Re: [Fallout Equestria] Setting discussions

[Meleagridis]

Biological viruses?  I thought that we decided that it was a prion disease?

I meant only to contrast with the fact that I know a heck of a lot about computer viruses, just next to nothing about any other sort.

Mr. Gutsy Raiderism! The Protectapony Flu!
(sorry)

How would this disease be spread?  Just by eating contaminated food?

Well, the standard bite works just as well as ever, though I'd imagine that enough mad cows living near a water source could potentially spread the disease through that as well. The Guai would be very cautious about preventing that, however, this is a desert.

There could also be a classic Ethically Unbound Research Facility. Just because there's already one in the Hoof doesn't mean there isn't enough evil to go around! Crank up the cattle metaphor by throwing in literal cattle. A tempting place to scavenge, brahmin could contract the disease in there without even knowing, causing an unprecedented outbreak in previously clean towns.

Perhaps Bunnelers could be carriers for this disease. While it may not affect them overmuch (or it's simply tough to tell, given how aggressive they are) the mutated rabbits could spread the prion when killed and eaten. (Alternatively, if the disease could be modified to affect them it would be a great way to get the rogue population under control. That would be a great moral quandary for a potential Chosen One! Let the hellhound and infrastracture destroying monsters run rampant or spread a lethal, murderous disease to every corner of the Moojave. Decisions, decisions...)

 The only deal I can see is Rose Eye offering to make the Banner anti-slavery in exchange for an alliance with the Guai against the NCR (and for generally greater unity in the Moojave), and, as you said, that would be a really difficult decision for Papa Guai.

It's tough making decisions when you're used to being the dumb muscle, but it's tougher to watch other people do it worse when you could have helped.

[O. Hinds]

KKat on raiders: http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/276451/on-raiders
(brief mention of PH)

I think that this fits pretty well with Rose Eye's story. Of course, she also serves as evidence that "redeemed from raiderism" does not necessarily mean "now an unequivocal good guy".

Well, the standard bite works just as well as ever, though I'd imagine that enough mad cows living near a water source could potentially spread the disease through that as well. The Guai would be very cautious about preventing that, however, this is a desert.

Bites work due to bleeding gums?

There could also be a classic Ethically Unbound Research Facility. Just because there's already one in the Hoof doesn't mean there isn't enough evil to go around! Crank up the cattle metaphor by throwing in literal cattle. A tempting place to scavenge, brahmin could contract the disease in there without even knowing, causing an unprecedented outbreak in previously clean towns.

Apple Pancake Enterprises? :D

Perhaps Bunnelers could be carriers for this disease. While it may not affect them overmuch (or it's simply tough to tell, given how aggressive they are) the mutated rabbits could spread the prion when killed and eaten. (Alternatively, if the disease could be modified to affect them it would be a great way to get the rogue population under control. That would be a great moral quandary for a potential Chosen One! Let the hellhound and infrastracture destroying monsters run rampant or spread a lethal, murderous disease to every corner of the Moojave. Decisions, decisions...)

:)

It's tough making decisions when you're used to being the dumb muscle, but it's tougher to watch other people do it worse when you could have helped.

What do you mean?

[Meleagridis]

KKat on raiders: http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/276451/on-raiders
(brief mention of PH)

(These also included the Khans, who were the inspiration for Xenith's tribe, with the Angels becoming a homage to the Great Khans.)

Oh, that has... implications. Are the Angels violent as well?

Well, the standard bite works just as well as ever, though I'd imagine that enough mad cows living near a water source could potentially spread the disease through that as well. The Guai would be very cautious about preventing that, however, this is a desert.

Bites work due to bleeding gums?

That's what I assumed, since I think I remember bites leading to infection in PH.

Apple Pancake Enterprises?  :D

Which puts them right in there with the bunnelers! Perfect! Headcanon ratified.

It's tough making decisions when you're used to being the dumb muscle, but it's tougher to watch other people do it worse when you could have helped.

What do you mean?

