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Who Needs Harmony?: An MLP Empire Quest

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AthetosAdmech said:
The leaflets are a bit silly under these circumstances, otherwise I like the plan. Propaganda leaflets seem like something that might be more useful during prolonged conflict like a siege or trench warfare where the enemy has time to think about it. In a confrontation as abrupt as this they probably won't even have time to read it.
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It is certainly a show though. Like a bit of a joke.
 
Somebodynobody10 said:
I find the idea of dropping propaganda leaflets during a medieval/renessaince battle a bit... ridiculous? This isn't a modern battlefield siege where the enemy might have long moments of calm to consider the leaflets.
@Questor Do we even have such leaflets on hand and would we IC even consider such things during a full-scale battle?
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Yeah, you didn't bring a printing press with you. Your army's logistics are good, but they aren't that good. Leaflets aren't a viable battle tactic. A good action for a multi-year war perhaps, but not a spontaneous battle decision.
 
Whumbly said:
Omake: When the Hammer Falls: A Bronzehill Song @Questor

Down in the deep,
Where the monsters used to sleep,
Glorious gold,
Glimmers in our home of old,
Dark as the night,
Where the day has lost its light,
When the hammer falls.

When the hammer falls,
And it sounds through the halls,
When the hammer falls,
Fed by treasures from our hauls,
When the hammer strikes,
And the city comes to life,
When the hammer pounds,
Like the thunder underground,
When the hammer falls,
When the hammer falls!

Of legend and myth,
Is the craft of the smith,
The molten metal poured,
And pounded into sword,
From the fire is made,
Every Imperial axe and blade,
When the hammer falls.

When the hammer falls,
Forging weapons for all,
When the hammer falls,
Songs of battle fill the halls,
When the hammer flies,
Lines of armored Dogs arise,
With the hammer's roar,
We go marching off to war!
When the hammer falls,
When the hammer falls!

Tyrants tried to force their law,
And we fought them paw to paw.
Sweat and blood,
Turned the ground to mud,
All the world in strife,
As we fought for a better life,
When the hammer falls.

When the hammer falls,
Back our enemy crawls,
When the hammer quakes,
Lowly cowards' bones will break,
When the hammer cracks,
And it beats their armies back,
When the hammer's boom,
Sends the monsters to their doom,
When the hammer falls,
When the hammer falls!

When the hammer falls,
Then our victory calls,
When the hammer falls,
Songs of glory fill the halls,
When the hammer flies,
Mighty heroes now arise,
With the hammer's sound,
Live the Dogs down underground,
When the hammer falls,
When the hammer falls!
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Very Cool. Always nice to see Musical Omakes.

+5 to a roll.

Firebringer2077 said:
Ok... So I have now finished a good portion of the flags for the continental flags. I have no intention of making flags for Equestria or the Crystal Protectorate as they both have canon flags. @Questor here's the flags for the continent. Next weekend I might tackle the various islands.



Trying to keep with the color scheme of MLP is a little hard but I also was trying to show progression from earlier flags. This is the flag of the Gryphus Empire post Sombra. The Blues represent the sky and seas. The Hexagon is a reference to common fortresses seen throughout the empire. The black band is in rememberance of those lost... Those who gave their all for the Empire. I decided not to use Red colors on this flag mostly because I figured the Empire is trying to prove they don't need to be bloody to be great and the Black Band works better. I suspect there are regional subdivision flags or banners that fly for the various regions of the Empire: Griffonia, Wingbardy, Aquilea, Kestrella, Lanner, Crystal Empire, Houndstooth City. I imagine the banner of the First Empire is the flag of Griffonstone.



The Kingdom of Canterbury, a nation of lakes and holy orders of knights. Personally I don't think strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is any sort of basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. But that's none of my business... The sword and the lake shows just how important the Lady of the Lakes is to Canterbury, and the Fleur de lis is a reference to their earlier flag which was a reuse of an old French flag. What's the significance of the 15 fleurs? No idea but I figure it references the 15 Bishoprics or something to that effect. I was originally going to put some latin around the lake but it wound up making it a bit busy, so I decided not to. UNlike the Griffons the Knights of Canterbury have a 2:1 ratio flag. I suspect they had one that was much longer but it kept becoming a windsock or tangled, so they adopted the 2:1 version... also it was weird having the longest flag at diplomatic functions.



The flag of the Queendom of Maretonia. A land where the three pony races are bonded... by chains. Maretonia loves its gold, and the fact that a "legendary alicorn" was seen as symbol for the proper way of things. The Unicorns rule, the Pegasi enforce, and the Earth ponies toil. The flag of purple was usually only flown where Mareia, or the Monarch resided. Due to Mareia's unpopularity the Flag of Maretonia was usually flown as an after thought. Mareia's own family owned several forests where dark purple dye was harvested, and to have the Royal Standard be mostly purple instead of just crushed lavendar was a sign of their wealth. Technically speaking there was no single "Flag of Maretonia" but the central element was a common motif although the color changed depending on the house or noblity. Only Mareia was bold enough to put the Alicorn on her standard though, a not so subtle symbol that the Imperial Guard answered to HER above all else.



