Re: [Fallout Equestria] Setting discussions

[Harmony Ltd.]

Oh, by the way, I wonder what Silver Bell might be up to nowadays?

Hm.  Well, the only thing I can think of is moving up the hierarchy of AESC.  If she's not interested in that, though, I don't know what she'd be doing.  Art?

For starter, 30 years later, she probably has a family of her own.

I guess it's more interesting to say that she moved-up the hierarchy of the AESC. Given her proximity to Ditzy, I suppose she might be a Vice-President of some sort? Maybe public relations? Given she's kind of meant to mirror Sweetie Belle, why not have her hold the same kind of post Sweetie held in Stable-Tec?

Thinking about it, it's probable most of the orphans Ditzy adopted might have ended-up getting hired into the AESC, moving up the hierarchy at various pace; or are currently being employed in/directing subsidiaries of the AESC.

That may be interesting. Some kind of economic Dynasty, with, down the line, the family members falling into intrigues in order to be favored by the Matriarch Ditzy and/or other influent family members, in order to move up the hierarchy.


Ding! One more possible plot hook!

[O. Hinds]

For starter, 30 years later, she probably has a family of her own.

Oh, yes; I'd not thought of that.

Ding! One more possible plot hook!

Hooray for nepotism! :D

Any thoughts on Ditzy and Elusive having some sort of weird slightly foe yay relationship? Not that they'd be doing anything or exactly even interested in each other that way, but I imagine that competition between the EC and the AESC might have a slightly different tone than competition between them and any other parties.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Well, I suppose the AESC might be trying to be to the NCR what the Elusive Society is to the Alliance: the economic backbone and tool of economic influence of the NCR.

While the EC has got all of the nicest toys around, the AESC isn't as much "in your face" about trying to economically annex (so to speak) you at the turn of every contract, and while they don't offer for now as sophisticated or shiny gadgets as the EC can; they will not try to get you to sell your soul at the turn of every contract, and in fact will tend to work into a form of partnership and common growth rather than to try and eat you.

Well, at least that's the idea. In practice, they're still trying to influence you so that you don't go toward the EC, but at least that can be considered least worst than if they were directly trying to get you to side with the NCR directly. At least they give you a better illusion of choice.

[Harmony Ltd.]

But to answer your underlying question, I suppose Ditzy respect Elusive at least in that he isn't a bloodthirsty tyrant, and actually genuinely care about the people under his rule enough that he isn't likely to launch the Alliance into a war unless the shit were really to hit the fan. So that's a plus, considering the last quarter of a millenium of history.

This said, of course, it's still another would-be world conqueror, and thus he has to be fought with the tools at her disposal: here, economic power.

And to counter the technological superiority of the EC, the AESC funnel a large amount of money into both the Twilight Society (which is kind of self-harming given it's the biggest concurrent the AESC has inside the NCR) and the New Canterlot Academy.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Ah, also, one thing that makes the AESC kinda powerful on the peninsula at large, is that its economic power allows it to prop-up the Followers operations over the area, and it has enough cash to buy some mercenaries to guard the most vulnerable communities where the NCR isn't present or interested in playing police.

[O. Hinds]

Hm, asymmetry in the perceived tone of the competition, then. Ditzy considers Elusive an enemy, if a better one than most, while Elusive views Dizty as a sort of worthy opponent (an immortal, clever, and charismatic being who grew a major corporation from nothing and is wielding its power for the benefit of the people they see as theirs rather than for personal wealth...) and potential tremendous asset if she could be convinced to join the Company.

[Harmony Ltd.]

And to counter the technological superiority of the EC, the AESC funnel a large amount of money into both the Twilight Society (which is kind of self-harming given it's the biggest concurrent the AESC has inside the NCR) and the New Canterlot Academy.

Thinking about it, there's probably a decent amount of "economic warfare" going on between the Twilight Society and the AESC, both trying to get into the other's business nebula, take up market shares, and try to absorb the lesser businesses of the other.

They try to present a somewhat united front against the EC, but make no mistake, if they could absorb each other wholesale, they'd do it quite happily.

As an example, you have the AESC which is propping up a number of different R&D businesses (I wouldn't say "start-ups", but the idea -is- to promote innovation), to limit the number of designs it has to pay royalties to the TS in order to produce and sell; and on the other side the TS is said to be working on a way to scale teleportation spells in a way that could potentially undermine the AESC's business greatly (with obvious interest on the part of the NCRAF).

