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One of the locations in our Equestria Pen and Paper RPG was (and is likely going to be again in the future) the town of Vanhoover. Vanhoover is only refered to a single time in the series (in the episode Top Bolt S6E24) but it appears on the official map. My own character in the game is a pegasus mapmaker and it seemed fitting to create a map that could be used ingame. Since there is no official information on the town other than what the official map provides what is depicted on the map is mostly my own invention (excepting the "North Luna Ocean" in the West and the fact tht the town is located a river mouth and the name of the town itself (obviously ).

In our game, set about 1000 years before the events of the series, Vanhoover is a flourishing and quickly growing town. In our RPG group we assume that pony realms such as Saddle Arabia and Maretonia are probably located beyond the edges of the official map in the west (with the official map showing the east to be the region of the Griffon Kingdom and the realm of the dragons).
Based on this assumption Vanhoover in our game is a port and a hub for the oversea trade of Equestria. Therefore it is also a place with a greater diversity of ponys and other species from outside Equestria.Because of its location on the coast of the Luna Ocean (according to the official map) we also assumed a somewhat more pronounced reverence for Luna in this town than could be found in many other places. Within the setting of the game this added an interesting aspect. The game is set some two years after the banishment of Luna and said banishment is something not loudly announced or publicly declared so there are some rumors abound in the Equestria of our game.

The "Grazer River" on this map is a reference to the Fraser River in real world's Vancouver.

Most of the western half of the town is made up by the Dockland area which is everything you would expect the dockland area of a big port to look like. The Saltwater Quays, Cider Quays and Moonshine Quays are the main landing stages for ships. The Saltwater Quays are a rather calm area (reflected by the name of the tavern there which is called "The quiet corner").The Cider Quays are somewhat more "lively". The office of the port authority is there and the "Tipsy Trotter" is a tavern where you will find a wide range of "sea dog ponys", but mostly the law abiding kind. The Moonshine Quays are somewhat more shady and in the tavern "The Drunken Donkey" you will also find some rather shady individuals and you are well advised to be very cautious with the beverages served there.

In the southeast of the town you will find the Carpenter's Quarter and Smithfield. In a town that grows as quickly as Vanhoover does in the setting of our game there is an imense need for crafts- and construction ponies and building materials. There are many lumbermills in that area which saw timber (rafted downstream to Vanhoover from the town of Timberwood) into boards and planks.

Many ponys live around the meadow park in the east of the town which provides a nice resort for the residents (though they would probably still hear the sounds from the Carpenter's Quarter there.The Flour Power School north of the park is not a typo The name originates from the fact that when Vanhoover was still much smaller there was a windmill at the spot where the school now stands. Said windmill was reduced to rubble by a big flour dust explosion. Luckily nopony was hurt in the explosion and the ponys of Vanhoover decided to comemmorate that event with the ironic name of the school which was set up where the mill used to be. Malicious tongues claim that sometimes students offer gifts to the Luna statue in the town center along with the request to let their school blow up in another flour dust explosion.

North of the Waning Moon Way (which forms the main east-west axis of the twn along with the more western Waxing Moon Way) is the Fancy Stuff Quarter where many more delicate crafts such as fine jewelry, fashion etc. are produced.Most of Vanhoover's unicorns deciede to settle nearby in the Gemstone shaped quarter around gemstone heights park. The north-south axis of Vanhoover is made up by the road that used to be known just as Sandy Street and which leads up to the Crystal Empire in the north. However, the part of the road passing by the Fancy Stuff Quarter has recently been renamed. There had been a flourishing trade with the Crystal Empire which provided much of the gemstones for the jeweliers in the fancy stuff quarter. Obviously the fall of the Empire put an end to this. The jeweliers of the Fancy stuff quarter then started to pay their respect to the passed Empire by sprinkling the road towards the empire with the dust and abrasive grit of the gems and crystals they are working with.The section of the road has therefore been renamed to Crystal Chipseal. Some of the self-confident Vanhooverians say: "They may have golden roofs in Canterlot, but we got a Crystal road!"

The center of the town is around the crescent town hall, shaped like an amphitheater and sometimes used as one. It is set on the Moon Market which is dominated by a large Luna statue (which has fallen somewhat into disrepeair. A citizens initiative is collecting bits to pay for a restoration of the statue). Bordering to the Moon market are the town archive & library, the town museum and the central of the West Equestrian Trading Company. There is also the finest hotel in town, the Chateau Canterlot. The owner of this most elegant (and extremely expensive) guest house takes imense pride in the fact that Celestia not only spend a night in his hotel when she visited Vanhoover but also commented on the bedding being softer than in Canterlot.

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Posted previously at: 2017-05-12T22:37:46 | Posted previously by: malte279