[OOC] Equestria Divided - The War for Harmony

[Silver Carrot]

Name: Skywhistle

Appearance:

Skywhistle

Race: Pegasus

Faction: Stormwing

Skills: Skywhistle is a Hoplite. A Pegasi elite, raised to have more fear for dishonor than for death, therefore is unrelenting, unflinching and totally fearless is battle. She had been trained for most of her waking life in sword, spear and shield, as well as hoof to hoof combat, until she became a master of all of these forms of war.

History: Skywhistle was born into a very old and proud family of pegasi that had been royal guards in the old times, but whose bloodline could be traced uninterrupted from times before even Commander Hurricane. Being of this stock, great things were expected of her. Both of her brothers did not show enough early promise to be trained as much as she was, though they developed and grew into deadly heavy lancers and earned the nicknames 'the Raven' and 'Golemsbane' respectively.

Skywhistele would never receive a nickname, though she did her heritage proud in her first battle, killing forty earth ponies and flying into enemy territory to rescue Stormwing prisoners. She was trained to become a Hoplite after that performance, though many of the officers believed the training would kill her. It did not, and she mastered the sword, shield and spear. She was given the weapons and armor of her new rank, and flew off to her next battle.

It was a raid, on a small village, and it changed her. The Hoplites around her mercilessly slaughtered the civilians and fillies, and set torch to the houses. They looted whatever they could and lay ruin to what they couldn't take with them. Skywhistle's lack of activity was noted and she wasn't sent out as much after that. The officers had a real close eye on her. That's when she began to have the dreams.

With a new sense of destiny, she deserted her Commander and her family and flew to Redheart Refuge. Now she had finally earned a nickname; Skywhistle 'the Disgraced'

Other: She still keeps her hoplite armor, longsword, long spear, and large circular shield, and she keeps her weapons sharpened every day.

[KiltmanBagz]

@JonxLatheLion
Sorry, not aproved. Not the kind of character I'm looking for

@Rocketrobie2
IceHeart nailed it on the head; listen to their advice as it is good.

@ Silver Carrot
Accepted, you are clear to post in the accepted character thread ( link on first page )

[Frettzo]

Vetzu, the Work in Progress

Name:
Vetzu

Appearance:

Race:
Zebra

Faction:
House Everfree, especifically the westernmost zebra tribe.

Skills:
- Zebra Skirmisher: Skilled in guerrilla tactics and ranged warfare, along with expertise in the use of blowpipes.

- Alchemist: A former admirer and friend of Zecora, Vetzu has learned to brew many concoctions, poisons, antidotes and most important of all, soups and stews.

-

History:
Vetzu. The name given to a young warrior, daughter and heiress to Chieftain Veltumm LI, fifty first of his name, who's recently been unofficially exiled from Zebra lands.

The day that Vetzu was born, celebration rocked her tribe. Zebras, both old and young would gather in front of her father's house, bringing gifts and joy to share with him. At night, they'd retreat back into their huts to rest, only to be able to continue with the celebration the day after. They celebrated for a whole week, before they had to return to their respective duties.

Other: ( whatever you like )

[Imperfectionist]

Compendium of Accepted and Pending Character Sheets:

Accepted and Archived

• Fire Bloom
  (Wormwoodworms)


• Amon Crystis
  (IceHeart)


• Sunny Orchards
  (IceHeart)


• Skywhistle
  (Silver Carrot)

Pending

• Nightingale
  (grimdarkenigma)


• Tipsy Joker
  (Derpenstein)


• Starlight
  (TheSeriousJoke)


• Vetzu (WIP)
  (Frettzo)


• Swift Star
  (BlazingxLynx) - Needs to be archived

---

This is more for my benefit than anything, checking to see who has submitted sheets, and what they are. Stand by for my thoughts on those Pending acceptance.

[Imperfectionist]

Nightingale

If you're still with us, enigma, Kilt has decided to accept your Dreamwalker. Evidently, he was impressed by the sample, and just wants Nightingale to be fleshed out a bit in the IC (since you were included in those PMs, maybe you just aren't interested anymore). Here's the sample, if anyone is interested:

Nightingale IC Post

Nightingale grumbled as she hopped onto her cot. Her father, a dark grey thestral stood waiting for her. He nodded and closed his eyes. She setteled into her bed and before long sleep took her. The next thing she knew she was in a wide green field. The moon hung heavy and full above, bathing the plain below with pale light. She had entered her dreamscape, a portion of her mind that was active when she was asleep. Before long she spotted her father appear before her.

