World of Equestria: The Age of Heroes!

[Ciraxis]

34 minutes ago, SteelEagle said:

I love all of you!

With that out of the way, I am working on a little project that I personally find interesting. Anyone interested in hearing it out?

 

Daaaawwww. You spoil us Steel.

 

Myself, I certainly like to hear more. I hope that Battlemage will be involved for....reasons .

 

 

Also, seeing that EquestrianSchoolar is MIA I will be posting in Gate Kicker...if it is okay with both Dusty and Pretzy.

[SteelEagle]

So the idea is to do a bit of this in a more comic-book esque manner. And by that I mean having post number limits on threads, naming titles and threads a certain way, etc. IE: "Applejack, The Equestrian! Issue #1 (Blindsided Part 1)" would be a thread title, and it would have 22 posts. Then the next thread would be ready and be called, ""Applejack, The Equestrian! Issue #1 (Blindsided Part 2)", have 22 posts, etc. and then you have one-shots, annuals, 'limited series', etc.

 

How would they operate? People can, as always, if it involves just their characters, write alone. In effect getting to 'update/run' their characters and plots without waiting. However, several people can instead work together on any single issue/arc/series. Maybe they think the other character is interesting and want a crack and the two work out a quid pro quo for the other person to come help write the second person's own thread. Could work on joint posts, or post one after the other.

 

Then you have team 'books' which can be a lot of fun, and also easy ways if allowed to make sure characters being played by inactive/infrequent posters remain involved. They also can be larger collab efforts. You also have Style books (IE; "Adventure Comics") that may heavily involve one character, but can also bounce around and be more open to a range of characters than a set team or single character.

 

None of this is intended to replace threads as we have them now, but rather supplement them. Consistent storytelling with our characters outside of the pacing of threads as they are now can be good. And by replicating the pacing of comics themselves, the demands of posts in comic-book emulating threads can be varying. Sometimes you have a splash page with no dialogue, a mood setting panel or six, or a fight. Other times, yes, you have tons of dialogue and back and forth. Point is that while sometimes a post in one of these threads may take a while, other times you may see multiple posts in a single day depending on comic style.

 

Combined, I think this does several things:

1- Allows people to expand stories and canons for their characters faster, whether or alone or through collaboration.
2- Keeps characters not otherwise seen in rotation.
3- Helps flesh out our world through more consistent storytelling.

 

I have three 'comic lines' thought up for The Equestrian, Shifter, and a style comic with Lady Adventure.

 

Beyond that, I also want to do the following:
Get a listing of active players and their heroes.
Get a listing of less than active players that we can still contact to get permission to use their characters.
Formulate teams.
Get the villain side of the order organized better using the first two methods.

 

Once we have that done, I think we can start really pumping out some good stuff for a wide variety of characters.

[Dusty]

14 hours ago, Ciraxis said:

Also, seeing that EquestrianSchoolar is MIA I will be posting in Gate Kicker...if it is okay with both Dusty and Pretzy.

 fine by me. 

[Pretzelparty]

I like this idea actually, Steel! I say we go ahead with it.

As For the restarting of Gatekicker, I'm good with that too. I'll get to work figuring out a list of the active heroes.

[tacobob]

I'm still here..As is Cyber-Robo-Zelda!

 

Which in Japanese is this...I think.

 

[Pretzelparty]

Hey, Everypony! I managed to conduct the Census for the Au and those who are active and aren't. If you spot a mistake or think you are in the wrong spot in this list, please let me know as soon as possible. 

 

For our list of Active Heroes we have:

 

Silverbolt - Ciraxis

Blade Runner - Ciraxis

 

Sunlight Sentinel - PretzelParty

Moonlit Knight - PretzelParty

Headless Hexxer - Pretzelparty

Phantom Strider - PretzelParty

Avant Garde - PretzelParty

Bevel Gear - PretzelParty
 

Shifter - Steeleagle

Battlemage - Steeleagle

The Equestrian - Steeleagle

Lady Adventure - Steeleagle

 

Flashmob - Kirby Krackle

 

Machina - Moonshinetheleocat

 

Z.E.L.D.A. - Tacobob

 

Arcus - Pyroblaze

Dolor - Pyroblaze

Shui Seng - Pyroblaze

 

