Companions

'Anon', Human Gestalt: 20HP, 1DR

 

*****

APPEARANCE: a green-skinned humanoid with no discernible non-human traits or features, excepting a 'face' that seems to be more of a skintight mask than flesh and bone. Approximately 7' tall with a slightly wiry, though definitively masculine build, Anon prefers to wear upper class human-styled formal suits, black pants, and an overshirt with a white undershirt, but will put on informal wear when a dismal event occurs.

 

Always wears a green mask with a large purple question mark over the face, the mask itself having an odd property that projects his emotions to all Operators in sight range, normally remaining unfelt by those that aren't human.

 

*****

BIOGRAPHY: a highly intellectual and intuitive individual, Anon shows up to chide and insult the Operators for poor valor or detrimental actions after an Operation, though he rewards them well for exceptional performances. He does not appear to have been on this world long, but has been noticed by Naliyna and Cadence at different times in the past.

Anon may be some form of gestalt created by the Operators, though that is merely one possibility, thus it is unknown if he is free, or merely acting in Razorback's shared interests. If that is the case, he may be their unwilling prisoner, without the Operators themselves knowing it.

 

Anon is quite a gambler, having made numerous deals and/or bets with the various leaders of Tallus, and prides himself on having won... most of them. Due to winning a bet with Discord, Anon can readily identify, analyze, and instinctively understand every area, inhabitant, and relic of Tallus once viewed or asked about, ranging from mineral compositions to the names of Those Better Left Unspoken. At least, for mortals that is.

 

Gaining the capability to freeze relative time ("Up to five minutes or so. After that.. weird things happen." -Emerald) from his first bet against Empress Silver, allowing only those that are of human descent to move under it's effects. He has experimented with it long enough to entirely halt temporal drift during the process of requisitioning or modifying Operator equipment. It's unlikely this may have further uses.

 

Appearing from time to time in the Fortress, usually to deliver a number of silver discs after large scale events have taken place, and takes great pride in offering a sheet of silver trimmed vellum paper that allows an Operator to write down and receive virtually anything they want, within logical reasoning, that existed on their world, or can be found on Tallus. The items granted from the paper take time to be delivered, especially if they must be modified, customized, or are difficult to get ahold of.

 

Despite referring to another being, or perhaps beings, at times in a mildly hostile manner, he seems to consider the competition, or whatever Anon sees it as, as a nuisance more than an enemy, and while he does care for the well being of the Operators, there have been numerous statements from him of neutrality or dismissal when it comes to ponies or other Tallus native beings.

 

*****

RELATIONSHIP: 'Anon' takes a great deal of interest towards loving Operator relationships with ponies.... and vice versa. There is a definite, heavily vested interest in shared well being, more so than to other Operators.

 

*****

ABILITIES:

-Grandmaster Bartering+3

-Grandmaster Negotiation+3

 

*****

SPECIAL ABILITIES:

-Critical Marksman: possibly gained from carefully studying the Operators' ranged combat capabilities and philosophies, Anon is capable of utilizing his revolver with devastating results, allowing him to penetrate most, if not all, forms of armor and protections with 2x [1d6+30] rolls.

*Anon is also capable of dividing his fire between two targets, as any skilled marksman should, though he may only carry six shells at any point in time as they are immensely difficult to procure

 

-Summon Silver Wish Discs: at any point in time after a large Operation has occurred, Anon may call forth an exact number of silver discs for the number of humans whom completed the task

 

*****

ARCANE ITEMS:

-Forget Me Not: an ornate silver and pearl inlaid ironwood box, 6" long, 3" deep, 8" wide, with silver inlays depicting the process of a forget-me-not shedding each petal, containing a small amount of a blinding white liquid. Once per day, the owner of this exceptionally prized trophy may open the box and present it to a target, but must take extreme care as any viewers are stunned senseless for anywhere from ten to sixty minutes using a [1d6] roll.

*Those under the effect can be ordered to complete any number of highly simple tasks for the duration, forget important details, or even an entire event, but only if the amount of time to be erased is equal to or less than the roll result

*5/10 uses remaining

 

-Moon Chime: a simple chime made of pure moonstone taken from Luna's Citadel on the Moon, capable of granting insight to it's bearer upon hearing the emitted tones with a [1d6] roll. The chime cannot allow it's owner to predict an event if said owner has little information on a sequence of events to do so.

*The lower the roll, however, the greater the chance the owner may lose their entire grasp on 'reality', and will act in a very strange manner for 24 hours. ("Last time that shit happened he went fucking whack, marching around like a damned Emperor; crown, sandals, toga. Spokesome Mediterranean language that gave me nightmares." -Unknown Operator)

 

-Scorched Orbs: a box of 1" in diameter glowing orange and white spheres, won from Anon's very first bet, just so happening to be against Princess Celestia. When tossed on a living being or object, an intense rip in the fabric of reality tears apart what was touched, literally 'burning' the being or object from existence entirely. As a side effect, this leaves only Anon with the memory of it's existence, though Discord and Silver will know an event occurred that they can neither see nor understand.

*15/20 remaining.

 

*****

UNIQUE WEAPON:

-"Ride Ender", The: a long-barreled, silver-coated .41 Magnum revolver with an old style non-swinging 6-cartridge cylinder that must be reloaded by hand. Considered a very rare firearm on most worlds, this was first used by an Operator, then taken and reshaped for Anon's use, undergoing numerous upgrades due to the excess number of wish discs that went unused.

*When an Operator commits suicide, the "Ride Ender" replaces the firearm used shortly before the act takes place, and while it is currently unknown why this occurs, Anon suffers a large amount of Morale damage when such an event occurs.

 

***************************************************************************************************************************************

Hodch (real name unknown), Starborn Nightblade: 120HP, 3DR

Age: 42

Month of birth: June

 

(Calm, Cool-Natured, Eidetic Memory, Elite: Casting, Highly Spiritual, Inquisitive, Minor Psychosis: Constant Study, Natural Caster, Natural Speaker, [Technically] NOT SANCTIONED AT ALL, Savant, Teacher, Veterancy: Combat)

 

*****

APPEARANCE: a critically inquisitive dark purple unicorn with shallow purple eyes; unusually, the pupils are a light black tone. Carries few scars on his coat, of which those he does have are a large slash, larger from left and smaller to the right, on his upper chest, and a smaller one considerably lower. Most notably however, he has a remarkable number of permanent damage marks on the underpads of his hooves.

 

On Septimber 38th of 29,998, Hodch made the mistake of touching Ivan's 'Sparkler' artifact after spending some time examining Razorback Fortress' underound power control room. Despite his usual propensity to analyze everything at least ten times in a row, he believed the object was safe to hoofle as Ivan showed no ill effects. As a result, from both hooves to his neck are covered in jagged, lightning strike pattern of bright white and blue scar lines.

 

*****

BIOGRAPHY: mostly classified. A lifelong Lunar faction member born in an unnamed Luna's Village. One of the rare few with a sealed history, Hodch is a friendly, but formidable teacher, especially when he dealt with cheaters or slackers at Canterlot's prestigious College of Magic.

 

While he doesn't seem to have any particularly strong traits when compared to most unicorn Nightblades, he more than makes up for his shortcomings with an unusually high amount of casting and esoteric knowledge, as well as history, archaeology, enchanting, smithing & crafting techniques.. the list is pretty much endless. It also helps that Hodch has an instinctive understanding of event manipulation and socio-political ramifications, albeit he tends to spend very little time on either of those matters. Under normal circumstances, it's unusual to hear him drop his even tempered teacher's persona, though does have an amiable, relaxed nature when speaking to those he understands or knows well.

 

Has an adopted, hazy purple batpony daughter that 'works' as the Moor Basin village's hostel clerk, whenever she isn't sleeping 23 hours a day. Was moderately surprised to find that Jeff may (or may not) have inspired his daughter as she has been taking her duties more seriously as of late, often leaving to visit her for several hours each day, and to catch up on news in the Basin.

 

Formerly Hodch could only be reached at night, either through the Canterlot College of Magic or the Nightblade's Den, a small floating cloud home ten miles south of Canterlot, though has decided to relocate to Razorback Fortress some time ago due to the number of historical relics that have been recovered, particularly a complete set of Duelist's Armor which he fawned over for several hours.

 

Taking note of Jeff's deepened relationship with Belltower, Hodch was admittedly reluctant to accept the pairing, though he has come to understand, and somewhat like, the mostly amiable humans of Razorback. Riding along with Jeff after Twisted Wing suggested clearing the Crag Moors, a rather nasty location in the northern section of the Deep Moors, Hodch decided that the Operators, while strange in manners and weaponry, were of (possibly) little harm to the Lunar faction. He accepted Belltower's statement that Jeff was trustworthy, though due to their intrinsic value on Tallus considers it his duty to both keep an eye on, and quietly aid, the human contingent, regardless of how.

 

Reaching a unanimous decision, Hodch, Belltower, and Twisted Wing pooled most of their favors from the Nightmare herself (not without a great deal of grumbling from Hodch, however) clearing admittance to the Lunar Citadel for both Jeff and Clemency, intending to act as a buffer between whom he saw as the most problematic Lunar Council members and his own clinical dissertions of the pair. While (somewhat) irritated that the three Starborn didn't get their chance to trash the Council Hall, he was nonetheless pleased at Jeff's acceptance into the Starborn, albeit disgruntled that Canterlot's Starborn emissary, an earth pony, chose to bow out from the meeting.

 

Along with Naliyna and Denra, Hodch has been aiding them in studying and cataloging the Enclave's contents, using his access to the Lunar Armory, the Hall of Memory for information requests, and his own lore on Tallus history, as well as overseeing the refits of numerous Enclave rooms to house some of his now-retired Starborn friends to keep guard. When not busy he warily studies and catalogues the strange items that have been pulled from the Solar Enforcer Armory, the surrounding Everfree, and elsewhere.

 

His friendly rivalry with Belltower and Twisted Wing, they, along with Lorekeeper Amerose, have remarked (with varying shades of humor, and in some cases jealousy) on his propensity to filly fool, yet his code of conduct does not allow him to mistreat or intimidate others, leaving many of the Lunar faction curious as to how marely rendezvous he's actually had over the years.

 

At current he is the only Nightblade AND member of the Starborn with the distinction of being able to enter the Lunar and Citadel Armories at will, without being stopped or questioned. ("Mostly due to the fact that he is amazingly careful when studying unknown objects. Look a thousand times, poke with an extremely long stick once at a range of I-probably-won't-die-here, really." -Lorekeeper Amerose)

 

Has confirmed that he is dying from an esoteric curse of sorts.

 

*****

STATUS: former head teacher at the Canterlot College of Magic. Now a Starborn Nightblade reservist, also aiding in cataloging the Enclave. That is, whenever he isn't being forced into taking care of the Fortress due to Tipper's 'technical' resignation.

 

*****

CUTIE MARK: never shows it off.

 

*****

OFFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Expert Assault+4

Expert Parry+5

Expert Riposte+6

 

Grandmaster Casting+13

Expert Elemental Lance+9

Basic Intimidation+5

Grandmaster Mysticism+9

Grandmaster Necromarecy+15

 

*****

DEFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Basic Block+4

Basic Evasion+5

Basic Reaction Speed+4

Basic Sprint+4

 

Master Fearless+6

Master Deflect Magic+10

Master Teleport+10

 

*****

UTILITY ABILITIES:

Expert Alchemy+7

Expert Bartering+4

Expert Crystal Alchemy+5

Master Crafting+8

Master Enchanting+10

Expert Neighgotiation+4

Expert Research+8

 

*****

Originally created for the sole intent of providing master unicorns enough defenses to safely duel each other during their trials of mastery (or testing) this armor, of which seems to be the only set fully intact, was hastily modified at the beginning of the Lunar-Solar War. Was most often pressed into service by a number of Grandmaster unicorns, records of which have been classified.

This particular example was recovered along with the horn ring and Spikeblade from a Lunar Guardian barracks in the southern Saddle Arabian jungles, home to the Arcane Atelier, where it remained until being found by a search party from Razorback.

-Armor Value: 3DR

-Armor Class: Full Body, Unique Light

-Enchantmarent Slots: 2/3 remaining

-Defensive Enchantmarent #1: reduces all magical, Casting, and Elemarental harm by 1/4

-Mechanical Enhancemarent #1: reduces all blunt trauma by 1/4

 

*Allows a unicorn to utilize Casting up to 10 times consecutively or 2 Grand Spells without any negative effects

*Can be improved to provide resistance against Psionic influences, but not damage

 

Originally meant for the purpose of dueling, these weapons, of which this seems to be the only one intact, was hastily modified at the beginning of the Lunar-Solar War, and pressed into service with a number of Grandmaster unicorns.

While it found little success in open combat, unicorns, batponies, and some pegasi, eventually began using the Duelist's Spikeblades as assassination weapons, greatly adding to the formidable capabilities of the few Lunar Guardian elite.

-Melee Weapon Class: Light

-Enchantmarent Slots: 0/3 remaining

-Base Modifier: adds +3 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls

-Offensive Enchantmarent #1: twice per Operation grants a [1d6+4] <Armor Crack ability which reduces the target's DR by result-2

 

 

*****

RELIC WEAPONRY:

Created by a Gozkan smith for the use of an estranged Solar faction noble during the Post Lunar-Solar War era, Form & Function were designed specifically for the unicorn duelist, whose name has been passed over by the marely misgivings of capricious Equestrian nobility. Otherwise, they are merely a curious footnote in historical documarents dating back to that era.

Considered extremely unwieldy by even Tallus weaponry standards, this otherwise strange pair of rapiers features a 1' in diameter circular 'grip' instead of a hilt and ornamarental acid etching in numerous flower designs. (“Obviously it was made for only a unicorn to use.” -Hodch)

Outside their strange propensity to refuse being taken from their current owner, whether alive or not, Amerose has confirmed that neither rapier is sentient, but as of yet cannot be sure that both combined may not have some form of preventative anti-removal enchantmarent.

Despite Amerose's best research efforts, she has no idea if the etches contain hidden meanings.

Sent to Razorback by the Arkadian Divides, a large offshoot of the Ferron clan from before the Lunar-Solar War, as a gift for their aid in preventing the deaths of all Lower Las Pegasus defenders.

-Melee Weapon Class: One-Hooved

-Enchantmarent Slots: 0/3 remaining

-Base Modifier: adds +3 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls

-Unicorn Adapted: adds +3 to all Casting rolls when not being used to strike with

-Armor Pierce: 1

-Offensive Enchantmarent #1: Form grants a [1d6+3] <Flamestrike Mystic Elemarental attack

-Defensive Enchantmarent #2: Function grants a [1d6+9] <Flameguard Mystic Elemarental shield

-Dual Wield: grants an additional Block roll if both are utilized, and are extremely difficult to separate from their owner

 

Unique among ancient Prenchian artifacts, Prestaniszcio, often called 'Prestige' or 'Prancestigio' in historical documarents, was shaped by an unknown master forger some time during the latter stages of the Middle Dynasty era. (Due to the use of black iron, it can be safely assumed that 'Prestige' is more a staff of office than a weapon, especially considering how difficult it would have been to procure enough from the ruined city which would eventually be renamed to Stalliongrad.)

Only given to high ranking unicorn sorcerers or sorceresses that displayed exceptional loyalty to the head of the Chemontaris noble family, one of nine ruling factions during Prance's medieval era.. one lineage that failed to continue to this day and age.

While considered inane in the hooves (or mouths) of those that are neither unicorns nor nobility, Prestige has the interesting capacity to grant access to two early bound arcane spells to those of non-unicorn lineages, IF they can meet it's demarending requiremarent of succeeding a 10 or higher Iron Will/Fearless roll for each attempt, and being a member of a primarily esoteric faction.

Sent to Razorback directly from Farrierse, one of several capitals of Prance.

*Amerose has stated the black iron used to produce this staff of office was the result of a Prance-Stalliongrad trade agreemarent in the late 28,900’s, one that has not been called upon since the Lunar-Solar War

-Melee Weapon Class: One-Hooved

-Enchantmarent Slots: 0/3 remaining

-Base Modifier: adds +2 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls

-Advanced Modifier: adds +4 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls against Spectrals and Undead

-Unicorn Adapted: adds +2 to all Casting rolls

-Offensive Enchantmarent #1: once per Operation grants a [1d6+18] <Prestigious Frost Nova Mystic arcane spell with a 10M radius

-Offensive Enchantmarent #2: grants a [1d6+4] <Druidic Palespear ability with a maximum rang eof 100M that ignores DR against Planar, Spectral, and Undead targets

-Defensive Enchantmarent #2: once per Operation grants a [1d6+18] <Prestigious Flame Ring Mystic Elemarental, a literal 'ring of fire', which harms enemies that dare to enter

-Twin Defenses: adds +2 to and gains an additional Block roll

 

*****

UNIQUE ITEMS:

A single piece of Life Weave, a composite blessed arcane metametal made by combining physically corrupted iron with large amounts of ash from the Heart of Glory tree, then quenched in the blood of a Grandmaster Spirit-Mystic on the path of Life, is shaped as two Neighsians embracing each other tightly.

*When worn by a being that has vowed Life and Death are the most important aspects of the Endless Cycle, +2 must be added to ONE esoteric skill, weapon, effect, or item each turn

*The bearer automagically regenerates 5HP each turn

*BANNED: a limited number of beings may be allowed to utilize this artifact without repercussion

*CURSED! a being that has not accepted the Endless Cycle will suffer 1 damage each turn or minute of carrying this trinket, increasing to 2 damage after 1 hour, 3 damage after 2 hours, and so on

 

During the early to middle Lunar Guardian eras there was an intense focus on producing esoterically defense armors and hostile, often sentient or sapient offensive weapons. Unicorns, batponies, Minotaurs, Gryphons, and others practiced their crafts, rarely if ever favoring one anvil over another.

As a result of these anvils absorbing the sometimes negative energies associated through thousands of years, they have become directly attuned to the aspects of Blood, Destruction, Moon, Night, Shadow, and Void.

Where a cursed anvil produced by Necromarecers is bad enough, these are considerably more pronounced and are never allowed for use outside of exceptional cases.

This particular example carries an eerie engraving of the Reaper, Princess Luna's wartime nickname, on the bottom.

*Adds +6 to all Enchanting and Smithing rolls

*BANNED: a limited number of beings may be allowed to utilize this artifact without repercussion

*CURSED! only a Lunar faction member, or any of the Lunar sub-factions, may use this object without consequence

*LUNAR GUARDIAN RELIC

 

Initially used by Lunar unicorns in the Vigil Light Cult to resurrect the bodies of fallen ponies, minotaurs, and Gryphons, against the unrivaled numbers and varieties of enemies at the time, Dynasty forces came to ban their use as being something akin to heretical, refusing to aid the Vigil Lights in their efforts of destroying or putting to rest vast hosts of Spectrals and Undead.

During the beginning of the Middle Dynasty Era, large numbers of these items were destroyed by opposition factions. Most were only saved when the Vigil Light Cult renamed itself to the Vigilite Order and demarended the return of any that were undamaged, as well as the remains of those that were destroyed. Some complied.

When a prominent Escort General of a major city-state refused, her body was the first to be added to the Vigilite's ranks, sparking a bloody feud that lasts to this day between the Dynasty Remnants and the Vigilites.

This example was recovered from the ruins of a Middle Dynasty Escort Outpost in 29,831 by a Starborn team. Passed from Necromarecer Master to Necromarecer Disciple after Luna's acknowledgemarent was given, it has been in the hooves of at least 20 owners.

*When activated by an equine Necromarecer, the Black Ark of Three adds +2 to all Necromarecy rolls, but immediately causes +1 Threat to any individual in line of sight that does not agree with the use of Necromarecy

*BANNED: a limited number of beings may be allowed to utilize this artifact without repercussion

*VIGIL LIGHT CULT RELIC

 

The trade of black onyx from the Moors only occurred from the 18,000's to the early 23,000's. Even then, locating more than a hooffull was an extraordinary event as finding gems, let alone metals, are considered once in a lifetime finds. Due to the unique methods used by Neighsian gem-smiths it is nearly impossible to tell when this example was found or shaped.

Completely unknown outside of Neighsia, Hodch has stated he's only come across two examples in his time, but heard of another.

("That one was highly damaged, though I did hear of two being used for Lunar Guardian weapons before a certain War. Since spirit-carvers, what we call gem-smiths, rarely leave Neighsia and only a few Dusk Strider gem-smiths exist, nopony ever tried to repair it. The one I did touch is currently in the main Memorial Village Reliquary. Yes, it survived fully intact. Unfortunately the other one is probably lost somewhere in one of the Arena Armories.. ..again." -Hodch)

*Grants a [1d6+6] <Starbolt Mystic Void Elemarental ranged attack

 

Etched on the front is an image of Chrysalis and Cadence in their early years, necks entwined and smiling. In the background are 9 ponies, 3 Changelings, 3 Crystal ponies, and 3 Conclavists lying down under sunlight.

Etched on the rear is an image of a Changeling, a Crystal pony, and a Conclavist sitting in front of a fanciful fire. In the distance is an image of Chrysalis and Cadence gazing upwards at the Moon.

Across the trim are small engravings of the various Ethereals that aided the Crystal Kingdom's foundation. Curiously, one on the bottom was scratched off at some point in time, and Champion Belregard added to the right side.

Hodch steadfastly refuses to explain why this artifact is in his possession, though stated this to Aiutante before leaving: "I did not ask for it, this was.. placed in my hooves against the will of those in attendance except for a few. History has forgotten more names than we will ever know. At the bare minimum I swore to keep the memories of a glorious past alive, at best, felt by all. No matter the price."

*Each turn Carry My Love will restore [1d6+10] HP to ALL Allies and Friendly beings in 100M

*This effect does not cause Arcane Poisoning, and cannot be prevented

*BANNED: a limited number of beings may be allowed to utilize this artifact without repercussion

*CRYSTAL KINGDOM RELIC

 

Nopony knows what is contained within these pages. Hodch's Disciples, however, have sometimes heard him recite passages from it before going to sleep.

 

As silverine items are almost never recovered from Dynasty locations, he's unsure which ruin this example was pulled out of. Several heraldry stamps prove it was created sometime around the 28,600's, but as the resonances have faded over time it is unlikely answers will be found.

Hodch states that it was given to him by a dying Honor Guard, name withheld, and wears it as a mark of honor.

*Adds +2 to all Casting OR Teleport rolls

*BANNED: a limited number of beings may be allowed to utilize this artifact without repercussion

*DYNASTY RELIC

 

Originally made to defend against the despair that pegasi felt when losing their wings, either through injury, severing, or disease, the powerful enchantmarents act to lighten one's spirit.

*Negates the non-physical effects of Critical, Demoralized, Fear, Horror, Shock, and Terror

*LIMITED BAN: requires EXPLICIT permission from Princess Luna to wear

*LUNAR GUARDIAN RELIC

 

An ancient being hailing from the Elemental Plane of Lightning, the Storm King was renowned for his seemingly infinite powers (they weren't), vast knowledge (most dragons think he would have made a better diplomat than a crafter, but otherwise agree), and gentle disposition (if one must enter combat, do so with a heart clad in honor, your tears can wait).

Having given up due to age but finding none would take his title, he decided to try his luck with the unusual, some would say soft, ponies of Tallus. Arriving at a place that would, thousands of years later, become known as Tempest Isle, he settled there peacefully amongst the Extra-Planar Harpies.

To most ponies he appeared as a paradox: difficult to reach, harder to understand, and seemingly impossible to comprehend. What they did know was the incredible beauty of the endless trinkets, objects, and other items he created out of what they believed was boredom. Where ponies appreciate decorative yet rugged objects, the Extra-Planar Harpies frowned on anything more than brute force military necessities.

Often spending time trying to convince both sides that the other had good ideas, he would eventually give up, laughing at the tiny verbal conflicts erupting form time to time.

Sensing his death would occur 'soon', the Storm King spent a decade traveling across Tallus, moving with the winds and watching storms entirely unlike those from his home Plane from the highest places he could reach. As he learned to appreciate the far less refined things in his now-mortal life, he would set about creating artifacts of great utility, power, and defense, dedicated to only one of those three concepts.