"Now then it seems you have already brought your dreamscape forth," he cast a hardened gaze around the glade," Good it seems you have been training your mind like I have told you. Now then the next step envision looking down at your body as you sleep. Note the subtle way your chest rises and falls as you sleep, the way your ears occasionally flick or how your eyes move under your shut eyelids."

Nightingale did as she was told. Suddenly the field fell away and Nightingale found herself above her body. She was in her bedroom. She looked over at her father. He was laying on the floor, asleep. Around his head there was a bright blue glow. She felt an odd hollow feeling in her stomach as she looked down at her body. It was a strange feeling to say the least.

"Do you notice that glow around my head?"

Nightingale was startled by her fathers voice. She looked around but didn't see him.

"Do not worry my little star," her father's voice chuckled," I still reside in your dreamscape that is why you can hear me. Now then what you are experiencing is a form of Astral Projection. Your soul has literally left your body but be cautious my little star should you stray too far from your body it will die." Nightingale shivered at that but held her projection." Now then do you see that glow around my body's head? That glow shows when a sentient creature is dreaming. The brighter the glow the healthier and stronger the mind. To tap into another dreaming pony's mind you need only focus on that glow and you will be able to look into their dream. Look into the next room."

Nightingale did as she was told and floated into the next room. She smiled to herself, Alright I'm getting the hang of this. The unicorn that had been posted outside their room had fallen asleep. His body glowed with a blue aura that was slightly duller than her father's.

"Now then focus on that glow. Reach your mind out and touch it," her father commanded.

Nightingale reached her mind out and then found herself in the unicorn's head... and automatically regretted it. The guard and one of the maids were doing...questionable things.

"Oh~ Harder you sorry excuse for a guard! HARDER!"

Nightingale just stared at the scene before her in utter shock. After a moment she broke her concentration and got out of the dream like she had Nightmare Moon on her tail. She reappeared inside her own dreamscape just in time to see her father rolling on the grass laughing his tail off.

"HAHAHAAH, Oh by Luna that is hilarious," he managed between gasps," Oh goddess I can't breathe."

Nightingale glared at him, unamused," Do you know how much brain bleach I'm gonna need after that," she shuddered.

After a few breathes her father stood up still chuckling," Sorry my little star I had no idea he was dreaming....that. Anyway before you got out of there like bat out of Tartarus did you notice anything peculiar."

"That's gonna be a no. I was too busy wanting to gouge my eyes out," she shuddered, again.

"Well other than that did you at least feel an elated feeling?"

Nightingale reluctantly looked back at the experience. She had felt an odd pleasure start to climb up her limbs now that she thought about it.

"Well that was because you were connected to his mind at the time. You will feel what they are feeling, be it fear, pain," he held back a chuckle," Pleasure." If looks could kill Nightingale's father would have been toast but he continued," Now then to do what we do as Night Terror's you must start to change the dream as you would change you own dream. But you must start small. Make small changes at first or you risk shocking the pony awake. In doing this you can slowly begin to open their mind to yours granting you access to their memories. From there its only a matter sifting through every memory until you find what yu are looking for. Now then for more skilled dreamwalkers like me you can even alter these memories to some degree."

"So how do you protect yourself from being the victim of a dreamwalker?" Nightingale asked.

"Meditation is key. You must have a string will and even stronger senses. In the coming months I will train you in to to fortify your mind and drive somepony off. As well I will teach you how to draw another into your dreamscape and from there torture them as you see fit."

Nightingale grimaced slightly at that. She had seen what some of the veteran Night Terror's had done to some of the prisoners they caught. They would make them witness their own death several hundred times over in every painful way possible. In the end they would become crazier than cultists. Nightingale wondered what happened to the art of dreamwalking. It used to be a way for family and friends to share tales, stories. It was a way for the flock to stay connected, now it was a method for torture. Nothing good could come of this.

