Pokemon in Realism

[YenWen]

Alright, I know what you're first thought is:
"Well as cool as Pokemon can be, I don't see how that makes a serious roleplay :/ This should be in casual." But hear me out:

Have you ever considered how powerful those things really are? They can cause tidal waves, electrical storms, volcanoes and earthquakes. If our race was to survive among them and develop we'd have to either live among them in fear and avoid them at all costs, somehow control them by whatever means necessary, or kill them all.

In the vision I have for this world, we went with option B, which seems the more realistic option for our species. After so much time cowering in fear, we have developed enough to take advantage of these creatures, without causing too much damage to ourselves.

F.A.Q
Why would we keep things that could kill us?
They are an almost perpetual source of energy. As long as they are given nutrition to convert into energy, they can supply almost endless electricity, water, and heat throughout their lifetimes, as well as being food if disease doesn't take them.
The cuter, smaller ones could be kept as pets, and Pokemon bred in captivity would be the ones typically used in 'Gym Battles'. The pets, of course, would need any organ that causes any sort of damage to humans removed, or bred out of them.
As for the battling circuit, consider it like Professional horseback riding. Those involved have either grown up with it most, if not their entire lives. Those otherwise have a great deal of money backing them up along the way. Pokeballs, with their ability to convert matter into energy in a confined space would be extremely expensive, not to mention the care for any sort of creature with near unfathomable power.

Wait, that has to be INSANELY expensive.
It is. as mentioned above you'd either have to live with it your whole life, or have a hell-a lot of money to take care of it. Consider the technology of the pokeball itself; If a laptop cost over $500, think of how much THAT would cost.

If we're going realistic, what about the bad stuff?
Of course there's bad stuff. We're humans and we do bad things. Such as the idea of prostitution. Have you looked on the internet lately? If you don't have the Safe Search on Google and type in "Pikachu", you're gonna see a lot of yellow boobs. This same idea would exist in real life. Combine that idea with the red light district and you're pretty much on target. There are quite a few 'anthro' pokemon in existence, not to mention, in a world where a pokeball can exist, there should be some sort of splicing. If you know how human trafficking works, you pretty much get the gist of it.

How would you regulate ownership of these monsters?
This works pretty much like immigration, in a way. You can do your best to account for all of them, but you just can't. Anyone participating the Pokemon league would need to register their pokemon in order to compete, and anyone in a business involving pokemon would need to register as well, but there are always going to be wild pokemon and people wanting to have 'an exotic pet'. Of course there would be penalties if you're caught.

Well, if they're still wild animals, how would we control them?
Just as we've domesticated cats and dogs, I can't see why most pokemon wouldn't be able to be domesticated as well. This is also why most trainers in the league would buy from breeders, not 'catch 'em all'.

Wait, you said most. Why not all?
Think about it. Some of them would be completely ridiculous and could not possibly exist. (Rayquaza, Latios, Latias, most legendaries, save for some, ect.) They'd be simply to big to exist and live, or too powerful to comprehend. (Really? Time and space? Realism.) They'd be more actual legends like the Loch Ness monster than something anyone can catch. Even if they did exist, don't you think some poacher would've captured it and evilly taken over the world by now?

Speaking of evil, what about organizations like Team Rocket?
Maybe not Team Rocket per say, but evil none the less. First of all, there would be a PETA type group (a name may be figured out later) completely against any use of Pokemon. Second, there would be an opposite, who would want to completely annihilate these things from the face of the earth to protect the human race. It would be more of a political and social thing, Third would be terrorist groups, just as we have in our own world, who would use pokemon to get what they wanted.




If you have any further questions, please ask and I'll add them on if they haven't already been discussed. Thank you for your input :3

[Bird of Hermes]

This sounds epic! I love the idea.

[YenWen]

Thank God, I was beginning to think I just failed at this idea >>

[Silvan Arrow]

I would totally be down for this idea. I'm such a sucker for good Pokemon role-plays, and I'm just tired of snooping on other forums and seeing the same cookie-cutter plot revolving around a new league, you get a starter Pokemon, catch 'em all, that sort of thing. Count me in!

[YenWen]

Awesome :3
And speaking of pokemon, you can have it, if you can prove how it works, and it's evolutions (if it has any). The idea started that if they're natural level evolutions, they occur over a period of time, like an aging process, but stones are another story...

[Skitzo-phrenick]

I'm all for the mutilation and corruption of every childhood love.

Count me in.