Bahamut & Rosetta - Dubstep

 

BROODMARE - Derpravener

Bulwark - Derpravener

Detective Stalwart - Derpravener

 

The Corroded - Dunnie

 

Morpheus - Dio

 

Mutt - Mutt

 

Prop - Switchback

 

Stable Loop - Windwright

 

On the Inactive list of Heroes is: 

 

Rainboom Centurion - Bramble Rose

 

GoldStar - Davroth

 

White Windigo - Raridash

 

Adventivia - Smartbrony

 

Titanium - Finite Zero

 

For Active Neutral Characters we have:

 

Castle Bravo - Dustycider

 

Pursuer - Derpravener

 

In-active Neutrals are:

 

Masquerade - EquestrianScholar.

 

Pummel - Bellosh101

...

 

On the list of Active Villains we have:

 

Ember Ashwing - Dustycider

Lightning Dust - Dustycider

 

Platinum Gem -Princeblueblood

 

Red Jarl: GodKiller - Steeleagle
Sachadara- SteelEagle
General Blindside- SteelEagle

 

The Everfree Avenger - SteelEagle

Aether Eater - SteelEagle

The imperial - SteelEagle

WRAITH - StealEagle

The Institute - StealEagle

 

Ossia - Ciraxis

 

In the inactive list is: 

 

Dark Core - Dubstep

....

 

I also have a Gdoc for this so I'll try to update it regularly with the help of other mods on the forum.

(Will be updating this with information from the OP tomorrow)

Edited February 7, 2019 by Pretzelparty

[DerpRavener]

I had a few more: Bulwark, Pursuer and BROODMARE.  Strictly speaking they're all heroes, although Pursuer and maybe BROODMARE were intended to be a little morally ambiguous.  (And in conflict with each other.)

 

Also, I'll note I'm currently potentially open to threads, or at least open to having my characters in them.  I'm not sure if that's enough to count as active though, so they could be either direction in that regard.

[SteelEagle]

Once we have the full list, I'd like to create some team stuff

[Ciraxis]

From my part, Ossia certainly should be among Active Villains, while Blade Runner would be one to be counted among Active Heroes.

 

........

We have quite a disparity in Heroes-to-Villians ratio, are we?

[PyroBlaze]

I’ve got a couple heroes for the list. Dolor and Liviel are both heroes I’ve used here previously. Tehengu as well, but I’m not sure wether to put him under hero or neutral. I’d also like to get back into this thing, if anyone wants to do anything with my characters. 

[Pretzelparty]

Updates have been made! I think I got everyone this time. 

[Pretzelparty]

To all Roleplayers here! I'm currently trying to cook up a sort of... I suppose, rating system for both heroes and villains. LIke a scale of power/influence a character has so we don't up with a really out of balance situation in a thread. 

 

Anyone have any thoughts on this idea?

[tacobob]

We could always use the old marvel power chart.

 

 

Z.E.L.D.A would probably be.

 

Intelligence:3

Strength:6

Speed:4

Durability:6

Energy Projection:0

Fighting Skills:5

[DerpRavener]

I came up with a scale a while back, that worked roughly as follows.  Note that the lists are not exhaustive, meant more to give examples than encompass the tier.

 

Tier 1 is approximately civilian level, generally low level or improvised capabilities.  This would include wild animals, militia, petty criminals and the like.

 

Tier 2 is that of active combatants, including your average soldier, higher skilled or more specialist police, and would probably lump in people with (atypical) powers or magic who are otherwise untrained.

 

Tier 3 is where you get into more specialized or empowered combatants.  I would expect 'typical' superheroes and supervillains to fall into this tier.  Specialized and particularly trained military or magic users would also fall into this tier.

 

Tier 4 is the start of the extreme end, where you get low grade or localized reality warpers, or people whose abilities while smaller in scale are much wider in range.  Examples are a little harder to come up with for this tier, though I think things like demons, AIs (say in control of a facility) or large mecha could probably fit into it.

 

Tier 5 is the top, including the most extreme sorts of things like physical manifestations of gods, ancient wizards who can raise armies of constructs or level cities, or AIs in charge of an entire fleet or a country.