(Followed by:)

Essentialy Dreamwalking can only be done when one is asleep (obviously) and the dreamwalker when they go onto a lucid dreaming state can leave their body behind. Similair to Astral Projection. Starting out a novice can maybe span a mile radius before feeling their body start to die whereas a master can go for ten or so miles. The initial manipulation is done by altering little things in the dream at first and then slowly morphing it into a straight up nightmare. Once that is done the victim is locked in the dream, allowing the assailent to peruse their memeories and even to some extent alter them. For Nightingale amd every other Thestral this talent often calls back to their talent. Nightingale essentually works in misdirection so she when she dreamwalks she will more often than not alter anothers view on her through subtle hints and what have you.

---

Tipsy Joker

Derp, I assume that you and Kilt have discussed the character, seeing as the Cult is his specialty, but there wouldn't be any trouble in putting him on the backburner. :) Whenever you get some inspiration, you can come back and jump right in. As for its current state, well, I'll just say that discussing the implications of leaving the Cult with Kilt would be a very good idea. It might even break your writer's block!

---

Starlight

There's some definite potential here, Joke! I think, if you fleshed her out a bit more, Starlight could be very easily accepted. Maybe you could write about what she thought of the Forest itself, of living the life of a Wildling for so many years. Will she have trouble re-acclimating to life in civilization (such as it is)? Does she have any lingering sense of loyalty to the Lady? Does she have more family in Equestria that could play important roles in the story?

Stuff like that, and anything else you can think of, to give us a better idea of what Starlight is like. Right now, the sheet's a little thin.

---

Halindrix
(Honorable Mention)

I'm afraid you've misunderstood the level of power we wish the characters to have. They need to be... mortals, basically. A draconequus is just asking for trouble. Not even Discord himself is in any of the literature for the setting. He was around in the past, but since the Collapse no one has seen him. If you want to make a character who is a pony, or a griffon or one of the more reasonable races, that would be perfectly fine, but a demigod simply will not fit the tone.

[KittyE]

Still interested just been uber busy. Anyway yeah ill start fleshing her out in the morning

[BlazingxLynx]

I'm still in too, just getting my cs evaluated.

[TheSeriousJoke]

Got it! It'll take a while to work on, though. I have thought her out more, it's just that I was taught show, not tell when it came to writing, so I sort only give the basics when I start out and then let the character show the rest through the story. But I'll still try to add more and I'll probably get an updated one up in a few days or so.

[Derpestein]

Thanks for that, Ms. Imper!

I kinda think that people who desert the cult would have assassins after them or something...

[Imperfectionist]

grimdarkenigma said
Still interested just been uber busy. Anyway yeah ill start fleshing her out in the morning

Fabulous.

BlazingxLynx said
I'm still in too, just getting my cs evaluated.

:) Could you send it to me as well? I don't think I've seen yours.

TheSeriousJoke said
Got it! It'll take a while to work on, though. I have thought her out more, it's just that I was taught show, not tell when it came to writing, so I sort only give the basics when I start out and then let the character show the rest through the story. But I'll still try to add more and I'll probably get an updated one up in a few days or so.

I understand the sentiment, but the character sheet also serves as a sample of your writing style, you know? If you want, you don't have to change it at all. Just send me and Kilt an IC post, so we know that you know what you're doing.

Derpestein said
Thanks for that, Ms. Imper!

I kinda think that people who desert the cult would have assassins after them or something...

:P I usually go by "Impy". Rolls off the tongue better. And... yeah. Assassins are the least of their worries, by my reckoning (see Smiling Doll).

[Imperfectionist]

Speaking of which, we've lost the image. Kilt, can you edit this one in:

New Cult Forces Image

Just copy the raw image code, and replace the one in the OP. I checked the other images, and they seem to be fine.

[Frettzo]

I've done some updates to Vetzu's sheet, namely adding in the Zebra Origin story I just made up :P

Keep in mind that all that is spoke of in the Zebra Origin happened thousands of years ago, before written word even existed. The shadows stopped showing up around the time that the zebras settled in the Everfree Forest, the deserts are empty (mostly), and the gods are nowhere to be seen, with the veil between worlds stable and with no sign of breaking (as far as I know)

[Imperfectionist]

You know, Frettzo... -sigh- I don't want to bring this up, but maybe I have to.

