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[PTU][Worldbuilding] PokéEarth Campaign Setting; Blending the Pokemon World with the Real World: A cooperative thought-experiment
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Topic Started: Mar 15 2017, 03:39 PM (1,813 Views)
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jroncladd
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Mar 15 2017, 03:39 PM
Post #1
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PokéEarth Campaign Setting

By way of introduction, my name is Jroncladd, and while I have never played PTU or PTA I have followed the system(s) for some time, since summer 2012 (somebody invited me to join a PTA campaign they were starting, so I got into PTA and made my character, but the campaign fell through).
More importantly, while I have never played PTA or PTU, I have both played and GMed other RPGs, and therein lies one of my true passions: Worldbuilding! I have been thinking about this campaign setting for a week or two, but I figure I've gotten as far as I can on my own without feedback from others, as well as possibly crowdsourcing some of the
The Premise The goal of this campaign setting is to blend the Pokemon world with the real world, to create campaign setting where players can create characters from real countries and real places, and travel to real world locations for their Pokemon Adventures. If there was a mission statement for this campaign setting, I would describe it as to "Create a campaign setting using the real world, with the flavor and feel of the Pokemon World." In other words, if there is an element that is important to the flavor and feeling of the Pokemon World, such as Pokemon battles and the Pokemon League, it should be incorporated into the Real World without otherwise changing the real world.
Discussion Topics (Giving the World Background) There are many differences between the Pokemon World and the Real World, and I have already thought about some of the general categories of features of the Pokemon World to be included in the Setting:
The Existence of Pokemon - Pokemon are different from animals - If you've ever read the series His Dark Materials, I imagine that if Pokemon existed in the real world, they would be something like dæmons in how they are different from animals. From wikipedia: "Although dæmons mimic the appearance and behaviour of the animals they resemble perfectly, dæmons are not true animals, and humans, other dæmons, and true animals are able to distinguish them on sight. The faculty or quality that makes this possible is not explained in the books, but it is demonstrated extensively, and is reliable enough to allow humans to distinguish a bird-shaped dæmon within a flock of birds in flight." In this setting, both Pokemon and Animals exist, but they are very different from one another. So, if a Pelipper was flying with flock of pelicans, humans and animals could immediately tell them apart, instinctively.
- Pokemon are sentient - One thing I want to discuss is, if pokemon are sentient, how would they be treated in legal systems?
- Pokemon have elemental natures and powers - Getting into the metaphysics of Pokemon, one thought I had was that, in this setting, there is a type of energy/matter that acts like the elemental types of the Pokemon world. Just as an antiproton and a proton annihilate one another in the real world, perhaps the different flavors of pokématter interact with one another through cancelations, resistances, weaknesses, and strengths. This "pokemon are made up of energy" theory is one that I have seen elsewhere, and also explains why pokemon can be stored in Pokeballs. It also explains evolutions: just as a molecule prefers its most stable energy state, then shifts configuration when it increases in energy, a pokemon "stage" could be a "stable energy state", and when a pokemon's energy level increases, it changes states (evolves). At the same time, however, pokemon are still made up of physical substance, which humans can interact with. Perhaps, pokemon are like animals made up of this different state of matter?
The Relationship of Pokemon and Humans - Pokemon are used by Humans - Humans and Pokemon have something of a symbiotic relationship; at least the Pokemon media "says" this. I've often wondered, though, while Humans use Pokemon, what do Pokemon get out of the relationship? This is an especially significant question considering that the Pokemon Media show that Pokemon, broadly speaking, understand humans and human language, indicating they are intelligent to a degree. For Pokemon to coexist with humans in this campaign setting (emphasis on the "coexist with humans" as opposed to "are exploited by humans"), it seems to me that Pokemon should get more out of the human-pokemon "symbiotic" relationship. One possibility that came to my mind is that the "aura" of humanity (aura is a concept already existing in Pokemon media, so I think it is an appropriate source for an explanation) is beneficial, perhaps even necessary for Pokemon. Pokemon and humans could have an agreement, of sorts, where Pokemon serve humans, in return, the Pokemon "feed off" of human auras. Too metaphysical/supernatural?
- Humans order Pokemon to fight one another (And it isn't dogfighting) - Not sure how to best answer this question yet... based on how often Pokemon fight one another, and humans command pokemon to fight another, one would guess that, in the real world, this would only occur if it was a necessity (otherwise it smacks too much of dogfighting, and cruel treatment of animals). What do pokemon and humans gain from fighting?
- Humans fight one another with weapons, but rarely use weapons on pokemon - While weapons exist in the pokemon franchise, they are rarely seen, much less used. One explanation for this apparent lack is given in this myth from the Gen IV games, which seems to indicate that Pokemon avoid humans who use weapons. Not sure how to address this though.
