Equestrian Civil War map

by **A_Communist** on Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:24 pm

It may seem silly to you (or perhaps you're already a fan!) but My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has recently gained a LOT of popularity on the internet, all demographics accounted for.

Anyone who watches the first episode (can be found on youtube, if you're interested) will understand two ideas the fandom has come up with: The Solar Empire and the New Lunar Republic. Taking the idea that Princess Celestia is a tyrant and her sister Luna is a much more benevolent ruler, war has sprouted in the formerly peaceful land of Equestria- either to depose the dictator or the squash the rebellion, depending on who you ask. Neighboring (pun not intended, but appreciated) kingdoms such as the Griffin Kingdom, Alpacastan, the Dali Llama's empire, and the Bufallo tribes decided to get in on the action and plunder what they could from Equestria while it's in turmoil.

For a general layout of what it might look like (there is no official map, so it's all Fanon speculation) can be found here. (Warning: Image is very large.)

I imagine the divide between the Solar Empire and the New Lunar Republic would be between the 'cultured' and 'industrialized' cities, respectively. Manehatten, Trottingham, Canterlot and Hoofington would stay loyal to Celestia while Fillydelphia, Moscolt, Stalliongrad and Detrot would defect to Luna's cause. If I get some free time I'll put together a rough draft of what the map might look like (how territories are split up, where the borders are, etc).

I've seen the troubles with copyright issues with the Westeros map (which is a shame), but as there's no official map from Hasbro... I think that could be sidestepped. What do you guys think?

by **Seamus76** on Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:37 pm

I like silly stuff, and if war needs anything it's more ponies.

by **perchorin** on Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:51 pm

I'm a fan of silly, but official map from Hasbro or not I can't see them allowing their toys to be used (and as I recall CC has had dealings with them before

) but if this flies can we get a map of Eternia next? By the power of Grayskull I HAVE THE POWER!!!!!!

by **canadian bacon** on Mon Oct 10, 2011 11:58 pm

legal issues aside, while it is pretty...it needs proper lines of demarkation, it's simply too big( try a region centering on the ponyville/canterlot area but zoomed in closer so you get to fight in your favorite locals instead of across a world most bronys dont know exists), and it is rather confusing... it has potential though

by **A_Communist** on Tue Oct 11, 2011 8:05 pm

I'm not using that image for a base, it's just something to get you in the frame of mind. I already have a sketch (including specific territories, borders and impassables) I'm working on with a large central continent and two small island continents to either side. It contains The New Lunar Republic, The Solar Empires, the Griffin Kingdom and the Buffalo Lands(on the large continent); Alpacastan and the Lands of the Dali Llama (On the small western continent); and the Ibex Empire in the east. To save space there'll basically just be channels between all the continents rather than seas like the big map had.

by **Seamus76** on Tue Oct 11, 2011 9:23 pm

If you want to get anywhere you're going to need to post the image.

by **A_Communist** on Tue Oct 11, 2011 10:03 pm

I know that, but I've been busy lately, so I haven't had a chance to upload it. Patience is a virtue, y'know.

by **koontz1973** on Tue Oct 11, 2011 10:26 pm

A_Communist wrote:I know that, but I've been busy lately, so I haven't had a chance to upload it. Patience is a virtue, y'know.

Not in the foundry. Patience is a premium that cannot be wasted.

by **A_Communist** on Wed Oct 12, 2011 8:17 pm

Sorry for the paint, but it's a concept map and all.

Click image to enlarge.

Territories with peaks can assault Cloudsdale (which starts Nuetral 5), but Cloudsdale can't assault back. Rather, it has a special feature- if you control Cloudsdale and the Capital of a region, you can bombard any non-capital territory in that region's enemy.

Solar Empire and New Lunar Republic are enemies. Alpacastan and the Dali Llama's Lands are enemies. The Griffin Kingdom and the Ibex Empire are enemies. The Buffallo lands have no peak and can't be bombarded; the capital is purely nominal.

Also the two regions labeled as "Underwater train tunnel to [destination]" connect to each other. In one of the episodes they ride a train from Ponyville to Appleloosa, but I couldn't fit Appleloosa on the main continent... so the only solution is an underwater railway, of course.

