Unicorn Gigavolt [ready]

[SunlightHeart]

Roleplay Type: World of Equestria

Name: Gigavolt “Volt”

Sex: Male

Age: Stallion

Species: Unicorn

Eye colour: Yellow

Coat: Blueish Grey and just a little shaggy. The fur around his right front hoof always grows in white due to an electrical incident in his younger days.

Mane/Tail: Silver with a few blue highlights running through it. His mane is usually kept in a slightly unkempt style. Gigavolt also wears a thick gold band in the middle of his tail.

Physique: Gigavolt is of average height and fit. He’s a little bit leaner than most stallions his size though.

Residence: Canterlot (But he moves around Equestria quite a bit due to his research).

Occupation: Geophysicist

Cutie Mark: A lightning rod being struck and discharging electricity.

Volt has always been a pony with odd tastes, and one of the oddest was his fascination with the natural sciences. Of all the forces he had witnessed in his young life, lightning had proven to be the thing that he could never seem to stop thinking about. It was beautiful, powerful, erratic, and fleeting; everything about it touched him on a deeper level that he couldn’t understand at the time.

In his fascination, young Gigavolt took to learning everything he could about electricity and anything related to it. As he began to understand more on the phenomenon, he started to realized the potential of harnessing its power. Sadly, the development in the applications of electricity seemed to receive little attention. Determined to make ponies see just how practical electricity was, the colt built a small electrostatic generator out of rather mundane materials.

His presentation was meant to demonstrate that the properties of electricity could be manipulated and harnessed. The colt knew that electricity could be used for energy, but he failed to double check his work, the switch wasn't insulated. Gigabolt flipped the switch he received a shook. Still though, in that moment when the electrical current surged through him he felt his magic activate, showing him a rough idea of the electrical properties between his shoulder and the lamp. After he discharged the electricity he felt a tingle on his flanks and when he looked back he saw that his cutie mark had appeared! Volt couldn't tell if he squealed in joy or surprise, all he knew what that he had to know more about this electricity.

History: Gigavolt was born in Canterlot. He’s the son of the unicorn musician couple Adagio (father) and Furia (mother). His original name was Ruvido; his parents expected him to be a music talent like them. Growing up, Volt was exposed every venue of Canterlot high society, but in his youth rebelled against the stiffness, starting his anarchistic streak. His parent thought that more structure would level him out, so they started giving him musical lessons on the sax to push him towards his special talent. The colt was good at the instrument, but to his parents dismay, Gigavolt was much more interested in science and reading. This caused tension between him and his parents; them pushing him one way, while he constantly went against the grain. They found beauty in the musical, but the songs math and science sang to him were much more beautiful in his opinion. The colt was conflicted between his love of science and his instrument; he had no idea what he really wanted to do with his life up until he earned his cutie mark. His parents were equally conflicted about their child’s cutie mark. They were glad that he had found his calling, but saddened that it wasn’t music. They still wanted him to stay with them and perform.

Even though his parents still wanted him in the band with them, they knew that having him spend most of his time on music would only stifle his talents. Adagio and Furia made an effort to ensure that their son got the time to study in Canterlot's libraries as well. They also paid several scholars to tutor Gigavolt in his studies about how the world worked on a non- magical level. He learned about seismic activity, volcanic activity, gravity, magnetism, fluid dynamics, and the relationships between extraterrestrial bodies and their world. Gigavolt even learned to build a much more powerful electrostatic generator (which he injured his hoof with). Everything fascinated him, he even studied natural weather patterns. Eventually, Ruvido, now a young stallion, enrolled in the Canterlot's university.

He excelled at his university studies, with the support of his parents, and took many volunteer projects in his major, earning the respect and recommendations of several professors for his displays of intellect, enthusiasm, ingenuity, and skill (most notably his project in understanding the planets natural electrical properties and helping to prove that the planet’s surface held a near constant voltage). Upon graduation he was offered a induction into one of Equestria’s most renown scientific associations. He joined, jump starting his career and placing him in the thick of the work he loves. He settle down and found his place as a geophysicist.

