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Worldbuilding June

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
10. What traditions are observed in your world?

There are many secular holidays observed among the Earthlings, celebrating various aspects of their life and history. They have changed drastically over time, however, and many familiar Earth holidays are absent.

The Pact has many traditions and holidays, but as far as has been discovered all are about appeasing The Darkness - not to the point of alien sacrifice, but drastic things can and will be done for it.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
11. What’s language like in your world?

Human languages are about as diverse as they are in more "normal" Earth timelines, and oddly haven't changed much. AI and uplifted animals are about as proficient in these languages as the humans and parahumans.

The pact has many diverse languages among its various specious but this is only known from a few individuals - when interacting with human most use a language taught to them by The Darkness.

Interestingly, the stranded gods I mentioned, with their gift of tounges, can understand all but the Darkness language.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
12. What fauna inhabit your world?

The Earthlings carry Earth life with them to their terraformed planets, some way, some how. Many have been saved from extinction by advances in gene technology, and are now pests, especially when they are introduced to terraformed planets accidentally or by outside fources, such as the moon of one planet that ended up.with a camel infestation.

The Pact is similar, but places more of an emphasis on making space for farming specifically to feed its troops and the rest of its military-industrial complex. Extinction rates are noticeably higher.
 

Dragonfree

Moderator
Staff
Location
Iceland
Pronouns
she/her/hers
Partners
  1. butterfree
  2. mightyena
  3. charizard
  4. scyther-mia
  5. vulpix
  6. slugma
8. Who rules in your world?

TQftL never brings up government, but each region has its own human government, generally just standard representative democracies similar to what we have in the modern world. Ouen has an elected parliament and president. It's a fairly utopian world with little scarcity and politics play kind of a background role - they keep things running, they have some different parties, but there's low polarization and usually they work pretty smoothly together and have little conflict. The situation in other regions is similar - movement is very free and conflict between them is rare and minor in the grand scheme of things.

QftLverse Pokémon, once again, have their own societies and are not subject to human rule except in a limited way while they're with a trainer, as per the Agreement, an all-encompassing contract dictating how the relationship between humans and Pokémon should work. Different Pokémon species govern themselves differently, but their societies are generally based on smaller self-governing groups. The Scyther society has a single leader, who is meant to be the simply strongest in the swarm, and anyone can challenge them to a duel to the death to take their place at any time.

The Morphicverse is once again close to Earth, with different countries having different modes of government. The Poké-USA's politicical climate resembles the actual USA's political climate in ~2007, but if I ever wrote references to the current president I wouldn't make him an outright Bush expy or anything, beyond being from the conservative one of the two highly polarized parties.

9. What religions and myths/legends exist in your world?

The QftLverse's human society is basically post-religious. Legendary Pokémon are revered, but not worshipped - people don't pray to them, ascribe natural phenomena to them, expect them to watch over them personally, perform symbolic rituals associated with them, etc. That said, humans do have myths concerning them - not always accurate ones. The story describes the human myth behind one set of legendaries early on before the reality much later turns out to have been fairly different, for instance.

QftLverse Pokémon have their own myths, legends, religions and beliefs. The Scyther society explored in the spin-offs has a bit of a vague mythology going on explaining the sun, moon, stars and clouds, but it's not very important to them, more of a just-so story. Meanwhile, they live by a system of ethics known as the Code that they consider sacred and all-important, though it doesn't have a godly figure behind it as the source of it, only a philosophy. Other Pokémon might variously have straight-up religion (whether worshipping legendary Pokémon or something else), be entirely areligious, or something in between; most will have myths and legends in some form, though

The Morphicverse has a form of Christianity, which is much like ours; this also means they had a version of Judaism. Other specific religions don't come up, but they'd at the very least be as varied as real-world religions. Like in real life, there are many sects and variants, and as many individual interpretations of faiths as there are people. The villain cult in particular has fringe views that in no way resemble the mainstream. And like in real life, many people nominally believe but don't really practice their religion, and many are agnostic or atheist.

Legendary Pokémon in the Morphicverse are cryptids - there are myths and legends about them, and people think they're neat, write fiction and make movies about them all the time, but in the modern day, actually-for-real believing that they exist out there ranges from mildly eccentric to entirely unthinkable. Worship of legendary Pokémon exists, but in the way that modern neo-Paganism does. It's not remotely mainstream, generally seen as a weird hippie thing, and the notion of Arceus appearing in the flesh one day and declaring he created the universe is about as fantastical to most people as the notion of the Norse pantheon doing the same in our world.

10. What traditions are observed in your world?

QftLverse human traditions are mostly just secular holidays - commemorations of important days in the region's history, etc. It's tradition for most children to go out on a Pokémon journey the spring after they turn ten years old, and participate in a First-Timers' League in the autumn if they manage to stick it out for the whole journey and collect all the badges - there are kids who don't, but it's rare for them to not want to, and other kids may see them as no fun.

Every year in Green Town, there is a Pokémon Festival originally built around the legendary Pokémon Chaletwo's yearly brief visit to the outskirts of the city (which may or may not be ditched in the next revision); it hosts a number of Pokémon-themed events over several days. One of them is a starter Pokémon giveaway, where most kids go to get official starter Pokémon, who have specifically volunteered and been trained to work with beginning trainers - though many kids have had Pokémon as pets/partners since they were young and journey with them instead, or their parents otherwise get them a Pokémon who's up for a beginning trainer. (Many Pokémon kind of like the idea of journeying with a beginning trainer, in the way that many people like the idea of getting a kitten rather than an adult cat - just something special about having been with them from the start. Though getting a starter who's actually been trained to deal with kids is recommended over just finding any random enthusiastic Pokémon.)

Pokémon have all kinds of different traditions. The Scyther society as explored in the spin-offs has a number of traditions and rituals, including a sort of blood baptism of new hatchlings, the leader of the swarm teaching all the adolescent Scyther about the Code, and First Prey, where each of the adolescents is sent out to hunt prey on their own for the first time, with a male and female witness following, so they can prove their ability to kill and to feed themselves. Afterwards, they're expected to publicly offer a symbolic piece of the meat of their first prey to some members of the swarm, and doing so signals respect; you don't technically have to, but in practice everyone always offers it to the leader and not doing so would be taken as outright disrespect.

The Morphicverse is once again culturally similar to the real world and has mostly similar sorts of traditions. Pokémon training is less culturally ingrained there, but still a very common hobby for kids.