A concurrence which is seen as positive by the NCR's leadership, as one way or another it benefit from it, be it in the form of increased R&D, or reduced prices on a number of goods. Of course, this is neglecting the fact that some other may profit from it to weaken the NCR's economy at large or provoke some economic chaos...

[O. Hinds]

Of course, this is neglecting the fact that some other may profit from it to weaken the NCR's economy at large or provoke some economic chaos...

Yeah, but who could possibly have an interest in that? :D

[O. Hinds]

Something I thought of last night that might be of interest to the NCR:
One advantage the NCR has over the Alliance is that, while the Alliance military is larger, better-equipped, and better-trained, from another point of view, it doesn't actually exist.  The Alliance has no true unified military, just the various military and paramilitary forces of its members.  They're trained to work together, but the various units do tend to have differences that could lead to friction.  Of course, the bulk of the forces are Miliozi, but the Miliozi, for example, don't have any direct combat airplanes; they have some armed transports, and small drones, but the Alliance's fixed-wing multirole combat aircraft, the Arrowhead, is a Company machine run directly by Elusive (the Miliozi do have their own AIs, both domestically written and purchased from Profectum, but Elusive's are better).  As another example, neither the Miliozi nor the Company' security forces operate locally in the Principality of Gibhalter; as a matter of national pride, Gibhalter's defense is by its own people.  Exploiting these differences would be difficult, given the general Miliozi dominance, but there are still gaps.
Oh, and you can imagine how having two official languages and at least three official calendars in use simplifies logistics.

[O. Hinds]

Oh, and a new Alliance aircraft:
Concert-class cloudship
A new addition to the Alliance arsenal, entering service in 2044PR (29SR), the Concert-class cloudship is notable in several ways. Firstly, it is, obviously, a cloudship, though this is not in fact obvious from its appearance. Equestria's cloudship builders lacked access to relatively cheap but lightweight ship-grade armor made possible by alchemical engineering, and in any case they had no reason to think that their ships' clouds were vulnerable (until the deployment of the Sagittarius Spectralem, but that came too late in the war to change much); the Port Maple Naval Design Institute, operating with different resources and expected threats, made the decision to fully armor the Concerts. Which brings up the second notable thing about the Concerts: they were designed and are built in Port Maple and are operated by the Port Maple Army. The Concerts are multipurpose ships; the only default armament is a point defense system. The ships are capable of mounting a wide variety of weapons, however, from air superiority beam batteries go smart bombs to strategic missiles. They are also designed to excel in a transport role; this was indeed one of the primary drives behind their development. The upper payload platform, when not configured as a barracks or cargo hold, can be used for a Skyshark hangar and landing platform. The real star, however, is the main payload bay, which is fitted for bow, stern, and ventral hatches. Materiel and armor can now be swiftly ferried throughout the Alliance and beyond, and the stern hatch makes possible air drops of much larger objects than Scalebeams can handle. The ventral hatches can even be used with a trapeze system to launch and recover modified Arrowheads. Built solidly and with advanced Alliance technology, Concerts are superior to Raptors in all respects save endurance; unlike reactor-powered Equestrian/GPE ships, Concerts use COCAG-electric powerplants.

Thoughts?

[Harmony Ltd.]

Thoughts?

There goes the neighboroud.

This, by the way, answer a recurring question I was asking myself of "Why doesn't the Alliance has any [cloudship] (nice name, by the way), besides its obvious lack of pegasi?".

Seems the answer was simply "because of the lack of pegasi".

[O. Hinds]

There goes the neighboroud.

?

This, by the way, answer a recurring question I was asking myself of "Why doesn't the Alliance has any [cloudship] (nice name, by the way), besides its obvious lack of pegasi?".

Seems the answer was simply "because of the lack of pegasi".

That's a big part of it. At first, they didn't have cloudships because they simply couldn't; the young Alliance didn't have the resources. As things progressed, the Alliance could have used griffins and/or magic allowing zebras and non-pegasi ponies to manipulate clouds, but the ships would still have been extremely expensive. Given that the Alliance had no particular need for cloudships (certainly, cloudships would have been useful, but in the absence of any real competition, other things could substitute) and that their development might be seen as provocative by the GPE, there was no reason to make the investment. Following the Day of Sunshine and Rainbows, the fall of the GPE, the rise of the NCR, and the admission of Las Pegasus to the Alliance, suddenly cloudships looked much more useful and much less expensive. The main problem was that no one in the Alliance knew how to build them. Some of the ponies who came from the GPE knew how to maintain them, and the Alliance could probably even find some old records from when Equestria was building cloudships. There's a big gap between that, though, and getting a new design flyable, and the Alliance's usual strategy ("Throw it at Profectum") for really tricky R&D was severely hampered by Profectum having no experience with cloudships either (except a few thoughts for destroying them).

