Matters of world destruction

Apocalypse is an exceedingly simple matter when you are a victim of it. To resist or to surrender, you are faced with the same sight of world-ending powers crushing everything with the unstoppable force of a natural calamity. Why should it matter to you what happens when all have died and when all that has been built up is erased? It's all the same in the end. You and everyone and everything are gone.

But the matters of world destruction is not what it seems. Killing every organism, even disintegrating every object down to its last atom - that is not the objective of destroying worlds. In the first place, for a foreign entity to enter a world was supposed to be impossible until the Legends of Youth attacked.

The Otherworld Rules

Think of a world as as a singular, unique biome. Organisms in that biome flourish because they are suited in the conditions of their environment. If put in a different biome, any slight change can lead to the extinction of a species. This is infinitely truer when it comes to physical bodies, replacing "biome" with "story." Attempting to enter a story when you are not suited to it would be excrutiatingly painful as doing so would cut you off from your connection to your native story. If, somehow, you managed to slip in the world, your unsupported existence will be terminated in due time.

Even a Fabled soul would not stand a chance. Yet, it is one of the requirements for the Legends of Youth to trespass into a world and do what they will to its story.

Sulfiric Soul

One's existence is tied to one's soul. By reaching into the blueprints of one's existence, they can evolve into cosmic dimensions. For beings in the material realm, this isn't possible without divine miracles like true reincarnation and messianiac agencies.

After the ascension of legendary Pokemon to godhood - becoming uncontested laws through all realities - they have scattered about their influence through the power of RUNES. As it is a recent phonemonon, not much is known about Runes except that it emerges from souls whose existence have become a blazing star. Naturally, there aren't many souls like this. Until recently, in fact, there were no such thing. But when the Legends of Youth summoned Fables from the canon legends, these Fables would appear bearing a GATE CREST. This phenomenon would repeat with Dreamers who had their worlds destroyed and again with latter Fables summoned through the same method as their predecessors, the Destroyers.

The Gate Crest allows a direct connection to the soul. With this handy tool, ascension has become a distinct possibility. When the bearer has accumulated enough experience - enough "stories" - the crest will mature and like a fertile patch of land, a Rune will grow from there.

The Rune is a separate subject but as far as destroying worlds is concerned, the important part is now the soul can stand being in a foreign world. By forming a bond with such sulfuric souls (called sulfuric as stars and space in general do not smell pleasant), the Legends of Youth would break through the Otherworld Rules with no problem.

All that work and it's not even part of world destruction yet.

Killing Stories

The matter of world destruction, as mentioned at the start, is not about the physical phenomenon. Even if not a speck of space dust is left, the story of that world still exists. It's like a code in a program that's still around even if it can't be observed or manifested. Stories that are not from the Canon Legends have lifespans, so the only way for the "code" in this context to disappear is to let it disappear by itself.

But as we know, the goal of the Legends of Youth is to preemptively destroy them - to hasten the process. Truthfully, this is impossible to do. No matter how powerful or violent they are, they will not be able to do anything about the story's lifespan. But the clue on how to kill it is right there. The only thing that can do something about the story is the story itself. To destroy worlds, the Legends of Youth would have the story kill itself.

"Flowerbeds"

With the Destroyer and their companion, they bring ruin to the invaded world. Majority of thel locals (if not all) would have perished by then and would no longer be concerned of what happens next. After this stage though is the most important part. With most of the landscape gone, the world is then left alone and sent "flowerbeds." It is more accurate to call it a pit or the abyss, but it received such a name due to the strong aroma of blossoms from the bottom. And from this hole, corrupted Pokemon fueled by the despair around their environment are unleashed. Due to the shadowy aura covering them, they have come to be known as "Shadow Pokemon." But with their very nature changed from companions to unearthly nightmares, those who have lived long enough to witness them refer to them as monsters. Terrors.

While Shadow Pokemon are beings who desire to bring suffering onto others, the purpose of breeding them in these ruined worlds is because they count as foreign entities. With their numbers and their souls being empowered by hate, they are gradually overwhelming the story of the world, distorting it into something that can no longer support itself. Like a virus sent to attack it from within, the story will eventually break in its attempts to repeatedly fix itself, thus completing the destruction of the world.

After the End of the World

With the story gone, there is nothing left but the foreign entities left behind in the world. The flowerbeds have another important task. Like a parasite, they take control of the void where the story used to be. By absorbing the Shadow Pokemon, it creates a eternal labyrinth where the lost souls of abandoned Pokemon wonder. As it is a pocket dimension, it blocks off resonation from other worlds, additionally serving as a buffer that will not disappear until the master of its story is defeated.

Unknowingly, many have already visited such places, both in Paradox Paldea and in the Pokemon world. These things that are known to them as mystery dungeons.

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✧ Header

Body

✧ Announcement of Delay

To deliver the experience I want to provide, the opening of Pokemon Evolution: Terror S will be delayed to mid-2024. An update in this thread will be made at least once a month, and any questions will be responded to at any time!

✧ Story So Far...