When Papa Cow and Papa Guai were just an interesting pair of wasteland wanderers, a random encounter for vault dwellers, Guai was often the brute of the two. Though they were both avidly interested in history and scholars in their own right, Guai's knowledge was more practical and centered on tribal buffalo recipes where his brother tended towards fanciful chemistry that had little application for a pair of mutant brahmin trying to keep themselves alive in an unkind waste. Bessie Cow (Papa Cow) was, however, blessed with a silver tongue and often did the talking. Talking led to leading, and leading lead to a default majority vote when the brothers disagreed on how to best handle an issue. Guai's solutions were often brutal and hurt more than helped, so he usually kept quiet and let Bessie lead. Until he didn't, and it went bad. Tensions were already high between the two, and they split up, taking their own ideals and followings to form the major brahmin leanings in the Moojave.


ALSO: What's security like in the Banner?

[O. Hinds]

That's what I assumed, since I think I remember bites leading to infection in PH.

Hm, I don't recall that, but it would make some sense. Infection obviously wouldn't be as likely as it would be from eating contaminated meat, but a bite is much faster and easier.

Which puts them right in there with the bunnelers! Perfect! Headcanon ratified.

The surface structure (well, semi-surface; I'm imagining it being built into the space under an overhang in a large rock formation) are nice, shiny offices and employee breakrooms and the like. The basements? Well, I don't know if you've ever played one of the Fo2 mods that adds it back in, but the inspiration from APE came from the EPA…

When Papa Cow and Papa Guai were just an interesting pair of wasteland wanderers, a random encounter for vault dwellers, Guai was often the brute of the two. Though they were both avidly interested in history and scholars in their own right, Guai's knowledge was more practical and centered on tribal buffalo recipes where his brother tended towards fanciful chemistry that had little application for a pair of mutant brahmin trying to keep themselves alive in an unkind waste. Bessie Cow (Papa Cow) was, however, blessed with a silver tongue and often did the talking. Talking led to leading, and leading lead to a default majority vote when the brothers disagreed on how to best handle an issue. Guai's solutions were often brutal and hurt more than helped, so he usually kept quiet and let Bessie lead. Until he didn't, and it went bad. Tensions were already high between the two, and they split up, taking their own ideals and followings to form the major brahmin leanings in the Moojave.

Neat. What does that mean for the decision, though? Are you saying that, besides the moral quandary ("slavers cannot be forgiven or redeemed" vs. "but it could do so much good"), Papa Guai would have difficultly due to usually just hitting problems until they go away?

ALSO: What's security like in the Banner?

Stalinist. The Banner is mostly comprised of Red Eye's most fanatical soldiers (though there are fewer of them by this point, due to the passage of time), former foals from Fillydelphia who view Rose Eye as their beloved and devoted big sister/mother figure, former foals raised to revere Red Eye, Rose Eye, and the Banner's ideals (one of the good points of the Banner is that it does not make use of foal soldiers; while everyone in the Banner has some amount of combat training, under normal circumstances the only foals with martial duties are those with appropriate cutie marks who specifically asked to sacrifice some of their childhood to start making use of their talent), and people utterly terrified of Rose Eye and the other Banner members. It is also quite possible for a Banner member to belong to more than one of these groups.

[Meleagridis]

Neat.  What does that mean for the decision, though?  Are you saying that, besides the moral quandary ("slavers cannot be forgiven or redeemed" vs. "but it could do so much good"), Papa Guai would have difficultly due to usually just hitting problems until they go away?

I'm just saying that it would be a very tortuous situation. The Guai was founded on immediate, unforgiving action. That philosophy has saved countless lives, protected the Moojave from rampant BSE (really need to think of a good in-universe name for that), and helped dumb-dumbs self actualize in ways that the Great Cows simply cannot offer. But if he applies this philosophy to the Banner, he basically gets a choice on which brahmin get screwed. He could withdraw all of his moomentarii to assault the Banner, which would leave mad cows completely unsupervised and potentially allow for the Great Cows to start another well-intentioned outbreak. He could maintain some scouts and likely lead a slaughter of his people (in a fantasy setting like this, who's on your side really matters. The Guai don't have technological aid to counter pegasi and unicorns, no matter how badly they could crush earth pony opposition). Or he could accept their deal. Anyone else would probably jump at that straightaway, but for Papa Guai the act would be a crippling moral blow to not only himself but all like-minded brahmin and buffalo in his employ. Forgive their past sins? Accept the crime of slavery, the basest violation, as committed by the children of a slaving empire? Invalidate the sacrifices of countless Guai past? To do so is to dissolve what makes Cow Guai Cow Guai.
Either way, it would seem their time is over.
That's why I'm hesitant to submit a definite answer. For all their faults, the Guai do have some serious pushing power that is precariously balanced on the head of a pin. This is something a character decides, an important deciding factor set up in Act 2 and delivered in Act 3. Also I'm bad at decisions.