 

 

I'd also be up for using Tacobob's chart, though it'd be a little more involved.  I'd also like to either get or come up with a scale for that one, to get a sense of what a given number means for a character.

It might almost be worth using both, Tacobob's to be extra description that could be applied to characters, and mine as a means of shorthand for what level a given thread is intended or expected to be.

[tacobob]

Yeah, I was just tossing that out there...I could see using an system of strengths and weakness to balance your character..

[Pretzelparty]

12 hours ago, DerpRavener said:

I came up with a scale a while back, that worked roughly as follows.  Note that the lists are not exhaustive, meant more to give examples than encompass the tier.

 

Tier 1 is approximately civilian level, generally low level or improvised capabilities.  This would include wild animals, militia, petty criminals and the like.

 

Tier 2 is that of active combatants, including your average soldier, higher skilled or more specialist police, and would probably lump in people with (atypical) powers or magic who are otherwise untrained.

 

Tier 3 is where you get into more specialized or empowered combatants.  I would expect 'typical' superheroes and supervillains to fall into this tier.  Specialized and particularly trained military or magic users would also fall into this tier.

 

Tier 4 is the start of the extreme end, where you get low grade or localized reality warpers, or people whose abilities while smaller in scale are much wider in range.  Examples are a little harder to come up with for this tier, though I think things like demons, AIs (say in control of a facility) or large mecha could probably fit into it.

 

Tier 5 is the top, including the most extreme sorts of things like physical manifestations of gods, ancient wizards who can raise armies of constructs or level cities, or AIs in charge of an entire fleet or a country.

 

 

I'd also be up for using Tacobob's chart, though it'd be a little more involved.  I'd also like to either get or come up with a scale for that one, to get a sense of what a given number means for a character.

It might almost be worth using both, Tacobob's to be extra description that could be applied to characters, and mine as a means of shorthand for what level a given thread is intended or expected to be.

 

On 2/16/2019 at 1:44 AM, tacobob said:

We could always use the old marvel power chart.

 

 

Z.E.L.D.A would probably be.

 

Intelligence:3

Strength:6

Speed:4

Durability:6

Energy Projection:0

Fighting Skills:5

I don't have any issue with using both of these, frankly.  I can see the pros and cons... Would everyone be alright trying to categorize their character according to where they land on these scales? I can start us off by trying to  stat my character's starting with my latest. 

[DerpRavener]

Let me take a shot at it.  And I'll note I'm open to discussion on any of these ratings, as I'm still not entirely sure where the ends of the scale are.

 

Detective Stalwart

Tier 3 when going all out, due to some things they keep hidden, will typically behave as a tier 2.

 

Intelligence: 5

Strength: 3

Speed: 3

Durability: 3

Energy Projection: 0

Fighting Skills: 5

 

Bulwark

Tier 4, though limited enough in scope to function as tier 3 at times.

 

Intelligence: 4

Strength: 6

Speed: 2

Durability: 6

Energy Projection: 4

Fighting Skills: 5

 

BROODMARE

Tier 3 when she's limited to her pony-form chassis, tier 4 when she has access to systems or materials to work with.

 

Intelligence: 6

Strength: 4

Speed: 3

Durability: 5

Energy Projection: 4

Fighting Skills: 5

 

Pursuer

Tier 4

 

Intelligence: 7

Strength: 4

Speed: 3

Durability: 4

Energy Projection: 6

Fighting Skills: 5

[PyroBlaze]

I guess I can try. I have no idea what the numbers mean really, so take those with a grain of salt. 

 

Arcus:

Probably tier 3, especially with his combination of powers and military training. 

 

Int: 4

Str: 4

Spd: 3

Durability: 3 

Energy Projection: 1

Fighting Skills: 6

 

Dolor: 

Tier 2

 

Int: 1

Str: 5

Spd: 3

Durability: 6

Energy Projection: 3

Fighting Skills: 3

 

Shui Seng: 

Tier 3

 

Int: 4

Str: 3

Spd: 5

Durability: 3

Energy Projection: 4 

Fighting Skills: 6

[SteelEagle]

Shifter- Tier 2. However, this can fluctuate due to the ability to in some manner mimic the powers of who Shifter turns into, though not to the same level.

