[center][img]http://img12.deviantart.net/a6c5/i/2014/007/0/8/caterpie_vs_weedle_by_simongangl-d718qwd.jpg[/img] [/center] [center] So, you want to become a trainer? Hmph. Seems like every housewife needs a trainer for a husband these days. Don't worry. I won't make myself sound more geriatric than I already am by being wistfully nostalgic about the past. Anyway, there are plenty of reasons for choosing a career like that when you're a hormone-addled, adolescent, mid-puberty teenager. Want me to list all of them out? Very well, then. If you think that I'm being patronizing, don't. I'm just an old man making an inquiry about your future career choices. Obviously, you're not taking the examination to become a coordinator, ranger, militia man or a researcher, am I right? I thought so. So, let's begin. Is it the fame? Everyone wants the fame in life, from the rich to the poor. Recognition in the media. Signing autographs. Movies. Controversy. Gossip. There's a baggage for everything. Everyone's a sucker for becoming famous. Reknown throughout the world as the trainer who 'caught 'em all'. The problem is that you're competing with a thousand others to reach the spotlight. So, that's a no from you. Alright. Is it for economic purposes? Debt. Loans. Getting rid of taxes. Family in poverty. The League is a avenue for anyone with no valuable economical skills to earn some cash. There's another reason why Lance is known as the 'Dragon King'. Not because of his extreme prowess in the art of battling but because he sits on a large horde of steaming, hot money. Of course, you're looking to settle for less. You don't want to expend yourself too much. Of course, the problem is that you have to cough up money if you lose. So, another no. Alright, let's up the ante a bit. Peer pressure? No. Parental control?Adrenaline-junkie? No. Altering the geopolitics of the entire Kanto Region? No. Becoming Champion? No. Then, what is it that you want? .............. Purpose? .............. Well, thank you for humoring me. I have enough time dealing with children today, especially as the Pokemon Professor. Go back to your home and rest. The examination is tomorrow. I'm sure you've studied well for it, given that you wanted to meet with me during my tea time.[/center] [hr][center](=0=)[/center][hr] [center][i]I wanna be the very Best like no one ever was [/i][/center] [hr][center](=0=)[/center][hr] [center][h3][color=turquoise][b]Shattered Reflections[/b][/color][/h3][/center] [hr][center](=0=)[/center][hr] [center][i]I will travel across the land Searching far and wide These pokemon to understand, the power that's inside [/i][/center] [hr][center](=0=)[/center][hr] [center][b][u]Foreword[/u][/b][/center] [center] Now, I know what you're thinking right now. Why make Pokemon grim-dark, gritty and realistic? Am I trying to create some sort of depraved, twisted parody of a beloved children franchise? Is this my teenage edgy genes influencing me to create this thread? Am I some sort of sick bastard who gets off having hyperbolic descriptions of children getting eaten alive by ravenous hungry creatures? Am I just doing this to satisfy my kinks and jerk off on murder porn? The answer to all of the above is...perhaps. I wouldn't be honest with myself if I said this wasn't a desire of mine and I wouldn't be honest either if I said if all of the above was wrong and I was doing it to create a genuine roleplay setting. The words, realism and pokemon, shouldn't look like they exist together but yet, there's so many indicators in the games, the manga and anime I can list off that are viable for this sort of thing. The manga, especially. The Pokemon Tower. The use of guns in the original anime. Ash getting nearly chomped apart by pokemon in the beginning episode. A ten year old facing off against what is essentially a glorified mafia organisation. The whole concept of Pokemon is fucked up as it gets as well if you just put a little bit of thought into it. So, why combine realism with Pokemon? To make it compelling. To make it seem as if the concept of glorified cock-fighting could exist in real-life. To try and create scientific explanations for how fire-breathing dragons exist or how mouses contain enough electricity to fry a person. Most of all, to have fun. That's the point of role-playing, isn't it? The purity of escapism at its finest? Once again, I've tried putting this idea to the grindstone of forum role-playing as long as I have remembered. There were some successes. Some failures. A little bit of both in between. Yet, it never satisfied me enough. I suppose that's a symptom of role-playing. Not settling for lesser and wanting more. Little bit of improvements to the setting and how it functioned. Better role-playing. Believable character interaction. Detailed prose. Realistic Pokemon is a concept that I owe my debt to as a role-player as it was my first forum roleplay and the catalyst for my growth as a whole through the year. So, information about the roleplay. I doubt I have to repeat the basics of the setting and the history of the series of a whole since Pokemon has essentially been a worldwide cultural phenomenon that even a man living under a rock would have heard whispers about. First of all, you don't need to have any knowledge of pre-existing canon, games, manga or anime to help you here. Shattered Reflections is meant to be an AU of Pokemon that everyone can get behind, no matter their background knowledge of the series. It can even be as basic as 'Is that yellow mouse named Charizard?'