Who Needs Harmony?: An MLP Empire Quest

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Out of the options offered, I think these would fit in the most for what we're soon to be facing. Better to have our Knights Lion set up, the army we have to be worth 5 of the Aqullians and I wish to see more what the old mushroom bird is able to cook up with his fungus, not to mention that early era muskets are a must in this time of war.

As for the personal options I would say trying to get the egg to hatch would be viable because nothing says fuck you than a dragon to the face, and integrating Diamond Dogs into out society works with the whole making them in charge of our mines and mineral gathering. Wouldn't do if some loyal sons and daughters of the kingdom tried to rush a mine that was being worked by the dogs in the thought the dogs were staging a raid or something silly.

I also think having our wife's father come to our aid would be beneficial and help in the facilitation of trade while this nonsense is going on.

Martial: Gustav Kingfeather is one of the most scarred Griffons you've ever seen. A former Troll hunter, he lost a wing, an eye, and a hind-leg to a particularly vicious Manticore. Despite his injuries, he's one of the most spirited people you've ever met, and can drink and brawl with the best of them. (Two Actions Per Turn) One Action Locked In

The Lion's Den: The Knights Lion are the last of the knightly orders, the militant brotherhoods that served the Emperor in the age before Discord. As the only known living descendant of the Imperial Family, the few remaining knights have sworn their service to you. But if they are to truly recapture the glory of their ancestors, they will need a base of operations. A citadel. You intend to give them one. Cost: 400. Time: Two Years. Reward: Citadel of the Knights Lion constructed. Knights Lion upgraded from bodyguards to battlefield unit. Will Finish this Turn


Quality over Quantity: It's one thing to have a large army, quite another to have a well-equipped one. With all the ore your mines have started to churn out, you can start equipping your troops with high-quality armor and weapons usually reserved for elite units. This will be expensive however, both to purchase, and to maintain. Cost: 500. Time: One Year. Reward: Better Equipment issued to Royal Army, Upkeep Costs Doubled.

Diplomacy: Elva Von Cleef is a stern eyed and stiff necked old bird. But she's been negotiating deals between city-states since before you were born. Negotiating deals between kingdoms was the logical next step for her. (One Action Per Turn)

Calling on Old Friends: Gabriella has numerous contacts throughout the Feathersian League, from nobles and scholars to mercenaries and merchants. You should try to leverage these connections for better relations and additional trade deals with the League. It might also get you some mercenary contacts, which you could use right about now. Cost: 100. Time: One Year. Reward: Better Feathersian relations and additional trade income, chance for Mercenary Contacts. Chance of Success: 60%


Stewardship: Claus Rosewing is, much like you, a former merchant. You'd actually done business with him a few times, and he always struck you as a fair and reasonable gryph. Good thing too, because now he'll be handling much of your finances. (One Action Per Turn)

The Diggingest Dogs: You need good miners. Griffons are not good miners. Diamond Dogs are excellent miners. You've recently acquired the loyalty of several packs of Diamond Dogs. The solution seems obvious. Cost: 100. Time: One Year. Reward: Increased Mining Income.

Learning: Archimedes is an almost comically small and scrawny Griffon, often mistaken for a teenager despite being middle-aged. What he lacks in physical stature, he more than makes up for with brainpower. He has authored numerous works on history, biology, and physics, making him an ideal choice for an advisor. (Two Actions Per Turn)

Mushroom Moonshine: During his research on fungal growth and nutrition, Archimedes discovered that a few particular species of mushroom could potentially be used to produce alcohol. It's...ok, it's a weird idea, but so was mushroom farming, and that turned out pretty well. Grant him some funds to investigate these...alcoholic mushrooms...further. Cost: 50. Time: One Year. Reward: New Source of Alcohol?

Noxious Nitrates: Archimedes has been experimenting with some of the minerals your miners have started digging up, seeing how they react chemically with other elements. He's found a way to make a sort of...explosive powder out of sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter. You're...kind of concerned about that last one, seeing as how it's extracted from feces of all things, but his practical demonstrations cannot be denied or ignored. But Archimedes has an issue: the difficulty in acquiring large amounts of the components needed to make this Fire-powder. He's going to need funds to construct sulfur mines and...saltpeter distilleries. Ewww. Cost: 500. Time: Two Years. Reward: Supply of Fire-Powder Acquired. Chance of Success: 75%

Intrigue: Lord Ravenburg is a stoic fellow with dark feathers and fur. He speaks only when spoken to and somehow manages to be both unassuming and mildly intimidating. You're not sure exactly how he became spymaster, but the fact that he seemed to know everything about you before you'd even met him indicates he is well-qualified. (One Action Per Turn)

