ShadowMage

Name: Gearly Sex: Male Age: Stallion (19-20-ish range) Species: Earth Pony Coat Color: Steel Grey Mane/Tail Color & Style: Both - Mix of: Dark Brown (Varnished Oak, #703b1b) and Light Brown (Tanned Leather, #C6914D). Worn as slightly combed bed-head. Eye Color: Teal Cutie Mark: A set of 2 silver gears with the teeth of the gears interlocked, representing his affinity for clockwork machinery, particularly the fabrication of unique devices. Physique: Tip of left ear is torn, leaving a jagged edge. His body is less well built than most other Stallions. His front legs are lean and fairly well muscled, although minutely scarred from various accidents. Origin: Birthed: Outside Solstice Heights. Current Residence: Stalliongrad Roleplay Type: Mane Occupation: Engineer/Mechanic Motivation: Gearly, always fascinated with the world about him and disappointed in not being gifted with the powers of magic, turned to science and mathematics to solve problems and better the lives of those around himself. His first creation earned his cutie mark. Likes: Logic, Reason, Experimentation, Physics, New experiences, New ideas, (Secretly) Magic, Education, Innovation, Trinkets Dislikes: Electricity, Stagnation, The status quo, Time, Darkness, Ignorance, Form over function, Jewelry, Extravagance Character Summary: On a small farmstead near Solstice Heights, a foal was born to a poor family who had been wheat farmers for generations. His dark-grey pelt echoed the steel gear that had broken on the family's wheat thresher earlier that day; lacking a better name, he was given the name inspired by his grey coat. His name, as it turned out, proved to be fitting; before his eighth summer, he figured out how to disassemble the wagon simply by watching his father. Within two more years, he had prevented the constant grinding of the wheat thresher by replacing the gear which had inspired his name and had continued to degrade. With the rusted gear hidden away under his pillow, he set out to improve the machines upon his parent's farm. Within months, he had learned all he could from dismantling and maintaining the basic farming utilities owned by his family. He was content for several weeks, but his curiosity could not be sated by contraptions he had already mastered. While his family was distracted by their harvesting duties, he began to make infrequent, secretive trips into town. With every return home, he'd tuck a newly "acquired", curious device into a hidden compartment under his floorboards; the contraptions were always damaged, and he was certain that such things would not be missed. As the crawlspace beneath his room became a warehouse for springs, sprockets, gears, and pulleys, he began volunteering to head into town to buy supplies for his family; no pony ever seemed to connect the farmer's grey son with the disappearance of tools, the misplacement of parts, and the loss of inexpensive devices. The following cold season was one of learning and experimentation for Gearly; farm life in the winter months left ample time for dismantling, tinkering, and reassembling his mechanical curiosities. During the short frozen days, Gearly discovered many of the principles which powered jacks, pumps, clocks, and other devices; working with the creations of people far wiser and infinitely more educated than he, Gearly observed how clockwork bits interacted. Even as he worked and toiled, though, he knew his family would ostracize him for his burning passion. The young pony kept his hobby from his family, hidden under piles of wheat stalks and chaff insulation. As winter came to a close, Gearly's family tasked him with heading into town to collect supplies for the coming year. In his absence, his family began working on that year's winter wrap-up; his father and brothers began clearing the fields of snow while his mother and sisters set out, clearing the improvised insulation from the house. Hauling a cart laden with supplies for the new spring and returning late that evening, Gearly found his family pulling heaps of metal springs, cogs, and other clockwork bit from his room out into the field before their house. After being chided by his parents and reassembling and returning each and every item which he had "acquired", Gearly was exiled to his room that night without any nourishment. While his parents loved Gearly dearly, they were at a loss for what to do with their troublesome son; he had never contributed to the farm as his other siblings did, and it was plain that his curiosity could not be contained. His odd and eccentric behavior had nearly caused his parents to die of shame and embarrassment. There was only solution as near as they could find: send their son to a formal school; if nothing else, it would get them out of their mane to figure out something else. Self-educated and lacking a great deal of resources, the thought of a formal education was enough to make the young foal's head spin. While the prospect of leaving his family and the only home he had know was upsetting, Gearly knew that it would be foolish to pass up an opportunity such as this. By the end of the week, bags had been packed, plans had been set, and hugs had been shared. The day of his departure, Gearly slipped to his room, pulling the ancient, rusted gear from beneath his pillow; slipping the toothed circle onto bit of twine and tying it into a large hoop, the young foal slipped the ad-hock necklace over his head and went to share a round of final good-byes to his family. The glamor and excitement of formal education rapidly wore off for the soon-to-be-colt. His peers, all several years younger from starting their education earlier in life, could not relate to the older pony; few to none knew of the hardships of working on a farm, a lifestyle Gearly was quite accustomed to. While his peers played and frolicked in the sun and fields, Gearly studied and talked to his teachers, seeking knowledge he hadn't acquired earlier in life. The vast interest in mechanisms rather than toys and games was alien and laughable to his peers. Gearly's eccentric mannerisms caused only a fraction of the torment directed at the new student; the rusted gear worn about his neck and his naked flank were constantly fuel for any and all who wished to bully the poor farmer's, who was quickly dubbed "Geekly". Early one fateful day, a pair of hooligans decided to play a prank upon Gearly; one would distract their target as the other would hide, trip the grey colt and then steal the "ugly and useless" gear that he always wore while he was dazed. The plan worked perfectly, much to the distress of Gearly; the necklace was both a symbol of his passion and a memory of his family and farm, and it was now in the hands of ruffians who would likely lose or damage it. Only after much begging and pleading with the teacher, insisting how important the rusty gear was, was the keepsake returned safe and sound. Gearly waited patiently for punishment to be dealt to his two delinquent peers, but not even a scolding was given; Gearly stormed off in a huff, determined to take matters into his own hooves. As the memory of the incident faded from the mind of all involved save Gearly, he toiled secretly behind a cluster of topiaries, hidden away from prying eyes. Using various scavenged and bought parts, the colt fashioned his first contraption from scratch; The catapult he had cobbled together would deliver a payload of viscous tree sap to his targets as he hid in the bushes. Luring his tormentors to the mark, he primped the device, loaded the sap, and pulled the cord to fire the machine; not a thing had happened. Questioning his design as he trotted toward his contraption, he leaned close to inspect for any faults in his design. Sap at oozed down into the device, coating the gears in the sticky fluid preventing them from working. At that moment, he heard a loud snap as something gave way, his machine exploding into thousands of tiny splinters as he was flung backwards, colliding with a tree. When he opened his eyes, he found himself upside-down, coated in sap, firmly stuck to the trunk of a sturdy oak. Gearly's sudden appearance upon the side of the tree started the young filly who'd been singing peacefully beneath the cool leaves. Moments later, after recovering from his stunning flight and even more stunning stop, Gearly regained his senses and verbally calmed the shaken deep sky-blue pelted pony; the filly carefully helped Gearly from the tree and proceeded to help him clean up the remains of creation, after asking politely if Gearly needed assistance. The silver-maned pony's kindness surprised Gearly, having only dealt with laughter and ridicule from others his age. As he cleaned the sticky sap from his form, his shock only deepened as he discovered a set of silver gears sporting brightly on flank. His luck had taken a dramatic turn for the better that day; he'd gained both his first true friend and found his cutie mark. After completing his schooling years later, Gearly returned to his family's farm and his home. The unusual mannerisms which had caused him and his family such trouble years before had dulled, though his burning passion for all things machinery and creation and only intensified. Gearly knew that, while a sturdy foundation, his current level of schooling would never satisfy his passion and desires; to achieve his goals, he'd need to leave his family once more, traveling to the far off city of Stalliongrad to study and practice. After several months which felt all too short, Gearly had helped his family in the only way he was able; each and every machine on the farm had been modified by Gearly so that, while he was gone, his work would still help his family earn their livelihood. With yet another round of good-byes, and a heavy heart, Gearly set out on the long road to Stalliongrad to learn all he could. "A failure is still a success if you learn from it." Character Log Here