Also your use of the term "splicing" made me think of Batman Beyond and I was wondering if in this world it would be at all possible for humans to use the DNA of the Pokemon to alter their own bodies? One example would be wanting the tails of Ninetails or the rock hard shell of a Golam and placing them in your own DNA so they can actually become physical traits... This would also be interesting if applied to powers as well... especially when considering that there are groups like PETA and it's opposite. I also imagine another group that would want to actually CREATE these legendary pokemon for their own purposes... etc... etc.

This was just an idea I thought would be worth sharing. Refusal of it doesn't make this RP any less awesome.

[YenWen]

That was a bit of idea with the splicing, but you have to understand how unstable a person can become. It'd be absolutely limited and it'd be easier to alter the pokemon itself, since their bodies can handle more than our can. Which, in itself, could lead to the creation idea for making legendaries, but you also have to be conservative with which ones had any possibility to be created.

Oh! I need to add this to the F.A.Q, but there are also the people that pretty much worship the pokemon, as near gods. They'd more than likely be a variation of them that actually try and create their gods.

[YenWen]

What we need to get this rolling:
1-3 more people
A conflict to at least get the ball going down the hill

Any ideas? >>

[Kyrt Malthorn]

Hey guys.

I thought I was crazy for thinking about Pokemon-Realism before I read this. Now I'm not sure if I'm not crazy or we all are. Either way works, hehe.

Anyway. I once envisioned a recreation of the mewtwo origin story - a cloned, genetically engineered pokemon intended to be a super-weapon, only a little less cliche on the rest of it. Now, I know you say the legendaries may be overmuch for realism, but I was thinking there might be workarounds. Say, the super-weapon can't fully control his own powers. And he might be highly controversial as well, what if a lot of his DNA was human, in effort to increase his basic intelligence?

That might be a starting point for a main conflict. Either on the side of helping the escaped super-weapon with poor control of his powers to flee from his creators. Or maybe on the side of the geneticists who, perhaps aren't such bad people, they just couldn't find any better funding except with this corporation whose motives are turning out to be not so ethical; they're caught between the realization that their creation is dangerous, but uncertain of what he is, therefore they want to help him, but the one thing they cannot allow to happen would be to let him fall back into the hands of the corporation.

[Skitzo-phrenick]

That was a bit of idea with the splicing, but you have to understand how unstable a person can become. It'd be absolutely limited and it'd be easier to alter the pokemon itself, since their bodies can handle more than our can. Which, in itself, could lead to the creation idea for making legendaries, but you also have to be conservative with which ones had any possibility to be created.

Yeah, I figured it would be something like that, but as people I know the idea of having the ability to be stronger than or as strong as the pokemon is not something that we would overlook. Chances are there will be a bunch of people trying to do the splicing on themselves (or other people) stability or not. lol.... alright now I'm thinking of the old Guyver, where they'd get their powers and then absolutely loose their minds the minute they transformed.

Anyway. I once envisioned a recreation of the mewtwo origin story - a cloned, genetically engineered pokemon intended to be a super-weapon, only a little less cliche on the rest of it. Now, I know you say the legendaries may be overmuch for realism, but I was thinking there might be workarounds. Say, the super-weapon can't fully control his own powers. And he might be highly controversial as well, what if a lot of his DNA was human, in effort to increase his basic intelligence?

That might be a starting point for a main conflict. Either on the side of helping the escaped super-weapon with poor control of his powers to flee from his creators. Or maybe on the side of the geneticists who, perhaps aren't such bad people, they just couldn't find any better funding except with this corporation whose motives are turning out to be not so ethical; they're caught between the realization that their creation is dangerous, but uncertain of what he is, therefore they want to help him, but the one thing they cannot allow to happen would be to let him fall back into the hands of the corporation.

The idea of one special super-powered human hybrid sounds a bit cliched on the face of it, so for these ideas I'm not completely in full support, but this and my last response made me think of the splicing/insanity thing. We could have our characters themselves have the a bit of splicing each (whether by choice or whatever) and due to the pokemon-like attributes or abilities (which of course would be severely limited and still not completely as strong as the authentic pokemon) they become ostracized from pretty much all of society as a whole both pokemon and human alike. I imagine humans would both fear them and think them primitive (maybe even worship them). Some would kill them the minute they discovered the attributes and so on and so forth, and pokemon which are pretty much like the modern animal would be extremely wary of anything with human attributes.

