Keys to the Kingdom RP [Information & Signups]

[Flyg0n]

Welcome to Keys to the Kingdom RP!

What is it?​

Keys to the Kingdom; KtK; is an experimental RP campaign meant to channel the energy of raid dens from mainline pokemon. Instead of either one “short”(lol) isolated campaign like AQ, or a longform campaign going for a year+ like Blacklight, KtK is meant to be a series of loosely related missions run periodically throughout the year, but much shorter in length (about two to three weeks each) and scattered about with breaks between. Essentially, isolated “missions” ran from a sort of ‘Hub’.

Players will only need to commit to a single mission at a time, as they are able to or interested. Also, the missions are intentionally fairly disconnected in nature, so missing a few won’t necessarily mean ‘falling behind’. It’s meant to be decently light on any overarching story elements and instead be episodic. Each mission will have a slightly different flavor and premise. This means it's very flexible for players both old and new, and hopefully a little more on the casual side for people not looking for a long committment.

In-universe, the concept is that the pokemon Klefki, keeper of the Key Realm, needs the help of some amiable spirits! The Key Realm (as AQ players may remember), is a space between a world’s reality that has doors leading to various special domains each belonging to a mythical or legendary pokemon in the world of this setting, gardr (earth). There use to be a short about this but its hard to find. You can read about it here.

However, a mysterious aura has recently corrupted the domains and the inhabitants. Klefki needs help to destroy the corruption and free the legends and mythicals. This involves getting summoned and going to each domain to free the legend.

Over a 1-3 week span of time, players will engage in a short, guided RP mission run by me, with a small climax near the end, in which they will hopefully be able to rescue the corrupted legend. This may require solving a puzzle, engaging in RP combat, or other roleplay scenarios unique to each mission. In the rare event players are unable to win, it will still be possible to ‘rerun’ the mission (although I don’t foresee this as being necessary, just an optional fail clause).

After the mission is complete, there would be an optional cooldown RP time, where characters can hang out and say their final goodbyes before returning to their respective worlds.

In-universe, Klefki and Terapagos can only keep ‘interlopers’ in this timeline/reality for a limited time period, so if players can’t accomplish a goal they may get sent back! Don’t worry though, they can get resummoned in a bit.

(This is to give me and players a meta reason for short missions and/or meta reasons to leave)

Missions will vary and may have interesting special conditions. Expect things like being turned into a pokemon, a human, trainer only, pokemon only, bodyswap,etc and so forth, depending on the scenario. Players can also change characters between missions if they want to try someone new and explore different relationships! I intend to make broad details of a mission clear beforehand so players can choose a character they think would be most fun.

I hope this format will allow me and players the needed downtime and RP time to have lots of fun and explore various scenarios in a lowkey way.

Please read the following Lore, Rules and FAQ carefully! Though I’m happy to answer questions, it makes my job a lil easier to not have to answer things already covered. Of course, if something is ever unclear please do let me know, as I can sometimes be biased/GM-blind!

Spoiler: Who should I bring?

Who should I bring?​

KtK is meant to be flexible and have opportunities for lots of kinds of characters, and who you want to bring may change from mission to mission. There may sometimes be special requirements, such as a human or pokemon or trainer, etc. In such cases, always defer to mission specifics.

However, there are a few general guidelines that will apply to every mission unless otherwise stated:

• No self inserts. Period.
• Character must not be a “child”. They should be able to handle themselves without a parent or guardian. Due to the nature of the pokemon world, this obviously is a bit different than our own world. A character like the mainline humans for example, who are stated to be 10, is fine. Silver, Red, Ash etc are acceptable, as they often travel on their own and deal with crises alone. A regular as-written child however, is not.
  Generally, a character should be independent and reasonably self sufficient, capable of acting of their own volition and making decisions
• Character should be of reasonable mental fortitude. This doesn’t mean without significant problem or flaw, it simply means they should be able to reasonably handle themselves in a variety of potentially stressing situations without a breakdown or some kind of episode, or disruptive reaction, or outburst (if someone accidentally steps on your characters toe and they try to stab them, thats a no no); and not a literal child
• Characters should not be overly antagonistic or incapable of working in a team. Characters of questionable moral alignment or prickly natures are fine, but characters prone to violence or who would run off from a group, or otherwise disrupt the narrative/situation are not. The nature of the summoning means that characters called should be of decent ability to make an attempt to work together
  (of course, spicy interactions and clashes of ideals are great and welcomed!)
• Legendaries are permitted in body but will find that in this world, they are only as strong as an average pokemon, and possess only a fraction, if any, of their source material powers, usually in some kind of dampened or reduced form (so Dialga can come, but he can’t control time, but I might consider allowing him to briefly slow it for a second or two during battle).
  Legendaries canonically massive in their home universe may experience a size reduction.
• Must be from a pokemon universe, whatever that looks like for your canon. Whether it's anime, PMD, games, or something else, they must be sourced from some kind of pokemon setting
• Not an Anthro/gijinka/morph/hybrid/etc (exception to be made likely to allow one of these to be transformed into a pokemon)
  
  Lastly...

Bring someone that's fun! Your best bet is to pick a character you think you’ll have fun using for a couple weeks. Someone with a personality that fits the mission, or you want to explore their character or see how they fare with others. Someone you enjoy writing or are interested in!

