Cadence Verse: A Brief Preview of The Military · 12:15pm Mar 21st, 2013
Cadence Verse Military:
Cadence’s military is both fairly sizable and quite experienced; due to the more tremulous centuries with dozens of broken states and foreign nations competing for power these ponies are more accustomed to the ideas of war, though they are by no means a dark/gritty or war like culture. Due to the newly formed nature of the modern Equestria, many of the more recently united states (or states that where large & powerful when they joined) had their own military’s, as a result of this some military units from these different states have their own unique uniforms, colors, names and flag bearers et cetera. Cadence's military is still united; suffice to say the differences in some military units/platoons are largely superficial. Soldiers from such states will wear their “home colors” but are all still Equestrian soldiers.
As for the military command structure; at the top there is a War Council made up of six specially selected generals and admirals from across Equestria as well as Cadence serving as the seventh seat. The council meets four times a year to discuss military policy and plans for the future. Much like House Sessions these meeting are presided over by Princess Cadence, but she still mostly serves as an arbitrator and advisory role as opposed to direct control. In times of emergency she can be grated emergency powers for complete control of the military, though this requires the agreement of the majority from the House of Lords, the House of Commons and the War Council.
I am leaving this relatively vague so it can be built or changed later, but suffice to say there are a ground force’s an air force and a navy (ponies are not particularly fond of sea travel.
Units: Sometimes called Legionaries (This is just discussing a small number of the units/weapons within the equestrian military that are particularly unique and more units and weapons can and likely will be added either by suggestion “hopefully” or when I think of a new idea.)
Stampers: Earth pony heavy armour units, they wear thick steal plated armour over much of their body, the armour is enchanted for toughness and strength and the only earth pony’s chosen are muscular power house often with a strong earthly magic (Big Macs size, AJs magic.) while not particularly fast, they can keep pace with other units and have great stamina, their use in combat comes from their incredible strength and hardiness, making them a danger to come across on the field and their marching attack technique that gives them their name. The stampers, smash their hooves against the ground and shake/crack the battlefield, this also destabilises enemies and adds a powerful booming noise that serves to intimidate their enemies.
Guardians: These soldiers are the first in line, in strong armour and with maneuverable Scutum (shields) equipped to their armour. Their job is to guard their fellows against any sort of attack; their helmets like almost all others are adorned with a sharp blade. These ponies can be of any tribe. (Collective unicorn spell casting can be used t protect city's when under siege, but are rarely practical on the battlefield, except for the sick bay's.)
Stormers: Naturally this class of warrior are pegasi; they fly around the battle field at blinding speeds manipulating the weather to aid their fellow’s soldiers and to cast lightning, tornadoes and ice on their enemies. They primarily function in groups of at least three, they only wear light armor and participate in strafing runs.
Anti-mages/enchanters: are specially trained spell casters who work to disrupt their enemies magic and to reinforce the enchantments and spells of their allies, these are almost always unicorns though some pegasi make their way into the ranks and an earth pony “could” theoretically find a means of joining.
Chargers/Line breakers: do exactly what their name implies; their job is to break through the enemy line. they have sharp pointed armour and weapons and are the first inline against the enemy, this is often a position taken up by unicorns, who augment their charge with magic; though ponies from all three tribes can be found in the role.
Messenger Birds: are still a common way of communicating, the magical connection of earth pony handlers increases the birds intelligence and skill, though magical sending spells are steadily becoming more important and widely used.
Weapons: (are almost universally enchanted through one method or another.)
Storm Cannon: This is one of of the most dangerous weapons in Equestria, invented centuries ago by a vicious pegasus dictator who intended to conquer Equestria. The storm cannons are a gigantic cloud banks with a cannon like "barrel", fashioned by hundreds of pegasi jutting out of the centre. The first Storm Cannon was a floating pegasus fortress that was using it’s power and army to conquer and extort the surrounding lands. When they battled Cadence the army injured/killed someone close to her and she charge the city intending to end it right there. Only for the forts leaders, to spring their secret weapon, they had converted the entire city into a weapon.