Hm… Still, do you think I ought to have them coming out earlier? Twenty-nine years is a long time.

Oh, and the name is what I finally, after much frustration, decided on as a reference to the Yugoslav Končar-class missile boat. I wanted something native to the SFRY to draw the name from, and this was the best I could find with a small amount of searching. I decided that, in-universe, it was a reference to how the Alliance in general and the military in particular relies on cooperation. The Concerts can fight with only the PMA, but they lose a lot of effectiveness (which, considering their expense, is not a good thing). Properly used in combination with other Alliance forces, on the other hoof, they can be quite formidable. Or so wargames and simulations have suggested, at least; so far, even if we decide to have them enter service earlier, they've (probably; I suppose we might put something in later) not really seen action worthy of them. One doesn't really need a fleet of fully-armored beam-firing airships full of fighter planes and paratroopers and tanks and air-launched balefire missiles to pacify a small village of farmland-raiding tribals on the frontier.

[O. Hinds]

I've rethought the Alliance flag a bit.

What do you think of this?:

To the right are the normal and low visibility roundels.

[Harmony Ltd.]

No, 29SR seems like a good time to introduce the thing. After all, the NCR is already almost hopelessly outclassed as it is, let's throw them a bone for once, by having it introduced recently enough that they have time to react now that their industrial and tech base is starting to become a thing other than simply nice thoughts. Plus, this might also be a good push for the Enclave to become even closer to the NCR.

By the way, do we have any kind of number on the population of the various Alliance powers, and some measure of their relative economic, industrial and military powers? Just to get a better idea of just how screwed the NCR is.


Regarding the flag, I suppose the blue hexagone stands for Elusive, but what do the other two colours stand for? Is that the Miliozi and Gibhalter, or is it something else?

Almost got the feeling there should be some kind of logo or something in the blue hexagon. Though I don't have anything to propose at the moment.

There goes the neighboroud.

?

See my above remarks about how screwed the NCR would be already in a straight-up fight against the Alliance. Add to it a counter to one of the only thing(s?) they have going for them. Then you can understand the thought, which might cross the head of a number of people on the Peninsula (including the Enclave), when they learn about these cloudships.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Also, at this point in metatime (PH Ch.69), if Hoofington survive, I get the feeling it's not going to be part of the NCR, as, the way I see it, the whole region is an exercise in Anarchy (in the noble sense of the term), and I don't really see them accepting to become subjects of Gawdyna's Republic.

Most probably, it could be a close-yet-independent ally to the NCR.

Also, given the shitton of R&D stuff it has laying around, I could see it acting as the "moral anchor" of the NCR, somewhat ("Play nice, don't start acting all megalomaniacal like all these bastards we had to fight, and you'll continue receiving the good stuff").

Thoughts?

[Harmony Ltd.]

Oh, and also, given Thunderhead, Hoofington might be an alternative source of cloudships on the Peninsula, in the long term (once the industrial base get rebuilt). Not as immediate as Friedrischorfen, though (which is a case of putting back on-line old facilities).

[O. Hinds]

No, 29SR seems like a good time to introduce the thing. After all, the NCR is already almost hopelessly outclassed as it is, let's throw them a bone for once, by having it introduced recently enough that they have time to react now that their industrial and tech base is starting to become a thing other than simply nice thoughts. Plus, this might also be a good push for the Enclave to become even closer to the NCR.

Hm, and I suppose that the delay could be explained by none of the Alliance powers being terribly eager to pay for the ships.  Usually the Miliozi would already have leaped into action on this, but the fact that it's not practical to crew the ships entirely with Miliozi would be a negative factor.  The time it takes to build up the pegasus population of the Alliance might be another reason for the delay.

By the way, do we have any kind of number on the population of the various Alliance powers, and some measure of their relative economic, industrial and military powers? Just to get a better idea of just how screwed the NCR is.