Spoiler: FAQ

[This is a general faq, but expect that mission guidelines may supersede these]

• Is this [human/pokemon] only? Nope! Expect it to vary from mission to mission, and in some cases there may be restrictions. Although frequently it may just be free for all, players choice
• Can I bring a non-canon evolution/regional variant?Yes, if its the following:
  • It's within reason (so Typhlosion can’t get a 4th stage, but if you had a regional variant that's fine).
  • A unique lateral variant like a crystal Onix
  • Locked gender fan evos or forms, like a male Salandit or Kangaskhan.
  • It's not OP/immersion breaking (Ash greninja would probably not fly)
  • You’re comfortable with some alterations to powers/abilities
• Can I have appearance changes or non-canon appearances?Yes:
  • Minor cosmetic changes are fine, such as reasonable color differences or fur patterns
  • As above, some kind of region variant is permitted as well
  • Reasonable size differences are okay, like a bit bigger than canon Nidoking's 4ft
• Can I bring a fakemon?I don’t recommend it, but you may, with a couple caveats:
  • Non-canon powers/moves may be converted to canon moves and abilities
  • If they are from a pokemon based setting still (so no digimon/mon hun/spectrobes etc)
  • They are an actual character, as opposed to just picking a species for the sake of it
  • You are okay with their powers and capabilities looking a little different
  • If it's for flavorful purposes, since even a fakemon legendary will be depowered. Thus if you don’t feel comfortable playing a fakemon in this manner, it may be best to pick another

In general, expect most thoughtful and flavorful cosmetic stuff is fine.

• Can I bring a canon character? Canon characters are welcomed! They may or may not get recognized by characters from canon-compliant worlds, or this world. As long as your goal is not to be narrative centralizing or OP, I don’t mind.
  Sorry Aura!Psychic!OP!Edgy!Dark!Ash, but you’re not allowed
  • On that note though, canon characters possessing abnormal powers may find those powers altered here (such as Sabrina the psychic or Aaron and his aura powers). Please ask me first in such cases!
• What about legendaries?Legendaries are welcomed, as mentioned above! However, some special restrictions apply:
  • Legendaries will not be able to have their full power/influence (for example, Dialga cannot control time, though I might allow slowing time for a second or two)
  • Gigantic legends in their home canon may have their size reduced
  • They may not be significantly stronger than anyone else
  • As long as you are comfortable with playing them as less powerful in this world, go ahead! Alternatively you may be able to transform them to a ‘mortal’ body, depending on the mission
• Can I bring a villain/morally questionable character? Only under the following conditions:
  • Capable of working within a team in a non-narrative disruptive manner (even if they believe its for their own goals)
    • This means they cannot attempt to command control of the narrative, attempt to kidnap, world domination, steal power, etc
  • If a mission is specifically villain centric
  • If you're comfortable playing your villain in a way where they are a ‘team player’
• But my character is just naturally argumentative/stubborn/harsh/violent/nervous because of [insert reason here]! Then you won’t have been summoned, pick another character! In-universe Klefki is reaching out to ‘amiable souls’ so a crazed axe murderer won’t get summoned, heh.
  In this case, amiable means ‘willing to help someone in danger or dire circumstances and work with others’
• I don’t want to change my character's body/species etc! Understandable! Not every mission will require this. Some may be free for all, some may call for specific types, such as only pokemon, only human, etc. If it's not your speed, feel free to wait for another mission, or experiment with something new and try it out!
• Can I bring [insert number here] of extra characters? The number of characters in a mission is dependent on a variety of factors. I may sometimes allow a trainer with their pokemon to bring two but this is narratively different from three PMD-setting main characters being brought. While I do my best to accommodate players, I also will have restrictions sometimes to preserve game and story integrity, and space.
  FURTHERMORE, two pokemon per trainer is truly intended for pairs, not as a reason to squeeze one extra guy in. It might be harder than you think to balance three characters, so think long and hard about that
• Am I allowed to bring items? No items beyond clothing and jewelry/things worn will come with a character, and any benefits or powers conferred by said items will have no effect here. No bags will come with the player character.
• What if I can’t be available for the entire length of a mission? This is up to your best judgment, but in general if you expect to be away for several days in what is (hopefully) only a two week mission, it may be best to wait for another.
• Is there a minimum post amount? Not exactly (I won’t kick anyone) but I do recommend two per day minimum. The idea is that these will be shorter and lower long term investment, but with a bit more happening each day. If you go several days without a post you will miss events and chances to participate, as I may have to move things along for the sake of other players and time constraints, so you may get left behind
• Can I bring non-pokemon characters? Unfortunately, I will request that per lore of summoning, all characters would be from some kind of pokemon world. Expy’s are fine, but they should have some familiarity and ties with pokemon and the pokemon world
  (so if you somehow had a fanfic where a digimon was isekai’d into PMD and then summoned here that's fine, but you can’t have Agumon just show up)
• Do I need experience in role plays to participate? Nope! It’ll probably help since you’ll be familiar with the general vibes, but the missions themselves will hopefully be friendly to all levels of players
• How does combat work? Is there a system and math? Not every mission will involve combat, but those that do will vary. Generally, expect creativity and teamwork based combat (akin to AQ’s final fight). This means the fight is mostly turn based flavor combat, not number crunching. More weight is placed on fun combos and working as a team, as opposed to min-maxing.
  You will not need any math or knowledge beyond the basics used in the game and/or anime, such as can be found on Bulbapedia (like remembering if a move lowers defense or has a high critical hit ratio, that kind of thing)
  DO NOT overthink the whole 4 move thing. Do NOT worry about power or accuracy or stats too much, pick moves that are fun or you want to creatively fuse etc. Sure, a Flamethrower is stronger than an Ember, but don’t start breaking down a Manectric’s Sp Attack vs Attack and using Thunder Fang vs Thunder Bolt depending on the nature. I am NOT giving extra points for that lol, i ain’t keepin track.
  