Before the Storm King's death, none were told more than the basics of what each object was capable of, allowing individuals to figure out his intentions on their own. As such, few know what is in the Grand Room, except those that have visited it.

Outside Hodch, less than eight other beings know how to access the Grand Room.

*BANNED: a limited number of beings may be allowed to utilize this artifact without repercussion

*PLANAR RELIC

 

Learning to 'fold' one's marental presence around raw black iron to lift a piece is an art in itself, but being able to 'move' the 'fold' in steady patterns ensures that all earth ponies learn to understand, and eventually share, the peculiar quirks.

Unicorns, however, have a much more difficult time as raw black iron readily negates most forms of magic, though when fully refined it simply becomes highly resistant to directed esoteric effects.

Hodch has revealed that this one was given to Nightblade Fang Killer by Stream Lark in late 29,993 for his aid in locating a number of missing Watch Guard in the Western Equestrian Highlands.

It was recovered from Fankil's room shortly after his death.

When Hodch left to Stalliongrad seeking to return this item, the aging Councilierge politely refused, stating he could think of no better friend to bear the deceased Lunar Guard's honor.

*BANNED: a limited number of beings may be allowed to carry this artifact without repercussion

*STALLIONGRAD RELIC

 

Long thought to be little more than outlandish myths, hundreds, if not thousands, of these puzzling 'coins' were produced during the beginning years of the Middle Dynasty. After the effects of early diamondine became understood, numerous projects were started to make use of the arcane metamaterial's esoteric-stabilizing influences.

Few results of those projects are known to the modern day and there are no records, oral or otherwise, outside of Dynasty adherents, or possibly the Remnants themselves, that state successes or failures.

Once awarded solely to Escort ranked unicorns, it is speculated that less than 10 exist today outside the Fallen Dynasty.

*Adds +1 to all Casting and Abosrb/Deflect/Resist Magic rolls

*BANNED: a limited number of beings may be allowed to carry this artifact without repercussion

*DYNASTY RELIC

 

When asked why Hodch joined the Starborn, he will show this object and state: "Them. For every name on here there are fifty thousand that may never be remembered. Don't add mine. Everypony and everyone that knows me, knows better."

*STARBORN EXEMPLAR ARTIFACT

 

Long before the Lunar Guardians formed, Dusk Striders roamed the Underdark's layers and Void spectrums across Tallus, risking their lives to connect living beings to each other. For ages, with each passing generation more would take up the duties and assert their dominance over the unknown, the feared, and the unnatural.

Discovering allies, objects, and sometimes each other in unexpected ways, in likewise unexpected places, the Dusk Striders covered Equestria in safe travel routes, from the Moors, to what would become the Crystal Empire, to what would become the Gryphon Kingdoms, and to the early Minotaur Warclans.

A ten day march became a five hour walk, and a five hour walk became a five minute jog. As trade flourished, so did all the various interconnected species.

Little used to 'easy' life in villages, towns, or the beginnings of cities both small and grand, the Dusk Striders shrugged their shoulders and turned to other lands. Finding routes across oceans, through vast mountains, and between the Ley Lines themselves, the pain and pride of uncounted generations continued.

When the Tunnels began collapsing between the Early to Late Dynasty Eras and trapped the vast majority of Dusk Striders within, hundreds of thousands risked their lives to free them. Most efforts were unsuccessful, and as the years passed fewer and fewer could take up the calling as their collected knowledge became lost. Eventually it was presumed that no Dusk Striders remained outside of small groups spread across the Moors and Ferron territories.

Vast stone piles now lie at the entrance to each Tunnel, carried one by one and placed by those that knew how important the Dusk Striders were, both to history and culture.

Millennia later, this simple locket carries the hopes, dreams, and love that the Dusk Striders gave to Tallus, all without ever thinking of being repaid.

*CURSED! only a being that fully understands the values of Pain and Pride may carry this locket

*DUSK STRIDER RELIC

 

Often being used to normalize relations or declare conflicts between opposing herds and groups, the Smoke After Dusk represents a completely 'clean' table of negotiations, granting all parties an equal chance at having their voices heard.

*When presented during negotiations between two or more parties, a [1d6+4] roll is made for the number of turns that ALL modifiers that would affect Bartering or Negotiation rolls are removed, OR to equalize all modifiers to the lowest possible +X bonus

*Fully disables all Demoralize, Intimidation, and other negative vocal abilities, excepting the Canterlot Voice and related

 

Created by dragon-spirits for their keepers throughout Neighsia, these unusual items are exceedingly difficult to acquire and are purchased en masse by Lunars when traveling through.

Used solely to recover from spiritually inflicted harm, they're beloved by Moorites, Malurians, and Lunarites alike.

Various Neighsian fruit, berry, and honey flavors.

*450 remaining in resealable paper tubes

*Upon consuming regenerates [1d6+4] <S.HP

 

Hodch has kept this n'Tapi with him since his early days in the Lunar Guard, and enjoys sharing the numerous times it failed to warn him of silly incidents, such as the infamous "Hard Boiled Hoofboot" incident, both to his closest friends, and his Disciples.

*Grants a [1d6+4] <Sense Danger roll, once per Mission

*STARBORN ALLY

 

Coming from a large number enchanted with a basic pseudo-tracking spell to align itself in flight with a target, a company of Ruined Lands Ranger reportedly loosed hundreds against an unknown and unidentified attacker.

Recovering what he could of the arrowhead and shaft, then sealed into a gently crafted diamond box, an Elder Mystic sacrificed the blood of his fallen kin to the Earth before seeking out the young Night Guard.

Regaling the battle in full detail, the Mystic presented Hodch with this box. Confused, he asked why would an arrow that DIDN'T kill the creature and was shattered into pieces on impact be given such care. The Mystic did not directly answer, instead stating the following: "It is rarely the individual weapon and the weapon's bearer that slays monsters. It is the guidance and companionship of all involved. Past, present, future, the Endless Cycle must continue."

*HONORED HEGEMONY RELIC

 

As no two copies were even remotely similar, the veracity, as well as accuracy, of the prophecies contained within are highly suspect. However, a talented unicorn with some skill in Necromarecy can often extract valuable information relating to safer methods of raising, stunning, destroying, putting to rest, or aiding unruly Spectrals and Undead.

*Adds +1 to all Necromarecy rolls

*BANNED: a limited number of beings may be allowed to utilize this artifact without repercussion

*CURSED! only a unicorn Necromarecer may bear this object without suffering from madness

*DYNASTY RELIC

 

Hodch has never spoken of the events that claimed the life of his only sister, but from time to time will take this out of his saddlepack to stare at.

 

Etched onto the pages of this unassuming diary are the crimes, regrets, and remorseful acts Hodch has committed during his life. Rather than detailing them individually, each individual page has a phrase or short sentence, then a number of scratch marks below.

Hodch does not allow anyone, or anypony, to look inside.

 

These pieces of Moonstone were once produced in the thousands by Lunars in centuries past. While later examples were gifts of service to those that spent their best years serving and protecting their fellows, as well as Luna, early examples such as this one hide a much more unusual purpose: to pass on to a worthy apprentice.

*Contained within are the full memories, knowledge, and skills of Hodch

*BANNED: a limited number of beings may be allowed to utilize this artifact without repercussion

*CURSED! only Hodch's chosen Disciple is allowed to take this relic

*LUNAR GUARD RELIC

 

*****

PHYSICAL ENCHANTMARENTS: 0/3 Slots

-?????: adds +1 to all rolls, 2-slot enchantmarent

 

-Superior Armor Charm: adds +2DR

 

 

 

***************************************************************************************************************************************

Naliyna Remostrine, former 'Third Siege-Marauder': 135HP, 2DR

Age: 60

Month of birth: Panuary

 

*****

(Affectionate, Calm, Crystal-Forger, Elite: Senses, Emotional, INQUISITORIALLY SANCTIONED, Minorly Forgetful, Purposeful, Slow, Studious, Warm-Hearted)

 

*****

APPEARANCE: a slightly wavy, bright fuchsia coated half-transparent Crystal pony mare with brilliantly shimmering ruby red eyes. Has a long dark fuchsia mane that nearly reaches the ground, a slight curl present at it's end, while her tail somehow manages to curl on itself and not drag all the time. Tries to take care of her coat and mane, though finds it difficult due to the condition her body is in. Also a tad bit overweight.

 

The upper half of Naliyna's left ear is missing while under the left eye, entire head, and most of her body is covered in deep, slightly sensitive scars, remnants from Sombra's attempted domination over 1,000 years ago, though when Thrill touches them the sensation is quite soothing to her.

According to her, the right Cutie Mark was removed and eaten by the unicorn King. Several small burns from the Changeling 'incursion' in 29,978 dot her withers, saddle, upper barrel, and several on her rump, though none of them appear to have caused meaningful harm.

 

Naliyna's coat, mane, and eyes sparkle or gleam when happy, an interesting and highly noticeable effect due to the intense emotional capacity inherent in all Crystal ponies.

 

*****

BIOGRAPHY: post-imprisonmarent life poorly known. Once part of the largest trading herd in the Crystal Empire, traveling constantly to buy, sell, trade, and appraise anything that caught her exceptionally critical eye, Naliyna is the eldest Remostrine daughter. Less overtly talented than most Crystal ponies, she was nonetheless a known singer, an excellent Crystal-forger, and several other occupations, though has forgotten the majority of her skills and techniques due to memory and personality damage via the formation of her unique skill, Revenge, during the forced occupation of King Sombra's reign.

 

As a result, Naliyna's tenacity and loyalty, often barely remembered, gives her little choice but to protect her herdmates and fellows, the failed results of which caused the emotional trauma leading to memory fragmentation. In recent months, Cadence has stated her recovery process outside the Empire has done much for well being and stability.

 

Meeting the Operators arriving via train at the Crystal Empire Main Station, Naliyna's interest in the Otherworldly mercenaries was piqued by their appearance, size, and the clothing they wore, since wearing clothing is either at important or formal functions, or by by prostitutes.

Not knowing that wasn't the case, she spent some time selling and trading with the members of Razorback, with interest in the outside world rekindling.

Curious about the history of the rainbow daffodil in his possession, Thrill sought Naliyna out for information on it, leading to a misunderstanding on the Crystal mare's part, as a great deal of her personal history was invested in Princess Cadence's existence.

 

Suffering a marental breakdown and leaving to a place of safety, Thrill sought her out once more to apologize, though he had little understanding of the events that had taken place long before.

Admitting that she considered the Empire to be her tomb, Naliyna requested that Thrill execute her as she could no longer bear or cope with the disjointed, crippling, confusing memories and emotions of her past.

Upon his refusal and understanding the reasons behind it, she acknowledged that she had been, essentially, committing protracted suicide in the city-state, she chose to seek a life outside the Empire regardless of what leaving entailed, remaining quiet and withdrawn for some time.

 

Experiencing familiar emotions while traveling with Thrill and the rest of Razorback, some of which were little more than touches of deja vu, the rest vague, strongly held memories and thoughts, Naliyna's slowly developing interactions led to her accepting Thrill's attentions and affection without restraint, mostly due to his considerate, caring nature.

Seeing humans and ponies as capable of the same concerns, she began taking all opportunities to enjoy their time together, particularly when it came to exploring new places. And foods.

 

After being confronted with the knowledge of her wrongful and partly misguided hatred of Cadence, solely by Thrill, Naliyna was left puzzling over her own bitter, substantially hostile actions. Eventually decided that her former sovereign suffered as much, if not more, than she had, what remains of her distrust for the Princess of Rebirth's visible weaknesses is kept to herself, partially out of regret, and partially out of understanding.

As evidenced by Cadence's discussion with Thrill, her proclamation that she was never a warrior, only a healer whom had little idea of war's long lasting affects on the mind, the pink alicorn's promise of reconciliation with all of her ponies would be delayed though the two were, then, incapable of meeting each other's eyes.

 

No longer quiet and more affectionate than ever, Naliyna is able to speak of her known memories to Thrill and her chosen friends without reserve due to her formerly crippled marentality and willpower becoming solidified.

This gives her a high degree of autonomous flexibility when dealing with the oddities, and sometimes horrors, of Tallus. Recovering her interest in mechanical and technological applications, the specifics of Crystal engineering are still a work in progress, despite a rather large amount of time spent in experimarentation.

 

As she will speak her mind at all possible opportunities, one of her largest joys involves giving advice to other ponies on relationships, yet often ends with said advice simply being 'go have sex, then snuggle. A LOT'.

Her new favorite hobbies, besides fawning over Pella and Allys' pastries, are being brushed, hoof massages, long walks or jogs around the Fortress, and swimming lessons in the Enclave with Thrill, though she still worries over what might be lurking in the water.

 

After Spiral left the Fortress, Naliyna took the position of Itemologist ("...what th- okay, that's an actual title and a rank for ponies. I honestly believed Hodch was joking." -Emerald), and has retained control of the various relics for Razorback after Amerose's arrival.

Along with Hodch, Amerose, and Denra, Naliyna has been aiding the rest studying and cataloging the Enclave's contents, cracking open Crystal Empire lockboxes and using her vast (if sometimes scattered) knowledge of historical relics to identify various weapons and armor.

Though Amerose and Naliyna are reasonably friendly towards each other, Naliyna's age, force of will, and stubborn presence have made her nearly as superior as Twisted Wing in the head Lorekeeper's eyes, and as such Amerose will not divulge any specifics or favors asked by her.

 

During the second Fortress renovation, Naliyna grudgingly allowed her family to serve food and refreshmarents to Razorback, knowing that she would lose each and every argument from her daughters Quell and Starglow.

Instead, she aided (as much as possible) the new and under construction Clinic with Tipper, then spending some of her free time with Malyne and Dancing Eyes in the library, relearning some of her skills and helping the batfoal along in crafting. Also helps with plotting out Malyne's next 'targets' from time to time.

 

Outside of her other duties, Naliyna has spent nearly a thousand hours in the past two years translating human engineering principles to the Empire's bio-crystalline technologies.

Most of her experimarents have lead to successful breakthroughs, particularly when it comes to replacing batteries, hardening electronics, and even creating artificial muscles for use in armor.

Her skills in weapon and armor 'tuning', once hopelessly outdated, have been expanded through patient acquisition of various tools, devices, and crystal discs containing precise information how to create hololiths, and even full sets of Crystal Kingdom and Empire armor.

 

*****

FETISHES: voyeurism & polygamy...

 

*****

CUTIE MARK: a platinum Early Imperial coin inlaid on a brown book under a lens. The right Mark, however, is missing.

 

*****

STATUS: formerly a street vendor at the Crystal Empire Main Station, now Razorback's dedicated trader and (only) paperwork mare.

 

*****

RELATIONSHIPS:

-Dancing Eyes: absolutely does not understand, but secretly wants to.

 

-Mercy: enjoys spending what little time the two have together.

 

-Thrill Collins: desires his company, though is slightly possessive of.

 

-All other Operators: highly friendly towards.

 

*****

OFFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Expert Assault+5

Expert Parry+4

Expert Riposte+4

 

*****

DEFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Expert Block+4

Expert Evasion+3

Expert Reaction Speed+4

Expert Sprint+3

 

*****

UTILITY ABILITIES:

Basic Crystal Alchemy+2

Basic Crafting+3

Expert Crystal Engineering+4

Expert Fearless+3

Expert Bartering+4

Expert Perception+4

Expert Neighgotiation+4

Master Appraisal+5

 

*****

Expert Crystal Runes+6

 

-Learned Runes:

*Cover: creates an innate crystalline shield that may be used to defend herself or allies with, and is also capable of attacking and stunning opponents.

 

*Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter Fade: allows the user to become physically invisible on a result of 6 or higher via bending and distorting visual perception around her, but does not confer the other benefits typically associated with Stealth.

-Most certainly does NOT reduce physical sound

 

*Power: adds +1 to all Crystal Rune rolls for each max critical, capping at a maximum of +3 (+4/+5 at Master/Grandmaster), and can be used with Crafting.

 

*Pull: allows use of minor Psychokinesis, limited to a maximum of 500 pounds.

 

*Refresh: allows use of a ranged, minor Recovery-like ability, though allies must be in line of sight and within 100M in order to function

-On a max critical, natural Poisons, Toxins, and Minor negative status effects will be negated

 

*****

SHARED ABILITY: Basic Crystalline Focus. Once per Operation, Naliyna and Thrill, whether separate or alone, may roll a [1d6] <Crystal Focus, the result being the number of turns +1 is added to ALL rolls, whether combat or non-combat related, with no limitations of use outside of an Operation.

*This also grants Naliyna and Thrill a passive Basic Singing+1 skill, allowing them to Entrance and stir a crowd, though they cannot move while doing so; the greater the result, the broader the possible effects

*This may also be used to sway and direct a crowd's focus, making it easier to suggest ideas and reinforce opinions with Negotiation

 

*****

SPECIAL ABILITIES:

-LEVELER: when attacking heavily armored opponents (those with 8DR or more) or assaulting buildings & fortifications Naliyna must roll 2x [1d6]'s, the lower result being added to all offensive rolls, the higher result being how marely turns the effect lasts

*This ability has a 5 turn cooldown and may only be used TWICE per Mission or Operations!

 

-Minor AutoRegen: regenerates +1HP each turn

 

-PAIN MEANS NOTHING!: due to the overwhelming injuries Naliyna has sustained throughout her life, even as a filly, she has become inured to the many negative effects Tallus has thrown at her.

*Naliyna does not suffer from the negative marental statuses inflicted by the following effects: Burned, Chilled, Crippled, Concussed, Doom, Fractured, Frostbite, Frozen, Sorched, Shock, Slowed, Sprains, and Stunned, though she will suffer of course suffer all negative roll penalties

*She is also 75% less likely to suffer from Concussions, Fractures, Stuns, and Sprains

*Additionally, Naliyna is incapable of suffering from Fear, Horror, Terror, and never needs to Rally

*However, Naliyna is moderately susceptible to Demoralize

*Most Eldritch and Planar abilities will cause damage but have a 50% lower chance of inflicting status effects

 

*****

UNIQUE ABILITY: Expert Revenge. Suffering the extreme stresses of King Sombra's takeover, the resulting torture she endured, and undergoing memory fragmarentation from losing her right Mark, Naliyna's thoughts twisted into focusing solely on revenge against the Unicorn King.

While imprisoned, she sought to find weaknesses in the Empire's newly built prison complex, and those of her captors, developing intense memoriological reflexes in an effort to duplicate both the skills of Cadence and Sombra.

*Roll 3x [1d6+4]'s, on a result of 10 Naliyna gains 1 Revenge token, and may only store 3 tokens

*For each Revenge token stored, Naliyna may duplicate ANY pony related ability ONCE per turn, or other unique skills, that she has seen and is capable of performing.

*For obvious reasons this excludes pegasi skills requiring wings, Casting, Psionic abilities that are dissimilar to Crystal Runes, and non-physical Eldritch, Otherworldly, Planar, Spectral, and Undead skills, as well as those that do not have obvious physical mechanisms

*While copying the skills of Leaders, performing them in the vicinity of faction members may be seen as worthy of condemnation, personal loss of reputation, and at worst, possibly heretical

*Naliyna cannot be Confused, Paralyzed, Silenced, Stunned, in a Hold, or otherwise immobile while attempting to perform a copied skill, and copied skills may only be utilized in the sequence that they were learned

*After the first use, Naliyna becomes Moderately Fatigued, after the second she will become Severely Fatigued, while attempting a third will result in the loss of 1/2 her HP, and removal of ALL modifiers for the following day/night cycle

 

 

Master Execute+8

Grandmaster Diamond Reprisal+14

Grandmaster Night Reaper+16

Grandmaster Gravity Surge+20

 

*****

COMPLETED PROJECTS:

Composite Materials

 

Crystalline Alloys

 

Crystalline Circuitry

 

*****

STANDARD WEAPONRY:

Though not meant for combat, extended or otherwise, Naliyna has found they make excellent hoof protectors while skating around the Fortress during winter.

Melee Weapon Class: Light

-Enchantment Slots: 0/1 remaining

-Base Modifier: adds +1 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls

-Utility Enchantmarent #1: Superior Slowfall-Float, allows Naliyna to float 1' above any solid materials, and reduces her floating weight by 1/4

 

*****

RELIC CRYSTALLINE WEAPONRY (Archaic Artifact, Conclave-Forged, Crystal-Forged, Heavily Specialized):

A smoothly curved pair of lances split in the exact center off the rear shaft, spread apart 3" and heavily reinforced by thick bands of stabilized crystal. The 'tips' are a pair of solid impactor rods, each specialized for use against specific targets.

Patterned after archaic pegasi twin-beam lances long used by the far more militant cloud-cities within the Minotaur Hegemony, this is merely a larger version intended for Siegemares and Construct hunters.

Is latched onto the right side of the Siege Knight Underplate by a pair of heavily reinforced, triple-jawed clamps made from monoplate Imperial crystal.

Naliyna was unable to have the resonant properties switched due to the emergency situation in Basin Village.

-Base Modifier: adds +3 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls

-Advanced Modifier: adds +5 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls against Armored targets and Constructs

-Resonant Slots: 0/4 remaining

*Grants a [1d6+5] <Kinetic Shock resonant strike that deals double damage against structures and fortifications

*Grants a [1d6+5] <Armor Disruption resonant strike that deals double damage against Armored targets and Constructs

 

A carved, pristine Blizzard Dragon's head up front suffices for the ramming portion, though the rear is covered in activated Crystal Runes that display the bearer's status.

*Naliyna was unable to have the resonant properties switched due to the emergency situation in Basin Village.

-Base Modifier: adds +4 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls

-Advanced Modifier: adds +6 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls against Heavily Armored targets, structures/fortifications, and XL or greater sized enemies

-Resonant Slots: 0/4 remaining

*Grants a [1d6+8] <Armor Shear non-elemental resonant strike that ignores DR, dealing double damage against Heavily Armored and XL or greater sized enemies

*Grants a [1d6+13] <Resonating Shock resonant strike that deals double damage against structures or fortifications

 

*****

RELIC CRYSTALLINE ARMOR:

Somewhat resembling standard modern Warden armors on this surface, this older, full body, medium weight Conclave Knight design trades the heavy variant's rigid Kingdom-era crystal armor plating for 16 sequential layers of segmarented flexible sheets, allowing for enhanced mareneuverability with little additional weight.

Affixed to the chest and above the legs is a solid plate that protects against directly incoming strikes and weaponry, lessening the chance of a crippling or killing blow to the heart and lungs. The front and sides of the neck likewise feature additional sheeting as this set is preferred by more specialist roles, such as Chargers and Seigemares.

The external plating is bonded internally by a series of biofeedback capable crystalline strands ("I can't remember which series of exoframes started using that stuff, but it was definitely made long before I was born.") that resemble musculature, acting to empower the wearer's motions. Not only do the pseudo-muscles enhance strength and speed by a minor amount, they also functioning as multiple shared redundant power generation/storage units.

The strands are directly connected to a pair of resonance sensitive, specialized hololith units under a pair of thick plates atop the withers, allowing a Crystal pony to utilize the armor as an extension of their own body and issue commarends near-instantly to the integral InterPonies.

Further protected by an interior Tremor-series light mesh bodysuit ("The Tremor is a late Conclave Knight inner suit. It's.. really skimpy. And not in a GOOD way either!"), created by sequentially bonding semi-artificial crystalline threads used in the Frostweave medium armor with a heavily refined bio-gel composite known as Onward that functions as a tertiary layer, some much needed interior comfort was added.

Equipped with three InterPonies rather than the standard two, Naliyna requested this set's refit to focus solely on siege, anti-armor, anti-fortification, anti-Construct, and (eventually) other anti-Planar roles.

A solid state resonance detection and monitoring system was installed underneath the heavier spinal plates, allowing the wearer to (hopefilly) pinpoint weaknesses in enemy armor, maximizing the effects of brutal charges or countercharges.

Requesting an older, filly stabilized Rime Lattice anti-energy ablation-deflection skinshield system, in place of the original's broad spectrum resonance locator/emitter hololith, this custom addition greatly improves durability and survivability against energy weapons weaponry. The constantly rotating fluctuations intentionally cause significant interference and disruption from hostile Crystal Runes or Psionics while allowing the user's own capabilities to function undeterred.