The World is made of Small, Insular Regions - The human population is more sparse compared to real world - This feature doesn't necessarily need to be included in this campaign setting, because the lack of people in the Pokemon World is mainly due to the limitations of the programming of the pokemon games. However, even though in the anime the population is much larger, it still seems much smaller than the population of the real world. Perhaps it is 1/10, or even less (1/100?). One that I had was human fertility rates could be simply much lower. If a human couple will have, at most, 3 children live to the adulthood, the human population would be much smaller. This would also support why humans might give their irresponsible, 10-year-old children (such as Ash) stewardship over this powerful elemental creatures: they want to ensure that children are safe and protected, because there are relatively few children being born.
- Geography wildly varies, even between areas just a few miles apart - I had one idea on this: perhaps the energy/auras of pokemon (discussed above) creates micro-ecosystems? For example, the "grass" energy of a legendary pokemon such as Celebi could possibly cause entire forest to develop around where this pokemon makes its habitat. Likewise, a desert could appear due to a proliferation of pokemon with the Sand Stream ability (Perhaps the expansion of the Sahara is a result of Hippowdons, Gigaliths, and Tyranitars?). This would cause geography to widely vary from place to place, more befitting of the pokemon games.
- The world is divided into small regions - Following from above, if the human population is much smaller, and geography can wildly change, I would imagine that regions might be more insular. Regions may also simply be the geographical term used by the Pokemon League, which may be separate from the actual governments of the Country.
The Pokemon League - The Pokemon league regulates pokemon/human interactions - This makes me think that the Pokemon leagues wouldn't be *the* government of this campaign setting, but would be simply a branch, regulating pokemon like the FDA regulates food and agriculture.
- Starter Pokemon Species - From the games, it seems that the fire/water/grass starter pokemon are exceedingly rare species that are endemic to a specific region; furthermore, it seems that these pokemon are monopolies by the Pokemon League in their respective region, and are only given to those who have a relationship with the Pokemon League (read: "gophers" for the various pokemon professors). I thought that this would be a good place to start in determining which regions of the world have which pokemon species, and the regions of the world are laid out in the next post.
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I need help! The purpose of this post is to encourage discussion. I want discussion on philosophical and background aspects of how this PokeEarth setting might function, and eventually I hope to get into mechanical elements, like creating regional varieties of pokemon in American vs. Britain, and so forth. I'm going to go ahead and post this thread, even though I haven't 100% finished this post, in case anyone wants to pitch in.
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jroncladd
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Mar 15 2017, 03:40 PM
Post #2
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Pokemon League in PokéEarth
North American League  North American League Starter Pokemon: - Blaziken - Endemic to Mojave Desert (fluffed to be inspired by road runners, and cowboys)
- Decidueye - Endemic to Forests north of the Great Lakes (fluffed to be inspired to Native American folklore, where owls are often associated with ghosts and death, and archery was once a way of life)
- Swampert - Endemic to the rivers and lakes near Mexico City, as in the axolotl
Pokemon Species originally from this area: Ludicolo (Mexico), Hawlucha (Mexico), Natu/Xatu (Northwestern USA)
South American League  South American League Starter Pokemon: - Serperior - Endemic to a region deep in the Amazon - fluffed to be similar to the anaconda-- did you know Serperior is the largest starter evolution, at over 10 ft long?
- Flairees* - Endemic to the Andes, volcanoes near the Incan highways
- Aguanaut* - endemic to the Galapagos Islands, like the marine iguana
*You will notice these are Fakemon. With the real world be as large and as varied as it is, I thought that it would be appropriate to bring in Fakemon to flesh out this campaign setting more. My personal thoughts on Fakemon is that they are acceptable, but must be of high quality, which, for me, comes down to: 1) High-quality, Sugimori-style art, 2) thematically fitting the Pokemon franchise, and 3) good mechanical depth and balance (not overpowered, as some people like to make their Fakemon). To me, the Pokemon Sage fakemon are just about the best I've seen, and since many are inspired by South American animals and culture, I thought Flairees and Aguanaut would befit the South American League. I used Floressum, the other Pokemon Sage starter, for the East Asian League below. Pokemon Species originally from this area: Sigiglyph (Peru)
European League  European League Starter Pokemon:
- Charizard - Endemic to scotland, inspired by english/celtic/welsh folklore and dragons!
- Primarina - endemic to the seas around Denmark, inspired by Mermaids and sirens
- Chesnaught - Endemic to southern france, inspired by french knights and crusaders, like Charlemagne
Middle East / North African League  MENA League Starter Pokemon:
- Delphox - Endemic to Tunisia, inspired by Hellenic civilization
- Greninja - Endemic to the Alamut region in Iran, i.e. the fortress of the medieval Assassins, refluffed to be inspired by the Assassins rather than the ninja
- Roserade - endemic to fertile crescent, perhaps inspired by the Hanging gardens of Babylon/Nineveh?
Subsaharan Africa  African League Starter Pokemon:
- Typhlosion- Endemic to a region of the African savannah in Tanzania, inspired by honey badgers
- Feraligatr- Endemic to the Nile, like the nile crocodile
- Sceptile - Endemic to Madagascar, like the leaf-tailed gecko
Russian League  Russian Republics Starter Pokemon:
- Walrein - Endemic to the northern/Arctic coast, like walruses (perhaps buffed, such as with access to Slack Off?)