11. What are some ways people communicate with pokémon in your world, or pokémon with each other?

In the QftLverse, humans learn to understand Pokémon speech as a mandatory subject at school. Pokémon inherently understand human speech, but they speak anime-style, usually in syllables of their species' name (which is what the species are named after). They share one language, which is not based on exactly what the syllables are but the tone and the way they're combined, hence why it works regardless of the species.

In the current version of the fic, this is pure handwave worldbuilding: it's established that it happens at school at the beginning, and then we just move on to the story, where every human simply understands what Pokémon are saying at all times. In the next revision I'd give a bit more proper worldbuilding attention to it - let the language barrier be a little more present, humans vary in exactly how good they are at it (luckily it's already the main character's best subject at school), and otherwise treat it less like it's just an excuse to act like Pokémon speak English.

In the Morphicverse, Pokémon do communicate but they don't do complex communication - instead, it's closer to the sort of communication most animals do in the real world. They can express how they're feeling, draw attention to something interesting, sound the alarm about something scary, ask another Pokémon to follow, and can do this in a somewhat more efficient and intelligent way than most animals generally do. But one way or another, they don't communicate complicated abstract ideas, neither to humans nor to one another. Pokémon don't automatically understand human speech here, though they're very quick learners when it comes to commands, and they can pick up a fair amount just by being around humans, allowing them to get the gist of basic statements and requests without being explicitly taught them, though anything abstract would still be entirely lost on them. You could tell a Pokémon you've lived with for years "I lost my hat, can you help me find it" and they'll go look for your hat, but they'd be lost if you tried to ask them for anything much more complicated than that.

12. What is the gym circuit or adventuring organization like in your world?

In the QftLverse, gyms are meant to be taken on in a specific order and gym leaders are accordingly expected to keep their Pokémon below a certain level. To be officially sanctioned by the League, a gym needs to have a theme - usually a type, although Rick got away with a legendary theme because he gets away with everything because he is hypnotizing League officials with his Mewtwo super-clone I was twelve years old. Every year there's a First-Timers' League in the autumn in each region, where new trainers who have collected all eight badges of their region face off (except for the bit where I somehow made a guy who'd been training for years be part of it without thinking about it properly). There's also a global Old-Timers' League for more experienced trainers, which crowns a world champion; this doesn't involve badges and is just a tournament. Trainers are advised to stick to official routes, while Pokémon who want a trainer seek out the routes and others avoid them; going off-route has the potential to lead to run-ins with Pokémon who are more hostile to humans. It's not forbidden but it's drilled into kids' heads that you're not supposed to.

The Morphicverse's gym circuit is not too dissimilar to that, but gym leaders are expected to carry a variety of Pokémon teams to take on challengers of different skill levels, who can take on the gyms of their circuit in any order. Kid trainers are strictly meant to travel only along official routes, which are thoroughly monitored to be safe, and often take public trainer transportation; when they're eighteen they can get an adult trainer license with which they can take their Pokémon anywhere they like, at their own risk. Mostly kids do it as a hobby, and many young children dream of being professional trainers, but only a fraction are actually good enough to make money off it, so most either quit it after a few summers on realizing it's not for them (they might release their Pokémon or keep them as pets, depending on how high-maintenance they are), or continue to do it as a side hobby. There exist college-level training schools for those who really want to dedicate their lives to it, but by that point in time most people will have dropped their pro trainer dreams.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
13. What flora covers your world?

Hmmmm... Oh dear. The more I think about it the more I realize the answer is the same as the fauna one but with plants. So I shall say that and move on.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
14. What do people eat in your world?

Humans and parahumans eat about the same things they always have. AI tend to "eat" electricity or fuel. Uplifted animals eat whatever is appropriate for their species - crabs and other seafood for octopi for instance.

The diverse species of The Pact have equally diverse diets, all of organisms from their home planets - the E'prm eat their planet's equivalent of fruit for instance. Most of it is heavily factory farmed, and the soldiers get the best food while others often get scraps.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
15. What technology is used in your world?

Earthlings and The Pact both have exceedingly advanced technology worthy of the space age - starships, terraforming, AI, uplifting, galaxy-wide internet, and more. Both Earthlings and The Pact experienced a technological revolution at some point in their histories, but it pushed them in seemingly different directions - Earthlings seemingly toward peace and The Pact more twoard war.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
16. What magic exists in your world?

To Earthlings, magic is but as myth. The stuff of legend and fiction. A catchy name for sleight of hand. Not even small children believe it exists anymore.

This, of course, annoys the returning gods to no end, as their abilities get classified as dangerous augmentation technology.

The Pact only believes in what magic The Darkness can do, and the extent of that is unknown to Earthlings.
 

kyeugh

you gotta feel your lines
Staff
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. farfetchd-galar
  2. gfetchd-kyeugh
  3. onion-san
  4. farfetchd
big post ahoy! only answering the ones i think are interesting in order to catch up here. i focused on particular groups/civilizations for most of them so i didn't spend a million words rambling about every detail.

5. what sorts of civilizations fill your world?
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gonna zoom in on the western peninsulas a bit for this one, and the sifa (ish) people who inhabit it. this is an area i've had a lot of fun fleshing out lately because it's something i feel i don't see very often in fantasy settings. the deal here is that the peninsula in general is sort of a very loose federation of disparate states—think like a shittier EU. lots of the coastal and southern areas are filled in by various city states, most of them maritime merchant republics. however, a lot of the inland areas, particularly in the north, are just... not really incorporated into any sort of state. a lot of the people filling in the gaps here are members of peasant communes.

these communes partition their land into a number of plots of varying degrees of fertility, and each household is permitted an amount of each plot's land proportional to their household size. (this piecemeal division, spread across various plots rather than simply allotting each household a discrete chunk of land ensures that no single household will receive a more fertile plot than any other.) traditions vary by region, but generally internal matters—including law—are handled communally as well, particularly by councils composed of the commune's heads of house. hundreds of these communes exist, and more are being formed all the time as villages outgrow their geography and young families strike out for a new life. mobile traders, carrying on the caravan tradition of their desert-wandering ancestors, do business with these communes, purchasing their surplus and offering them processed or manufactured goods from the city states to the south.

life in the communes is certainly not idyllic, however. while production is collectivized and egalitarian, power struggles within the communes are very real and can become violent, and many of the communes experience growing pains as well. border friction is common, and if a commune suffers from crop failure one year, the next door neighbor's successful crops suddenly appear quite appealing. marriage is also tricky within these fairly insular communities, and immigration away from the communes to the southern city states can prevent production issues.