I think I kind of strayed from the initial question again. Um, basically I'm saying that his response to grey areas causing him, his brother, and his people so much pain was applying a blanket solution to all of them. Some eggs were broken, but overall he was doing so much more than his brother. But the situation with the banner isn't going to break a few eggs- it's going to set fire to the chicken coop and hang the farmer. He can't rely on being blunt but decisive. He doesn't have the tools to process this.
He needs to be acted upon. He needs a secret weapon, or a new blueprint, or a lesson on friendship. Oh, speaking of which... nah, I'll get to that later.

ALSO: What's security like in the Banner?

Stalinist.  

And what about their radio show? Where's it broadcast? And by who? Do they guard it zealously? Lightly? And where do they keep the recordings, the music? Is it aboveground? Do civilians visit? Is it normal to see slaves there?

[O. Hinds]

I'm just saying that it would be a very tortuous situation. The Guai was founded on immediate, unforgiving action. That philosophy has saved countless lives, protected the Moojave from rampant BSE (really need to think of a good in-universe name for that), and helped dumb-dumbs self actualize in ways that the Great Cows simply cannot offer. But if he applies this philosophy to the Banner, he basically gets a choice on which brahmin get screwed. He could withdraw all of his moomentarii to assault the Banner, which would leave mad cows completely unsupervised and potentially allow for the Great Cows to start another well-intentioned outbreak. He could maintain some scouts and likely lead a slaughter of his people (in a fantasy setting like this, who's on your side really matters. The Guai don't have technological aid to counter pegasi and unicorns, no matter how badly they could crush earth pony opposition). Or he could accept their deal. Anyone else would probably jump at that straightaway, but for Papa Guai the act would be a crippling moral blow to not only himself but all like-minded brahmin and buffalo in his employ. Forgive their past sins? Accept the crime of slavery, the basest violation, as committed by the children of a slaving empire? Invalidate the sacrifices of countless Guai past? To do so is to dissolve what makes Cow Guai Cow Guai.
Either way, it would seem their time is over.
That's why I'm hesitant to submit a definite answer. For all their faults, the Guai do have some serious pushing power that is precariously balanced on the head of a pin. This is something a character decides, an important deciding factor set up in Act 2 and delivered in Act 3. Also I'm bad at decisions.

And the decision would really just be the tense situation coming to a head. Rose Eye, while not at all ideologically attached to slavery, is loath to give up its labor advantage; the Banner's slaves may be better-treated than those in most of the Wasteland (the Banner not having Fillydelphia's capacity for replacement), but it does, in the end, come down to them having a choice between working the fields and becoming fertilizer for them. She'll only give that advantage up if she can do just as well without it (not likely to happen soon if things continue as they are) or if she's under pressure, more pressure than the Cow Guai can provide on their own. That means that, until the NCR starts moving in, the Banner and Guai will, at best, be in a standoff while the Guai prioritize bigger threats.

I think I kind of strayed from the initial question again. Um, basically I'm saying that his response to grey areas causing him, his brother, and his people so much pain was applying a blanket solution to all of them. Some eggs were broken, but overall he was doing so much more than his brother. But the situation with the banner isn't going to break a few eggs- it's going to set fire to the chicken coop and hang the farmer. He can't rely on being blunt but decisive. He doesn't have the tools to process this.
He needs to be acted upon. He needs a secret weapon, or a new blueprint, or a lesson on friendship. Oh, speaking of which... nah, I'll get to that later.

