Starbuck Cloudhoof - MLP:FiM OC at 28 Years Old

Funnily enough, the one thing I never uploaded?
My OC without some sort of random quirk (be it Wasteland, Rule 63, Foal or some other thing hehe)

So here's my OC, as seen in Second Life on the MLP:FiM sim, Saltlick Prairie (That's another of my projects )

I try give Starbuck a storyline in the form of a developing storyarc from a starting simple point, rather than giving him an intricate backstory. Personally I find it more fun ^^ To put it simply, I RP him, but his backstory is determined by whatever happens to him in the course of RP

As a Character, he is from the fanon I'm working on at the moment named "Harmony Lost", specifically, coming from the tail end of the fanon's timeline, 973 years ahead of canon in a divergent timeline.

Here, he's seen at the age of 28, in the year 466 B.F. according to the in-fanon timeline, 6 years after a caravan of settlers into a ruined Equestria, were stranded 973 years in the past due to a series of events I'll write out as a side-story in the "Harmony Lost" fanon once I have the time but has been RPd in Second-Life.

As far as ponies go? His special talent is that of exploration, a talent he uses to do his part, as one of the decedents of those that once called Equestria home, to bring every True Equestrian back to their homeland. This being signified by the explorer's map overlaid on top of a common shield seen in his cutie-mark. This talent comes with it an incredibly strong curiosity regarding anything, anyone and everywhere he hasn’t seen, explored, talked to, poked or otherwise investigated before. Needless to say, this curiosity can be a double-edged sword, getting him into trouble many a time, yet if he can walk away from that trouble with his curiosity satisfied, then he’ll call it a good result.

The glow of his mane and tail comes his family line. The bio-luminescence coming from a chance mutation arising from genetic damage during a disaster of magical nature in a recent ancestor, the mutation being strong enough to survive down subsequent generations.

Though an Earth Pony, Starbuck doesn't fall in line with the typical Earth Ponies of the distant past, instead having notable similarities to the past's Pegasui. This resulting from a rapid and extreme case of evolutionary adaption through natural selection in a response to a sudden and extreme change in environment. This is due to again, an effect of the disaster that struck a large portion of the world 479 years before his birth. Unfortunately, that might be a bit of a spoiler if I explained what lead to this
But I can go through the basics of the result ^^


This manifests as a small frame and bone structure more like that of a Pegasus in addition to Pegasus like agility. Unfortunately, due to the danger of the skies in his home time, wings have become a rarity amongst Pegasus ponies, effectively grounding them to the earth and forcing them to adapt to life without flight.
This however doesn't impact the skeletal composition of the species, leading to a relatively weaker bone structure, more prone to damage than that of typical Earth Ponies.
As an earth bound Pegasus, Earth Ponies like Starbuck do not show the connection to the land, strength or physical endurance seen in typical Earth Ponies, however they do show a similar resistance to illness and share the stamina and work-ethic common to Earth Ponies.
One trait these newly emerged Earth Ponies demonstrate however, is a natural passive resistance to the effects of magic, This comes from the high levels of innate magical energy in their cellular make up in the form of persistent energy which has been soaked up during the disaster and passed on with each generation though slightly diminished.
As a result, when magic acts upon these ponies, the opposing force (equal and opposite reaction) is able to draw from a larger pool of innate energy and thus raises the minimum energy needed to overcome this inertia.
However, this is easily overcome by even the freshest of novice casters and is only noticeable when exposed to naturally occurring sources of passive magic.
This is due to again, an effect of the disaster that struck a large portion of the world 479 years before his birth. Yet again though, that might be a spoiler in the other stuff I'm working on if I explain that bit >.<

For the same reasons Starbuck is a skilled explorer, he is also reasonably capable when it comes to learning technical skills regarding rudimentary engineering and to a greater degree, scavenging. The curiosity and strong kinesthetic learning style he is noticeable for means he can quickly work out how something works and what each of it's parts does. Though not particularly skilled, he is able to apply this to improvise crude combinations of mechanical parts to improvise a solution to a problem.

Starbuck does suffer from a very rigid and blinding set of morality and ethics, something he picked up as a colt growing up in his birth-settlement as he learned the importance that every pony do their part to help the community. Where as in most cases, ponies learn this is not a rule but a guideline, where some contexts might require this philosophy be ignored; The settlement Starbuck grew up in was home to a particularly grumpy elder, who held the strong belief that the moral and ethical good always came first. Be it a pony in need, an unfair judgement by authority or simply the needs of the community, Starbuck is both gifted and cursed with his unwavering adherence to this philosophy. He'll often land himself in trouble when he opens his mouth and starts speaking out against a judgement call he finds unfair, regardless of if he's involved or not.

His driving motivation while he's stranded in the past is firstly following through on what the settlers originally intended, and found a settlement of their own to call home, even if it's not exactly where they expected they would be doing so. Then secondly, as with the rest of the refugees, trying to find any way possible to stop Equestria from falling at the hands (hooves?) of it's own curiosity and fascination of the potential of magic beyond simply casting spells; so as the future the refugees called home, never has to come to pass.