Steampunk, TF2, Warhammer 40k, and other epic things I can't remember at the moment!

Once I get some extra cash, I'm eventually going to splurge abit on a pair of Steam-punk style goggles, maybe even a set of cyber-punk style as well.

The Armony guy that posted earlier introduced me to ponies and Canterlot. Also, thanks for all the great links!

I just realized... Team Fortress 2 is a gate-way hobby to POOOOOOOONIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! Case-in-point: PONY FORTRESS!

Haha! "Do you like steampunk?" No, good sir... I do NOT like steampunk. I LOVE steampunk.... :heart: And Cyber-punk. I'm mostly fond of dystopian settings so any ___-punk generally appeals to me.

The only issue is, I have this really bad habit of spending my money.... Alot... Like... I've dumped probably a hundred dollars into buying stuff from the Mann Co store in Team Fortress 2... After buying the game.... /me facehooves.

To Part 1: AAAAAAAAAH!! IT'S EVIL! SEND IT AWAY! To Part 2: "LOOOUDEEEER!"

Oh dear merciful heavens. You've show me you can give MONEY to this site... This won't end well for my wallet.

Well, here I am, a brony at last, and so suddenly too... At first, one member of my online gaming community was the only one I knew who liked FIM. She ranted and raved and I always thought her abit weird, even before she talked so much about My Little Pony. Then she "infected" some other people in the gaming community, including my best friend. I'd been friends with this guy for more than 5 years so his sudden obsession with ponies was abit more influencing. I went the HUB website, watched a few episodes (Feeling Pinkie Keen, Winter Wrap Up, Call of the Cutie, Stare Master, and Show Stoppers) and I thought it was a pretty good show. I don't have the TV station that FIM airs on, and I felt dirty watching the episodes on YouTube, so my exposure was short and mild. I loved and tolerated those who had joined the herd. They joked about ponies, I talked to them about ponies, mostly humoring them. Life was good and simple. Then I made a terrible mistake. I had some stuff for my best friend, and I hadn't seen him in quite a while since he moved away. We arranged for me to go over to his house and we'd hang out. I had planned to take a movie I just got to his house and we'd watch it; a bit later, I came up with the idea that I'd watch the collection of episodes he had on his computer. It was more of a "you put up with my ****, I'll put up with yours" kinda deal. And then it happened... Fourteen episodes later, I was a brony: full-blown and ecstatic. I went from a calm and happy early Level-Two, straight to a Level-5 within mere hours. The transition was startling and at first I cursed my friendly liberally for infecting me (All in good fun, of course.) By the late-ish hours of the evening, my head felt like it was splitting open, so I decided to head home, figuring a good night's sleep would relieve me of the headache. Unfortunately, the head-ache persisted into the next morning, leading me to the conclusion my transformation was so rapid and sudden... I had developed a pony-hangover. For those who wish to avoid my wall of text: 48 hours ago, I tolerated Ponies. Now: I LOVE PONIES! And I am glad to be here.