Urg.  Not really, sorry; I don't have any hard numbers.  I'm still a bit envious that you were able to come up with some for the NCR.  I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "relative economic, industrial and military powers", though.  Relative to what?  To each other?
Economic (which I may be misinterpreting; if so, sorry):
The Elusive Company is, naturally, leagues ahead of any of the other powers in this area.
Tied for second would probably be Las Pegasus, which benefits from the tourist trade, remittances from weather workers, payments to reproducing pegasi as part of the Alliance's program to increase its pegasus population, being the center of Alliance television program production, attracting an increasing share of other media production spurred by that, and all the services that cater to the above.
The other power in second place would be Profectum.  They don't do nearly as much, but they're the Alliance's premier university and R&D hub.
After that…  Hm…  Let's say Port Maple, Gibhalter, and the Pax Novae Roamae tied for third.
The Miliozi come in last.  With a full command economy, a cultural disdain for wasteful luxuries, and a massive military machine to support, they do not have a thriving business environment.
Industrial:
The Miliozi lead this category, but that's mostly inertia from their initial growth.  While the Miliozi are taking advantage of their new land on the peninsula to expand their industry to some degree, more or less all of the extra output is for internal consumption to support population increases.
Port Maple is second and rapidly and deliberately moving to overtake.  With the advantages of a lot more land, much easier access to resources, and a much smaller military to support, it seems extremely probable that it will succeed.
The Elusive Company is third, and is first where software is concerned.  While the Company has a lot of its manufacturing done in Masozi and Port Maple, Elusive does have several facilities scattered around the Alliance.
The Pax Novae Roamae is fourth.  While they do do some manufacturing, one of their major industries is construction work.
The Principality, Profectum, and Las Pegasus don't really do much manufacturing.
Military:
Well, the Miliozi are the greatest military power, with one possible exception.
Profectum is either the weakest military power of the strongest, depending on what one's looking at.  They don't have a military, just a police force.  What they do have is big stocks of superweapons in various conditions.  No one outside Profectum is entirely sure what exactly Profectum has locked away deep inside the mesa, or at least, if they do know, they're not talking.
The Company has its security forces, including a lot of armed robots; in a war, though, they'd mostly be counted as support troops or rear guard.  There are a lot of them, though, and only Elusive knows how many robots he might have squirreled away.
The third largest military, after the Miliozi and the Company's security forces, would probably be that of the Pax Novae Roamae.  It's almost entirely composed of local militia, though, who use local knowledge to make up for poor training and equipment and aren't really expected to face much worse than dangerous animals or even less formidable tribals.  There are a few quite skilled people (mostly zebras) in the mix, though.
The Principality has good training and equipment (and every adult has at least some martial training; the Principality is sort of a reverse junta, remember, a government that's officially a stratocracy but a de facto democracy), and their forces can be relied on to have fanatic morale when defending Gibhalter itself.  They have very little in the way of force projection, though; Gibhalter concerns itself with Gibhalter, the strait, and Gallopoli on the other side.
Port Maple has more soldiers than Gibhalter (though still less than the Pax Novae Roamae) and, particularly with the Concerts in play, much better projection capability, but their training and equipment on average aren't as good, about on the NCR's level.  Port Maple is actively trying to expand its military, however, and has drawn in recruits from every Alliance power except the Miliozi.
Las Pegasus is militarily either the weakest or second weakest Alliance power (depending on whether the scale is focusing more on Profectum's conventional forces or its bag of deadly tricks).  While it naturally had a prominent military presence under the GPE, almost all of that has gone.  Some joined the local police, some fled to join the Bitters, Volunteers, or Isolationists, some left the military entirely, having been in it only for the perks the GPE gave soldiers, and some went to join other Alliance powers.  As a cloud city, though, it may be considered to have natural defenses, and it is of course surrounded by Miliozi territory.  

Regarding the flag, I suppose the blue hexagone stands for Elusive, but what do the other two colours stand for? Is that the Miliozi and Gibhalter, or is it something else?

The Miliozi use red and blue for blood and tears (the latter being a reference to Legate Masozi).  The Company is represented on the flag by gray and blue for metal and the sea.  None of the other powers are represented on this flag.

See my above remarks about how screwed the NCR would be already in a straight-up fight against the Alliance. Add to it a counter to one of the only thing(s?) they have going for them. Then you can understand the thought, which might cross the head of a number of people on the Peninsula (including the Enclave), when they learn about these cloudships.