. The concept of the RP is basically a focus on a small group of beginner trainers embarking on their first trainer journey in the region of Kanto. Each trainer will start off with one starter pokemon. Starter pokemon qualify as pokemon that are in their first evolution stage and are reasonable for a beginning trainer to have. If you want to have a OP starter pokemon, you must have a good enough backstory to justify it. Why Kanto and not Aiola or some original fan-made region? Kanto reeks of nostalgia for me and there's a familiar feel to it unlike the other regions. You will be allowed to play female and male roles and no, I don't care which of the 40,000 LGBT tumblr terms for your sexuality you use. The mechanics of the RP will mainly be linear-based with a side of sand-boxing in general. I am the GM of the RP and therefore, I am Arceus. That means, I control all wild pokemon encounters, almost every other NPC in the world, all enviromental, political and social factors along with the general functionality of the world as a whole. How will I decide encounters and how the world works? Well, with my brains and wit, I'm sure I can make a roleplay that doesn't seem to be rail-roaded and close-ended. Right? Battling will work by the level of description in your roleplay post and the strategem you use against another trainer's pokemon along with a hefty dose of realism. For example, there is no way that a Ratata can beat an Onix without some serious anime logic and some suspension of disbelief. There will be no dice involved and so forth. Each town or location such as the Pokemon Tower, Cinnabar Island and Pewter City will act as miniature sandboxes. Routes will act as more rail-road sandboxes. In each sandbox, players are able to capture pokemon, train pokemon, look around for wares in the Poke-Marts, explore the surrounding area or do anything they want to do. Oh, and you know moves? TMs? HMs? Move tutors? Poof. Nope. Not in this RP. No HMs, TMs or moves in this RP. There will be no silly shit like Pikachu's using Earthquakes and so forth. This is usually the part where most people close this window and say ' What the fuck, The Bork Lazer? How am I supposed to viably battle now? This takes away all the excitement of battling'. Well, you see, my good role-payer, I'm technically allowing you more freedom in your ability to describe battles by stripping away the excess. Each Pokemon will be limited to their own natural abilities in this universe like most animals are. Water-types will still be able to fire bursts of water at their targets. Fire-types can still breathe fire. And so forth. Likewise, feel free to consult me on a Pokemon's abilities and what they can do if you're curious. In terms of the setting, I will be limiting details of the setting unlike my other role-plays and they will be slowly revealed through GM posts and role-play. Essential information about the setting of the RP will be down below.[/center] [center][b][u]Setting Information(Updated Periodically)[/u][/b][/center] [center][hider=Locations of Interest] [center][hider=Pallet Town]Pallet Town is a small fledgling valley town, most noted for its large amounts of craft shops in black-smithing, text-tiles and woodwork to stave off the hordes of wild pokemon that are constantly fended off by Ranger squads and being the sole premier location of the official Kanto Pokemon Professor's laboratory, Professor Oak. Pallet Town was formed out of a large government fund bargained from the Indigo Congressional Hearing between Professor Oak and the Indigo lobby after recent controversy surrounding the rise of the Arceus Cult to Indigo Parliament. The town brags wide sloping hills and large tracts of prairie land. Efforts have been made by companies to start agricultural within the grasslands but have been so far hindered by the large amount of wild Ratata and other forest-dwelling pokemon that roam the tall grass. A cherished past tradition in Pallet is the graduation ceremony for all beginning trainers. All trainers must venture to Victory Falls, located in the fields of Route 1, and float a paper boat down the river with their challenges and wishes written upon it for good luck in their journey. Besides Lavender Town, Pallet Town is one of the only two cities in Kanto to completely lack a Gym.