  Essentially, you will have some time to discuss a move ooc and coordinate briefly, then write your flavor-based turn. Once everyone’s turns are in I’ll write the opponents reaction.
  • There will be an in-universe way for characters to excuse learning a different move before embarking on a mission so if you feel like your character might change their mind once arriving, thats cool
• What if my character has a special non-canon power? Depending on the nature of the power, it will either be blocked, or I may allow a flavorful variant. For example, if your character had a power to teleport through shadows, they might have a slightly dampened version of that. Please be sure to specify up front and discuss with me about powers, to avoid any kind of unexpected things popping up during battle, which I may choose to not accommodate for balance's sake.

Rules, Etiquette & Lore​

Spoiler: Rules

All TR and Discord rules apply

The following rules are to be obeyed within reason, and remember the spirit of RP is to have fun! Please be flexible, open, resilient and thoughtful. Be empathetic towards fellow players, act in good faith and be willing to make compromises, and see how things play out.

1. Respect your fellow roleplayers: This is the first and golden rule of RP. Respect their time and effort, and treat them how you’d like to be treated. This means no attention hogging, no OOC drama, no passive aggressive behavior, and think before you speak (obviously that doesn’t apply to in-character drama, heh).
   This also means you should also give others a chance to be the focus of a scene the way they would show the same courtesy to you.
   1. This also includes making a reasonable effort to be timely on replies or at the very least communicate if there's a delay. We all have personal lives and that takes priority but it's important to let folks know so they're not left hanging!
2. No overly disruptive antagonistic behavior or in-universe harassment. This goes for behavior of a sexual or violent nature especially. Arguments and disagreements are fine and welcomed, but acts of violence or forcing negative interactions with another character is not permitted. Within reason, no one summoned would be ultimately antagonistic to the group as a whole
   (E.g. provoking a fight, hysterical breakdowns, or flirting unwelcomed is forbidden, but two characters naturally having a heated disagreement would be fine, as is two adults flirting if the players don’t mind)
   This applies as well to any high emotional outbursts to an excessive degree
   {At the sight of the ghost, Xanadu began screaming and crying and blubbering, clinging to the other characters as he wailed in absolute despair}
3. No godmodding.This means no controlling another character’s reaction, or writing reactions for them or the mods characters. The only exception is if you have discussed beforehand OOC with a roleplayer how a scene will go.
   This also means that you should not do anything extreme to another character without specific consent.
4. No power playing. This means no trying to bring characters who are OP and expecting to solve everything. It is also forbidden to play in such a way where your character has OP powers and perfect knowledge of a situation and never makes mistakes. Nor should you play a character who never gets hit, never takes damage, and/or is never wrong.
   This includes behavior such as “But Xanadu could perfectly foresee X’s attack and dodged because of his expert training”/”Xanadu used his super soul reading abilities and immediately saw through Z’s disguise/Xanadu could just tell everything about [player] and knew them so well”
   Remember, RP is about exploring a character, and a character being all knowing isn’t very fun for mods or other players to interact with!
5. No dominating the narrative.Try to be mindful of waiting to give others a chance to post or checking in to see if someone who hasn’t had a chance to participate wants to be involved, and support people when they have a chance in the spotlight! Constantly playing backseat isn't fun for anyone.
   1. This also includes extremely lengthy posts and writing in long stretches of conversation between only your own characters.
      In the same way, if you have an idea for something you’d like to have happen to your character, feel free to ask. I can’t promise I can accommodate but I’ll try.
6. Keep the rating PG-13. TR is a PG-13 server, meaning serverwide rules apply. This means excessive gore and explicit material of a sexual or violent nature should be avoided. Some swearing and such things is fine, or mild flirting/romantic things, as long as both players are fine with it.
7. Keep OOC to a minimum or to the discord. In order to preserve the integrity of the campaign, I request that forum posts be primarily IC. If you have OOC comments or reactions, please use the discord channel or the forum thread.
8. No drama. This means that IC posts should not be taken personally, as well as speaking to either me or a mod if you have a problem or feel uncomfortable with someone. Keep in mind IC responses =/= reality, and try to not take offense if a reaction is different than you hoped. You can always chat with the player if there’s a particular goal you seek from an interaction.
   Also applies in reverse, do not use your character as a way to bully someone IC. If you feel someone’s behavior is inappropriate, please contact a mod
9. If someone is bothering you OOC please inform a mod; for smaller requests feel free to reach out over discord to the player themselves (do you mind if I hug your character/hit them; can you clarify what your character meant here, etc)
10. Practice etiquette for scenes. This means being mindful of ongoing conversations between characters and not interrupting or forcing your character into another characters conversation, unless you check in
11. Be sensible. This is not a chaos or haphazard Rp, either in or out of universe. Chaotic, antagonistic or reckless actions can affect the narrative outcome, so be prepared for this. Generally I’ll try to be as clear as possible if anyone is about to do something ill advised though. Remember this is a group effort, so sabotage and disruption for the lols is not permitted.
12. When possible, ask the GM about unknown or ambiguous aspects of the lore and setting that are relevant to the scene – don’t make your own calls on how the world works or how a species functions, or a characters story (You character is free to assume of course, just don’t expect them to always be right).
    (note: this obviously does not apply to your own characters or their stories, in cases where they retain their natural bodies etc)
13. GM's word overrules/finality. This just means that due to the fluctuating nature of RP, if aspects of the game change that conflict with what's established, my word will be the final say. I will of course do my best not to have wild unexpected changes to the game or mechanics, but since this is my first time trying a campaign like this, I have no idea how things will go. Please be patient, and I will do the same!

