The Northern Empire: An Alternate Setting

[Thanqol]

Fallout: Equestria's core setting revolves around concepts introduced in Season 1. I posed a challenge to myself on a seven hour drive to theorycraft a version of the setting that deals with concepts introduced in the latter half of season 2 and season 3. Note that I have read none of the FoE side stories which may have discussed these possibilities; this is my interpretation alone.

Far removed from Ponyville, in the frozen northlands of the Crystal Empire, I give you


THE NORTHERN EMPIRE

Theme: Corruption and The Fall of Empires
Mood: Invincible Grandeur, Magnificent Decline

The bombs fell on the Empire, payment for it's long alliance and royal marriage with warmongering Equestria. Baelfire missiles dropped from the sky onto the Crystal city, and for a moment all seemed lost.

And to meet them rose the Shield, which deflected every attack.

Shining Armour, Royal Consort of the Crystal Empire, had been ready. Through vigilance and isolation, no spies had made it inside the walls of the city. Though the bombs fell, they did not harm the Empire. Standing triumphant over the snow, it seemed like the worst had passed and the Empire would form the immutable bastion from which the entire world would be rebuilt.

However, there had been cracks. Even a unicorn as powerful and specialised as Shining Armour could not lift the necromantic fury of all of Zebrica with his horn alone. The howling terrors and terrible fires that burnt at his mighty shield echoed through his mind, fracturing his sanity. However, with rest and the loving support of his wife, Empress Cadence, he remained mostly functional in his role as military chief. He began planning the campaigns that would re-take the world once the dark fires stopped burning and the radiation subsided. All seemed well.

Until the kidnap and murder of Empress Cadence, along with her three small children. Their bodies were found outside the Shield, crucified horrifically, visible to all the Empire. No group claimed responsibility, no one could explain how it had been allowed to happen.

Shining Armour's nature was to protect. It was his drive, his reason for living, his destiny. That he had failed so utterly shattered his splintered mind. And, as the Crystal Empire well knew, the moods and emotions of it's ruler are amplified by the Crystal Heart and reflected amongst all it's people. Where Empress Cadence's rule had brought love, kindness and unity, Emperor Shining Armour's ascension brought insanity, rage, paranoia and self-loathing to the Crystal Empire.

Madness gripped the nation. Driven by the Emperor's black moods, Crystal Ponies waged inquisitions, and then street fights, and then wars against each other. One day the Emperor would appear, kind and loving, and quench the fires of his nation. The next he would lead brutal raids and slaughter dozens for suspected collusion with the mysterious forces who had killed his wife.

As chaos and disharmony grew, an old enemy began to slip back through the cracks. The black monoliths of King Sombra arose again, and in nightmares ponies learned the secrets of shadow magic and how to wield them in battle. Corruption began to spread throughout the Empire, and with it ever-greater magical atrocities. Though no Megaspells were cast, some of the blights levelled entire city blocks. It looked as though everything was going to end in brutal civil war.

Two things turned the tide.

One was the fires battering against the shield finally calming down, leading to Shining Armour finally lowering the shield and reconnecting the Empire with the outside world. The Crystal Army marched forth, expecting to re-unite the world, but were astonished when they were brutally assaulted by an army under the banner of the Republic of Bear. The Republic was formed of Equestria's non-pony races who blamed the Equines for destroying the world and were resolved to destroy them and their monarchy for the good of all. The first battle against them, the Battle of Poppy Bridge was a bloodbath for both sides, but with the incredible Shield magic of Shining Armour the Crystal Empire seized the day and declared victory. Emperor Shining Armour had claimed a great victory for his demoralised and feuding ponies.

The second was the Emperor's paranoia-driven rejection of the corruption he saw spreading across his Empire. He decided, perhaps incorrectly, to blame the death of his wife and children on Sombra and resolved to destroy him. He commanded all his faithful ponies to seek out the corruption and destroy it, damn it, and root it out wherever possible. If it weren't for that unambiguous rejection then the Empire might have fallen then and there. As it was, the loyalists were too weak to even drive the dark magic out of polite society, but true civil war was averted due to the constant external threat from the Republic of Bear.


So this is the Crystal Empire today. Rotten and corrupt, but with a shining core. Torn with strife and civil war, but restrained by the need to resist the barbarians at the gates. An aristocracy addled and addicted to dark magic. A mad Emperor the only thing standing between a Tyrant and his throne.

This is the Crystal Empire. It needs heroes.


*

SPECIAL RULES:

The Curse of Sombra

The Shadow King waits in the shadows and tightens his grip around the throat of the world, slowly squeezing the breath from it in preparation for his takeover. All rest in the Crystal Empire and it's surrounding territories is tainted by Sombra's dark influence. All natural healing and Strain recovery rates are halved, until such a time as Sombra is defeated (or a new Princess of the Night begins protecting the world of dreams).

