Bellosh

Playable hydras are already not permitted in WoE. Please follow the instructions listed in this thread's OP before asking about any other species.

It's been ages since my last post here, but we've just officially approved Longma as an extended-canon species!  

ACTIVE CAST PLAYER DIRECTORY
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MANE SIX (& SPIKE):

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ROYALTY & OTHER LEADERS:

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PAST & PRESENT ANTAGONISTS:

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CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS & SCHOOLMATES:

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PONYVILLE RESIDENTS:

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WONDERBOLTS, ROYAL GUARDS, & OTHER HEROES:

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CELEBRITIES & CITY DWELLERS:

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FARMERS, FRONTIER SETTLERS, & PIE FAMILY:

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THE STUDENT SIX:

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Please let me know if you're a cast player who wishes to be added to the list. Also feel free to give me a shout if you'd to be taken off the active cast player directory.

Ye people of Canterlot, REJOICE, for I bring unto you thy Official WoE Lore of Yak-kind! 

Added Blue Tide to the list...... I'm sure Magi won't mind if I use my mod powers to edit his OP.

Now that the forums are upgraded for good, I fiinally added my rulings on alpacas and llamas to the OP.

By the way, since Quilin's were approved, should we expect Lore entry about them? As well and yaks and sirens and...

We apologize for not releasing any Lore on yaks yet; stay tuned for that sometime in the near-to-intermediate future. As for extended-canon species (at least those ones that haven't appeared in MLP yet), we don't currently have plans to incorporate them into our official WoE lore.

UPDATE: After conferring with my RPH colleagues, we've decided that dronies are not an appropriate extended-canon species. It's our opinion that even if evidence of their presence in historical mythology could be found, their lack of a proper name along with their extreme obscurity (thanks to not having a proper name) would mean that other players wouldn't be able to judge for themselves if dronies fit into WoE or not.

Thank you to everyone who have pitched in so far! Based on our experiences with this thread, I've added the following ground rules to the OP:

1. Before making any sort of pitch, please check the Playable Species List to see what species we already permit or don't permit.
2. Also check the Provisional Rulings down below to see what's been already suggested.
3. It's preferred that you make a pitch only if you plan on actually apping that species in WoE.
4. If your pitched species has traits that an ungulate would potentially have, it's more likely that RPH will approve it.
5. We welcome species with a basis in real-world mythology, but RPH will be wary of OP traits like long lifespans or possessing other beings. Depending on their historically recognized attributes, mythological species may be allowed to utilize a magical ability present in an official WoE species.
6. Please do not pitch species that are either fan-made or belong to an intellectual property not connected with MLP.
7. The best species concepts are those understandable by players without RPH having to write Lore to establish gameplay boundaries. If your concept requires RPH to spend time figuring out how it can fit into WoE, it's already failed.

Please read the list before making additional posts here.

RPH never bothered with writing Breezy lore because frankly, few among us liked their G4 concept enough to do so.Since they've showed up in the actual show though, I suppose Breezies are an ideal candidate for an extended-canon species because they're capable of maintaining a civilization. The only thing we ask is that your Breezy OC maintains the same basic attributes as those in the show, meaning you're stuck with how absolutely pathetic Breezies are supposed to be. Have fuuuuun!!!!! 

There's a list?

There's a link in the opening post, and it's marked in bold to draw readers' attention.

What about an immortal spirit? I wanted to play one of my characters with their extended canon.

Please read the entire WoE Playable Species list before making pitches here; especially the end where it explicitly prohibits spirit OCs from being applied for.

Very well then, I suppose I'll just recommend that players don't try apping Harpies.

I'm still a bit wary of Raptorians though. I know FiM and WoE have plundered ideas from G1 before, but even with stuff like Tirek and the Smooze, they underwent radical revision before showing up in G4. Raptorians will undoubtedly require the same extensive treatment, which I don't think falls under the purview of the Extended-Canon Species Initiative.

The point behind extended-canon species is that they are not meant to require unofficial guidelines laid down here in order for a player to have a clear idea of what's acceptable or not. In case you haven't noticed, the concepts that have earned the most enthusiastic support so far are those that didn't require much debate in the first place. It's species concepts like those which stand the highest chance of being approved by RPH. The more doubt that exists over what a species' RP appearance and attributes should be, the less likely we'll feel comfortable enough to sign off on it.

