This will mostly be a grab-bag section, the successor to the Background section, and likely where I will move preliminary notes in the end.


Pokemon do not have a lot of skills, when it comes down to it. They are generally straightforward creatures. They do not lie, posture, or negotiate. They do not use any education that is not embedded into their minds, or that is outside of personal experience. They do not read, although they can learn what certain symbols mean. like a skull for "danger." If they want something, they are (usually) clear about it, and when dealing with humans will succeed or fail depending entirely on the mercy of the human. They are physical creatures, and the social structures they usually make are very direct.
    That said, enlightened Pokemon do not roll this way.
    They CAN lie, posture, and negotiate. It doesn't come to them naturally, so they don't get the standard 2d6 humans do. But they are capable of it, and this gives them a significant edge over their fellows.
    As with humans, General Education governs their languages. They get Pokespeak innately, and then they get one extra language per dice of GE, just like a human. In a way, they speak one extra language for free.

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    The Survival Skill on Mons is kinda weird. They have the instinct and the ability to learn to a point, but if asked how they do that in their own language, they will either just do it again as if the answer is that obvious, or they won't know how to answer. It's almost as if they are automated to do a specific role with a bit of flexibility in case of disaster, like being programmed with a wide array of responses that don't cover everything...but that's insane talk, like the kind the MissingNo cultists might give.
    Within their environment, they can pass Survival checks without a roll with no additional successes. Outside of it? They don't roll either - they have to improvise, which usually means desperately attacking anything out of hunger, trying out whatever with no indication of whether it will work or not...it is a very dangerous situation for them!

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    A Pokemon Noble has the same instincts, so in their native environment, they are rather formidable. Learning to speak by itself doesn't weaken their other skills or instincts. Becoming better at other things it wasn't supposed to do, on the other hand...it's like they glitch.
    Cultists claim the first Pokemon Noble was uplifted by MissingNo because of this, but they also claim Arceus is actually a five-headed Psyduck that secretly lives in the moon attended to by his army of levitating Emboars, so take what you will.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:14, Fri 19 Apr 2019.

By popular demand, I have been asked to describe and go into some detail about the MissingNo, the Crawling Chaos.

I really don't understand this thing very well, when it comes to it. It acts against the world, and grinds it into nonsense. It is considered by the Bureaucracy to be a force of Creation, and while it does create, it makes nothing that doesn't already exist. Or rather, I should say, what it DOES make is not truly original.

It twists, bends and corrupts, but it does not actually make, which is important to keep in mind. I have seen Haunters twisted into void beings that are more akin to man than Mon, Vanillites warped into Draglage-like monstrosities, and Magikarp turned into bizarre incarnations of the Crawling Chaos that hurl their newfound power against beings that once saw them as the lowest of the low. But it does not actually make them into something new - it alters the rules they live by, but it does not make new rules, save perhaps in two instances.

You mortals are curious beings to us. You do not normally have a "type," such as you call it. You should be Normal, as you call it, as far as I am concerned, but you are not.

The Crawling Chaos can apparently transform Mons into beings more like yourself, no longer dictated by the rules of our kind. It is interesting that MissingNo has this power, and I have begun to research whether your kind is somehow tied to ours. I am getting some strange results as I do, and they raise a lot of questions that might not have answers.

"Disturbing answers" seems to be a recurring trend when this thing gets involved. The implications of its existence alone beg questions that have answers you will not like.

The other transformation it brings seems to be a consistent one, a particular transformation that came to mind when I considered that Magikarp. This makes them behave strangely, and alters all of their moves to something new. Some of these beings touched by the Chaos become strangely uniform, perfected adapted for the new and twisted world they live in.

Again, I wonder why father tolerates this thing, even on the edges of the world. Its reach is farther than that, and you mortals are strangely inclined to its worship. The cultists are not welcome in Tarien, and they tend to keep a low profile when they can.

Note that last - some of these guys are not subtle, and usually can be recognized by being, as one says, loony.