Character Summary: Gigavolt is an electricity enthusiast through and through. Everything about him from his magic to his profession reaffirm this. Gigavolt really shines when equations and other forms of data mining are in front of him. It’s easy for him to get in the zone when numbers are involved, specifically when measuring energy and natural phenomena such as lightning, earthquakes, and volcanic activity. Gigavolt is a natural at the sciences and quick to grasp most subjects, even biology and anatomy (“The body is a machine; one made of flesh and blood instead of steel and cable.”).

Gigavolt is a scientist, as such, he seeks knowledge. Absolute truth is an unattainable goal and he’s accepted that fact, but it doesn’t mean he won’t enjoy the ride his research takes him on. He still retains his colthood dream of showing ponies that electricity is a practical energy source for everyday use. His only real goal is to continue expanding his understanding of the world around him.

It’s a given that Volt loves the sciences. Any information available to him, he’ll gladly absorb. The stallion also has a peculiar love of sweet potato dishes. Kiwi’s are a close second on his list of favorite. He loves stormy days and often takes walks in the rain so that he can watched the lightning. There’s a sort of peace to be had in the rhythm of the pounding rain the booming thunder that he takes a special joy in. Of the few things that gets under Gigavolt’s skin are individuals one won’t put forth their best effort towards their goals, seeing wasted potential annoys the stallion. He also dislikes rubber, both its texture and insulating properties are not to his liking.

Outside of his work, Volt enjoys jogging. The burn in his muscles and the pounding of his heart really get the gears of his mind turning. Meditation is also another one of his pastimes, seeing as how he can get a pretty unique sense of the world when he allows his mind to wander. Though playing the alto saxophone was something his parents pressured him into, it is an activity that he still enjoys to this day. It may not be his special talent, but that doesn't mean he isn't good at it. He prefers these solitary activities to allow his mind to recharge after long days of interaction with other ponies.

Gigavolt is a bit of a scientific anarchist, constantly rejecting ideals, both magical and mundane alike. The stallion is convinced that even without the interloping of ponies or the princesses, the world would fall into homeostasis on its own accord. It’s an opinion he isn’t afraid to share, but he doesn't trot around preaching to ponies. It’s not uncommon for Volt to give away whatever extra commodities he has, or volunteer his time at schools and universities. The stallion loves to teach magic and science to any who are willing to learn. Gigavolt may seem single- minded, but the truth is that he prioritizes tasks and tackles them in the order most appropriate for his schedule. Often times he comes off as aloof, and calculating, especially when his work is on his mind. Volt is a fan of curt responses and deadpan delivery, but that is his style. Like lightning he tries to be timely in everything he does. Because of this Gigavolt has difficulty making friends, but those he does have, have seen the stallion’s generosity.

Despite his love of jogging, Gigavolt is terrible at most sports. Outside of his comfort zones, he has two left hooves and is terribly uncoordinated at everything from soccer to dancing. Volt can’t cook anything more complicated than a pancake. Sometimes he snaps at ponies doubting the validity of his claims, but he doesn't mean it and quickly apologizes..

Gigavolt’s only real fear is that the tension between him and his parents may drive a wedge between them. He's also worried that they may be disappointed in him for not taking up music as a career. Gigavolt worries that his ideas and studies could make him flop in the eyes of the popular scientific community.

[Bellosh]

Okie dokie, I got some feedback for you:

• The primary concern with your OC being a geophysicist is that numerous geologic processes aren't able to be recorded and quantified in a society like MLP, which doesn't depict post-1940s tech outside of gag sequences. For example, plate tectonics only became a widely-accepted theory around the 1960s, and stars seen in the Equestrian night sky might not operate or resemble our own stars. After all, our own sun and moon are not transported round the earth by all-powerful beings. In short, anyone who has OCs make claims about the true nature of the world Equestria inhabits is at high risk of creating lore, which we don't allow users to do. I might have to solicit further feedback about the sciency stuff from another staff member.
  