[/hider][/center] [center][hider=Viridian City] Viridian City is a bordering city to the west of Pallet Town, connected by Route 1. It is named after the green deciduous forests which surround the city walls and grow at the city gate. Viridian City is a famous tourism hub, having the large density of tourists anywhere in Kanto and is famous for the legendary Tojho Falls, a cherished trainer tradition where large masses of trainers throw their pokeballs into the air before the mid-day gate opens to Viridian Forest. Giovanni Delimontio, businessman of Delimontio Incorporated and former Grand Champion, operates the Viridian City Gym, notable for his long periods of absence and only accepting Championship-Level battles.[/hider][/center] [center][hider=Pewter City]Pewter City is one of the oldest and grandest cities in Kanto, protected from wild pokemon by a large man-made carved walled border of igneous and sedimentary rock with boulders sewn between. It is located and hemmed in by Mt Moon, the Viridian Forest and Mt Sliver. Archaeologists dictate that over the entire indigenous population of Kanto can trace their heritage from a Pewter City resident or ancestor. Pewter City initially originated as the tribal lands of the Aissatou Clan, a vicious but honorable band of tribals that inhabited the mountain valleys. Historical records indicate that due to the result of a trade agreement between Virdian City and the Aissotou Clan for the ore of Mt-Moon, enough investment was created for the city of Pewter to be created. Pewter City is mainly a miner's town, with not much tourist activity in between. Any attempts to expand or industralize the city were stopped short by the Indigo Parliamentary Lobby who consider the Aissatou Clan a 'undeniable treasure of Kanto.' Notable landmarks include the Pewter City Gym where the Aissotou Clan maintains a stronghold over and the Pewter Museum of Science.[/hider][/center] [center][hider=Cerulean City] Cerulean City is the sea-side pearl of the Kanto Region. Originally an old port town and fishing village, Cerulean City was a hot-spot for immigration from other regions such as Hoenn, Sinnoh, Kalos and Alola. Relationships between the various ethnic groups in Cerulean boiled over into a civil war that almost threatened to destroy the sea-side region. The Cerulean government stepped downwards and the Cerulean Ports were closed to any international immigrants or migrants looking for a rest in the sunny port-side city. For this, the marbled architecture in Cerulean is varied, being a mixture of Unovan, Sinnohan and Kalosian architecture along with various other business ventures normally found in those regions being located in Cerulean. Cerulean is mainly known for its seafood and shipping industry along with being a tourist hotspot with areas such as the Nugget Bridge being a national trainer-trap.[/hider][/center] [center][hider=Vermillion City] Vermillion City is a military-infested regional area and it shows.There are monthly military parades all year around. Soldiers do mandatory patrols in and out of the city armed with lethal pokemon capable of shredding a city block and top of the line armaments. Large titanium steel concrete borders lined with auto-cannon turrets surround the city. Martial law is in effect. Regardless of whether you're a civilian or not, you will get a court-martial, even if you do the most insignificant of crimes. Most crimes end up with a summary execution. That said, Vermillion City is likely one of the most modern and lavish places to live in Kanto if you adhere to the rules and respect the military. Universal health-care. Top of the line education, public, free. No crime, whatsoever. No pollution whatsoever. The Military operates the Vermillion City Gym in which Lieutenant 'Jackie' Surge, The Hero of Kanto, serves as its leader.[/hider][/center] [center][hider=Lavender Town]Lavender Town is the Mecca of all religious activities within Kanto. You can find a variety of old world religions still tucked away in a little corner such as Christianity, Protestantism, Islam, Buddhism along with new world pagan religions that worship the modern gods of Kanto such as the Moltres Cult, the Zapdos Cult, the Articuno Cult, the Mew Cult and so forth. A number of other legendary pokemon are worshiped within the borders of Lavender Town with murals being carved in the most inconspicious of locations and temples of worship dotting every block. Inside Lavender Town, you must adhere to the protocols and must follow all religious guidelines in respect of the religious community within the area. The famous tourist landmark within Lavender Town is the Pokemon Tower, a massive shrine dedicated to the burial of pokemon and trainer alike, thousands of pounds of ashes stored inside marble jars where trainers from all over the world go to honor their fallen pokemon and family.