Once produced in significant numbers by larger Conclaves during the Early Dynasty Era for anti-Construct and anti-Planar duties, most surviving examples of original, and a few later, Siege armors exist throughout the Crystal Empire City-State's museums, each showcasing their individual modifications to meet custom preferences.

This improved pre-modern (Late Dynasty Era) set comes from the Tylisvine Conclave, located two weeks march of Ice Floe Fort, from a small, well taken care of stockpile they have been maintaining since the Middle Dynasty Era.

Heavily refit and drastically modified for Naliyna's service. ("Ten thousand Bits well spent! Even if it did take five months, two dozen refits, three InterPonies, an older Lattice, a detection unit.. ..sure I could have gotten some NEW junk and spent a while working on it, but this one was so NEAT in that box I couldn't help it!")

-Armor Value: 6DR to the chest, 5DR for the neck except on the rear, 4DR elsewhere

-Resonant Slots: 1/5 remaining

-Adds +1 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte, Charging, and Sprint rolls

-Reduces all Ice damage by 1/6, whether physical, natural, magical, Mystical, or Planar in nature

-Reduces damage from all energy weapon (Grazer, Laser, Maser, Particle Projection, Particle Whip, Plasma, Projector, etc.) classes by 1/2

-Reduces damage from all Crystal Runes and Psionics by 2/3

*Functions as a Small Kingdom Hololith unit, allowing images, audio/video recordings, and resonant transmission up to 50 miles through the helmet

*May also link directly to hololiths and other Crystal Empire devices that contain an InterPony, but will only accept Micro or Small Crystalplates for information storage

 

Much like standard Warden armors, this older medium-heavy Conclave Knight design retains the Heavy Siege variant's rigid Kingdom crystal armor plates, but reinforces a 200 degree wide, 4" tall band of semi-clear diamond lattice allowing for near-optimal vision radius. The viewplate, snout mask, and ears are further covered in four layers of barely flexible plating, typically used by those intending to chase down Constructs or rarely seen Planar threats.

("Have you ever seen a Frost Ripper, even a newly... born, or made I guess, one? Those things are the reason why exoframes were built in the first place. Anything less than medium protection like this is a death sentence if squaring off against one.")

Multiple layers of anti-spall crystalline-gels coat the interior and add a moderate degree of protection against loud noises.

When connected to the main armor, the three InterPonies inhabiting it can be spoken with and issued orders, though only a Crystal pony can do so. On the internal viewplate's left side is a microhololith unit, allowing the wearer to survey any resonances in their vicinity, and is specifically attuned to only function with the matching main armor.

Heavily refit and drastically modified for Naliyna's service. ("You have NO idea how uncomfortable most Warden helmets are! Even one this old is like trying to wear a damned cast iron pot without any cushioning. Good thing I spent the extra two hundred Bits for a perfect custom fit!")

-Armor Value: 6DR for the viewplate, 5DR for the snout mask and ears, 4DR elsewhere

-Resonant Slots: 1/4 remaining

-Reduces all Ice damage by 1/6, whether physical, natural, magical, Mystical, or Planar in nature, excepting Druidry and Eldritch

-Reduces damage from all energy weapon (Grazer, Laser, Maser, Particle Whip, Plasma, Projector etc.) classes by 1/2

-Reduces damage from all Crystal Runes and Psionics by 2/3

-Reduces the effects & duration of Blind and Concussions by 1/2

*Grants a [1d6+6] <Resonance Survey ability that identifies structural weaknesses against Constructs, XL or greater sized enemies, and Heavily Armored targets

 

 

*****

UNIQUE ITEMS:

 

 

 

Contents: (usually) 20 small heatstones, 4 standard heatstones, 10 water trapping gems, 6 miniature Empire tents, 4 miniature XL Empire mats, 2 miniature XL Empire bedrolls, 1 cast diamond cooking pot, 1 cast diamond stew pot, 1 cast diamond tea pot, 1 cast diamond sauce pan, 1 full set of tableware for up to 6, 4 one-gallon cast diamond water tanks, 1 week's worth of sealed Crystal Empire food, 10 original Kingdom era glowstones for lighting up large areas, and more.

*She also has a second saddlepack outfit with medical supplies, enough space for a (mostly) full load of ammunition for a 5 man squad, and other items in order to set up a defensive camp or barrier as a just in case measure.

The sheer amount Naliyna is able to carry makes most ponies wonder if Krinza secretly created a float core just to offset the weight, though she seems perfectly capable of hauling around 250 pounds of equipment for half a day without tiring.

 

These tokens of appreciation are most often awarded to Crystal ponies by Champions from the Ethereal Plane for service to the Empire (but particularly for protecting other citizens).

This example's enchantmarent has been drastically altered over time.

*When used as a rune-catalyst by a Crystal pony, or as a final addition to Empire or Ethereal crystalline armor, the sigil renders it's bearer a Mortal Foe against monstrous, XL or XXL-sized beings, whether Eldritch or Otherworldly in nature

*The bearer becomes the main target of hostile Eldritch and Otherworldly beings when in line of sight

*The bearer must add +1 to all Assault & Crystal Rune rolls against hostile Eldritch and Otherworldly beings

*Adds +2 to all Demoralize/Intimidation rolls against hostile Eldritch and Otherworldly beings

 

One of numerous crystalline eggs carved in the Crystal Kingdom long ago, before it became the Empire, this is one of the Four Seasons set, meant to evoke a sense of purposeful progression and project completion before winter arrives.

*When carried by a Crystal pony, the Fall Egg adds +1 to all Alchemy, Crafting, and Crystal Engineering/Forging rolls

*Only ONE of the Four Seasons may be carried

 

This specific unit was built in the 28,400's, and is an original Late Crystal Empire example produced, tuned.... then apparently dropped several hundred feet from the Crystal Spireworks Technologist Consortium, then inhabiting one of the upper Spire levels. ("That bunch was HALF the reason the Wardens convinced them to move into the Industrial District."

Hololiths project a solid form of light above it, much like a hologram, able to display images in perfect clarity, yet only Crystal ponies seem to understand how to use the more esoteric functions (and are able to communicate with the InterPony inside).

Usually left in the mess hall to show off the various images from Razorback's history, or buried in her saddlepack when traveling. Also ridiculously expensive ("Yeah, five thousand Bits back then was pretty rough scraping together. Even better was the fact I got it down to five thousand from all the damage! Did take me a few weeks to repair everything though.")

 

Normally recycled by the ever mindful Crystal-Forgers and Engineers alike, this pouch was either misappropriated or lost on it's journey to the Spire's workshops.

*When used to reforge a crystalline weapon adds +1 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls and shortens the reforging process by 1/6

*When used to reforge crystalline armor, adds 1DR and shortens the reforging process by 1/6

 

Was bought and consumed to complemarent Thrill's watery nature. She complained VERY loudly after eating it.

*After consumption grants a [1d6+4] <Stalker's Eye ability, allowing the use of a unique form of biological visual sonar capable of 'seeing' through armor, trees, or thin walls, and is especially effective underwater, but cannot gain additional modifiers

 

Normally given to Dragon Vigilant smiths for use in their exotic weaponry, this one was instead presented to Razorback as (partial) thanks for removing a Moss-Wisp from the newly dug mine.

("...does anypony know a Dusk Strider gem-smith? I think it'd be a terrible waste to just.. use it like it is.")

*When properly used to forge or reforge crystalline slashing or piercing weapons, adds +1 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls, and reduces modification/reforging processs by 1/3

*Also grants a [1d6+4] <Mystic Blades non-elemental attack

 

*Adds +1 to all non-combat Stealth rolls

 

The caption below reads: "Good for ONE FREE USE of any Vending Machine! Except for the one in the fridge, which I might add: I don't suggest you try it~! Also, Naliyna, you could have left a few for others to have fun with.."

 

-Sea Egg: a 3" tall, rounded bright blue hued egg with several dark swirling currents, carved with a stunning number of facets representing the Western Crystal Ocean, recovered from the Solar Armory in Canterlot.

One of numerous crystalline eggs carved in the Crystal Kingdom, before it became the Empire long ago, this is one of the Four Lands set, meant to evoke a sense of calm, placid seas interspersed with violent ocean storms.

*When carried by a Crystal pony, the Sea Egg adds +1 to all offensive Crystal Rune OR Block/Evasion/Reaction Speed/Sprint rolls

*Only ONE of the Four Lands may be carried

 

*****

UNIQUE ARCANE ITEMS:

-Completed Rainbow Daffodil: a glowing, 10" long multi-hued and beautifully rendered carving of a simple daffodil. This ancient relic was shaped from a piece of Queen Chrysalis's own core, given to Princess Cadence as a symbol of her undying affection and sisterly loyalty as a promise of perfect cooperation between the Changelings of the Hive and the Crystal ponies of the Empire.

Long thought lost during and after King Sombra's takeover and subsequent reign of the Empire, Anon presented it to several of the Operators on the train during their approach to the city-state, offering no explanations as to how he obtained it or why it was in his possession.

The heart of the daffodil was returned by Empress Silver and given to Thrill, allowing Naliyna to embed it in the petals and complete the relic. Naliyna, unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), has no idea what to do with it.

*When touched, it will play melodies from either the Hive and the Empire in soothing crystalline tones

 

-Northern Star of the Empire: a legendary, 1' tall, bright blue 5-pointed star shaped sapphire with five small, bright white diamond triangles making up the tips. Weighs much less than one might think it should.

The first of four Crystal Kingdom relics, the Northern Star was created by Princess Cadence with aid from Champion Belregard, one of the Ethereal Wardens' most prized and ancient Crystalline Golems, as a sign of the Crystal ponies successfully creating their own city-state in the bitterly cold, nearly uninhabitable Northern Equestria regions. ("At least when the snow and ice are falling.")

Contrary to popular belief, the Northern Star is not one of Luna's fallen stars, and instead was used as an extremely powerful light source, also fully preventing harm from cold.

*Grants a [1d6+10] <Northern Star roll that lights up a 110M to 160M cone 70 degrees in front of it

*Negates ALL Ice damage to the bearer, except for Eldritch

*May only be carried by a member of the Crystal Conclave, Crystal Kingdom, or Crystal Empire factions

 

*****

PONIAL ENCHANTMENTS: 1/3 Slots remaining.

-Stalker's Eye: grants a [1d6+4] <Stalker's Eye ability, allowing Naliyna to utilize a unique form of biological visual-sonar, capable of seeing through armor, trees, or thin walls, but is especially effective underwater.

*Cannot gain additional modifiers

 

-Softspike Leaf: an incredibly soft and extremely tasty leaf, similar to saltwater taffy, that confers it's regenerative nature to the one that eats it. When struck, Naliyna's skin temporarily becomes rubbery, slightly reducing any physical and elemental harm dealt to her.

*Gains a permanent +1DR and recovers +1HP each turn

 

 

***************************************************************************************************************************************

Olympa, Original Sunspot Herald: 50HP

Age: unknown

Month of Creation: unknown, presumed Middle Dynasty Era

 

(ABSOLUTELY INEFFICIENT!!!, Affectionate, Blunt, Curious, Determined, Emotional, ETERNALLY SANCTIONED!, Honorable, Hyper-Active, Merciful, Mischievous, Soft-Working, Spiritual, Warm-Hearted)

 

*****

APPEARANCE: a 2'5" tall pegasus filly, visually ten years of age. 'Designed' to be one of the near-perfect Heralds of the Sun, Olypma's coat is a single bright, constantly shifting color that changes on her mood, ranging from light pink when sleeping to an eye-searing red when enraged. Both her mane and tail are a spicy white-orange, reminiscent of normal solar sunspots, which shift color randomly regardless of her mood.

 

Presumably to give her a more natural, youthful appearance, Olympa's eyes are a soft blue surrounded by shining white, the pupil a reflective black which resembles the somewhat common pegasi variations, particularly those in the Ferron and most archaic cloud cities.

 

*****

BIOGRAPHY: virtually unknown. Created, along with numerous others, by Princess Celestia to act as her Herald to Rushya, Marecedonia, and likely other locations. Olympa was named for the same mountain in Marecedonia ("North of Roam, west of Haytaly. Crete is off the coastline somewhere, about all I can figure out." -Emerald), though never visited it. Individually is barely noted throughout extensive historical records and excerpts, unlike other Sunspots.

 

While she never aged by staying awake like her sisters did and thus remains a filly in maretality, she does retain a certain degree of solar knowledge, showing some proficiency in sensing electromagnetic disturbances, especially from Spectrals but more so of electronics.

 

According to her, she was well known in Rushya and Maredonia which she considered her second-favorite home. Stalliongrad however was 'a bit too cold', and spent considerably less time there. For unknown reasons, from the time construction began at Twin Hill she chose to live there, partially as a result of cohabitation.

 

After the city was abandoned in the 29,300's, or possibly 29,400's, Olympa was informed by Princess Celestia stating that Olympa's services were no longer needed and that she may do what she pleases. Instead of joining the world, Olympa decided to, as fillies sometimes do, sleep beneath the Overlook Depository in a tunnel that she'd melted out and collapsed. At least 600 years passed with her only waking up during the worst storms, then going back to sleep.

 

Noting a rookie squad with a veteran leader hadn't reported in for three hours after departure on what was reported to be a quick, rather simple scouting mission, Chisan Nas requested Mallia Castella and Raindrop Raspberry to accompany (and accompaneigh) him. Arriving at Twin Hill during a torrential downpour from a Wild Cloud, the city partially flooded by clay and mud that hadn't been removed for centuries. Making their way, with some difficulty and a few broken ribs for Chisan, to the team's location, they settled to make camp and hopefully wait out the storm.

 

Unknown to Mallia, her use of an Auspex, temporarily loaned by Inquisitor Flash, woke Olympa rather gently. Feeling that her nap had been quite good, she was curious to learn what the strange electromagnetic brushing had been, setting out to study the seven humans and pegasus 'intruders'. A bit concerned at their unusual weapons, Olympa spent roughly ten minutes examining them from afar, then decided to jump in hot. Literally, of course.

 

Appearing as a small plasma storm in the Depository's vault entrance room, the shock caused three humans to open fire, albeit only once, upon her. Quickly called off by the squad's leader, Sergei, threatening to banish them to the Moon, and further shut down by Chisan firing a (panicked) laspistol shot into the floor, Olympa begged for hostilities to cease. Settled by Chisan's words that she would not be harmed further and Sergei dragging off the three offenders, diplomacy was attempted.. which quickly failed at the Tempestus Scion's lack of diplomatic training and exposure.

 

Swiftly taking over negotiations from the clueless albeit well meaning Storm Trooper's efforts, Mallia wrangled the filly's tiny attention span for details. Upon being told Nasiksta, Rookie Squad 1's only female Nasiksta, was from Russia, Olympa immediately disregards everything to shake the girl's hand. Continued negotiations are immediately rescinded when Olympa spots Sergei, Raindrop, and the other three members of Rookie Squad 1 returning.

 

Declaring that she will go with them, the Sunspot has little idea what she'll find in Razorback, yet is thoroughly determined to travel with them nonetheless.

 

*****

CUTIE MARK: a tall, bright white mountain surrounded by 6 wispy golden clouds near the base. Each cloud features a tiny, whimsical orange sun in the center.

 

*****

STATUS: formerly guarding Twin Hill Overlook's Depository but awoken by Mallia Castella's Auspex sweeps. Has now forced her way into Razorback as their Herald.

 

*****

RELATIONSHIPS:

-Chisan Nas: finds him interesting

-Mallia: GREATLY ADORES.

-Nasiksta: REALLY LOVES.

-Raindrop Raspberry: REALLY LOVES.

-All of Razorback's Russian analogues: GREATLY LOVES. Even if she doesn't know their names.

 

*****

OFFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Expert Assault+2

Expert Parry+2

Expert Riposte+2

 

*****

DEFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Expert Block+3

Expert Evasion+4

Expert Flight+4

Expert Reaction Speed+4

Expert Sprint+3

 

*****

UTILITY ABILITIES:

Expert Alchemy+1

Expert Bartering+2

Basic Crafting+1

Basic Doodling+1

Basic Humming+1

Expert Neighgotiation+3

Basic Perception+2

Basic Scouting

Basic Singing+1

Expert Solar Alchemy+3

Basic Wilderness Survival

 

*****

SPECIAL ABILITIES:

Basic Macrofusion: at any point after storing 1 pound of explosive materials within her body, Olympa may transfer said materials to her skin and detonate the 'mass' in a single broad spectrum reaction. The greater the reactive potential, the more powerful the blast, also increasing the radius significantly.

*Basic materials add +1 and increase radius by 5M

*Intermediate materials add +2 and increase radius by 10M

*Difficult materials add +3 and increase radius by 15M

*Highly Reactive materials add +4 and increases radius by 20M

*Unstable materials add +6 and increases radius by 30M

*Fissile materials add +8 and increases radius by 25M

*Highly Unstable materials add +9 and increases radius by 35M

*Extremely Unstable or Highly Fissile materials add +10 and increases radius by 50M

 

Basic Microfusion: at any point after storing 1 pound of metals, metalloids, or crystalline materials within her body, Olympa is able to 'shift' a specific elemarent up or down the atomic (and magical-atomic) tables, for example: transmuting copper into nickel. This process requires a certain amount of Bioplasma to function, and can also be used to create a controlled climate in furnaces, forges, or other small confined spaces.

*Costs X Bioplasma to grant X turns of +X to all Crafting rolls (1 Bioplasma = 1 turn of +1)

*Costs 5 Bioplasma to inflict 5 turns of regulated temperature control on a specific item for the purpose of easing Engineering or Smithing, also adding +1 to all Crafting, Engineering, and Smithing rolls

*All elemarents can be shifted from -10 down to +10 up the table with ease, and can do so successively

*By expending 20 Bioplasma, elemerants can be shifted by -20 down to +20 up the table with some difficulty, also causing a small amount of Morale damage

 

Bioplasma Storage: technically a semi-solid state of living Elemarental bioplasma, Olympa does need to 'eat' in order to remain at full capability. Regular foods taste normal to her though they take some time to 'digest', soft elemarents taste sweet, medium elemarents taste rocky, hard elemarents vary, and fissile materials range from bitter to thoroughly disgusting.

Her relatively small size limits the amount of bioplasma stored to use certain abilities, but can quickly recover even during combat. Since she isn't technically a pony in the literal or physical sense of such, it is possible for her to eat certain things that most equines find abhorrent.

*Capacity: 50/50 Storage

*Regular food recovers 1 to 3 Bioplasma each turn for 10 to 30 turns, total Bioplasma restored depends on size and taste

*Soft elemarents recover 5 Bioplasma each turn for 2 turns, preferred above all

*Medium elemarents recover 5 Bioplasma each turn for 4 turns, usually liked

*Hard elemarents recover 10 Bioplasma each turn for 5 turns, doesn't enjoy much

*Fissile materials recover 10 Bioplasma each turn for 10 turns, but doing so will SEVERELY damage her Morale

*Can recover up to 10 Bioplasma per turn

 

Heat Armor: by repurposing 1 ounce of stored material, specifically metals or crystals, to act as an exterior layer of skin, Olympa can further modify their standard attributes in several mareners.

*Costs 5 Bioplasma to use the following:

*Barrier Armor grants 3DR and a [1d6+4] <Resist Magic roll against all non-Mystical or Eldritch harm

*Blast Armor grants 8DR and a [1d6+10] <Directional Plasma Lance roll that ignores attacker DR and causes Burn status, though inflicts Scorched on a max critical; Olympa cannot move while active and a maximum of five lances may be disgorged before the armor dissipates

*Flowing Leaf Armor grants 1DR and an additional Evasion roll

*Hardened Armor grants 5DR, a [1d6+4] <Resist Damage roll against physical attacks, and an additional Block roll; however Olympa suffers a -3 penalty to all Block/Evasion/Flight/Reaction Speed/Sprint rolls

*Recursive Armor grants 2DR and a [1d6+4] <Reflect Ranged roll against ranged physical attacks

 

Heat Control: Olympa is automagically able to modify her non-standard physical climate, without using her own Bioplasma, from a minimum of 60 degrees to a 'standard' maximum of 500 degrees. This can be highly useful in shaping materials, lighting fires, or other mischief.

*5 Bioplasma can be used to increase maximum temperature to 800 degrees

*10 Bioplasma can be used to increase maximum temperature to 1,000 degrees

*20 Bioplasma can be used to increase maximum temperature to 1,500 degrees

 

Heraldry: Olympa cannot suffer from Concussions, Doom, Fear, Fractures, Horror, Shock, Slowed, Sprains, or Terror

*However, she is rather susceptible to Demoralize

 

Solar Haze: by releasing 1 ounce of microfusible materials and fanning them away from herself or allowing wind to do the same, then detonating those materials through a variety of means, Olympa is able to create an artificial, dark white-orange 'mist' with a [1d6+1] roll, the result*5 being the number of meters the haze spreads.

*Costs 5 Bioplasma to use

*This ability reduces all Perception/Scouting/Wilderness survival rolls by -2, or -4 on a max critical

*This ability causes Electronics, Bioelectronics, Solid State, and other similar systems to function at a -2 penalty due to chaff-like interference and severe electromagnetic wavelength distortion

*Planar beings suffer a -4 penalty to all Perception/Scouting/Wilderness Survival rolls

*Otherworldly, Spectral, and Undead beings instead suffer a -6 penalty to ALL Perception-type rolls

*This ability DOES affect Allies as she hasn’t been trained to utilize it properly

 

Sunspot:

*Ignores damage from non-enchanted weaponry, whether melee or ranged

*Ignores ALL Curses and Blessings

*Ignores all Psionic damage and marental effects

*Absorbs 1/2 of all Eldritch, Planar, Otherworldly, Spectral, and Undead Fire Elemarental harm

*Absorbs all natural, magical, and Mystic Fire Elemarental harm

*Takes DOUBLE damage from Rime Elemarentals

*Takes QUADRUPLE damage from blood magic

 

Warm Rays: similar to, yet much safer than, the affects and effects of alchemical, magical, Druidic, or Mystical healing, Olympa is able to 'provoke' a living being into recovering faster than normal without causing Arcane Poisoning.

*Costs 5 Bioplasma to use

*Initiated by pointing a wing at a living being and emitting a finely tuned, natural form of near-radiation energies using a [1d6+3] roll

*May use both wings each turn but will be unable to do more than Block, remain in Flight, or use skills that do not require movemarent

*Costs 15 Bioplasma to overcharge the effects using a [1d6+10] roll, but only with one wing; causes significant strain and a small amount of Morale damage, may only be used once per hour

 

*****

UNIQUE ABILITIES:

Herald of the Sun: at any time she feels is necessary, or after being convinced to do so, Olympa may announce her presence and proclaim a time of peace has dawned. As one of Princess Celestia's original Heralds, foolish indeed is the pony that attempts to refute or ignore her words.

*All beings that are not exclusively Eldritch, Planar, Spectral, or Undead within a 1,000M radius must immediately cease hostilities or be automatically judged guilty of committing a (variable) crime or crimes

*No attempt at Bartering/Demoralize/Intimidation/Negotiation/Neighgotiation may be attempted until Olympa announces that peace has set

*Those without the capability to sense Olympa's presence are ignored

 

Sunspot's Glare: Olympa is able to 'spit' a focused stream of native fusible arcane materials, but only those stored within her body of course, at a single target within 100M using a [1d6+4] roll with an inherent Speed of 13.

*Costs 10 Bioplasma and 1 ounce of Fusible Arcane material

*This ability may only be used once per ounce of material(s) that are specifically stored and not consumed

*Planar beings also suffer a [1d6] <Rite of Refusal ability that lowers their Movement-type rolls by 3

*Otherworldly, Spectral and Undead targets take double damage and also suffer a [1d6] <Slag Armor penalty, reducing DR by the result's amount

*Eldritch beings take half damage but suffer from a [1d6+4] <Scourging Rays roll that inflicts severe entropic motion-decay

 

 

***************************************************************************************************************************************

Raindrop Raspberry, Free Knight Marecenary: 120HP, 2DR

Age: presumed 18

Month of Birth: unknown

 

*****

(Amiable, Aware, Brawler, Cautious, Cool-Natured, Droll Wit, Dutiful, Efficient, Guardian, Hard-Working, Honorable, INQUISITORIALLY SANCTIONED, Intuitive, Level-Headed, Polite, Precise: Combat, Rational, Steadfast, Watchful)

 

*****

APPEARANCE: a neon raspberry red coated pegasus mare with a two-toned black and cherry red mane, standing 4'1" tall at the top of her head. Her wings bear an uncommon dual shading of cherry red primary feathers with black secondaries, while her eyes are a reflective red.