For now, I'm going to recommend that users don't try apping Raptorians as well.

Dronies are, well, Dragon Pony Hybrids. Since mythologically speaking, dragons tend to be able to interbred with a lot of different creatures.

I'm going to need more than your word on this one; I'm not finding anything authoritative with a Google search.

the original Raptorians might work better. Going with the canine head and the harpy like body. It would not only keep out the worry of being straight-up talking animals, it'd keep them closer to their G1 counterparts.

Eh, G1 Raptorians look rather silly to me anyway. Only thing I'd take from their design are those claw-like hands at the end of their wings. Perhaps if we attached those wing-claws to an equine-sized vulture, we'll have ourselves a suitable harpy, perhaps.

That's why I suggested the idea of passive magical abilities rather than active ones.

Hmmm, a part of me that feels it's cheap not letting a kitsune possess attributes expected of it in mythology. Then again, we definitely wouldn't approve of kitsune apps who'd be of the right age (+100 years old) to have such OP abilities anyway. I suppose then that as a consolation prize for only permitting child and adolescent kitsune, we could let users give them a passive ability.

HOWEVER

Thinking about the kitsune's wisdom makes me think of Yoda's species from the Star Wars franchise. The worldbuilding lore behind SW is developed to such a ridiculous degree that dozens upon dozens of aliens from the films and outside of them have been written about and their attributes set in stone..... all that is, except for the species that wise ole' Jedi Master Yoda belongs to. As Yoda is the wisest and most long-lived character of his time, the powers that run SW decided that it is best to keep his species a complete mystery: it's been 35 years and we still don't even have a name for it! The logic behind this decision is that it cheapens Yoda's mystique if we know too much about his background.

A similar argument can be made for kitsune, who are also meant to be wise and long-lived. Unlike fire-breathing adolescent dragons in MLP, adolescent kitsune in our RP environment wouldn't be able to fall back on their traditional powers. To me, that just cheapens kitsune and what they're supposed to represent in Japanese culture. Like with Yoda's species in Star Wars, perhaps the kitsune is something that's best left unsullied by not making it a playable species.

This will be my final thought on the matter unless someone comes up with a convincing counterargument in favor of playable kitsune.

Ah...so species ability should be relatable to an already established WoE ability or species?

It's not necessarily a requirement for an extended-canon species, but it sure helps make it far easier of a sell.

instead of coming up with magical abilities for the entire species, players can just suggest what magic their Kitsune can do in the application, much like a person would indicate what magic a Unicorn can do, if any.

What I'm primarily concerned with, and getting a headache over, is the process by which a kitsune wields its magic. Once we know that, everything else should hopefully fall in place.

I might try creating an app for a Kitsune, if the staff doesn't really have a decisive opinion about them yet.

If your intent is mainly to determine what staff will or won't allow for kitsune, we honestly prefer that you hold off on making an app.

With all this discussion about how kitsune magic could potentially work in WoE, always keep in mind that without official Lore, we can't really ensure that your vision becomes a reality without running the risk of breaking another player's immersion in our roleplay environment. Unless you can't easily tie down a proposed ability to established FiM/WoE species elements (equine horns = spell-casting magic, draconic bodies = breath-magic, etc.), then chances are it's something that isn't the purview of the Extended-Canon Species Initiative.

Concerning kitsune, I'm now starting to lean towards a No. It's becoming apparent that it might very well be a species that cannot be adequately played without definitive guidance from WoE Lore.

On Ciraxis's note, there's one more thing to keep in mind. Just because we might give provisional approval for an extended-canon species here doesn't mean we're bound by that judgement when evaluating actual applications. For app evaluations, we have the right to look at additional factors that we haven't originally considered before making a final, definitive call on a species. With Abada and Qilin, their equine traits made them relatively easy calls to make. For something like a Sphinx however, we may very well decide not to allow them as a playable species even if we already indicated what physical attributes we'd permit.

Yeah well, domesticated foxes usually don't successfully masquerade as sentient beings. 

Again, I can't make a definitive judgement at this time.

Yes; please read the RP Species List which I linked to in the OP.

Dronies: I've got absolutely no idea what they are. Google isn't being much of a help on this one. :S

Harpies: Still on the fence about them. Going by the same design philosophy we provisionally assigned for the sphinx, a harpy would have a bird head of sorts, possibly a vulture one (seems pretty much in-character to me). However, classical harpies were pretty much nothing more than a bird than a human head, and whenever possible I want to avoid turning mythological species into straight-up talking animals.