How I'd apply this to Kyrt's idea would be with the idea of creating one super-being (either human or pokemon based it doesn't matter) that would be created SOLELY for the purpose of being the ultimate weapon (this doesn't have to be a specific legendary pokemon). Because humans aren't THAT stupid, we'd try to control it like a remote controlled toy and make sure it had no soul or will of it's own altogether.

Our characters (which will be the ones with the heavy pokemon splicing) will have been discarded experiments or tools or whatever we can come up with that would be steps up to this uber being. I imagine that since they're only steps and practices and pretty much incomplete or failed projects they would each have strong abilities as well as strong hindrances (ie some appear less human and more pokemon, loss of senses, extreme fears, mental instability, etc). Characters could either be pokemon in origin or human in origin but either way I imagine the splicing would have a serious negative effect on either species....

ANYWAY, since said characters are experiments and different stages leading up to the uber project they could be of any age and could spend a number of different years in different environments thanks to said abilities and weaknesses. (EXAMPLE: Being A has extremely obvious physical attributes so can not be in towns and cities...runs into people who worship pokemon and likes the idea of being considered a GOD so decides to live there for the rest of its life. MEANWHILE Being B has barely visible pokemon physicalities so can travel from town to town easily and is considered a normal person amongst the cities.)

I figure the evolution process would be stinted, destroyed, or even fatal to the characters thanks to the fact that they are no longer of their normal genetic make up.... maybe when they evolve they lose their minds completely and go on a massacre or like a butterfly only have a few days left to live or altogether die or maybe they just evolve but it makes them weaker rather than stronger or maybe evolution is the body's way or curing itself and their slowly turning to their original make up or maybe it remains the same and they simply get stronger with evolution. Just a few ideas on that like most everything else here it's rough. I guess for fun each idea could be different to each hybrid experiment because none of their genetic make up is the same.

Anyway... plot can be one of the following:

A: Super being is in the process of creation and one bad ass human or fellow experiment discovers this and decides this being must be destroyed so it tries to find some help to do that.

B: Super-being is created and man uses it to tyrannize the world and choses to hunt down and kill all experiments as well as pokemon in order to solidify the super-being's place as undefeatable and rule the earth entirely.

C: Like every remote control weapon with a half brain created, super-being runs a muck and mankind must get over themselves and ask for help from experiments.

D: Experiments are key to finishing the creation of the super-being and are disappearing and dying off everywhere and neither humans or pokemon will help them. They are forced to band together to find out the reason for so many of their fellow expeirments disappearing as well as stop it (meaning destroy the super-being and all who created it).

E: Other.

As one can see though the serious issue with this idea would be the experiment's relation to society. How many are there? If their former experiments why are they free out there in the everyday world instead of in a cage somewhere? (Though I imagine all of them probably were in a cage somewhere) What are the human societies relation them?

The best answer I can come up with for these questions is the idea that there was a hybrid experiment holding facility and it exploded and most of the experiments escaped, though due to their obvious weaknesses thanks to the change of their genetic make up a good 3/4ths of them couldn't survive without the care of their creators so the numbers went from probably thousands to a few hundred, which is probably dwindling ever more due to persecution, illness, and death by other means [aka. suicide, some probably went completely insane and murdered each other, old age, evolved (if accepted), disappearances (if plot idea D is accepted), etc.] So chances are there is only minuscule army left of them.

In terms of human society's relation to them they obviously hate and fear and persecute them. The problem with this though is if there are A BUNCH of experiments walking around surely people would catch on to the fact that something's up. Naturally the humans would never listen to the experiments if they stated they were changed against their will or so on. They would probably believe that they were the result of the bestiality within the 'red light districts' of the area OR that the experiments did this themselves (which could possibly happen) OR they are the future evolutionary forms of the pokemon themselves intent to hide amongst them and kill them in their sleep OR they are the leaders of the pokemon. I imagine there might be a number of ideas for what the experiments are and each groups' own paranoia would change it to whatever they think it would be and choose whatever they wanted to believe. I also imagine that those who are working on the super-being would instigate the rumors themselves to avoid suspicion.

---

I know I fleshed this out a BIT much, but from reading Yen's reply it must have seemed like I didn't put much thought into what I was talking about so I gave you pretty much all of what I was thinking about here. Again it's just an idea and can be tossed if someone comes up with something better. Also Clearly with the E option, if anyone likes where I was going and has another plot idea, please add. I am tired and kind of brain farted after D... especially since I really like D.

[Chainlinc3]

Awesome :3
And speaking of pokemon, you can have it, if you can prove how it works, and it's evolutions (if it has any).