Stridula, I think her name was? :D After all, she lives and works in the Encowmpment, she's probably had plenty of opportunities to get familiar with the Guai, and something tells me that she might just have some opinions on love…
But yes. By making one exception to his principles, he easily and bloodlessly frees every slave under the Banner and unifies the Moojave against slavery (because with both the Rose Banner and the Cow Guai against it, you can bet that anyone for it in the area is quickly going to find themselves in trouble); hey, the Banner's slaving missions into the Wasteland could become slave-freeing missions. If he doesn't make that exception, the Banner stays a slaver power and quite possibly decides that the Guai cannot be reasoned with and must be dealt with through less peaceful means. A very simple choice… except that it means betraying what he and his followers stand for.

And what about their radio show? Where's it broadcast? And by who? Do they guard it zealously? Lightly? And where do they keep the recordings, the music? Is it aboveground? Do civilians visit? Is it normal to see slaves there?

It's broadcast from Thornbush, so it was built off the same basic setup as Radio Moojave's facility in the Encompment (the former being Moover Line South and the latter ML East, as a reminder).

Rose Radio, which may have expanded to multiple stations by 30SR, is the main outlet for members of the Banner with talents for performing arts (well, those that can be transmitted over only audio). This includes foals looking for their cutie marks, mostly due to Rose Eye's genuine care for children and partly due to her not being above exploiting what she'd be doing anyway; after all, it's one thing to order the shelling of a fortress of ruthless slavers, but it's another to order the shelling of a place where some foals are adorably forgetting lines in their school radio play.
There are also, of course, the propaganda broadcasts, including speeches by Rose Eye.

The facilities are considered important enough to be under dedicated guard (ie, not just patrol point #12), but I don't think that they're thought important enough to be guarded especially zealously. That's by the Banner's standards of zeal, though, and you can bet that Rose Eye would not be happy with guards who let intruders in.

I'm not sure about recording storage. That's probably similar to Radio Moojave's practicies… though, since the Banner produces more original content, they'd probably need more space.

The radio station is indeed on the "See how great we are? Join us!" tour that the Banner offers, but said tours come with armed escorts.

It's probably not very usual to have slaves there. The Banner has most of its slaves working in the fields; the good land south of the river is one of the Banner's greatest resources, and working it doesn't require as much skill (or pose as much of a security risk) as much of the work inside Thornbush proper. Rose Eye even has Banner members do most of the cleaning, as she doesn't trust slaves not to steal and would therefore insist on having Banner members there as guards anyway. (Often, foals are assigned cleaning duty, so long as it's not hazardous and doesn't detract too much from their other activities. The thinking is that it builds character, teach them neatness and the importance of hard work, and discourage them from making messes.)

[Meleagridis]

The Soggy Bottom Brahmin.
Stridula trying to drum up interest for the arts amidst Guai.
Oh there are so many punportunities.

It's broadcast from Thornbush, so it was built off the same basic setup as Radio Moojave's facility in the Encompment (the former being Moover Line South and the latter ML East, as a reminder).

Could you help me get a visual handle on this place? I envision a concrete garrison, but I just can't nab the details. It was based on an actual base, right? One that might have pictures.

[O. Hinds]

The Soggy Bottom Brahmin.
Stridula trying to drum up interest for the arts amidst Guai.
Oh there are so many punportunities.

:D
I'm afraid that I don't get the reference, though.

Could you help me get a visual handle on this place? I envision a concrete garrison, but I just can't nab the details. It was based on an actual base, right? One that might have pictures.

It's not based on an actual base, unfortunately. I envisage the three Moover Line forts as being somewhat haphazard combinations of castles, star forts, and Maginot Line forts, each layer having been build around and on the not-always-fully complete layer before. Basically, "Argh, we need to fortify the border with the PR! Build castles", then "Argh, castles don't work anymore; we need fortresses specialized for guns!", then "The guns are too big! Go underground and build big turrets of our own!". Then, of course, "…Wait, the Line has never been attacked and is now over three hundred kilometers behind our lines. …Guess we pretty much just burned that money, huh? Um, use the forts as supply depots, I guess?" And then, of course, postwar construction of various sorts got layered on by the various occupants. Thornbush is probably the fort in best repair, due to the Banner having an educated workforce and a strong defense policy, with the pony settlement in Moover West that I either forgot the name of or still haven't named being second due to the Banner's aid and the efforts of the inhabitants.