If you read every rule please use the word 'keys' somewhere in your signup. If you do have concerns specifically about the game or how it is run, if you are confused or uncertain, please approach me in DMs! I don’t mind having a discussion or trying to hear something out.

Spoiler: Bonus: RP Etiquette

These are not rules so much as soft suggestions that will help you have a good time!

1. Save the long posts for big moments! This RP in particular is meant to be pretty short. Not everyone has time to read a mini novel :P so try to save those big epic posts for a special moment. If all your posts are extra long it risks your special moments being overlooked. You don't have to react to everything that happened since you were away, pick one or two important things instead
   Also a couple paragraphs does more than you think! Try to emphasize key details instead of filler or summarizing reactions to everything
2. Communicate with your fellow players! If you might be delayed for awhile, just let folks know
3. Light hearted jokes and communication ooc help break up tense interactions in-universe. Friendly dunking on your own character can help avoid any badfeels (‘classic Koa, picking another fight bc he got mad. Forgive him, he’s a silly shonen boy’)
4. Keep reaction images to a minimum of about three a post, if at all. They can take up quite a bit of space so use them tastefully!
5. Engage with others/the plot when possible. The core of fun RP is collaborating with others! Even if you play a loner, try to find ways to get them into situations, don’t be afraid to be flexible
6. Cooperate! In RP it is normal and expected to have characters grow in unexpected ways, or even shift their character in small ways to make the RP aspect more accommodating, like softening an aggressive character slightly, etc
7. Compromise: Be willing to concede ground on small things to make the experience better. Accept that maybe your character isn’t the strongest, smartest, coolest, etc. Maybe there’s a fight and you decide to write your super cool OC losing. Or maybe you let someone get the proverbial drop on your character. Don’t think of these as losses! These are just fun adventures.
8. Collaborate: Roleplaying is ultimately collaborative storytelling. Work together with others and discuss desires so you can have a fun experience together

Spoiler: Bonus: Setting Lore

If something isn’t listed here, feel free to ask! This is to cover broad basics. Feel free to have anything here as being found out/inferred by the character.

• Language is autotranslated into a universal tongue. Accents are preserved but how they are interpreted may vary from player to player (some may not recognize french = kalosian depending on their source world)
  • ;] Don't think about it too hard lol
• KtK’s ‘earth’ is sometimes referred to as gardr or garde
• Summoned characters will be brought and returned as if they never left, via timeline shenanigans (thanks Terapagos!)
• Summoned characters are canonically coming in the body from their own world, save for cases where a transformation happens, however they inherit the properties of native pokemon insofar as aura/move use
• Summoned characters cannot be “killed” here, only snapped back to their timeline
  • “Think of your life as a big rubber band. By bringing you here, I’m just stretching it in another direction. But if you let go, whhhp! Back to where you were.”
• For trainer-verse worlds, trainers retain the same bond and degree of understanding between human and pokemon they had at home, unless otherwise stated
  • Their ability to interpret another trainer-characters pokemon is dependent on first the universe rules from which they hail, and the other player
  • Thus if type specialists can understand pokemon of that type, they would be able to here to a limited degree, unless the player indicates otherwise
  • This does not apply to PMD-verse summoned mon, or regular summoned mon, as they speak “english”.
• Memories will refresh upon being resummoned, if they were in a previous KtK mission
  • Players may optionally have characters remember other RP things like mafia or AQ
• Humans and pokemon obtaining new bodies will receive instincts on how to use it. Uncomfortableness is to be expected, but they will still be reasonably battle ready and not inept
• In the KtK world, pokemon attune their auras to easily and reflexively call on four moves during combat, with other learned moves taking several seconds to call to use. In combat, only four moves can reliably be called upon during the heat of battle
  • However, outside of battle, moves from the pokemons natural movepool are available
• A ‘Move’ is anything that is a Move in the canon games universe. A Move involves channeling inner aura energy into a consistent outward form, and while it can be painful, is not lethal (Sludge Bomb will not dissolve someone, Flamethrower will not turn a Bulbasaur to ashes. It’ll burn a bit tho)
  • On gardr, Moves are aura based attacks that are not the same as the act of biting, flying, digging, etc. Thus, a Fearow can still fly without using the move Fly. But Fly the Move is an attack that generates damage in combat via aura
  • Thus, a pokemons natural abilities are not the same as a Move (like a Roserades natural poison vs the move Toxic)
• Pokemon and human turned pokemon here will find their auras a bit more flexible and may be able to invoke some kind of power based on their homeworld soul/aura. Thus, an illegal move based on flavor may be permitted, within reason (like a Umbreon using Hypnosis); as well as reasonable ‘illegals’ from the homeworld carrying over
  • This is not an excuse to fish around for weird moves, this should be only for flavor/fun! You’re not at a disadvantage if you don’t have weird moves
• That said, pokemon will also find their rough raw power levels end up ssooort of equalized here, in universe, or at least boosted in the case of weaker characters (though actual familiarity with tactics will be up to players).
• Pokemon bodies both native to and summoned to the KtK world have a natural sturdiness and protective aura. Accidental death and maiming during regular combat is not possible here, unless maiming a downed foe or if other extraneous conditions apply
  • This doesn’t mean pokemon can’t be injured/experience pain or even be targeted on purpose to be injured; simply that regular sport combat won’t maim
• Humans also retain a high degree of sturdiness, being able to get battered by but not necessarily killed by an attack (but don’t tempt this lol). Think anime sturdiness. Still hurts though.