• Teenagers don't have the legal right to leave home as they please. Therefore, there is no chance that random scholars would take your OC in when he needs to be living with a legal guardian. Your OC would have to stay home until he can enroll in university instead of just touring the world like it was nothing.
  
• You should really heavily cut down the material involving the bad relations between your OC and his parents. WoE is a light-hearted slice-of-life RP, meaning that major family conflicts shouldn't be put under a spotlight. And trust me, nothing's ever going to come of it in gameplay anyway since the parents are not going to be RPed. So basically, don't have the parents be utterly negative about their kid's passion just because it's not their own passion; that's not what MLP:FiM stands for.
  

I think aside from those things however, you're off to a good start. Once the above suggestions have been implemented, I'll give this app another look-through.

[SunlightHeart]

Okie dokie, I got some feedback for you:

• The primary concern with your OC being a geophysicist is that numerous geologic processes aren't able to be recorded and quantified in a society like MLP, which doesn't depict post-1940s tech outside of gag sequences. For example, plate tectonics only became a widely-accepted theory around the 1960s, and stars seen in the Equestrian night sky might not operate or resemble our own stars. After all, our own sun and moon are not transported round the earth by all-powerful beings. In short, anyone who has OCs make claims about the true nature of the world Equestria inhabits is at high risk of creating lore, which we don't allow users to do. I might have to solicit further feedback about the sciency stuff from another staff member.
  
• Teenagers don't have the legal right to leave home as they please. Therefore, there is no chance that random scholars would take your OC in when he needs to be living with a legal guardian. Your OC would have to stay home until he can enroll in university instead of just touring the world like it was nothing.
  
• You should really heavily cut down the material involving the bad relations between your OC and his parents. WoE is a light-hearted slice-of-life RP, meaning that major family conflicts shouldn't be put under a spotlight. And trust me, nothing's ever going to come of it in gameplay anyway since the parents are not going to be RPed. So basically, don't have the parents be utterly negative about their kid's passion just because it's not their own passion; that's not what MLP:FiM stands for.
  

I think aside from those things however, you're off to a good start. Once the above suggestions have been implemented, I'll give this app another look-through.

To address the concern about his profession:

The gear and methods to perform his experiments has been around for a long time. The Plate Tectonics theory is relatively new, but several of the effects of it were being studied long before it was all tied in together. Movement of the earth's crust and seismic study is old (the seismograph is old, like 150 BC old). I know exactly what caused the theory of plate tectonics to be widely accepted, but it didn't just appear over night, all studies in geophysics lead to it. Electricity and magnetism were being studied in like 1000 B.C. With more modern equipment to study gravity, and the water cycle starting to appear in the 1600s. People knew how the ater cycle worked in like 500 or 600 BC. Let us not forget Keplar, Galileo, and Copernicus. They observed the stars and came up with their models of the solar system. I haven't even brought up anything past the 1800's yet. Being a geophysicist in MLP:FiM shouldn't be a problem.

Notice how vague I left Gigavolt's belief, it says "he believes the world would fall into homeostasis on its own." It wouldn't be creating lore because I never implied any solid data. All Volt's saying is that there are laws that the universe works on and if you remove those two individuals (the princesses) or even the entire pony race, equilibrium will be found naturally. And if asked about stuff, he'll just give a sciencey answer based on what laws are observable. After all, every nation doesn't have a team of pegasi controlling the weather. And until proven otherwise, wild weather is just "earth weather".

The other two things will be addressed quickly. Easy fixes.

[SunlightHeart]

Family and travelling thing changed:

• Parents weren't ecstatic about his talent, but Furia is no longer venomous about it.
  