I'm definitely interested in this as an idea, but I have one major issue that I'm trying to resolve, which then became even more confusing in the context of the above quote. Pokemon are, by nature, unrealistic. Unlimited energy, is impossible (well, without breaching reality or some other crazy science). Even weirder would be water pokemon-- because people can TOTALLY flood towns using their mind, and even if they had some form of telekinesis, why would it only effect water? If you're expecting us to prove how pokemon work, then that's a huge swath of pokemon that just can't exist. Even if you don't expect us to do that, I just don't see how you can resolve a premise that inherently throws science to the wind with a goal of realism. :\

Anyway. I like the idea, I just inherently have difficulties with worlds that I don't understand. >.<

[Silvan Arrow]

Just a thought to expand Skitzo's idea, I don't think we should be limited solely to playing as these experiments/hybrids. Since there are a lot of issues with their place in society, it might be interesting to bring in normal humans that also have something to do with Pokemon, like trainers, breeders, etc. Say you have trainers that doesn't agree with the cruelty of the experiments and are more sympathetic to their plight. They could help the experiments in things that might pose difficulty, like going into towns and whatnot. It would be a risk, since so much prejudice exists against the experiments, but such an unlikely alliance would be interesting to explore, in my opinion.

[YenWen]

Bear with a bit for a little while, I'm becoming a sicky and that makes it hard for me to concentrate.

The last pokemon roleplay I did wasn't thought into and more based in the actual Pokemon world. It explained the reason of Team Rocket stealing pokemon: to combine them with people and raise an army like no other. We can go with something like that, something else with splicing, or completely off that base. Why I want to refrain from that, however, is how fragile that plan is and how easy it can fall apart.

When I say their bodies would be unstable after splicing, I don't mean Wicked Witch of the West, but damn near close to it. For the splicing to work, DNA would have to be near matched in order to have a stable body to hold it. If anything, they'd start with humanoid pokemon to begin with (Blaziken, Lukario, ect.). What could make a bit more possible would be to have a pre-spliced pokemon, since their bodies would be apt for the DNA intake (most likely). Add a bit to the other before adding that back in, so it doesn't pretty much explode.

With the pokemon, I realize how... difficult that is. All I want to avoid, honestly, is "They just can" type scenarios. If you can give me of detail to it, even if it wouldn't really work, I don't mind. Hell, I wouldn't mind "While they have this ability, science has much difficult explaining how," because that happens a lot in our world now. Not everything can explained, but a lot of it can.
The looks and appearance I care a bit more about than their abilities. Let's face it, a lot of Pokemon were made to be cute and a lot of those bodies wouldn't really work. I'd prefer if you paint a wordy picture yourselves, but if you must(whenever we actually get around to making profiles), you can use realistic pictures such as these:
http://sabtastic.deviantart.com/art/Team-Tastic-Pokemon-Portrait-140646385
http://thestink411.deviantart.com/gallery/10922922
http://crackdtoothgrin.deviantart.com/art/Charmander-to-Charizard-Raw-182186742
http://crackdtoothgrin.deviantart.com/art/Geodude-Graveler-Golem-180814585
http://browse.deviantart.com/traditional/drawings/illustration/conceptual/?qh=§ion=&q=Pokemon#/d2znguy (this one I'm not much a fan of, personally, because I never saw them as frog-like. They actually more often made me think of English Bulldogs, strangely enough.)
http://guardianofire.deviantart.com/gallery/374557

Just make sure to give credit where credit is due, and I'll be happy with that. :3

[YenWen]

Oh! And as for the trainer concept, I like the idea. You have to consider how much more important they would be than they were in the original idea. They'd have a lot more control than expected, and would probably be paid a lot better. It'd be a highly accepted field to work with and you'd be considered a harder worker and just all around better to work with it. Like CIA agent, in some points >> Breeders especially. They could have a lot of help with any type of pokemon-related science.

[Skitzo-phrenick]

I like the trainer idea as well. Thanks for the assist Silvan. That would actually be interesting to see on the face of it. I also imagine their would be some non-pokemon-specialized humans that we could play, which would also be interesting in terms of prejudices and so on.

As for the problem with splicing if need be the experiments can be pokemon in origin. I imagine it would be fun to have some that would be humanoid and some that would maintain their animalistic nature.

I will ask though because you lost me a bit with the word pre-spliced pokemon: Do you mean that the pokemon must be spliced with human DNA before and then possibly combined from that point on to make the genetic transitions less hazardess of the subject? I mean it makes sense I'm just confused.