6. how does gender & sexuality work in your world?
just a couple notes here. certain southern marsh tribes have a sort of hybrid gender system, combining chosen gender with biological sex in a sort of 2x2 matrix (plus one!). five genders exist in most such tribes: masculine men, feminine men, masculine women, feminine women, and then the shamans, which are considered "outside" of gender so to speak and occupy their own unique position. certain social roles are placed upon you depending on your biological sex, so hence the distinction between masculine men and masculine women, for example—childbirth has presented a total merger in that respect, but one's chosen gender ultimately has more bearing on one's social position than their assigned one, and e.g. masculine men and masculine women are considered more similar to one another than e.g. masculine men and feminine men. strict social conventions still apply wrt gender—heterosexuality is the socially enforced norm, keeping in mind that this is on the basis of chosen gender, with biological sex not factoring in at all. in more conservative communities, all women are expected to produce children, even if their romantic partner is AMAB; in this sense, reproductive partners are not 1:1 with romantic ones.

in derriland, gender is pretty boring boy-gril stuff. a lot of the roles grow out of the derrish obsession with competition, martial ability, and power projection. women are perceived as physically inferior to men in derriland, so you can kind of guess what sort of gender roles spring forward from that—they're probably familiar to you. however, derrish gender roles are flexible in the sense that if a woman manages to overcome the societal obstacles set against her and prove her strength, her authority will be respected—it's power projection that matters first and foremost in derrish society. there have been plenty of woman leaders in derrish history, military or otherwise, but it bears repeating that society is stacked against them in this regard. powerful derrish female leaders shutting up their prejudiced detractors play a somewhat major role in the story, as the current king of derriland's only heir is a woman.


9. what religion and cosmology exists in your world?
a common figure in many of auspice's religion is referred to in the sifa tradition as the "wispfather." alternately a world spirit, a living mountain, a subterranean dragon, and an ancient, white-feathered cliffknot, the wispfather is generally described as an unknowably ancient being worshipped even by the birds, and is widely associated with birth and rebirth. he is commonly described as fashioning the souls of all living things from the smoke generated by the burning of the dead, hence his name. the derrish associate the wispfather with a draconic demon from their pre-auspice mythology, and consider him evil.

the ancient sifa religion of the Qahn also reveres the Qahn itself as an agent of a destructive yet loving god—the storm wreaks extreme destruction, but it also cycles huge amounts of sediment and contributes to the fertility of the continent. some northern marsh tribes describe the Qahn similarly, characterizing the storm itself as a god of wrathful but righteous justice. this god is sometimes depicted as an enormous theropod. an analogous god is known to a handful of the most southerly marsh tribes, who describe a similarly enormous and righteously angry theropod who roams the sagewood, killing those who take excessively of the rainforest's bounty.

snow, which is a rarity on auspice, is associated with death and the afterlife. many believe the spirits can be communed with during snowfall. the isle of angels, an ice-covered isle in the northeast, receives its name from this association.

14. what do people eat in your world?
most of the crops on auspice are pretty familiar, many of them having been brought along by off-world colonizers thousands or millions of years ago. wheat, barley, apples, etc. are common. seeds are a major staple in most diets, moreso than in diets in our world, as plants bearing many seeds were cultivated widely on the world during its sanctuary days in order to provide food for the many seed-eating birds. fish is widely consumed in most areas.

auspice has some interesting livestock. the sandhen, a species of turkey-like fowl endemic to the great desert, was domesticated early on by the sifa. domestication has caused them to grow quite a lot larger than their desert habitat could naturally support—they're probably twice the size of a turkey on earth, with large eggs that make a hell of an omelette. every part of the sandhen is eaten in the northern areas where it is a staple, and the vibrant feathers of the males are incorporated into ceremonial dress.

my favorite livestock animal in auspice is the giant rock dove, a humongous relative to the bird more commonly referred to on earth as the pigeon. they've been bred to pretty absurd sizes, about as tall as a dairy cow, and have pretty monstrous appearances, looking like a strange combination of a pigeon, a dodo, and a chubby t-rex. they produce a ton of meat as you'd expect, but—here's the best part—they produce milk. this isn't even something i've made up; pigeons and some other birds really do feed their chicks an extremely fatty substance functionally similar to milk. these pigeons, naturally, have been bred to produce a lot of it, basically all the time, and it's a major part of derrish cuisine. most other cultures understandably think it's pretty gross to eat pigeon spitup.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
17. What’s medicine and healthcare like in your world?

Medicine and healthcare among both Earthlings and The Pact is extremely advanced and can even totally remove cancer and the common cold among the former. The one difference is Earthling medical tech is mainly used among civilians while among the Pact the best medical tech is reserved for the best frontline troops - with others often being left in the dust.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
18. What is clothing and fashion like in your world?

Clothing among Earthlings has advanced very much due to advances in fiber technologies, and wild, unique fashion statements are common. Though, it is not uncommon to see throwbacks to eras as early as the early 21st century.

Outfits in The Pact skew practical, with different species preferring different kinds of clothing- PsarinQlang usually like things that cover their entire bodies and protect their wrinkly skin.
 

Equitial

Ace Trainer
Pronouns
he/him
Partners
  1. espurr
  2. inkay
  3. woobat
  4. ralts
Technically, you cannot prove I forgot about wbj for over two weeks. Anyway have some chonky posts

What’s its history? (How did it come to be?)

Note: Arceus and other Legendaries are considered first gender. As is tradition, first gender beings will be referred to by the pronoun the author uses.

In the beginning, twenty-two thousand years ago, an egg formed inexplicably in the void and hatched into the creator Pokémon, Arceus. After his hatching, Arceus proceeded to create other beings from the leftover shell and substances of his egg. He created Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, who became the manifestations of time, space, and anti-matter. Then he created the Lake Guardians — Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf — who became the embodiments of knowledge, emotion, and willpower, allowing all other beings to be created.

Arceus created Kyorge, Groudon, and Rayquaza. The first two shaped the earth in the course of a long struggle between Kyorge and Groudon. During/after the conflict, Regigigas towed the continents for beings to live.

From there, it is less clear how events progressed. Arceus created more Legends to govern and protect the earth. Mundane Pokémon are said to have been born from a variety of sources related to the creation of the earth. For example, many Water-type species formed from the power of the created oceans, Flying-types came into being with the first tornadoes and hurricanes, etc. Arceus also created a multitude of Mew, who helped some species Pokémon increase their numbers and are the origins of others.

Animals came into the existence with the creation of Xerneas. Though weaker than Pokémon, they bred and overran the earth more quickly than the Pokémon, who were not yet able to reproduce on their own. Arceus created Yveltal to combat this problem, and animals began to die. Yveltal then insisted that Pokémon should be able to die as well. Xerneas at first resisted, but was later persuaded by Yveltal’s arguments. Xerneas allowed Pokémon to die but also gave them the ability to reproduce as well. Ghost-types rose from the energy left after the death of sapient beings at this point.