The Storm Cannon works by hundreds of pegasi, flying around the outside, and inside of the cannon, generating a tornado and lightning within the barrel, all the potential lightning energy within the cloud bank is gathered into one single place and then released as a giant bolt of lightning, powerful enough to tear a massive area of land apart. The cost of casting the spell is the destruction of the clouds themselves and running the risk of the pegasi who create the lightning blast being incinerated, blinded or damaged. These are extremely difficult to create and control and these weapons are used sparingly if at all, as they are associated with great pain and horrific destruction.
There are also basic cloud bank bases that are pulled together by pegasi or sometimes griffons, these bases house soldiers and weapons and shot lightning and ice at an approaching enemy.
Bolt Blades/Thunderbolts: are swords shaped like stylized bolts of lightning, they are created through the combined efforts of the three pony tribes (though pegasi primarily) and are essentially solidified/metallic lightning. These weapons can hold and channel/generate lightning under the control of their user (and won’t harm them) and an altered version can be thrown creating small explosions, though they have to be charged for a few second for this to work.
Something like a lightning blade in the forge
Airships: Already play a large role in C!verse Equestria and this is also true within the countries air force. They are used for transport and naturally air attacks, usually by a combination of arrows and cannons, unicorn’s spells and pegasus magic. Their hulls are armoured and enchanted, they are designed with a stream lined appearance and can travel at impressive speeds. They can vary in size and design depending upon their designated use such as transport or being specifically outfitted as air-battleships as well as speed and the style of attack. Large airships are usually equipped with Ballista’s, cannons and harpoon style “guns”
Armour and weapons often have a twin enchantment, the first enchantment allows the user to channel their own magic through the weapon and armour so as to power the secondary enchantment, which can vary depending what enchantment was used on it. But a basic enchantment makes the weapon/armour stronger and more resistant to damage. Such enchantment can last on their own but wear out if constantly being used or if the item the enchantment is placed on is damaged. (Enchantment stays in a dormant, none energy wasting state unless the enchanted item is in use, they still wear out but slowly, like a battery.) I personally want some enchanted staves; though I can’t come up with a mechanic for them that probably wouldn't fall into dark territory or taking a bit much form someone else's idea. Cannons, catapults and Ballista’s are both used to equal degrees, usually through a combination or chemistry and enchantment. (I’m personally more inclined towards enchanted ballista’s)
NOTES:
Not much to say here, this was mostly throwing around some fantasy weapon idea and offering a basic run down on the military culture, though i'm quite free on changing this to suit new ideas and suggestions. On average, Armour and flag are of a light sapphire blue color at least in regards to ceremonial armor (the same color as Cadence's magic.) I'm currently planning out some episodes, I do not intend to start with the season opener but a more minor episodes, currently it's a toss up between "Parasprites, Running of the Leaves, Winter Wrap Up and Dragonshy" Trying to balance this with my other writing, study and work is tough though, so I am sorry about how long it is taking me to get anywhere with this, your guy's support and advice has been extremely encouraging and incredibly helpful. I also intend to do a revamp on the Changeling post, as well as a Cadence post, a magic/tech post and a Canterlot post, some of these will be small, but Cadence's keep turning into a mountain when I work on it, a thousand years of history and all that. Cadence's military might be divided into different legions, much like the roman army. The lightning blades were inspired bu Zeus.
So I hope you guy's found this at least somewhat interesting, and I would love to hear your thoughts, critiques, advice anything and everything, thanks for reading!
Interesting, but not really much to comment on. It's nice to have background information like this ready to draw upon, but I'd try to avoid explaining all this stuff directly in narrative. Sometimes too much detail can make things clunky. Still, always good idea to have references pre-planned, so you can be consistent when they come up.
Tbh, before this I didn't get the impression that your setting was going to be very warlike, though I guess if you make the changelings more a swarm and less an incursion then you'd need more focus on the armed forces.
940682
Thanks! Yeah this post is mostly me filling out some extra details it was originally just me getting a few ideas for magical weapons and here we are. I don't expect the military to become hugely important, but I like establishing it's existence and some of it's unique soldiers types. Good advice there, as is, I have no intention of using this information in the narrative anymore than I do discussing a C!verse cabinet meeting, it's mostly there to try and give richer background detail (but can be changed/used if needed) and so I don't forget/lose it at some point, plus I just enjoy world building
As I said they aren't really war like, but it's hard to imagine any of the Eqauestria's without a military I was basically just filling out some soldier types because I tend to get inspired for that sort of thing when I have a magical setting to work with.
Thanks for commenting!