Intelligence: 3
Strength: 2
Speed: 2
Durability: 6
Energy Projection: 0
Fighting Skills: 2

 

Applejack, The Equestrian-  Tier 3, bordering on Tier 4.

Intelligence: 4
Strength: 5
Speed: 5
Durability: 5
Energy Projection: 3
Fighting Skills: 7

 

The Battlemage- Tier 4, borders on Tier 5 and possibly Tier 5 standard. Potentially unlimited depending on whom she speaks and makes deals with.

Intelligence: 6
Strength: 3
Speed: 4
Durability: 5
Energy Projection: 7
Fighting Skills: 3

 

Lady Adventure- Tier 1, often Tier 2, ALSO OFTEN TIER 3 OR ABOVE. She doesn't know(or care), how can you?

Intelligence: 1? 7?
Strength: 1? 5?
Speed: 1? 7?
Durability: 3? 7?
Energy Projection: Okay, this is a 0. Unless it is a 7.
Fighting Skills: 2? 7?

[Pretzelparty]

Headless Hexxer

 

Tier 4

 

Intelligence: 4

Strength: 4

Speed: 6

Durability: 6

Energy Projection: 5

Fighting Skills: 5

 

 

Tobohime

 

(Kirin) Tier 3.5

(Yokaiju) Tier 4.5

 

Intelligence: 4

Strength: 4

Speed: 5

Durability:  4

Energy Projection: 5 (kirin) 7 (Yokaiju)

Fighting Skills:  3

 

Avant Garde

 

Tier 4

 

Intelligence: 4.5

Strength: 3

Speed: 4

Durability: 2

Energy Projection: 6

Fighting Skills: 4

 

Sunlight Sentinel

 

Tier 5

 

*Relative to the position of the sun*

 

Intelligence: 7

Strength: 6-7+

Speed: 5

Durability: 6

Energy Projection:  5

Fighting Skills: 6

 

Moonlit Knight

 

Tier 5

 

*Moon and Armor

 

Intelligence: 7

Strength: 4 - 5*

Speed: 5 - 6*

Durability: 4 - 6*

Energy Projection: 7-7+

Fighting Skills: 6

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Sorry to keep everyone waiting. Finally managed to finish this list. Would everyone be alright with me adding the Tier and Stat list to the character app sheet?

[Blueblood]

Superhero/Supervillain Name: Kōkina Kyūkei (Noble Break; the closest native Japanese phrase I could find to ‘good hacker’)

 

Powers:

 

Construct Reading: Using nothing but her raw magic, she is able to get a read on how any complex magical spell, technology, or magitek construct works, and what it would take to get control of it.  She usually wears a set of sunglasses especially enchanted to read them faster

Computer and Construct Hacking: Kōkina is one of the premier hackers in Neighpon; given enough time and concentration, there is no piece of technology or magic that she can’t bend to her will.  She wears a set of specialized gear to help her do it faster. However, she’s not especially skilled at building any of her own, making her overall power level dependent upon the technology level of her environment.

Optmimize/Overclock: Constructs under her control run at maximum efficiency once she has enough time to get used to controlling them.  She can even up their performance exponentially, at the cost of burning them out after a short time.

 

Alias: Shiroi Boshi (White Hat) - Also her birth name

 

Backstory:  Born to a pair of ordinary salaryponies working for one of the great Zaibatsu of Nieghpon, Shiroi’s natural talent quickly became apparent to her parents, who were excited by the prospect of their filly becoming one of the great “salary heroes” of the company they worked for.  This would mean a great increase of prestige for them within the organization, not to mention increase their chances of outright survival as the Tatakau Zaibatsu (War of the Companies) began to grow more violent within the islands.

 

Shiroi, however, was not so easy to manipulate.  Equipped with the finest skill-enhancing magitek the Zaibatsu could spare, she was soon able to subvert her would-be master’s own security systems, exposing to her the full extent of their more underhooved activities.  An idealistic and patriotic mare, she was utterly disgusted at how all the Zaibatsu were pursuing their own power at the expense of Neighpon as a whole, and so she ran away from home, becoming a free agent hacker, evenhandedly seeking to undermine the power and influence of the warring companies under her new name of Kōkina Kyūkei.