Oh, and here's an interesting link related to the Maginot Line. Apparently those walls needed murals. :)

[Meleagridis]

The Soggy Bottom Brahmin.
Stridula trying to drum up interest for the arts amidst Guai.
Oh there are so many punportunities.

:D
I'm afraid that I don't get the reference, though.

[/quote]

And just the song:

Because I like the song.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII am a cooooooow of constant sorroooow!
I have seen trooooouble all my daaaaays...

Thornbush is probably the fort in best repair, due to the Banner having an educated workforce and a strong defense policy, with the pony settlement in Moover West that I either forgot the name of or still haven't named being second due to the Banner's aid and the efforts of the inhabitants.

Westside!

...I looked up some old pages when I forgot the details on bunnelers.   I'll have to get some visual reference tomorrow, I've got an early morning to sleep for. Thanks!

[O. Hinds]

Ah, thanks. :)

Goodnight!

[Harmony Ltd.]

Unrelated:

I just remembered that at this point in meta-time, Discord is still roaming the world freely, at least until PH use that checkov's character again.

This could be interesting.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Unrelated:

I just remembered that at this point in meta-time, Discord is still roaming the world freely, at least until PH use that checkov's character again.

This could be interesting.

Let me elaborate:

Given his nature, he is by definition a Wild Card, someone (or something, if you consider him as a force of nature) by nature unpredictable.


In this setting, Discord has never been reformed. In the other hand, from PH I personally take that he's witnessed too much carnage and violence in the last 250 years for it to still amuse him... at the present time at least.

He has also been severely weakened by his ~220 years of imprisonment and the treatment he received there, and he probably won't be back to his previous might for a little while. Though this still leaves him a formidable opponent to whomever would wish to combat him: even seriously weakened, he is still a God.

Which brings me to this:

The only thing that can menace Discord is the Elements of Harmony.

Who is currently protecting them? The NCR and the "Lightbringer's Army" (name I just came up with to designate Littlepip's crew of people dedicated to protect the elements and their bearers).

So people who would want to see the NCR and/or Littlepip lose the Elements of Harmony could wish to seal a Faustian deal with Discord.


On the other hand, Discord said in PH that he found perpetual warfare to be boring. So I could imagine him acting as some sort of neutral force acting behind the scene to, if not preserve the status quo (since that too would be boring), do so that no new Great War would erupt.

Not that he would be against war in itself, just that he would ensure that things wouldn't risk going completely out of control.


Also, outside of that, he would probably have a blast messing with everyone's plans and conspiracies, in ways that would be the most fun for him. Ways that would require almost no magic (by his standards, at least), but which through butterfly effects could cause whole card castles to fall.

[Harmony Ltd.]

I just imagined Discord turning all the Miliozi's military hardware into marzipan and gingerbread replicas...

[O. Hinds]

Honestly, Discord is so unpredictable that I haven't really been considering him. Particularly without knowing what he's doing at the end of PH...

[Harmony Ltd.]

Of course. I'm just pointing out that he's still out there at this point, and that people (writers and game masters) could exploit him for shit and giggles if they so desired.

[O. Hinds]

Oh, another thought regarding the emancipation deal: when it's proposed, I imagine that Stridula, being more pragmatic and less ideological, is likely to do more or less everything in her personal and professional power to get Papa Guai to accept. The only thing I can see her having against it is that a Banner/Guai alliance for the Moojave against NCR expansionism would, naturally, make things a bit trickier with the NCR; depending on how the NCR treats brahmin (sorry, Harmony, but I don't remember if you said), however, that might be a hard reason to sell.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Had a general thought over the setting as a whole: Racism.

It's touched upon in Murky Number Seven, and I think it's not something to be neglected.

For example, New Canterlot is roughly one-third griffins, and this will probably fuel some resentment, making people think that they're controlling the government (what with the Republic having been created by a griffin in the first place). Or the lingering hate people may still have toward pegasi. Or even the more "casual" racism of a passing remark made to a zebra to go back home.

It would probably help give more life to the setting to take this aspect into consideration.


I'm not saying that everyone is a racist shithead in the setting, just that racism is something that exist and that it can have an influence on people's acts and decisions.


That and classism, too. But this one is kind of a given at this point, I think. What with the descriptions I made of Manehatten.