I did rather wonder what Bitter war veterans might think of the ships.
Hm.  I was reading a bit earlier, on TVTropes, about how, in retrospect, the Red Army could pretty much have steamrolled Europe during most of the middle of the twentieth century if only conventional forces were counted.  The soviets didn't realize this, though, believing the western defenses to be much more formidable than they actually were, and not the qualifier I added above.  If nuclear weapons were brought into play, which they probably would have been, well…
Even if we ignore the SPP (and while I know a bit more of Somber's currently plan now, I of course unfortunately can't tell you), the NCR has probably managed to get at least one megaspell casting facility reactivated (I'm not counting Celestia Prime due to it being pretty horribly indefensible.  If the Alliance attacked, one of the opening moves would be a cloaked agent climbing around the outside of Tenpony Tower and dropping a bomb through the skylight).  Even if the Alliance managed to get cast megaspells of their own working, which they haven't yet, they'd only be able to reach a C.A.R.E. situation, particularly if the NCR took the lead on that front.  The NCR also has the advantage that its cultural background is probably conductive to partisan warfare.

Thoughts?

Plenty!  And I can't discuss any of them yet, unfortunately.

[O. Hinds]

Aaanyway, I got up about 22.5 hours ago, so I think perhaps I'd better be getting to bed.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Yes, go to sleep.



Anyway, got myself thinking...

How vulnerable would the individual powers making the Alliance be to a concerted effort of a number of agents to influence them in subtle ways which would weaken the Alliance as a whole, with and hidden agenda to have said individual powers stay neutral or even switch side in case of conflict?

Basically, how solid is the Alliance? Are the various powers in it just for the perks, or is there a real bond between its members beyond common interests?

If not, how could you influence them toward abandoning the alliance or switch side?

I would tend to think that if the influencing power has the economic muscle to replace the business lost by not being a part of the Alliance anymore, and the military power/deterrent to guarantee the secessionist independance after they left the alliance, it would only be a matter of being convincing enough, with the rights arguments.


Thoughts?

[O. Hinds]

Hm. Well, the Company and the Miliozi aren't going to be parted that way. Nor would the NCR want to split the Miliozi off (and Elusive isn't going to be leaving the Alliance that's named after him and headquartered in his city), since that would result in the Miliozi immediately saying "Right! We've been trying trade and diplomacy for long enough, so let's see what you've got!". Splitting the Miliozi off would require the NCR to have the military power to guarantee its own independence… in which case the Miliozi wouldn't have much of a reason to leave. The others… Hm.
The PNR probably could be swayed with such arguments. The problem is that it's on the side of the Alliance opposite the NCR; it would be difficult to make the offers of aid credible.
Gibhalter… Tricky. I don't think that they could be easily swayed. They're not especially tightly bound to the rest of the Alliance, but they also don't have a reason to want to leave. They're doing well in the Alliance, and since the Alliance would still be demanding passage through the Strait, Gibhalter leaving could quite possibly make it worse off. Gibhalter's general positive inclination towards the NCR only goes so far.
Profectum also has no reason to want to leave; the Alliance is giving them everything they want. They'd also be highly disinclined to side with a state that sees itself as the successor to Equestria. They might possibly split off with the Miliozi, but that possibility makes convincing the Miliozi to leave an even worse idea for the NCR.
Port Maple could be convinced, if the offer was good enough, but it's hard to see how a good enough offer could be credible. They're right next to the PNR and so have the same problem of distance. It might be easier to convince the Port Maple and the Pax Novae Roamae to go it alone together, but it would still be pretty difficult.
Las Pegasus… I don't really see it joining the NCR. Even leaving aside the "surrounded by Miliozi" thing, the NCR has prejudice against pegasi while the Alliance likes them so much that it pays them to reproduce. Why would they switch?

Oh, and any effort to break members off would be risky. Elusive will be deploying counter agents, and the NCR getting Alliance members to leave could convince the Miliozi that the economic/diplomatic war is being firmly lost.
(Really, a fairly large part of Elusive's diplomacy consists of "Well, I realize that this deal isn't particularly favorable for you, but I have to keep the Miliozi in check. If I don't look like I'm doing well, they might take matters into their own hooves.")