Pokemon Evolution: Terror S is an experience of reconcillation and discovery amidst the impact of a multiverse cataclysm conducted by the Legends of Youth and the Destroyers in the name of assuring humanity's continued survival. Dreamers, beings from the destroyed worlds of echoes, and Fables, beings from the source where the Destroyers came from, are brought together to face the mysteries of Paradox Paldea and the Pokemon world. The former being the refuge of Dreamers, and the other the home of the Legends of Youth. An uncertain partnership between people and Pokemon begins anew as the presence of Shadow Pokemon, the very tools they used to destroy worlds, encroaches upon their story.

✧ Development Letter

There hasn't been many changes since the inception of this project, but as I'm ironing out the details and refocusing the themes I want it to embody, what I'm after has started to feel tangible. There are a lot of series influencing this work, but when I picture it in action, it turns into a video game. Not by its combat, but by how it brings together a cast from different backgrounds and having them work together (or against each other) in exploring the setting. Adventure doesn't have to be filled with combat and technicalities. I want members to have the ease of being able to just throw their characters in a thread and find things out on the way. This is the Drama Card mechanic I'm working on at the moment. I do have the core established, but it still neeeds fleshing out to be able to cover all aspects of rping when it's necessary.

The other thing I realized is how I want this to be a story of hope. Pokemon has always showcased about the power of friendship and bonds between two completely different species. But that principle has now been challenged with the Pokemon in the setting acting a lot more independent from humans and being the instigator of the suffering of many. While there will definitely be cool combat and fantasy stuff, I want the journey there to also have wisdom and understanding on why and how this partnership is supposed to continue existing.

I have many things fleshed out, but since everything is pretty woven together, it's hard for me to post an update on them one at a time. I am almost halfway through a glossary though. I might post that first.

I am very much aware that this is a risky project I'm running that may give little to no reward with how volatile rping is. It's one of those, "Why not just write a fanfic about it instead?" but the thing is, I do love collaborative writing! And I've been RPing for a long time. I want to try something new and perhaps ambitious, even if it's not popular. I don't expect this to be a big site, but I would consider it a success if the people in it would be happy and if what they create in it would be something they can look back to fondly. I'll be running it for at least a year no matter the activity.

Thanks to those who have posted and liked! I really appreciate them.

"Exist Echoes" Development Update
It's been a while (again!) but I bring major news. I have finally finalized the core the site will be based on. I want to explain why exactly it took this long to get something so important done on a site that was supposed to open *checks notes* back in February 2024. I try to cut thngs down when I post here but for once, I am going to go through my whole process for...whatever good it does. It's unnnecessarily long and wordy that would make people lose interest asap. But if you want to skim or just get an idea of what I am doing - or maybe you enjoy this sort of process - read head! I will be cutting this chunky part in spoiler tags.

SPOILER: Click to show

As you may or may not remember, "Drama Cards" or a narrative-based card game was the unique feature the site was going to use to simulate progression and present challenges, which cannot be calculated easily without selective DMing. I chose this in favor of using stats or dice rolls because it discourages the whims of freeform rping. Situations considered a failure IC should not be punished, and based on my previous experiences, pitting the agendas of members against each other doesn't end well. Of course, there might be communities able to pull it off, but I certainly wouldn't know how to run it! My RPing experience has largely been from collaborative rping to create massive webs of interconnecting circumstances. So, I am trying to do what I am actually pretty good at.

But if you are new to this thread or have forgotten, you may not understand what the idea of Drama Cards is. It's similar to Storium but I do have a direct inspiration: the tabletop game Red Dragon Inn, specifically as played (or performed) by Achievement Hunter. It's less of the mechanic of the game itself, but the idea of it and how it plays out. The way the players burst into excitement playing cards that work both as a narrative and as a game mechanic is something I find very engaging and fulfilling.

But the core of what makes Red Dragon Inn and other tabletop roleplaying games is because of the design of the cards. And I don't expect players to be avid card game designers, nor am I. The focus of the site should still be on the roleplaying itself. I want to make a system that is also a tool for members.

Of course, easier said than done! But it is something I have been striving for and I happened to have tested the prototype with an old friend of mine.



The Drama Card is based on this prototype, which is like a very simplified version of Storium. The idea is to use these cards, categorized into types of Strong, Weak, Asset...and don't ask me what Bond is - I forgot. Anyway, the idea is to use these in the thread as an indication of it being completed. So basically, once you've met the requirements, like the amount of X Cards that is used, you can call the thread done. Claim its reward and all.

The inspiration behind this idea is from the mission system in Predormitum, a Pokemon war RP that lasted ages with a huge memberbase. Although its main system revolved around the battles and the currency of "War Effort", I found the missions to be the most riveting part. The fun part is there was no specific system about missions. Staff made missions that required certain number of its faction members. It was fascinating to have people who's never talked to each other before (cbox era lol) just grab a mission and make stories about what premise is provided for them. It evolved to members creating their missions, and expanding on the possibilities of including enemy factions and leading to origins of certain historical moments. It was lowkey the tool members used to involve their story in the bigger picture.

