Unicorn Merlot [Ready]

[Bellosh]

Roleplay Type: World of Equestria RP – OC

Name: Dr. Merlot

Sex: Male

Age: Stallion

Species: Unicorn

Eye colour: Silver

Coat: The khaki-coated pony routinely wears a white suit and panama hat for non-formal occasions.

Mane/Tail: Merlot’s well-groomed mane is kept short enough to be mostly covered by his hat. His blue tail is also short yet fashionable.

Physique: Average for a stallion of his age.

Residence: Owns an expensive townhouse suite in Manehatten.

Occupation: Archeologist

Cutie Mark: Merlot’s cutie mark is a gold pony statuette, which represents his zeal for finding ancient relics.

When he was a young colt, Merlot absolutely loved reading adventure-themed pulp magazines and novels. Above all else, he was enthralled with the then-new Daring Do series. Merlot idolized Daring Do; striving to emulate his hero, he’d frequently dress up like her and badger his parents to take him out on outdoor excursions to play out his adventuring fantasies. The lad additionally studied the art of using spells to locate precious metals like gold, obstinately in the hopes of finding hidden treasure!

On one family camping trip in the southern Allacor Mountains, Merlot was experimenting with his metal-detecting magic when it led him to a gold statuette of a pony buried in the ground. Digging it up and taking it to a museum in Canterlot, the overjoyed Merlot learned the idol was hundreds of years old and that they’d love to prominently display it in their artifact collection. Not only that, but he got an interview published in The Canterlot Times! Overjoyed with his moment of fame, Merlot resolved to dedicate his life fully to the pursuit of lost artifacts and civilizations and thus earned his cutie mark that day.

History:

Hailing from a prominent family of Trottingham-area winemakers, Merlot grew up in a cozy rural chateau where his parents constantly doted on him and his siblings. Merlot in particular took his parents’ affirmations of his special nature to heart; his older brothers and sisters meanwhile remembered Merlot as a bothersome know-it-all who did little to help out with the vineyard. It was shock to Merlot’s parents when their youngest son started expressing a desire to pursue treasure hunting. Merlot’s parents and siblings first wrote this off as a passing fad of the lad; once Merlot got his cutie mark though, the colt’s family opted to fuel his dreams by providing him with any sort of books and maps about magic artifacts and ancient civilizations.

Delving even deeper into lore, Merlot convinced himself of the existence of numerous lost cities deep within the Everfree Forest. Thinking that recovering valuable relics from these supposed hidden ruins would win him unimaginable fame, the foolish colt geared up with his Daring Do outfit and all the adventuring equipment and supplies he’d thought he would need, ran away from home, and snuck into the forsaken woods. Naturally, things didn’t go well at all for the Daring Do wannabe; ending up hopelessly lost in the Everfree Forest, Merlot managed to survive for approximately a week thanks only to his overabundant supplies (much of which he lost or damaged) as well as what tricks that he remembered from all his adventure books. Nevertheless, the colt was malnourished, mildly injured, and sickened by poison joke by the time he was rescued by REA pegasai.

Merlot’s parents, wishing to knock sense into their son without necessarily making him give up his dream, gave their books about real archaeology for him to read during his recuperation. Merlot lapped them all up and he continued to pursue his life goals as he matured into an adult, swearing off his once-cherished Daring Do books in the process. Instead, Merlot resolved to conduct his archaeological career professionally and never recklessly endanger himself in his line of work. And so the young stallion studied at Canterlot University, majoring in Hippology and graduating with highest honors with a doctorate.

To pay off his school debts, Dr. Merlot ignored employment offers for professorships to accept handsomely-paying jobs from private antiquities collectors. Having not lost his delusions of fortune and glory from foalhood, it didn’t long for Merlot to acquire a taste of the fine life won by his newfound line of work. Cultivating relationships with the media and letting word-of-mouth spread through the elite of Canterlot, Manehatten, and Stalliongrad, the smooth-talking gentlecolt gradually transformed into a celebrity widely considered as one of Equestria’s leading archaeological experts. Despite being out to promote himself, Dr. Merlot also tirelessly strives to provide archaeology with a respectable status divorced from the popular visions of lone, danger-seeking adventurers.