 

[Flyg0n]

Mission 1: Errant Sword! Free Keldeo!​

(CLOSED)

Klefki has desperately called out across worlds and timelines to summon help to save their realm! For now, they have managed to open the door to Keldeo’s domain. Unfortunately, native souls cannot be brought into the Key Realm for long, so Klefki has called on Terapagos and Hoopa to summon interlopers!

Keldeo is a pokemon that normally values honor and valor in combat, and a courageous spirit. Who knows what he may be like corrupted though... For this mission, anyone is allowed, but characters with ties to a Keldeo, combat, dueling, resolve and honor or strong opinions about these might be fun for you!

This mission will be fairly simple, and shouldn’t feature any significant CWs beyond the usual level of pokemon violence/combat, and any from characters' worlds. Expect some narrative puzzles (‘how do we cross this ravine’ type stuff) and combat.

Date & Runtime
July 10th/13th - July 27th

Mission will begin on July 10th with a few days of casual RP and officially start July 13th. It will (hopefully) run for two weeks, until July 27th.

Signups Open until July 10th!

Requirements:
Summoning can be a strange and unusual process and occasional unusual alterations can happen. As such, there’s no requirements for this mission. This first mission is free-for-all, players choice, per the following:

• Legends are depowered, per usual
• Lone humans must obtain pokemon bodies (and will get basic instinctual use)
• Trainers can bring up to two pokemon, if they’re narratively a set
  • Trainers do not need a pokemon body
  • Two pokemon role isn’t meant for just bringing two pokemon, rather its meant for rare edge cases where having two supersedes and is better than the one
• Pokemon in general essentially get little bit powerscaled and boosted, so weaker mon will have a bit of a raw power boost
  • This is not that you’ll experience a huge power difference but rather a meta way to avoid any ‘this character is super weak and can’t fight’ scenarios.
• Otherwise, bring whoever you want! Pokemon, human, trainer, chain summoned, etc! You can even devolve your characters as well if you feel like it.

Spoiler: Signups

{GM control? (Yes/No) (*This does not mean I’ll ever take control of your character, just that I may give them one or two lines of acknowledgement when you’re not present, so you don’t T-Pose, if something happens.
For example: [Thing happens]>Koa raced after the others as the team evacuated, narrowly dodging the hail of dragon fire.
I recommend this but if you’re definitely not comfortable, then don’t worry)}

Trainer​

Name:
Age:
Appearance:
Personality:

Pokemon 1
Name:
Personality:
Species:
Ability:
Moves (4):
[Any special notes, powers, skills, etc you want to note?]

Pokemon 2*(OPTIONAL)
Name:
Personality:
Species:
Ability:
Moves (4):
[Any special notes, powers, skills, etc you want to note?]

Fic of origin (if any):

Lone Human (Turned Pokemon)​

Name:
Personality:
Species:
Ability:
Moves (4):
[Any special notes, powers, skills, etc you want to note?]

Fic of origin (if any):

Pokemon​

Name:
Personality:
Species:
Ability:
Moves (4):
[Any special notes, powers, skills, etc you want to note?]

Fic of origin (if any):

 

[canisaries]

Well, it seems like with this premise we have the keys to a wonderful adventure! Signing up for Mission 1.

GM control? Yes

Lone Human (Turned Pokemon)​

Name: Mark Samson (addressed with "Samson")
Personality: Very friendly and compassionate but with a strong sense of justice.
Species: Ampharos
Ability: Static
Moves (4): Thunder Punch, Fire Punch, Dragon Pulse, Confuse Ray
Special Notes: Wears a necklace of the Wheel of Arceus as he is a devout Arcean.

Fic of origin (if any): Hunter, Haunted; Judgment

 

[Seren]

Signing up for mission 1!

GM Control: Sure!

Trainer:
Name: Kirsten Hammond
Age: 28
Appearance: An average height woman with bright, fiery-orange hair, freckles to match, and amber eyes. Her vision isn't great and should be wearing glasses but she usually doesn't unless she's reading. She's usually in her special champion's outfit, but was pulled here on a slow day, so instead she's sporting a red open-front shirt with a goldish-yellow undershirt and plain blue jeans.

Decent picrew reference:



Personality: As champion of her home region, Kirsten takes her duty very seriously. She's seen what happens when other regions' champs let chaos run unchecked and has sworn to never be that person, doing whatever she can to help solve the problems around the region. (This, unfortunately, does not prevent said chaos, but at least she's taking active actions to clean it up!) That said, she can occasionally come off as a bit strung-up, confident that whatever idea she's come up with is the best, most logical way forward. It often isn't, however, and she relies heavily on her E4 to support her and offer alternatives or alterations. She can be humble and modest, but her position as champion calls for a certain degree of haughtiness and confidence, too.

Pokemon:
Name: Drapion
Species: Drapion
Personality: The 'newest' member of her team, although he's been around for some time now, himself. Drapion tends to be a bit aggressive, and both recognizes and appreciates strength. Like his trainer, he often wants to do things his way; sometimes, Kirsten believes that Drapion sees himself as the trainer between the two. He can be difficult to handle at times, but he's never been outright disobedient. He does, however, require a more stern hand and voice of authority when working with him compared to her other team members, as his attention span wanders away often.
Ability: Sniper
Moves (4): Cross poison, night slash, pin missile, agility
[Any special notes, powers, skills, etc you want to note?]: Not sure it matters, but drapion's battle style is a 'beat down' kind of style, hitting fast and hard up close, and has frightening accuracy with pin missile from a distance. Agility is both an offensive and defensive tool, allowing him to get up close to his foe with unexpected ease, or avoid an incoming attack.