[/hider][/center] [center][hider=Celadon City]Celadon City is a conurbation at its finest. Railways, sky-scrapers and the essence of modern civilization are in Celadon City as shoppers roam the streets, fulfilling their capitalistic needs with shops displaying their latest products. The rich and poor alike live in Celadon City, the rich living in the sky-rise with the most exquisite furnishings available while the poor live in the gutter, soaked in sewer water and alley waste alike. Celadon is considered the lesser cousin of Saffron City, focusing on decadence and hedonism rather than the progressive and intellectual nature of Saffron City. Celadon Gym is operated within the city centre, operated by Erika Vahallen with the Celadon Game Corner, a wide-ranging casino catering to the young to the most hardened of adults located nearby as well.[/hider][/center] [center][hider=Fuchsia City]Fuschia is the city of thieves, liars, assassins, terrorists and shinobi. The Kurowasa Clan, a band of terrorist ninjas as old as the Aissotou Clan themselves, officially operate Fuschia City behind the veil of the legal Fuschia government, having infected and destroyed the entire influence of the Kantonese Government in Fuschia. The Kurowasa Clan are the main operating power within Fuschia and have wiped all other gangs from their territory, subsuming them or destroying them with their arsenal of deadly poisons and superhuman ninjas. The Kurowasa Clan mainly use guerilla terroristic techniques to bully other cities and the Indigo Parliament into giving into their political demands. With their careful meddling and almost devious planning, even though every soul in Kanto knows that the Kurowasa Clan is in someway responsible for it, the army of lawyers prevents any legal measure against them. Koga Kurowasa daughter, Janine Kurowasa, operates the Fuschia Gym while Koga Kurowasa is one of the Elite Four, granting him extreme amounts of political power to protect Fuschia. [/hider][/center] [center][hider=Saffron City] Mountains of sky-scrapers dot its enviroment. Roof-top farms are the norm.Saffron City is the modern, crowning capital of the Kanto region. It is a haven for anyone who has scientific endeavors or dreams that they wish to achieve. It's the city where Professor Oak got his two PhDs in poke-biology and poke-technology. It's a city that operates entirely on self-sustainable electrcity from a combination of nuclear, solar, wind and electrical pokemon. There is no pollution at all. New innovations are made into the realm of science everyday. Mazes of sky-trains writh around the buildings and myraid of skyscrapers like snakes. Companies such as Silph Co and Devon Co have set up shop in Safron. Sabrina, the Gym Leader of Saffron Gym, is a famed human psychic and a article for scientific research.[/hider][/center] [center][hider=Cinnabar Island]Cinnabar Island. Your one, hot-top tourist destination filled with spanking, hot island woman and volcanic activity to rival a Slugma. Off the southern coast of the Kanto Region, Cinnabar is a volcanic island built on top of a destructive tectonic plate boundary in which volcanic activity is apparent. High populations of fire pokemon migrate to the island yearly to enjoy the high heat exuded from the volcanic activity. Large amounts of greenery are present due to the nutrients and high concentration of minerals present within the volcanic soil. The famed Cinnabarean ore, buried within the depths of the volcanic rock, provides the island with a bounty of domestic produce as it is highly valued to make cinnabarean steel, a material used in construction of durable structures. Blaine Breitbarth, a former champion known as the Ignis King and a leading scientific professor, operates the Cinnabarean Gym.[/hider][/center] [/hider][/center] [center][hider=Trainer Rankings and League Operations] Novice Rank: Denoted by a green rim around their Trainer's License, Novice rank Trainers are virtual beginners to the League competition. The vast majority of 'Challenger's Rights' are denied to Novice ranked Trainers due to their inexperience with League Codes and Species Clauses. Novice ranked Gym Battles limit both the challenger and the Gym Leader to a grand total of three mon, three substitutions, and the most extensive list of Species Regulations. Intermediate Rank: The immediate Trainer rank following Novice, Intermediate Licenses are rimmed in blue. Intermediate rank comes in two stages: Intermediate-One: Awarded to a Trainer who has earned two Gym Badges through League certified competition. Beyond being recognised for higher levels of competition, Intermediate-One Trainers are still denied the vast majority of 'Challenger's Rights' for the same reasons Novice Trainers are. Adjusted Species