It is unclear when humans were created. Some believe they arose with Xerneas and were the ones to overrun the earth. A few religions blame humans for death on this planet. Others believe they came from Mew, and in fact were the first to come from Mew, but they lost the abilities granted by infinity energies and became like animals except still able to think.


How does gender & sexuality work in your world?

oh no I have essays for these

Basic Pronoun Etiquette

Humans and various species of Pokémon are often unable to guess at another person’s gender. It is acceptable to refer to a species whose gender you cannot identify as “it” until you can ascertain their gender, which is good etiquette to do as soon as possible. There has been increasing trend, however, of humans and Pokémon defaulting to they/them/theirs instead. That sounds like a nightmare to write in large-scale battles so the author will almost definitely not.

It is extremely offensive to refer to an individual whose pronouns you know as an “it”, especially if it is a human calling a Pokémon “it” (there’s… some historical baggage there).

The standard pronouns for single beings are she/her/hers for female or feminine individuals, he/him/his for male or masculine individuals, ve/vem/virs for individual of a non-male, non-female sex, and they/them/theirs for individuals who do not identity as strictly male, female, or a species-standard gender. It’s generally acceptable to refer to single or non-human-normative sexed individuals as they/them/theirs, but ve/vem/virs denotes a sex that is not male or female. Nonbinary/genderqueer humans and Pokémon would not use ve/vem/virs; most use they/them/theirs instead.

For individuals that see themselves as more than one person comprising a single being, shey/shem/sheirs is used for feminine individuals, ey/em/eirs is used for masculine individuals, and vey/vem/veirs is used for individuals of no, an other, or neutral gender. Some plural beings may see themselves of being composed of persons of differing genders, in which case they/them/theirs would be used. Vey/vem/veirs is not suited to those individuals because it denotes a single, non-human-normative sex and/or gender. Plural individuals will usually all accept they/them/theirs pronouns as well.

Human Views on Gender

Humans separate their species into males and females and place relatively strict gender roles upon the sexes. Sexism has never been as bad as in the real world, partially thanks to Pokémon influence and the Pokémon world generally not being as shitty, but they did enforce similar gender roles as in our world and there is still gender inequality in the Renjo region.

Human views on trans issues are similar to real world, though somewhat more accepting and nonbinary genders are familiar concepts thanks to sexless/non-binary-sexed Pokémon. Transphobic humans refuse to accept the possibility that humans (and to a lesser extent sexed Pokémon) can be nonbinary. They grudgingly agree that sexless Pokémon aren’t male and female because you know, but since humans have sex their gender must be male or female as well. Some humans also view Pokémon as having completely different, non-translatable views of gender, usually saying the most common nonbinary Pokémon gender identity is more a religious/spiritual thing therefore they aren’t “nonbinary” like some humans claim to be.

Pokémon Views on Gender

There are many Pokémon communities in Renjo, but almost no Pokémon have gender roles as strict as humans. That would be due to the fact that there are very few differences between sexes among most Pokémon species. The formation of new Pokémon does not even take place inside the mother in a Pokémon relationship (Pokémon create eggs by combining energy, the egg comes into existence by utter bullshit as an effect of the energy expended during the Pokémon version of sex).

Most Pokemon are male and female and use masculine/feminine pronouns, though they're trans about as often or more often (usually less stigma in Pokemon societies) as humans. For sexless Pokémon species, you can either refer to them as they/them or ve/vem/virs. Sexless Pokemon often have various other different pronouns within a community—for example, Magnemite groups use separate pronouns for young unevolved individuals and adults of certain roles — but most usually don't expect individual outside their community/species to know them. It is usually acceptable to refer to them with general gender-neutral pronouns.

(Sexless Pokémon can be genderqueer, by the way. The way that turns out is they feel they don’t experience gender the way others of their species do. There are a lot of sexless species so specifics will be different, but it’s possible. It usually involves rejecting ve/vem/virs pronouns.)

In Renjo, most Pokemon see three categories of genders: first gender, second genders, and third genders. Second genders are male and female (and genders which are a mix of male and female). Third genders are genders which aren’t male/female (sexless Pokémon fall into this category, as do some genderqueer idenities).

First gender refers to the supposed gender of the first legendaries: i.e. not actually gendered, but containing all genders nonetheless. First gender Pokemon (including most legendaries) are traditionally referred to by the pronoun the speaker uses. So, if you use he/him and want to talk about Lugia, you would call Lugia "he". Some mundane Pokemon also identify as first gender. In history, a first gender gender identity often came with an excepted spiritual component; many first gender Pokémon were expected to spiritual leaders or vise verse. Today, the gender has become more lax with less expectations. Some modern first gender Pokémon prefer a specific set(s) of pronouns, but many use pronouns in the traditional first gender way.

(Most Pokemon consider first gender a Pokemon-only identity, so very few humans identify as such. Pokemon sometimes consider agender and certain other human-typical genders as fitting in the first gender category though. Really though human identities just can’t be mapped perfectly into first, second, or third categories.)

Like Pokémon communities tend to have little sexism, transphobia is less prevalent in Pokémon communities. Pokémon really just can’t bring themselves to care, basically. Probably another side effect of having little sex differences in most species. And, like, this is generally. There are lots of different Pokémon and I can only speak broadly.

By the way, did you know a Pokémon’s identity can influence their outward presentation??? Because it can!!! The most common way you can see this is in a Pokémon voice. Like with telepathy, a Pokémon’s gender often comes across their physical voice, based on their gender identity rather than their physical sex. Voices can come with connotations of femaleness, maleness, otherness, wtf-who-gives-a-shit-ness, and such a wide varieties of other! If you can hear a Pokémon, you can usually make an educated guess as to what gender they are, though it’s not always accurate. For example, I actually used to have a Pidgeotto character who had a distinctly masculine voice but who was a cis female. It’s very variable.

All these details applied to Pokémon voice can also apply to telepathic voices, just so you know.

(By the way, I was conscious with my word choice of gender identity rather than just gender. Your voice reflects how you view yourself. Your voice is also perfectly capable of changing if you change how you view yourself.)

(Also by the way, how a voice sounds depends on the hearer. You can see this with gender. Humans who can understand Pokémon often report masculine, feminine, and other voices sounding different from each other — reflecting how human men and women usually speak. Most Pokémon don’t report the same phenomenon; voices have a tinge of gender, but they don’t sound different.)

