Post by Admin on Aug 13, 2022 22:27:26 GMT
The Deprin Region | ||
The Rapture The world of pokémon was vibrant and full, to the point that humans realized early on that living side-by-side with nature was the best option for all living things. Civilization was built around pokémon in mind, and in turn, the creatures protected humans from harm. A symbiotic relationship built around trust and care helped the world thrive. Deprin was no exception. A rising challenger in the International Pokémon League, the Deprin Region was becoming well known for it's scenic sights, fascinating legends, and the sheer variety of pokémon it hosted. In fact, Deprin was one of the few regions that nearly every pokémon could be found on at some point, acting as a nexus for even regional variants. This drew researches and interest to the region, creating a thriving and booming tourism market and allowed Deprin to flex its muscles in League battles. Then, one day, pokémon in the middle of battle just... disappeared. Occurring on live TV, the footage has been watched over and over again. Some say they see a ripple in the screen, others a flash of light or a quick shadow, but no one disagreed on one simple fact: the pokémon were... gone. Search terms were sent out, and people returned without their pokémon. Hysteria began to spread across the region as the sudden disappearances started to grow more and more frequent until, eventually, everything was silent. There was no bird song, no friendly greetings from city swelling pokémon, and no burrowing in the ground. Deprin went still. Fear grew into a cold realization that pokémon were gone, and they were only safe in their pokéballs. Any attempt to let them out resulted in the iconic red flash of the device revealing... nothing. The pokéball would deactivate, as if nothing was ever inside it. Soon, a mass order was spread: no one is to open their pokéballs if they feared losing their pokémon. Soon, banks and storage facilities were filled with people looking for secure places to put their partners. People dug holes in their yards, filling boxes with their pokéballs and hiding them from others. No one wanted to risk losing their friends, their family. The League announced that they would find a solution and pokémon would return to Deprin. Days turned to weeks. Weeks turned to months. And months turned into eighty long, lonely years. The Evolution of Deprin In desperation, Deprin reached out to other regions, pleading for help, for answers. They waited... and waited... until the cold realization dawned on them: no one was going to answer. Some parties went out on plane or boat, but none of them ever returned. Deprin had to assume that what happened to them happened to the rest of the world, too. They were alone. People soon realized how much they depended on pokémon. Without them, there was no way to redirect lava flow, stop floods, prevent swamps from swallowing buildings whole. One by one, cities and towns began to vanish from the face of Deprin, leaving only skeletal remains as nature destroyed and overtook them. The routes started to break apart from lack of use and maintenance, leaving jagged holes in once well-traveled paths. It seemed like the end of Deprin, but humans are adaptable things. Without pokémon, they put their intellect and cooperation to work. The remaining civilizations became bastions of hard-work and ingenuity as people prepared for the worst. Farmers mastered the art of hand-pollination, keeping plants that depended on pokémon alive through sheer force of will and dedication. Routes became trails traveled by caravans to increase trade between cities and new cultures began to arise in each little grove of humankind. This natural evolution of the towns helped the people survive, but without the unifying force of pokémon and with the region splintered, the Pokémon League collapsed. Besides, half of their former gym leaders had either died trying to save their towns from the unavoidable destruction at the hands of nature, and others vanished entirely. Cities had to govern themselves. A power vacuum was left unchecked, filled by those both noble and cruel, selfless and selfish. Eventually, the people that grew up with pokémon began to pass away, some sticking around as the revered elders. People were born that had only heard of pokémon through stories and nursery rhymes. The mythical creatures became local legends and fairy tales. The world had moved on. The Return of Pokémon Eighty years. Eighty years had passed, the oldest people only having brief memories of having pokémon in their childhoods. Eighty years of new generations knowing only this life. Until, for the first time, they heard bird song. The world was filled with noise that it had not known for nearly a century. The oldest were overjoyed, some rushing to where they hid their pokéballs so many years ago to reunite with their old friends. The youth, however, those that didn't know about pokémon, were more hesitant. A whole culture and world had been built around the lack of pokémon, and