Also I find the idea of their bodies being damn near close to the Wicked Witch of the West more attractive.... >.> Maybe it's because I'm a sadist, but really I wouldn't expect any less from genetic mutation. ALSO in terms of characters it would give the experiments as well as anyone willing to help them more of a reason to band together.

In terms of the plan falling apart. I'm also confused. If we've been showing that they're getting a better understanding of what can be spliced with what and how much human and pokemon DNA can be integrated with each other before the genetic consistency of the original product is absolutely destroyed and useless and they spliced being inherently becomes a monster or basically dies, then how are we proving the splicing more than difficult than already described?

Hmmm... For clarification sake before I push my idea further would it be too much to ask if I could get an idea from you, Yen, how the splicing process actually is carried out? Maybe that would make the understandings of the process a bit easier for me. How is the DNA integrated into the pokemon?

[Kyrt Malthorn]

D: Experiments are key to finishing the creation of the super-being and are disappearing and dying off everywhere and neither humans or pokemon will help them. They are forced to band together to find out the reason for so many of their fellow expeirments disappearing as well as stop it (meaning destroy the super-being and all who created it).

While the entire super-weapon is a bit of a cliche, it seems to me the most overdone sub-cliche is "destroy the super-weapon before its too late!" While "help the poor confused escaped super-weapon" is a bit overdone to, in my experience those are frequently done rather badly, so I feel like it has a bit more unexplored potential.

That said, all of the above is just me. I'm just throwing out ideas.

I'm definitely interested in this as an idea, but I have one major issue that I'm trying to resolve, which then became even more confusing in the context of the above quote. Pokemon are, by nature, unrealistic. Unlimited energy, is impossible (well, without breaching reality or some other crazy science). Even weirder would be water pokemon-- because people can TOTALLY flood towns using their mind, and even if they had some form of telekinesis, why would it only effect water? If you're expecting us to prove how pokemon work, then that's a huge swath of pokemon that just can't exist. Even if you don't expect us to do that, I just don't see how you can resolve a premise that inherently throws science to the wind with a goal of realism. :\

Anyway. I like the idea, I just inherently have difficulties with worlds that I don't understand. >.<

Here's an idea for water pokemon. Water, is a polar molecule; the electrons they "share" are shared unevenly due to oxygen being a much more massive atom than either hydrogen. If other pokemon could generate electric energy, or use telekinetic-type abilities, I don't see as its much of a stretch to say they could manipulate H2O molecules by the nature of their uneven positive/negative charge, an ability that would have absolutely no effect on stable, neutrally charged molecules in inanimate objects or the atmosphere.

While you could then argue it is a magnetic ability and they would also be able to control magnets and ionized particles... Magnets might have too strong a charge or have too much mass to control (we are then, after all, talking marco-scale magnetic fields). As for ions, I really have no counter but I don't see as it would be significant enough to be worth noting outside of some scientific journal. Perhaps the water pokemon's ability to manipulate by polarity stems from their own body, affecting only polar molecules adjacent to them and further molecules adjacent to that; thereby they would only be able to control a body of water they were physically touching.

Could take that a step further for ice pokemon and say the fields they can generate cause polar molecules like water to align into crystalline form.

Even flame pokemon with actual flames on their body could work, if you're willing to stretch reality a tad; say their physiology is so dependent on very high heat, they evolved (naturally, not talking pokemon evolution stages) to generate such heat internally, like their own mini furnace. A flame on the tip of, say, a Charmander's tail would be plausible as a heat exhaust vent as the chemicals driving their body's internal furnace might be dangerous even to them if the heat isn't controlled. When their flames go out its a pretty good sign their body temperature is too low. Their diet would also have to be radical... incorporate some potentially flammable and/or explosive chemicals. Say, a lot of salt, and their bodies extract the sodium.

[YenWen]

How many of you have watched Danny Phantom? How many of those have seen the episode with Dani, his clone? Splicing is very similar in ideas of molecular build-up. The reason she falls apart is because every time she uses her abilities, she starts to turn into the goo she was made from because she's chemically unstable and unable to handle the force. The concept is very similar.

A pokemon body is already capable of using those abilities and handling it well. A human body is not. The best way to splice a human would be to take pre-spliced Pokemon DNA. Like someone who's never had alcohol before would better handle a watered-down drink than scotch on the rocks. It'd still be harmful to the human body to use, but they may not become a nice pink puddle.