Regulations grant Intermediate ranked Trainers a higher tolerance for competitive mon species. Intermediate-Two: Awarded to a Trainer who has earned three Gym Badges through League certified competition. The Intermediate-Two ranked Trainers secure the first set of 'Challenger's Rights' for displaying an understanding and adherence to the League Code Species Clauses. The roster of applicable mon species in Intermediate-Two competition is expanded, allowing for more powerful mon to be deployed in League certified competition. One of the first 'Challenger's Rights' secured by Intermediate-Two ranked Trainers is additional Gym challenge options. Most notably, Intermediate-Two ranked Trainers can request Major ranked Gym challenges in order to further expand the roster of applicable mon-species to that of a Major ranked Gym challenge. Major Rank: The immediate Trainer rank following Intermediate-Two, Major Licenses are rimmed in red. Awarded to a Trainer who has earned five Gym Badges through League certified competition. Full access to the 'Challenger's Rights' is granted to a Major ranked Trainer. The roster of applicable mon species in Major competition is dramatically expanded, allowing for most species of mon to be deployed in League certified competition. Major ranked Gym Battles limit both the challenger and the Gym Leader to a grand total of four mon, and three substitutions. Premiership Rank: The immediate Trainer rank following Major, Premiership Licenses are rimmed in white. Awarded to a Trainer who has earned seven Gym Badges through League certified competition. All Species Restrictions are removed from Premiership competition. Premiership ranked Gym Battles limit both the challenger and the Gym Leader to a total of five mon, and four substitutions. Championship Rank: The immediate Trainer rank following Premiership, Championship Licenses are rimmed in gold. Awarded to a Trainer who has earned eight Gym Badges through League certified competition. Championship Trainers use only the strongest species of mon in League certified competition. Most League Codes are unobserved in Championship ranked competition. The remaining League Codes can be removed altogether by declaring unrestricted format. There are absolutely no League enforced limits in unrestricted Championship ranked competition. Only the strongest mon and cleverest Trainers can survive in sustained unrestricted Championship ranked competition. Unrestricted format is generally declared as a formality, given that the fatality rate of Championship mon is considered excessively high. Declaring unrestricted format effectively frees both participants from legal action being pursued by either party upon the death of a Championship mon. Championship ranked matches remove all roster limitations from the participants, effectively allowing a grand total of six mon to be used in League certified competition, yet the three substitutions limit remains applicable. League Finalist: The immediate Trainer rank following Championship, League Finalist Licenses are rimmed in platinum. Awarded to a Trainer who has earned eight Gym Badges through League certified competition, survived the Victory Road Trial, and who have successfully passed the qualifying round in the League Seasonal Finals. The final restriction pertaining to the limit of substitutions is removed from the League Seasonal Finals, otherwise the same formula that is applied in the Championship ranked matches is also applied in the League Seasonal Final matches. Unrestricted format in the League Seasonal Finals is enforced by League Code. League Flame(s): A new five tiered-system of rank is added to a League Finalist's License upon defeating one member of the League's Elite Four. After a participant determined quota of Finalist matches have been won, a League Finalist can call one member of the Elite Four to a challenge. If the League Finalist proves victorious against their first Elite Four challenge, another bout of Finalist matches ensues, until a certain quota of remaining Finalists have been defeated. Upon completion of the second quota of Finalists, the quota victor can challenge another member of the Elite Four. The process repeats until the quota victor is defeated, or every member of the Elite Four has been bested by a quota victor. Upon securing their Fourth Flame, a quota victor can replace any member of Elite Four at their discretion, or challenge the League Champion for the Fifth Flame and the League Throne. Gym Leader: Any League Finalist can apply to the League for the role of Gym Leader. The only stipulation for succession is that a Trainer must defeat a current Gym Leader in the post-finals of League Seasonal Finals, and they must utilize a team recognised by the League as a 'Type specialist team,' or what is more commonly known as a 'mono team'. A bare minimum of five Pokemon on