• Change the app to say that Adagio and Furia travel with Gigavolt, allowing him to get the experience he needed.
  

[Bellosh]

Thank you for making those changes, but now we have a new problem. Namely, it's just outright unfeasible to uproot your OC's family just so he can travel around for learning. Let's face it, I don't know any family with the means or unhealthy devotion to do that for their child. Therefore, Gigavolt's just going to have to stay in school, learn as much about his chosen subject as he can at the local library, and remain put until he's old enough to go to college. You know, like any other person.

PS: Feedback about the app's science is forthcoming.

[SunlightHeart]

Thank you for making those changes, but now we have a new problem. Namely, it's just outright unfeasible to uproot your OC's family just so he can travel around for learning. Let's face it, I don't know any family with the means or unhealthy devotion to do that for their child. Therefore, Gigavolt's just going to have to stay in school, learn as much about his chosen subject as he can at the local library, and remain put until he's old enough to go to college. You know, like any other person.

PS: Feedback about the app's science is forthcoming.

Or I can just rewrite a few sections. Flexible app.

[starswirlthebearded]

I have been requested to comment on the science in this app and more importantly how it relates to Equestria and our game. Overall, you are hitting the sweet spot for a good majority of it. But some things are still very off.

The first thing is more of a technical nitpick. Lightning is, in essence, a short extremely strong spike of direct current. A lamp (which I'm guessing you are equating to a bulb) is only capable of accepting a certain amount of voltage and more importantly current. Lightning, in the real world, has the average of 700 megawatts of power (with a peak of 1000 gigawatts, aka 1 billion watts), can spike up to 10 kiloamperes, has the average potential voltage of several hundred million and has about 5 billion joules of energy. What exactly am I getting at with this? Hooking up a lamp directly to a lightning rod, even assuming it is less in Equestria (which it shouldn't be that much since Twilight needs to have a magical lightning rod of her own to protect her library/loft/home in Ponyville), would STILL basically overload and make the circuit explode for the lamp. There is a very good reason why we don't harvest lightning... it is too unwieldy, and it is likely to assume the same is true in Equestria.

If you are going the Tesla route, why not GENERATE lightning (or more accurately a small static charge) using a electrostatic generator (Van de Graffe generator) to power the lamp? The concept is fairly easy, and would probably match up nicely to your CM. (and is not as difficult with a resonant transformer circuit (aka Tesla Coil) nor does it need a powerful transformer like a Tesla Coil to work). Or you could power it with the electric potential from citrus fruits (a very popular experiment for school children, more commonly known as a lemon battery).

Next... Plate Tectonics... I think you are confusing two very very different things here... Plate Tectonics is a modern theory that is a culmination of modern advances in the field of geophysics and geology. What YOU are thinking of is Seismology. The two are very different, even though plate tectonics is used in seismology and the two overlap. Seismology is the study of earthquakes and other elastic waves that may pass through the Earth. However there is a bigger problem with using plate tectonics or even mentioning them in the app... We don't KNOW if Equestria HAS plates or even has seismic events for that matter. And if they DO have seismic events, we don't know what may cause them. For all we know they could be caused by gremlins (or possibly worms *looks at Three's a Crowd*) in the center of their world! They could have no plates at all! Though for the sake of everyone's sanity I do assume such seismic events do exist, just without the plate tectonics as the only feasible explanation.

For this app and considering how ancient seismology is, dating back to around 100BCE with solid advances being made in around 100CE, that would be applicable.

As for everything else. I'd just keep in mind that Equestria is essentially around 19th Century level in electromagnetism. While it appears that is your aim I'd just remember to reign it in.

As for astronomy and volcanology, yes they are both ancient fields of study, both dating way back into BCE. Please keep in mind that astronomy MIGHT be somewhat different from Earth, however considering Twilight's knowledge of OUR constellations I'd grant more similarities tha differences. I'd be careful about celestial bodies and their relative movements though. We don't exactly know how much of that there is, or if they follow the same sort of elliptical orbits that are found in our world.

