Definitely the DD kingdom if they'll accept our help. As far as Caribou go, I think we should focus on building up Libertalia to be the kind of naval traders that the Caribou are becoming. Which kind of puts Libertalia in competition with them.
Edit:
Unless there's some other route we could take with Libertalia?
Definitely the DD kingdom if they'll accept our help. As far as Caribou go, I think we should focus on building up Libertalia to be the kind of naval traders that the Caribou are becoming. Which kind of puts Libertalia in competition with them.
Edit:
Unless there's some other route we could take with Libertalia?
We still haven't made contact with them, so it's a bit too soon to really discuss who we'll help/ally with.
I'm tentatively siding with the dogs, as we can probably gain their trust more easily thanks to our own dogs, as it seems like the Caribou are mostly raiders, or "trade with us or else!". Still, it's likely that most of our contact with them will happen with (or even through) Neighpon, and maybe Libertalia.
Right now our focus should be on the yaks and Canterbury, and maybe we could explore some more. We have left the last unknown people west of the Yaks, and somebody south of Maretonia. I'd start west, maybe as a joint expedition with the Yaks to get even closer.
So.... Why is everyone freaking out about the caribou?
I mean, vikings were crazy advanced for their time but they never really had an answer to canons, much less our floating mines and our air superiority.
What's the hullaballoo about caribou? The players have been acting cagey on whatever it is. They're Vikings alright. And of they get uppity we can go to war against them and show naval superiority by sinking and drowning them at sea.
The issue is that during the fic that introduced them to the world, Fall of Equestria, is basically an alt-history wank where they manage to easily take over Equestria and Crystal Empire (and take out the Alicorns, Mane Six and Discord).
Their defining infamous trait is extreme sexism and objectification of females to the point of universal sexual enslavement (it would be fair to say they treat women worse than livestock) and a collar colour system to indicate how mentally broken that female is, where which combined with magic and related "male dominance" (if that wasn't obvious), "degradation", "body-modification/mutilation", "rape" and "mind-breaking" fetishes taken to the horrific conclusion of being implemented across society, often forceful through mind-controlling/'corruption' magic (on both genders so your beloved male canonical characters join the Caribou's atrocities, performing them on their own families) and mass, societally demanded rape and sexual slavery, leads to some uniquely heinous acts even for the internet.
I understand a lot of people don't want to openly discuss this plus specifics are graphically NSFW (so I won't go into them). But you really want look it up for a better picture. Trust me, it's much worse than I'm describing.
Safe to say the hatedom is significantly greater than it's fanbase and if you want a better story that fills you in on the mechanics I suggest you go there.
Generally, I'd say on top of the nightmare fetish society they created - the senseless cruelty, vulgarity, libertine level hedonism, lack of respect or decency and hate the Caribou show for females of all forms, but especially those with any control over their lives or responsibility, in a show that has a predominantly female cast, is female-led and is about friendship, forgiveness, altruism and love makes at least fandom Caribou the cultural antithesis to canon Equestria.
EDIT: However I doubt that the QM will go that far, but I think everyone should have this warning because looking it up for yourself unprepared is pretty terrible and not everyone regularly following the quest may be present to ask for a PM to understand the context.
EDIT 2: Put explanation of culture in spoiler box because I understand most don't want to linger over this issue.
agree. all we know right now is that they tend to be raiders, and that at least some of them are willing to trade instead.
Also that, for some reason, King Rex (with whom I'm a bit annoyed 'cause he stole the "alpha of alpha's" title from us) has not yet decided to attack the ones who established themselves in his land.
If that reason is lack of military strenght, we and Neighpon could probably help him IF we decide we don't like the Caribou.
We can sell the services of our navy, help him in exchange of favourable trade terms, or simply sell him ships and/or weapons.
I didn't actually read that comic (i really have to get back to it at some point...), and i never played Equestria at War either, so I'll quote from the wiki
Several deer appear in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #27 and #28 story arc The Root of the Problem. Among their number include King Aspen, the leader of the village and the "Heart of the Forest"; Bramble, King Aspen's son; and Blackthorn.
The deer live in a village called Thicket deep in the Everfree Forest. There they share a close relationship with the animals and nature, and they use magical potions harvested from the earth and forest plants.
if I had to guess I'd say that steampunk style tech would be near the end of our tech tree as I'm sure we'd need to toss some magic in their just to get the things to work but still be mundane enough for a mugle based race to use it.
So off a guess, probably a bit after we discover the rest of the world and get the world map filled out at the soonest, around the canon timeline at latest.
Well the Vikings in RL spread out very far from their native Scandentia, from Normandy to Russia to the British Isles to Iceland and Greenland, even a short-lived colony in Newfoundland and merchant and mercenary activity down the rivers of Europe as far as Constantinople
Well the Vikings in RL spread out very far from their native Scandentia, from Normandy to Russia to the British Isles to Iceland and Greenland, even a short-lived colony in Newfoundland and merchant and mercenary activity down the rivers of Europe as far as Constantinople
This is very true. But they also had kings and a form of government. These are fighting each other, which while definitely not surprising at all, is still a bit odd. Could be their version of the Aftermath of the Great Heathen Army, maybe, but still odd.
This is very true. But they also had kings and a form of government. These are fighting each other, which while definitely not surprising at all, is still a bit odd. Could be their version of the Aftermath of the Great Heathen Army, maybe, but still odd.
If they are based on the Vikings, it may be more likely they are in the middle of a civil war over a Cognatic Elector Primogeniture spilt, or in other words, they are unable to decide on an elected leader amongst themselves. That, or they could be fighting like the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms did before they united.
Edit: Or a conflict between heirs, as it might be Gavelkind.
Well the Vikings in RL spread out very far from their native Scandentia, from Normandy to Russia to the British Isles to Iceland and Greenland, even a short-lived colony in Newfoundland and merchant and mercenary activity down the rivers of Europe as far as Constantinople
Plus that doesn't even take into account how far and wide settlers/explorers/raiders/merchants etc. could have been flung by Discord. There may have been Caribou on the Emerald Isles when it was displaced - maybe just a fleet was translocated which happened upon the Emerald Isles?
Not to mention if the Caribou inhabit many different lands then when all of those lands were shuffled by Discord that means they could be many groups of Caribou scattered globally regardless of maritime or magical transport limitations.
Most Viking vessels were designed for rivers, fjords (or fiord, which are a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier), coastal waters (although some were open sea, even ocean capable) so Caribou may be found much further inland than we might expect, even before DIscord's meddling.
I'd say Canterbury is more French than us so Caribou settlers there would probably resemble Normans the most. Technically most Vikings were descended from Northen Germanic tribes so perhaps they once held some connection to our land?
I and WazugDaWierd liked his post so he's not alone. Obviously both Viking raiding and pillaging practise and Caribou culture's sexist elements are aspects we would want to flush out but the skills, crafts, technology and versatility, plus whatever racial magic they may have could be useful additions to the Empire just as with any other population. At very least we could trade for maps, which could be quite extensive if they take after OTL Vikings. Of course, we wouldn't want to end up paying Danish Gold.
Assimilating the good while discarding the bad is going to remain an ongoing challenge I suspect.
I'd prefer to wait and see as well. As far as we know we can probably win against them on the open sea, so we can afford to give them the benefit of the doubt. If they're reasonable we can make peace with them. If we find out they're not reasonable we can figure it out then.
