Unicorn Steamgear [Ready]

[ThunderCrash]

Roleplay Type: Mane RP

Name: Steamgear

Sex: Male

Age: Young Stallion

Species: Unicorn

Eye colour: Grey

Coat: Dark Grey, can usually be found in overalls with whatever equipment he may have with him at the time

Mane/Tail: White, combed straight. Usually wears a dark blue and white striped engineer's cap.

Physique: Not overly muscular, but obviously has worked with more than magic for most of his life.

Residence: Canterlot, at the roundhouse.

Occupation: Railroad worker - has multiple duties, from line, locomotive, and train repairs to conductor, and once or twice in a pinch has been a fireman [aka: stoker - the one that shovels the coal into the firebox of a steam locomotive].

Cutie Mark: Railroad diamond. (Two crossed railroad lines in the shape of an X [the term coming from the shape made in the center of the crossed tracks.) Recieved during his first time riding on a steam engine. He'd always wanted an escape from the life he had (see history) and one day while at the railway station running an errand, an engineer asked him for some help - with the promise of letting him ride on the engine as it shunted some cars as payment. Performing the tasks asked of him, the engineer kept his word to Gear, and when Gear was let blow the engine's whistle, he knew from that moment on what he wanted to do with his life.

History: Nobody knows where Steamgear was born or what ever happened to his parents. His origins are a basket on the steps of an orphanage in Dodge Junction. It wasn't a sad life though. He was happy as a foal, even without knowing who his parents were. After all, he had a lot of brothers and sisters to play with! As he grew older he began working more and more though; he had a single obsession - the power of steam. He didn't quite understand it himself, though he sometimes blamed his name. He always wanted to know how steam technology worked, with the prime example being the railroad's locomotives. It was new technology, and seemed to break down a lot on the outer edges of the desert. All those long stretches without water towers were the problem, but he never spoke up to the railroad workers about it. If anyone knew, they did.

Rather, growing up he worked very hard for the owner and operator of the orphanage. He was a very wealthy stallion from Manehattan that spoke often of turning Dodge Junction into a desert paradise, like Las Pegasus. Unfortunately, the man had no interest in Steamgear's passion, and the two often clashed verbally over what the young colt wanted to do with his life. It was obvious that he loved the railroad, but the big city stallion always saw it as a waste of time, energy, and money when there were ways of flying. He even laughed at the thought of a unicorn that wanted to use technology. Magic was their forte. Why not use it? The colt, despite being a very hard worker and very smart, always seemed very silly to him.

The day did come when he earned his cutie mark, and it only served to stoke the passion he had for the railroad - fledgling a thing as it was. Considering the railroad diamond cutie mark, the Manehattan stallion finally relented and helped him along with his goals in life. He didn't see them as being profitable, but then again not every pony out there was about making money. Thus, he got Steamgear a job in the repair shop of Manehattan's roundhouse. He worked there for most of his colt years, learning everything, and eventually worked up the courage to talk to his boss about some kind of promotion. His supervisor had been waiting months to be asked, and quickly got in contact with the roundhouse operator in Canterlot. The next train out that way took Steamgear to Canterlot, and he's been there ever since.

In all his time around the trains though, he's come to design one of his own. One that's far more reliable and less trouble than the current trains - not to mention an incredible amount faster. He even has models of it... but nobody will listen to him. They think of him as an amazing worker, but not a source of ideas.

Character Summary: Steamgear himself would say that his talent is being a hard worker, but in truth it's just about anything that has to do with steam power. he's very good with it and knows just how to use it after working with it for so long. He loves working with it, and feels strongly that it's something that should be used more because there are so many possibilities with it. He rather dislikes it when anyone says that it's a useless or trivial thing - especially if they say it was outdated before it started being used.

As far as his hobbies are concerned, he likes building models and working on designs - though he can just as often be found working on the real thing and walking along the tracks to check and make sure they're in good condition. He's nice to be around, though he's a little reclusive. He gazes at stars at night, and tends to wish on every shooting star that some day he'll get to build at least the locomotive for his train - to prove it works.

He's not really afraid of anything, though he hasn't come across much to be afraid of. If there was anything he continually failed at, it's probably convincing his superiors that he has good ideas. He hasn't really bothered with things he doesn't think he'd be good at.

[Rosewind]

Hi! If this application is ready for review by the staff, please edit your title with the tag [Ready]. Thanks!

[ThunderCrash]

Thank you for reminding me! ^-^ And done!

[SteelEagle]

It looks pretty good! Before I send it up though, what is his train design? As long as it fits established board canon it will be okay.

[ThunderCrash]

The train's design is a modified steam locomotive. Instead of using wood or coal to heat the boiler, it uses magic, and the system with the water is fully enclosed (that is, the pistons don't release steam into the open air as they work, instead the steam is fed to a storage tank via piping so that it can cool, condense into liquid water, and be fed back into the boiler for re-use). It's also more streamlined.

Overall, there are only three differences between a regular engine and this one:

1. Magic instead of coal to boil the water.

2. Pipes and storage tank to recycle the water.

3. More streamlined exterior.

[SteelEagle]

Seems cool to me.

[ThunderCrash]

Coolness. ^_^

[RarityDash]

Yeah, I think this all checks out... so: