients, caps, vehicles, magical Ministry Mare statuettes. Good things to keep track of!

A Bit on Magic

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ALL ponies are magical. As is to be expected of magical talking pastel colored tiny horses. Unicorns are the only ponies that can actually cast spells (aside from Alicorns, more on them later).

Earth pony magic takes the form of an empathic bond between themselves and whatever their special talent is. To an observer it would appear as though they're just REALLY good at whatever it is they do, but it goes deeper than that. Fluttershy is a bit unusual in that she uses Earth Pony magic in addition to her (very weak) Pegasus magic. Her Stare is a form of empathic overload I would guess.

Pegasus pony magic allows them to fly despite their tiny wings, grants them the ability to mess with weather, and allows for interaction with clouds as if they were solid object. Griffons use the same flavor of magic that Pegasus do.

Zebras cast spells as well, but instead of using arcane magic like the Unicorns they instead create potions (and other objects) and pour the spell-effect into that. Obviously it takes longer to craft a potion than it does to cast a spell, but once the potion or artifact has been made anypony can use it.

Alicorns are a fusion of all three pony tribes and use all three forms of magic. However the Alicorns of Unity have no cutie marks since they have no individuality.

Weee, spell schools!

Destructive spells (arcane bolts, elemental beams, energy arrows)
Defensive spells (healing, shields, cleansing magic, wards)
Divination spells (sending and gathering information)
Illusion spells (sensory tomfoolery!)
Beguiling spells (attacking the target's mind, want it need it)
Alteration spells (making physical changes to both ponies and environment)
Translocation spells (teleportation, telekinesis, conjuring objects)
Necromancy spells (dark magic that attacks the soul and vitality)

On Weapons

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Weapons are an important tool in the hooves of anyone who feels inclined to survive in the Equestrian Wasteland. As such it's important to familiarize one's self with their properties and uses.

Magical weapons function much like their mundane counterparts, though injuries from magical weapons can't be healed normally. The scarred tissue must be cut away before healing is possible. Additionally magical energy weapons have a chance of completely disintegrating their target, reducing them to a heap of glowing pastel-colored ash. Magical weapons use Sparkle Batteries rather than bullets for ammo.

Melee Weapons have the benefit of requiring no ammunition, however one must get up close and personal with them. Hellhound-Claw weapons are of special note. Using their claws living Hellhounds are able to rapidly burrow through solid rock and even sheer through steel with little trouble. When weaponized they have a similar effect on armor and ponies.

Small arms (pistols, revolvers, and the like) are weaker and less accurate than larger weapons, but they're far less awkward in cramped conditions and easier to conceal. Additionally these weapons are easy for a Unicorn to wield via Levitation.

Long arms (shotguns and rifles) are more powerful and more accurate (or don't worry so much about accuracy in the case of shotguns) than their smaller counterparts. However they're quite a bit larger. Most long arms can be wielded via Levitation, though higher powered weapons are liable to buck themselves out of grip after being fired.

Heavy weapons (flamers, miniguns, rail guns, grenade launchers, rocket-pods, plasma cannons) are extremely powerful and deadly. And also, as the name suggests, extremely heavy. Wielding them without a Battle Saddle, powered armor, or a mounting is pretty much impossible.

Pony Archive.

Link to the ever-useful RPing guidelines!

[Tychris1]

*Plants Flag in the name of Ponyville*

[Benson]

I do hope you are enjoying the current shenanigans with Maul Steel and Tough Stomp xD

[BladeofObliviom]

I do hope you are enjoying the current shenanigans with Maul Steel and Tough Stomp xD

Mildly silly adventures are always a nice counterpoint to the Angst, Doom, and Gloom.

Even Project Horizons, despite being quite probably the darkest thing I've ever seen or read outside of Warhammer 40K, keeps some slapstick and humor around once in a while.

[MCerberus]

I think it should be law that each region be inhabited by at least one comic-relief at all times. Right now we have near-Appleoosa runaways, and Manehatten has Scoops.

[Benson]

Gwendolyn and Lucky Break are making an effort to sneak in slapstick as well xD

[Lycan 01]

Lucky's value as comic relief is probably the only thing keeping him alive right now. XD

Granted, he has his serious moments. I actually have a few really serious things planned for him once he gets to Tennpony Tower. Quite a few delicate situations, actually.