Also an idea that came to mind was back when I mentioned the brothels and the red light district. Pokemon (or I suppose even humans that have been subject to so much testing) would be subject to that. Pokemon that are now more human wouldn't be accept by society anymore than humans that are now more Pokemon. What happens to them? Slums and where people can use them.

And thank you Kyrt, for that lovely explanation :3

I had my own idea for the 'fire' on fire types as very light hair that refract light in such a way to look like flames as a technique to threaten predators, but either way works.

[Harper]

How about this for a plot idea, that doesn’t involve arguing the greatest cliché yet can keep the splicing.

Terrorist’s strike a building, a grandiose 9/11 with planes or pokemon, who cares which? This group comes from a region that is almost stepping backwards in development, its people aren’t primitive, but let’s say only a very slim amount of the population can afford a run of the mill pokeball, because you know, shit be expensive. This is a diverse terrain these people live in, I’m thinking Grecian at its heart, a good variety, separated by a salt sea on one side, (like the Black Sea) and impossible mountain ranges on the other (Himalayas of course). The center would be defined by low mountains and hills, the western half would be desert, mesa, plateau, then sheer rock. The eastern would be the green opposite, sinking down to the sea, and into a salt swamp. This region is say four hundred square miles and shaped like a crescent moon. It allows for a diverse group of pokemon, people, and ethnic groups. The regions capital would be at that Grecian center, with the tech as up to date as, well, modern Greece (which considering how advanced the rest of the world must be to afford converting matter to energy, this means they’re not to fantastic with their technology).

The terrorist cell comes from there, responding nation invades, so what? Where’s the ingenuity there? Well…

We play the indigenous peoples of the region, or most characters do. Maybe some for the invading nation and the terrorists to open perspectives. As for the genetic mutations: biowarfare. Like any terrorist organization scrambling for nuclear weapons, these guys are scrambling for that perfect genetic code. They don’t do it to their own people of course, that’d be blasphemy, if a human’s warped it’s a kidnapped enemy or one of the dissidents in the population.

The region quickly falls to the invading nation (or coalition of nations) and a police power ensues, but it isn’t the skewed American view of bringing the “planets only renewable resource—democracy—to the region” it’s a puppet dictator placed while the resources of the land are drained. There will be some build up to this point in the story, of course, but this is where the arc comes into play:

Do the characters accept the puppet dictator because he has brought stability to the region?

Do they organize a revolt?

Actually they do both, because not every character is going to be aligned the same way.

Beyond that point anything can happen. Maybe the puppet gets its strings cut, maybe not.

Say we have six players and each has two characters, I can see four of them being spliced creatures. Maybe one of them is like a navy seal for the invading nation? Sent in and never retrieved because he was a tool only meant to be used once? One or two characters represent the both the invading nation and terrorist cell, and the remainder are used as indigenous people. They could be one of the rich, aristocrats from the capital who can actually afford to make their children pokemon trainers as a sport, some more may come from the wilderness and earn a pokemon through more primitive bonding methods. It leaves a lot open.

One last note: Some characters will die, since this is realism we can’t discount the power of a good old fashioned gun, despite our tendency to want our pokemon to do all the battling. If your character gets shot they’re either going to get off lucky or boned, depending on where they get hit.

Let me know what you guys think, came up with this in the last thirty minutes.

Also, after months of not being here it is good to be back.

[YenWen]

I'll let you all talk it out. Honestly, I just want to work with the world in general, so the plot isn't too big of a thing to me. I'd prefer to not depend of the splicing for the plot, but if it's out-voted, it's out-voted.

I'm going to make the character skeleton here in a bit and then the OOC. :3

[Chainlinc3]

Here's an idea for water pokemon. Water, is a polar molecule; the electrons they "share" are shared unevenly due to oxygen being a much more massive atom than either hydrogen. If other pokemon could generate electric energy, or use telekinetic-type abilities, I don't see as its much of a stretch to say they could manipulate H2O molecules by the nature of their uneven positive/negative charge, an ability that would have absolutely no effect on stable, neutrally charged molecules in inanimate objects or the atmosphere.

While you could then argue it is a magnetic ability and they would also be able to control magnets and ionized particles... Magnets might have too strong a charge or have too much mass to control (we are then, after all, talking marco-scale magnetic fields). As for ions, I really have no counter but I don't see as it would be significant enough to be worth noting outside of some scientific journal. Perhaps the water pokemon's ability to manipulate by polarity stems from their own body, affecting only polar molecules adjacent to them and further molecules adjacent to that; thereby they would only be able to control a body of water they were physically touching.