That was a long tangent. Anyway, a Pokémon’s body can also change based on how they identity their gender. Pokémon usually have typical masculine/feminine biologies (thought the differences aren’t very drastic), but they can change either as they grow or when they evolve. Sometimes these changes can be very pronounced. For example, an afab masculine-gender Espurr may evolve into a Meowstic with masculine dark fur and a feminine pattern or vice versa. Less noticeable but still able to be picked up by human eyes, a first gender Gabite may evolve into a Garchomp with very shallow grooves. There are also changes a human may not pick up, like a Pokémon’s scent. They usually can’t transition into becoming fully biologically the other gender.

Bonus! How some Pokémon view gender:

Nidoking/Nidoqueen. Nidoking and Nidoqueen don’t really view gender, actually. They see Nidoking and Nidoqueen as different species and that is what marks them. They acknowledge that most Nidoqueen go by she/her and more Nidoking go by he/him, but that is just a trend. They don’t even have much a concept of being transgender. A Nidoking going by she/her, a Nidoqueen going by he/him, or either going by they/them is seen with as much weight as going by an unusual name.


cw: some portions discus both xeno- and human sex, btw

Human Views

Like with gender, humans in Renjo are similar to humans in real in their views of sexuality except somewhat more open-minded and tolerant. Probably the biggest difference is the general view of non-monogamous relationships. Some Pokémon are default polyamorous, and views of that have spread over to the human population. Polyamory is viewed more favorably among Renjan humans than real life humans (in the US because that is my culture) because they had to accept their Pokémon neighbors doing as they please. Polyamorous relationships are legally recognized. And this is more of a lack of sexuality, but so are non-romantic relationships between two or more individuals.

Pokémon Views

As with everything I say about Pokémon, I cannot speak about all Pokémon even in Renjo and can speak only in generalities. This probably goes extra because the species of a Pokémon will affect a lot of this.

Pokémon, like with gender, are usually more open-minded about sexuality than humans. Since Pokémon may may be inherently inclined to form relationships in various ways due to their species, Pokémon are used to their neighbors having different norms than they do and learning to mind their own business. Pokémon are homosexual, bisexual, asexual, and otherwise what humans would consider “queer” about as often as humans are themselves (at least when those identities can even be applied the Pokémon—Pokémon have their own own way of seeing things, and sometimes there is just no translation). Pokémon are more likely to be polyamorous (or have multiple partners anyway) than humans. Some of that disparity is due to certain species being more likely to monogamous or polyamorous, but even within species cultural differences and personal preference came into play to a great degree. There are also relationships common among certain Pokémon that don’t have a direct analog to humans’ and which may or may not be considered romantic/sexual by the Pokémon themselves.

Pokémon sexuality is also interesting because it also has to deal with there being a variety of species that a Pokémon has the potential but not guarantee of being attracted to. There are egg groups, of course, which dictate which species of Pokémon can create offspring with which others others. It is common for Pokémon to be able to be attracted to others within their egg group. Some Pokémon are attracted to Pokémon outside the egg group, and some are not attracted to others within. It can be difficult to tell what part of this is personal preference and which is orientation; even Pokémon have debates about this. Some level of preference for certain species is normal. The preferences/species orientations that get the most notice are: 1) when a Pokémon is only to members of their own species. This is likely to be an inborn orientation, though there are stereotypes that this is a choice from Pokémon who are speciesist and close-minded. That’s not the case and that belief has been dying out as communities grow more integrated, but Pokémon in isolated communities are more likely to claim this either way. 2) Pokémon attracted to those outside their egg group. Outside egg group relationships are viewed as an oddity, and there is a belief among some these relationships are a fetish. Most who experience this outside egg group attraction say they are just attracted to more species, but the view persists. (By the way, the views discussed are mostly held among other Pokémon. Humans generally don’t know enough to notice these things much, and either way it’s outside their culture.)

As stated, Pokémon can be either exclusively or not attracted to those of the same gender, just as humans are. Generally, same-gender relationships are accepted by most Pokémon, though in some worldviews same-sex-relationships are not considered “the same” as opposite sex ones. The reasons are similar as humans have: two Pokémon of the same gender cannot form a child, and therefore… While usually this view does not manifest as outwardly discriminatory or hateful as among humans, some Pokémon communities view same-gender relationship as not being as “deep” as opposite relationships, somewhat similarly to how some humans believes two people of the same gender cannot really be “married”. It is also a belief among Pokémon that a Pokémon can have a deep romantic relationship with another of the gender similarly to how they would one of the opposite, but they also should find an opposite-gendered platonic partners to “balance” them.

So, yeah, while Pokémon rarely “want to fix” or hate or be aggressive towards others attracted to the same gender, a tendency to view those relationships as lesser exists. Luckily, this has died down as time as progressed just the same as homophobia among humans decreased. Also, these views are generally only present among typically monogamous Pokémon. Typically polyamorous Pokémon rarely care about the gender of their own or others’ partner(s).

A lot of Pokémon recognize deep, non-romantic relationships/partnerships between individuals, so asexuals/aromantics are pretty well noted and accepted. However, this is one of the places where it’s difficult to translate Pokémon and human views. Pokémon sexuality is different from human sexuality merely because the mechanics are different, and the recognized relationships may blur the line between romantic and platonic.

For example, I have a major Pidge/Pidgeotto character who is not interested in anyone physically, but who does have a desire to form a bind with someone of the same gender in a kind of a partnership recognized in her nomadic flock. Said partnership involves a very deep connection and a promise to always stay with your partner, but, in discussing it with humans, the character herself is unsure if it could be considered romantic or not — or if it can be, whether she’d consider her relationship with her partner romantic or not. She came to the conclusion that she might be considered homoromantic and asexual in human terms, but doesn’t think there is a good translation.

So, there are recognized non-romantic, non-sexual partnerships among many Pokémon societies, but aro/ace (or Pokémon identities similar to) can still face bias. Again, the child thing strike again — Pokémon can have non-sexual partnerships, but still may be questioned if they don’t “hook up” at least to create children. And by the way, even non-romantic, non-sexual relationships between Pokémon of the same gender may be considered to need to be supplemented with a relationship with a Pokémon of the opposite, similar to romantic/sexual same gender relationships. Strangely, this balancing doesn’t seem to be necessary with opposite gender relationships… many have trouble explaining this discrepancy.

Now, I’ve talked how Pokémon generally view sexuality, but now we have things to talk about over the thing itself.