If any pony rests while experiencing memories from a Memory Orb or similar spell or device, they recover at the normal rate (unless the memories are stressful or violent). The side-effects of chronic Memory Orb use are documented elsewhere, but they are still valuable treasures in the Empire for this reason and highly sought after.

In addition, these nightmares instruct every unicorn on the techniques of Shadow Casting (see below). All Unicorns are considered to know how to cast a Shadow variant of any spell they know.

Virtues, Vices and Willpower

To support the concept of Corruption, all intelligent inhabitants of the Crystal North have a vice as well as a virtue. Envy, wrath, greed, lust - the deadly seven are all good choices.

Whenever a pony performs an act that meaningfully and significantly supports their Virtue or Vice, they may gain a point of Willpower up to a cap of three. A significant act is something that carries with it sacrifice or risk, such as poisoning a relationship with a useful doctor by sleeping with his wife.

Willpower may be spent to:

- Reduce the effects of a blow that would reduce you to below 0HP to instead reduce you to exactly 1HP and stunned for 1 round.
- Add a +30 bonus to a single roll
- Break any mental influence or mind control for a single minute.

*

New Traits

Crystal Pony
Prerequisites: Any Pony

Crystal Ponies are defined, more than perhaps anything, by their ability to reflect. If they are joyous, then they shall shine for all the world to see. If they are sad, then they are dim and dark. Above all, they are easy to inspire in any direction - a shining example or an abject lesson invites a similar response amongst all the Crystal Ponies.

Crystal Ponies have a Virtue or a Vice - never both at the same time. Whenever a Crystal Pony with a Virtue witnesses a severe example of another pony enacting a Vice - a wrothful teacher beating a student, a proud noble ignoring an advisor - then they must either spend a point of willpower or lose their virtue and adopt that vice. The same thing happens in reverse - a hateful Crystal Raider witnessing a genuine act of kindness might begin to shine with that same light. A Crystal Pony's mind, goals, objectives, friendships and personality are not altered by this process, just their current emotional state. A newly-Kind Raider might still kill you, except this time he'll pat his dog afterwards. A wrothful librarian might just be a little more snippy with her customers. These changes can also be more severe and dramatic, but this is at the discretion of the player.

A Crystal Pony with a Virtue gains +10 to Speech checks. A Crystal Pony with a Vice gains +10 to Sneak checks.

Company Mare

You are an employee of the Hazardous Resources Excavation and Control company, and have been trained in handling incredibly dangerous substances. You gain the perk Magical Power Armour Training and, at the game master's discretion, may start with access to a HREC hazard suit. HREC is justly feared and often hated by the citizens of the North - a reputation which is sometimes helpful and sometimes very inconvenient.


Backseat Driver:

You were born of wealth and lived far from the taint of Shadow Magic. Your family was even wealthy enough to purchase a memory orb (and a recollector, if you aren’t a unicorn) to keep your mind safe at night. You begin play with +1 Intelligence and possession of a memory orb. On the downside, a lifetime of exposure to another pony’s memories has had a distorting effect on your psyche; you may possess a split personality, or perceive yourself to be somepony you’re not. When under conditions of extreme stress, including being reduced to 50%HP or less, this other personality takes over and you lose the benefit of your special talent (including the -15 from loss of the TAG skill) until you are above 50% HP again and one minute has passed. Other situations may bring forth this personality, it all depends on the memory orb.


Li'l Blighter
Prerequisite: Any pony

You spent too much time in the Yellow growing up, and maybe even lost your Shadow once before your parents or carers killed and returned it. You do not suffer the effects of ambient corruption (though you still gain it from physical contact, broken Monoliths, and all the other normal ways), but you've paid for this with scars and taint - lose 1 Charisma.

Purified
Prerequisite: Any pony

You are a member of the Pure, a faction in the Empire dedicated to imprisoning and containing their darker halves. You gain +1 Charisma and begin play wearing a Pure Collar. If you remove your collar you lose the advantages of this trait.

Dragon Blood

You are descended from the union of a dragon and another race, and have many small draconic traits, such as fangs or scales. Up to [Endurance] times per day you may make a breath attack as per a Flamer.

*

New Mechanic: CORRUPTION

King Sombra's insidious influence across the Empire is tracked with the mechanic Corruption, which represents how much of the shadowy magic you have absorbed into your system. Corruption follows a scale from 0-1000, similar to radiation, but unlike radiation Corruption's effects are almost entirely beneficial. Corruption can only benefit ponies - Sombra has no use for 'lesser' races.

Corruption is gained in the following ways:

Shadow Casting

Sombra's ultimate magical technique, Shadow Casting, allows a unicorn to cast any spell they know at the cost of no Strain. Instead of Strain, they gain an equal amount of Corruption Points. Any pony who is successfully targeted with a Shadow Cast spell gains five corruption points in addition to the spell's normal effects.

