The Setting

[Birdybot]

GEOGRAPHY

GETTING AROUND One of the most important things for any traveler in Enera to know is how to get around. The lands in between human settlements is largely untouched and can be trekked through, the paths on foot to other cities being the thirteen Routes. There is an easier way to get around, however. Each town and city are linked by road and rail. Once in a town, any of the others can be reached relatively quickly. Other countries and regions can be reached only by boats from Ellsport, Brimburg or Sulchester as there are no airports in Enera. Boats from outside Middale can be used to reach the islands off Enera's western coast. The excellent transport between towns means that trainers do not have to visit towns in any particular order, neither do they have to travel through the routes. They may still venture into the routes to train and catch new Pokémon. The gyms will still have to be battled in order, however, since their levels are fixed. Routes and extra areas may be visited at any time the trainer likes, but keep an eye on the average level of the wild Pokémon in that area or you might end up out of your depth. CLIMATE Enera is very diverse as landscapes go. There's a desert, mountains, rivers, beaches, a canyon, and more as can be seen on the map above. The climate is also diverse. Warm winds blow in from the east, making the south pleasantly warm. The desert arises because the the land there was too dry and unshielded from the Sun by anything. Winds from the west are cooler and meet the easterly winds over the peninsula on which Stormcross Castle lies, forcing both winds south and creating frequent storms. Air from the north makes northern Enera a cold place, the eastern side less so because of the eastern winds. WILDLIFE Having such a wide range of climates and potential habitats, Enera houses every Pokémon known to man. Some are much rarer than others, but they're all there if you look hard enough. Many different species of insect and fish like the ones in our own universe can be found, too. Enera is home to Pokémon not found anywhere else. Some of the Pokémon from other regions are not native to Enera, but were brought over and adapted well. Domestic farm animals such as sheep, cows, pigs, goats and chickens exist in Enera. These are farmed for food and products, since Pokémon are considered as intelligent as humans which puts people off eating them. Such farm animals are dim-witted and cannot understand any sort of language. They are thought to be descended from Pokémon like Mareep and Miltank that had been selectively bred by early humans as well as having mutations and making them more and more stupid and making them look the way they do. LOCATION Enera is very far north. The Plains of Winter lead onto the Arctic Circle. To the west lies Kanto, Johto and Hoenn, to the east lies Kalos and Sinnoh and Unova is further south.

[Birdybot]

POLITICS AND CULTURE

MONARCHY There is still a monarchy, although its power is greatly limited as they have to answer to an elected council and a monarch can be voted to abdicate if they do a poor job. The current monarch's firstborn is their heir regardless of gender. The current monarch is King Godfrey II, his wife being Lady Celia. The next in line is his daughter Princess Lorraine. King Godfrey is a jolly man in his late fifties who likes to make sure everyone is treated fairly, but the Princess is still young and stubborn. The monarch is expected to act as an ambassador. GOVERNMENT An elected government meets in the capital, Witton, with the monarch to run the country. They pass laws, create schemes and do their best to ensure wealth and prosperity much as any government should. The president is elected too. Currently Enera has its first female President, President Jayne Winslow. There are always complaints about the way things are run, but Enera is largely stable at the moment. There are no significant international tensions and the economic situation is fine for most people. The current moment is more prosperous than the country has been for a while. POKÉMON LEAGUE Enera has its own Pokémon League like any other country or region. This League is an organisation there to protect Pokémon and keep trainers, coordinators and breeders in check. The League requires that each trainer, coordinator and breeder carry a license making them members to ensure those who are cruel to Pokémon are stopped from training. The League serve as protectors of the realm, a guard against evils that threaten. It is their job to protect Enera's people, Pokémon and wildlife from harm. They are expected to use their Pokémon to protect others should anything involving Pokémon threaten, for example rogue wild Pokémon. The League is run by the Council, comprising of the eight Gym Leaders, Elite Four and headed by the Champion. Members of the Council are selected for being the best trainers in the realm. POKÉMON Pokémon are considered slightly lower if not equal to humans in term of intelligence, depending on the Pokémon. They are all capable of understanding human speech and their own speech can be translated by dæmons. Because of their recognised intelligence, Pokémon are treated with respect and may be raised on ranches as working creatures but are not normally raised for food. Pokémon are largely happy to live free in the wild and may become aggressive if anyone attempts to remove them from it. They tend not to form any kind of settlement or system of organising themselves as humans do. CRIMES AND TABOO Crime rate in Enera is low. There are some hotspots of activity and each town has its own dodgy areas. Outside the towns, a few traveling bandits roam, but it isn't too serious a situation. There is no death penalty in Enera. Punishments range from cautions to fines to imprisonment. Everyone is given a trial. Trainers, coordinators and breeders who commit serious offenses will almost always be stripped of their license, but some carry on illegally anyway. The greatest taboo action in Enera is touching another person's dæmon. While this is not technically illegal, it causes huge amounts of distress for the victim. Both parties will feel nauseous. This is a universal taboo, so anyone in the world Enera is set in will think of touching another person's dæmon as a terrible thing to do. Enerians tend to be quite accepting of any sort of people. Racism, sexism and homophobia are all pretty uncommon. Pokémorphs, however, are a different story. Several groups of people, including the Council of the Pokémon League, try to spread acceptance for Pokémorphs, but a large number of people loath and fear them because they are unusual. They are dubbed 'freaks' 'monsters' and 'unnatural'. There are still some who think 'morphs are fine, and only a few would actively shout abuse at a Pokémorph. Mostly people will just stare or avoid 'morphs. Since Pokémon are recognised as intelligent, abusing or eating them is frowned upon. People are cruel to them in the same way people are cruel to animals today, but where meat is concerned people stick to eating fish and livestock animals rather than Pokémon. ENTERTAINMENT Entertainment in Enera is similar to what you would find in western countries in our universe. Enera is known for making good films, especially since it has a stunning landscape to film them in. Plays are quite popular so a number of traveling theatres roam the country. Enera's landscape has inspired a number of poems and songs, which are a lot less reliant on synthesizers and use more orchestral instruments than music in our world. Many towns and cities are home to street performers too. Libraries and old-fashioned bookshops thrive. There are a diverse range of ways people choose to entertain themselves, from dancing and partying to seeing a play or film to going out to a restaurant.

