Since you mentioned it being fantasy, would you be allowing playable races other than humans or magic? That could be another cool draw since you could play around with how different races handle Pokemon and the shrines as well as the cultural influences. One race might be inclined to use them for war, another might want to preserve and create a strong bond with them.

You mentioned "thread points" -- would this just be the monetary system? Per post you get x amount of points. Or, would it be a matter of mods reviewing a completed thread and awarding points as they see fit? Usually a mix is good, with the base post points and the bonus points for whatever criteria you have (amount of pages, average word count, character development, etc.).

How would you handle capture and the amount of Pokemon a person can have overall? If it's just a summon and capture, it can be very easy for one character to end up with more Pokemon than they can actually handle, and settings like these often call for them having the space to keep all of them. You could limit them by the land they own specifically for Pokemon (ie. an acre of farmland for every 10-15 Pokemon outside of their party), or you could limit it by making the price of the capture devices higher in addition to the shrine fee. I know some fantasy Pokemon RPs use magic crystals instead of Pokeballs since Pokeballs are too modern for most fantasy settings (unless it's modern fantasy).

All just ideas and questions. I definitely want to see where you go with this!