a mono team must share the same species-Type index. The sixth mon, or 'the wildcard' can be of any species-Type, and is generally reserved for a species-Type that counters any and all weakness shared by the the mono team's declared specialty species-Type. Upon defeating a previous Gym Leader, the new Gym Leader inherits their predecessor's Gym and station, though the Gym's species-Type specialization will reflect the declared species-Type utilized in the defeat of the previous Gym Leader. Due to the mono team requirement, few challenges are presented for Gym Leader succession. The 1050th Gym Congress of Indigo: Kanto Division is comprised of Brock Aissatou, Misty Willows, Lieutenant 'Jackie' Surge, Erika Valhallen, Janine Kurosawa, Sabrina Jahanshah, Blaine Breitbarth, and Giovanni Delimonto. Elite Four: Quad-Flame former League Finalists who stand highest amongst all Trainers as the best of the best; save for the League Champion. Elite Four members commonly rotate or are replaced at the end of every League Seasonal Finals. Due to the constant Elite Four rotation, most long standing members wield mono teams in the event of succession. Once ousted from the Elite Four, any prior member can challenge a Gym Leader in the post-finals for a League recognised station, consequently justifying the frequency of mono teams utilized in the Elite Four. The 1,050th Elite Four of Indigo is comprised of Koga Kurosawa, Bruno Endfield, Karen Crawley, and Will Houden. League Champion: The League Finalist who secured the quota victor rank four times, defeated the entirety of the Elite Four, crushed the opposing final quota victor, before challenging the League Champion- -And then proved victorious against the most skilled and most powerful Trainer recognised by the League. The Reigning Champion replaces the former Champion, who at that point, must wait for the next League Seasonal Finals to challenge and defeat the newly formed League in order to reclaim their title, or alternatively, challenge a Gym Leader in the post-finals to secure a station recognised by the League. League Champions are rarely challenged by the Quad-Flame League Finalists, for the simple reason of that Fifth-Flame's connotation. The Champion of Champions. The Alpha of Alphas. The King of Kings. Only the most powerful and most intelligent Trainers can even hope to defeat the legendary League Champion. The League Champion's reputation of prowess, the exhaustion and sacrifices experienced in the Quad-Flame's ascent, and the risk of losing everything thus far accrued, save for a decorated License; is all sufficient reason enough to ward off any challengers for the League Throne. The Champions survived the very same League gauntlet that is imposed upon their challengers. The Champions bested the Elite Four in due process through trial of combat. ...And the Reigning Champion defeated a former Champion at their prime to top it all off. The League Champion is the highest rank achievable in the League, and its merits and privileges are countless.[/hider][/center] [center][hider=Groups of Interest(Upcoming)] [/hider][/center] [center][hider=Pokedex Entries(Upcoming)] [/hider][/center] [center][hider=Technology(Upcoming)] [/hider][/center] [center][b][u]Rules[/u][/b][/center] [center][u]1. Don't do the God-Mod[/u][/center] [center]Self-explanatory enough but in case I have to go further, god-modding is where you make your character god and have no self-imposed limitations on their abilities. Please don't do god-modding. Being god sucks.[/center] [center][u]2. Detail and Length[/u][/center] [center] It is detailed above in the tagging system that I want this RP to be advanced/casual. That being said, I am looking for people who lie in the advanced category. Casuals are welcome but if you can type more, it is welcoming. That said, one of my main adages in life is quality over quantity. But, when quality and quantity are the same, then, it's all the more better.[/center] [center][u]3. Need all the help I can[/u][/center] [center]I am not the best roleplayer and I recognize that. If you have any criticism of the world-building I do above or if you want to help world-build my envision of a realistic Pokemon world, please do so. I will gladly accept any assistance whatsoever.[/center] [center][u]4. Posting Rate[/u][/center] [center]I am expecting a posting rate of at least one post per week or so. If you can do at a higher rate, I will gladly accept. However, if you don't reply for at least one week, I will be expecting a explanation or else, you will be booted out of the RP. If you want to get out of the RP, please PM me about why you are deciding to leave it in the first place.[/center] [center][u]5. The Most Important Rule[/u][/center] [center]Have Fun![/center] [hr][center](=0=)[/center][hr] [center][i]Gotta catch em all.[/i][/center] [hr][center](=0=)[/center][hr]