[Birdybot]

TECHNOLOGY

COMPUTING Computers are much more advances in Enera than in our universe. Having introduced quantum computing on a large scale within important government systems as well as those of companies working on big projects, it is much harder to hack into anything significant purely because of the nature of such quantum computers. Computers are faster and more memory can be stored on physically smaller devices. More complex calculations can be performed as well. This doesn't mean computers are like the kind you see in the CSI TV shows which are capable of recognising a human face from a grainy photograph or zooming in on one pixel and seeing anything more than that pixel but bigger. They can't do the impossible, but they can certainly do a lot. Smartphones that are practically mini-tablet computers are common in Enera, but Internet connections are harder to find out in the wilderness. All the fancy futuristic touch screen computers (see the giant screens with people using them to move boxes around on pretty much every TV show set in the future ever) are around. They haven't managed holograms yet, though. All the regular PC features seen within games are found on every computer than has been specially adapted to include them. These can be found at any Pokémon Centre and many other Pokémon-related buildings. These features enable any trainer, breeder or coordinator to access their own account and withdraw or deposit Pokémon to boxes which can be organised as the trainers sees fit. Where the Pokémon goes depends on the trainer. The default place is Professor Pine's land, but some may send at least some of their Pokémon to their own homes, other ranches or the organisation headquarters (such as the Pokémon League's headquarters in Celeston should the trainer be held in high enough regard). The boxes have no relevance to where the Pokémon are sent, it's simply used to make it easier for the trainer to find specific Pokémon to withdraw. The PC system is also secure through use of quantum computers. MACHINES Enera is behind in some aspects of machinery, ahead in others, depending on the need for it. Having no airport, they are poor with flying machines. The number of rivers and extend of the coastline mean they are very good with all manner of boats. Trains are fast and have comfortable compartments, while cars were developed to run on other sources of power besides petrol since the supply of crude oil in Enera is low and mostly spent on plastics. Machines are mostly run on electricity rather than steam and are by and large similar to those in our universe. There are no robots running about the place. Machinery is used a good deal less than in the modern day. Think victorian times but with better electrical systems and computers. SCIENCE Science has been very focused on genetics as of late, leaving other aspects far behind science in our world. Using genetics scientists have been able to engineer Pokémorphs, humans with Pokémon DNA. A lot of effort has been spent researching other areas of biology, focusing on Pokémon. Another key area of research is in computers and developing the PC system. Chemistry and physics are less explored than biology. Within physics, electricity and mechanics is well understood, but other fields tend not to be pursued as Enerians think it all too distant and can't see the use. Chemistry gets more appreciation as reactions are developed to help improve production of materials and food. Physics and chemistry are both less known than in our universe, only the surface being scratched to investigate what is obviously useful.

[Birdybot]