…To a lesser degree, though, something like this might be practical. Getting members to leave the Alliance is a pretty huge task; increasing the natural friction between members is a much less enormous one. It won't bring the Alliance down, but it could require more of the Alliance's time and resources to be direct inward instead of outward. Not that Elusive and the Miliozi would take this lying down, of course, but even the Miliozi response here would be to just send agents to play on the NCR's own tensions (Most people looking at the Miliozi focus on the tanks, the rotodaens, the ships, the artillery, the infantry, etc., but the Miliozi and the more well-informed observers of them know that espionage is a perfectly valid part of war and that, therefore, the Miliozi are dedicated to excelling at it, too.).

[Harmony Ltd.]

Unrelated:

To which point can a healing potion heal a pony?

We know you need Hydra to re-grow lost limbs, but other than that, -what- exactly can a healing potion do?


Question basically is: if you are in a world where healing potions exists, what are hospitals used for? And what do the pharma industry work on, apart from recreative and performance-enhancing drugs?

[O. Hinds]

Unrelated:

To which point can a healing potion heal a pony?

We know you need Hydra to re-grow lost limbs, but other than that, -what- exactly can a healing potion do?

...I'm not sure.

Question basically is: if you are in a world where healing potions exists, what are hospitals used for?

Well, there's still disease to consider. I also expect that healing potions have limits when it comes to healing broken bones and the like, and possibly cosmetic damage. Hospitals might also be cheaper for things that healing potions can handle.

And what do the pharma industry work on, apart from recreative and performance-enhancing drugs?

The healing potions have to get made somehow. Then there's disease, again, since I doubt healing potions are full panaceas. There might be medicines that are more efficient at treating specific problems but lack the generality of healing potions.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Diseases. Yeah. It's true in PH the raider disease can't be treated through healing potions. Why exactly, I don't know, but let's run with that.

Healing runes... Is that the thing that Fluttershy megaspelled on that battlefield? The one that was powerful enough to relive the recently deceased? In that case that would make them even more powerful than autodocs.

Actually, I think a better question would be: what would hospitals actually look like in this world? They obviously have a very different tech and scientific base as our real world hospitals, so this mean they won't do the same things, and what they do the same, they won't do in the same way.

Just a thought on general worldbuilding: it's funny how some familiar things can end up looking mostly alien when passed through the filter of a setting's internal rules.


Pharma industry: Indeed, the potions have to get made somehow. Also, they may compete to make the best potions, using the less costly ingredients, etc... Basically, functioning as an industry. Right. Plus, maybe some form of potions may be more efficient against some illness than the more general "emergency use" healing potions that can be found in the wasteland.

Actually, healing potion may just be a cover-all term for potion in general meant in a medical role, with the "healing potion" we know being an all-purpose anti-trauma treatment, the one that would have been produced the most in an Equestria that has known 20 years of warfare, with at least a decade of total and merciless struggle for survival. Weaker potions may have existed for more benign ills.

Makes me think: FoE and PH never touched on possible adverse effects of prolonged use of healing potions. As far as I know, the more powerful a medical drug is, the more it develops harmful effects in case of prolonged use / overdose.


Swicked headcanon: agreed. fits with the idea it's more of a trauma thing than a general panacea.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Though if healing runes can do what Hydra does, this would go against my idea of there being a lot of veterans of the Bitter War going around with missing limbs and stuff because the Gardens of Equestria cleared all taint in the environment, rendering all Hydra stockpile useless and preventing the production of more.

Maybe the runes could require some some sort of rare/costly reagent in order to be used, such that the poorest couldn't access them, with the use of these runes being reserved only to the most critical cases?

I mean, if not, you literally just need to build one in each big cities, shovel all the sick people into them, and everything would be fine forever.

It wouldn't really be "fun".

[Harmony Ltd.]

Hmm, interesting... This might change a lot of things, actually.

Because the state of Glyphmark, demographically dominated by the NCR zebra population, is pretty much all about drugs, potions, the pharma industry, healthcare in general, and also alchemy.

So if the miracle cure is actually something that's more suited to unicorns, this mean this is yet another thing the Twilight Society has going on for themselves.

Though... If they are the ones having more or less a monopoly on it, I could easily see people searching alternatives, just in case.

Aaaand there's also the autodocs, which are probably one of Geneighva's most important export.

[O. Hinds]

Why exactly, I don't know, but let's run with that.

Hm. Possible explanation: the potions heal the damage from the disease, but they don't actually heal the disease; the damage just comes back. And if the disease does a form of damage that the potions don't heal (which neurological damage may be), that will just keep accumulating.

Just a thought on general worldbuilding: it's funny how some familiar things can end up looking mostly alien when passed through the filter of a setting's internal rules.