Ah House Storm... and the would be successors of Maretonia. The Red colors will feature more prominently on old Maretonia's flag, but the Stormy blue is what House Storm wants to be known for. Also to show that Pegicles is fairly uncreative... This is a ripoff of the Imperial Guard flag, they snapped off the Unicorn Horn, and put it on a field of dark Blue and Red. I guess Storm is known of it's "Wings of Blood" or something? I don't know....

Oh and the pegasi logo is ACTUALLY canon from the show... well kinda. See the Pegasi banner from the Hearths Warming Eve episode was this LINK

So in my headcanon that flag surviving in some archives in the cloud city of Mareathon was co-opted as a some sort Pegasi Supremacy icon for Pegicles. Let's just say if Cloudsdale Pegasi Centurions ever hear of this... they will be cross...


House White Star, the Unicorn Nobility's last hope to maintain their position. They would bind the two other races to their rightful place, and with their lavender banners would march into battle... and get their teeth knocked out. All the while in the City of Abila the Unicorn nobles were awarding themselves very impressive titles based on politics not function. The flag was designed by committee on a deadline... which is for the best because noble family representatives were still arguing over a proposed patchwork design of all the Nobles supporting White Star.

Inspired by some of the pics we have seen of the White Star Soldier's and their emblems



The Imperial Guard, sworn to protest the Monarch, only bound by the two chains. Solid in their duty and vow... Obvious inspiration was Imperial Roam... I mean Rome. I was tempted to follow the scutum of a Roman Centurion but no set of lightning bolts would work. If the Imperial Guard lasts long enough to find out that there is an ACTUAL White coated Alicorn... well might be an awkward conversation since for them they though alicorns were only myth.


The abolitionists. For a long while were cloaked in secrecy. A flag... an ACTUAL flag would only get their supporters killed, so they never made one. One of Queen Mareia's doomed centralization projects was the creation of a Maretonian Mail Corps. The nobles saw right through to Mareia's actual purpose, reading all their priveleged correspondence. So the noble houses or freepony merchants created private courier services to deal with this. it also didn't help that the thousand pony mail corps were quite... amenable to donations. After a few years EVERY noble house had their own unique wax seals, alongside cyphers and other keys to avoid royal censure... the most basic seal and one most easily overlooked was the the Four pointed star... or known as Common Class Mail. This is why the flag looks like an envelope, in the early days of the abolitionist, this is how they communicated... by Common Class Mail with the common class mail seal, no Royal postmaster would give it a second thought, they wanted the secrets of the nobles after all. Once the Griffon Crisis began the abolitionists wound up co-opting a few private mail services to "ship" slaves to freedom. Maretonian Mail Inspectors were poorly paid, and eager to accept donations.

When the abolitionists were able to work openly and started forming a makeshift governmet... they needed a rallying symbol to raise in towns to let them know they were genuine liberators... What better way than to put an envelope on a banner with a Common Class Mail wax seal?



Yakyakistan... A kingdom of the Yaks, forged from the 4 tribes under one ruler Rutherford, from the bluffs and Canyons of Yakistown, just down the road from Council Bluffs where the Rutherford united the 4 clans.
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These...these are awesome.

I love the reasoning behind the designs, almost as much as I love the designs themselves.

+20 to a roll.
 
You know, that blurb about how White Star was the unicorns' last hope to maintain dominance in Maretonian society makes me wonder. Would White Star have trusted the pegasi enough to return to the status quo, or would they have tried to add them to the slave class and have the unicorn nobility take over the military? Not sure they would trust letting the pegasi be the military aristocracy again after one of its bigger generals just tried to take over the country.
 
PyrrosWarrior said:
You know, that blurb about how White Star was the unicorns' last hope to maintain dominance in Maretonian society makes me wonder. Would White Star have trusted the pegasi enough to return to the status quo, or would they have tried to add them to the slave class and have the unicorn nobility take over the military? Not sure they would trust letting the pegasi be the military aristocracy again after one of its bigger generals just tried to take over the country.
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Probably set up a new caste system.
Unicorns on top, the generals, the bosses, the nobles.

Below them the peasantry of pegasi. The low ranking clerks, messengers, foot soldiers.

And then the slaves, Earth ponies and donkeys and zebras, used for menial labor and servants.
 