Kitsunes: Also on the fence with kitsunes. Here, we'd have a bit of a challenge explaining a kitsune's magical abilities and defining its limits. I uhhh, suppose the tails have to do something with it, I guess. But the most important question of all...... could a kitsune with two-tails spin them around to fly? XD

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In other news, Qilin are the second extended-canon species to receive official RPH approval. Congrats!

Some more new military-themed RPs to add to the RP list..... if only Magi got around to adding it to the OP: ;P
 
(1/16) The Changing of Guards - A summit is called to debate the future course of the Royal Equestrian Guard
(1/16) [sombra War AU] Fire and Sword - Only a small Army task force stands between a rural village and its destruction
(1/16) [sombra War AU] Only Hope - The HMS Endurance braves hostile winter seas to deliver relief supplies

REG-wise, 2016 is already off to a fabulous start. Let's keep things up, soldiers!!!

Fair enough, though I DO think some lore building should be a thing. Because truly, what makes the various races interesting to play are their differences and cultures. And while I'm certain staff will get around to that at some point, I do feel like having some input from the player base is always a good option, as it gives staff a possible starting point as it would show what people may be interested in!

How I see things, while we discourage players from inventing Lore in character applications, it's a different thing to add to the World through roleplay and OOC collaboration. The show and our WoE Lore serve as a solid framework to base our RP environment, but ultimately, it's futile for RPH to try filling in every blank space on the map. As long as players respect our basic worldbuilding framework (and app rules), everyone has the freedom to invent little bits here and there to further spice up their RPs. You know how many OOC topics are recruitment threads for a particular organization? Who's to say that within reason, a cultural group in WoE can't be created the same way? Sure, it won't be official official, but if your idea cultivates enough clout within the playerbase, that inconvenient fact might not even matter.

I don't mind people endlessly suggesting extended-canon species. Better you get disappointed here than after you put all that hard work into an OC application. 

Gargoyles: No objection, just as long as gargoyle (and centaur) OCs come from someplace sufficiently far away from civilized Equestria. Maybe they can hang out wherever the minotaurs live. XD

Harpies: I'm on the fence with them. Unlike the riddling sphinxes, harpies are generally known in Greek mythology as instruments of punishment; a role that doesn't necessarily imply sentience. Then again, like the harpies, Pegasus was just an non-sentient animal sired by a deity, yet MLP turned Pegasus into a species of talking ponies. Hmmmm........ I'll need more thought first.

With this extended-canon species initiative, we're going with a "just the basics" approach where we only consider a species' appearance and basic abilities. History and culture are not things a player can introduce as Lore. With twinkle-eyed ponies, the only thing they got going for them is that their eyes are actual gems. That doesn't add much to WoE's worldbuilding, other than giving players a cheap way of turning their otherwise-normal ponies into special snowflakes. We'll reconsider twinkle-eyed ponies if they ever appear on the show, but for now, we're going to have to say no to them. Sorry.

After deliberating with RPH, we've reached a final determination on sphinxes: we shall define "sphinx" as a sentient being with the body and head of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. In the end, determining what sort of alternate face a basic sphinx could have was too much of a headache-inducing riddle. While it would have been interesting to base a sphinx off of Egyptian tradition, going the lazy route and giving that wingless creature a lion's head would have left us with little more than a simple talking lion. By giving our sphinxes wings, we can at least preserve the chimeric quality of such species. This is our decision.

*GAVEL SLAM*

Moth Ponies: I'm going to have to say no to them, adorable as they may be. If we permitted concepts for extended-canon species not derived from WoE lore, official MLP products or real-life mythology, we run the risk of making WoE resemble less of a structured FiM-based environment and more of a free-for-all where anything goes. For some users, letting moth ponies fly around could potentially break immersion with our game.

Twinkled-eyed Ponies: From what I understand, they're essentially regular ponies with gem-shaped irises. Thing is, if you take a close look at crystal pony eyes in the show and compare them to other pony characters, you'll notice that crystal pony eye lights are hexagonal, while everypony else's are round. This leads me to believe that to a certain extent, G4 crystal ponies are a revisitation of the prior twinkle-eyed pony concept.

*checks Wikipedia* Ah, I see then.