Shadow Casting can be cast while in Burnout.

Crystal Monoliths

Sombra's black crystal monoliths project a corrupting aura wherever they arise from the ground. Any pony within Short range of a monolith gains +1 Corruption each minute, while within Medium range the rate is +1 per hour. Physical contact with a monolith is extremely dangerous, providing +1 corruption per round, but this requires a flesh contact - armour or hazmat gear protects normally.

Monoliths have 100HP and DT 10. However, breaking them is a poor proposition - when fractured, an evil purple mist seeps forth and lunges on the closest intelligent entity. The closest pony to a broken Monolith gains 50 Corruption, no matter how far back she may be standing. The Crystal Empire has taken to dumping Monoliths in huge radioactive waste disposal sites.

The Corruption can move 400 yards per turn once released, making it possible for the truly fast to outrun it - or at least, outrun the pony next to you.

Shadowed Gods

Close contact with high-Corruption individuals, Sombra himself, or perhaps darker and more mysterious spirits or gods of Shadow can produce Corruption.


0-199: No effect.
200-399:
IF UNICORN: +2 Potency for all Shadow Cast spells
IF OTHER: +1d10 damage with all melee and unarmed weapons

400-599:
IF UNICORN: Additional +2 Potency for all Shadow Cast spells, total of +4.
IF OTHER: Corruption seeps into your metabolism. For each new Corruption point you gain from any source, you recover 1HP. If you end a day with 5 or more Corruption points than you started you do not require food or water for that day. In addition, you may gain 10 Corruption to add an additional +2d10 to any melee or unarmed attack (as well as healing yourself).

600-799:
IF UNICORN: You may double the amount of Corruption a Shadow Cast spell provides in exchange for an additional 2X Potency multiplier
IF OTHER: Your entire body is infused with Corruption. The new Corruption healing rate is 1point/+5HP.

800-999:
IF UNICORN: Your mind swirls with the secrets of black wizardry and infinite potential. All spells are cast at 2X Potency, which is stackable with all earlier effects. You may no longer cast non-Shadowed spells.
IF OTHER: You are a half-shadow creature, all hooks and fangs and nightmare claws. Your Corruption healing rate is 1point/+10HP. In addition, you may gain 10 Corruption once per round to automatically critically hit with any melee or unarmed attack. You no longer heal from any sources other than Corruption gain or Shadow Cast healing spells.

In addition, at this level of Corruption, anypony with a lower Corruption rating who spends an hour in your presence gains one point of Corruption every hour.

1000:
MANIFESTATION:

The free ride comes to an end.

The corruption infusing you takes control of your shadow and wrenches it out through your body in the most brutal and painful way imaginable. You lose half your HP and every single one of your limbs is automatically crippled. You lose all Corruption, and all ability to gain more Corruption. You have created a Manifestation, see below.


MANIFESTATIONS:

When a pony has infused their body with enough of King Sombra's magic, the Unicorn King calls his new servant home. Tearing away 50% of it's host's flesh to make itself a cloak, the shadow comes alive as a twisted, evil doppleganger of it's original self. This Shadow Manifestation is a mirror duplicate of it's original, having all the same SPECIALs, skills, perks and spells. If the host later levels up, so does the Manifestation, making the exact same choices as it's double. The Manifestation appears at full HP and Strain and, if it's opposite is vulnerable, tries to kill her then and there.

A Manifestation also has an exact copy of all the gear that it's original has. At any time, the Manifestation may take a 35AP action to 'update' it's gear to whatever the original is currently wearing. If the host is wearing nothing, then the Manifestation loses all of it's kit as well, so wise Manifestations only use this ability when they can see their original is better armed than they are.

If wounded, cornered, or driven off, the Manifestation can dissolve into shadow-stuff and withdraw to King Sombra's realm to await instructions. It can perform this escape trick only once, after which it must fight and flee normally. The Manifestation will obey the King's orders but desires above all to kill it's original and claim the other half of it's flesh. If the Manifestation kills and devours it's original it can be said to have attained True Incarnation, which gives it a Corruption track starting at 1000. Any abilities that would previously have caused it to gain Corruption cause it to lose Corruption instead, and it cannot gain Corruption from any source. A True Incarnation additionally loses 1 point of Corruption per day in order to sustain itself. Once a True Incarnation has run out of Corruption then it has become a weak, hollowed-out shadow and will never rise again.