But overall... Good work. I see no problems with this character being a geophysicist (so long as they are in the early stages of the field which came about in the 1800s rather than after it became a solid field in the 1900s). And please make the necessary adjustments as per my explanations of the state of Science in Equestria.

PS: It is usually not a good idea to quote nearly directly from Wikipedia regarding science when a scientist is on the site staff

[Bellosh]

Or I can just rewrite a few sections. Flexible app.

It's still not feasible to have your OC to take constant time away from school just so he can visit a library whenever his parents. In fact, journeying through the country won't be necessary for your OC at all because Equestrian libraries certainly make use of interlibrary loan programs. Please stop creating excuses for the adolescent Gigavolt to travel excessively when it isn't realistic for a kid to do so. It will in no way impede his ability to become knowledgeable in science later in life.

[SunlightHeart]

I have been requested to comment on the science in this app and more importantly how it relates to Equestria and our game. Overall, you are hitting the sweet spot for a good majority of it. But some things are still very off.

The first thing is more of a technical nitpick. Lightning is, in essence, a short extremely strong spike of direct current. A lamp (which I'm guessing you are equating to a bulb) is only capable of accepting a certain amount of voltage and more importantly current. Lightning, in the real world, has the average of 700 megawatts of power (with a peak of 1000 gigawatts, aka 1 billion watts), can spike up to 10 kiloamperes, has the average potential voltage of several hundred million and has about 5 billion joules of energy. What exactly am I getting at with this? Hooking up a lamp directly to a lightning rod, even assuming it is less in Equestria (which it shouldn't be that much since Twilight needs to have a magical lightning rod of her own to protect her library/loft/home in Ponyville), would STILL basically overload and make the circuit explode for the lamp. There is a very good reason why we don't harvest lightning... it is too unwieldy, and it is likely to assume the same is true in Equestria.

If you are going the Tesla route, why not GENERATE lightning (or more accurately a small static charge) using a electrostatic generator (Van de Graffe generator) to power the lamp? The concept is fairly easy, and would probably match up nicely to your CM. (and is not as difficult with a resonant transformer circuit (aka Tesla Coil) nor does it need a powerful transformer like a Tesla Coil to work)

Next... Plate Tectonics... I think you are confusing two very very different things here... Plate Tectonics is a modern theory that is a culmination of modern advances in the field of geophysics. What YOU are thinking of is Seismology. The two are very different, even though plate tectonics is used in seismology and the two overlap. Seismology is the study of earthquakes and other elastic waves that may pass through the Earth. However there is a bigger problem with using plate tectonics or even mentioning them in the app... We don't KNOW if Equestria HAS plates or even has seismic events for that matter. And if they DO have seismic events, we don't know what may cause them. For all we know they could be caused by gremlins (or possibly worms *looks at Three's a Crowd*) in the center of their world! They could have no plates at all! Though for the sake of everyone's sanity I do assume such seismic events do exist.

For this app and considering how ancient seismology is, dating back to around 100BCE with solid advances being made in around 100CE, that would be applicable.

As for everything else. I'd just keep in mind that Equestria is essentially around 19th Century level in electromagnetism. While it appears that is your aim I'd just remember to reign it in.

As for astronomy and volcanology, yes they are both ancient fields of study, both dating way back into BCE. Please keep in mind that astronomy MIGHT be somewhat different from Earth, however considering Twilight's knowledge of OUR constellations I'd grant more similarities tha differences. I'd be careful about celestial bodies and their relative movements though. We don't exactly know how much of that there is, or if they follow the same sort of elliptical orbits that are found in our world.

But overall... Good work. I see no problems with this character being a geophysicist (so long as they are in the early stages of the field which came about in the 1800s rather than after it became a solid field in the 1900s). And please make the necessary adjustments as per my explanations of the state of Science in Equestria.