 

This brought her to the attention of the Shogun, a then mostly-sidelined figure aiming to restore peace and security to Neighpon by teaming up with all the powerful ponies that he could.  Re-inspired by the dedication of the young dragon-pony, she immediately swore an oath of utter fealty to him, quickly becoming an important part in the Golden Restoration Movement. Her skills at hacking proved essential in breaking the power of the Zaibatsu, convincing many that resistance was futile.  In the end, the Shogun was successful in bringing the Tatakau Zaibatsu to an end, and Kōkina Kyūkei soon found herself in his government cabinet, in charge of setting and carrying out the Shogunate’s magitek security policy.

 

Today she remains fully dedicated to her purpose, aiming first and foremost to maintain the supremacy of the Shogunate over the Zaibatsu in terms of the magical, technical, and magiteknical capabilities they control.  However, she also seeks to ensure the supremacy of Neighpon in these fields over all other nations, including that of Equestria. This has brought her into conflict with international heroes, as well as villains. But as far as she is concerned, what is good for the Shogunate is good for Neighpon, and what is good for Neighpon is simply good.  End of story.

 

Notable Allies:

The Shogunate: Kōkina Kyūkei has the full backing of the Neighponese government, with access to the state budget and resources.  Any character aligned with the Shogun is likely to be a friend to her, and may count on her aid if it is needed.

Tobohime: Kōkina has fought alongside this Yo-Kaiju during the Golden Restoration, and on subsequent occasions when fighting off threats to Neighpon.

 

Notable Personal Villains/Rivals:

Disloyal Zabaitsu (Open to be apped)

Halvard Breen/IRN-Bou: (Will be apped by me soon)  This Caribou mogul has recently made a name for himself on the weapons and security market, first coming to Kōkina’s attention when she found his systems to be supremely resistant to her hacking.  She considers him a personal threat to the future security of Neighpon, though few in the government think the situations so dire as that.

 

General Notability: Within Neighpon, she is something of a public figure, being fairly prominent within the Shogunate.  Due to the relative isolation of her country until recent times, this has not translated yet into outside fame.

 

[Pretzelparty]

Spoiler

4 hours ago, PrinceBlueblood said:

Superhero/Supervillain Name: Kōkina Kyūkei (Noble Break; the closest native Japanese phrase I could find to ‘good hacker’)

 

Powers:

 

Construct Reading: Using nothing but her raw magic, she is able to get a read on how any complex magical spell, technology, or magitek construct works, and what it would take to get control of it.  She usually wears a set of sunglasses especially enchanted to read them faster

Computer and Construct Hacking: Kōkina is one of the premier hackers in Neighpon; given enough time and concentration, there is no piece of technology or magic that she can’t bend to her will.  She wears a set of specialized gear to help her do it faster. However, she’s not especially skilled at building any of her own, making her overall power level dependent upon the technology level of her environment.

Optmimize/Overclock: Constructs under her control run at maximum efficiency once she has enough time to get used to controlling them.  She can even up their performance exponentially, at the cost of burning them out after a short time.

 

Alias: Shiroi Boshi (White Hat) - Also her birth name

 

Backstory:  Born to a pair of ordinary salaryponies working for one of the great Zaibatsu of Nieghpon, Shiroi’s natural talent quickly became apparent to her parents, who were excited by the prospect of their filly becoming one of the great “salary heroes” of the company they worked for.  This would mean a great increase of prestige for them within the organization, not to mention increase their chances of outright survival as the Tatakau Zaibatsu (War of the Companies) began to grow more violent within the islands.

 

Shiroi, however, was not so easy to manipulate.  Equipped with the finest skill-enhancing magitek the Zaibatsu could spare, she was soon able to subvert her would-be master’s own security systems, exposing to her the full extent of their more underhooved activities.  An idealistic and patriotic mare, she was utterly disgusted at how all the Zaibatsu were pursuing their own power at the expense of Neighpon as a whole, and so she ran away from home, becoming a free agent hacker, evenhandedly seeking to undermine the power and influence of the warring companies under her new name of Kōkina Kyūkei.