HISTORY

A lot happens in any country's past, so this is going to be long. Sorry. I'll skip to the medieval period since before then it was just nomads wondering around. This focuses on the country as a whole, but in the area descriptions you can see more about the history of each town and route. EARLY DAYS Once people began to settle down in Enera, the first towns and villages had little to do with one another besides trade. Farms sprung up around little clusters of wooden houses. People hunted or farmed to feed their families. Times were simple. As the population grew, towns grew and people demanded order. Rulers named themselves. Traveling merchants would sell goods from other towns to towns where such things were not available, and brought with them news of such neighbouring towns. People began moving between villages more, which made other places more interesting to the rulers. Quarrels were had over trade and ownership of land. Some towns were dangerously close together, the people and rulers constantly fighting over who owned which bit of land. During this time a few ships from far away landed and took over towns without anyone really acknowledging that they had been invaded; the general belief was that there was Enera, and there was the North and the sea. Nothing else. Speaking of the North, that caused some problems in the early days. More than once witches or the giant armoured bears, the panserbørne, decided to pay Enera a visit while it was still struggling to get to its feet. Such invasions actually helped the country. It united the northern people against a common cause, helping to establish several small kingdoms in which one lord or king ruled over many towns. The witches would normally just be there out of curiosity and would leave peacefully unless provoked, but the panserbørne were never defeated and crushed many a town. This was when Pokémon and humans first fought alonside each other. There were no Pokéballs back then, so humans and Pokémon had to build trusting relationships before they could rely on one another in a fight. Over time roads were worn by many travelers and the whole country was far better connected. It took a long time for the kingdoms to become united, but eventually they agreed upon (by force or choice) one leader. The monarchy did a poor job of ruling since there was too much land and communication was too poor. Wealthy families were appointed lords and given the task of ensuring the safety of small areas of land as the monarch saw fit. EXPANDING HORIZONS Ellsport and Brimburg were both large ports transporting goods all over the country. When Enera had calmed, many of the towns still around today founded, and people living in much better conditions in stone or wooden houses, people had the luxury of pursuing knowledge. There was no struggle for survival any more. Everyone had to work hard and life expectancy was short, but there was better communications and more freedom. New tools made things easier and more efficient, giving the more wealthy people leisure time. The wealthiest would employ servants and never work a day in their lives. A thirst for knowledge developed in those with the time to dwell on such things. Scientists began work. They looked at how Pokémon, humans and dæmons worked, both together and individually. They discovered how the elements reacted in ways that could be useful. They also wanted to explore. Explorers and captains shared visions of finding new lands. The popular belief was that if you headed north find a great mountain of snow and ice on which the gods watched over the world, and out to sea was the end of the world and you would just fall off. It was a great surprise to them when one captain sailed his ship from Ellsport to Hoenn. The people of Hoenn were surprised too. Hoenn and Enera quickly signed trade agreements and peace treaties, the captain who discovered it bringing back foreign goods and Pokémon never seen before in Enera which proved Hoenn's existence. Hoenn and Enera had a good relationship from then on. Enera did not have such luck when they found Kanto. Calling upon help from the neighbouring Johto, Kanto waged war against Enera. Hoenn came to Enera's aid. Enera was victorious, but it was a close thing and at great cost. People back home were hungry as resources had gone into the fighting. Most of the battles had taken place on Kantonian soil, but about a third had torn up the land on Enera's coast. Without Hoenn's help Enera would have fallen, so their allegiance was strengthened. Enera avoided Kanto and Johto for some time, moving on to Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos, with which peace treaties and trade agreements were made. Enerian ships even sailed out further than this, reaching exotic and distant lands. Over time a bitter rivalry developed between Kalos and Enera that never spilled out into war. The other countries all made their peace with one another and dragged Enera, Kanto and Johto in reluctantly doing the same. With no energy wasted on fighting Enera continued to develop. With the other countries helping and sharing, they all prospered. There was a brief dispute between Sinnoh and Unova, then later Kalos and Kanto, but they died down quickly enough. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION With the development of steam power in Enera came a strengthened rivarly with Kalos. The Enerians raced ahead of the world with their new steam machines, and were sure to get themselves firmly ahead in terms of development before they shared their machines even with Hoenn. The Kalosians tried to match Enera but failed as Enera refused to share with them the fundamental concepts they'd developed. As could be expected, this did not go down well. Enera shared their ideas with the rest of the world, which satisfied the Kalosians. However, still bitter, they then turned their attention to Hoenn, where flying machines were being invented that even Enera could not match. These machines were being flown over Kanto and Johto, which Kalos insisted was a deliberate taunt and threat to their friends. The tension mounted until finally the two were at war. Enera, grateful for the time Hoenn had aided them and disliking the Kalosians anyway, immediately joined at Hoenn's side. The war was more bloody than the last with the addition of guns and machinery. Pokémon were relied on less for the fighting thanks to such developments and more for finding the fallen and protecting people back home. Kanto and Johto joined Kalos and attacked Enera from the other side, while Unova defended Hoenn after being given a leg-up in the industrial development. Sinnoh sided with Kalos as they were nearest, but insisted neutrality and refused to fight. All developments were turned to designing weapons as war was waged on a larger scale than ever seen before. The Enerian government expanded and gained extra power from the monarch in order to have a group of people focusing on the war. Food became scarce. Crime rose as disturbances grew across all countries. After four years of terrible war, Enera's superior boats and Hoenn's superior flying machines with Unova's wealth won the war. It wasn't much of a win; no side prospered. It is hardly considered a victory since it only came about by all sides longing for peace and the Kalosian forces being forced to stop fighting. Once Kalos surrendered, Kanto and Johto followed after urges from Enera to make peace. Finally an agreement was signed by all nations stating that they should never wage war on one another again, forming a great alliance between the seven nations (Sinnoh was included as well despite not having fought) in that part of the world. The Industrial War over, Enera spent a long time recovering before technological development started up again. When it did, it was a slow pace. Railways were the first to appear, then commercial factories and machinery to help farm workers. In the new age of peace, architecture, technology, healthcare and science all grew and prospered. This was 200 years ago. Small conflicts with far-off lands have occurred since, but nothing on the same level as the Industrial War. The worst event in recent times was the eruption of Mount Fervens thirty years ago, destroying much of Barfield and settling Hell's Paradise ablaze.