PS: It is usually not a good idea to quote nearly directly from Wikipedia regarding science when a scientist is on the site staff

Hahaha, not quite straight from wikipedia. I'm a fact hoarder whenever I find information. I like to know a little about how the world works, simply because I enjoy these things. I've known about seismographs, multimeter's, and most of the basics of this stuff a while (I use multimeters occasionally at work[computer tech: not the best, but I get by]). So give me a little credit! I know things and stuff as well! I'm no scientist, but I enjoy learning about the world.

Actually his circuit did explode. I KNOW that a bolt of lightning was way to too much. I downplayed it as a "little shock" with him absorbing much of it. But if it were played real world straight, it would have turned out much worse. The Van de Graffe generator is a good idea, I assume that tech from the late 1920's fair game then. Though I obviously can't call it that. Probably just going to call it an electrostatic generator. Those are actually pretty easy to make.

I know of seismology. I was using the fact that seismology was an old science to explain my use of plate tectonics (I said what you said; plate tectonics are the culmination of geophysical study,). However, because the theory(PT) is skirting the time frame given for FiM, changing plate tectonics to seismology works just fine (seeing as they'd have to know about sea floor spreading for the plate tectonics theory to work. I don't know when sea floor spreading tied it all together though). And yes, I hope their planet does have natural seismic activity, not caused by giant monsters of doom.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. I learned a little bit (knew of the electrostatic generator, but didn't know that people were building them with mundane materials. I can probably build one with stuff in my house).

[Out of curiosity what are your fields of study? If you don't mind my asking.]

[SunlightHeart]

New changes.

• Built an electrostatic generator to power a lamp. Looked it up, a child could build one of these.
  
• Now studies seismology instead of plate tectonics.
  
• No travelling, but he did have hired tutors to aid in his studies
  

[starswirlthebearded]

Hahaha, not quite straight from wikipedia. I'm a fact hoarder whenever I find information. I like to know a little about how the world works, simply because I enjoy these things. I've known about seismographs, multimeter's, and most of the basics of this stuff a while (I use multimeters occasionally at work[computer tech: not the best, but I get by]). So give me a little credit! I know things and stuff as well! I'm no scientist, but I enjoy learning about the world.

Actually his circuit did explode. I KNOW that a bolt of lightning was way to too much. I downplayed it as a "little shock" with him absorbing much of it. But if it were played real world straight, it would have turned out much worse. The Van de Graffe generator is a good idea, I assume that tech from the late 1920's fair game then. Though I obviously can't call it that. Probably just going to call it an electrostatic generator. Those are actually pretty easy to make.

I know of seismology. I was using the fact that seismology was an old science to explain my use of plate tectonics (I said what you said; plate tectonics are the culmination of geophysical study,). However, because the theory(PT) is skirting the time frame given for FiM, changing plate tectonics to seismology works just fine (seeing as they'd have to know about sea floor spreading for the plate tectonics theory to work. I don't know when sea floor spreading tied it all together though). And yes, I hope their planet does have natural seismic activity, not caused by giant monsters of doom.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. I learned a little bit (knew of the electrostatic generator, but didn't know that people were building them with mundane materials. I can probably build one with stuff in my house).

[Out of curiosity what are your fields of study? If you don't mind my asking.]

My point is we don't know and it wouldn't be good to world build like that. Magical worlds all have their own nuances for how things work. Whether it is montster created, plate tectonics, or even some other natural cause that their world creates that we couldn't fathom, is all up in the air.

As for technology, I usually place the max at late 1800, very early 1900s, but it is always on a case by case basis. Also remember... "necessity is the mother of invention." So in our world without magic, we needed things that Equestria wouldn't with their access to magic.

And yes, building electrostatic generators is great fun! I suggested it because I once built one (along with some more dangerous things throughout the years )

And I study molecular biology, though my interests extend far past the biological sciences

[starswirlthebearded]

Looks good