As I’ve probably mentioned (though this doc is really so who knows) Pokémon create offspring by combining their energy during their version of sex, which is different from human sex. While the kind of human sex that produces babies involves a male depositing their genetic material into the female so the offspring can grow inside the female’s womb for period of months, the egg… literally it just appears when Pokémon do their thing. There are probably a wide variety of things because there are so many Pokémon actually, but I'm not interested in that partular subject. Anywho, generally the Pokémon version of sex differs so greatly it raises the point of whether human sexuality can be considered anything like Pokémon sexually. Pokémon generally enjoy their version of sex as much as humans do, so that there might be individuals similar to human sex-repulsed asexuals, but who knows.

Alright. One more topic I think. And that topic is humans and Pokémon, ahem, together. Not that long ago, when I was first making my Pokémon headcanons, I was quite innocent. So, when I decided that all Pokémon were sapient in my setting, there came the question: can Pokémon and humans form romantic relationships together? I couldn’t very well justify keeping them apart because all parties involved would be perfectly intelligent. However, I figured they would have to be very rare naturally because such relationship would have to purely romantic. After all, humans could only feasibly be attracted to humans, right???

…Ah, furries.

Except now with my “Pokémon have weird sex” headcanon, this can still be canon! Pokémon really aren’t attracted to humans because humans don’t have the sexy sexy energy signatures that Pokémon do, and humans may have trouble doing the do since many Pokémon are presumably lacking some holes and parts. Of course, there will always be weirdos, but those wierdos are valid and perfectly morally sound.

Despite checking out, Pokémon-human partners (preodominantly asexual) but face taboo from both humans and Pokémon. Pokémon are probably somewhat better than humans, but for them it’s like the fuck would you do that and for humans it’s why and the bias they like to pretend they don’t have that Pokémon are lesser species. Among humans, the human-Pokémon partner will be more reviled if the Pokémon is less humanoid, but on the Pokémon side things are better if the inter-species partners claim a traditionally romantic/platonic partnerships. Similarly, Humans/Pokémon do better in human societies by not getting married but instead signing up as domestic partners, which is seen as socially acceptable and is somewhat common among platonic human-Pokémon partners. (Pokémon/human marriage is legal, though.)

 
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Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
19. How are wars fought in your world?

War seems to have been a thing of the past once - an agreement around the same time as the tevchnological revolution brought all nations intro accord and an era of peace is said to have settled among Earrhlings from that day onward.

Then The Pact arrived.

Why they did is still unknown to the Earthlings, but The Pact seems to have a single-minded determination to wipe the Earthlings out, and have destroyed multiple terraformed colonies. War efforts that have emerged among Earth's people since have at the very least prevented them from reaching Earth itself - but it is unknown how long that will last.
 

Equitial

Ace Trainer
Pronouns
he/him
Partners
  1. espurr
  2. inkay
  3. woobat
  4. ralts
To start with, some quickies:


  1. What does war look like in your world? If there is none, why not?

There isn't much war in my version of Pokemon because I like to imagine it as a better world than ours! There are some cases in history, but it's a very rare event. If you make me push I'll say that Pokemon are more peaceful than humans and keep the world more in line.

  1. What's your answer to "the meat question"?
  1. What do people eat in your world?

Mundane animals exist in this world, though I think that Renjan people generally eat less meat than we do irl. Since certain Pokemon have abilities to speed up the growth of plants, they are a lot more available than raising livestock. I also envision Renjans eating both more fish and insects. I find the latter a cool idea, hah, and go back on forth on whether than a general Pokeverse thing or more of a Renjan quirk.

  1. From where do pokémon get their power in your world? (Tell me about your Infinity Energy, Aura, or speculative scientific headcanons.)

Infinity Energy is my phlebotium of choice, but really I mostly go with

its pokemon dont gotta explain.png


  1. What do pokémon families and relationships look like in your world?

The actual answer to this question is that it varies tremendously. There are a huge variety of Pokemon, who live in a huge variety of cultures, who all have their own personalities and worldviews and whatnot. However, I figured I could provide examples of four characters who have Pokemon families because that could be fun!

(note: Pokemon generally have more than one name, used in different contexts and by different people. The first name a Pokemon gets is their "family"/"home" name, which is used by those whom they grow up along. Then when many Pokemon get older/explore the world with a human partner, they receive a new name. I'm going to use the Pokemon's home names here because of the context.)

  • Daphne (mainly called Atlanta in-story) -- Pidgey

    Daphne is the youngest child of seven, but really she lives with a big a close-knit flock of other Birds. She has pretty familiar parental relationships with her parents and her siblings are also pretty sibling-y, but that's partially because Pokemon in general have a protective connection with those of their own species. Her flock is inter-species; Daphne's actual family is all Pidgeot line, but for the other Pidgeot in her flock, their relationship is inherently closer than with other species. Other Pidgeot would be considered aunts/uncles/cousins etc., regardless of if they're actually related.

  • Maxwell (just Maxwell actually) -- Sentret

    Maxwell was born in a smaller, mixed Pokemon/human community called Lafall (though technically the human/Pokemon populations are partially separated because the Pokemon all mostly like to leave in big old "Great Trees"). Maxwell doesn't have an exactly typical family dynamic because his mother was young when she had Maxwell, and the circumstances were unfortunately traumatic. His mom also has mental health issues that make it impossible for her to raise Maxwell herself. However, the village as a whole took care of Maxwell. He was raised by many different families; not like foster care, but more communally with high regard to his own well-being, stability, and autonomy. When he got a bit older, he basically hopped from home to home as his mood took him. And, of course, he still has a relationship with his mom even if she needs helps with the parenting.

  • Tydon (Theseus) -- Cyndaquil

    So, unlike the other Pokemon, Tydon was born in East Renjo in a Pokemon community that... doesn't take to humans well. His parents are a pair, but polyamory is the norm in the village. So I'm thinking now that he doesn't actually know if his parents are actually them, but at the same time I doubt it really matters to him. (His parents are just a pair despite rotating partners just because--other Pokemon can have more than two.) His parents are important leaders in his community, but unfortunately they also aren't great. They're rough at best to their children. Partially because of his parent's social status, partly because a "behind closed doors" type of attitude pervading his community, the abuse isn't really a secret but no one much intervenes. I see other families taking him and his siblings in occasionally, but ultimately they don't have much power. However, one thing to Tydon's advantage is that Pokemon children generally have more autonomy than human children for a variety of reasons. I imagine that when he got older, Tydon started striking out on his own until he left his community altogether,

  • Amy Pierce -- a human, actually

    So, Amy is actually a human, but there are Pokemon who are members of her family. Amy was adopted by two married women who live in Perennial City--the second largest city in Renjo with a population of ~350,000, ~25% of which are Pokemon. Besides having a little brother who's also human, she also has an Aunt Dora and a Cousin Lennie, who are a Pyroar and Luxio respectively. Dora traveled with one of Amy's moms during her journey, and the two formed a very close bond to the point where they're just a part of each other's lives. Dora doesn't spend all her time at the Pierce home, but a majority of it. Lennie is Dora's child, also adopted.

