Hippogriffia

Hippogriffia is a nation in Northern Griffonia, home of the Hippogriffs.

## History

Legend has it that when the daughter of the sky god An and the son of the sea goddess Tiamat fell in love, their parents created for them a paradise where the ocean meets the heavens, and gave to them the Pearl of Transformation, so that they could move freely between land, sea, and sky. That paradise was the twin realms of Mount Aris and Seaquestria, and their descendants were the first of the Hippogriffs and the Seaponies. For many millennia, the two realms flourished and prospered, with anycreature able to change forms by petitioning the high priest-kings to use the Pearl of Transformation. During this time, the two realms wanted little to do with the outside world, and life was simple but good.

Over time however, the priest-kings grew greedy, demanding lavish tributes to even see the Pearl of Transformation, much less use it. The two realms drifted apart, with the hippogriffs looking to the outside world, to North Zebrica and Equestria, and the seaponies turning inward. Local nobles and merchants came to dominate society, bringing prosperity to the land but also dissatisfaction with the arrogant and distant priest-kings. Finally, in the year 523 ALB by Equestrian reckoning, one family of nobles rebelled against the priest-kings and their monopoly on the Pearl.

This family, known now as the Royal Line of Novo, rallied both seaponies and hippogriffs to unite into one Kingdom of Hippogriffia, with the Pearl of Transformation now freely available to any creature who wished to use it. They established a tradition of twin capitals: one on Mount Aris, the other in Seaquestria, with the king or queen dutifully moving their court between the capitals every six months, and practiced a form of Absolutist Harmony inspired by Princess Celestia.

And so it was for many generations: an unbroken line of kings and queens, each one designating a single heir based on which displayed the greatest wisdom and compassion. Change came gradually, usually introduced from above in small portions. Even the industrial revolution was brought in relatively-orderly fashion during the reign of King Skylance and his daughter Queen Novo, who has reigned for the last thirty years.

Of course, Hippogriffia could not stay apart from the chaos of the world forever. When the Storm King's armies set their sights on North Zebrica, Queen Novo began the creation of a grand army. But when it became clear they would not have enough time before the Storm King arrived, Novo, heeding the counsel of Royal Advisor Raft Wood, used the Pearl of Transformation to evacuate the population of Mount Aris into Seaquestria.

The two years spent beneath the waves were hard on the hippogriff population, and caused rifts to form between those who had always been seaponies and those forced to adopt seapony ways to survive. Cut off from information about the outside world, forced to abandon their homes, many secretly called Queen Novo a tyrant and a coward, abusing the Pearl just as the old Priest-Kings had. The Queen's own daughter Princess Skystar agitated to return to the surface and confront the Storm King. But it was only thanks to the intervention of the Equestrian Element Bearers that Novo finally relented, and sent the hippogriff army to attack the Storm King's forces massed at Ain Trotgourait.

The Battle of Ain Trotgourait changed the course of history. The Storm King's armies taken completely by surprise, their airships were shot down by the mighty Hippogriff airforce with the flagship downed by the famous ace pilot Crack Lightning. The Storm King himself was betrayed and slain by his own lieutenant after Princess Skystar and the Element Bearers battled their way past his retinue. The Storm King's conquests were cut short in a single day, but Hippogriffia had changed forever. Seeing the devastation he had wrought on their neighbours while they hid, many Hippogriffs declared that they would never hide again, and began going abroad to see the larger world, bringing back foreign ideas with them. Meanwhile many seaponies see recent events as proof that Hippogriffia should avoid the barbaric wider world, lest they become warmongers too.

Seeing Hippogriffia beginning to fray, Queen Novo fired Raft Wood and had the Pearl of Transformation divided into millions of tiny shards, giving up the power which the monarchy had held for so long: now any Hippogriff or seapony could transform at will. She also sent her niece Silverstream to study friendship in Equestria, and set up a reconstruction mandate and refugee zone in the zebra kingdom of Zumidia, in order to prevent the kingdom falling into anarchy after the murder of their king by the Storm King and the devastation his armies brought.