D&D Equestrians

Equestrians
No one is quite sure when the Equestrians came into existence, but it is believed that they were granted their ability to speak and their thirst for adventure sometime during the First Age. Based on the religions of the Equestrians, it is believed they were granted these abilities by the Elder God Gol-goneth.

Physical Description
An Equestrian looks exactly like a real pony, as that is what they are. The only difference is that Pegasi have wings, while Unicorns have horns. Beyond these features, and the possible addition of their destiny mark, they look no different than a pony.

History
It was a dark and dreary day that day. Dark clouds of eldritch energy covered the sky. A small herd of wild ponies, no more than twenty or thirty, ran freely across the land. The ponies came to an abrupt halt when the ground began to shudder and shake. They whinnied and tried to flee, but wherever the turned, the ground rose up around them.

Soon, the clouds began to pour down rain, slowly flooding the new valley that had been created. The ponies kicked and galloped, trying to find a way to escape the imminent drowning, but there was no escape to be had. As the water filled above the heads of the ponies, glowing ruby eyes appeared beneath them.

A black toad, Gol-Goneth, opened his gaping maw and swallowed the ponies whole. Within his body, the ponies would feel a change. Intelligence would flood through their minds. Language would now flow out of their mouths. Magic would flood through their very veins.

As the toad expelled the ponies from out his mouth, some found themselves now with wings, while others found themselves now with horns, and others found no changes in their physical bodies. The toad would chuckle before disappearing back into the earth, causing the ground to recede, allowing the water and ponies out of the crater.

With this new sense of intellect, some of the ponies praised Gol-Goneth, while others called these changes a curse. Those that saw it as a blessing began to think themselves the greater beings, enslaving those who did not. Soon, they even began to enslave ponies and horses that did not have this intellect.

Now there were three races: the Equus who had no wings or horn, the unicorns that had a horn, and the pegasi who had wings. While they shared no relation to the celestial unicorns or pegasi, the other races referred to them by those names, and so the names remained.

The equus believed the way to live was to live off the earth as they always had, but the unicorns - masters of magic - believed living off magic was the correct way to go. The pegasi - masters of the sky - preferred living in the tall mountains and the clouds.

The pegasi soon found that growing food in the clouds and cold mountains was an impossible task, but that they could control the clouds, allowing for some control over the weather. So, they turned to the equus for food, but the equus refused. As punishment, the pegasi prevented rain from collecting in the equus lands, soon turning them dry and barren.

The equus would flee from their barren lands into other lush lands, but always the pegasi would follow behind. This brought harm to not only the lands of the equus, but the lands of the other races that the equus would inhabit.

While the equus and pegasi fought for years, the unicorns waited and watched. To them, the pursuit of magic was more important than any other venture. They experimented with every type of magic from simple arcane spells to complex eldritch magics. Unfortunately, this brought about its own ruin when their spells began to interfere with the pegasi's weather manipulation, throwing the seasons into chaos.

The equus blamed the pegasi for this chaos, but the pegasi insisted it was the unicorns, who promptly denied involvement. In a closed scenario, this may have been only an issue for the ponies, but alas, the equus had taken residence with many other races, and this threatened their kingdoms as well.

At long last, one unicorn grew tired of this chaos and bickering. Using her powerful magic, she crafted a magical heart of diamond. With its power, the chaotic magic the unicorns had unleashed subsided. Melody, as she called herself, now demanded the ponies follow her command, lest she unleash the full power of the Equestrian Heart, destroying them all.

Melody constructed Harmony Castle atop a mountain, where the Equestrian Heart would remain, guarded by Melody's strongest and most reliable.

As for the ponies that were now forced to follow her word, they were given the name of Equestrians. To ensure no further trouble, Melody taught her people three virtues: unity, duty, and destiny. Faltering at even one would bring great ruin to the new Equestrian Empire. Unity would make her people work together. Duty would ensure that each pony did what was required of them, thus keeping their unity in check. Destiny was the most important virtue, and if a pony did not seek theirs out, they were considered the lowest of Melody's people.

Society
When Melody took control of the Equestrians, she tore down the religions and beliefs that had previously been established. Instead of the Equestrians being a race of chaotic creatures, Melody led them to be orderly. She created law amongst them and taught them three virtues: the virtues of unity, duty, and destiny. Ever since then, Equestrian society has held onto these virtues.

The first virtue, unity, brought the Equestrians together, uniting the three races into a single group. While much has attempted to tear apart this unity, every moment of history has only strengthened this bond of unity amongst the Equestrians. Equestrians have not known murder or strong crime amongst their race in centuries because of their unity.

The second virtue, duty, has kept the Equestrians in line. Equestrians view their duty as one of the greatest aspects of their lives and, even from a young age, seek out their duty. When an Equestrian diverges from their duty, the remaining Equestrians tend to scold them, viewing them as dishonorable. To disregard one's duty is one of the greatest offenses.

The final virtue, destiny, is the most important thing to an Equestrian. Some Equestrian have even gained, what they refer to as, a "Destiny Mark". This destiny mark depicts their destiny, and to an Equestrian there is no higher honor than following that destiny.

Equestrian Names
Equestrians tend to name their children after the destinies they believe they will have. It is not uncommon for an equestrian to change their name after they have discovered their destiny so as to make it match up. Equestrians have no last names, but may have a family name that encompasses their family for generations.

Stallion (Male) Names: Dark Starlight, Little Snow, Moonshadow Moon, Onyx Justice, Sapphire Twister, Swift Bolt, Thunder Spark, Yellow Armor

Mare (Female) Names: Amethyst Flower, Bubblegum, Electric Harmony, Lillypad Cupcake, Maia Starlight, Moon Petal, Phantasia, River Moon, Sweetie Rain, Water Lilly