Aquileian Espionage: King Brochard has been making some waves over the past few years. He's tried (unsuccessfully) to challenge your naval supremacy, he's been not-so-subtly discouraging your neighbors from pursuing trade and diplomatic relations with you, and he seems almost personally offended by your very existence. You need eyes and ears on the ground in Aquileia as soon as possible. Cost: 200. Time: One Year. Reward: Gain intel on Aquileia. Chance of Success: 55%

Personal: You refuse to let your duties as King take up every moment of your day. (Two Actions Per Turn)

Who let the Dogs Out?: Several packs of Diamond Dogs have sworn their fealty to you. This isn't necessarily a good thing. Most Griffons only know Diamond Dogs as subterranean creatures that occasionally raid, plunder, and pillage their farms and towns. It would come as a surprise to a great many of your subjects that the canines are even capable of intelligent thought beyond the use of simple tools. If you are to have any hope of integrating these packs into your population, you'll need to clear up more than a few misconceptions. Cost: 100. Time: 1 Year. Reward: Griffon public learns Diamond Dogs are people too. Chance of success: 70%

Cracking an Egg: The dragon egg you've acquired is currently stored in a specialized room of your castle, designed to ensure it is kept at the proper temperature. Archimedes, ever the problem-solver, claims he has a way to encourage the egg to hatch, or to prevent it from hatching, should you wish it. Honestly, you're not too sure what to do. Your people know little about dragons beyond the obvious; the closest thing to an expert you have is your wife, who only knows how to kill them. Still, it seems a waste to just leave it sitting in your palace as a glorified paper-weight. Fully grown dragons are forces of nature, capable of taking on entire battalions of Griffon warriors and burning whole villages to the ground in minutes. Then again, those also seem like good reasons not to allow the egg to hatch, now that you think of it. Cost: 0. Time: One Year. Reward: Hatched Dragon Egg.

[X] Plan War Prep
-[X]Quality over Quantity
-[X]Calling on Old Friends
-[X]Fungus Farming for Fun and Profit
-[X]Aquaculture
-[X]Noxious Nitrates
-[X]Aquileian Espionage
-[X]The King In Iron
-[X]Who let the Dogs Out?

[X] Plan: Force a single front on our side, many on the enemy

[X]Plan Prepare For War!

Questor said:

A bit slower than that on account of the extra mass, but roughly equivalent. They're not slow, but they're not going to outrace a helicopter or even a prop-plane.

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Alright, since some say it's possible, can griffons in full armor fly over Wingbardy or around Wingbardy's waters to get to us reliably in a way that would make building boats pointless?

[X]Plan Prepare For War!

Somebodynobody10 said:

Alright, since some say it's possible, can griffons in full armor fly over Wingbardy or around Wingbardy's waters to get to us reliably in a way that would make building boats pointless?

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Flight takes energy, energy that could be used in a fight against our forces that are well rested and at full strength.
Not to mention that they can't bring any major supplies and I'm pretty sure that army without food won't fight.
Now they can fly around Wingbardy's through sea, that is true, but they can't bring any supplies wich will leave them not being able to have a prolonged war on our territory.
Flying over Wingbardy's, bringing supplies through them is not possible as that would mean that Wingbardy is allied with them wich they are not.
Us having a better fleet means that Aquileia is forced to do two things :
1. Go around Wingbardy's and capture some of our territory. But the price would be that their army would be virtually cut of from supplies lines and would not be able to fight prolonged war.
2. Go through Wingbardy and secure a land route for supplies. But the price is that they will go to war against Wingbardy's as well.

That is the importance of the fleet. To be able to supply our troops while denying the same for our enemies.

So as everyone can see if we have weaker fleet we are giving our enemies ability to go to war against us and keep Wingbardy out of war.

Somebodynobody10 said:

Alright, since some say it's possible, can griffons in full armor fly over Wingbardy or around Wingbardy's waters to get to us reliably in a way that would make building boats pointless?

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Boats are definitely not pointless here. A Griffon flying at maximum speed in full armor is like a warhorse and rider running at a full gallop, it'll tire out quickly and is really only practical in short bursts, like in battle.

The boats are transports, not just for troops but for the supplies needed to keep an army of thousands going. The reason you can't just take ten thousand Griffons and fly hundreds of miles in a day or two is a matter of logistics.

A few hundred troops can forage and live off the land, a thousand can pillage and loot the countryside for supplies, but an army of ten thousand warriors needs a baggage train and reliable supply lines.

Mind you you're still going to advance faster than any medieval human army, but you can't just assume that "I can fly, all other concerns are invalid!".

Alright, it seems the plan winning the vote is obvious.

Any omake-bonuses ready? As said I will put mine on guaranteeing diamond dog integration, so the rest should be used for either Callin on Old Friends or Aquileian Espionage.

Questor said:

Boats are definitely not pointless here. A Griffon flying at maximum speed in full armor is like a warhorse and rider running at a full gallop, it'll tire out quickly and is really only practical in short bursts, like in battle.