 

This brought her to the attention of the Shogun, a then mostly-sidelined figure aiming to restore peace and security to Neighpon by teaming up with all the powerful ponies that he could.  Re-inspired by the dedication of the young dragon-pony, she immediately swore an oath of utter fealty to him, quickly becoming an important part in the Golden Restoration Movement. Her skills at hacking proved essential in breaking the power of the Zaibatsu, convincing many that resistance was futile.  In the end, the Shogun was successful in bringing the Tatakau Zaibatsu to an end, and Kōkina Kyūkei soon found herself in his government cabinet, in charge of setting and carrying out the Shogunate’s magitek security policy.

 

Today she remains fully dedicated to her purpose, aiming first and foremost to maintain the supremacy of the Shogunate over the Zaibatsu in terms of the magical, technical, and magiteknical capabilities they control.  However, she also seeks to ensure the supremacy of Neighpon in these fields over all other nations, including that of Equestria. This has brought her into conflict with international heroes, as well as villains. But as far as she is concerned, what is good for the Shogunate is good for Neighpon, and what is good for Neighpon is simply good.  End of story.

 

Notable Allies:

The Shogunate: Kōkina Kyūkei has the full backing of the Neighponese government, with access to the state budget and resources.  Any character aligned with the Shogun is likely to be a friend to her, and may count on her aid if it is needed.

Tobohime: Kōkina has fought alongside this Yo-Kaiju during the Golden Restoration, and on subsequent occasions when fighting off threats to Neighpon.

 

Notable Personal Villains/Rivals:

Disloyal Zabaitsu (Open to be apped)

Halvard Breen/IRN-Bou: (Will be apped by me soon)  This Caribou mogul has recently made a name for himself on the weapons and security market, first coming to Kōkina’s attention when she found his systems to be supremely resistant to her hacking.  She considers him a personal threat to the future security of Neighpon, though few in the government think the situations so dire as that.

 

General Notability: Within Neighpon, she is something of a public figure, being fairly prominent within the Shogunate.  Due to the relative isolation of her country until recent times, this has not translated yet into outside fame.

 

 

 

Our new Neighponese Hero is approved!

[PyroBlaze]

Hero Name: Kaminari

 

Real Name: Sanda Kumo 

 

Powers: In addition to the typical abilities inherent to being a pegasus, such as flight, she has the ability to control lightning and electricity in general. She tends to use her armor and weaponry, though mostly her spear, to help her channel and aim the lightning. 

 

Backstory: Sanda’s family was comprised of proud military veterans, both of her parents having served in defense of Neighpon. Even as the Zaibatsu began fighting, her family remained fiercely patriotic, leading her to sign up with the Shogun in his fight to restore peace. Throughout this time, she proved herself a very capable fighter with the spear, even before discovering her powers. With them though, she quickly rose through the ranks and eventually became a part of the shogunate itself in a way. She was the head of the royal guard, though her background meant she would help with the military matters as well. 

 

Notable Allies: The Shogunate: All members of the cabinet are under her protection, though some need it less than others. 

 

Enemies: Any enemy of Neighpon is an enemy of hers. 

 

Notability: Being a guard, even the head one, means she is largely ignored by the public of Neighpon, her name often overshadowed by those she is sworn to protect. 

[Pretzelparty]

Kaminari is approved!

[Blueblood]

Superhero/Supervillain Name: Iron Bull

 

 

 

Powers: 

A super-technological exoskeleton, blue-grey in color, with a runic “B” etched in the center of his chest, equipped with flight and weapons systems.  He’s constantly upgrading his suit, but at the current time, his readily-available firepower puts him on par with an above-average wizard. He can take a beating while wearing it, too, which most wizards cannot.

The money and resources to sustain the R&D needed to design and build a suit like that

The brains needed to design and build a suit like that

A considerable degree of melee-range physical fighting power, enhanced by his suit.

 

 

Alias: Halvard Breen, CEO of Breen Industries.  He doesn’t broadcast that he’s Iron Bull, but there’s enough branding on the suit itself for any fool to see that the armor itself came from Breen Industries.