[O. Hinds]

Agreed. The only racism I've really been considering is anti-pegasus sentiment on the Peninsula, but you make some good points.

[jacky2734]

Alright, on a seperate note. I'm trying to put together a setting for a FOE story idea I had, and I'd appreciate some input.

I was thinking of putting it in Saddle Arabia. What would you think it'd be like to live in post-megaspell Saddle Arabia?

Would there be large expanses of desert with a few places with the ruins of cities surrounded by plains of radioactive glass, or would 200 years have been enough time to bury the ruins under sand?

Would the survivors join together into nomadic tribes and warbands, or settle down around the few habitable areas?

Would there be the constant cloud cover or would the skies be clear? Actually scratch that, if it's still a desert, than it would require that there would be no clouds over it.

Would Saddle Arabia have been a neighboring country to Equestria, or would it have been on the other side of the world like Saudi Arabia is to America?

One final thought. With a different culture with different leadership and different values, would it be plausible that the inhabitants have moved passed simply trying to survive and have been brought together in a united effort and actually begun to rebuild their country?

[O. Hinds]

...Hm... I seem to recall that I may have fiddled around with some ideas ages ago, but, if so, that's the only thing that I remember about them. Sorry.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Well, I don't think we have actually thought about where to put Saddle Arabia on the map in this setting yet, but I'm pretty confident in saying that it's not on the Equestrian Peninsula, and thus could not have been subjected to the SPP's cloud cover.

As for your other questions, it mostly depend on the aesthetic you want to give to your story. It could be anywhere from the survivors living like Dune-inspired Fremen, to the place having risen again to see a new Caliphate reclaim the desert and building new cities over the ruins of the old world, buried under the desert's sand.

Or it could be a mix of both, with the Fremen-expy being outcasts fleeing the Caliphate, from their own free will or forced by circumstances.


The first question that should be asked right now, would be to know how involved was Saddle Arabia in the Great War. If they stayed neutral, chances are they might have been only lightly targeted by balefire / megaspell strikes during the Days of Fire. Their fall in apocalyptic and then post-apocalyptic mode may have been brought by other things: like for example they depended on food import from Equestria and the rest of the world to feed themselves, and as they hadn't started exploiting their oil field by the time the bombs fells, they were still dependent on coal import from the zebra for their industrial infrastructure; all of this causing their whole society to collapse when trade ceased.

They may have returned to nomadism as a way to survive, but not before famine and chaos claimed their toll. Those who survived were mostly whose who were already living on the margin of the old Saddle Arabian society, those who were already nomadic when the bombs fell. Others found way to establish little communities around oasis in the desert. The nomads gaining their life acting as caravans to link these various communities together through trade.

Later, maybe someone started uniting these various settlements under the banner of a new Caliphate. And tensions may have escalated between the Sedentary and the Nomadic tribes, leading to the nomads becoming outcasts living in the margin of the Caliphate and out of its reach.

Add in some mysticism/religion/prophets, plus water being the currency of the place due to how precious it is, and voilà! You succesfully managed to blend two sci-fi settings and a children cartoon show!

[Harmony Ltd.]

Oh, and given S04E11:

https://derpibooru.org/534790

[Harmony Ltd.]

Oh, and don't forget to put camels in that thing

[jacky2734]

Well, I have had some thoughts:

1.) Should all the inhabitants have tall and thin body types like the ambassadors we saw in "Magical Duel"? If so, would they all Earth Ponies or did they have Unicorn and Pegasi variants with the same body type as well?

2.) Given certain religious symbols in Middle Eastern culture, I'd doubt the Zebras would have anything to do with them. Actually, it's because of that symbol in particular that I chose the setting. I really don't want to spoil anything, but my idea does have a bit to do with Luna.

3.) Would you say it'd have been possible for a Stable to have a (relatively) benevolent experiment involving American style government and emphasis on Freedom of speech?

[Harmony Ltd.]

1/ Maybe it's only those of "Royal" lineage who have this body type in Saddle Arabia? Or maybe saddle arabian are taller and relatively thinner/lankier than "standard" ponies?

2/ I don't see why not. There's something up about stars and stripes...