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Just to note, 50kph is not full speed it is their 'cruise along all day' speed.

On the flip-side you can't really 'run' in flight aside from diving. On the ground you can walk at 5 kph for hours or run at 20 for a couple of minutes. In the air you can cruise at 50 for hours or 'sprint' at 75 for a couple of minutes.
Can also dive at 200kph but I suspect doing that in full armour would result in a crater. Gravity and momentum are not forgiving of such activities.

The boats are transports, not just for troops but for the supplies needed to keep an army of thousands going. The reason you can't just take ten thousand Griffons and fly hundreds of miles in a day or two is a matter of logistics.

A few hundred troops can forage and live off the land, a thousand can pillage and loot the countryside for supplies, but an army of ten thousand warriors needs a baggage train and reliable supply lines.

Mind you you're still going to advance faster than any medieval human army, but you can't just assume that "I can fly, all other concerns are invalid!".

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This doesn't make sense unless we are fighting over an area the size of Russia with thousand kilometres gaps between cities.

Human armies need extensive supply trains because it takes a long time to get where they are going. A man cannot carry a months worth of food plus weapons and armour. But three days? That you can carry with no issue. When in three days you travel 300 kilometres, fight a battle, then travel another 300 kilometres back to your base you don't need supply wagons or boats following along.

This is even more so as sieges aren't going to be a thing. A castle can be fortified against flyers but a city cannot. (Not without spending the ludicrous sums of money to make every house a castle or building it underground.) Walls are fine for keeping wild animals out but Griffins, or Diamond Dogs for different reasons, laugh as such obstacles. There will be no weeks long period of sitting outside the walls trying to batter a way in. Just a battle in the sky and streets then the winner gets a city full of food.

You cannot treat warfare involving flying armies anything like conventional warfare. The governing principles are just too different.

Angelform said:

Just to note, 50kph is not full speed it is their 'cruise along all day' speed.

On the flip-side you can't really 'run' in flight aside from diving. On the ground you can walk at 5 kph for hours or run at 20 for a couple of minutes. In the air you can cruise at 50 for hours or 'sprint' at 75 for a couple of minutes.
Can also dive at 200kph but I suspect doing that in full armour would result in a crater. Gravity and momentum are not forgiving of such activities.

This doesn't make sense unless we are fighting over an area the size of Russia with thousand kilometres gaps between cities.

Human armies need extensive supply trains because it takes a long time to get where they are going. A man cannot carry a months worth of food plus weapons and armour. But three days? That you can carry with no issue. When in three days you travel 300 kilometres, fight a battle, then travel another 300 kilometres back to your base you don't need supply wagons or boats following along.

This is even more so as sieges aren't going to be a thing. A castle can be fortified against flyers but a city cannot. (Not without spending the ludicrous sums of money to make every house a castle or building it underground.) Walls are fine for keeping wild animals out but Griffins, or Diamond Dogs for different reasons, laugh as such obstacles. There will be no weeks long period of sitting outside the walls trying to batter a way in. Just a battle in the sky and streets then the winner gets a city full of food.

You cannot treat warfare involving flying armies anything like conventional warfare. The governing principles are just too different.

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Look, maybe the GM wants to have wars that don't just end in one year in every war we commit to, after us or our opponents form a horrible DoomBall that crashes into the defender's capital in the first months.

Angelform said:

When in three days you travel 300 kilometres, fight a battle, then travel another 300 kilometres back to your base you don't need supply wagons or boats following along.

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exhaustion is a thing as are wounded. Sure they could maybe fly 300 km in a day in full armor but I doubt they'd be any good in a fight against fresh troops.

Angelform said:

Walls are fine for keeping wild animals out but Griffins, or Diamond Dogs for different reasons, laugh as such obstacles.

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you know I don't think I've seen any city in mlp that had walls... well except maybe canterlot & the crystal empire if you count magic forcefields. But no brick and mortar walls

On further notes and thought @Angelform : are you honestly not making a differentiation in that our people aren't birds?

We are a chimeric creature mix of feline and bird. Our bodies aren't supported by hollow bones and we are specifically a non-magical species so we can't say we are getting magical reinvigoration going on.
Of course we can and must hand-wave much of how this body-class functions, but I would bet a damn lot that our warriors require TONS of food to keep up the energy to fly around with so much weight tossed in.

EDIT:
An eagle can glide all they want because they are so comparatively lightweight with their lightweight bones: a griffin on the other hand has a full feline weight carried on practically ridiculously small wings that make no biological sense when compared to their size-class!

I dont know if this has been answered or not but couldn't the other kingdom just push through Wingbardy? Afterall if King Angery Chicken thinks that the other nations are aligning against him then it could make sense in his eyes to just push through wingbardy through to our nation.

Edit:Or even just try to take over Wingbardy and act like they're not going to attack us until they finished with the conquest.