Could take that a step further for ice pokemon and say the fields they can generate cause polar molecules like water to align into crystalline form.

Even flame pokemon with actual flames on their body could work, if you're willing to stretch reality a tad; say their physiology is so dependent on very high heat, they evolved (naturally, not talking pokemon evolution stages) to generate such heat internally, like their own mini furnace. A flame on the tip of, say, a Charmander's tail would be plausible as a heat exhaust vent as the chemicals driving their body's internal furnace might be dangerous even to them if the heat isn't controlled. When their flames go out its a pretty good sign their body temperature is too low. Their diet would also have to be radical... incorporate some potentially flammable and/or explosive chemicals. Say, a lot of salt, and their bodies extract the sodium.

That... was actually quasi sound. The ice thing wouldn't make sense, because that would imply that they are able to literally suck energy from the molecules, and the fire thing would require WAAAAY too much energy to be feasible (barring some unobtainium-esque ultra-slow burning fuel source). But the water bit makes sense, even if you explained some of the chemistry concepts a bit wrong (I'm a bit of a pretentious jerk when it comes to science. >.>). My issue would still arise in the case of pokemon like Blastoise that can somehow create water. I forget whether combining oxygen and hydrogen to create water puts out or takes in energy, but either way it's not super feasible-- the pokemon would freeze or boil, either one causing death. Similarly, having ultra-high pressure water storage organs wouldn't make sense-- they'd either have to have ludicrously thick walls or else they'd rupture and probably kill the pokemon. And that isn't even getting into pokemon that control earth, or plants, much less psychic pokemon.

>.>

I will, however, accept YenWen's proposal to use BS science. Yay fabricated logic!

[YenWen]

BS science is what calms me. I need reasoning if I'm going to use it, even if it is bullshit.

Which reminds me, I did want to add ONE magic-based item to this... Evolution stones. They are the only thing I accept to forcibly cause an evolution, just understand that this evolution would be rare, and cause a lot of pain for the Pokemon. The stones would be almost entirely undetectable and very rare. Even if a pokemon does come in contact with it, there's always the chance it won't survive unless immediately taken into medical care.

[Dio the Awesome]

Is there still room for people? I know a lot of players have already expressed interest, and I am hesitant to join large roleplays because they tend to suffer from stagnation or move too quickly. But if you'll have me, I'm so in.

Also. Gyrados. He is the best, but is he too unrealistic?

[YenWen]

It's still open :3 I'll go over posting rule when we come to it, but character have yet to be designed, so it's up for anyone. :3

To exist, he is possible, much like the giant squid and such, but unless you can prove how he'd actually work in battle, he'd basically have to a phenomenon of the ocean >>

[Kyrt Malthorn]

I may not be a total science wiz, but I like to speculate at fictitious physics.

A revolt against a puppet dictator? That could get long and politically involved.

On the splicing note I'd have to say my vote goes with making a spliced character optional to the individual. I haven't the faintest idea what route I might want to take with my own character(s), but if the majority are going to be going for spliced characters I may just abstain for the sake of variety.

[YenWen]

I have an idea that'd be easy to go with:

We are normal people in society (you can choose who or what you are, I don't really care) who are slowly exposed to this out break of genetic misfits, and they get more and more frequent. These misfits are not welcomed by society, outcast and seen as immoral. After time goes by, places similar to tattoo parlors open up, advertising that you can be different, special, like the genes are an accessory. Perhaps you rebel and go with it, become one of them to break from the torment of society and the idea that you will be just like everyone else. Maybe you become controlling over the idea. Maybe there is a rebelling of the misfits. Maybe a war starts.

I'm thinking, for now, to start as normal people, and that'll let ideas blossom as we work to get a nice solid twist and a good foundation. How's that?

[Dio the Awesome]

Well, that is simple. A gyrados is an air breather. He is actually much closer in biology to a snake than a fish. He uses surface tension while in the water and his powerful muscles to glide along the waters surface. Just like these snakes.

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/gaston/Pests/reptiles/watersnakes.htm

Since he can move on land just like a regular snake, he can fight on land.