Perhaps the Crawling Chaos represents a freedom from an oppressive world, an entity that exists to free the weak from the tyranny of the stron...hahaha-HAHAHAHA!

I'm sorry, this is hard to sympathize with. Some of you are weak, but that's no excuse to be stupid and serve an entity that has zero interest in your continued survival, never mind your general welfare. This thing is exactly the reason your world needs a tight hand at the wheel, one that it is not getting. You need the thing you claim to hate, because THIS is the alternative to it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:15, Sun 09 June 2019.

---FOR INQUISITORIAL EYES ONLY---
--HERETICAL DOCUMENTATION - UNCOVERED FROM A MASSALIAN CULT--
-SPECIFIC RECOVERY LOCATION AND TIME SEALED ON GRAND INQUISITORIAL ORDERS-

The context for the first paragraph is unknown. We encountered no writings to accompany it, and no divine force was known to be in contact with the speaker. Perhaps he was trying to clear up the insane babbling of his own god.

My advice, young madam? Try not to overthink it. These cults are notoriously insane, although beyond the opening paragraph and the rant near the end, the writer is surprisingly lucid.

This is what was recovered, as requested. And be careful. These writings have a way of making heretics and renegades out of those who dwell too long upon them.

Perhaps is time for someone else who actually understands this topic to take the pen up? Still, his words are useful to show that even the beings frequently called "gods" have limits.

I am The Knowledge. What I was is no longer relevant. I am an authority on the topic of MissingNo, and in the moment that is relevant.

Beyond the borders of Tariel, marked by the Alchemical Stabilizers that define our kingdom and which the Democians, Albionese, and Empurians push forward on a near daily basis, you have the Chaos, as it is called. Bear in mind, the United Kingdoms are not the only survivors of the Aftershock Wars, as the occasional immigrant or raid from beyond has established. Tariel has the good fortune of being merely the largest and one of the most stable, and thus very attractive.

The Chaos is MissingNo's territory. Others carve it out, force it to their whims by sheer willpower, but it belongs to it. However, there is an order to things out there, strangely enough.

There are a few kinds of beings that live in the Chaos - the Consumed, the Twisted, the Glitchborn, and the Spawned. The Consumed and Twisted are what most people think of when they think of the Crawling Chaos, and they are the bulk of life out here beyond the stable zones. They were once a Mon that was exposed to the entropic energies out here and were changed into something else, usually to their direct detriment.

They demonstrate powers they never could have been taught or learned, as the energies change them and their instincts. At least half of these poor things break down and perish within a year, the energies destroying them utterly. Indeed, the difference between the Consumed and the Twisted is merely how close to breaking down they are - the Consumed are beyond a cure, and will shortly perish, both in mind and body, while the Twisted can still be cured by divine power, if they are willing.

Most of the wild ones are not. Thus, they usually become Consumed and die. Sometimes, however, they become a stable Twisted, a new life form, although they rarely breed as most of their native species rejects them, and remain a genealogical dead-end.

The Glitchborn, however, are something else. Born of the Chaos, they are more or less stable entities. They are often impossible beings, but as stable as any Type Synced Mon bred in Tariel. Usually, they have a form that is close to an existing Mon, suggesting perhaps direct lineage, but generally they do not, and are often exciting and fascinating to study.

The Spawned deserve special mention, as MissingNo seems to create children, small copies of itself that seem to operate on their own special rules. They react strongly and aggressively to psychic energies, being both obliterating of and obliterated by such forces, but spiritual energies have an assuredly negative effect on them, as well as resisting their chaotic touch. Graveyards in particular are dangerous zones for these chaotic spawn, although they demonstrate no fear of such places or their denizens.

My research here is still pending, as they are aggressive to other life forms and actively alter their environs. It will take me some time to truly find their limits, if any. They are hard to keep alive outside of their native environment - difficult to maintain, and difficult to keep from harming others and causing a reaction that results in their destruction by local powers.