Adhoc vote count started by Questor on Jun 29, 2021 at 5:47 PM, finished with 141 posts and 21 votes.
  • [X] Write-In - Aerial Supremacy:
    [X] Write-In - Aerial Supremacy:
    -[X]Ignore the propaganda leaflets if they don't make IC sense
    [x] Write-In - Arial Supremacy
    [X] Write-In - Aerial Supremacy: Use as many of our flight-capable troops as we can to quickly gain air superiority. Begin with some shock and awe; a cannon barrage aimed at the valley/enemy, all our warhorns blowing at once, and a war cry from our troops. Have the army sing one of the more fear-inspiring songs from our march to increase the psychological pressure on the enemy. Concentrate attacks on the enemy commander and any other officers. While that is occurring, set up our cannons and flightless troops to barrage any potential enemy attack coming out of the valley, in case they try for a desperate offensive. Once we have air superiority, start dropping bombs, Molotov cocktails, arrows, flechettes, and propaganda leaflets instructing the enemy to surrender and promising good treatment to those who do. We want the untrained draftees to panic, surrender, retreat, and generally get in the way of the veterans. Once the enemy is in chaos, have units descend to the ground as necessary on isolated areas of the battlefield for defeat in detail.
    [X] Aerial Supremacy
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And Aerial Supremacy wins by a landslide. Thanks to everyone who voted.
 
[JK] Write-in - Aerial Supremacy
- [JK] Ignore everything BUT the propaganda leaflets. The leaflets are the only important part of the plan :V

Sorry Questor, had an absolutely important and game-changing vote to make! Hope it still counts.
 
Okay I missed out of the vote and seeing the winning plan all I could say is: Wut? Are we planning on being a bunch of crows who suddenly harass the sleepy jodging people in the moring with loud noises and unwanted dropping to claim our superiority and dominance over them?

I like it.
 
PyrrosWarrior said:
[JK] Write-in - Aerial Supremacy
- [JK] Ignore everything BUT the propaganda leaflets. The leaflets are the only important part of the plan :V

Sorry Questor, had an absolutely important and game-changing vote to make! Hope it still counts.
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Meanwhile in an alternate universe

The battle had been brutal... not for the actual losses, simply the commander had to flee, the mental drain was too muchon the soldiers of House Storm. The assault was too much even now hardened Storm warriors were cleaning off their armor... They were all tired but here they were safe...

...until the soldier saw a folded paper glider land next to him. No... NO! NOT AGAIN

He reached out to look at the leaflet glider... hoping it was not what he thought it was. The army would need to move soon... perhaps Mareathon would provide some solace. . Thanks to ink runes a Griffon voice boomed from the paper glider...

"Hi! We in the Griffon Army are trying to reach you about your cart's extended warranty..." and soon the message repeated "Hi! We in the Griffon Army are trying to reach you about your cart's extended warranty..."

>>>>>

Garrick looked at a chuckling Merlin as he sent off another thousand leaflet gliders with ink runes, "You are one sick bastard."
 
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Honestly though?
What kind of person would take the time to even read a pamphlet while all that is happening in the first place?
 
@Firebringer2077 Hey, just an idea for a flag for the Crystal Protectorate. Taking into account of some historical protectorate flags (for example, the flag of the Ugandan protectorate), perhaps the flag for the CP has the flag of Gryphus in the upper left corner imposed on a banner of purple, while the symbol of the Crystal Empire (i.e. a snowflake in a circle) is in the center right of the flag. Just an idea! I really love your flag designs and wnat to spin some ideas your way.
 
AthetosAdmech said:
It wouldn't be useful right now anyway but we might be able to do something like that in the future if we ever end up in a more prolonged conflict like a cold war. Not a bad idea if we just want to mess with someone we can't deal with right away.
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But it would be so inexorably expensive I doubt even WE could afford to do that.
 
AthetosAdmech said:
Not right now, but in the future we might. Who knows what the late game will look like.
Considering how much we advanced in a single generation, would it really be that surprising if we eventually figured out how mass produce enchantments with whatever the magical equivalent of a printing press is?
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The real problem there is the ingredients, but fair enough.
Maybe we can find a way to invent synthetic dragon scales or something.
 
TheLordofAwesome said:
@Firebringer2077 Hey, just an idea for a flag for the Crystal Protectorate. Taking into account of some historical protectorate flags (for example, the flag of the Ugandan protectorate), perhaps the flag for the CP has the flag of Gryphus in the upper left corner imposed on a banner of purple, while the symbol of the Crystal Empire (i.e. a snowflake in a circle) is in the center right of the flag. Just an idea! I really love your flag designs and wnat to spin some ideas your way.
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The flag of the Crystal Protectorate. Adopted a few years after the Protectorate was officially formed it incorporated elements of the Gryphus Imperial Flag. As said by Ivory Rook at the debut of the flag the Three Black Bands represent the rememberance of the sacrifices made by thousands of Griffons... against an apocalyptic foe... and to save a peoples under tyranny. It did unknowingly inspire how flags would be designed for future protectorates.

At least here's my first pass on it.
 
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