Aaaand because I need to shove this somewhere: keys!
Fic of origin (if any): Sweet Sacrifice

 

[Nekodatta]

{GM control? Yes}
Trainer
Name: Sada
Age: 28
Appearance: ... Like canon Sada from Scarlet/Violet, with some changes. Things that immediately stand out at a glance:
- She wears heavy pelts sewn in makeshift clothes made from Mamoswine fur, high boots, and a heavy mantle with a hood. All clothes look pretty crudely made, obviously sewn together by hand. They are not normally visible, but she's wearing canon Sada's orange "cave woman" outfit underneath it all.
- Her hair is much longer than canon Sada, reaching her waist, and looks much wilder.
- She has a quite muscular build, and her hands look pretty rough and covered in scars from all the stone and bone tools she uses.

Personality: Curious and inquisitive, she wants nothing more than to study and discover new things about "creatures" (Pokémon) and the strange world around her. She lives in a time period equivalent to the Late Ice Age, which means that all she does is focused first and foremost on making survival easier for herself and the members of her tribe. Quite stubborn, she hates it when someone doubts her or her capabilities.
Has quite a tendency to hyperfocus on something if it attracts her attention.
"Creatures" for her are still definitely a danger first and a source of food and other things she needs to survive second, and she's only recently started experimenting with the idea of actually taming and living with them.

Pokemon 1
Name: "Winged King"
Personality: Friendly towards humans simply because he doesn't think they can ever be a threat. Protective towards Sada, he's hovever easily distracted by offering him any kind of food. Will naturally try to assert his dominance against other large Pokémon, but usually listens to Sada.
He WILL act aggressive towards other Koraidon if present, it's just his instinct.
Species: Koraidon
Ability: Orichalcum Pulse
Moves (4): Ancient Power, Collision Curse, Dragon Claw, Flamethrower
[Slightly bigger than a typical Koraidon, even in low power form. Also, he obviously DOES NOT have a Poké Ball, Sada summons him to her side by playing a flute and he will come if he's nearby. If it's problematic, I guess Sada can magically appear holding a Poke' Ball, but someone will have to teach her how to use it lol]

Fic of origin: Timeslip

Also, keys!

 

[Negrek]

{GM control? Yes}

Trainer​

Name: Nate Morgan
Age: 23
Appearance: Short, broad, angy. Looks like he hasn't had a decent night's sleep in weeks.
Personality: Just doing his best, which frequently isn't great. Nate greatly prefers the company of Pokémon to other humans, and his own company most of all. Generally cranky, rude, and short-tempered when forced to interact with other people. For good or for ill, he's incredibly stubborn, with a strong sense of justice. He enjoys games of strategy and has a strong interest in Pokémon training and battling. Not as hard-hearted or aloof as he would like; the keys to his heart are, really, anything to do with Pokémon. If you can earn his loyalty, you'll have it forever.

Pokemon 1

Name: Mightyena
Personality: Bold and outgoing, Mightyena has a take-charge personality that leads her to drag Nate into far more social exchanges than he'd like. While friendly, her energy and confidence can lead her to be a bit overbearing. At her worst, she can be something of a bully.
Species: Mightyena
Ability: Quick Feet
Moves (4): Yawn | Taunt | Play Rough | Crunch
- Mightyena is a purebred show Pokémon who was intended to compete in Cute Contests. Nate stole her from a pet shop when she was very young. Someone familiar with contests or Pokémon fancy might notice that she's ~classy~.

Fic of Origin: Salvage

 

[Hanafuda]

GM Control? No, thanks.

Pokémon

Name: Josie; also called ‘JoJo’, usually as an insult
Species: Joltik
Personality: Constantly analyzes her surroundings and the individuals she meets, seeing the good before the bad. Curious about the mysteries of the world, especially when it comes to Legendary Pokémon. Adaptable in dire situations. Likes to latch onto any friendly individuals willing to accompany her, since loneliness makes her feel weak.
Ability: Compound Eyes
Attacks: Electroweb | Bug Bite | Electro Ball | Agility

‘Keys!’

 

[FauxFox]

GM Control?: Sure

Pokemon
Name: Nova
Personality: Nova is a little timid at times, but otherwise very positive. She won't shy away from a battle, especially if it means protecting others. She loves learning new things and exploring, but it wasn't until recently in her own world that she actually got the chance to do the latter. Nova believes that helping others and working hard are the keys to a happy life.
Species: Eevee
Ability: Adaptability
Moves (4): Covet, Quick Attack, Hyper Voice, Bite

Fic of origin (if any): Exploring Time and Time Again (Not yet released)

 

[kyeugh]

Pokémon
Name: Ferry
Personality: Quiet and can be somewhat stern. He prefers to sit back and watch the action from afar. Strong sense of justice, shockingly enough for a member of his species. Warrior-poet who enjoys a game of chess. Traditional, but doesn't like talking about himself or his past.
Species: Lucario
Ability: Steadfast
Moves (4): Force Palm / Detect / Metal Claw / Extreme Speed
Notes: this is the version of ferry from the ongoing rewrite of my fic. i'm still feeling his character out and lowkeys hoping this rp will let me do that. this iteration of ferry is missing half his aura feelers and doesn't really use special attacks.

