Collaborations guide 1

It's the World Builder's job to get everything started. If you've ever had any interest in storytelling, it's likely that you have some sort of world idea sitting around in your head, so this should be easy.

First, go over the history and important events of your world, something like this:

History:

Ponies looked up in fear as the sun was blotted out. A vast cloud of black smoke enveloped the land as the thing descended. It was bigger than a city, gigantic masses of twisted, black metal stretching from horizon to horizon. None knew from whence it came, or who or what it was, but it was apparent that a burning hatred for warmth and softness must lurk in its metal heart, for it was unstoppable, raining death and sickness down on the land, exterminating every living thing in its path as it made a beeline for Canterlot.

The ponies rallied at Cloudsdale to stop the thing's genocidal rampage. There was Spitfire of the Wonderbolts, and Shining Armor with his brave knights, and of course, the Elements of Harmony.

Spitfire's air force was no match for the metal beast's guns, but they were able to draw its fire away from Shining Armor's airship long enough for him board the creature. They fought for days, battling through deck after deck of mechanical monsters, finally reaching the metal beast's heart with heavy losses. As hordes of clockwork soldiers closed in for the kill, Shining Armor through himself into the heart, jamming the gears with his own body. The thing's engines stuttered as its power failed, and it came crashing to the ground, but at too heavy a cost.

Cloudsdale was destroyed, the land was covered in a shroud of poisonous smoke, goddesses and Elements of Harmony had vanished, and the beast's metal children have inherited the ruins of Equestria.

The beast lies in slumber even now. Some say Shining Armor is there still there, wrestling with the heart's gears after all these centuries, but a day will come when his strength will wane, and the beast will awake once more.

Alrighty, you've got the history. Now, describe the setting of the world. What is it like now?

Setting:

The world is mostly barren wastelands shrouded in endless night. A few ponies were evacuated from Cloudsdale and have established hidden settlements in the mountains, but most of pony kind lives in dystopian, mechanical cities, the largest of which is Cthon, the dormant ship which invaded Equestria long ago.

Go into detail about whatever comes to your mind. It can be used later when it comes time to write the story.

The machines bear no resemblance to living things. They are not "robotic people." Their bodies are bulky and inorganic, designed to perform their jobs with efficiency, and they never speak, instead communicating by using lights, morse code, or printing instructions to communicate. They use rudimentary electricity for things like lights, but they are powered mostly by burning fossil fuels. They come in many forms, from spidery Maintenance Crawlers, to monolithic Logic Engines. Warrior Chassis use bullets, rockets, or blades to fight, Industrial Chassis may improvise with saws, drills, or welding torches, and any machine with moving parts has the strength to crush bones, and should be considered a potential threat. All machines are made of strong metal, and therefor cannot be defeated with bare hooves. Machines with no means of defending themselves, or those with delicate parts, can be smashed by tools, but if ponies get into fight with a machine, it will most likely require them to become very creative. They will avoid water whenever possible. Water will corrode their chassis, and although being sprayed with a small amount of water will most likely do nothing, being submersed in water will stop their engines and cause them to become dormant. Being exposed to a strong electrical current will cause their brains to temporarily go haywire, and when they recover, they will have to re-read their memories to remember what they're supposed to be doing.

Their brains are not silica-based, like modern day computers. They instead use a variety of tiny levers and switches to make calculations, and they record their memories by stamping symbols onto sheets of gold foil. If a pony can deactivate a machine, they can fool it by replacing it's memory foil with one of their own creation.

The machines lead strangely decadent existences. They employ ponies for tasks that a single machine could do easily. Many forgo the use of legs/wheels/wings/propellors and instead enslave ponies to carry them.

They are rarely seen in public, preferring to sit behind the scenes and use ponies to oppress each other, though sometimes soldier-drones will be dispatched to deal with extreme instances of civil unrest.

Remember that you're not alone. Let's say you're stuck, so someone suggests this to you:

Ponies are suppressed through the use of religion. The Church of Cthon preaches that Cthon is the one true god, that flesh is sinful and metal is pure, and that ponies who lead pious lives will be rewarded with bodies of pure metal in Paradise. Celestia is called the Flesh Whore, and is portrayed as a devil who tempts the righteous with sinful thoughts. The head of the Church is Cthon, but the majority of its officials are ponies. In some cases, a pony with enough status can even have a few basic machines subordinate to her. Ponies in the Church often go through a process called Oblation, where parts of their bodies are removed and replaced with machinery. This can take the form of lung filters that help them breath the black smoke, metal legs that have increased strength and integrated firearms, or mechanical eyes that let them see in infra-red or night vision. To undergo Oblation and receive a metal blessing is considered a great honor, but it comes at a terrible cost. A pony is a creature of vibrance and life. To graft a piece of cold, lifeless metal to her body is more violating than any rape. All but the most strong-willed ponies cannot bear the burden of more than one metal blessing, and many develop mental disorders.

The World Builder decides what is cannon, but anyone can make suggestions, so make use of your fellow Roaches!

You can go on for pages and pages if you like, but let's just stop here for now.