[BladeofObliviom]

It just occurred to me that with Shadow Stride dead, Celestia's Legion will probably never actually figure out what happened at Old Appleoosa.

[MCerberus]

Lucky's value as comic relief is probably the only thing keeping him alive right now. XD

Granted, he has his serious moments. I actually have a few really serious things planned for him once he gets to Tennpony Tower. Quite a few delicate situations, actually.

You know what we should combine with Lucky's doom-ed-ness? Whadda's rash decision making process.

[BladeofObliviom]

Also, since we conveniently have a new thread, I'd like to humbly propose that This Link be added to the OP.

It is very useful to have a quick reference, after all. Even a somewhat incomplete and sparse one.

EDIT: Derp, it's already there. >.>

[Lycan 01]

It just occurred to me that with Shadow Stride dead, Celestia's Legion will probably never actually figure out what happened at Old Appleoosa.

Silver Tongue survived. He not only knows exactly what happened, but he also knows Lucky has abandoned the Legion. Not gonna be pretty in a couple of weeks the Legion rolls into town for some revenge...


Also, Whadda does indeed need to work on her decision making processes. Alicorns are charging up the building floor by floor, and she wants to stop and drink soda?!

[Tychris1]

I do hope you are enjoying the current shenanigans with Maul Steel and Tough Stomp xD

Yes, yes I am.

Porcupines man....

[Benson]

I kinda want to go for a "Weird West" sort of vibe for Maul and Tough as they have misadventures in the southwest, becoming the reluctant heroes, being on the cowardly side.

TyChris1, is there a particular...'thing' style...theme, direction, you want for them?

[Tychris1]

I was hoping to get a kind of "Humorous masks for terrible situations" thing for Maul Steel (Ex: Pinkie Pie from Friendship is Witchcraft, or the Song "Turn it Off" from The Book of Mormon esque). Should be easy enough to integrate into the Wild West theme.

[Benson]

Oh sorry...I didn't mean for the characters themselves. I meant that I was hoping to for a Weird West theme setting. Poor choice of words at the time on my part. ^^;

[Luka]

Only comic relief I have right now is Blaster, I was planning Luka to mostly just go into a "Rated C for Crazy awesome" comic relief, like, but right now he's stuck in srss bsnss.....

Also, have to think on how to make Gleamy's sheet and how to actually alter make the 2 Steel Ranger foals I had planned, I originally planned Aisis to be just a scribe student/initiate/thing that was in it just to help, and Mile to be very, very overcheerful (possible comic relief too) and.... Well, cheerful with a power armor . Sudden explanation of how Steel Rangers were broke the concepts.

[PurityIcekiller]

Pretty much all my characters are intended to have a bit of comic relief about them. Except the dark cloaked one, that is. Night Jewel's prone to wittiness, Bright Eyes is a little too bright for the setting, Nails exists to suffer in amusing ways, and Violetta has her moments.

Also, just a little reminder that not getting left behind in a scene is a thing I kind of appreciate. Thanks.

[TheAmishPirate]

Speaking of Violetta, Fleetwing is attempting to carry her down the ravine in the Northern thread.

[BladeofObliviom]

.... She's still gorgeus

Man, you are far too insistent on this point, considering this character is unconscious.


In other news, it occurs to me that Alicorn!Ebon pretty much would be Alduin after all. >.>

[Luka]

Man, you are far too insistent on this point, considering this character is unconscious.

I think I warned I sucked at comic relief!
Editing that part out then if it's too much trouble

[Lycan 01]

Pretty much all my characters are intended to have a bit of comic relief about them. Except the dark cloaked one, that is. Night Jewel's prone to wittiness, Bright Eyes is a little too bright for the setting, Nails exists to suffer in amusing ways, and Violetta has her moments.

Also, just a little reminder that not getting left behind in a scene is a thing I kind of appreciate. Thanks.

Which scene did you get left behind in?

-Night Jewel walked out of the town. There's not much Rebonak can really do with that, unless he's planning something for when he knows for sure what everyone else is doing. She hasn't been left behind, so much as she's kinda written herself into limbo or out of the scene.
-Bright Eyes still has her turn. Gwendolyn picked up Lucky and threw him; it just took us a couple of posts to set that action up and execute it. Bob is waiting until Bright Eyes to act, though, before he actually posts the results and moves on to the next turn.
-It's Violetta's turn at the ravine.


I don't really see where you've been left behind. If that's the impression you're under, then I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. But seriously, no one's trying to ditch you or anything.