What do you guys think?

Edit: Now that I think about it, I'm not sure Cloudsdale's ability is workable with XML. I know I could do it in Java using an if statement, but I dunno about XML.

by **canadian bacon** on Wed Oct 12, 2011 10:22 pm

i think the first map you posted would work of you cropped out everything but equestria proper(the dark green colored area) and maybe slices of surrounding territory and magnified it a bit.... after that if you can figure out how mark certain territory i think you'd have a winner.

by **canadian bacon** on Thu Oct 13, 2011 8:44 am

if you do do it that way then you still get the buffalo, appaloosa, the gryphon kingdom, germany, glascow and guildedale. depending just how big you want it you could even include the ibex empire. just remember the best maps don't necessarily have to be complicated, case in point doodle earth.

by **A_Communist** on Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:25 pm

Well, for that I'll need to get the artist's permission. I'll see what I can do.

by **canadian bacon** on Thu Oct 13, 2011 10:44 pm

let's not forget about getting hasbro's permission, ofcourse it may be easier to go through lauren foust as the middle man, as it were. if you can get both of their permissions, you have a strong concept here and i have no doubt you'd be the talk of ponyville if you pull it off...

by **The Bison King** on Thu Oct 13, 2011 11:48 pm

canadian bacon wrote:let's not forget about getting hasbro's permission, ofcourse it may be easier to go through lauren foust as the middle man, as it were. if you can get both of their permissions, you have a strong concept here and i have no doubt you'd be the talk of ponyville if you pull it off...

Lauren Faust doesn't really have the power to grant out the rights. Hasbero cooperate does, and they won't. That's ok you can make our own pony characters!!!! Besides it's not like there is an actual map of Equestria so they can't blow the whistle on you. Just don't slap a picture of any copyrighted characters such as Fluttershy on there.

by **canadian bacon** on Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:53 am

The Bison King wrote:
canadian bacon wrote:let's not forget about getting hasbro's permission, ofcourse it may be easier to go through lauren foust as the middle man, as it were. if you can get both of their permissions, you have a strong concept here and i have no doubt you'd be the talk of ponyville if you pull it off...

Lauren Faust doesn't really have the power to grant out the rights. Hasbero cooperate does, and they won't. That's ok you can make our own pony characters!!!! Besides it's not like there is an actual map of Equestria so they can't blow the whistle on you. Just don't slap a picture of any copyrighted characters such as Fluttershy on there.

my logic is lauren faust encourages stuff like this, she has the ability to weild a bigger stick against hasbro than any of us peons do. by that i mean they'll listen to her before they listen to us.

by **A_Communist** on Fri Oct 14, 2011 4:36 pm

I'm not using any copyrighted material, what are you people talking about? :/

by **canadian bacon** on Fri Oct 14, 2011 5:03 pm

A_Communist wrote:I'm not using any copyrighted material, what are you people talking about? :/

youre useing the names of their key characters and places i.e. luna, celestia, equestria, ponyville, appaloosa, ect. im not sure is thats 100% allowed or not.

by **A_Communist** on Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:10 pm

That map says nothing about Luna or Celestia. I *don't* think there should be copyright issues with just using a few names, since the fans have swarmed the internet with any kind of art you can think of about Equestria. Perhaps a (c) Hasbro in the corner of the map would do, but since there's no official map, I really don't think they have much of an infringement claim.

If anyone knows the specifics of the legal status of this stuff, feel free to correct me- I'm just not willing to stop dead on a bad vibe.

by **isaiah40** on Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:31 pm

You cannot use any names at all. You can base the map on the idea, but you cannot use any names that are copy written. The only way around it is to get permission in writing, and since you have mentioned Hasbro owns the copyrights to the names, then don't worry about getting permission because they will not give it.

by **A_Communist** on Sat Oct 15, 2011 3:04 pm

Alright, there's an easy workaround for that. Just cut out Canterlot, Ponyville, Fillydelphia, Manehatten, Appleloosa and Trottingham (those were the only ones used in the show; it can be alluded to that all the old major cities had been destroyed since the start of the war.) Other ones like Moscolt, Stalliongrad, Seaddle, and Detrot were made up by the fans.