Aye!

Makes me think: FoE and PH never touched on possible adverse effects of prolonged use of healing potions. As far as I know, the more powerful a medical drug is, the more it develops harmful effects in case of prolonged use / overdose.

Hm. Now that is a good point. In the Wasteland, with healing potions being somewhat rare and valuable in most places and death from other sources extremely common? It's probably not going to be noticed. But once things start getting civilized…

Another was used at the fluttershy medical clinic to fix Blackjack after she was eviscerated.
Murky Number Seven had one that fixed Murky's wings that had been mangled ever since he was tiny. Twisted things that had scarred over and weren't affected by potions or the like.

Both of those, of course, were single-use, which rather fits our purposes.

Though… If they are the ones having more or less a monopoly on it, I could easily see people searching alternatives, just in case.

Aaaand there's also the autodocs, which are probably one of Geneighva's most important export.

Aye. If everyone's relying on the complicated spellwork of the Twilight Society, the Twilight Society may very well decide to look into magic to make it possible to swim in large rooms filled with NCR bits. There'd be drive to find alternatives, and there'd be people who didn't trust zebra alchemy or robot doctors.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Add a question mark after "effect of daily intake of rad-away for a prolonged period".

Wonder if might weaken the metabolic response to radiation poisoning in the first place. Or maybe something else: we just don't know.

Question relevant because if we go with MN7, we know rad-away isn't an innocuous substance as it can provoke deadly allergic reaction in some people.

Disclaimer: still haven't gotten past ch.7 of MN7.

[O. Hinds]

...kinda.
Murky's was being used by a cult to help ghoul-ify ponies. Continuous exposure to radiation + healing to prolong the window within which the mutation the makes flesh go from being hurt by balefire to being helped by it occur.

Ah, yes, I'd forgotten that; thanks.

[O. Hinds]

Add a question mark after "effect of daily intake of rad-away for a prolonged period".

Wonder if might weaken the metabolic response to radiation poisoning in the first place. Or maybe something else: we just don't know.

Question relevant because if we go with MN7, we know rad-away isn't an innocuous substance as it can provoke deadly allergic reaction in some people.

Well, maybe. I'm allergic to a few things, though, and that doesn't mean that they're at all harmful to most people.

[O. Hinds]

Well, it's too early to get any in-depth speculation done, but I had this idea for part of the general initial breakdown of events in the Remnant after PH:
The Legionnaires believe that, whatever Vitiosus's hidden motivations, the values he falsely professed were worthy; the Eternal War must continue. The Legionnaires have the advantage in equipment, training, target vulnerability (they're perfectly fine operating from caves and camps and surviving by raiding and thus have no towns or infrastructure to target), and unity of identity and purpose. Their big disadvantage is being greatly outnumbered; I think it's a safe assumption that most of the zebras who would otherwise have been Legionnaires were killed or converted to other factions by events in Hoofington, whatever it turns out those events were.

The Recedos are composed mostly of first generation immigrants to join the Eternal War with pretty much all of the remainder being second generation; they want to abandon the Eternal War and go back to where and what they or their parents came from. As long as the Legionnaires are active, the Recedos are natural allies of the Nationalists; not all of them may see this, though, and some of the Nationalists, in the absence of the Legionnaires, would be as or more opposed to the Recedos than the Legionnaires are.

The Nationalists have nowhere else to go and want or believe the Eternal War to be over; they want to turn the lands they currently occupy into a true nationstate. Their big advantage is that they massively outnumber the Legionnaires. They have a disadvantage in that they seek to establish towns, farms, and other infrastructure, opening another avenue of attack to their enemies, but their primary disadvantage is that they are struggling together. One group of nationalists thinks that the new nationstate should be a republic for all, regardless of species; another group wants a dictatorship where male zebra soldiers have full rights, all other zebras are second class citizens, and everyone else is enslaved. Some thing that the Eternal War was wrong from the beginning and seek to make amends, others say that it's only over because it was won. Or lost, which should be eventually avenged. Some groups have exactly the same beliefs except that one wants to concentrate the nationstate in the north and the other in the south. Some agree on everything except what the official language ought to be (though, as the name indicates, at least some majority favor Pony). The first step after defeating the Legionnaires will be to start fighting each other, and not everyone is willing to wait.

So, basically, it could be an even messier version of the Enclave Civil War, and this is before non-Remnant factions who might be interested get entered into things.

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