Easter said:

I dont know if this has been answered or not but couldn't the other kingdom just push through Wingbardy? Afterall if King Angery Chicken thinks that the other nations are aligning against him then it could make sense in his eyes to just push through wingbardy through to our nation.

Edit:Or even just try to take over Wingbardy and act like they're not going to attack us until they finished with the conquest.

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We are counting on that. Without naval supremacy, he has to go and form a land route for his supplies. Thus, he will be forced to fight Wingbardy. This will slow them done enough that we should be able to continue our armament program and start enlisting mercenaries of our own.

[x]Plan: To secure peace is to prepare for war
-[X]Quality over Quantity: Cost: 500. Time: One Year. Reward: Better Equipment issued to Royal Army, Upkeep Costs Doubled.
-[X]Just Say No: Cost: 100. Time: One Year. Reward: Fewer Mercenaries employed by Brochard. Chance of Success: 40%
-[X]Fungus Farming for Fun and Profit: Cost: 200. Time: One Year. Reward: Mushroom Farms Constructed, Increased Farming Income.
-[X]Mushroom Moonshine: During his research on fungal growth and nutrition, Archimedes discovered that a few particular species of mushroom could potentially be used to produce alcohol. It's...ok, it's a weird idea, but so was mushroom farming, and that turned out pretty well. Grant him some funds to investigate these...alcoholic mushrooms...further. Cost: 50. Time: One Year. Reward: New Source of Alcohol?
-[X]Noxious Nitrates: Cost: 500. Time: Two Years. Reward: Supply of Fire-Powder Acquired. Chance of Success: 75%
-[X]Aquileian Espionage Cost: 200. Time: One Year. Reward: Gain intel on Aquileia. Chance of Success: 55%
-[X]The King In Iron: Cost: 50. Time: One Year. Reward: Suit of Personal Armor.
-[X]Shut up and Take my Money!: Cost: 700. Time: One Year. Reward: Mercenaries persuaded not to fight for Brochard. Chance of Success:

Easter said:

I dont know if this has been answered or not but couldn't the other kingdom just push through Wingbardy? Afterall if King Angery Chicken thinks that the other nations are aligning against him then it could make sense in his eyes to just push through wingbardy through to our nation.

Edit:Or even just try to take over Wingbardy and act like they're not going to attack us until they finished with the conquest.

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Aquillea will have to either attack from the sea or go through Wingbardy.

Questor said:

Aquillea will have to either attack from the sea or go through Wingbardy.

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That. That right there is why we are building ships. To ensure if king blowhard wants a war he's got to drag both of us into it.

Questor said:

Aquillea will have to either attack from the sea or go through Wingbardy.

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BTW, what is our wife's experienced opinion on Wingbardy's chances of survival for lets say a year without assistance? Two years? With assistance?

Somebodynobody10 said:

BTW, what is our wife's experienced opinion on Wingbardy's chances of survival for lets say a year without assistance? Two years? With assistance?

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I feel like if he does invade Wingbardy that even if we dont send troops right away we will have to atleast on paper come to their aid to atleast show we are there for them to help defend them against the tyrant king.

Somebodynobody10 said:

BTW, what is our wife's experienced opinion on Wingbardy's chances of survival for lets say a year without assistance? Two years? With assistance?

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Depends on the actions of Wingbardy. If Brochard rolls in with his army they might just surrender without a fight rather than have their nation ravaged by a war they can't hope to win. They might try to fight a guerrilla war against Brochard's numerically superior force. Or they might rally all their troops around the Capital for a last stand.

They won't last long on their own though, regardless of what action they take.

Hmm... If they do just flop to the ground without a fight, things will become hairy.

Well it seems like the votes have died down now so lets get a tally.

Somebodynobody10 said:

Look, maybe the GM wants to have wars that don't just end in one year in every war we commit to, after us or our opponents form a horrible DoomBall that crashes into the defender's capital in the first months.

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The GM gave the option to play as a flying species. If he didn't want us to have the capabilities of a flying army he was under no obligation to give us one. But he did.

x0Nothing0x said:

exhaustion is a thing as are wounded. Sure they could maybe fly 300 km in a day in full armor but I doubt they'd be any good in a fight against fresh troops.

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Wounded are not an issue. If an army has too many wounded to carry it isn't an army any more and you have far worse problems.
As to not being able to fight after a full day's travel, so? Same applies to ground armies just over shorter distances. Camping an hour or so from the target / battle sight is standard practice.

Somebodynobody10 said:

On further notes and thought @Angelform : are you honestly not making a differentiation in that our people aren't birds?

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I base my assumptions on the show. MLP griffins might not have flashy magic but they have just as much ability to flaunt physics as pegasi or dragons.

Frankly a 50kph cruising speed is low-balling it given Griffins can compete with pegasi in athletic sporting events.