 

Typical of Stalliongrad descendants, Raindrop's physique is noticeably more muscular than Equestrian pegasi, though not quite heavyset, and retains the common, curvacious appearance of her heritage. Generally unseen outside of her armor however.

 

*****

BIOGRAPHY: unknown, but is a definite former inhabitant of Stalliongrad. During the mass evacuations related to Councilierge actions, and select Watch Guard activities caused by Razorback Company, Raindrop temporarily joined the Wing Shields, a minor Free Marecenary companeigh of pegasi Knights whom chose to defend against Watch Guard units seeking to prevent numerous evacuations. Successful in defending against the moderately organized Watch, and brute force 'convincing' a number of the younger earth ponies to ally with them, the Wing Shields chose not to join Shanis in the Southern Rushyan Plains.

 

Seeking higher priority targets, the Wing Shields returned to Stalliongrad for short, mostly successful assaults on several Councilierge officers in commarend. Capturing the officers with significant trouble due to being heavily outnumbered, the known corrupt Watch Guard that resisted were killed to the last. Returning to Shanis with their prizes in tow, the Wing Shield's current leader chose to leave for calmer, more peaceful regions, leaving Raindrop and most of the non-affiliated Free Knights behind. Unwilling to join Shanis or her ideology, she nonetheless stayed on to provide alchemical aid and support whenever needed.

 

Later transferring temporarily to Tartarus Isle after salvaging everything possible from the ramshackle encampmarent, Raindrop would accompany earth pony traders to the Crystal Empire, mostly carrying supplies, but found little luck in Las Pegasus. Whenever groups were dispatched to Gozka, however, she went with them as an Enforcer to ensure that any potential Cloudsdale residents encountered could be swiftly dealth with.

 

Aiding in the original week long task of clearing out the region around long abandoned Lunar Guardian Barracks-Armory in Saddle Arabia, Shanis was forced to immediately recall the dispatched pegasi and earth ponies when a well loved Councilierge Associate asked for aid in stamping out several corrupt Ringleaders and their lackeys. Raindrop was mildly irritated that Razorback, accompaneighing Sweet, completed the job for them, however.

 

Once Tartarus Isle became established she left, taking short contracts throughout parts of Southern Equestria, excluding Solar and Lunar aligned regions, in order to reaccustom herself to the necessary rigors of travel. Becoming a Free Knight once more, Raindrop completed numerous high profile contracts since leaving Tartarus Isle, and was noted to spend more time than necessary in the Crystal Empire.

 

Some time in 29,998, she underwent a month's training in Cloudsdale at the prestigious Combat Flight School, gaining some appreciation for non-grounded combat.

 

Now hired to Razorback, her stoic mood and otherwise resentful poninality towards humans remains quiet. After all, a contract is a contract, and, unless broken, will be fulfilled regardless of the costs.

 

*****

STATUS: hired by Naliyna for one month trial contract to Razorback, specifically to accompany and protect Rookie Operators with the expectations of protecting and teaching less experienced Operators while in Equestria.

*Currently assigned to Mallia Castella

 

*****

RELATIONSHIPS:

-Chisan Nas: has an extremely strained, argumentative, and physically combative 'relationship' with. Previously assigned to protect numerous Operators under Naliyna's orders, she was directed to guard Chisan the night of his arrival on Tallus. When Chisan refused to accept her services and became physically abusive, Inquisitor Flash convinced Naliyna in reassigning Raindrop to primarily guard Mallia until her month-long trial contract ends.

-Hodch: is amiable towards given his easy going lackadaisal nature, expertise on Stalliongrad's politics, and regards him as an honored teacher. Of course, she doesn't like the way he looks at unicorn fillies.

-Mallia Castella: enjoys the Enginseers companeigh despite the species and technological barrier difference. Has taken a slightly perverse, albeit not degenerate (yet), interest in Mallia's biological capabilities.

-Naliyna: her favorite employer so far. Hired due to needing a non-faction aligned pony capable of protecting Razorback's least experienced humans from danger, Raindrop's few meetings with Naliyna have inspired a great deal of openly honored friendliness due to the trader's overwhelming number of battle-earned scars. She does quietly express a high amount of respect towards the older Crystal pony whom she regards as an exceptional role model for mares everywhere.

-Twisted Wing: distinctly hates and would like nothing more than to duel her to the death. Raindrop has openly insulted, derided, and scorned the Starborn General for every (correct) reason known to Stalliongrad, refusing to look in her direction without swearing. Twisted Wing has shown no interest in antagonizing the Free Knight, and so far has only responded with silent apathy.

-Shanis: a close friend towards. She particularly enjoys being around Shanis as both of them are close to the same age and share numerous common bonds, though she has nothing to offer save for polite, yet contemptful disdain towards the quickly deviating Stalliongrad ponies now living on Tartarus Isle.

-Sweet: BITTERLY hates for reasons unexplained.

-Zigri: profoundly despises his selfish emotional sensitivities. Avoids coming into contact with him at all costs.

 

*****

CUTIE MARK: a bright white and pale red striped cluster of raspberries floating in the middle of a puffy, ornate white cloud with 8 drops of water falling below.

 

*****

OFFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Expert Assault+3

Expert Parry+4

Expert Riposte+5

 

Expert Ambush+2

Expert Charge+4

 

*****

DEFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Expert Block+6

Expert Evasion+5

Expert Flight+4

Expert Reaction Speed+6

Expert Sprint+3

 

Basic Fearless+2

 

*****

UTILITY ABILITIES:

Basic Alchemy+3

Basic Bartering+2

Basic Cartography+1

Basic Geography+1

Basic Perception+3

Basic Research+1

Expert Scouting+4

 

*****

SPECIAL ABILITIES:

-Honor In All Our Duties: owing to a highly responsible, honorable upbringing in a herd of Stalliongrad Free Knight pegasi, Raindrop is disgusted at and will NEVER learn Stealth or Thievery, viewing those that rely upon either, or both, skills often with increasing disdain.

As a result she has chosen to focus on short-ranged tactics intended to overwhelm an opponent in order to obtain a near-earth pony level of optimal combat efficiency.

*Grants the ability to Flurry once per Operation, and may be upgraded further

 

-Quiet, But Only For Now: unlike some pegasi Free Knights from Stalliongrad, Raindrop has suffered enough injuries to warrant SOME protection against being ambushed, especially by native predators or prey, but particularly when dealing with Undead.

As a result she will stalk non-sapient or barely sapient beings with no reserve. ("The last Undead contract I took cost me a month in a clinic and eight hundred Bits, mostly from all the infections. Nearly lost a leg too. So, no, I don't mind being NATURALLY stealthy.")

*This ability does NOT allow Raindrop to enter the Void spectrums; it only reduces the sound of her movemarents and marginalizes against visual sight radius

*Grants Expert Stalk+4

 

-Ritual Duelist: drawing upon her relatively strict upbringing and deep dedication to the styles of open combat preferred by Stalliongradians, Raindrop will never back down from an honorable challenge unless she is completely outmatched, and has attained the right to issue the same.

*ONCE per Operation, Raindrop Raspberry may issue a Duel to the Death towards an opponent that does not possess Stealth or Thievery, has an Honor rating of at least 60, and is not in possession of banned or distasteful enchantmarents, equipmarent, and abilities

*Honor: 68, Uncontested

*LIMITATIONS: Raindrop will always refuse to Duel batponies, Spectrals, Eldritch-touched beings, Elemarentals, all Lunar-aligned, and those that she sees as contemptible, dishonorable, corrupt, or otherwise weak

*PREFERRED TARGETS: nobility, royalty, and leaders (particularly faction leaders)

 

*****

UNIQUE ABILITY: none.

 

*****

RELIC ARMOR:

-Ancient Stalliongrad Stormrider Knight's Helmet (Armor Traits: Custom-Fit, Archaic Stalliongrad Artifact): a highly reflective, blackened steel full head and neck one-piece helmet, specifically designed for Stalliongradian pegasi. This one is fit specifically for Raindrop Raspberry, and is highly difficult to modify without excessive redesign.

Similar to early Solar Guardian designs circa 23,400's, though with Late Dynasty 28,600's improvemarents, the snout mask features a row of vertical slits allowing for the wearer to inhale, exhale, and speak with ease.

Two 1/2" thick clear diamondine lenses fully protect the eyes, and a smoothly faced rearward-sloping design makes causing direct blows and concussions incredibly difficult.

Likewise common for the era are two heavily reinforced, hardened ear guards covered in roughly a thousand pinholes each which allow Raindrop to utilize her hearing capabilities unhindered, as well as the tightly overlapping, segmarented and banded neck plates granting maximum ease of movemarent.

-Armor Value: provides 3DR to the entire head and neck

-Armor Class: Medium

-Enchantmarent Slots: 1/1 remaining

-Advanced Mechanical Enhancemarent: reduces the duration & effects of Concussions by 3/4

 

-Ancient Stalliongrad Stormrider Knight's Plating (Armor Traits: Custom-Fit, Archaic Stalliongrad Artifact): a highly reflective set of tightly fitting, blackened steel plating specifically shaped for the somewhat larger Stalliongrad pegasi. One of an unknown number of unornamarented sets recovered in the late 28,600's from the upper burial vaults of a long ruined city that would eventually be claimed, then renamed Stalliongrad.

This specific set was bought in 29,994 and fit to Raindrop's specifications. Bearing only a few similarities to ancient knight armor designs, the most curious aspect is that each overlapping, smooth faced plate 'slides' on a barely visible, gel-like substance which is nearly frictionless, causing little noise to be made from even the most extreme movemarents.

As to whether or not the interior is padded, nopony knows as Raindrop is loathe to show it off.

-Armor Value: provides 3DR to all except the head and neck

-Armor Class: Medium

-Enchantmarent Slots: 2/3 remaining

-Utility Enchantmarent #1: Advanced Slowfall-Float

 

*****

RELIC WEAPONRY:

-Ancient Stalliongrad Stormrider Knight's Hoofblades (Custom-Fit, Archaic Stalliongrad Artifact): reforged from any number of damaged black iron scraps from around and underneath the city that would become known as Stalliongrad, these are a quartet of heavy blackened steel hoofboots, resized and lightly padded for Raindrop's comfort.

Unique among hoofblade designs, all Stormrider Knight's Hoofblade sets feature five 3" long sheepsfoot-like blades capable of being extended from the front through a minor spoken rite. While the small, odd shape is virtually unknown to most of Equestria and Tallus in general, they're quite capable at piercing armor, but are less useful when climbing trees or digging than standard designs.

("The Late Dynasty patterned these blades on how the Western Equestria coastal sheep could dig into rough terrain and scale mountains.")

-Melee Weapon Class: Medium

-Enchantmarent Slots: 1/1 remaining

-Base Modifier: adds +2 to all Assault rolls

-Advanced Modifier: adds +4 to all Parry/Riposte rolls

-Mechanical Modification #1: Claws: when extended and used in combat, the blades grant Armor Pierce 1 (negates 1DR) and will cause Bleeding on a max critical

-Utility Enhancemarent #1: adds +1 to all Wilderness Survival rolls

 

-Ancient Stalliongrad Stormrider Knight's Wingblades (Custom-Fit, Archaic Stalliongrad Artifact): reforged from any number of damaged black iron weapons or armor pieces recovered from around and underneath the city that would become known as Stalliongrad, this sturdy pair of glossy blackened steel full wingblades were thoroughly custom fit for Raindrop Raspberry's use.

Like most Late Dynasty patterned full wingblades, each features a highly sharp, durable V-shaped frontal edge with numerous gasket-like sockets and semi-rounded, flexible plating to allow for normal wing motions with minimal mechanical weaknesses.

Designed to be inflexible when locked open or closed yet highly protective, they're light enough to mareneuver in tight, complex formations with other Free Knights, or even Guardmares if need be.

-Melee Weapon Class: Heavy

-Enchantmarent Slots: 2/2 remaining

-Base Modifier: adds +2 to all Assault rolls

-Advanced Modifier: adds +4 to all Parry/Riposte rolls

-Mechanical Modification #1: Blunt Impact Resistance grants a damage reduction of 1/4 when defending or striking hooves, fists, weapons, trees, or other physical objects

 

*****

UNIQUE ITEM:

-Custom Marecenary Saddlepack: the most commonly produced and worn piece of marecenary equipmarent on Tallus. Comes in a wide variety of styles, thus ensuring that few are similar.

Two tightly woven and field tested pair of small flank-slung satchels hold a pair of alchemical bottles in each, a small rump satchel to carry a day's worth of supplies, completed by a wide, thick belt strap to keep it in place, all of which is made from black dyed Rushyan Lowland cotton.

The assembly is imbued with a minor wearer-controlled Sticky enchantmarent, designed to be easy to toss off before or during combat, and keep the contents safe. This one is ornamarented with a single white striped raspberry on each flank satchel and a large pair of crossed full wingblades on the main satchel, both in grey thread.

*Flank Satchel Contents: 1x Dampener, 1x Regeneration, 2x Restoration

*Main Satchel Contents: Advanced Empire Crystal Compass, 1x Standard Stalliongrad Armor Maintenance Kit, 1x Coldstone, Empire Field Utility Kit, 1x Heatstone, 2x Hoof Cleaning Kits, 2x Superior Empire Travel Blankets

 

*****

PHYSICAL ENCHANTMARENTS: 2/3 Slots.

-Frostwoven: an extraordinarily rare, virtually priceless, purely Psionic 'enhancemarent' dating back to the Middle Dynasty Era.

Given no physical object to inhabit like nearly all enchantmarents have, Frostwoven may only be transferred from owner to owner through an archaic earth pony ritual of gifting.

The specifics of what this enchantmarent was originally for, how it functions, and what effects occur are ferociously guarded and virtually unknown to Equestria. However, those whom possess one display an unusually high level of hostility when questioned.

*Reduces all Air, Ice, and Water damage by 1/2 rounded down, excluding Eldritch

 

 

***************************************************************************************************************************************

Roust, Elite Modern Vanguard: 150HP, 1DR

Age: 20,000

Month of Rebirth: ...March

 

 

(Armored, Cautious: Minotaurs, Changeling, Curious, Distrust: Dancing Eyes, Inquisitive, INQUISITORIALLY SANCTIONED, Noble, Heavy, Purposeful, Respectful, Slow, Studious, Veterancy: Combat/Psionicism)

 

*****

APPEARANCE: a massively built, heavily armored Captain-like Changeling, slightly smaller than Queen Chrysalis, physically similar to a typical Morgan horse ('The Morigon Horse of Saltic legends, to be more correct. Yes, they did exist but there are no surviving records of them. At least, outside a few.')

Her thick armored shell is organically streamlined with small glowing lines marking the large, flexible armor segments, having replaced her former multiple plate segmentation entirely. ('There were several weaknesses in the design.')

 

The joints between segments run from her smoothed out facemask to neck, neck to withers, withers to leg and side plates, and side plates to flanks. Her hooves are still thickly armored, though appear to have a large, smooth black ring around the hoof itself, possibly ornamarental.

Her back armor also greatly resembles a saddle, and is quite comfortable (for Hollow) to ride on now. When Roust walks she causes the ground to shake, either from carelessness or amusement is unknown, but weighs at least 800 pounds. ('I am 190 pounds out of my armor and 1,190 pounds in it.')

 

Her true inner body is capable of being separated from her armor, allowing her to leave by spreading the back and neck sections apart. This lets her operate both forms independently, though controlling the heavy 'shell' takes a major toll on her mental focus, and may only attack with one or the other.

 

Roust, in her separated form, appears to be a tall, highly slender black unicorn, though the oversized cavitated horn and her clear green glass eyes, sometimes blue under low light conditions, are impossible to hide.

Interestingly enough, her internal body is entirely organic without any armoring, while the eight green bands around her chest and green highlighted black mane are the only non-black colorations present.

 

*****

BIOGRAPHY: a unique Changeling when compared to the rest of the Hive, Roust, when compared to Queen Chrysalis, lacks a great deal of her Matron's basic psychokinetic capabilities, yet makes up for it with deeper introspectives and insight on the various pony species, among other races, from reading constantly, as well as heightened close combat prowess.

Inquisitive, curious, and nearly impossible to startle, she wanders unless kept busy, and eats things she finds interesting.

 

The only Changeling to have her mind fracture after the Unicorn King's takeover of the Crystal Empire, this perceived personal failure to protect her Crystal pony brethren caused her mind to split in half, remaining as noble and royal fragments, the first protective, curious, and insightful; the second arrogant, haughty, and selfish.

After the takeover and before the time the Operators arrived in Equestria, Roust struggled to keep a majority hold over her fragmented, barely functioning mind over the course of more than a thousand years, spending her days wandering the Everfree. (“That’s an… interesting question. The New Everfree for sure, but some of her older armor damage that I’ve seen from human images is definitely Old Everfree.” -Hodch)

 

Seeking to drown out her misery over events, she began exploring ruins of ages long since past, utterly ignoring the requests from her Queen and eating anything she could find without care for her own well-being.

Eventually realizing that even the most poisonous of flora could be recovered from, she ceased trying to kill herself, though this has left her with a very sensitive stomach.

This condition hampered her during the attempt to prevent the Empire from being enslaved once more due to the King's retaliation against the Changelings, whom had arrived to support Cadence's initial assault, and she was unable to leave the new Hive to aid the Empire.

Unfortunately, neither Chrysalis nor the Changelings warned the Crystal ponies of their intent to aid the Princess of Rebirth, suffering considerable casualties as their forces were divided between annihilating the King's forces and choosing not to defend themselves against the enraged Crystal ponies.

 

Her mind, again damaged by the losses incurred in the Crystal Empire, and the assault on Canterlot with the remaining Wardens and Nobles seeking to oust the Tyrant, saw the event as another personal failure, though this one merely left a bitter taste when it comes to dealing with Solar faction members.

The loss of nearly all Changelings when, immediately after both assaults, the Solar Tyrant began hunting down her brothers and sisters now located outside the Hive at that time, caused her mind to degenerate again as her kin were forced to enter dormancy to survive.

 

After traveling with Razorback under Hollow's tutelage for several weeks and subsequently settling down in the Fortress, Roust began to finally recover from her experiences, learning to accept the ponies she met as a much broader family to her original one, a family that she discovered didn't have to be related to by blood or sovereign.

 

Belatedly realizing that learning was fun once again, it became a vital necessity for her while under Hollow's tutelage, then Tipper's, and she began to enjoy the brand new swaths of information freely and readily available to her.

While her mind recovered slowly, her guardian instincts, having remained dormant along with her prowess in combat and the typical Changeling characteristic of immense curiosity, quickly returned, giving her a considerable boost in courage against the events that would occur later on.

 

During Razorback's first winter, Roust shed her original, never-replaced armor in the Nest, and upon waking used most of it to reinforce the walls, complete with ichor nodes spanning across the interior for additional lighting.

After the addition of a small growing room, she constantly plants red, blue, and green hallucinogenic mushrooms, the original Hive mushrooms hybridized with a faster growing New Everfree variety, for Hollow and herself to trade with.

Shortly afterward she added several types of slower growing, less maintenance heavy edible shelf fungi for more variety. ('I wish sweet caps could grow here, but they do not hybridize.)

 

The map-maker Torven, unable to enter a cavern that he suspected held a number of Changeling cores, decided to hoof it over to Hollow upon recognizing his relationship to the Vanguard, claiming that he had no idea how to safely enter and retrieve them.

Penetrating the cavern's defenses, in reality a maze of misdirections created by the remnants of a Changeling Lord, Roust brought Hollow to stand before Kavel, recognizing him as an old brother shortly after he released himself from Tallus.

In exchange for taking the cores to safety, the Lord required Hollow to carry his own damaged core, still marked with the fatal injury caused by his resistance to the Solar Tyrant.

 

Seeing that there were still Changelings to recover and bring back to Chrysalis, Hollow's continued aid and her experiences allowed the noble mind to conquer the royal fragment, which she ultimately deemed a parasite and purged entirely, considering it too weak and selfish to be 'the' Roust.

At this point in time, Roust seems to have fully recovered, taking a great deal of inspiration from her brother-Lord's long standing and honorable duties, reshaping her perceptions to be much more open to the future. ('Lord Kavel more than earned his respect. He was, and is, what most Vanguards aspire to be.')

 

Due to her age and knowledge, Roust can be considered the penultimate Vanguard Changeling, next to the Warden of course, as Hollow's aid has allowed her to mutate into the first modern Changeling.

Like all her kin, Roust is able to perform a powerful frontal stomp, stunning ground-borne enemies in a 180 degree arc in front of her, by combining her massive weight, a Psionic shockwave, and a short burst of speed, the effects of which are similar to a miniature earthquake.

 

*A poorly understood side effect of Psionic Changeling healing is the fact that recovering any living being, except other Changelings, can be moderately to cripplingly painful, depending on the severity of the recipient's injuries. The exact cause of this is their potent species-specific meta-acids that drift along the pathways of their modified neural-psionic abilities.

 

It is known that Roust, along with Chrysalis and the other sisters, met Cadence several times before in the Empire, though remained close to the Old Hive once her wanderlust plateaued. ('I think I was a builder.')

 

Finding it humorous to teach other ponies the vagaries of history and the Hive's vast, accumulated knowledges, Roust spends much of her time in the library patiently teaching Mercy and Malyne, or when otherwise unoccupied, spends her time in the Clinic learning from Tipper studying biology.

 

Having faced several Minotaurs in combat and suffering greatly during each encounter, Roust is openly pessimistic when dealing with one, preferring to be cautious and wary around their species.

 

*****

CUTIE MARK: 5 berries (blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, strawberry, dewberry) making a bowl, a green apple in the bowl, and a vivid red mushroom sliding down the apple. Yeap.

 

*****

STATUS: the first of the Modern Vanguards, released from the Hive to travel with Razorback freely. Now a Changeling Noble with the title of Lady.

 

*****

RELATIONSHIPS:

-Dancing Eyes: somewhat dislikes the Primal Psion on an individual level, but has been unable to come up with sufficient reasoning to dislike her professionally

-Hollow Case: desires his company

-Malyne & Mercy: older sister figure to both, greatly enjoys teaching them history. Also 'scolds' them if their plots are found out

-Tipper: enjoys the relatively ancient (by her own standards) unicorn's knowledge and history, though is morbidly obtuse when asked about the former Honor Guard Doctor's proclivities

 

*****

CHANGELING MUTATIONS:

-Quadruple Wings: a side effect of the Changelings' odd, partially insectoid biology is that random mutations may occur after each molting, this one seemingly inspired by dragonflies.

('As interesting as having four wings may seem, in a strictly biological context that is, the only benefit is I can glide for long distances while outside of my armor. Though, they are a considerable hindrance to my normal flight capabilities.')

*Reduces all Flight rolls by -3

 

*****

OFFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Expert Assault+2

Expert Parry+4

Expert Riposte+2

 

*****

DEFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Expert Block+2

Basic Evasion+5

Expert Reaction Speed+4

Basic Sprint+5

Expert Flight+2

 

Resist Damage+2

 

*****

UTILITY ABILITIES:

Basic Alchemy+2

Basic Bartering+2

Basic Medical+2

Basic Night Vision+2

Basic Neighgotiation+3

Basic Research+3

Expert Shapeshifting+4

 

*****

CHANGELING PSIONICISM:

*Expert Sunken State: even though Changelings share a number of similarities with both unicorns and earth ponies, the differences are a stark contrast between all three. Changelings learn to become wary of their fellow magical users in different means, especially when it comes to infiltration and reconnaisance duties.

As a result of having spent more time around both than the average Changeling due to the necessary close proximities in Razorback, Roust is typically able to stroll past either with the bare minimums of training without being noticed.