- - -

RP-only
Name: Sun
Personality: An orphan, Sun brought himself up in a human city and has some funny ideas about how the world works. He had to figure it all out by himself! He's high energy and desperate to prove himself at all times, but he also has a surprising tenderness and emotional intelligence to him.
Species: Meditite

 

[IFBench]

GM Control: Yes

Trainer​

Name: Breve Higgson
Age: 31
Appearance: Tall, with tan skin, and white hair. Almost always wears safety euipment, such as a hard hat, goggles, and a hi-vis vest.
Personality: Breve is an interregional gym inspector, meaning that he goes around to different gyms across the world, making sure they're safe and accessible. He's kind to gym challengers and those who appreciate safety, but do something like the cannons in the BW1 Mistralton gym, and you'll send him into a screaming fit at you. "Have fun, but safety first", is his motto.
Violations can vary wildly. Stairs but no elevator or accessibility ramp? Accessibility violation. Keys to moving forward buried in a dirty trash can? Safety violation. Giant walls of honey that you need to run through in order to progress? Safety and accessibility violation.

Pokemon 1
Name: Temsik
Personality: Temsik is just as much a stickler for safety as their trainer is, with their own safety equipment to boot. It's rare to catch them out and about without their hi-vis vest. They believe that safety overrides all else, and wants to protect trainers as much as they can.
Species: Absol
Ability: Justified
Moves (4): Detect, Endure, Knock Off, Strength
Temsik also has a disaster sense tuned towards safety violations.

Fic of origin (if any): Not quite a fic, but they're from a Pokemon IRL blog I recently started, at interregionalgyminspections.tumblr.com

 

[EonDuoLatios]

GM Control: Only if strictly needed, please.

Pokemon​

Name: Shou'An (守安)
Personality: He is a fairly serious Pokemon; he does have a sense of humour, but he chooses to express it in a deadpan manner. While he can seem extremely outgoing and welcoming in social scenarios, such as when meeting people for the first time due to official reasons, he likes keeping to himself a lot of the time. When faced with challenges, his first instinct is self-preservation as well; some say that he is "calculating", but in reality he is quite timid when facing danger. He believes that the keys to survival is not to attempt to be brave, but instead to keep calm, though he has trouble doing that himself sometimes.
Species: Latios
Ability: Levitate
Moves (4): Draco Meteor, Calm Mind, Dragon Claw, Lustre Purge

He wears a purple cloak most of the time when he goes out, which has a golden clamp in the middle with two symbols carved into it: a triangle, facing downward, as well as the character 保, or "protect".

Fic of origin (if any): Future

 

[ShiniGojira]

Gm Control: Yes

Pokemon​

Name: Pixels
Personality: Having been raised as an heir to a kingdom, Pixels is a prim and proper princess, always willing to help and be kind towards others. She prides herself in her beauty and absolutely despise dirtying herself for no reason. Despite this however, she has a heart akin to a daredevil. She enjoys exploring, fighting, and doing whatever to keep the adrenaline pumping in her. Though because of her origins, she is a bit naïve and has a tendency to go way over her head.
Species: Vulpix
Ability: Drought
Moves (4): Flamethrower, Will-o-wisp, Quick Attack, Confuse Ray

She wears a tiara embedded with gems and jewels, with a big Fire Stone in the middle as well as a pink scarf around her neck, both of which were gifted by her father.

Fic of origin (if any): Just A Normal Day.

Uh, don't know where to fit this so... 'Keys'

 

[System Error]

GM Control: Mmm, he's a little intricate and might react more unexpectedly than expected. Nah.

Trainer

Name: Nori Carino
Age: 13
Appearance: Nori is short, only around 130cm, but has a light build from being relatively in-shape. He has chestnut-colored hair that isn't quite neat but not messy either, and warm red eyes. Often dressed practically, we'll say a light jacket, jeans, and a Sunyshore Gym shirt for fun interactions.
Personality: While he has a habit of attracting trouble (by his fault or not), Nori is outgoing and compassionate at heart. He can be reckless and is unafraid to complain, but it's always with good reason. You may not think that a kid like him could amount to much, even if he actually is an official. But who knows? Maybe his youthful optimism will prove to be one of the keys to victory here. He was scouted for thinking outside the box, after all.

Pokemon 1
Name: Pachi
Personality: Nori's formal starter (he owned one beforehand) and so far the only Pokemon not assigned to him as part of his job as a Pokemon Rehabilitator. Cheerful and sugary sweet. Pachi is a helpful Pokemon who is always happy to make friends! Being born and raised in Sunyshore Gym he enjoys battle, be it watching or partaking. Usually out of his Poke Ball.
Species: Pachirisu
Ability: Volt Absorb
Moves (4): Discharge, Grass Knot, Super Fang, Sweet Kiss
Pachi has been trained to battle without input to an extent. Way more hardy than you might think. The nature of moves in this universe seems to be heavily affecting him...

Fic of origin (if any): The Nori Carino series. Specifically from the most current one, Abyssal Despair, since I have a line in mind.

 

[JFought]

I'll try this out. My participation might be a bit spotty, but we'll see how it goes.