But one could derive from what is known that the Stabilizers at the border use an energy type comparable to ancestral spirits to create the boundaries of the kingdom, preserving the kingdom in what you would understand as "a field of reverence." It is believed that the Stabilizers are conduits of collective willpower, but I am not so certain. This could merit some testing in the future, as one day we may be able to understand these things being created and deployed en masse along your borders instead of merely creating them, dropping them off, and saying "yup, that works."

Tariel's people use "magic" or "alchemy" which they do not understand, and their entire way of life is dependent upon it. When asked why it works, they shrug and say, "Magic." And what will they say when the power they rely upon breaks down and fails to work? "I guess the magic failed!"

Simple minded buffoons, all of you! You are one event - one that you will lack the context of - away from a complete breakdown! The darkness will wash over you, and none of you will truly understand why it is happening!

I will know, though. I know everything, save a few things beyond my grasp at the moment. And when this is done, I will know all that matters, and the remaining matters will be irrelevant.

Your days are numbered, one way or another. Your world will survive, as it always has, but you will not. Take heart, though - I have already extensively recorded you, and you will not be forgotten, brief though you are in the grand history of things.

Take care, Inquisitor. You cannot destroy this, although I know you will try. And for the one this is meant for, enjoy your date with Varian tomorrow night, and yes, he thinks your outfit is tacky even though he will never tell you so to your face.

This, too, will matter. As does your wide eyed reaction.

I know EVERYTHING that matters, fool. Consider that as you meditate on these words.

It is important to note that a Ghost is not the deceased. They are, however, formed in the wake of a body's contact with Giratina's Distortion Realm, and that they often rise from or near a recently deceased with the memories of the deceased.

So, what's the difference?

To some, effectively none. The Family uses this on both powerful and the debtee alike to preserve the memory of the fallen. On the powerful, it is so they continue to enjoy their leadership and reward excellent and long service to the Family, while in the case of the latter, it is to have Ghost-types that feel that they owe the Family a debt, which grants a layer of bonding to the Mon beyond the Capture Crystal.

Most do not know there is a difference at all. To most people, Ghost rises from body, speaks like the dead person, and they draw the conclusion that that IS the dead person. Only practiced scholars know they are not the same, and only the ones that bothered to look it up or found it on accident looking at something else would know. Even the Family often assumes that it is, in fact, the deceased, or at least functionally the deceased.

But there is a difference. Having the memories of the dead is not the same as having the personality of the dead. A Ghost will likely interpret those memories through a different lens, and most of the time, even the Family will try to quietly retire elders who have had their memories taken by a Ghost. They call it "spectral senility" when it is bad and they have procedures to roll with it.

As a result, a Ghost may haunt a family it remembers very clearly and torment them in petty ways for fun, because it is not the deceased. This is simply a group of people it has clear memories of, and their reactions of dismay are funny because it has no emotional context to those memories. They mean as much to the Ghost as the images in a picture book does, with no cause or reason to care.

Not all deaths result in a Ghost. The more essence Giratina collects from them, the more likely a Ghost will result. As a result, bad folk tend to produce more Ghosts than nice ones do, but a person killed can on rare occasions generate the kind of energy that produces a Ghost, due to a flaw in how Giratina reads a death.

I'll interject here. It is not a flaw, so much as it is a false-positive. They die suddenly and with powerful emotions that my furnace falsely interprets their essence as suffused the energy it processes. Such emotions are about as useful to me as a drink filled with sugar - tasty, but not filling and really bad for your health.

They fail to be processed, and the false-positive energy is largely discharged back to Xerneas, who is often pleasantly surprised at the "malfunction" of my furnace. That it does NOT get consumed blindly means my furnace is a masterpiece of divine engineering. Palkia outdid himself in this one thing, following a command from my Father to focus on a singular project that gave his creations meaning, until it was done.

The point: I am not wrong. The universe is. Blame Palkia for making those energies so similar.

Note: a Ghost can still be useful in providing information about a recently deceased.