-Grants 3x [1d6+3] rolls; may also be used to temporarily cover another living being's mind from intrusion

 

*Basic Illusionary: like most Vanguards and their associated kin, Roust has seen little need to create illusions when her ability to Shapeshift is above average, capabilities of dealing harm at range are high, and the abilities focusing on absorbing punishment are phenomenal.

-Grants 2x [1d6] rolls for the purpose of creating static illusions; the longer an illusion is worked on the more realistic it will look to an observer, though such illusions are only two-dimensional

 

*Expert Mind Reading: comprises the knowledge of how to safely delve and link to, understand, and draw information from the mind of another living being. As Vanguards typically have zero use for this ability, Roust considers the idea rather distasteful in most circumstances and has only maintained the basics.

-Grants 3x [1d6] rolls that must be used on a CALM and FULLY WILLING being, otherwise Roust and her intended recipient may suffer instant temporary damage, shared psychosis, or worse effects. The intended recipient may also use Iron Will or Fearless to stabilize their mind before an attempt is made.

*Or they can get stoned, that works quite well too

 

*Expert Psychokinesis: covers the ability to and the knowledge of how to form, distort, manipulate, damage, and even drain electromagnetic fields on a sub-molecular level as a physical property. Strictly speaking, Psychokinesis can be best summarized as 'pushing' a magnetic field into a predetermined 'proper' state that the user desires, using much the same as the process for creating Psionic lances, bolts, or other weaponry.

As a peculiar benefit, any Psionic projection or weapon created by a Changeling is imbued with an minor Acid Elemarental property, causing increased harm to Fragile targets and Undead.

-Grants 3x [1d6+8] rolls

 

*Basic Recovery: similar to the process of restorative healing that unicorns are able to easily learn and master, Changelings have some knowledge of the same, though their version of Recovery can be anywhere from a bad sunburn to excruciating when used on non-Changelings due to the acidic elemental quality inherent to their Psionic capabilities.

-Grants 2x [1d6+4] rolls that restores the target's HP by the total result, causes a high amount of pain, and inflicts the total result in Fatigue/Morale damage

*If all rolls are max criticals then a [1d3] must be rolled immediately, the result of which determines whether the recipient will be Stunned on a 1, put in Shock on a 2, or knocked Unconscious on a 3

 

*Expert Shield: virtually the same as shielding spells created by unicorns, Changelings are lesser adepts at creating defensive barriers. Being a Vanguard, Roust typically prefers to cover her less durable friends while gleefully charging into combat.

-Grants 3x [1d6+5] rolls, Roust may maintain a maximum of two shields at a time

 

*Basic Teleport: like most Changelings, Roust has little understanding of the processes required to safely open rifts, portals, or the like, making any attempt at 'diving' into the Void spectrums of Tallus a questionable decision for her to make.

-Grants 2x [1d6+1] rolls; on critical failures Roust will be harmed from the backlash

*If ALL rolls critically fail there is a chance that she may be deposited elsewhere in the Underdark or Overdark

 

*****

SPECIAL ABILITIES:

-BOSS-class Fearless: Roust cannot be Intimidated or Demoralized normally

 

-RALLY SCREAM: recalling her early days under the guidance of the Changeling Nobles and Wardens, Roust is capable of drawing on their unshakable courage and fearlessness in battle once per Operation, bolstering an allies' offensive retaliation to unprecedented levels by utilizing a unique Psionic 'scream', essentially inspiring that ally into a temporary state of controlled berserk fury.

-Grants 1x [1d6], the result is then added to all of an Ally's Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls, but only if that Ally was attacked in the previous turn

*Lasts for 1 turn, cannot be upgraded

 

*****

LIVING ARMOR: a self-grown 'living' suit of armor, slightly smaller than Queen Chrysalis herself, that provides immarense protection for the otherwise physically vulnerable Vanguards, flight-capable and versatile duty Changelings with the ability to perfectly control the psychoreactive chitinous exoskeleton as a near-full extension of their bodies.

Since Vanguards act as as frontline shock forces, organizing themselves into optimal Formations to best break through opposing lines, each one 'evolves' their armor in different mareners to complemarent others.

('For the most part, we Vanguards do not alter the external appearance or functionalities. That would defeat the purpose of creating a solid, dedicated front line. I hope that my design will be extensively studied by my kin and Queen to see if it truly does warrant the title of Modern.')

Regardless of the individual in question, their armor confers incredible survivability and fear value. When 'worn', Roust's living armor grants her significant physical abilities, though the concentration required to control it only allows her to utilize one Psionicism skill per turn.

 

-Armor Value: 7DR

-Armor Durability: 600 Armor

-Armor Class: Painfilly Heavy, Full Body

 

OFFENSIVE ARMORED ABILITIES:

Expert Assault+9

Expert Parry+5

Expert Riposte+7

 

Expert Earth Smash+5

 

Expert Intimidate+3

 

DEFENSIVE ARMORED ABILITIES:

Expert Block+8

Expert Reaction Speed+4

Expert Charge+6

 

Basic Resist Damage+7

 

UTILITY ARMORED ABILITIES:

Expect Night Vision+3

 

*Self-Defense Nodules: when Roust's armor becomes too damaged to continue controlling, if possible she will escape from it and burst the remaining ichor nodes inside, splashing all targets within a 5M radius and covering them in a sticky film with a [1d6] <Ichor Node roll, the result being the penalty that any affected targets, Roust included, suffer to all Assault/Parry/Riposte and Block/Evasion/Reaction Speed/Sprint/Flight rolls for 3 turns before the ichor naturally falls apart.

 

*****

SHARED ABILITY: Basic Vanguard's Fury of the Hive. Tapping into Roust's finely honed mental processing abilities and her chaotically charged, highly active and enormous reserves of psionic energies, Hollow and Roust can combine their skills, senses, and minds, allowing them to temporarily slow down time for planning an assault against hardened enemies, and even fortifications.

Fury of the Hive may be activated by Roust or Hollow whether alone, separate, with or without Roust asleep or unconscious and has no range limitations, however, it cannot be activated if Roust is in Critical or Shock status.

*This ability adds +5 to all Psychokinesis & Evolution of Humanity rolls for two turns, while also adding a passive +1 to all Creativity and Warp Shift abilities except for Mind Read

*This ability allows Hollow to utilize Evolution of Humanity up to four times per Operation instead of the standard three, though may only be activated twice per Operation and cannot be used consecutively

 

*****

UNIQUE ABILITY: Basic Grand Horn. Once per Operation, Roust may form a close approximation of a Warlord Changeling's horn with 2x [1d6+20]'s, it's size always half the total mass of her target.

*Once sunken into an opponent, the horn bursts apart in a spray of potent Changeling acid, the effects of which are highly random and impossible to predict

*The horn itself is physical meaning it can be damaged or destroyed, and is affected by Vanguard's Fury of the Hive if active

 

*****

ITEMS:

-10 Crystal Conclave Kits: a number of old, still working, albeit barely, kits used for shaping, harmonizing, and tuning crystalline materials. Scavenged from a Changeling-Crystal Pony Outpost in the Northern Empire Wastelands. (‘There is a tremarendous amount of materials that my Queen has stated we have full rights to salvage. The Changeling armor will remain there as the majority are noble or royal strains.’)

 

-Frost Ripper Chunks: approximately 200 pounds of the better pieces.

 

*****

PERSONAL ENCHANTMARENTS: 3/3 Slots remaining ('In general I do not find enchantmarents distasteful, however the vast majority are utterly useless when I am in my armor, which cannot accept enchantmarents. That is where and when I am most effective so I do not use them.')

 

 

***************************************************************************************************************************************

Twisted Wing, the Starborn General, AKA ‘the Burning Pegasus’: 350HP, 8DR

True Age: unknown at the time of first Enchain, but appears to be in her late teens

Total Age: 58

Month of birth: Haypull (April)

 

*****

(Anti-Authority, Brash, Bold, Challenger, Commanding Presence, ELITE: Combat/Defense, Fearless, Heavy, Inquisitorially Sanctioned... sort of?, LEGENDARY, Natural Leader: Nocturnal, Quick, Stern)

 

*****

APPEARANCE: a dark royal blue coated pegasus with a short, similarly dark royal purple mane, and piercing bright hyacinth blue eyes. Twisted is the same height and length, though with a much more muscular build, than Princess Cadence, and when standing straight she is 5'1" tall at the top of her head.

 

While she carries few scars, the majority can be found under her mane, mostly small and innocuous, from the time before her first Enchain.

 

*****

BIOGRAPHY: early life unknown and partially classified. Often referred to as Luna's Guardian or the Lunar Executioner in official documarents, and the Burning Pegasus in unofficial ones, Twisted Wing is a somewhat stern, demanding, and anti-authority driven General of Luna's Guards, the Night Guard, the Lunar Guard, and the Starborn, as her title was never revoked, nor rescinded. ("You want to know how all her quirks work out with her being a legitimate General? ...I don't know. I don't want to know. They just do." -Emerald)

 

Born to one of the main Ferron clan's maretriarchs ("I'm fourth in line and I hate it. Fuck that."), Twisted Wing, as she later came to be known, was a natural fighter and exotic weapon tester from the Sea's Bounty clan, a small offshoot of the main Ferron. She showed a high aptitude for close in combat, the type normally favored by earth ponies, but also demonstrated good leadership qualities.

This quickly earned her the favor of numerous former Night and Lunar Guard members, many of whom had chosen to retire and return to the Ferron's carefree ways of life, constantly moving from camp to camp year round. Despite spending most of her early years growing up in the New Everfree's borders, Twisted was able to visit Las Pegasus, Cloudsdale, the Moors, and even Imeron fairly often, giving her an appreciation for travel and meeting new ponies or other sentients.

 

During much of her training ("I had to learn everything on my own. First rule of any weapon: DON'T USE YOUR OWN DAMNED HOOF TO TEST 'EM ON. There is no second rule, except maybe don't stab friendlies, heh."), she displayed speedy aptitudes for learning how to use exotic weaponry, and understood how to modify said weapons for greater ease of use and versatility, though she professed little desire to aid in crafting, instead making herself useful by constant stress testing.

Developing close friendships with retired Guard in the Basin village and elsewhere, she eventually applied for a position in the Night Guard in order to honor their knowledge and aid.

Finding that while her physical talents were finely tuned, she still had much to learn about Equestria, and social dynamics, as a whole. ("The Ferron don't have 'social lives'. You get along with your clan, or else you move to another one where you fit in better.")

 

Rising through the ranks much slower than was originally expected of her, Twisted Wing chose to dedicate much of her time into forming partnerships between those of complemarenting poninalities and skill sets, just as she'd done in the Ferron during her youth.

Upon reaching the rank of Nightclaw, her predisposition for forming effective cadres garnered her attention as a highly valued asset to Night Guard outposts, whom normally placed members with complimarentary skills or poninalities, but not both, together in a team, and was immediately requested to undertake training as a Lieutenant, which she denied on the spot.

While this did not earn any ire from the Night Guard's commanders as they wholeheartedly approved of her continued activities, other sources that she would later on come to know saw her as a potential nuisance.

 

Reaching the rank of Brawler and further specializing in close combat with exotic weaponry, she met a young batpony Claw named Belltower, whom after several months thought Twisted would make an excellent commander, and encouraged her to take a large risk: applying for the position of Lieutenant-in-training in what would be known as the Lunar faction's second largest class.

While scoring well and reaching the rank of Lieutenant, Twisted had made numerous enemies amongst the class, one in particular, a light gray batpony named Vapid Call, with whom her disgust at filly-fooling while on duty was well known, leading him to be ostracized and reprimarended numerous times.

 

Disregarding the problematic situations entirely, Twisted Wing immediately requested Belltower be added to her team after accepting induction into the Lunar Guard as a Nightfang, awarding the cheerful batmare her badge as a Punisher.

During her own time as a Nightfang, Twisted Wing was constantly on request for distant Lunar faction outposts across Tallus, quickly putting together excellent situational or long term cadres and teams in order to relieve pressure on field commanders that would normally be forced to induct members one by one for their skills and personalities.

 

Although much of her time was capitalized on forming outpost teams, Twisted Wing, Belltower, and her hoof picked cadre were often sent to deal with Otherworldly and Planar incursions numerous times ("Sent? Bullshit, we were nonstop taking every chance to fly off. Half the time we disobeyed orders!").

She never missed a chance to recruit locals whom were specialized against certain enemies, garnering her even greater appreciation by the Lunar Guard's Nightblade Captains.

 

Approached by a unicorn Nightblade by the name of Hodch whom offered her a place in the Starborn, Twisted Wing was torn by the idea of leaving her friends behind, and was unable to make a choice. Realizing her situation, Hodch immediately apologized, retracting the offer and mentioning that he was in the wrong by asking.

Making numerous personal appeals to the Lunar Council about inducting both Twisted and her specialized team, Hodch, rebuffed at each instance, grew irate, and resorting to digging into her history to find enough evidence that would point to exceptional confidence and results.

 

While visiting with many of the Ferron clan's retired Guard members, Hodch came up with a devious plan to use Twisted's successes during several encounters across Tallus, including one instance with then Dragon-Prince Velkruz, known to be excruciatingly difficult for most ponies to deal with, in order to demonstrate both her usefulness and honorable devotion.

Pulling the opinion of most Starborn members in his favor, the Council was drowned out by the Starborn, with Princess Luna and Hodch watching gleefully, calling their votes for Twisted Wing to be accepted along with her team. The Council, under the weight of votes, was forced to relent, and accepted that they had lost.

 

Once more approached by Hodch, she was stunned by his offer, complete with Princess Luna's seal of approval: immediate promotion to the Starborn as a Nightblade Captain, along with acceptance of her entire team and any others from the Night and Lunar Guards that wanted to join.

Leaving with marely wishes of luck from both Guards, Twisted Wing brought nearly a hundred members into the Starborn, all of whom immediately passed the Hall of Tartarus, a newly built training arena, in a grand display. ("Never ask Jeff or Clem 'bout what happened. They're probably still pissed at me, eheh.")

 

With the added benefit of swelling their ranks, the Starborn found greater legitimacy across Tallus due to the minotaurs, gryphons, Crystal ponies, Saddle Arabians, and even two Eyes that had accompanied her, fostering relations towards the various countries and city-states that once looked at the Starborn with distrust.

While her day to day duties shifted from training to recruiting new members, particularly in the Crystal Empire, the Minotaur Hegemony, and Saddle Arabia, she was still instrumental in hoofpicking teams for specific regions, outposts, Enclaves, and cities, her increasingly vaunted leadership skills garnering her no lack of appreciation and a swift promotion to Lunar Claw.

 

During a meeting with the Lunar Council over an offer from the Empire, Twisted Wing, unable to deny a long standing attraction towards the Nightmare, became far less interested about the matter at hoof, instead making subtle displays of affection towards the Princess of the Night, whom responded with a favorable smile and a note to meet her later, privately.

Realizing that she may have just doomed herself, after the meeting adjourned Twisted immediately sought out Belltower for advice, the newly promoted Nightblade Captain directing her to a shaman in Gozka whom gave her several bottles with a warning: not to use them all at once.

 

Hurrying to arrive back at the Citadel at the appointed time, she had forgotten the shaman's warning, downing all four in rapid succession and entering. While neither have spoken of what occurred, the next night Belltower discovered Twisted Wing, in critical condition, at the Citadel's hospital undergoing extensive surgery, her hooves and teeth being replaced with diamondine under the care of a sorrowful looking Luna, muttering once to her: 'worth it'.

After recovering and with her teams succeeding in more and more dangerous incidents in Equestria and abroad, several years passed before Twisted Wing was offered the position of Luna's Guardian, a position that would require her travel with the Nightmare during diplomatic visits as her sole mareguard, also allowing her to spend more time with the alicorn.. which, of course, she immediately took.

 

Remaining in Canterlot after a diplomatic envoy, a failed assassination attempt by a Royal Guard unicorn, later on found to be linked to the Councilierge by Fankil's investigations, severely injured Twisted Wing, sustaining numerous crippling wounds inflicted by a poisoned relic biteblade.

Quickly dispatching the assassin, Hodch and several closeby Nightblades immediately took her the Citadel's hospital, the first forced to summon the Lunar Council's healers to save her life.

 

Understanding the position's danger while recovering, Twisted Wing requested the Nightmare, whom had been in the Empire at the time, to Enchain her with the Guardian's Mark, albeit doing so bitterly. Acknowledging her lover's despair, Luna warned of the numerous dangers and side effects that would occur, but accepted the proposal nonetheless.

Summoning Tree Singer to perform the ritual in hospital with the Lunar Council, Belltower, and Hodch attending, Twisted Wing returned to her duties after less than a week of recuperation, finding that the side effects, while slightly irritating, were easily tolerable.

Despite her eyes now glowing, none were disturbed with her changed appearance, instead congratulating her on becoming the Nightmare's lover, though not without being the target of hundreds of jealous, but happy, snarks, jokes, and remarks.

 

Becoming the Starborn's General after another year of service, Twisted Wing again approached Luna, asking her to Enchain the General's Standard to her and pointing out the relatively minor side effects from the first, yet stated that if it were refused she would not think differently.

Thinking over the matter for some time, Princess Luna accepted, this time allowing the majority of the Starborn to view the entire process, with the results being as minor as the first Enchain. Though Twisted didn't mind seeing herself form of candy and the change in her coloration were acceptable, the slight dislike of nobility and royalty was worrisome, but put the matter out of her mind entirely afterwards.

 

When the former Lunar Executioner, an earth pony from Detrot that had reached the age of 60, retired from his position and the Starborn entirely, Hodch openly considered the position for some time, but retracted his interest upon receiving the honor of permanent admittance to the Hall of Memory's Lorekeepers.

With none wanting the title, Twisted Wing reluctantly approached the Lunar Council with the offer to commit herself into finding a Starborn member that would accept it. Several months and no results later, Chuz`ain, the Lunar Council's sole Kra`ken member, offered the position to her, under the agreement that Twisted Wing would only perform honorable executions that would not interfere with her duties as both the Starborn's General and Luna's Guardian, and that she would relinquish it should another seek the title.

Although Twisted Wing realized she had no weaponry that would allow her to perform an execution, she accepted the agreement, leaving the Council with her thanks.

 

Immediately after being notified of her consort's decision, the Nightmare left the Citadel for parts unknown, returning two days later, heavily injured and carrying the armored wing of a creature that none had seen before. Ignoring her wounds, Luna, along with many of the Citadel's smiths and rune-forgers, created a set of three-hued wingblades over the course of a week, presenting them to the General afterwards.

Joyfully accepting the proud gift, though disturbed as to how the Nightmare had been injured, Twisted was given her first writ of execution, strangely and quietly issued by Princess Celestia no less: a minor noble in Canterlot that had been collaborating with Stalliongrad's slavery ring. Disposing of the unicorn and two bought off Royal Guards in the noble's manor without being noticed, she returned with his head and a satchel of evidence, presenting both to the Council as proof of his death and his affiliations for information discovery.

While there were no questions about her methods or tactics, some amongst the Starborn were curious, and a bit queasy, as to why she had chosen to keep the skull as a trophy.

 

In a meeting with that same peculiar Everfree druid, Tree Singer, Twisted Wing was surprised to learn that Enchaining an item to oneself would bring out it's maximum effects, making it far more useful than simply enchanting it to one's body. Learning that the Nightmare herself had taught some of what the druid knew, Twisted was curious to learn what the various trophies in her possession would grant her, and was quickly shocked by the possible benefits that could result should she choose to undertake further Enchainings.

Convincing the Nightmare into further Enchaining her pegasus lover, Tree Singer offered her services should the Princess be incapable of doing so. Although pleased by the prospects of greater resilience, vitality, strength, and even lifespan, Twisted Wing was skeptical of further changes to her body or mind, yet her fears were allayed by Luna and Tree Singer, both pointing out the incredible luck she'd had.

The Lunar Executioner's Sigil, a Maze Delver's eye, and the Tempest King's Siglet, supposedly won from the elusive being itself, were Enchained to Twisted along with the set of wingblades Luna had created for her, and while performing the Enchaining process four times in a row was taxing, Twisted recovered quickly.

Strangely, the wingblades themselves did not become permanently attached, but would not allow others to touch them.

Luna, surprised at her lover gaining a hoof and a half of height, was overjoyed at Twisted once again suffering from minor side effects, excepting that the smell of burnt feathers would often make her sneeze, bidding Tree Singer good luck and farewell as the two left for the Citadel.

Unfortunately, all three would later come to regret their decisions that night.

 

Returning to their daily routines, the alicorn and nearly earth pony-sized pegasus were nearly inseparable from the other unless duty called, the pair's success lauded by the Starborn and the Lunar Council, except for Belltower whom had begun eyeing the strange habits, maretality, and questionable actions Twisted had begun exhibiting.

With renewed purpose, the Starborn started an investigation into the Councilierge of Stalliongrad, spearheaded by Nightblade Fankil, but found few allies amongst the xenophobic earth ponies, despite greater support from Tallus, and in particular earth ponies from across Equestria as a whole.

 

Shortly afterwards, under suspicious circumstances a Master-General of the Tower Guard was murdered while on a diplomatic visit to the Crystal Empire. ("Ever heard of Opal Luxure? ..yeah, thought so. That'd be the next-younger sister of Jade Luxure, probably the most vaunted Master-General ever. Don’t know where Jade Luxure went, last report we got from the Tower was she’d taken a break but never returned.")

Hodch and Belltower, seeking to recruit several healers for the Starborn at the time, were called in to examine the body immediately after the Master-General's death.

Finding evidence of foul play, the most notable piece being shards of a standard issue Royal Guard Commander's armor, the Starborn's Crystal pony members were immediately requested to return to the Empire and prepare for possible provocations with Stalliongrad.

 

With a near complete lack of information from Stalliongrad, Twisted Wing's decision to expand the Starborn's intelligence teams was initially regarded as a smart move, but her orders to capture Watch Guard and even citizens for interrogation were hotly contested by Nightblade Belltower, being considered both wrongful and possibly illegal.

As the rift between Belltower and Twisted Wing continued to deepen, the Nightmare decided to send Belltower to the Requisitions Committee's chief Lunar Council Grandmaster, Oranti, one of the few remaining Tallus Harpies, in order to provide her a measure of stability and security.

 

Less than a month later, the investigation stalled completely as the Watch Guard's rapid expansion and new usage of mercenaries created a nearly impervious environment. ("We all freaked out. Nopony had the slightest idea three Councilierge would call for a hundred Free Knight companeighs to be formed that month. Imagine our shock when just under five hundred were granted rights. I refuse to blame the Council for overriding me, they did what was right.")

Forced to rescind General Twisted's orders, the Lunar Council acknowledge her chagrin, promising full support should the opportunity present itself in the future. Despite her failure of leadership, Twisted immediately revised the Starborn's induction plans, allowing recruitment to lapse for a time while focusing on improving and expanding the talents of the Guards and Starborn.

 

During the height of her Generalship, a reawakening of the Tyrant occurred at the same time as the Inter-Equestrian Conflict, in which the few remaining Lunar faction nobles in Canterlot were quickly disgraced through foul play and falsified evidence.

The Lunar Council, without knowledge of the Tyrant's plans, ordered the Starborn to collaborate with the Day, Royal, and Honor Guards against what was thought to be a Changeling incursion into Canterlot, though Nightblades Hodch and Fankil, then following leads in Stalliongrad and the Empire respectively, were absent.

("I was with a bunch of Watch Guard in the Eastern Equestria Mountains close to Stalliongrad's border, we were investigati- nah, forget what I just said. Seriously: forget it. Right Now. They begged me not to leave. They were right, I shouldn't have gone.")

 

Upon arrival at Canterlot, Twisted Wing's assessmarent of the situation was opposite that of the Tyrant's, and refused the order as she saw no evidence that the Changelings were attacking citizens or had ill intent.

(“Solarcunt bitchslapped them enough to take part in the attack on the New Hive. By the time the fourth shell had been ripped apart, they were in full revolt.”)

Shortly afterwards a Starborn team ordered to remain in Canterlot and observe the Changeling forces searching the city was annihilated, supposedly by the Changelings themselves, though evidence resulting from Fankil's investigation before his death would later point towards sections of the Royal Guard.

("Not just Royal Guard, there were a few independents too. We couldn't prove Las Pegasus was involved, but how the fuck else could I explain fifty to sixty pegasi mercs in half-plate?")