    Besides the species and language barrier inherently adding some twists to the relationship*, Amy considers them basically as she would her human family. Her family situation with two moms, two adopted children, and a Pokemon aunt and cousin isn't exactly typical--she definitely gets some raised eyebrows--but just as she isn't the only human kid who's adopted or who has same-sex parents, she's far from the only one who has Pokemon family. (Also, technically Dora/Lennie aren't officially family. It's possible that Amy's mom could form a civil partnership with Dora, but for personal reasons they just don't. Most people would assume that Dora has a partnership with one or both of her moms though.)

    *Speaking of Amy's inter-species family, there's a plot bunny I want to pursue where I explore these kinds of details. For instance, Pokemon usually mature more quickly than humans. Amy can remember Lennie as a lil kitten, but his maturity has started to overtake hers, which is a fascinating dynamic. Also, Amy gained the ability to understand Pokemon (a thing that can happen yes), so now she can actually understand her cousin and third parental figure when she couldn't before.
 
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Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
20. What sorts of weapons & armor are used in your world?

Among Earthlings, various weapons have been developed solely to combat The Pact. Specialized guns, bombs, energy weapons, you name it, all geared to combat the ships and weaponry of the Pact's various species.

The Pact have done much the same the other way around, but will also weaponize themselves using their natural weapons, like mouthparts or psionics or electricity depending on the species.
 

Equitial

Ace Trainer
Pronouns
he/him
Partners
  1. espurr
  2. inkay
  3. woobat
  4. ralts
  1. How do money and the economy work in your world?

Basically I like to envision the Pokémon world as an overall more idealistic version than ours. Food, water, shelter, and healthcare are provided for free in human and Pokémon societies (and it would be seen as backward and cruel to otherwise; probably a few communities don’t but they’re rare). The main human Renjan government uses a currency the equivalent to yen. Some smaller Pokémon and/or human groups in the East use their own currency, but many barter instead.

Both Pokémon and human communities are more independent than as generally works in the real world. Because of the Pokémon world being better than ours, people are better able to allocate resources effectively and fairly, (I like to attribute this to Pokémon being generally more cooperative than humans and also they are almost all way more powerful, so they can keep the humans in line. But, like, also it’s because I like to imagine it as better.) Capitalism still exists in the Pokémon world for the most part, but it is not as necessary because people are better able to cooperate.

  1. Who rules in your world?

Most human communities fall under one jurisdiction whose executive head of state is a democratically elected council. I’m using Switzerland’s Federal Council as a base, see links in the doobly-doo (except I copy-and-pasted this from Scrivener to this forum where there is no doobly-doo).

I am not sure yet how many people are in the council, but each council member is the demoncratically elected head of a particular department. One head, the one in charge of Pokémon relations and the betterment of the Pokémon under the council’s jurisdictions, is required to be a Pokémon. There would also be a position for head of general foreign affairs, who can be any species. Switzerland has a Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports which can be converted to fit the Pokémon world where wars aren’t much of a thing but Pokémon battling is. The Champion and Elites would fall under this department. Gym leaders probably don’t as they’re more local leaders.

(All citizens, human or Pokémon, may vote in elections, btw. Equal representation is required by all cooperating Renjan communities in that thing I mentioned earlier. Also, Pokémon can be elected to the council in any position; just that Pokemon-specific position must be a Pokémon.)

Beyond that, there’s a lot of emphasis on local leadership among individual cities, towns, villages, etc. Local leadership set-ups will vary, but this is all very idealized so it mostly works out. Cerise Island basically functions as a bunch of littler places with their own leaders who cooperate in the interest of all Islanders, human and Pokémon. Many Pokémon communities have a similar thing going on, except tending to be more independent. There are larger Pokémon communities with government jurisdiction expanding beyond a few villages, but they aren’t common (and smaller than the Renjan humans).

  1. What is the gym circuit or adventuring organization like in your world?

In Renjo, it is tradition for young humans and Pokémon embark on a "journey"-- to travel around the region while forming relationships with people from different cultures from you. In Renjo, this is usually the gym circuit.

Journeys typically last about a year, during which humans kids take a break from their schooling. Journeying itself is seen as an extremely valuable experience for young people, increasing independence, knowledge of the world, understanding between the species. Also, Pokémon easily go on journeys when their abilities are beginning to come in in full, so battling is a good exercise to develop their skills and prepare for any evolutions.

Humans are generally prepared in-school for their journeys. There's a test you can take starting from age thirteen. If you pass, schools with pair you up with an interested "starter" teammate if you don't already have a planned partner. You train together for a while, and then once summer break comes off you go!

(Pokemon children are kind of weird in that they're very different from human children, but still kids. Generally they're in their own class and it's left to the Pokemon how best to prepare them. But generally yeah Pokemon kids have more autonomy and social power than human ones.)

(Btw, before age fifteen a human needs parental permission to go on a journey, but after that you're allowed to do what you want. Accommodations are also provided for disabled humans, whether that's specially trained partners/assistants, special assistive devices, or a more guided journey with mentors to help you out. As journeys are very important in the culture, humans want all to be able to go on journeys if physically possible.)

(However, if a Pokemon has some kind of disability that prevents them from typically journeying... unfortunately Pokemon tend to be less progressive that humans in that regard :frown: )

Anywho, journeys typically last from twelve to fifteen months, during which most take on the gym circuit. The first year Renjan gym challenge isn't especially challenging; a majority of kids come home with eight gym badges. Of course, a human can continue to take on gym challenges of various sorts after your first go/year, but after a point you 1) have to continue to keep up with your schooling and 2) you begin to have to pay a fee after a certain age or number of badges. With the fee, only talented (or rich I guess) teams can continue on. The difficulty also increases dramatically so it becomes a real challenge.

  1. What are some ways people communicate with pokémon in your world, or pokémon with each other?

The most common human language in Renjo the most the common in Pokémon world—Japanese. Well, kind of Japanese. It’s certainly based on it and what I envision the characters as actually speaking, but most people would just call it the Common Language. Japanese is basically just the global language most people know. There are regions like Kalos and Galar which have their own languages, but people there typically speak Japanese as well. There are some native Renjan languages from different sources, but they’re all pretty close to Japanese anyway. However, the Cerise Islands have a native preserved language that most Islanders speak. It’s probably just called Cerisian or something like that, but I envision it with a Tagalog vibe.