- Shiftry - (with buffed stats) Endemic to the slavic countries, I was thinking Shiftry could be refluffed to be inspired by Baba Yaga and other Slavic fairy tales (rather than the Japanese tengu, which was the original inspiration)
- Talonflame - Endemic to the forests of Kazakhstan/Central Asia, inspired by the Gyrfalcon
South Asian League .svg/1200px-South_Asia_(orthographic_projection).svg.png) South Asian League Starter Pokemon:
- Incineroar - Refluffed to be inspired by Bengal tigers, endemic to the region of Rewa in India (where a larger number of white tigers come from--look at incineroar's shiny sprite)
- Torterra - endemic to the Aldabra Atoll in the indian ocean (I would have put Torterra in the Galapagos, but I already gave that region Serperior, and the Aldabran tortoises are actually larger)
- Blastoise, endemic to an area off the Indian coast, like sea turtles? idk
East Asian League .svg/1200px-East_Asia_(orthographic_projection).svg.png) East Asian League Starter Pokemon
- Infernape - endemic to the Mount Huaguo area in China, like the mythological figure of Sun Wukong that Infernape is inspired by
- Samurott - Endemic to a region in Japan
- Floressum* - Endemic to a bamboo forest deep in China, I know that hummingbirds aren't originally from East Asia but I thought it might be a thematic fit
*See my note in the section under South America for my thoughts on Fakemon, like those in Pokemon Sage.
Oceania League  Oceania League Starter Pokemon:
- Venusaur - Endemic to Sumatra, as in Raffleasia Arnoldii
- Emboar - Endemic to volcanic pacific islands, such as hawaii, refluffed to be inspired by Polynesian warriors
- Empoleon - Endemic to a small area of New Zealand and the arctic circle, like real penguins
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jroncladd
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Mar 15 2017, 03:41 PM
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[Reserved]
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l33tmaan
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Mar 15 2017, 04:45 PM
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So how many governments spy on their citizens with Porygon Security Units?
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AssaultBird2454
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Mar 15 2017, 07:06 PM
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Interesting Concept, I might try and make a conversation with my youth friends and post what gets mentioned
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Muted_ReDead
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Mar 16 2017, 12:36 AM
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- l33tmaan
- Mar 15 2017, 04:45 PM
So how many governments spy on their citizens with Porygon Security Units? Literally all of them. In fact there could even be a group of hackers like Anonymous in this setting, which would make for an interesting plot hook!
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jroncladd
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Mar 16 2017, 09:28 AM
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- Muted_ReDead
- Mar 16 2017, 12:36 AM
- l33tmaan
- Mar 15 2017, 04:45 PM
So how many governments spy on their citizens with Porygon Security Units?
Literally all of them. In fact there could even be a group of hackers like Anonymous in this setting, which would make for an interesting plot hook! Since Anonymous is a real organization in the real world, I think that we could simply include them as-is in the setting! You all bring up a good point: governments would almost certainly control the use of artificial pokemon like Porygon, and Russian and American governments probably developed Porygon in the Cold War period for the purposes of cyberwarfare.
On the other hand, groups like Wikileaks and Anonymous, although they lack to the sophisticated Porygon and Porygon2 tools that governments use, could use Rotom to hack into systems, which would match the asymmetry of the hacking/security conflict we see today.
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SinGin
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Mar 16 2017, 10:12 AM
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Eisgekühlter Bommerlunder
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The question of Pokemon Sentience could be seen as a parallel to AI Sentience/AI Rights, and I feel many a same point apply. Exceptions are obviously that AI's are programmed and thus can be prohibited from enacting certain actions simply through that (for example AI's may not harm humans, must be truthful to authority, etc.), though saying that....what is Pokemon training (As in keeping them close to humans and developing a relationship) other than a living form of programming? Food for thought, or so I hope.
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l33tmaan
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Mar 16 2017, 02:55 PM
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Why aren't pokemon just straight up slaves in this world? The relationship between humans and pokemon is already dubious enough in the games/anime, I can only imagine things get worse when you take off the kid gloves.
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jroncladd
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Mar 16 2017, 03:03 PM
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- l33tmaan
- Mar 16 2017, 02:55 PM
Why aren't pokemon just straight up slaves in this world? The relationship between humans and pokemon is already dubious enough in the games/anime, I can only imagine things get worse when you take off the kid gloves. You bring up a good point, in that if Pokemon were in the real world they would most likely be considered as slaves and property, at least historically, as slavery existed throughout western civilization until the 1800s. However, considering that Pokemon are intelligent beings and capable of thought, speech, emotion, and so forth, I would think that by the modern era, Pokemon slavery would be abolished.
Also, though this is less important, giving Pokemon rights would fit in thematically with the Pokemon games, in that abusing Pokemon seems to be illegal or at least frowned upon. The Pokemon games do explicitly say people "own" pokemon, though, which is line with your point.
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