 

For months afterwards, Twisted Wing fell into a depression, barely capable of functioning at best, and utterly shell-shocked at worst. After some time she was discovered by Princess Luna, having a relationship with a Captain of the Royal Guard, a female pegasus by the name of Day Break, although Twisted Wing has refused to answer why.

In a fit of rage, the Nightmare issued a threat: she would personally, and permanently, shatter both of Twisted's wings if she did not leave her sight and Equestria, forcing the General to flee from the Garden of the Stars.

 

While fleeing, her left wing joint was crippled by a Night Guard Captain ("..."), one of her former rivals, and was further disgraced after Day Break had lied about what took place. While her left wing is still marginally bent at a strange angle when unfolded, Twisted Wing was still capable of performing her spectrum-breaching bursts of speed and outmareneuvering most pegasi in aerial combat, which was put to use with near-lethal effects.

 

Taking little more than the trophies from her office at the Lunar Guard Armory, Twisted chose to wander Equestria and Tallus for a little under 20 years, hoping that, eventually, Luna would forgive her indiscretions.

Visiting the various Ferron tribes and clans often often, she came upon Tree Singer once more, the two becoming friends but forced to keep their distance from each other. Throughout this time, she paid Tree Singer for an additional nine Enchains to further enlarge her body beyond its natural limits, harden her skeleton, strengthen her musculature, and grant her far greater strength, vitality and resistance to harm than any Ferron pegasus could normally achieve.

 

Becoming known as the legendary Burning Pegasus, due to her mane and tail constantly set ablaze, an effect granted by a necklace from the Elemental Plane of Fire, gifted to her from a Malurian friend, Twisted's supreme leadership skills, near minotaur strength, and her constant travels ensured that few on Tallus have not heard of her exploits.

Despite being Serra's half-sister, Twisted adamarently refused all offers to become one of Ferron's Maretriarchs whenever she returned to the New Everfree or Moors, mostly due to being unsure about would occur in the future should she meet Luna again.

 

When an old friend from Canterlot, a dapper yellow unicorn by the name of Denra, made a stop in Las Pegasus, Twisted was notified of him idly waiting at Lucky's Bar (while not named for the current Lucky, the name hasn't changed in several centuries).

Surprising the diplomat with her appearance, the two settled into reminiscing about old times, Denra's amicable statement that the Nightmare had no intention of following her putting the disgraced General's mind ill at ease. With little else to do, Twisted decided to accompany Denra on his diplomatic journey around (most of) Equestria, intending to start from Las Pegasus, though requested Denra illusion change her size, then eye and coat colors so as not to spook the rest of his envoy.

 

En route through the Old Canterlot forest towards the Hive, they encountered a strange, singing Otherworldly being calling itself a Hyfalgryph, a mixture of gryphon, hippo, dragon, and various feline species.

Since neither Denra nor Twisted had any aptitude in singing, the pair turned to violence, assured that their combined mastery of close and long ranged combat would drive the being off, yet failed miserably in at least ten attempts.

Forced to return the diplomatic train to Canterlot for repairs after it's near destruction, Denra received a notice from Princess Celestia about a group of Otherworldly forces she had hired, the note reading that they should be able to protect him long enough to leave the Old Canterlot Forest.

Reluctantly agreeing to give them a chance, he bade Twisted Wing to come with him quietly, just in case Celestia's new mercenaries became dangerous to him or anypony else. ("I was QUITE pissed when she chose to go in that damned car, specifically after I asked her not to. Also: how do YOU feel about trout?" -Denra)

 

After Denra's assurance that the hu`um were simply strange and seemed to be no threat, Twisted decided to meet them herself in order to gauge their intents. Putting on a friendly demeanor and replacing the server, she attempted to take any orders of food or drinks from the human mercenaries, but had little idea that her mention of 'trout' would set off a particularly amusing chain of events.

Startled at Filth's surprise jihading and his odd explanation of where he came from (his mother's womb wasn't a satisfactory enough answer), Twisted quickly lost patience with the strange mannerisms and potentially violent movemarents from the various humans aboard.

Dumbfounded by Clemency's incredible insult of "you're no R. Lee Ermey", punched in the face by Filth, annoyed by the others in the car, insulted by Thrill, and Filth then sticking it in her ass, Twisted was sent into a blinding rage.

 

Driving an entire wingful of blades into Filth, the exiled General went on a rampage, terrifying every human, pony, and even the train itself with her voice. She then proceeded to NEARLY blend close to 20 more Operators, trampled several more, and marenaged to bite one’s arm almost in half.

Lassoing Twisted, Lont, aided by Ironclad, Jeff, and Hollow, they managed to prevent her from moving for some time, although Zoo's attempt at calming her down with 'Why Can't We Be Friends' startled her once more, sending her into another frenzy.

After Hollow threw a can of pressurized ozone into the car, making Twisted unable to use her wings effectively, the Burning Pegasus chose to make her escape, but not before Clemency took the opportunity to leap onto her back.

 

As Clemency managed to ride out most of Twisted's fury, she responded with an aerial dive down at the train, breaking through the sonic barrier and vaporizing a large section of the the dining cab, still still holding on. Letting him off, lightly, with an offer to fly later on (“...I’ll never forget telling him those words.”), Twisted left to visit the nearby Old Everfree Ferron in search of news.

 

Shortly after, an incident involving one of the Ferron's smaller mixed (“Younger Ferron and some of the GOOD Lishanki”) clans raiding Razorback's train while stopped at a depot brought her into conflict on Clemency's request.

Arriving only a few minutes later, her confusion as to why her sisters were acting like bandits became apparent, and began stunning as marely as possible, unwilling to allow them to act like Lishanki.

 

Although severely fatigued by the previous encounter with the Hyfalgryph and the violent physical stress of knocking out her kin, Twisted was forced to retreat for several minutes to cool down, reappearing when the Ferron's current commander had been immobilized.

Explaining (part of) her relationship with the clan, but irritated at their actions, she proposed an agreement that Razorback would furnish food and medical attention to the pegasi thieves and rogues, and in return ensured that they would never cause the Operators trouble again.

(“Any of you part of a clan? No? Shit, uh, I’ll put it like this: ALL of them disobeyed the orders of several Maretriarchs. I had to stun all of ‘em, beat the feathers off several, break a few ribs, THEN stun all of ‘em again and force every last one into taking a few oaths.. to be NICER to whomever they steal from. That ONE instance none of the Maretriarchs nor me let ‘em slide in the least. They had to agree, one and all, to repay that shared debt, or else they’d all become outcasts. That, to a Ferron, is worse than immortality.”)

Returning some time later with Serra, the two decided to join with Razorback, both intent on making sure the Operators would cause no trouble towards Lunars, pegasi, or batponies.

Eventually becoming the bandit's mentor, her relationship was constantly at odds with Serra's carefree mareners, yet the two never held any animosity towards each other regardless of the strange situations and circumstances that occurred.

 

(“...ain’t gonna talk about Canterlot. Didn’t have anything to do with the Empire. Ain’t talking about moving into the Fortres. All of you know that shit.”)

 

Taking the risk to visit Luna in her Village with Clemency supporting her, Twisted was forced to accept her new life without reservations, revealing the reasons as to why she had herself Enchained, as well as the circumstances behind her problems with the Nightmare.

Taking Clemency's advice to remain as both herself and the Executioner at the same time, she managed to set most of her troubled past to rest. While her ties to Luna are still strained, she has decided not to exclude the Nightmare from her life, though is reluctant to press the issue.

She has discovered, with no small amount of help, that her disgust against nobles and royals is only sight based, and once suitably unable to see them has no further problems.

 

Never seen without the long, serrated black wingblades beneath her primary feathers, used as alternate weaponry besides her hooves, skull, and teeth, she will also use her heavy wings to deal painful yet non-lethal stunning blows.

As she dislikes certain leadership figures due to what she knows as earned distrust, Twisted will nevertheless use her own extensive knowledge to guide and embolden her own allies. Rather brusque, she speaks her mind freely ("Don't EVER let her be pissed off at you or anyone else. There's much worse than being dead, and that ear drum slaughtering pegasus will let you know it!" -Unknown Operator), with a partially masculine demeanor and mannerisms, making her a master of insults and swearing.

 

To an observer, Twisted Wing's physical appearance is nowhere as physically imposing as a fully trained, mature, combat earth pony stallion, mostly due to the fact that the average pegasus barely qualifies as a nuisance in hoof-to-hoof combat, a fact that she takes great pride in.

 

*****

FETISH: domination… which she hates.

 

*****

PSYCHOSES, NEGATIVE CONDITIONS, & PHYSICAL MODIFICATIONS:

-BURNOUT: due to the immense strength granted by six of her Enchains, Twisted Wing's body, genetically still a baseline Ferron pegasus used to sub-tropic ocean and Southern New Everfree conditions, is incapable of dissipating the immense amount of heat which rapidly builds up through her musculature, rendering her incapable of combat for more than short periods of time.

*Unless able to cool down after her 5th turn of combat, whether through flight or exiting combat to rest, she will suffer a -10% MaxHP loss per turn

 

-Burnt Feathers, Moderate: any living being within a 5M radius can smell burnt/burning feathers, or far more rarely charred pegasi flesh, though this does not normally cause any problems except for those with sensitive noses whom will sneeze often.

 

-Candy Coated, Major: Twisted always sees her own bodily parts as some form of candy, depending on the situation. This rarely affects her mental state, unless under the influence of drugs or alcohol, which will exacerbate the condition greatly.

 

-Disgust, Extreme: Nobles/Royals: Twisted Wing is unable to envision Nobles and Royals as anything other than monsters, which is somehow able to provoke a flight response upon seeing one, though for obvious reasons she does not fear them. seeing nobility and royalty as monsters trying to eat her, usually proclaiming that they're trying to take her sugary self for themselves or away from Clemency.

*She's able to deal with Roust semi-normally since she rarely, if ever, spends much time around the Vanguard outside of her armor, and has learned to keep her eyes closed in situations where nobility or royalty are nearby.

(“Hm? Nah. Some nobles and royals that know me are willing to use or put up Illusions so I can deal with ‘em normally.”)

 

-Dominator, Major: due to severe effects from three Enchains, Twisted Wing's maretality has shifted greatly, making her considerably dominant in all aspects, manifesting as heightened vocalization or via actions taken.

Unfortunately, this is one aspect of her modified self that she despises, though it is nearly impossible for her to contain or control.

 

-ENCHAINED: like all Enchained, Twisted Wing's eyes glow with a subtle menacing cast, though the sheer number of Enchains she has had performed has given her a primal, pseudo-predatory appearance, accented by a quality that many take to be her eyes piercing into their very souls, causing her to ALWAYS suffer from a +2 Threat penalty.

*Excepted from this negative effect are mercenary or military members, younger ponies, those with the Scarred, Veteran, ELITE, or LEGENDARY Quirks, or those that have spent at least a year in proximity to her, making them typically less ill at ease near her company.

 

-Trophy Hunter, Moderate: Twisted has an irrational drive to keep proof of her victories against opponents, and will attempt to collect the heads or another identifiable item of those she has Executed.

She will NOT, however, allow her natural instincts to protect others to be overridden, and will easily pass an opportunity for another trophy with ease, though MUST grumble about it before and after.

 

*****

(ALSO KNOWN AS General: Carpet Conqueror, Clitoris Crusher, Coochie Crusader, Cunt Cracker, Dirty Deflowerer, Filly Flanker, Juicebox Jazzer, Labia Liquidizer, Mare Mauler, Muff Muncher, Mare Mangler, Pussy Pulverizer, Rug Raider, Shrub Scout, Vaginal Violator, and sometimes Well Done. Take your pick, really.)

 

*****

CUTIE MARK: a pair of light royal blue wings crossing each other, the feathers replaced with serrated purple blades.

There is a thin self-inflicted scar in the center of each, running top to bottom, that was not healed by the natural effects of Enchaining.

 

*****

STATUS: former Commarender of the head Ferron clan's Skyraiders, still a close friend to the majority.

Oldest family member of the Sea's Bounty subclan, and is Matron Ragged Ear's eldest sister, directly in line to become Maretriarch.

(“I won’t accept it, so, no, that offer’s always going to be refused. While becoming a noble won’t kill me, I made a promise.”).

 

Remains with Razorback as the current General of the Night/Lunar Guards and the Starborn as she was never removed from her position, nor was the title invalidated.

 

*****

RELATIONSHIPS:

-Clemency: desires his company

-Dancing Eyes: respects the former Tower Guard's capabilities and knowledge, but professes that she could never be a close friend due to their extreme differences in maretality. (“Tell you this much: Dancing is one pony I would put in commarend of Razorback and never question her actions. Her time as a Titan is worth a good few Bits more than my time as General.”)

-Malyne: considers the batfoal her closest, and best, niece.

-Mercy: considers the Spirit Walker as her her younger sister, though debates whether or not her idol worship is a good thing.

-Pred-Elk: positively adores them, despite their not-entirely-natural nature, and is willing to commit serious crimes in order to keep them safe. (“I… ...made a few mistakes there.”)

-Roust: spends her free time debating and revising mixed unit tactics with the Modern Vanguard. (“Sharp as a unicorn, hard to dissuade like an earth pony, thinks like a pegasus, and doesn’t fuck around like a batpony in killing mode. I’m thoroughly proud calling Roust a sister. Wish her mate hadn’t met me in shitty circumstances. I.. liked that old Canterlot train.”)

 

*****

OFFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Expert Ambush+4

 

*****

DEFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Master Block+4

Master Evasion+6

Master Reaction Speed+6

Master Sprint+6

Master Flight+6

 

Expert Stealth+4

 

*****

UTILITY ABILITIES:

Expert Bartering+3

Master Fishing+3

Expert Negotiation+3

Expert Perception+3

Expert Scouting+3

Expert Thievery+2

Expert Leadership+4

 

*****

TRADE SKILLS:

Apprentice Alchemy

Teacher Batponies

Teacher Batpony History

Pupil Cloud Cities

Junior Councilierge Forces

Junior Councilierge History

Junior Crystal Conclaves

Junior Crystal Empire

Junior Crystal Kingdom

Pupil Crystal Ponies

Observer Crystal Devices & Technologies

Proficient Day Guard

Pupil Ethereal Plane

Proficient Equestria History

Graduate Equestrian Militaries

Graduate Esoteric Weaponry & Enchantmarents

Graduate Ferron History

Teacher Ferron Militaries

Senior Human Weaponry

Senior Humans

Senior Honor Guard

Graduate Independent Factions

Graduate Lunar Guard

Adept Lunar Guardians

Teacher Lunar Military

Junior Lunar-Solar War

Teacher Equestrian Marecenaries

Pupil Minotaur Hegemony

Senior Modern Constructs

Teacher Pegasi

Teacher Pegasi Cloud-States

Pupil Psionicism

Graduate Post-Modern Constructs

Teacher Pre-Archaic Constructs

Junior Pre-Modern Constructs

Observer Research

Senior Rift Plane

Teacher Razorback Company

Graduate Saddle Arabia

Graduate Saddle Arabians

Graduate Saddle Arabian History

Senior Saddle Arabian Military

Teacher Sea’s Bounty

Proficient Solar Tactics

Adept Solar Guardians

Adept Spectrals

Junior Stalliongrad

Graduate Starborn

Graduate Tactician

Graduate Tallus Ocean Biology

Apprentice Tallus Overdark

Teacher Tallus Void

Senior Undead

Proficient Unicorns

Graduate Void Creatures

Teacher Weaponry

Junior Watch Guard

Pupil Vortex Plane

Pupil Vortex Plane Inhabitants

 

*****

ENCHAINED ABILITIES:

-Inspired Battlemare: due to the overwhelming strength provided by six of her Enchains, Twisted Wing's physical strength is equivalent to most earth ponies, though the possibility of physically overheating due to exertion and her body's inability to cool itself is a severe danger, making her extremely cautious not to overextend her limits.

*Grants 4x [1d6+17] rolls that may function as Assault, Parry, or Riposte

*When Inspired through Clemency's use of Aviator, Twisted may gain up to an additional four rolls, ONE per max critical

 

*HARDENED MIND: Twisted Wing does not suffer from the standard physical, psychological, physiological, and spiritual effects from Demoralized, Intimidated, Fear, Horror, or Terror.

*She is still negatively effected by all forms of Anti, however

 

-Heart's Touch: an ability granted by Enchaining the Nightmare's hoofmade Heart Sigil to her ka, given to her when Twisted Wing and the Nightmare were lovers.

The Heart's Touch allows Twisted to send a short message to any living beings within the same realm using a [1d6+4] roll, the result indicating the number of words (in combat) or turns capable of being sent flawlessly.

*This ability also allows Twisted to absorb Clemency's wounds via contact, transferring harm directly to herself with a [1d6+4] roll, but may only be used ONCE per Mission or Operation

 

-Lunar Intimidation: the Canterlot Voice, predominantly used to issue commands at distances over a mile, terrify armies, or simply render opponents in single combat useless.

Achieved after leadership training with Luna and voice training with several Starborn Crystal pony Runesingers for over a year and a half, making Twisted Wing the third non-alicorn, and the first pegasus, to learn it properly.

-Choosing to have the Guardian's Mark of Luna permanently Enchained to her by the Nightmare, Twisted is capable of using the Lunar version as a [1d6+7] roll, specifically meant for Intimidating opponents that would otherwise be immune to normal methods.

*May be utilized a maximum of ten times per Night before the effect degrades by -1 per use

 

-Non-Combat AutoRegen: regenerates +15HP per turn out of combat.

*This degraded form of regeneration does NOT function when harmed, instead activating when severely stressed, drunk, overheated, gravely injured, depressed, or under the afflictions of a particular psychoses.

 

-STRAWBERRY OVERDOSE!!!: not so much an ability, more of a (somewhat) positive side effect from one of her later Enchains. Also not an addiction, just a ("Really, really, REALLY hard to ignore!") Compulsion.

*Whenever Twisted consumes 20 or fewer strawberries, she will pass out for a period from [1d6] hours, though 2 hours more if there are ponies sleeping within 50M of her

*After consuming 21 or more strawberries, she will pass out for [1d2] hours, and immediately upon waking a [1d6] is rolled, where the result is the number of turns that she must add +1 to all rolls, and will hallucinate virtually everything, except for Nobles and Royals, to be made of (or from) strawberries

*For less than obvious reasons known only to herself, she can tell the differences between living beings, walls, doors, edibles, non-edibles, and etcetera with ease.

(“Don’t… ask. Can’t explain any of it.”)

 

*****

SHARED ABILITY: Expert Airstream. Twisted Wing has become much closer to Clemency upon giving him the opportunity to prove his status as an honorable Aviator and aiding her in sorting through her past.

Undertaking extreme stress testing, training, and experiencing the expected flight characteristics of the average Ferron has allowed Clemency to see, feel, and utilize the Airstreams of Tallus. In doing so,

*Due to Twisted Wing’s intensive physical training and fine instructions in the artfully scientific methods of close combat, Clemency is granted a [1d6+3] <Airstream Strike ability that functions as an additional Assault, Parry, or Riposte roll

*Also grants 2x [1d6+2] <Airstream rolls that function as Block, Evasion, or Sprint

*Due to Clemency's excellent air-to-air combat training, teachings, and experience in aerial maneuverability, Twisted Wing is also granted a [1d6+X] <Airstream Flow roll which functions as an additional Evasion roll, where X is the number of trophies Clemency and Twisted have combined

*Current Trophies: 6

 

*****

UNIQUE ABILITIES:

*Basic Imperial Sky Cracker. The Nightmare's personalized flight training given to Twisted Wing upon reaching the rank of General, combined with the effect of her fifth Enchain, the Tempest King's Siglet, and research into several subjects that she refuses to divulge, has resulted in the ability to effortlessly move or fly with no loss of inertia, velocity, or change in direction, leaving a solid afterimage that can last up to half a mile at maximum, often confusing slower opponents as to where she is currently.

("I've been asked this a lot. No, I cannot tell you. No, I will not tell you. No, I must not tell you. It's a secret, and it'll stay that way.")

*Once every other Operation, upon reaching a cumulative Speed of 20 or more Twisted Wing may orient herself on a single large target, or several smaller targets in close proximity to each other, and roll 2x [1d6+24] to create a null pressure vacuum in her wake or around her entire body, effectively shattering the physical spectrum to cause massive inertial feedback in a 5 meter radius around her, or create a tunnel up to 100M in length.

*This ability does not allow her to pass through composite materials such as silverine or sapphirine, nor extremely thick materials or living beings.

*Causes double damage to Fragile beings or Undead, but oddly does not cause much harm to otherwise normal living beings.

 

*GRANDMASTER EXECUTIONER. The Seal of Execution granted by Luna, then Enchained to herself, grants Twisted Wing the ability to execute an opponent utilizing her custom wingblades, or any other specialized weapon she may possess.

This allows the use of Grandmaster Executioner ONCE per Operation or Mission, but due to the stipulations and restrictions she MUST exit combat for 2 turns afterwards to recover.

*Roll 4x [1d6+20] to initiate, the higher the result the more likely the target will be Executed, while an enemy under 20% HP will usually be Executed with little issue

*If she is Inspired through the use of Expert Aviator, Twisted Wing may add +5 to all Grandmaster Executioner rolls for each critical, up to a cumulative of +15, though performing an Execution at this stage will cause her body to instantly overheat

*If used immediately after being summoned, Twisted must Intimidate another enemy and leave to cool down, then return if possible once recovered

 

*****

PONIAL ITEMS:

-Custom Fit Radio+Headset: finished and miniaturized, as well as made invisible, by Spiral's Shadow form.

 

-Everything Else: (“Clem, there is NO fuckin’ way I could move a fiftieth of ‘my’ stuff here. I’d need an underground suite at least the original Armory’s size to store half of it. Also, uh... I forget where some of all that’s been stashed.

Ain’t bird brained either. That’s a matter of memory, never got Enchained to be better at remembering every word I’ve listened to. I’m still a Ferron, we collect stones and twigs like batponies acquire puns. I basically own five battleline’s worth of equipmarent.

Problem is damn near everything I’ve claimed, bought, traded for, stolen, borrowed indefinitely, been loaned, and own is banned, restricted, under limited access protocols, or worse. Most of it won’t ever see Daylight or Moonlight again. There’s been a lot of times I remember that’s a GOOD problem.”)

 

*****

UNIQUE ITEMS:

-Champion Belregard's Shield: a 5' tall triangular shield that resembles a flattened out fang, the facing a brilliant blue. Much too heavy to be used or carried, even by earth ponies.

After realizing the danger posed by possessing it, Twisted decided to keep hold of the Ethereal Golem's shield, placing it in her Tower for safe keeping.

 

*****

UNIQUE ELDRITCH WEAPONRY:

*Wingblades of the Perfect Moon (Custom-Fit, Eldritch-Forged, Lunar-Forged, Unique Legendary Enchained Eldritch Artifact): sixty massively enchanted and seemingly invulnerable thin black blades, over 3' in length with a hook to anchor around the base of her primary feathers. This set is meant for use in direct combat and as a shield to protect her when grounded or otherwise unable to fly.

Purportedly unable to be used by any other living being as they are Enchained to Twisted Wing with a vastly greater Sticky enchantment, why they aren't permarenently attached to her feathers is unknown. ("Most Enchained can't remove their weapons, ever. There's a few that can. Stone Drake, pegasus. Reaver Claws, batpony, she can. There's.. three to five more that I'm aware of who can, but I’ve never ponifally met them.

Uh, duh? Nearly all Enchained are Lunars. Like.. maybe ten aren’t, out of around four hundred. We don’t exactly advertise ourselves, and I don’t like sharing what shouldn’t be known.")

Naturally imbued with a powerful Slowfall-Float effect, it counteracts enough weight of her improved body to allow excellent flight characteristics while wearing the full set.

Combined with her immarense strength, they have little trouble piercing most armors, though there's far more to them than Twisted lets on. The wingblades respond to her will with extreme ease, changing color depending on her mood. The blades remain black normally, turn aquamarine in flight, and become a bright red when angered or in combat.

Luna stated to Clemency that she retrieved the material from an Eldritch being on her own, though was severely injured doing so, and granted them as a gift afterwards.