---

And now for my own nod to the science issue. I cite the Bombardier Beetle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_beetle

``A bombardier beetle produces and stores two reactant chemical compounds, hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide, in separate reservoirs in the rear tip of its abdomen. When threatened, the beetle contracts muscles that force the two reactants through valved tubes into a mixing chamber containing water and a mixture of catalytic enzymes. When combined, the reactants undergo a violent exothermic chemical reaction, raising the temperature to near the boiling point of water. The corresponding pressure buildup forces the entrance valves from the reactant storage chambers to close, thus protecting the beetle's internal organs. The boiling, foul-smelling liquid partially becomes a gas (flash evaporation) and is expelled through an outlet valve into the atmosphere with a loud popping sound. The flow of reactants into the reaction chamber and subsequent ejection to the atmosphere occurs cyclically at a rate of about 500 times per second and with the total pulsation period lasting for only a fraction of a second.``

In other words, ``Generic Poison type pokemon, Acid Blast now!`` This is scientifically sound. Weird shit like this beetle exist in real life, I don`t think it be exactly fair that a roleplayers knowledge of science dictate what they can and can not use. We are all (or we all should be) skilled writers, and I doubt any one of us will say something like.

``Dugtrio uses his Earthquake and destroys the city just because it can do it.``

I have said my piece. Of course I am willing to back up my pokemons abilities with fluff, but the science part may not always be there and or be accurate. Even so, it will not be construed as ridiculous or game breaking.

[YenWen]

I'll take that :3 But I need some votes on plot before I can finish to OOC >>

[Kyrt Malthorn]

Starting out as normal people, in a changing community, I'd be up for that if I didn't have doubts. Just my experiences with plots as wide open to that. I mean, most stories I see like that, encompassing an arch of time and change, kind of fall apart without a definite line of events to follow.

It's easy to react to big events in a story. Day to day life stories, every character's going to have an effect that is entirely up to them. And while it can turn out a good story, its harder to figure out where to go next at any given point. Unless there's a lot of conference between participants, to decide whose idea for the next event and when it happens would be best for the plot progression. I'm not saying it couldn't be done, with or without the extensive consultation, but I've never seen it done with a group this big.

But like I said, just my experience. And, it's coming from a history of doing more co-ops than actual RPs. Guess this is the advanced board.

[Harper]

I'm fine with YenWen's open idea. Since this is an advanced rp it doesn't need to be a conflict that is A.B.C. I also think its retarded to start an rp with the sole intent to finish it, isn't a roleplay a process of exploration? I think the plot should be more variable than linear, so I'm for the open idea, if you contain it to a certain area, conflict will create itself on its own. I doubt anyone player is going to ignore other characters, that'd be boring if they didn't put their characters in scenarios that actively engaged others. My vote is for YenWen's idea, so we can stop this posturing and actually have fun with the original idea.

[Skitzo-phrenick]

I second Dio's statement.

I will say when reading through Kyrt's thing on water pokemon I had a hard time understanding it. I'm not a major science buff and despite my enjoyment of it I know only simple facts related to science but nothing inherently microscopic about the actual workings of every event, so for me chances are I will be making A LOT of mistakes there even if I try to explain things. I'll do my best but if you all are expecting detailed biology and physics notes you may need to kick me from the game.

I'll do my best as well none the less.

---

In terms of plot ideas I'll say right now that I like Yen's the most. I will admit mine is conviluded and complex and even though I like the splicing the idea of most of the characters being hybrid is unattractive... chances are I'm going to be playing a human character either way. Yen's yours is simpler and I imagine the realism of the world alone is going to be a challenge in itself to work with. I don't think it'll need my complex plot.

I agree with Kyrt though and the others though on making spliced characters optional. When I came up with the plot I was just throwing shit that came to mind out there but I really am kind of curious to see what characters people would come up with when splicing is involved.... don't want to see too many of them though... well... too many of them them if they're like my experiments or something.

I will say though that Harper's idea brought a few things to my attention. His view of the world is a bit more modernized where as when I was coming up with my stuff I was imaging it pretty much as limited as the Pokemon world itself was (ie. not many planes or boats or cities). In the actual Pokemon world the reason for these limitations by my guess was due to the fact that the characters depended on the pokemon to get stuff done, where as in this world they do not (Or at least not as much as they do in the original) . This brings about the question of how modernized this realistic pokemon world will be. Will we have guns and depend on technology like we do today but happen to have pokemon menaces around OR will this world be a bit more primitive?

---

Kyrt, as for your worries. I think since we're working our way into actual plot, we could probably do some group discussion in the OOC on where we want it to develop. Believe me I understand your fear with the wide plotted RPs, but from what I've seen most of the problem usually stems because once the RP is up the players tend to forget they need to have a goal and then it becomes too day to day focus. Maybe we'll come up with something before our characters come to realization of the misfits or something.... or maybe I'm just too optimistic... who knows?

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