[PurityIcekiller]

Oh, sorry. It seemed like Gwendolyn and Lucky were taking a number of actions in my absence. I must have misunderstood a bit.

[Lycan 01]

Oh, sorry. It seemed like Gwendolyn and Lucky were taking a number of actions in my absence. I must have misunderstood a bit.

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not.

Lucky's only real action was to mutter and grope. Laying there bleeding isn't really an action, so much a state of being. And opening his eyes to say "buck" is just a reaction I thought would be funny to post.

Gwendolyn picking up Lucky and taking flight was one action. Throwing Lucky was a reaction to him slapping her ass, but I guess it could be possibly seen as an action. But since Bob never posted the results in your absence, we're still operating in the same turn, waiting on your own input and actions before it ends. (Side-note: Bob already went to bed. )

So yeah, we weren't purposefully leaving you behind. It was only a few seconds worth of movement and action, which just took several posts to set up. It's not like they did several posts in quick succession where they did prolonged actions, like running screaming towards the enemy, guns blazing, dodging bullets, and taking down multiple bandits in your absence.

[PurityIcekiller]

Well, it was the number of posts that threw me off, actually.

[BladeofObliviom]

I think I warned I sucked at comic relief!
Editing that part out then if it's too much trouble

It's not a problem. It's just that the chain of events basically goes:

She's knocked unconscious. She's Gorgeous! Her clothes are removed while she's unconscious! She's still Gorgeous!


In other news, I will be genuinely surprised if Ebon isn't a greasy stain on the ground by the next post. Luna knows he's asking for it.

[Lycan 01]

Well, it was the number of posts that threw me off, actually.

Like I said, even though we posted a few times, they were mostly dialogue and reactions, rather than major time-consuming actions. And the turn doesn't actually end until the GM - Bob in this case - makes a post that explains the results, and the bad guys' actions.

It's like in Dungeons and Dragons. Every round in DnD, you have a Standard, a Move, and a Minor action. But talking is a Free Action, as are certain Reactions, which means you can do them several times a turn - within reason. This is roughly the same idea in combat rounds for freeform games. You can take a main action or two within reason, but you can make more than one post to make comments or share your characters thoughts/feelings/reactions about an event occuring mid-turn.

So, if you'd posted earlier, then me and Benson had done Gwendolyn and Lucky's "grab-grope-hurl" thing, you still could have posted for Bright Eyes to make a witty remark about it or something, even though she'd already "acted" this round.

Does that make sense?

It's not a problem. It's just that the chain of events basically goes:

She's knocked unconscious. She's Gorgeous! Her clothes are removed while she's unconscious! She's still Gorgeous!


In other news, I will be genuinely surprised if Ebon isn't a greasy stain on the ground by the next post. Luna knows he's asking for it.

Why is he slurring? The little unicorn didn't actually stab him, and I don't think Mesmer hit him hard enough to cause serious brain damage.

[BladeofObliviom]

Why is he slurring? The little unicorn didn't actually stab him, and I don't think Mesmer hit him hard enough to cause serious brain damage.

Well, the same attack caused blood to pour from all of Anoma's facial orifices and rendered her disabled until she presumably regenerated. While Ebon's shield did offer some protection due to it being delivered by a sonic wave, it still caused some brain damage. While the healing potion helped somewhat, he's still just a little bit out of alignment. It could probably be fixed by more specialized magic, but there are limits on what simple healing potions can do.

Probably doesn't help that he picked up some taint in Ghastly Gorge.

[Lycan 01]

Well, the same attack caused blood to pour from all of Anoma's facial orifices and rendered her disabled until she presumably regenerated. While Ebon's shield did offer some protection due to it being delivered by a sonic wave, it still caused some brain damage. While the healing potion helped somewhat, he's still just a little bit out of alignment. It could probably be fixed by more specialized magic, but there are limits on what simple healing potions can do.

Probably doesn't help that he picked up some taint in Ghastly Gorge.

Unity could probably fix it.

[Drowlord]

Well then! A new OOC! And we have a discussion on comic relief characters.

Sparky is comic relief. Elestre is most certainly not. I might be needing to get a new character after Elestre shouts at the alicorn, although maybe it will be interested in his speech in a good way and maybe it will just ignore him.

[Dark Elf Bard]

Naah, his cousn is gonna protect the **** outta him.