Due to the powerful Sticky enchantment, it takes Twisted roughly two hours to remove and clean them all each week. ("What I do is take 'em off, set 'em on the biggest heatstone around, tell that sucker to get HOT, then let 'em cook! Easiest way is usually the best way.")

-Melee Weapon Class: Light-Eldritch

-Enchantment Slots: 1/4 remaining

-Base Modifier: adds +3 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls

-Defensive Enhancement #1: adds +3 to all Block or Cover rolls

-Utility Enchantmarent #1: Eldritch Slowfall-Float

-Utility Enchantmarent #2: Eldritch Hold, cannot be removed except at-will

-Utility Enchantmarent #3: Indestructible

 

*****

-Alpha Dredger's Head

-Cloth Fragments from numerous Human Zombies

-Stalliongrad Watch Guard Skull

-Vitriole Drake Skull

 

*****

ENCHAINS:

-Blackspine Devourer Core: adds +1DR & +1 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls, increased her physical size (weakened)

 

-Circle of the Unbroken Mind: a later Crystal Empire Era circle engraved on a color distorting coin that resonates a nearly impenetrable background hum and distortion, preventing mental intrusion from psions, Eldritch, Otherworldly, Planar, or Spectral beings, as well as other methods of mental contact.. or at least against those that she cares to tune out.

(“Doesn’t work against Anti though, this one was tuned for everything else. The Crystal Empire was officially formed and announced during the Late Dynasty’s later stages. Let’s say about 28,560 or so, at least I think that’s about when. Outside the City-State itself there weren’t and still aren’t any Imperial-born, which makes the one I used a priceless historical relic. Probably should have waited to locate or trade for an older variant.”)

 

-Central Path Dusk Strider's Seal: adds +1 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls & gains +5HP/turn out of combat (weakened)

 

-Grand Cragwurm's Core: adds +1DR & gains +10 MaxHP, increased her physical size (weakened)

 

-Luna's Heart Sigil: adds +2DR & gains +50 MaxHP, and grants the Heart's Touch skill (weakened)

 

-Luna's Executioner: adds +1 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls & grants the Grandmaster Executioner skill (weakened)

 

-Luna's Guardian: adds +1 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls, adds +50 MaxHP, and grants the Lunar Intimidation skill (weakened)

 

-Maze Delver's Eye: description unknown.

Allows Twisted Wing's body to regenerate from death, the length of time solely depending on the severity of injuries and the remainder of her physical body.

("You might be asking me why I specifically Enchained that to me since Enchained can't die when away from Tallus anyhow. Easy answer: I couldn’t let it be misused.")

*Increased her physical size, reduces the time to fully regenerate by 1/3rd

 

-Riftseeker's Core: adds +1 to all Perception/Scouting rolls and grants the 1d6 <Rift Eye skill, though for obvious reasons is SEVERELY degraded and untrained. (weakened)

 

-Seal of the First Lunar Guardians: adds +1 to all Assault/Parry/Ripsote rolls & +20 MaxHP (weakened)

 

-Softspine Lord Core: adds 1DR & gains +5HP/turn out of combat, increased her physical size (weakened)

 

-Starborn General: adds +1 to all Leadership rolls, adds +20 MaxHP, and gains permarenent BOSS-class Fearless (weakened)

 

-Tempest King's Siglet: adds +1 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte & Block/Evasion/Reaction Speed/Sprint/Flight rolls, and grants the [1d6] <Tempest Strike skill, though for obvious reasons is untrained (weakened)

 

-Void-Warped Circle: adds +1 to all non-combat Stealth rolls and gains +5HP each turn while out of combat (weakened)

 

-Wingblades of the Perfect Moon: cannot be removed or properly used by any being, except for Clemency or those she allows

 

 

***************************************************************************************************************************************

Velasi "Flash" Aguina, Ordo Chronos Inquisitor: 50HP, 1DR

Age: unknown, probably irrelevant

Month of Birth: unknown, definitely irrelevant

 

(Careful, Cautious, Droll Wit, Razorback 100, Temporal Agent, Two-Faced, Watchful)

 

("I have no concern telling you who I am as an individual, Marquis. What, however, is more important.")

 

*****

KNOWN LANGUAGES:

Holy Imperial Binary: has perfected the most common one hundred or so varieties of Administratus Mechanicum binary languages, and is able to easily sub-vocalize hidden messages when speaking to Machine Spirits, machines, or non-Abominable Intelligences that process and understand binary machine coding ("One-one-zero-one-one-zero-zero-one is the start to my ninetieth most favorite song!")

 

Low Gothic: can read, speak, and write fluently in over 30 dialects. Also includes Common Human/Common Equestrian

 

High Gothic: can read, speak, and write fluently in the main 8 dialects

 

Xenos, Crystal Pony: has moderate fluency in the modern dialect

 

Xenos, Earth Pony: has basic fluency in the modern dialect

 

Xenos, Unicorn: has basic fluency in the modern dialect. Her knowledge is (of course) particularly focused on epithets, insults, the names of bodily parts, and other unusual swears.

 

*****

APPEARANCE: originally a Pan-EuroTerran Pacifica styled human female, 5'8" tall with a semi-wiry build and constantly devious (but mostly arrogant) light yellow eyes. Since she never removed her Witch Hunter armor or hat long enough for other humans to observe her further, it is unknown if she bore any scars.

 

Currently, Inquisitor Flash is an ever-grim faced, dull white coated unicorn mare of slender build with a two-toned silver-gold mane and tail, carrying no visible scars. Now exactly 3'11" in height, an inch shorter than most Equestrian unicorns.

Her most distinguishing features are two accusatory, piercing light yellow eyes, a completely flat, straight, rigorously washed free flowing mane trimmed to mid-shoulder height or kept in a triple braid, and either a straight or wide two-braided or free-flowing tail.

Last is a small, simple golden loop pierced into the highest tip of her left ear, though she tends to switch jewelry fairly often.

*These 'changes' occurred due to a series of deliberately hostile encounters with Discord, the Tallus God of Chaos.

(“I would not classify that one as a technical deity. Rather, his power is that which eludes, confounds, confuses, and tricks the viewer into making either the most incorrect decision, or the most profoundly correct. An existential living anachronism, to be precise.

In the off chance that one becomes foolish enough to engage his wrath.. I would suggest either playing along, or playing against, while stating specific stipulations and rules which are not to be chided nor breached. Discord’s candor relies upon willfulness and amusement, or amusemarent, therefore he does not, and positively can not, cheat in the manners or mareners that you might think. To him, the spirit of such is equally as important as the lettering and wording.

In a sense, there is no Great Game to be found when dealing with Discord, but to the uninformed mind only a disconcerting sense of untimely shenanigans may, or will, occur, which, to certain preconceived notions of generalist relations, appear coincidental. Do be warned, however, that ‘time’ holds no meaning to a living concept.”)

 

Due to shenanigans not entirely of her own making, Flash is usually covered in several layers of (almost) permarenently BRIGHT orange paint on her coat, though certain Operators have left her mane and tail alone.

(“Hm? Ah, this is of no consequence. Anonymous, the Third Human Gestalt as he is best known by, happens to be responsible for such a coloration. We delight in devising ever more curious pranks against each other. For fun, not out of malice, scorn, revenge, or other trite means.

He has not yet discovered the vagaries of his own technological reach and prowess being turned against him. While acceptable for the most part, I do not particularly enjoy the vast majority of... repercussions which occur.

Except for the [ULTRA REDACTED] pictures, audio recordings, and videos. Now those are most amusing..”)

 

In short: she's tall enough to be booped, but short enough to be a danger, especially since she tends to aim for the crotch of humans that annoy her, whether male or female.

 

*****

BIOGRAPHY: arriving with the majority of Razorback Company, Velasi, calling herself Inquisitor Flash, made herself known and hated early on with an arrogant, overly loathing, and insufferable demeanor to those that spoke to her. This, of course, immediately brought her great ruin from the gathered humans in New Canterlot.

After being knocked out and choked unconscious several times on the train, she resigned herself to living in the deep shadow of Razorback, calling as little attention to herself as possible, unless the needs of the many outweighed the wants of herself.

 

Ignoring all goings on, she preferred to stay as far away from others, especially ponies whom she continually labeled with the term 'xenos', and numerous slurs otherwise, until the confrontation with the Solar Tyrant occurred, where she was forced to flee along with the rest of Razorback.

Even if she professed a certain rather gentrified form of speciesism, the Solar Tyrant's appearance shook her openly and deeply, falling into a state of morbid depression, which all saw as a welcome relief. This, however, belies her true feelings and thoughts, none of which she has yet dared to speak of.

 

During the construction of Razorback Fortress and throughout it's second year, Inq. Flash was seen little, spending the vast majority of her time in difficult to reach or uncomfortable locations, occupying herself with whatever books she could get her hands on, and generally being out of the way. This did not last for long. (“One could easily state that I care little for current temporal matters. The past is to be learned from, yet the future.. is not to be derided, nor ignored. Would you not express the same concerns I have, Hodch?”)

Before Stalliongrad's Siege, Velasi ran afoul of Discord, engaging him while in an unusually violent and highly enraged state. Throwing the Inquisitor's otherwise potent pseudo-Psionic ability back in her face, the Draconequis, showing anger for once, 'merely' decided to punish Velasi by performing a complete, binding transformation upon her.

 

Shocked at her body now that of a dull gold unicorn, Velasi has been seen far less than in previous days, even if her research takes an interesting turn. Even now she rarely ventures into the Mess Hall for something to eat, but she is most often heard in the attics, rafters, and crawl spaces throughout the Fortress.

Several of the less apprehensive Operators have even come across tunnels dug throughout the northern section of the fortress, all leading to the Mess Hall, presumably being one of the few activities she still takes some form of joy in.

(“To those of us born in the Void, that of Between All Else Is, there is a comfort which we cannot express. Small and confined spaces are a gift; to know where one is, to know what protects us, and what does not.

Digging tunnels in such utterly agreeable, pure soil would be, for most, a coping mechanism. That is not the case for myself. I enjoy the exercise for what it is, which is experiencing that which my ancestors for hundreds of generations could not, condemned into seclusion as they were. However, there is a much deeper connection: between those whom should have been born on soil and those deprived of the same.

Also, it is quite fun.”)

 

Though she may still be a loyal, honorable Inquisitor of the Ordo Chronos, Velasi's near-entirely unmotivated and sometimes catatonic state continues to damage her future prospects.

It remains to be seen what she will do with her life, though the tacit acceptance of this second chance, whether as a curse or a blessing, is likely the end of the line for her.

 

("Or so Razorback, including myself, thought." -Krinza)

 

*****

PHYSICAL MODIFICATIONS:

-Unicorn. 'nuff said.

 

*****

PSYCHOSES:

-Agoraphobia, Extreme. Having grown up and lived aboard voidships for the vast majority of her life, confined or otherwise spaces are, for her at least, comforting. The sense of knowing where one can be assaulted or ambushed from is a rare constant in an Inquisitor's life, and even more so for a member of the Ordo Chronos, whom are often called upon to act in four and even five dimensions in combat.

*For every 10 turns or 10 minutes in a non-enclosed space, Inq. Flash gains 1 (Temporary) Insanity

*For every 100 turns or 100 minutes in non-enclosed spaces, Inq. Flash gains 1 (Hard) Insanity

 

*****

OFFENSIVE SKILLS:

Expert Assault

Expert Parry

Expert Riposte

 

Expert Forced Casting

Expert Intimidation

Expert Light Energy Weapons

 

*****

DEFENSIVE SKILLS:

Expert Block

Expert Evasion

Expert Reaction Speed

Expert Sprint

 

*****

UTILITY SKILLS:

Expert Engineering+1

Expert Leadership

Expert Explosives

Expert Medicae+1

Expert Negotiation

Expert Perception

Expert Research

Expert Scouting

Expert Tech-Use+1

Expert Wilderness Survival

 

*****

UNIQUE SKILLS:

*Master Ordo Hereticus Teachings: Smite. Like all Sanctioned Inquisitorial Psykers before her, Velasi was required to kneel before the Golden Throne in order to directly learn teachings from the living-corpse of the God-Emperor himself.

In her case, she only acquired a single fragment of knowledge, though this does not imply that her mastery of the sole divine ability the Emperor taught her is due to a weak inherent nature.

Few others can demonstrate that they have been granted the honor and right to call upon the Emperor's Right Hand of Wrath, which manifests in the material world as a golden armored human fist the height and twice the width of a Sentinel.

At most times this appears as a 15M in diameter cloud of bright white and gold lightning, much the same as Astartes Librarians are capable of utilizing, which may stun virtually any foe that suffers a direct impact.

Her mastery of this ability led some of Flash's fellows in the Ordo Chronos to believe that she was either destined for great deeds, or that she is merely less pretentious than she appeared to be.

*ONCE per Operation allows 4x [1d6+8] rolls with two alternate uses: the first being the Hoof of Wrath, a purely damage causing ability; the second being Smite, which removes all modifiers from the target and stuns for 1 turn per each max critical

 

*Basic Temporal Castigation: each member of the Ordo Chronos is required to undergo thorough, vigorous hands-on training in temporal alignment, shifts, causality, breaks, line splitting, castigation, and other less understood effects.

This knowledge manifests in a seemingly genetic understanding of how time itself can be bent, twisted, woven together, broken, or fractured from involved strands. Of course, many in the Inquisition are both frightened and intrigued as to why members of the Ordo Chronos alone are granted this knowledge.

Despite her reluctance to engage in, as she calls it, "grox-shit temporal fuckery the likes of which Tzeentch only WISHES he could take part in, that dickless space-mollusk!", Inquisitor Flash often has eerie (and not entirely accurate) premonitions of future events, along with numerous and unsettling facts about the history of Tallus, though her deeply strained relationship with other humans almost always prevents her from sharing information.

*Grants Inq. Flash the Temporal Strain and Temporal Leap abilities using 2x [1d6] rolls, allowing her to either slow or increase the flow of temporal relativity in a 5M-25 sphere around her, which may affect a maximum of two living beings or items each turn

 

*****

TERTIARY SKILLS:

-Basic Engraving+2

 

*****

TRADE SKILLS:

Amateur Biologist

Amateur Chymist

Amateur Researcher

 

*****

TRAIT: Basic Aguina Family Rogue Trader. Bribery. Frontier world expansion. Archaeotech searches. Sudden Astartes arrivals. Extortion. Xenos artifacts. Implicit assassinations. Unnamed Guard company drops. Crusade-era technology. Currency manipulation. Antiquities trades and thefts. Xenotech acquisition. Imperial missives. Ecclesiarchal dispatches.

All these and more define the life of a Rogue Trader, which in many cases boils down to: "whatever we do, we do in the service of the Emperor, even if it means getting our hands bloody from time to time. Our actions must always benefit the Imperium, and from time to time, ourselves!"

*Adds +1 to all Barter, Leadership, and Ranged rolls

 

*****

SKILL SPECIALIZATIONS:

-Bren, Long Term Heavy Construction Training: adds +1 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte rolls

 

-Provisional Tallus Research, Sapiens-Equine Studies: adds +1 to all Research rolls when studying ponies

 

*****

SUPPLIES: 2x Canteens, 4x Field Officer's Rations, 6x Razorback "Vodka"

 

*****

COMMON ITEMS: 6x Chemlights, Compass, Map, Multitool, 2x Roll of Rope, 2x Rolls of Steel Wire, Shovel, Wire Cutters

 

*****

EXPLOSIVES: 155MM Bombshell, 2x Bouncing Betty, 2x C4, 2x Claymore, 3x Krak Grenades

 

*****

MEDICAL ITEMS: 2x Bandages, 2x Wound Dressings

 

*****

UNIQUE ITEMS:

-Blessed Rosarius: a faded, silver embossed rosarius bearing the Inquisition's standard symbol, significantly heavier than it looks. Over her time on Tallus, Inq. Flash has modified this heavy relic significantly to house a major temporal refraction field, a Chronon Wave Calculator, a rare and valuable relic of the Dark Age of Technology used in Astartes Legiones Auspex scanners, and a Temporal Harmonization Strand, one of the Ordo Chronos' most guarded tools, likely Necron in origin.

When used, Inq. Flash is able to fully exit the timestream of material and immaterial worlds, spectrums, dimensions, and Planes in order to selectively modify the events which she desires most.

*Adds +4 to all Temporal Strain and Temporal Leap rolls

 

*****

UNIQUE ARMOR:

Flash has taken the time to improve this normally fashion-only set with the addition of cured, thin basilisk hide inserted into the overcoat at strategic locations, glued in place by one of the more permanent compounds available on Tallus.

Why such a basic, almost worthless armor set is her go-to is unknown, especially since both humans and ponies seem to hate her more when wearing it.

-Armor Value: 1DR

-Armor Class: Light

-Enchantment Slots: 1/1 remaining

*Appearance Effect: causes either +1 Threat to Humans, or +2 Threat to Equines

 

*****

PHYSICAL ENCHANTMENTS: 2/3 slots remaining

 

-Armor Charm: provides a natural +1DR

 

 

***************************************************************************************************************************************

 

 

 

SERVANT COMPANIONS:

 

*****

Drifting Breeze: 110HP, 1DR

Age: 21

Month of birth: February

 

*****

(Affectionate, Calm, Curious, Gentle, Hard-Working, Hostess, Kind, Level-Headed, Listener, Lustful, Natural Charmer, NOT SANCTIONED AT ALL, OCD: Preening, Quiet, Respectful, Thoughtful)

 

*****

APPEARANCE: a slim, warmly colored indigo coated pegasus with a darker mane, and flat purple eyes, standing 3'7" tall at the top of her head. Physically in decent shape, Drifting carries a number of small, erratic bruises covering most of her body, with the exception of her head and neck, though she states they don't cause her any pain, only a bit of annoyance.

 

Her hooves are well filed and smooth, while her wings are in excellent condition, despite being 'enslaved' for over 17 years. On her front legs above the knees are a series of three rope burns, and above each of the hocks on her hind legs are recently made, wide, flat, and rough patches of skin where hard metal shackles had rubbed off most of her coat, forcing her to walk with smaller steps than usual.

 

*****

BIOGRAPHY: orphaned at the age of four in Southern Neighvada during a short conflict with a large force of bandits, Drifting Breeze was picked up by a member of the Servant's Guild, and brought to Stalliongrad by a pair of herd-bonded mares, both former Support Strikers, in the hopes of legal adoption. When the Servant's Guild owner stated that adoption would be both unlikely and potentially illegal if the Councilierge had a hoof in the matter, Drifting was instead settled with Lilac Springs in the Guild Hall with the promise that, when she came of herd-age, she would be automatically accepted by her guardians.

 

Growing up with much the same (if nowhere near as lazy) treatment that Lilac did, Drifting was often asked to deliver satchels or supplies between Servant Guild locations in Stalliongrad, unwittingly learning much about the slavers during her contractual terms as a young hostess, then a beginning chef. Becoming a trusted informant for the Servant Guild's owner, she kept her ears focused at all times, relaying gathered information whenever behind psion-shielded doors and walls.

 

During one of Stalliongrad's infamous winter storms, Drifting was ordered to deliver a critical package of information to the Servant's Guild from a Tower Guard spy, despite her wings being tangled by a lost kite shortly after takeoff, becoming covered in patches of ice in transit, and nearly losing her life to a warehouse's peak ambushing her in the middle of the blizzard. Shortly after delivery, she received her Mark when the Guild's owner commented that they had enough evidence to create an overherd sanctioned distrust against the Slaver's Guild. When asked if she would become a spy for the Servant's Guild (and to keep an eye out for Lilac), Drifting accepted without reservation, the promise of becoming herd-bonded to her saviors driving her onwards.

 

Although her exploits are nowhere near as famous as Lilac's are, Drifting was often hired for both her speed of deliveries and excellent 'customer service', gained after teaching (and personal experience) from some of the more lewd servants of the Guild, leading many of Stalliongrad's mares, and even a few fillies, to line up orders through the many Import and Export businesses throughout operating hours, hoping to have a few minutes, or a taste, of the exotic pegasus.

 

During the Servant's Guild expansion, they fully broke away from the Councilierge after the partially failed Siege of Equestria, and as a side effect Drifting was targeted by disgruntled Import and Export associates, each of which had either been ruined, forced into debt, or worse due to the owner's inexplicable knowledge. Although she was rescued by the Guild's owner after each increasingly hostile encounter, Drifting began carrying small defensive manabombs to deter troublemakers, and finally disposable anti-psion weaponry after the first few didn't get the hint.

 

Tower Guard records state that one of the Slaver Guild's most notorious Stronghooves, a mare of high standing in the Councilierge, had been the one to capture and inflict the various injuries still present on Drifting Breeze. Said Stronghoof was found the next morning, executed by what were suspected to be poisoned blades, the mansion curiously stripped of all belongings, including numerous slaves, several relics, and a few curios that had never been seen in Equestria before.

 

In return for safe travel to anywhere on Tallus and nearing fulfillmarent of the promised bonding with her desired herdmates, Drifting, along with Lilac Springs, chose to act as a spy on the inside of the Inner Councilierge's ranks, and was 'sold' to Pear Blossom in preparation for the role. Though Tower Guard involvement is still as of yet unknown, it can be surmised that neither they, nor she, expected their plan to be thrown entirely off course by being taken into Razorback under what is probably considered protective custody.

 

So long as Lilac is happy, healthy, and needs a guiding hoof for when, not if, she eventually screws up, Drifting Breeze will stick around her. As far as Dancing Eyes is concerned, until the pair leave every pony living in the Fortress is going to simply have to learn to check everywhere thoroughly or risk being mare marauded. Humans included, too.

 

*****

FETISH: intermediate bondage and wingjobs. Drifting professes a certain enjoyment for being bound, spanked, and thoroughly rutted, but dislikes actual pain as she recovers much slower than most pegasi. She also enjoys bringing ponies, particularly mares, to orgasm using her wings, of which hers are highly erogenous, thus she rarely if ever allows anypony other than herself to preen them.

 

*****

PSYCHOSES:

-Avoidance, Moderate: due to her experiences with earth ponies, Drifting Breeze would prefer to avoid them if at all possible, and will ignore direct commands if capable of flight. If incapable of flying, she will simply act as if they do not exist, but has few reservations biting an earth pony's ears off or throat out if she is threatened.

 

-Dignified Cook, Moderate: due to her considerable training with food preparation and cooking, Drifting Breeze is very particular about what she will or will not eat, what she cooks, how, and most importantly why, thus making her somewhat difficult to deal with if not presented with a clean kitchen and fresh ingredients. She's also a stickler for the proper use of spices.

 

-Ordered Flight, Minor: unless otherwise needed, whether as part of her duties, for fun, or making deliveries, Drifting Breeze will not fly, yet will do so when she simply does not feel like walking.

 

*****

CUTIE MARK: a lazily drifting, dim white cloud covered in numerous small blue spots, with a green diamond-shaped kite stuck in the center.

 

*****

OFFENSIVE ABILITIES

Expert Assault+3

Expert Parry+4

Expert Riposte+2

 

*****

DEFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Expert Block+2

Master Evasion+5

Expert Reaction Speed+4

Expert Sprint+4

Master Flight+5

 

*****

UTILITY ABILITIES:

Expert Appraisal+3

Expert Bartering+3

Basic Charm+2

Expert Negotiation+3

 

 

***************************************************************************************************************************************

Elusine Ametrina, Vyoseline: 210HP, 2DR

Age: 37

Month of birth: unknown

 

*****

(Anti-Authority, Brazen, Challenger, Cold-Blooded, Cynical, Determined, Direct, Dishonorable, Distrust: everything except Crystal ponies, Logical, Passive-Aggressive, Possibly Sanctioned, Rough-Edged, Scarred, Steadfast, Stern, Temperamental, Vindictive)

 

*****

APPEARANCE: a well figured Crystal pony mare in decent condition, although she is quite underweight for a mare of her species and age should be. Stands 4'2" at the top of her head. Her coat is a fluorescent aquamarine, well taken care of, and her mane considerably lighter in tone. Has constantly suspicious, furious neon lime eyes.

