Ludos

Ludos is the origin of the Liturani lifestyle.

= History = The island of Vinco was an unpleasant place. With burning hot summers and long snowy winters, the ponies were offered little respite from the elements, and resources were often very scarce. Competition was the way of life, and clashes between warbands were common. As the generations went by, fighting survival became not only a neccesity, but a culture, a way of life. Young ponies became adults after their first kill, and often social status was determined by a pony's success in battle.

And so it was for generation upon generation. But when a great plague wiped out over half of the pony population, overpopulation was no longer an issue, and so the ponies faced a dillema. They no longer needed to kill to survive, and in fact, continuing on as they had done before would lead to the extinction of their kind. But battle was so deeply embedded into the pony way of life that to ban it entirely would send the ponies into chaos.

Of course, there were attempts. Peace treaties were made again and again in a punitive attempt to keep the species from dwindling even more. But tensions were high, and young mares and stallions often declared wars and fought battles of their own accord, so deeply embedded was their warrior culture.

It was a short squat pony by the name of Maverick who proposed a change in the pony's way of life. A famous warband chief, this pony had lead his warband to victory time after time again until old age had slowed him down somewhat. The old once-fierce warrior proposed a change to the very lifestyle of Vinco, once that would change the pony way of life completely.

So from then on Vinco, now renamed Ludos in honor of its great new change, began hosting a yearly Games, challenges of skill and strength and wit that every warband would attend and send its finest ponies to compete in. Small competitions of a similar nature became the norm for settling disputes and having fun. Generations passed, and soon this way of life was as deeply embedded into the ponies' culture as fighting had once been.

And so came to light these new generations of ponies, deeply competition oriented. To modern Ludos ponies, victory is everything, and defeat brings shame and dishonor. Ludos ponies are very honorable however, and a dishonest win is eons more shameful than an honest defeat. Tales are told of ponies who cheat or behave dishonorably during even minor competitions and as a result are driven from their herds.

When Ludos's population slowly began to recover, and finally grow again to its swelled numbers, the chiefs knew that fighting as their ancestors had done was no longer an option. The best swimmers and the beach wandering ponies, chosen by means of various competitions, took to the seas, swimming off to find a new home for their kind.