now people found themselves overrun by them. They didn't know how to survive with the strangely powerful creatures. But humans adapted to the lack of pokémon. Surely adapting to their presence wouldn't be too much different. Some people looked to the Pokémon Lab for advice, a place that researched the legends of pokémon and studied old video feeds from battles and documentaries. Others looked to the multi-faceted company Salve Co. for advice. No one had answers, but both entities got to work getting some. No matter what people thought, Deprin's pokémon were back. Modern Day Pokémon had been back for four years total, and as the region was beginning to finally get used to this, there were a series of calls to recreate the Pokémon League. One trainer, Farrah Whitaker, took this challenge with the aid of Professor Yew--the region's top mind on pokémon. Yet the region or lab did not have the funding, so Salve Co.'s CEO offered to pay for the League returning and provided Yew with the funding. Yet tradition was something to uphold, and everyone in the League has to take a challenge. So Farrah and Professor Yew engaged in a public battle as a sort of grand opening to the League returning in some sense, at least in a cultural aspect. But during the battle, there was an unprecedented attack. An unknown assailant only identified as being part of a upcoming group called Team Schism, shouted "Corporate scum!" as they released their blastoise which used Hyper Beam. This attack resulted in several injuries from mild to severe in the crowd. It sent Farrah Whitaker to the hospital, and left Professor Yew dead at the scene. Who is Team Schism? Was this a planned attack or the actions of someone attempting to blame them? Who is the leader of this team? Was this an action against the lab, the League, or Salve Co.? Maybe all three? There is lot to be discovered in the changing landscape of Deprin. The Culture Deprin's culture has gone through many strange shifts, but none stranger than with the return of pokémon. Now, with a majority of people having no clue how to handle the creatures, a lot of education is hands on. This has led rise to Deprin's unique battle system. While other regions have six pokémon in a team, Deprin only sports three. This has significantly reduced damage from battles and has also given people space to carefully learn about their pokémon. This evolved from Deprin's general attitude while pokémon were gone: if you can't succeed with limited resources, work on your management. People are not going to take on more dangerously powerful creatures than they can manage. Thus, three is considered a proper amount to have at any one time. Any more than that and you're either an idiot or a show off not worth their salt. Deprin's legends and lore have also grown. Now, with pokémon back, some people are finding some stories to be true, but others wonder what made them vanish and then return. What was the purpose? And where were the other regions? Signals have been sent out, but there is no response... it is better this way for now, though. Deprin's people have come to know they need to improve themselves without depending on pokémon and, until then, they aren't in a rush to connect with other regions that may have suffered the same way for eighty years. Technology Currently, Deprin's technology has taken a massive dip over the years, but they have been able to bring it back up to a common standard. There are smartphones, internet, email, cellular networks, electricity, running water, and general everyday machines such as washers and dryers. What the region really lacks are public transportation technologies. Since pokémon vanished, many ways to travel the region faded and the old railways collapsed due to lava and earthquakes. Most travel is now completed by foot or by caravan. Thankfully, the region does have a pokédex that was backed up from before the Rapture. Every device, such as smartphones and computers, have a pokédex automatically installed. Salve Co. is currently the technology giant of Deprin. They hold a monopoly over most new inventions and are currently working on high-speed rail systems. In fact, nearly all machines and technologies are developed by Salve Co., bearing their symbol of a X made from bandages. They have mastered medical and farming supplies as well, bringing back the rarer plants that could have potentially died without pokémon. Sadly, Salve tends to absorb all new competition, strangling intervention in the region. Yet the only thing strong enough to take them on would be the unified force of the Pokémon League... there are rumors floating around that the League is making a comeback, though. A Collaborative World-Building Roleplay Pokémon Rapture is a collaborative site where we encourage everyone to have a part in shaping the world around them. There is an overall plot that will unfold through events, but if you have any opinion or event you think would add some color to the world of Deprin, please share it with staff! We want to hear your thoughts! Region Map |