GM Control: Yes

Pokémon
Name: Lumen
Personality: Calm and chivalrous, with a merciful attitude but a cold demeanor. He is experienced in regulating his emotions for use as psychic power, and as a side-effect he struggles to properly express his feelings. When dealing with problems he is highly analytical and not easily shaken, though before dealing with them, he is meticulous to a fault and often stresses himself out over minor things. Carries his ideals close to heart and is unwaveringly loyal to one person above all else…
Species: Gardevoir
Ability: Trace
Moves (4): Moonblast, Teleport, Encore, Wonder Room.
[As a Gardevoir, he is an empath capable of detecting the emotions of others, though obviously for the sake of RP this is limited to what is blatantly obvious from another character’s post. He also would normally use a rapier in battle, though he doesn’t depend on it.]

Fic of origin: The Legacy of Light: Sword

I have my Keys right here.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

GM Control: Sure, if you want. Best to stick to actions and not dialogue, though.

Name: Codex of Truth (or just "Codex," which I imagine most characters will prefer.)
Species: Hatterene
Personality: Lives in a perpetual state of mild empathetic burnout. Given the amount of people in here, it’s probably not going to stay mild for the duration of their stay. They’re a logical, bookish sort of person. (I mean, they named themself Codex of Truth, they’re notoriously low-keys about it.) Their social skills, however, are held together with duct tape and their emotion sense. Would use they/them if that was a thing in their language.

Ability: Anticipation
Moves: Psycho Cut, Draining Kiss, Mystical Fire, Heal Pulse

Notes:
-Has an emotion sense, but they won’t be surprised if it’s weaker here. Hell, it’d be a mercy. We’ve got one empath already anyway.
-While I’ll ignore most of the language stuff from their world in here, it would be weird to let them say Impossible Words like human. I'll probably make an exception for names, which shouldn't be possible (names from their world are nouns for a reason) but would become really cumbersome to avoid. Even if it’s a psychological block and not strictly impossible in-universe, they’ll probably only use words from their language. I’ll still let autotranslation iron out any incoming foreign words. (Listen, translation fuckery is half the premise of the story, I gotta keep a little nugget of it.)

Fic of origin: I’m only ~20% done writing it. (I might drop if I feel like this is cutting into the energy for writing it.)

 

[Flyg0n]

@System Error
Finally we arrive at the battle! This battle will look a little bit different than either the Mankey skirmish or what AQ folks know from the final battle. But still similar in principle!

First. Your character is not required to agree to Keldeo's terms. There may be boons for it but it is not unwinnable if you disagree (also, how you disagree may play small impact). Also, it does not need to be team unanimous if you agree. (again, unanimity may have a boon but its not unwinnable).

Essentially, this will be turn based flavor combat. Once the battle opens, players will have a predetermined period to come up with a strategy for the turn, then write brief flavorful posts executing. Then I’ll followup with a turn from Keldeo, and give players time to respond and make a counter; so on and so forth.

There are no official HP or visible meters for stamina or the like, but your characters can and will still flavorfully take damage, and I am tracking “damage” for Keldeo, in a manner of speaking. Also, stats and damage is very different from mainline and heavily abstracted. I put a lot of value on team playing, coordinated attacks, combos and working together! Try to think of this a little more like the anime and not about numbers.

Also, get creative! Don’t know protect? Well maybe you try to block with a double Stone Edge. Need an opening? Maybe one character causes a distraction while another uses a powerful move.

That said, there’s another element to pay attention to beyond HP. One that is far more important.

**Resolve.**.

Resolve is a representation of a characters adherence to their belief/values, however wrong they may be. Actions taken during battle can heighten or lower resolve. In this case, the goal is to reduce Keldeo’s resolve to zero, breaking his corruption. As you will see, Keldeo possesses some rather unusual beliefs right now about things. The goal is essentially to change his mind.

“Hah! Honor is nothing but an arbitrary concept created by those desperate to appear moral. A gilded lie. Those who claim to hold it always abandon it when it no longer suits them. There are simply those who win, or those who perish. Now, which are you?”

The ways to reduce resolve vary, but are based on character behavior, words and actions. Persuading through calling out/countering Keldeo’s stated beliefs, or acting in honorable and good ways are some approaches, but players aren’t necessarily locked into behaving one way. Rather, its a fluctuating factor. Confidence and commitment also go a long way, and your character being able to defend their actions.

That being said, Keldeo’s stand is that honor in battle is meaningless, and nobody can stick to their honor, and how one behaves doesn’t matter. It is this that characters will have to either counter or accept when fighting him, and disprove or break this notion. Pay attention to Keldeo’s character and cues given in narration.

Finally, while fainting the Keldeo may help, it is *not* a guaranteed win. If Keldeo has enough resolve upon fainting, he will be able to get up and continue fighting. Whereas even if you don’t faint him but do break his resolve, you can succeed.

Good luck!

To give ample time to get the flow, I'd like to first set of turn posts in by tomorrow afternoon (like 30 hours from now). Deadlines may reduce a little once people get the feel of things.

 

[Flyg0n]

Countdown for Turn 2 flavorposts
(3pm EST the 28th)

Please try to have flavorposts written by this time and posted!

 

[Flyg0n]

Turn 3 Countdown (all flavor turns posted)

Tip: Keldeo is trying to goad the group...!

Be sure to have your characters confident in their convictions if they previously agreed to his 'rules' and plan to divert

 

[Flyg0n]

Just a heads up that I probaly won't get a chance to get Keldeo's reply post tonight, its getting late.

Players are welcome to make a concise reaction post but please try to keep it limited to avoid timeline hiccups.

I'll try to get a post out tomorrow

 

[Flyg0n]

Players actions have led to a sort of "sudden death" scenario! Take special thought with how you choose to proceed...

Countdown