 

 

 

Backstory: Breen was born as heir to a family of shipwrights, one of the few industries that were running in Whitescar at the time.  The land, since the Banishing of the Red Jarl, had more or less held together, but was far from it’s prosperous days of old. There was no all-out war, but occasional scraps between clans and raids on the outside nations were found to be useful to alleviate the resource strains the caribou often found themselves facing.

Little in the way of economic or technological development could take place in this environment, and what passed for high tech in Whitescar was only the remains of the Red Jarl’s own inventions, preserved through lines of craftsbous descended from artisans who originally served in Brann’s armies.  Ships and sea-faring vessels remained useful, and thus the knowledge was kept alive, though these were more often used for fishing than for war.

 

Early on, Halvard showed a level of aptitude towards the family business that was exceptional, though often times a little problematic.  The old traditions mostly covered how to build ships, but not why they worked the way they did, and the young bull was very curious about that.  Eventually, his parents made the decision to send the lad off to get a foreign education, in the hopes that he would return, to unlock the secrets underneath their very hooves.

In this hope, they would not be disappointed.  Abroad in Equestria, Halvard learned modern engineering, and became familiar with the cutting edges of technological innovation.  But knowledge alone was not the only harvest of his venture; seeing the doings of heroes in person and in the news inspired him with what the pinnacle of personal achievement could be for those with the drive and ability, and seeing the prosperity of the country around him gave him the ambition to have the same thing for his own people back at home.

 

With his inspiration, ambition, and ability all working together, he achieved early graduation and returned home, already working on plans to optimize his family’s old designs.  In one year, he’d tripled both the ship’s performance, and their profit margins. In three years, he’d perfected the design of a submersible, which would be used for deep-sea recover missions.  And it was from this that his greatest breakthrough would come.

 

The greatest technological power in this world was Neighpon, and it was this country that Halvard had hoped to learn from the most.  However, the Shogunate was notoriously tight with their designs, barely exporting any of them, and always what they would consider obsolete.  There were tight controls on what could leave the home islands, but the Imperial Navy, of course, was always equipped with the best. And sometimes, more these days due to the ongoing conflicts with the Yo-Kaiju, the ships did not return to port.

 

Upon hearing of such battles, Halvard would race the Shogunate’s own recovery teams to the wreckage site, hoping to carry off Neighponese tech to reverse-engineer.  Much to the Imperial Ire, his persistence paid off, and the wreck of a cruiser boat was taken piecemeal back to Whitescar.

After encouraging his parents to take an early retirement, Halvard re-organized the business to launch products based upon what he could glean from the wreck.  The first device to hit it big was a personal communication unit, convenient for civilian and military use. The International success of this product launched Breen Industries into the international spotlight, as tech of this level had not been made commercially available outside of Neighpon.  And now, everyone could have it!

 

With the profits rolling in, Halvard made sure to use them to build up all the villages in his clan, and then neighboring clans.  With each new product line, came a new addition to his network of clan clients. Whitescar was being renewed, not by divine intervention, but by mortal industry and ingenuity.  And this new Whitescar would need a hero…

 

Halvard had determined for some time that he would be that hero.  Long nights after board meetings were spent in his shop, designing, testing, and ultimately building his Iron Bull suit.  Whitescar was in many places still a wild land, with monsters to be fought back from settlements. These made a perfect debut for his hoofwork, though ultimately, his ambition would lead to Iron Bull making appearances internationally, showing the world what Breen Industries and New Whitescar were capable of!

 

 

Notable Allies: 

The Phantom Strider - As the other famous caribou hero, the two were bound to meet eventually.  In many ways, their goals align, as Brann is no more a friend to Halvard’s New Whitescar as he is to the gods.  Nevertheless, he and Sigrun differ greatly in their philosophies, especially as regards the gods.

 

 

 

Notable Personal Villains:

The Neighponese in general do not have a high opinion of ‘that Viking thief.’  Partially understandable, as his fortune was made off the back of their inventions, though he would retort that they could have prevented his rise simply by being reasonable and selling what was obviously a product in high demand.

 

 

 

 

General Notability:

Ironically enough, Halvard Breen is still probably more famous than Iron Bull at this point, as the CEO had more time to capture media attention for his company, projects, and ambitions for his country.  If anything, Iron Bull is riding the tailcoats of his civilian alias by wearing the runic logo of Breen industries on his chest.