One major divergence from Pokeverse Japanese and irl Japanese, however, is that it doesn’t use hiragana/katakana characters or kanji. Instead, writing was kind of broadly gifted to humanity as a whole through the creation of Unown. As a result, most human languages use Unown characters. (Though I don’t think Cerisian had a native writing system, Unown-based or otherwise..)

There’s sign language used in Renjo, of course, and it’s probably unique to the region. In writing, I would depict it as ASL for the same reason I write the technically Japanese-speaking characters speaking English—ASL is the language I’m most familiar with.

As for Pokémon, they just don’t use language the same way humans do. Their language is part tonal and part a kind of unconscious telepathy. All Pokémon (unless they’re deaf or something) can understand each other. If a Pokémon from another region on the other side of the world came along, it would be like they were speaking with a very thick accent, but they would still be able to get meaning across. However, as a result of Pokémon speech being a large part telepathy, its meaning cannot be transmitted through radio, recordings, etc—only face-to-face.

On the bright side, Pokémon can pick up languages and writing systems very quickly. They can broadly absorb human languages within a couple months. Pokémon writing systems don’t use Unown characters, but take the form of various scripts which are like kanji in that they don’t correspond to the sounds that Pokémon make (because that’s pretty impossible). Pokémon pick up scripts as quickly as they pick up languages and often know several (it’s not uncommon for Pokémon to make up private scripts for fun). Common scripts that a Pokémon could know include a community script, a species script, an area script, and the Renjan regional script, also known in Renjo as the Common Script.

(Though technically the Pokémon world is trying to establish a global script like the Common Language, which they’re calling the Common Script. It’s not catching on in Renjo though; when it comes up, Renjans call it the global common script.)

As most humans are physically incapable of understanding Pokémon speech, most Pokémon are incapable of speaking in a human language. Instead, humans must try to understand Pokémon through alternate means. All humans are taught Common Script in school while young Pokémon are taught the human alphabet. Especially in urban areas with humanoid Pokemon, sign language is also often taught; there are also modified versions of sign that allow Pokémon to be more clear with non-human-like appendages. Also also there’s big technology devoted to AAC devices that allow different species of Pokémon to communicate.

There are also Pokémon telepaths, and a small portion of the human population can understand Pokémon speech. About 3% of humans can, split pretty evenly between 1) human psychics, who are all telepathic, 2) non-psychic humans who are nevertheless born with the ability, and 2) non-psychic humans who develop the ability later in life, usually toward the beginning of adolescence. Many telepathic Pokémon and understanding humans work as interpreters.

 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
21. What do people do for work in your world?

Labour laws seem to have improved working conditions for Earthlings, and all subsets of them are able to work and be fairly compensated. Jobs in tech in particular have skyrocketed since the technological revolution.

Most jobs in The Pact are tied to its military industrial complex, with different species often being forcibly slotted into "appropriate" jobs. Long, often abusive work hours are the norm.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
22. What do people do for fun in your world?

Earthlings still have much the same forms of entertainment they've always had... just now more technologically advanced. A few new sports have been added, as have a few new forms of video gaming.

The Pact focuses very little on fun, making sure even their children are subject to constant training and labour. What traditions of fun each component species of The Pact had seem to be lost...
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
23. What’s the sky like in your world?

Varies from planet to planet in most sectors, from a moon or two to vast arrays of rings to entire gas giants. Spacecraft often orbit in the sky as well.
 

K_S

Unrepentent Giovanni and Rocket fan
4. What’s its history? (How did it come to be?)

Let me tell you a story of something I call the "total grimer colapse" or a TGC.


I've got a hidden hook in almost all of my 'mon stories that allow me to gloss over a lot of the world-building. Why is everything either familiar or approachable, from language to turns of phrase that'd make no sense in a 'mon centric context (ex: why are Pikachu mice? Persians Classy cat, ect.)? The old world order was our own. The old countries, their peoples, they'd pushed the world to ruination and among the diasters humanity inflicted upon itself rose a slew of muks, grimers, poison types were born of a world unable to sustain life and instead of everything ending in a deluge of animate poison... something happened... whether it was an intervention or some fringe group discovering some sort of terraforming hail marry, the world reverted back to nature after countless lost lives and the breakdown of most of civilization.

Humanity exists and seemingly the world was born anew... But there was more than muk and grimers and no one had a bleeding clue what these "things" were. Beast's that almost talked and could to great feats of strength and manipulate nature in fantastical ways. It took generations for humanity to get its feet and since it was everyone from everywhere... things were scattered. History and progress were lost and because of that old mistakes were repeated by the new peoples. But old handovers of language, heritage, etc were preserved.

Hence why Kalos had heavy leanings of France to it, among the peoples and architecture. Why alola's basically hawai, so on and so forth.

And because humanity tends to be very stupid, they've nearly inflicted total grimer collapse on themselves more than once after the first time. And after the second time, Legends started overtly popping out of the woodwork and setting limits, space and nuclear weapon races were a moot point with Rayquaza ruling the heavens and able to slap down any missiles. People turned to worship the gentler Legends, (Celebi, Mew,) and appeasing the more vicious ones (Giratina) this roundabout nature worship caused a cultural shift among most of the surviving humans, breaking down some of the inherent selfishness and destructive tendencies that'd nearly triggered a second (or third?) armageddon.

The specifics of the reason behind the near deaths of everything and near saves vary from Region to Region, but usually the more venerated Legend of a Region's suspected to have something to do with adverting total disaster for the main continent it's worshiped.

And the old families, N's, Sakaki, and Maxies, have roots far back enough to have hard proof of these events, the total grimer collapses, and interventions and all their records contradict each other and contradict the varied governments.

Is this knowledge mainstream? Not exactly. The populace is fed that the Legends saved them all from something and all 'mon should be respected and honored in tribute via tourneys (aka the 'mon leagues), people of power (gym leaders, gov officials) will have a slightly less sanitary version, and only the old families and heads of countries and their secret services will know everything.

As much that can be known.

And each region, even if they're at war with each other, will keep enough communication open to keep an eye out for a situation that could lead to a TGC, because the last time led to humanity having giant "legend" 'mon spun out of nothing, and while the controls are gentle, the fact that there are controls there is a worrying point. Even the less insane Team Leaders will keep sketchy contact with their governments to get resources to report if a TGC is occurring.

.
 
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