The Drama Card inspired by the vibes of the Red Dragon Inn. Predormitum's member-heavy plots through its mission system. For me, these two are exactly the same and also the missing half of the other.

The Drama Cards provide a format for the misions as an incentive for members to get involved. For example, if you're wondering how the picture above ended in RP form with my friend and I, Warly and Zero encountered zombies in the cave. They did find the light bulbs they needed for the missions, but because Warly is such a hoarder, they weren't able to collect them in time before Zero had to drag Warly out and get pissed off for the rest of the day. In Drama Card format, on top of the personal cards they have to use (that is, cards based on their characters), they would also have narrative cards provided to them through the mission. They would have to play these narrative cards in however they want. The narrative card could have been specific like "a horde of zombies", something vague like "hostile enemies", or something in-between like "terrors who enjoy the darkness." It can even be a blank card - members can come up with whatever element they want toward the mission.

With a little polishing, it already sounds like a done system ready to be added to a brand new site with its own custom skin. So, what happened?

What happened is that I began to doubt it in how it would play out in the long run. It's meant to be an easy tool. But what if it's so easy that people find it completely unnecessary? The narrative cards have its purpose but what about the personal cards? What are they for besides trying to meet the quota? Isn't it as bad as making people have a word count? I know it's jumping ahead and it's natural for sites to figure things out along the way. But I want to play it safe. I had to think on how I can fix it. And I did this by playing games.

Games give me inspiration on how to model the system and I realized something obvious: mechanics often play into the story. The weapon triangle in Fire Emblem involved actual weapons used in the story. Sometimes, they're even story-important weapons. The runes in Suikoden used to defeat enemies are another element the story is centered on. So the solution is this: make these cards part of the story.

I didn't have to overhaul the prototype but I had to connect this piece of the puzzle into all other puzzles. I had to make them related somehow. I was pretty much trying to build lore based around it.

And I succeeded, quite happily!

✧ Updated Terminologies

Several terminologies have been changed, and some others have been made for easier understanding.

THE OPUSCULA (new): The origin of one’s lore. There are three versions of the opuscula: Legends opuscula (origin of Fables), Extra opuscula (origin of Dreamers), and Living opuscula (the setting of the site).

MOTIF (updated): Formerly "character classes".

RESCUE-TYPE (updated): Formerly "healer-type".

PARTNER POKEMON (new): The Pokemon brought into the Living opuscula along with the Fable and Dreamer. A Fable or Dreamer can only have one partner Pokemon.

COMPANION POKEMON (updated): Pokemon who aren’t partner Pokemons that accompany Fables and Dreamers. They are usually Pokemon from the Living opuscula.

SYSTEM (new): Refers to a theme-bounded system of motifs. For instance, the current seven motifs (Trainer, Coordinator... Photographer) are from the Legends System. Additional systems will appear as the story progresses such as the titular Terrors System, introducing more motifs.

KEYWORDS (new): See below.

AESFORM (new): Short for aesthetic + uniform. Refers to the alt forms or "costumed" forms mentioned before.

REVERBERATION (new): Refers to the combination of blas energies, which result to evolutions and mechanics as seen in the game. There are two types of Reverberation: Anima (Max Factor, EX Evolution... Zenith Aura), and Spiritus (Titan form, Master move...Unite move).

FLOREGNOSIS (new): Refers to setting's magic, previously referred to as runes. This is the counterpart to Chrysoboros (the use of blas energies).

SKILL (new): Refers to Pokemon moves. This is primarily to avoid confusion from terms that use the word "type" (Attack-type, Bruiser-type...Rescue-type). So instead of "Fire Blast" being a fire type move, it is simply a fire skill. This is exclusively for moves, not for Pokemon (eg. Fire-type Pokemon, Ice-type Pokemon).

ABILITY FLOW (new): Popularly known as Ability Forms started by n0rtist. The observable characterstics of Pokemon change depending on their current ability. In Terrors, Pokemon have multiple abilities that activate one at a time. For example, Tropius has Chlorophyll, Solar Power, and Harvest. It can also have other non-official abilities as long as It Makes Sense (by its species or the context of the story), such as Tropius having Stench if its fruits are extremely rotten.

✧ Keywords

If cells are the building blocks of living beings, then keywords are the cells of reality. Keywords are words or short phrases identified in posts and Drama Cards by being enclosed in brackets. They can be observed and manifested with the Gate Crest. In the Living opuscula


✧ Story So Far...

Pokemon Evolution: Terror S is an experience of reconcillation and discovery amidst the impact of a multiverse cataclysm conducted by the Legends of Youth and the Destroyers in the name of assuring humanity's continued survival. Dreamers, beings from the destroyed worlds of echoes, and Fables, beings from the source where the Destroyers came from, are brought together to face the mysteries of Paradox Paldea and the Pokemon world. The former being the refuge of Dreamers, and the other the home of the Legends of Youth. An uncertain partnership between people and Pokemon begins anew as the presence of Shadow Pokemon, the very tools they used to destroy worlds, encroaches upon their story.