I know this is Equestria and all, but there are some very unfortunate implications involved in that origin story. Um, the zebras (being equines that live in Africa) have an African-influenced culture. African people have dark skin. In your story, it's the black brother who is unkempt, dirty and vengeful, envious of Khem (who has a clean, soft white coat). Kellah sends a black mare, who falls in love with Khem, and of their offspring, quote, "the whitest of them would rise to the task of leading Khem's people".

White=good, black=bad. :( I don't like it, Frettzo. I really don't.

EDIT: I know this isn't what you intended, but it's very easy to get that out of it, especially considering that they're zebras.

EDIT 2: In an Equestrian zebra origin story, what I expected more than anything was two different tribes, one with black coats and one with white coats, coming together in harmony after some kind of disaster. They thought they were enemies, but when the time came, each tribe came to the other's aid. Thus, a new tribe was formed, both black and white, and that's who the zebras are descended from. I mean, sure, it could do with a lot more fluff than that, but off the top of my head, that's the basic story I would have gone with. The whole white brother/black brother thing just does not compute.

I think it's cool that you put the effort into coming up with a legend for the dawn of the zebras, I really do, but the implications are overwhelming to me.

[Frettzo]

It's deleted now. Guess it had no future.

[Imperfectionist]

-hugs- I'm sorry. I just hope you get what I'm talking about.

It wasn't poorly written; I don't want to discourage you from writing more legends and ancient stories...

[Frettzo]

Meh, I'd rather stay away from the legend writing. I was looking to flesh out the zebras in a way so that the story of the main group had a lot of possibilities.

[Frettzo]

*site bugged out on me*

[Imperfectionist]

:) Well, there's nothing stopping us from interacting with the zebras, is there? Especially when we get to the Forest episode. They've always struck me as only somewhat loyal to Fluttershy and her strange Forest ponies. Vetzu could definitely still be a vehicle for fleshing them out...

What if she tells some other stories, maybe not the origin, but stories of her ancestors or some other gods? I really would like to read that.

[BlazingxLynx]

Sent you my cs Impy ^-^

[BlazingxLynx]

Name: Swift Star
Appearance:

Swift Star

Most of the time seen in her armor, which is silver plated and has the colors to represent House Stormwing
Race: Pegasi
Faction: House Stormwing
Skills: A member of the Wind Rider unit. She specializes in scouting, seeing which enemy troop is coming from either ground or sky. She is both quick and agile, able to rely on her reflexes and sometimes instinct when it comes to dodging attacks and flanking the enemy. Most of the time, she is a team player and will work together with the other Wind Riders. If need be, Swift Star will move and act on her own.

Swift Star uses her telescope to spot other troops, and her only known weapons are her speed and her hooves. Since anything else, would slow her down with the added on weight.
History: Swift Star manage to get where she is today, by going through the rigorous training as any pony would in House Stormwing. She proved her worth and was appointed in joining the Wind Riders Unit. The mare followed every order given to them without fighting back, or having any doubts such as anypony in House Stormwing. Until they had the Griffins with them, is when she started doubting Rainbow Dash a bit. They don't know the Griffin's motives, why they could be helping them for their own gain then pick them off after the war was over. Or..if it'll really be over.

Aside from the Griffins working with them, Swift Star was beginning to have her doubts about if they are doing the right thing with having war with the other Houses. Killing anypony that stood in their way...she was starting to grow disgusted by it from every minute. Each time she took a life made her think more of her decision on continuing to fight for Stormwing. She wanted to talk to someone about it, but she was afraid of being branded a trainer or worse...being one of The Fallen. If anything maybe talking to her commander, Wing Commander Soarin', would be able to feel for the mare's thoughts on this ongoing war.

One day, she finally mustered up the courage and went to have a private talk with Soarin'. It was long and she had to be careful with her words, since even he could send her to have her wings cut off. Though she had a feeling, that Soarin' understood where she was going with this. She wanted to leave House Stormwing, in order to search for a new way to bring Equestria back to its former self. What shocked her the most, was the smile he gave her. Saying that she would be doing the right thing, and that their conversation would be their secret. With his permission, and support, Swift Star manage to sneak out of Windsoar in hopes to find the one and only true way of making Equestria back to the way it was.
Other: N/A