 

A number of rough, barely healed patches on her sides, neck, and flanks, avoiding her Cutie Mark entirely, indicate that she has been subject to burn-play, mostly likely by a pyromaniac, although the rest of her body is untouched. Her hooves have been exceptionally well taken care of, but has few qualms kicking anypony, or anything, coming close to her.

 

*****

BIOGRAPHY: unknown. While Elusine was present (and most passive) at Pear Blossom's auction, her attitude upon reaching Razorback Fortress suggests recent captivity by the Slaver's Guild, though her foreboding, cynical, and outright cold demeanors will likely compound any efforts to speak or reason with her.

 

Mallia Castella has confirmed otherwise.

 

*****

CUTIE MARK: a large pear-cut gem, the upper half a cloudy purple, the lower half yellow and partly covered by fog.

 

*****

FETISHES: hoofplay and oral. Elusine takes great enjoyment using her soft underpads to give orgasms to other ponies, and will gladly accept anypony, or anyone, playing with them to their heart's content, while giving her the same treatment elicits an intense but temporary emotional connection, one that she does not seem to mind relinquishing.

 

She will also also dedicate hours of time to pleasing ponies with exceptionally sensual oral skills, both stallions and mares alike, but prefers her partner (or partners) to either control themselves and allow her to work, or be tied and bound to prevent them from roughly taking control.

 

*****

PSYCHOSES:

-Hostility, Major: upon sighting an earth pony, regardless of age, sex, or faction alignment, Elusine will wait until they are vulnerable, then deafen, stun, and humiliate them, whether in public or not, for her own enjoyment. She will, however, only cripple or kill ponies that are Watch Guard or Councilierge affiliated.

 

-Language Barrier, Extreme: Elusine's complete refusal to speak in any language other than Kingdom Crystal pony is typically met with disdain, and will ignore all requests or attempted conversation afterwards.

 

-Personal Space, Major: unlike most, Elusine prefers to keep a minimum of five paces from other living beings, except for foals or younger ponies. If approached however, she will become increasingly hostile and eventually turn violent if pressed.

 

*****

OFFENSIVE ABILITIES

Expert Assault+6

Expert Parry+3

Expert Riposte+2

 

*****

DEFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Expert Block+4

Expert Evasion+2

Expert Reaction Speed+3

Expert Sprint+2

 

*****

UTILITY ABILITIES:

Expert Alchemy+3

Expert Appraisal+3

Expert Bartering+3

Expert Chef+4

Expert Neighgotiation+4

Expert Perception+5

 

*****

Master Crystal Runes+5

 

*Cover: creates an innate crystalline shield that may be used to defend herself or allies with, and is also capable of attacking and stunning opponents.

 

*Power: adds +1 to all Crystal Rune rolls for each max critical, capping at a maximum of +3, and can be used with Crafting.

 

*Pull: allows use of minor Psychokinesis, limited to a maximum of 500 pounds.

 

*****

SPECIAL ABILITY: Basic Extended Barrier. An unusual improvement of the innate Crystal Rune ability typically known as Cover, Extended Barrier allows Elusine to create two shields, one for herself and a second for an Ally, at the same time with 2x [1d6+3] rolls

*If one shield is shattered or otherwise destroyed Elusine cannot split her focus again

 

 

***************************************************************************************************************************************

Lilac Springs: 100HP, 1DR

Age: 22

Month of birth: March

 

*****

(Amiable, Bold, Chatty, Cheerful, (Partially) Clueless, Efficient, Forgetful, Hard-Working, Lustful, NOT SANCTIONED AT ALL!!!, Single-Tracked, Smooth Talker, Quick)

 

*****

APPEARANCE: a bright yellow pegasus mare with an even brighter sunglow mane and light teal eyes, standing 3'6" tall at the top of her head. Physically in good condition, most of her coat is pockmarked with long, thin welts from whips and similar implements, stating that she enjoys being hoofled roughly, the more aggressive and domineering the better, but will stop short upon sight or scent of blood.

 

All four of her legs bear numerous, long since faded rope burn and shackle marks, several of the former having caused dim yellow discolorations, though she can run freely without pain. Her wings have been untouched except for two thin, old scars close to her body, that she does not talk about.

 

*****

BIOGRAPHY: foalnapped at the age of 2 during the First Las Pegasus-Stalliongrad Conflict, Lilac Springs was brought up in the Servant's Guild, owned by an as-of-yet unidentified Ruling Council member, along with Drifting Breeze as her teacher. Discreetly kept from the Slaver's Guild, Lilac was treated as a member of numerous servants in 'training', taught how to serve, clean, cook (although she's airheaded enough that sometimes she doesn't make what she THINKS she's making), and the other minutiae that comprises servanthood. Her unusual quirk for having much less personal space was exacerbated without end in the Servant's Guild, which many earth ponies though of as either curious or creepy, depending on the pony in question.

 

At the age of 7, Lilac was contracted out to Inner Councilierge members during six or twelve month terms, receiving her Mark at 11 while in the service of one of Stalliongrad's few prominent nobles by painting a lilac figure on an artificial spring, much to the joy and wonderment of her current household. Contracted from family to family afterwards with extremely high praise, she began picking up cues on sex from the more engaged mares, particularly those few that had a stallion of their own.

 

Reaching marehood at 12, Lilac was often allowed to watch her employers if she had completed her day's tasks, and upon joining in with one particular noble, became something of a legendary nymphomaniac once her libido was discovered to be much higher than the average earth mare. As her fame grew and the Servant's Guild fully broke away from the Slaver's Guild, her contract terms were reduced to three months in order to, as she quotes, 'spread the joy around'. Drifting, however, states that Lilac merely enjoyed having her overly long estrus cycles taken care of by somepony else.

 

Her continually undaunted and cheerful nature found to brighten even the dreariest of Stalliongrad days, Lilac was introduced to the practice of bondage by an earth pony psion much younger than her, whom simply wanted to see if her knot-making skills were improving. Thoroughly aroused by the sensations of being bound and unable to move on her own, although she was forced to calm the filly before she had a heart attack, Lilac began requesting her employers afterwards to do much the same, to which many were most obliging.

 

At some point her taste for mares was lost, much to Drifting Breeze's annoyance, but gained an appreciation for being forced to submit to her playtime 'masters', putting the archaic skills of mareish sensual commands to great use, particularly when it came to being allowed to sleep in warm, expensive, (and most importantly) fluffy beds.

 

With most of her contracts occurring at different frequencies, and due to her famous exploits with many fillies, colts, mares, and stallions of Stalliongrad, it was inevitable that Lilac would end up in the hooves of a bad egg or two. Although she refuses to talk about them, Servant's Guild records show that at least three of her employers had severely abused her at different times, with the most recent one occurring at roughly the same time most of Razorback's arrival on Tallus.

 

Unknown to most, the Servant Guild's owner had been training their own hoof-picked assassins, usually earth ponies stolen from the Slaver's Guild, and with Lilac's highly visible public duties in jeopardy, the owner decided to order executions be dealt to the offenders, both as as punishment for treating their prized daughter in such dishonorable means, and to assert their rising power in Stalliongrad. The Tower Guard have, quietly, corroborated this claim with the Servant's Guild as they have provided both training and planted spies when it suited their needs, though it's unknown if they are fully working together.

 

Due to the Servant's Guild eliminating a number of Slaver's Guild spies in their ranks after the Siege against Equestria, Lilac was, without her knowledge, 'sold' to Pear Blossom for her auction along with Drifting Breeze, the pair intended to act as extra sets of eyes, ears, and wings for the Servant's Guild owner, whom had come under increased demands from the High-Generals of the Tower Guard to aid them in their honorable mission of either cleansing the overherd's criminal activities, or wiping out Stalliongrad in a worst case scenario. Though this plan failed, Lilac does not seem remarkably off put by her new, strange situation of being in protective custody to Razorback.

 

In Dancing Eyes' estimations, Lilac's remarkably upbeat demeanor at meeting humans for the first time compounds her complete lack of knowledge outside city life, while her constant needs of attention and combined difficulty with spatial boundaries, airheadeness, and excessive libido will make her an extremely large pain in the flank for the vastly more conservative ponies living in the Fortress.

 

*****

FETISHES: intermediate bondage and submission. Lilac greatly enjoys being blindfolded, gagged, having her wings and legs bound snugly, and then lightly beaten and/or whipped until fully submitting to whomever her master (or mistress) is at the moment. She freely admits that she doesn't like the taste of mares much, and would prefer to be used by as many stallions as are available, as long as possible.

 

*****

PSYCHOSES:

-Hemophobia, Major: regardless of situation or context, the sight or scent of blood will drive Lilac to great lengths in order to avoid coming into contact with it, or a being that is wounded.

 

-No Personal Space, Extreme: Lilac literally does not understand the concept of personal space, and no amount of stating otherwise is going to matter to her if she wants to be near somepony, or some being.

 

-Ordered Flight, Major: unless otherwise ordered to do so or her life is in danger, Lilac will not fly, instead preferring to run under her own ponypower as a sense of pride, though she will commit herself to flight if no other options are available.

 

*****

CUTIE MARK: a bight yellow lilac in the center of an upward surging spring of water.

 

*****

OFFENSIVE ABILITIES

Expert Assault+4

Expert Parry+4

Expert Riposte+5

 

*****

DEFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Expert Block+1

Expert Evasion+4

Expert Reaction Speed+4

Expert Sprint+4

Expert Flight+3

 

*****

UTILITY ABILITIES:

Basic Bartering+2

Expert Charm+3

Expert Cook+3

Basic Negotiation+2

Expert Painter+4

 

 

***************************************************************************************************************************************

Sand Cutter, (Former) Lady Knight: 280HP, 2DR

Age: 39

Month of Birth: Jewely

 

(Anti-Authority, Aware, Cautious, Cool-Natured, Determined, Distrust: Earth Ponies, Dutiful, INQUISITORIALLY SANCTIONED, Motherly, Natural Leader, Noble, Purposeful, Quiet, Reserved, Respectful, Scarred, Slow, Steadfast, Vengeful)

 

*****

APPEARANCE: a dark chocolate coated earth pony mare with a nearly black mane and deeply set, haunted cold grey eyes, standing 4'10" at the top of her head. While in otherwise decent condition, she is underweight to a degree that it is quite noticeable. Having suffered from a great deal of torture in the hooves of the Slaver's Guild, Sand bears a large number of scars across most of her body, most of which been healed over at this time, yet are not fully restored, leaving her with a number of burnt coat patches.

 

Sand Cutter walks somewhat slowly given her circumstances, and has moderate difficulty mareneuvering around obstacles, climbing up stairs or onto furniture, though will flatly deny any and all aid. Speaks with a strained, toneless regal voice, although will not do so for long as such is fairly painful but nowhere near like Mercy.

 

*****

BIOGRAPHY: born to noble parents, Sand Cutter, like virtually all fillies before her, was quickly indoctrinated with the superiority of earth ponies and their native Stalliongrad, taught to distrust all other races regardless of their individual worth. Inducted into a training Watch Guard cadre as a Novice at the age of 10, she showed excellent leadership qualities and keen reactions in combat, even at her young age, particularly due to wanting to imitate Rua Longstresses' exceptional record. Awarded her family's ancient halberd, one that had seen use since the Late Dynasty era, she forbade herself from taking part in sexual interactions by taking the Oath of Earthwalk, perceiving her worth as that of a leader first and an individual second, not a toy.

 

Completing her training at the age of 14, Sand Cutter was allowed to fully join the Watch Guard as a Journeyer, graduating through the ranks of Scout and Expert, ending at the rank of Moderatis at the age of 18. At this time, she underwent specialized training with uncommon weaponry, including hoofclaws and biteblades, as well as the prerequisite armor regimens, in preparation to become a Master. Before her next promotion, the First Las Pegasus-Stalliongrad Conflict occurred, and during the short lived war between both cities, Sand Cutter was nearly killed by a Rogue Elite, garnering her a great deal of both respect and animosity from her kin: respect from surviving the ordeal, disdain from those whom thought being critically wounded by a pegasi was a dishonor.

 

Accepting the promotion to Master after recovering, Sand Cutter continued her forays into exotic weaponry, becoming a target of mockery from the Light and Heavy Lancer castes, even though she utilized her family's halberd for nearly all combat operations. Unable to meet the requirements to become a Shieldmare, her strength and mental willpower being considerable nonetheless, she decided to enroll in the difficult to complete Captain's field training program, joining a cadre of nine others in training, then graduating with high marks and considerable favor from her teachers.

 

At this time, Sand was scouted by Tower Guard spies hoping to sway her over to the Empress's Faction, and though she acknowledged the Empress's rules of conduct, she could not accept due to her concerns of Stalliongrad losing significance and economic power. Choosing to remain as a Captain, she hoped that war would break out soon with Saddle Arabia or Equestria as a whole, but with her lack of combat experience she could not advance further, unless she joined the Councilierge, a move that she did not ponifically think was acceptable.

 

As the years passed and her hopes dimmed greatly, she was approached by a well known Associate of the Councilierge, offering both availability as a some-time combatant and stable, consistent pay, unlike the Watch Guard in which corruption and skimming were as commonplace as solo mares in Canterlot, Sand forced herself to accept the position.

 

Under her new employer's contract, she began entering arena fights to prove her worth, despite some self-disgust for joining the Councilierge even as a contract mercenary. Finding herself engaging other hired hooves, captured beasts from across Tallus, and even Councilierge whom had been marked for execution, Sand Cutter gave up on keeping her record honorable, taking on increasingly dangerous, and volatile, jobs for her employer, becoming close friends after several years.

 

During the Siege of Equestria, Sand Cutter and her now-Ringleader employer joined one of the eight Councilierge Excursion Regiments, deployments of approximately ten thousand earth ponies each, intended to facilitate rapid expansion, domination, and conquest of Equestria's major cities, in the hopes of receiving significant promotions, granted stock by the the Councilierge's exotic goods traders, and permanent access to the private auction halls in Stalliongrad. During their assault on one of the many Starborn Villages in the southern regions of Equestria, Sand Cutter's employer and many of her escorts were eviscerated by a summoned Planar creature, one capable of hypnotizing it's targets from beyond the senses of psions.

 

Nearly sacrificing her heirloom weapon to destroy it's material body, she was overcome with shock at the loss of her comrades and her longtime friend's mortal injuries. Accepting the Ringleader's final wish to dedicate her as an Associate, Sand carefully memorized her will for the overherd's eventual perusal, and pressed the attack along with the exhausted Excursion Regiment. Eventually falling into a long ranged standoff, the mostly remaining Starborn biding their time in wait for allies from Gozka, the minotaurs being long allies of the Starborn and Luna, the Regiment was forced to abandon their assault at lines of Rangers translocating into the village.

 

Unwilling to leave the Ringleader's mortal remains to her enemies, Sand Cutter pulled the earth mare's ruined body nearly thirty miles through snow before reaching the Councilierge's own placed translocation matrice, returning to Stalliongrad with firm resignation in her heart.

 

After the Siege ended, Sand Cutter, along with hundreds of Watch Guard and Councilierge members, confronted the Ruling Council, demanding explanations as to why reinforcements from Gozka, Las Pegasus, and the Moors had arrived, despite the Councilierge's planned assaults to tie those forces down in protracted engagements. Unable to cover their flanks for the three Excursion Regiments having been nearly destroyed, the Ruling Council's members stated that Equestrian allies had been allowed to enter their engagement zones in the hopes of Stalliongrad forces annihilating them outright, though they had made 'minor flaws' in their plans. Wholly displeased at this knowledge, nearly all those that had challenged the Councilierge were documented, then assigned for later capture, and either enslavement or execution depending on their loyalty to the overherd.

 

Later brought before a tribunal of Upper Councilierge, Sand Cutter presented her right to become an Associate as per her employer's last wishes, along with possession of her manor and all belongings. After the deliberations and acceptance of her new position, several Councilierge Masters trailed her to the manor, then ambushed her before she could take ownership. Roughly woken in a dim cell lit only by a hearth fire, Sand demanded to know where she had been taken and why she had been shackled. An earth stallion known as 'Vulture', a psion of some note, declared Sand Cutter a traitor to the Watch Guard, Councilierge, and Stalliongrad as a whole. Stripping her of her noble title, all of her rights, possessions, and the rank of Associate, Vulture then went on to list a number of falsely edited crimes, then decreed her as property of the Councilierge. Unable to break free from her shackles, Sand was immediately given over to Stream Lark, owner of the Slaver's Guild, and escorted under guard to a location that she had never seen before.

 

Records, borrowed by Anon from the Tower Guard, state that Sand Cutter was then permanently confined under torture in one of the Slaver Guild's hardened warehouses, a particularly cruel slavemistress specifically assigned to to break her spirit. Managing to keep most of her self-prescience despite the physical and emotional trauma, Sand broke from the overherd's bond, and instead of losing herself in depression or shock, she chose to focus the newfound hatred towards her own species for being betrayed, swearing the Empress's ancient oath of genocide, learned from one of the Tower Guard's spies, towards earth ponies, demanding of herself to kill as many as possible should she escape.

 

Suffering through nearly a year of torture, thoroughly unable to fulfill her new oath, Sand Cutter began demonstrating carefully orchestrated compliance, knowing that it would be nearly impossible to break free on her own due to loss of musculature and health. As her conditions improved, so did her compliance, and when the highly reclusive Pear Blossom announced that she would hold an auction of her own, she was given over to the Enchained unicorn as a premier slave to be sold. Expressing concern at Sand Cutter's complete loss of the overherd's control mechanisms, Pear Blossom decided she was nothing special to be concerned about, and accepted her immediately.

 

Despite her temporary relief at being transferred to Steel Oak's ownership, a well known stallion whom Sand Cutter knew she could manipulate, she was less than enthused at seeing a number of earth ponies in what she thought was his private warehouse, and utterly dumbfounded upon arriving at Razorback. Swiftly recognizing the Operators for what they were, she realized that there was a very peculiar disconnect between her former city of birth's ideologies and the true freedom of the individual. Although disgruntled at her new state of affairs, Sand Cutter felt that Jeff and Clemency's assurances that she was no longer a slave rang true, but also knows that she would likely not survive at the hooves of most ponies in Equestria at this time.

 

*****

FETISH: none. Does not particularly like any sexual activities, though she will enjoy wrestling with her master, or mistress, for domination, whether for fun or simply whomever gets to sleep on top. She will, however, fly into a rage at the sight of torture implements, but can otherwise be placated by fruit or berry scents.

 

*****

PSYCHOSES:

-Crowd Avoidance, Major: will often avoid groups of more than eight, and if pressed will become stern, obstinate, and will immediately leave. If not allowed to exit the situation, however, she will become openly violent.

 

-Disgust, Extreme: regardless of age, the sight of other earth ponies cause a great deal of revulsion, even if they have submitted to her or are friendly. If given an order or request by an earth pony, Sand Cutter will either immediately leave, stonewall, or violently engage the offender, and will not retreat until knocked unconscious or killed at this point.

 

*****

CUTIE MARK: a large 'wave' of camel-colored sand bisected at a steep angle by a long, dark red halberd's head.

 

*****

OFFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Master Assault+4, weakened

Master Parry+4, weakened

Master Riposte+4, weakened

 

Expert Earth Shatter+4, weakened

 

Lunge+5, weakened

 

*****

DEFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Expert Block+2, weakened

Expert Parry+2, weakened

Expert Reaction Speed+2, weakened

Expert Sprint+2, weakened

 

Resist Damage+6, weakened

 

Expert Fearless+5

 

 

*****

UTILITY ABILITIES:

Expert Scouting+3, weakened

Expert Wilderness Survival+3, weakened

Expert Leadership+4

Expert Negotiation+4

 

*****

SPECIAL ABILITY: Your Armor Is All! Learning the numerous tactics of Shieldmares on how to distribute their weight properly, Sand Cutter has gained a great deal of insight as to how to function in combat with her own armors, and has exceptional proficiency in adjusting to whichever she takes in advance. Depending on the armor that Sand Cutter is wearing at the time, she gains either additional rolls or modifiers to various abilities.

-Light Armor grants an additional roll to and adds +2 to all Block/Evasion/Reaction Speed/Sprint rolls;

-Medium armor grants +1 to all Assault/Parry/Riposte and Block/Evasion/Reaction Speed/Sprint rolls;

-Heavy armor grants +1 to all Block/Evasion/Reaction Speed/Sprint and +2 to all Assault rolls. *NOTE: armor that provides more than 5DR, or is otherwise listed as having a reduction, will only add +2 to all Assault OR Riposte rolls.

 

 

***************************************************************************************************************************************

COMBAT ONLY COMPANIONS:

 

*****

Prototype Guard Golem: 350 Armor, 6DR

Age: irrelevant

Month of Creation: irrelevant

 

*****

(Ancient, Armored, Barely-Functional Sentience, Crystal-Forged, Golem, Heavy, Relic, Slow, Temporal Suppressor, Unique)

 

*****

APPEARANCE: a heavily experimental and (still) unfinished 7' tall stone bipedal golem with two thick arms ending in three fingers used for gripping or punching, a pair of heavy legs its only means of locomotion, due to its abnormal weight it is rather slow. Much like it's sibling that resided in the basement of Harlon's mansion, this once was created from heavily enchanted stone of an unrecognizable form.

 

Covered in gryphon glyphs and Crystal pony runes, it is animated by a large power crystal embedded in its chest, and displays a large number of flowing crystalline 'veins' running throughout the body, gifting it with a great deal of strength and utility at the expense of rarely functioning longer than a few minutes. A host of external power crystals and enchanted gems jut from various locations across its body which grant it the use of several basic Elemental Lance attacks; due to Denra's paranoia he has covered each one with an ablative diamond casing.

 

The head is a basic oval shaped stone with an unknown enchanted gem of some form embedded within that functions as a basic command processing and elemental control center, though Denra has noted that it retains a large amount of information that he has been so far unable to access.

 

Weighing approximately 1,100 pounds, the Golem has been significantly modified by Denra, relocating the central power crystal in its chest deeper within the body frame, reinforced the exterior shell with an ablative coating of white diamondine, and has (barely) managed to improve the semi-liquid crystalline matrix by copying the same modern techniques used by Naliyna to a degree that decreases the overall energy consumption.

 

*****

HISTORY: recovered from a temporally displaced mansion in the New Everfree, this Golem was designed, and built, to be a versatile blend of both guard and soldier by Harlon and his herd. Mostly due to its size and unique construction, it is a potent opponent at both medium and close range combat, having been carefully improved Denra over the past few months, mostly to minimize its weaknesses.

 

At current stage of completion and undergoing many bouts of late night fine tuning, the temporal power crystals have been enabled to utilize a low energy movement-only protocol for the Golem while also granting it a moderate amount of arcane siphoning, replenishing its energy reserves when not in combat.

 

While the Golem is unable to communicate with speech and only has a limited sentience, it instead uses glyphs and runes, much like those produced by Vindicator, to confirm commands, identify known beings, warn nearby Razorback members of intruders, whether suspected or spotted, and acknowledge performance details when tasked with minor duties.

 

*****

STATUS: still undergoing extensive improvemarents by Denra at the Fortress

 

*****

OFFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Expert Assault+10

Expert Parry+6

Expert Riposte+4

 

Expert Elemental Lance+10

 

Basic Intimidate+3

 

*****

DEFENSIVE ABILITIES:

Basic Resist Damage+6

 

*****

SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES:

-Anima Reserve Matrix: capable of functioning for a maximum of 5 turns in combat before entering Defensive Protocol Alpha

 

-Defensive Protocol Alpha: once the Golem's energy reserves are mostly depleted, it will automatically enter a defensive state by kneeling and placing both arms around its chest, serving to protect the temporal power crystal within.

*After 3 turns the Golem will be returned to full combat capability once more, although in areas of lower arcane energies this process will take longer. While this Protocal is active it grants an additional Resist Damage roll equal to the original

 

-Inherent Immunities: due to their nature, Golems cannot be affected by Poison, Venom, mental control, psionic suggestions, and most forms of Eldritch, Otherworldly, and Spectral diseases or tampering since their 'mind' is essentially an arcane program

 

-Temporal Suppression: a peculiar addition, this Golem actively suppresses temporal distortions within a 220M radius due to the majority of it's power crystals coming from the same stock used to create the Time Manipulator. Notably, Krinza and Hodch have refused to research this function.