Character Summary:

When it comes to his work, Dr. Merlot is nothing if not meticulous. With every one of his clients and sponsors, the gentlecolt insists that his digging operations operate as delicately as possible to ensure that anything left behind by ancient ponies, including booby traps, is preserved for future analysis. Merlot exerts complete control over all his archaeological excavations, having little tolerance for incompetence. He also demands exorbitant funding for his services; it takes plenty of bits and effort to obtain ownership rights to dig sites, hire qualified excavators and halfway-decent “rent-a-guards”, safely transport priceless artifacts, and so on. In return, Merlot’s sponsors get first choice on all antiquities once they’ve been thoroughly studied by the researcher; everything else found by Merlot’s metal-detecting spells and his excavation teams are either donated to academic institutions or sold at auction in Manehatten. No matter what he goes after though, Merlot is always overjoyed whenever he discovers a forgotten structure or relic (especially a magic relic) and gets the chance to analyze it.

Whenever given the chance, Merlot enthusiastically lives it up as a sophisticated playcolt. The doctor has a taste for fine wine no matter where he is; not surprisingly, merlot is his favorite variety. The good doctor can be readily found at any number of high-class social gatherings from Manehatten to Stalliongrad, cultivating friendships with Equestria’s elite by happily discussing his finds, playing baccarat, or indulging himself with the latest high society craze. Ever the charming gentlecolt with a weakness for “the chase”, Merlot has found numerous high-profile fillyfriends over the years, although the stallion’s relationships never last long due to his dislike for getting tied-down with commitments. Thanks to the wealth Merlot accumulates from his jobs, he easily affords this comfortable and luxurious lifestyle.

During the times Dr. Merlot isn’t at an excavation or rubbing elbows with the upper crust, he’s busy publicizing his field and the work he does. Eschewing peer-reviewed publications most of the time, the stallion prefers writing articles and books for general audiences not already knowledgeable about archeology. When time can be spared, he’ll sit down with journalists for newspaper interviews or invite them to his digs; all done to promote himself and his efforts to the public. Unfortunately for him, most of the public outside the upper class has yet to recognize Merlot for all his achievements. Amongst his archeologist colleagues, they find Merlot’s only saving graces to be his ability to easily finance his digs, his rigorous documentation of everything he ever finds, and his commitment to increase public knowledge on archaeological, hippological, and historical matters.

Dr. Merlot for the most part expresses superficial politeness and flattery towards ponies he networks with, but those who know him the best frankly find the stallion to be well... a jerk. As a textbook egomaniac, the haughty stallion feels little genuine concern for others and displays immense difficulty sustaining meaningful friendships. Thanks to his pride, Merlot is not inclined to seek out assistance from his archaeologist colleagues even when collaborating with them could be valuable for his academic work. Finally due to his intolerance for neighsayers, the smug snake responds to critics by dismissively taunting them about their own shortcomings rather than accept the possibility that he may be in error.

Usually an unflappable pony, there are very few things that elicit outright signs of annoyance from Merlot. If there are two foremost pet peeves he has, they would be anypony not knowing who he is and the ever-increasing popularity of the Daring Do franchise. Having long ago blamed those books for his long-ago misfortunes in the Everfree Forest, Merlot openly criticizes the series and pours endless hours towards scrutinizing every Daring Do installment for perceived slights against actual archeology... and just maybe to indulge in nostalgia. Yet should anyone dare to accuse him of being a closet Daring Do fan, Merlot to lose his cool very swiftly. Additionally, Merlot’s foalhood experiences left him quite risk-adverse; he never dares to get anywhere near a relic suspected to be protected by an active booby trap.

Without question, Merlot’s main pursuit in life is to win fame and wealth from the lost cities and artifacts he seeks out. It must be remembered though that for all his arrogance and pomposity, the archeologist also shares a deep genuine passion for learning all about bygone civilizations. Most of the time however, it’s hard for other ponies outside the stallion’s social circle to get past his ego and insufferableness. Whether Merlot can be taught the error of his ways is a tale for future days to come.....

Above artwork by BrainedBySaucepans.

[Fixinit]

where did you make this photo?

its amazing!

[Bellosh]

I credited the artist in the spoiler box. Log on his livestream tomorrow if you want a chance to have him do a request for you.

[RarityDash]

So here we have the transition from mere NPC to a fully realized approved player character, huh? Well, I think you pulled it off brilliantly! Great character here.

(I'd consider doing the same with one of my own City of Griffons/Staff of Fate NPCs... but I don't think either would work as a player character for WoE. Maybe when those new RP options open up...

)