True Incarnations are so horrifyingly destructive that many civilised ponies go out of their way to kill ponies who seem extremely Corrupt. Perversely, these ponies then often resort to Shadow Casting to save themselves, which winds up triggering the Manifestation. On the plus side, killing a pony and burning his body prevents that Manifestation from ever attaining True Incarnation, which is a habit practised by all civilised ponies. The Republic of Bear achieves the same effect by eating dead ponies. A Manifestation who's original body has been destroyed slowly starts to fade away, losing 1 permanent hit point per day.

If a pony should be fortunate enough to kill her Manifestation then her tattered shadow returns to her side, forever torn and injured from it's experiences. And, if that pony should be unwise, they might notice that they once again have access to the Corruption track and can go ahead and make the same mistake all over again.


LOSING CORRUPTION:

There is one, and only one, way to lose Corruption.

For every hour spent in direct sunlight, one Corruption point is lost. That's it. There are no workarounds or loopholes. Direct sunlight or nothing. Yes, this means it can take a high Corruption Unicorn as long as six months of not casting any evil magic to bleed off all their Corruption. Them's the breaks.

While the cloud layer of the Single Pegasus Project doesn't reach all the way to the Crystal Empire, the blizzards and windigoes and overcast northern climate makes direct sunlight hard to come by. Fortunately, Emperor Shining Armour makes a point of keeping as much sunlight shining on the Crystal City as possible. In Summer you might be able to find 6 hours of direct sunlight a day, spring and autumn only 4, and winter darkness would be lucky to see 2 hours.

Rumour has it that ponies with the Night Pony trait or Blessed by Luna perk used to be able to achieve the same effect with moonlight, but lost this healing after Luna became Nightmare Moon. Some go on to speculate that Nightmare Moon herself was a masterpiece of Corruption Sorcery, or even a tame Manifestation. Regardless, unless another Princess of the Night should arise, the moon will offer no comfort.

[Thanqol]

TO DO:

SETTING:
- Politics and Adventuring in the Crystal Empire: Page 2
- The Republic of Bear - Page 2
- Tribes and Factions - Page 2

ADVENTURING:
- Ruins of the Capital - Page 4
- Hazard Sites and the Belt - Page 5
- The Mountain Ring - Page 9

MECHANICS:
- Crystal Pony Perks
- Technology and Weaponry - Page 9
- Monsters of the Northern Wastes

[NitoKa]

sounds interesting, I may be interested, but i would like to see the system used

[G-man64]

If you wanted I could help make NPC's and plots but that's about it.

[Thanqol]

sounds interesting, I may be interested, but i would like to see the system used

Oh, this isn't game recruitment. This is pure theorycrafting

Designed to be compatible with the FOE system.

If you wanted I could help make NPC's and plots but that's about it.

I would prefer feedback, questions and advice rather than direct help. I'm just writing this up for fun.

Think of it as a splatbook for FOE.

[The Custodian]

I like ^^ My own thoughts on this was just to simply have the whole empire vanish for 200 years like it did before with Sombra. So is Shining Armor still alive then?

[Thanqol]

I like ^^ My own thoughts on this was just to simply have the whole empire vanish for 200 years like it did before with Sombra. So is Shining Armor still alive then?

Yes. I haven't yet decided if he's a ghoul, a crystal pony or just super old.

He's totally erratic and insane, though - some days he gathers an army and rides out into the frozen wastes to go fight and conquer, and leaves the capital to burn. Some days he walks around personally dragging away monoliths to dump sites. He's a One Trick Pony with Shield as his spell and he's basically unstoppable as far as most ponies are concerned.

For the most part he's not so much a NPC as a walking, talking setting disruption event, and counterbalance to Sombra.

[SilverlightPony]

Very interesting. I'm not crazy about how you're treating Shining Armor and Cadence, but then if I liked everything about it, it wouldn't be the Wasteland.

[Thanqol]

Very interesting. I'm not crazy about how you're treating Shining Armor and Cadence, but then if I liked everything about it, it wouldn't be the Wasteland.

If those two survive unharmed it's basically impossible for bad things to happen to the Empire; together they've got a total lock on it. The place literally shoots rainbows across all Equestria when it's inhabitants are happy, and Cadence has the power of love and a giant happiness amplification crystal. If she's alive this isn't going to be a FOE setting. If Shining Armour is alive as well, he can render the city immune to attack. They're a tag-team of unstoppable badasses and something needs to happen to one or both of them.

Alternately, if Sombra takes over then he basically enslaves everyone and creates a powerful military dictatorship that can steamroll the disorganised factions of the wasteland. Not much room for PCs. Something needs to be stopping him from rising up as well.

Hopefully the future section on the Mad Emperor will make Shining Armour more understandable and usable as a NPC.

EDIT: FOE is also a setting about ponies being destroyed by their own virtues, and destroying Shining Armour with love seems like the only logical option.

[SilverlightPony]

I understand the reasons for it, and I agree, it's about the only way to Fallout-ify the Crystal Empire. Objectively, it's brilliant.