3/ Technically speaking, everything is possible. It's just a question of how contrived you want the explanation to be. I'll just ask a pretty basic question: how did they manage to get a Stable built? Was it a Stable-tec design, and if yes how did ST come to build a Stable there; or was it an homegrown design?

[jacky2734]

This is a little off the current topic and I don't know if it's been brought up but:

Bloodwings = Mutated Vampire Fruit Bats

Makes a little too much sense, doesn't it?

[Meleagridis]

Oh, another thought regarding the emancipation deal: when it's proposed, I imagine that Stridula, being more pragmatic and less ideological, is likely to do more or less everything in her personal and professional power to get Papa Guai to accept.

The key would be to change the Guai, to shift their priorities and trigger some introspection. Given time, the grateful Soggy Bottom Brahmin and other bluegrass numbers might be able to help, but when is there ever time? Rushing it risks splitting the gang, and it won't be as amiable as the first time.

Had a general thought over the setting as a whole: Racism.

It's hard to see zebras getting that much flak from non-ghouls. Most of them have probably gone native, the average civilian doesn't have much reason to see them as anything but striped earth ponies. Unless the PH ones really bugger up their reputation. The Pax Roamana and Miliozi (Milozi? Miloizi? Miziliwakalolo?) may be dire concerns to the heads of state, but it doesn't seem like they come very far inland. Typical citizens have probably learned to have a healthier distaste for pegasi, some of whom are still hostile to ground dwellers. And maybe alicorns, since their genocide only got halted about a generation ago.

It was probably just technological limitations, but I thought it was real appropriate that there wasn't any racism in Fallout (from what I remember). The last bomb fell 200 years ago.Why keep hating a foreign power when you've got neighbours to blame instead?

Would there be large expanses of desert with a few places with the ruins of cities surrounded by plains of radioactive glass, or would 200 years have been enough time to bury the ruins under sand?

Whatever you do, keep the glass plains. Science be damned, the imagery is too tempting.

Unrelated:

I just remembered that at this point in meta-time, Discord is still roaming the world freely, at least until PH use that checkov's character again.

This could be interesting.

Gaaaa I'm out of time for this but it's on my list!

[O. Hinds]

The key would be to change the Guai, to shift their priorities and trigger some introspection. Given time, the grateful Soggy Bottom Brahmin and other bluegrass numbers might be able to help, but when is there ever time? Rushing it risks splitting the gang, and it won't be as amiable as the first time.

Aye, I don't envy her position; it might even be worse than Papa Guai's. He at least is only making a binary choice, if a very difficult one. Stridula would be working with the knowledge that pushing too little might contribute to civil war and slavery in the Moojave and pushing too much could shatter the Guai. And the best option, the slow route, takes time that she doesn't have…

The Pax Roamana and Miliozi (Milozi? Miloizi? Miziliwakalolo?) may be dire concerns to the heads of state, but it doesn't seem like they come very far inland.

…
Um.
Sorry, Meleagridis, but I'm afraid that your memory is displaying sievelike qualities again. The PR is no more currently extant than Equestria is. :

The Miliozi probably aren't contributing too much to racism, though, yeah, except perhaps to engrain in the NCR consciousness a stereotype of zebras as a proud soldier race, a stereotype which the Miliozi will, if anything, gleefully encourage, but the NCR's zebra citizens and potentially whatever became of the Remnant could mitigate that. Elusive's diplomacy and the military strength of the Miliozi will likely keep them from building up much of a negative reputation based on their species. As for not going far inland, though, here's what I think is the latest peninsular zoc map.

Typical citizens have probably learned to have a healthier distaste for pegasi, some of whom are still hostile to ground dwellers.

Aye. I'm wondering if Rose Eye might be able to snag a few pegasi due to their anger at how LittlePip portrayed them.

And maybe alicorns, since their genocide only got halted about a generation ago.

Hm. That I'd not really thought of.

[O. Hinds]

Hm, presumably...

[Harmony Ltd.]

Correction on the NCO ranks in the NCR's armed forces:

(from higher to lower ranks)
- Major
- Master Sergeant
- Chief Sergeant
- 1st Sergeant
- 2nd Sergeant

I'll have to think a bit about how the different ranks are graphically represented. I don't want to just straight up copy the stuff of the US or French armed forces.

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